Glass 
 
 Book__ 
 
 COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 
 
OLD KENTUCKY 
 
N 
 
Rkv. J. F. Cook, IJ,. J). 
 
 FRONTISPIECE 
 
To 
 Colonel Reuben T. Durrett, 
 
 Scholar, Historian, Founder of the Filson Club and the 
 
 highest type of a Kentucky Gentleman, who has done more 
 
 to preserve the history of Kentucky than any other man 
 
 living. 
 
 The Author 
 
OLD KENTUCKY 
 
 By 
 
 Reverend J. F. Cook, LL. D. 
 
 New York and Washington 
 
 THE NEALE PUBLISHING COMPANY 
 
 1908 
 

 \UB«ARY of OONQRESS 
 I wo CoDies Kec«uv«« 
 
 JUN 29^ 1908 
 
 Copyright, 1908, by 
 The Neale Publishing Company 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Page. 
 
 Preface, 9 
 
 Chapter. 
 
 I Where and Who, 15 
 
 II "Uncle Tom's Cabin," 38 
 
 III The Negro in Kentucky, 58 
 
 IV Misconceptions About Kentucky, 75 
 
 V Difficulties, 97 
 
 VI Social Life, no 
 
 VII Home-Life, 124 
 
 VIII Reminiscences, 134 
 
 IX Kentucky's Pride in Her Men, 157 
 
 X The Poetic Spirit, 170 
 
 XI Clouds, 173 
 
 XII Kentuckians and Bordermen, 183 
 
 XIII Kentucky During the Civil War, 218 
 
 XIV Kentucky, Her History and Her People, . . 229 
 XV The Home-Coming, 257 
 
PREFACE 
 
 In 1788 the savage Indians roamed almost at will 
 all over the territory now known as Kentucky. In 
 1792 Kentucky was admitted as a State of the Union. 
 Nothing in the history of this country, and perhaps 
 of the world, shows such rapid development of a 
 people In founding settlements and making homes for 
 their families. It seems almost like a fairy tale. It 
 is safe to say that no State in the American Union 
 has had such a unique history as Kentucky. It has 
 no parallel. And this progress was accomplished by 
 the most fearful sacrifices, the most heroic actions, 
 and the history of it all is written in blood. All 
 things considered, there is no population similar to 
 the people who accomplished these results. 
 
 Tennessee was very much like Kentucky, and it is 
 to be hoped that some of her sons will put in perma- 
 nent and compact form a history of her achievements 
 as I am trying to do for my native State. It goes 
 without saying that the Kentuckians have always been 
 considered a peculiar people, and wherever they are 
 found they still manifest the characteristics of their 
 ancestors. 
 
 No people are more proud of their native State 
 than are the Kentuckians, and this is well. Men who 
 have no pride of ancestry or devotion to their homes 
 can never accomplish much. The majority of the 
 hundreds of thousands of Kentuckians scattered 
 throughout the country have, from tradition and 
 otherwise, some knowledge of the achievements of 
 their forefathers, but nowhere can be found in con- 
 cise form a book which will verify all their claims. 
 And nothing can be of more value to Kentuckians, or 
 
lo Old Kentucky 
 
 to others who want to know these facts and have 
 them in compact form, than such a book if properly 
 prepared. 
 
 In this work there is no fiction, no guessing. The 
 facts are presented and may be relied upon. The 
 peculiar characters and characteristics of the State 
 have been faithfully portrayed, from the negro and 
 the poor white people, to the most exalted citizen; 
 the mode of life, superstitions, and peculiarities from 
 the most humble to the highest have been touched 
 upon. 
 
 In the beginning the task of preparing such a book 
 seemed more than I cared to undertake; but as the 
 work progressed it became a real pleasure, and 
 brought up old memories that made me feel almost 
 like a boy again mingling with his own people. I 
 wish to acknowledge the pleasure received from 
 very kind letters written by many of the most emi- 
 nent men of the nation to encourage me to undertake 
 and accomplish this work. From General Bell, the 
 chief of staff of the Army, from the President of the 
 United States, from Justice Harlan of the Supreme 
 Court, from governors and most distinguished men, I 
 received kind and almost affectionate replies to every 
 letter that I addressed, with one exception. 
 
 If the work accomplishes what I intended it to do 
 It will not have been in vain. The main design has 
 been to paint Kentucky, to hold up her virtues, to 
 unite her sons in a higher estimate of what the State 
 has been and is, and to lead their children to a strenu- 
 ous effort to live lives becoming the descendants of 
 such people. 
 
 After having spent half of my life in college work, 
 I retired In order that I might enjoy social life and 
 the pleasure derived from general reading. It was 
 known among many of my personal friends that I 
 
Preface 1 1 
 
 was the connecting link between this generation and 
 my people, who went to Kentucky before it was ad- 
 mitted as a State; that I was thoroughly imbued with 
 the Kentucky spirit, and that I had been reared 
 among those who took the most active part in the 
 winning of Kentucky and in its settlement. Many 
 prominent men, some of whom were not Kentuckians, 
 urged me to write a book of reminiscences bringing 
 out the characteristics of old-time Kentuckians, and I 
 decided to write a monologue, anonymously, to please 
 friends and as a pleasant employment during my 
 leisure hours. 
 
 This undertaking was almost completed, when I 
 decided, upon consultation with friends, to write a 
 book of more permanent value. Many beautiful 
 stories have been told of Kentucky life; but nothing, 
 so far as I know, has been put in permanent form to 
 give such information as ought to be given to the 
 people of Kentucky or other people having an interest 
 in the history of the State. 
 
 At this time "The Winning of the West" fell into 
 my hands, and I found that the distinguished author 
 of that work had taken more pains to show the char- 
 acter and struggles of the Kentuckians and the 
 bordermen than had the author of any other work. 
 "The Winning of the West" is of thrilling interest, 
 and has done more to show in a true light what Ken- 
 tucky has done in the winning of the West than have 
 all the histories of the State. It is a book written by 
 an honest, disinterested, capable man, who has taken 
 more pains to give references and to substantiate his 
 facts than any Kentuckian has even done. Had a 
 native of the State cited such facts as are brought out 
 in "The Winning of the West," multitudes of people 
 would have said it was simply the boastings of a Ken- 
 tuckian. My admiration for the man who had done 
 
12 Old Kentucky 
 
 such service for Kentucky and Kentuckians was very 
 great. I threw the old manuscript aside, and desired 
 even more to produce something of more permanent 
 vakie. It occurred to me that if I could make free 
 use of "The Winning of the West" there would be 
 little use for any other historic statements than could 
 be found in that work. 
 
 In a kind personal letter from President Roosevelt 
 he gave his consent that I make free use of anything 
 he had written, and authorized me to use it at will. 
 I determined, instead of quoting him at different 
 points, to put the statements that I wished to use in a 
 chapter by themselves; and while, necessarily, there 
 is some little lack of connection in the statements used, 
 it makes a most valuable chapter, and will be accepted 
 in fullest confidence. I wish here to express tO' Presi- 
 dent Roosevelt my sincere thanks for the inspiration 
 his book has given me and for his kind and cordial 
 consent to the free use of it. Were it in place here, 
 I could express my highest admiration for him as a 
 man, for I consider him one of the most remarkable 
 characters that ever filled the chair of Chief Execu- 
 tive; able, bold, and independent, one who, in all his 
 convictions, can be trusted. I speak this, not as a 
 politician, for I have always been a Democrat of the 
 old school. But his worth compels unbounded admi- 
 ration. 
 
 It was my purpose to close the book at the period 
 of the civil war, and to tell simply of old Kentucky 
 times. But after thought, it seemed that this would 
 leave the book incomplete, and would leave out a 
 large part of the achievements of the State. 
 
 It was thought, too, that it would add interest to 
 sketch the progress of the State from the earliest 
 times to the end of the first century of her existence. 
 Colonel Reuben T. Durrett, of Louisville, the 
 
Preface 13 
 
 founder of the Filson Club, who, President Roose- 
 velt says, "possesses the most complete library in the 
 world on all subjects connected with Kentucky his- 
 tory," agreed to furnish a brief sketch of Kentucky's 
 progress during the first hundred years of her history. 
 It gives me pleasure to say that I think no man living 
 could have done It better than Colonel Durrett, and 
 I wish to extend to him my hearty thanks for what 
 he has done to give value to this book. 
 
 All of Kentucky history is not confined within the 
 geographical limits of the State. In a large measure, 
 Missouri character in the early days was but an out- 
 growth of Kentucky character, for Missouri is a part 
 of Kentucky as Kentucky is a part of Virginia. The 
 three States stand in the relation of mother, daughter, 
 and granddaughter. It was determined to trace Ken- 
 tucky influence upon Missouri, and for this work I 
 selected Ex-Gov. Thos. T. Crittenden. Governor 
 Crittenden comes from one of the most distinguished 
 families of Kentucky, he Is one of the most elegant 
 gentlemen who ever went out from the State, and he 
 Is familiar with the history of both States. Governor 
 Crittenden has extensive acquaintance, having served 
 In the United States Congress as long as he wanted 
 to, having served Missouri as Governor In a very Im- 
 portant period of the State's history, and having 
 represented this countrv as Minister to Mexico. But 
 when the matter for the book was all put together 
 It was found the volume would be too large and that 
 full iustice could not be done to Missouri ; so I de- 
 termined to save Governor Crittenden's manuscript 
 entire, and to use It In a book I have In preparation, 
 ''Old Missouri, or The Pikers." 
 
 In order to show his Interest In this undertaking, 
 Hon. Champ Clark contributes a chapter on^ "Ken- 
 tucky During the Civil War," especially to bring out 
 
14 Old Kentucky 
 
 the character of one of Kentucky's most honored 
 sons, Justice Harlan of the Supreme Court. 
 
