Glass _ Book_ A HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY. BY MANN BUTLER, A. M, LOUISVILLE, KY.: PUBUSHED FOR THE AUTHOR BY WILCOX, DICKERMAN & CO. PRINTED BY J. A. JAMES, CINCINNATI. 1834. Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1834, by MANN BUTLER, A. M., in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Kentucky. Stereotyped by J. A. James, Cincinnati. 3l« DEDICATION, TO GENERAL WILLIAM CLARK, STATE OF MISSOURI. Sir: Among the numerous friends whom the undertaking of the History of Kentucky has procured for me, I know of no one who has conferred such signal obhgations upon me, as yourself. The papers of your illustrious brother, George Rogers Clark, so liberally placed by you in my hands, have shed most curious and interesting lights upon the affairs of the western country; and particularly of Kentucky. These could have been procured from no other source. To whom then, can I so well dedicate this History, as to your- self, who have so faithfully preserved some of the most precious memorials of our history, and have so kindly contributed them for the public information] Were this not the case, who is so properly the representative of the pre-eminent founder of Kentucky, and the successful negotiator for its Virginia ac- knowledgement, as his only surviving brother] After yourself, allow me to associate your ancient friend in arms, General William H. Harrison, as one to whom the author is next most deeply indebted, for interesting illustrations of the early military movements of your common commander, General Wayne, as well as for the elucidation of some of the obscure vicissitudes of Indian history. Be pleased then, to accept this dedication of this work, as a testimonial of my high and unfeigned sense of the obligations conferred upon the great community of the west, much more than on my humble self, in your generous co-operation with my historical labors. In the interim I have the honor to remain Your obliged friend, >«is#^.*^- MANN BUTLER. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Earliest rondition of Kentucky— Troquois, or Moliawks, known in 160:V-Early seats— ProgresH to the Mississippi and tlie Illinois— Appeal to the Colonial Conimissioners— General Braddock's talk— Treaties with the En<,'lish— Great treaty of 17GS— Opinion of Supreme Court on Indian title— Opinions of General Harrison— Treaties of 1774— 1775—1:85—1795 and 1818. [page 1. CHAPTER n. Policy of tlie British Government— Proclamation of 17G3— Violations of it— Visit of Dr. Walker in 1747— Name the Shawanee river, Cuml'erland- Visit of John Finley— of Daniel Poone— Lonjr Imnters— Visit of Capt. Thomas Bullitt and McAfees— Surveys of Louisville- Simon Kenton— Eurnin£f of Hendricks— Adventures of the INIcAfoe?- James Harrod settles Harrodshurg— Cattle of Point Pleasant— Treaty of 1774— Treaty of 1775— Settlement of Boonesborouirh and St. Asaphs— Indian method of siege. [page 17. CHAPTER m. First visit of Clark to Kentucky— Visits Harrodstown — Ciioscn a delegate to the Vir- ginia Lesislature with Galiriel John Jones — Cnlls on Governor Henry — Receives {^uuj'owder for Kentucky— Procures the creation of Kentucky county — Brings gun- powder from Fort Pitt— Conceals it on the l;anks of Limestone creek — Blackfisli attacks Harrodstown— Singular escape of Ray— Plans approved liy Governor and Council — Spies in Illinois— .\rrives at the Falls of Ohio— Eclipse of "the Sun — Pa.=9es the Falls — Keaches Kaskaskia— Surprises the town — Takes Cahokia. [page 35. CHAPTER IV. Plan a?ainst St. Vincents — Thanks of Virginia — Sf. Vincents revolts from the Brilisli— JI. Girault— Illinois county— Negotiations with iVew Orleans— Indian negotiations. [page 58. CHAPTER y. Recaptur*; of St. Vincents by tiie British— PJans acainst Americans— French voiuntoer.a— March to St. Vincents— -Captme— -Return to Kaskaskia. [pasre 79. CHAPTER VL First Court of Kentucky— It? or.v:crs-— Fi;st Colonel— -Sieie of St. Asa-ihs, or Lorar.'s S'latioii— -British Proclamations-— Capture of Boone— Sieje of Eooncsborough— -Land Law— Its Commissioners. " [page 88. CHAPTER VII. •Colonel David Refers' E.A:prdition to .\evv Orienns— Defeat— -Captain Eenham— -Colonel BowiTian's Expedition-— Co!o?iei Fyrd's Expedition up Lickinc— Genera! Georae Ro- trers Clark's march from Fort Jefferson— -Shuts up the Land office at Harrodsfnira— Expedition against Pickaway. [pa' of the State. It may be interesting to collect into one view, the printed authorities on western history. The earliest printed account bearing on the history of the west, is the work* of Lewis Hennepin, who in 1680, speaks of a tribe of Indians whom the Illinois called the "Oudebasche," and records the descent of the Mississippi, by Monsieur De la Salle, in the same year, re-published at London in 1698. In another place, in 1682, he says, "the Ouabache is full as large as the Mesa- chasipi." After the French explorations, comes the "histor}' of the Five Nations, by Cadwallader Golden, Esq., one of his Majesty's Counsel, and Surveyor General of New York." The only edition to which the author has had access, is the property of N. M. Hentz, Esq., of Cincinnati, published at London in 1750. It embraces the history of this remarkable confederacy, from 1603, to the treaty of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1746. It is much less interesting than the author supposed it to be, from the use of it in the memorial of Dr. Franklin to the King in Council, which is contained in the article, 'Ohio Settlement,' in the fourth volume of his works. The journalf of Major Washington's mission up the Alleghany in 1753, and that of Colonel Croghan's descent of the Ohio, in 1765, next present themselves in point of curiosity, and superior in authenticity and copiousness of detail. There is also a "journal by Patrick Kennedy, giving an account of an expedition undertaken by himself and several coureurs des bois in the year 1773, from Kaskaskia village, to the head waters of the Illinois river." It is solely topographical, and is to be found annexed to an edition of "Imlay's America, London, 1797." The memoir of Boone, dictated to John Filson in 1784, but not published till 1793, at New York, and the glittering letters of * Notes of Dr. D. Drake, obIi;,'ingly communicated to the author t Marshall's Washington, Appendix, vol, 1. PREFACE. IX Imlay annexed to the topographical description of the second author, comprise the earhest publications connected with western history. To these, succeeded the history of Kentucky, by Humphrey Marshall, Esq., in one volume, in 1812, and which was enlarged to two volumes in 1824. This work has formed the substratum of the author's authority for the current of ordinary events ; not without considerable, and as it is believed, important additions. In the complexion of many events, as well as the character of most of the early statesmen of Kentucky, tiiis work differs from that of Mr. Marshall, wide as the poles. The public must determine between him and the author. Mr. Marshall enjoyed opportunities of cotemporary intercourse and observation, which the author freely acknowledges have been unrivalled. Yet while saga- city and orginal information are fully and sincerely accorded to the primitive historian of Kentucky, the author's solemn convictions of historical duty extort his protest against the justice and impartiality of the representations of his com- petitors in public life. The author painfully feels the compulsion of making this declaration ; much as he respects the talents and public services of Mr. Marshall, now silvered with venerable age. Yet he owes it to himself, he owes it to tliat posterity, who may feel curious to investigate the conduct of their ancestors, to declare, as he most solemnly does, his conviction that every man and party of men, who came into collision with Mr. Marshall or his friends, in the exciting and exasperating scenes of Kentucky story, have been essentially and profoundly misrepresented by him, however unintentionally, and insensibly it may have been done. The contentions between this gentleman and his competitors for public honors, have been too fierce to admit of justice to the character of either, in each others' representations. These enmities have transformed his history into a border feud^ recorded witlr all the embittered feelings of a chieftain of the marches. Yet his picturesque portraits of the pioneers of Kentucky, distinct from party influences, have ever given the author the utmost delight. But to have been opposed to Mr. H. Marshall in the political struggles of Kentucky, seems to have entailed on the actors, a sentence of conspiracy, and every dishonorable treachery. Our Shelby, Innes, Wil- kinson, Messrs. John and James Brown, Nicholas, Murray, Thomas Todd, and John Ereckenridge, have been thus unjustly denounced by Mr. Marshall. The author of this work, appeals from this sentence of an ancient antagonist, to a generation which has arisen, free in a great de- gi-ee, from the excitements of the times in qi-estion. Whether he has caught an opposite impulse, he cheerfully submits to the verdict of his countrymen. The author cannot conclude this preface, without apprising the reader of a most injurious mutilation of the despatch of General Wayne, to the President of the United States, announcing the important victory over the Indians at the Rapids of the Maumee, on the 20th of August, 1794. This mu- tilation consists in omitting five important passages, substituting and in- X PREFACE. terpolating many words. The pregnant paragraph oniitted, which has led Mr. Marshall as well as the author, into reflections injurious to the memory of the gallant Wayne, is as follows, "The bravery and conduct of every officer belonging to the airmy, from the Generals down to the Ensigns, . merit my highest approbation. There were however, some, whose rank and situation placed their conduct in a very conspicuous point of view, and which I observed with pleasure, and the most lively gratitude : among whom I must beg leave to mention, Brigadier General Wilkinson and Colonel Hamtramck, the commandants of the right and left wings of the l^ion, whose brave example inspired the troops; to these I must add the names of my faithful and gallant aids de camp. Captains De Butts and T. Lewis, and Lieutenant Harrison, who, with the Adjutant General, Major Mills, rendered the most essential service by communicating my or^ ders in every direction, and by thek conduct and bravery exciting the troops to press for victory." Thus, so far from not "distinguishing Wil- kinson," or "ungenerously omitting him," as mentioned by the author. Gen- eral Wayne menrions all his gallant officers, Hamtramck, Captains De Butts, T. Lewis, Lieutenant W. H. Harrison, and the Adjutant General, Major Mills. The sources of this mutilation, the author cannot trace ; his own copy of the despatch is contamed in a collection of public documents entitled "In- dian wars," compiled by Metcalf;* another copy to which he has had access, is contained in a work entitled "History of the discovery of Ameri- ca, &c., by Henry Trumbull^" published at Boston, the native city of Major Mills, by Stephen Sevvell, 1819. The copy right taken out is dated in 1811. The above extract is from the Casket of 1830, published with the approbation of Isaac Wayne, Esq., the son of tlie General ; and enriched with many original papers. It is too important to omit, that General Waj^ne had posirive authority from President Washington, to at- tack and demolish the British fort of Miamis. But on reconnoitering it closely, and discovering its strength, added to his own weakness in artil- lery, the General, with a prudence not always accorded him, most judi- ciously declined an attack. In this daring reconnoiter, the General was near falling a victim to his gallantry. He had rode within eighty yards of the fort, accompanied by his aid, Lieutenant William H. Harrison, and within point blank shot of its guns, when a considerable distuibance was perceived on the platform of the parapet. The intelligence of a deserter the next day explained the whole affair. It appeared that a Captain of marines, who happened to be in the garrison when General Wayne made his approach, resented it so highly, that he immediately seized a port fire, and was going to apply it to the gun. At this moment Major Campbell, the commandant, drew his *Dr. Metcalf, it is believed, now of New York. PREFACE. XJ sword and threatened to cut the Captain down instantly, if he did not desist; he then ordered him to be arrested, and addressed the officer-like note to General Wayne, mentioned in the text. This high minded for- bearance, in all probability, saved the life of General Wayne, with his suite, and possibly the peace of the United States. In conclusion, the author will only add that, any errors of omission or commission, (which he is confident he must have made,) that may be pointed out to his conviction shall be faithfully attended to. Should ths public reception justify a continuation of the work to recent limes, the author will readily prosecute it to the utmost of his limited powenu The facilities granted by the legislature, in giving him the free use of the archives of the State, will give him additional sources of authentic and minute information. Louisville, *Apnl^ 24, 1834. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION.. fearlieet condition of Kentucky— Iroquois, wr Mohawks, known in 1603— Rirly seats Progress to the Mississippi and the Illinois — Appeal to the Colonial Commissioners General Braddock's talk— Treaties with the English— Great treaty of 1768— Opinion of Supreme Court on Indian title— Opinions of general Harrison— Treaties of 1774— 1775-1785— 1795 and 1818. That part of the United States, now so proudly intertwined with their history, as the State of Kentucky, has successively been the theatre, and the prize, of military contention, from the earliest glimmerings of Indian tradition, to the Virginia conquest. This statement is drawn from the most authentic memorials of colonial history. The *French historians tell us, that when they settled in Canada in 1603, the Iroquois as they were termed by the French, but who were more familiarly known to the English by the name of Mohawks, lived on the St. Law- rence, where Montreal is now built; above the mouth of the Iroquois river, now called Sorrel, and on lakes Sacrament, or George, and Iroquois, or, as it is better known, as Lake Cham- plain. This being the earliest account, any Europeans have of these Indians, the country just described may well be con- sidered as their earliest seats. The geographical names in- deed, confirm the ascendency of these tribes, in the region assigned to their dominion. From these territories, the Mo- hawks extended their conquests on both sides of the St. Law^ rence, above Quebec, and on both sides of the lakes Ontario, ♦ Present state of North America, Dodsley, 1755, p. 14, 18, 20. Communicated by. the politeness of Isaac Newball, Esq, of Salem, Massachusetts, from the Historical Roomsi in that City, derived from Colden's Five Nations, and coufrrmed by this latter work. 2 HISTOBY OF KENTUCKY. Erie and Huron. In this career of conquest, with a magnanimitjr and ssagacious spirit worthy of the ancient Romans, and supe- rior to all their cotemporary tribes, they successively incor- porated the victims of their arms, with their own confederacy. Under this comprehensive policy, some of their greatest sachems are said to have sprung from conquered but concilia- ted confederates. In 1672 these tribes are represented as having conquered the Oillinois or Illinois residing on the Illmois river; and they are likewise at the same time, said to have conquered and incorporated the Satanas, the Chawanons or Shawanons, whom they had formerly driven from the lakes. To these conquests, they are said by the same high authority, to have added in 1685, that of the Twightwees, as they are called in the Journal of Major Washington to Gov, Dinwiddle, of Virginia. These tribes, are at this day, more generally known as the Miamis, and they lived on the river St. Jerome, as the Wabash was first called by the French. About the same time, the Mohawks carried their victorious "arms to the Illinois and Mississippi rivers west- ward, and to Georgia southward." *About 1711, they incor- porated the Tuscaroras, when driven from Carolina, and they continue at this day, to constitute a part of this once memora- ble confederacy; forming the sixth nation, and thus changing the name of their union, from the Five Nations to that of the Six. The rise and progress of these most remarkable tribes, have worthily employed the pens of several historians, both French and English; they have even seduced the mind of De Witt Clinton, from the cares of the great State of New York, to investigate the history of her most ancient and faithful allies. To this summary, other authorities may well be added, on a point, so vital to the early history of Kentucky, and of Western America. This becomes more necessary, since the connection of these tribes with the history of Kentucky, has escaped the notice of all our recent writers. Even the emi- nent biographer of our illustrious Washington, seems to have neglected these annals, in their relations to our colonial history. ♦Thatcher's Lives of the Indians, p. 39. HISTORY OP KENTUCKY. 3 Yet, it could not be from any dubious or unimportant character, which attaches to them, since they arc derived from the highest colonial authorities and embrace the treaty history of Western America. The tribes in question, says Governor Pownal in his "Administration of the British Colonies," about 1664, carried their arms, as far south as Carolina, arid as far west as the Mississippi, over a vast country, which extended twelve hundred miles in length, and about six hundred in breadth,- where they destroyed whole nations, of whom there are no accounts remaining among the English. "The rights of these tribes," says the same respectable authority, "to the hunting lands of Ohio, (meaning the river of that name) may be fairly proved by the conquest they made in subduing the Shavanoes, Delawares, Twictwees, and Oillinois, as they stood possessed thereof, at the peace of Ryswick in 1697." In further confirmation of this Indian title, it must be mentioned, that Lewis Evans, a gentleman whom Dr, Franklin compli- ments, as possessed "of great American knowledge," repre- sents in his map of the middle colonies of Great Britain on this continent, the country on the south-easterly side of the Ohio river, as the hunting lands of the Six Nations. In his analysis to his map, he expressly says, *"that the Shawanese Avho were formerly one of the most considerable nations of these parts of America, whose seat extended from Kentucke, south-westward to the Mississippi, have been subdued by the confederates, (or Six Nations) and the country since boc-yniC; their property." This chain of testimony is corroborated by the statements of the Six Nations to the commissioners of the provinces of Penn- sylvania, Virginia, and Maryland, at an Indian council held with them in 1744. When at this meeting, the Indian Chiefs were called upon by the colonial commissioners "to tell what nations of Indians they had conquered lands from in Virginia, and to receive satisfaction for such lands, as they had a right to ;" they are said by Dr. Franklinf to have made this reply : * Franklin's Works, vol. 4. f Franklin's Works, vol. 4, 271, ObservalJons on the con- duct of the French, dedicated tg Win. Shirley, Gov. Boston, 1755; p. 4. 4 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. "All the world knows,, that we conquered the several nations living on the Susquehannah, Cohongoranto (now Potomack) and back of the Great Mountains in Virginia j" "we conquered I the nations residing there, and that land, if the Virginians ever get a good right to it, it must be by us." These tribes had previously, as early as 1701, placed themselves under the protection and government of Great Britain. In their deed, or treaty of the 4th of September, 1726^ they confirmed this disposition of their country. Calculating implicitly on this acknowledgment. General Bi'addock, when, in 1755, he came over to command one of the military expe- ditions, directed against the French intruders upon the very Ohio lands in question, issued suitable instructions to Sir William Johnson. This gentleman was the celebrated Indiaa Agent of the British government, among the Mohawks. By these directions he was required to call the Five Nations together, to lay before them the above grant to the King in 1726; by which they had placed all their hunting lands under his Majesty's protection, to be '^guarantied to them and to their usc^ The general then, after alleging the invasion of the French, and their erecting forts upon these lands, "contrary to the said deed and treaties ; calls upon them in his name, to take up the hatchet, and come and take possession of their own landsy These Indian claims are solemnly appealed to in a diplomatic memorial, addressed by the British ministry to the Duke Mirepoix, on the part of France, on the 7tK Juno, 1756. *"It is a certain truth," this memorial states, "that they" (mean- ing the countries possessed by the Five Nations) "have be- longed, and as they have not been given up, or made over to the English, belong still to the same Indian nations." The court of Great Britain maintained in this negociation, 1 "that the Five Nations were by origin, or by right of conquest, the lawful proprietors of the river Ohio, and the territory in ques- tion." In pursuance of this ancient aboriginal title, the author Tiiay not omit the testimony of Dr. Mitchell, who, at the solicit *FrankIin'$ Works, ante. tWcm. JSlate Papers, vol. x. 15, HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 5 tation of the British Board of Trade and Plantations, published a Map of North America, and was furnished for this purpose, with documents from the Colonial Office. In this map, the same which the elder Adams mentions,* as the one by whicli the boundaries in the treaty of Paris of 1783, were adjusted; the Doctor observes, "that the Six Nations have extended their territories ever «ince the year 1672, when they subdued, and ivere incorporated with, the ancient Shawanese, the native pro- prietors of these countries. Besides which, they likewise daim a right of conquest over the Illinois and all the Missis* sippi, as far as they extend." This, he adds, "is confirmed by their own claims and possessions in 1742, which include all the bounds here laid down (meaning on his map,) and none have ever thought fit to dispute them." Such faith-did the British go- vernment and their agent. Sir William Johnson, repose in this Indian title, that in October, 1768, agreeably to ministerial instructions solicited by Pennsylvania, "through Dr. Franklin, it was purchased of its holders, the Six Nations, for £10,130 1 7s. 6d. sterling. This Indian treaty was held at Fort Stanwix, / afterwards denominated Fort Schuyler, and now included in I the township of Rome, on the Erie canal, in the state of New 1 York. At this meeting, so memorable in the annals of the I west, the Six Nations declared to the agent, eminent for his f knowledge of Indian concerns, that "you who know all our affairs, must be sensible, that our rights go much further to the south than the Kenhawa, and that we have a very good and clear title, as far south as the Cherokee river, which we cannot allow to be the right of any other Indians, without doing wrong ^ to our posterity, and acting unworthy of those warriors who \ fought and conquered it; we therefore, expect this our right, Vwill be considered." In 1781, f Colonel Croghan who, for thirty years had been deputy superintendent among the Six Nations, deposed, "that these Indians claimed by right of con- quest, all the lands on the south-oast side of the Ohio^Jiutlie,, _J[^herokee river, and on the v/est side, down to the Big Miami. <>thervvise called Stony river." This title, as has been men- *State Tapers, vol. X, 13. tHay wood's Tennessee, p. 2?2. A* HISTORY OP KENTUCKY. tioned, was alienated to the British Crown in the treaty (o which reference has just been had. The Cherokee river mentioned in this cession, was also called the Hogotege* in the treaty, and is now known as the Tennessee river. The first of these names is used convertibly with Tennessee, by the legislature of Virginia in their resolutions of 1778, and again in the celebrated land law of 1779, as well as in Filson's To- pography of Kentucky, compiled in 1784. It is hoped that be- 'fore the termination of (his history, some more minute account of this remarkable treaty may be obtained from the enquiries, '• . so courteously promoted by Governor Breathitt of Kentucky, and addressed to the government of our parent State. Yet (he hope is but faint, unless the enquiry shall be pursued to the Colonial Office in London, since, on application of secreta- ry Jefferson, in 17S3, to Governor Clinton of Nev/ York, for copies of all Indian treaties nesrociated during (he colonial government; it v.as replied, that on (he rupture of the revolu- tion, the British Superintendent for Indian aflairs, had taken, avrayall the papers belonging to his department. Thus far the aboriginal title to Kentucky has been traced to its transfer to the British crown; and although, as a matter cf convention, and a question of treaty obligation, it seems Avcli founded; yet it is not quite conclusive against the tribes west of the Six Nations. In the fluctuations so peculiarly inci- dent to savage society, one tribe successively succeeds to the do- iiiinion,and the rights of its feebler neighbour; and in the weak- ness consequent upon the approach of the dense population of njji'icultural societ) , while one nation fades before the white nran, another formerly tributary, resumes the paramount au- thority, which had been lost by its conquerors. In this manner, the north-western tribes, who seem to have been conquered by ihc Mohawks in ancient times, appear to have succeeded to the righls of (heir conquerors, when their former masters had lost •he predominancy, which they certainly possessed during the war of 1755. Since our countrymen have been particularly acquainted Avith the north-western Indians and have under- ^liay wood's History of Tennessee, 231-2. t^-enr.ing's Statutes at large, 2, 1779. niSTOEY OF KENTUCKY. 7 stood their titles and fluctuating dominions, the Miami confede- racy, or as they designated it, the Mi-a-mi-ah, have occupied the country between the Ohio, the lakes and the Mississippi, as far east as the Scioto. General Harrison, to whose curious inquiries the country is particularly indebted for information on this subject, gives this account in his valuable letter to Sec- retary Armstrong, in 1814, *"They (meaning the Miamis) have no tradition of removing from any other quarter of the country,- whereas all the neighboring tribes, the Piankishav/s excepted, who are a branch of the Miamies, are either intru- ders upon them, or have been permitted to settle in their coun- try." "The claims of the Miamies were bounded on the north and west by those of the Illinois confederacy, consistino- originally of five tribes, called Kaskaskias, Cahokias, Pco- rians, Michiganians, and Temarois, speaking the Miami lan- guage, and no doubt, branches of that nation." In the above war between France and Great Britain,! the Indians inhabiting the countries between the rivers Mississippi, Ohio and Miami, were known by the name of the Western Con- federacy, and were the allies of the former; while the Six Nations were attached to the latter, and were denominated the Northern Confederacy. |0n the termination of this war, the Kaskaskias, under the mediation of the British government, formed a treaty of peace with the Iroquois. The former tribe, including the tribes between the Wabash and the Mississippi, had previously separated from the rest of the confederacy ; for indeed the nature of Indian society, forbids the continuance of any large population together; and hence its endless rami- fication. The Illinois tribes had been driven from their pos- sessions on Lake Michigan, and had been nearly extirpated by the Sacs or Saukies, before the close of our revolutionary war. But all the traditional accounts of the north-western Indians, represent the country now composing the State of Indiana and that of Ohio west of the Scioto, to have been occupied by the Miami confederacy. The occupation of the country on the vMcAfee's History, p. 43. tWheaton's Reports, Johnson against Mcintosh. J Gea. Harrison's Letter to the Author. 8 HISTORY OP KENTUCKY. Scioto and the Miamis of the Ohio by the Delawares and Shawnees, was on the same authority, of more recent date, and by the permission of the Miamis. The Wyandots were the most easterly of these nations, and had long before the revo- lutionary war, carried on hostilities with the Mohawks. One battle fought in canoes near Long Point, on Lake Erie, was so fatal to the Wyandots, as to have compelled the remnant of their tribe to remove to Lake Michigan. The precise date of these events, cannot now be ascertained ; but sometime before the close of the revolution, the Wyandots were found in their ancient seats about Sandusky river. Their numbers were not tbrmidable, but their character for valor was so distinguished, that they obtained the custody of the great calumet, which was the emblem of the confederacy of nine tribes, formed by British influence against the United States, and terminated only by the victory of Wayne, at the rapids of the Maumee in 1794. The return of this tribe, was in all probability, the result of British mediation, after their conquest of Canada. The Senecas, the most western of the Six Nations, had, at one time, extended themselves as far as the Sandusky river, and possessed a town upon it, which bore their name.* This is the farthest western settlement of the Six Nations known, independent of the ac- counts of the colonial writers, which have been quoted ; now had they conquered the Wyandots, still this tribe have not been discovered to have had any pretensions to Kentucky, beyond the other coterminous bands. Within the personal knowledge of our countrymen since the war of 1755, Kentucky has not been in the occupancy of any tribe. There are indeed through it, as all over the western country, indications of a race of people having existed, much more advanced in the arts, than the tribes known to us; but, whose history is but a tissue of faint and disjointed conjectures, like that of innumerable tribes all over the globe, who have been destitute of letters and the use of the metals. Without these foundations, civilization has neither fruits to record, nor instruments to perpetuate their memory. Our hunters from 1767 in their various pere- ■■■ ♦General Harrison had hia head quarters at this point during the lato war. HISTORY OP KENTUCKY. V grinations through the territory, since denominated Kentucky, met with no marks of a modern Indian town within the whole extent of the country. The villages of Indians known to have been nearest to Kentucky, were on the Scioto and the Miamis of the Ohio in the north, and on the waters of the Tennessee river in the south. From these points, the various war and hunting parties issued to engage in the one or the other pur- suit, as the passions, or the opportunities of their expeditions might lead. Here, the Chickasaws and Cherokees of the south, used to engage with various tribes of the Miami confederacy; here they indulged their passions for hunting, in the profusion of game afforded by Kentucky. So much was this ground ex- empted from settlement, that on neither the Ohio nor the lower Tennessee, are any Indian towns known to have been settled. Yet no situations have generally delighted savage tribes so much, as the margins of water courses; the opportunities of navigation and of fishing, unite to attract them to such spots. Accordingly the banks of most of our western rivers , except- ing those of Kentucky, (although they abounded in game and in salt licks,) were found occupied by the native tribes of the forests. There is another circumstance suggested by Gen. Harrison, which confirms the modern limitations of the Six Nations, whatever may have been their ancient ascendency. The chief seat of the Miamis was the scite of Fort Wayne, between the St. Joseph's and the St. Mary's. Had the Six Nations achieved any great recent success over the Miamis, they would in all 'probability, have forced them from this favorite spot, which is the key to the country below; and the defeated tribes would have been driven on their confederates upon the lower Wabash. This, however, was not their location. That long and obstinate wars subsisted between the Iroquoia and their immediate western neighbors, about the middle of the last century, derives much probability from another circum- stance. *The French for fifty years, used no route to their possessions on the Mississippi, but the circuitous one by lakes ♦J.euer of Gen, Harrison. 10 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. Erie and Michigan, and the Fox and Wisconsin rivers. Thisf distant embarrassed course of communication, could not have been resorted to, from their ignorance of the more direct route ^ by the Maumee and the Wabash. It is therefore to be pre- sumed, that the prevalence of wars between the adjacent tribesy prevented them from passing over this belligerent ground. It was not till about 1745, that Capt. De Vincennes accompanied by a Jesuit, accomplished the passage by this latter route. Some time before this period, the Wyandots probably returned ; and peace having been made with the Six Nations, the country was opened to the enterprises of the French, as has been seen„ No treaties made with the northrwestern Indians directly, are known to exist in our imperfect colonial records, previous ta the treaty of 1774, between Lord Dunmore and the Sbawanees, if even this has been preserved. The nature of this treaty, the author has been unable to as- certain with any precision from any accessible records. There is a brief notice of its purport, in Burk's Virginia,* which represents, that peace was made by the royal governor with the Shawnees, on "condition that the lands on this side of the Ohio, should be forever ceded to the whites; that their pris- oners should be delivered up, and that four hostages should be immediately given for the faithful performance of these condi- tions." Such a treaty appears at this day, to be utterly beyond the advantages which could have been claimed from Dunmore's expedition. The principal blow had been struck by the Icil wing of his army apart from him, at the bloody battle of Point Pleasant, in which, under Gen. Andrew Lewis, with the choicest spirits of the western backwoodsmen, the Indians fought with an open resolution worthy of their highest military fame, although they retreated. Gov. Dunmore crossed the Ohio seventy-five miles above the mouth of Kenhawa, and ordered Lewis to join him, at the Indian towns eighty miles from the river. Here but little fighting is said to have taken place, when the Governor patched up a peace, which would have little deserved the sub- sequent suspicions evinced by the legislature of Virginia^t *3d Vol. p, 396. tWirt's Life of Patrick Henry, HISTOBY OP KENTUCKY. 11 had it effected a transfer of such valuable territory even at that day. Then, indeed, the prospect of western prosperity, was thickly veiled, in comparison with its modern reality, and still more splendid indications; yet the "colony and ancient domi- nion of Virginia," was by no means, insensible to the cradle of empire she possessed, extending from the Alleghany to the Mississippi. This is evinced by the eagerness with which she laid claim in her first constituticm of June 29th, 1776, to the extreme boundaries of dominion, under the charter granted by James the first of Great Britain. "Within these limits she asserted the exclusive right of purchasing the soil from the aborigines." So far the title of the Indians to Kentucky and the adjacent country, has been traced to its voluntary convey- ance to the British Crown, for a valuable consideration at the treaty of Fort Stanwix, in 1768. This treaty was formed on the principles which had regulated the intercourse of the French and British with the natives of North America, from the ear- liest period of their connection. The European nations seem to have adopted the principle of prior discovery, as one of peace among themselves, and not as a source of title over the aboriginal inhabitants.* Spain, in the discussions with other European nations, as well as with the United States, placed her title to her American posses- sions, not upon the celebrated bull of Pope Alexander VI., but upon the rights given by discovery; "Portugal sustained her claim to the Brazils by the same title. France also founded her title to the vast possessions she claimed in America on discov- ery." The letters patent granted to the Sieur Dements, in 1603, constituted him Lieutenant General, and the represen- tative of the King in Acadie, which is described as stretching from the 40th to the 46th degree of north latitude. The States of Holland also made acquisitions in America, and sustained theTr right on the common principle adopted in Europe. No one of the powers of Europe gave its full assent to this principle, more unequivocally, than England. So early as 1495 her monarch granted a commission to the Cabots to discover coun- ts V^beaton'a Reports; Mclnlosb against Johnson. 12 niSTOBY OP KENTtcKV. tries then unknown to Christian people, and to take possession of them, in the name of the King of England. In the same manner were granted, the charters to Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Sir Walter Raleigh and finally to Sir Thomas Gates, and others^ in 1606. The latter charter granted the country be- tween 34 and 41 degrees of north latitude: this was after- wards enlarged in 1609, into the grant to the Treasurer and Company of Adventurers of the city of London for the first colony in Virginia." This charter embraced four hundred miles in absolute property, extending along the sea coast and into the land throughout from sea to sea. Between France and Great Britain, whose discoveries, as well as settlements, were nearly cotemporaneous, contests for the country actually covered by the Indians, began as soon as their settlements ap- proached each other, and were continued until finally settled in the year 1763 by the treaty of Paris. In the controversies which were closed by this war, France had contended, not only that the St. Lawrence was to be considered as the centre of Canada, but that the Ohio was within that colony. She foun- ded this claim on discovery, and on having used this river for transportation of troops, in a war with some southern Indians. In the treaty of 1763, France ceded and guarantied to Great Britain, all Nova Scotia or Acadie and Canada with their de- pendencies, to the middle of the Mississippi, and the lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain," while Great Britain on her part, surrendered to France all her pretensions to the country west of the Mississippi. "It has never been supposed that she sur- rendered nothing, although she was not in possession of a foot of the land. She surrendered all right to acquire the country; and any after attempt to purchase it from the Indians, would have been considered and treated as an invasion of the territory of France. Thus, all the nations of Europe who have acquired torritory from the Indians on this continent, have asserted in themselves, and have recognized in others, the exclusive right of the discoverer to appropriate the lands occupied by the Indiaris. By the treaty which concluded the war of our revo- lution, Great Britain relinquished all claim not only to the go- HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 13 vcrnment, but to the "proprietary and territorial rights of the United States." By this treaty, the powers of the government, and the right to soil, which had previously been in Great Britain, passed definitively to these states. They had before taken possession of them by declaring independence ; but nei- ther the declaration of independence, nor the treaty confirming it, could give us more than that, which we before possessed; or to which Great Britain was before entitled. It has never been doubted that the United States, or the several states, had a clear title to all the lands within the boundary lines described in the treaty, subject only to the Indian right of occupancy, and that the exclusive power to extinguish that right, was vested in that government, which might constitutionally exercise it.'"* This extinguishment has been made as mentioned, by the treaty of Fort Stanwix for the country east of the Tennessee river; for the balance of Kentucky, to the Mississippi, a treaty with tlie Chickasaws on the 19th October, 1818, provided. In addition to these transfers of native title to Kentucky, a con- veyance was made by the southern Indians, the Cherokees, to Richard Henderson and Company, on the 17th March, 1775, on the Wataga or Wataugah, the south-eastern branch of Hol- ston. By this treaty was ceded, as it imports, "all the tract or territory of lands now called by the name of Transylvania, lying on the Ohio river, and the waters thereof, branches of the Mississippi, and bounded as follows : Beginning on the said Ohio river at the mouth of the Cantuckey Chenoee, or what by the English is called Louisa river; from thence running up the said river and most northwardly fork of the same to the head spring thereof; thence a south-east course to the top ridge of Powers mountain; thence westwardly along the ridge of the said mountain unto a point from which a north-west course will hit or strike the head spring of the most southwardly branch of Cumberland river; thence down the said river including all its waters, to the Ohio river; thence up the said river as it meanders to the beginning. Which said tract or territory of lands was at the time of said purchase, and time out of mind, had been the land and hunting grounds of the said tribe of (Chero B 14 niSTOEY OF KENTUCKY. kee) Indians." The consideration paid for this great section of Kentucky between the river of that name and the Cumberland, was £10,000 sterling in merchandise. Another treaty in re- gard to Kentucky, is said by John Filson,* to have been nego- ciated with the Five Nations, for the country between the Ken- tucky river and the Great Kenhawa, by Col. Donaldson of Virginia, in consideration of £500 sterling. All the research which the author has, through the courtesy of the Governor o Kentucky, been able to institute on the subject of these ancient Indian negociations, remains without an answer. In both these instances, certainly in the first, the legislature invalidated the private purchase in favor of the public domain ; and assigned compensation to the individuals, in large cessions of lands. This Indian title was, notwithstanding the subsequent acknow- ledgement of Virginia, contrary to her own sense of Indian rights, as well as that of the Cherokees; if there has been no mistake in an anecdote told us by Judge Haywood in his His- tory of Tennessee. At the treaty of Fort Stanwix, which has so often been unavoidably brought to the reader"'s attention, the Judfre says, in 1766, but the author thinks by mistake, some of the Cherokees are said to have attended. They had killed on their route some game for their support; and upon their arrival at the treaty ground, tendered the skins to the Six Nations, saying, 'Hhey are yours, we killed them after passing the big river,'''' the name by which they had always designated the Tennessee. In 1769, Dr. Walker and Col. Lewis were sent as commissioners by Lord Bottetourt, to correct the mis- takes of Mr. Stewart, the southern superintendent of Indian affairs, in regard to the Cherokee claims. These gentlemen had long been conversant, says Dr. Franklin, in Indian Affairs, and were well acquainted with the actual extent of the Chero- kee country. Yet they most positively informed Mr. Stewart, that "the country southward of the Big Kenhawa was never claimed by the Cherokees, and now is the property of the crown, as Sir William Johnson purchased it of the Six Nations, at a very considerable expense; and took a deed of cession from them at Fort Stanwix."" *Filson's Kentucky, J793. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 15 Such, however, as the title might be, it was purchased, ami constituted into the colony of Transylvania, by Col. Henderson and his associates; though subsequently invalidated as respected the grantees, by the government of Virginia. The claims of Col. Henderson & Co. were compromised, by a grant of 200,000 acres of land at the mouth of Green river by Virginia, and us much in Powell's Valley by North Carolina. It was at this treaty, that Daniel Boone was told by an old Indian, who had signed the treaty, taking him by the hand, ^'brother," says he, "we have given you a fine land, but I believe you will have much trouble in settling it;" words, as events mournfully proved, of most ominous meaning. The troubles of Kentucky have been marked broad and deep in blood; and still deeper in the keen wounds of the heart, which often shew them- selves by that consuming grief, which withers up the sources of joy, and at length wears away its victim to the grave. Thus by fair and repeated treaties; first of 1768 with the Six Nations, by which the Indian title to Kentucky, was extin- guished as far south as the Tennessee river; secondly, by the treaty with the Shawnees wdth Lord Dunmore, in 1774; thirdly, by the treaty with the Cherokees in 1775, in consideration of £10,000 sterling , their title was extinguished to that portion o? Kentucky, between the river of that name and the Cumberland Mountains and Cumberland river; also, by the treaty of Fort M'- Intosh* in 1785 ; confirmed and enlarged by the treaty of Green- ville in 1795; and, lastly, by the treaty with the Chickasaws in 1818; all that part of Kentucky west of the Tennessee and south of the Ohio was acquired. Are not these documents rights and tide deeds, which the people of Kentucky may proudly point out to the cavillers against her title? No private proprie- tor, no freeholder in the land, can exhibit a better connected chain of title to his possessions, than the state of Kentucky can shew to her domain. In this investigation, the author has not thought it within his province, to engage in metaphysical dis- cussions of natural right. He gladly prefers to such unsettled discussions, the authority and practical decisions of the govern- * On Uie Ohio river, near Big Beaver Creek. 16 HISTORY or KENTUCKY. ment and the high judicial tribunals of his country. Nor have the statesmen and jurists of :he United States differed from those of the great European powers on these high questions of social rights and political obligations between them and the Indian tribes on this continent. This relation is forcibly stated in the following extract from the negociations at Ghent on the part of the American Ministers.* "The Indians residing with- in the United States, are so far independent, that they live under their own customs, and not under the laws of the United States ; that their rights upon the lands where they inhabit, or hunt, are secured to them by boundaries defined in amicable treaties between the United States and themselves; and that wherever these boundaries are varied, it is also by amicable and voluntary treaties, by which they receive from the United States ample compensation for every right they have to the lands ceded to them. They are so far dependent as not to have the right to dispose of their lands to any private persons, nor to any power other than the United States, and to be under their protec- tion alone, and not under that of any other power." This sub- ject is further enlarged as follows: "the United States while intending never to acquire lands from the Indians otherwise than psaceably, and with their free consent, are fully determined in that manner, progressively, and in proportion as their growing population may require, to reclaim from a state of nature, and to bring into cultivation, every portion of the territory contain- ed within their acknowledged boundaries. In thus providing for the support of millions of civilized beings they will not vio- late any dictate of justice or humanity, for they will not only give to the few thousand savages scattered over that territory, an ample equivalent for any right they may surrender, but will always leave them the possession of lands more than they can cultivate, and more than adequate to their subsistence, comfort and enjoyment by cultivation." But the author is not disposed in this deduction of title founded on solemn treaties, such as have from time immemorial governed the relations of political societies, to overlook the valour and * State Papers, vol. ix. 396, 406, HISTORr OF KENTUCKY. 17 enduring hardihood, by which the rights of Kentucky have been confirmed and scaled in the blood and by the arms of her souf. The rights of arms and of conquest are parts of the law of na- tions; and the people of Kentucky, are entitled to their opera- tion as much as every other body politic. Such indeed, is the uncertain condition of even civilized society, that helpless are the plainest rights of men, which are not supported and vindica- ted when necessary, by the courage and the manly firmness of their possessors. To the fruits of this courage and endurance of suffering in every appalling form, no portion of the western country has superior claim to that of Kentucky. She has been the nursing mother of the west, the blood of her children has flowed freely on every battle field; and now, let them and their posterity enjoy the honors so manfully won. CHAPTER II. Policy of tlie British Government— Proclamation 1763— Violations of it— Visit of Dr. Walker in 1747— Names the Shawanee river CiiniberJand— Visit of John Finlcy— of Daniel Doone—Lon;' hnnters-Visit of Capt. Thomas Bullitt and McAfees— Surveys of Louisville — S'nion Kenton — Burnin?of Hendricks — Adventures of the McAfees — James Harrod settles Harrodshurg— Battle of Point Pleasant— Treaty of 1774— Treaty of 1775— Settlement of Boonesborougb and St. Asaphs— Indian method of siege. The Britisli government seems to have suspected the policy of extending her colonies.yree/?/, on this side of the Alleganies; though several large grants of land had been made to different land companies.* The proclamation of the King, however, in 1763, expressly prohibited the granting warrants of survey, or passing "patents for any lands beyond the heads or sources of any of the rivers, which fall into the Atlantic ocean from the west or north-west." But so irresistible is the love of adven- ture in the early state of society, so irrepressible is its fondness for new and unexplored scenes of enterprise, that as was once said in the Senate of the United States, "you might as well inhibit the fish from swimming down the western rivers to the sea, as to prohibit the people from settling on the new lands." *4th vol. Pranklin'e Works; Ohio Settlement; Marshall's Colonial History, p. 261. B* 18 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. The whole history of our country, and particularly of its wes- tern section, is an exemplification of this enterprising spirit: Nor could tenfold the energies of the British government have repressed this darling passion of society. Accordingly it was found seeking its gratification, by numerous pioneers, who sometimes singly, and at other times in parties, little stronger, considering the fearful odds of enemies and distance, opposed to them, engaged in exploring this new region of the West. No doubt the military conflicts of our countrymen with the French and Indians, in the war of '55; and the distinguished success with which it closed, must have brought many gallant spirits acquainted imperfectly, with the country on the lower Ohio; and as far as it was imperfect, so much more would their ar- dent imaginations enhance its interest, and would their curiosity be stimulated. Indeed, the actual occupation of the country acquired by the peace of 1763, obliged the British officers to pass through the Western Country to St. Vincents, as Vin- cennes was then called, to Kaskaskias and Cahokia. Previous to this time, as early as* 1747, Dr. Walker, of Vir- ginia "led an exploring party through the north-eastern portion of the state and gave the name of Cumberland, after the ^'Bloody Duke," of that name, to the present river, formerly called Shawanee river, and likewise Louisa, to the Big Sandy river on the east, a name now confined to one of its upper forks; but which was at first applied to the Kentucky.! This party, having unfortunately fallen upon the most mountainous portion of the State, did not effect much, in favor of Kentucky by their report. John Finley, of North-Carolina, and his com- panions, are said by Daniel Boone, to have visited the country, in 1767, without however leaving, it is believed, a trace of their expedition beyond their names ; now so briefly, but unavoida- bly recorded. Two years after the return of Finley, Daniel Boone tells us in his meagre ^Narrative, that "on the first of May, 1769, he left his peaceable habitation on the Yadkin Ri- ver, in North-Carolina," in quest of the country of Kentucky, « Dr. Walker so informed John Brown, Esq. of Frankfort, f McAfea and Rajr, tComposed by John FUson, from the dictation of Boone, in 1784. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 10 in company with John Finley, John Stewart and three others. To a philosophic observer in the ancient and ripened States of society, could any thing appear more forlorn and quixotic, than thus to abandon peaceable habitations in the very spring and seed time of the year; to go in quest of a distant and unknown country, infested with wild beasts and enemies not less savage ; a region beset with every variety of difficulty and hardship ! Yet while these difficulties deter the quiet and industrious, they only stir the blood and string the nerves of the enterprising and the restless. Both characters have their appropriate periods and sphere of social utility. Our daring explorer continues; "we proceeded successfully, and after a long and fatiguing journey, through a mountainous wilderness in a western direction, on the 7th day of June follow- ing, we found ourselves on Red River the northernmost branch of the Kentucky river; where John Finley had formerly been trading with the Indians, and from the top of an eminence, we saw with pleasure, the beautiful level of Kentucky." Let us attend to the first recorded impressions, which, this new coun- try made upon its hardy and fearless explorers; "we found" says the narrative "every where abundance of wild beasts of all sorts through this vast forest." The buffaloes (or the bison of the naturalist) were more frequent than I have seen, says Boone, cattle in the settlements, browzing on the leaves, or cropping the herbage on these extensive plains." The party continued ^'hunting with great success until the 22d of December follow- ing." Soon after this, John Stewart was killed, the first victim, iis far as is known, in the hecatombs of white men, offered by the Indians to the god of battles, in their desperate and ruth- less contention for Kentucky. Our author or pamphleteer then says, that he and his brother Squire Boone, who had reached the country some time before in pursuit of his roving relative, continued during the winter undisturbed, until the first of May; when the former returned to the settlements, as the more dense- ly inhabited parts of the country were called. During this same year,* a party of about forty stout hunters, *MarsbaI),>2.9. 20 HISTOEY OF KENTUCKY. "from New River, Holston and Clinch" united in a hunting ex- pedition west of the Cumberland Mountains. Nine of this party led on by Col. James Knox reached Ken- tucky; and, from the time they were absent from home, they "obtained the name of the Long Hunters.'^'' This expedition reached "the country south of the Kentucky river" and became acquainted with Green river, and the lower part of the Cumber- land. In addition to these parties, so naturally stimulated by the ardent curiosity incident to early and comparatively, idle so- ciety, the claimants of military bounty lands which had been obtained from the British crown, for services against the French, furnished a new and keen band of western explorers. Their land warrants were surveyed on the Kenhawa and the Ohio; though most positively against the very letter of the royal pro- clamation of '63. But at this distance from the royal court, it was nothing new in the history of government that edicts eman- ating, even from the King in council, should be but imperfectly regarded. However, this maybe, land warrants were actually surveyed on the Kenhawa as early as 1772, and in 1773, seve- ral surveyors were deputed to lay out bounty lands on the Ohio river. Amongst others Thomas Bullitt, uncle to the late Alexander Scott Bullitt, first lieutenant governor of Kentucky; and Han- cock Taylor, engaged in this adventurous work. These gen- tlemen with their company were overtaken on the 28th of May, 1773, by the McAfees, whose exertions will hereafter occupy a conspicuous station in this narrative. On the 29th, the party in one boat and four canoes, reached the Ohio river, and elected Bullitt their captain. There is a romantic incident connected with this gentleman's descent of the Ohio, evincing singular intrepidity and presence of mind; it is taken from his journal, as Mr. Marshall says, and the author has found it substantially confirmed by the McAfee papers. While on his voyage, he left his boat and went alone through the woods to the Indian town of Old Chilicothe, on the Scioto. He arrived in the midst of the town undiscovered by the » HISTORY OP KENTUCKY. 21 Indians, until he was waving his white flag as a token of peace. He was immediately asked what news? Was he from the Long Knife? And why, if he was a peace-meesengcr, he had not sent a runner ? Bullitt, undauntedly replied, that he had no bad news; was from the Long Knife, and as the red men and the whites were at peace, he had came among his brothers to have a friendly talk with them, about living on the other side of the Ohio; that he had no runner swifter than himself; and, that he was in haste and could not wait the return of a runner. "Would you," said he, "if you were very hungry, and had killed a deer, €end your squaw to town to tell the news, and wait her return before you eat?" This simple address to their own feelings, soon put the Indians in good humour, and at his desire a coun- cil was assembled to hear his talk the next day. Captain Bul- litt then made strong assurances of friendship on the part of the whites and acknowledged that these "Shawnees and Delawares, our nearest neighbors," "did not get any of the money or blank- ets given for the land, which, I and mj people are going to set- tle. But it is agreed by the great men, who own the land, that they will make a present, to both the Delawares and Shawanees, the next year; and the year following, that shall be as good.'* On the ensuing day, agreeably to the very deliberate manner of the Indians in council, Capt. Bullitt was informed, that "he seemed kind and friendly, and that it pleased them well." That as to "settling the country on the other side of the Ohio with your people, we are particularly pleased that they are not to disturb us in our hunting. For we must hunt, to kill meat for our women and children, and to get something to buy our powder and lead with, and to get us blankets and clothing." In these talks, there seems a strange want of the usual sagacity of the Indians as to the consequences of white men settling on their hunting grounds; so contrary to their melancholy experience for a century and a half previous; yet, the narrative is uninv peachable. On the part of Bullitt, too, the admission of no com- pensation to the Delawares and Shawanees, appears to be irre- concileable with the treaty at fort Stanwix with the master iribes of the confederacy, the Six Nations, However, this may 22 HISTORY OF KE?fTUCKY. be, the parties separated in perfect harmony, and Captain Bui- iitt proceeded to the Falls. Here he pitched his camp above the mouth of Beargraes creek, retiring of a night to the upper point of the shoal above Corn Island, opposite to the present city of Louisville. It was this gentleman, who, according to the testi- mony of Jacob Sodowsky,a respectable farmer, late of Jessa- mine county, in this state, first laid off the town of Louisville^ in August, 1773. He likewise surveyed Bullitt's Lick in the adjoining county, of the same name. Another surveyor by the name of James Douglass, followed Captain Bullitt during the same year, and on his way to the Falls landed near the celebrated collection of Mammoth bones which goes by the emphatic name of Big Bone Lick. Here Douglass remained forming his tent poles of the ribs of some of the enormous animals, which formerly frequented this remarka- ble spot and on these ribs blankets were stretched for a shelter from the sun and the rain. Many teeth were from eight to nine, and some ten feet in length; one in particular was fastened in a porjpendicular direction in the clay and mud, with the end six feet above the surface of the ground ; an effort was made, by ^A men in vain, to extract it from its mortise. The lick exten- ded to about ten acres of land bare of timber, and of grass or herbage ; much trodden, eaten and depressed below the original surface ; with here and there a knob remaining to shew its for- mer elevation. Thereby indefinitely indicating a time when, this resort of numerous animals had not taken place. Through the midst of this lick, ran the creek and on each side of which, a never-failing stream of salt water; whose fountains were in the open field. To this lick, from all parts of the neighbouring country, were converging roads, made by the wild animals that resorted the place for the salt, which both the earth and the v/ater, contained. When the McAfees visited this lick with Captain Bullitt, se- veral Delaware Indians were present; one of these being ques- tioned by James McAfee, about the origin and nature of these extraordinary bones, replied, that they were then just as they had been, when he first saw them in his childhood. Yet, this HISTORY OP KENTUCKY. 23 Indiana ppeared to be at least seventy years of age. Collections of the bones of animals, which, have ceased to tenant the earth, are now tamiliar not only in the United States, but in other parts of the world; but none exceed the one in question, of the bones of the mammoth or the mastodon. About this time Col. John Floyd visited Kentucky, as the deputy of Francis Preston, who was surveyor of Fincastle co, in Virginia, and was one of the party conducted 'in' by Boone ; he afterwards returned in 1775, settled six miles from the Falls, at v/hat was called Floyd's sta- tion on the middle fork of Beargrass creek; he afterwards dis- tinguished himself in the history of the state. About this pe- riod, possibly not till 1774,* Simon Kenton, who afterwards, temporarily changed his name to Butler, descended the Ohio to Cabin creek, a few miles above the present Maysville, Shortly afterwards, Kenton in company with two others, reached the neighbourhood of Mayslick, and for the first time, was struck with the uncommon beauty of the country and the fertility of the soil. Here the travellers fell in with a great buffalo trace, which, in" a few hours, brought them to the Lower Blue Lick. "The flats upon each side of the river were crowded with im- mense herds of buffalo, that had come down from the interior for the sake of the salt; and a number of elk were seen upon the bare ridges, which surrounded the springs," The same pro- fusion of game presented itself at the Upper Blue Lick. "Re- turning as quick as possible, they built a cabin on the spot, where the town of Washington in Mason county, now stands ; and having cleared an acre of ground in the centre of a large canebrake, they planted it with Indian corn." Soon after this, Kenton and his two companions, having left one Hendricks, a fellow hunter at their camp, for the purpose of escorting another companion on his way home, upon returning, found the camp plundered with every mark of violence ; and at a little distance in a low ravine, they observed a thick smoke ascending, as it from a fire just beginning to burn. The party "believing that Hendricks had fallen into the hands of the Indians," who were now burning him, fled with a precipitation unworthy of their » McCIung's Sketches, J)9, 101. 24 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. leader's subsequent fame ; and they did not venture to return, until the evening of the next day. The fire was still burning, though faintly, and after carefully reconnoitering the adjacent ground, they found the skull and bones of their unfortunate ' friend, as far as they had been left unconsumed. Hendricks had evidently, been burned to death by a party of Indians, and was the first, and as it is believed the last of such diabolical sa- crifices, on the soil of Kentucky. Still, this most savage of the Indian customs, was often fearfully, and with every aggravation of torment, inflicted on their prisoners at their towns. It seems, however, during the late war of 1812, that it was greatly inter- mitted, if not entirely abandoned. Such is a faint instance of some of the horrors, endured by the early hunters of Kentucky. Peace to their ashes, and everlasting honor to their manly memory ! The McAfees next present themselves as an energetic deter- mined family of men, even in the hardy and adventurous times which occupy this history. *This party consisting of James, George, and Robert McAfee, James McCoun, Jr. and Samuel Adams left Sinking creek in Bottetourt county, Virginia, on the first of June, 1773; they struck across the country to New river, where, having sent back their horses by John McCoun and James Pawling, they descended the river in canoes. The party continued in company with Bullitt and his companions as has been mentioned, until they came to the mouth of the Ken- tucky river. At this point the company separated, Capt. Bullitt proceeding, as before observed, to the Falls, and the McAfees, with Hancock Taylor, ascended the Kentucky river, or Levisa, (possibly a corruption of Louisa,) to Drennon's lick creek, which they went up, as high as the lick. Here, they found a white man of the name of Drennon, who had crossed the country from the Big Bone lick, and got before the McAfees one day. The same appearances presented themselves here, as at all the licks of the western country, a profusion of every sort of game struggling for the salt, all in sight at once ; and the roads about the lick, as trodden and wide, as in the neighborhood of *McAfee papers In the possession of Gen. R. B. McAfee, in perfect preservation. HISTORY OP KENTUCKY. 25 a populous city. They are spoken of as streets, by the old hunters. The party took one of these roads, or traces, as they were called, so fortunately made by the buffalo and other game, through almost impenetrable cane brakes, and crossed the Ken- tucky river, at the ford below Frankfort, opposite to what has since been called Lee's Town. Here they turned up the river and surveyed the bottom in which Frankfort now stands, hem the other two parties were directed, to possess with a shout. litSTOHY OP KENTt^CKY. 6SJ certain quai'ters of the town ; and to send persons who could speak French, through the streets to give the inhabitants notice, " that every man of the enemy, who should appear in them, would be shot down.'^ These dispositions had the most com- plete success; the fort was taken; Clark entered it by *"a postern gate left open on the river side of the fortification*' which was " shewn by a hunting soldier, who had been taken prisoner the evening before." The town of about two hundred and fifty houses was surrounded, every avenue guarded to pre- vent communication of intelligence, and " in about two hours the inhabitants were disarmed," without one drop of bloodshed. During the night, our men were ordered to patrol the town with the utmost tumult and whooping, after the Indian fashion, while the inhabitants preserved the most profound silence. The arti- fice, however painful and alarming to their feelings, was, at least, one of the most innocent stratagems of war. M. Roche, blave, or Rocheblawe, as Mr. Jefferson has it, the British Go- vernor was taken in his chamber; but very few of his public papers could be secured, as they were secreted or destroyed, it wa5 supposed by his wife. This lady is represented as pre- suming a good deal on the gallantry of our countrymen, by im- posing upon their delicacy towards herself, for the purpose of screening the public property and papers, from the hands of the Americans. But better, ten thousand times better were it so, than, that the ancient fame of the sons of Virginia, should have been tarnished by — insult to a female. Although it was sus- pected that many important papers might be concealed, in the trunks of the Governor's lady; they were, however, honorably respected, and not examined. During the night several persons were sent for to obtain intelligence, but little information could be procured, beyond what had been already received, except that a considerable body of Indians lay at this time in the neigh- borhood of Cahokia, about sixty miles higher up the Mississippi ; and that M. Cere, (the father of the present Madame Augustc ♦ Judffc David Todd, of Missonri, obligingly communicated this circumstance, from tbc papers of the late General Levi Todd, who acted as aid to Colonel Clark. Our country- nien were called Bostoni, by the French at this time. 54 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY, Chouteau,) of St. Louis, the principal merchant of Kaskaskia, was, at that time, cne of the most inveterate enemies of the Americans. This gentleman had left the town before Clark had captured it, and was now at St. Louis, on his way to Quebec, whence he had lately returned, in the prosecution of extensive commercial operations : his family, and an extensive assortment of merchandise,, were in Kaskaskia. By means of these pledges in his power, Colonel Clark thought to operate upon M. Cere, whose influence was of the utmost consequence in the condition of the American interest, if it could be brought to be exerted in its favor. With the view of gaining this gentleman, a guard was immediately placed round his house, and seals placed on his property, as well as on all the other merchandise in the place. On the fifth, the troops were withdrawn from the town to different positions around it; during these movements, as all intercourse with the soldiers had been forbidden under heavy punishment, and even those who were sent for by Clark, had also been ordered to have no communication with the rest; dis- trust and terror overspread the town. In possession of an ene- my, of whom the inhabitants entertained the most horrid appre- hensions, and all intercourse either with one another, or with their conquerors sternly prohibited, the anticipations of the in- habitants might well be gloomy. In this state of things, after the removal of the troops, the people were permitted to walk about freely; when finding they were busy in conversation with one another, a few of the principal militia officers were apprehended by orders of Clark, and put in irons without assigning any rea- son, or suffering any defence. This immediately produced general consternation, and the worst consequences were ex- pected from the enemy, whom their suspicions had invested with such terrors. Yet these measures were taken from no wanton cruelty, for of all men, Colonel Clark enjoyed the mild- est and most affectionate disposition, and he severely felt, as he says, every hardship, he believed himself compelled to inflict. After some time, M. Gibault, the priest of the village, got per- mission with five or six elderly gentlemen, to wait on Colonel Clark. Shocked as the ckizens had been by the sudden cap-- IlISTOUY OF KENTUCKY. 55 ture of their town, and by such an enemy as their imaginations had painted, this party were still more evidently shocked when they entered Clark's quarters, at the appearance of him and his officers. Their clothes dirty and torn by the briars, their others left at the river, the appearance of the chiefs of this little band, was indeed frightful and savage, as Clark himself admits, to any eyes. How much more so to this deputation, may be easily conceived by those, who are acquainted with the refinement and delicacy of the ancient French. It was some time after entering the room where Clark and his officers were seated, be- fore they could speak ; and not then, until their business was demanded; they asked, which was the commander; so effec- tually had this backwoods expedition confounded the differ- ences of rank. The priest then said, that the inhabitants ex- pected to be separated, perhaps never to meet again; and they begged through him, to be permitted to assemble in the church, to take leave of each other. Clark, aware they suspected their very religion to be obnoxious to our people, carelessly told him, tliat he had nothing to say against his church, it was a matter Americans left for every man to settle with his God ; that the people might assemble at church if they would ; but at the same time if they did, they must not venture out of town. Some fur- tlier conversation was attempted on the part of the Kaskaskia gentlemen, but it was repelled by saying there was no longer leisure for further intercourse, in order that the alarm might be raised to its utmost height. The whole town assembled at the church, even the houses were deserted by all who could leav.e them. Orders were honorably given to prevent any soldiers from entering the vacant buildings; the people remained in the church for a considerable time, after which, the priest accom- panied by several gentlemen, waited on Colonel Clark, and ex- pressed in the name of the village, " their thanks for the indul- gence they had received." The deputation then begged leave, at the request of the inhabitants, to address their conqueror on a subject, which was dearer to them, than any other; they were sensible, they said, " that their present situation was the fate of war, and they could submit to the loss of their property; but 56 HISTORY OP KENTUCKY^ they solicited, that they might not be separated from their wives and children ; and that some clothes and provisions might be allowed for their further support." These gentlemen assured Colonel Clark that their conduct had been influenced by their commandants, whom they considered themselves bound to obey; nor were they sure, that they understood the nature vi the con^ test between Great Britain and the United States ; as the oppor- tunities of this remote region, were very unfavorable to accu- rate information. Indeed many of the inhabitants had fre- quently expressed themselves in favor of the Americans, as much as they durst. The utmost hope of this close repetition of tlie case of the citizens of Calais, with ropes about their necks, at the mercy of the third Edward of England was, for favor to their wives and children. In this distress of the villagers, Clark, who had now wound up their terrors to the desired height, resolved to try the force, which the lenity his whole heart had all along intended to grant, might receive from the sudden contrast of feelings. For this purpose, he abruptly asked these gentlemen, " do you mistake us for savages? I am almost certain you do, from your language. Do you think that Americans intend to strip women and children, or take the bread out of their mouths?" "My countrymen," said Clark, disdain to make war upon helpless innocence; it was to prevent the horrors of Indian butchery upon our own wives and chil- dren, that we have taken arms and penetrated into this remote strong hold of British and Indian barbarity; and not the despi- cable prospect of plunder. That now the King of France had united his powerful arms with those of America, the war would not, in all probability, continue long; but the inhabitants of Kaskaskia were at liberty to take which side they pleased, with- out the least danger to either their property or families. Nor would their religion be any source of disagreement; as all reli- gions were regarded with equal respect in the eye of the Ameri- can law, and that any insult which should be offered it, would be immediately punished. And now, to prove my sincerityy you will please inform your fellow-citizens, that they are quite at liberty to conduct themselves as usual, without the least ap-- III9T0RV OF KENTUCKY. 57 prehension; I am now convinced from what I have learned since my arrival among you, that you have been misinformed and prejudiced against us by British officers; and your friends who are in confinement shall immediately be released." Tho agitation and joy of the village seniors, upon hearing this speech of Clark, may well be conceived ; they attempted some apology for the implied imputation of barbarians, under the belief, that the property of a captured town belonged to the conquerors; Clark gently dispensed with this explanation, and desired them to relieve the anxieties of the inhabitants immediately, re- quiring them to comply strictly with the terms of a proclama- tion> which he would shortly publish. The contrast of feeling among the people upon learning these generous and magnani- mous intentions of their conquerors, verified the sagacious an- ticipations of Colonel Clark. In a few moments the mortal de- jection of the village, was converted into the most extravagant joy; the bells were set a ringing, and the church was crowded ■with the people, offering up thanks to Almighty God for their deliverance from the horrors they had so fearfully expected. Perfect freedom was now given to the inhabitants to go or come as they pleased; so confident were our countrymen, that what- ever report might be made, would be to the credit and success of the American arms. Some uneasiness was still felt respect- ing Cahokia, whose capture, Colonel Clark determined to at- tempt, and gain in the same way, if possible, as he had taken Kaskaskia. For this purpose. Major Bowman was ordered to mount his company on horses, with part of another, proceed to Cahokia, and take possession of the village for the state of Vir. ginia. Upon this intention being known, several of the Kas- kaskia gentlemen very handsomely offered their services to join our men, and cflTect any thing Colonel Clark desired. They assured him, that the people of Cahokia were their relations and friends; and they entertained no doubt of prevailing upon tliem to unite in the same political attachments, so soon as the circumstances in which they were placed, should be fully ex- plained to them. This offer Clark readily embraced; it indeed very fortunately presented itself, in the weakness of his small 58 HISTOHY OF KENTUCKY. corps; and a detachment, little inferior in strength to that which had invaded the country, departed for this new conquest; if such acquisitions hy miitual consent, can well be called so. The French party were commanded by their former militia officers, and all set off in high spirits at this new mark of confidence under the free government of Virginia. On the 6th of July, the expedition reached its destination before it was discovered by the inhabitants; their surprise, as might well be expected, was great, at this visit in hostile attitude. The cry of the Big Knife (the formidable appellation of the Virginians at that time) being in town, spread dreadful alarm among the helpless partoftlie little community; this, however, was soon allayed, when the gentlemen from Kaskaskia had an opportunity of narrating what had taken place at their own village, and the conduct of the Americans. The alarm of the people was soon convert- ed into huzzas for freedom and the Americans; and Major Bowman took possession of the British fort of Cahokia. The inhabitants in a few days took the oath of allegiance, and every thing promised the utmost harmony. This visit of our country- men soon dispersed a body of Indians, who were encamped in the neighborhood of Cahokia, at that time, a place of considera- ble trade. CHAPTER IV. Plan against St. Vincents— Thanks of Virginia — St. Vinronts revolts from the British — M. Girault — Illinois county — Negotiations with New Orleans— Indian negotiations. But though Colonel Clark had met with a success so much beyond his means, and almost beyond his expectations; although tlie country was entirely subjected, and even attached, to the American government, yet his uneasiness was great. He was fully aware of the critical delicacy of his situation, and the ne- cessity of exerting all the address he was master of, to main- tain his position with service to his country, and honor to him- self. A close understanding was cultivated with the Spanish HISTORY OF KE^TTUCKY. 59 officers on the opposite side of the Mississippi; as every influ- ence was required to counteract the extended agency and con- trol of the British; who had distributed the bloody belt and hatchet from Lake Superior to Detroit, and the Mississippi. In this long chain of intrigue with the Indians, post St. Vincents formed an important link ; not only from the warlike character of the adjacent tribes, but from their contiguity to Kaskaskia, and the settlements of Kentucky. Yet it was utterly beyond the force at the command of Clark, " joined by every man in Ken- tucky ;" he, therefore, resorted to other means. The American soldiers were instructed to speak of the Falls of Ohio, as the head quarters of the army, from which the present troops were only a detachment; that reinforcements were daily expected from that point, which was fortifying, and that when they arrived, more extensive military movements would take place. Some such artifice was necessary to excuse the apparent rashness of invading the Illinois, with so small a force. Courts of civil ju- risdiction were likewise established by Clark, which were held by French judges, freely chosen by the people, leaving an ap- peal to Clark. About this time, M. Cere, who was mentioned before, uneasy that his family at Kaskaskia should be the only one placed under a guard, and fearful of venturing into the power of the American officer without a safe conduct; procured the recommendation of the Spanish Governor at St. Louis, as well as the commandant at St. Genevieve, supported by the in- fluence of the greater part of the citizens, for the purpose of ob- taining this security. It was all in vain; Colonel Clark peremp- torily refused it; and intimated, that he wished to hear no more such applications; that he understood M. Cere was " a sensible man," and if he was innocent of the charge of inciting the In- dians against the Americans, he need not be afraid of deliver- ing himself up. This backwardness would only increase the suspicion against him. Shortly after this expression of Clark's sentiments, M. Cere to whom they were no doubt communicated, repaired to Kaskaskia, and without visiting his family, imme- diately waited on Colonel Clark; who informed him that the crime with which he stood charged was, epcouraging the In- 60 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. dians in their murders and devastations on our own frontiers. An enormity, whose perpetrators, continued the American commander, it behooved every civilized people to punish, whenever they got such violators of the laws of honorable war- fare within their power. To this accusation, M. Cere frankly replied; that he was a mere merchant, and had never been con- cerned in affairs of state beyond what the interests of his busi- ness required; moreover, his remote position had prevented him from understanding the merits of the war, now raging be- tween the United States and Great Britain. He defied, he said, any man to prove, that he had encouraged the Indian barbari- ties ; while many could be produced, who had heard him express his disapprobation of all such cruelties; though, at the same time, it was necessary to inform Colonel Clark, that there were numbers indebted to him, who might, by his ruin, seek to dis- charge their pecuniary obligations to him. In fine, this emi- nent French merchant declared his willingness to support the strictest inquiry into the only heinous charge against him. This was every thing the American officer required; he desired M. Cere to retire into another room, while he sent for his accu- sers; they immediately attended, followed by the greater part of the inhabitants. M. Cere was summoned to confront them, the former immediately shewed their confusion at his appearance; the parties were told by Colonel Clark, that he had no disposition to condemn any man unheard ; that M. Cere was now present, and he (Clark) was ready to do justice to the civilized world by punishing him if guilty of inciting the Indians to commit their enormities on helpless women and children. The accusers be- gan to whisper to one another and retire : until but one was left of six or seven at first; this person was asked for his proof, but he had none to produce, and M. Cere was honorably ac- quitted, not more to his own satisfaction, than to that of his neighbors and friends. He was then congratulated by Colonel Clark upon his acquittal, and informed, that although his be- coming an American citizen, would be highly acceptable, yet if he did not sincerely wish to do so, he was perfectly at liberty to dispose of his property, and to remove elsewhere. Cere de- HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 61 lighted at the fair and generous treatment he had met with, immediately took the oath of allegiance, and became a " most valuable" friend to the American cause. So successful was the management of Clark, that whether he bribed, or whether he punished, both methods were made con- ducive to the public interest. In this case, he seems to have kept up an appearance of rigor for the very opportunity of en- hancing the indulgence, he wished and determined to exercise : reserve in favors, was a common feature of his policy. As an exhibition of Colonel Clark's tact in governing under the criti- cal circumstances in which he was placed, this detail has been thought necessary. The narration has now arrived at the com- plete reduction of the French settlements, in the present State of Illinois; not more by the force of arms than by the adroit policy of the American commander, and the good disposition of riie inhabitants. The American government, too, was then in alliance with their ancient countrymen, whose dominion, no doubt, still clung affectionately round their hearts. In this way was reduced the ancient town of Kaskaskias, wiiich had been settled two years before the city of Philadelphia, now flourish- ing so nobly under the auspices of American liberty; as dis- tinguished for her fame in learning and in the arts, as she is re- nowned for her virtues and opulence. While to exhibit the fluctuating condition of things, Kaskaskia, her predecessor planted under the protection of a powerful monarchy, numbers but ninety-six persons,* and is almost a deserted villatye, filled with ruins of the nicest masonry. Colonel Clark, with his brave officers and men, on the 23d of November, 1778, was voted the thanks of the House of Delegates, " for their extraordinary reso- lution and perseverance in so hazardous an enterprise, and for the important services thereby rendered their country." Post St. Vincents still continued to occupy the thoughts of Clark as a point of great importance to the safety of his present position, and to the extension of the Virginia dominion. " It was never" he says, " out of my mind ;" it had indeed occupied his thoughts ; it has been seen in his first descent down the Ohio, * Census of 1830. F (52 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. and was only relinquished at that time from his weakness^ His early inclinations were revived by his success at Kaskas' kia, and he sent for M. Gibault, the Roman Catholic priest of his villao-e, as well as that of St. Vincents. This gentleman, who subsequently received the public thanks of Virginia for his distinguished services, had been steadily attached to the Ameri- can cause; he readily gave Colonel Clark every information he desired; told him that Governor Abbot had lately gone on busi- ness to Detroit, and that a military expedition from the Falls af^ainst St. Vincents, which Clark pretended to meditate, was scarcely necessary. He indeed offered, if it met the approba- tion of Colonel Clark, to " take the business on himself, and he had no doubt of his being able to bring that place over to the American interest v/ithout" he said, " my being at the trouble of marching against it." Nor is it unfair to believe, that this patriotic priest must have taken into consideration the interests of his parishioners, by endeavoring to save them, if possible, from the chances of military spoil and violence. The generous and equal spirit which, the ancient church of llom.e had so rightfully, yet so rarely has met, at the hands of Protestant conquerors, and the beneficent administration of Clark, all united, no doubt, to propagate the American influence, and extend its arms. To these offers of M. Gibault, Clark most readily acceded ; for it was the fondest wish of his heart, yet he scarcely ventured to believe he should realize it; and, more- over, at the desire of the clergyman, a Dr. Lafont was associated as a temporal member of the embassy. The principal charge was, however, in the hands of M. Gibault. On the 14th of July, the French gentlemen accompanied by a spy of Clark's, an additional security which he seems, scarcely ever to have neg- lected in his enterprises, set off for St. Vincent's, or *0. Post, as it was very often called. After full explanations of the state of affairs between the priest and his flock, in two or three days, the inhabitants threw off the British government, and assem- bling in a body at the church, they, in the most solemn manner, took the oath of allegiance to the commonwealth of Virginia. * A corruption of Au Poste. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. b3 A commandant was elected, and the American flag immediately displayed over the fort, to the astonishment of the Indians. Thus again fell another of the French villages established about 1745, owino- to the pure good will of the inhabitants towards the American government; and another barrier of counteract- ing influence over the barbarous hostilities of the Indians, was gained for Kentucky. The savages were told by their French friends, " that their old Father, the King of France, was come to life again, and was mad with them for fighting for the English; that if they did not wish the land to be bloody with war, they must make peace with the Americans." About the 1st of August, M. Gibault and party, returned with the joyful intelligence, of having peaceably adjusted every thing at St. Vincents in favor of the American interest; no less to the astonishment of Clark, than to his gratification, and that of the inhabitants of Kaskaskia. A new source of perplexity now opened itself on Clark ; it was the expiration of the three months for which his troops had been enlisted. But the discre- tionary powers so wisely lodged with an officer acting on so remote a stage, and under such embarrassing difficulties, de- termined him not to divest himself of the only American power, on which he could rely upon any emergency ; and to strain his authority, for the preservation of that interest, for which it was conferred upon him. He, therefore, re-enlisted his men upon a new footing, raised a company among the na- tive inhabitants commanded by their own officers, established a garrison at Kaskaskia under the command of Captain Wil- liams, and another at Cahokia, under that of Captain Bowman. Colonel William Linn, who had accompanied the expedition as a volunteer, now took charge of the troops, who wished to re- turn and was the bearer of orders from Colonel Clark, to es- tablish a fort at the Falls of Ohio. This order was executed by building a stockade fort at the termination of the present Twelfth street, on the easterly side of the large ravine, that opens to the river at that point.* Here was planted the * The fort here mentioned, was in 1782, succeeilod by a larzer one, bnilt by the regular Uoops assisted by the militia from all the settled parts of the district. It was situated bq. 64 HISTORY OP KENTUCKY. thrifty germ of Louisville, now the emporium of Kentucky, and which seems fairly destined to grow with the countless pros- perity of this great republic, with whose remotest commerce and continued union, she is vitally connected. Captain John Montgomery was despatched to Richmond, in charge of M. Rocheblave, the British commandant of Kaskaskia. In regard to this officer, who expressed himself with great bitterness of the Americans, and the natives who had sided with them, Colonel Clark exerted himself very much, to pro- cure a restoration to Mrs. Rocheblave, of his slaves, that had been seized as public plunder. This was attempted by inviting him to a dinner with some of the officers, as well as with his acquaintance, where this restitution was, it seems, to have been offered; but it was entirely frustrated by the violent and insulting language of the former commandant; he called them a parcel of rebels, and provoked such indignation that he was immediately sent to the guard house ; all further thoughts of sav- ing his slaves were now abandoned. They were subsequently sold for the amount of five hundred pounds, and the proceeds divided among the troops as prize money. The Governor of Vir- ginia was informed of the whole of Clark's proceedings, and the appointment of a civil commandant was desired by him, who should take charge of the political affairs of this secluded portion of the commonwealth. In consequence of this recommendation^ an act was passed in October, 1778, establishing the county of Illinois, and embracing within its boundary all the chartered limits of Virginia, west of the Ohio river. There was also au- thorized the raising of a regiment of five hundred men, and the opening communications with New Orleans for their support, twecn the present Sixth and Eighth streets, on the northern side of Main street, immedi- ately on the hank of the river. In honor of the third repuhliran Governor of Virginia, the fort was called Fort Nelson. Seventh street passed throujrh the first gate opposite to the head quarters of General Clark. The principal military defence in this part of the country deserves a few more particulars. It contained about an acre of ground, and was surrounded by a ditch eisht feet deep and ten feel wide, intersected in the middle hy a row of sliar)) pickets; this ditch was surmounted hy a breastwork of log pens or enclosures, filled with the earth obtained from the ditch, with pickets ten feel high planted on the top of the breast work. Next to the river, pickets alone were deemed sufficient, aided by the long slope of the river bank. Some of the remains of these pickets were dug up in the summer of 1832, in excavatir g the cellar of Mr. John Love's stores on Main street, oppo- site to the Louisville Hotel. There was artillery in the fort, particularly a double forti- fied brass piece, which was captured hy Clark at Vincennes. This piece jdayed no in- considerable part in the military operations of this period, insignificant as it may ai)pear to the eyes of a regular military criiic. iiistC^^Y OF KENTUCKY. 05 Colonel Johil Todd, who afterwards lost his life with so much regret, at the battle of the Blue Licks, received the appointment of civil commandant and Lieutenant Colonel of the county ; a mark of much honorable confidence in a new and distant pro- vince of Virginia. About the middle of August, Captain Leon- ard Helm was appointed by Colonel Clark commandant at St. Vincents, and " agent for Indian affairs in the department of the Wabash." This officer was particularly recommended to Clark for his knowledge of the department, and by the general prudence of his character. As Clark intended to place a strong garrison at this post, when the reinforcements, which he ex- pected from Virginia should arrive. Captain Helm was made fully acquainted with his plans, and received his utmost con- fidence. Near the post of St. Vincents, there was a chief by the name of Tobacco's son whose name appears in the deed to the Wa- bash Company in 1775, as Tabac.'* This chief was compli mented by his countrymen with the title of the Grand Door of the Wabash, as the Great Pontiac or Pondiac, used to be called the Grand Door of St. Joseph's; and nothing of impor- tance respecting the Wabash country was undertaken with- out the consent of the former chief To conciliate him and win over his influence, Captain Helm was instructed to use every exertion: messages had indeed been interchanged by Colonel Clark with this chief, through M. Gibault, on his late mission. This intercourse was renewed by Captain Helm, soon after his arrival at St. Vincents, where he was received by acclamation on the part of the people. In an Indian council opened by the American agent with the Grand Door, he deliv- ered him a friendly talk from Colonel Clark, inviting him to unite with the Big Knife, and his old Father, the King of France. To this letter, with the usual circumspection of the Indian cha- racter, the chief declined giving an answer, until he had assem- bled his councillors; although he was glad to see one of the Big Knife chiefs. It was true, he had fought together with the Eng- lish, yet he had thought they always looked gloomy ; in all this * Land Law of tlie United States, 94G. F* 66 History of KENTUCltVi intercourse, the Grand Door observed the ceremony of the most courtly dignity, in which he was exactly followed by Captain Helm; so that it was several days, before the council was con- cluded. At length Captain Helm was invited to attend a meet- ing of the chiefs, in which Tobacco's son informed him, that " the sky had been very dark with the war between the Big Knife and the English; but now it was cleared up. The Big Knife was in the right, and perhaps if the English conquered them, they might serve the Indians in the same way." Tobacco then jumped up, struck his breast, and said, " he had always been a man and a warrior, and now he was a Big Knife, and would tell the Red people to bloody the land no more for the English;" he then shook Captain Helm by the hand, and his example was followed by all his chiefs to the great advantage of the whites. This chief is said to have remained a true friend to the Ameri- can^, until his death; which happened about two years after, when, at his desire, he was buried with the honors of war, near the fort of Cahokia. The conduct of Tobacco had a wide in- fluence over the chiefs on the Wabash as high as the Weanti- non, Ouatanon, or old Wea towns, all of whom followed the example of their Grand Door, in making peace with the Ameri- cans. These negotiations, together with others equally impor- tant effected by Colonel Clark at Cahokia, in a short time under- mined the British influence through a large portion of these regions. The co-operation of the French interest was essen- tially productive of these valuable results; the Indians implicitly confided in their representations, and through them, the Indians became thoroughly alarmed at the power of the Americans. The treaties held by Clark commenced about the 1st of Septem- ber, and were conducted with a dignity and efficiency, as well as attended with such remarkable circumstances as to deserve a place in this history. Colonel Clark had always thought the policy of inviting the Indians to treat, was founded in a mistaken estimate of their character; they always interpreted, he believed, such invita- tions as evidences either of fear or weakness, or both. He^ therefore, studiously avoided every invitation of the sort; and HISTORY OP KENTUCKY. 67 waited for the Indians to request a treaty; while he fought them fiercely and energetically until they did so. He had, moreover, made himself intimately acquainted with the French and Spanish modes of treating the Indians, and had long been devoted to the study of the Indian character. In consequence of this, he determined to guard against spoiling the Indians, as had been too much the case with the English at treaties; and to use the strictest reserve, and grant presents with a nig- gardly hand, as wrung from him, rather than as spontaneous and willing gratifications. The ceremonies of this first and ancient council of our countrymen, with these remote sons of the forest, are worth recording. The various parties were as- sembled, white and red; the chief who was to open the council, as the Indians were the solicitors, advanced to the table at which Colonel Clark was sitting, " with the belt of peace in his hand, another with the sacred pipe; and a third, with fire to kindle it; after the pipe was lighted, it was presented to the heavens, then to the earth, and completing a circle, was presented to all the spirits, invoking them to witness what was about to be done. The pipe was now presented to Colonel Clark, and afterwards to every person present." After these formalities the speaker addressed himself to the Indians, as follows : " Warriors, you ought to be thankful that the Great Spirit has taken pity on you, has cleared the sky, and opened your ears and hearts, so that you may hear the truth. We have been deceived by bad birds flying through the land, (meaning the British emissaries;) but we will take up the bloody hatchet no more against the Big Knife; and we hope, that as the Great Spirit has brought us together for good, as he is good, so we may be received as friends ; and peace may take the place of the bloody belt." The speaker tlien threw in the middle of the room, the bloody belt of wampum, and flags, which they had received from the Bri- tish, and stamped upon them in token of their rejection. To this address, Clark very guardedly and distantly replied, that " He had paid attention to what had been said, and would the next day give them an answer, when he hoped the hearts of all people would be ready to receive the truth ; but he recom- G8 KISTORY OF KENTUCKY. mended them to keep prepared for the result of this council, upon which their very existence as nations depended. He de- sired them not to let any of our people shake hands with them, as peace was not yet made ; and it was time enough to give the hand, when the heart could be given also. " An Indian ehief replied, that " such sentiments were like men, who had but one heart, and did not speak with a forked tongue." The council then rose until the next day, when Clark delivered the follow- ing address to the assembled Indians, which is taken literally from the memoirs of Colonel Clark. " Men and warriors : Pay attention to my words. You informed me yesterday, that the Great Spirit had brought us together, and that you hoped, that as he was good, it would be for good. I have also the same hope, and expect that each party will strictly adhere to whatever may be agreed upon, whether it shall be peace or war; and henceforward prove ourselves worthy of the attention of the Great Spirit. I am a man and a warrior, not a council- lor; I carry war in my right hand, and in my left, peace. I am sent by the Great Council of the Big Knife, and their friends, to take possession of all the towns possessed b}^ the English in this country, and to watch the motions of the Red people : to bloody the paths of those who attempt to stop the course of the river; but to clear the roads from us to those, that desire to be in peace; that the women and children may walk in them with- out meeting any thing to strike their feet against. I am ordered to call upon the Great Fire for warriors enough to darken the land, and that the Red people may hear no sound, but of birds who live on blood. I know there is a mist before your eyes; I will dispel the clouds, that you may clearly see the causes of the war between the Big Knife and the English; then you may judge for yourselves, which party is in the right; and if you are warriors, as you profess yourselves to be, prove it by ad- hering faithfully to the party, which you shall believe to be en- titled to your friendship, and not shew yourselves to be squaws. The Big Knife is very much like the Red people, they don't know how to make blankets, and powder, and cloth ; they buy these things from the English, from whom they are sprung/ HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 69 They live by making corn, hunting and trade, as you and your neighbors, the French, do. But the Big Knife daily getting more numerous, like the trees in the woods, the land became poor, and hunting scarce,- and having but little to trade with, the women began to cry at seeing their children naked, and tried to learn hoAV to make clothes for themselves; soon made blankets for their husbands and children; and the men learned to make guns and powder. In this way we did not want to buy so much from the English; they then got mad with us, and sent strong garrisons through our country (as you see they have done among you on the lakes, and among the French;) they would not let our women spin, nor our men make powder, nor let us trade with any body else. The English said, we should buy every thing from them, and since we had got saucy, we should give two bucks for a blanket, which we used to get for one; we should do as they pleased, and they killed some of our people, to make the rest fear them. This is the truth, and the real cause of the war between the English and us; which did not take place for some time after this treatment. But our women became cold and hungry, and continued to cry; our young men got lost for want of counsel to put them in the right path. The whole land was dark, the old men held down their heads for shame, because they could not see the sun, and thus there was mourning for many years over the land. At last the Great Spirit took pity on us, and kindled a great council Fire, that never goes out, at a place called Philadelphia; he then stuck down a post, and put a war tomahawk by it, and went away. The sun immediately broke out, the sky was blue again, and the old men held up iheir heads, and assembled at the fire; they took up the hatchet, sharpened it, and put it into the hands of our young men, ordering them to strike the English, as long as they could find one on this side of the great waters. The young men imme- diately struck the war post, and blood was shed: in this way the war began, and the English were driven from one place to another, until they got weak, and then they hired you Red people to fight for them. The Great Spirit got angry at this, and caused your old Father, the French King, and other great 70 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. nations to join the Big Knife, and fight with them against all their enepnies. So the English have become like a deer in the woods ; and you may see that it is the Great Spirit, that has caused your waters to be troubled ; because you have fought for the people, he was mad with. If your women and chil- dren should now cry, you must blame yourselves for it, and not the Big Knife. You can now judge who is in the right; I have already told you who I am ; here is a bloody belt, and a white one, take which you please. Behave like men, and don't let your being surrounded by the Big Knife, cause you to take up the one belt with your hands, while your hearts take up the other. If you take the bloody path, you shall leave the town in safety, and may go and join your friends, the English; we will then try like warriors, who can put the most stumbling blocks in each others' way, and keep our clothes longest stained with blood. If, on the other hand, you should take the path of peace, and be received as brothers to the Big Knife, with their friends, the French, should you then listen to bad birds, that may be flying through the land, you will no longer deserve to be count- ed as men; but as creatures with two tongues, that ought to be destroyed without listening to any thing you might say. As I am convinced you have never heard the truth before, I do not wish you to answer before you have taken time to counsel. We will, therefore, part this evening, and when the Great Spirit shall bring us together again, let us speak and think like men with but one heart and one tongue." The next day after this speech, a new fire was kindled with more than usual cere- mony, and the Indian speaker came forward, and said, " They ought to be thankful that the Great Spirit had taken pity on them, and opened their ears and hearts to receive the truth. He had paid great attention to what the Great Spirit had put into my heart to say to them. They believed the whole to be the truth, as the Big Knife did not speak like any other people, they had ever heard. They now saw they had been deceived, and that the English had told them lies, and that I had told them the truth; just as some of their old men had always told them. They now believed, that we were in the right, and as the Eng- HISTORY OP KENTUCKY. 71 iifeh had forts in their country they might, if they got strong enough, want to serve the Red people, as they had treated the Big Knife. The Red people ought, therefore, to help us, and they had with a cheerful heart taken up the belt of peace, and spurned that of war; they were determined to hold the former fast and would have no doubt of our friendship from the manner of our speaking, so different from that of the English. They would now call in their warriors, and threw the tomahawk into the river where it could never be found; they would suffer no more bad birds to fly through the land disquieting the women and children. They would be careful to smooth the roads for their brothers the Big Knife, whenever they might wish to come and see them. Their friends should hear of the good talk I had triven them and they hoped I would send chiefs among them with my eyes to see myself that they were men, and strictly adhered to all they had said at this great fire ; which the great spirit had kin- dled at Cohokia, for the good of all people who would attend it." The pipe was again kindled, and presented to all the spirits, as witnesses of the transactions ; it was smoked, and the coun- cil concluded by shaking hands among all the parties, White and Red. In this manner, with very little variety, treaties were concluded with many tribes, and in all with a dignity and im- portance in their eyes, little inferior, to that of the alliance be- tween the United States and France, in ours. Colonel Clark adhered resolutely to a determination of not appearing to caress them; and he even apologized for making the few presents he did confer, by attributing them to the great way they had travelled, having expended their ammunition, and worn out their mockasons and leggins. The Indian tribes were generally so much alarmed, that the conclusion of peace, not. withstanding Clark's reserv e and disdain, gave them perfect satisfaction. This state of mind was confirmed by the report of the spies whom Colonel Clark kept among all his new allies; as well as the less doubtful nations. So well consolidated was Jiis influence, that a single soldier could be sent in safety among 72 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY . the Indians, through any part of the Wabash and Illinois coun- try, to the heads of the waters discharging themselves into the lakes, and into the Mississippi. Here the British still maintained their influence; indeed many tribes were divided between them and the Americans. Such a sudden and extensive change among the Indians in our favor, is to be mainly attributed to the friendly dispositions of the French traders and agents, supported, however, by the stern and commanding influence of Colonel Clark. It required all his tact, united with the control and co- operation of the French, to preserve that impression, which he had made at first, while at the head of so inadequate a force. Accordingly, the prospect of reinforcements from the Falls was constantly held out, and every means adopted to attach our new fellow-citizens to the American government. No fees was exacted by the commanding officers, or in the weekly courts which were occupied by the business and disputes of the people; a contrast most favorable to American influence. The friendly correspondence with the Spanish government, and the permission of some trade with agents, even from Canada, all contributed to maintain a controling influence over the savages. An incident occurred during the Indian negotiations of no little romantic character. A party of Indians, composed of strag- glers from various tribes, by the name of Meadow Indians, who had accompanied the other tribes, and been promised a great reward if they would kill Colonel Clark. For this purpose, they had pitched their camp about a hundred yards from Clark's quarters ; and about the same distance in front of the fort, on the same side of Cahokia creek, with the one occupied by the Americans, This creek was about knee deep at the time of the transaction, and a plot was formed for some of these Indians to pass the creek after night, fire their guns in the direction of the Indians on the other side of the creek, and then fly to Colo- nel Clark's quarters; where they were to seek admission, oa pretence of fleeing from their enemies, and put Colonel Clark and the garrison to death. About one o'clock in the morning, while Colonel Clark was still awake with the multiplied cares of his extraordinary situation, the attempt was made : and the HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 73 flying party having discharged their guns, so as to throw suspi- cion on the other Indians 5 came running to the American camp for protection, as they said, from their enemies who had attacked (hem from across the creek. This, tlie guard which proved to be in greater force than was anticipated, prevented by present- ing their pieces at the fugitives,- who were compelled to return to their own camp. The whole town and ga^rrison were now im- mediately under arms^ and these Indians, whom the guard had recognized by the moonlight, were sent for, and on being ex- amined, they declared it was their enemies, who had fired upon them from across the creek; and that they had sought shelter among the Americans. Some of .the French gentlemen who knew these Indians, better than the new conquerors, called for a light, and discovered their mockasons and leggins to be quite wet and muddy, from having passed the creek, over to the friendly camps. This discovery quite confounded the assas- sins; and as there were a great many Indians of other tribes in town, Clark thought the opportunity favorable to convince them of the strictest union between the Americans and the French; he, therefore, surrendered the culprits to the French, to do what they pleased with them. Secret intimations were, however, given, that the chiefs ought to be sent to the guard house in irons; which were immediately executed. In this manacled condition, they were brought every day into the council; but not suffered to speak until all the other business was transacted ; when Colonel Clark ordered their irons to be taken off, and told them, " every body said they ought to die for their treacher- ous attempt upon his life, amidst the sacred deliberations of a council. He had determined to inflict death upon them for their base attempt, and they themselves must be sensible that they had justly forfeited their lives; but on considering the mean- ness of watching a bear and catching him asleep, he had found out that they were not warriors, only old women, and too mean to be killed by the Big Knife. But as you ought to be punished for putting on a breech cloths like men, they shall be taken away from you, plenty of provisions shall be given you for your journey home ; as women don't know how to hunt, and during your stay^ G 74 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. you shall be treated in every respect, as squaws." Then, with* out taking any further notice of these offenders, Colonel Clark turned off and began to converse with other persons : this treat- ment appeared to agitate the offending Indians to their very hearts. In a short time one of their chiefs arose with a pipe and belt of peace, which hq offered to Clark, and made a speech; but at that time he would not suffer it to be interpreted, and a sword lying on the table, he took it up and indignantly broke the pipe, which had been laid before him, declaring, the Big Knife never treated with women. Several chiefs of other tribes now interfered to procure the pardon of the Meadow Indians, and to solicit Colonel Clark .to pity the families of these men, and grant them peace. Still the Ameriqan officer profoundly alive to the vulnerable features of the Indian character, told them, "the Big Knife had never made war upon these Indians j and that whenever Americans came across such people in the woods, they commonly shot them, as they did wolves, to pre- vent their eating the deer." This mediation having failed, the ofiending tribe appeared busy in conversation among them- selves; when suddenly two of their young men advanced into the middle of the floor, sat down, and flung their blankets over their heads, to the astonishment of the whole assembly. When two chiefs arose, and v/ith a pipe of peace, stood by the side of these victims, and offered their lives to Colonel Clark, as an atone- ment for the offence of their tribe ; this sacrifice they hoped would iippease the Big Knife, and they again offered the pipe. Clark would not yet admit a reconciliation with them ; but directed them in a milder tone than before, to be seated ; for he would have noth- ing to say to them. '• The alarm of these people appeared," said Clark, " wrought up to so high a degree, that they appear- ed to think the tomahawk was suspended over the heads of every one of their tribe; and that nothing but peace could save them." They thought that by putting these two young men to tleatii, or keeping them as slaves, our countrymen might be reconciled. The offered victims kept their position, only now •and then putting out their heads, as if impatient to know their Into. This affectinj]: and romantic incident embarrassed the HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. ..: ready mind even of Clark; he had always, he says, intended to be persuaded to grant these Indians peace, but with a rekic- tance, that should enhance its value. The assembly was all silence and suspense with anxiety, to know the fate of the vic- tims; while Colonel Clark, deeply affected with the magnanimity of these rude children of the forest, declares, " he never feit so powerful a gush of emotion over his mind, or ever so capable of speaking from the impulse of that feeling." He ordered the young men to arise and uncover themselves; he then said, '• Ho rejoiced to find, that there were men in all nations; that these tn'o young warriors, (pointing to the victims.) had been offered by their tribe, were at least a proof for their own countrymeit, Such characters were alone fit to be chiefs., and with such, he liked to treat; through them the Big Knife granted peace to their tribe, and he took them by the hand, as the chiefs of their tribes." They were immediately introduced (with no slight change of countenance, which they could not with all- their efforts entirely suppress) to the American officers, as well us to the French and Spanish gentlemen, who were present; and lastly to the other Indian chiefs. They were saluted by all, as chiefs or their tribe, and Clark immediately held, with great ceremony, a council, in which peace was settled with their people, and presents granted to distribute among their friends. Colonel Clark was afterwards informed, that these young men were held in high esteem by their people; and that the Ameri- cans were much talked of, on account of this incident. Colonel Clark now turned his attention to Saguina, or Black- bird and Nakioun, two chiefs of the Sotairs and Ottoway tribes, bordering on lake Michigan. The former of these chiefs had been in St. Louis, when Clark first invaded the country, and not trusting to Spanish protection, had returned to his tribe; though he had sent a letter to Clark, apologising for his absence. He was found on inquiry to possess so much influence over considerable bands about the St. Joseph's, of Lake Michigan; that Colonel Clark departed from his usual distant policy, and invited him by a special messenger, to come to Kaskaskia. The invitation was immediately complied with, and Black Bird visit- 76 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. ed Colonel Clark with only eight attendants. After the party had recovered from their fatigue, preparations were made as usual for a council with the ceremonies generally practised. These were no sooner noticed by this sagacious chief, than he informed Colonel Clark, that he came on business of importance to both, and desired that no time might be lost on ceremonies. This chief declared he wanted much conversation with Colonel Clark, and would prefer sitting at the same table with him to all the parade and formality which could be used. Accordingly a room was prepared for this straight forward and direct chiefs and his American cotemporary : they both took their seats at the same table, having interpreters seated to their right and left. Black Bird opened the conference by saying, " he had long wished to enjoy a conversation with a chief of our nation: he had conversed with prisoners, but he could not confide in them ; for they seemed to be afraid to speak the truth. That he had engaged in the war against us, was true; although doubts of its justice always crossed his mind, owing to our ap- pearing to be the same nation with the British. Some mystery hung over the matter, which he wanted removed : his anxiety was to hear both sides, while he had hitherto, only been able to hear one." Clark readily undertook to satisfy this inquisi- tive chief, and compelled as he was to employ similes for so many ideas, foreign to barbarous society, it took him nearly half a day to answer the inquiries of the Indian. This was accom- plished to his entire satisfaction, and he expressed himself con- vinced, that the Americans were perfectly right; he was glad that their old friends, the French, had united their arms with ours, and the Indians ought to do the same. But as we did not wish this, his countrymen, he thought, ought at least to be neu- tral. He was convinced the English must be afraid, because they gave the Indians so many goods to fight for them; his sen- timents, he said, were fixed in our favor; and he would no longer listen to the offers of the English. He would put an end to the war, and would call his young men in, as soon as he could get home and have an opportunity of explaining the nature of the war to them. HISTORY OF KEXTUCKr. 77 This display of the chief's sentinicntSj may well be con- ceived, to have given Clark the utmost satisfaction; and h« promised to write to the Governor of Virginia respecting his friendly conduct, and to have him registered among the friends of the Big Knife. In a few days the chief set off for his native lorcsts, accompanied at his desire, by an agent of Clark. A couple of pack-horses were loaded with provisions and presents tor this sagacious and sensible Indian, who continued a faithful friend to American interests. There was a point of no little policy observed by Clark, in his conferences with the Indians at this time ; it was not to blame the Indians for taking British presents, which in their poverty and our inability to supply their wants, was unavoida- ble. The influence of commerce has spread to the remotest wilds of the earth, and bound alike in her golden chains, the citizen of refined society, and the barbarian of the woods. The rifle and its ammunition have long banished the bow and other ruder instruments of war, among the Indians contiguous to the whites ; and the beaver trap, the camp-kettle, and the blanket, m addition to a thousand wants of his flmcy; have rendered trade and arts, as necessary to the Indian, as to the civilized man. Illustrations of this truth are presented in the story of all uncivilized people.* But Clark exerted his utmost influence h^ impress the Indians with the degradation of fighting for /i//v that it was beneath the dignity of a warrior. " The Big Knife, "^ he said, " looked upon the scalps ofi warriors fighting their own battles, as the greatest trophies of War; but those of men fight- ing for hire, were given to children to play with, or flung to the dogs." This language, stern as it may seem, had the best eftect upon these barbarous tribes ; who were never under more effec- tual influence, than under Colonel Clark. About this time he received a letter from a celebrated chief by the name of Lajes, or Loges; also known by the appellation of Big Gate. This chief, who being a boy when the great Pon- * See thi? sntiject beautifully traced in the " Rights of Industry," one of the inestima- ble volume?! of popular instruction, wliich liavc emanated from a British society adorninj, ond adorned by llieir ^Teut modern Chancellor. 78 HISTORY OP KENTUCKY. tiac besieged Detroit, had shot a British soldier standing in the fort; from this circumstance, his title had been given to him. Several parties had been very successfully commanded by this v^arrior against our frontiers; but happening to fall in with a party of Piankeshaws coming to Kaskaskia, he determined to come and see what our countrymen had to say for themselves. With no little assurance, he appeared every day in council, seated in the front of the room, dressed in a full war dress ; and the bloody belt, which he had received from the British, hang- ing about his neck. In this condition, he attended the council for several days, without saying a word to our countrymen, or they saying any thing to him; at length, at the close of the de- liberations with the tribes, who were in attendance; Clark addressed this silent chief, by apologising for not noticing him, until the public business was despatched. " That although they were enemies," said the American officer, " still it was cus- tomary among the whites, when they met in this way to treat each other in proportion to the exploits in war, which they had performed against each other." On this account, as he was a areat warrior, Colonel Clark invited him to dinner. This, the chief, taken by the utmost surprise, endeavored to decline ; Colo- nel Clark would not, however, regard his excuses; but as soon as he would begin them, Clark would renew his solicitations, and express his determination to take no refusal, until he worked up the Indian to the utmost pitch of excitement. Roused in this manner, he stepped into tlie middle of the room, threw down his war belt, and a little British flag that he had in his bosom, and tore off all his clothes, but his breech clotli. When thus despoiled of tlie presents of his late favorites, he struck himself on the breast, and told the audience," They knew he had been a warrior from his youth, that he had delighted in bat- tle, he had been three times against the Big Knife, for the Bri- tish had told him lies; he had been preparing for another war party, when he had heard of Colonel Clark's arrival, and he. determined to rest himself, and hear what the Americans could say in their defence. He was satisfied the Big Knife was in the right ; and as a man and a warrior, he ought not to fight HISTORY OP KENTUCKY. 79 nny longer in a bad cause; he was henceforth a Big [Knife, and he shook hands with Colonel Clark and his officers, and saluted them as brothers." The drollery of the matter was, that the new brother was naked, and he must be clothed; ac- cordingly a fine laced suit was procured for him, and he was dressed in all the finery of military parade. Shortly after this entertainment, Lages desired a private interview with Colonel Clark; in this, he detailed a full account of the situation of De- troit, and he offered his services to the Colonel, to obtain a scalp or a prisoner. The former Clark declined, upon the ge- neral principle of discouraging the barbarities of the Indians, and our desire to keep them still; a course of conduct, which has ever proved most fruitless to our countrymen, and in many instances has united the Indians with our less scrupu- lous enemies. Clark assured him of his readiness to receive a prisoner; but charged him by no means to use such a one ill. On the chief's taking leave, Clark presented him with a Cap- tain's commission and a medal, to secure the agency of this new political missionary. CHAPTER V. Jlecaplure of St. Vincents by the British— Plans against Americans— French volunteers- March to St. Vincents— Capture— Retnrn to Kaskaskia. After all this success with the Indians, Colonel Clark began to entertain great apprehensions for St. Vincents; no news "had been received for a considerable length of time from that place, till on the 29th of January, 1779, Colonel Vigo, then a merchant in partnership with the Governor of St. Louis, now a venerable and highly respected citizen of Vincennes, brought intelligence, that Governor Hamilton had marched an expedi- tion from Detroit, which had, in December captured St. Vin- cents, and again reduced it under the power of the British.* * Tlierc is an anecdote respecting Captain Leonard Helm evincing an intrepidity which, would ill be omitted; it has been communicated to the author, through the friendly interest of Judge Underwood, and his venerable relative, Edmund Rogers, Esq., of Barren countr, -a brotlior of Captain John Rogers, and personally intimate with Clark and his otficere f jr 80 ' HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. Owing to~tIie advanced stage of the season, he had postponed his operations against Kaskaskia, and in order to keep his rest- less auxiliaries employed, whom he had brought with him to the nniiiber of about four hundred, he had detached some against the settlements of Kentucky, and others to watch the Ohio river. In the spring, he contemplated re-assembling his forces for a grand campaign which should first be directed against Kaskaskia. At this point, "which he had no doubt ^f carrying, he was to be joined by two hundred Indians from Michillimakinack, and five hundred Cherokees, Chickasaws and other tribes." With this force united to his own, Governor Hamilton had or- ders from the commander-in-chief in Canada, "to penetrate up the Ohio to Fort Pitt, siceeping Kentucky on his way and taking light brass cannon for the purpose. So flushed was the British commander with the hopes of conquest, that he made no doubt, he could force all West Augusta, (meaning the western part of Virginia adjoining the Blue Ridge.*") The same respected o-cntlemant informed him, that Governor Hamilton had not more than eiffhty men in garrison, three pieces of cannon, and some swivels mounted. With the promptitude inspired by his emi- nent genius for war, our daring commander determined, like his most appropriate original, the great Hanniba', to carry the war into the enemy's cour^tr}' — As Clark said, "I knew if I did not take him, he would take me.*' He immediately fitted up a large Mississippi boat as a galley, mounting two four pounders and four sv.'ivcls, (obtained from the enemy's fort at Kaskaskia,) which he placed under the command of Captain John Rogers, venrs. It is as follows: when Governor Hamilton entered Vincennes, there were but two AmeVicans there, Caiitain Helm, the coninianfTant, and one Henry. Tlie former had a can- non well charced, and placed in the open fort gate, while Hehn stood by it with a lin^hteJ match in his hand. When Hamilton and his troops irot witliin sood hailins; distance, the American officer in a loud voice, cried out," Halt." This stopped tlie movement of Hamilton, wlio, in repiv, demanded a surrender of the jrarrison. Helm e.Kclaimed with an oath, "No man shall enter until I know the terms."' Hamilton answered, " You shall liave the honors of war:" and then the fort was surrendered with its -rarrison of one ofTi- rer, and one private. Such is a specimen of the character of Colonel Clark's followers. They were the very choice o!' VirL'inia, and the western frontier. Dangers they scarcely counted, and ditticulties presented themselves, but to be overcome. * Jefferson's Correspondence, vol. I. page 457. t It is grateful to the mind, to record the essential services of Colonel Vigo, who, at the advanced aae of eiehivsix. still takes so mucli inten^st in ancient transactions, as at the instance of the author^ to iiLSlitute infiuiricsinto them, among hi? compatriots. HISTORY op KENTUCKY. 81 and a company of forty-six men. This party had orders to force their way up the Wabash if possible, to station itself a few miles below the Mouth of White River, suffer nothing to pass, and wait for further orders. This expedition being determined on, the French inhabitants of Cahokia and Kaskaskia, raised two companies of men, those of the former place were commanded by Captain McCarty, and those of the other by Captain Francois Charleville. These, added to the Americans, made a party of but one hundred and seventy men in the aggregate : on the 7th of February, 1779, this forlorn hope commenced its march for St. Vincents, over the drowned lands of the Wabash, in a wet, though fortunately, not a cold season. This dreary and fatiguing march was alleviated by the politic management of Clark, who, to divert his men, en- couraged parties of hunting, and invitations from the companies successively to feasts on game, and war dances of a night, in the manner of the Indians. In this way the party^ after incredi- ble fatigues, reached the Little Wabash on the 13th; these dif- ficulties were, however, nothing to those they still had to en- counter. At this point, the forks of the stream are three miles apart, and the opposite heights of land five miles in the ordi- nary state of the water; at the time of Clark's arrival, the interval was covered with water, generally " three feet deep, never under two, and frequently over four."* On the 18th, the expedition got so near St. Vincents, as to hear the morning and evening guns at the fort: and in the evening of the same day, reached within nine miles of the town, below the mouth of the Embarras river. Great difficulties were now experienced in getting canoes, in which to cross the river, and the men re- quired all Clark's address and command to keep their spirits from failing. Still there was no sight of their galley, and canoes could not be built in time to save the party from starving in the destitute condition, in which they were. On the 20i;h, the water guard bro ight a boat to, from which the most cheering intelli- gence was obtained, of the disposition of the inhabitants of St. * In the midst of this wadinar, rather than marchin?, a little drummer, who floated Along on his drum head, afforded much of the merriment, that helped to divert tha luiad* t>fihQ men from their hardship,— JoMrjia J of the march by Major Bowman. 82 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. Vincents, and the continued ignorance on the part of the eiie-' my, of our movement. There was yet a large sheet of water to cross, which proved on sounding to be up to the armpits; on the report being made, and Clark speaking seriously to an offi- cer, the whole detachment caught the alarm, and despair seemed ready to possess them. Colonel Clark observing the depression on the faces of his men, whispered to one or two officers near him to imitate him immediately, in v/hat he was going to do; he then took a little powder in his hand, and mix- ing it with some water, blacked his face with it, raised an In- dian war whoop, and marched into the water, imitated and followed by all his men without a. murmur. So much does the conduct of men in large bodies, depend upon tho address and tone of a commander; this trick of backwoods' invention, com- municated a new impulse to the party and they stepped into the water with the cheerfulness, which many troops under their suflferings, would not, have shewn on land. A favorite song was now raised, and the whole detachment sung in chorus: when they had got to the deepest part, where it was intended to transport the troops in two canoes, which they had obtained ; one of the men said he felt a path, (which is said to bo quite perceptible to the touch of naked feet,) and it being concluded this must pass over the highest ground, the march was con- tinued to a place called the Sugar Camp, where they found about half an acre of ground, not under water. From this spot, another wide plain of water was to be crossed, and what heigh- tened the difficulty was, the absence of all timber to afford its support to the famishing and fatigued party in their wading. The object of all their toils and sufferings was now in sight, and after a spirited address, Clark again led the way into the water,, still full middle deep. Before ihe third man stepped off, Clark ordered Captain Bowman to fall back with twenty-five men, and put any man to death, who refused to march, for no coward should disgrace this company of brave men. The rrder was received with a huzza, and they all pursued their fearless com- mander; some times they were cheered with a purposed decep- tion by the cry of the advance guard, that the water was grow- HISTOBY OE KENTTCKY. 83 ing shallower; and as they approached nearer, the favorite cry of mariners — land — land — was hallooed out. Yet, when they arrived at the woods, the water was found up to the shoulder; still the support of the trees, and the floating logs for the weaker men, were found of the most essential service. To such a de- gree of exhaustion had this march through so much, and such deep water, reduced the men, that on approaching the bank, or rather, the high ground, they would fall on their faces, leav ing their bodies half in the water; because no longer able to continue their efforts. While resting at a spot of dry timbered ground, which the party had reached; an Indian canoe, with a quarter of buifalo beef in it, some corn and tallow, was captur- ed. This was a prize of inestimable value to men in their ex- hausted condition, and it was presently cooked into broth, which refreshed the men in the most acceptable manner, small as the amount was, to each individual. In a short time a prisoner was made of a gunner, who was shooting ducks near the town, and Colonel Clark sent by him, a letter to the inhabitants of the post, informing them that he should take possession of their town that night; and giving notice to all, who were friends to the King of England, to repair to the fort and fight like men; otherwise, if discovered after this notice, aiding the enemy, they would be severely punished. Seldom has frank notice been' given to an enemy, and choice afforded to retire to his friends; it was resorted to in hopes, that its imposing character would add to the confidence of our friends ; and increase the dismay of our enemies. So much did it operate in this way, that the expedition was believed to be from Kentucky ; it was thought utterly impossible, that in the condition of the waters, it could be from Illinois. This idea was confirmed by several messages under the assumed name of gentlemen known to have been in Kentucky, to their acquaintances in St. Vincents; nor would the presence of Clark be credited, until his person was pointed out by one, who knew him. To mask the weakness of the force, the soldiers had their in- structions to frame their conversation before strangers, so as to lead them to believe, there were at least a thousand men. One 84 HISTORY OF KE^TTUCKY. circumstance occasioned much surprise in the American part}- ; that ahhough a great deal of bustle could be perceived in all the streets of the town, not a drum was heard, nor a gun was fired from the fort; in fact, as was afterwards learned, even the friends of the British were afraid to give the garrison notice ot Clark's presence. About sunset on the 23d of February, the American detachment set off to take possession of the town, marching and countermarching round some elevations in the plains; and displaying several sets of colors, which had been brought by the French volunteers, so as to enhance the appear- ance of their numbers ; then taking their course through some ponds that were breast high, they encamped on the heights back of the town. Still there was no hostile demonstration on the part of the British, and there was the utmost impatience with the Americans, to unriddle the mystery. For this pur- pose, Lieut. Bayley was sent with fourteen men to commence the attack upon the fort; but the fire of this party was attribu- ted to some drunken Indians, who frequently saluted the fort in this manner, until a man was shot down through a port hole ; when the engagement began in good earnest on both sides.* During the fire, when the American ammunition had become very low, owing to a reliance upon the stores in the galley; a very fortunate disclosure of powder and balls, which had been buried to keep it out of the hands of the British, was made by the owners. Colonel Legrass, Major Busseron, and others. The Tobacco's son formerly mentioned, now made his appearance, and offered his services with a hundred warriors ; the offer was, however, declined, though his presence and counsel was de- * "There is an amusing anecdote connected with the siege, ilhistrative of the frank and fearless spirit of the times; that wliile Helm was a prisoner, and playinj; at piquet with. Governor Hamilton in tlie fort, one of ClarK's men requested leave of his commander to shoot at Helm's quarters, so soon as they were discovered, to knock down the clay or tlia mortar, into liis apple toddy; which lie was sure the Captain, from liis well known fond- ness for that (inc liquor, would have on his hearth. It is added, that when theCaptain jieard the luillets rattlinj; about the chimney, lie jumped up and swore it was Clark, and he would make tliem all prisoners; though the d d rascals had no business to spoil his toddy." — Louisville Directory, paije 97. It is added, that when Helm made this exclama- tion about Clark, Governor Hamilton asked, "Is he a merciful man?" It seems an in- telligence was kept up between Helm and Clark, throuch the medium of Henry's wife, who lived in the town; and who had free access to lier husband in the fort. Helm cau- tioned the British soldiers apamst lookinjr out at the port lioks; " for," said he, " Clark's men will shoot your eyes out;" it accordingly happened, tliat one was shot through the ere, on attempting to look out, when Helm exclaimed, " I told you so." — Letter of, Edmund: Rogers, Esq., to the author. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 85 sired. The fire continued without intermission, except for about fifteen minutes before day, until nine o'clock the next morning. Our men would lie within thirty yards of the fort, and untouched, from the awkward elevation of the platforms of the garrison guns; the balls would do no damage but to the buildings of the town: while, on the other hand, no sooner was a port hole opened, or even darkened, than a dozen rifles would be directed at it, cutting down every thing in the way. By this terribly concentrated fire, the garrison became discouraged, and could not stand to their guns; in the course of the morning a fierce demand of capitulation was made by Clark, but firmly rejected by Governor Hamilton ; who declared, " he would not be awed into any thing unbecoming British subjects." Our men were urgent for a storm of the fort, but Clark sternly re- pressed such rashness. In the evening, the British officer find- ing his cannon useless, and apprehensive for the result of being taken at discretion, sent a flag dejiiring a truce of three days. This, Colonel Clark thought too iriprudent to grant; although he himself expected a reinforcement with artillery on the arri- val of his galley: he proposed in return, that the British garri- son, should be surrendered at discretion, and that Governor Hamilton should with Captain Helm, then a British prisoner, meet him at the church. In consequence of this offer the par ties, with a iMajor Hay, on the British side, met each other as desired; when Clark having rejected the terms offered by Go- vernor Hamilton, the latter insisted on some offers from the former; Clark peremptorily adhered to the first that had been mentioned. Captain Helm attempting to moderate the excited feelings between the two officers, was reminded by Clark, that he was a British prisoner, and he doubted whether he could with propriety, speak on the subject. The British commander then said, that Captain Helm was liberated from that moment; but Clark refused to accept his release on such terms, and said, he must return and abide by his fate. The British officer was then informed, that the firing should begin in fifteen minutes afler the beating of the drums ; and the gentlemen were taking their course to their respective quarters ; Governor Hamilton H 86 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. now called to Colonel Clark, and politely inquired of hinij what his reasons were for rejecting the garrison on the liberal terms which had been proposed to him. The American officer then told him with affected severity, " I know the principal Indian partisans from Detroit are in the fort, and I only want an honorable opportunity of putting such instigators of Indian bar- barities to death. The cries of the widows and orphans made bv their butcheries, require such blood at my hands. So sa- cred," said Clark, " do I consider this claim upon me for pun- ishment, that I think it next to divine, and I would rather lose fifty men, than not execute a vengeance demanded by so much innocent blood. If Governor Hamilton chooses to risk the destruction of his garrison for the sake of such miscreants, it was at his pleasure." Upon this. Major Hay exclaimed, "Pray, sir, whom do you mean by Indian partisans?" Clark, keenly and promptly replied, '-I consider Major Hay one of the principal ones." The change in Hay's countenance was in- stantaneous, like one on the point of execution; he turned pale and trembled to such a degree, that he could scarcely stand. Governor Hamilton blushed for his behaviour in the presence of officers; and Captain Bowman's countenance expressed as much contempt for the one, as respect and sorrow for the other. From that moment Clark's resolution relented, and he deter- mined in his own mind, to show Governor . Hamilton every lenity in his power : he told him, that " they would return to their respective posts, and he would reconsider the matter, and let him know the result by a flag." Upon the British offer being submitted to the American officers, it was agreed that our terms should be moderated ; they were accordingly communicated to Governor Hamilton, and immediately acceded to by him. This capitulation on the 24th of February, 1779, surrendered Fort Sackville to the Americans ; the garrison was to be con- sidered as prisoners of war. On the 25th, it was taken posses- sion of by Colonel Clark, at the head of the companies of Cap- tains Williams and Witherington, while Captains Bowman and McCarty received the prisoners ; the stars and stripes were again hoisted, and thirteen cannon fired to celebrate therecov- HISTORY OF EEXTUCKY. 87 cry of this most important strong hold upon the Indian frontier. At this surrender there were seventy-nine prisoners received, and considerable stores: on viewing the strength of the fort, Colonel Clark was astonished at its easy surrender; but on reflection was convinced, that it could have been undermined, as the fort was within thirty feet of the river bank. If even that attempt had failed, his information was so exact^ that on the arrival of his artillery, the first hot shot could have blown up the magazine, A few days afterwards. Captain Helm was despatched up the Wabash, after a quantity of stores upon their way from Detroit; all of which were surprised; and stores to the amount of ten thousand pounds sterling, with forty prison- ers, were captured. On the return of this successful expedi- tion, with the British flags still flying, our galley hove in sight, and was preparing for an attack upon the little river fleet, supposing it to be the enemy ; but soon the beloved en- sign of American freedom was hoisted at the mast head, to the joy and triumph of our countrymen. They were only mortified to find their services had not been lent in the reduc- tion of the post. After this brilliant achievement, over obsta- cles which might well have deterred the most energetic of commanders* it was not for a moment looked upon as a sufli- cient effort, but on the contrary, it was only regarded as a step- ping stone to other and richer triumphs. Detroit now presented itself in full view, to our bold and indefatigable officer. " Twice has this town been in my power," he writes to Governor Jeffer- son ; " Had I been able to have raised only five hundred men when I first arrived in the country, or when I was at St. Vin- cents, could I have secured my prisoners, and only have had three hundred good men, I should have attempted it." Recent intelligence had informed Clark, that the British force at De- troit consisted of but eighty men, many of them invalids, and the inhabitants exceedingly well disposed towards the Ameri- can interest. Indeed Colonel Clark had determined on com- pleting his bold enterprises, by an attack upon this point, with his present forces; when receiving despatches from Governor Henry, promising a reinforcement of another battalion, to 88 HISTORY OP KENTUCKY. complete the regiment, it was deemed most prudent to postpone the expedition, until such an imposing force should arrive. In the meantime Colonel Clark embarked on his galley for Kas- kaskia, leaving Captain Helm once more in the command of the town, and the superintendence of Indian affairs. By these gal- lant expeditions Colonel Clark most richly merited the high enco- miums of Chief Justice Marshall, " that these bold and decisive measures, which, whether formed on a great or small scale, mark the military and enterprising genius of the man, who plans and executes them." The circumstantial relation of these exploits now, for the f^r St time J submitted to the American public, may appear to some, as too wide a digression from the plan of this history. The author thinks not; for they form an integral and a most important part of Kentucky history ; achieved under the auspices of our parent state, by a portion of troops drawn from this commonwealth, when it, as well as the eastern Illinois,* formed a portion of the wide domain of Virginia. Nor does the author think, a more cruel mutilation of Kentucky history could be committed, than to omit these brilliant Illinois campaigns, which contributed so materially to support the settlement of Kentucky, by distracting and overawing her savage foes. To- the mind of the author, they present some of the most beautiful flowers of western history, worthy of the most assiduous eare^ CHAPTER VI. First Court of Kentucky— Its officers— First Colotiel— Sie^e of Rt. Asaph8,or Logan's Station— British rroclaniations— Capture of Boone— Siege of Boonesborough— Laud Law — Its Commissioners. It is now time to turn our attention to the more immediate affairs of Kentucky, the narration of which has been suspended, in order to present in one unbroken story, the achievements of the great western hero. It has been seen that it was owing to * The west side of the Upper Mississippi was railed Western Illinois, under the Span- iah government, and that portion on the eastern side, was called Eastern Illinois.— j3n- cient Inhabitants. IltSTORTf OP KENTtCKY. o9 his agency, that the executive of Virginia was induced to un- dertake the defence of Kentucky at all, and subsequently, that the legislature established it, as an integral part of that ancient commonwealth. Hitherto Kentucky had scarcely formed an object of legisla- tive attention to the parent state of Virginia; which was no doubt profoundly, and justly engrossed, by the soul-stirring con- cerns of that opening revolution, the results of which'have told so gloriously not only for the people of the United States, but for the freedom and the happiness of the world. Still amidst these perilous and tremendous times of social commotion, the legisla- ture of Virginia having declared the state independent of Great Britain, on June 29th, 1776, in October of the same year es- tablished the county of Kentucky, as has been previously men- tioned. The limits of the new county, which had previously formed a part of Fincastle county, in Virginia, embraced " all the country lying south and westward of a line beginning on the Ohio, at the mouth of Great Sandy Creek, (now Big Sandy River) and running up the same, and the main or northeasterly branch thereof, to the great Laurel Ridge, or Cumberland mountain ; and with that, to the line of North Carolina," or the present State of Tennessee. " This may justly be considered an important event in the condition of the Kentucky settlers. As a part of Fincastle county, they had in fact, no part, or lot, in its police ; nor could they vote at elections for representatives — receive military pro- tection, or be distinctly heard in the legislature, in consequence of their detached situation : but composing a county themselves, they, by the constitution of the State, were to be thenceforth entitled to two representatives of their own choosing. They were also entitled to have a county court of civil jurisdiction of matters in both law, and equity— justices of the peace — mi- litia officers — sheriff — coroner, and surveyor: in fine, to be a civil, and military, municipality, or corporation ; with powers competent to their own government, agreeably to the general laws of the Commonwealth."* * Marshall ], page 47. H* QQ HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. Our first municipal court, under the authority of Virginia, went into operation in 1777, at Harrodsburgh ; *• composed of six or eight of the most respectable men in the county for lite- rary information." These " had been commissioned by the Go- vernor of Virginia, as justices of the peace; and who could, moreover, hold monthly sessions for the despatch of ordinary business. The names of John Todd, John Floyd, Benjamin Logan, John Bowman, and Richard Calloway, are recollected by Mr. Humphrey Marshall. Levi Todd was appointed the fii'st clerk of Kentucky, in its chrysalis condition of a county. The requisite officers for a regiment of militia were also com- missioned ; of which John Bo\yman was Colpii^],. being the first Colonel of Kentucky county.* He promptly placed the citizens, whether permanent residents, or not, in companies and battal- ions. Thus was organized this infant colony of Virginia, under the command of a county lieutenant with the rank of Colonel ; no imperfect type of their British ancestors, who had migrated to James' Town, and had founded the parent commonwealth. Let us for a moment consider the situation of our pioneers at this period of their history. They were posted in the heart of the most favorite hunting ground of numerous and hostile tribes of Indians, on the north and on the south ; a ground en- deavored to these tribes by its profusion of the finest game, subsisting on the luxuriant vegetation of this great natural park; in a fatness, not surpassed by the flocks and herds of agricul- tural society. It was emphatically the Eden of the Red man. Was it then wonderful, that all his fiercest passions, and wildest energies, should be aroused in its defence against an enemy; whose success, was the Indian's downfal ? So formidable were these enemies, into whose mouth, our handful of hunters, had thrown themselves, that they occupied the present territory of Tennessee, and the whole northwestern side of the Ohio river ; now embracing the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and the territory of Michigan. These territories were then the strong- hold of the most ferocious and war-like tribe of Indians on this continent. They had frequently wasted the frontiers of the * Correspondence of Colonel Logan with Clark. HISTORY OF KEXTUCKV. 91 Carolinas, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, with the tomahawk, and with fire. 'Moreover, the enem}'^ was at this time freely aided by the arts and treasure of Great Britain, furnished by her military officers from Detroit to Kaskaskia. Thus the pio- neers of Kentucky, were separated by three or four hundred miles of Indian wilderness, from the nearest fort of their coun- trymen at Pittsburgh; and fully six hundred miles from the seat of government in Virginia, with forests and Indian coun* try between. Under these appalling circumstances, may not the forlorn and perilous situation of our first settlers, bear some honorable comparison with the gallant daring of the fathers of our great republic, who led the way across the Atlantic wave, and founded the empire of freedom, at James Town, and at Plymouth? It was the turn of Ix^an's fort next, to experience an attack by about the same number of Indians, and probably by the same party which, had so recently invested Boonesborough, and at- tacked Harrodsburgh.* The garrison at that time consisted of fifteen men only. The two other principal forts were each kept in a state of alarm by the Indians, so that no assistance could be afforded by the one to the other. The distresses of the inhabitants, particularly of the women and children, may faintly be conceived; cooped up at this period of the year, in their confined stations, and suri-ounded by a merciless foe. " But aided by Logan, and encouraged by his example, the little handful under his command, not exceeding thirty-five, the men less than half this number, would not complain, much less despair." What must have been tlie joy of these beleaguered forts, when on the 25th of July, 1777, a party of forty -five re- cruits arrived at Boonesborough, from North Carolina ! The Indians made their attack upon Logan's fort, with more tlian their usual secrecy, while the women, guarded by a part &£ the men, were milking the cows outside of the fort; they were sud- denly fired upon by a large body of Indians, till then concealed in the thick cane which stood about the cabins. By this fire, one man was killed and two others wounded, one mortally ; the *HarshallIvpasc49. W5 HISTORY OF KE>TUCKY. residue, with the women, got into the fort. When, having reached the protection of its walls, one of the wounded men was discovered, left alive on the ground. Captain Logan distressed for his situation, and keenly alive to the anguish of his family, who could see him from the fort, weltering in his blood, exposed every instant to be scalped by the savages, endeavored in vain for some time to raise a party for his res- cue. The garrison was, however, so small, and the danger so appalling, that he met only objection and refusal; until John Martin stimulated by his Captain, proceeded with him to the fort gate. At this instant, Harrison, the wounded man, ap- peared to raise himself on his hands and knees, as if able to help himself, and Martin withdrew, deterred by the obvious hazard; Logan, incapable of abandoning a man under his com- mand, was only nerved to newer and more vigorous exertions to relieve the wounded man who, by that time, exhausted by his previous efforts, after crawling a few paces, had fallen to the ground: the generous and gallant Captain took him in his arms, amidst a shower of bullets, many of which struck the palisades about his head ; and brought him into the fort to his despairing family. Shall an action of this high wrought mag- nanimity, tell less honorably to the human heart, because it was performed on a small scale ? Shall it weigh less in moral estimation, because two men were concerned, instead of hun- dreds or thousands? To the mind of the author, the essence of exalted feeling and affectionate devotion is the same upon all scales of action; and the numbers upon whom it may have operated, are only one of the extrinsic circumstances. Another danger now assailed this little garrison — "there was but little powder or ball in the fort; nor any prospect of supply from the neighboring stations, could it even have been sent for, without the most imminent danger." The enemy continued before the fort; there was no ammunition nearer than the set- tlements on Holston, distant about two hundred miles ; and the garrison must surrender to horrors worse than death, unless a supply of this indispensable article could be obtained. Nor was the task very easy to pass through so wily an enemy, or niSTOKY OP KENTUCKY. 93 the danger and difficulty much lessened, when even beyond the besiegers; owing to the obscure and mountainous way, it was necessary to pass, through a foe scattered in almost every di- rection. But Captain Logan was not a man to falter where du- ty called, because encompassed with danger; with two compa- nions he left the fort in the night. With the sagacity of a hun- ter, and the hardihood of a soldier, he avoided "the troddea way by Cumberland Gap, which was most likely to be waylaid by the Indians," and explored his passage over the Cumberland Mountain, where no man had ever travelled before, through brush and cane, over rocks and precipices, sufficient to have daunted the most hardy and fearless. In less than ten days from his departure. Captain Logan having obtained the desired supply, and leaving it with directions to his men, how to conr duct their march, arrived alone and safe at his '^diminutive ita- tion," which had been almost reduced to despair. The escort with the ammunition, observing the directions given it, arrived in safety, and the garrison once more felt itself able to defend the fort and master of its own fortune. Still, they were under the necessity of hunting for their support, which daily exposed them to the Indians, who infested the whole neighborhood. la this situation, the fort remained from the 20th of May until th« month of September; when, most unexpectedly, ColonelJohn Eowman arrived with a reinforcement of one hundred men. A detachment of these, considerably in advance of the main body, upon its approach to the fort, was fired on by the besiegers and several of them killed ; the rest made their way into the place which soon led to the dispersion of the enemy. On the dead body of one of the detachment, were found proclamations by tlie British Governor of Canada, offering protection to such of the inhabitants, as would abandon the rebellious colonies, and denouncing vengeance against those who refused. Thus was announced to the western people, that the Indians and British were united in the war against them. Logan, upon receiving the papers from the man who found them, thought it most pru« dent, in the harrassed and distressed state of the garrison, rather than of the country, to conceal theia* contents. 94 HISTORY OF KE?fTUCKY. The assistance of Colonel Bowman, was but temporary ; "his men wefe engaged but for a short time, and much of that had expired on the road;" when their term of service had been completed, they immediately returned to their homes. Thus a short,time *'depriv ed the garrison of its auxiliaries, and the fort was left to its resident inhabitants ;" the Indians had not with- drawn from the country ; and yet, under this accumulation of distress, their ammunition was again nearly exhausted. "Again Logan left his family and his fort," for the settlement on Hol- ston, and with his usual promptitude and energy, obtained, what he sought and returned again, in safety to his expecting friends. ''Soon after his return, his force was augmented by a party un- der ^Montgomery," which must have given peculiar anima- tion to the garrison after the departure of Colonel Bowman's troops. ■ A second attack was now made upon Boonesborough on the? 4th of July, by an Indian force of two hundred warriors. In this attempt, the garrison, not half the number of the enemy,, •lost one man, and had two wounded; while the Indians had se- ven killed, as was seen from the tort, although removed from the ground agreeably to the custom of the enemy. This siege Jasted ^'two days and pi^hts," when the Indians "losing all 'hope of success tumultuously," departed concealed by the ad- jacent hills. "Notwithstanding these various sieges, the fields adjacent to the forts, were cleared of their timber, and cultivated in corn »and vegetables," — some keeping guard, while others laboured, and each taking his turn as a hunter, at great hazard. Yet, amidst these multiplied and hidden dangers, the intrepidity of our hunters found it a relief, to take an equal chance with the enemy in the woods. "They thought themselves the best niarks-^ men, and as likely to see the Indian first, as to be seen by him ; while the first sight was equivalent to the first fire, and the most expert shooter held the best security for his. life." The In- dians had become shy in exposing themselves before the gar^ •Possibly John Montgomery, who commanded a company in the Illinois battalion and was afterwards Lieutenant Colonel in the Regiment of the same name. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 95 risen ; and even in the woods, took some precautions to avoid rencounters with equal numbers. On the close of this most eventful year, " the Indians disap- peared for a while :" and the only permanent settlements yet formed in Kentucky, were at Boonesborough, with twenty-two men; at Harrodsburgh, with sixty-five; and at Logan's fort, or St. Asaphs, with fifteen. In this army of Kentucky, amounting to one hundred and two men, a i^Q\y less than the first band of Plymouth pilgrims ; the occasional militia from the nearest settlements, who had returned home in the autumn, are not estimated. With this small number of fighting men in the country, no lan- guage can describe the distress, which was felt when intelligence was received of the capture of Daniel Boone, with twenty-seven men at the Lower Blue Licks. The circumstances of this heavy misfortune were, that Boone, on the 1st January, 1778, had with thirty men, gone to these Licks *" to make salt for the different garrisons in the country, where the people were in great want of that article, without the prospect of supply from abroad." The 7th of the ensuing February, as he was hunting for the support of the salt-makers, he fell in with a large Indian party with two Frenchmen, on its march to attack for a third time, the devoted Boonesborough. At this moment the Indians particularly wanted a prisoner, who might give them intelligence ; and while Boone fled some of their swiftest warriors pursued, and overtook him. Eight days afterwards, they brought Boone to the Licks , where twenty seven of his men surrendered as prisoners, by previous capitulation, in which they were promised life, and good treat- ment. The other three men of the party, had been sent home with the salt, which had been made. The Indians most fortunately for Kentucky, instead of push- ing their advantage against the weakened forts, and with such precious pledges in their possession, sweeping the land by the threats of massacreing their prisoners; elated with their suc- cess, they proceeded to Chilicothe on the Little Miami. In justice to our ferocious foes, it must be observed, that during a * Boone'B Narrative, page 18. 96 HISTORY OP KENTUCKY. march of three days in cold and inclement weather, they treated the prisoners, as they did themselves; *" the generous usage" says Boone, " the Indians had promised before in my capitular tion, was afterwards fully complied with." An instance of Indian faith, a continuance of which, might have saved both belligerents many ruthless scenes. Early in June, 1778, a party of four hundred and fifty war- riors assembled at Chilicothe, armed and painted in their usual terrific manner, for another expedition against the marked and signal object of Indian resentment and hostility — Boone's fort on the Kentucky river. Now for once Captain Boone derived pleasure from his captivity, as it gave him informa- tion of the utmost importance to his garrison; "and which he determined at all hazards, to convey to it, in order to save it from destruction." " On the 16th of the month, before Bun rise I departed," says the pioneer, *' in the most secret manner, and arrived at Boonesborough on the 20th, after a journey of one hundred and sixty miles, during which, I had but one meal." Never could an escape have been more provi- dential for the rede nption of our forlorn pioneers; the jfort was in a bad state of defence; they proceeded, however, " to repair its flanks, strengthen its gates and posterns, and to form double bastions; all of which was completed in ten days." At length one of the white prisoners escaping from the enemy, informed our people that they had, on learning Boone's elope- ment, " postponed their expedition three weeks." The Indians had spies out viewing our movements, and were greatly alarm- ed at our increase in number and fortifications. " The grand councils of the nation were held frequently, and with more deliberation than usual. They evidently saw the approaching hour, when the Long Knife would dispossess them of their de- sirable habitations ; and anxiously concerned for futuri y, deter- mined utterly to extirpate the whites out of Kentucky." Our forlorn band was not intimidated at the fearful odds opposed to them; but in the face of so formidable an invasion, as was im- pending over them, Captain Boone, about the 1st of August, * Boone's Narratire, page 19. t Idem, page 91. HISTORY OP KENTUCKY. 97 1778, made an incursion into the Indian country, with a party of nineteen men, in order to surprise a small town on the Scioto, called Paint-Creck-Town. " We advance'l," says he, " within four miles thereof, where we met a party of thirty Indians, on their march against Booncsborough, intending to join the others at Chilicothe, A smart fight ensued betwixt us for some time; at length the savages gave way and fled." Learning from two of his spies, who had been sent oa to the town, that the Indians had deserted it, Boone returned with all possible expedition to assist the garrison at home. On the 6th of August, he passed a mixed party of Canadians and Indians, and on the 7th day, the party arrived safe at Booncsborough. Could active enterprise have been more gallantly displayed at the head of thousands, than by this sagacious and intrepid Cap- tain of rangers? In the face of an enemy, twenty times his force, he carried the war into the enemy's country.* "On the 8th of August, 1778, the Indian army (if the term is not hyperbolical) arrived, consisting of four hundred and forty- four men, commanded by Captain Duquesne, eleven other Frenchmen, and some of their own chiefs; and marched up within view of our fort, with British and French co'ors flying." Boone was summoned in His Britannic Majesty's name, to sur- render his fort; he requested two days for consideration, which were granted. It was now indeed, in the language of Boone, "a critical time" with the besieged : their numbers were small, the army before the walls powerful, "fearfully painted, and marking their footsteps with desolation." Death was, how- ever, preferable to captivity among such an enemy, and this could but be their fate, when the fort should be taken by storm. The party, therefore, concluded to maintain the garrison to the last extremity. The horses and cattle were collected and brought into the fort; and on the evening of the 9th, Boone re- plied to the summons of surrender, that " they were determined to defend their fort while a man was living." Contrary to all expectations, the garrison was then informed, that " it was the * Boone's Narrative, page 23. I 98 HISTORY OF KE^rrrcKY, orders of Governor Hamilton (the British officer at Detroit; to» take them captive, and not to destroy them;* but if nine of u» would come out and treat with them, they would immediately withdraw their forces from our walls, and return home peacea- bly/' Although this is the exact statement of Captain Boone, it almost surpasses belief, that so prudent a commander, should have listened to so insidious a proposal, carrying deception j palpably on its face. Yet the enemy's proposition was em- braced ; and a treaty concluded within sixty yards of the fort. The Indians then came forward and informed Boone, " that it was customary with them on such occasions, for two Indians to shake hands with every white man in the treaty, as an evidence of entire friendship, they immediately grappled us" says Boone, " but although surrounded by hundreds of savages, we extricated ourselves from them, and escaped all safe into the garrison ; except one that was wounded," under a heavy fine from the enemv. The escape was as wonderful, and in defiance of all rational probabilities, as the exposure had been weak and credu- lous, to an extreme. The whole transaction evinces an unac- countable confidence on the part of Boone, only equalled by the awkward treachery of his antagonists. Well may Mr, Mc- Clung, in his most interesting and lively " Sketches of Western Adventure," observe, |"that there seems to have been a con- test between Boone and Duquesne, as to which should shew the greatest quantum of shallowness. The plot itself was un- worthy of a child, and the execution beneath contempt." Boone, however, is said to have suspected treachery, and to have sta- tioned a guard, and taken arms to repel it. The enemy " now attacked us on every side, and a constant fire ensued between us, day and night, for the space of nine days." During the seige an attempt was made to undermine the fort, which stood only sixty yards from the river bank; as soon as this was discovered by themuddiness of the water, pro- duced by the excavated clay; a trench was cut to intersect the mine in the bank of the river. When the besiegers found out this, by the clay thrown out of the fort, they desisted from their * Boone'a Narrative, page 2?. t Sketches, page 63. , t' HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 99 Stratagem, and on the 20th day of August, raised the siege and departed. During this formidable siege, which seemed to threaten so dreadfully, the garrison "had but two men killed, and four wounded; besides a number of cattle" destroyed. A degree of injury almost incredibly insignificant, under such fearful odds of numbers; while the enemy's loss amounted to <* thirty- seven killed, and a great number wounded." One hundred and twenty-five pounds of bullets were picked up about the fort, besides those which had penetrated into the logs of the walls." Thus most fortunately terminated, an expedition strong enough, under a persevering and energetic commander, with suitable followers, to have stormed every fort in the coun- try; and to have swept it clean of the white man. Providence ordered it otherwise, and- as the author confidently believes, for the good of mankind ; which can never be extensively promoted under the dominion of the ignorance, the brutality, and the fe- rocity, incident to a savage state. Sickly must the benevolence of that bosom be, which sighs over the triumphs of civilization, even in its ruder forms ; for they are the harbingers of brighter and better days of diffusing light, and learning, and religion. The Fall of 1779, was memorable for the removal of a great many families from the interior of Virginia and from the neigh- boring States.* This extended emigration is attributed to the law then adopted by Virginia respecting the disposition of her vast empire of new and unappropriated lands. "By this law, commissioners were to be appointed to hear and determine, all disputes relative to land claims, and to grant certificates of hav- ing settled in the country and of rights to purchase before oth- ers; or pre-emption claims, as they were called, to those enti- tled to receive them."t The county of Kentucky, then synony- mous w^ith the subsequent boundaries of the State, was placed * Three hundred larse family hoats arrived during the ensuini Spring at the Falls; and as many as ten or fiftoen wagons could he seen of a day, iroing from them. By this time, there were six stations on Bearirrass Creek, witiia population of six hundred men. The price of corn Huctuated from fifty dollars per bushel, in December, 1779, to one hundred arid sixty-five dollars per bushel, in January, 1780, and thirty dollars in May. These prices were at a season of obstructed navigation, and in depreciated paper; but its value in gold and silver is not known. — Colonel Floyd's Correspondence. fMarshall, I, 97. 100 HISTORY OF KET?TUCKY. under the jurisdiction of this board, composed of four members with appropriate judicial powers. This Court had jurisdiction on these most interesting matters involving the whole real es- tate of the country, without appeal j unless where one of the parties could not procure the attendance of witnesses ; in which case, the claim was to be adjourned to the General Court for fi- nal decision. Exceptions were made in favor of military offi- cers in the service of the United States or the State of Virginia, who had a year from their resignation or discharge to perfect their claims. These privileges interfering so much with the rights of innocent parties, were afterwards limited. The com- missioners appointed to execute this momentous trust for Ken- tucky, were William Fleming, Edmund Lyne, James Barbour, and Stephen Trigg, all resident in other parts of Virginia. On the 13th of October, this great land court was opened at St. Asaph's; and John Williams , Jr. was appointed clerk. Some specimens of their adjudications shall be presented for the cu- riosity of their nature. The first claim presented, was that of Isaac Shelby, (afterwards twice governor of the State,) to a set- tlement and pre-emption, as it was termed, /or raising a crop of corn in the country in 1776. It was granted: these techni- cal terms in the land law of Virginia, require explanation to a general reader. A settlement, consisted in an allowance of "four hundred acres, or such smaller quantity, as the party may choose to include his improvement or cultivation, granted to any person, who should, at any time before the 1st of January 1778, have really and bona fide settled himself or his family, upon any waste and unappropriated lands on the Western waters, to which no other hath any legal right or claim." For this grant, two dollars and a quarter per hundred acres, were exacted by the State. A pre-emption was nothing more than a right (which every person entitled to a settlement possessed,) to pay the State price for any quantity of land adjoining his settlement, not exceeding one thousand acres. These latter claims were to be paid for, at the rate of forty dollars per hundred acres; various other most equitable and beneficent provisions were en- acted for other claimants on the bounty of the State. Yet with HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 101 this generous character plainly represented on the face of the land law, even to an overflowing of charity and consideration for the poor, selling them farms even on these low terms, upon credit,- never was a measure of legislation so fruitful of curses and calamities to any community of people as the land law of Virginia. It has proved a perfect Pandora's box to Kentucky, constantly tricking her industrious and enterprising citizens out of the fruits of their brave and hardy exertions; distracting our courts and legislatures with its endless perplexities and re- finements. But of this on another occasion. The court of land commissioners assembled at different parts of the county from Harrodsburgh to the Falls, and on the 26th of January, 1780, declared its dissolution, after having adjudicated upon three thousand land claims. About the 1st of April, 1779, a block house was built where the neat and beautiful city of Lexington now adorns the State with her literary and scientific institutions. Here a settlement was begun under the auspices of Robert Patterson, who was an early and meritorious adventurer, much engaged in the de- fence of the country. Colonel Patterson was joined by the McConnel's, Lindsey's and James Masterson ; soon after, Major John Morrison, removed his family from Harrodsburgh, and Mrs. Morrison was the first white female settled in Lexington. This name was given to commemorate the battle of Lexing- ton, in Massachusetts, at the commencement of the Kevolu- tionary war. A name finely calculated to perpetuate the no- blest of the patriotic associations, for which, the people of Lex- ington have ever been distinguished.* ♦Lexington consisted at this time, of three rows of houses or cabins; the two outer rows constituted a portion of the walls of the stoclvade. These extended from the corner of the city, now known by the name of Levy's corner, to James Masterson's liouse, on Main Street. The intervals between the liouses were stockaded; the outlet a puncheon door with a bar to secure it. A block bouse commanded the public sprini;, and a com- mon field included the site of the present court-house. The discipline about the fort, is however, Said never to have been very rigid: nor was Uie fortitication very strictly kept in order. It is not generally known, that the southwestern part of the State was settled as early as 1782. In the testimony on record, in the case of Craddock asainst William Russell's heirs, in the Court of Appeals, Colonel Abraha:n Smart deposed that, his father had, at that time, settled on Red river; and about five miles above the mouth of the Elk fork of Red river, southwest of the present town of ilusselvillc. Its noble spring was well known in 178L To this may be added the following information respecting the same section of Ken- tucky. Judge Underwood informs the author, that liis uncle, Edmund Rogers, bad ob- 102 HISTORY OF KEXXrCKY. Bryant's station, about five miles north-eastward of Lexing- ton, was settled by the Bryants in 1779, and several stations were erected in the neighborhood of the present town of Dan- ville. This notice must suffice for the rise of our towns, now merging fast into the general settlement of the country in its wide extent. CHAPTER VII. Colonel David Rogers' Expedition to New Orleans— Defeat— Captain Benham— Colonei Bowman's Expedition— Colonel Byrd's Expedition up Lickins— General George Ro- pers Clark's marrh from Fort Jefferson— Shuts up the Land Office at Harrodsburgh— Expedition against Pickaway. The annoyance of the Indians still continued, occasionally infesting the stations, and intercepting the traveller and the hunter; yet the people pursued their business in the midst of hostility. There was a melancholy illustration of this, in an encounter of memorable fatality, which took place betsveen a large party of Indians and Colonel David Rogers and Captain Robert Ben- ham,* commanding a couple of keel boats loaded with military stores, and manned by about one hundred men. The former officer had been despatched by the Executive of Virginia in the preceding year, to New Orleans, for the purpose of procuring supplies from the Spanish government at that place; in order to support the military posts on the Upper Ohio, and the Mis- sissippi. This is mentioned in a letter of Governor Henry ad- dressed to Lieutenant Colonel Clark, and dated January 15th, served the following circumstances, before there was any settlement south of Green ri- ver. "There was a beech tree standing in a bottom on the margin of the east fork of the south branch of Little Barren river,.about a quarter of a mile from Edmunton, in Barren county, which had upon it the name of "James McCall, of Mecklenburg county, North- Carolina, June 8th, 1770." These words were cut in very handsome letters, with several initials of other names. Also on the Sulphur fork of Bays fork of Big Barren river, at or near the Sulphur Lick, now in Allen county, south-east of BowHng-Green, the follow- ing words were touud by the same ancient settler, cut in the bark of a beech tree — "Jame? McCall dined hereon his way to Natchez, June the 10th, 1/ <0." Judge Underwood when a boy, has frequently seen these memorials of early visiters to Kentucky. The party must, in all probability, have perished; unless some record of their visit, may be preserved in North Carolina." * The father of Joseph S. Benham, Esq,, of the Lotiisville Bar. IttSTORY OP KENTUCKY. 103 1778. *When Rogers arrived at the mouth of the Ozark, since called Arkansas ; he sailed up that river, some twelve or eigh- teen leagues, to the head of the back water, or overflown ground ; and there he deposited his boats, and stationed his men, and proceeded with six or seven, including Captain Robert Benham, down the Mississippi to New Orleans. When he arrived at that city, he found a British sloop of war in the port, the Captain of which, suspicious of the object of an American party from such a direction, (a circumstance of no common oc- currence at that day,) watched his movements narrowly, and impeded his business w'ith the Spanish officers. For although they were privately disposed to promote the American interests ; yet as the courts of Madrid and London were not openly at war, embarrassment was unavoidable in the presence of a Bri- tish force.j The situation of Major Rogers was truly critical and perplexing; under these circumstances, he found it neces- sary to send Captain Benham through the appalling extent of Indian country, on the west side of the Mississippi, with des- patches (it is conjectured) for the government of Virginia. Benham, with the hardihood characteristic of the times, subsist- ing principally on Indian corn boiled in lye, to save it from the weavil, passed through the Indian wilderness, reached Kaskaskia, then under the American arms; and proceeded to the Falls of Ohio, in the spring of 1779. Soon after his arrival at this place, owing to some unexplained success: Colonel Rogers, with two keel boats, ascended to the same place, on his return to Pittsburgh, and most joyfully took Captain Benham on board. The latter gentleman was then placed in command of one of the boats, and the little American squadron, the second escort of military supplies procured by our countrymen from New Orleans, moved on its destination up the Ohio. When Colonel Rogers reached the sand bar above the present city of Cincinnati, he found it bare more than half the width of the river. He now discovered a number of Indians on rafts and in canoes, coming out of the mouth of the Little Miami river, which was then high, and shot its waters, * Judge Dunlavy, of Ohio, f The declaration of war took place January 16th, 1779. 104 HISTORY OF KENTtJCKV. and consequently the Indians on their craft, nearly across the Ohio river. On seeing the enemy, Colonel Rogers ordered his men to land and attack them ; thinking he would be able to surprise them. But on landing and marching through the wil- lows with which the bar was then covered j and before they arriv- ed at the place where they expected to meet the Indians; they were themselves surrounded by nearly five times their number. The enemy quickly despatched the greatest part of the crew with Colonel Rogers. The remainder endeavored to retreat to the boats; but they were pursued too relentlessly with the toma- hawk. One of the boats, however, escaped with two men and reached the Falls. Not more than nine or ten ever returned to their families and friends. It may be safely affirmed, that the annals of Indian or border warfare contain not a bloodier page. Compared with the battle of the Blue Licks, Rogers' defeat was undoubtedly the more disastrous. In both instances the success of the Indians may be attributed more to the nature of the battle ground, than to their numerical superiority. They lay encamped at the foot of the river hill, a few hundred yards from its bank, on which Rogers and his men stood anxiously watching the rafts and canoes mentioned above; in this situation the Indians had only to ^anA; to the right and left from the base of the hill to the river (a manoeuvre which they always perform with skill and celerity) to secure their prey. Thus hemmed in, surrounded and surprised, it is only astonishing, considering the disparity of numbers, that they were not all massacred. Leonidas in the straights of Thermopylae, had not to contend with more discouraging circumstances than the brave and un- fortunate Rogers in this bloody horse-shoe. The Indians took and plundered one of the boats by which they got considerable booty, consisting of ready-made clothing and munitions of war, which Colonel Rogers had obtained from the Spaniards for the use of the forts on the frontier of Virginia. It is a little remark- able, that only a few years ago, after one of the periodical freshets, several gross of metal buttons were found on the bar where they had been buried ever since the battle. They were HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 105 deposited by the fisherman who found them in Mr. Dorfuille's Museum at Cincinnati. It ma}'^ be asked what could have em- bodied on the bank of the Ohio, at so early a period, four or five hundred Indian warriors, armed and equipped for battle? They were from a predatory incursion against the white settle- ments in the interior of Kentucky — an expedition which they had undertaken in the vain expectation of extirpating the settlers. A block-house in the vicinity of Lexington had been beleaguered by them for several days. The chief of this daring band of marau- ders was a Canadian Frenchman of the half-blood by the name of Birde. Born and reared among savages, he was alike dis^ tinguished for cunning and ferocity,* qualities which are sup- posed to be somewhat peculiar to this mongrel breed. Such, however, was the outline of his character as drawn by Colonel Campbell, whom he carried a prisoner to Detroit, and who was treated by him on the way in a most barbarous manner.*' Captain Benham shortly after breaking through the enemy's line, was dangerously wounded through the hips.t t"Fortunate- ly, a large tree had lately fallen near the spot where he lay, and with great pain, he dragged himself into the top, and lay con- cealed among the branches. The Indians, eager in pursuit of the others, passed him without notice, and by midnight all was quiet. On the following day, the Indians returned to the battle ground, in order to strip the dead and take care of the boatSv Benham, although in danger of famishing, permitted them ta * Letter of Joseph S. Benham, Esq. f McClung's Sketches. X The suffering of Captain Renham, who in this battle was dangerously wounded in the left hip, and lay for several weeks at the mouth of Licking before he was removed to the Falls, is well known. His companion in distress, whose arms were broken, is still alive, and resides in the town of Brownsville, Pennsylvania, which, at the time he jomed Rogers' expedition, was the ultima thule of western civilization, or rather, emigration. Captain Benham left the Falls as soon as his wound would permit, and returned home by the way of New Orleans. About twenty years after, ho again returned to the west in General Uarmar's campaign. In 1790, he was appointed Commissary General to the Army under the command of General St. Clair, and ho continued in the service perform- ing the most arduous and responsible duties until after the treaty of Greenville, which put a period to this bloody sequel to the war of Independence. In St. Clair's defeat, at the request of the General w'hen the army was surrounded, he mounted his horse and was among the foremost in leading on the bloody charge which broke through the enemy's lines, and saved the renmant of our troops. Here he was aijain wounded. But few have braved more, and endured more, and contributed more, in the exploration, conquest, and settlement of the western country, than this adventurous pioneer. He was many years a useful and leading member of the territorial and state legislatures of Ohio. He lived to see the wilderness, which he had assisted in conquering from the aborigineBj " budding and blossoming as the rose." 106 HISTORY OF KEXTUCKY. pass without making known his condition, very correctly sup- posing that his crippled legs, would only induce them to toma- hawk him upon the spot, in order to avoid the trouble of carry- ing him to their town. He lay close, therefore, until the even- ing of the second day, when perceiving a raccoon descending a tree, niear him, he shot it, hoping to devise some means of reaching it, when he could kindle a fire and make a meal. Scarcely had his gun cracked, however, when he heard a human cry, apparently not more than fifty yards off. Supposing it to be an Indian, he hastily reloaded his gun, and remained silent, expecting the approach of an enemy. Presently the same voice was heard again, but much nearer. Still Benham made no re- ply, but cocked his gun and sat ready to fire, as soon as an ob- ject appeared. A third halloo was quickly heard, followed by an exclamation of impatience and distress, which convinced Benham that the unknown must be a Kentuckian. As soon, therefore, as he heard the expression "whoever you are — for God's sake answer me !" — he replied with readiness, and the parties were soon together. Benham, as we have already oh~ served, was shot through both legs! — the man who now appear- ed, had escaped from the same battle, with both arms broken! Thus each was enabled to supply what the other wanted. Ben- ham having the perfect use of his arms, could load his gun and kill game, with great readiness, while his friend having the use of his legs, could kick the game to the spot where Benham sat, who was thus enabled to cook it. When no wood was near them, his companion would rake up brush with his feet, and gradually roll it within reach of Benham's hands, who constantly fed his companion, and dressed Ms wounds, as well as his own — tearing up both of their shirts for that purpose. They found some dif- ficulty in procuring water, at first — but Benham at length took his own hat, and placing the rim between the teeth of his com- panion, directed him to wade into the Licking, up to his neck, and dip the hat into the water (by sinking his own head.) The* man who could walk, was thus enabled to bring water, by means of his teeth, which Benh im could afterwards dispose of as was necessary. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 107 In a few days, they had killed all the squirrels and birds within reach, and the man with the broken arms, was sent out to drive game within gunshot of the spot, to which Benham was confined. Fortunately, wild turkeys were abundant in those woods, and his companion would walk around, and drive them towards Benham, who seldom failed to kill two or three of each flock. In this manner, they supported themselves for several weeks, until their wounds had healed, so as to enable them to travel. They then shifted their quarters, and put up a small shed at the mouth of Licking, where they encamped until late in November, anxiously expecting the arrival of some boat, which should convey them to the Falls of Ohio. On the 27th of November, they observed a flat boat moving leisurely down the river. Benham instantly hoisted his hat upon a stick and hallooed loudly for help. The crew, however, supposing them to be Indians — at least suspecting them of an intention to decoy them ashore, paid no attention to their sig- nals of distress, but instantly put over to the opposite side of the river, and manning every oar, endeavored to pass them as rapidly as possible. Benham beheld them pass him with a sen- sation bordering on despair, for the place was much frequented by Indians, and the approach of winter threatened them with destruction, unless speedily relieved. At length, after the boat had passed him nearly half a mile, he saw a canoe put off' from its stern, and cautiously approach the Kentucky shore, evi- dently reconnoitering them with great suspicion. He called loudly upon them for assistance, mentioned his name and made known his condition. After a long parley, and many eviden- ces of reluctance on the part of the crew, the canoe at length touched the shore, and Benham and his friend were taken on board. Their appearance excited much suspicion. They were almost entirely naked, and their faces were garnished with six weeks growth of beard. The one was barely able to hobble upon crutches, and the other could manage to feed him- self with one of his hands. They were instantly taken to Louisville, where their clothes (which had been carried off' in the boat which deserted them) were restored to them, and after a few weeks confinement, both were perfectly restored." 108 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. To punish these attacks, an expedition was appointed against Old Chilicothe, on the Little Miami; to be commanded by Colo- nel John Bowman. The rendezvous was fixed at Harrods- burgh for the people of the interior. Benjamin Logan, John Holder, James Harrod, and John Bulger, were Captains. George M. Bedinger acted as adjutant, and some of the best men in the country engaged as private soldiers, to the number of three hundred. This was the first offensive expedition from Kentucky, since the spirited incursion of Boone, previous to the last siege of Boonesborough, during the preceding year. Great expectations were entertained of this expedition in Virginia.* Some of its officers were among the most success- ful and efficient in Kentucky : such as Logan and Harrod. The party marched in the month of July, with their provisions on their backs ; they were well acquainted with the ground where it was intended to strike the blow ; and the movements were so well conducted, as to escape all discovery. The Indians had never yet experienced a formidable invasion from Kentucky, and seem to have entertained no apprehension of a retaliation for their annual invasions of this most vexed and harrassed land. Colonel Bowman's party arrived within a short distance of the town, near night, and halted. It was then dete-rmin d to make the attack, by day-break ; for this purpose. Captain Lo- gan was detached to encircle the town on one side, while Bow- man was to surround it on the other, and to give the signal of assault. Logan immediately executed his part of the plan, and waited for his superior officers. Day began to break, and still there was no appearance of the detachment in front; Logan, in the mean time, ordered his men to conceal themselves in the grass and the weeds. The men in shifting about for hiding places, alarmed one of the enemy's dogs, whose barking soon brought out an Indian to discover the cause of the alarm. At this moment, one of Logan's men discharged his gun; the In- dian, aware that it proceeded from an enemy, gave an instan- taneous and loud whoop, and ran immediately to his cabin. The alarm was now spread, but still the time was not too late ♦Jefferson's Correspondence, I, 163. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 109 Ibr an energetic attack; Logan could see the women and chil- dren escaping to the woods by a ridge between his party and the other detachment. The Indian warriors repaired to a strong cabin, with port holes in it, while Logan's men took pos- session of the cabins left by the Indians, and suddenly adopted the plan of forming a moveable breastwork out of the doors and puncheons or coarse plank of the floors, and pushing them for- ward, as a battery against the Indian post. While these active measures were taking, Colonel Bowman learning from a negro prisoner, that Girty and a hundred Mingos were at the Pick- away Town, and had been sent for, ordered a retreat. A circumstance which aggravated the distress of this order was, that the moment our men uncovered themselves, they were ex- posed to a destructive fire from the enemy in the council house, while they marched through a prairie, which surrounded the town. A retreat was however most reluctantly begun ; and instead of preserving any order, the utmost confusion took place ; after the loss of several lives, the party was re-united, and the retreat was resumed in better condition; with the painful reflection, howeverj that the expedition had not effected as much, as it was at first entitled to expect. They only burned the town and cap- tured one hundred and sixty-three horses, and some other spoil, with a loss of six or seven men, in spite of the fairest promises.* The Indian chief Blackfish, the one who had headed an expedi- tion against Harrodsburgh, and had taken Boone prisoner at the Blue Licks, at the head of about thirty warriors, pursued our party, and was killed; Red Hawk, a new chief, continued the battle. Bowman, though a gallant and experienced officer, made no detachments to repulse the savages, and our men were standing, as objects to be shot down. In this condition of things. Captains Logan, Harrod, Bulger, and a few others, mounted the pack-horses, and scoured the woods in every direction, rush- ing on the Indians whenever they could find them. These offensive steps continued until Red Hawk was also killed, when the rest of the Indian party fled; and our men returned home, with a loss of eight or nine killed in the two actions ; the loss * Captain Patton, late of Louisville. K 110 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY, of the enemy was not accurately known ; but no doubt it was considerable from the intermitted pursuit.* The expeditions into the Indian country, which had recently been prosecuted by Colonels Clark and Bowman, seem at length, to have roused the exertion of British power, in order to counteract the influence of the former, especially upon their Indian allies. With this view, a formidable expedition was prepared, consisting of six hundred Indians and Canadians, commanded by Colonel Byrd, an officer in the British service. Two, or as Boone asserts, six field pieces, which accompanied this party, brought down the Big Miami, and then up Lick- ing, rendered the party resistless to the stockades of Ken- tucky, utterly destitute as they were of artillery. The march was totally undiscovered by our people, until on the 22d of June, 1780, the enemy appeared before Ruddle's station. This is the more extraordinary, since the British party was " twelve days marching from the Ohio river, to Ruddle's station; and had cleared a wagon road a great part of the way."t Colonel Floyd writes to Colonel William Preston, of Virginia, early as May of this year, that a similar expedition with artillery was expected, and to be directed against the fort at this city. These facts evince a most extraordinary state of confidence, or weak- ness. The above station had been settled the previous year, on the easterly bank of the south fork of Licking River; three miles below the junction of Hiukston and Stoner's branches of the same stream. This, the author believes is the first employment of artillery against the forts of Kentucky; and must have ap- peared little less formidable to our riflemen, than it did to bel- ligerents, at the first invention of these terrible arms. The cannon were moved up Licking by water, as far as the junction of the south fork of that river; whence the expedition proceeded ♦Gen. Ray thinks diiTercntly from the current account, and believes the attack failed fioin the vigorous defence by the Indians, which prevented Bowman gettmg near enough to give Logan the signal agreed upon. Gen. Ray gives full credit to Bowman on this re- treat, as well as on other occasions. t It is said that this expedition had been intended, to co-operate with Governor Hamil- ton's projected inarch from Kaskafkia, so liappily superseded by the genius of George ilogersCiark.— G'e;ierai Willium Clark. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. Ill by land against the fort, owing to the lowness of the water. A summons to surrender at discretion to His Britannic Ma- jesty's arms, was immediately made by the enemy, and dread- ful as the necessity was, there was no alternative but to com- ply; resistance was hopeless. The fort gates were accordingly opened; and the Indians rushed in, to secure the prisoners, and plunder the property. The same scene was acted at Martin's station, higher up the South Fork, with the same result. The prisoners and plunder were hastily collected together, and the retreat commenced with strange precipitation: many of the prisoners could not support this rapidity; among whom were necessarily most of the women and children. These, loaded with plunder as usual with the Indians, were quickly released from their miseries, by the tomahawk of their savage foes. Those who survived, were dispersed among the Indians, or carried to Detroit; whence they generally returned after seve- ral years detention. Yet deplorable as this invasion was to its immediate victims, it is a subject of astonishment, united with gratitude to Heaven, that its furies should have been arrested at these two points ; instead of being directed against the sta- tions of the country generally. These were utterly incompe- tent to defend themselves against it. It is most unaccountable, that the very first and last expedition into Kentucky with artil- lery, should have returned with such utterly inadequate effect. How proud the contrast in favor of our indefatigable and en- terprising Clark I How humiliating and disgraceful toByrd! The former officer invaded the enemy's country with rifle troops, captured his towns, took his strongest forts armed with cannon, and kept possession of the country; while the latter, with only small arms to oppose his artillery, confined himself to capturing two paltry stockades; and hurried out of the country so fast as to compel the murder of several of his most helpless prisoners, by his barbarous allies. Such is the contrast ever existing between genius and a capacity for ordinary routine. Colonel Byrd,* it is said, had previously limited himself to the * There is another explanation more honorable to Colonel Byrd; it is, that shocked hy the irrepressible barbarities of the Indians, he determined to arrest his expedition, and return to Detroit. 112 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. Licking forts,* and would not extend his plan. At the period of this invasion, there were not three hundred fighting men north of the Kentucky river; and if the expedition could have been kept together for a week or two, Mr. Humphrey Marshall thinks, it might have depopulated the country. On such trifling circumstances, appears to depend the fate of communities; no doubt, however, overruled by the general laws of God's Provi- dence, and the government of the Universe. True it is, that the Indians once successful to any degree, are, owing to their profound caution, bent against trying their fortune any farther. Thus the unexpected advantage, which they gained in the cap- ture of Boone and his men at the Lower Blue Licks, in 1778 ; most fortunately postponed the attack upon Boonesborough, the original object of the expedition, from February to August. To retaliate the mischiefs inflicted by the enemy, an expedi- tion against Pickaway, the principal town of the Shawanees^ situated on a branch of the Great Miami, was determined upon by General Clark. The year 1780 is remarkable for the establishment of Fort Jefferson on the Mississippi, five miles below the junction of the Ohio with the father of the western waters. Colonel Clark effected this measure, notwithstanding the strong dissatisfaction of the settlers of Kentucky, as a wanton division and dispersion of their little force, in conformity, however, with instructions from Governor Jefferson ;t in order to fortify the claim of the United States to the western boundary of the Mississippi, south of the Ohio4 It is now well known, that neither the court of France, nor that of Spain, was friendly to the extension of the American boundary to the Mississippi. Every artifice of diplomacy was resorted to on both sides of the Atlantic, to prevent this aggrandizement of the United States. The French minister at Philadelphia, had not only disgracefully prevailed on Congress, to instruct its ministers in France, to "govern themselves by the advice and opin- * Marshall 1, 109. t Governor Jefferson's letters June 28, 1778, and January and Aprils 1780L J Pitkin's United States, II, 95. aiSTORY OP KENTUCKY. 113 ion^^ of the French government; to increase the number of plenipotentiaries, in order to overrule the elder Adams; but tinally obtained, and at the instance of Virginia too, an instruc- tion to Mr. Jay, not to insist on the free navigation of the Mis- sissippi, below latitude thirty-one degrees north. Spain, indeed, and not feebly supported by France, endeavored to limit these states east of the Alleghany mountains, and to divide the coun- try by the Ohio, between Spain and Great Bri'ain. This ap- proach to converting Kentucky into a Spanish province, will merit a further notice in another part of this work; let it re- mind us of the services of that able patriot John Jay, who S(j firmly resisted it, under clouds of embarrassment, at the courts of Madrid, and of Paris.* A most elaborate statement of the American claims, was drawn by a committee of Congress on the 17th of October, 1780. In this paper, reference is specially made, among other weighty considerations, to the fact, that the United States had t" obtained possession of all the important posts and settlements on the Illinois and the Wabash, rescued the inhabitants from British dominion and established civil ffcvern- ment in its proper form over them. They have, moreover, es- tablished a post on a strong and commanding situation near the mouth of the Ohio.'''' It was in the spring of this year, that this fort was established ; and it has been seen that the representa- tion by Congress, which is attributed by Mr. Pitkin to Mr. Madison, was drawn up in the ensuing October. The express instructions of Governor Jefferson on the 28th June, 1778, now conclusively place the politic measure of establishing this fort on the Mississippi, and below the Ohio, to the comprehensive mind of this statesman. The increase of counties which has been already mentioned, necessarily gave rise to a proportionate expansion of our mili- tary and civil organization; for each county, according to the l-aws of Virginia, required a similar municipal system. For these purposes, John Floyd was appointed first county Lieuten- ant Colonel, and William Pope, the father of the present Wil- iiam Pope, Sen. of Jefferson, Lieutenant Colonel, Benjamin Lo- * Jay's Life, 1, 237. f Pitkin's United States, II, 513. K* 114 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. gan, Colonel, and Stephen Trigg, Lieutenant Colonel, of Lin-* coin; John Todd, Colonel, and Daniel Boone, Lieutenent Colo- nel, of Fayette county. These regiments were formed into a brigade, which was placed under the command of General George Rogers Clark. A commission of " Brigadier General of the forces to be embodied on an expedition westward of the Ohio,'' is preserved among his papers. It is dated January 22d, 1781, and signed by Thomas Jefferson. Each county had likewise a court of qualified civil and cri- minal jurisdiction; yet there was no court competent to try capital cases, nearer than Richmond, the seat of government for Virginia. The county courts, however, held quarterly ses- sions, at which they could try and punish misdemeanors, by fine and imprisonment; adjudicate matters at common law and chan- cery of a civil nature over four dollars and one-sixth ; or twenty five shillings. The rest of the judicial business was transacted at the monthly sessions, or by the magistrates individually ; these were conservators of the peace and superintended the local concerns of each county. Fortunately, owing to the simplicity of manners, and the equal and rude state of property, there were few temptations to violence, requiring the interposition of criminal law. The first surveyors in the new counties, were George May, in Jefferson. Colonel Thomas Marshall, in Fay- ette, and James Thompson, in Lincoln county. The services of the two latter, were loudly and for some time vainly called for . The new system of defending the country by General Clark, may deserve a few words. Spies and scouting parties were scattered over the frontier, \Yho reported to the General posted at Fort Nelson, in Louisville ; to these was added a row galley, constructed for plying up and down the river.* This was built at Louisville, the wreck of which is said to have produced the formation of the point of Beargrass Creek, above the present citv- This served as a floating fortification; but was confined in its scouting expeditions between the mouth of Beargrass and Licking River. Limited as this sphere of duty was, it is said « Marshall 1, 119. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 115 to have had a good effect in preventing Indian expeditions across its line of operations; and to have once stopped a formi- dable invasion near its upper station. The aversion however of the militia to acting on this element, and the reduction of the regular force, compelled the General to lay aside the galley be- fore the end of the year. The plan itself so novel on the wes- tern waters, however, shews the military readiness of its author, who was never at a loss for expedients suited to his situation. In September, 1781, a station settled by 'Squire Boone, (a brother of the great hunter, and unequalled woodsman,) near where Shelbyville is now built, became alarmed at the appear- ance of Indians in its neighborhood; and determined to remove to the stronger settlements on Beargrass. While effecting this purpose, the party encumbered with women, children and house- hold goods, was attacked by a large body of the enemy near Long Run, defeated and dispersed with considerable loss. Col. John Floyd learning this disaster, repaired with honorable promptitude, with twenty-five men, to Telieve the white party, and chastise the Indians. He advanced with commendable caution, dividing his men into two parties; and yet, in spite of his prudence, he fell into an ambuscade of two hundred Indians. He was defeated wilh the loss of half of his men, and nine or ten of the Indians were killed. While Colonel Floyd was retreating on foot, nearly exhausted and closely pursued by the Indians; Captain Samuel Wells, who retained his horse, dismounted and gave it to Floyd, and ran by his side to sup- {)ort him. The magnanimity of the action is enhanced by the previous hostility between these officsrs, which was, how- ever cancelled forever* — "they lived and died friends." After this officer had effected the establishment of Fort Jef- ferson, on the Mississippi, to be noticed hereafter, he proceeded with two men, Josiah Harland and Harmar ConoUy, on foot, to Harrodsburgh. The perils of such a march, can scarcely be appreciated at this day. They had painted themselves like In- dians, and had advanced without interruption, as far as the Tennessee River. This ihey found foaming with high water, *Colonel Floyd's lettorg. 116 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. and Indians were hunting on both sides of the river. Our chief and his companions, quickly fastened a raft together, with grape vines, to support their rifles and clothes, and dashed into the ri- ver, in its state of flood. They had got some distance, before they were perceived by the Indians, owing to the high banks; when the enemy discovered them, they quickly exchanged whoops of intelligence. But our party availing themselves of a deep creek, which put in on the opposite side of the river, placed it between them and their pursuers, by landing below its mouth, while the Indians had to ascend the stream for a passage ; the former having landed, dashed on their destina* tion. By this manceuvre, they escaped. Yet to their own countrymen their disguise was so complete, that in approaching a fort on Red River, they were mistaken for Indians ; and it was only the name of Clark loudly hallooed out, and the knowledge of his exploits, that removed the impression. On this route, our party met with a large body of emigrants, forty in number, actually starving from inexperience of the hun- ters among them, in killing Buffalo. The high hump of this animal on its shoulder, requires an allowance by a practised eye, to hit the heart; this source of error was unknown to the new comers, and all their balls missed killing their ob- jects. Clark and his companions soon set them right with the first herd of Buffalo they met, after their rencounter, by killing fourteen head before they stopped. It seems, that skil- ful hunters can arrange themselves so as to run parallel with a herd of Buflfalo, killing and loading as far as they can run. This conduct of our hunters struck the group of strangers with such astonishment, when they contrasted the success of the three new hunters, with the failure of their own men, them- selves expert woodsmen, with all other game; that they were ready to look upon Clark and his two coadjutors, as something more than mortals in disguise. A party thus strangely rescued from starvation, in the midst of wild game, might well be dis- ordered in iheir judgments at first. On arriving at Harrodsburgh, Clark found a concourse of people from every direction, waiting to enter lands in the Sur- HISTORY OP KENTUCKY. 117 veyor's office. This was the engrossing subject of all men's thoughts; as eagerly and with as much avidity, amidst these hostile forests, as in any stock market of a commercial city. To propose a military expedition demanded by the interests of the country, to men under such keen and potent excitement, would have been worse than useless. Should the more generous and gallant engage in it, they would leave the selfish and the grasp- ing speculator behind, to despoil them of the richest fruits of the country, which they were defending. In this predicament, Clark proposed to Mr. J. May, the Surveyor of Kentucky county, to shut up his office, and then all would turn their at- tention to the defence of the country. This Mr. May declared he had no authority to do; but if General Clark would issue such an order, he would be the first man to obey it. The Gen- eral accordingly caused a written order to be placed on the door of the Surveyor's office, notifying all persons, that the office was shut by an order from Brigadier General Clark, until after *an expedition could be carried on against the enemy. This measure, and the high military popularity possessed by General Clark, commanded any number of volunteers, in addition to his own state regiment, which was garrisoning Fort Nelson at the Falls of Ohio. The expedition commanded by Clark, con- sisted of two regiments, one under the command of Colonel B. Logan, and the other under that of Colonel William Linn. The point of rendezvous for both, was the mouth of Licking river, where they assembled with artillery conveyed up the river from the Falls. The force when all assembled, amounted to nearly a thousand men.j The secrecy and despatch, which had ever attended the movements of this efficient commander, continued to mark his progress on this occasion; the Lidian town was approached without any discovery, and as soon assailed, when a sharp conffict ensued, in which seventeen of the enemy were slain, with an equal loss upon our part. The rest fled, the town was *VVhen Colonel Clark arrived at the Falls, he received a letter from Governor JefTer- «on advising such an expedition, written t9lh of April, but not received till lltU of July, following. t Captain Pattonsaya nine hundred and ninety-eight. 118 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. then reduced to ashes, the gardens and fields laid waste; such are the melancholy means of carrying on war with barbarian tribes, who without the intervention of a large civil body of society, not partakers in the war, can only be made to feel its horrors by bringing home to themselves the dreadful sufferings which they inflict. From Pickaway, Colonel Benjamin Logan was detached against another Indian town, about twenty miles distant. This was, however, found deserted, and it was destroyed by our troops, as well as a store (British, it is presumed,) from which the Indians had been supplied with arms and ammunition. This latter object, indeed, formed the principal aim of the party. Owing to these offensive measures, Kentucky enjoyed some breathing time, while the Indians were engaged in re- building their habitations, and obtaining provisions by hunting, to supply the loss of their crops. CHAPTER VIII. Kentucky county divided Into Lincoln, Fayette, and Jefferson — Erection of Fort Jeffer- son on tlie Mississippi — Spanisli and French intriirues at Paris against the Western boundary of tlie United States— INIcKce and Girty — Attack on Bryant's Station — Battle of the Blue Licks— Expedition of General Clark to the Chilicothes in 1782— Early man- ners and state of the arts iu Kentucky. By the first of November of this year, the population of the State, had advanced with such rapid strides, that the Legisla- ture of Virginia sub-divided the county of Kentucky, into three parts; assigning different names to each. They were called Jefferson, Fayette, and Lincoln. The former embraced that part of the old county, which lay south of the river Kentucky, north of Green river, and west of Big Benson and Hammond's creek; the second beginning at the mouth of the Kentucky river, ex- tended up its middle fork to the head, and embraced the north- ern and eastern portion of the present state on that side of the Kentucky; the residue of the primitive county, was called Lincoln. HISTORY OP KENTUCKV. 119 The establishment, however, of this fort provoked an attack upon it by the Chickasaws and Choctaw s, on whose lands it was built, without their consent. A purchase had, however, been positively instructed to be made of the Indians by the Governor of Virginia; though the circumstances which pre- vented it are now unknown. In resentment it is supposed, of this threatening intrusion, Colbert, a Scotch gentleman who had ingratiated himself with these Indians, and the ancestor of the present chiefs of that name, appeared with all his warriors before Fort Jefferson, in the summer of 1781. The attack, it is said hy one, who was a boy in the fort at the time, lasted five days. The Indians principally encamped on the island opposite to the fort, now known as island No. 1, just above Mayfield's creek. The garrison not exceeding thirty men under Captain George, (two-thirds of whom were sick with the ague and fever) were reduced to the lowest extremity. Pumpkins with the blossom yet on them, afforded their principal food. On the sixth day Colbert and George met under a flag of truce to agree upon terms of capitulation; but they were unable to effect it. As Colbert was retiring, he received a wound from *some of the Indians, who were with our men in the block- houses, and fell. This treachery according to our own usages, enraged the Indians to the utmost pitch of exasperation: at night they collected all their forces, and made a furious assault upon the fort, endeavoring to take it by storm. When the In- dians had advanced in very close order, Captain George Owen, who commanded one of the block-houses, had the swivels load- ed with rifle and musket balls, and fired them in 'the crowd. The consequent carnage was excessive, and dispersed the ene- my. At the same time General Clark, who was stationed at Kaskaskia, and had been sent for, arrived with provisions and a reinforcement, which effectually raised the siege to the great relief of the garrison. This fort was some time afterwards abandoned, from the dif- ficulty of supplying such remote and detached posts. It is wor- thy of remark, that the State of Kentucky, goaded to madness * Captain Patton's papers. 120 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. as she has been by Indian outrages ; submitted to the occupa- tion of the southwestern section of her territory by the Chicka- saws, until their title was peaceably extinguished by the treaty of 1818, with that tribe. The fact offers an exemplary regard for aboriginal claims, which may well dictate a lesson of for- bearance with the tribes of the forest, to all the members of the confederacy. The opening of 1782 was marked by several successful en- terprises on the part of the enemy, with more than usual fatality to the whites. They were the precursors to misfortunes of deeper dye, and more extensive calamity, than had yet befallen our harassed countrymen. Among other calamities of the times Laughery's defeat should not be omitted. This officer was coming down the Ohio river, to join the Kentuckians with one hundred and seven men ; he was attacked below the Great Miami, at a creek, which still retains the name of the unfortu- nate commander, and the whole party was killed or captured. *" In the month of May, a party of about twenty-five Wyan- dots, invested Estill's station, on the south of the Kentucky river, killed one white man, took a negro prisoner; and after destroying the cattle, retreated. Soon after the Indians disap- peared. Captain Estill raised a company of twenty-five men — with these he pursued the Indians ; and on Hinkston's fork of Licking, two miles below the Little Mountain, came within gunshot of them. They had just crossed the creek, which in that part is small; and were ascending one side, as Estill's party descended the other, of two approaching hills, of mode- rate elevation. The water course which lay between, had produced an opening in the timber, and brush, conducing to mutual discovery; while both hills, were well set with trees, « interspersed with saplings, and bushes. Instantly after discov- i ering the Indians, some of Captain EstilPs men, fired at them; at first they seemed alarmed — and made a movement, like flight: but their chief, although wounded, gave them orders to stand, and fight — on which, they promptly prepared for battle, by each man taking a tree, and facing his enemy, as nearly in ♦ Marshall 1, 126. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 121 a line as practicable. In this position they returned the fire, and entered into the battle, which they considered as inevitable; with all the fortitude, and animation of individual, and concert- ed bravery; so remarkable in this particular tribe. "In the meantime, Captain Estill, with due attention to what was passing on the opposite side, checked the progress of his men at about sixty yards distance from the foe, and gave orders, to extend their line in front of the Indians, to cover themselves by means of the trees — and to fire, as the object should be seen •—with a sure aim. This order, perfectly adapted to the occa- sion, was executed with alacrity, as far as circumstances would admit, and the desultory mode of Indian fighting was thought to require. So that both sides were preparing, and ready, at the same time, for the bloody conflict which ensued : and which proved to be singularly obstinate. *' The numbers were equal ; some have said, exactly twenty- five on each side— others have mentioned, that Captain Estill, upon seeing the Indians form for battle, despatched one or two of his men, upon the back trail, to hasten forward a small rein- forcement, which he expected was following him: and if so, it gave the Indians, the superiority of numbers, without producino" the desired assistance — for the reinforcement never arrived. " Now were the hostile lines within rifle shot — and the action become warm and general to their extent. Never was battle more like single combat, since the use of fire-arms ; each man sought his man—and fired only when he saw his mark wounds and death, were inflicted on either side — neither ad- vancing nor retreating. The firing was deliberate — with cau- tion they looked, but look they would for the foe; althouo-h life itself, was often the forfeit. And thus, both sides firmly stood or bravely fell — for more than one hour: upwards of one-fourth of the combatants had fallen, never more to rise — on either side —and several others were wounded. Never, probably, was the native bravery or collected fortitude of men, put to a test more severe. In the clangor of an ardent battle, when death is for- gotten — it is nothing for the brave to die — when even cowards die like brave men — ^but in the cool and lingering expectation L 122 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. of death, none but the man of true courage can stand. Such were those engaged in this conflict. Never was manoeuvering more necessary, or less practicable. Captain Estill had not a man to spare from his line, and deemed unsafe any movement in front, with a view to force the enemy from their ground j be- cause in such a movement, he must expose his men, and some of them would inevitably fall, before they could reach the ad- versary. This would increase the relative superiority of the enemy — while they would receive the survivors with the toma- hawk in hand ; in the use of which they were practiced and expert. He clearly perceived that no advantage was to be ob- tained over the Indians, while the action was continued in their own mode of warfare. For although his men were probably the best shooters, the Indians were undoubtedly the most ex- pert hiders — that victory itself, could it have been purchased with the loss of his last man, would afford but a melancholy consolation for the loss of friends and comrades ; but even of victory, without some manoeuvre, he could not assure himself. His situation was critical; his fate seemed suspended upon the events of the minute; the most prompt expedient was demanded; he cast his eyes over the scene; the creek was before him, and seemed to oppose a charge on the enemy — retreat he could not. On the one hand, he observed a valley running from the creek, toward the rear of the enemy's line; and immediately combin- ing this circumstance with the urgency of his situation, ren- dered the more apparently hazardous, by an attempt of the In- dians to extend their line, and take his in flank ; he determined to detach six of his men by this valley, to gain the flank or rear of the enemy; while himself, with the residue, maintained his position in front. " The detachment was accordingly made under the command of Lieutenant Miller; to whom the route was shown, and the order given, conformably to the above mentioned determina- tion: unfortunately, however, it was not executed. The Lieu- tenant, either mistaking his way, or intentionally betraying his duty, his honor, and his Captain, did not proceed with the re- quisite despatch — and the Indians, attentive to occurrences. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 123 finding out the weakened condition of their adversaries, rushed upon them, and compelled a retreat, after Captain Estill and eight of his men were killed. Four others were badly wounded, who, notwithstanding, made their escape; so that only nine fell into the hands of the savages, who scalped and stripped them of course. " It was believed by the survivors of that action, that one -half of the Indians were killed, and this idea was corroborated by reports from their towns. " There is also a tradition, that Miller, with his detachment, crossed the creek — fell in with the enemy — lost one or two of his men — and had a third or fourth wounded before he retreated- " This action is said to have lasted two hours, and there seems to be nothinij wanted in its circumstances but numbers, with the pomp and tactics of modern v/ar, to make it memora- ble. Memorable it will be to those friends of the brave de- fenders of their country, whose heart received-the pang given by the report of this event — memorable it will be to the few who survived it — whether by absconding with the Lieutenant, in a moment of dismay, they forfeited the praise which they had previously merited — or by standing with their Captain until his fall, they yielded to superior numbers, a victory which was due to their courage and fidelity — and which a superior force alone, could have extorted from them. Memorable it will also be in the simple annals of Kentucky, for the equality of the opposing numbers — for the great fortitude with which it was maintained — for the uncommon proportion of the slain — for the error of the Lieutenant — and for the death of the Cap- tain. In grateful remembrance of the personal bravery and good conduct of Captain Estill, a county of the commonwealth perpetuates his name. *' In reviewing the incidents of this battle, the conduct of the Indians cannot fail of commanding attention. Their determined bravery; their obstinate perseverance; the promptitude with which they seized on the absence of the detachment to advance on their enemy ; and thus by a step not less bold than judicious, to ensure to themselves a victory of immortal renown: conduct 124 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. alike bespeaking the possession of skill in war, and a training to command, which could but render them formidable, and even victorious. " The result of this action had the most serious effect upon the minds of the inhabitants generally."* The hostility necessarily incident to the hunter state, against the white intruders, as they deemed our people, who were de- stroying their game, the principal source of Indian subsistence ; circumscribing their hunting grounds, and attacking their towns, whenever they found it convenient; could want but lit- tle excitement to direct their exertions against Kentucky. Yet the passions of the Indians are said to have been particularly exasperated by speeches from McKee and Girty ; white men who had abandoned their own countrymen from disappointments in military promotion, under Pennsylvania, as it is said, and had united with the British and Indians. Headed by these renegades, but particularly by Simon Girty, on the evening of the 14th of August, 1782, a body of Indians from various tribes, extending from the Lakes to the Mississippi, to the computed number of fire hundred, suddenly assembled round Bryant's station. This place has been previously mentioned and would be briefly passed over now, were it not for its connection with the fatal battle of the Blue Licks. This fort was situated on the left of the present road from Lexington to Maysville, immediately on the southern bank of Elkhorn ; the fort contained about forty cabins, placed in parallel lines, connected by strong pallisades, and was garrisoned by about forty or fifty men. The enemy * It would be unpardonable to omit on the subject of Estill's defeat, the beautiful pane- gyric upon it expressed by Chief Justice Robertson in the case of Conley's Heirs ajrainst Chiles.— 5lding the court; they were authorized to procure a log house to be built large enough to accommodate the court in one end, and two juries in the other; they were likewise authorized to contract for building a jail of hewed or sawed logs, at least nine inches thick. This arrangement for buildings, so suitable to the poverty of the mechanic arts at this time, gave rise to the town of Danville ; which continued the seat of the District Court, and was the place of meeting for all the early public assemblies of Kentucky. Yet this ancient town, if any thing artificial in Kentucky is entitled to the name, has by some strange juggle of political intrigue, ceased to be the seat even of a county: may its college and its benevolent asy- lum for the deaf and dumb, compensate the inhabitants of this delicious section of Kentucky, for the wayward tricks, of which they have been made the victims. Society now rapidly assum- ed the character of older and riper communities. A fertile soil, liberty and peace, soon spread their benign effects over the land. In consequence, the fields smiled with the heavy crops; cattle and hogs throve in the rich range of the woods to an as- tonishing degree. Emigrants diff'used considerable money, and labor was well rewarded. Mechanics, divines, and school- masters, fast followed to fill up the picture. Several crops of wheat were raised on the south side of the Kentucky river; some distilleries were erected for the distillation of spirits from Indian corn. This year was likewise distinguished by the open- ing of western trade with the fair and opulent city of Philadel- phia, by Daniel Broadhead, who brought merchandise from that place in wagons to Pittsburgh, and thence in boats to Louisville; where it was offered for sale, and thus established, it is believed, the first store in the State for the sale of foreign * Marshall 1, 157. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 143 merchandise. In Philadelphia were formed several companies of land speculators, who converted their hordes of paper money into Virginia land warrants j and added a new impulse to a tide already at the flood. A commercial association had likewise been formed at the above place ; the active partner of which, was James Wilkinson, afterwards so prominent in western affairs; who in February, 1784, arrived in Lexington. So im- pressive and influential were the movements of this gentleman, though only in private life, that they constitute quite an era in the history of Kentucky. The conclusion of the definitive treaty of peace which was signed at Paris, in September, 1783, (but the ratification of the parties not exchanged until May, 1784,) it was fondly hoped would have immediately led to the surren- der of the British posts on the lakes, and, in consequence, to a control over the conduct of the Indians; this, whether they have been in French, British, or American hands, has always followed that event. Mutual complaints of infractions of the treaty, and unfortunately as well grounded against Virginia, for suspending the collection of British debts in her courts; as against Great Britain, for retaining forts within the acknow- ledged limits of the United States; protracted the execution of the treaty. In the meantime the Indians perceiving the fron- tier fortifications, (which must strike them as the most palpable marks of power,) still in the hands of their old friends; neces- sarily relied upon the continuance of their protection against the Americans. This was too readily afforded by the agents and subjects of the British government; particularly those who were interested in retaining a monopoly ^of the fur trade. Truth likewise compels the acknowledgment, that many indi- viduals in Kentucky displayed a revengeful hostility to the Indians, not at all short of their own ferocity to the whites. In one instance a friendly Indian is said to have been seduced into the woods by a white man and secretly murdered; yet the punishment of the law could not be inflicted upon the offender, owing to the popular resentment against the old enemies of the whites, and their unjustifiable sympathy with a shedder of inno- cent human blood. The eflTect of this winking of the laws of 144 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. the white man, over his offences against his red brother, is said to have been instantaneous, "the amicable parties of Indians ceased, confidence was lost, friendly intercourse abated," and retaliation became the only appeal. It soon lighted up a re- newal of hostilities on the frontiers, for which it must never be forgotten in a just estimate of these wars, the Indians were predisposed by nearly two centuries' encroachments of white men on every thing dear to the very nature of the aborigines. Previous to again entering on another portion of our san- guinary annals, it will be interesting to notice the extension of our pacific domain, and the improvement of our social comforts. Hitherto that part of Kentucky lying north of Licking river had remained unsettled, as it was deemed dangerous from its contiguity to the northern Indians. Indeed, surveys had been suspended in this section of the District, by order of the princi- pal surveyor; they were afterward resumed, and again suspend- ed, by the appearance of Indian sign. Simon Kenton, how- ever, after an absence of nine years, repossessed himself of the improvement formerly mentioned, made in 1775, by this most wayward and enterprising man, near the present town of Washington, at the head of Lawrence's creek. Indian invasion was now threatened in a new direction; hitherto the hostile incursions had come from the north; but information was given Colonel Logan, that some of the Cherokee tribes meditated an invasion of the southern frontiers; while hostile intentions were demonstrated bv the northern tribes. These alarminff circumstances in the autumn of 1784, induced the Colonel to procure a meeting of the citizens at Danville, to adopt mea- sures for the public security. Upon taking the situation of the District into consideration, this assembly discovered that no legal authority existed here to call out the militia for offensive purposes; there was no magazine of arms or ammunition be- yond private supplies; nor any provisions or public funds to purchase them. The property of individuals was no longer in a time of peace, subject to be impressed as during the late state of war; moreover, the government of the state, that had already complained of expense, might refuse to pay for the HISTORY OP KENTUCKY. 145 expedition, or " even to compensate for real losses." Under these embarrassments, the military expedition was abandoned, and fortunately; for whatever might have been th'^orrcctness of the intelligence communicated to Colonel Logan, no invasion by southern Indians was made this year. The meeting, how- ever, produced an effect much more important to the welfare of Kentucky than any temporary military party could have done; for in consequence of the discovery, which it had made of the want of suitable legal and political organization for the necessary purposes of so insulated a community, it was thought advisable to invite a convention of the representatives of the whole district, in the next ensuing month. This assembly might, it was hoped, make an imposing and effectual appeal to the Legislature of the State, upon these subjects of deep con- cern to Kentucky, To effect this first of our formal conven- tions, (though the second in fact) the meetmg addressed a writ- ten circular to each militia company, recommending it to elect one representative to meet at Danville, our temporary capital, on the 27th of December, 1784. The invitation was complied v/ith, and the representatives assembled in conformity with it : they organized themselves into a convention by elect- ing Samuel McDowell, President, and. Thomas Todd, clerk; and then proceeded to business. In a session " conducted with much decorum," which is indeed a national characteristic of our public assemblies, it was thought that many of the grievances of the district, might be remedied by suitable acts of the Virginia Legislature ; while others of the greatest magnitude involving the military defence, originated in the great distance of the country from the seat of the State government. These latter mischiefs could only be removed by a separation of the district from the parent commonwealth; and its erection into an equal and independent member of the American confederacy. This latter opinion finally prevailed by a decided majoritv, and it was reduced to a resolution, *" in favor of applying for an act to render Kentucky independent of Virginia." Still, with the deference due to the feelings and interests of a free people, * Marshall 1, 194. N 146 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY which is the very essence of republican and popular govern- ment; and as the representatives to this convention were not ex- pressly elected with a view to so fundamental a political change as was now contemplated, the convention forbore to make the application to Virginia. It, however, earnestly recommended the measure to the district, and likewise at the ensuing April elections for members of the State Legislature, to elect represen- tatives to meet in convention in the ensuing May, This second convention was expressly charged with an interesting question, and one hitherto untried even in the school of American poli- tics, (rich as it is, in experiments ;) it was that of considering and determining the expediency of a separation of Kentucky from Virginia, and applying to its Legislature for their consent to the measure. Our confederacy had not yet exhibited this process of moral swarming in mutual harmony and peace; which has since been so often repeated, as to have familiarized our minds, to the grandeur of the political operation; one un- known to the annals of the eastern continent. Strange to re- late, at this time, abundantly as the press has since been dif- fused, wide as Volney remarks, as American settlements ; none yet existed in Kentucky. The circular address of the conven- tion of '84, to the people of the district was, therefore, a written one : the members to be chosen are said* to have been twenty- five, which were divided among the three countie^' according to their supposed population. This autumn is remarkable for a great accession to the population of the district, and the supe- riority of its character; the effect was instantaneous in stretch- ing out the frontiers, and enlarging a safe interior. The In- dians, too, are said to have very sensibly relaxed, even in their predatory warfare. With January, 1785, the county of NelsoQ was created out of all that part of Jefferson county, south of Salt river. On the ensuing March, the death of Elliott, who had re- cently settled at the mouth of Kentucky river, the burning of his house and dispersion of his family, struck the country with' no little alarm : it was interpreted by its indications of future «;onsequenccs, rather than the immediate effects, desolating aj; * Blarshall I, 195. HISTORY OP KENTUCKY. 147 they were to a family, as innocent as their countrymen at large- April brought the double elections for members of the Legisla- ture of Virginia, and for a second convention at Danville. By the 23d of May, the members again assembled at their former place of meeting, and organized themselves. The decorum of the public proceedings of this assembly, as well as that of the conduct of the attending citizens , are particularly remarked by our first and venerable historian. The result of their delibera- tions will be found in the following recommendations. 1st. " Resolved, unanimously, as the opinion of this conven- tion, that a petition be presented to the assembly, praying that this district may be established into a State separate from Vir- ginia;" and, 2dly, That another convention be elected to meet at Danville in the second Monday of August, " to take further under their consideration the state of the district." By a third resolution, the convention recommended '"•' that the election of deputies for the proposed convention, ought to be on the princi- ples of equal representation ;" by numbersy it is presumed, as the representation of Virginia was founded on the territorial principle, in disregard of population. This early and unani- mous indication of the democratic or popular spirit, in one of the earliest public assemblies of Kentucky, is a faithful key to her political complexion. The fervor of our State character with difficulty suspects, that this spirit may be carried to extremes; similar to those which hurried the republics of history to an early tomb, in the embraces of military usurpation. Not that the author controverts this particular application of the princi- ple of equality; for he believes, that no excellence of organi- zation, no nice adjustment of parts, with all the skill of political architecture, can protect any people against their own igno- rance and vice. The most complex, as well as the simplest fabrics of political science, must receive their character from that of their tenants and occupants, and not from the inanimate materials of which they are composed. It is not, therefore, of much import on principle, that a few more, or a few less, should be admitted to the right of suffrage under a political constitu- tion; since there must be an overruling mass of virtue and in^ 148 HISTORY OP KENTUCKY. telligence to constitute the conservative power of society. While an exclusion of large classes, independent of universal disqualifications, such as minority, want of residence, &c., keeps up a constant excitement of discontent and ill-blood in the community, much more mischievous, than the admission of all to a political voice in the management of those affairs, which they may be called upon to defend, with their blood and their lives. It appears at this time rather singular, that this convention in a spirit of dependence and passiveness, apparent!)^ uncalled for by their delegated authority, should decline acting efficient- ly and promptly under the powers which were so expressly conferred upon them by their choice, under the express call of the previous assembly in December, '84; but should again weary the patience, and disappoint the reasonable expectations of the com.munity, by referring the question of separation to another convention. The members of this third convention were apportioned among the counties by comparison of muster rolls, and the recollection of members, (for as yet no census had been taken) in the following ratio: the county of Jefferson to have six; that of Nelson, six; that of Lincoln, ten; and of Fayette, eight representatives. They adopted a petition to Virginia, and likewise an address to the people of the district, which will be found in the appendix. The latter presents an interesting picture of the domestic sta*e of Kentucky. The recommendation of another convention was again regarded upon the part of the people, and on the Sth of August, 1788, the assem- bly met at Danville; they again chose Samuel McDowell their President. This body after having deliberated some time, came to the following resolution unanimously, which was re- ported by George Muter, as chairman; "that it is the indispen- sable duty of the convention to make application to the Gene- ral Assembly at the ensuing session, for an act to separate this district from the present government forever, on terms honora- ble to both, and injurious to neither." This resolution, and its eloquent preamble, were followed by an address to the Leg- islature of Virginia, and ths people of the district, in a style of mSTomr ov Kentucky. 149 dignity and ornament, yet unprecedented in the public pro- ceedings of Kentucky. They were certainly the production of General Wilkinson, at the time in question, a member of the convention. This gentleman, whose emigration to the district has been noticed, now began to act a part of leading importance in the history of Kentucky; indicative of the distinguished figure, which his impressive powers as a fine writer, his mili- tary service, and distinguished abilities, enabled him to exhibit in the affairs of the nation. It will be perceived, that there is in these papers, an elevation of political ideas, richly dressed in appropriate composition; nor should any political imputation rest upon them, as has been insinuated,* because this assembly petitioned for '•' sovereignty and independence." Sovereignty was much more consistently the attribute of the members of the old confederation, than those of the present constitutional Union. That there is exaggeration of practical grievances may be admitted; for what orator can deign to restrain his imagina- tion within a vulgar and sterile state of facts? What painter will always touch af(er nature, and put on no tints finer than those of her pencil? Besides the General was writing for an ardent and high tempered people, who would readily disdain a tame and frigid memorial, as evincing an abandonment of their rights, or at least, an insensibility to their value. Georo-e Muter, who was Chief Justice, and Harry Lines, then the Attorney General, on the death of Walker Daniel, were or- dered to present the petition to the Legislature of Virginia, and to support it before that body. The county of Bourbon was this year laid off from Fayette; and the counties of Mercer and Madison from Lincoln ; enlarging the counties of the district to seven. The Legislature of Virginia received the petition of Kentucky with the liberality, which has generally marked that magnanimous State. It passed an act providing for the election on the ensuing August, by the free white male inhabitants of the district, of five representatives from each of the counties ; who should determine whether it be expedient for, and the will of the good people of the district, that it should be erected into an inde^ * Marshall 1, 215. N* 150 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. pendent State on certain conditions. It was, moreover, enacted ^ that if the convention should approve of separation, a day should be appointed posterior to the 1st of September, 1787, when the authority of Virginia should cease ; provided that the Congress should prior to the 1st of June, 1787, assent to said separation, relieve Virginia from her federal obligations arising therefrom, and admit the said State into the federal Union. Military expeditions against the Indians, whose hostilities had again broken out, (an account of which will appear in their proper place,) prevented the attendance of a quorum of this fourth convention; in consequence of which, a portion of the body, calling itself a committee, forwa rded to Mr. John Mar- shall, (the present venerable and pre-eminent Chief Justice of the United States) a memorial to be laid before the Legislature, reciting these embarrassments, and praying an alteration of terms in the sejiarating act. This memorial was granted, according to its prayer; an act in conformity was passed, and arrived at Danville in January, 1787, after a formal vote had been taken in favor of the separation; and thus fell the fourth convention of Kentucky on the subject of separation, to give birth to a fifth. Mr. Marshall, to whom the memorial had been transmitted, addressed a letter to the convention explanatory of the cou'so taken by the parent commonwealth. The most im- portant of these reasons was, that the delay in executing the act of V^irginia, had rendered it impracticable to obtain the assent of Congress, before June, 1787. The new act of Vir- ginia continued its assent to the separation; but required a convention to be re-elected by the ensuing August, and to sig- nify its assent to the political divorce by a majority of two- thirds; its operation was, moreover, postponed until the 1st of January, 1789. Thus then hud the people of the district been tantalized from December, '84, to January, '89, tossed from one political assembly to another, and finally their most inter- esting feelings and passions kept in an agitation, easy to be conceived. It is, indeed, a high and honorable proof of politi- cal order and subordination in Kentucky, that so impetuous a people, should under circumstances of such irritation and disap=- HISTORY OP KENTUCKT. 151 pointment, have preserved the peace of the State ; and this, at an extremity of the territory of Virginia, almost invitmg to for- cible separation, in defiance of such repeated mockery of their expectations. Two additional sources of agitation now began to shed their influence on the public mind; 1st. The Indian hostilities; and 2dly, Apprehensions respecting the navigation of the Missis- sippi. In regard to the first, depredations continued to be made by the Indians on the frontiers. From '83 to '90, a little later than the time of this portion of the history, '-fifteen hundred persons, including women and children had been killed or taken prison- ers by the enemy, south of the Ohio ; besides taking two thou- sand horses and property to the amount of fifty thousand dol- lars;"* to punish these, or in the more lordly style of other par- ties, to take " satisfaction for the past, and indemnity for the future," an expedition was resolved upon under their old and favorite leader. General Clark, from Louisville. About a thou- sand men assembled at the place of rendezvous, and their pro- visions in nine keel-boats, were despatched down the Ohio, to ascend the Wabash as high as Vincennes, for which point the ex- pedition marched. On assembling in the neighborhood of this place in October, 1786, the tparty lay for nine days waiting the arrival of theie transports, which had been delayed by the low water of the Wabash, until half of the provisions was spoiled; and the portion which accompanied the expedition exhausted, ex- cept a few bullocks. This delay proved most fatal to the expe- dition; with irregular troops, inactivity is equivalent to defeat. A spirit of discontent soon manifested itself in camp^ even be- fore the arrival of the boats, and before the state of the supplies was known; afterwards it showed itself more openly. The absence of Colonel Logan may have contributed to this with his immediate followers, and who might otherwise have been preserved in subordination. The army (if not too magnifi- cent a term,) was placed upon short allowance, and marched toward the Indian towns, which were the object of the attack. * Judge InncB in Political Transactions. t Marshall 1, 248. 152 HISTORY OP KENTUCKY. A flag of truce was despatched to the Indians (it is said, rather doubtingly by Mr. Marshall) with the offer of peace or war. Such an offer is so inconsistent with the usages of Indian war- fare, in which surprise is so essential a feature, that it throws some discredit on the relation. Unless General Clark might, in a state of peace, and in the difficulty of discriminating one tribe from another, have felt himself bound to make this depar- ture from his former most successful practice. It is also true, that General Wayne in time of war sent, at great hazard, re- peated flags to the Indians, in order to bring them to terms. Whatever may have been the fact, this measure on the part of the General, in addition to the want of provisons, is represented to have converted previous restlessness, into positive disaffec- tion, " fomented by some officers of rank, who were displeased with the General." This state of things eventuated in three hundred men deserting in a body, when but two days march from the Indian villages. In vain the gallant veteran, who had never yet led his countrymen to defeat, addressed the mutineers " in the most soothing and earnest terms of entreaty to stay ;" in vain the noble soldier " shed, tears" over the dis- graceful conduct of his men, which he must have felt blighting to his own fame. The evil spirit of discontent had got posses- sion of the troops, and they obstinately returned home, without having seen an enemy, or struck a blow. Still there was a residue left greater, enormously greater than many a gallant band, that had penetrated in earlier times into the very heart of the Indian country; spreading dismay and destruction before it. But something was wanting on this expedition, more essen- tial than numbers; without which the largest numbers, only increase the spoil of an enemy ; it was a manly and patriotic subordination to orders, and an honorable confidence of the men in their officers, and of officers in their commander. Never had General Clark led so unfortunate a party; hitherto victory seemed to have hung with delight upon his banner; and for him to appear was to conquer all opposing difficulties. At the same time, mournful as the truth is, and reluctantly as the record is wrung from the author, General Clark was no longei HISTORY OP KENTUCKY. 153 the same man, as the conqueror of Kaskaskia, and the captor of Vincennes. The mind of General Clark was wounded by the neglect of the Government of Virginia to settle his accounts for his great expeditions, which had stretched the republic to the Mississippi. Private suits' had been brought against him for public supplies, which ultimately swept away his private fortune; and* with this injustice, the spirits of the hero fell, and the General never recovered those energies which had stamped him in the noblest mould of a hero. At the same time it is feared, a too ready and too extensive conviviality contributed its mis- chievous effects. Clark, however, like himself, is said to have *been opposed to waiting at Vincennes; the radical error in the expedition; but he advised an immediate march with the pro- visions and the ammunition, which they had to the Wea towns; and that the residue behind, should be brought up by a detach- ment to be left for that purpose. Such advice bespeaks the Generals' former energetic character, in previous expeditions ; when a little meal mixed with sugar, composed all the rations of the men; but to have thought correctly, was to have acted accordingly, in the former course of General Clark. Why was it different now? Where-^was^ the overruling spirit, that had carried the British cannon at the head of his riflemen? The mournful answer is left to be made by every reader. Seve- ral officers are accused of having fomented the insubordination which terminated the expedition so dishonorably. The author may not forbear while incidentally on the inter- esting subject of General Clark, to quote the tribute to his high merits, by Buckongahelas, the head war-chief of the Delawares, at Fort Mcintosh, in 1785; where Clark attended as a commis- sioner to treat with the Indians, assisted by Arthur Lee and Richard Butler. When the peace-chiefs had addressed the commissioners, jBuckongahelas, not deigning to notice the col- leagues of Clark, took the latter by the hand, and said, "I thank the Great Spirit for having this day brought together two such, gi'eat warriors, as Buckongahelas and General Clark." * Captain B. Galne's letter to the author. f Memoirs of Harrison 82, note 2. 154 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. A more fortunate issue attended the expedition of Colonel Logan, who had been detached by General Clark from his camp at Silver creek opposite to Louisville, to return to Ken- tucky, and raise as expeditiously as possible another party to go against the Shawnees whose attention, it was supposed,, would be engaged by the Wabash expedition. Logan repaired home, and soon returned with *" a competent number of mount- ed riflemen." On this rapid expedition, a town of the Shaw- nees was burned, a few warriors killed, and a number of women and children brought away prisoners. This, as usual, consoled the public mind in some degree, for the misfortunes of General Clark.j CHAPTER X. Earliest attempts at Navigating the Mississippi, by Americans— Colonels R. Taylor anri Linn — Negotiations between Jay and Gardoqui — Discontents at Pittsburgh, and in Ken- tucky — Trade of Wilkinson with New Orleans — Suspicions of his fidelity — First Newt- paper in Kentucky — Constitution of the United States. The attention must now be directed to the navigation of the Mississippi, which at this time began to excite the public interest from Pittsburgh to Louisville; these were the extreme points of any dense population, with wide and fearful gaps between. Previous to narrating the agitation and intrigue, which rapidly and widely connected themselves with this tender subject of western interest, some notice will be taken of the earliest ex- periments in navigating this powerful and turbulent river. * Marshall I, 251. t This expedition was prepared in conformity ti resolutions of the inhabitants of the District, assembled at Danville some time in 178G; the month is not mentioned in the proceedings; they are siirned by William Kennedy as chairman. These resolutions, together with an order of the Executive of Virginia, were acted on by the military officera of the District, who met at Ilarrodsburgh, on the '-'d of August, 17^:6. These gentlemen, among other resolutions, adopted one appointing '• General George Rogers Clark to act as general officer, and have the command and direction of the army at this time, ordered in ottensivfi operations against our enemy, Indians." Tlie doubts wnich were eritertained about the legality of impressments for provisions, (^-c, were submitted by the officers to Judges Muter and Wallace, and the Attorney General Innes. These officers certified it as their opinion, "that the Executive have deleirated to the field officersof this District all their power" in regard to impressmenfs, " and that they have a right to impress, if neces- sary, all supplies for the use of the mililia, that may be called into service." This opinicii ia directed toColouel Benjamin Logan, as President of the Board of oflicers. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 155 The earliest Anglo-American enterprises in this direction, and indeed of wonderful boldness, which the author has been able to collect, are, 1st. That of Colonel Richard Taylor, formerly of the county of Jefferson, and often honored with distinguished public trusts. This gentleman, in company with his brother Hancock Taylor, both of Virginia, was at Pittsburgh in 1769, and thence descended the Ohio and MisJ)issippi rivers, to the mouth of Yazoo river. From this point the brothers passed through the country of the southern Indians to Georgia, and thence to Virginia. This information has been obtained from a deposition of Colonel Taylor in a suit at law. The second was communicated to the author by Captain William B. Wal- lace, a most worthy veteran of the Revolution, lately descended to the grave, covered with years and with honors: this gentle- man related that John Whitaker Willis, John Ashby, and Wil- liam Ballard, were engaged in tlie battle of 1774, at Point Pleasant, and after the engagement visited Kentucky, That being afraid to re.turn by the usual route, they hollowed out a pirogue (formed out of the body of a large tree) and passed down the rivers to New Orleans. From this port the party made its way to Pensacola; here they were assisted by the British Governor, and were conveyed round to Charleston, in South Carolina. Ashby was of Fauquier county, in Virginia; Willis, of Stafford; both neighbors of Captain Wallace, in Vir- ginia. The next effort at this perilous navigation was made *by Colonels Gibson and Linn, the latter the grand-father of the present Dr. Linn, of St. Louis, now in the Senate of the United States from Missouri. These gentlemen descended the Mississippi in 1776 fi-om Pittsburgh to New Orleans, by the orders of Virginia, it is pre- sumed, in order to obtain military stores for the troops station- ed at the former place. So extraordinary an adventure may well require particular confirmation to the mind of the reader; it can be furnished in the most remarkable manner. *John Smith, now or lately of Woodford county, in this State, was in J776, engaged in reconnoitering this country in company with * Louirrille Directory 103, by the aothor. 156 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. James Harrod, so eminently distinguished in the history of Kentucky difficulties and dangers. On their return the com- > panions separated ; Harrod to go to North Carolina, and Smith to Peter's creek, on the Monongahela. While travelling on the bank of the Ohio, the latter discovered Gibson and party de- scending it, who hailed Smith, and prevailed on him to embark in this, one of the boldest of the western adventures. The party succeeded in its object, and obtained a supply of one hundred and fifty-six kegs of gunpowder from New Orleans; which Smith helped to carry round the Falls to the mouth of Bear Grass creek in the spring of 1777. Each man carried three kegs along the portage, one at a time. The powder was delivered at Wheeling first, and thence conveyed to Pittsburgh. Independently of this particularity of circumstance, solemnly asserted on oath in a deposition at law, by a respectable party in the transaction, it was frequently mentioned by Colonel Linn in his life time, and is still known as his information, in the family left by this gallant and energetic man. Among the first buddings of intercourse rather than of trade with New Orleans from the western country, must be reckoned the voyages of Messrs. Tardiveau and John A. Honore, the latter an ancient and respectable French merchant of this city. These gentlemen left Redstone, now the town of Brownsville, on the Monongahela, in 1782 and '3, when there were but two houses in the place. The navigation of the western rivers was then much infested by banditti of white men, as well as of Indians. The French gentlemen mentioned, were both stopped by the Indians, and the former robbed by them ; indeed the river was as much debarred to trade, by the Spanish government, as by the Indians. American property was seized and confiscated by the Spaniards on its only way to a foreign market.* A negotiation on this subject, as well as other matters of national diflference, had commenced in 1785, between Mr. Jay and Don Diego Gardoqui, the representative of Spain in the United States, t" Congress had expressly ordered the Secretary for Foreign Aflfairs to stipulate both for the territory of the United ♦ WilkiMon, toI. n, appendix, 6 4- IS. t Ja7'« L** I» 235, 23«. HISTORY OF KEXTUCKY. 157 States, according to the treaty with Great Britain, and for the navigation ot^the Mississippi, from its source to th • ocean. Don Gardoqni, on tlie other hand, declared, that the Spanish Kiijg would never permit any nation to use t! at river, both banks of which belonged to him." Under these circumstances, Mr. Jay was called before Congress to communicate his views on the negotiation; " he informed Congress, that Spain was ready to grant the United Sratcs extensive and valuable commercial privileges; and that it was in her power, by her influence with the Barbary States, and by her connexion with France and Portugal, greatly to injure the commerce of America, and to beneiit that of England. Bjt that at present, the questions respecting the Mississippi, and territorial limits, prevented any commercial arrangements whatever; that his ov»'n opinion of the justice and importance of the claims advanced by the United States, had undergone no change; but that, under pre- sent circumstances, he thought it would be expe Jient to con- clude a treaty with Spain, limited to twentij or thirty years, and for the Unired Scates to stipulate, that durnig the Uyan of the treaty, they would yby'/;car to navigate the Missi>^.-i oi Le'ow their southern boundary," as it has been seen, was roc •. •. .icadcd by Virginia, during the Revolutionary war. This r;;: -inmen- dation by Mr. Jay, was founded on the opinion, " th:; K iwever important the navigation might ultimately be, it wo ;-d not probably be very essential durirg the proposed term;. and that, therefore, it might be good policy to consent noc to i ;., i^>y a certain period, what they did not want, in consiJci.itioa of valuable commercial privileges." The views of Mr. Jay v/ere sanctioned by seven Slates, but opposed by the u:he] -;x; still the Spanish minister would not consent to any treaty -vii i'.over, implying a right in the United S:ates to the navigatiuii i:i ques- tion; the negotiation proved fruitless, and wasfmaiiy loiiuinated by Gardoqui's return to Europe. This is an auiliou:i!j account of the negotiation under the old confederation in rcgi;d to ti^e navigation of the Mississippi; whicli, however, we might claim, the United States were in no position to extort b> fo.-c of annM^ under bo feeble a government, as then existed. - O 158 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. ncss and insignificance closely allied to what the German Em- pire used to be in Europe; it was, in the language of a favorite Revolutionary figure, a political barrel of thirteen staves with- out a hoop. Let us for a moment refiect, what would have been the effect of this cession for twenty years, as actually author- ized, or thirty years as the utmost limit proposed by the Secre- tary. Twenty years from 1783, would have brought the com- mercial limitation to 1803; four years after the suppression of the right of deposite at New Orleans. This itself blew the western country into a flame, that would have consumed all the ties of the confederacy, had its councils have slumbered over interests, so precious to this section of the United States. What, then, would have been the feelings of the country, what would have been its prosperity, had its trade with New Orleans been suspended for thirty years? Sagacious as the views of Mr. Jay generally were, they have been outstripped in this instance by the growth of the western country beyond the anticipations of our wisest statesmen. Oar progress has been a race scarcely checked by an accident on the course. Rumors of this negotia- tion, *"" when no post-office existed in Kentucky, and when no safe or certain mode of conveyance for letters cr newspa- pers was estauiished between this District and the rest of the Union," must necessarily have subjected the conduct of the Un;ted States' government, ihen held in New York, to much mis- conception, and to no little misrepresentation by intriguing or mistaken candidates for political promotion. These exaggerated representations on the sulject of a navigation, so deeply and vitally interesting to the United States, had produced an asso- ciation at Pittsburgh, nhich transmitted to Kentucky a most erroneous account of the Spanish negotiation, we.l calculated to kindle the passions of her people. This stat^ement purported, »'that John Jay had proposed to the Spanish minister, to surren- der the navigation in question for twenty or thirty years." The truth was, that the proposition was submitted to Congress, and was supported by seven northeastern States, against five south- ern ones; but the offer if made, which does not certainly appear, *MantbaIII,t55. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 159 had been rejected by Don Gardoqui. An instruction to a min- ister was deemed to come strictly under the clause in the arti- cles of confederation, requiring the assent of nine States to form treaties with foreign nations; consequently the propoii- tion fell. Whether the offer was made under the repeal of the instructions of the 25th of August, 1785, previously carried by the vote of the same States, is not clearly exhibited; though implied by the language used in Mr. Jay's life, as well as by that of Mr. Pitkin. The communication from P ttsburgh naturally roused tht sensibilities of Kentucky, on so excitable a subject; one involv- ing all her prospects of commercial prosperity. A circular letter was addressed by ^Messrs. Muter, Innes, Brown, and Sebas- tian, in March, 1787, inviting a public meeting of the citizent of the District, at Danville, in the ensuing May. The language of this memorial has been obj- cted to, because it charged " Congress with proposing to cede to the Spanish court the navi- gation of the Mississippi for twenty-five or thirty years r" while that proposition had failed by an insufficient majority, under the ninth article, sixth section of the confederation. Yet a pr&- vious vote had, with some dispute, rescinded the former instruo- tion to Mr. Jay, to conclude no treaty wilh the Spanish minister, without obtaining " the free navigation of the Mississippi, from its source to the ocean :" and, moreover, jMr. Jay was at first instructed neither to make, nor receive any propositions, nor to enter into any compact with the Spanish minister without previ?- ously communicating the same to Congress." The circumstance, therefore, of \continuing the negotiation after the removal of the former restriction, certainly sanctions the idea of the Dai>- ville circular, that the suspension of the navigation in question, had been offered h.y Congress, through the Secretary, though it was disdainfully rejected by Don Gardoqui, as has been menr tioned. It must have been want of correct information, that induced either of the meetings at Pittsburgh or Danville, to procure an expression of public opinion on a matter, which had already failed at its inception. Nor was the mistake peculiar « Marshall 1, 259, t Fi^I^in II, 201. Idem, SOS. : Jaj's Lif« 1, 238. ICO HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. to these meetings; since a letter addressed from the Falls of Ohio ''^in December, 1786, to the Governor and Legislature of Georgia, represented a '^commercial treatif with Spain, "to be cruel, oppressive, and unjust." " The prohibition of the navi- gation of the Mississippi has astonished the whole western country. To sell us and make us vassals to the merciless Spaniards, is a grievance not to be bo.ne." A copy of this letter (and others of a similar character) were laid before Con- gress; which body on the 16th < f September, 1788, authorized its members to contradict the reports " that it was disposed to treat v/ith Spain for the surrender of their claim to the naviga- tion of the river Mississippi." This venerable body likewise resolved,! "that the free navigation of the river Mississippi, is a clear and essential right of the United States, and that the same ought to be considered and supported as such." Before these decided resolutions were adopted by Congress, the Legis- lature of Virginia, had also taken up the subject in November, 1788; and had come to unanimous resolutions, most decisively fiivorable to the rights and interests of her western citizens, which she ordered to be laid before Congress. These mea- sures seem to have had their just effect wil;h the Danville assemblage ; and it adjourned without any definite expression of sentiment on the subject. A circumstance not a little re- markable, considering the subject, and the temper of those who composed the meeting: Kentuckians have not often assembled together, and dispersed so quietly : a fire of resolutions migh tat least have been expected. The rapid increase of the population, and consequent pro- duce for market, began to direct the public mind, more impa- tiently and indignantly to the Spanish obstructions in their only outlet to market, tin. June, 1787, General Wilkinson descended to New Orleans with a small cargo of tobacco and other articles; determined to try his enterprise and address at the seat of the Spanish government in Louisiana. While at New Orleans, General Wilkmson says, that he " made an arrangement with Governor Miro, for the introduction of seve- * Pitkiii 11^ 2C8. t Idem, 210. i WilkinBOn's Memoire, Tol. II, 112, 116. HISTORY OF KENTUCKr. 161 ral thousand flimilics in that district on the Mississippi, which is now called West Florida; or one to be laid out on the Arkan- sas and White rivers ;" he likewise obtained the privilege of ' (To furnishing, a considerable annual supply of tobacco for tho Mexican market, which would have secured immense fortunes for him and his friends. This statement of General Wilkinson* is corroborated by the testimony of the most unexceptionable wit- nesses, both Spanish and American: it is proved by official per- mits of Governor Miro. It is, moreover, apparently freed from corrupt and sinister views, by the testimony of Mr. Pollock, for twenty years, the confiJant of the Spanish Governoi's of Loui- siana; and by Gilbert Leonard, the Treasurer of the province. This proof is again confirmed by accounts current of the agents of General Wilkinson at New Orleans with their testimony; Colo- nel Ballinger in 1789 delivered two mules loaded with money from New Orleans, to Wilkinson in Frankfort, " in the prcsen^'o of many persons, whom he found there waiting his arrival," '' who were tobacco planters of Lincoln county, in Kentucky, and were there to receive their money for tobacco purchased of them by" Wilkinson. Indeed, the frequent remittances of money to General Wilkinson, by various agents, seem fairly and honorably explained by this tobacco speculation; which Wilkinson, then a private citizen, had the most indubitable right to engage in; and which, in tact, opened a valuable market for the produce of this infant S-ate. It is due to the memory of General Wilkinson, to his distinguished services and persecutions, to declare thit, this pare of the su!)jcct was approached by the author with strong prepossessions against his purity. But on sifting the mas.5 of testimony procured by one military tribunal, and four conrnittecs of Congress,, added to that presented to a second court, and fiuJing the Genera! ac- quitted by both courts, and their sentences approved (reluc- tantly approved in the last instance) by two Presidents of the United States, the author has been forced into the conclusion, that this military o.licer, has beeu wronged in the suspicions and denunciations, so long aiid bitterly indulged agtinst hia ♦ VVi!kin:Ou'> Menioi.s, vol. II, 196, 1G8, Aiipcr.di.K I. o* 162 HISTORY OP KExarucKr. honesty. In the whole of these transactions, no foundation has been perceived for the surmise of Mr. Marshall; " that this to- bacco contract was a mere cover for a pension," (though there is a strong probability that it was a corrupt partnership with Governor Miro;) and " the clandestine and dishonorable part was carefully concealed from all but coadjutors." ^Indeed, for the purposes of Kentucky history, it may be sufficient for the refutation of this construction, to appeal to the repeated deci- cisions of the competent tribunals, after most unexampled and unrestrained investigation. General Wilkinson did certainly show no reserve in dis- closing to his own government, these connexions with the Spanish officers at New Orleans; nor any backwardness in developing the circumstances, or in soliciting inquiry of Gene- ral Washington, or the elder Adams. He may have felt and shown the resentment natural to a man of high pride and professional sensibility, a' the suspicions of General Wayne ; which, as he told Colonel Morrison, a more frank and confiding demeanor would have instantly led him to explain, if not remove, by a full detail of the causes of this ill opinion. But one conclusive consideration in the mind of the author, which confirms the honor and fidelity of Wilkinson, is, that in his long and various public services, no one solitary instance can be justly alleged, in which he disregarded or violated the strictest and most zealous discharge of his duty. In the ensuing February, the General returned from New Orleans.! It was immediately rumored, that '• he had formed a contract with the Spanish Governor, which enabled him to ship tobacco and deposite it in the King's stores at ten dollars per hun- dred;" that he had become " a Spanish subject," and had taken "the necessary oath of allegiance." What truth there may have been in these latter surmises, is not in the power, nor within the province of history to declare: its materials ought to be higher than conjectures and suspicions. Future memoirs of Spanish statesmen, or access to the archives of their secret and jealous country, may one day develope the mystery of the first s'eps cf Span'sh intrigue in Kentucky. * Marshall 1, 183. j Idem, 271. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 1G3 Wilkinson did, however, proceed to buy tobacco for the Span- ish market under the permits of Governor Miro; and spoke openly of his exckisive privilege at New Orleans, to deposite his tobacco in the King's store ; he also expressed himself in high terms of the right of navigating the Mississippi, and of a com- mercial connexion between the two countries. There is a mix- ture of innocent and suspicious matter in these allegations which requires to be discriminated. The right to the navigation was indispensable: the emigrants to Kentucky had no other homes to go to; they had brought their all to Kentucky; they must sink or swim with her. The independence of Kentucky might mean a separation from Virginia, but most probably was in- tended to impress the necessity of a disunion, because in no other way, could Kentucky have had any influence over the counsels of Spain. Yet it would have been a melancholy in- fatuation, which could for a moment have deluded Kentuckians to believe, that as dependents in the mist exalted sense, or nominal equals and allies, they could have enjoyed the security for their interests, much less their noble liberty, which a mem- ber of the great confederacy of North Americm republics could command. But a thousand conflicting attachments, and invet- erate prejudices of language, customs, and government, forbid the idea of a political connexion with Spain ever having been seriously meditated by the mass of the country. To present the first connexion of General Wilkinson with the Spanish government unbroken, the year has been antici- pated; which has led the narrative past the establishment of the first printing press in Kentucky, an era almost as worthy of commemoration in the backwoods of America, as its Euro- pean invention. Nor was this establishment altogether desti- tute of originality in the Kentucky printer. Mr. John Brad- ford, an ingenious and enterprising citizen of Lexington, not brought up to the business of a printer, undertook this impor- tant step in the political and intellectual improvement of Ken- tucky. There was not then a printing press on the western waters, nor one within five hundred miles of Lexington. Seve- ral of the type were cut out of dog-wood, and with this imper- 164 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. feet apparatus, on 'he ISdi of August, 1737, he and his brother, Fielding Bradford, published the Kentucky Gazette. It was at jfirst a weekly paper, printed on a demi sheet, which size was altered on the 1st of September following, into a medium sheet, and then it assumed one of greater dimensions. This name is still retained among the journals of the State, which^ in 1833, have amounted to twenty -nine or thirty. On the 17th of September, 1787, the fifth convention assem- bled at Danville, and unanim3usly decided for the separation of the district, upon the terms and conditions prescribed by the law of Virginia. An address was made to Congress for the admission of the new State into ''the federal Union, by th3 name of Kentucky ;" and the last day of December, 1788, was fixed for the termination of tho authority of Virginia, and the commencement of the new republic. This co.ivention requested *^the delegates from the district in the Legislature of Virginia, to use their endeavors to have an inhabitant of the district ap- pointed a delegate to Congress for the ensuing year." Under this recommendation, Mr. John Brown was chosen the first and only member of the old Congress, under the confederation, from Kentucky. It, moreover, directed a convention to be elected, *• with full power and authority to frame and establish a funda- mental constitution of government for the propo ed State." Notwithstanding the unsettled and exposed condition of the country, involved in Indian depredations, and deprived of a free market for the produce of its labor; the fertility and cheapness of the lands, and no doubt the adventurous theatre, which was presented to the young and the aspiring; all combined to impel the stream of emigration to Kentucky. So great was the accession of population, that it had doubled within the last three years.'* About this time the Indians resorted to a species of miniature naval warfare against the emigrants to Kentucky. They manned a flat bottomed boat, such as is still used by fami- lies for descending the western waters,! and " intercepted several of these family conveyances on the river; consigning 4 Marslmll 1, 285. t Broad Horns in the dialect of the western rivere, and of" Westward-Ho!" nisTORY OF ke:ttuckv. 165 those on board to slangii'er, an;l cirried oil thoir g^ods." This new mediod of infesting one of the great avenues to the coun- try, after having effected much mischief, and spread wide alarm, was, in one instance, broken up by a party from this city, which, however, found the Indian boat descried, and could only destroy her. In this year, Kentucky as a part of the parent commonwealth, was called upon to express her sentiments on the grand ques- tion of adopting the present constitution of the general govern- ment; which has elevated our country to so lofty and proud an eminence, among the nations of the earth. This is not the place to discuss or even narrate minutely, this mighty episode in our history; the crisis is well understood to have been preg- nant with every thing interesting to the dearest and most pre- cious interests of America; already violation of contracts, spu- rious paper money, arbitrary tender laws, State conflicting with State, in levying imposts on foreign goods, and violated treaties with foreign powers, were fast precipitati^.g our coun- trymen into disunion, civil war, and foreign subjugation. Tha constitution of 1787, snatched our country from this tremen- dous gulf of rain and dishonor. Justice, however, to the views of those opposed to the adoption, requires it to be stated; that with many, the question was not so mach, whether the constitu- tion proposed, should be absolutely rejected ; or whether it should be rejected, until amendments should be adopted. The spirit of liberty naturally flowed high, and suspicion of political pov/er was proporionably sharp, so recently after the demoli- tion of the British government; or more properly the change of executive relations from a foreign monarch to a domestic head, which was in fact, the principal departure from the ancient institutions of the colonies. To this jealousy, invaluable as a preservative of public liberty, within any reasonable bounds, must no doubt be added, an influential source of opposition — the diminution of local and personal importance in the States. *" Many of the leaders ot the oppjsition to the federal consti- ♦ Jay's Life I, 258. 