 One of the most noted social gatherings ever held 
 in this countiy was the Home-Coming held at Louis- 
 ville; and it was felt that the book would be incom- 
 plete were not mention made of this. It was thought 
 that many of the speeches made on that occasion 
 ought to be preserved; and in order that the book 
 might not be too large, I laid aside a large part of 
 my manuscript to give way to these things that ought 
 to be kept as a perpetual memorial. 
 
 The part I have taken in this book is largely to 
 represent Kentucky character. It was understood 
 among us all that no effort should be made at literary 
 display and that the style should be conversational. 
 I have tried to say what I had to say as would an 
 old-time Kentuckian, a plain, home-like fellow, with- 
 out display. So I have no apology to offer for the 
 style in which I have written my part of the book. 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 WHERE AND WHO 
 
 Kentucky has been called the Scotland of America ; 
 and, everything considered, not without reason. 
 When we come to consider the question of who the 
 earlier settlers were, it will be clearly seen that the 
 Scotch-Irish had much tO' do in the formation of Ken- 
 tucky character. In resources, climate, and natural 
 surroundings Scotland has nothing to compare with 
 this wonderland; while Scotland has wilder and more 
 striking scenery, Kentucky has enough of natural 
 beauty to awaken every sentiment inherent in the 
 bosom of noble people, and to call forth their best 
 energies. Nature seems to have left nothing to be 
 desired in this fruitful, beautiful land — "The Dark 
 and Bloody Ground." 
 
 Every part of the State has some attractive scenic 
 feature. From the mountains on the east side to the 
 beautiful green river country; from the diversified 
 and attractive counties along the Ohio River to the 
 southern border there are found resources ample to 
 produce the greatest comforts of civilized life: en- 
 chanting scenery, rich valleys, sparkling waters, rich 
 soil and kind climate, adapted to the culture of every- 
 thing that produces wealth and comfort, — hemp, 
 tobacco, corn, fruit of the finest, rich grass, fine herds. 
 But why try to describe an indescribable land? 
 Travel through all the States and you will find only 
 one Kentucky. 
 
 Our study of early Kentucky life will be confined 
 principally to the blue-grass section, of which we 
 know the most; and in that section perhaps, all things 
 
1 6 Old Kentucky 
 
 considered, will be found the conditions and charac- 
 teristics that have rendered the State most known. 
 
 In the eastern and southeastern parts are wild 
 mountains; and here may be found people who for 
 generations have had their homes and loved them — 
 men as bold, untamed, and rugged as any in the 
 Highlands of Scotland. They are not robbers or out- 
 laws, but from long residence there, cut off from the 
 outside world, and intermarried until families are like 
 clans, grudges have been handed down, until they 
 give rise to feuds and often to bloodshed. The 
 people are hospitable, and as ready to defend them- 
 selves and their honor — or supposed honor — as the 
 Campbells or McGregors in their native Highlands. 
 The faults of the mountaineers have been magnified; 
 and many outsiders have judged Kentucky character 
 from these people. Though the tide of a high civili- 
 zation has swept around them, they yet have feuds 
 and bloodshed which have rendered them famous — 
 or infamous — as viewed from more peaceful sur- 
 roundings. They have fine physiques, and many have 
 brain-power of no mean order. These mountaineers 
 constitute one type of the Kentuckian; and while 
 they are tO' be admired in some respects and pitied in 
 others, all the people of the State cannot be judged 
 by them. 
 
 The State, as a whole, as we have said, is wonder- 
 fully beautiful and diversified. On the north is the 
 smooth-flowing Ohio, into which numerous bright 
 streams and small rivers pour their waters, gathered 
 from hills and myriads of living springs. No' part 
 of Kentucky is without springs, living springs — the 
 joy of the people who drink their waters. The mur- 
 muring brooks and sparkling little rivers, full of 
 fish, — where many a congressman, senator, or gov- 
 ernor of other States lingered in boyhood, fished, and 
 
Where and Who 17 
 
 learned to swim, — are a delight. One of the most 
 beautiful streams in the country is the Kentucky 
 River. It comes gliding down from the mountains, 
 dancing through rugged cliffs, romantic hills, and 
 flowering vales like a graceful, happy maiden out on 
 a May morning rejoicing amid charming scenes. 
 Nature placed everything in Kentucky to support and 
 enrich her inhabitants; and the best people naturally 
 went there. 
 
 Whether heredity or environment has most to do 
 with character is a question as yet unsettled, but 
 nothing is truer than the law of "Kind after its 
 kind"; everywhere In nature this Is seen, In herds. In 
 flocks. In fruits and flowers. And in considering 
 human beings, heredity must be taken Into account. 
 As a rule, the Kentucklans of the first generation 
 were tall, vigorous, athletic, fearless, and hospitable, 
 and their fathers were such — no other class of men 
 could have endured what they did. The State was 
 cut off from the seaboard and from the original thir- 
 teen States by dark and gloomy mountains. To get 
 to Kentucky Immense and dark forests, seeming with- 
 out limit, were to be traversed. Wild beasts were to 
 be encountered, and fiercer than beasts were the mur- 
 derous, brutal Indians. Cowards, weaklings, and im- 
 becile men dared not approach this unknown land; 
 such could never have taken and held It. Unmen- 
 tionable outrages upon men, women, and children 
 aroused the worst passions, and called Into action 
 every nerve of brave manhood. 
 
 Some sentimentalists will say that the whites had 
 no right to go there to Invade the Indian's country. 
 Why? Was Kentucky claimed by any one tribe of 
 Indians? Did any tribe own the country or have a 
 right there? It was common ground, made by the 
 
1 8 Old Kentucky 
 
 Creator, and from time immemorial it was free to 
 any who might be able to occupy it — a common, free 
 hunting-ground. It was full of game; its rich soil 
 furnished food for every species of wild animal, and 
 when, in winter, the prairies west of the Ohio failed, 
 the rich, inexhaustible supplies of the blue-grass 
 region furnished abundance. 
 
 As soon as it was generally known what there was 
 in Kentucky to render home-making the most delight- 
 ful, — though everything possible to endure, — the 
 bravest, strongest, most home-loving people were 
 anxious to go there and build homes. On the one 
 hand everything to dread, everything to endure, 
 every privation to be anticipated — ^yet men were 
 ready to shoulder the gun and axe, to leave their old 
 home surroundings and seek this new land of promise. 
 The women who went with them were braver, more 
 self-sacrificing, and heroic than the men; for they 
 saw that they were liable to suffer more, to endure 
 tortures that men could not, in nature, have to endure. 
 And many of them did endure hardships that cannot 
 be imagined, and some of them endured unmention- 
 able tortures when captives of the most brutal creat- 
 ures known to history. Yet they were willing to 
 leave homes, parents, girlhood friends, and make 
 their way with their husbands and little children to 
 the far-off land. And it is astonishing how rapidly 
 the territory was filled, how soon these backwoods 
 people won it from the savages and placed it among 
 the sister States of the country, and how much they 
 did to make possible the settlement of the great West 
 and Northwest. 
 
 Of course, Kentucky alone did not do all this. 
 Tennessee, like a twin sister, aided her, and without 
 one the other could never have done it. This govern- 
 ment owes to these two States, more than to all the 
 
Where and Who 19 
 
 others, the winning of the great Southwest; and with- 
 out them, when the War of the Revolution was over, 
 the boundary of the nation would scarcely have been 
 beyond the Ohio River, and it might have been a long 
 time before the great Louisiana Purchase could have 
 been made. Daniel Boone first entered Kentucky in 
 1769, but it was some years after that before he 
 brought his family to the State and established 
 Boonesboro. In less than twenty years, in 1792, Ken- 
 tucky was admitted into the Union; and grand Isaac 
 Shelby, the Indian-fighter, hero, and statesman, was 
 made Governor. While it took the colonies on the 
 Atlantic seaboard more than a century and a half to 
 spread from the ocean to the Alleghanles, these back- 
 woodsmen, almost single-handed, with no regular 
 troops or government support, fighting almost as in- 
 dividuals, held together only by common interest and 
 love, drove back the very flower of Indian warriors, 
 commanded by the most skillful chiefs, and in less 
 than one generation had hewn down forests, builded 
 their simple homes, and won their State, now, as then, 
 recognized as one of the loveliest in the Union. 
 
 Who were the early settlers of Kentucky? We 
 shall try to give reliable information, and will give 
 historical facts, though this is not to be a histor\\ 
 To my mind there are certain things to be taken into 
 account when one would form a just appreciation of 
 a people — their surroundings, and the time in which 
 they liv^ed. 
 
 What I shall say here may be considered a digres- 
 sion, but it is on my mind to say it. The first thing 
 is, that after careful and extended reading of history 
 for half a century I have reached the conclusion that 
 history cannot be understood without taking into con- 
 sideration the wise, guiding, and inscrutable ways of 
 the Providence that has developed and led the human 
 
20 Old Kentucky 
 
 race. From the human standpoint many things in the 
 development of the race cannot be understood. It 
 seems that the Almighty, on this little planet among 
 all the magnificent worlds he has made, may be giving 
 lessons to the inhabitants of other worlds on the ter- 
 rible effects of sin. It may at least be hoped that no 
 other world has had so sad a history. The human 
 race has been developed, scattered, civilized, all by 
 means of war and bloodshed, aided by Christianity. 
 In the beginning of human history we find that 
 man became a sinner; and God chose "a peculiar 
 people" through whom he might reveal himself 
 to the world. In the course of time these people 
 were permitted for one hundred years to become 
 slaves in Egypt, then perhaps the most progressive 
 of any of the people of the earth. The Hebrews 
 had been promised the beautiful land of Palestine 
 and had been held back from possession of it 
 because of their sin and rebellion, yet God in- 
 tended them to occupy it. When the Israelites went 
 out of Egypt from slavery they were not fitted to 
 become immediately what it was purposed they 
 should be. For forty years they were kept in tutelage 
 in the wilderness, until all that generation except two 
 of the slaves and Idolaters perished. During these 
 forty years the grandest laws that man was ever per- 
 mitted to know were given to the great law-giver of 
 the Hebrews, and when the time came for the new 
 generation to enter Into the promised land they were 
 led by the guidance of the Almighty to dispossess and 
 destroy a wicked and Idolatrous people that held the 
 land as mere squatters, and there never was a word 
 said, or the question raised as to their right to drive 
 out those who used their splendid possessions and op- 
 portunities for crime and Idolatry. The people that 
 
Where and Who 21 
 
 went in to take Canaan were a chosen people, selected 
 for that very purpose. 
 
 Later there was a great contest as to whether the 
 East and the hordes of Asia should hold control over 
 Europe. Greece had at an early time stood as a bul- 
 wark, and all of Alexander's conquests were doubt- 
 less guided by a higher wisdom than his, for many of 
 his victories seemed miraculous. Then the Roman 
 Empire assumed its place, and it was a question for a 
 long time whether the hordes of Asia would succeed, 
 or whether Carthage or Rome should assume the 
 ascendancy. At the introduction of Christianity it 
 was destined to be a world-governing influence, and 
 there is nothing in history from that time to this that 
 has not in some way been directed by its influence. 
 Northern Europe and the British Isles, which were 
 to furnish the people to possess and dominate the 
 world, were filled with rude and almost uncivilized 
 men, and it was the mission of Christianity to fit 
 them for their great destiny. 
 
 When in the fifth century the Roman power seemed 
 to expire in Europe, some thought that it meant the 
 extinction of civilization and that the treasures of the 
 Old World were destroyed. They thought men had 
 to take a new start, had to lay anew the foundations 
 for civilization; but this was not true, for the valu- 
 able accumulations of antiquity escaped harm and 
 sooner or later became the possessions of ages to 
 come. The catastrophe to the Roman Empire simply 
 prepared for the shifting of the scene of civilization 
 from the south to the north of Europe, and gave the 
 intellectual prominence from one branch of the Aryan 
 family to another. It was simply the smothered 
 flame that was to burst forth anew, but it all had to 
 be connected with Christianity. The Roman Catholic 
 Church had her share in resisting Asiatic idolatry, 
 
22 Old Kentucky 
 
 and in her conflict with Mohammedanism she stood 
 as a bulwark, receiving into her system, which became 
 known as the Holy Roman Empire, much that she 
 acquired from the old Roman Empire; and though 
 she had but recently put before it the word "Holy," 
 it was a mingling of some of the doctrines of Chris- 
 tianity with much of the teaching of the old empire. 
 As has been said, "The fallen Dragon was set up 
 again in his place." "The papacy," as Hobbs says, 
 "was the ghost of the deceased Roman Empire 
 crowned, and sitting upon the grave thereof." The 
 Roman laws have had much tO' do in making up the 
 laws of nations. Palgrave said, "No European law- 
 yer has failed to profit by Rome's written wisdom." 
 
 One word in regard to the Teutons, who were in- 
 fluenced by the accumulation of wisdom gathered 
 from these two nations — "contributed to these world 
 treasures the very grand thing we call civilization." 
 They were poor in what the Romans considered 
 wealth, they had not literature or science; but they 
 had what was better, a virtuous manhood, and on ac- 
 count of this personal worth they transmitted to their 
 posterity the influence that built up great nations. 
 They possessed what really is the foundation of all 
 personal worth; they had manhood, capacity for civ- 
 ilization, love of personal freedom, independence, 
 and reverence for womanhood. They had good an- 
 cestry, and they were not city-loving people. They 
 loved the country. Tacitus says, "They dwelt scat- 
 tered and separate, as a spring, a meadow or a grove 
 may chance invite them." They reverenced their 
 women, and Tacitus says of the Germans that they 
 deemed womanhood to be sacred. These sentiments 
 create the purity and the sanctity of the home, and 
 no nation can long survive that does not have such 
 sentiments. Whenever womanhood is degraded, and 
 
Where and Who 23 
 
 the marriage tie made of straw and divorces are 
 easily obtained, that people is on the road to ruin. 
 
 While much can be said of the cruelty, oppression, 
 and barbarities practiced by the Roman Church, 
 without question Providence used it, as an organiza- 
 tion, for political development; but the time has 
 come in this civilization when that system is not 
 needed. 
 
 Once more, while in many respects Mohammedan- 
 ism has been a wonderful monstrosity, and the Arabs 
 have been regarded by us as a wild, barbarous, and 
 fanatical system, it has had its uses. Even the Sara- 
 cen conquests brought home some blessings in their 
 train. They spread the language of Arabia from 
 the Euphrates valley to Northern Africa, and it be- 
 came the preeminent speech and has remained such 
 up to the present time, and their language and litera- 
 ture has done much for the learning, literature, and 
 science of the world. In the dark ages, when litera- 
 ture and learning were scarcely known in Europe, 
 the Moors held a large part of Spain nearly eight 
 hundred years during which time they brought the 
 country occupied by them to the highest state of 
 cultivation and beauty. The kingdom of Granada, 
 naturally fertile, came through their industry and 
 their skill to be one of the best cultivated and richest 
 districts in Spain. It had seventy walled towns be- 
 sides the capital, Granada, a rich and prosperous city 
 with a population of a quarter of a million, enriched 
 with superb buildings of Moorish architecture. In 
 the kingdom were schools and colleges and, as I re- 
 member, it was the only place in Europe at that time 
 where arts, science, literature, and language were 
 taught. 
 
 But to come back to Kentucky. Who were these 
 early bordermen? There is nothing more evident 
 
24 Old Kentucky 
 
 than that North America was destined to become a 
 great rallylng-ground for the best people, people who 
 came out to possess and to cultivate the country, and 
 to send out streams of light to the ends of the world, 
 not only in business, but In teaching the nations of 
 the earth what man may do In the manly work of 
 carrying the light of Christianity. There came from 
 Europe a class of people that had been in some meas- 
 ure like the Children of Israel in Egypt, slaves of op- 
 pression. They had come out to be free, but the 
 first generations did not understand what the word 
 meant. They seemed to think that freedom meant 
 freedom to the ruling class but oppression to those 
 who did not agree with them. 
 
 The hardy settlers of the seaboard had to live 
 under hard conditions. Our old Pilgrim fathers and 
 their descendants were a body of noble men, though 
 they possessed then, as they do to-day, peculiar 
 traits. But with some exceptions the hard conditions 
 of their lives made them penurious and selfish, and 
 they were satisfied for one hundred and fifty years to 
 live along the seaboard, knowing little about the 
 West and caring less, only so far as they could make 
 money trading with the Indians. Even to the time of 
 the Revolutionary war and after the ratification of 
 the Constitution, some of them thought their States 
 ought to secede If the great West was admitted Into 
 the national family. And In the convention, when 
 the Southerners, Thomas Jefferson at the head, were 
 fighting to destroy slavery, they failed by the vote of 
 one eastern "Nobody," as Roosevelt calls him. 
 
 Who would believe that so noble a character as 
 Roger Williams, contending for soul-liberty, should 
 be driven out of Massachusetts and made to go Into 
 the wilderness with the Indians, who showed him 
 more kindness than his own race? 
 
Where and Who 25 
 
 Finally, the oppression of England began to 
 awaken the minds of men, and a body of men were 
 selected "for the very purpose of crossing the moun- 
 tains and risking life and all in winning for the gov- 
 ernment the territory and lands," selected to seek out 
 the Palestine of America. They wrought better than 
 they knew. Little did those old pioneers that crossed 
 the mountains know what their efforts and sacrifices 
 would mean to this great country. They were gath- 
 ered together for this very purpose; they were given 
 the disposition and ability to accomplish these results. 
 And my answer to the question as to who those early 
 pioneers were, is, they were me7i and women selected 
 by divine wisdom and goodness to open up and pro- 
 vide homes for us here to-day, who do not hold these 
 pioneers as we should, in loving and sacred remem- 
 brance. 
 
 The history of all civilized nations shows that there 
 has been a guiding hand in Providence that directs in 
 the founding of these nations and in their develop- 
 ment. And strange as it may seem, most of the de- 
 velopment of nations has been through war. Though 
 the wars that Napoleon waged seemed bloody and 
 the result of a mad ambition, the result was the 
 breaking up, in a large measure, of the Feudal sys- 
 tem, the destroying of little principalities, so that na- 
 tions might grow. The English-speaking people 
 have been guided by the directing hand of the infin- 
 itely Wise One, and there has been no war that the 
 American people have been engaged in that has not 
 preceded advancement in both culture and civiliza- 
 tion, though those who have engaged in them have 
 suffered untold trials and privations. Daniel Boone 
 said that he was the instrument ordained of God to 
 settle in the wilderness. We might make it wider 
 than this and say that God ordained the instrumen- 
 
26 Old Kentucky 
 
 tality for the settling and development of this great 
 nation that is destined to bring civilization, liberty, 
 and happiness to the nations of the earth. He seems 
 to have reserved the land that this nation to-day 
 holds for the development of a people who will be 
 largely instrumental in carrying the gospel of peace 
 and love to all the nations of the earth. 
 
 It is clearly seen from history that the little State 
 of Kentucky, next to the smallest of the Southern 
 States, with about forty thousand square miles, has 
 contributed very largely to the development of this 
 country. She has furnished the President of the 
 Southern Confederacy and the President of the Fed- 
 eral Government, as well as many of the most able 
 generals and statesmen of the age of Davis and Lin- 
 coln. Ninety-six Kentuckians have served other 
 States in Congress. Missouri alone has sent twenty 
 former Kentuckians to the House of Representatives, 
 and eight to the Senate; while eight of her governors 
 have been native Kentuckians. She has sent out doc- 
 tors, ministers of the Gospel, and multitudes of fam- 
 ilies of high social rank that have made their im- 
 press upon other States. She seemed destined to do 
 a great work not only for the people that remained 
 in her borders, but for the people of other South- 
 western States, and even in the great Northwest. 
 Wherever they are found, Kentuckians have remark- 
 able characteristics, and have commanded the re- 
 spect of the people with whom they have associated. 
 "My Old Kentucky Home" is sung in all the States 
 to the Pacific by those who' learned to love their old 
 home in their childhood. 
 