166 HISTORY OF KEi'TUCKY. tution, were such as wished to be little Kings at home.'''' Is not th« remark still most powerfally applicable to our State controversies with the general govGrnmeni? Will it, indeed, erer lose its force, in so complicated a system of government, as our own? It may be, indeed, the centrifugal force of the machine, as necessary in its sphere, as the centripetal ten- dency of an efficient national authority, is indispensable to combine the energies of the whole confederacy, for the safety and the welfare of all. The vote of Kentucky as represented in the convention of Virginia was, in conformity to the strong democratic spirit of the people, more alive to the dangers and abuses of political authority, than to the necessity of an efficient government, opposed to the adoption of the new go- vernment. The division was in the ratio of ^eleven against the adoption, to three in its favor.f The two members from the county of Jefferson, the venerable Robert Breckenridge, lately deceased, and Rice Ballock; and Humphrey Mar.^hall from Fayette, now silvered with years and public services, had the honor to enrol their names in favor of the constitution, and thereby the ever enduring renown of having contributed to preserve the fruit of the Revolution; and to allow it the oppor- tunity of ripening into the present glorious harvest of liberty, happiness, plenty, and peace. Virginia was the tenth adopting State; on the 20th of June, 1788, by a majority of eighty-eight to a minority of seventy-eight, she joined the new, and the author trusts, indissoluble confederacy of the North American * Through the courtesy of Messrs. Brown and Marshall, th^ author is enahled to pr»- Bent the reader witli the names of the Kentucky nieni'ters of the Virginia Convention, which ratified tlie present Constitution of the United States. From Fayette, Humphrey Marshall and John Fowler; Jefferson r.owity, Ro'iert Breckenridge and Rice Bullock; Lincoln county, John Lo?an and Henry Pawiini; JSTelso'i county, John Steele and MatthevT Walton; Mercer county, Thomas AUenand Alexander Robertson; Madison county, Gr^ena Clay and William Irvine; Bourbon county, Henry r,ce and John Edwards. The Con- •titulion of the United States was published in the Kentucky Gazette, October 27th, 1787. The otdy members of the Viririnia Le_'islatnre from Kentucky, whose names the author has been able to obtain, aie John Brown, Benjamin Logan, Daniel Boone, and ~ Swearingen. f On this occas'on the author has been informed by the first historian of Kentucky, that a publication of Richard Henry Lee, addressed to the Governor of Virtiinin, and published in the Kentucky Gazette, had a most tlecisivrinfiuence against the proposed new govern- ment. It strou'.dy advised the people of the district to retain tlieir ratification from a •onstitution acknowledged to be defective, until, it was amended So plausible aground was with dilficulty resisted amirlst the jealousies of tiiis sction of the country; n^nioved too, as it was, from the immediate acene of the discords which threatened the union of tke elder atiiteH. HISTORY OP KENTUCKY. 167 States. It must not l)e concealed, that the new constitution wai quite unpopular in Kentucky; though from the situation of the district, and the imperfect diffusion of intelligence, its profound and massy merits could scarcely have been urderstood. It would be a curious inquiry, how many copies of the constitu- tion, much less of the Federalist,* i s chaste, and learned, and wise commentary — the joint production of some of our most consummate and virtuous statesmen — were at that day to be found in Kentucky. On the 29th of July, in this year, the convention met at Danville, to form a constitution of government for the district, preparatory to its separation from Virginia. While this body was assembled, the sixth which had met on the subject of separation, although the first which was authorized to form a constitution; information was received, that Congress had determined to refer the question of admitting Kentucky into the Union, to the new government. This was, indeed, a cruel blow to the excited hopes of independent government, so repeatedly voted by Kentucky, and as often assented to by Vir- ginia. It is not a matter of wcnder, that t" there was now observable the most deep-felt vexation, a share of ill-temper bordering on disaffection; and strong symptoms of assuming independent government. The navigation of the Mississippi, and the trade to New Orleans, now just tasted for the first time, were strenuously pressed into the argument, in favor of com- pleting the constitution, and organizing government wilhout delay." It was even proposed to submit the state of the dis- trict, and the course to be pursued to each militia company. This proposition, which would, indeed, have been to revive th« democracy of the Grecian Ecclesiai, and the Roman Campui Martius, amidst the representat ve republics of North America, was, by a large majority, most judiciously rejected. This bodj came, after protracted debate, to the following recommendation: •Mr. TTumphrey Marslia'l says, the first copy of tlie Federalist ho saw, wa« in fli« knndsof Georj^e Nicholas, when the Ibmier vvufc on his Jouiney to lucetthe abov0 isflM*^ rabl« convention. t MArtb Jl I, iC9. 16S HISTORY OF Ki:3TTrCKY. that the people of the district should elect another assembly, to meet in the following November, and to continue in office until the 1st of January, 17S0: "that they delegate to their said representatives full powers to take such measures for obtain- ing admission of the district, as a separate and independent member of the United States of America; and the navigation of the Mississippi, as may appear most conducive to those pur- poses; and also to form a constitution of government for the district, and organize the same, when ihey shall judge it neces- sary; or to do and accomplish whatsoever, on a consideration of the state of the district, may, in their opinion, promote its interests." From the breadth and plenipotentiary character of this com- mission, like that of a Roman dictator, the temper of the dis- trict may be inferred; nor can there in the whole history of American government be found, a career of such multiplied disappointments and abortive assemblies, as in the labors of Kentucky, to be admitted into the Union. All parties appear to have been w^ell disposed, still, as if under i.e influence of some enchantment, consent was given, but to be repealed ; act was passed after act, and assembly met after assembly, only to give birth to a successor, as remote as ever from obtaining, what had been the ^favorite object of the people for years. Nor ought the conduct of the party desiring an immediate organiza- tion of the government, to be branded with obloquy; any farther than it might have been mixed with views of Spanish dependence. For had a domestic government been organized after the repeated and harmonious co-operation of the great contracting parties, it is not to be supposv-d, that it would have been so technically misconstrued, as to have been viewed as treasonable to Virginia, or hostile to the Union, owing to re- peated and unavoidable accidents. The magnanimous temper c-f Virginia would have cured every thing Should any such unjust imputation have been placed upon the proceedings of Kentucky, it must soon have been removed by their fidelity, h?.d it have been, as it is believed it was, immovcabiy fast to *Mrr«l;aIII,200. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 169 the confederacy of their countrymen. Vermon', continued with- out the pale of the Union during the whole Revolutionary war, and until March, 1791 j yet no indictment was brought against her for treason. At this distance of time, the protracted delays and repeated public disappointments on this question, seem truly inexplicable. It is not known to what else to compare our long succession of fruitless conventions, than to the card edifices of children, which are no sooner erected, than at a breath they are demolished. The assertion may be safely ventured, that no sober political critic of the present day can believe, that any community in these States, would now be so trifled with and tantalized, as the people of this district were, for eight years, in obtaining a separate municipal existence. Some auxiliary resolutions for directing the election of the seventh convention, closed the labors of this addition to the nu- merous and ineffectual assemblies of Kentucky. So excited had public feeling in Kentucky become, in consequence of this provoking course of things, that disunion seems to have been at least proposed, as its *" idea was formally combatted in the public prints of the time, while nothing more open or formal than the acts of the convention is recollected in its favor." A letter from Chief Justice Muter on the 15th of October, 1788, may represent the feelings of the more considerate and sober, respecting the state of public affairs. In this letter the Chief Justice combats the idea of forming a constitution without the previous consent of Virginia, as contrary to her statute, and in- volving the perpetrators in the guilt of high treason ; and that the new State could only be admitted by consent of Virginia, under the federal constitution. But the most pregnant part of this letter is, where he represents, that the resolution of the late conven- tion, if adopted by the people, might fairly be construed to give authority to the next, to treat with Spain, to obtain the navigation of the Mississippi; if they should think such a measure condu- cive to their interest. Every thing proceeding from George Muter would be treated by the author, with the respect inspired by a lively recollection of his venerable, mild, and worthy * Marshall 1, 294. P 170 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. character; and the coiiciirrencc of Colonel Thomas Marshall^ the compatriot, fellow soldier, and friend of Washington, must add still greater weight to this letter, which was, indeed, ^his measure. Notwithstanding this most respectable authority, some political feeling not at all dishonorable, or some exag- gerated apprehension of consequences, seems to have prompted this public address ; if there were no foreign intrigues. As it has before been remarked, the separation of Kentucky from Virginia, was an agreed case between the high parties; the difficulty was one of form and accident only. In such a state of things, it would have been cruel mockery and iniquity in Virginia, to have so far misinterpreted a separation of Ken- tucky, which had been the subject of repeated and mutual agreements, as to have considered it treasonable. The jealousy of the country could not, however, have been too keenly ex- cited against any attempt at foreign dependence; it is never admitted into the creed of an enlightened patriot, until the last extremity of domestic misfortune ; and even then, to be most sleeplessly watched. CHAPTER XI. Don Gardoqui's propositions to Mr. John Brown— Apology for Kentucky Statesmen- Court and Country parties in Convention— Wilkinson's memorial to the Governor ol Louisiana— New Government of the United States— General Washington's letter to Colonel Thomas Marshall— Transylvania— Indian depredations. Why the patriotic Marshall and Muter had so much reason to apprehend a foreign connexion at this time, now becomes a painful duty to develope. That private feelings may still be lacerated in this recital, the author laments, and which he will studiously avoid, consistently with the faithfulness of history. Motives, whether of the dead, or the living, shall not be im- peached ; but upon strong and conclusive testimony ; guilt shall never be tortured into existence, by misrepresentation or forced construction. Under the influence of these views, let the con- * Marshall 1,291. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 171 ijuct of the Honorable John Brown, then a member of the old Congress, be entitled to their full bearing, while it is faithfully- related. On the 29th of February, 178S, Mr. John Brown pre- sented to the old Congress the address of the Kentucky conven- tion praying for admission into the Union; but it was not until the 3d of July, that it was finally acted on, and then referred to the new government for ultimate decision. This distinguished public officer then wrote to the President of the Danville convention, giving an account of this additional failure of Kentucky expectations, notwithstanding his best exertions. In this letter was enclosed a detached scrip of paper headed confidential* in these words: " In a conversation which I had with Mr. Gardoqui, the Spanish minister, relative to the navigation of the Mississippi, he stated that, if the people of Kentucky would erect themselves into an independent State, and appoint a proper person to negotiate with him, he had authority for that purpose, and would enter into an arrange- ment with them for the exportation of their produce to New Orleans, on terms of mutual advantage." In additijn to this ominous enclosure to Judge McDowell, a jletter was written by the same gentleman to Judge Muter, dated New York, July 10th, 1788; from which the following extracts are taken, re- ferring the re ider to the appendix for the entire document. After mentioning the delay of Congress in acting on the appli- cation of Kentucky, owing to the absence of the members during a " great part of the winter and spring," and when finally committed to a " grand committee, they could not be prevailed upon to report — i majority of them being opposed to the measure. The eastern States would not, nor do I think they ever will, assent to the admission of the district into the Union, as an independent State ; unless Vermont, or the province of Maine, is brought forward at the same time." Again: "The jealousy of the growing importance of the western country, and an unwillingness to add a vote to the southern interest, are the real causes of opposition; and I am inclined to believe, they will exist to a certain degree, even under the new government, to * Judge McDowell's deposition, Innes vs. Marshall. f Marshall I, 301. 172 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. which the application is referred by Congress." Again: " 'Tis generally expected, that the district ^ will declare' its indepen- dence, and proceed to frame a constitution of government." " This step will, in my opinion, tend to preserve unanimity, and will enable you to adopt with effect such measures as may be necessary to promote the interest of the district. ]n private conversation with Mr. Gardoqui, the Spanish minister at this place, I have been assured by him in the most explicit terms, that if Kentucky will declare her independence, and em- power some proper person to negotiate with him, that he has authority, and will engage to open the navigation of the Missis- sippi for the exportation of their produce, on terms of mutual advantage. But that this privilege can never be extended to them, while part of the United States by reason of commercial treaties existing between that court and other powers of Eu- rope. As there is no doubt of the sincerity of this declaration, I have thought proper to communicate it to a few confidential friends in the district, with his permission, not doubting but that they will make a prudent use of the information.'''' Upon this confidential letter, (written in the discharge of a critical and important trust) comment is unavoidable ; it is an essential and important part of Kentucky history ; and it has been the sub- ject of most angry and exasperating controversy. This com- mentary is now undertaken when these passions have died away; ahhough the author has been a witness to their fiercest storms : yet he claims to be governed by a sense of duty only, when he declares, that he continues to feel, as he always did, perfectly uninfluenced by their rage. On any other occasion than one, which has arrayed this community in such acrimoni- ous parties, such a declaration might be unnecessary. The first idea that strikes the mind in considering this letter in connexion with the enclosure to Judge McDowell, is, that Mr. Brown, and in all probability, many other of the ancient statesmen of Kentucky did incline to discuss, if not adopt a connexion with Spain independent of the feeble and disgraced Union, which then existed; one more in name than in fact, disobeyed at home, and despised abroad. Under these circum- HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 173 stances, the author believes such a measure so far from furnish- ing matter of reprobation, may have been deemed consistent with Kentucky patriotism ; and even demanded by its most sacred duties. Tiie denial of any meaning in the letters to Judges Muter and IMcDowell, beyond that of having been " forwarded for in- formation" as supposed by the latter gentleman in his certificate of the 7th of August, 1806,* strikes the author as unworthy of the grave subject of communication, and the dignity of the correspondents. But what is more important, it is inconsistent with the only manly and triumphant justification of which, he thinks, the measure may have been susceptible. To try the conduct of Kentucky statesmen in 1788, under a confederation in ruins and in factions, by the same principles, which should now direct the mind, under an efficient and beneficent govern- ment; would be absurd and unjust. The peculiar circumstances of the times must be adverted to, in order to arrive at any just estimate of the measure, or of its authors. What, then, were these circumstances ? They are eloquently and no less truly narrated by General Wilkinson, j" Open to savage depreda- tions; exposed to the jealousies of the Spanish government; unprotected by that of the old confederation ; and denied the navigation of the Mississippi, the only practicable channel by which the productions of their labor could find a market." In addition to this, Mr. Daniel Clarke in his memoir of 1798, to Secretary Pickering, mentions that, |"all who ventured on the Mississippi, had their property seized, by the first commanding officer whom they met, and little or no com- munication was kept up between the two countries." Was this a condition for any community, much less fi^r one ol' high spirited freemen with their arms in their hands, just fresh from hunting down the British lion, to tolerate any longer, than it was unavoidable? Couple these grievances, which must have blasted the industry and ihd dearest hopes of the country, which must have driven the emigrants back over the mountains, and condemned the rich lands of Kentucky to waste * Political Transactions, page 39. f Wilkinson's Memoirs, vol. II, 119, X Wilkinson's Memoirs, vol. II, Appendix XI. P* 174 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. their fertility in uncultivated forests, to become again an Indian country, rather than to continue a civilized society ; with the heart burnings on the subject of yielding the navigation to Spain for an indefinite time. Then, from these materials some faint idea may be conceived of the necessity for the statesmen and the people of Kentucky to look to some other protection, for the vital interests of the country, than the tottering and im- becile confederacy, which then deluded the country under the pretence of a government. Can circumstances be imagined more imperative on Kentucky patriots and statesmen, to turn their attention to a foreign connexion for that protection, which their own government could not give ; and without which, all govern- ment is a mockery, and a perversion of its very purposes? To the mind of the writer, the circumstances of the case may have had this justification in the view of the parties. Still, notwith- standing this apology, which is only offered as an hypothetical defence, founded on the probabilities of the transactions; the fact is, that the love of country was too strong, and the attach- ment of Kentucky to her elder homes, was too powerful, the share her numerous Revolutionary citizens had in the glory of the republic was too great, to allow of a separation of the coun- try from the rest of the confederacy. Notwithstanding the long series of hardships and sufferings, which Kentucky had endured, many of which were to be attributed to an inefficient and ill administered government; her statesmen, and still more, the great mass of her people, were true to the Union, and clung with pertinacious attachment to the sacred league of the States. The ties of ancient kindred, of homes and customs, were too stron"- for the promptings of domestic interest and ambition to dissolve ; and it is an honorable proof of the love of the Union in this remote member; that no public motion in any assembly of the people, no resolution countenancing separation from the confederacy, or leading to it, can be instanced in the history o\ the people of Kentucky. On the contrary, her public acts, amidst the undefended devastations of the Indians, the injuries of the Spaniards, and the neglects of the federal government, constantly breathe a spirit of " filial affection" for the Union, HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 175 and connect their ardent wishes for a separate government, with the rest of the confederacy. From '85 to '90, they petitioned to Virginia and to Congress " to be taken into union with the United States of America," " for a speedy admission of the dis- trict into the federal Union," " and to be erected into an inde- pendent member of the federal Union." The prospect of the new government then in agitation, ought to have had powerful influence with every patriot in suspending an appeal to the dreadful alternative of civil disruption and war. Nothing wor- thy of record beyond the very discussions which occupy this portion of our history, seems to have transpired; until the con- vention of November, 1788, assembled agreeably to the author- ity of its July predecessor. In this assembly the parties, which had been divided on the mode of separating from Virginia, ac- quired more development, and appeared more distinct; no doubt in consequence of the discussions which had intervened. Messrs. Wilkinson, Thomas Marshall, Sen. Muter, Brown, and Innes, were all members: yet in the acknowledgment of his enemies. General Wilkinson was the most distinguished orator, as well as writer. Was an address to be written, which should pour forth the feelings of Kentucky, a debate to be opened upon her vital interests, Wilkinson was equally the author of the one and the speaker in the other. So varied, rich, and polished, were the powers and the acquirements of this singularly versatile person, that whether in the field of Saratoga, the cabinet of Go- vernor Miro, or in the conventions of the backwoodsmen of Kentucky, this gifted man drew all eyes upon him, and was looked up to as a leader and a chief The friends of Wilkinson, who appear to have contemplated a separation and the forma- tion of an independent government without the same unneces- sary anxiety for the repetition of the consent of Virginia, which might have been necessary and proper in a mere municipal body, not a large community; were denominated the court party; as its leading members were principally judges and lawyers: the opposition under Colonel Thomas Marshall, Sen. Judge Muter, and John Edwards, afterwards a Senator of the United States, was denominated the country party. The first 176 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. point of difference was, the submission of the resolutions passed by the previous convention to a committee of the whole. The court party favored this reference in order, it seems, to con- nect the navigation of the Mississippi with the formation of a State constitution, and to hurry the latter without waiting for the previous consent of the parent State. This had been re- peatedly expressed, though not under these peculiar circum- stances. It was, perhaps, unparliamentary; since the very purpose of commitment is, to divide a subject into its appropriate parts, and to acquire distinct views of its facts and character by special, not general inquiries. But what is of more consequence to the present times, than this skirmish of order, is the full and prominent attitude, which the navigation of the Mississippi assumed in this convention ; and mainly owing to the comprehen- sive spirit and sagacious mind of Wilkinson, denounced as he and his associates have been, for their exertions to promote this vital policy, not only of Kentucky, but of the teeming millions of the west. Wilkinson seems to have been more keenly alive to the importance of this trade, and of the formation of a go- vernment, which might command its enjoyment; than of again obtaining the consent of Virginia previous to the erection of the government. Indeed, he was disposed to obtain this chan- nel for commercial intercourse, so indispensable to the future prosperity of the country by a Spanish connexion, if our go- vernment could not, or would not procure it. He is said* to have observed in debate, that " Spain had objections to grant- ing the navigation in question to the United States; it was not to be presumed, that Congress would obtain it for Kentucky, or even the western country, only — her treaties must be general. There was but one way, and but one, that he knew of for ob- viating these difficulties; and that was so fortified by constitu- tions and guarded by laws, that it was dangerous of access, and hopeless of attainment under present circumstances. It was the certain but proscribed course, which had been indicated in the former convention, which he would not now repeat; but which every gentleman present would connect with a declara- * Marshall 1, 316. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 177 tion of independence, the formation of a constitution, and the organization of a new State; which, he added, might safely be left to find its way into the Union, on terms advantageous to its interests and prosperity. He expatiated on the prosperous cir- cumstances of the country — its increasing population — its rich productions, and its imperious claims to the benefits of com- merce — through the Mississippi — its only outlet. That the same difficulties did not exist on the part of Spain, to concede to the people on the western waters, the right of navigating the river, which she had to a treaty with the United States, there were many reasons for supposing. That there was information of the first importance on that subject, within the power of the convention; which he doubted not would be equally agreeable for the members to have, and the gentleman who possessed it to communicate." Such is represented as the material substance of Wilkinson's speech by Mr. Marshall, taken, as supposed from the notes of Colonel Thomas Marshall, whose accuracy on another part of this debate, was vouched for by Judge Thomas Todd, when summoned before a legislative committee in 1806. A member of the convention then desired Mr. John Brown, who was meant, to communicate what he knew. In reply to this invitation, Mr. Brown said, "that he did not think himself at liber ty to disclose what had passed in private con- ferences between the Spanish minister, Don Gardoqui, and himself; but this much in general he would venture to inform the convention — that provided we are unanimous, every thing we could wish for is within our reach?'' This backwardness does not fully agree with the letters of Mr. Brown to the two judges previously mentioned. In one of these, he communicates the Spanish minister's declaration "with his permission.'''' The truth seems to be, that the party in favor of the immediate separation and independence of Kentucky, was not fully con- fident of its strength, and of the popular support. None of them seem to have spoken out with the boldness of Wilkinson, or with the unreserved and manly spirit worthy of the interests of Kentucky, painful as the course would have been, which these interests pointed out. Nothing further was done at this time in regard to the Spanish overtures. 178 HISTORY OF KE^-TUCKY. It would, indeed, be most unbecoming Kentucky to upbraid those who were most forward in promoting what they deemed to be her prosperity, and who were actuated by a patriotism, which, whatever else may be said of it, was zealously devoted to her interests in the peculiar posture of affair?. The author will not join in any reproaches of the kind. After this brief and general response of Mr. Brown, Wilkinson again rose and offered to read an essay on the navigation and trade of the Mississippi, which had been addressed by him to the Governor and Intendant General of Louisiana. The reading was called for, and so satisfactorily had it treated upon the interests of Kentucky, that the author received the unanimous thanks ol the convention " for the regard he therein manifested for the interests of the western country." The reader is referred to the appendix as the most appropriate place for the abstract ol the essay. Could the views of the court party in this convention have been very obnoxious to the country gentlemen, when this vote of thanks was accorded to the prominent member of the oppo- site party, and when he was constantly employed on the prin- cipal committees? This presumption seems irresistible in favor of Wilkinson and his friends. On the 8th of the month, after the postponement of a report from a committee, (of which Messrs. Edwards, Marshall, Muter, Wilkinson, and some others, were members) appointed to report an address to Vir- ginia, " for obtaining the independence of the district of Ken- tucky, agreeably to the late resolution and recommendation of Congress." Wilkinson offered the following preamble and reso- lution: *" Whereas it is the solemn duty, so it is the ardent desire of this convention, to pursue such measures as may pro- mote the interest and meet the approbation of their constituents; but the discordant opinions, which at present divide the good people they represent, render it doubtful whether they can adopt any plan, which will embrace the opinions of all, or even secure the support of a majority — in this state of embarrass- ment, perplexed with doubt, and surrounded by difficulties; in order to avoid error, and to obtain truth; to remove the jeal- * Marshall I, "29. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 179 ousies which have infected society; and to restore that spirit of harmony and concord, on which the prosperity of all depends; they deem it most eligible to address their constituents on the momentous occasion : Resolved, that a committee be appointed to draft an address to the good people of the district, setting forth the principles from which this convention act; represent- ing to them their true situation, urging the necessity of union, concord, and mutual concession, and solemnly calling upon them to furnish this convention at its next session, with in- structions in what manner to proceed, on the important subject to them submitted.'" In pursuance of this resolution, Messrs. Wilkinson, Innes, Jouett, Muter, Sebastian, Allen, and Caldwell, were appointed the committee, but no further notice appears of the address ordered. This measure seems to have looked to instructions about separating from Virginia without her consent, and possi- bly to arrangements for the Mississippi trade; although they do not in so many words, appear upon its face. But upon what else, were instructions wanting, or unanimity required? It was not upon the separation in the ordinary legal way; for no dispute existed upon that measure; thus the popular appeal must have been intended to be brought to bear upon some sub- jects, on which opinions were divided. These were the topics mentioned before, and what then, were so likely as these, to be intended to experience the influence of popular sentiment in uniting parties, and giving ascendency to a course of measures different from the legal separation? Whatever force this con- jecture may have, and it is only presented as a probable infer- ence, addresses to Congress and Virginia were adopted; which appear in the appendix to this history, and the convention ad- journed till the first Monday in August, 1789. Thus passed oflf a most important and critical convention of Kentucky, which might well, had they been more harmonious, have organized a government for the district; as they had been authorized to do, and which, in the words of Wilkinson, " might have safely been left to find its way into the Union, on terms advantageous to its interests and prosperity." It is, perhaps, too much a matter of 180 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. mere curiosity, to speculate upon what would have been the consequences of having organized the government on this occa- sion, instead of waiting four years more. But it may securely be said, that the treasonable nature of such a measure, is a perversion of the whole doctrine of popular government, be- tween such masses of people, as the communities of Virginia and Kentucky; and above all, under the difficulties of form, which had alone obstructed the wishes of both parties to be separate States. In another point of view, Kentucky would by having organized her government immediately, have gained* " immense sums of money which were paid into the treasury of Virginia in completing titles to the Kentucky lands;" " above one million and a half acres of the best land in the district, which, in the four following years, were swept away by Virginia military land warrants, would have been the patri- mony of Kentucky .■" This latter advantage was secured by a clause in the first act of separation surrendering to Kentucky, all lands unlocated in the district, after the 1st of September, 1788. The path of colonizing and sub-independence, since so frequently, so fearlessly, and so prosperously trod by various sections of the American people, was then first to be travelled and explored by the statesmen of Kentucky, like the other wil- derness, which the hunters had so nobly penetrated without a trace or a guide. No wonder, then, that our countrymen, who have ever been distinguished for their reverence for order, were reluctant to step beyond the strict confines of the statute of sepa- ration, on the part of the parent commonwealth. Yet it would not necessarily have followed, that the new State should, on the eve of a new experiment for managing the aflTairs of the con- federacy, so far have overcome all the obstacles of manners, language, religion, government, and national prejudice, as to have fallen into the train of Spanish provinces. When Kentucky had maintained her loyalty, in spite of sufferings under the nominal i^overnment of the old Congress, and had withstood the strong temptations, that had urged her to abandon the confederation, and set up for herself; it would be as unjust, * Political Transactions, page 53, by William Littell. illSTORY OF KENTUCKY. JQl as improbable, to impute a disposition at this time for a forein-a connexion, which she had disdained in her weakness and dis- tress, as well as in the imbecility of the general o-overnment. Yet without such a disposition on the part of the «^rreat mass of the people of Kentucky, the project, and its imputation, would be alike groundless, and destitute of all reasonable probability. It may serve to illustrate the state of the country to record that on the very day this most interesting convention full of " high debate" adjourned, *'' a party of Indians way-laying the main road from Lexington to Limestone, fired on some wao-on- ers near the Blue Licks, killed one of them, scared away the rest, and took the horses." At the ensuing session of the Legis- lature of Virginia, the county of Mason was erected out of the county of Bourbon, to take effect on the 1st of May, 1789. During this same session also, a third act of separation was passed on the 29th of December, 1788: which contained some new conditions "highly exceptionable to Kentucky, and justly so." One' of these went to subject this infant commonwealth which had been'rocked amid the warwhoop and the rifle, plun- dered by Indians, and shut up by Spaniards, to the payment of a portion of the domestic debt then existing against Viro-inia. This was required for the expenses incurred on ace junt of the district by military operations, since the first act of separation. The other condition, which displeased the district was, an en- actment, which would have kept Kentucky dependent on the consent of the Legislature of Virginia as to the time for com- pleting the titles of the officers and soldiers on the State and continental establishments of Virginia, to the bounty lands as- signed them in the district, for their military services. Little stress need be placed on those obnoxious clauses; engendered let it be recollected, by the unorganized state of the district since they were readily rescinded on the remonstrance of the subsequent Kentucky convention. In January of this year, the first elections were held for choosing the new President and Vice President of the United States. No votes, however, were given in Kentucky for these * Marshall I, 341. Q 182 HISTOEY OF KENTUCKY. hio-h executive officers; from what causes, it has not been possi- ble to ascertain. The new government of the United States commenced its operations on the 4th of March, 1789; an era which should be ever dear to all good Americans, and most sig- nally so, to the patriots of this, then exposed, and frontier State. New scenes of military vigor and political efficiency, soon began to dawn on this remote province of the republic; until it has beamed "the perfect day." Can it be necessary to record, about this election, for the first President of the United States, what must be embalmed in the heart o;^very patriotic Ameri- can; that George Washington, "the first in war, the first in peace, and the first in the hearts of his countrymen," re- ceived their unanimous votes for this last, but splendid testimo- nial of their continued regard for his great services, and emi- nent abilities? The elder Adams, of such solid abilities, and devoted zeal to the interests and the liberties of his country, was placed in the Vice Presidency; second but to Washing- ton alone, in the dignities and tlie gratitude of his country. To the new President elect Colonel Thomas Marshall, Sen. ^* '• wrote an account of the district, and of such symptoms of foreijiii;il sources of this mistake, which have imposed on Mr. Trumbull, Mr- McClung and Dr. Metcalf, the author has not been able to detect. IirSTOHY OF KEXTiLivv. 207 ages, but peace, and if they would but have grauted it in good faith, by ncgociation, much bloodshed might have been saved on both sides. Notwithstanding this disposition on the part of the United States, at this very time, it was ascertained "that the Cherokees of five towns would join the Shawnecs in the war against Kentucky;" and yet hostilities were forbidden on the part of the whites, while the effect of pacific overtures was ascertainin inevitably incident to the practice of elec- tioneering. It has grown with the growth of Kentucky at a most fearful rate; and does it not among other mischievous effects, tend to supersede the popular superintendence of its own affairs by tacitly surrendering them to professed candidates? Let discussion take its widest range within the limits of deco- rum : but let the parties whose qualifications and merits may be the subject, be kept out of the interested, and consequently intemperate participation. The author entertains no great iiiith in institutions to protect the people against the mischiefs of their own ignorance or vice; and above all, by recognizing different classes of interest, whether of property or rank; the only effectual influence, which can radically ameliorate society is, the diffusion of moral and intellectual cultivation with the protection of honest industry in the enjoyments of its fruits. Still good government is an institution, which affords a reason- able probability for bringing the intelligence and virtue of so- ciety into the management of its affairs consistently with the will of the people. No free government, and therefore gener- ally no good one, can protect the people against their own will; however corrupt and misdirected it may be ; all then, which the machinery of government can effect, is, to check the hasty and rash impulses of the popular sentiment for some short time; till it has had the opportunity to correct itself. In reverencing the ultimate sovereignty of the people, we should, under the influence of a genuine patriotism, abstain most religiously from inciting the people to dispense with these safeguards to the salutary exercise of their authority. Power, let it ever be im- pressed on the hearts of a free people, is just as susceptible of disregard and injustice to the rights of others in their hands, as in governments of more exclusively individual authority. Wheti so administered, as to forget or to violate the rights of others; HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 211 popular power becomes as rank tyranny and as gross oppres- sion, as at the hands of kings and of princes. Right and justice are founded in distinctions, as eternal as the Almighty Mind, which created them; and no power, whether clothed in impe- rial purple or the more unpretending, though not the less sig- nificant insignia of a republic, can consecrate oppression, or lessen the wickedness of injustice. Long may these sober truths protect the American people from corruption by their flatterers, and save them from the enormities, which disgraced the free governments of antiquity, as well as the hideous mis- named republic of modern France. On the 19th of April the Convention closed their labors, and on the 1st of June, 1792, the political existence of Kentucky, was consummated on an equality with her co-states, that were members of the American confederation. The boundaries of Kentucky were recognized in the act of separation on the part of Virginia, as the same which then separated the District from the residue of the Commonwealth. As these have not, how- ever, been specially mentioned, it may not be improper to state, that on the east, commissioners on the part of the two States interested, on the 14th of October, 1799, established the boun- dary to commence at the top of the Cumberland mountain, where the Carolina, now the Tennessee line, crosses the same; and pursuing a northeast direction to the northeastwardly branch of Sandy river to the m»iin west branch and down the same to the Ohio; and on the south, in 1820, Walker's line as run in 1779 and 1780, as far as the Tennessee river and thence the line run by Alexander and Munsell under the authority of Kentucky to the Mississippi river below New Madrid ; on the wes% the Mississippi, and on the north, the Ohio river to the beginning, were established. On the fourth of June, the Governor and Legislature assem- bled at Lexington; Isaac Shelby having been chosen for the former high office by the college of electors and Alexander S. Bullitt and Robert Breckenridgc, both of Jefferson county, were selected as speakers of the two horses; the former of the Sen- ate, the latter of the House of Representatives. On the sixth, 212 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. Governor Shelby met the Legislature in person, as was then usual;, in imitation of the ancient practice of the British kings, as well as of the colonial governors. A mode of communica- tion, which however calculated it may be for the display and parade suited to a brilliant monarchy, is most unfit for the busi- ness intercourse of a simple and practical government. Under this method the interests of the public were prematurely agi- tated in replies often surprising and committing the legislative bodies to the approbation of measures, before they could well be understood, or fairly have come before the minds of the rep- resentatives. It was well changed under the Presidency of Thomas Jefferson for the mode of intercourse by message, the same, which had been practised at all times, upon the business of the current session. In this first communication of a Gov- ernor of Kentucky, the importance of establishing both private and public credit was represented, as the most efficient means of promoting the prosperity of the rising Commonwealth. To secure the first, a speedy and impartial administration of jus- tice was recommended ; and a scrupulous adherence to all pub- lic engagements, for the second. Next in importance to this fundamental policy of all well regulated States, that of adjust- ing land titles was represented as most entitled to the earliest regards of the Legislature. In organizing the government, James Brown, the brother of John Brown, the venerable and honored statesman of Kentucky, and himself subsequently so distinguished in the highest legislative and diplomatic services of the United States, was appointed Secretary of State, and George Nicholas, Attorney General : our first two Senators in the councils of the Union were John Brown the first and only member from Kentucky of the old Congress; and John Edwards who shortly afterwards disappeared from public life. An ap- pointment of commissioners for selecting a seat of government, a matter of great jealousy and contention between the people of the opposite sides of the Kentucky river, was then made by the House of Representatives, agreeably to the Constitution, by nominat- ing twenty-one persons, from whom the delegations from the counties of Mercer and Fayette, alternately struck off one, until HISTORY OP KENTUCKY. 213 five gentlemen were left; these were Robert Todd, John Ed- wards, John Alien, Henry Lee and Thomas Kennedy, any three of whom might fix the scat of government. "A majority of the commissioners met soon after their appointment and fixed on Fr;inkfort, as the proper place j" which, most happily for the interests of the State, "required a concurrence of two- thirds of each branch of the Legislature to change to any oth- er point." The perfect eligibility of any place as a seat of government, is a subordinate consideration to its permanence ; no spot can furnish the accommodations and conveniences of which it might otherwise be capable; and which are so much required at a seal of legislation; when the continuance of the government is held in suspense; and liable to be changed at every gust of caprice or passion. The waste of treasure in public buildings, the injury and destruction to public records, serious as these mischiefs are, diminish in comparison with the paralizing effects of a fluctuating policy, which works all the practical mischiefs of the grossest perfidy. A state house of stone, sufficiently uncouth, was soon erected at the new seat of government, which was paid for principally, by the proceeds of private contribution; an edifice of brick was erected at the expense of the State for the accommodation of the Governor. At this session the Judiciary v/as organized, at all times one of the most important departments of government; indeed it is that, which principally brings the force of society into contact with the individual, by affecting his life, his liberty or his prop- erty. The Court of Appeals was directed to consist of three Judges,* one of whom was to be styled Chief Justice of Ken- tucky, and any two of whom were to form a quorum : subordinate to this Supreme Court, were County Courts likewise created by the Constitution, composed of ths Justices of the different counties, any two of whom were to coniititute "a court of quar- ter sessions and any other three a county court. The Justices were conservators of the peace and had jurisdiction of all cases of less value than five pounds (equal to sixteen dollars and * The first Judges were benjamin Sehastian, Calel) Wallace and Harry Iniies as Chief Justice; the latter doclinins; the otfice, George Muter was appointed in his place and Inucs wad appointed United States' District Judge. 214 HISTORY OP KENTUCKY. sixty-six cents) or one thousand pounds of tobacco, if a judg- ment was rendered for less than one half of either, it was final; iffor more than fifty shillings, eight dollars and thirty-three cents, or five hundred pounds of tobacco, an appeal lay to the quarter sessions. The county court, a tribunal of great local value, was to hold a monthly session; at which it was to take cognizance of all cases of wills, letters of administration, mills, roads, the appointment of guardians and the settlement of their accounts. In addition to this catalogue of interesting municipal powers, it likewise, without any representative character, had the power of levying certain sums of money upon the respective counties for various objects of expense, such as public buildings, bridges and the support of the poor. The jurisdiction of the quarter sessions courts extended to all cases at common law and chancery, excepting criminal cases involving life or limb. The criminal jurisdiction was exer- cised by one court called the court of oyer and terminer, which was held twice a year by three Judges, from whose decision there was neither appeal nor writ of error. This sketch may serve to convey some idea of the earliest judicial system, nnder the State government; the improvement of which has been one of the most interesting and constant objects of attention in the legislation of the State. The members of the county courts have continued eligible to the legislature and those of the quar- ter sessions did, till 1794; when they were most properly pre- vented from thus confounding the different departments of gov- ernment. It is said the original draft of the law creating the quarter session courts, as furnished by the Attorney General denominated the members of the court Judges, which would have excluded them from the Legislature. On the ground of this exclusion, the bill was ralher strangely returned by the Governor and amended by the Legislature, so as to insert Jus- tices of the peace. The economy, or more properly the value of money in these times, is really too remarkable to escape notice. The members of Assembly received one dollar per diem and twelve dollars each for the whole session ; twenty dollars compensated the presiding officer of each house ; fifty IIISTOHY OF KENTUCKY, 215 dollars the clerk and twelve dollars, the sergeant-at-arms; these considerable sums, it has rather sarcastically been observed, were in full of all demands. The largest bill seems to have been that of the public printer; well illustrating the scarcity and value of mechanics, by the contrast of their compensation, with that of the first statesmen of Kentucky. It was three hundred and thirty-three dollars and a third. No revenue hav- ing yet been collected, the treasurer was directed to borrow money. In ccnnection with this subject, the revenue system of the State and its treasury arrangement next present them- selves. Every hundred acres of land and every slave not ex- empted by the county court for infirmity or age, was taxed one third of a dollar; every horse, &c. about eleven cents, every head of cattle four cents; each wheel on every coach or chari- ot one dollar; for every wheel of other riding carriages not used in agriculture two- thirds of a dollar; for every billiard table thirty-three dollars and a third; every ordinary license ten dol- lars; every retail store, ten dollars. This revenue system was carried into effect by commissioners appointed by the county courts, whose business it was, to take lists of the taxable prop- erty; the shcriif was to make the collection from the people, account with the auditor of public accounts for the amount, and pay the same to the treasurer once a year. The treasury de- partment was organized by appointing an Auditor and Treas- urer. The former officer held his office during good behavior and was charged with keeping the public accounts between the State and all other persons or States; he audited the accounts of all civil officers or persons having claims' against the Com- monwealth and issued warrants for such sums as are expressly directed "by law to be paid out of the treasury." The treasur- er was annually elected by joint ballot of both houses. It is important to observe that this officer was emphatically made a legislative agent, and not an executive one : his duties were as usual with such officers. Within this year the Indians renewed their depredations within eight miles of Frankfort, on Russel'g creek south of Green river, in Madison county and in Nelson. 11 consequence of the disasters experienced by the unfortu- 216 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. nate St. Clair, though fully exculpated from all blame by Gen. Washington,* he resigned the command of the mutilated army. The military esta])lishment was then authorized to be increased to 5000 men. At the head of this force Anthony Wayne of hio-h reputation in the revolutionary war, was placed in 1792 with Brigadier Generals Posey and Wilkinson. Such were the indications, that the government had determined to prosecute the Indian war vigorously. Yet there was great division of sentiment on the best mode of pursuing this irregular warfare an-ainst the barbarians of North America. Nor was this differ- ence confined to the legislative councils! of the nation: it pre- vailed with a good deal of obstinacy in Kentucky. Here the desultory incursions, which had marked the military operations of the early settlers, still possessed the hearts of the country. This was natural enough to a people experienced and triumph- ant in war only, upon a limited scale: but the truth is, the mounted expeditions of the early times, were more chivalric than effective, more brilliant than useful; they were inroads not conquests. In no one instance did they, or could they compel the enemy to a full trial of their strenglh, much less defeat them, as in the battles of the Maumee and of Tippecanoe. To meet the powerful confederacy of the barbarian tribes aided by a jealous and hostile neighbor; a system of tactics was adopted for the peculiar theatre and enemy, which had developed the mili- tary powers of the Great President in the opening of his mili- tary career, under the colonial government of Virginia. The Indians of North America have proved themselves equal to the best light troops in the world, among their own woods and fastnesses. The evidence of this truth has been wofully given by the slaughter, rather than defeat of French, English and American troops with great superiority of numbers and arms, on their part. The alarming losses, which our troops had experienced against the savages from the close of the re- volutionary war to the times in question, induced General Washington to have a special military conference on the subject with Gen. Knox then Secretary at War, and General * Marshall'a Washington, vol. 2, p. £3. f Idem, p. 208, 284, 225. HISTORY OF KENTUrKY. '217 Wayne.* The result of this council was the system of tactics observed by tliis officer in his northwestern campaigns. The principles of this system, as they have never been historically developed, will now be attempted on the aulhoriry of a distin- guished officer of General Wayne's staffi The principal features were, 1st, a "facility of forming an order of battle from an order of march, to resist a sudden and unexpected attack from whatever quarter it might come;'" 2, "a capacity of forming in line in thick v/oods; 3d, an easy mode of securing and prolonging the flanks, notwithstanding the line of extreme open order, each file being more than arms length from those on the right and left. All these were essential points in a war with our northwestern Indians;" because no vigilance could guard against an uriexj)ccted attack from them in their native woods. Yet these were fhe scene of operations; and "the object of their tactics is always to turn the fiank of their enemy. But by the formation adopted against the In- dians, in attempting to turn either flank, they mot a succession of fresh troops coming from the rear to extend the line." Upon the "European plan, as well as our own practice of fighting regular troops, the files are so close that the shoulders of the men touch each other. In fighting Indians there was no shock to be given or received, a very open order was therefore attended with two very great advantages; it more than doubled the length of the lines, and in charging, which was an essential part of the system, it gave more facility to get through the ob- stacles which an action in the woods presented." Such were the principles, which were to govern our troops in their active operations against the enemy; when encamped, "it was always in a hollow square. Within tJiis, all the baggage and cavalry were secured, and sometimes the light infantry and riflemen, for the purpose of making sallies in a night attack. Ramparts of logs were formed around the encampment, solely to repel a sud- den night attack, until the troops could get under arms. They were not intended for defence in daylight. To defeat Indians by regular troops the charge must be relied upon: the fatality * Gen. Harrison's letter to tbe author, T 218 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. of a contest at long shot with their accurate aim and facility of covering themselves, was mournfully exhibited in the defeats of Braddock and St. Clair. "General Wayne used no patroles, no picket guards.* In Indian warfare they would always be cut off; and if that were not the case they would afford no addi- tional security to the army, as Indians do not require roads to enable them to advance upon an enemy. For the same reason, (that they would be killed or taken) patroles were rejected, and reliance for safety was entirely placed upon keeping the army always ready for action. In connection with this system of constant preparation, there was only a chain of sentinels around the camp, furnished by the camp guards, who were placed with- in supporting distance." Such were the military principles adopted in the continuance of the warfare against our Indian foes. There seems to have been no divergent attacks to the right or left of the line of operations, in order to protect the communications wiih the base of supply at the Ohio. Yet had such expeditions have been re- concilable to other military principles, they would have pro- tected that line from many destructive interruptions. The plan appears to have been, to make no detachments, so fatal to Harmar and St. Clair; but to preserve the army in un- broken strength. Still accurate information might, it would seem, have authorised incidental expeditions, as they were af- terwards adopted under the command of his pupil on the same scene of operations at Mississineway; and by Colonel Johnson's mounted regiment. About the 6th of November, 1792, Major John Adair, after- wards so distinguished at New Orleans, and elected Governor of the State, in command of "about a hundred Kentucky militia, was attacked by a large body of Indians under Little Turtle, in a camp near Fort St. Clair, one of the forts on the line of operations north of Fort Washington; and after a gallant re- sistance, was forced to retreat, with the loss of six men killed, the camp equipage and one hundred and forty pack horses.j" * They are small bodies of men placed at a considerable distance from an army, on the principal avenues of approach to it. Tliey furnish no sentmels. t Marshall 2—41. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 219 The enemy are said to have been repelled several times and as often recovered their advantage, with which they finally with- drew, taking all their booty : they are said to have left seven dead on the field, and to have been seen carrying off several during the action. "Brigadier General Wilkinson, who then commanded the United States' troops in the west, bestowed encomiums on the Major for his good conduct, and on his men for their bravery." Towards the close of the year the death of Colonel John Hardin was ascertained. He had most unaccountably for an officer of such value, (as well as Major Trueman) been invited from his private home by Colonel Wilkinson; through motives of private attachment to Hardin and anxiety to discharge the duty of a peace messenger, (to use the Indian phrase,) in order to prevail on the savages to come on terms of peace. That officers of their worth should have been exposed, contrary to their own ex- cellent judgments, on so hopeless a mission to such perfidious barbarians, is truly lamentable. If messengers must have been sent, why select officers whose services in more important ope- rations were so invaluable? Why not send some such men as Miller, who was employed in the same office by Gen. Wayne? Gen. Washington began his military career on just such a mis- sion, and he was anxious that the attempt should be made. Not for a moment, should the shocking insinuation,* contrary to all probability and evidence be believed, that these officers were purposely sent on their dangerous errand to put them out of mihtary competition with Wilkinson. The natural generosity of Wilkinson, his love of gallant bearing and his devotion to his profession, as well as his actual elevation and superior charac- ter, must protect his memory from so cruel an implication. The circumstances of Hardin's death are imperfectly known ,• he had proceeded on his mission to the Miami towns, accompa- nied by his interpreter; and arrived at an Indian camp, about a day's journey from where Fort Defiance was afterwards built by Gen. Wayne, on the Maumee; and about the same dis- tance from a town inhabited by Shawanees and Delawares. This officer was well received by the Indians in camp with ♦ Marshall 2— 42. 220 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. their usual respect tor messengers of peace; but after having been there some time, five Delawares came from the town; when learning this, the Colonel proposed to go there with them that evening; they refused. Still they seemed friendly and they encamped together that night, in the morning, how- ever, owing to suspicions excited by minute enquiries about the country, more ferocious councils prevailed, and the Colonel was killed; his companion was afterwards murdered on the road to Sandusky. At the same time it must be mentioned in alleviation of this enormity, "that when the news was carried to the Indian town, that a white man with a peace talk had been killed at the camp, it excited great ferment, and that the .murderers were much censured." The depredations of the Indians continued to vex and harass the country, almost in every direction, during 1793. They plun- dered horses in Logan county, and the mail carrier through the wilderness was killed on Laurel River. On the 1st of April, Morgan's Station, on Slate creek, was captured, and most of the women and children taken prisoners ; these, when a pursual was commenced by a party of militia, were all killed. In an oppo- site section of the country, a man was killed on the Beech Fork of Salt river; boats descending the Ohio continued to be at- tacked with the most daring boldness, even at the Eighteen Mile Island, above Louisville, and between that city and the mouth of Salt river.* These disgusting and wearisome details are preserved to show the insecurity of the country at so late a period. Yet notwithstanding these outrages, the President, in order to coun- teract the strong impression which had possessed the minds of the people east of the mountains, that their fellow citizens of the west were the aggressors in the contest with the Indians; and that sincere attempts to make peace with them, would be successful, ordered a treaty to be held at Sandusky. In the mean time all hostilities with the Indians pending these negoti- ations, were necessarily forbade. How hardly and painfully this conduct was felt in Kentucky, need scarcely be dwelled * Marshall 2—81, 82. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 221 upon after the recent distressing details. Nor can its necessity- be appreciated, without attentively noticing the deep rooted prejudices of the country at large, on the subject of Indian hos- tilities. They showed themselves in the dehates of Congress, and were too much confirmed by the history of the national intercourse with the aborigines in general. Sympathy with the interests of a race of men incompatible with the existence of our agricultural people, seems to have occupied the people east of the mountains, when it had no longer room to operate against themselves. No thought then seemed to exist, that the same causes of inconsistent states of social existence, prevailed on the western side of the mountains, just as they had presented themselves on their eastern side, for the preceding century and a half. Our people would have gladly abided, for the present, with the territorial limit of the Ohio river. This had vainly- been said to be "fixed as final,"* at the treaty of Fort Stanwix, in 1768, as the boundary between the red and the white people; or more properly, between the hunters and the agriculturists. But no territorial limit could permanently arrest the ruin of the one race, or the progress of the other. The decree of their fate was passed by natural causes, which no human exertions could counteract. The commissioners appointed by the President of the United States, now announced, that the Indians would not form a treaty of peace. The sincere and persevering benevolence of the Government was vindicated ; and the rest was left to the fate of arms. General Wayne, who had assembled his troops at Fort Washington, received orders early in October, 1793, to commence his march towards the Maumee. In pursuance of his authority, he had called upon the Government of Kentucky for a detachment of mounted volunteers. These, so deep was the dislike, and the want of confidence in regular troops among the militia of Kentucky, after the disasters of Harmar and St. * "And we desire that one article of this, our aKreenient, may be, that vone of the prov- inces or tlieir people sliall attempt to invade it, under color of any old deeds, or other pre- tences whatsoever: And that no further attempts will he made on oiir lands, 1 ut tliat tJiig line be considered ns final:' 'J'he line was the Ohio river, on the south, by certain spe- citications, to Wood creek, in the present Stale of New York.— Extract from the treaty of Fori Stanwix, from a copy procured iu tJie Library of Congress, by the Hon. R. M. John- Eon, for tiie author. T2 222 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. Clair, could not be obtained by volunteering. On the 28th of September, the Governor of Kentucky had been compelled by this reluctance to order a draft from the militia. The necessary re-enforcement was obtained ; and by the 24th of October, Gen- eral Scott, at the head of one thousand mounted men, from Ken- tucky, reached within four miles of head quarters, then six miles in advance of Fort Jeiferson, and eighty miles from the Ohio river.* Here the troops rested for several days. The Indians were now known to be in great force in the neighbor- hood of the Miami villages, eagerly anticipating another de- structive victory over their white enemies. The season was far advanced in that rigorous climate, and the army not too well prepared for the stern and trying conflict with savages, more flushed with confidence of conquest than they had ever been, without more open co-operation of some European force. This was the first campaign the army had prosecuted in the woods; in consideration of these united difficulties, the General-in- chief most prudently determined to suspend his march, and to build Fort Greenville. The regular troops now entered into winter quarters, and the Kentucky militia were dismissed, not unpleasantly, though with renewed confidence in regular forces, owing to the energy and the hardihood displayed by General Wayne. Early in 1793, the contagion of French attachment manifest- ed itself in the United States, by the establishment of the Demo- cratic Society in Philadelphia, in too close imitation of the dis- organizing clubs which had disseminated anarchy and destruc- tion throughout the beautiful kingdom of France. Not that the partialities of our countrymen for Frenchmen, or their sympathy with the fortunes of France, are to be confounded with the crimes against all social order, which deformed the French revolution. Many of these they did not know, and much they did not credit, coming as it did through English channels, a source of information doubly suspicious to our country- men, at the time, from the hostilities of England against France, and likewise from her exasperating policy towards the * Marshall 2—84. HISTORY OF* KENTUCKY. 223 United States. One branch of this course of British measures came home most feelingly to the people of Kentucky, who felt it raising the Indian tomahawk against them and their helpless women and children. Is it then to be wondered at, if amidst these causes of aggravation, the Kentuckians felt keenly against the English, and as warmly for their enemies, the people of France? In addition to this powerful cause of natural excite- ment, was to be added the no less agitating sentiment of national gratitude for the people who had so signally befriended us in the period of our weakness, and when all the power of Great Britain was brought to bear on these comparatively infant colo- nies. Many of the revolutionary officers who had removed to Kentucky, as Scott and Hardin, Anderson and Croghan, Shelby and Clark, with numerous followers, had fought side by side with the French in our own armies ; and all had fought against the British and their auxiliaries, the Indians, in consequence of this state of public sentiment, Democratic societies were readily established at Georgetown, Paris, and Lexington, on the model of the one at Philadelphia. These societies were par- ticularly opposed to the course of General Washington's ad- ministration, in its foreign as well as domestic policy. In regard to the latter, the society at Lexington came to the following violent resolution upon the subject of the navigation of the Mississippi ;* "that the right of the people on the waters of the Mississippi, to the navigation, was undoubted; and that it ought to be peremptorily demanded of Spain, by the govern- ment of the United States." In this state of public feeling, the French minister, Genet, about the 1st of November, 1793, sent four persons of the names of Le Chaise, Charles Delpeau, Mathurin, and Gignoux, to Kentucky, with orders to engage men in an expedition against New Orleans, and the Spanish possessions. For this purpose they carried with them blank commissions. The Governor was soon afterwards informed by the Secretary of State, of this en- terprise, and t"that the special interests of Kentucky would be particularly committed by such an attempt, as nothing could be * Marshall 2—92. tAm, State Paper, 2—36, 224 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. more inauspicious to them than such a movement, at the very moment those interests were under negociation between Spain and the United States." Such however was the excitement of the pubUc mind on the subject of the Mississippi, added to its fevered condition in regard to French politics ; that too many persons were ready to embrace those foreign proposals to embroil the peace of the United States. Two of these emissaries had the audacity to address letters to the Governor, informing him in express terms of their intention'^ " to join the expedition of the Mississippi," and requesting to he informed whether he had "positive orders to arrest all citizens inclining to our assistance." To this ignorant and presumptuous letter of Delpeau, Governor Shelby conde- scended to reply in the words of the Secretary of State, that he had" been charged to " take those legal measures necessary to prevent any such enterprise," "to which charge I must pay that attention, which my present situation obliges me." These foreign agents proceeded in their piratical attempt from the bosom of a neutral and friendly nation, to raise two thousand men under French authority ; and to distribute French commis- sions among the citizens of Kentucky; to purchase cannon, powder, boats and whatever was deemed necessary for a formidable expedition. In an unguarded moment these insinua- ting agents of a foreign government, influenced by the same mischievous spirit, that had undermined the peace and indepen- dence of so many European states, got the better of the exalted patriotism, and devoted fidelity of General George Rogers Clark ; and prevailed upon him to take command of the expedi- tion asf "' a Major General in the armies of France, and com- mander in chief of the revolutionary legions on the Mississippi." Under this ominous description for an American officer, he issued under his own name, proposals " for volunteers for the reduction of the Spanish forts on the Mississippi, for opening the trade of that river and giving freedom to its inhabitants." "All persons serving on the expedition, to be entiled to one thousand acres of land, those that engage for one year, will be *MarsIiaIl 2—100, tMarshall 2—103. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 225 entitled to two thousand ,• if they serve three years, or during the present war with France, they will have three thousand acres of any nnappropriated land that may he conquered; the officers in proportion pay, &.c. as other French troops ; all lawful plunder to be equally divided according to the custom of war; those who serve the expedition will have their choice of receiving their lands, or one dollar per day/' Governor St. Clair intimated to Governor Shelby early in November, that this commission had been given to Clark with other particulars; this communication was followed by one from General Wayne, of January 6th, 1794, enclosing his orders to Major W. Winston, commanding the United States cavalry in Kentucky, which placed that officer and his men under the orders of Governor Shelby, and promised " should more force be wan- ted, it should not be withheld, upon this interesting occasion, notwithstanding our proximity to the combined force of hostile Indians." After the receipt of these letters Governor Shelb addressed the Secretary of State on the 13th of January, 179 and after acknowledging the receipt of the information in regard to Clark and the French emissaries, proceeded as follows,* "I have great doubts even if they (General Clark and the French- men) attempt to carry this plan into execution, provided they manage their busines with prudence, whether there is any legal authority to restrain or to punish them ; at least before they have actually accomplished it. For if it is lawful for any one citizen of the State to leave it, it is equally so for any number of them to do it. It is also lawful for them to carry any quantity of pro- visions, 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 ; but I know of no law which infficts a punishment on intention only; or any crite- rion by which to decide what would be sufficient evidence of that intention, even if it was a proper subject of legal censure." This communication precluding any effectual interposition on the pj^rt of the governor of Kentucky, the President of the United States issued his proclamation on the 24th of March, apprising ♦American State Papers, vol. 2 p 39. 226 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. the people of the west, of the unlawful project, and warning them of the consequences of engaging in it. About the same time General Wayne was ordered to establish a strong military post at fort Massac on the Ohio; and to prevent by force if necessary, the descent of any hostile party down that river. The surprise of the President at the latter communication from Gov. Shelby, must have been greatly increased, when he contrasted it with the one received from the same public officer, dated the 5th of October.* In this prior communication the Gov- ernor expressed himself as follows : "I think it my duty to take this early opportunity to assure you, that I shall be particularly attentive to prevent any attempts of that nature (alluding to the French expedition against Louisiana) from this country. I am well persuaded, at present, none such is in contemplation in this State. The citizens of Kentucky possess too just a sense of the obligations they owe the general government, to embark in any enterprise that would be so injurious to the United States." Early in November, 1793, the Legislature of the State as- sembled, but the Governor took no notice, in his address to them, nor in the course of the session, of the French enterprise, com- municated to him by the Secretary of State, acknowledged by the French agents concerned in the unlawful enterprise, and which was consummating under his own eyes. But what is more extraordinary, the Governor mentioned nothing of the Spanish negotiation likewise communicated to him at the same time ; which was so interesting to Kentucky, and which would have been so well calculated to soothe her excited feelings. Though nothing specific had been mentioned, or could consistent- ly with such measures have been announced ; still the great and merited influence of Governor Shelby might well have been more pointedly exerted, to sustain the administration of the illustrious Washington, amidst the perplexities of foreign negotiation, and of domestic disturbance. Not that the Governor should be sup- posed to have stood alone in his sentiments of French sympathy and Spanish dislike; for they were the fixed sentiments of the West in general ; and were ardently cherished in Kentucky by *American State Papers, vol. 2—27. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 227 some of her most distinguished citizens. The regret is, that the Governor did not bring the weight of liis massy character to rally his countrymen around the standard of the Union, which he had fought so bravely to maintain, and to recall them from their mistaken partialities for a foreign nation. The super- seding of Mr. Genet, at the request of the President of the United States, and the subsequent disapproval of his acts by the French general, produced an abandonment of this last and only intrigue of France with the people of Kentucky. The Secretary of State on the 29th of March, 1794, replied to the Governor's communication, of the 13th of the previous Janu- ary, at a length, which most properly places it in the appendix. It may be sufiicient to mention, that the Secretary endeavors to confute the legal difficulties, which had embarassed the mind of the Governor of Kentucky; he then enters into a sketch of the negotiations at Madrid, respecting the navigation of the Missis- sippi. From this statement it appeared, that as early as December, '91, the first verbal overtures of Spain had been accepted by the President; and Mr. Short had been associated with Mr. Carmichael, the Charge d' Affaires at Madrid, in the negotiation. "For many months have our commissioners been employed," says the Secretary, "in this important affair at Madrid. At this moment they are so employed. The delays, which forms may have created, the events of Europe, and other considerations, which at this season cannot, with propriety, be detailed, dictate a peaceable expectation of the result." There are however other views, connected with the above transactions, which \^ere entertained by our distinguished and patriotic Governor himself. These, historical justice, no less than the author's deep respect for the great public services of Governor Shelby, impels him to record. He is more eager to do this, because this defence, though in part produced by a motion of Mr. H. Marshall, is totally omitted by him in his History. These views are contained in part in the Governor's message of the 15th of November, 1794,* to the House of Representatives of Kentucky. In this communication made conformably to a tSee Appendix, 228 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. resolution of the House; the Governor reiterates the doubts of his legal authority to comply with the wishes of the General Government. "After the most careful examination of the subject I was," says he, "doubtful whether under the constitu- tion or laws of my country, I possessed powers so extensive as those, which I was called upon to exercise. Thus situated, I thought it advisable to write the letter No. 5,* in which all the infoniiation I had received is fully detailed, my doubts as to the extent of my powers carefully stated, and the strongest assurances given, that every legal requisition should, on my part, be punctually complied with." These doubts the Gover- nor considered as confirmed by the passage of an act of Con- gress on the 5th of June, 1794, entitled "an act in addition to an act, for the punishment of certain crimes against the United States." " From the necessity of passing this law, I infer that mv doubts as to the criminality of this proposed enterprise were well founded; and that until the passage of that law,^the offence had not been declared, nor the punishment defined." In an address of Governor Shelby to the Freemen of Ken- tucky, in July, 1812; just prior to the Gubernatorial election of that eventful period, he expresses himself again on this subject as follows: "The attention of the General Government being thus drawn to the western country, I deemed it a favora- ble time to make an impression on their minds of the impor- tance of the navigation of the Mississippi, and of the necessity of attending to that subject. On that account, and with that object, my letter of the 13th of Januar^794, was calculated, rather to increase than to diminish t^Rpprehensions of the General Government as to the western country. This letter had the effect desired. It drew from the Secretary of State ! information in relation to the navigation of the Mississippi, and satisfied us that the General Government was in good faith pur- suing this object of first importance to the people of Kentucky. The information thus drawn forth quieted the public mind, and restored harmony to the country." The same subject is resumed in a letter of Governor Shelby, to General Martin D. *Letter of the Governor to the Secretary of State of the 13th January, 1794. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 229 Hardin of July 1st, 1812. In this letter the Governor remarks, that " there is to be sure some inconsistency in my two letters to the Secretary of State of the United States, and I saw it at the time, but at the date of the last I saw evidently that the whole scheme of La Chaise would fall to the ground without my interference, and that the present moment was a fivorable one, while the apprehensions of the President were greatly excited, to express to him what I knew to be the general sentiments of the Kentucky people, relative to the navigation of the Missis- sippi and the Spanish Government. Those sentiments had often to my knowledge been expressed by way of petition and memo- rial to the General Government, and to which no assurance, nor any kind of answer had been received ; and I feel an entire confidence that my letter of the 13th January, 1794, was the sole cause that produced an explanation by the special commis- sioner, Colonel James Innes, of the measures that had been pursued by our Government towards obtaining for us the navigation of the Mississippi ; and although I felt some regret that I had for a moment kept the President uneasy, I was truly gratified to find that our right to the navigation of that river had been v/ell asserted by the President in the negotiations carried on at" Madrid, and indeed the minds of every Ken- tuckian then settled down in quietness, on a subject that had iong caused great solicitude after the attempt of Jay to cede away the navigation of that river for 25 or 30 years." In addition to these forcible considerations, stamped with impressive earnestness, it is due to the memory of Governor Shelby to state, that his ideas were fully concurred in by his distinguished Secretary, James Brown. This coincidence of opinion appears from a letter of the Secretary to the Governor, if the 16th of February, 1794. "The information which has reached me since the date of my last letter, has induced me to to accord with you in opinion as to the result of that enterprise; and has fully convinced me that nothing less than a considera- ble supply of money will enable the promoters of it to effectuate their intentions. I therefore clearly concur with you in the sentiment, that it would be, at present, unnecessary to take an\ U 230 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. active measures in the business ; and if unnecessary, it would certainly be impolitic to exercise powers of so questionable a nature as those which the General Government have adopted, and now wish you to exert. Indeed it appears to me that good policy will justify the Executive of this country, in discovering a certain degree of unwillingness to oppose the progress of an enterprise, which haf for its object the free navigation of the Mississippi. In their deliberation on this interesting subject, Congress has uniformly acted under the influence of a local, unjust policy. Instead of consulting the interests of every part of the Union, they were once on the point of sacrificing all the western waters by an unnecessary surrender of their most invaluable right. Although that detestable plot could not be effected, yet our right is sus- pended and we are deprived of all the advantages which would result from the enjoyment of it. The secrecy with which the late negotiations are veiled, justifies a suspicion that some designs unfriendly to our interests yet exist, and only wait a more favorable moment to be carried into effect. Congress therefore ought to know, through every possible channel, that we are convinced of our wrongs, and conscious of our ability to redress them. Such information might call their attention to our situation, and give our interests a place in their political deliberations. These representations could not be made to government at a more favorable juncture. Mortified at finding that their conduct towards the powers at war has only served to oflfend their allies without soothing their enemies — and ap- prehensive that all their abject submissions may fail in procu ring them peace with England and Spain, they may be alarmet at the idea of our detaching ourselves from the Union at sc critical a period. I am therefore happy that, whilst you have expressed your devotion to the laws and constitution of the Union, you have reminded the government of what is due to us as a State, and that power ought not to be assumed for the pun- ishment of those whose object is to do what government ough' long ago to have done for us." Such is a full and impartia statement of this unhappy diflTerence of opinion, at a most exci- HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 231 ted period of public feeling- between the Father of his country, and the pre-eminent Governor of Kentucky. After this detail from original documents, exhibiting the sen- timents of all the high parties concerned in this interesting passage of Kentucky History; the author might well leave the subject to the judgment of every reader without expressing the state of his own mind. Yet he feels a sentiment of disdain at so equivocal a course ; and he freely commits hi^ own conclu- sions to the public decision. The author thinks the legal difficulties, which embarassed the mind of the Governor, cannot be discredited by any candid judge; were they less founded, than they so forcibly appear, they might still have embarrassed the determination of Governor Shelby. The other point which the Governor makes in his letter to General Hardin, and which is confirmed by the letter of Secretary Brown ; namely, an anxiety to develope the inten- tions of the government of the United States in regard to the .navigation of the Mississippi, is more difficult to appreciate at this day. Yet the public mind of the whole western country, was at the times in question, tremblingly alive to this most vital interest. Its anxieties had arisen to the most feverish condition; as has been frequently mentioned; its citizens were ever suspecting a revival of Mr. Jay's fatal proposition, under the vail of secret negotiations. Nor was this the only excitement, which was stimulating the public feelings, all of which enters most strictly into the vindication of the first Shelby adminis- tration. Attachment to republican institutions, so natural in a free people, and gratitude for revolutionary services had consecrated the interests and the plans of France in the hearts of too many of our countrymen, at the expense of their sober judgment, and heir duty to their own country. Americans, like too many of .he enlightened friends of freedom in England, like Fox and M'Intosh, Erskine and Sheridan, were intoxicated with the triumphs of an imaginary freedom in France. Yet the sacred name of liberty had never been profaned, to sanction more iittrocious tyranny, more exorbitant ambition, or more horrible 232 * HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. crimes than in the republic of France. Yet it was long before the delusion disappeared from the minds of our countrymen, and at this period it was in the zenith of its influence; the prophetic mantle which covered the magnificent Burke, fell upon few, and but late, in the mad career of the misnamed French republic. Mixed with this sentiment of admiration for a people believed to be struggling for their liberty, was a deep indignation, (so reasonable in the citizens of the western country,) at t'le provoking and oppressive delays of Spanish negotiation. The public patience was exhausted, its jealousies were all alive. In confirmation of this condition of public feeling in Kentucky, the reader is referred to the address of the Democratic Society in Lexington.* Well may this fevered state of public sentiment have, even insensibly extended itself to the Governor of Ken- tucky, ever distinguished through his long and noble career, for his love of republican institutions, and for his devotion to the interests of his western fellow citizens, so well understood by him. These sentiments seem to show themselves in the Governor's letter to the Secretary of State of the 13th of January ; where he says, "much less would I assume a power to exercise it against men, whom I consider as friends and bretheren, (meaning the French,) in favor of a man whom I view as an enemy and a tyrant, (meaning the King of Spain.) I shall also feel but little inclination to take an active part in punishing, or restraining any of my fellow citizens for a supposed intention only, to gratify the fears of the minister of a prince, who openly withholds from us an invaluable right, and who secretly instigates against us a most savage and cruel enemy." Still the Governor adds, that "whatever may be my private opinions as a man, as a friend to libert^lf^n American citizen, and an inhabitant of the western waters,! shall at all times hold it as my duty, to perform whatever may be constitutionally required of me as. Governor of Kentucky, by the President of the United States." Yet this construction by the author, is not admitted by the Governor himself; still it is believed to be a probable explanation of a state of things, which the highly excited feelings of the times scarcely admitted to be *See Appendix. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 233 seen by those under their influence. In this explanation not a shade of censure is intended to be cast upon the motives of Governor Shelby; on the contrary, they are most sincerely believed to have been full to overflowing of zeal, for what he deemed the genuine interests of American freedom, and the prosperity of Kentucky. At the same time the impartial justice of History extorts the remark, that in the instance of the French plot of 1793 and 4, Governor Shelby's zeal was, as the author believes, in common with almost all Kentucky, and too large a portion of the nation, mistaken in its attachment for the French people; and too embittered against the intriguing and procrasti- nating Spaniards. At this distance of time, however, the at- tempt may be made to limit the degree of foreign attachment, and enmity, it might have proved utterly vain, to have endea- vored to realize it in practice, at the period in question. Nor ought any surprise to be felt, that a Governor of Kentucky should have been carried away by the same tide of sentiment which had swept half the civilized world, and certainly spared no portion of it less than the United States, and especially their western section. About* the 14th of May, 1794, La Chaise informed the Lex- ington society, "that unforeseen events had stopped the march of two thousand brave Kentuckians to go, by the strength of their arms take from the Spaniards, despotic usurpers, the empire of the Mississippi : insure to their country the navigation of it; break the chains of the Americans and their brethren ih^^ik ■■;.:H French; hoist up the flag of liberty in the name of the French "' republic, and lay the foundation of the prosperity and happiness of two nations situate so, and destined by nature to be but one, the most happy in the universe." This was a period of intense political excitement throughout Europe, as well as through the United States ; and in no portion of the latter did it rise to a higher degree, than among the ardent and excitable people of Kentucky. The adventurous spirit and energetic stamp of a conquering and emigrating people, communicate themselves to the general character and are dis- * Marshall 2—126. U2 234 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. played in the general deportment. Such has sometimes presen- ted itself, as a probable solution of the overflowing ardor and abounding energy, which are so prominently exhibited in Ken- tuckians; and which still mark the descendants of that gallant and daring body of men, who conquered the most favorite hunt- ing ground of the Indians. In addition to this, a large body of revolutionary officers and soldiers had settled in Kentucky, and no doubt had, increased the military impulse. With this excitability of character, also preserved in no slight degree in the parent stock of Virginia, the thrilling events of the French revolution, which had arrayed Fox and M'Intosh against Pitt and Burke, impressed themselves on the feelings of Kentucky, with the utmost power. In this way the great moral volcano of France poured its streams of desolating lava on the distant lands of Kentucky. France and Frenchmen were identified with all the high and hallowed sentiments of liberty and national grati- tude J and no wonder the effects on all the relations of society, were deep and wide. How mistaken and ill directed, and more- over how ill requited was all this enthusiasm of Americans for French interests, need not, thank God, be now detailed. Its ut- ter overthrow, and with it, all "inveterate antipathies against particular nations, and passionate attachment for others," in the terms of Washington's sacred farewell to his countrymen, are now to be seen in a genuine national pride ; which, while it should not be blind to the excellences of other nations, will at all times, in Jlpeace and in war, rally round our own country in opposition to any other on the earth. Under the influence of the national excitement, which then Eiarked Kentucky, in common with the rest of this republic, a numerous and respectable meeting was held in Lexington on the 24th of May, 1794; when resolutions of a most violent char- acter were adopted, expressive of unqualified censure upon the '^ administration of the great Washington, mixing all the difficulties and perplexities attending the Indian war, British outrages and Spanish procrastination, in one mass of condemnation. The virtuous, the patriotic and enlightened Jay was denounced as an enemy to the western country, and finally a convention was HlSTOKVr OF KKNTUCKiT. 