 But to return to the question of who those Ken- 
 tuckians were. They were a select people selected 
 out of the various nations, who' were especially 
 adapted for the work they were to da. There is no 
 
Where and Who 27 
 
 nation that has not had adventurous, bold, brave, 
 praying men; and the tendency In all nature Is for 
 kind to seek Its kind. Put a dozen kinds of fish In a 
 stream, and according to their nature will they as- 
 sociate together. Some will He sluggishly on the bot- 
 tom, some will seek the brightest, clearest spots, and 
 delight In catching flies from the surface. Game fish 
 flock together. It Is so with birds; they live on dif- 
 ferent kinds of food. The carrion crow will set 
 about to find a carcass; the eagle delights in the 
 wild flights from his cllfi^s, and In the struggle which 
 he makes for his game. Each one seeks the surround- 
 ings best adapted to it. The peaceful songster de- 
 lights In the shady groves; the stormy petrel in the 
 wild storms of the ocean. 
 
 So men follow out their tastes and seek their kind. 
 The farmer loves his home, his fields, his flocks, and 
 lives his fearless life, and thus unconsciously builds 
 up the country. The blood-suckers of Wall Street 
 seem never so' happy as when piling up the millions 
 that industry has made, regardless of the woes or the 
 welfare of their fellow-men. They are like wild 
 beasts that come in and devour that which others 
 have toiled for and obtained. The blood-sucker and 
 the horse-leech must have food; the pain it causes 
 the victim gives them no concern. 
 
 The foregoing will prepare the way for a better 
 understanding of the early settlers of Kentucky. In 
 Providence the State had to be won and developed, 
 and the Instrumentality was wisely chosen. Ken- 
 tucky was settled principally In the beginning by men 
 who loved freedom, who had lived God-fearing lives, 
 and who wanted tO' be where they might gain homes, 
 happiness, and freedom for themselves and their 
 children. The seaboard was settled by people who 
 thought they knew what the word Liberty meant; 
 
28 Old Kentucky 
 
 but the history of New England, and even of Vir- 
 ginia, shows how little they knew about it; and they 
 were later shown that there was a higher conception 
 of liberty than they had ever dreamed. New Eng- 
 land whipped men at the post for freedom of speech; 
 Virginia imprisoned men for preaching the gospel; 
 and, in the fullness of time, it became necessary for 
 people to be chosen, and by the power given them, 
 tO' show what freedom meant. The Kentuckians were 
 always freedom-loving people, a home-loving people, 
 yet there is no war, from the Indian wars in the 
 Northwest, and the wars on the Southern border, to 
 those for the freedom of the Mississippi River, the 
 accession of Texas, and for the development of the 
 great West, in which her men have not taken a noble 
 part. 
 
 In order to produce men for this work there had 
 to be peculiar characteristics and conditions. First, 
 fearless hunters penetrated these mountains that cut 
 Kentucky off from other States; they came back 
 and told of the beautiful, lovely country they had 
 found. Then settlers came, and gradually making 
 their way in among the Indians, they too came back 
 and told of the attractive land; and the tide of im- 
 migration began to set in. And though at times It 
 seemed that it was almost impossible to dispossess the 
 Indian, yet they persevered; and it was but a his- 
 tory of bloodshed from the first until as late as 1790 
 or even later. There is no question as to the charac- 
 ter of the early settlers of Kentucky, and no ques- 
 tion that that attractive country called forth the best 
 citizenship from those of other States, ninety per cent, 
 of which, perhaps, came from Virginia. Virginia 
 claimed that she owned Kentucky, and with very 
 great reluctance she let the Kentucky people set 
 up for themselves. For the first few years Ken- 
 
Where and Who 29 
 
 tucky was under the dominion of Virginia, and 
 even had representatives in her legislature. While 
 we have said that Kentucky had picked men 
 from different nations, it seems clear that her 
 hest type came from Scotland and Ireland; yet 
 there was a great mixture of English stock. Apart 
 from written histoiy, there are various ways 
 by which one may tell what a people are; 
 take the literature, the sayings, the proverbs, 
 and traditions of a people, and you can form a 
 fairly good estimate of their ancestors. In study- 
 ing Kentucky and her people, it is remarkable how 
 many of these traits can be traced directly back to 
 Scotland. In reading Scott's novels you will be 
 constantly reminded of the old-time speech of the 
 Kentuckians; and even in private life, among 
 people who perhaps have never read one of Scott's 
 works, but have acquired them from the sayings of 
 their ancestors, you will hear those same expressions. 
 The Kentuckian's love of home and home-life re- 
 minds one of the highest civilization of England, and 
 their love of liberty and of absolute freedom of ac- 
 tion, their fearless disposition, their quickness to de- 
 fend themselves, their pride of home and ancestry, 
 their very clannishness reminds one of Scotland. 
 
 Was it the surroundings that developed Kentucky 
 character, or was it heredity? Doubtless both had 
 their influence, but there is no doubt that heredity 
 had the greater. No beauty or wealth of country- 
 can make an Indian anything but an Indian; nor can 
 unlimited resources or beauty of surroundings ever 
 make of a beast anything but a beast. The Holland- 
 ers, though a noble people, could never have made 
 Kentucky what it has been or what it is; nor can I 
 conceive of any one nationality alone that could have 
 done it. They had to be picked men, and they 
 
30 Old Kentucky 
 
 were — men that God Almighty selected from every 
 place to go in and do the work that they did. 
 
 Kentucklans believe greatly in heredity, both in 
 men and animals; and they have never been able, 
 with all their fine blue-grass and clear water, to de- 
 velop a thoroughbred race horse from a donkey 
 or a plug. The laws that govern the transmission of 
 hereditable characteristics are generally unknown; 
 but the number of inhereditable deviations and pe- 
 culiarities of temperament are endless. Men who 
 breed horses and cattle are satisfied that the vigor, 
 fleetness, and other qualities of a dam and sire are 
 hereditable. Theoretical writers alone have doubted 
 the fact. Darwin considered that the correct way 
 of viewing the subject is to look at inheritance of the 
 character rather as the rule, and non-inheritance the 
 exception. Sometimes character is inherited from 
 remote ancestors; some persons are more like their 
 great-grand-parents than like their own parents. Men 
 have theorized and guessed and scientists have tried 
 to explain, but it is a fact that the offspring have the 
 characteristics even in small things of their forbears. 
 It is usually thought to be a safe rule to lay down that 
 children inherit from the stronger of the parents. 
 Strong, vigorous parents bear strong, vigorous child- 
 ren; brain-power is transmitted, as is seen in many 
 families. Darwin noticed the very smallest things 
 connected with the activity of mind and thought, and 
 he reached the conclusion that children who had lost 
 one of the parents, or both, whatever their surround- 
 ings, even in the movements of their bodies, or in 
 their habits, were influenced by their parents. Statis- 
 tics in this country prove that characters are trans- 
 mitted. It has been said that one old woman in New 
 York had eighty-seven descendants, and there was 
 not a virtuous woman or an honest man among them. 
 
Where and JFho 31 
 
 The history of our country shows that some of her 
 noblest men and women were left orphans and sub- 
 ject to hardships and privations that would have over- 
 come them had it not been that they had noble blood 
 in their veins. Some families raise judges, some min- 
 isters, some teachers, and some thieves. No amount 
 of moral training can make a thief an honest man; 
 and no amount of religious training can ever make 
 an ungodly man a Christian. As a noted writer says, 
 "A man's natural abilities are derived by inherit- 
 ance." 
 
 For two or three generations the Kentuckians 
 SjCarcely mingled in marriage with the people from 
 other States, and they intermarried, not in their own 
 family or blood, but in other families in the State, 
 perhaps even of different nationality, though always 
 Kentuckians. The result was that these happy, brave, 
 strong, healthy people founded large families of 
 children that partook of the characteristics of their 
 fathers and mothers. The descendants of such 
 people, who came into enjoyment of comfortable 
 homes, abundant and substantial food, and from 
 childhood were taught to fear God, honor the Bible, 
 respect the aged, to help the unfortunate, and to be 
 scrupulously honest and truthful, should be noble, 
 honest men. And where you find the old Kentuckians 
 you are apt to find them people worthy of their an- 
 cestry. 
 
 No writer on this subject have I found more pains- 
 taking and fair than Theodore Roosevelt; and no 
 one can accuse him of partiality, for he was not a 
 Kentuckian. It will give me great pleasure to quote 
 a part of what he has said in his "Winning of the 
 West" in regard to the pioneers of Kentucky and 
 their part in taking and holding the West. He has 
 said it better than any one not so gifted, and a hun- 
 
32 Old Kentucky 
 
 dred pages might be quoted from him in showing the 
 character of these people and the value of their work, 
 and the compliments he has paid to them as individ- 
 uals and in communities. I know of no one who 
 has taken so much pains to learn the facts concerning 
 these people. Mr. Roosevelt says (Vol. i, pages 
 132 et seq.) : 
 
 "Along the western frontier of the colonies that 
 were so soon to be the United States, among the foot- 
 hills of the Alleghanies, on the slopes of the wooded 
 mountains, and in the long trough-like valleys that 
 lay between the ranges, dwelt a peculiar and char- 
 acteristically American people. 
 
 "These frontier folk, the people of the up-coun- 
 try, or back-country, who lived near and among the 
 forest-clad mountains, far away from the long- 
 settled districts of flat coast plain and sluggish tidal 
 river, were known to themselves and to others as 
 backwoodsmen. They all bore a strong likeness to 
 one another in their habits of thoughts and ways of 
 living, and differed markedly from the people of the 
 older and more civilized communities to the east- 
 ward." 
 
 Summing up, he says they were American people — 
 they were a peculiar people, and their descendants 
 have inherited many of their traits. I continue to 
 quote (page 134) : 
 
 "The backwoodsmen were Americans by birth and 
 parentage, and of mixed race; but the dominant 
 strain in their blood was that of the Presbyterian 
 Irish — the Scotch-Irish as they were often called. 
 Full credit has been awarded the Roundhead and 
 Cavalier for their leadership in our history; nor have 
 we been altogether blind to the deeds of the Hol- 
 lander and the Huguenot; but it is doubtful if we 
 have wholly realized the importance of the part 
 
Where and Who 33 
 
 played by that stern and virile people, the Irish, 
 whose preachers taught the creed of Knox and Cal- 
 vin. These Irish representatives of the Covenanters 
 were in the West almost what the Puritans were in 
 the Northeast, and more than the Cavaliers were in 
 the South. Mingled with the descendants of many 
 other races, they nevertheless formed the kernel of 
 the distinctively and intensely American stock who 
 were the pioneers of our people in their march west- 
 ward, the vanguard of the army of fighting settlers, 
 who with axe and rifle won their way from the Alle- 
 ghanies to the Rio Grande and the Pacific." 
 
 Again (pages 141-147) : 
 
 "A single generation passed under the hard condi- 
 tions of life in the wilderness, was enough to weld 
 together into one people the representatives of these 
 numerous and widely different races; and the child- 
 ren of the next generation became indistinguishable 
 from one another. Long before the first Continental 
 Congress assembled, the backwoodsmen, whatever 
 their blood, had become Americans, one in speech, 
 thought, and character, clutching firmly the land in 
 which their fathers and grandfathers had lived 
 before them. They had lost all remembrance of 
 Europe and all sympathy with things European; they 
 had become as emphatically products native to the 
 soil as were the tough and supple hickories out of 
 which they fashioned the handles of their long light 
 axes. Their grim, harsh, narrow lives were yet 
 strangely fascinating and full of adventurous toil 
 and danger; none but natures as strong, as freedom- 
 loving, and as full of bold defiance as theirs could 
 have endured existence on the terms which these men 
 found pleasurable. Their iron surroundings made 
 a mould which turned out all alike in the same shape. 
 
34 Old Kentucky 
 
 They resembled one another, and they differed from 
 the rest of the world — even the world of America, 
 and infinitely more the world of Europe in dress, 
 in customs, and in mode of life. 
 
 "Where their lands abutted on the more settled 
 districts to the eastward, the population was of course 
 thickest, and their peculiarities least. Here and 
 there at such points they built small backwoods burgs 
 or towns, rude, straggling, unkempt villages, with a 
 store or two, a tavern — sometimes good, often a 
 'scandalous hog-sty,' where travelers were devoured 
 by fleas, and every one slept and ate in one room ; a 
 small log schoolhouse, and a little church, presided 
 over by a hard-featured Presbyterian preacher, 
 gloomy, earnest, and zealous, probably bigoted and 
 narrow-minded, but nevertheless a great power for 
 good in the community. 
 
 "However, the backwoodsmen as a class neither 
 built towns nor loved to dwell therein. They were 
 to be seen at their best in the vast, interminable for- 
 ests that formed their chosen home. They won and 
 kept their lands by force, and ever lived either at 
 war or in dread of war. Hence they settled always 
 in groups of several families each, all banded to- 
 gether for mutual protection. Their red foes were 
 strong and terrible, cunning in council, dreadful in 
 battle, merciless beyond belief in victoi-y. The men 
 of the border did not overcom.e and dispossess cow- 
 ards and weaklings; they marched forth to spoil the 
 stout-hearted and to take for a prey the possessions 
 of the men of might. Every acre, every rood of 
 ground which they claimed had to be cleared by the 
 axe and held with the rifle. Not only was the chop- 
 ping down of forests the first preliminary to cultiva- 
 tion, but it was also the surest means of subduing the 
 Indians, to whom the unending stretches of choked 
 
Where and JFho 35 
 
 woodland were an impenetrable cover behind which 
 to move unseen, a shield in making assaults, and a 
 strong tower of defence in repelling counter-attacks. 
 In the conquest of the West the backwoods axe, 
 shapely, well-poised, with long haft and light head, 
 was a servant hardly standing second even to the 
 rifle; the two were the national weapons of the 
 American backwoodsman, and in their use he has 
 never been excelled. 
 
 "When a group of families moved out into the 
 wilderness they built themselves a station or stock- 
 ade fort; a square palisade of upright logs, loop- 
 holed, with strong block-houses as bastions at the 
 corners. One side at least was generally formed by 
 the backs of the cabins themselves, all standing in a 
 row; and there was a great door or gate, that could 
 be strongly barred in case of need. Often no iron 
 whatever was employed in any of the buildings. The 
 square inside contained the provision sheds and fre- 
 quently a strong central block-house as well. These 
 forts, of course, could not stand against cannon and 
 they were always in danger when attacked with fire; 
 but save for this risk of burning they were very ef- 
 fectual defences against men without artillery, and 
 were rarely taken, whether by whites or Indians, 
 except by surprise. Few other buildings have played 
 so important a part in our history as the rough stock- 
 ade fort of the backwoods. 
 
 "The families only lived in the fort when there 
 was war with the Indians, and even then not in win- 
 ter. At other times they all separated out to their 
 own farms, universally called clearings, as they were 
 always made by first cutting off the timber. The 
 stumps were left to dot the fields of grain and Indian 
 corn. The corn especially was the stand-by and in- 
 variable resource ojF the Vvcstern settler; it was the 
 
36 Old Kentucky 
 
 crop on which he relied to feed his family, and when 
 hunting or on a war trail the parched grains were 
 carried in his leather wallet to serve often as his only 
 food. But he planted orchards and raised melons, 
 potatoes, and many other fruits and vegetables as 
 well; and he had usually a horse or two, cows, and 
 perhaps hogs and sheep, if the wolves and bears did 
 not interfere. If he was poor his cabin was made of 
 unhewn logs, and held but a single room; if well-to- 
 do, the logs were neatly hewed, and besides the large 
 living and eating-room with its huge stone fireplace, 
 there was also a small bedroom and kitchen, while a 
 ladder led to the loft above, in which the boys slept. 
 The floor was made of puncheons, great slabs of 
 wood hewed carefully out, and the roof of clap- 
 boards. Pegs of wood were thrust into the sides of 
 the house, to serve instead of a wardrobe; and buck 
 antlers, thrust into joists, held the ever-ready rifles. 
 The table was a great clapboard set on four wooden 
 legs; there were three-legged stools, and in the bet- 
 ter sort of houses old fashioned rocking-chairs. The 
 couch or bed was warmly covered with blankets, bear- 
 skins, and deer-hides. 
 
 "These clearings lay far apart from one another 
 in the wilderness. Up to the door-sills of the log- 
 huts stretched the solemn and mysterious forest. 
 There were no openings to break its continuity; 
 nothing but endless leagues on leagues of shadowy, 
 wolf-hunted woodland. The great trees towered 
 aloft till their separate heads were lost in the mass 
 of foliage above, and the rank underbrush choked 
 the spaces between the trunks. On the higher peaks 
 and ridge-crests of the mountains there were strag- 
 gling birches and pines, hemlocks and balsam firs; 
 elsewhere, oaks, chestnuts, hickories, maples, beeches, 
 walnuts, and great tulip trees grew side by side with 
 
Where and Who 37 
 
 many other kinds. The sunlight could not pene- 
 trate the roofed archway of murmuring leaves; 
 through the gray aisles of the forest men always 
 walked in a kind of a mid-day gloaming. Those 
 who had hved in the open plains felt when they came 
 to the backwoods as if their heads were hooded. 
 Save on the border of a lake, from a cliff top, or on 
 a bald knob — that is, a bare hill-shoulder — they 
 could not anywhere look out for any distance. 
 
 "All the land was shrouded in one vast forest. It 
 covered the mountain from crest to river-bed, filled 
 the plains, and stretched in sombre and melancholy 
 wastes toward the Mississippi. All that it contained, 
 all that lay hid within and beyond it, none could tell; 
 men only knew that their boldest hunters, however 
 deeply they had penetrated, had not yet gone through 
 it, that it was the home of the game they fol- 
 lowed and the wild beasts that preyed on their flocks, 
 and that deep in its tangled depths lurked their red 
 foes, hawk-eyed and wolf-hearted." 
 And again he says (pages 170, 171) : 
 "Thus the backwoodsmen lived on the clearings 
 they had hewed out of the everlasting forest; a grim 
 stern people, strong and simple, powerful for good 
 and evil, swayed by gusts of stormy passion, the love 
 of freedom rooted in their very heart's core. Their 
 lives were harsh and narrow ; they gained their bread 
 by their blood and sweat, in the unending struggle 
 with the wild ruggedness of nature. They suffered 
 terrible injuries at the hands of the red men, and on 
 their foes they waged a terrible warfare in return. 
 They were relentless, revengeful, suspicious, knowing 
 neither ruth nor pity; they were also' upright, reso- 
 lute, and fearless, loyal to their friends, and devoted 
 to their country. In spite of their many failings, 
 they were of all men best fitted to conquer the wilder- 
 ness and hold it against all comers." 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 ''uncle tom's cabin'' 
 
 The question has been often asked, why Ken- 
 tucklans, who are sO' fond of hberty and defend their 
 freedom with such vigor, were slaveholders? Per- 
 haps there has been more prejudice against them on 
 this account than on any other, for their persistency 
 in holding slaves has been extensively criticised. And 
 not only have they been held up to contempt by a 
 large class of the people in the North, but indeed all 
 slaveholding States have been abused, slaveholders 
 held up as monsters of crime, and all the blame for 
 the unfortunate conditions growing out of slavery 
 has been cast upon the Southern men. 
 