235 invited "for the purpose of deliberating on the steps, which will be most expedient for the attainment and security of our just rights." The military defence was particularly inveighed against, although no government could have exerted itself more affection- ately than that of Washington, under the embarassments of so distant and so vulnerable a frontier; with a foreign force stimu- lating the enemy within the bosom of the country. Yet, when by the light of our own times, the conduct of a war in the same region, in the comparative maturity of the government is compared with that which was carried on under ten-fold embar- rassment; the approval of the administration is irresistible. If the government of the United States, with all its strength and efficiency, took three campaigns in 1812 and 1813, to defeat the Indians, what credit does the administration of Washington not deserve in 1794, to have effected the same object in jfowr cam- paigns, two of which only were active ones? The complaints respecting foreign negotiations might be as effectually answered; but it is not material to this history ; suffice it to say, the conven- tion could not be brought about with all the powerful incentives, which were applied to inflame the public indignation. The subject of the excise on distilled spirits, next produced its irrita- tions on Kentucky temper; but they never exceeded some hard words, and more tricks upon the public officers. The tumults of Pennsylvania happily did not extend themselves to Kentucky. CHAPTER XIV. Wayne's campaiqin of 1794— Indian peace of Greenville— British Treaty of 1794— Spanish Treaty of 1795— Spanish Negotiations with Judge Sebastian in 1795"and in 1797— First conflict between the court of Appeals and the Legislature. General Wayne, who was left in head quarters at Greenville, had, in the course of the winter of 1793, re-occupied the battle ground of St. Clair, and erected a fort, whiclj he called Reco- very. SWb HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. Still the depredations of the Indians continued; and on the 10th of February, Lord Dorchester, the Governor General of Canada, in a speech addressed to several Indian tribes assembled at Quebec, declared to them, that "he* should not be surprised if Great Britan and the United States were at war in the course of the year; and if so a line must he drawn by the warriors?'' In pursuance of this hostile spirit Governor Simcoee stablished a military post below the rapids of the Maumee, on its northern side, about fifty miles south of Detroit; this flagrant outrage upon our territory was suitably noticed by the government, without obtaining the withdrawal of the insulting garrison; instead of which, it provoked a justification on the part of the British Minister of this encroachment upon a nation at peace. It was indeed a time of insults and aggressions from both France and Great Britian, such, as it is to be trusted, this nation will never again experience. The advance of British forts must no doubt have greatly encouraged the hostilities of the Indians, independent of the actual aids in arms and provisions obtained from the British. To this must be attributed in some degree an attack in July, upon Fort Recovery, by a large body of Indians, who after an assault for twenty-four hours with small arms, withdrew. By the 26th of July General Scott, accompanied by sixteen hundred Kentucky militia, united with the regular army under Gen. Wayne, of about the same number. The reluctance to co-operate with regular troops had disappeared before the reputation of Wayne, propagated by the Kentucky volunteers in the previous campaign. The army under General Wayne commenced its march to the confluence of the Au Glaize with the Maumee, where the richest and most extensive settlements of the Indians lay; there he attempted a surprise, by ordering two roads to be cut from Greenville to distract the enemy, while he marched by neither. This manoeuvre was however defeated by the desertion of a degenerate soldier by the name of Newmant, ♦American State Papers vol. 2—65—73, tit bas been conjectured by some officers, that Newman was purposely sent by Wayne as sergeant Champ was by Washington durnig the revolutionary war. The suteequent unexplained pardon of Newman gives some confirmation to this idea- HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 237 who gave the Indians intelligence of the approach of the army in sufficient time to allow of their evacuating their towns. They were accordingly found deserted; while Wayne prosecuted his march down the northern side of the Maumee. The enemy were now reported, by the scouts, to be encamped in the vicinity of the British fort, at the foot of the Rapids, where the American army directed its march, after having built Fort Deposite, about seven miles from the British garrison. On the 20th of August, the march was resumed, in the order hitherto pursued. After proceeding about five miles, the com- manding General was informed by a messenger from Major Price, who led the advance, that he had discovered the enemy; their left resting upon the Maumee, and their right extending an unknown distance into a thick brush-wood. The army was then formed upon the principles previously adopted, to receive the enemy in front in two lines; its right resting on the river, and its left extending into the wood previously mentioned. General Scott was now ordered to repair to Todd's brigade of Kentucky volunteers, which had marched on the extreme left of the army, and with that brigade to turn the extreme right of the enemy, and attack their rear; whilst General Barbee, who, with his brigade had formed the rear guard of the army, was directed to follow the second line of infantry, to be employed as circumstances might require; and the light troops and guards in front of the army, being now driven in by the enemy, to arrest their progress until the lines of infantry were properly formed ; Captain Campbell, who commanded the advance of the dragoons, was directed to charge. In the the execution of this order, that gallant officer was killed, and his troop driven upon the infantry, which being at length formed, were or- dered to "advance and charge with trailed arms, and rouse the Indians from their coverts, at the point of the bayonet, and when tip, to deliver a close and well directed fire on their backs, followed by a brisk charge, so as not to give them time to load again, or to form their lines." "Such was the impetuosity of the charge, by the first line of infantry, that the Indians, Canadian militia and volunteers were driven from all their cov- 238 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. erts, in so short a time, that ahhough every possible exertion was used by General Scott and his detachment of the mounted volunteers, to gain their proper positions, but part could get up in season to participate in the action, the enemy being driven in the course of one hour, more than two miles, through the thick woods, already mentioned, by less than one half their number." "The loss of the enemy was more than double that of the Federal army. The woods were strewed for a considerable distance with the dead bodies of Indians and their white auxiliaries, the latter armed with British muskets and bayonets. *Brig. General Wilkinson, who commanded the right wing, was, from some personal disagreement between him and his commander, ungenerously omitted in the dispatch announcing the victory. The army remained for three days encamped on the Maumee, in front of the battle-ground, de- stroying all the houses and fields of grain, including the house and stores "of Col. M'Kee, the British Indian agent, and prin- cipal stimulator of the war now existing between the United States and the savages." While the American force was thus encamped. Major Campbell, who commanded the British fort on the Miamis, (as the Maumee was then written,) addressed a letter to General Wayne to know in what light he was to view "such near approaches," " almost within reach of the guns of a post be- longing to his Majesty, the king of Great Britain." To this inso- lent demand Wayne replied, that "were you entitled to an answer, the most full and satisfactory was announced to you from the muz- zles of my small arms yesterday morning, in the action against hordes of savages in the vicinity of your fort, which terminated • gloriously for the American arms." This was followed by several other letters in a tone of proud defiance on the part of the Amer- ican officer, concluding in a demand in the name of the President of the United States, to withdraw and remove his troops to the nearest post occupied by the British at the peace of 1788. To this demand it was gallantly answered, that "the post would not be abandoned at the summons of any power whatever, until orders were received from his superiors, or the fortunes of war *See Appendix. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 239 should oblige him." Here the correspondence terminated ; and every thing within view of the fort, and even under the muzzles of the guns, was immediately fired and destroyed. The least retaliation for these insults, would in all probability, have pro- duced the demolition of this audacious intrusion of a foreign post upon our soil in time of peace; the temper of the Kentuckians, at that time so exasperated by British aids to the Indians, was ripe for any extremities; they were however fortunately avoid- ed, more by the prudence of the British officer, than a correspon- dent sentiment on the part of the American commander. The Indians were shortly afterwards invited to a treaty at Greenville, where they made large cessions of territory to the United States, including all claims south of the Ohio river, and concluded a peace, which was faithfully observed until the war of 1812. The legislation of the state now presses itself on the attention and in one of its most important bearings, that of the Judiciary ; no department of a government of laws, comes home to the fire- sides and bosoms of the people so dearly as this ; nor is there one whose learning, intelligence and purity ought to be alike above a feeling of dependence upon the legislature and of fear of the people, whose rights are deposited in their peaceful guardian- ship. In the session of 1795, an act passed reciting the burthen- some constitution of the court of Appeals, divested it of its original jurisdiction in land cases, and estabhshed six district courts ; one at Washington in Mason county, a second at Paris, a third at Lexington, a fourth at Franklin, a fifth at Danville and a sixth at Bairdstown. These courts superseded the criminal court of Oyer and Terminer; they were held twice a year by two Judges; their jurisdiction embraced all matters* at common law, or in chancery arising within their districts, ex- cept actions of assault and battery, actions for slander, and actions of less value than fifty pounds, "unless in the latter case they were against justices of the peace." Another act of the next session established a court of Quarter Sessions in each county, to be composed of three justices of the peace to be ap- pointed for that purpose : while a third act re-constructed the •Marshall, vol. 2 p. 55. 240 HISTORY OF KEXTUCKY. county courts, whose judges, like their judicial brethren of the Quarter Sessions have been repealed out of authority, by repeal- ing the law creating their offices. This legislative control of the judges of courts inferior to the court of Appeals, although the established construction under the constitution of the United States, as well as that of Kentucky, seems unfounded in any principle which will not make all the courts equally the crea- tures of the legislature. The constitutional description, and the tenure of office, are the same; yet the existence of the judges is made dependent upon the will of the legislature just with the same effect as if the judges held their offices at the pleasure of the legislature. The evasion of the constitutional tenure by re- pealing the office and thus reaching the officer, who would oth- erwise be beyond the reach of the legislature, is too inconsitent and too indirect, to be a constitutional argument. If the personal ability or learning of the judges is insufficient, let them be addressed out of office; but let the independent tenure of judicial authority, so indispensible to equal justice, remain unimpaired. The principle of legislative control over the office, and thus indirectly over the officer, became in the sub- sequent history of the state, the root of a most embittered and dangerous controversy, respecting its application to the Court of Appeals. Another branch of legislation, which has occasioned deep interest in the State is that connected with titles to land ; which, in every civilized community must possess deep and enduring importance. On this subject, an act passed at the session of 1793, giving "further time to the owners of lands to survey the same, and for returning plats and certificates to the Register's Office." This is the first act of Kentucky supposed to violate the compact between her and Virginia, in regard to land titles, a controversy which has acquired inexpressible importance at every step of its agitation ; and has involved the legislatures, the courts and the people in equal concern. The article of the compact supposed to be infringed by this act, expresses "that all private rights and interests of lands, v/ithin the said district, derived from the laws of Virginia, prior to such separation, shall HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 241 private rights and interests of lands within the said district, de- rived from the laws of Virginia, prior to to the separation, shall remain valid and secure under the laws of the proposed state, and shall be determined by the laws now existing in this state," meaning the state of Virginia. The act of Kentucky militating with this article, gives the time of one year from the 1st of Jan- uary, 1794, to the owners of entries to comply with the requisi- tions of the same, during which time, no such entry shall be forfeited. An important law concerning real estate, early passed the legislature of Kentucky. In Virginia, lands had not been sub- ject to execution; they were now including "tenements and hereditaments in possession, reversion or remainder," subjected to this final process. A valuation was, however, to be made, and unless the lands would sell for three fourths of this estimate for ready money, the defendant might replevy the debt for three months. The civil list of the session is worth recording for its simpli- city and economy, virtues which sadly diminish in the progress of government. The governor was to receive j£300, or $1000 per annum, to be paid quarter j^early; the judges of the court of Appeals each £200, or $66Q 66; the judges of the court of Oyer and Terminer £30, or $100; Secretary cf State £100, or £383 33; Treasurer, Auditor, and Attorney General the same. The session of 1793 furnished the first law of appor- tionment of representatives under the constitution ; it, however, assigned the representation arbitrarily, without determining any particular ratio. The number of representatives was forty- seven, apportioned as follows : Bourbon five, Clark two, Fayette six, Green one, Hardin one, Harrison one, Jefferson two, Lo- gan one, Lincoln three, Mercer three, Madison three. Mason three. Nelson three, Shelby one, Scott two, Washington two, and Woodfoi'd three. The population of the State had, at the recent census of 1790, amounted to 73,677, of which 12,430 were slaves. The session of '93 was held at Frankfort, and the public buildings not being ready, the legislature assembled in a large framed house, X 242 HISTOHY OF KENTUCKY. belonging to Major James Love, at the lower end of the present town, on the river bank. The revenues of the state from the 15th of November 1792, to the same elate in 1793, amounted to £4,920 or $16,400 00, and the expenditure to £4921 or $16,403 00. The year 1795 brought about peace with the Indian tribes to the north, at the treaty of Greenville, which, with a similar arrangement with the southern Indians in 1793, completed the tranquillity of the barbarians on our frontiers. These pacific measures, so important to the prosperity of the one party, and the existence of the other, were most essentially promoted by the British treaty concluded on the 19th of November, 1794, and the equally important treaty with Spain, agreed to on the 27th of October, 1795. In regard to the British treaty, which convulsed this country more than any measure since the revolution ; and which requi- red all the weight of General Washington's great and beloved name to give it the force of law ; no section of the country was more'deeply interested than Kentucky. Yet perhaps in no part of the Union was it more obnoxious. Its whole contest encoun- tered the strong prepossession of the whigs against every thing British; and this feeling seems to have prevailed in greater bitterness among the people of the southern states, (possibly from more intense sufferings in the revolutionary war) than in any other portions of the union. Yet now when the passions that agitated the country so deeply, and spread the roots of party so widely have subsided, the award of sober history must be, that the British treaty was dictated by the soundest interests of this young and growing country. What else saved our infant institutions from the dangerous ordeal of war? What restored the western posts, the pledges of western tranquillity, but this much abused convention? The military establishments of the British on the western frontiers, wore to be surrendered before the first day of June, 1796: further than this, Kentucky was not particularly interested; but it is due to the reputation of the immortal Father of his country, and the statesmen of Kentucky who supported his administration in this obnoxious measure, to HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 243 business of importance, which lie had to communicate concern- mention that Mr. Jay informed General Washington in a private letter,"^ that "to do more was impossible, further concessions on the part of Great Britain, cannot, in my opinion, be obtained;" he also added,! "the confidence reposed in your personal charac- ter was visible and useful throughout the negotiations." Happy most happy was it for the new union and young institutions of these states, that they were allowed by this treaty, time sufficient to dbtain root; and fortif}'^ themselves in the national affections. The other foreign treaty mentioned above, may well be con- nected here, for its important bearing on the limits, the trade and the peace of Kentucky, though negotiated at a subsequent period. To have a clear view of this negotiation it will be necessary to revert to the difficulties and obstacles opposed by Spain to our western limits and navigation, at the earliest steps of our intercourse with her as an independent power. It will be recollected how strenuous and artful were the attempts of both the branches of the house of Bourbon, to prevent the aggrandizement of these states by a liberal boundary, and the navigation of the Mississippi. By the stern and uncompromi- sing patriotism of John Jay, and the liberal policy of the British government, these diplomatic intrigues were defeated, as far as related to the treaty of peace with Great Britain; but they were long and artfully renev.'ed by Spain on her own account. One branch of these diplomatic machinations§ has been already noticed in the fruitless overtures of Don Gardoqui, through the Hon. John Brown, then a member of the old Congress, to his friends in Kentucky, and to the convention of December 1787. It now remains to pursue this most persevering of the foreign in- tigues which were aitned at the independence and the freedom of Kentucky. The new government of the United States, among its earliest negotiations abroad, adopted measures for settling the subjects of difference between this country and Spain. These at- tempts were met by the latter country with alternate encourage- ment and neglect, as her affairs with France and Great Britain promised a continuance of peace, or threatened to involve her in r Jay's Life, vol. 2, p. 235. fMarsliall's W^asliington, vol. 2, p. 2G0, 2d edition. ^American State papers, vol. 30, p. 1-20. 244 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. the mortal strife, which was desolating the centre of Europe. Our Spanish relations continued in this condition until 1794, when on the intimation of the Spanish commissioners, Messrs. Viar and Jaudenes, in this country. President Washington deter- mined to send Mr. Thomas Pinckney, our minister at London, to Madrid, to conclude a treaty at that city. The minister arrived there about the last of June, 1795; but did not conclude his nego- tiations until after a long appendix to the tantalizing labors of fif- teen years, on the 27th of October of the same year. The pur- port of this treaty acknowledged our southern limits to the north- ernmost part of the thirty-first degree of north latitude; our wes- tern, to the middle of the Mississippi, its navigation to the sea, with a right of deposit at New Orleans for our produce, during three years. Yet amidst these fair prospects of arranging all our differ- ences at Madrid, an insidious under plot was formed at New Or- leans.* In July, 1795, Governor Carondelet dispatched Thomas Power to Kentucky, with a letter to Benjamin Sebastian, then a judge of our court of Appeals. In this communication he declares, that the ''confidence reposed in you by my predecessor, Brigadier General Miro, and your former correspondence, have induced me to make a communication to you highly interesting to the country in which you live, and to Louisiana." He then men- tions that the king of Spain was "wilHng to open the navigation of the Mississippi to the western country, and desirous to estab- lish certain regulations, reciprocally benificial to the commerce of both countries." To eflfect these objects, judge Sebastian was expected, the Governor says, "to procure agents to be cho- sen and fully empowered by the people of your country, to nego- tiate with Colonel Gayasoon the subject, at New Madrid, whom I shall send there in October next, properly authorized for the purpose, with directions to continue at the place or its vicinity, "until the arrival of your agents." "Some time in November or early in December of this year, judge Innes and William Murray received a letter from judge Sebastian requesting them to meet him at Colonel Nicholas' house in Mercer county, on *.TournaI H. Representatives, 1806, and Wilkinson's memoirs, vol. 2. Appendicis 5 and 45i. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 245 ing them all. The gentlemen addressed, went as desired, to Colonel Nicholas', and met judge Sebastian there, who submitted the letter quoted above; some deliberation ensued, which re- sulted in the unanimous opinion of all the gentlemen assem- bled, that judge Sebastian should meet Colonel Gayaso, to ascertain the real views of the Spanish government in these overtures. The judge accordingly descended the Ohio, and met the Spanish agent at the mouth of the river: in conse- quence of the severity of the weather, the gentlemen agreed to go to New Madrid. Here a commercial agreement was par- tially approved by Sebastian; but a difference of opinion occur- ring between the negotiators, whether any imposts, instead of a duty of four per cent, (it had been six per cent, on imports, and as much on exports,) should be rxacted upon importations into New Orleans, by the way of the river; the negotiators repaired to the metropolis, in order to submit the difference of opinion to the Governor. This officer, upon learning the nature of the dif- ference between the gentlemen acting in this treacherous, and on the American side, most insidious negotiation, readily con- sented to gratify the Kentucky envoy. It was deferred, on ac- count of some pressing business. A few days after this inter- view, the Spanish Governor sent for judge Sebastian, and informed him that a courier had arrived from Havanna with the intelligence, that a treaty had been signed between the United States and Spain, which put an end to the business between them. Judge Sebastian, after vainly urging the Spanish Gov- ernor to close this sub-negotiation, in the expectation that the treaty would not be ratified, returned to Kentucky by the Atlan- tic ports. Several reflections necessarily arise out of this summary of the negotiation of 1795: which was preserved secret from the government of Kentucky, until voluntarily disclosed by judge Innes, in 1806, before a committee of the legislature. The first remark that suggests itself on the face of these documents is, thit j idge Sobastian had been connected with the Spanish government before this time; since Governor Carondelet refers to the confidence reposed in him by his preoeeessor. 'io what X2 246 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. extent, and how long, no information exists within the command of the author, although he has attempted to investigate the earliest ramifications of a plot, now only interesting for its his- torical curiosity, and not as an engine of party ambition. This negotiation, though terminated so abruptly by Carondelet, con- trary to the urgent representations of Sebastian, was again renewed by the former officer in 1797- while the territorial line was marking between the United States and Spain, on the south. It was again effected through the agency of Messrs. Power and Sebastian, and in a way to endanger the union and peace of these states more flagrantly and openly, than on the former more covert attempt. In the summer of 1797, Thomas Power again arrived at Lou- isville, as the agent of the Governor of Louisiana, and immedi- ately communicated a letter to Sebastian, desiring him to lay his proposals before Messrs. Innes, Nicholas, and Murray. These proposals were no less than to withdraw from the federal union, and to form "a government wholly unconnected with that of the Atlantic States." To aid these nefarious purposes, in the face of a solemn treaty recently negotiated, and to compensate those who should consign themselves to infamy by assisting a foreign power to dissolve the American union; and to convert its free republican states into dependencies on the arbitrary and jealous government of Spain, orders for one, or even two hundred thousand dollars, "on the royal treasury of New Orleans," were offered ; or "if more convenient, these sums were to be conveyed at the expense of his Catholic Majesty into this country," and held at the disposal of those, who should degrade themselves into Spanish conspirators. Fort Massac was pointed out as an object proper to be seized at the first declaration of independ- ence; and, "the troops of the new government," it was promised, "should be furnished," without loss of time, "with 20 field pieces, with their carriages, and every necessary appendage, including powder, balls, &c., together with a number of small arms and ammunition, sufficient to equip the troops which it should be judged expedient to raise." The compensation for these free offers of money and arms, independent of weakening the United HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 247 States, was to be obtained in the extension of the northern boundary of the possessions to which Spain had so pertinacious- ly clung; and which she now so desperately, and for the last time, endeavored so treacherously to retain. The northern boundary on this side of the Mississippi was to be the Yazoo, as established by the British government when in possession of the Floridas; and which was, by a secret article in the treaty of peace, retained, as the boundary between the United States and Floridas, should Great Britain recover them from Spain. Eager indeed, must Spain have been to obtain this insignificant addition to her boundary, when she could break in upon her jealous exclusion of foreigners from her American possessions; and promise the Kentuckians, "if they would declare them- selves independent of the federal government, and establish one of their own, to grant them privileges far more extensive, give them a decided preference over the Atlantic States, in her com- mercial connections with them; and place them in a situation infinitely more advantageous, in every point of view, than that in which they would find themselves, were the treaty (meaning the treaty between the United States and Spain of '95) to be carried into effect." Such were the powerful temptations pre- sented by the Spanish government of Louisiana, to some of the leading men of Kentucky, in order to seduce them into a de- pendency of Spain. These offers were entertained too gravely, and rejected with too much tameness for the honor of Kentucky patriotism, as will appear from the following detail given by judge Innes to the legislative committee previously mentioned. After receiving the above communications from Power, Se- bastian visited judge Innes, at his seat near Frankfort, and laid them before him. The judge immediately observed, ^'that it was a dangerous project and ought not to be countenanced ; as the western people had now obtained the navigation of the Mis- sissippi, by which all their wishes were gratified. Mr. Sebas- tian concurred in sentiment, after, it must be observed, this ex- plicit declaration of judge Innes, who seems to have given tone to the whole transaction. Still as Power desired an answer in writing, Sebastian prevailed on Innes to see Colonel Nicholas; 248 HISTORY OF Kentucky. saying, "whatever" they "did, he would concur in." In a few days afterwards, Colonel Nicholas was seen by the judge, at Lexington, who agreed in opinion with Innes, that the proposal "ought to be rejected." The Colonel accordingly wrote an answer* to Power's communication, which unequivocally de- clared they "would not be concerned in any attempt to separate the western country from the United States; that whatever part they might at any time be induced to take in the politics of their country, that her welfare would be their only inducement, and that they would never receive any pecuniary or other re- ward for any personal exertions made by them to promote that welfare." They added, "that they flattered themselves, that every thing concerning the important business of the navigation of the Mississippi, would be set right by the governments of the two nations; but if this should not be the case, it appeared to them, that it must be the policy of Spain to encourage by every possible means the free intercourse with the inhabitants of the western country; as this will be the most efficient means to con- ciliate their good will, and to obtain without hazard, and at re- duced prices, those supplies which are indispensably necessary to the Spanish government, and its subjects." This reply was forwarded to Mr. Sebastian, and communicated by him to Mr. Power. This transaction must be pronounced a dangerous tampering with a foreign power, and contrary to the allegiance of Ameri- can citizens. Yet the whole tenor of the conduct of Messrs. Innes and Nicholas cannot justify the slightest suspicion of their fidelity to the union of the American States, or indifference to their liberties. Their character for faithful, devoted friends to the freedom and happiness of their country, had ever stood high and unimpaired in the confidence of their fellow citizens. It is likewise due to the virtues of Judge Innes, to declare, that in all the relations of private life, no man was dearer or more idolized by the witnesses of his mild, upright, and benevolent character. Hisj public career in this country, amidst its earli- est difficulties, had always been one of high trust and confi- * Dared Lexitiiiton, Sept, 4, 1T97, Rep. Journal, ]?C6. t D. Clark's letter to Judge Innes. Palladium, April 7, 1803. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 249 dencc, under all the changes of government: he had early been appointed judge of the Virginia district court, then attorney general, judge of the United States district court for Kentucky; a member of the board of war for the western country, and president of our first college of electors. In all these responsi- ble capacities, the conduct of judge Innes was without reproach, and raised him, most deservedly, high in the public esteem, and received the repeated thanks of General Washington for the discharge of high trusts. Colonel Nicholas has left the reputa- tion of an exalted and patriotic statesman In the convention of Virginia, assembled to decide upon the ratification of the present constitution of the United States, he took a prominent and influential part along side such illustrious worthies as Wythe, Madison, and Governor Randolph. In the opposition to the administration of the elder Adams, he bore an ardent share, as exhibited in his celebrated letter to a Virginia friend on the alien law. In regard to Mr. Sebastian, the other agent in this unhappy business, much more is known of his abilities, commanding ad- dress, and most courteous, dignified manners, than his devotion to popular government. He had, however, received a judgeship in the Court of Appeals, at its organization, in 1792. The most probable construction of this conference seems to be, that Mr. Sebastian was the corrupt instrument of Governor Caron- delet, and that he perverted his acknowledged abilities and in- timacy with judge Innes, to swerve him from the direct and open path of public duty, by listening to proposals from a for- eign government, at once derogatory to his duty as a public officer of the laws, and his honor as a faithful citizen. Over- powering indignation should have flashed Sebastian's own aban- donment of his duty, as one of the supreme judges of Kentucky, home to his conscience, and instantaneous denunciation to the constituted authorities, should, at all hazards, have exposed his treachery to his government. Thus might the commonwealth have been shielded from harboring a traitor and a Spanish pensioner on the highest seats in her temple of justice; and at the same time it would 250 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. have protected the fame of himself and Col. Nicholas from the blot of private citizens listening to plans of a foreign Govern- ment, destructive to the peace and honor of their country. Yet the author is not unaware of the difficulty of denouncing friends, even when their conduct is most disapproved ; but the merit is enhanced by the difficulty, and duty ought to be superior to personal attachment. In this Spanish conspiracy, there are three stages and corres- pondent degrees of condemnation. The first existed in 1787, when Don Gardoqui communicated his overtures to the people of Kentucky, to establish a government independent of the rest of the confederacy; this, under the ominous and disgraceful con- dition of the existing government, might have been laudably en- tertained by Kentucky patriots. The second happened in 1795, under circumstances of accumulated trial and disappointment to the fondest and most indispensable hopes of western prosperity; at this time, the Spanish propositions, whatever ultimate views were concealed under them, only aimed at an irregular, and so far unjustifiable agreement of private citizens with a foreign government, for the regulation of western trade. This pro- posal, if it, had have been consummated, would, however, have amounted to superseding the regular operations of the general government in the western commerce; and would have granted exclusive commercial favors to the parties in this agreement, inconsistent with the equal constitutional rights of the citizens of a common country. It would, moreover, have been intro- ductive of a foreign influence, dangerous to the liberty and peace of the nation. But the third stage of this business, after ten years interrupted communications, was the most indefensi- ble of all; it was a treacherous and undisguised attempt of Spain to dissever this country, in the face of her recent treaty, and inconsistent with every thing like the good faith which is represented as characteristic of Castilian honor. This intrigue of the provincial authorities, in Spanish Louisiana, is no doubt to be traced to European politics. On* the 19th of August, 1796, France and Spain concluded * Pitkin's United States, 2 vol.— page 484-485. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 251 a treaty of alliance, offensive and defensive, guarantieing all the territories they possessed or should possess. "Soon after this, Spain complained to the American government, that the British treaty had sacrificed her interests, as well as those of France — particularly in abandoning the principle, that free ships make free goods — and by enlarging the list of contraband; and she made this a ground for delaying the delivery of the posts on the Misssissippi, and running the line according to the treaty of 1795." In this remonstrance, Spain seems to have been influenced by a wish to maintain the interests of France in regard to the Floridas and Louisiana, which Mr. Munroe mentions, were expected to be obtained by the French government; "as well as from an expectation that the western people might still be induced to separate themselves from their Atlantic brethren." Such expectations might well be enter- tained from the exertions of her agents in the United States from 1787 to 1797. While Sebastian was procuring the answer of Priessrs. [nnes and Nicholas to the propositions of the Spanish Governor of Louisiana, Power proceeded to the head-quarters of Wilkin- son, then at Detroit, with a letter of remonstrance from Caron- delet, against taking possession of the military posts on the Mississippi, "until it should be ascertained whether, before delivery they were to be dismantled." This was his ostensible object, his real one has been seen by his communications with Sebastian, and by his instructions from the Spanish Governor. Power delivered his letter to Wilkinson, but without effecting any t!elay, on his part, in the execution of his duty; and the former was, contrary to his remonstrances, compelled to return by way of Vincennes to Fort Massac, under the escort of Captain Shaumburg of the American army. The Governor of the north-western territory had orders from the government of the United States, (which had got information of this insidious mission,) to arrest Power and send him to Philadel- phia. Thus terminated the repeated attempts of the Spanish Government to wrest the western country from the Union, after she had been frustrated in the united efforts of both 252 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. branches of the House of Bourbon, to exclude these young and thriving states from the Mississsippi, at the peace of Paris, in 1782. It is now necessary to retrace the course of events, after the first propositions of Power, which have been narrated beyond the current time, in order to preserve them unbroken. On the assembly of the legislature, in 1795, General Adair introduced several resolutions expressive of the sense of the country in regard to the navigation of the Mississippi, the delivery of the western posts, and the duty on distilled spirits. On the failure of the government of the United States to obtain the two fonner objects, it was declared "the duty of the Kentucky people to use every necessary exertion, on their part, in concert with, and to render effectual any other measures which may be adopted by the general government for obtaining these interesting objects." The resolutions passed both houses; this cordial disposition towards the government of the United States was farther manifested by the selection of Mr. Humphrey Mar- shall, a sagacious statesman, and devoted friend to the Wash- ington administration, as a senator of the United States, in opposition to the brilliant powers of John Breckenridge. At this session an attempt was made to remove George Muter and Benjamin Sebastian from the bench of the court of Appeals, by an address of two thirds of both houses of the legislature. The cause of this delicate interference with a hi^h judicial tribunal, arose out of an opinion and decree of the court of Appeals, on the subject of claims under cer- tificates issued by the commissioners for settlements and pre- emptions, in the case of Kenton against McConnell. No court could be invested with higher jurisdiction, for their duration, than these tribunals appointed to determine the claims of the settlers to the lands assigned them by the benevolent policy of Virginia, in consideration of actual set- tlement or improvement in the country amidst its dangers and hardships. Such meritorious titles must naturally have been regarded with the fondest affection; won as they had been at the hazard of every thing dear to man. When, therefore, the HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 253 decisions of a court, which were made final, where not caveated by the land law of 1779, creating them,- and whose conclusive character had been decided by the old District court, were to be opened to all the perilous uncertainty, vexation, and expense of legal controversy; it was not at all strange, that the people and the legislature should be agitated. A memorial was laid before the legislature, which brought the matter regularly be- fore that body. The House of Representatives determined to summon the two judges before them. This was done, and a copy of the memorial annexed to the summons was served on the two obnoxious judges; Wallace, the third judge, having objected to the decree. The former gentlemen addressed the Speaker of the House, informing him, that they could find no charge against them, that they could or ought to answer; that the legality of an adjudication of the court of Appeals, or an opinion of any judge thereof, in any cause, could not be pro- perly or constitutionally examinable by a single branch of the legislature : and they protested against a legislative revision of judicial decisions. But they said, justice to the judge, and to the independence of the court, demanded that they should be proceeded against in the manner pointed out in the constitution, in which mode they felt themselves ready to answer any specific charge. The House interpreted this letter into a refusal to appear before it, and proceeded to act upon a resolution, which had been laid upon the table previous to the response of the judges, reciting the illegality and prejudicial character of the decision; it alleged, that "the opinion and decree are subversive of the plainest principles of law and justice, and involve in their consequences, the distress and ruin of many of our innocent and meritorious citizens." The resolution then goes on to allege that the judges "must have done so, either from undue influ- ence or want of judgment; as said decree and opinion con- travene the decisions of the court of commissioners, who were authorised to adjust and settle under the said recited act, (meaning the Virginia land act of 1779,) and also contradict a former decision of the late Supreme court for the district of Kentucky, on a similar point— whence arises a well ground- 254 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY.' ed apprehension that the said George Muter, and Benjamin Sebtstian are altogether destitute of that judgment, integrity, ani fi.-mriess, which are essential in every judge; but more esjjec'ially in judges of the Supreme court; and that there is nj security f^r property so long as the said George Muter and Benjimin Sebastian continue as judges of the court of Api)e lis." The House, then, in consequence of these recitals, an.l their power to address the Governor to remove any judge for any reasonable cause, which should not be sufficient ground for impeachment, determined, by a majority of three votes, that this address ought to be made. The subject, however, was resumed in the Senate, and a resolution, censuring the judges for a decision, which the resolution asserted, "from what appears at this time, proceeded from a want of a proper know- ledge of law, or some impure motives, that appear to discover a want of integrity," passed by a majority of one vote. This ■was most unconstitutionally transmitted to the other House for its action, when the question had fallen from a want of the constitutional majority of two-thirds. It passed by the same majority, as the first resolution introduced on this subject into the House. This is, it is believed, the earliest dispute between the Legislative and Judicial departments of the state govern- ment; which at a more recent period appeared to threaten the commonwealth, with anarchy and confusion. Nor ought the occasion to pass without remarking, that, however cor- rect the legal principles contended for by the Legislature may be, and indeed they appear to be very manifest; still there is a system of official intimidation, and overawing, evidenced by the legislative proceedings, after constitutional majorities could not be obtained, which is utterly incon- sistent with the constitutional rights of the Judiciary, and which, in a popular excitable government like ours, is calculated to overthrow all the barriers against tyranny and unlawful violence, at the feet of the legislature. The hold which the members of this body so justly possess, on the affections of their neighbors and friends, with whose bosoms HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 255 they are in such constant and familiar intercourse; should at the same time subject its steps to the vigilant scrutiny of the community; that they do not pervert the public confidence to the purposes of individual passions, at the expense of the public liberties on interests. The judges are said to have published "a clamorous appeal to the peo- ple in a pamphlet of thirty pages," which the author has not been able to procure. The remark proceeds from a writer, who, with his acknowledged abilities, bears his re- sentments too keenly, to always see the injustice he com- mits against his enemies. The overweening influence, which Colonel George Nicholas is alledged to have posses- sed over the court, excited great jealousy in the public mind; nor was this suspicion lessened, by his being counsel for McConnel, in this agitated case. At the subsequent term, judge Muter joined judge Wal- lace, in an opinion favorable to Kenton; and a decree directly the reverse of the former one, was made by the court; Sebastian adhering to his former sentiments. Thus terminated the first controversy between the court of Ap- peals and the legislature of Kentucky, in the triumph of the latter, though it is firmly believed, in a righteous cause. Not that any doubt exists as to the constitutional power of the legislature to address the executive for the removal of a judge for gross misconception of his duties, in the misunderstanding, or misapplication of the laws; for this incapacity is one of those very "reasonable causes," which is presupposed by the constitution in giving a legis- lative Gontrol in addition to the power of impeachment This latter check is presumed to be intended to meet the moral delinquency of its objects, and not the involuntary, though mischievous exertions of their powers. At this session an act was passed disqualifying sheriffs and their deputies from sitting in either branch of the leg- islature, until one year after they shall have made their collections of the public revenue, paid them into the public treasury, and obtained a quietus from the auditor. The 256 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. constilutionality of this law creating qualifications for mem- bers of the legislature, in addition to those enacted by the constitution, may well be doubted; the same objection can- not be made to the disqualification of Quarter Session Jus- tices, which likewise took place at the same session. This was effected by vacating the seats of twelve persons, who had been elected to the House of Representatives. At this session was communicated by the Governor, the cor- respondence which he had held with Colonel James Innes, the special messenger employed by the President of the United States, on the interesting subject of the negotiations with Spain respecting the navigation of the Mississippi. "This corespondence had taken place during the preceding January, soon after the adjournment of the body for which it was intended." It is to be regreted that Governor Shelby should not have felt himself at liberty, to have laid these communications before the public, in order to tranquilize their apprehensions and suspicions. The move- ments of Colonel Innes upon a mission of so much im- portance to the public peace, and which involved the anxious feelings of the western country to so intense a degree, seem utterly unexplicable at this day. *The Sen- ate of the United States, after resolving that "on the nego- tiation now carrying on at Madrid, between the United States and Spain, the right of the former to the free navi- gation of the Mississippi is well asserted and demonstrated, and their claim to its enjoyment is pursued with all the assiduity and firmness, which the nature of the subject demands," had requested "that the President of the United States, would communicate to the Excutive of Kentucky, such part of the existing negotiation between the United States and Spain, relative to this subject as he may deem advi- sable, and consistent with the course of the negotiation." A similar vote of approbation passed the House of Repre- sentatives. General Washington had, however, two months before the request of the Senate communicated the course 4rMarsbaU'8 W^aBhington, 2d vol. 333, 2d edition. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 257 of the government on this exciting matter. When such abundant evidence is found in the proceedings of the gov- ernment, to shew the anxiety and exertions of the Wash- ington administration, to promote and secure the western interests; it is painful to reflect on the little credit it re- ceived in the public mind of Kentucky, for this enlarged and parental policy. It is to be apprehended, that there had been too much familiarity with the idea of righting themselves without the aid, if not in defiance of their own government; to have allowed a fair construction to be placed upon the measures of the general government. Indeed it is not to be concealed, that Kentucky was a violent anti- federal State from the first proposition of the glorious system of government, which has advanced this country to such heights of happiness and renown. She had in the excess of her democratic prejudices, refused her sanction to the new frame of government, and she was identified with the opposition to all the leading measures of the Washington administration. The election of Humphrey Marshall, and his votes were, it is believed, the only exceptions to this temper; and now instructions were brought forward, to direct him distinctly from his colleague, in his vote upon the British treaty, which had received the advice and consent of the Senate, to a conditional notification during the preceding summer. Subsequently, however, the individual instructions to Senator Marshall, were amended by inserting the words Senators, in conformity to all propriety and official decorum. The treaty, however, did not again come before the Senate of the Uni- ted States, owing to the ready acceptance of the exception proposed by the American government. Y2 258 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. CHAPTER XV. Land Laws of Kentucky— Dissatisfaction with the Constitution of 1792— Gov. Garrard— John Adams, President of the United States— Occupying claimant law and controversy — Seven years' limitation law. Another branch of perplexing legislation presented itself this session in the vacant lands of the commonwealth southwest of Green river, that were ordered to be sold on a credit which created a debt from her citizens, embarrassing to the govern- ment of Kentucky as long as it existed. The first act secured to each housekeeper a pre-emptive right to purchase his land at thirty dollars per hundred acres ; the fee simple to be with- held until the money was paid. These easy and tempting terms rapidly attracted a numerous population from other parts of the '^tate to this section of it, where lands were to be had at thirty cents per acre. These are declared to have been worth from two to four dollars for that quantity. Such tampering with public property, contrary to all mercantile principles of supply and demand, and laying aside all the wholesome control of commercial competition, necessarily gave rise to great land speculations, and the arts and impositions which invariably fol- low in the train of all such excitements to the cupidity of the community. Still, as if these terms were not favorable enough, in the year 1797, another act passed, allowing from one to two hundred acres to all who should settle in this section of the state before the 1st of July, 1798, reside one year and tend two acres of corn within a fence. The prices were raised from thirty dollars to sixty per hundred acres of first rate land, and forty dollars per hundred acres of second rate land. But now no first rate lands were to be found for the benefit of the commonwealth, however abundantly they might reward private settlers. The land was to be forfeited, if it was not paid for within a year from the date of the commissioners' certificate; but how could this for- feiture be exacted by the commonwealth against a large and valuable body of her citizens? The very idea is absurd under HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 259 a popular government, and it may well be doubted, whether the commonwealth deserved to collect debts, which she had by her imprudent and improvident legislation tempted her people to contract without any regard to their means of discharging them. If it were good policy to force the population of the common- wealth beyond the natural or efficient demands of her citizens,- that is, before their ability to pay what, on free competition, should have proved a fair equivalent for the public domain; better, ten thousand times better would it have been, to have given the lands gratuitously to actual settlers, than to have tempted the creation of a body of debtors to the state, possessing a large section of the commonwealth, and necessarily thrown into conflict with the interests of its powerful but unwieldly creditor. But in truth, there is no doubt that the domain of the State in the section under notice, has been most improvidently wasted. Sound communities are not to be created by such forced bounties and legislative whims, in defiance of the natural laws of society, prior and paramount to the laws of men. Be- cause a legislative body finds itself in possession of a great treasure which they are bound to administer for the benefit of society, is it fair and just that they should give it away on the slightest conditions to those who might want it? Such a scheme may, at a superficial glance, appear to be recommended by a noble benevolence and humanity, but on a closer examination it will be found only deceptive. Could such a distribution of lands return like the Jewish jubilees every fifty years, it would bring along with it the same periodical derangement of the ordinary prices of regular industry, of land and of wages, injuring the people by an improvement of the condition oPone portion, at the expense of another. To be sensible that these ideas are neither strained nor extravagant, let the eflfect of these almost gratuitous distributions of land be calculated, upon its value in the older settlements of the state,- just as much as the price was artificially depressed in the southwest, it must have been lowered in the northeast; and what was added in one section of the commonwealth, was nearly subtracted in another by the arbitrary glutting of the land market, without any regard to the 260 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. principles of buying and selling, which govern private property. These should, for the public good, have governed the manage- ment of the valuable domain, now almost entirely alienated from the state. The act of this year began the career of an- nual indulo-ence or relief, which was trod through all the mazes of legislative quackery;* in January, 1798, an act of indulgence, or in other words, the Green river bill passed ; in November session, 1798, the whole debt was divided into four equal annual instalments at lawful interest, except the debts of those who claimed under the first act on this subject, which were required to be paid in six months. This act was amended in 1799, and in eleven days afterwards it received a supplementary act: in 1800 another act of indulgence passed, and nine days after was amended. By a third act of this session, nine years were given to the purchasers of the public lands, and the interest was re- duced to five per cent. ; in addition to this, every person over eighteen years of age, might acquire a right to four hundred acres, at twenty dollars per hundred acres, to include his settle- ment, which was to be made before his claim could be allowed. The county courts were then vested with the power of granting the claims, instead of the more cumbrous and less expeditious commissioners. The responsibility was now less than ever; fictitious purchasers were as acceptable as real, and the com- monwealth was again all agog with land jobbing. Now acts of relief were prayed against the mistakes of the county courts ; till after the usual annual protractions of the land debt, its payment was, in 1806, divided into twelve annual instalments of principal and interest; the first instalment to be paid on or before the 1st of December, 1806. Nor ought the commonwealth to^be un- grateful that any time was appointed for the payment of this old unconscionable debt of a great land holder, against its poor pri- vate purchasers. Indeed it would seem matter of public admi- ration and gratitude, that the debtors of the commonwealth con- descended to promise either principal or interest, on this side of ieternity. This strain of remark is certainly indulged in no unfriendly * See Marshall 2—178, for a fall analysis of this eystem . HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 261 feeling to the southwestern section of the state, now so honor- able and flourishing a portion of the commonwealth ; but solely with a faint hope of exposing the mischievous and corrupting tendency of legislation, when it transcends the boundaries of experience, and the eternal principles of political justice. The injury to the government, though gross in the waste of its treas- ures, was inconsiderable, when compared to the corruption of public morals and the derangement of regular, efficient industry, by these land bounties and distributions. They kindled the same deleterious speculative, spirit, which the rise of stocks or any other powerful temptations to the avaricious passions of society, have ever occasioned. They would produce the same effects in any community, that they did in Kentucky, with those who rushed from other states to enjoy her misjudged wastefulness. Had this great landed estate been sold out upon any reasonable conformity to current value, tested as in the sales of the United States' lands, by public competition, the disposition would have been uncensurable. True it is, large accessions were made to the productive population of one portion of the state, and as large transfers from other parts of the common- wealth ; but this increase might have been effected more soundly and more productively to the state, by less hurried and hot-bed measures. In this last arrangement, Mr. John Pope lent the efficient aid of his excellent mind, in these healing measures, which immediately procured something like $200,000 from the small purchasers ; and in a few years the payments amounted to $700,000. Thus has been terminated a mischievous floating interest, ready to be attached to any project which could enlist friends sufficient to effect its own favourite and paramount policy of relief; and the counsels of the commonwealth were relieved from the odious incubus of a debtor interest, too great to be controled ; and yet not large enough to maintain an indepen- dent footing. During this session discontent began to show itself with the constitution of Kentucky; in consequence of which a bill was brought into the legislature for taking the sense of the people on the question of calling a convention to revise the constitution. The iuiuiediate occasion of this dissatisfaction 262 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. had arisen out of the rejection by the Senate of a bill respecting occupying claimants of land, which had passed the House of Representatives at the preceding session. This measure had attracted the public affections, which were now manifested by petitions from several parts of the State in its favor. The aris- tocratic character of the senatorial organization and the re- moteness of their choice from the people, their appointment of the electors themselves, as members of the Senate, and the fil- ling of their own vacancies, were exciting public dislike. A remarkable bill passed the Senate for selling the public lands, south of Green river, to Elisha J. Hall and company, for two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, to be paid in short instalments; it was, however, rejected in the House of Repre- sentatives, by a vote of nineteen to thirteen, to the great emolument of the commonwealth, in a pecuniary point of view. At this session, the Auditor, Treasurer, and Secretary of State were required to live at the seat of government. An addition to their salaries, raising them to $600 each, and also one of $333i to the Governor, making his salary $13334, were made this session. The pay of the members of assembly was also raised from one dollar to one dollar and a half a day. This may be viewed as pretty conclusive proof of the general rise of prices in the country; and as no artificial substitutes for money then existed in this part of the country, it must be attributed to the depreciation of money in the general markets of the United States; and the consequent apprecia- tion of all the articles of living. In the ensuing May, 1796, a general election was held for electors of Governor, and Se- nate, as well as for members of the House of Representatives. At this election, James Garrard and Benjamin Logan were considered as candidates; the former of whom was chosen as successor to Isaac Shelby. By this gentleman Harry Toul- min was appointed Secretary. There is something liberal and honorable in a gentleman, who had been a follower of Dr. J. Priestly, in England, and a minister of the Unitarian sect of Christians, becoming Secretary of State in Kentuckv. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 263 without public resentment. The same gentleman was afterwards appointed a United States' Judge in the territory of Alabama. So dignified an appointment of a foreign gentleman, either implies no little indifference, or great liberality of principle in the public feelings of the western country. No gentleman could more richly have deserved the latter, than the one in question. He was the author of a respectable digest of the laws of Kentucky, strongly marked by a discriminating and cultivated mind. The opening speech of the new Governor, at the November session, "congratulated the State upon the condition of peace, procured by the directions and exertions of the federal gov- ernment, as the instrument of a wise and gracious Provi- dence. Add to this, the increase of population; the exten- sion of the settlements to the extremities of our territories j the flourishing state of agriculture; the increase of improve- ments; the establishment of manufactures; a year of the greatest plenty, in succession to one of the greatest scarcity, with the hopeful prospects opening to agricultural industry and commercial enterprise, by means of the late treaty with Spain, which has opened the navigation of the Mississippi, and a port at Orleans for us; objects long and ardently de- sired." In addition to these views, so cordial and honorable to the federal government, and by no means common in the public proceedings of Kentucky; the Governor invited the atten- tion of the legislature to the amelioration of the criminal code, the state of the revenue laws. The Green river set- tlers are said to have paid $13,333i into the public treasury, and that the Auditor's statements exhibited a balance of more than $36,6063 in favor of the public. Six new counties were created this session; and considerable and laborious attempts at simplifying and digesting the laws by new statutory enact- ments. During this session was passed, "an act establishing the court of Appeals;" This, although approved by the Gov- elmor, and which, according to the precedents established in repeaUng the County Court and Quarter Session system, and 264 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. choosing new officers, ought to have led to a new appointment of judges in the Supreme Court. Nothing was, however, done under the law, in regard to the commissions or offices of the judges. Whether the attempt to commission new judges of this high court, would have been likely to have kindled the fierce blaze, which a similar measure has so awfully done, in more recent times,- the author is not sufficiently acquainted with the temper and spirit of the times to express an opinion. He cannot bring his own mind to discriminate between the duration of the officers or the tenure of the judges, in any of the courts; they all hold alike by the tenure of good be- havior; they are all personally appointed by the intervention of a statute, which must prescribe their number, fix their com- pensation, attach the requisite officers, and in fine, equal- ly give all the courts efficiency and life. Where then is the ground of discrimination in the constitution? How is one court more created by the constitution than another? If there cannot, in the nature of things, be more than one Supreme Court, still the constitutional mandate does not fix the num- • ber of the court, and does not bring the court into exist- ence, without the same legislative operation in regard to the highest as well as the lowest court in the commonwealth. If then the judges of the former would not constitutionally follow the fate of their offices, neither did the County Court magistrates, the judges of Oyer and Terminer, the district judges, nor the circuit judges. The constitutional mantle covers all with the same privilege of continuance in office; it privileges all, or none. The expediency of this legislative interference, particularly with the Supreme Court, the author is free to abandon, as utterly indefensible, consistent with impartial and unsuspected justice, which forms a palladium against oppression of all | sorts, checked by the spirit of a free legislature, and that of a moral and cultivated people. In order to connect the affairs of Kentucky with the general government of the Union, it is necessary to remark, that, on General Washington's declining a third canvass for the Pres- HISTORY 01^ KENTUCKY. 265 idency, in his affectionate valedictory to his countrymen, charged with the profoundest and most affectionate wisdom, the public mind principally fluctuated between John Adams, the Vice President, and Thomas Jefferson, the late Secretary of State ,• both able and distinguished patriotic statesmen of the revolution. On counting the electoral votes, it was found, that a majority of three votes was in favor of John Adams, as President of the United States, for four years from the fourth of March, 1797; and the next greatest number of votes being m favor of 'I'homas Jefferson, he become, under the original constitution. Vice President of the United States. Embalmed as these great statesmen now are, in the affec- tionate regards of their admiring countrymen, they were look- ed upon at the times which are describing, as the respective chiefs of the two violent parties into which the people of the United States were so intemperateiy and illiberally divided; and which were known at the time as the Federalists and Democrats or Republicans. The former appellation had ori- ginated in the support of the federal union of the States; which was most soundly believed to require the additional energies contained in the new constitution of 1789. The name had, however, by a natural transition, been applied to the friends of the measures adopted to put the new system into efficient operation. The titles of their antagonists had been changed from the former term of anti-federalists, which had ceased to be descriptive of the measures or the wishes of the party; it now denoted the opponents of the elder Adams. It is, however, due to the character of our countrymen, as after- wards eloquently expressed by Mr. Jefferson, to say, they were all federalists, they were all republicans, that is, in the general sense of the terms, independent of their tempo- rary and party meaning. The great overwhelming mass the nation were equally friends to the union of the States, and to the popular, or democratic character of the government, so far as the term can properly be applied to our representative democracy. The denomination of republican, then, it must never be forgotten, was equally applicable to both the great Z 266 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. parties of the times, however they might differ in degree, and in the details of administering so popular a government, as that of the United States, under its worst possible operation. ., ^ It was during this session, that a measure was successfully revived, which had annually passed the House of Representa- tives since 1794, and which had as invariably been negatived in the Senate : it was an "act concerning occupying claimants of land." No branch of our legislation, or of our judicial administration is more complicated or more intimately con- nected with the dearest interests of the commonwealth, than that concerning occupying claimants of land. It concerns the deepest feelings of the human heart, for the freehold, cultivated and adorned as the last resting place of the laborer, and as the reward of some affectionate partner, or beloved offspring of that connection, when the cares of this life are no more. To these ties which fasten so firmly to the human heart, and which bind every people to the soil on which they live, and from whose bo- som they derive their daily support, there were peculiar sources of endearment in the case of the people of Kentucky. They had risked their lives in the wilderness; they had lived in the constant apprehension of the rifle or tomahawk of the Indian ; they had lived without bread and without salt, much less the innumerable comforts of civilized life ; they had, many of them, lost the dearest friends of their life in the gallant struggle which they had maintained with the aborigines; all this they had suffered to obtain landed property; and now, when amidst a cloud of legal perplexities, new even to the subtle priesthood of the law, they were about to lose the fruit of their perils and their labors, could any people avoid feeling this painful condition to the very bottom of their hearts? Such were the feelings of the people of Kentucky, when they found the elder patents of Virginia claimants, brought against the actual settlers, and improvers under a junior patent. The author is not unaware, that he is entering into a subject, which has divided the highest tribunals of the law; and even the bar of Kentucky, so justly celebrated for its acumen on this novel subject of adjudication, under all the HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 267 peculiarities of the land law of Virginia. Nor can the rea- der be more admirably introduced to this complex portion of our legal history, than by the following delineation drawn by the hand of a master in the petition submitted to the Supreme Court of the United States, for a review of the case of Green vs. Biddle.* What, then, is in popular language the nature of the dis- pute between the occupying, and non-occupying claimants of lands in Kentucky? This question can only be answered, by entering into the nature of our land titles, or interests more properly speaking, before they were consummated into titles, or complete rights in fee simple. "By the land law of Virginia, passed in 1779, for the settlement and sale of the unappropriated lands of the commonwealth, any person holding a warrant for any quantity of land belonging to the commonwealth, might enter in the surveyors' books, the boundaries of such lands as he wanted to acquire previous > any survey: but he was required "to direct the location thereof so specially and precisely^ as that others may be enabled with certainty to locate warrants on the adjacent residuum." In addition to this description of claim, origi- nating in the commonwealth's warrant, was another impor- tant class of persons, who claimed rights of settlement or pre-emption, as described under the history of the land law in its appropriate year. These claimants were required to obtain certificates from the commissioners appointed for that purpose, as has been mentioned, naming the cause of the claim, the number of acres, and "describing as near as may be the particular location." Under these brief texts, has arisen a system of judicial legislation, fraught with subtlety and perplexity; aggravated by the licence and multiplicity of surveys by which the territory of Kentucky, in the emphatic language of judge Rowan's petition to the Supreme court was "encumbered and cursed with a triple layer of adversary claims." Under this inheritance of liti- gation and uncertainty, was the land to lie idle because no * Judge Rowan concurred in by Mr. Clay. 8 vol. Wheaton's Reports. 268 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. man could ascertain his precise legal right, unless issued by the land commissioners ? Should the blood which had been so gallantly spilled, the heroic effort which had been so nobly made, be all in vain, because the land was vexed with an uncertainty of titles? After expelling the Indians, the for- ests had to be felled, the wilderness was to be tamed and subdued under the hand of civilized man. But who could in safety exert this labor; who would risk the prime of his life in cultivating and improving the soil, if notwithstanding the solemn deed of the government in his hands, the patent of the State, he was liable to be turned off the land, the State had covenanted to be his; and deprived of all the fruit of his cares and his toil? It would have been equiv- olent to a sentence of perpetual waste, or of subordinate lenacy on the lands of Kentucky. Can it reasonably "be supposed" in the breathing language of the petition quo- ted above, "that the people of that district, after winning the country by conquest, under circumstances of privations, hardships and gloom, of which a true narrative would, on account of their peculiarity, seem more like romance, than history — a gloom not indeed uninterrupted; but when inter- rupted, brightened only by the gleams of their own chi- valric daring and valorous achievment, that such a people would consent to clear up the grounds, erect houses, build barns, plant orchards, and make meadows for the sole con- venience of those, who had latent rights, and who during the war, and while the improvements were making, had remained as latent as their rights?" To avoid these mischievous consequences the legislature of Kentucky early perceived the necessity of interposing its guardian authority between the honest bona fide occupant of the land, by virtue of a younger patent, and the non- occupying patentee of elder date. This was done by a bill introduced this session by Mr. Humphrey Marshall, provi- ding* "that the occupant of land from which he is evicted, or deprived by better title, shall be excused from the pay- * Wheaton's Reports, Green vs. Biddle. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 269 ment of rents and profits accrued, prior to actual notice of the adverse title, provided his possession v/as peaceable, and he shows a plain and connected title in law or equity deduced from some record. It moreover enacted, that the successful claimant should be liable to a judgment against him for all valuable and lasting improvements made on the land, prior to actual notice of the adverse title, after de- ducting from the amount, the damages, which the land has sustained by waste or deterioration of the soil by cultiva- tion. If the improvements exceeded the value of the land in its unimproved state, the claimant shall be allowed the privilege of conveying the land to the occupant and re- ceiving in return the assessed value of it without the im- provements, and thus protect himself against a judgment and execution for the value of the improvements. If he should decline doing this, the successful claimant was to recover possession of his land; but should then pay the estimated value of the improvements, and also lose the rents and profits accrued before notice of his claim. As to improvements made and profits accrued after notice of the adverse title the amount of the one shall be deducted from that of the other, and the balance added to, or subtracted from the estimated value of the improvements made before such no- tice, as the nature of the case may require." It is provided by a subsequent clause, "that in no case, shall the suc- cessful claimant be obliged to pay for improvements made after notice, more than is equal to the rents and the pro- fits." Such is the nature of the great remedial statutes of Ken- tucky, intended to protect the agricultural industry of the State from the distressing uncertainty which had attached to its land titles, growing out of the mischievous system of selling claims to land before its boundaries had been surveyed and identified. This statute of peace and honest compensation, was opposed on its introduction into the legislature by Mr. James Hughes, a learned and highly reputable lawyer, then a member of the House of Representatives, from the county of 270 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. Fayette. He early took the ground, that it was a violation of the compact of separation with Virginia, and which having declared that the rights and interests of lands derived from the laws of Virginia, should be decided by the laws in force when the compact was mad^ and this of course, precluded all legislation on the subject." To this it was replied by Mr. Marshall, "that, upon the gentleman's principles, the compact had been already violated, by passing the act of November, 1792, allowing further time to appoint agents for surveying lands, &c.; that indeed, it might be doubted if the law subject- ing lands to execution for the payment of debts, was not also a violation of the constitution ; for there certainly was no such law of Virginia at the date of the compact; and that it did as certainly affect private rights and interests of lands derived from the laws of Virginia. Nay, our revenue laws go to the same description of rights and interests; they are acts of the Kentucky legislature ; yet their constitutionality has not been questioned. That indeed, if the doctrines of the gentleman from Fayette were correct, Kentucky had excluded herself by compact, from legislating on the subject of her lands claimed under the Virginia laws; then the only laws of origin and derivation of claims to lands known in the country. But he has mistaken both the character of the bill and the nature of the compact. The latter, it is true, confines the decisions on conflicting claims, derived from the laws of Virginia, prioi' to the separation, to the laws in force at the time of making .the compact; while the former, supposing the right to be so ad- justed, steps in to adjust not a matter of right or interest, existing prior to the separation; nor at all concerning the origin or derivation of the parties' rights or interests in the land itself; but solely concerning its occupancy, and the mutual demands of rents made on the one side, and for im- provements made on the land, on the other. Demands which may now be settled and adjusted by the Chancellor, where the suit is in chancery for the title, which gives him jurisdictio of the incidents with the principal matter; but which it is understood, can not be adjusted where the proceeding is at 'i HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 271 law — as in case of ejectments. Now, the purpose of the bill is, to extend the principles to the eviction by ejectment; and without exposing the occupant to be turned out of possession unremunerated for improving the land, and subject to be sued for rents, or driven to a doubtful suit at chancery ; at once to afford him a plain, safe, and expeditious mode of adjusting these matters, in the court where the judgment of eviction has been pronounced; and by the same uniform process, whether the de- cision was at law or in chancery. Can not the legislature do this? Can it not resolve by law, an equitable principle into a statutory provision ? Then neither can it alter any part of the common law. Doctrines to which I can not subscribe." This measure, whose importance has induced the above abstract of remarks in the legislature of that day, passed both Houses; in the House of Representatives there were but eight votes against its becoming a law. This measure of beneficent policy was acquiesced in and apparently approved by all parties. But unfortunately, in 1812, this law was further altered by enact- ing, that "the claimant may avoid the payment of the value of improvements, (whether valuable and lasting or not,) by relin- quishing the land to the occupant, and be paid its estimated value, in its improved state." Thus, if the claimant elect to pay for the value of the improvements, he is to give bond and security to pay the same, with interest, at different instalments. If he fail to do this, or if the value of the improvements ex- ceeds three-fourths of the unimproved lands, an election is given to the occupant, to have a judgment entered against the claimant for the assessed value of the improvements; or to take the land, giving bond and security to pay the value of the land, if unimproved, by instalments with interest. But, if the claimant is not willing to pay for the improvements, and they should exceed three-fourths of the value of the unimproved land, the occupant is obliged to give bond and security, to pay the assessed value of the land, with interest; which if he fail to do, judgment is to be extended against him for such value, the claimant releasing his right to the land, and giving bond and security to warrant the title. If 272 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. the value of the improvements does not exceed three-fourths of the value of the unimproved lands, then the occupant is not bound, (as he is in the former case,) to give bond and security to pay the value of the land; but he may claim a judgment for the value of his improvements; or take the land, giving bond and security, as before mentioned, to pay its estimated value. The exemption of the occupant from the payment of the rents and profits, extends to all such as accrued during his occupancy, before judgment rendered against him in the first instance; but such as accrue after such judgment, for a term not exceeding five years, as also waste and damage, committed by the occu- pant after suit brought, are to be deducted from the value of the improvements, or the court may render judgment for them against the occupant. The amount of such damages, rents, profits and waste, and also the value of the improvements, and of the land, without the improvements, are to be ascertained by commissioners, to be appointed by the court, and who act under oath." Under this law "it was made the interest of the party in possession under a bad claim, to postpone and put off* a final decision, as long as possible; which the rents of the land ena- bled him to do. There was no saving of the rents to those who had commenced suits under the former law, which entitled them to rents if successful, as an offset to improvements made on the land." "The necessity of paying for all improvements, how- ever useless they might be, or of surrendering the title to the land at its woodland price," was deemed a great grievance under this new form of the law. These complaints led to the famous suit of Green against Biddle, in the Circuit court of Kentucky, which upon a division of opinion between the judges, produced a reference to the Supreme court of the United States, for its opinion upon the constitutionality of the above re- cited acts of Kentucky, concerning occupying claimants. Both the parties claimed under patents from Virginia, prior to the separation of Kentucky from the parent State. The court in February, 1821, decided against the constitutionality of these acts, "as a violation of the 7th article of the compact with Vir- HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 273 ginia. On the application of Mr. Henry Clay, as amicus curiae, that the certificate to the Circuit court should be withheld, the case was continued to the next term for argument. In the en- suing session of the legislature, this subject excited deep and fixed attention ; and was particularly brought before that body by the Governor. The matter was submitted to a committee, of which that honest and distinguished statesman, John Pope, was chairman, who drew up a dignified and cogent view of this con- troversy, so deeply interesting to Kentucky. In this report, it was maintained, that "the plain and common sense meaning" of the terms private rights and interests of land, used in the com- pact, "as it has been understood by the parties, and the people generally, is, that those rights and interests of land, derived from the laws of Virginia, should be valid and secure under Kentucky; and that the laws of Virginia were to furnish the rule" for their decisions. Such has been the construction given to this article of the compact, by the courts here. "The word right is applied in the land law, to both imperfect and complete title. Settlement rights and pre-emption rights are mentioned; and in the provision respecting caveats, the word right is used in reference to a title by entry or patent, because either will authorize a caveat. The words right and title, in common par- lance, in statutes and in law writers, are often used as synony- mous terms. There is no foundation for supposing, that the parties to the compact, meant by rights and interests, any thing different and distinct from titles. A patent from a State, or the general government, is a contract, which the government can neither revoke nor impair, according to the decision of the Su- preme court, in the case of Peck against Fletcher. A patent is a contract for title, so far as the grantor has it, and for all that use and enjoyment, which is incident to the ownership of property, subject always to those burdens and to that policy, which the welfare of the government which protects it, may impose. The compact with Virginia, and the compact with every patentee, are in effect the same, and the occupying claimant laws of Kentucky, if unconstitutional for their viola- tion and impairing the value of the Virginia patent, are equally 274 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. unconstitutional for impairing the patents of Kentucky." "It should be remembered that every citizen of a social community is identified with its general welfare, and whatever burdens, that demands, may be rightfully imposed, unless interdicted by some constitutional limitation of power." Another view of this subject presents much force ; that the decision of the Supreme court of the United States, is in direct opposition to the Su- preme court of Kentucky, upon a question of its own local con- stitution, which in all comity, and by virtue of the case of Col- der and wife against Bull, appertains exclusively to the local tribunal. In consequence of this report, the legislature came to resolutions affirming the constitutionality and importance of the occupymg claimant laws, appointing commissioners to open a communication with Virginia, concerning the meaning and execution of the compact between that State and Kentucky, and finally requesting the said commissioners, to oppose before the Supreme court, any attempt to declare void the laws in question. By virtue of these resolutions, Messrs. Clay and Bibb were appointed commissioners, to execute this important trust. They appeared before the legislature of Virginia, as well as the Supreme court, and argued the constitutional and pactional character of the Kentucky occupying claimant laws, with what effect will hereafter be seen. It ought to be mentioned in connexion with this part of the subject, that at the session of 1821-2, Virginia had deputed Watkins Leigh, Esq., as her commissioner to wait on the legis- lature of Kentucky, and invite legislative provisions for certain military claims arising out of the revolution ; if that should not be granted, then to ask of the legislature the organization of a board of commissioners, in conformity with the compact between the two States, for the purpose of deciding all matters in contro- versy between them. To the latter proposition, Kentucky ac- ceeded, and on the 5th of June, 1822, Messrs. Clay and Leigh, on the part of the two States, entered into an agreement for organizing a board of commissioners according to certain con- tingent articles; reserving to their respective States, the right of ratifying or rejecting them. This ratification was, however, HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 275 refused by the Senate of Virginia, after it had been fully ex- tended by this Commonwealth, and Jacob Burnet, Esq., of Ohio, and Hugh L. White, Esq., of Tennessee, had been appointed commissioners under the convention upon her part. A result, to say the least, little to be expected from a negotiation, soli- cited by Virginia herself, when a friendly negotiation might have saved the people of Kentucky, the distress and apprehen- sion so extensively felt on the subject of these favorite measures of peace, and honest compensation for labor, expended under the faith of the very acts and records of Virginia. After the argument of Messrs. Clay and Bibb, in opposition to Messrs. Hardin and Montgomery, before the Supreme court of the United States, their judgment was held up till after they had learned that Virginia had refused to organize the commission contemplated by the compact. This high tribunal then, by the opinion of judges Washington, Duval and Story, judge Johnson dissentient, judge Marshall not sitting, judge Livingston lying ill, as well as judge Todd, decided against the constitutionality of both the occupying claimant laws of 1797 and 1812. The main argument of the court seems to be, that the acts in question conflicted with the provision of the constitution of the United States, which prohibits any State from passing any act impairino- the obligation of contracts. This reason, with all the deference due to this exalted and most able court, whose learning, wisdom and purity have shed judicial glory around the republic, and conferred new honors on the great profession from which they have sprung, is utterly dissented from by repeated decisions of the Supreme appellate* court of this state, and not held any more as law in Kentucky now, than before the decision in the case of Green against Biddle. Our court of Appeals say,t " that we should consider ourselves bound by the decisions of the Supreme court of the United States, settling a construction of the constitution or laws of the United States, in cases where it possesses revising jurisdiction over the decisions of this court, we shall not pretend to controvert." But " the case of Green against Biddle was decided by three only of the seven judges, * See Pirtle's Digest, vol, 1—162-3. t Monroe's Reports, 58, BodJey vs. Gaither. 276 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. who compose the Supreme court of the United States; and being the opinion of less than a majority of the judges, cannot be considered as having settled any constitutional principle. It would not, we apprehend, be considered conclusive in any subsequent case that may be brought before it." At the same time the court intimated that it did not intend to admit the binding force of that opinion of the Supreme court, if it had been the unanimous opinion of all the judges composing that court. There are circumstances connected with the decision of the Supreme court of the United States, in the case of Green against Biddle, which demand the animadversion of every patriot, and are due to the rights and dignity of Kentucky. Upon the ratifi- cation of the convention between Messrs. Clay and Leigh, the legislature of Kentucky appointed Henry Clay, Esq., and judge Rowan, in 1822, to attend as counsel before the tribunal to be organized in conformity to the above mentioned convention. These gentlemen, upon learning the decision of the Supreme court, determined to make one more struggle for the dearest interests of the enterprising and unfortunate pioneers of Ken- tucky, by a petition for a reconsideration . Accordingly, a com- prehensive and able argument was drawn up by judge Rowan alone, owing to the other engagements of Mr. Clay, richly im- bued with the ardent eloquence adorning that gentleman, and which received the commendations of his eminent colleague. When judge Rowan attempted to read this petition, on behalf of one of the high parties to this confederacy,* " the court would not hear it read ; and it was with great apparent reluctance thaf judges Washington and Duval agreed to take and read it in their chamber. Judge Story would not assent even to that measure. Judge Johnson was throughout favorable to the application. It was on a subsequent morning overruled." On the application, judge Washington observed to judge Rowan, that every deliberation had been bestowed on this subject, the pride of Kentucky had been heard on it, and no new views could be presented. This, it must be observed, * Jud'^e Rowan's letter to Gov. Adair. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 277 .s too supercilious a spirit to be indulged, on questions in- volving the constitutionality of the laws of the States ; which of all others are so calculated to convulse the confederacy to death. Not that it is meant to disparage the wholesome jurisdiction of this high court, the Areopagus of the republic; but it is intended to advocate profound caution in discharging so invidious, and yet so indispensable a controling power over the great political bodies, which compose our federal system. Too much delicacy and conciliation of manner, can scarcely be exhibited in executing these high prerogatives. Under the influence of such opinions, would not the petition cf Kentucky, (for so that of her counsel must be considered,) have been readily heard and examined; and if the opinion of the court had been held up, (supposing it unaltered on a subject so peculiarly local,) it would have lost no weight by its age; and it would certainly have gained much in the graces of an ardent people, whose fields and fire-sides were involved in its operation. The author may not refrain from enriching his pages with some extracts from this petition, so ungraciously received by the Supreme court of the United States, yet marked with intense investigation, and animated by a profound zeal for the interests of Kentucky. **Can it be supposed, or presumed, reasonably, that the Dis- trict of Kentucky, engaged, at the date of the compact, in its tenth years' war with the savages, that occupied the wilderness, on its southern, western and northern frontier, itself almost a wilderness — a war which had not intermitted during all that time, and had been unusually sanguinary, with its settlements sparse, and scattered, weak from the paucity and disperse4 Btate of its population. Not knowing certainly when the war would terminate; or with what farther ravages, its progress might be marked. Situated, from three to five hundred miles, from any efficient source of assistance. Constrained to reiy upon its own strength, and resources. Its territory encum- bered and cursed with a triple layer cf adversary claims. Can •?t be supposed, that a district thus situated ; conscious that it 2 A 278 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. needed the strength of increased population, not only to sus- tain it in the war in which it was engaged ; but to reduce its wilderness land to a state of cultivation, and thereby fur- nish the resources necessary to sustain the new government, would in the very process of its formation, surrender the power, so indispensably necessary, if not to its very existence, certainly to its well being and prosperity? It needed the power to furnish incentives to emigration and to industry; to silence as speedily, as it could be justly done, the litigation in relation to its lands, which threatened its repose. Can it be presumed, it is again asked, to have consented to part with those powers, which, if they were not essential to its sovereignty, were in- dispensably so to its condition? "It remained, when the Indians should have ])een conquered, to subdue the forests of the wilderness. Can it be reasonably supposed, that the people of that district, after winning the country by conquest, under circumstances of privation, hard- ship, and gloom, of which a true narrative would, on account of their peculiarity, seem more like romance, than history — a gloom not indeed uninterrupted ; but when interrupted, bright- ened only by the gleams of their own chivalric daring, and valorous achievement; that such a people would consent to clear up the grounds, erect houses, build barns, plant orchards and make meadows, for the sole convenience of those who had latent rights, and who, during the war, and while the improve- ments were making, had remained as latent as their rights? "The conduct of the State of Kentucky, whatever may have been said of it by the misguided or the unprincipled, has been high-minded, liberal and indulgent towards non-resident claim- ^.nts of lands in that State. She indulged them from year to year, for six years, to make their surveys, and from year to year, for twenty years, to return plats and certificates of sur- vey to the Register's office. She repealed her laws against champerty so early as the year 1798, in the mistaken view of furnishing to them increased facilities of disposing of their claims; and in all her laws for the appropriation of vacant lands, she declared that every survey or patent which might HISTORY OP KENTUCKY. 279 be obtained under those laws, should be absolutely void, so far as it should interfere with a survey made in virtue of a right derived from Virginia." The mischievous operation of this decision of the land titles of Kentucky, has \ieen arrested by two causes; neither of which, was anticipated at the time it was given by the Su- preme court. The first has been ihe refusal of the Appellate court of Kentucky* to be bound by an opinion of the Supreme court of the United States, not concurred in by a majority of the whole court. The second has been the subsequent determination of the Supreme court, unanimously affirming the constitutionality of the act of Kentucky, limiting the commencement of actions against actual settlers, within seven years from its passage ; and its consistency with the compact between Virginia and Kentucky. This additional quieting measure was passed on the 9th of February, 1809, and its constitutionality was affirmed in 1831, in the case of f Hawkins et. al. vs. Barneys' lessees. Thus has the poison and the cure proceeded from the same source, though the forfeiture of the land itself, would seem, to one uninitiated in the mysteries of the law, a much more fearful violation of the obligation of the contract, contained in a patent for land; than the subjection of that same land to a salvage, or per centage for actual im- provements, made upon it, in as good faith, as that which gave the elder patent. Less than this, could not well be said on a subject connecting itself with the sacred freehold, the Dii Penates of the State. * Littell's Laws, iv. 56. t Peters' Report, .5. 280 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. CHAPTER XVI. Convention — Emancipation of Slaves — Henry Clay — r^^iiitentiary Code — Alien and Sedition Laws— Nullification Resolutions of Kentucky in 179S-1799 — Abjuration of this doctrine in 3833— Constitution of 1800— Pf^ate of Leeislation— Trade— Election of Mr. Jefferson as President of the Ume\l States— Judiciary Repeal— Eepeal of the Iiiteniai 'I'axes — Insurance Companj- During the year 1797, a partial and irregular vote was taken on the question of calling a convention to revise the Constitution. By this, the whole number of voters was repre- sented as "nine thousand eight hundred and fourteen, and that of this number, five thousand four hundred and forty*six were for a convention. Of the twenty-one counties, then existing in the State, at the time of the general election in May, 1797, there were five which made no return of those who voted at the election." A bill for taking the sense of the people on the assembling of a convention, fell, in the Senate, by a small majority. This measure, like most political topics, is said to have gathered strength by agitation. The aristocratic constitution of the Senate, formerly hinted at, became a free topic of public animadversion — its remote ness from the choice of the people ; though not more so than that of the President and Vice President of the United States is, at this moment, under the federal constitution; yet it was highly odious to the people. The emancipation of slaves, presented another matter of ferment and uneasiness. On this delicate point, Mr. Clay, who had only come to the State in 1797, took the fearless part of advocating a gradual emancipation of slaves, which his noble spirit has ever dictated. It was the precursor of that illustrious career which he has so honorabh'' run, in supporting the wise and pure charities of the "Colonization Society." Such are said to have been the principal points of agitation among the people; still no decisive popular vote could be obtained on the question, at the August election in 1798. The result, as before, left several counties unrepresented on the matter; seven out of twenty-four of them, did not vote on HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 281 the question at all, and the total presented, eleven thousand eight hundred and fifty three in favor of the convention, and eight thousand eight hundred and four against it. A law, however, passed this session, for calling a convention on the 22dJuly, 1799. A memorable change in our criminal code was effected during the session of 1797-98; it was the abolition of the punishment of death, for any offence but that of murder in the first degree. This species of crime was defined to consist in "murder, which shall be perpetrated by means of poison, or by lying-in-wait, or by any other kind of wilful, deliberate and premeditated killing ; or which shall be committed in the per- petration, or attempt to perpetrate any arson, rape, robbery, or burglary." Other kinds of homicide were to be punished with confinement in the penitentiary, for not less than five, nor more than eighteen years. Other offences were made punishable by similar alleviations. But while there can be no doubt, that t]ie spirit, in which this great revolution in our criminal code originated, was one of the purest benevolence; one that has engaged the minds and hearts of some of the warmest friends of social order, and moral improvement, the Beccarias and the Howards of society ; yet there are considerations for the security of the innocent and injured, who become the victims of lawless passions, v/hich have been too much lost sight of in some of our penitentiary systems. Punishment for crime ma)' be made so tolerable under the influence of a false and per- verted humanity, as to neglect the violated rights of society. Feeling for the effects brought upon criminals by their inor- dinate passions, may be carried so far as to lose sight of the just claims of the innocent. In another point of view, peniten- tiaries, according to their management, have in many instances, been schools of vice, and sources of augmented corruption, instead of institutions of reform; either by their physical or moral influences. Tested by any of the principles, which have received the sanction of the wisest friends of ameliorated legislation on criminal punishments, the author fears the 2A* 282 HISTORY OF KENTt'CKr. penitentiary of Kentucky will be found to be far short of practicable perfection. On these points of interesting taw, the friends of humanity have been not a little divided. One portion attaching the importance of this species of punishment to solitary confine- ment exclusively, with or without work; the other to a system of rigid, silent labor, but without solitary confinement. The models of these respective systems are to be found in the Eastern Penitentiary of Philadelphia, for the first system, and the Sing-Sing establishment in the State of New-York, for the other. * In the year 1798, an agitation took place, which has scarcely ever been equalled in Kentucky, produced by the passage of two acts of Congress, familiarly known as the alien and sedition laws. The sentiments of Kentucky were never more unanimous than in the condemnation of these measures. The Governor, in his first communication to the legislature, after their passage, called the attention to these measures of that body, by "telling them that they had vested the President with high and dangerous powers, and intrenched on the prerogatives of the individual States, have created an uncommon agitation of mind in different parts of the Union, and particularly among the citizens of this commonwealth. ' The alien law authorized the President of the United States "to order all such aliens as he shall judge dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States, or shall have reason- able ground to suspect are concerned in treasonable or secret machinations against the government thereof, to depart out of the territory of the United States." By another section the President was authorized to "grant license to any alien to remain within the United States for such time as he shall judge proper, and at such place as he may designate." In addition to these high and arbitrary powers over aliens, * The reader, who feels a curiosity to investigate these great moral problems, will find them most ably and imiiartially discussed in the "Report of Messrs. G. De Peaumont and A.De Toquevillo, on tl-.e Penitentiary system of the United States, to the govern- ment of France." It is translated by the learned and sagacious Leiber, the editor of the Encyclopedia Americana; accompanied by notes in the usual full and philosophical manner of tliis learned German, wlio has honored our country by adopting it. Phil- adelphia, 1833, HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 283 whose nations were at peace with the United States; powers so calculated to arouse the jealousies of a people attached to their liberties, it was likewise enacted, that should any alien return, who h;;d been ordered out of the United States, by the President, "unless by his permission, he shall be imprisoned so long as in the opinion of the President, the public safety may require." The sedition law was still more odious than this measure; it attempted to protect the official conduct of the different branches of the government of the United States, from that free and unrestrained discussion, alone worthy of a people canvassing the public conduct of their agents. This object it effected by holding any person answerable, by fine and imprisonment, "who should print, utter, or publish any false, scandalous and malicious writing against the government of the United States, the President of the United States, or either House of Congress, with intent to defame^'' "either of them," or "excite against either of them the hatred of the good people of the United States." The great objection to this measure is, not its subjecting malicious falsities to punishment; but its subjection of opinion, however honestly entertained, to fine and imprisonment. It is not meant by the author to « shield, or apologize for the licentiousness of the press, for its wanton impugning the motives of public men, and the imputation of its own scan- dalous inventions, much less its unprincipled dissemination of known falsehoods. All such offences, independent of their heinous immorality, their violation of all honorable decorum and liberal discussion in lacerating private feelings, are essen- tially destructive of the sound and valuable influence of the press. It has already impaired the weight which this great instrument of intellectual and moral circulation ought to have on the community. The frequency of falsehood perplexes the discrimination of truth; and the press ceases to be a credible witness at the bar of the public. But are penal laws the proper instructors for the communi- ty in liberality and decorum of political discussion? Can they 284 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. infuse the moral sensibility and sympathy, which shall cor rect the fierce and ferocious effusions of political passiom and prejudices? No government or court is competent t( exercise, these high attributes of political and critical cen' sorship. Opinions are only to be combatted by argument and witj they are not to be confounded with matters of fact, which may be susceptible of precise testimony and proof. These are the regions of mental freedom, which ought to be open to the excursions of all minds, untrammeled by fears of prosecution. Nor should any intellect be discouraged from penetrating these bowers of philosophic meditation, so pro- ductive of valuable lessons to society; by apprehensions of legal penalties, from the differences of opinion between an author and a jury. In confirmation of these remarks, the first amendment to the Constitution of the United States de- clares, that "Congress shall make no law respecting an estab- lishment of religion, or prohibiting the fi'ee exercise thereof,- or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press." The whole spirit and tenor of this constitutional provision seems to prohibit all legislation on these sacred and invidious subjects. It was contended, however, that it was a law restraining the licentiousness of the press, and that the right of giving the truth of a libel in evidence provided by this law, was an alleviation of the common law which forbade it. Yet the fact of there having been no law of libel or scandalum mag- natum, under the federal government, previous to this unfor- tunate attempt to establish one, obviously rendered the liberty both of speech, and of the press, less than it had been. Thus far, in all rational estimation, the law abridged the freedom of both. Besides, the liberty of speculative discussion cannot safely be discriminated from its licentiousness. No doubt these measures originated in a distempered state of public feeling, and high party excitement. The passions were in- dulged to disgraceful and exasperating extremes, and nearly in the same degree on one side as on the other. French and British sympathies overwhelmed the feelings, which should ever bind fellow countrymen together in a band, superior to HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 285 partiality for a foreign nation. One party provoked the other to extremities, which the cooler feelings of neither would sanction. Nor would these unhappy feuds be now referred to, were it not to preserve the additional lesson which they so elo- quently convey, of the injustice, and the dangers of factions to the liberty and prosperity of republics. Such were the views which generally actuated the repub- licans, as the opponents of President Adams, the elder, de- nominated themselves. But names do not alter things, though they have a fearful operation amidst the fermentations and furies of party. The sense of Kentucky, was expressed on these obnoxious measures in resolutions, which, with their allied brethren adopted by the legislature of Virginia, have become more memorable than the unhappy discords, which produced them. They have been pressed into the justification of the fatal per- version of the constitution, maintained by the South Carolina doctrine of nullification. These resolutions, which it has since been acknowledged were drafted by Mr. Jefferson,* and com- municated by him to Mr. John Breckenridge of Kentucky, were intoduced by the latter gentleman on the 8th day of November,! into the House of Representatives of Kentucky. The essential and important doctrine, conveyed by these reso- lutions, independent of their protest against the alien and sedition laws was, that the several States composing the Uni- ted States of America, are "united by a compact, under the style and title of a constitution for the United States, that to this compact, each State acceeded, as a State, and is an inte- gral party, its co-States forming to itself the other party; that the government created by this compact, was not made the exclusive or final judge of the extent of the powers dele- gated to itself;" "but, that as in all other cases of com- pact among parties having no common judge, each party has an equal right to judge for itself, as well as of infractions as to mode and manner of redress." On the 9th, the House resolved itself into a committee of * Taylor's Inquiry, p. 174 t Palladium, 13th, 1798 286 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. the whole, on the state of the Commonwealth, when the resolu- tions above mentioned, were moved by Mr. John Brecken- ridge of Fayette, seconded by Mr. Johnson.* A brief debate arose between Mr. William Murray, from Franklin, and the mover: the opposition appears to have been but faint, as far as the meagre report of the discussion can aid conjecture. Mr. Murray, in the report subsisting, confined himself to de- precating an expression of opinion on the part of the legis- lature; "where is the clause," he asked, "which has given you this censorship — where is the clause which has authori- zed you to repeal, or to declare void, the laws of the Uni- ted States? If we have been elected by our fellow citizens, to watch over the interests of our Commonwealth, shall we consume our time — shall we divert our attention from the objects for which we were specially sent here, in fabri- cating theories of government, and pronouncing void the acts of Congress?" After expatiating on the imbecility of the con- federation, and the necessity of forming a closer union and a more energetic government. "This constitution," he show- ed, "was not merely a covenant between integral States, but a compact between several individuals composing these States. Accordingly, the constitution commences with this form of expression : "We, the people of the United States," not "we, the thirteen States of America." In another place, this distinguished gentleman observes, that "the authority to determine that a law is void, is lodged with the judiciary." These sentiments, recorded in an obscure provincial news- paper, are the more worthy of being preserved, for their cu- rious coincidence with the argument of the great orator of Massachusetts, in his triumphant vindication of the supre- macy of the constitution of the United States, over all State laws. On this occasion,! in answer to Mr. Hayne, he said : "The gentleman has not shown — it can not be shown, that the constitution is a compact between the State govern- ments. The constitution itself, in its very front, refutes that proposition; it declares that it is ordained and established by * The Father of the Hon. R. M. Johnson. t January 6th, 180G. HISTORY OF KENTUcKr. 287 the people of the United Stales." The rerrijvrks of but one gentleman in reply to Mr. Murray, are reported, and thev are those of Mr. John Breckenridge, the mover: he obser- ved, "I consider the co-States to be alone parties to the federal compact, and solely authorized to judge in the last resort of the power exercised under the compact. Congress being not a party, but merely the creature of the compact, and subject as to its assumption of power, to the final judgment of those by whom, and for whose use, itself and its powers were all created." In another passage he says, "If upon the representation of the States from whom they derive their powers, they should nevertheless attempt to enforce them, I hesitate not to declare it as my opinion, that it is then the right and duty of the several States, to nullify those acts, and protect their citizens from their operation." On the same day, the resolutions passed both Houses,* the Sen- ate unanimously; and they were approved by the Governor on the 16th of November. Important as these resolutions are, as having proceeded from the author of the Declaration of Independence ; influential as they were in contributing to effect a great revolution in the administration of the general gov- ernment, they, it must likewise be observed, have had a fatal importance in organizing the wretched and delusive miscon- struction of the constitution, which has lately infatuated some portions of the United States. With these grave and interesting aspects, they will therefore be traced through their history, to the final disclaimer in our own times, of all such doctrines on the part of Kentucky; when she felt free from the intoxicating delusions of 1798. These expressions of Ken- tucky sentiments on some of the most prominent measures of the administration of the elder Adams, on being laid before the co-States, agreeably to the direction expressed in the 9th resolution, produced counter resolutions from all the States it is believed, but Virginia. She had echoed the same protest drawn by Mr. Madison, more emphatically than any other * The final votes in the House were as follows:— nays on the 1st resolution, Murray;, 2d, Brooke and Murray; Hd, Murray and PoaKe; 4tii, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th, Murray; 9th, Broo!;p, Murray and Poage. — Palladium, No, 13. 1798, 288 HIiJrORY OF KENTUCKY. man, the father of the Federal constitution. Here is the cradle of nullification in the resolutions of Messrs. Jefterson and Madison. That the pernicious doctrine was knoiuingly rocked to growth and strength, by these sages, the author can not believe, against the solemn assurance of so chaste and virtuous a character as that of President Madison. He declares that * '"the tenor of the debates, which were ably conducted, and are understood to have been revised for the press by most, if not all, of the speakers, discloses no reference what- ever, to a constitutional right in an individual Stale, to arrest by force, the operation of a law of the United States." "It is worthy of remark," he observes, "and explanatory of the intentions of the legislature, that the words, ^not law, but utterly null and void, and of no force and effect^ v/hich had followed in one of the resolutions, the word unconstitutional, were struck out hy common consent^ This is unexceptionable testimony for the intentions of Virginia; coming, as it does, from one of the purest political patriarchs, who was intimately conversant with the history of these transactions, now so unex- pectedh^ brought under the public scrutiny. It will, however, be observed, that the language of Mr. Breckenridge in the Kentucky legislature, was unequivocally in favor of passing a law to ^'mdlrfy the acts of Congress, and protect their citizens from their operation.'" On these resolutions being laid before the legislature of the other States, counter resolutions were adopted, accompanied by counter reports, which it is believed, in the instance of Massa- chusetts, was expressed with much asperity. These produced the celebrated defence of the resolutions on the part of Virginia, by Mr. Madison. This has hitherto been deemed tlie very shiboleth and infallible test of immaculate republican fliith, on the points involved within their scope; how justly may here- after appear. In Kentucky, upon the re-assembling of the legislature, on the 14th of November, 1799, the first resolutions expressive of the sense of Kentucky, were passed by the house. In the Senate, Mr. John Pope attempted to amend them in their * Letter to Mr. Everett, Book of the Constitution, p. 87. HISTORY OP KENTUCKY. 289 most obnoxious passage, by moving to strike out the words, "that a nullification by those sovereignties, (meaning the indi- vidual States,) of all unauthorized acts done under color of that instrument, (meaning the constitution of the United States,) is the rightful remedy,'''' and inserting the words, ^'the right of re- monstrating and protesting against such laws belonged to the States." With this amendment, the resolution would have read : "That the several states who formed that instrument, being sovereign and independent, have the unquestionable right to judge of its infraction, and the right of remonstrating and pro- testing against such law, belonged, to the States''"' The amend- ment was carried in committee, but it was rejected by a majority of one, when the committee returned into the house, and the words moved to be stricken out by Mr. Pope, were retained. The resolutions were approved by Gov. Garrard, and the theory of nullification was fixed on Kentucky. But its practical exe- cution was far from being approved; so much so, that when an attempt was made to convert the fire of the resolutions into an act to protect the citizens of this Commonwealth from the operation of the alien and sedition laws, by attaching penalties for any attempt to enforce them: the bill received its death blow in Kentucky, never, we trust, to rise from its polluted tomb, until revolution shall again become the only resource, for pre- serving the liberty and happiness of the (Commonwealth. This sketch would be imperfect, if it did not record the death, as it is most devoutly hoped, of this false, dangerous, and uncon- stitutional doctrine, and its solemn disavowal by the constituted authorities of Kentucky, in their resolutions approved by the Governor,* February 2d, 1833. The essence of these resolutions is contained in the following extract : " That so long as the present constitution remains unaltered, the legislative enactments of the constituted authori- ties of the United States can only be repealed by the authorities that made them ; and if not repealed, can in no wise be finally * It is due to the memory of the late amiable and worthy Gov. Breathitt, to mention his particular desire expressed to the author, that he would record the solemn protest of Kentucky, against this doctrine, so fatal in its tendenciee to the peace and happiness of thto great and glorious republic, 2B 290 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. and authoritatively abrogated or annulled, than by the sentence of the Federal Judiciary, declaring their unconstitutionality; that those enactments, subject only to be so repealed or declared null, and treaties made by the United States, are supreme laws of the land ; that no State of this Union, has any constitutional right or power to nullify any such enactment or treaty, or to contravene them, or obstruct their execution; that it is the duty of the President of the United States, a bounden, solemn duty to take care that these enactments and treaties be faithfully executed, observed and fulfilled; and we receive with unfeigned and cordial approbation, the pledge which the President has given to the nation in his late proclamation, that he will perform this high and solemn duty." CHAPTER XVII. Convention of 1799— Essential alterations of the o'd Constitution— New Constitution— Spirit of the Laws from Marshall— State of the Kentucky River— New covernnient of Kenturky — Chanaes in the state of society— Commercial difficulties — Election of Presi- dent Jefferson— Joy of Kentucky— Repeal of the Circuit courts of the United States, and of the internal taxes — Insurance Company — Circuit court system. No measure of importance suggests itself to the author, at this stage of his history, without digressing beyond any neces- sity, into the narrative of national affairs, too often forced upon the early story of Kentucky; excepting the convention for framing a new constitution, in the 7th year of the old one. This body assembled on the 22d of July, 1799; it was organized by the same number of representatives, which the counties were entitled to in the election of the House of Representatives, and elected by the ordinary voters; but the duration of the body was limited to four months. It pro- ceeded to business by choosing Alexander S. Bullitt, a mem- ber from the county of Jefferson for its president, and Thomas Todd, the veteran clerk of Kentucky, as its clerk. No report of the debates of this body, is known to exist; although proposals for taking and publishing them, are con- HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 291 tamed in the newspapers of the day. The various points of division can not therefore be stated; but as a substitute for this narration, a brief analysis of the important altera- tions in the government by the new constitution, will be offered. The first radical change is, the constitution of the Senate and Executive; the former of which instead of being elected by a college of electors, is distributed among a certain number of senatorial districts, not less than twenty- four, and an additional senator to be chosen for every three representatives, which shall be elected above fifty-eight. One fourth of this body is renewed every year, so that after the first three years, the senators hold their offices for four years. The Governor instead of being elected by the same col- lege of electors as the Senate, is chosen every four years by the voters directly; but instead of possessing the effec- tual negative of the old constitution, he is overruled on dis- approving a law by a simple majority of all the members elected. Thus is the executive responsibility swallowed up by the legislature, and the representative of the whole com- monwealth, is scarcely capable of exercising any effectual check in behalf of the people, over the errors or the mistakes incident to all popular bodies; and which are so usefully- subjected to the re-examination of the community, as well as to that of their representatives, by an efficient veto. At present the executive veto is calculated to bring that de- partment of the government into contempt, by its imperfect powers of withstanding the moral force and the esprit du corps, so characteristic of popular bodies. The patronage, which the Governor possesses in so simple and economical a community, furnishes a very confined and indirect influence. Most of the offices within his gift are irremovable at his pleasure. With these two essential alterations, the latter most indubitably for the worse, the new constitution was reported after the labors of twenty-seven days, on the 17th of August. It declared the former frame of government to be in force until the 1st of June, 1800; when the new fundamental law of the State was to go into operation. 292 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. It is, the author thinks, a matter of regret, that altera- tions of our constitution, should not be authorized to be submitted by the ordinary legislature whenever two-thirds, or other number beyond a bare majority, should think them necessary; without prohibiting the assemblage of a conven- tion, whenever substantially and unequivocally required by the people. A provision like the above, such as is intro- duced into the constitution of the United States, is so well designed to save the community, from the hazard of sub- mitting the whole frame of its fundamental law, to the ordeal, often so dangerous, of an unlimited convention. In- deed no sound and discreet community, should suffer itself to be cajoled or terrified into so perilous a political lottery, until the defects and mischiefs of the existing government; as well as their remedies are clearly, precisely, and gen- erally stated and discussed. This session closed the legislature functions under the old constitution; after having added six hundred and fifty laws to the statute book in eight years, rather more than eighty per annum. "Occasional observations having been made, with a view to convey an idea to the reader, of the character of the session acts, nothing more of the kind will be added here. Whovever attends to the subject? will be struck with the frequent changes in the courts, and in the execution laws; which, if it were possible, should be fixed and immutable. The observer of the legislative course under the constitution, can but be equally affected, by the frequent ocurrence of acts which violate private rights to real property, as well by their retro-active effects, as by vesting power in one or another, to sell lands belonging to infants, as well as those of adults, without their consent. Relief, also, of one kind or other, either to private individ- uals who should have been left to seek it in a court of law, or equity; or to public functionaries, who had violated the laws, and ran to the legislature to cover their igno- rance or design from the consequences, by legalizing what was illegally done, makes a figure in the code; besides HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 293 those acts of direct interference between creditor and debtor, by means of replevy, and otherwise: which taken together as a body of evidence, goes to prove great defects in the political morality of the law makers, and separately, furnishes precedents for every species of irregular and in- correct legislation. Not that there are no good laws; there are certainly many; for at different times, different moral and political feeling have prevailed: but so predominant lias been the disposition to change, that but few acts have escaped its ignorance, its love, its rage, or its malice." Such aro the free criticisms of a scrutinizing observer of our laws.* The author does not pretend to sit in judg- ment upon a body of legislation, which neither his learning nor his experience qualifies him to perform: yet he has seen ► much within his own circumscribed sphere of remark, to justify this reproof of an experienced statesman. It is republished and commended to the attention of our future legislators, in the fond hope, that where the reproach upon our government is merited, they will exert themselves, until it is utterly re- moved from the proud escutcheon of Kentucky. During the session just recounted,! a survey of the Kentucky river, from Frankfort to its mouth, by Martin Hawkins, was communicated to the legislature. It exhibited a fall of forty-nine feet and four inches, in an extent of four thousand five hundred and fifty yards; broken into eighteen different falls of unequal length. An estimate of the expense necessary to make each of them navigable, amounted to nine hundred and twenty dollars. At the same time it was suggested that ten thousand dollars would remove all obstructions to the navigation of the river throughout its whole extent: and that there were persons ready to undertake the work, at a thousand dollars a year, and receive their pay in land, at fifty dollars a hundred acres. These pro- posals, tempting as they appear at this day, and particularly when the public lands of the State have been sold from forty to twenty dollars per hundred acres, were rejected. On the first day of June, 1800, the new constitution went * Humphrey MarBhall, Esq. t Marshall 2.317. 2B* 294 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. into operation, ''without even an emotion, much less commo- tion," as it has been rather quaintly remarked. It is at least evidence of a contented slate of society, free from the agita- tions, which have so frequently and so painfully convulsed the State, and destroyed the harmony of its social intercourse. No better evidence of the public tranquillity can be given, than that the same Governor, who had presided over the Com- monwealth under the old constitution, received the suffrages of the people for the same office, under the new frame of gov- ernment. James Garrard was chosen Governor, and Alexan- der S. Bullitt, the old and respected President of the Senate, and of the convention, was elected Lieutenant Governor; an office which did not literally exist under the former constitu- tion; though its provisional duty was to be discharged by the Speaker of the Senate, which is the only extraordinary duty of the existing Lieutenant Governor. It has been remarked, that about this time the changes in the wealth and property of society in Kentucky began to be more strikingly obvious. The distance between the extremes of property became more marked. Such are the inevitable operations of unequal exertions, talents, and opportunities in any community; where industry and enterprise are, as they ought to be, free to exert themselves, and where they are secured in their acquisitions, when they have made them. Nor can there be a doctrine more fatal to the prosperity of well ordered society, than any outcry of aristocracy, which, under a false and pre- tended denunciation of wealth, whether directly or indirectly the reward of merit, undermines the security and the reputa- bleness of property, which are the very roots of the greatest social blessings. No person is readier than the author, to dis- dain and despise the airs and liberties of the merely purse- proud; yet the proper object of contempt is, not the property, or its fruits, which they possess. They are consecrated by the laws and the eternal interests of civilized society, of which they form the life and value. But the true point of indignation, and the just mark of scorn is, the littleness of soul, which estimates man, who ought to be the rich epitome of mind and HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 295 of virtues, below the money which he may, or may not have procured. The hue and cry of aristocracy against the re- wards of industrious enterprise, or its descendants, ought to be suspected and frowned upon by an orderly and an intelli- gent people, who wish to preserve the foundations of the social fabric uninjured; and to maintain that decent and temperate love of property, without which, liberty would have little to struggle for, and less to enjoy. Yet the badge of aristocrat, which so easily fastens to a prosperous man, not too courteous in his manners, or remarkable for his conciliatory demeanor, soon consigns him to perpetual obscurity; it is the ostracism of Kentucky, perhaps of the United States, without any removal from the soil. Difficulties now began to be felt in the want of a circulating medium, and the inadequacy of the exports of the. State, to pay for its imports. Frequent as those complaints used to be in Kentucky, owing to her interior situation so remote from the mar- ket of her consumer, as well as from the supplies of her own consumption; they now ascended from the circles of private con- versation into the grave communications of the executive magis- trate to the legislature of the State. In the speech of the Gov- ernor, at the opening of the session of 1800, after complaining of the deficiencies in the public revenue, the governor attributes them and the public condition '^almost destitute of specie^'' "to our local situation, but more especially to the nature and system of our trade." The remedies which he suggests for these evils will appear strange in this day of more enlightened political economy. "Nor can I," says the Governor, "discern any probable prospect of a change for the better, until our dependence on other countries is lessened, and until we supply those wants, which are indispensable, through channels, which will admit of an exchange of commodities, mutually advan- tageous to the parties." In another passage he says, "Policy and interest therefore invite us to turn our commercial views to this channel," meaning that of the Ohio, Mississippi, and their tributary streams. For this purpose, the Governor sug- gests the importance of "giving premiums on importations by 296 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. the way of the Mississippi, as would at least call their atten- tion," that is, the attention of the merchants, "to that essential channel of our foreign intercourse." The object was patriotic, the means of effecting it, any thing but wise or effectual. The main source of domestic embarrassment, was excessive con- sumption of foreign goods beyond the effectual demand ; that is, the means to pay for them. Whether this merchandise had come by the way of New Orleans, or of Philadelphia, the domestic means of payment in Kentucky, must have been the same. A mere change in the channel of trade, without an increase of its profits, would have added no greater ability to the consumer of foreign goods to pay for them. A million of dollars invested in the produce of Kentucky, which might be exchanged in the ports of Louisiana, would have given no more additional resources to Kentucky, than if the same pro- duce had been sold in New Orleans, and its proceeds converted into the merchandise of New York or Philadelphia. Could the investment have been more profitably made under the imperfect navigation of the time, at New Orleans, than in Philadelphia, the western merchant would have had a higher inducement, and a more powerful motive to effect it, than any legislative premiums which Kentucky could offer him. Eagle- eyed interest may be much more securely relied upon to keep awake, and to watch over its own welfare, than the most be- nevolent sages, that ever attempted the mischievous and im- practicable task of aiding or superseding its vigilant offices. Connected with these mistaken visions about our trade, was another error, which long haunted the public mind, and was, indeed, at the bottom of the former dissatisfaction. It was the drain of specie by our eastern trade. This was a topic of ani- mated and frequent denunciation. In the troublesome and dangerous exportation of gold and silver, which the merchant always so gladly avoided whenever he could, the economists of Kentucky, like too many in older communities, saw the most pernicious subtraction of the public wealth. It has, indeed, taken long to convince the cabinets and legislatures of the world, nor is the work yet fully completed, that gold and silver, HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 297 however truly valuable in themselves, are only so, for commer- cial purposes, — to effect the exchanges of society by measuring their value, and by intrinsic value to avoid the clumsy processes of circuitous barter. They come and go with all the valuables in the markets of the commercial world, which they so conve- niently represent; and they are to be procured whenever and wherever a fair equivalent in market can be offered for them. No community need concern itself more with the supply of its gold and silver, than with its iron ware, (to use the illustration of the great master of political economy,*) or any other of its demands. To be able to buy, or, in other words, to give an equivalent in market, is alone sufficient to obtain a supply under ordinary circumstances of trade. Let the laws compel the payment of all debts by honest and fair equivalents in gold and silver; and private interest will relieve the legislator from all his superflu- ous apprehensions about the supply of money, which he can only gratify by disregarding the natural laws of trade and of social intercourse. No other event occurs, particularly interesting, until the year 1800; when the election for the fourth presidency came on. The principal antagonists were, the then incumbent, the elder Adams, and Thomas Jefferson, the respective favor- ites of the two great opposing parties of federalists and republi- cans, in the temporary and party sense of those exalted names. These denominations were synonymous with the advocates, and opponents, of the administration of President Adams. In Ken- tucky the latter were the great mass of the people with singular unanimity ; they supported Mr. Jefferson with enthusiasm. The times were those of high wrought excitement; and the respec- tive merits of France and of England were, on every occasion, interfering with the affections and the duties of Americans to their own country. Long since, these foreign partialities have, most happily for our countrymen, become absorbed in their own national attachments: never, it is most fervently hoped, will they be revived, to disgrace and to injure this republic. The * Smith's Wealth of Nations. 298 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. plurality of the electoral votes was in favor of Messrs. Jefferson and Burr; and after a convulsive struggle of parties, which threa- tened to suspend the constitution, or involve the country in civil war, a majority was given to Mr. Jefferson for President, to the most lively delight of his friends. American feelings were, on this occasion, transported to an extravagance of sensibility, which is generally deemed more characteristic of the south of Europe, than of the stock of grave and staid old England. No part of the United States partook of these feelings of animated joy more deeply than Kentucky. Her character has ever been impetuous and ardent; and when her favorite statesman was at length elevated to the chief magistracy of the republic, her sensibilities gushed over with a fervor more allied to religious devotion, than to political joy. Some peculiar circumstances contributed to this excessive triumph. Mr. Jefferson was a Virginian; and the Kentuckians had generally been Virginians. The new President had been the Governor of Virginia when it included Kentucky; he had ever been viewed as the decided friend of the western country; and he possessed the more mystical fame of a philosopher. The first measures of President Jefferson's administration, which bore immediately on Kentucky, were, the repeal of the Circuit court system of the United States, and of the internal taxes. No measure of the presidency was canvassed with greater ability and zeal, than this judiciary repeal; none trenched, in the opinion of able constitutional expositors, so palpably on the tenure of judicial office. Instead of this being during good behavior, as provided by the constitution, it became dependent upon the legislative existence of the office, whatever the official behavior might be. This construction sanctions the inconsis- tency, that a bare majority may remove a judge from office by repealing his office, although a majority of two thirds is required to remove him from that office for misbehavior. The country at large, and particularly Kentucky, have settled on the con- stitutional construction, which places the courts, with their judges, which are inferior to the Supreme court, at the discre- HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 299 tion of the legislature ; but reserves the Supreme court, with its judges, as independent of ordinary authority. The law establishing a United States' Circuit court for Ken- tucky was repealed; and Judge M'Clung was also repealed out of office, in company with his judicial brethren. Although distinct Circuit courts may have been premature at the time of their creation ; yet, as a system, it has since been urgently called for, particularly in the western country. It was, however, a most unhappy and illiberal course of policy, to pass so radical a change in the fundamental organization of the government; at the close of an administration, which had incurred the national displeasure. This was aggravated by filling all the vacancies with members of the defeated party. If, then, the judiciary repeal were a violation of the constitution of the United States, the federal party may well be said to have provoked it, by their most unwarrantable and ill judged conduct. It ought to be mentioned in this connection, that the opinion of one of the greatest jurists* in the United States, though not expressly announced, carries every implication, and supports every argument, against the legislative power over the offices of the judiciary when once established. The repeal of the internal taxes relieved our interior agri- cultural country, ill able to command specie, from much irri- tating interference of excise officers; whose salaries in an extensive country like this Union, form a great drawback from the product of such taxes to the national treasury, and con- tributed much, to augment the patronage and influence of the Federal Executive. In thus relinquishing the favorite spoih of most popular favorites, Mr. Jeflferson showed a magnanimity, and a disinterestedness, worthy of the highest commendation. Executive power requires to be sleeplessly watched. The introduction of banking into this agricultural State, next calls for attention; a system of legislation, which, as it has been pursued, has been productive of the most fearful mis- chiefs; and no where more deplorably, than in this State. * Judge Story, in his most dignified and able Commentary on the Constitution of the United States, sections 831, 832. 300 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. Yet it was at first smuggled into Kentucky, and by a fraud upon her legislative understanding, it was foisted into the Commonwealth. An application was made to the legislature to incorporate an insurance company, for the purpose of in- suring the produce of the State, on its passage to market, through the long and perilous channels of the western rivers, the petition was readily granted. But in the charter of incor- poration, the company was authorized "to take and give bills, bonds, and obligations, in the course of their business; also to receive and pass them by assignment; and such of t*he notes as are payable to bearer, shall be negotiable and assign- able by delivery.^'' Under this pregnant clause, the bills issued by the company were made payable to bearer; and they be- came tantamount to bank bills. Thus indirectly was a bank forced upon our legislators, who, at that day, partook of the dread and antipathy to such monied instruments, which then particularly characterized the statesmen of Virginia. Too soon indeed for the solid and durable prosperity of both Kentucky and Virginia, they forgot these prepossessions. This surreptitious bank was chartered until 1818, during which time it enjoyed the monstrous monopoly of insurance under the authority of Kentucky, without any equivalent to the State for the surrender of its legislative discretion. The fate of this institution, which may as well be recorded at once, was worthy of its birth ; it began in fraud and ended in bank- ruptcy. At this session took place the third radical change in the ordinary courts of the State. The District courts and the General court were abolished; and Circuit courts for each county were established in their place. The judges of the former, like the Quarter Session justices, and the judges of the court of Oyer and Terminer, of a former period, acquiesced in following the fate of their courts. To each of the Circuit judges were added two assistants, not learned in the law. The convenience of bringing the administration of justice home to every man's county, reconciled the people to this alteration; but the retention of the assistants unlearned in the law, was HISTOBY Of KENTUCKY. 301 found, in so many instances, to impede the progress of business by producing conflictis with the presiding judge, in overruling or re-arguing his decisions, that the judicial assistants were, at length, most usefully abolished. On no subject of legislation have the people of Kentucky suffered more egregiously, than in the organization of their courts. The inadequacy of judicial salary has kept the judges not only below the professional compensation of the bar ; but in all the wealthy counties, below the compensation of their own clerks. For the purposes of emolument, the clerkships of the courts are greatly more valuable than the salaries of the judges; and are more anxiously sought after, as objects of am- bition. When shall the community feel as it ought to feel on this vital subject of government, that the administration of the law must depend upon the character of its administrators? The sublimes! conceptions of the wisest and most benevolent legislators will be misapplied, in folly and injustice; when igno- rance and incapacity are called to put them in force. If the people of Kentucky desire to have justice administered in all the light of learning and wisdom, amid their too abundant mat- ter of litigation, they must pay the price for these high and rare endowments, which society has placed upon them in other situ- ations; the same price which is put upon these qualities, when exercised for the public service at the bar, or in any other arduous walk of life, must be given by the government. When, as in England, and in many of the elder States^ the Bench shall have been made an ohject of honorable ambition, and a full equivalent for high and lucrative practice ; then the judges will be where they ought to stand, at the head of the profession ; and the masters, and not as they too often have been, the puppets of influential lawyers. Then the liberties and the property of society will, with legislative respect for the independence of the courts, be placed on a footing worthy of a free and en- lightened Commonwealth. In confirmation of these remarks, the author will subjoin the following expressive picture of judicial administration under 2C HISTORY OF KEKTUCKT. the first organization of the circuit courts, now however, most essentially amended. "The practice which ensued under this system, had the effect to retard business, and in other respects proved pernicious. If the knowing judge happened to desire to rule his right and left hand man, and they were willing to be ruled, they sanc- tioned his opinions, and matters went on smoothly, tardy as might be their pace — it was rather, however, the cause of despatch. But when the assistants conceited they knew as much, or more, than their president, they were commonly re- fractory, and kept him in check : he being in general a resi- dent in town, or an itinerant on his circuit, or a lodger in town, where the court was held, could attend early, or late ; while his brother judges, residing in most cases in the coun- try, remained at home for breakfast; then came to town, put up their horses at the tavern, took a round of smoking or chat- ting; then to court; and if any thing had been done, were ready to rehear, and confirm, or reverse it. For it is to be remem- bered, that the presiding, or "circuit judge," could hold court in the absence of his assistants ; subject, nevertheless, to have every thing he did undone by them: and which soon taught him to do nothing when they were away, unless he had pre^ viously obtained the control over one of them at least, "And they, sure of their two dollars a day, if their names were entered on the minute book, took special care to have each, his own, entered at some time in the day. In the long days they did more — but again and again, has the court ad- journed to dinner, before a single jury cause was opened; and probably, a common case, occupied the day. In the populous counties, such was the accumulation of business, and the tardi- ness of proceedings, that causes were years on the docket, which, in a correct course of adjudication should have been tried at the term next after the process was returned executed. Thus suitors were compelled to attend from term to term, and from day to day, during each term for years, before they could obtain a trial at law : while the complainant in chancery was still more unfortunate, although in general, the suits being HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 303 about land titles, were the most important: and demanding the first attention, were put off to the last. A single statement of a common fact, will illustrate this narrative. In these large counties the courts, for years did not clear their dockets; while it often happened, that the causes set for the first day, were not finished for two or three days; and one set for the third, might be taken up the sixth day, &lc. &c. : the parties and wit- nesses bound the while to attendance. "Thus have the people of Kentucky been compelled to sue for, seek after justice; and wait upon courts, often changed, inadequately filled, and frequently unnecessarily dilatory, at an expense and loss of time, which few other people could have afforded; and fewer still, it is probable, would have borne without ascertaining the cause and correcting it, in this legislation; the ostensible source of the evil." CHAPTER XVIII. Suspension of Deposite at New Orleans— Cession of Louisiana to France— Louisiana Negotiation— Cession to the United States— Newspaper Reports of Adjudications in the Court of Appeals — Second Election of President Jefferson — Colonel Burr — Spanish Ditficulties on the Sabine — Return of Burr to the West-Trials— Apprehension— Sebas- tian's Spanish Pension— Judsre Innes-President Madison— Governor Scott— Foreign Depredations— Embargo— Replevy— Battle of Tippecanoe— Death of Daviess. In the course of 1802, the tranquillity of the whole western country was greatly disturbed by the suspension of the right of deposite for American trade at New Orleans, which had been stipulated by Spain, in the treaty of 1795, for three years. At the same time, she bound herself to furnish some "equiva- lent establishment on another part of the banks of the Missis- sippi," should that at New Orleans, on the expiration of the three years, be withheld. This act of the Spanish Intendant, Morales, at Nev/ Orleans, and violation of treaty on so sensitive a subject, as the navigation of the Mississippi, produced the highest indignation throughout the United States; but in the western country, the public mind, in the language of Mr. Jefferson's letter to Mr. Monroe, was thrown into a fever 304 HISTORY OP KENTUCKY. '^The excitement was redoubled" when the public heard of the cession of Louisiana to France. These measures were inevi- tably coupled in the public apprehension. On the meeting of Congress in 1802, a vigorous effort was made in the Senate of the United States to authorize the President to take immedi- ate possession of the island of New Orleans and the adjacent territories. This was however lost, and the Executive instant- ly took measures to procure a cession of New Orleans, and of West and East Florida. To promote this negotiation Congress, at the recommendation of the Executive, appropriated two millions of dollars. Such were the expectations in the United States, when Mr. Monroe was appointed Minister to France, to enter on this delicate and important negotiation. President Jefferson, with a happy regard for the public feel- ings, apprized Governor Garrard of all his measures in an affair* so profoundly interesting to Kentucky. Of this sentiment the legislature most promptly informed the authorities of the United States, on the earliest news of the occlusion, as Mr. Jefferson termed it, of New Orleans. When Mr. Monroe arrived at Paris, he found that the first Consul of France, clearly foreseeing the loss of Louisiana, in the impending hostilities with Great Britain, had determined to sell this magnificent province to the United States. He is said to have expressed himself in these words : "I renounce it with the greatest regret. To attempt obstinately to retain it would be folly." Thus decisive were the resolutions of this pre-eminent military chief The French negotiator was directed to ask fifty millions of francs, as his ultimatum, or something less than ten millions of dollars; he asked eighty, and Mr. Livingston, before the arrival of Mr. Monroe, would not go beyond thirty millions, or nearly six millions of dollars. But when sober deliberation enjoyed a few moments' respite, from the astonishment with which the American mission was overwhelmed, at the extraordinary offer of an empire, when they had doubted whether they could obtain one of its towns, the negotiation no longer faltered about terms. Neither obscure * Marbois' History of Louisiana, p. 213. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 305 boundaries,* which no historical documents could explain, nor tifty additional millions of francs, formed any obstacle. On the 30th of April, 1803, the treaties were all signed, which, reali- zing the boundaries of the ancient charters, granted by the British monarchs to their American colonies, extended the United States "from sea to sea." By a brilliant negotiation, and a coinci- dence of fortunate circumstances in the affairs of nations, that only occur in a series of centuries, Louisiana was purchased for fifteen millions of dollars, or 80,000,000 of francs; and the United States enlarged to 2,000,000 of square miles. At this time, it is curious to look back at the alarm with which the re-occupation of Louisiana by its ancient owners, excited throughout the United States. Yet it would seem, that a power so little naval, need not have produced such apprehen- sion. True, the French would have made a more formidable neighbor than the indolent and unenterprising Spaniards; but they would by the same reasoning, have made more valuable customers, and a more profitable trade might have been carried on with Louisiana. These speculations are, most happily for the fortunes of America, superseded by the acquisition of the country, which the sagacity of Bonaparte, and the policy of Jefferson threw into each others' hands. But had not this un- exampled concurrence of views appeared, in parties which might with every calculation of ordinary probability, have been expected to conflict with one another; President Jefferson was prepared to go to war for the great and solid interests of his country. Pacific and attached to France, as he was supposed to be, he was ready to unite our arms with those of Great Britain for this paramount object. Had the disposition of the French government appeared hostile, in the opinion of our ministers, they were instructed to hold t "such communications with the British government as will sound its dispositions, and invite its concurrence in the war." In I confirmation of the same views, the President wrote to Mr. Livingston, "the day that France takes possession of New * M. Marbois relates, that Bonaparte remarked on this point, "if an obscurity did not already exist, it would, perhaps, be good policy to put one there." — p. 286. t Idem. p. 446. t Idem. p. 229. 2C* 306 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. Orleans, fixes the sentence which is to restrain her for ever within her low water mark. It seals the union of two nations who, in conjunction, can maintain the possession of the ocean. From that moment we must marry ourselves to the British fleet and nation. We must turn all our attention to a maritime force, for which our resources place us on very high ground; and having formed and connected together a power, which may render re-inforcements of her settlements here impossible to France, make the first cannon, which shall be fired in Europe, the signal for tearing up any settlement she may have made, and for holding the two continents of America in sequestration for the common purposes of the united British and Ameri- can nations." These far-sighted and sagacious anticipations, which Mr. Jefferson, with his characteristic foresight, was so competent to indulge, were happily rendered unnecessary, as has been mentioned by this most propitious treaty. So "noble a bargain," in the language of Talleyrand, almost defies belief; if it had not with all its splendor of event, have become sober history. Congress, with unimportant opposition, ratified their treaties, and thus sealed higher destinies for their country, than had ever flashed across the most sanguine fancy of American patriots. Nor does the experience of the confederacy so far justify the apprehension, that the capacity of our most admirable federation, is not adapted to the great expansion provided by the acquisition of Louisiana. Had Mr. Jefferson effected nothing more for his country, in his exalted career of public duty, it is sufficient to place him and all the companions of such high counsels, in the proudest niche in the American Pantheon, dedicated to civil honors and patriot statesmen. On the SOth December, 1803, William C. Claiborne, Gov- ernor of the Mississippi Territory, and General Wilkinson re- ceived possession of the province of Louisiana, from the French commissioner, M. Loussat. Thus were new and incalculable commercial advantages opened to Kentucky, in common with the whole country; advantages, the want of which, more than once seemed to threaten the stability of the Union. Now a career of every kind of profitable exchange, unobstructed HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 307 by a foreign power, from the heads of the Ohio, the Mississippi, and the Missouri, to the ocean, was laid open to the industry, and the enterprise of the west. Under the smiles of this golden commerce, aided by the mighty powers of Fulton's almost magic invention, the wilderness is indeed blossoming as the rose, and countless regions, and innumerable millions are subjecting to the mild and glorious sway of religion, liberty and learning. How fearful is the moral responsibility of our countrymen, lavishly endowed as they are, with the bounties of Divine Providence; that they execute the high trust confided to them, for the good of mankind, in faith and in honesty I How bitter will be the maledictions of future generations, if they shal pervert these fair and lovely benefactions of Divine goodnesfy and thus deprive posterity of their just and rightful expecti- tions! It behooves every American, and more imperatively every inhabitant of this most highly favored west, that he should be deeply impressed with the great obligations he oves to futurity; to transmit the noble legacy of our freedom, and its glorious fruits unimpaired; and rather enriched by our efforts to increase the social happiness, and continue the improvement for long enduring ages. The year 1803, is commemorated by the first public ser- vices of Henry Clay, in the government of the State, The history of the commonwealth owes her tribute of honor to one, whose discharge of the highest political trusts of the republic have since enrolled his name, indelibly among her iirst and most honored statesmen. An ardent love of liberty, high intellect, and an oratory as brilliant and impetuous as his spirit is free and unfettered, have formed a halo of intellectual and moral glory around the great Kentuckian, as imperishable as the records of patriotism, of talent and eloquence in any age. The sphere of Mr. Clay's activity, has generally been above the scenes of this history, yet his domestic services often form the subject of its humble pages. Kentucky is, indeed, well entitled to the honor of merits^ exhibited in higher 308 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. trusts than her own, for which she first selected this favorite son of her ambition. Henry Clay was first elected a member of the House of Representatives of Kentucky, in the session of 1803, under most flattering circumstances * It was during his absence at a watering place known as the Olympian Springs, in the county of Bath, that he was unexpectedly brought forward as a can- didate, by his friends, and elected triumphantly. At the gubernatorial election of 1804, Christopher Greenup Isucceeded governor Garrard, and he appointed John Rowan, kince so honorably distinguished at the bar and in the legisla- tive councils of his country, as Secretary of State. In the session acts of this year, is one conferring a pension OQ Clarinda Allington. "She had been a prisoner with the Cherokee Indians, and, as she alleged, compelled by a chief to mirry him." This lady had three children by her marriage, "when she escaped from the Indian towns, and took refuge in Kentucky. On application to the General Assembly for as- sistance, she was allowed an annuity for three years." This is remarkable as the first instance of a pension under the gov- ernment of Kentucky. An act to incorporate the Ohio Canal Company originated at this time, although it produced no efiect; the promulgation of the opiaions of the court of Appeals was likewise provided for at this session, by directing the Clerk of the court to furnish the public printer with a copy of them for publication. They were therefore newspaper reports at first, though they soon assumed a more dignified and durable shape. On the 4th of March, 1805, the second term of Mr. Jeffer- son's presidency commenced, after an election of unanimity, unexampled since the government of the great Washington. Out of one hundred and seventy-five electoral votes, he received one hundred and sixty-two. This was the first presidential election after the amendment of the constitution, which re- quired the electors to distinguish the person voted for as Presi- dent, and the one voted for as Vice President. * Biography of Henry Clay, by George D. Prentice, Esq.— page 25. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 809 During the summer of this year, Colonel Burr, the late Vice President, who by his intrigues of over-reaching ambition had lost the confidence of the country, visited Kentucky; and after making some stay at Frankfort, in a retired manner, proceeded on his way through all the principal points of the Western country, from St. Louis to New Orleans. In the en- suing August, Colonel Burr returned to Lexington, in Kei> tucky, on his way eastward of the mountains. The desperate consequences of tl^ese visits, will appear in the succeeding year. They may, without much violence, be compared to Milton's immortal fancy of the visits of Lucifer to the newly created Eden; before he planned his machinations against thp parents of our race. Among the simple and effective amendments of judicial proceedings, for the accommodation of the people, may be ranked an act of this session ; "providing a summary mode of recovering debts on bond or note." It is usually termed the petition and summons law. By this law, a simple form of declaration, in which the note or bond evidencing the debt, was to be substantially set out; with an averment that the debt remained unpaid ; if the note had been assigned, that also was to be stated, and judgment prayed. This was to be lodged with the clerk of the proper court; who issued a summons, to which he annexed a copy of the complaint, for the defendant, which w^ere to be delivered ten days before the court met; and in that case, judgment was to be rendered on the third day of the court; unless it should be suspended by good cause shown to the court, and an order obtained for that purpose : bail was, however, not to be taken under this act. The year 1806, was one of foreign and domestic menace. On the Sabine, the Spanish forces had advanced to the eastern side of that stream, when General Wilkinson, with his troops, was ordered to repel them. While the troops are left on the Mexican frontier, the movements of Colonel Burr, which sub- sequently had such an influence on these military measures, will be resumed. In the summer of 180G, this gentleman, whose rapid and 810 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. mysterious changes of place seemed like the agitations of some e:vil spirit, ill at peace with itself, again appeared in the western country. His head quarters seem to have been the ill fated mansion of Mr. Blannerhassett, on the island bearing his name, in the Ohio river. Rumours of desperate schemes and mad enterprises increased rapidly upon one another. Boats were known to be building in the States of Kentucky and Ohio in considerable numbers; provisions were contracted for; and numbers of the young and the ardent, with some of graver character, were engaged in some military expedition, whose character could not be precisely ascertained. Many asserted that the expedition was against Mexico, and was undertaken with the connivance, if not with the concurrence of the Presi- dent of the United States.* Artifices to produce this impres* sion were afterwards known to have been employed, to inveigle tliose whose principles could not otherwise be overpowered. The difficulties of the United States with Spain confii'med the above representations. These various kinds of proof were communicated by Joseph H. Daviess, the distinguished attorney for the United States, to the President, early in January of this jnear. They were necessarily limited, at that time, to general probabilities and presumptions; and the President desired fur- ther particulars, and the names of the persons concerned in the unlawful enterprise. It, indeed, seems, that it was not until the communications of Burr, through Samuel Swartwout, to Wilkinson, in his camp at Natchitoches, and forwarded to President Jefferson; that the latter had exact intelligence of the plan, or the parties. This letter was dated at Philadelphia, on the 29th of July, 1806; but was not delivered, (owing to Wilkinson's rapid change of move- ments from St. Louis to Natchitoches, where the messenger followed him,) until the 8th of the ensuing October. Still the letter was couched in such mystified and obscure language, as to bear no precise interpretation, without the verbal explana- tions of the bearer, to which Wilkinson was referred. It an- nounced the enterprise in these dark terms : "I (Aaron Burr) » Jefferson's Correspondence. HISTORY OP KENTUCKY. 311 have obtained funds, and have actually commenced the enter- prise. Detachments from different points, under different pre- tences, will rendezvous on Ohio, 1st November — every thing, internal and external, favors views: protection of England is secured: T. (meaning the gallant and faithful Truxton,) is going to Jamaica, to arrange with the admiral on that station; it will meet on the Miss. — England. — Navy of the U. S. are ready to join, and final orders are given to my friends and foL- lowers : it will be a host of choice spirits. Wilkinson shall be second to Burr only : Wilkinson shall dictate the rank and pro- motion of his officers — Burr will proceed westward 1st August, never to return." In another part of the letter he writes : — '^Already are orders to the contractors given, to forward six months' provisions to points Wilkinson may name : this shall not be used until the last moment, and then under proper injunctions: the project is brought to the point so long desired. Burr guaranties the result with his life and honor, with the lives, the honor, the fortunes of hundreds, the best blood of our country. Burr's plan of operations is, to move down rapidly fi'om the Falls on the 15th November, with the first 500 or 1,000 men, in light boats, now constructing for that purpose, to be at Natchez between the 5th and 15th December; there to meet Wilkinson ; there to determine whether it will be expe- dient in the first instance to seize on Baton Rouge !"* This letter contains the most explicit details from Burr himself, in writing, destitute, as it no doubt purposely was left, of clear meaning, independent of other circumstances. To General Eaton, however, in the winter of 1805-6, "Aaron Burr signi- fied that he was organizing a military expedition, to be moved against the Spanish provinces on the southwestern frontiers of the United States."! This was represented to be " under the authority of the general government." In additional conversa- tions, he "laid open his project of revolutionizing the territory west of the Alleghancy, and establishing an independent empire there : New Orleans to be the capital, and he himself to be the chief: organizing a military force on the waters of the Missis- ♦ Wilkinson's Memoirs, 2 vol., p. 216. f Burr's Trial, p. 474. 813 HISTORY OF KEJfTUCKY. ^ppi, and carrying conquest to Mexico," Other projects of revolutionizing the eastern states, and overthrowing the popular government, were likewise communicated; but they appear to be so extravagant, as to imply a state of mind little short of insanity. Well might Mr. Jefferson tell General Eaton, when h.e communicated a project "of an insurrection, if not a revolu- tion, on the waters of the Mississippi," that "he had too much confidence in the information, the integrity, and attachment to the Union, of the citizens of that country, to admit any appre- hensions of that kind." When the mind soberly reflects on the intrinsic impracticability of such a scheme ; the utter absurdity of supposing that the solid sense, the high spirit, and devoted- ness to liberty in the western country generally, or indeed in any other portion of this noble republic, could be base and degraded enough to enslave themselves, to a discarded public officer, like Aaron Burr, with all his mystery and intrigue ; it seems too palpably absurd for admission into any sound mind. These projects were enlarged upon in the oral conferences hetv/een Mr. Svvartwout and General Wilkinson, so as to repre- sent that " Colonel Burr, with the support of a powerful asso- ciation extending from New York to New Orleans, was levying an armed body of 7,000 men from the state of New York and the western states and territories, with a view to cany an expe- dition to the Mexican territories." Moreover this emissary stated to General Wilkinson on enquiry, that this territory, (meaning it is to be presumed the territory of Louisiana, where Swartwout then was,) would be revolutionized, where the people were ready to join; and that there would be some seizing, he supposed, at New Orleans." Anterior to these developments, Burr as has been inti- mated, had returned to Kentucky in August, 1803. Here he effected the negotiation of bills of exchange, to the amount of $*25,000, through the Kentucky insurance company; these notes were afterwards known to have been paid for tavern expenses at Washington city, by some of the associates of Burr, after the explosion of the scheme. HISTOEY OF KENTUCKY. 313 Colonel Daviess, after having made the most laudable exer- tions to penetrate the mystery of Burr's plans, even by go- ing to St. Louis,* where Wilkinson was Governor, to scru- tinize the movements of the General; obtaining no instruc- tions from the Executive, on the meeting of the District court of the United States, in November, 1806, made oath, "that he was informed, and did verily believe, that Aaron Burr for several months past hath been, and now is engaged, in preparing and setting on foot, and in providing and preparing the means for a military expedition and enterprise within this district, for the purpose of descending the Ohio and Mississippi there- with; and making war upon the subjects of the king of Spain." After having read this affidavit, the attorney added, "I have information, on which I can rely, that all the western ter- ritories are the next object of the scheme — and finally all the region of the Ohio, is calculated, as falling into the vor- tex of the newly proposed revolution." The motion for process against Burr, was however over- ruled, as "unprecedented and illegal ;" yet the daring intriguer hearing of the intended prosecution, had the politic auda- city to present himself before the court, "and demand an investigation of his conduct, for which," as he said, "he was always ready, and therefore had attended." The attorney replied to this counterfeit of innocence, that he only wanted his witnesses to be ready for trial; which, after conversing with the marshall, he said, might be on Wednesday, the 11th of November. This day was then appointed for the meeting of a grand jury, and officers were despatched with subpoenas to different parts of Kentucky, as well as of Indiana. On the assembly of the court, upon the stated day, amidst the most intense excitement, produced by the serious mag- nitude of the charge, and the former dignity of the accu- sed; it was found, that a material witness, Davis Floyd, was absent, attending a meeting of the Indiana legislature, of * Coupled with this attempt of Colonel Daviess, a pretended resiffnation of the lat- ter was desi;?nedly published at Louisville, in order to decoy Wilkinson into more confidence; but the artifice was met by Wilkinson, shewing Daviess a letter from Kentucky, which disclosed the whole ruse de guerre. Wilkinson treated Daviess in his usual winning manner, gave him every information in his power, and ex- tended every attention to liia distinguished visitor. 2D 314 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. which he was a member. Upon this, the court discharged the grand jury. Immediately afterwards, Burr, accompanied by his counsel, Mr. Henry Clay and Mr. John Allen, came into court, and on learning the dismission of the jury, gravely asked the reason, and expressed his regret at the step. On being informed of the cause which had led to this result, he desired that the cause of the postponement should be en- tered of record; and also the reason of the non-attendance of Mr. Floyd. This was done with the consent of Colonel Daviess. The arch conspirator then addressed the people through the court by saying, that,* "the good people of Ken- tucky might, and he hoped they would, dismiss their fears for the present; that in fact there was no ground for them, whatever efforts had been made to excite them; that he had un- derstood some bad been made to apprehend that he was pur- suing means inimical to their peace — but they were misin- formed, as they would find, if Mr. Attorney should ever get ready, and open his investigation — that in the mean time, they would be in no manner of danger from him; that he had to act on the defensive only; that he should expect an- other attack, and hold himself ready for it." After the information that is now possessed, and which has been narrated out of the chronological order in which is was known, could professional impudence have been car- ried to a higher climax? During these proceedings, the con- duct of this adroit and most insinuating man, is represented to have been "grave, polite and dignified." It required some- thing of Roman sternness to withstand the blandishments of the winning and fascinating address of this extraordinary character. Those who saw him presiding in the Senate of the United States, and most particularly during the embar- rassing trial of judge Chase, may estimate the graceful dig- nity, the polished decision and the silent firmness, which so strikingly characterized this modern Cataline. Yet there was more than one man, beside the fearless Daviess, who had the firmness amidst the general delusion, * Marshall, vol. 2, p. 397. HISTORY OP KENTUCKY. 315 to turn a deaf ear to the syren song of peace and of farming, which was so artfully sung by Colonel Burr. It was John Rowan, then acting as Secretary of State for Kentucky, and a member of Congress elect. He, at the desire of Mr. Burr, was asked to engage in his second defence, in conjunction with Mr. Clay. Mr. Rowan objected to it, on account of his late congressional election, which bound him as he thought, not to engage in a controversy, possibly involving fidelity to the general government. Mr. Clay, who had now also been elected a member of Congress, on reflection, concur- red in this opinion ; and asked the advice of Mr. J. Rowan. The latter candidly concurred with Mr. Clay, in the impro- priety of retiring from his professional engagement, at the existing stage; and suggested the expediency of requiring from Colonel Burr, a declaration upon his honor, that he was engaged in no schemes hostile to the peace or union of the country. The pledge was manfully required, and as treacherously and dishonorably given. The reply of Mr. Burr, dated December 1st, was,* "I have no design, nor have I taken any measure to promote a disso- lution of the Union, or a separation of any one or more States from the residue. I have neither published a line on this subject, nor has any one, through my agency or with my knowledge. I have no design to intermeddle with the government, or to disturb the tranquillity of the United States, nor of its territories, or any part of them. I have neither issued, nor signed, nor promised a commission to any per- son, for any purpose. I do not own a musket, nor bayonet, nor any single article of military stores, nor does any person for me, by my authority, or my knowledge. My views have been explained to, and approved by, several of the princi- pal officers of government, and, I believe are well under- stood by the administration, and seen by it with compla- cency; they are such as every man of honor and evenf good citizen must approve. Considering the high station you now fill in our national councils, I have thought these ex- * Prentice's Biograpliy of H. Clay, p. 33 316 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. planations proper, as well to counteract the chimerical tales, which malevolent persons have industriously circulated, as to satisfy you that you have not espoused the cause of a man in any way unfriendly to the laws, the government or the interests of his country." Perfidious as these assurances were, they sheltered Mr. Clay fVom all animadversion on his professional defence of Burr. On a subsequent occasion, Mr. Rowan had an interview with Colonel Burr, when the latter attempting to remove some objections which were understood to be felt by the former to engaging in his defence, Mr. Rowan arrested this strain of remark, by observing, that "he had been taught from early childhood not to reason on subjects which his feelings in the fiist instance condemned," Still, for a time, was guilt, dressed in the trappings of former dignity, destined to triumph over the zeal of Daviess, which might well have been more openly imitated by the President of the United States and the Governor of Kentucky. Obscure as the testimony might be, the warning of a proclamation did not require the most precise intelligence ; and yet its solemn voice might have arrested the timid, confirmed the wavering, and animated the good citizen. To show how strong the reaction of public sympathy was, owing to the failure of these prema- ture, though patriotic attempts to punish the guilty, the follow- ing paragraph is selected from the Palladium, the official paper of that day: "Colonel Burr, throughout this business, has evinced an earnest desire for a full and speedy investigation ; free from irritation or emotion ; he excited the strongest sensa- tion of respect and friendship in the breast of every person present." On the 2d of December, another grand jury was assembled, by order of the District judge, at the instance of the attorney for the United States. Indictments were laid before it against John Adair and Aaron Burr, for instituting unlawful expeditions against the dominions of the King of Spain ; but the jury, "having carefully examined and scrutinized all the testi- mony which has come before them," said, "there has been" none "which does in the smallest degree criminate either of HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 317 the above persons; nor can wo, from all the enquiries and investigations on the subject, discover that any thing improper, or injurious to the interest of the government of the United States, or contrary to the laws thereof, is designed or contem- plated by either of them." This decision of the grand jury was received by a burst of applause from the spectators ; so intense was the popular sym- pathy for Burr. Thus did the wily arts of this consummate intriguer hoodwink, not only confiding friends, but the judicial tribunals of the country; and convert what should have been the instruments of his detection and punishmant, into trumpets of praise and vehicles of confidence, in his treachery and in his treason. A public ball was given in honor of Burr's triumph; which provoked another in honor of the Union and Colonel Daviess, for the consolation of the intrepid officer. While this judicial farce was acting at JFrankfort, and that unavoidably too, after submitting the indictments to the jury, the President's proclamation had been issued, and was on the road; to arouse the people of the western country from the stupor produced by the Machiavelian arts of the consummate deceiver. On the 27th of November, the proclamation was published ; and on the 18th of December was known at Frank- fort. On the 2d of the same month. Governor Tiffin, of Ohio, at the suggestion of Mr. Graham, (a gentleman deputed by the President of the United States to investigate this desperate conspiracy, and bring its agents to punishment,) submitted the subject to the legislature of that enterprising State. This body, with most patriotic promptitude, passed an act arming the government with powers adequate to the emergency. They were energetically put into execution; and a flotilla of ten boats, loaded with provisions, was seized and secured in the Muskingum river. On the 16th, the persevering Daviess, foiled as he had been in all his legal effi^rts to arrest this con- spiracy, still not despairing in his patriotic course, wrote the Governor from Louisville, communicating the passage at that place of Blannerhassett, with eight flat boats and three keel 2D* 318 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. boats, having some boxes of arms and ammunition on board, and some men. On the confidential communication of this letter, the legislature resolved that the Governor "be, and he is hereby requested to use, with all possible expedition, the means within his power to execute the duties required by the proclamation of the President of the United States, bearing date the 27th November last." A similar application of the presidential agent, to the legislature of Kentucky, procured an extraordinary act to "prevent unlawful enterprises," on the 23d December. Under this law, measures were immediately taken to order out portions of the militia; but before they assembled at their posts, all the boats of Colonel Burr, not intercepted by the authorities of the State of Ohio, effected their passage to the mouth of Cumberland. There the guilty spirits, disconcerted by the late, but unexpected vigor of the state governments, assembled with Colonel Burr, to brood over their blasted hopes of aggrandizement, on the ruins of their country. "On the 22d of December, Burr descended the Cumberland river, from Nashville, with two boats of accommodation merely." On reaching Bayou Pierre, in the Mississippi terri- tory, he surrendered himself to the civil authority. After this, he attempted to flee into Florida; but on being intercepted by the military force, he was conveyed to Rich- mond, Virginia, on the 26th of March, 1807. Legal difficulties, arising from his absence at the military musters on Blanner- hassett's island, shielded this high offender from the justice of *he law of treason. But nothing could shield him from the withering blast of public indignation. Burr no longer lives the erect and fiery spirit, whom fine endowments and full cultiva- tion had enabled to cope with Hamilton at his heyday. He rather walks the earth, a guilty thing, too ignoble for manly notice. My young countrymen, when false and perverted ambition, when disappointments in public favor tempt you to 'wander from the paths of honor and devotion to your noble country, may you turn to the fate of Arnold and of Burr; and bless HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 319 your God for the warning voice of their scowHng examples. May they ever be viewed by the virtuous youth of our country, as beacons on the quicksands and rocks of poHtical navigation, warning off the honest sailor. Still there is a magnanimity in the heroic silence of Colonel Burr, amidst a host of revilers, which commands respect from those who detest his perverted ambition. He has had the severe trial of anticipating posterity, and of reading his "bad notoriety" in a nation's eyes. Yet while Colonel Burr has been lashed with worse than furies' whips of scorpions, through the land, and coupled, in the public mind, with the vilest of traitors; he has reviled not again; he has retaliated on nobody; no man can say of Colonel Burr, under the most trying scenes of life, and the agonies of a proud mind, he has betrayed the confidence reposed in him. He has preserved an unbroken silence for seven and twenty years; and whatever shall be his future disclosures; for the purpose of gratifying his personal feelings, they will as well have descended to the tomb with their author. Not that Colonel Burr may be indiffe- rent to the award of history; while her present verdict, amidst the conflicting passions and excited feelings of the times, he has so stoically supported. To the admirers of the vulgar greatness displayed by military ascendency; it may be observed, that Colonel Burr is, at the worst, only what Caesar and Cromwell might have been, under less auspicious fortunes. And those, whose principles can be so easily dazzled by the guilty splendor of success, as to see no criminality in its tri- umphs; may well extend a compassionate feeling for the unsuccessful aspirations of Colonel Burr after their favorite species of merit. No superiority of principle supports the fame of the first Caesar, or the English P^-otector, that does not extend itself to Napoleon at St. Helena, or Aaron Burr* as a counsellor in the city of New York. * A belief in tlie connection of General Wilkinson with Aaron Burr still adheres to the minds of many ; they regard the latter as a traitor in a double sense,— first, to his country, and secondly, to his friend. Yet on this confessedly conjectural matter, it may be well to mention, in addition to the prompt and derisive measures which Wilkinson took to defeat the conspiracy ; the slight and unconfiding manner Burr employed in speaking about Wilkinson. 320 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. The objects of this mad enterprise might nave succeeded in the restless, distempered masses of some European countries; but they were utterly desperate amid the steady attachment of a people for a government of their own choice and work- manship ; and for their own protection. The results of this conspiracy, with all the artful boastings of Burr, never amounted to more than from one, to four hundred persons. They finely illustrate the beautiful remark of Mr. Jefferson, that this is "the strongest government on earth" ; "the only one where every man, at the command of the law, will repair to the standard of the law, as his own personal con- cern." After the time which has elapsed since this audacious con- spiracy, nothing further has transpired to determine whether its object was to dissever the Union, or to attack the Spanish provinces and plunder New-Orleans, as a means of executing either. Desperate and piratical as the whole scheme was, under either aspect, it may well be concluded; that the project of aggrandizement which promised most plunder, would have been most readily pursued. If the rich galleon, loaded with a nation's treasures, should have been too manfully guarded to justify attack, then the humble shallop would not have been too low for their rapacity. The year 1806 was still fruitful in conspiracies and their developments. It was during the session of the legislature in 1806, that, on motion of Mr. M'Kee, and then of Mr John Pope, an inquiry was ordered into the conduct of judge Although the former may have counted upon winning over Wilkinson to his schemes; yet to Gov. Harrison he spoke severely of Wilkinson's imprudence of talk, and incapacity to keep a secret. The Governor repelled all confidence, hy expressing his belief in Colonel Burr's intecrity and patriotism, as too high to admit of the truth of tlie suspicions afloat about his intentions. At a subsequent period, Captain Wescott, a relation and emissary of Colonel Burr, was sent to make proposals; which Harrison asain repelled, by declaring, that if Burr's schemes were inimical to the government of the United States, he would exert his utmost endeavors to have him hung. It has been suggested, that less mystery, and avoiding all military preparation, would have been more politic. Had Burr assembled his follow- ers somewhere on the Mexican frontiers, even on the scene of his own suggestion— the Washita, a position miabt have been secured, from which he mijiht liave assailed either New Orleans, or the Spanish provinces, with fatal facility. Once lodged in those weak and valuable reu'ions. Burr "might have played conqueror or Jacobin, or botli, as might have best suited his purpose." Certainly a Spanish campaisn would have attractec* many of "the choice spirits above the dull pursuits of civil life;" and if Burr might not have anticipated Iturbide, the late Emperor of Mexico, in our own times; he would have, in all probability, eflectcd the establishment of a military colony in our neighborhood. HISTORY OP KENTUCKY. 321 Sebastian. The resolution of inquiry was in the following words : "whereas, this House has been informed and given to understand that, Benjamin Sebastian, one of the judges of the court of Appeals of this Commonwealth, has been, during his continuance in office, a pensioner of the Spanish government. Wherefore, resolved, that a committee be appointed to inquire into the facts, and such other facts relating thereto, as may be deemed proper for investigation." A committee was accor- dingly appointed with full power "to send for persons, papers and records for their information." The disclosures produced by this committee established the disgraceful fact, that judge Sebastian, while a high judicial officer of Kentucky, had been for years in the receipt of a pension from the court of Spain of two thousand dollars a year. This amount had been received for him by Mr. Thomas BuUlitt, of Louisville, in 1801 and 1802: and a draft for the "pension," on the Spanish Governor of New Orleans, had been found by Mr. Charles Wilkins, in the papers of John A. Sitz, deceased, of Natchez. In the course of this inves- tigation, judge Innes was summoned before the committee, and detailed of his own honorable frankness, the successive visits of Thomas Power, as the agent of the Baron De Carondelet, the governor of Louisiana, in 1795, and again in 1797; to nego- tiate for commercial privileges, and finally for forcible separa- tion from the rest of the confederacy, with Messrs. Sebastian, Innes, Nicholas and Murray. On this evidence the previous statement of the Spanish conspiracy has been mainly founded. The conclusion of the committee was, that Judge Sebastian had been guilty as charged, and his conduct in doing so was "subver- sive of every duty he owed to the constituted authorities of our country, and highly derogatory to the character of Ken- tucky." This report was unanimously agreed to by the House. The judge having resigned, no further measures were taken. The testimony in regard to judge Sebastian having fixed on him the odious charges of bribery and foreign pension, though confined to him alone, and though the oflier of two hundred thousand dollars had been rejected by his high-minded asso 822 HisTORr OF Kentucky. dates, Innes and Nicholas, yet it fastened an obloquy upon the latter gentleman, which in this instance he did not deserve, and which distressed him through the remainder of his life. The memory of Innes and Nicholas is free from all suspi- cion of being tainted with foreign money; however, party feeling in times of high excitement, may have misled them in concealing from theirown government those tamperings of a for- eign one Apprehensions of political consequences to Kentucky, should not, it is admitted, for a moment have been allowed to interfere with their direct duty, as citizens, and one, as an officer of the United States. But it is only fair to let these distinguished and faithful public men speak for themselves. Their services, and those of judge Innes, so particularly laborious and devoted to his country, may well be allowed to extenuate a theoretical fault, which worked no practical mischief "The reasons," says judge Innes, "why himself and Colonel Nicholas did not communicate the subject to the Executive of the United States, were these: 1st, it was known that neither of us approved of Mr. Adams' administration, and that we believed he kept a watchful eye over our actions; that the communication must depend upon his opinion of our veracity; and it would have the appear- ance of courting his favor; 2dly, that we both had reason, and did believe that the then administration were disposed, upon the slightest pretext, to send an army to this State, which we considered would be a grievance upon the people, and therefore declined making any communication on the subject, as we apprehended no danger from the Spanish government"* At this session, the dissatisfaction of the country with the court of Appeals, led to the introduction of a resolution into the House of Representatives, expressive of the fact. This par- ticularly reflected on the age of George Muter, the venerable chief justice, and offered a compensation for his retirement. The terms of the resolution, affected the feelings of the old gentleman so much, that he requested their withdrawal, and intimated his determinatian to resign. The withdrawal was * Journal of 180C-7. HISTORY OF KENTUCKr. 323 made, and the high-minded and generous old man fulfilled his intimation, in a letter addressed to the Governor, December 9th, 1806. This resignation was followed by the appointment of Thomas Todd to the chief justiceship. Nor can this signal instance of patriotic devotion be recorded, without paying a tribute of public gratitude to the disinterested sense of duty in an aged officer; thus in poverty resigning incontestable claims on the public treasury, and throwing him- self on the justice of his country, when he was worn out in her service. In February, 1807, Kentucky, at the instance of Henry Clay, then in the Senate of the United States, was erected, with the states of Ohio and Tennessee, into a seventh circuit, to be presided over by an additional judge of the Supreme court of the United States, whose office was created for that purpose. To this high judicial situation, Thomas Todd was appointed, who had recently been elected to the chief justice- ship of Kentucky, and who had been the soul of business in the conventions and the House of Representatives of Kentucky, for twenty years. In relation to the appointment of this old and faithful servant of Kentucky, there is this honorable fact, he received the office without any solicitation, on his part. When shall these golden times of the republic return, and the freemen of the United States again wait for offices to seek them, as the most fitting servants of the public, instead of seeking the offices, as so much private property. To test the public sentiment of the west. President Jefferson required the members from all the three western States, to make a recommendation of a suitable character to fill this high office, separately from each other, and likewise, to communicate their second choice. On the lists of each, Judge Todd was either first or second; a proud criterion of high estimation. At this session of the legislature, resolutions were introduced by Mr. H. Marshall, violently condemning the conduct of judge Innes, in the conferences with Sebastian aixd Power, and recom- mending an inquiry "to be instituted into it by the constituted 324 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. authorities;" "to which he may answer, and on which judgment may be pronounced." These resolutions produced a letter to the Speaker, from judge Innes, "informing the House that he had, during the last session of Congress, written to several members of that body, requesting through them, that an inquiry mif^ht be made into his conduct. From this, however, they dissuaded me, because in their judgment, there was no suffi- dent ground to justify, or authorize such an inquiry. Con- scious, however, of my own innocence of any criminal intention or acts, and that in spite of all the malevolence of my enemies, upon a free examination, my life would only manifest errors of the head, and not of the heart; nothing is more desired by me than an investigation into my conduct, governed by temper, moderation and justice. The result of which investigation (to which I would invite your honorable body) will be as honorable to me, as mortifying to those who prosecuted me." After several days' discussion, Mr. Clay moved a substitute for the resolutions of Mr. Marshall in the following words : "Whereas the General Assembly did, at their last session, order transcripts of the evidence taken before the committee appointed to examine into the conduct of Benjamin Sebastian, to be transmitted to the President of the United States, and to the senators and repre- sentatives from this State, in Congress; and as the present as- sembly has entire confidence in the general administration, and in the Congress of the United States, among whose duties, is that of arraigning the public officer, or private citizen, who may have violated the constitution, or the laws of the Union ; and whereas the legitimate objects, which call for the attention of this legislature, are themselves sufficiently important to require the exercise of all their wisdom and time, without engaging in pursuit of others, thereby consuming the public treasure, and the time of the representatives of the people, in investigating subjects not strictly within the sphere of their duty; and inas- much as the expression of an opinion by the general assembly, upon the guilt or innocence of Harry Innes, Esq., in relation to certain charges made against him, would be a prejudication of his case — if in one way, would fix an indelible stigma upon the mSTORY OF KENTUCKY. 325 character of the judge, without the forms of trial, or judicial proceeding, and if in the other, might embarrass and prevent a free and full investigation into those charges: Wherefore, ''Resolved by the General Assembly, That it is improper in them to prescribe to Congress any course to be taken by that body, in relation to the said charges, or to indicate any opinion upon their truth or falsehood. ^'Resolved, That the constitution and laws of the land, secu- ring to each citizen, whether in or out. of office, a fair and im- partial trial, whether by impeachment or at common law, the example of a legislative body, before the commencement of any prosecution, expressing an opinion upon the guilt or inno- cence of an implicated individual, would tend to subvert the fundamental principles of justice." This substitute, temperate and just as it appears to be, re- spectful to the sacred rights of every private citizen, to enjoy an impartial trial without the denunciation of influential bodies of men in office, was negatived. The resolutions of Mr. Mar- shall, deprived of their severely criminatory character, by an amendment of Mr. Blackburn, were then adopted by the House, and concurred in by the Senate. They were as follows : "Inasmuch as it has been deemed expedient to express the public opinion on subjects of general concern, as the means of union among members of the same community, or as indica- tions of the public will, serving as guides to public servants in their official conduct, and whereas from representations made to the General Assembly by the introduction of a resolution, and upon the application of Harry Innes, Esq., by letter directed to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and by him laid before that House, praying an examination into the charges ex- hibited against him in said resolution, and from evidence to them exhibited, it appears that the said Harry Innes, Esq., while sole judge of the federal court for the Kentucky district, had knowledge of various intrigues, and secret negotiations having been at different times carried on by the agents and emissaries of a foreign government with citizens of this State, hostile to the peace and tranquillity of the Union ; particularly in the case 2E 326 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. of the Baron de Carondelet, and in the case of Thomas Power,' agents and emissaries of the king of Spain: and the said Harry Innes, Esq., possessing a complete knowledge of propositions having heen made to himself and others, citizens of the western country, by the said Carondelet and Power, which had for their object the dismemberment of the Union; and having failed to communicate to the federal executive, or to take any measures of prevention, as by the duties of his office he was bound to do; and the conduct of the said Harry Innes, Esq., in this particular having been such as to excite great public discontent, and a suspicion that he participated in the intrigues and secret nego- tiations aforesaid: "The legislature deem those circumstances in the conduct of the said Harry Innes, Esq., as furnishing an occasion of suffi- cient magnitude to interest the attention of the representatives of the people of Kentucky, and to call forth the expression of their opinion. Therefore, '■'■Resolved by the Senate and House of Repi'esentatives, That the conduct of the said Harry Innes, Esq., relative to the secret negotiations of the .said Carondelet and Power, ought to be in- quired into by the constituted authorities of the United States. ^'Also resolved, That the Governor of this State be requested to transmit a copy of the foregoing resolutions to each of the representatives of this State in the Congress of the United States." These resolutions were transmitted as desired by the legis- lature, and committed to a select committee in the House of Re- presentatives of the United States, upon which, after a report of a committee by their chairman, Mr. John Rowan, nothing was done.* If facts were necessary to be stated, after the transcripts of evidence, which had been already ordered to be communicated; constructions of those facts, and inferences of motives from them, by public bodies, cannot be too much reprehended. It would be throwing the weight of government, worse than the * See Appendix. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 327 sword of Brennas, into the scales of justice, against private citizens. The year 1808 brought along with it a change in the presi- dency. The great Jefferson, who had generally, with pre-emi- nent success, administered the affairs of the country ; after serving two presidencies, abiding by the example of his first and illustrious predecessor, declined a re-election. Thus, it is to be hoped, limiting by the prescription of example, too sacred to be departed from; a limitation on the duration of this office, which is almost too powerful for the safety of the public liberties. Mr. Madison succeeded President Jefferson in March, 1808: of all our statesmen, the most generally admired for the virtues and the chastity of his public character. With August, 1807, Governor Greenup's administration terminated, and Col. John Allen, of most amiable character and as eminent abilities, en- tered the canvass for the gubernatorial office, with Gen. Charles Scott. But the people of Kentucky have been too military a people themselves, and there are of course too many soldiers amongst them, not to feel an irresistible passion for those, who participated with them in the dangers of the "tented field." Accordingly a hero of the revolution, and a leader of various efficient expeditions against the Indian enemy, received a ma- jority of votes, greater than all the votes given to his antagonist. On his election, he appointed Jesse Bledsoe Secretary of State, a gentleman highly distinguished at the bar, and in thj legisla- tive assemblies of his country. During this year our exaspera- ting difficulties with Great Britain, and particularly the stinging insult to the Chesapeake frigate, induced a call upon the militia of the United States. The quota of Kentucky was five thou- sand and five. These circumstances were noticed in the Governor's commu- nication to the legislature, in the following terms. "The wan- ton and continued violation of our plainest rights by both Great Britain and France, who appear determined to sacrifice them alternately, as convenience or resentment, in their mutual and destructive confficts for empire may suggest, seems to leave us 3?0 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. but one alternative, to submit to be the passive instruments of their pleasure, at the expense of all we hold dear, or to make that resistance, which the God of nature has put into our power. On our own soil, if we are united and vigilant, we have nothing to fear." In regard to the operation of these foreign difficulties on our domestic interests, the Governor likewise remarks, that "it will also be with you, gentlemen, to say whether, from the" present posture of our public affairs, and the "afflicting privations experienced by all, in consequence of the necessary restraints imposed by the embargo; it will not be just nor politic to give debtors some respite by prolonging the time of replevy, or otherwise, in the recovery of debts due from them. From infor- mation this has been done in some of our sister States. It is a great impediment to legislative indulgence of this kind, that creditors, who may be delayed by such provisions, may also be debtors, and subject under the now existing laws, to be coerced for payment, while their means are thus withheld. For it is not presumable that any law on this subject can be made to act retrospectively." In the course of the session, resolutions approbatory of the late administration of the general government, and especially of its policy with foreign powers, and the adoption of the em- bargo were offered by Mr. Scroggin; on discussion, an amend- ment was proposed by Mr. Clay. This produced a motion to strike out the matter offered by Mr. Clay, and insert the following : "3d. That the United States of America have for several years experienced from the governments of Great Britain and of France, repeated usurpations on their sovereignty and inde- pendence, and manifold injuries to their rights of navigation and commerce; and that, having, in the spirit of amicable negotiation, employed in vain and exhausted the means of friendly adjustment, without obtaining from either of those governments the reparations due to their just claims for past injury, imposing in the mean time on themselves a rigorous embargo, the better to avoid new causes of irritation and of conflict, it now remains only, for these States, to continue this HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 329 self-imniolating restriction on their rights, submit their com- merce and navigation, unarmed to the insults and depredations of the unfriendly belligerents, or authorizing the armament of merchant ships and their convoys, and disclaiming all inter- course with the aforesaid belligerents, so long as they continue their unjust decrees, orders, or aggressions, assert their national independence, with the spirit of freemen, in the practical exer- cise of their undoubted rights of navigation and commerce. In this choice of difficulties, difficulties insuperable to the eye of despondence and to the heart of timidity, there is one course open to honor and to patriotism; it is worthy the American character, it is suitable to the rights and to the dignity of a sovereign and independent nation: it is, to resume the practical exercise of those just rights of navigation and of commerce, which have been suspended, to the universal distress of the nation, and to defend them with all the energies of a people determined to ho, free and independent. "4th. Resolved, That the act of Congress laying an embargo, and the supplements thereto, ought to be repealed with all practical despatch — that the commerce of the United States with friendly nations ought to be regulated, and her bona fide citizens authorized to arm their ships, and to sail under convoy for defence and protection, on their lawful voyages; abstaining from all intercourse with France and England, so long as they shall respectively continue their decrees, orders or aggressions; with the public avowal and national pledge on the part of the United States, that a resort to actual force by either, not author- ized by the established law of nations, will be held and treated as a declaration of war against the United States. "5th. Resolved, That the general government may rely on the support of this Commonwealth in the foregoing, and such other measures as may be deemed necessary and proper to protect the rights of the citizen, and maintain the honor and independence of the nation." On the question being put, the vote stood sixty-four for Mr. Clay's resolutions, and one nay, (Mr. Marshall,) against them. This fact, he has the manly frankness to record. The 2E* 330 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. substitute of Mr. Clay, which seemed unanimously to con- vey the sentiments of Kentucky, was as follows : — ''Resolved, That the administration of the general govern- ment since Thomas Jefferson has been elected to the office of president, has been wise, dignified and patriotic, and merits the approbation of the country. ''Resolved, That the embargo was a measure highly judi- cious, and the only honorable expedient to avoid war — whilst its direct tendency, besides annoying those who had rendered resort to it necessary, was to preserve our seamen and pro- perty exposed to the piratical depredations of foreign vessels. "Resolved, That the general assembly of Kentucky would view with the utmost horror a proposition in any shape, to submit to the tributary exactions of Great Britain, as at- tempted to be enforced by her orders of council, or to ac- quiesce in the violation of neutral rights as manaced by the French decrees; and they pledge themselves to the gen- eral goverment to spend, if necessary, the last shilling, and exhaust the last drop of blood, in resisting these aggres- sions. "Resolved, That whether war, a total non-intercourse, or a more rigid execution of the embargo system, be deter- mined on, the general assembly, however they may regret the privations consequent on the occasion, will cordially ap- prove and co-operate in enforcing the measure; for they are sensible, that in the present crisis of the nation, the alterna- tives are, a surrender of liberty and independence, or, a hold and manly resistance. "Resolved, That Thomas Jefferson is entitled to the thanks of his country for the ability, uprightness and intelligence which he has displayed in the management, both of our foreign relations and domestic concerns. "Resolved, That a copy of the foregoing resolutions be transmitted to the President of the United States, and to each of our senators and representatives in congress." At this session, an act was passed, affecting very deeply the domestic relations of society; it was an act regulating HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 331 divorces in this Commonwealth. By this act the process of granting divorces, was vested in the Circuit courts in the fol- lowing cases, "in favor of a husband, where his wife shall have voluntarily left his bed and board, with intention of abandonment, for the space of three years; or when she shall have abandoned him and lived in adultery with another man or men; or shall have been condemned as a felon in any court of record within the United States : in favor of a wife, where a husband shall have left her, with the inten- tion of abandonment, for the space of two years; or where he shall have abandoned her and lived in adultery with another woman or women; or shall have been condemned as a felon in any court of record within the United States; or when his treatment to her is so cruel, barbarous and inhuman, as actually to endanger her life." One excel- lent provision was annexed to this law, that the offending party should not be at liberty to marry again; nor should be released from the pains and penalties of persons enter- ing into a second marriage, during the life of the first wife or husband. An attempt, however, was made in vain, to remedy the oppressive delay in the trial of chancery suits; by repeal- ing the law which had directed them to be placed on the docket after suits at law. It then directed that the court might act upon them at any day of the term. These im- portant suits, which generally involve titles to land, or the payment of money, for which there was a judgment at law, and an injunction was now wanted, obtained but little ad- vantage by the alteration. "They were seldom heard, how- ever urgent might be the cases. It would not be extrava- gant to say, that there are no other suits on docket, which have been transferred from one generation to another, and after having passed from one lawyer to another, for ten, twelve, or fifteen years ; there is not one at the bar, or in court, who know anything of their merits or demerits, ex- cept the clerks; they know that they charge three fees an- 3d5S HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. nually for continuances; and that hence, to them they have the virtue of perennial fountains of gain."* These reproaches against the tardy and vexatious admin- istration of justice, in mockery of a people's feelings and interests are, it is believed, no longer applicable to the same extent. Though much remains to be done by adequate sala- ries to command the highest talents and learning in the public service on the bench. Till then the people of Ken- tucky, will be insecure in one of the blessed fruits of good government; indeed almost its practical essence; the speedy administration of justice, by impartial and enlightened magis- trates. Until then, the public will be worse served than private individuals. The commencement of banking in Kentucky, is too im- portant to the community, and involves too many vital inter- ests of industry, and social prosperity, to be pretermitted. This branch of legislation first began intentionally upon the part of the legislature, at the session of 1806. Leave to bring in a bill for incorporating a bank, was asked by Mr. John Allen; and a committee of Messrs. Allen, Grundy, Pope, Hopkins, Ballinger and Cosby, reported the bill. This measure was most providently resorted to, m order to husband the resources annually accruing to the State from the sale of its domain. It was most happily devised to place the principal of these accumulations of treasure, arising from this source, in a productive shape; and beyond the fearful hand of legislative waste. It fixed the site of the principal bank at the seat of government; authorized a capital of one million of dollars, divided into ten thousand shares, of one hundred dollars each. Five thousand shares, were reserved for the use of the State. The legislature reserved the right of electing a president and six directors. This political majority, when times of excitement arose, drove the bank on the shoales of party, and ultimately shipwrecked the institution. The power of branching the bank, became a subject of local and *MarshaU2, 464. HISTORY OP KENTUCKY. 333 party contention,- and the influence of the legislature through its election of the majority of the directory was brought to bear upon the decision. The extension of the bank then ceased to be a mere fiscal or mercantile question, to be governed by the interests of the corporation; but was con- verted into one of political influence. The bank went into successful operation under the presidency of a distinguished and upright citizen, Robert Alexander, jr. The difficulties in trade and business alluded to by the Governor in his address, arising from foreign depreda- tions, and the remedy of the embargo adopted by our gov- ernment, to avoid them, introduced the relief system, of prolonged replevy, into the legislation of Kentucky; though of ancient colonial adoption. An act was passed for the relief of debtors, which authorized a replevy of one year, upon giving bond and security on or before the day of sale under execution, to pay the debt within the year; but if the defendant failed to give the bond and security, then the estate was to be sold on a year's credit, the purchaser giving bond and security, to have the effect of a judgement, and it was rendered assignable. It was at this session, the memorable act to compel the speedy adjustment of land claims, generally known as the seven years' limitation law, was passed. Mr. H. Marshall, in- troduced this measure, which, after every other anchor had failed before the legal storm, has saved the ship of state.* When after the decision of the Supreme court of the United States against our occupying claimant laws, no hope ex- isted of arresting the endless curse of uncertainty, in the *Tliis measure was finnlly on the 5tli of January, 1^09, re-commilted to a committee composed of Messrs. Clay, Soiitli,and H. Marshall, who reported it will) an amendment, which was concurred in. and the hill ordered to he engrossed. It received the approhation of the Governor on the 10th of February. This most important measure of peace and security to the land holders of Kentucky, and all the numerous classes of society, dependent upon them, had the cordial concurrence of Mr. Clay, although the hill was introduced by Mr, H. Marshall. It was at this session that the act of the previous session, conferring a pension of three hundred dollars, on Georire Muter, late chief justice of the court of Appeals, on his resignation of his judicial situation, was attempted to be repealed. Governor Greenup most independently and feelingly opposed this violation of the faith of Kentucky, to an aged and devoted servant; and the bill was arrested in the Sen- ate. Cut it was all in vain. The public suspicion and odium were excited against this paltry consideration for a sulistantial and fair contract; and the claims of public merit and private right, were alike disregarded at the next session, notwithstand- ing another Governor's veto. 334 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. freeholds of the State; this most unexpected affirmation of our limitation law, came like an angel of peace, with heal- ing on his wings, to console the vexed and agitated land- holders of Kentucky. It was in the case of Hawkins, et al. vs. Barney's lessees, formerly alluded to, that judge Johnson remarked that, "I perceive in the copy of LittelPs laws, which has been sent to our chambers, some one* has had the perseverance to go over the legislation of Virginia, relating to the lands of Kentucky; whilst under her jurisdiction, and to mark the va- rious senses to which the word rights, has been applied in the course of her legislation. It is curious to observe how numerous they are." It is too grateful to the proper pride of Kentucky, harrassed as she has been by the authority of this high court, not to record its kind and honorable testimony to the correctness of our policy in this measure. It is emphatically an instance of the "laudatur a laudatis," of being honored by the exalted. The words of the court are : — "It is impossible to take any reasonable exception to the course of legislation pursued by Kentucky, on this subject. She has in fact literally com- plied with the compact in its most rigid construction; for she adopted the very statute of Virginia in the first instance, and literally gave to her citizens, the full benefit of twenty years to prosecute their suits, before she enacted the law now under consideration." It is due to the memory of a faithful public servant of Kentucky, the late Jeroboam Beau- cihamp, Esq., to mention, that he is said to have been among the first, who agitated this great quieting measure, though drafted in legal nicety by Humphrey Marshall, Esqr. The historian would perhaps be culpable in omitting an enactment of this session, importing that the acts of the legis- lature should be in force from their passage, unless otherwise declared in the act. The interval between the session of 1808-9 to that of 1811-12, does not seem to present much matter generally in « Judge Rowan. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 335 teresting to the reader. This is a circumstance, unfortunately for society, too great a compliment to the times. For so in- capable is history of penetrating into the interior of society, and of presenting a true picture of private feelings, and domes- tic scenes which constitute its principal happiness, that its topics are necessarily the striking and palpable acts of life. The crimes and the triumphs of war, or the desolations of dis- ease, of famine and poverty, are too truly some of the clearest portraits of history. Its silence, then, is negative praise, in an extended sense. Sometimes, however, a civic wreath is to be twined from the success of some patriot statesman, or from the sacred labors of the philosopher and the philanthropist, in alleviating the evils of society. What matter of either kind existed at this time in Kentucky, our records are believed not to point out. True it is, the general history of the country rung with the outrages of France and England upon our seamen, upon our commerce, and in our ports. These properly belong to the recorder of higher scenes and spheres of interest beyond Kentucky. But it is due to the generous and ardent temper of the State, to declare, that removed as she is from the sea board, and few as are her sons, whose "march is on the moun- tain wave, and home upon the deep," she felt, with all her soul, for the insults and the wrongs of our seamen. Through this page of our national history, checkered with insults and their revenge, it is not permitted to the historian of Ken- tucky to wander. He has already been led in narrating the early annals of the State, to take a scope almost co-extensive with the western country. So connected and identified is the early story of our Commonwealth with the very rise and growth of the west; she has been, to so great a degree, the nursing mother, the focus of military and political movement among the younger sisters of this portion of the United States, that this course was unavoidable. What early field of battle has not been dyed with the blood of her sons? what section of the west has not been their honored grave? May these primitive and holy ties of consanguinity preserve their sacred influence upon the sympathy of the western people, when the 356 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. Storms of political contention, and the disappointments incident to all society, shall threaten to alienate the western brotherhood from one another. If our eastern brethren shall, in a moment of delusion, set at nought the sacred obligations and duties of our "union now and forever," may the western band pre- serve their loyalty, to win them back, and restore the holy alliance of American freemen. In the more advanced days of our history, the share of Ken- tucky, in the heat and the burden of the day, becomes less exclusive. Other sisters, and other descendants from the Ken- tucky stock, come in for their ample and honorable share in the toils and the trials of the times. The State of Ohio, now in the van of western strength and enterprise, and the territo- ries of Indiana, Illinois and Missouri, performed their full parts in the subsequent drama of north-western affairs. These are the fit topics for their own future historians; and the author . scorns ungenerously to forestall labors for which they will be so much better fitted, by superior light and greater familiarity. Let then the historian of Indiana pourtray the course of events which, on that frontier, led to the Indian difficulties of 1811. Let him narrate the bloody battle of Tippecanoe, so destructive to the enemy, as well as to ourselves, in which her Barthjl- omew, her Decker, and her Parke distinguished themselves,* and her Spencer, Warwick, McMahon and Berry, with White, t)f Illinois, died in her defence. But while a sense of historical duty points out this course, the author cannot pass in silence the grave of our Daviess and Owen, at that hard fought field. When has a more powerful gush of feeling hallowed the death of a patriot soldier, than con- secrated the memory of Joseph Hamilton Daviess. He was a man of the highest cast of intellect, the fit competitor of our Cice- ronian Clay; but it was not on ordinary occasions that the mettle of his character was heated. Let a suitable occasion, however, present itself for exciting his high powers; and he bearded George Nicholas, when but a stripling, before the people of Mercer, in defence of the presidency of the elder Adams; and when a man, contested the palm with Henry HISTORY OP KENTUCKr. 337 Clay. Such, however, was the impression made upon the mind of an ardent admirer* of the latter gentleman's exalted power, in the case of Innes vs. Marshall, a case involving the most intense political interest through this Commonwealth. The devotion of Daviess to the honor of his country was chival- rous in the highest degree: he would serve that country in despite of her mistaken frowns. He served her for herself, and not for the vulgar love of the loaves and fishes she might have at her disposal. Less eccentricity of manners, and more conciliation, would have, it is believed, enabled Colonel Daviess to have enriched his country by the practical fruits of his talents and his zeal. As it was, he lived and died under the political anathema of fed- eralism, in the unfortunate days of its mistaken and misguided proscription. He was elected but once from the county of Mer- cer to the legislature of the State, and ever afterward lived un- der the ban for his federalism, or rather his opposition to the character and policy of President Jefferson's administration. He was the author of a book of "Reflections Military and Politi-' oal," of a most sententious and abstract character; rather fur- nishing topics and heads for discussion, tlian full portraits of sentiment. Its ardor of devotion to the honor of his country, breathes almost audibly through its pages. Of Colonel Owen, the honest, the conscientious and most respectable McAfeef says, "His character was that of a good citizen and a bmve soldier" — no little praise in a republic, and in a warlike State. To these departed spirits must be added, Colonel Geiger, and Colonel Samuel Wells, who headed a small company of the gallant young men in the neighborhood of Louisville, including Croghan, O'Fallon, Shipp, Chum, and Edwards; who, with Meade and Captain Funk, all fleshed their arms for wider, though not nobler fields, under the same gallant and skillful Harrison. Suffice it to say for our purpose, that the Indians experienced at the battle of Tippecanoe, fought at their own cabins, and at their own time, with about equal numbers, a heavier loss than * Captain J. Jooitt, of Woodford. j No"" Minister to Colombia. 2F 338 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. is known to have ever been inflicted upon this subtle and fugi- tive enemy, in any night attack, in our history. At the battle of the Maumee, fought in the day-time, under Wayne, the loss of the Indians was loosely estimated by himself, at double his own, which would make sixty-six. At Tippecanoe, thirty-eight warriors* were, with all the punctilious care of Indians for their dead, found on the battle field, besides those who were either buried in the town, or hid by their friends, and those who must have died of their wounds, j The loss of our own men was fearful enough; it amounted to sixty-two, and the total of killed and wounded, one hundred and eighty-eight. Yet it is only at such an expense, that an enemy, who can choose his time and place so perfectly at will, as the Indians, can be made to feel the superiority of artificial discipline over their own rude and ferocious warfare. The moral eflfect of this battle has scarcely ever been attended to; yet it electrified the nation; it drew the line immediately, broad and deep between the true lovers of their country, who could but sympathize with her triumphs, and the cavillers, whose patriotism was swallowed up in faction. The author may not omit the resolution of the legislature of Kentucky, and the veteran Scott, on this battle. — "In De- cember, the month after the battle, the legislature of Kentucky, on the motion of J. H. Hawkins, Esq., went into mourning for the loss of Colonel Daviess, Owen, and others, who had fallen at Tippecanoe; and in the same session, while this battle was the subject of much discussion, the following resolution, moved * A Kickapoo deputation to Govcriwr ITairison informed him, tliat tlie Indian loss, independent of the Potawatamies, was 57 killed and ten wounded. They likewise acknowledged, with, however, doubtful sincerity, that "the Indians never liofove sustained so severe a defeat, since their acquaintance with the whites." Dawson's Life of General Harrison, p. 'J54.— The immediate evacuation of their town, which thoy believed to be consecrated from the destruction of I lie whites by the presence of the rro])het, confirms the general vi'.'or of the blow that they liad received. The war cliiefs \ver(! opposed to the attack; their plan was to pretend an acquiescence in the demands of the Governor, to assassinate liim, and then attack the army in its consequent confusion. Two Win- neba^oes had devoted themselves to this hideous patriotism. The prophet, more for- tunately for us, prevailed upon them to make a night attack, under circumstances which could scarcely have been more favorable to the etfect of our arms upon the enemy; though at so great an expense to our select corps. Governor Harrison had, however, determined not to return without the depredators, or hostages for the due observance of peace, had a battle not have taken place. t An Indian interpreter reported to General W. Clark, that he saw 30 or 35 Kickapoo? lying badly wounded, from the buck shot, the next February. HISTORY OP KENTUCKY. 339 by J. J. Crittenden, Esq., was adopted, with only two or three dissenting votes : — ^^Resolved, &.c. That in the late campaign against the Indians on the Wabash, Governor W. H. Harrison has, in the opinion of this legislature, behaved like a hero, a patriot, and a general; and that for his cool, deliberate, skillful, and gallant conduct in the late battle of Tippecanoe, he well deserves the warmest thanks of the nation."* " The veteran soldier. Governor Charles Scott, approved this resolution, which at once gave tone to the popularity of Harrison, effectually turning the tide in his favor, and reducing the clamor of his enemies to private murmurs.'' CHAPTER XIX. Second term of Governor Shelby — Petition of Daniel Boon— War -with Great Britain- - First detaclnnent of Kentucky volunteers — Surrender of Detroit — Kentucky Brevet to General Harrison— Indian siege of fort Wayne— Description of fort Wayne— Ex pedition against the Indian towns — General Winchester appointed to command the North Western army— Nature of the country and the plan of the campaign— Expedi- tion of General Hopkins— Expedition of Colonel Russell. The term of service of the gallant and venerable Scott, now grew to a close; and the patriots of Kentucky turned their eyes with one accord, upon their first Governor, one of the heroes of King's Mountain, the brave and energetic Shelby. When solicited to become a candidate for this high office, he consented on the condition, so honorable to his love of country, not of indulgences suited to his advanced years and ancient services, but "provided the United States are involved in war." No ordinary language can do justice to a patriotism which rests its consent to serve one's country, not on conditions of ease and enjoyment; but those of painful responsibility and arduous difficulty, when declining years might well in ordinary * Colonel Daviess did not expect an attack, as represented by M'Afee, in ceneral so well informed; for lie "was out of Immor on the night before the battle, because there was no prospect of a fisht. Ho even made this just reflection, that the Indians would agree to "Harrison's terms, and would, as soon as the army was withdrawn, commence their depredations asain." The Governor would not, however, have returned, it lias been mentioned, without flic depredators being given up, or liostages for them. 310 HISTORY OP KENTUCKr. men, have demanded repose. Isaac Shelby was triumphantly elected for the second time, Governor of Kentucky, in Au- gust, 1812: he chose Martin D. Hardin Secretary of State. This crentleman was the son of Col. John Hardin, of tried mili- tary excellence, and who had been perfidiously killed on a mis- sion to the Indians. During the session of the legislature of this year, a peti- tion was presented to them, from the old pioneer of the west, Daniel Boone. It stated that, "unacquainted with the niceties of law, he did not intend to locate land for others; but to take up a reasonable portion of those which were good, for the use of himself and his posterity. "To this end, he, with much struggling, after the country became some little settled, laid out the chief of his little property, to procure land warrants, and having raised about twenty thousand dollars, in paper money, with which he intended to purchase them : on his way from this country to Richmond, he was robbed of the whole, and left destitute of the means of procuring more. The few lands he afterwards was enabled to locate, were, through his ignorance, generally swallowed up and lost by better claims." Under these circumstances, about 1794, Boone migrated "to the Spanish province of Upper Louisiana, under an assurance from the Governor, who resided at St. Louis, that ample por- tions of land should be given to him and his family." "Ten thousand acres of choice land were marked out, and given to him for his own use, on the Missouri; though the title was not completed, because that could only be done at New Orleans, as he was Syndic, or chief of the district of St. Charles, and honored by the kindness of his superior; his actual residence on the land given him, which was a usual condition of a Span- ish grant, was dispensed with, in consequence of his public trust requiring his residence elsewhere." "When your memo- rialist came to lay his claim before the commissioners of land claims in that territory appointed by Congress, they were com- pelled, from the strict injunctions by which they were governed, to reject it, for want cf cultivation and settlement. Thus your HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 341 memorialist was left once more, at about the age of eighty, to be a wanderer in the world." "Having no spot he can call his own, whereon to lay his bones; your memorialist has laid his case before Congress." He therefore prayed the legislature to support his application to Congress by their aid and influence. This memorial was committed to Messrs. Y. Ewing, Hop- kins, Caldwell, Southgate, Bullock and Walker. The report submitted to the House and adopted by all the branches of the government of Kentucky, is too honorable to its sensibility, and too grateful to the moral feelings of every generous bosom, to be be omitted. It is as follows: "The legislature of Kentucky, taking into view the many eminent services rendered by Colonel Daniel Boone, in explor- ing and settling the western country,- from which great advan- tages have resulted, not only to this State, but to his country in general ; and that from circumstances over which he had no control — he is now reduced to poverty, not having, so far as appears, an acre of land out of the vast territory, he has been a great instrument in peopling. Believing also, that it is as unjust as it is impolitic, that useful enterprise and eminent ser- vices, should go unrewarded by a government, wherein merit confers the only distinction; and having sufficient reason to believe, that a grant of ten thousand acres of land, which he claims in Upper Louisiana, would have been confirmed to him by the Spanish government, had not the said territory passed by cession into the hands of the general government, Therefore ^Resolved, By the general assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, That our senators and representatives in Congress, be requested, to make use of their exertions to procure a grant of land in the said territory, to said Boone, either to the said ten thousand acres, to which he appears to have an equitable claim, from the grounds set forth to this legislature, by way of confirmation, or to such other quantity, and in such place as ghall be deemed most advisable, by way of donation. ^'Resolved, That copies of these resolutions be transmitted 2F* 342 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY'. by the Governor, to our senators and representatives in Con- gress, together with copies of the memorial of said Boone, to this legislature for their further information." This interposition, so eminently due from the gratitude of Kentucky, was attended with the success its unparalled merits demanded. Congress, by an act of February 10th, 1814, ful- filled the gratitude of the western country, if not of the whole republic, to the simple, guileless spirit, united to keen sagacity and generous bravery, who had been one of the first explorers, and among the principal defenders of the infant fortunes of Kentucky, by granting Boone a thousand arpens of land* — t- The Indian difficulties on the Indiana frontier, which pro- duced the battle of Tippecanoe, just alluded to, were the pre- lude to the hostilities which were declared by the United States against Great Britain, on the 12th of June, 1812. The Indians, as had ever been their practice in the wars be- tween the European nations in their neighborhood, engaged as parties ; and generally in favor of the British. Several considerations might naturally produce this result; The British, as the weaker power, numerically, on this conti- nent, and greatly more lavish in bounties to the Indians than the Americans, possessed a stronger hold upon their affections. The superior growth of the American settlements, and the long *Land Law, United States— 642. I It is lainenvable to relate, that Boone was obliged to surrender this late grant from the bounty of his country, to reimburse a Kentuckian who had purchased land of him. This had been losl in the mazes of Virginia land law, and the loss fell upon Boone as the warrantor of the title. It may be added, Boone declared, that all his lands in Kentucky had "proved an injury to him, rather than a benefit, owing to ihe uncertainty of his locations," according to the rules of law. He abandoned Kentucky in despair of ever enjoying any land there, and declared, on the west side of the Missi^ippi, he would never recross it." This early hunter was a plain gentlemanly man, of good memory, mild and equable; nor did he possess any of the s'lovenly habits of the back-woods character. He was indifferent in money matters, and left all his land pajiers in the hands of Colonel J. Floyd; on whose death he never enquired into them again. The love of the chase waa "his ruling passion strong in death;" h« adhered to it, till he was too weak to encounter its privations and hardships; when his friends had to resort to stratagems, to prevent an indulgence too dangerous for his advanced age and increased debility. He lived and died with a favorite child, passing his time among all his children who lived near him, in the State of Missouri.! Boone, thougii an intrepid atid sagacious pioneer, never was a leading' chief in the conquest and settlement of Kentucky. This is a popular mistake. George Rogers Clark was the great chief, by general consent, and after him, Floyd; John, Levi, and Robert Todd; B. Logan; Hardin; Christian and Whitley, were the military leaders. Colonel Christian had scarcely connected himself with Kentucky, when he was killed by the Indians: he had distinguished himself against the Indians on the Tennessee. J Letter from Judge David Todd, of Missouri, to the author. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 343 and recent hostilities waged with our people, necessarily made us obnoxious to their fears and to their hate. Through the operation of these causes, shortly after the commencement of the war with Great Britain, the Indians, from the lakes to the Mississippi, spread their devastations along the whole north-western frontier of the United States. Kentucky was herself beyond their reach ; she was covered by the panoply of her own children, who had emigrated to the new States on the north-west of the Ohio river. Her feelings, how- ever, were as keenly alive to the sufferings of the frontier peo- ple, as when her own soil had been the theatre of the bar- barous hostilities waged by the savages of North America. The first efforts required of Kentucky in this second British war were, to detach fifleen hundred men from her quota of five thousand five hundred in the call of one hundred thousand from the confederacy. These, consisting of volunteers under Colonels John M. Scott, William Lewis, and John Allen; and with a regiment of regulars commanded by Samuel Wells, (the ancient friend of Colonel Floyd, in his defeat,) rendez- voused at Georgetown, on the 15th of August, 1812. Brigadier General John Payne took command of the brigade. The over- flowing ardor of the people of Kentucky, swelled this body of troops to two thousand men, a regiment beyond the number required. They were composed of the very elite of our popu- lation, embracing several of the brightest ornaments of pro- fessional men, as well as the fairest promise among the young; the very flower of life, and of Kentucky. The troops proceeded to Newport, burning to avenge the wrongs of their country ; and ambitiously anticipating a junction with General Hull, who was supposed to be at Maiden or Detroit. Bitter indeed was their disappointment, and distressing their mortifi- cation, when on reaching the Ohio river, they learned the das- tardly and disgraceful surrender of, Detroit, and the Michigan Territory, by General Hull, to the British oflicer, General Brock. With this surrender was coupled that of three fine Ohio regiments, under Colonels Findlay, McArthur, and Cass; who 344 HISTORY OP KENTUCKY. have since risen so high, and deservedly, in the honors of their country. These regiments contained the same choice spirits of the soHd and gallant people of Ohio, that had so eagerly rushed to the standard of their country in Kentucky. The loss of this fine corps of men crippled the military resources of the State, most materially, frontier as she was, in subsequent requisitions of the service. The shock to the whole western country was electric indeed, the anticipation of Indian devastation was equalled by the mournful results. The western country put on its armor, the land bristled with the weapons of war, and military ardor animated all classes of people. The residue of the Ken- tucky quota was ordered into service, to be placed under General Harrison, who had command of all the troops in the Indiana and Illinois territories,- and who now meditated a campaign against the Indians on the Illinois river. This officer, a pupil of the energetic Wayne in '92, had distinguished himself gallantly and efficiently in the hard fought battle of Tippecanoe; he visited Frankfort, by desire of Governor Scott,* to make arrangements for the march of the Kentucky detachment. Letters were now received at the above mentioned place, as well as at Cincinnati, from the officers on duty under General Hiill, expressive of their loss of confidence in their commander; and conveying "their apprehension of some fatal disaster from his miserable ar- rangements, and apparent imbecility and cowardice." These communications likewise conveyed the ardent wishes of the writers, that General Harrison should have the command ; and it was equally the desire of the detachment marching to Detroit. Still there were considerable obstacles to regarding these recommendations ; so strong in favor of an officer, who was to be placed over ^iDlunteers, at the opening of a war which was so popular in the west. Governor Harrison was not a citizen of Kentucky, much less an officer in her militia. The crisis, however, demanded energy; and Governor Scottj. K M'Afee, p. 107. Dawson's Life of Ilaviison, 5"2. HISTORY OP KENTUCKY. 345 though he had but two days of his gubernatorial term remain- ing, had been the veteran of too manj^ fields, not to exert every resource required b}* the emergency. In this embarrassment, he called upon his vendrable fellow warrior and successor. Governor Shelby; his predecessor, Governor Greenup ; Henry Clay, then Speaker of the House of Representatives; Judge Todd, of the Supreme court of the United States; Hon. R. M. Johnson, and General Samuel Hop- kins, with several other distinguished citizens, for their advice in this delicate exercise of authority. "It was unanimously resolved to recommend to Governor Scott to give Harrison a brevet commission of Major General in the militia of Kentucky, and authorize him to take command of the detachment now marching to Detroit." The recommendation was complied with; and General Har- rison was appointed* to this important command, which he immediately assumed, to the most enthusiastic delight of the troops. In addition to this body of men, on the 25th of August, a corps of mounted men were called for, to march without delay. The Colonels Johnson, both Richard M. (since grown old in long, faithful, and honorable services to Kentucky and the United States,) and his elder brother, James, with Captain John Arnold, a veteran of '94, in a few days, raised overflowing companies of mounted riflemen ; and joined the main army. To provide for the defence of Indiana, a large corps of mounted men, under the command of General Hopkins,! of the revolutionary army, was ordered to "repair immediately to Vin- cennes." At this time Kentucky had the proud number of more than "seven thousand of her citizens in the field ;"| a fact evincing the military ardor of her people, more than volumes of narra- tion. She was, in fact, a State in arms. It was amidst this bright fire of military spirit in the western country, itself so detached from the observation and the orders of the ^general * See Governor Scott's order, in Appendix. fThis officer had been designated to command the whole detachment subsequently placed under General Harrison. IM'Afep, 1]]. 346 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. government; that Governor Shelby, who had now succeeded Governor Scott, urged on the war department the revival of a local board of war. This measure, it will be recollected, had been authorized under the administration of General Washing- ton. Governor Shelby's idea was,* "appointing a board of respectable characters, resident in the western country, respon- sible to the" President, "in any way it shall be his pleasure to direct, with power to call into service, under the laws of Con- gress, the militia which may be required;" "to direct their operations either of offence or defence; to require from the department of war, all the munitions of war necessary for the supply of the troops, and all necessary equipments; to have control over the subordinate agents of the war department within the district assigned them ; and to make it the duty of the board to report to the department of war, from time to time, the measures by them adopted." This proposition does not 1 eem to have been relished in the cabinet of President Madi- son; though it was not directly repelled. The Secretary at War adroitly remarked! upon it, in his reply to the Governor, "that whether" such a board "could be clothed with the powers suggested, is a question requiring consideration." He added, that "it has been determined to vest the command of all the forces on the western and northwestern frontier in an officer, whose military character and knowledge of the country appear to be combined with the public confidence. General Harrison has accordingly been appointed to the chief command, with authority to employ officers, and to draw from the public, and every other practicable source, all the means of effecting the object of his command:" an extent of command and of discre- tion, which implied the most unreserved confidence of the administration in the skill and the zeal of General Harrison. It was most richly merited, and gallantly repaid; by this com- mand the General was replaced on a theatre which he had occupied twenty years before. On the 3d of September, the troops arrived at Piqua ; a town * Letter to Secretary Eustis, September 5th, 1812. t Letter of Secretary Eustis to Governor SlieU)y, of the 17th September, 1812. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 347 eighty miles from Cincinnati, and only three miles from the extreme frontier. It is situated on the bank of the Great Miami, and had formerly constituted an object; now it was only a stage in the military operations of Kentucky. Here General Harrison, learning that Fort Wayne, was invested by the Indians; detached "Colonel Allen's regiment, with two companies from Lewis' and one from Scott's regiment, with instructions to make forced marches for its relief." A body of seven hundred mounted men, under command of Colonel Adams, of the Ohio militia, after their late exhaustion by the imbecility of Hull, advanced as far as the St. Mary's, with the same view. It embraced the first and most respectable charac- ters of the State and of Cincinnati : the fervor which animated Kentucky had its full counterpart in the feelings of the next eldest sister of the western family. "Such, indeed, was the ardor of the citizens to serve in this way, that every road to the frontiers was crowded with unsolicited volunteers." "On the evening of the 4th, General Harrison received further intelligence, that a British and Indian force had left Maiden on the 18th of August, to join the Indians already" engaged in the siege of Fort Wayne. On the 6th, after receiving a supply of flints, which had been utterly wanting, the troops made forced marches till, on the 8th, they overtook Colonel Allen's regiment at the St. Mary's. At this point he had halted, by orders from the General, to build blockhouses for the security of provisions and the protection of the sick." From this time, the troops, including the corps of mounted volunteers, now "two thousand two hundred strong," were placed on half rations. While at Piqua, a Shawnee half blood by the name of Logan, (a former captive to General Logan, of Kentucky,) at the desire of the Indian agent, penetrated through the Indian force to Fort Wayne. He brought intelligence of the actual siege, and that the British reinforcement had not passed up the Maumee. The Indians had not been inattentive to ascertaining the movements of our troops: their scouts from Fort Wayne had not been able to get round our camp before daybreak. They 348 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. returned to their fellow warriors with the exclamation, that "Kentuc was coming, as numerous as the trees!" The army now advanced at a slow rate ; "scouts were placed from half a mile to a mile in front, and also heyond the right and left flanks." By the 11th instant, the fort was approached hy our troops within twenty miles; and when the army had halted, the whole encampment was immediately "fortified with a breast- work of logs, and the brush cleared away for thirt}'^ paces on the outside." During the night, the alarms of Indians "attempt- ing to approach and examine the camp" were frequent. Early the next morning, the troops Avere in motion, fully expecting to meet the Indians at a remarkable swamp, five miles on this side of Fort Wayne, As the army approached this critical passage, the horsemen under Adams and Johnson (the latter of whom had been elected Major) were ordered to march round it on the right and left; while the main army passed over. At this passage, the swamp was only one hundred yards wide; although generally it was three times this distance in breadth, and about one mile in length. Our troops passed without the least sign of an Indian, until they got through; where they found the marks of a recent Indian encampment. A single Indian was the only vestige of the late besieging army; most of whom had fled the previous even- ing, and some only a few minutes before the appearance of the army. Could confidence in their own military arts be exhibited more undauntedly, than by these facts? About two hours before sunset, the troops arrived at the fort, to the great relief of its harrassed garrison. This spot, so remarkable in the history of the western country, richly deserves a brief description. It is delightfully situated below the junction of the St. Mary's and the St. Joseph's, on the south side. It was known to the French, as Ome*, and was the principal town of the Miamis, for more than a century ; it had been the principal rendezvous for the Indians of the lakes, and of the Wabash and the Illinois. The * * A corrupt orthography and abridgment of the French term Au, or Aux Miamis; as Au Cas is a corruption of Au Kaskaskias, to Kaskaskia. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 349 French traders had frequented it before 1755. The conve- niences of navigation from this point, had no doubt, principally contributed to make it a resort to such extent. "The Miami," or Maumee, to distinguish it from the Miami rivers of the Ohio, "is navigable for boats from this place to the lake, and the portage to the nearest navigable branch of the Wabash, is but seven or eight miles, through a level, marshy prairie, from which the water runs both to the Wabash and St. Mary's." The next day after the arrival of the army, it was deter- mined to divide it into two corps; and to proceed "in quest of the Indians and their towns. The first division was com- posed of the regiments of Lewis and Allen, and Captain Gar- rard's troop of horse, under General Payne, and accompanied by General Harrison."* The second was placed under Colonel Wells, with a battalion of his own regiment, under Major Davenport; Scott's regiment, the mounted battalion, under Johnson, and the mounted men from Ohio under Adams, com- posed the second detachment." The principal intention of these expeditions was, to destroy the provisions of the Indians, "so that they could not find the means of subsistence." "The party under General Payne having traversed a fine region of country, arrived on the 15th at the village in the forks," which had been abandoned by the Indians. They encamped in the town, and cut up the corn and other vegetables in the fields." Merciless as these hostilities seem, what other blows could be struck against an enemy, so Parthian in its movements, and yet so ferocious in its warfare? Still they must have materially ex- asperated the minds of the Indians, and whetted their appetite for new and fiercer outrages upon the whites. It is the melan- choly character of retaliation, to know no termination to its horrors; and to increase its dreadful fury, by every additional gratification. Other towns shared the same fate, without our having lost a man, or having seen a living Indian. "The tomb of a chief, built of logs and daubed with clay, was found in one of these villages. He was laid on his blan- * McAfee, 127 2G 350 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. ket, with his gun and his pipe by his side, a small tin pan on his breast, containing a wooden spoon and a number of ear rings and broaches — all deemed necessary, no doubt, on his journey to the other world." The party under Colonel Wells had to march about sixty miles to the town against which they were sent. On the 16thy having crossed the Elkhart, (a branch of the St. Joseph's, of Lake Michigan,) above the village, "the troops surrounded the town, but to their deep mortification, found it abandoned, with abundance of provisions in it. "This village was called Five Medals, from a chief of that name, who made it his residence. On a pole before the door of that chiefs cabin, a red flag was hung, with a broom tied above it; and on another pole at the tomb of an old woman, a white flag was flying. The body of the old woman was placed upright, with her face to the east, and a basket beside her containing trinkets; such as owl and hawk bills, claws, and a variety of bones, and bunches of roots tied together; all of which indicated that she had been revered as a sorceress, and probably as a doctress.'" In proof of the intelli- gence which the enemy procured, it must be mentioned, that a Cincinnati newspaper, containing an account of General Har- rison's army, was found in one of the Indian huts. The vil- lage, with seventy acres of corn, was all destroyed. The troops returned to the fort by the 18th, "a few hours after the party under Gen. Payne." By the 17th, Colonel Simrall, at the head of a regiment of three hundred and twenty dragoons, armed with muskets, and a company of mounted riflemen, under Colonel Farrow, of Montgomery county, Kentucky, arrived at Fort Wayne. This re-enforcement was immediately despatched against the town of Little Turtle, about twenty miles to the north-west, with orders to destroy it all except the buildings erected by the United States, for the chief of that name. This chief had shown a friendship for the Americans after the treaty of Green- ville, in 1795; which had contributed greatly to the preservation of peace. The orders of Colonel Simrall were executed "with HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 351 promptness and despatch, and on tlie 19th he returned in the evening to the fort." Brigadier General Winchester, of the United States Ar- my, now arrived to take command of the troops, by orders from the department of war;* then uninformed of the sur- render of Hull, or the appointment of General Harrison. This collision in command, had a most unhappy effect upon the troops; for the character of militia above all others, re- quires their feelings and affections to be consulted in the appointment of their officers, in order to command their full exertions. It took all the influence of General Harrison and the field officers, to reconcile the men to this change in their commander. This may well be conceived from the following honorable testimony by General M'Afee,! himself an actor in these busy scenes. "He was affable and cour- teous in his manners, and indefatigable in his attention to every branch of business. His soldiers seemed to anticipate the wishes of their General. It was only necessary to be known, that he wished something done, and all were anx- ious to risk their lives in its accomplishment. His men would have fought better and suffered more with him, than with any other general in America." On the 19th the command of the troops was transferred by a general order of Harrison, to Winchester; at the same time, any troops deemed necessary to the plans of his suc- cessor, were magnanimously offered by the former officer. He now returned "to take command of the troops collect- ing in the rear, and to prepare for a mounted expedition against Detroit. He intended to moke a coup de mainf on that pla(;e, with a mounted force, which should march by an unfrequented route from Fort Wayne, up the St. Joseph's to the head waters of the river Raisin." The troops with which this expedition was intended to be made, "were the three regiments from Kentucky, under Barbee, Poague and Jennings, with three companies of mounted riflemen from the same State, under captains Roper, Bacon and Clarke, * Dawson, 291. f M'Afee, 131. X A sudden and rapid attack on an enemy. 352 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. and a corps of mounted men from Ohio. The latter was commanded by Colonel Finley, of the revolutionary ser- vice. This alert movement was, however, modified by a com- munication from the war department, on the 24th of Sep- tember, appointing General Harrison, "to the command of the north-western army," which was promised to be fil- led up to the number of ten thousand men. This des- patch contained this more pregnant instruction, that, "Hav- ing provided for the protection of the western frontier, you will retake Detroit, and with a view to the conquest of • Upper Canada, you will penetrate that country as far as the force under your command will, in your judgment justify." This strain of unqualified and high expectation on the part of the administration, was corroborated by another despatch of the 23d inst., to the following purport: "You are already apprized of the solicitude of the government, that every thing that can be done, shall be done, towards recovering the ground lost, and extending successful opera- tions in Canada." Still most honorable, discretion was left to the superior information and judgment of the General on the spot; and the contractor, commissary, and quartermaster's, departments were placed under his orders. The extent of this command, and the difficulties attendant upon it, merit particular attention, in order to appreciate its discharge. The territory itself extended from the western frontier of Pennsylvania, to the territory of Missouri inclusive; the popu- lation was sparse and scattered, the principal enemy, that was to be attacked, was separated by a swampy wilderness of two hundred miles in extent, almost impassably deep in a wet season ; the country generally the seat of the fierce and wily savages of the north-west. The troops to be employed against these antagonists, though of vigorous and manly bra- very, were undiciplined, and most ill provided for a win- ter campaign in this high northern latitude. Such is a faint sketch of the obstacles to success, in executing the high military trust, now confided with so much patriotic hope. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 353 to our young western General. Tiie plan adopted to meet the duties incumbent upon him was, to collect the troops at four points, Wooster, Urbanna, Fort Defiance and St. Mary's. From these points the object of concentration for his troops, was the rapids of the Maumee. The forced ex- pedition at first adopted against Detroit, was now abandoned; because the infantry could not be in readiness to secure, and retain the acquisition, should it be made. The base line of the ncv/ campaign, was, one drawn from Upper Sandusky along the southerly side of the swampy dis- trict, to St, I^Iary's, at the head of the river of the same name. These two places, with Fort M'Arthur between them, were intended as the depots for provisions, artillery and mili- tary stores. The troops at Defiance, in the fork of the Au Glaize and the Maumee, were intended to act as a corps of observation ; and when the artillery should be brought to Upper Sandusky, then they were to advance to the Rapids. At Lower Sandusky, a corps of observation was also sta- tioned, which, with that at Defiance, would form the ex- tremeties of a new military base, when the army should have reached the advanced position mentioned on the Maumee. These arrangements covered the frontiers by the different corps, and kept the troops within the bounds of the ordi- nary contractors; while the quarter-masters were accumu- lating provisions farther in advance, and procuring means of transportation across the difficult district of counti-y, so well termed the black swamp. General Winchester was left at Fort Wayne, in the com- mand of the troops surrendered to him by General Harrison. The latter officer had proceeded to St. Mary's, where about three thousand men were collected, for the purpose of the expedition against Detroit alreadv alluded to. This expe- dition, it will be recollected, had been abandoned by the com- manding General, for reasons which have been already as- signed. Whilst in this position, information* was receiv- ed by Quarter-master Thomas D. Carneal, that a large « Dawson, 306. 2G* 354 HISTORY OF KKS'TUCKV. force of British and Indians, with artillery, was passing up the left bank of the Maumee, towards Fort Wayne. General Harrison immediately determined by a rapid march upon the confluence of the Au Glaize with the Maumee, to try and inter- cept the return of this detachment, knowing it would be met in front by the corps of Winchester. The force under the im- mediate command of the General at this time, consisted of some troops of cavalry from Ohio and Kentucky ; the mounted corps of Finley"* of the former State, and of R. M. Johnson, belonging to the latter; together with the infantry regiments of Poague, Barber, and Jennings. The latter officer with his regiment, had previously been detached to erect an inter- mediate post between St. Mary's and the confluence of the Au Glaize, called Fort Jennings. On the 30th of September, General Harrison set out on the proposed expedition; apprehensive that the infantry would too much retard his progress, after the first day's march, the two regiments were ordered to return; and the General, at the head of the cavalry, continued his march. No weather, or condition of a country could be more trying to the feelings and the subordination of irregular troops, than during this forced expedition of General Harrison. The rain fell in tor- rents; the flat beech woods were covered with water; and they were so swampy that the horses sank half leg deep at every step. On the close of the second day's march, the troops encamped in a bottom of the Au Glaize. "A description of the bivouac of this night will serve for that of many similar ones which were passed by the Gen- eral and his troops during this campaign, with the excep- tion of the increase of suflfering from the severe cold of winter. The troops being on a forced march, were not suffered to encamp, as long as there was light enough to march: they were formed as well as possible in an order of encampment, and guards placed out. The ground of the encampment here spoken of, was on the side of the Au- * An old and distinguished infantry officer of Lee's legionary corps in the American Revolution. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 355 Glaize river, in a flat beech bottom, which was nearly cov- ered by the water from the rain which fell in torrents during the whole night. The troops were without axes, and their tomahawks could efl^ect nothing with the large green beech trees. Happy were they who could find a dry log in which a fire could be kindled; those who had not this good fortune were obliged to content themselves with passing the night sitting on their saddles at the roots of the trees, against which they leaned and procured a little sleep. Being sepa- rated from the baggage, there were few who had any thing to cat, or spirits to drink. In a situation of this kind, men ar€ peevish and ill-natured, in the venting of which a thou- sand circumstances continually occur. To prevent ebullitions of this kind, and to produce more pleasant feelings, the Gen- eral, seated round a small lire, with his staff, wrapped in his cloak, and taking the rain as it fell, directed one of his officers to sing an Irish glee: the humor of this song, and the determination which seemed to exist at head quarters to put circumstances at defiance, soon produced cheerfulness and good humor throughout the camp. The General was afterwards joined by a Kentucky officer, who sung a glee beginning with "Now's the time for mirth and glee, Sing, and laugh, and dance with me." "This became the favorite air, and in all situations of diffi- culty, whether suffering the peltings of the storm, or traversmg the swamps up to the knees in mud and ice, it was resoun- ded in full chorus: the singular contrast between the words of their song and their actual situation, affording cause of mer- riment, and a fruitful source of whimsical remark." The clouds which had overhung the countenances of the men were soon dispersed, and cheerfulness, if not content, was restored to the camp. By day-break of the next morning, the march was resumed; the troops being required to be in readiness to mount by reveillee. In the course of the next day, the General was met by an officer from General Winchester, who informed him of 350 HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. the latter officer's arrival at Fort Defiance, and that the united body of British and Indians had retired down the Maumee. He then prosecuted his march, with a small escort, to Win- chester's camp, leaving his detachment to come up more at their leisure. He arrived late at night. At this post, a revolt in Colonel Allen's regiment took place, which, for its honorable termination, as well as from motives of historical fidelity, requires to be mentioned. It has been but obscurely alluded to by General McAfee and Mr. Dawson. Soon after General Harrison's arrival at camp, and after he had retired to enjoy some little repose, so welcome to any one, who had been exposed on the preceding comfortless and forced expedition; he found himself suddenly awakened by Colonel Allen, and Major M. D. Hardin. These officers were the bearers of the mortifying news, that Allen's regiment, ex- hausted by the hard fare of the campaign, and disappointed ia the expectation of an immediate engagement with the enemy, had, in defiance of their duty to their country, and all the earnest impassioned remonstrances of their officers, determined to return home. These officers assured General Harrison that they could do nothing with their men ; that their representa- tions were answered by insults alone. They begged the Gen- eral to rise and interfere, as the only officer who had any pros- pect of bringing the mutineers back to their duty. He re- fused to interfere at that time ; but assured the gentlemen that he would attend to the serious object of their request, in his own way and at his own time. The officers retired; in the mean time General Harrison sent one of his aids to direct General Winchester to order the alarm, or point of war, to be beat on the ensuing morning, instead of the reveillee. This adroit expedient brought all the troops to their arras, the first thing in the morning. It diverted the spirits of the discontent- ed troops into a new channel of feeling; and prepared them for the subsequent events. On the parading of the troops at their posts. General Win- chester was ordered to form them into a hollow square. Gen- eral Harrison now appeared upon parade, much to the surprise HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 357 of the troops, who, from his late arrival in camp, were unap- prized of his presence. If the sudden and unexpected arrival of their favorite commander had so visible an cflect upon the men, his immediate address to them fully preserved the im- pression. He began by lamenting that there were, as he was informed, considerable discontents in one of the Kentucky regiments : this, although a source of mortification to himself, on their account, was happily of little consequence to the gov- ernment. He had more troops than he knew well what to do with at the present stage of the campaign ; he was expecting daily the arrival of the Pennsylvania and Virginia quotas. It is fortunate, said this officer, with the ready oratory for which his native Virginia is so famed, that he had found out this dissatis- faction before the campaign was farther advanced, when the discovery might have been mischievous to the public interests, as well as disgraceful to the parties concerned. Now, so far -as the government was interested, the discontented troops, who had come into the woods with the expectation of finding all the luxuries of home and of peace, had full liberty to return. He would, he continued, order facilities to be furnished for their immediate accommodation. But he could not refrain from ex- pressing the mortification he anticipated for the reception they would meet from the old and the young, who had greeted them on their march to the scene of war, as their gallant neighbors. What must be their feelings, said the General, to see those whom they had hailed as their generous defenders, now return- ing without striking a blow, and before their term of plighted service had expired ? But if this would be the state of public sentiment in Ohio, what would it be in Kentucky ? If their fathers did not drive their degenerate sons back to the field of battle to recover their wounded honor; their mothers and sisters would hiss them from their presence. If, however, the discontented men were disposed to put up with all the taunts and disdain, which awaited them, wherever they went, they were. General Harrison again assured them, at full liberty to go back. The influence of this animated address was instantaneous. This was evinced in a manner most flattering to the tact and 358 HISTORY OP KENTUCKY. management of the commander. Colonel J. M. Scott, the senior Colonel of Kentucky, and who had served in the armies of Harmar, St. Clair, and Wayne, in the medical staff, now- addressed his men. These were v/ell known in the army as the "Iron Works," from the neighborhood from which they had come. "You, my boys," said the generous veteran^ *^will prove your attachment for the service of your country,, and your General, by giving him three cheers." The address was attended with immediate success, and the air resounded with the shouts of both officers and men. Colonel Lewis next took up the same course, and with the same effect. It now became the turn of the noble Allen again to try the temper of his men. He begged leave of the General to ad- dress them: but excess of emotion choked his utterance; at length he gave vent to the contending feelings of his heart, in a broken, but forcible address, breathing the fire which ever burned so ardently in his breast. At the close of it, how- ever, he conjured the soldiers of his regiment to give the General the same manifestation of their patriotism and re- turning sense of duty, which the other Kentucky regiments had so freely done. The wishes of their high spirited offi- cer were complied with; and a mutiny was nipped in its bud, which might, if persisted in, have spread disaffection through the Kentucky troops, to the disgrace of our gallant State, and the lasting injury of the public cause. No troops however behaved more faithfully or zealously through the re- mainder of their service, till the greater part of them offered up their lives in defence of their country on the fatal field of Raisin. General Harrison having quelled this unhappy disturbance, in the subordination of the troops, now made his arrange- ments with general Winchester, for the full command of the left wing. To this officer were committed the regulars under Colonel Wells, the regiments of Scott, Lewis and Allen, already mentioned, and the additional regiments under Colonels Poague, Barbee, and Jennings. Colonel Bodley, the quarter-master of this wing, an efficient and zealous officer of Kentucky, waff HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 359 fully empowered by General Harrison to draw upon the treasury for the carrying into effect all orders which he might receive from General Winchester, for the supply of his command. It now became necessary for the commanding General to direct his attention to the arrangements for the accommodation of the troops, which were marching to his reinforcement from Pennsylvania and Virginia. These, together with the brigade of General Perkins, of the Ohio militia, constituted the right wing of the army. Not only provisions were to be collected for this body of men, but all the materiel of war, ammunition and artillery were yet to be obtained. It will hardly be be- lieved in the future history of America, that when but two pieces of disposable artillery of small calibre had, by the dis- graceful surrender of Hull, been left in the western country, and which the commanding General informed the Secretary at War, he had rather be without, cannon should have been sent to Pittsburg without their carriages. Yet such was the fact; and when the whole country supposed General Harrison was tho- roughly supplied with all the munitions of war, which the gov- ernment was so able to furnish; the trees were still growing about Pittsburg, out of which, the carriages of the artillery were to be manufactured.* This was the state of protracted destitution of the army, in regard to a most important military arm. Colonel Morrison, an old revolutionary officer, and Colonel William Piatt, had been appointed deputy Quarter-masters General in the service, to act at the head oft heir department in the north-western army. These officers were placed under the command of General Winchester; and he was fully informed of the general plan of the campaign by General Harrison,t ^^^ thus became responsible for the part assigned him, in the gene- ral operations of the military service. General Tupper, of the Ohio militia, with the mounted troops which had accompanied General Harrison, a portion of whose time of service yet remained, was now destined to lead an ex- pedition against the Ottawa towns, on the eastern waters of the * McAflfee. t Dawson, 309, for Harrison's despatch. 3b0 HISTORY OF KE^TUCKY. All Glaize. But owing to some disagreement between Generals Winchester and Tupper, the causes of which have not been fully explained, together with great insubordination among the troops, the expedition was abandoned, and the troops were shortly after disbanded. The commanding General had, however, previously pro- ceeded to organize the right wing of the army. Before re- suming the course of events in this part of the theatre of war, it will be necessary to complete the narrative of operations, on the extreme left of the military district. The left wing of the army had now been confided to General Winchester, who had accepted it, at the solicitation of General Harrison, with the utmost harmony, rather than accept a com- mand on the Niagara. The great object of all the military exertions was, at this time, to accumulate a sufficient stock of provisions for the main expedition against Detroit. In the interim, an expedition was deemed necessary for the protection of Indiana and Illinois territories; these had also been confided to general Harrison. The depredations of the Indians had become harassing and destructive. To effect this object. Gov. Shelby issued his proclamation, inviting volunteers for this purpose, under Major General Samuel Hopkins, (who had been designated by General Harrison,) to meet at Louisville, on the 18th of September, with at least thirty days' provision. In compliance with this invitation, more * than two thousand volunteers assembled at Louisville, Red Banks, and at other places on the Ohio, upon their way to Vincennes. So over- flowing was the zeal of Kentucky, at this time, that the Gov- ernor had to turn back several hundreds at Louisville and Frankfort. It was then, that a veteran in one of the companies that were turned back, remarked, "well, well, Kentucky has often glutted the market with hemp, flour, and tobacco, and now she has done it with volunteers." At Vincennes, these troops were formed into four regim.ents, to be commanded by Colonels Samuel Caldwell, John Thomas, * McAlTee, 157. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 361 James Allen, and Young Ewing; two brigades were formed of these, and placed under General James Roy, of early fame in the history of Kentucky, and General Jonathan Romsey. A fifth regiment was formed after this organization, under Colonel Samuel South. Early in October, this imposing corps was marched to fort Harrison, on the Wabash, where they drew ten days' provisions ; after crossing this river to the west, the troops were informed, that the General intended marching to the Kickapoo village, on the waters of the Illinois river. This was stated by the guides, to be eighty-five miles distant, in a north- west direction; the army pursued this direction, sometimes varying to the north-east, and crossing several trails of Indians, which all bore to the westward, till the provisions and forage of the army were found to be alarmingly scarce. The General now undertook to act as guide himself, and changed the direction of the march to the west; but after proceeding one day on this course, a council was called, which was unanimously of opinion "that* in the starving situation of both men and horses, with a very uncertain prospect of finding the enemy soon, it was most proper to abandon the pursuit and return.'" The General, how- ever, requested the troops to continue the pursuit another day; but their sense of suffering was too keen, and the uncertainty of the situation of the enemy so utter, that "they unanimously took the direction to Vincennes, notwithstanding the remon- strances of the general officers." It hasj since been ascer- tained, that the town which had been the destination of the ex- pedition, was situated sixty or seventy miles farther west. This ignorance respecting the topography of the Indian country, which has for so long a period embarassed our expeditions into their territory, ought long ago to have admonished govern- ment to execute a topographical survey of the Indian country. Such a survey, should exhibit the situation of every durable Indian village within the boundaries of the republic. The insubordination exhibited by too large a portion of the Kentucky troops on this expedition, may not in justice be * McAflec, 150, 160. t General Hopkins, however, asserts in his letter to Gov. Shelby, that they were but twenty miles off. Niles' Reg. 3(1—214. 2H 362 HISTORY OP KENTUCKY. passed over, without the pointed censure and rebuke of history. One of its great moral purposes is, to sit in judgment on the actions of mankind; and conscientiously to lift its small and still voice against every departure from the duties of life* These appeals, noiseless as they are, find their support and influence in the moral sense of mankind; and thus contributes to secure society in some degree, from their repetition. The ardor of Kentucky, ever bordering on impetuosity, is constantly in danger of degenerating on suspicion, or dislike, into uncontrollable obstinacy. It is their national energy per- verted by want of adroitness, or other inaptitude, in its man- agement. The General himself, was debilitated in health; a most unfortunate circumstance, where so much must depend on personal influence, and physical energy, as in a command over irregular and undisciplined troops. Still, this officer, after marching this formidable and promis- ing expedition back to fort Harrison, by the 6th of October, "without hardly obtaining the sight of an enemy," determined to use his exertions in the service of his country, with a perse- verance worthy of a better fortune. Accordingly on the 11th of November, another party of about twelve hundred and fifty men set off*, consisting of the regiments of Colonels Barbour, Miller, and Wilcox, with a small party of regulars under Major Zachariah Taylor, the intrepid and col- lected defender of fort Harrison, and a corps of rangers and scouts, under the command of Captains Washburn and Beckers, of Indiana. The provisions, military stores, &c., were em- barked on board of some boats commanded by Colonel Barbour. A rise of the waters of the Wabash, impeded the ascent of the boats so much, that it was the 19th of the month before they reached the Prophet's town, below Tippecanoe creek. ^'Several days were spent in reconnoitering the country, and in destroying the evacuted villages,* in the neighborhood, to- gether with the corn and other resources, which had been left about them." The Prophet's town, "destroyed about a twelve * M'Afee, 161. HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. 