 The negro race has always had a hard time, and 
 has furnished a multitude of slaves for various peo- 
 ples. The negro is indigenous to Africa, and the 
 race, as such, has never made any history. 
 
 Dr. Spofford, in Johnson's Cyclopedia, says, "The 
 only African history worthy of note is a history of 
 discovery." While Africa has been the scene of 
 wonderful events, wars, architecture, and many of 
 the most useful arts, the home of the pyramids, and 
 temples, the wonder of the world, the negro has had 
 no part in any of these great works of man. He 
 has been discussed and "cussed," measured, sized up, 
 almost entirely by those who never owned him. 
 Theodore Gill, a very learned man, a Northern man, 
 whose publications are in the Smithsonian Institution, 
 and who was professor of zoology in the Columbian 
 University, Washington, D. C, gave a great deal of 
 attention to the negro. He says of the negro race. 
 
"Uncle Tom's Cabin" 39 
 
 "It is perhaps the most distinct of all the races and 
 that in which arc perceptible the most generalized 
 characters, or at least those which are most indicative 
 of an affinity to and derivation from the apes of the 
 human genus. These characters are evidenced both 
 superficially and anatomically, as well as morally 
 and physically." He investigates the forms, ways, 
 and outlines of the negro. He quotes from Dr. San- 
 ford B. Hunt, Surgeon of the U. S. Volunteers in the 
 late civil war, who after autopsies on the brains of 
 four hundred and five whites and negroes made by 
 Surgeon Ira Russell, reached the following conclu- 
 sion: 
 
 1. The standard weight of the negro brain is over five 
 ounces less than that of the white. 
 
 2. Slight intermixture of white blood diminishes the negro 
 brain from its normal standard, but when the infusion of 
 white blood amounts to one-half (as is seen in the mulatto) 
 it determines a positive increase in the negro brain, which in 
 the quadroon is only three ounces below the white standard. 
 
 3. The percentage of exceptional!)^ small brains is largest 
 among the negroes having but a small percentage of white 
 blood. 
 
 4. It is indisputable that the negro in his average character 
 deviates less from the ape tribe than any other race, and that 
 no high state of civilization has ever originated from among 
 the race. 
 
 I quote this, not to give any special indorsement 
 to it, but to show how men who have had no personal 
 interest in slavery have considered this question. And 
 to show, as we will see farther on, that those who 
 have become fanatics on the slavery question have 
 always treated the negro as a full equal to the white 
 man or Caucasian race, and have made many mis- 
 takes in the presentation of conditions. The poor 
 negro deserves the sympathy of all men. Whether 
 his ancestors, as has been contended, rested under the 
 
40 Old Kentucky 
 
 curse of God or not, the facts seem to prove that the 
 race of Ham has ever had some cloud hanging darkly 
 over It. 
 
 By way of explanation I want to say that my an- 
 cestors, all of whom were from Virginia, owned 
 slaves; that I inherited slaves, that I was reared 
 among them, and from childhood played with them 
 and loved them, and in after years, when they came 
 intO' my possession, I was as kind and tender to them 
 as if they had been of my own race, and in my whole 
 life never bought or sold one ; that I have contributed 
 to their education, after they were freed. But I want 
 to present the conditions under which we held our 
 slaves and the great harm that was done to them 
 and to us by fanatics and agitators who knew nothing 
 of the real condition of affairs. Slavery has existed, 
 in some form or other, in all ages of the world. Af- 
 rican slavery and the slave trade developed as early 
 as the fifteenth century Into a terrible calamity. And 
 a great impulse was given to it after the discovery of 
 America. The Invention of hunting negroes In the 
 interior of Africa to use them as slaves in the col- 
 onies was due to the Portuguese. Then the Spanish 
 took It up, and sold many Into slavery. In 15 17 
 Charles V gave the Marquise de la Bresa the mon- 
 opoly for eight years of exporting negro slaves to 
 the American colonies, but soon a very extensive and 
 profitable trade sprung up in which the English pro- 
 cured their share by the Peace of Utrecht, 17 13, 
 when Spain was compelled to allow them to Import 
 one hundred and forty-four thousand to her Ameri- 
 can colonies. So much did good old other Eng- 
 land do for these people, but after a while, when 
 the slave-trade was prohibited in America and the 
 Americans revolted against it, the English became 
 
"Uncle Tom's Cabin'' 41 
 
 great abolitionists, and their eyes were wonderfully 
 opened to its iniquities — when its profits ceased. 
 
 Slavery was permitted in all the American colonies, 
 and when the Constitution of the United States was 
 adopted slavery was recognized everywhere in this 
 country; and the leading statesmen, from Washing- 
 ton down, owned them. And the Constitution they 
 made recognized the right to hold slaves, and even 
 granted the right in that instrument to owners of 
 slaves to seek them wherever they might be found. 
 Why God, in his providence, permitted this country 
 to make the blunders it did, no human mind can com- 
 prehend. Up to the time of the adoption of the Con- 
 stitution, after our people had come through the 
 struggle, their minds did not begin to conceive really 
 what was the meaning of the word "liberty." The 
 New England States held slaves, persecuted people 
 for their religion, and did not seem to awake to it 
 until after the adoption of the Constitution. 
 
 It is not generally known that the strongest op- 
 poser of African slavery was a Virginia gentleman, 
 who wrote the Declaration of Independence, and 
 who doubtless had more part in the writing of the 
 Constitution of the United States than any other man. 
 When the Constitution was written and adopted the 
 people had not yet reached the point of appreciating 
 what freedom meant, and it became necessary to 
 make amendments to it. The first amendment to 
 the Constitution secured perfect freedom of religion. 
 Jefferson had seen persecution in Virginia, where the 
 clergy of the established church lived riotously on 
 the taxation of all dissenters. He had seen some of 
 the best men of Virginia arrested, fined, thrust in jail, 
 and the cry of these people came up to him, and the 
 very first amendment to the Constitution was sug- 
 gested by these circumstances, and the amendment 
 
42 Old Kentucky 
 
 was adopted giving perfect religious freedom to 
 every American citizen. Jefferson was the first states- 
 man actively to take a stand for the abolition of 
 slavery, which measure, though warmly supported 
 by the liberal members, failed. The agitation grow- 
 ing out of British oppression began to lead the 
 American mind to the question of natural rights and 
 to the condemnation of slavery. Horace Greely 
 says: 
 
 Hence, Thomas Jefferson, himself a slaveholder, yet op- 
 posed to slavery, had no difficulty in inducing a majority 
 (sixteen to seven) of the Congress which met next after the 
 acknowledgment of our independence to vote to exclude 
 slavery (in March, 1784) absolutely and forever from all 
 the Union not included in any State. The proposition did 
 not then prevail, since the votes of a majority (seven) of 
 all the States were required to enact it, and the absence of 
 a delegate from New Jersey reduced the State's voting yea 
 to sixj against three voting nay — North Carolina being di- 
 vided. The proposition restricted to an inhibition of slavery 
 in the Territories already ceded by the States to the confed- 
 eration, was renewed in 1787, when it was unanimously 
 passed, and it was reiterated with like unanimity by the first 
 Congress which assembled under the Federal Constitution, 
 when it received the approval of President Washington. 
 
 Meantime, the convention which formed the Constitution 
 had authorized Congress to prohibit the importation of 
 slaves after twenty years; and this was done — Congress 
 having forbidden, in 1794, our people to engage in carrying 
 slaves to other lands, absolutely outlawing all participation 
 in the slave-trade by our people, and all importation of 
 slaves into this country, by an act passed March 2, 1807 — 
 twenty-three days before the British Parliament, after a 
 struggle which had lasted nearly a quarter of a century, did 
 likewise. 
 
 After the adoption of the first amendment, 
 churches were supported by the free-v/ill offering of 
 the people who attended them. They made property 
 devoted to religious or charitable purposes, and 
 schools and colleges, free from taxation. This sepa- 
 
"Uncle Tom's Cabin" 43 
 
 ration of the church from the state was one of the 
 greatest points of difference between the new world 
 and the old. At this time there was no law in the 
 world forbidding slavery, and nowhere in the world 
 was the free exercise of religion permitted by law. 
 And this country had the honor of first teaching 
 these great facts to the nations of the world. Vir- 
 ginia has the honor of teaching this nation and of 
 introducing the first measure advocating the freedom 
 of religion ; and Thomas Jefferson was the first great 
 statesman that opposed slavery, though he was him- 
 self a slav^eholder — and he did this when New Eng- 
 land was importing and holding slaves. 
 
 At the close of the Revolutionary war the vast 
 extent of territor}^ between the Atlantic and Pacific 
 oceans ultimately fell into the hands of the govern- 
 ment. And what part of this territory, especially of 
 the great Northwest and West, belonged to each 
 State was difficult to determine. Virginia claimed 
 Kentucky and as far west as her lands would reach; 
 and other States were in the same condition. The 
 Kentuckians had won their lands by their own indi- 
 vidual efforts ; no Northern State had won anything. 
 No New Yorker lived in the regions bounded by the 
 unknown lands by conquest of the Indian. Massa- 
 chusetts and Connecticut claimed, under ancient char- 
 ters, great bodies of lands still held by the British 
 and their Indian allies. There was not a New Eng- 
 land inhabitant dwelling in this Northwest territory; 
 no New England law had any force there; no New 
 England soldier had dared tO' go in there until 
 Wayne, with his thousand Kentucky cavalry, had his 
 great victory over the Indian tribes and Jay's treaty 
 was made. The great States of the Northwest were 
 not inhabited or owned by any of the other States 
 until they acquired their right from the Federal 
 
44 Old Kentucky 
 
 Union. And though all the States tried to set up 
 claims, none of them had courage to win one or to 
 keep a territory until Federal troops were back of 
 them. These claims were settled by Congress, and 
 in 1784 Virginia ceded all of her rights to the terri- 
 tory northwest of the Ohio, except some little reser- 
 vations, to the government, and Congress quietly 
 agreed not to question her right to Kentucky. Con- 
 gress now having possession of this great territory, 
 had to make provision for the States that might grow 
 up therein. Seeing what trouble had been brought 
 upon the people of Kentucky and other States that 
 had marked out and occupied their irregular claims, 
 they determined to provide for the regular survey 
 of these lands and to determine upon what terms 
 settlers should hold them. By ordinance of 1787 
 certain things were determined on, and it was the 
 sentiment of the people, and especially of the South- 
 ern men, that African slavery should not go into that 
 territory. And even in 1784 Jefferson put a clause 
 in an ordinance prohibiting slavery in the west terri- 
 tory, south as well as north of the Ohio River, after 
 the beginning of the year 1801; but it failed to 
 pass. In 1785 an effort was made to prohibit slav- 
 ery in the Northwest immediately, but it came to 
 nothing. Whose fault was it? Only eight States, 
 at that time, were represented in Congress; five of 
 the eight were Southern ; and the Southern men were 
 more strongly in favor of the measure than the cool, 
 calculating New Englanders, who were afraid New 
 England would lose too much population if the way 
 were made clear to move west. A committee ap- 
 pointed brought in an ordinance, the majority being 
 men of the South, prohibiting slavery, and the re- 
 port was vigorously urged by two Virginians on the 
 committee, William Grayson and Richard Henry 
 
''Uncle Tom's Cabin" 45 
 
 Lee. Roosevelt says, "The sixth and most import- 
 ant article declared there should never be slavery or 
 involuntary servitude in the Northwest, otherwise 
 than for punishment of convicted criminals; pro- 
 vided however, that fugitive slaves from the older 
 States may lawfully be reclaimed by their own- 
 ers. * * * j^ ^^g jj-j i-esults, a deadly stroke 
 against the traffic in and ownership of human beings, 
 and the blow was dealt by Southern men, to whom 
 all honor should ev^er be given." 
 
 I intend to take no partisan view of this subject; 
 I have no personal interest in it, only that I desire to 
 let the facts be known as they really were. From 
 boyhood I have known the sentiment in Kentucky 
 concerning slavery, and the Kentuckians were not 
 strongly attached to it as an institution; but they 
 were very warmly attached to the slaves with whom 
 they had been, from childhood, accustomed to live; 
 and in all my memory of Kentucky I never knew but 
 one hard, cruel master — and he was not hard or 
 cruel as the New Englander believed; he was a saint 
 in comparison with what they thought slaveholders 
 were. The slaves in Kentucky, as I knew them, were 
 well-fed, comfortably clothed and housed, tenderly 
 cared for in sickness, and they seemed to be as much 
 attached to their homes as we were, where we all 
 shared alike. The farmers taught their boys to work 
 in the fields with the colored boys, and in a long ex- 
 perience I have seen no happier people than were 
 then found in my section of Kentucky. Henry Clay 
 was always known to be an emancipationist; Cassius 
 M. Clay, a distinguished Kentuckian, was one of 
 the most violent abolitionists on earth, and he owned 
 slav^es as long as there were any in the State. Why 
 not? Was there any law forbidding it? Did not 
 the laws of his countiy give him that right? He 
 
46 Old Kentucky 
 
 would not have been permitted to turn them loose in 
 Kentucky; he would not have been permitted to col- 
 onize them or turn them loose in any State north of 
 the Ohio River. What were they to do? I will il- 
 lustrate — 
 
 My grandfather owned a large body of Kentucky 
 land; he also owned a few slaves and did not want 
 to own them. When I was a boy he called them all 
 before him and asked them if they wanted their free- 
 dom. As he could not give them freedom and let 
 them stay in Kentucky, he sent across the Ohio River 
 to ask if he could buy land and put them over there, 
 and the privilege was refused. He would not have 
 sold one of them any sooner than he would one of 
 his own children, and the next thing was to send 
 them to Liberia if they would go there. But the re- 
 quest of all his slaves was to be permitted to stay 
 there — in Kentucky — with him and live with him ; 
 and they did until some of them died, and others 
 were kindly cared for after his death. What were 
 we to do with them? I give it as my opinion that 
 Kentuckians, the Kentuckians of my boyhood, before 
 their feelings were outraged by slander, vitupera- 
 tion, falsehood, and constant meddling with the ne- 
 groes, if any provision could have been made for the 
 betterment of them so that the State might have been 
 free from them, v/ould have carried the measure over- 
 whelmingly. But constant agitation awakened bad 
 feelings, and the people of Kentucky did not feel like 
 being driven to anything by falsehood and abuse. 
 This spirit was intensified by constant agitation, until 
 many of the Northern people became so fanatical 
 on this subject that they were almost insane. The 
 Southern people were made to believe that there was 
 no spirit of brotherhood in the North toward the 
 Southern slaveholders, and that many of them would 
 
"Uncle Tom's Cabin" 47 
 
 have been willing to see our houses burned, our fam- 
 ilies murdered, almost without sympathy upon the 
 part of the North. And when that spirit culminated 
 in the John Brown raid, and those fanatics, regard- 
 less of law or of the ties that should have bound 
 Anglo-Saxons together, made a martyr and a saint 
 of that poor old fanatic, — a man who had courage 
 to risk all to carry out his convictions, while they sat 
 quietly at home and ran no risk, — the climax was 
 reached. Men in the North who should have known 
 better than to believe things that they heard taught in 
 the pulpit, and by the press, kept up these agitations; 
 and knowing that the Constitution protected the 
 Southern people in their rights and that the Bible 
 was not strong enough for them on the subject, they 
 openly declared for an anti-slavery God, an anti- 
 slavery Constitution, and an anti-slavery Bible. To 
 what a pitch of madness can people be driven ! My 
 opinion is that slavery was a dark shadow upon this 
 country; that in nature it could not exist in a repub- 
 lic; and that Providence let this thing be developed 
 that it should be abolished; and that it has given 
 to the American people a great problem which no 
 mind can solve, but which calls for the wisest and 
 most consen^ative action. 
 
 Some things that are facts seem almost too un- 
 reasonable to believe. In coming from Philadelphia 
 to Chicago, in 1876, a very elegant gentleman occu- 
 pied a seat with me for a while. He very promptly 
 informed me that he had been the pastor of a Pres- 
 byterian church in Philadelphia for the past tsventy- 
 flve years. He was a Doctor of Divinity, and he 
 seemed to be a lovable man and he really was. T did 
 not give him my name or place of residence, thinking 
 that T might learn more from him by appearing to be 
 a plain Western business man in whose identity he 
 
48 Old Kentucky 
 
 had no interest. I knew that Philadelphia had been 
 the original breeding-ground of abolition and I turned 
 the conversation to the slavery question ; and though 
 the war had been over eleven years, I found he had 
 the intensest feeling against Southerners, and I, with- 
 out contradicting anything he said, listened to state- 
 ments of this sort: 
 
 "What monsters those Southern people must be, 
 to have starved the negroes, worked them to death, 
 neglected them in sickness, and driven them like 
 beasts ! It makes my blood run hot to think of a 
 man hitching fifteen or twenty poor human creatures 
 to a plow and driving them to the plowing of ground, 
 and then turning them loose without feeding, to go 
 into the same employment next day !" 
 
 We talked further, and after a while to make him 
 feel better, I groaned and said: 
 
 "That looks strange to me; I wonder if it can 
 be true? If so, they are not such great sinners as 
 fools. To' think that men would pay, I am told, as 
 high as twelve hundred dollars for a negro, — well 
 make it a thousand dollars, — and they would have, 
 if eighteen men were hitched to a plow, a team that 
 cost eighteen thousand dollars, when two hundred 
 and fifty dollars would buy two mules that would do' 
 more plowing in one day than those men would do 
 in three ! And not feed them, nor care for them ! 
 They could do no work; and if there were not a par- 
 ticle of human feeling among men, such folly would 
 be unthinkable. Would a man buy a horse and stance 
 him to death? Would a man not doctor a sick 
 mule simply as a matter of gain, if nothing else? It 
 looks unreasonable to me. Besides, have you met 
 any Southern gentlemen?" 
 
 He admitted that he had met many, and so far as 
 
"Uncle Tom's Cabin" 49 
 
 he could see they were as nice men as he had ever 
 met. 
 
 "Well, Doctor S ," I said, "have you known 
 
 any Southern Presbyterian clergymen? Are there 
 no scholars and Christians in your denomination 
 South? Your church is a wealthy and a fine church 
 In the Southern States, and the Presbyterians were 
 slaveholders. Can you believe what you have just 
 stated; that they would practice such things as you 
 have mentioned?" 
 
 He listened thoughtfully, was silent a while, then 
 he said: "I am surprised that I ever believed such 
 things." 
 
 A great deal has been said about the effect of 
 slavery upon the white race. I shall not discuss the 
 matter, but will simply say, you may take the finest 
 citizens of Kentucky, the Clays, the Crittendens, the 
 Marshalls, the Breckinridges, and many families like 
 them that owned slaves, as they did — did they show 
 to any disadvantage when mingling with distinguished 
 gentlemen of the country? Are not their families 
 found to-day conspicuous In social, political, and edu- 
 cational life? It is astonishing the credulity that 
 abolitionists in a large part of the Northern States 
 gave to anything said about slavery; they did not 
 stop to consider whether the statements were reason- 
 able or true; and they let their children, too, grow 
 up with these prejudices. The president of my col- 
 lege, one of the grandest men In Kentucky, Dr. 
 Campbell, of Georgetown, was a Scotchman, and be- 
 fore coming to Kentucky he was a rank abolitionist. 
 He married a lady In Frankfort, became the owner 
 of slaves, and treated them as the rest of us treated 
 our slaves. Two of my professors in college were 
 Maine men, grand, good men, and slaves worked 
 
 4 
 
50 Old Kentucky 
 
 for them. And so I might mention multitudes, not 
 only in Kentucky, but in other Southern States, whose 
 prejudice vanished as soon as they saw conditions as 
 they really existed. 
 