363 month ago, by General Harrison, containing at this time about forty cabins; a Winnebago village, four miles lower down, on Ponce Passu creek, and near the Wabash, on the east side, containing about forty houses also; and a Kickapoo village, on the west side, containing about one hundred and sixty cabins; were all completely destroyed." Although this was the most efficient warfare the corps could levy; yet it must not be supposed that such hostilities could materially impair the efficiency of the enemy, particularly when they were supplied with rations by the British. It would scarcely reach their squaws and papooses, who are entitled to the commiseration of a civilized foe. It must be by actual encounter and defeat, as at Point Pleasant, the Maumee, Tip- pecanoe and Mississineway, with all their mortality of strife, that the Indians can be brought to submisson. The mounted expeditions of Kentucky have never materially reduced the military power of the savages, by surprise ; they have alarmed them, put them to flight, until an opportunity for advantage and bitter retaliation presented itself; and when fighting without an European ally, they may have been straitened by these inroads, for provisions: but hostilities were only suspended for a season more appropriate for gratifying their vengeance; and the whole work was to do over again. To make our arms felt by the Indians, their country must be taken possession of, and they must be fought openly, and conquered on their own ground ; not merely put to flight, to return a Parthian arrow; buc they must be defeated by manly, hard fighting, which they readily respect. The subsequent circumstances attending this very expedition, illustrate the superiority of the Indians to these hasty enter- prises. On the 21st, a gallant soldier of the name of Dunn, in Captain Duval's company, was killed by the Indians, on Ponce Passu creek, seven miles east of the camp. A party of sixty men, under Colonels Wilcox and Miller, went out to bury their companion, when they fell into an ambuscade of a large body of Indians, and lost nearly a third of their party. The General now determined to engage this body of the enemy; 3011: HISTORY OF KENTUCKY. but "a violent snow storm, attended with the coldest weather," the General says, "I ever felt or saw," delayed the march until the 24th. Upon reaching the ground of the Indian encamp- ment, which was found to present one of the strongest natural fortifications ever seen; it was discovered that the enemy had decamped before the fall of the snow. With this manifestation of the disposition of the enemy not to engage, which the Indians can almost always indulge at their pleasure; the advanced season of the year, and the clothing of the troops unprovided for the inclement weather, the General very properly, and with the concurrence of all his officers, withdrew his troops, on their return. Although the enemy were still only "scotched, not killed," our troops had behaved with honorable obedience under ten-fold greater difficulties and privations, than those which had driven the former expedition into mutiny, at once disgraceful to themselves, and subversive of their country's interest. By their insubordination, they exposed the detach- ment of Colonel Russell to destruction. This officer had penetrated, with Governor Edwards of Illi- nois, to the Peoria towns, at the head of the lake of the same name. He surprised the village, and drove the enemy over the Illinois river, having killed twenty persons on the field, destroyed the town, and brought away a large body of horses. The intention of this officer had been to co-operate with Gene- ral Hopkins, on the Illinois river, to which the latter purposed going, after striking the Kickapoo town. But hearing nothing of the great expedition in that quarter. Colonel Russell made the best use of his resources, and effected the useful service just described, in the far north-west. Had the disobedience of orders, in the first expedition of General Hopkins, sacrificed the gallant corps of Russell to the vengeance of our savage foes; what reproaches must have stung the hearts of the mutineers, to their latest hour of ex- istence ! Yet such was the direct tendency of this conduct, and the indignant justice of their country, would have exacted the responsibility from the characters of those, who had been concerned in the base desertion of plighted duty. APPENDIX. The following journal is so curious and little known that it has been thouglit, it would gratify the western public to lay it before them. It is extracted from the Monthly American Journal of Geology and Natural Science, December, 1831, by G. W. Feather- stonhaugh, Esq., Philadelphia. The following copy purports to be from the original, in the possession of the Editor of the above work. — Author. THE JOURNAL OF COLONAL CROGHAN.* May 15th, 1765. I set off from fort Pitt with two batteaux, and encamped at Chartier's Island, in the Ohio, three miles below Fort Pitt. 16th. Ecing joined by the deputies of the Senecas, Shawnesse, and Delawares, that were to accompany me, we set off at seven o'clock in the morning, and at ten o'clock arrived at the Log's Town, an old settlement of the Shawnesse, about seventeen miles from Fort Pitt, where we put ashore, and viewed the re- mains of that village, which was situated on a high bank, on the south side of the Ohio river, a fine fertile country round it. At 11 o'clock we re-embarked and proceeded down the Ohio to the mouth of Eig Beaver Creek, about ten miles below the Log's Town: this creek empties itself between two fine rich bottoms, a mile wide on each side from the banks of the river to the high- lands. About a mile below the mouth of Beaver Creek we passed an old settlement of the Delawares, where the French, in 1756, built a town for that nation. On the north side of the river some of the stone chimneys are yet remaining; here the highlands come close to the banks and continue so for about five miles. After which we passed several spacious bottoms on each side of the river, and came to Little Beaver Creek, about fifteen miles below Big Beaver Creek, A number of small rivulets fall into the river on each side. From thence we sailed to l^ellow Creek, being about fifteen miles from the last mentioned creek; here and there the hills come close to the banks of the river on each side, but where there are bottoms, they a^e very large, and well watered; numbers of small rivulets running through them, falling into the Ohio on both sides. We encamped on the river bank, and find a great part of the trees in the bottom are covered with grape vines. This day wo passed by eleven islands, one of which being about seven miles long. For the most part of the way we made this day, the banks of the river are high and steep. The course of the Ohio from Fort Pitt to the mouth of Beaver * Not Colonel Croghan of Kentucky. 2H* 365 266 APPENDIX. Creek inclines to the north-west; from thence to the two creeks partly due west. 17th. At 6 o'clock in the morning we embarked: and were delighted with the prospect of a fine open country on each side of the river as we passed down. We came to a place called the Two Creeks, about fifteen miles from Yellow Creek, where we put to shore; here the Senecas have a village on a high bank, on the north side of the river; the chief of this village offered me his service to go with me to the Illinois, which I could not re- fuse for fear of giving him offence, although I had a sufficient number of deputies with me already. From thence we pro- ceeded down the river, passed many large, rich, and fine bottoms; the highlands being at a considerable distance from the river banks, till we came to the Buffalo Creek, being about ten miles below the Seneca village; and from Buffalo Creek, we proceeded down the river to Fat Meat Creek, about thirty miles. The face of the country appears much like what we met with before; large, rich, and well watered bottoms, then succeeded by the hills pinching close on the river; these bottoms, on the north side, appear rather low, and consequently subject to inundations, in the spring of the year, when there never fails to be high freshes in the Ohio, owing to the melting of the snows. This day we passed by ten fine islands, though the greatest part of them are small. They lay much higher out of the water than the main land, and of course less subject to be flooded by the freshes. At night we encamped near an Indian village. The general course of the river from the Two Creeks to Fat Meat Creek inchnes to the south-west. 18th. At 6 o'clock, A. M. we set off in our batteaux; the country on both sides of the river appears delightful; the hills are several miles from the river banks, and consequently the bottoms large; the soil, timber, and banks of the river, much like those we have before described; about fifty miles below the Fat Meat Creek, we enter the long reach, where the river runs a straight course for twenty miles, and makes a delightful prospect; the banks continue high; the country on both sides, level, rich, and well watered. At the lower end of the reach we encamped. This day we passed nine islands, some of which are large, and lay high out of the water. 19th. We decamped at six in the morning, and sailed to a place called the Three Islands, being about fifteen miles from our last encampment; here the highlands come close to the river banks, and the bottoms for the most part — till we come to the Muskingum (or Elk) river — are but narrow: this river empties itself into the Ohio about hfteen miles below the Three Islands; the banks of the river continue steep, and the country is level for several miles back from the river. The course of the river from Fat Meat Creek to Elk River, is about south-west and by south. We proceeded down the river about fifteen miles, to the mouth of Little Conhawa River, with little or no alteration in the face of the country; here we encamped in a fine rich bottom. APPENDIX. 367 after having passed fourteen islands, some of them large, and mostly lying high out of the water. Here buffaloes, bears, tur- key.s, with all other kinds of wild game are extremely plenty. A good hunter, without much fatigue to himself, could here supply daily one hundred men with meat. The course of the Ohio, from Elk River to Little Conhawa, is about south, 20th. At six in the morning we embarked in our boats, and proceeded down to the mouth of Hochocken or Bottle River, where we were obliged to encamp, having a strong head wind against us. We made but twenty miles this day, and passed by five very fine islands; the country the whole way being rich and level, with high and steep banks to the rivers. From here I despatched an Indian to the Plains of Scioto, with a letter to the French traders from the Illinois residing there, amongst the Shawnesse, requiring them to come and join me at the mouth of Scioto, in order to proceed with me to their own country, and take the oaths of allegiance to his Britannic Majesty, as they were now become his subjects, and had no right to trade there without hcense. At the same time I sent messages to the Shaw- nesse Indians to oblige the French to come to me in case of re- fusal. 21st. We embarked at half past 8 o'clock in the morning, and sailed to a place called the Big Bend, about thirty-five miles below Bottle River. The course of the Ohio, from Little Con- hawa River to Big Bend, is about south-west by south. The country hereabouts abounds with buffalo, bears, deer, and all sorts of wild game, in such plenty, that we killed out of our boats as much as we wanted. We proceeded down the river to the Buffalo Bottom, about ten miles from the beginning of the Big Bend, where we encamped. The country on both sides of the river, much the same as we passed the day be- fore. This day we passed nine islands, all lying high out of the water. 22d. At half an hour past 5 o'clock, set off and sailed to a place, called Alum Hill, so called from the great quantity of that mineral found there by the Indians; this place lays about ten miles from Buffalo Bottom; thence we sailed to the mouth of Great Conhawa River, being ten miles from the Alum Hill. The course of the river, from the Great Bend to this place, is mostly west; from hence we proceeded down to Little Guyondott River, where we encamped, about thirty miles from Great Conhawa; the coun- try still fine and level; the bank of the river high, with abun- dance of creeks and rivulets falling into it. This day we passed six fine islands. In the evening one of our Indians discovered three Cherokees near our encampment, which obhged our In- dians to keep out a good guard the first part of the night. Our party being pretty strong, I imagine the Cherokees were afraid to attack us, and so ran off. 23d. Decamped about five in the morning, and arrived at Big Guyondott, twenty miles from our last encampment: the country as of yesterday; from hence we proceeded down to Sandy River, 368 APPENDIX. being twenty miles further; thence to the mouth of Scioto, about forty miles from the last mentioned river. The general course of the river from Great Conhawa to this place inclines to the south-west. The soil rich, the country level, and the banks of the river high. The soil on the banks of Scioto, for a vast dis- tance up the country, is prodigious rich, the bottoms very wide, and in the spring of the year, many of them are flooded, so that the river appears to be two or three miles wide. Bears, deer, turkeys, and most sorts of wild game, are very plenty on the banks of this river. On the Ohio, just below the mouth of Scioto, on a high bank, near forty feet, formerly stood the Shawnesse town, called the Lower Town, which was all carried away, ex- cept three or four houses, by a great flood in the Scioto. I was in the town at the time, though the banks of the Ohio were so high, the water was nine feet on the top, which obliged the whole town to take to their canoes, and move with their effects to the hills. The Shawnesse afterwards built their town on the opposite side of the river, which, during the French war, they abandoned, for fear of the Virginians, and removed to the plains on Scioto. The Ohio is about one hundred yards wider here than at Fort Pitt, which is but a small augmentation, considering the great number of rivers and creeks, that fall into it during the course of four hundred and twenty miles; and as it deepens but very little, I imagine the water sinks, though there is no visible appearance of it. In general all the lands on the Scioto River, as well as the bottoms on Ohio, are too rich for any thing but hemp, flax, or Indian corn. 24th, 25th, and 26th. Stayed at the mouth of Scioto, waiting for the Shawnesse and French traders, who arrived here on the ■ evening of the 26th, in consequence of the message I sent them from Hochocken, or Bottle Creek. 27th. The Indians requested me to stay this day. which I could not refuse. 28th. We set off: passing down the Ohio, the country on both sides the river level; the banks continue high. This day we came sixty miles; passed no islands. The river being wider and deeper, we drove all night. 29th. We came to the Little Miame Puver, having proceeded sixty miles last night. 30th. We passed the great Miame River, about thirty miles from the little river of that name, and in the evening arrived at the place where the Elephants^ hones are found, where we en- camped, intending to take a view of the place next morning. This day we came about seventy miles. The country on both sides level, and rich bottoms well watered. 31st. Early in the morning we went to the great Lick, where those bones are only Jbnnd, about four miles from the river, on the south-east side. In our way we passed through a fine timbered clear wood; we came into a large road which the Buffaloes have beaten, spacious enough for two waggons to go abreast, and leading straight into the Lick. It appears that there are vast quantities APPENDIX. 369 of these bones lying five or six feet under ground, which we discovered in the bank, at the edge of the Lick. We found here two tusks above six feet long; we carried one, with some other bones, to our boats, and set off. This day we proceeded down the river about eighty miles, through a country much the same as already described, since we passed the Scioto. In this day's journey we passed the mouth of the River Kentucky, or Holsten's River. Jum Ut. We arrived within a mile of the Falls of Ohio, where we encamped, after coming about fifty miles this day. 2d. Early in the morning we embarked, and passed the Falls. The river "being very low we were obUged to lighten our boats, and pass on the north side of a little island, which lays in the middle of the river. In general, what is called the Fall here, is no more than rapids; and in the least fresh, a batteau of any size may come and go on each side without any risk. This day we proceeded sixty miles, in the course of which we passed Pidgeon River. The country pretty high on each side of the River Ohio. 3d. In the forepart of this day's course, we passed high lands; about mid-day we came to a fine, flat, and level country, called by the Indians the Low Lands; no hills to be seen. We came about eighty miles this day, and encamped. 4th. We came to a place called the Five Islands; these islands are very long, and succeed one another in a chain; the country still flat and level, the soil exceedingly rich, and well watered. The highlands are at least fifty miles from the banks of the Ohio. In this day's course we passed about ninety miles, the current being very strong. 5th. Having passed the Five Islands, we came to a place called the Owl River. Came about forty miles this day. The country the same as yesterday. 6th. We arrived at the mouth of the Ouabache, where we found a breast-work erected, supposed to be done by the Indians. The mouth of this river is about two hundred yards wide, and in its course runs through one of the finest countries in the world, the lands being exceedingly rich, and well watered; here hemp might be raised in immense quantities. All the bottoms, and al- most the whole country abounds with great plenty of the white and red mulberry tree. These trees are to be found in great plenty, in all places between the mouth of Scioto and the Ouaba- che: the soil of the latter affords this tree in plenty as far as Ouica- tonon, and some few on the Miame River. Several large fine islands lie in the Ohio, opposite the mouth of the Ouabache, the banks of vv^hich are high, and consequently free from inundations; hence we proceeded down the river about six miles to encamp, as I judged some Indians were sent to way-lay us, and came to a place called the Old Shawnesse Village, some of that nation hav- ing formerly lived there. In this day's procedings we came about seventy-six miles. The general course of the river, from Scioto to this place, is south-west. 370 APPENDIX. 7th. We stayed here, and despatched two Indians to the Illi- nois by land, with letters to Lord Frazer, an English officer, who had been sent there from Fort Pitt, and Monsieur St. Ange, the French commanding officer at Fort Chartres, and some speeches to the Indians there, letting them know of my arrival here; that peace was made between us and the Six Nations, Delawares, and Shawnesse, and of my having a number of deputies of those nations along with me, to conclude matters with them also on my arrival there. This day one of my men went into the woods and lost himself. 8th. At day-break we were attacked by a party of Indians, consisting of eighty warriors of the Kiccapoos and Musquattimes, who killed two of my men and three Indians, wounded myself and all the rest of my party, except two white men and one In- dian; then made myself and all the white men prisoners, plun- dering us of every thing we had. A deputy of the Shawnesse who was shot through the thigh, having concealed himself in the woods for a few minutes after he was wounded — not knowing but they were southern Indians, who are always at war with the northward Indians — after discovering what nation they were, came up to them and made a very bold speech, teUing them that the whole northward Indians would join in taking revenge for the insult and murder of their people; this alarmed those savages very much, who began excusing themselves, saying their fathers, the French, had spirited them up, telling them that the Indians were coming with a body of southern Indians to take their coun- try from them, and enslave them; that it was this that induced them to commit this outrage. After dividing the plunder, (they left great part of the heaviest effects behind, not being able to -carry them,) they set off with us to their village at Ouattonon, in a great hurry, being in dread of a pursuit from a large party of Indians they suspected were coming after me. Our course was through a thick woody country, crossing a great many swamps, morasses, and beaver 'ponds. We traveled this day about forty- two miles. 9th. An hour before day we set out on our march; passed through thick woods, some highlands, and small savannahs, badly watered. Traveled this day about thirty miles. 10th. We set out very early in the morning, and marched through a high country, extremely well timbered, for three hours; then came to a branch of the Ouabache, which we crossed. The remainder of this day we traveled through fine rich bottoms, overgrown with reeds, which make the best pasture in the world, the young reeds being preferable to sheaf oats. Here is great plenty of wild game of all kinds. Came this day about twenty- eight, or thirty miles. 11th. At day-break we set off, making our way through a thin woodland, interspersed with savannahs. I suffered extremely by reason of the excessive heat of the weather, and scarcity of water; the little springs and runs being dried up. Traveled this day about thirty miles. APPENDIX. 371 12th. We passed through some large savannahs, and clear woods; in the afternoon we came to theOuabache; then marched along it through a prodigious rich bottom, overgrown with reeds and wild hemp; all this bottom is well watered, and an exceeding fine hunting ground. Came this day about thirty miles. 13th. About an hour before day we set out; traveled through such bottoms as of yesterday, and through some large meadows, where no trees, for several miles together, are to be seen. Buf- faloes, deer, and bears are here in great plenty. We traveled about twenty-six miles this day. 14th. The country we traveled through this day, appears the same as described yesterday, excepting this afternoon's journey through woodland, to cut off a bend of the river. Came about twenty-seven miles this day. 15tlu We set out very early, and about one o'clock came to the Ouabache, within six or seven miles of Port Vincent. On my arrival there, I found a village of about eighty or ninety French families settled on the east side of this river, being one of the finest situations that can be found. The country is level and clear, and the soil very rich, producing wheat and tobacco. I think the latter preferable to that of Maryland or Virginia. The French inhabitants hereabouts, are an idle, lazy people, a parcel of renegadoes from Canada, and are much worse than the Indians. They took a secret pleasure at our misfortunes, and the moment we arrived, they came to the Indians,exchanging trifles for their valuable plunder. As the savages took from me a considerable quantity of gold and silver in specie, the French traders extorted ten half Johannes from them for one pound of vermilion. Here is likewise an Indian village of the Pyankeshaws, who were much displeased with the party that took me, telling them that "our and your chiefs are gone to make peace, and you have begun a war, for which our women and children will have reason to cry," From this post the Indians permitted me to write to the com- mander, at Fort Chartres, but would not suffer me to write to any body else, (this I apprehend was a precaution of the French, lest their villany should be perceived too soon,) although the In- dians had given me permission to write to Sir William Johnson and Fort Pitt on our march, before we arrived at this place. But immediately after our arrival they had a private council with the French, in which the Indians urged, (as they afterwards in- formed me,) that as the French had engaged them in so bad an affair, which was likely to bring a war on their nation, they now expected a proof of their promise and assistance. Then delivered the French a scalp and part of the plunder, and wanted to deliver some presents to the Pyankeshaws, but they refused to accept of any, and declared they would not be concerned in the affair. This last information I got from the Pyankeshaws, as I had been well acquainted with them several years before this time. Port Vincent is a place of great consequence for trade, being ;a fine hunting country all along the Ouabache, and too far for 372 APPENDIX. the Indians, which reside hereabouts, to go either to the IlHnois, or elsewhere, to fetch their necessaries. 16th. We were obliged to stay here to get some little apparel made up for us, and to buy some horses for our journey to Oui- catonon, promising payment at Detroit, for we could not procure horses from the French for hire; though we were greatly fatigued, and our spirits nmch exhausted in our late march, they would lend us no assistance. 17th. At mid-day we set out; traveling the first five miles through a fine thick wood. We traveled eighteen miles this day, and encamped in a large, beautiful, well watered meadow. 18th and 19th. We traveled through a prodigious large mea- dow, called the Pyankeshaw's Hunting Ground: here is no wood to be seen, and the country appears like an ocean: the ground is exceedingly rich, and partly overgrown with wild hemp; the land, well watered, and full of buffalo, deer, bears, and all kinds of wild game. 20th and 21st. We passed through some very large meadows, part of which belong to the Pyankeshaws on Vermilion River; the country and soil much the same as that we traveled over for these three days past, wild hemp grows here in abundance; the game very plenty: at any time, in half an hour we could kill as much as we wanted. 22d. We passed thro.ugh part of the same meadow as men- tioned yesterday; then came to a high woodland, and arrived at Vermihon River, so called from a fine red earth found here by the Indians, with which they paint themselves. About half a mile from the place where we crossed this river, there is a village of Pyankeshaws, distinguished by the addition of the name of the river. We then traveled about three hours, through a clear high woody country, but a deep and rich soil; then came to a meadow, where we encamped. 23d Early in the morning we set out through a fine meadow, then some clear woods; in the afternoon came into a very large bottom on the Ouabache, within six miles of Ouicatanon; here I met several chiefs of the Kicapoos and Musquattimes, who spoke to their young men who had taken us, and reprimanded them severely for what they had done to me, after which they returned with us to their village, and delivered us all to their chiefs. The distance from port Vincent to Ouicatanon is two hundred and ten miles. This place is situated on the Ouabache. About fourteen French families are living in the fort, which stands on the north side of the river. The Kicapoos and Musquattimes, whose warriors had taken us, live nigh the fort, on the same side of the river, where they have two villages; and the Ouicatanons have a village on the south side of the river. At our arrival at this post, several of the Wawcottonans, (or Ouicatonans) with whom I had been formerly acquainted, came to visit me, and seemed greatly concerned at what had happened. They went immediately to the Kicapoos and Musquattimes, and charged APPENDIX 373 them to take the greatest care of us, till their chiefs should arrive from the Ilhnois, where they were gone to meet me some time ago, and who were entirely ignorant of this affair, and said the French had spirited up this party to go and strike us. The French have a great influence over these Indians, and never fail in telling them many lies to the prejudice of his ma- jesty's interest, by making the English nation odious and hateful to them. I had the greatest difficulties in removing these preju- dices. As these Indians are a weak, foolish, and credulous peo- ple, they are easily imposed on by a designing people, who have led them hitherto as they pleased. The French told them that as the southern Indians had for two years past made war on them, it must have been at the instigation of the English, who are a bad people. However I have been fortunate enough to remove their prejudice, and, in a great measure, their suspicions against the English. The country hereabouts is exceedingly pleasant, being open and clear for many miles; the soil very rich and well wa- tered; all plants have a quick vegetation, and the clim.ate very temperate through the winter. This post has always been a very considerable trading place. The great plenty of furs taken in this country, induced the French to estabhsh this post, which was the first on the Ouabache, and by a very advantageous trade they have been richly recompensed for their labor. On the south side of the Ouabache runs a big bank, in which are several fine coal mines, and behind this bank, is a very large meadow, clear for several miles. It is surprising w^hat false infor- mation we have had respecting this country: some mention these spacious and beautiful meadows as large and barren savannahs. I apprehend it has been the artifice of the French to keep us igno- rant of the country. These meadows bear fine wild grass, and wild hemp ten or twelve feet high, which, if properly manufac- tured, would prove as good, and answer all the purposes of the hemp we cultivate. July 25th. We set out from this place (after setthng all mat- ters happily with the natives) for the Miames, and traveled the whole way through a fine rich bottom, overgrown with wild hemp, alongside the Ouabache, till we came to Eel River, where we arrived the 27th. About six miles up this river is a small village of the Twightwee, situated on a very delightful spot of ground on the bank of the river. The Eel River heads near St. Joseph's, and runs nearly parallel to the Miames, and at some few miles distance from it, through a fine, pleasant country, and after a course of about one hundred and eighty miles empties itself into the Ouabache. 28th, 29th, 30th and 31st. We traveled still along side the Eel River, passing through fine clear woods, and some good mea- dows, though not so large as those we passed some days before. The country is more overgrown with woods, the soil is suiBciently rich, and well watered with springs. Avg-ust 1st. We arrived at the carrying place between the Ri- ver Miames and the Ouabache, which is about nine miles long 21 374 APPENDIX. in dry seasons, but not above half that length in freshes. The head of the Ouabache is about forty miles ironi this place, and after a course of about seven hundred and sixty miles from the head spring, through one of the finest countries in the world, it empties itself into the Ohio. The navigation from hence to Oui- catanon, is very difficult in low water, on account of many ra- pids and rifts; but in freshes, which generally happen in the spring and fall, batteaux or canoes will pass, without difficulty, from here to Ouicatanon in three days, which is about two hun- dred and forty miles, and by land about two hundred and ten miles. From Ouicatanon to Port Vincent, and thence to the Ohio, batteaux and canoes may go at any season of the year. Through- out the w^hole course of the Ouabache the banks are pretty high, and in the river are a great many islands. Many shrubs and trees are found here unknown to us. Within a mile of the Twightwee village, I was met by the chiefs of that nation, who received us very kindly. The most part of these Indians knew me, and conducted me to their village, where they immediately hoisted an English flag that I had for- merly given them at Fort Pitt. The next day they held a coun- cil, after which they gave me up all the English prisoners they had, then made several speeches, in all which they expressed the great pleasure it gave them, to see the unhappy differences which embroiled the several nations in a war with their brethren, the English, were now so near a happy conclusion, and that peace was established in their country. The Twightwee village is situated on both sides of a river, called St. Joseph. This river, where it falls into the Miame river, about a quarter of a mile from this place, is one hundred yards wide, on the east side of which stands a stockade fort, somewhat ruinous. The Indian village consists of about forty or fifty cabins, be- sides nine or ten French houses, a runaway colony from Detroit, during the late Indian w^ar; they were concerned in it, and being afraid of punishment, came to this post, where ever since they have spirited up the Indians against the English All the French residing here are a lazy, indolent people, fond of breeding mis- chief, and spiriting up the Indians against the English, and should by no means be suffered to remain here. The country is pleas- ant, the soil rich and well watered. After several conferences with these Indians, and their dehvering me up all the Enghsh prisoners they had, On the 6th of August we set out for Detroit, down the Miames river in a canoe. This river heads about ten miles from hence. The river is not navigable till you come to the place where the river St. Joseph joins it, and makes a considerably large stream, nevertheless we found a great deal of difficulty in getting our canoe over shoals, as the waters at this season were very low. The banks of the river are high, and the country overgrown with lofty timber of various kinds; the land is level, and the woods clear. About ninety miles from the Miames or Twigh- APPENDIX. 375 twee, we came to where a large river, that heads in a large lick, falls into the Miame river; this they call the Forks. The Ottawas claim this country, and hunt here, where game is very plenty. From hence we proceeded to the Ottawa village. This nation formerly lived at Detroit, hut is now settled here, on accout of the richness of the country, where game is always to be found in plenty. Here we were obliged to get out of our canoes, and drag them eighteen miles, on account of the rifts which inter- rupt the navigation. At the end of these rifts, we came to a village of the Wyondotts, who received us very kindly and from thence we proceeded to the mouth of this river, where it falls into lake Erie. From the Miames to the lake is computed one hundred and eighty miles, and from the entrance of the river into the lake to Detroit, is sixty miles; that is, forty-two miles upon the lake, and eighteen miles up the Detroit river to the garrison of that name. The land on the lake side is low and fiat. We passed several large rivers and bays, and on the 16th of August, in the afternoon, we arrived at Detroit river. The country here is much higher than on the lake side; the river is about nine hundred yards wide, and the current runs very strong. There are several fine and large islands in this ri- ver, one of which is nine miles long; its banks high, and the soil very good. 17th. In the morning we arrived at the fort, which is a large stockade, inclosing about eighty houses, it stands close on the north side of the river, on a high bank, commands a very plea- sant prospect for nine miles above, and nine miles below the fort; the country is thick settled with French, their plantations are generally laid out about three or four acres in breadth on the river, and eighty acres in depth; the soil is good, producing plenty of grain. All the people here are generally poor wretches, and consist of three or four hundred French families, a lazy, idle people, depending chiefly on the savages for their subsistence; though the land, with little labor, produces plenty of grain, they scarcely raise as much as will supply their wants, in imitation of the Indians, •whoso manners and customs they have entirely adopted, and cannot subsist without them. The men, women, and children speak the Indian tongue perfectly well. In the last Indian war the most part of the French were concerned in it, (although the whole settlement had taken the oath of alle- giance to his iiritannic Majesty) they have, therefore, great rea- son to be thankful to the English clemency in not bringing them to deserved punishment. Before the late Indian war there resi- ded three nations of Indians at this place: the Putawatimes, whose village was on the west side of the river, about one mile below the fort; the Ottawas, on the east side, about three miles above the Fort; and the Wyondotts, whose village lays on the east side, about two miles below the fort. The former two na- tions have removed to a considerable distance, and the latter still remain where they were, and are remarkable for their good sense and hospitality. They have a particular attachment to the 376 APPENDIX. Roman Catholic religion, the French, by their priests, having ta- ken uncommon pains to instruct them. During my stay here, I held frequent conferences with the dif- ferent nations of Indians assembled at this place, with whom I settled matters to their general satisfaction. September 26th. Set out from Detroit for Niagara; passed Lake Erie along the north shore in a birch canoe, and arrived the 8th of October at Niagara. The navigation of the lake is dangerous for batteaux or canoes, by reason the lake is very shallow for a considerable distance from the shore. The bank, for several miles, high and steep, and affords a harbor for a single batteaux. The lands in general, between Detroit -and Niagara, are high, and the soil good, with several fine rivers falling into the lake. The distance from Detroit to Niagara is computed three hundred miles. A List of the different Kalions and Tribes of Indians in the J^ortheim District of JVorth America, with the number of their fghting Men. Namef of the Tribes. A'bJ. Their Dwelling Ground. Their Hunting Grounds. Mohocks, a 160 ftiohock Kiver. Between that and Lake George. Oneidas, b - - - - - 300 East side of Onedia Lake, & on In the country the head waters of the east where theylive. branch of Susquehannah. Tuscaroras, 6 - - - - 200 Between the Oneidas and Onan- Between Oneida dagoes. Lake &: Lake Ontario. Onandagoesj 6 - - - - 260 Near the Onandago Lake. BetweenOnanda- go L. &; mouth of Seneca Riv- er,nearOswego Cayugas, b 200 On two small Lakes, called the Where they re- Cayugas, on the north branch side. of Susquehannah. Senecas, b 1000 Seneca Country, on the waters Their chief hun- of Susquehannah, the waters ting country of Lake Ontario, and on the thereabouts. heads of Ohio River. Aughquagas, c - - - - 150 East branch of Susquehannah River, and on Aughquaga. Where they Uw* Nanticokes, c - - - - 100) Utsanango, Chaghmett, Oswe- Do. Mohickons, c lOOV go, and on the east branch of Coiioys, c ----- - 30\ Susquehannah. Monsays, c - 150 i At Diahogo, and other villages Do. Sapoones, c 30 V up the north branch of Sus- Delavvares, c 150 i quehannah. Delawares, d - - - - 600 Between the Ohio & Lake Erie, on the brch's of Beaver CVk, Muskingum and Guyehugo. Do. Shawnesse, d •> - - ' 300 OnScioto & brch of Muskingum. Do. Mohickone, rf 300 In Villages near Sandusky. On the head banks Coghnawages, d - - - of Scioto. a These are the oldest Tribe of the Confederacy of the Six Nations. b Connected with New York, part of the Confederacy with New York. c Connectedwith, and depending on the Five Nations. d Dependent on the Six nations, and connected with Pennsylvania. APPENDIX. 377 Nnma of the Triba. Noi. Thtir Jhttttling Ground. Their Hunting Grounds. Twightwees, t - - - 25Cr~ Miaine River, near Fort Miame, On the ground Wayoughtanies,/ - - 300) where theylive. Pyankeshas,/ 300 V On the branches of Ouabache, Between Outanon Shockays,/ •200 \ near Fort Ouitanon. & the Miames. Huskhuskeys, g - - - 300^ 300 J Near the French settlements, in Illinois, g the Illinois Country. Wayondotts, h 250 j About Lake Erie. Ottawas, h 400 C Near Fort Detroit. Putawatimes, h - - - 150^ Chipavvas i > •200 On Saganna Creek, which emp- ties into Lake Huron. Thereabouts. Ottawas, \ Chippawas, j 400) 260 ( Near Michilimachinac. On the north side Ottawas, j ofLakeHuron. Chipawas,* k - - - - 400 Near the entrance of Lake Su- perior, and not far from Fort St. Mary's. Thereabouts. Chepawas, k i Near Fort Labay on the Lake Thereabouts. Mynonamies, A; > - - 550 Michigan. Shockeys, A; \ Putawatimes, k 150 > 150$ Near Fort St. Joseph's. Thereabouts. Ottawas, A- Kicapoos, I "1 On lake Michigan and between Where they re- Outtagamies, I it and the Mississippi. spectively re- Musquatans, I 1 4000 side. Miscotins, I ' Outtamacks, I Musquaykeys, I J Oswegatches, h 100 Settled at Swagatchy inCanada, oa the river St. Lawrence. Thereabouts. Connesedagoes, k > Coghnewagoes, k ) 300 Near Montreal. Orondocks, k - - - - 100) Settled near Trois Rivers. Abonakies, k m[ Alagonkins, k 100 \ La Suil, t 10,000 South-west of Lake Superior. e Connected with Pennsylvania, /Connected with the Twightwees. g These two Nations the English had never any trade, or connection with. h Connected formerly with the French. i Connected with the Indians about Detroit, and dependent on the comman- ding officer. j Always connected with the French. k Connected with the French. I Never connected in any trade or otherwise with the English. * There are several villages of Chipawas settled along the bank of Lake Supe- rior, but as I have no knowledge of that country, cannot ascertain their numbers. t These are a nation of Indians settled south-west of Lake^uperior, called by the French La, Sue, who, by the best account that I could ever get from the French and Indians, are computed ten thousand fighting men. They spread over a large tract of country, and have forty odd villages ; in which country are se- veral other tribes of Indians, who are tributaries to the La Sues, none of whom except a ver}- few, have ever known the use of fire-arras : as yet but two villages. I suppose the French don't choose to risk a trade among such a powerful body of people, at so vast a distance. ^ ' 21* 378 APPENDIX. TREATY OF FORT STANWIX. It is due to the Hon. Richard M. Johnson, to acknowledge my obligation* to his liberal spirit, (so constantly experienced by his fellow citizens,) in obtaining the following copy of this inte- resting treaty from the library of the Congress of the United States. No copy is believed to exist in the archives of any of the States, from the abortive enquiries of the Washington admi- nistration. It has therefore been thought best, to publish the treaty entire; and to prefix the prehminary matter, as explana- torji of its history. It is the corner stone of the political relations between the citizens of the United States immediately south of the Ohio river, and the Indians. It has been objected to the cession made by this treaty, that the Six Nations who constitute one of the par- ties to the treaty, have, by it, ceded the hunting grounds of tribes quite removed from themselves. To this objection of a curious and able enquirer* into western history, in all its rela- tions, two answers are suggested to the mind of the author. 1. That some of the tribes conterminous to the ceded territory did appear at this treaty, which was so numerously attended by the Indians, and made no objection to its cessions. These were the Shawanees and Delawares; w^ho are called in the treaty, "dependent tribes" of the Six Nations. The circumstance of no protest from these Indians, particularly from so distinguished a chief as Killbuck, gives strong confirmation to the claim of the Six Nations. 2. By the uniform tenor of the colonial autho- rities, both French and English, the dominion and paramount authority of the Six Nations is extended to the Mississippi and', the Illinois. Such is the bearing of the authorities quoted in. the text. Still the subject is not without its difiiculties. General Harri-^ son well remarks, how difficult, not to say impracticable, it was for the Six Nations to have stretched their authority over the- numerous and ferocious tribes of the Miami confederacy.. These, in recent times, covered the banks of the northwestern streams with their villages; nor could they have been overcome by the ordinary military means of hunting tribes, and still left in their native seats. Had they have been assailed succes- sively, as the Illinois tribes were by the Sauks or Saukies, they could have been either extirpated or removed. Neither con- dition was that of the Miamis; although one of their tribes, the Wyandots, was driven by the Senecas of the northern confede- racy to shelter themselves in the country of Lake Michigan. Pastoral, or agricultural resources are alone competent to Bupport such wide spread dominions, as those assigned to the Six Nations, by the colonial authorities. Nor is it perfectly cer- tain that the colonists may not have been deceived by the claims * Dr. D. Drake, in a "Discourse before the Cincinnati Lyceum, December the 26tb, 1832, being the forty-fourth anniversary of the settlement of the town." APPENDIX. 379 of tJiese tribes* Yet Sir William Johnson was a veteran Indian diplomatist, and Colonel Croghan, his deputy agent, who was present at the treaty, had descended the Ohio river, and had personal communications with the Miami and Illinois tribes, as early as 1765,* three years before the treaty in question. The course of the Ohio river, (though in a curious old mapf in the possession of General Harrison, that river is represented as run- ning into Lake Erie,) is with tolerable accuracy delineated in Colden's History of the Five Nations. Were these gentlemen likely to be imposed upon] Is not the silence of any protesting tribe, or individual, in so numerous, so public and anucable an assemblage of the natives, expressive evidence] Which, then, is the more probable hypothesis; that of our western philosophical critic, that both the Indians and the white people thought them- selves contending for their rights, while each was ignorant of the colorable title of the other! or, that the cession of the Six Nations was a valid cession in moral, as well as political law, and agree- able to the most solemn and ancient usages, which had imme- morially regulated the intercourse between the aborigines and the Europeans, with their descendants] The latter opinion strikes the author as the least refined, and most accordant with the probabilities of the circumstances. Still there are other treaty rights acquired by the British crown, and consequently transferred to the United States as its successors, which are mentioned in the text, independent of the treaties which have since been dictated, under the influence of the American arms. It must hkewise be remarked, that at the treaty of 1785, at Fort M'Intosh, the Wyandots, Delawares, Chippewas and Ottawas were parties; and that at the treaty of Fort Harmar, at the mouth of Muskingum, in 1789, the above tribes, and the Puttawatamies or Pottawatamies, and Sacs, were parties.}: These tribes, all bordering on Kentucky, and some of them allies, and others members of the Miami or western confederacy, relinquished their territorial claims south of the Ohio river, and east, succes- sively, of the Big Miami, and of the Little Kentucky. Author. TREATY OF FORT STANWIX, 1768. From the Virginia Gazelle^ of December Uty 1768, "New York, November 27th, 1768. "His Excellency, William Franklin, Esq., Governor of New- Jersey, the Hon. Frederick Smyth, Esq., Chief Justice of New Jersey, Thomas Walker, Esq., Commissioner from Virginia, and the Rev. Mr. Peters and James Tilghman, Esq., of the Council of Pennsylvania, with several other gentlemen, returned here a * Soe first article in this Appendix. I Published by Corrington Bowles, St. Paul's Churchyard. London X Land Laws of the United States, p. 148. 380 APPENDIX. few days ago from Fort Stanwix, where they have been atten- ding the Congress held by Sir William Johnson, Baronet, with the Six United Indians and their tributaries. "We hear that about three thousand two hundred Indians from the different tribes of the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagoes, Senecas, Cayugas, Tuscaroras, Coghnowagos, Onoghguagos, Tutulos, Shawanese, Delawares, Mingoes of Ohio, Nantichokes, Conoys, Chughnuts, Schoras, and Orifcas, met Sir William at Fort Stanwix, on the very important business recommended by the King's ministers; and we have now the pleasure of assuring our readers that by his unwearied apphcation, address, and extraordinary influence, (which never appeared more conspicu- ous than on this occasion,) the Six Nations and all their tributaries have granted a vast extent of countr; to his majesty, and to the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania, and settled an advantageous boundary line between their hunting country and this, and the other colonies to the southward as far as the Cherokee river, for which they received the most valuable present in goods and dollars that was ever given at any conference since the settle- ment of America. An uncommon sobriety and good humor pre- vailed through all the numerous Indian camps for above seven weeks, and the sachems and warriors departed from the Congress in a very happy disposition of mind, from a firm persuasion that his majesty will gratify them in their just and reasonable expecta- tions. It is therefore earnestly to be hoped that this grand cession and boundary will be rightly improved, as they will undoubtedly secure the future tranquillity of these colonies, and be productive of lasting commercial advantages to them and Great Britain." Extracts from "Plain Facts: (pp. 66 to 96;) being an Exami- nation into the Rights of the Indian Nations of America, to their respective Countries; and a Vindication of the Grant, from the Six United Nations of Indians, to the Proprietors of Indiana, against the Decision of the Legislature of Virginia; together with Authentic Documents, proving that the Territory, westward of the Allegany Mountain, never belonged to Virginia, &:c. Phila- delphia, printed and sold by R. Aitken, 1781." On the 19th of January, 1768, the Speaker of the Assembly, and the Committee of Correspondence of Pennsylvania wrote, by order of the House, to Richard Jackson and Benjamin Franklin, Esqs., Agents for the province, at the Court of Great Britain, "That the non-establishment of a boundary negotiated about three years ago, by his majesty's orders to Sir AVm. Johnson, between these colonies and the Indian country^ is the cause of Indian jealousy and dissatisfaction; the delay of the confirmation of the boundary, the natives have warmly complained of, and although they have received no consideration for the lands agreed to be ceded to the crown, on our side of the boundary, yet that its subjects are daily settling and occupying these very lands." On the 6th of May, 1768, the Six Nations made a speech at APPE?rDix. 881 Fort, Pitt, to the King's Deputy Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and said: ''Brother, it is not without grief that we see our country settled by you, without our knowledge or consent, and and it is a long time since we first complained to you of this grievance." They subjoined, "The settlers must be removed from our lands, as we look upon it, they will have time enough to settle them, when you have purchased them, and the country become yours.''^ On the 31st of May, 1768, the General Assembly of Virginia being met, the President of his majesty's Council (John Blair, Esq.) opened the sessions with the following speech: "Gentlemen of the Council, Mr. Speaker, and Gentlemen of the House of Burgesses: Our late worthy Governor having designed to meet you here at this time, the reasons of that his intention having been reconsidered by me in council, and the objects for your consideration he had to lay before you, having been judged to be of such importance to the honor and service of his majesty; to the security, ease, and happiness of the people, that I was advised (as the administration devolved on me) to renew the proclamation for your meeting. "By letters from his excellency General Gage, Commander in Chief of his majesty's forces, and from Sir William Johnson, Superintendant of Indian Affairs, (which I shall cause to be laid before you,) it will appear, that a set of men regardless of the laws of natural justice, unmindful of the duties they owe to society, and in contempt of royal proclamations, have dared to settle themselves upon the lands near Red-stone Creek and Cheat River, which are the property of the Indians; and notwithstanding the repeated warnings of the danger of such lawless proceedings, and the strict and spirited injunctions to them to desist, and quit their unjust possessions; they still remain unmoved, and seem to defy the orders and even powers of government." As soon as Richard Jackson and Benjamin Franklin, Esqs. received the foregoing instructions from the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, (on preceding page) they waited on the Britioh {Secretary of State, and showed the necessity of immediate orders being sent to the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, for finishing the boundary line which had been begun in the year 1764. In the spring of the year 1768, Sir William Johnson received the King's commands and instructions to complete the purchase of the lands from the Allegany Mountain to the River Ohio, S^c, an,d accordingly he gave the earliest notice thereof to the govern- ments of Virginia, Pennsylvania, J^Tcio Jersey, &:c., and to the SLv JVafious and the Delawares, and other Indians residing upon the river Ohio, and appointed a Congress to be held with them in the autumn, (for the purpose of carrying the king's orders into execution,) at Fort Stanwix, in the province of New York. In December, 1768, Arthur Lee, Esq., late commissioner to the Court of France, from the United States of North America, presented a petition to the king of England in Council, praying, in the following words, onbehalf of himself and forty-nine other 382 APPENDIX. gentlemen: "That your majesty would grant to his petitioners, to be fifty in number, by the name of the Mississippi Company, two miUions and five hundred thousand acres of land, in one or more surveys, to be located or laid off between the thirty-eighth and forty-second degrees of north latitude, the Allegany Mountain to the eastward, and thence westward to the dividing line, (the run- ning of which your majesty has been lately pleased to order,) and that your petitioners shall have liberty of holding these lands twelve years, or any greater number that your majesty shall approve (after survey of them be made and returned) clear of all imposition money, quit-rents or taxes; and that your petition- ers shall be obliged to seat the said lands within twelve years, with two hundred families at least, if not interrupted by the savages or some foreign enemy, and return ihe survey thereof /o such office as your majesty shall be pleased to direct, otherwise to forfeit the grant. "Your petitioners humbly hope, that your majesty may be graciously pleased to grant these fovorable terms, in considera- tion of the heavy charges, great expense, dangers, hardships, and risks they must necessarily incur in the exploring, surveying, and settling this distant country; and because it appears from reason and experience, that large tracts of land taken up by companies, may be retailed by them to individuals much cheaper than the latter can obtain them from the crown, embarrassed as such individuals must be with the charges arising from the solicitation of patents, making surveys, and other contingent expenses, together with the difficulty the poorer sort are under from their ignorance of the proper methods to be pursued, as well as their inability to advance ready money for such purposes; whereas from companies they have only to receive their conveyances without any previous expense, and are indulged with credit till their industry enables them to make payments; a method so encouraging, that it cannot fail of answering the intention of speedily populating this your majesty'' s territory, so as to be profit- able to the crown, and useful to the slate. And though attempts to settle in this way, have sometimes failed in the hands of gentlemen possessed of affluent fortunes, in consequence of an indolence and inattention frequently attending persons in such circumstances, especially when not excited by the prospect of immediate and considerable profit; yet the greater part of the present adventurers being of good families, and considerable influence in the countries where they live, though possessed of but moderate estates, are induced, from the goodness of the soil, and climate of the country beyond the mountains, to believe, that by a proper application of their money and industry, they shall acquire a sure and happy provision for their children; which pleasing prospect, animated with a view of public utility, will conduct all their aff"airs with that spirited assiduity, which, only in matters of danger and difficulty, can ensure success. In pursuance of this, several of the membei-s are determined to be themselves among the first settlers; the dearness and pre-occu^ APPENDIX. 383 pancij of the lands, within their respective Colonies, rendering it impracticable to make a proper landed provi^^ion for theirnumer- ous families; a circumstance which begins already to restrain early marriages, and therefore speedy population. In considera- tion of the reasons here offered, your petitioners most humbly pray your majesty will be graciously pleased to grant their humble request, and as in duty bound your petitioners will ever pray. The Hon. Presley Thornton. Henry Fitzhugh. The Hon. Benedict Calvert. Sanmel Washington. Thomas Ludwell Lee. W. Fitzhugh, of Marmion. Thomas Gumming. AVilliain Brent. Francis Lightfoot Lee. W. Fitzhugh, of Somerset. Capt. William Fitzhugh. Richard Parker. Fran cis Thornton. William Booth. Stephen Sayre. Rev. Henry Addison, A. Richard Henry Lee. Robert Woodrop. Col. George Washington. John Baylor. Col. Adam Steven. Bernard Moore. Thomas Simpson. Ralph Wormely. William Flood. Warner Lewis, jun. AVilliam Borekenborough. Mann Page. Anthony Stuart. John Alexander. William Lee. Cuthbert Bullitt. Arthur Lee, M. D. F. R. S. Henry Royer. J. Augustine Washington. John Turberville. December, 1768. Arthur Lee, Agent. On the back of this petition is endorsed these words and figures: 16th December, 1768. Read and referred to a Committee, 9th March, 1769. Read at the Committee, and referred to the Board of Trade. We shall make but one short observation upon this petition. It speaks for itself, and shows, that the respectable petitioners (mostly Virginians) were not of the number of those gentlemen in Virginia, who now, without the least reason of justice, assert, that the ''distant country, ^^ over the Allegany Mountain, is within that government. On the 24th of October, 1768, the Congress at Fort Stanwix was opened. Present — The Honorable Sir Wm. Johnson, Baronet, his majesty's Su- perintent of Indian Affairs. His Excellency Wm. Franklin, Esq., Governor of New Jersey. Thomas Walker, Esq., Commissioner for the Colony of Virginia. Hon. Frederick Smith, Chief Justice of New Jersey. Richard Peters, and James Tilghman, Esqs., of the Council of Pennsylvania. George Croghan, and Daniel Glaus, Esqs., Deputy Agents of Indian Affairs. 384 ' APPENDIX. Guy Johnson, Esq., Deputy Agent, and acting as Secretar>; with several gentlemen from the different Colonies. John Butler, Esq. ^ Mr. Andrew Montour, > Interpreters for the Crown. Philip Philips. ) Indian Chiefs present. ^Mohawks. Tawashughts, &c Abraham. ,; Cajugas. Kanadagaya. Tagaaia. Kendrick. Shanarady. Aroghiaecka. Atrawawna, &c. Kayenqueregoa. ^, Tobarihoga. ^ Shawnese. Anohariol&c. Benevissica. ^..Oneidas. ^ ^^enecas Ganaghquieson. Gaustrax. Nicholasera. Odengot, &c. Senughsis. ^,'J,, Tuscctroras. Gajuheta. Saquareesera. Tagawaron, &c. Kanigot. ; Onandagoes. Tyagawehe, &c. The'^unt. Delawares. Tewaruir. Killbuck. Diaquanda. Turtleheart. The whole assembly being seated, Mr. Walker rose, and delivered to Sir Wm. Johnson his authority to sit and act as Commissioner for Virginia. *'John Blair, Esq., President of his majesty's Council, and Com- mander in Chief of the Colony and Domnion of Virginia, ''To Thomas Walker, Esq. "By virtue of the power and authority to me committed, as President of his majesty's Council, and Commander in Chief in and ver this colony and dominion of Virginia, I do hereby appoint you, the said Thomas Walker, to be Commissioner of Virginia, to settle a boundary line between this colony and the colonies of Pennsylvania and Maryland, and the several nations of Indians concerned. You are required to attend at a Congress to be held for that purpose, under the direction of Sir William Johnson, agreeable to his majesty's instructions, when you are to pay a due regard to the interest of his majesty, and such instructions as you shall receive from me. "Given under my hand and seal of the colony at Williamsburg, this 17th of June, and in the eighth year of his majesty's reign, anno domini, 1768. JOHN BLAIR." Messrs. Peters and Tilghman were likewise admitted as Com- missioners for Pennsylvania. APPENDIX. 385 Sir \Vm. Johnson then, by Abraham, a Chief of the Mohawks, addressed the Indians in the following manner: Brethren — I take you by the hand, and heartily bid you all welcome to this place, where I have kindled a council fire for afFaji*s of importance. The Governor of New Jersey, and the Commissioners of Virginia and Pennsylvania, do hkewise wel- come you here. Lieutenant Governor Penn came hither, and waited a considerable time, but was at length, by business, obliged to return home, leaving these gentlemen Commissioners on behalf of Pennsylvania. Brethren — Hearken to me, who have good words to speak to you, such as are for the benefit of your whole confederacy, and of your children yet unborn. You all remember that three years ago I signified to you his majesty's desire to establish a boundary line between his people and yours; and that we then agreed together, how some part of that line should run, whenever the same came to be settled. You aU, I am hopeful, recollect the reasons I then gave you for making such a boundary; nevertheless, I shall again repeat them. You know, brethren, that the encroachments upon your lands have been always one of your principal subjects of com- plaint; and that, so far as it could be done, endeavors have not been wanting for j'our obtaining redress. But it was a difficult task, and generally unsuccessful; for, although the provinces have bounds between each other, there are no certain hounds between them and you; and thereby, not only several of our people, ignorant in Indian affairs, have advanced too far into your country, but also many of your own people, through the want of such a line, have been deceived in the sales they have made, ,or in the limits they have set to our respective claims. This brethren is a sad case, which has frequently given us nmch trouble, and turned many of your heads; but it is likely to con- tinue so, until some bounds are agreed to, fixed upon, and made public between us. The great, 'the good king of England, my master, whose friendship and tender regard for your interests I wish you may ever hold in remembrance, has, amongst other instances of his goodness, after long deliberation on some means for your relief, and for preventing future disputes concerning lands, at length resolved upon fixing a general boundary line between his subjects and you, and that'in such a manner as shall be most agreeable to you: in consequence of which, I have received his royal commands to call you together for the establishment thereof; and after conferring with the governments interested hereupon, you now see before you the Governor of the Jerseys, the Commissioners on behalf of Aseregoa, Governor of Virginia, and Commissioners from Pennsylvania, in order to give you the strongest assurances on behalf of their re-pective govern- ments, of their resolutions to pay due regard to what shall be now entered into: the presence of so many great men will give a sanction to the transaction, and cause the same to be known as far as the English name extends. His majesty has directed me 3Sb APPENDIX. to give you a handsome proof of his generosity, proportioned to the nature and extent of what lands shall fall to him. Upon the whole, I hope that your deliberations will be unanimous, and your resolutions such as his majesty may consider as proofs of your gratitude for all his favors. A fine new belt. Brethren — The importance of the affairs now before us, requires the most serious attention. I will not burthen you with any other subject until this is generally settled; and there- fore we shall adjourn, that you may have time to think of it, and come fully prepared to give an agreeable answer. Then Abraham, a Chief of the Mohawks, after repeating what Sir William Johnson had said, addressed him thus: Brother — We give you thanks for what you have said to us at this time. It is a weighty affair, and we shall, agreeably to your desire, take it into our most serious consideration. We are glad that so many great men are assembled to bear witness of the trans- action; and we are now resolved to retire and consult on a proper answer to be given to all you have said; and so soon as we have agreed upon it, we shall give you notice, that we may again assemble and make it known to you; and we are all much obliged to you, that you have directed us to attend to this great affair alone at this time, that our minds might not be burdened or diverted from it by attending to any thing else. Fort Stanwix, October 31, 1768. A deputation from the Six Nations waited upon Sir William Johnson, and informed him, that a Chief and Warrior of each nation would attend him and deliver their fnal resolves, which should be made public to-morrow. A map being laid before them, they observed that what they had to say, were the fnal resolves of all the nations, and added that they would, agreeably to their just right, begin the line at the Cherokee river, &c. (Vide the boundaries in their grant to the King, p. 390.) This, they said, they delivered as their final determinations, subject to several conditions for the security of their possessions, and engagements entered into. At a general Congress held at Fort Stanwix with the Six Nations and other Indians, on Tuesday, November the 1st, 1768. Present as at the former meeting. The Indians being all seated, they desired to know whether Sir William was prepared to hear them; and, on being answered in the affirmative, the speaker stood up, and spoke as follows; Brother — We are hopeful that you will not take it amiss that we have delayed till now our public answer on the subject you recommended to us. This was a great and weighty matter, requiring long deliberation, and should not be undertaken lightly. We have accordingly considered it, and are now come to give you our fnal resolutions thereon, to which we beg your attention. Brother — AVe remember that on our frst meeting with you, when you came wUh your ship, we kindly received you, enter- APPENDIX. 387 tained you, and entered into an alliance with you, though we were then great and numerous, and your people inconsiderable and weak; and we know that we entered into a covenant chain of bark with you, and fastened your ship therewith; but, being apprehensive the bark would break, and your ship be lost, we made one of iron, and held it fast, that it should not slip from us; but, perceiving the former chain was liable to rust, we made a silver chain to guard against it. Then, brother, you arose, renewed that chain, which began to look dull, and have for many years taken care of our affairs by the command of the great King; and you, by your labors, have polished that chain, so that it has looked bright, and is become known to all nations; for all which we shall ever regard you; and we are thankful to you, in that you have taken such care of these great affairs, of which we are always mindful, and we do now, on our parts, renew and strengthen the covenant chain, by which we will abide so long as you shall preserve it strong and bright on your part. A belt. Then, after repeating all that had been said concerning- the line, the speaker proceeded: Brother — We have long considered this proposal for a boun- dary between tts, and we think it will be of good consequence if you, on your parts, pay a due regard to it; and we, in conse- quence thereof, have had sundry meetings amongst ourselves and with you; and from all that you have said to us thereon, we have at length come to a fnal resolution concerning it, and we hope that what is now agreed upon shall be inviolably observed on your parts, as we are determined it shall be on ours; and that no further attempts Vv^ill be made on our lands, but that this line be considered as final; and we do now agree to the line we have marked upon your map, now before you, on certain conditions, on which we have spoken, and shall say no more; and we desire that one article of this our agreement be, that none of the provinces or their people shall attempt to invade it, under COLOR OF ANY OLD DEEDS, or Other pretences whatsoever; for in many of these things we have been imposed on, and therefore we disclaim them all. Which bounds, now agreed to, we begin on the Ohio, at the mouth of the Cherokee river, which is our just right; and from thence we go up, on the south side of the Ohio, to Kitanning, above Fort Pitt; from thence a direct line to the nearest fork of the west branch of the Susquehannah; thence through the Allegany mountains, along the south side of the said west branchy till we come opjjosite to the mouth of the creek called Tiadaghton; thence across the tcest branch, and along the east side of that creek, and along the ridge of Burnet's hills, to a creek called Awandae; thence down the same to the east branch of Susque- hannah, and across the same, and up the east side of that river to Owegy; from thence eastward to JDelaware river, and up that river to opposite where Tianaderrah falls into Susquehannah; thence to Tianaderrah, and up the west side thereof and its west branch, to the head thereof; thence by a straight line to the mouth OOa APPENDIX. of Canada creek, where it empties itself into Wood creek, at the end of the long carrying place beyond Fort Stanwix. And this we declare to be our final resolves, and we expect that the con- ditions of this our grant will be observed. A belt. Brother — Now as we have made so large a cession to the King, of such a valuable and extensive country, we do expect it, as the terms of our agreement, that strict regard be paid to all our reasonable desires. We do now, in this case, on behalf and in the name of all our warriors of every nation, condition, that our warriors shall have the liberty of hunting throughout the coun- try; as they have no other means of subsistence, and as your people have not the same occasions or inclinations; that the white people be restricted from hunting on our side of the line, to prevent contention between us. A belt. Brother — By this belt we address ourselves to the great King of England, through you, our superintendent, in the name and in behalf of all the Six Nations, Shawnesse, Delawares, and all other our friends, allies, and dependents; we now tell the King, that we have given to him a great and valuable country; and we know, that v/hat we shall now get for it must be far shor-t of its value: we make it a condition of this our agreement concerning the line, that his majesty will not forget or neglect to show us his favor, or suffer the chain to contract rust; but that he will direct those who have the management of our affairs to be punctual in renewing our ancient agreements: That as I the Mohawks are now within the line which we give to the I King, and that these people are the true old heads of the whole 1 confederacy, their several villages, and all the land they occupy, I unpatented about them, as also the residences of any other of j our confederacy affected by this cession, shall be considered as their sole property, and at their disposal, both now and so long as the sun shines; and that all grants or engagements they have now or lately entered into, shall be considered as independent of this boundary;* so that they, who have so little left, may not lose the benefit of the sale of it; but that the people, with whom they have agreed, may have the land. We likewise further condition, on behalf of all the Six Nations, and of all our allies, friends, and nephews, our dependents, that as we have expe- rienced how difficult it is to get justice, or to make our com- plaint known, and that it is not in the power of our superinten- dent to take care of our affairs in different places without the King's help, that his majesty will give him help and strength to do us justice, and to manage our affairs in a proper manner. We all know the want of this, and we make it a point of great consequence, on which this our present agreement is to depend, and without which affairs will go wrong, and our heads may be turned. Brother — We likewise desire, that as we have now given up a great deal of lands within the bounds that Mr. Penn claimed a * This related to lands on the Susquehannah, 4'c APPENDIX. 389 right of buying, that he may, in consequence of the agreement* now entered into between us, enjoy what we have given within those hmits. And as we know, that Lydius of Albany did, in the name of several persons, lay claim to lands in Pennsylvania, which we know to be unjust; and that the deeds he pretends a right to, were invalid, we expect that no regard will be paid to them, or any such claims, now or hereafter; as we have fairly sold them to the proprietors of Pennsylvania, to whom alone we shall sell lands within that province; and we shall now give them a deed for that and other lands there. And in order to shew that we love justice, we expect the traders, who suffered by some of our dependents in the wars five years ago, may have a grant lor the lands we now give them down Ohio, as a satis- faction for their losses. And as our friend, Mr. Croghan, long ago got a deed for lands from us, which may now be taken into Mr. Penn's lands; should it so happen, we request that it may be considered, and that he may get as much from the King somewhere else, as he fairly bought it. And as we have given enough to shew our love for the King, and make his people easy, in the next place, we expect, that no old claims, which we disavow, or new encroachments, may be allowed of.f Brother — We have nov/ gone through this matter, and we have shewn ourselves ready to give the King whatever We could reasonably spare; we, on our parts, express our regard for him, and we hope for his favor in return. Our words are strong, and our resolutions firm; and we expect that our re- quests will be complied with, inasmuch as we have so gene- rously complied with all that has been desired, as far as was consistent with our interest. A belt. At a general congress held at Fort Stanwix, with the Six Nations, and other Indians, &c., on Friday, November 4, 1768, Sir William Johnson, addressing himself to them, spoke as follows: Brothers — I am glad the boundary is at length agreed upon; and as I have great reason to think it will be duly observed by the English, I recommend it to you to preserve it carefully in remembrance; to explain it fully to those that are absent; and to teach it to your children, &c. I now give you this belt, to strengthen, ratify, and confirm the boundary, and all transac- tions necessary thereto. ^ belt. Brothers — I consider your good intentions towards the traders who sustained the losses, and your desire to fulfill all your engagements, as instances of your integrity. I wish that you may, on your parts, carefully remember and faithfully observe * The proprietors of Peiinsylvrinia bought of tlie Six Nations a large tract of country at this consress, and on receivins their deed of conveyance for the same, the said proprie- tors paid the Six Nations 10,000 Spanish milled dollars; being the consideration money for the said tract. ' tTho Six Nations here farther make it a condition, that no old claims should he -alloweil. 'Pliis was expre'?!=ly made to remove all pretensions on the part of Virginia, to the lauds westward of the Alle?any mountains, undc^r the Lancaster deed- as they re- jjcatodly said that they had been cheated and deceived at the treaty held at Lancaster, 1644, 2 K * 390 APPENDIX. the engagements you have now, as well as formerly, entered into with the English, and that you may every day grow more sensible how much it is your interest to do so. Sir William Johnson, addressing himself to the Governor of J^ew Jersey, and the Commissioners, said: Gentlemen — Agreeable to his majesty's intentions, signified to me by the Secretary of State, and for the satisfaction of the several nations here assembled, I take the liberty to recommend it strongly to your several provinces, to enact the most effectual laws for the due observance of the line, and the preventing all future intrusions; as the expectation thereof, and the reliance the Indians have on your justice, from the assurance I have given them on that head, have proved great inducements to the settlement of the line now established between the colonies and them. To which the Governor and Commissioners answered: Nothing should be wanting on their parts to the obtaining such security for the boundary as was deemed necessary, on their return to their respective colonies. GRANT FROM THE SIX UNITED NATIONS TO THE KING OF ENGLAND. To all to whom these presents shall come, or may concern: — We, the sachems and chiefs of the Six Confederate Nations, and of the Shawnesse, Delawares, Mingoes of Ohio, and other dependent tribes, on behalf of ourselves, and of the rest of our several nations, the chiefs and warriors of whom are now here convened by Sir William Johnson, baronet, his majesty's super- intendent of our affairs, send greeting: Whereas his majesty was graciously pleased to propose to us^ in the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty-five, that a boundary line should be fixed between the English and us, to ascertain and establish our limits, and prevent those intrusions and encroachments, of which we had so long and loudly com- plained; and to put a stop to the many fraudulent advantages which had been so often taken of us; which boundary appear- ing to us as a wise and good measure, we did then agree to a part of a line, and promised to settle the whole finally, whensoever Sir William Johnson should be fully empowered to treat with us for that purpose: And whereas his said majesty has at length given Sir William Johnson orders to complete the said boundary line between the provinces and Indians; in conformity to which orders. Sir William Johnson has convened the cheifs and warriors of our respective nations, who are the true and absohite proprietors of the lands in question, and who are here r.ow to a very considerable number: And whereas many uneasinesses and doubts have arisen amongst us, which have given rise to an apprehension that the line may not be strictly observed on the part of the English, in which case matters may be worse than before; which apprehen- APPENDIX. 391 sion, together with the dependent state of some of our tribes, and other circumstances; retarded the settlement, and became the subject of some debate; Sir William Johnson has at length so far satisfied us upon it,' as to induce us to come to an agreement concerning the line, which is now brought to a conclusion, the whole being fully explained to us in a large assembly of our people, before Sir William Johnson, and in the presence of his excellency the Governor of New Jersey, the Commissioners from the provinces of Virginia and Pennsylvania, and sundry other gentlemen; by which line so agreed upon, a considerable tract of country, along- several provinces^ is by its ceded to his said majesty, which we are induced to, and do hereby ratify and confirm to his said majesty, from the expectation and confidence we place in his royal goodness, that he will graciously comply with our humble requests, as the same are expressed in the speech of the several nations, addressed to his majesty, through Sir William Johnson, on Tuesday, the first day of the present month of November; wherein we have declared our expecta- tions of the continuance of his majesty's favor, and our desire that our ancient engagements be observed, and our affairs attended to by the officer who has the management thereof, enabling him to discharge all the matters properly for our inte- rest: That the lands occupied by the Mohocks, around their villages, as well as by any other nation affected by this our cession, may effectually remain to them, and to their posterity; and that any engagements regarding property, which they may now be under, may be prosecuted, and our present grants* deemed valid on our parts, with the several other humble requests contained in our said speech: And whereas, at the settling of the said line, it appeared that the hne described by his majesty's order, was not extended to the northward of Owegy, or to the southward of Great Kanhawa river; we have agreed to and continued the line to the north- ward, on a supposition that it was omitted, by reason of our not having come to any determination concerning its course, at the congress held in one thousand seven hundred and sixty-five: And inasmuch as the line to the northward became the most .necessary of any, for preventing encroachments on our very towns and residences; and we have given this line more favora- bly to Pennsylvania, for the reasons and considerations men- tioned in the treaty: "".ve have likewise continued it south to the Cherokee river, because the same is, and we do declare it to be our true bounds with the southern Indians, and that we have an undoubted right to the country as far south as that river, which makes our cession to his majesty much more advantageous than that proposed: Now, therefore, know ye, that we, the sachems and chiefs aforementioned, native Indians and proprietors of the lands *The grants which the Six Nations the7i made, and are here alluded to, were as follows: one to Mr. Trent; oic to George Croghan, Esq.; and one to Messrs. Penn, proprietors of the province of Pennsylvania. 392 APPENDIX. hereafter described, for and in behalf of ourselves and the whole of our confederacy, for the considerations herein before men- tioned, and also for and in consideration of a valuable presem of the several articles in use amongst Indians, which, together with a large sum of money, amount, in the whole, to the sum of ten thousand four hundred and sixty pounds seven shillings and three pence sterling, to us now delivered and paid by Sir William Johnson, baronet, his majesty's sole agent and super- intendant of Indian affairs for the northern department of America, in the name and behalf of our sovereign lord George the Third, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ire- land, King, Defender of the Faith; the receipt whereof we do hereby acknowledge; we, the said Indians, have, for us, our heirs and successors, granted, bargained, sold, released and con- firmed, and by these presents, do grant, bargain, sell, release and confirm, unto our said sovereign lord King George the Third, all that tract of land situate in North America, at the hack of the British settlements, hounded hy a line which we have now agreed upon, and do hereby establish as the boundary between ns and the British colonies in America; heginning at the mouth of the Cherokee or Hogohege river, where it empties into the river Ohio; and running from thence upwards along the south side of the said river to Kitanning, which is ahove Fort Pitt; from thence hy a direct line to the nearest fork of the west branch of Susquehannah; thence through the Allegany mountains, along the south side of the said \oest hranch, till it comes opposite to the mouth of a creek called Tiadaghton; thence across the west branch, and along the south side of that creek, and along the north side of BurneCs hills, to a creek called Awandae; thence down the same to the east hranch of Susquehannah, and across the same, and up the east side of that river to Owegy; from thence east to Dela- ^ore river, and up that river to opposite to where Tianaderha falls into Susquehannah; thence to Tianaderha, and up the west side thereof, and the west side of its west branch to the head thereof; and thence by a direct line to Canada creek, where it empties into Wood creek, at the west end of the carrying place beyond Fort Stanwix, and extending eastward from every part of the said line, as far as the lands formerly purchased, so as to comprehend the whole of the lands between the said line and the purchased lands or settlements, except what is within the province of Pennsylvania; together with all the hereditaments and appurtenances to the same, belonging or appertaining, in the fullest and most ample manner; and all the estate, right, title, interest, property, pos- session, benefit, claim and demand, either in law or equity, of each and every of us, of, in, or to the same, or any part thereof; To have and to hold the whole lands and premises hereby granted, bargained, sold, released, and confirmed, as aforesaid, with the hereditaments and appurtenances thereunto belonging; under the reservations made in the treaty, unto our said sove- reign lord King George the Third, his heirs and successors, to and for his and their own proper use and behoof, for ever. APPENDIX. 393 In witness whereof, we, the chiefs of tiie confederacy, have hereunto set our marks and seals, at Fort iStanwix, the lifth day of November, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-eight, in the ninth year of his majesty's reign. A r.T> A TT A T\/r ) The mark of his nation. ABRAHAM, or / ^^.^^. ^^ ^^^ Mohawks. Tyahanesera, ^ rj.^^ g^^^^l^ HENDRICK, or ) Chief of [l. s.] the Tuscaroras. Saquarisera, ) The Stone. CONAHQUIESO, | ^hief o^j[^-^«;]^th^ ^^^i^as. BUNT, or ) Chief of [l. s.] the Onondagas. Chenavghealay \ The Mountain. TACr A ATA I ^^^^^^ ^^' t^- ^-^ ^^^ Cayugas. lAl^AAlA, ^ ^ The Pipe. n ATTOTAT> A V ) Chief of [l. s.l the Senecas. GAUSTARAX, ^ ^^^^ high Hill. Signed, sealed and delivered in the presence of William Franklin, Governor of- New Jersey; Frederick Smyth, Chief Justice of New Jersey; Thomas Walker, Commissioner for Virginia; Richard Peters, ) ^^ ^j^^ Council of Pennsylvania. James Tilghman, ) •' At a congress held at Fort Stanwix, with the several nations of Indians, Saturday, November the 5th, 1768; present as at the last meeting: The deed to his majesty^ — one to the proprietors of Pennsylva- nia, — and the one to the traders, being then laid on the table, were executed in the presence of the Governor of New Jersey, the commissioners of Virginia and Pennsylvania, and the rest of the gentlemen present.* After which, the chiefs of each nation received the cash, which was piled on the table for that purpose; and then proceeded to divide the goods amongst their people, which occupied the remainder of the day. At a congress held at the German Flats, in the province of New York, with the Six United Nations of Indians, in July, 1770, by Sir William Johnson, baronet, his majesty's sole agent and superintendent of Indian affairs, &:c., &c.. Sir William Johnson spoke to them as follows: Brothers — The King, my master, hailing received all the papers and proceedings relative to the great treaty at Fort Stan- wix, together with the deed of cession which you then executed to him, has laid them before his council of great men; and, after considering the whole of them, has signified to me, (which I hope will be deemed a farther instance of his paternal goodnegs,) *The deed to the traders liad l)een executed fioo days before; but Sir William Johnson and the commissioners recommended tliat the chiefs of liic Six Nations, wiio had signed it, should carry it into congress, and publicly acknowledge tlie execution of it, at the same time they executed the srant to the King of England, and the proprietors of Pennsylva- nia; which was accordin2;ly done. N. B. The grant to Mr. Croghan was subscril)ed by Mr. Walker, commissioner for Virginia, and the same persons in authority, who were witnesses to the above deed to the King, and the one to the proprietors of Indiana. 394 APPENDIX. that he did not require the land so far to the southward, as the Cherokee river, if it was of the least inconvenience to his chil- dren, whose interest he has so much at heart. He has, al length, in comphance with your own desires, as transmitted by me, and the public grant that you made, impowered me to ratify the same, by letters I have received from the lord (the Earl of Hillsborough) who is one of his majesty's secretaries, [holding his lordship^s letter in his hand,] which I now propose to do. You all know the deed of cession, of which this [showing a copy] is a true copy; you all know that it was executed in a pubhc meeting of the greatest number of Indians that has ever been assembled within the time of our remembrance, and that all who had any pretensions were duly summoned to it. To which the Six Nations answered: Brother Goragh Warraighiyagey — We are now met together in full council, to answer you concerning what you last spoke to us, about the King's having received our deed, and the proceedings at Fort Sta7iwix, with his ratification of the same, with which we are highly pleased. When we met you to so great a number, in so public a manner, at Fort Stanwix, we should hardly have acted ns we did, unless we had been possessed of a full right so to do. We now desire that you may assure the King, that it was our property we justly disposed of, and that we had full authority so to do. ORDER OF VIRGINIA COUNCIL. In Council, Williarnsbiirg, Augiist 23d, 1776. , Mr. George Rogers Clark having represented to this Board the defenceless state of the inhabitants of Kentucki; and having requested, on their behalf, that they should be supplied with five hundred weight of gun-powder; Ordered, therefore, that the said quantity of gun-powder be forthwith sent to Pittsburgh, and delivered to the commanding officer at that station, by him to be safely kept, and delivered to the said George Rogers Clark, or his order, for the use of the said inhabitants of Kentucki. JOHN PAGE, Pres't. Test, Arch'd. Blair, CI. Coun. INSTRUCTIONS TO GENERAL CJuARK. Lieutenant Colonel George Rogers Clark: You are to proceed, without loss of time, to inlist seven companies of men, officered in the usual manner, to act as mili- tia, under your orders. They are to proceed to Kentucky, and there to obey such orders and directions as you shall give them, for three months after their arrival at that place; but to receive pay, &c., in case they remain on duty a longer time. You are empowered to raise these men in any county in the Commonwealth; and the county lieutenants respectively are re- quested to give you all possible assistance in that business. Given under my hand at Williamsburg, January 2d, 1778. P. HENRY. APPENDIX. 895 VIRGINIA: Set. In Council, Williamsburg, Jan. 2d, 1778. Lieutenant Colonel George Rogers Clark: You are to proceed, with all convenient speed, to raise seven companies of soldiers to consist of fifty men each, officered in the usual manner, and armed most properly for the enter- prize; and with this force attack the British post at Kaskasky. It is conjectured that there are many pieces of cannon and military stores, to considerable amount, at that place; the taking and preservation of which would be a valuable acquisition to the State. If you are so fortunate, therefore, as to succeed in your expedition, you will take every possible measure to secure the artillery and stores, and whatever may advantage the State. For the transportation of the troops, provisions, &c., down the Ohio, you are to apply to the commanding officer at Fort Pitt, for boats; and during the whole transaction you are to take espe- cial care to keep the true destination of your force secret: its success depends upon this. Orders are therefore given to Cap- tain Smith to secure the two men from Kaskasky. Similar con- duct will be proper in similar cases. It is earnestly desired that you shov/ humanity to such British subjects and other persons as fall in your hands. If the white inhabitants at that post and the neighborhood, will give undoubt- ed evidence of their attachment to this State, (fq^ it is certain they live within its limits,) by taking the test prescribed by law, and by every other way and means in their power, let them be treated as fellow-citizens, and their persons and property duly secured. Assistance and protection against all enemies what- ever, shall be afforded them; and the Commonwealth of Virginia is pledged to accomplish it. But if these people will not accede to these reasonable demands, they must feel the miseries of war, under the direction of that humanity that has hitherto distin- guished Americans, and which it is expected you will ever con- eider as the rule of your conduct, and from which you are in no instance to depart. The corps you are to command are to receive the pay and allowance of militia, and to act under the laws and regulations of this State, now in force, as militia. The inhabitants at this post will be informed by you, that in case they accede to the offers of becoming citizens of this Commonwealth, a proper gar- rison will be maintained among them, and every attention be- stowed to render their commerce beneficial; the fairest prospects being opened to the dominions of both France and Spain. It is in contemplation to establish a post near the mouth of Ohio. Cannon will be wanted to fortify it. Part of those at Kaskasky will be easily brought thither, or otherwise secured, as circumstances will make necessary. You are to apply to General Hand for powder and lead neces sary for this expedition. If he can't supply it, the person who has that which Captain Lynn brought from Orleans can. Lead was sent to Hampshire by my orders, and that may be dehvered you. Wishing you success, I am, sir. Your h'ble serv't. P. HENRY. 396 APPENDIX. In the House of Delegates^ ) Monday, the 23d M)v. 1778. ] Whereas, authentic information has been received, that Lieutenant Colonel George Rogers Clark, with a body of Virginia militia, has reduced the British posts in the western part of this Commonwealth, on the river Mississippi, and its branches, where- by great advantage may accrue to the common cause of America, as well as to this Commonwealth in particular. Resolved, That the thanks of this House are justly due to the said Colonel Clark and the brave officers and men under his command, for their extraordinary resolution and perseverance, in so hazardous an enterprize, and for the important services thereby rendered their country. Test, E. RANDOLPH, C. H. D. Williamsburg', in Council, Sept 4th, 1779. Lieutenant Colonel George Rogers Clark: Sir: I have the honor to inform you, that by Captain Rogers I have sent the sword, which was purchased by the Governor, to be presented to you by order of the General Assembly, as a proof of their approbation of your great and good conduct, and gallant behaviur. I heartily wish a better could have been pro- cured, but it was thought the best that could be purchased, and was bought of a gentleman who had used it but a little, and judged it to be elegant and costly. I sincerely congratulate you on your successes, and wish you a continuation of them, and a happy return to your friends and country; and am, sir, with great regard, your most ob't serv't. JOHN PAGE, Lt. Gov. Governor Benjamin Harrison's Letter to General George R. Clark. In Council, July 2d, 1783. Sir: The conclusion of the war, and the distressed situation of the State, with respect to its finances, call on us to adopt the most prudent economy. It is for this reason alone I have come to a determination to give over all thoughts for the present of carrying on an offensive war against *the Indians, which you will easily perceive will render the services of a general officer in that quarter unnecessary, and will therefore consider yourself as out of command; but before I take leave of you, I feel myself called upon in the most forcible manner to return you my thanks, and those of my Council, for the very great and sin- gular services you have rendered your country, in wresting so great and valuable a territory out of the hands of the British enemy, repelling the attacks of their savage allies, and carry- ing on successful war in the heart of their country. This tribute of praise and thanks so justly due, I am happy to com- municate to you as the united voice of the Executive. I am, with respect, sir, yours &c. BENJAMIN HARRISON. THE END. ■ff J