 There is no book of its kind, I suppose, that has 
 been more read, and over which more tears have 
 been shed, than "Uncle Tom's Cabin"; and in care- 
 fully reading it, more than once, I have wondered 
 how people could swallow all that the author of that 
 book set before them. It is a remarkable book; it 
 shows great genius, and earnestness of spirit; but 
 so much fanaticism has never been put into any other 
 one book. I really question whether there is any 
 just foundation for a tithe of the things Mrs. Stowe 
 has said. Several reasons have been advanced as the 
 cause of its wonderful power, — first, a natural dis- 
 like for slavery; second, Mrs. Stowe put into it the 
 whole Beecher brain, with other assistance she might 
 have had; and then the book appeared at a time 
 when it was most welcome, during the excitement 
 over the Dred Scott decision. It did harm, possibly 
 no good. It excited bad feelings, and now, forty 
 years after the war is closed and the slaves are free, 
 it is paraded through the country in its most horrible 
 form, a play, in which are presented dogs of terrible 
 appearance, — claimed to be Southern blood-hounds, 
 such dogs as were never seen in the South, — to arouse 
 the basest feelings in the negro race and prejudice 
 the ignorant. Mrs. Stowe selected my county in 
 Kentucky as the starting point of her story; and 
 she used the name of one of the noblest families 
 in the State, Shelby. She states that Mr. Shelby had 
 a splendid estate, many negroes, and valuable stock 
 of all kinds; she introduces a base, low, ignorant 
 negro buyer, who' has power over Mr. Shelby be- 
 cause he owes the negro buyer a few hundred dollars. 
 
"Uncle Tom's Cabin" 51 
 
 He threatens Mr, Shelby with ruin, and forces him 
 to sell a family serv^ant, an honored and valuable 
 servant, who is very necessary to the plantation ; and 
 to close the trade Mrs, Stowe pictures a beautiful 
 little mulatto child — the price of these tvvo paying 
 the debt. Mr. Shelby shows great grief in parting 
 with these, his wife is almost distracted, all the child- 
 ren are in tears — all because that old faithful cook, 
 whom they all lov^ed, sees her husband go away for- 
 ever — for the want of about sixteen hundred dollars ! 
 Now, can anybody believ^e that a man in Mr, Shelby's 
 condition could save a large estate by disposing of 
 two negroes? And why these two, the most loved 
 on the plantation? If Mr, Shelby was the character 
 Mrs, Stowe pretends him to be, he would have sold 
 every horse on the place and if need be cut off part 
 of his farm, rather than make this sacrifice. A good 
 farm in Shelby County would have been very cheap 
 at fifty dollars an acre; a few acres would have paid 
 the debt; a few fine horses would have paid the debt; 
 and no Shelby County gentleman would have applied 
 to his neighbor for help and not received it. The 
 whole thing is false; no such thing ever occurred, 
 and anybody who will take a minute to consider will 
 see that it is as Imaginary as any story of wildest 
 fiction. Of course the scene Is wonderfully drawn. 
 In order to rescue her child Eliza Is made to go to 
 the Ohio River, which from Shelby County is about 
 thirty miles, and to cross the Ohio River when it is 
 very high, the last of February, on broken pieces of 
 floating ice — an impossibility; and it seems as if 
 the author in some measure realized it was an impos- 
 sibility, for she states that this scene was drawn from 
 a story published in an abolition magazine, and that 
 it became the nucleus around which a number of 
 scenes began to take form and unity. With a skilled 
 
52 Old Kentucky 
 
 hand and burning brain Mrs. Stowe has gathered 
 out the worst scenes that could have been thought of 
 to awaken feeling and prejudice. Had she employed 
 her powers in depicting the horrible scenes among 
 the poor of England and her colonies; of the op- 
 pression of the Irish people in their poverty; of the 
 unfeeling spirit of the aristocracy, who nearly owned 
 England, in oppressing those who labored for them ; 
 or selected individual circumstances of suffering ones, 
 of the starving condition of women and children la- 
 boring in factories, she could have shown the suffer- 
 ing of the Anglo-Saxon race, and it would have been 
 true though almost beyond belief. What pictures 
 could be drawn of the suffering in London, or in 
 Paris ! Or any other place all over Europe. 
 
 Suppose Mrs. Stowe had gone to Boston, wit- 
 nessed the toil and poverty of women and children in 
 the factories ; or had described the sorrow and suffer- 
 ing aboard a vessel loaded with unfortunate slaves 
 torn from Africa and brought here by New Eng- 
 land people as articles of traffic. Perhaps no more 
 heartrending scenes of suffering were ever witnessed 
 than were witnessed on these slave-ships. But Mrs. 
 Stowe's sympathy did not run in that direction. Sup- 
 pose that she had told of the cargoes of rum that 
 New England sent to Africa, and that wherever a 
 missionary went, rum followed. Could she not have 
 told what New Englanders did with their slaves 
 when they found them unprofitable, and who paid the 
 money for them that was used in building up their 
 manufactories? Suppose she had gone into the slums 
 of New York and seen thousands of children and 
 older people living in a single block huddled together 
 like rats; many little sick ones scarcely ever seeing 
 the sunlight. Suppose she had gone to the Tombs 
 police court and had seen little children and besotted 
 
"Uncle Tom's Cabin" 53 
 
 mothers of the most revolting character, all huddled 
 together, to be tried and sent to the various places of 
 punishment. I have been in that court and have 
 seen things there that made the heart sick. For in- 
 stance, when those poor mothers, brought there for 
 crime with their little children, have had in little 
 buckets the refuse out of slop pails on the street — 
 their only means of satisfying their hunger. The 
 pen has not been made that can give a true picture 
 of the sufferings of the poor and the oppressed in 
 other lands, even in this, our goodly land. What is 
 the difference between working slaves to death and 
 starving women and children to death in factories 
 and in poverty from which there is no escape? What 
 does this all prove? That in this world there will 
 be the poor and the oppressed, that there will be 
 hunger and slavery in some form until the millenium. 
 And it would be unjust to hold all human govern- 
 ments up to scorn, or to create hate toward them, 
 and against wealth, and the oppression of the poor. 
 This course would result only in anarchy, in social- 
 ism, and in plunder. He who tries to array section 
 against section, class against class; he who appeals 
 to the passions of men, is an enemy to the govern- 
 ment, an enemy to the betterment of conditions, and 
 an enemy to the people. 
 
 There is one thing that strikes the reader of 
 "Uncle Tom's Cabin" with some force. Mrs. 
 Stowe has brought out many beautiful traits of char- 
 acter, and so far as I can see, she has drawn them 
 from people who were raised in the South. Some of 
 her negro characters are beautiful, and we who know 
 the negro know that some of the noblest, most af- 
 fectionate, and confiding people we have ever known 
 have been of the negro race. The old uncles and the 
 aunties were true and lovable in character, and even 
 
54 Old Kentucky 
 
 Dixon in his "Clansman," which is so much abused, 
 brings out true to life some of the best negro charac- 
 ters, and they shine like stars above the poor white 
 trash which rose to the surface in the general agi- 
 tation ; and he shows truly the baseness of the low- 
 est negro characteristics. The principal characters 
 among the whites in "Uncle Tom's Cabin," who are 
 presented as dealing in slaves, she has truly stated, 
 were men of Northern birth. Very few native South- 
 erners ever dealt in slaves. It was those adventurers 
 who came in from the North, who had no sympathy 
 with the negroes, who dealt in them as if they were 
 cattle. 
 
 Augustine St. Clair was the son of a wealthy 
 planter in Louisiana. The family had its origin in 
 Canada. Of two brothers, very similar in tempera- 
 ment and character, one had settled in Vermont, the 
 other became an opulent planter in Louisiana. 
 Augustine and his brother Alfred were twins, the 
 only children of the family, "Their father had an 
 overseer, a great tall, slab-sided, two-fisted renegade 
 son of Vemiont, who had gone through a regular ap- 
 prenticeship in hardness and brutality and taken his 
 degree to be admitted to practice." He was an un- 
 feeling, cold-hearted man, and Augustine said of him, 
 "He could have divided Poland as easily as an 
 orange or trodden on Ireland as quietly and system- 
 atically as any man living." Alfred was such a man 
 as his father, and ruled unfeelingly over five or six 
 hundred slaves, and got to believe that they were 
 scarcely human. Augustine was an easy-going man 
 of forceless character, who, while believing in his 
 heart in the wrongs of slavery, enjoyed every luxury 
 he could obtain through slave labor. As Mrs. Stowe 
 has confessed that this was Vermont stock and that 
 
"Uncle Tom's Cabin" 55 
 
 these men could be so easily controlled through their 
 love of gain, we must believe her. 
 
 The meanest, lowest, basest character in the book 
 is Legree. If there ever was such a character in the 
 South, I never knew of it, though for years I owned 
 a plantation in Mississippi, and traveled all through 
 the South. I have been on the great sugar planta- 
 tions and on the cotton plantations, and with very 
 few exceptions the slaves were treated so as to enable 
 them to have health and strength to work, to say the 
 least of it. I never knew, while I lived there, of a 
 master killing a slave. 
 
 This is the description Mrs. Stowe gives of her 
 meanest character — a Vermonter also, and observa- 
 tion of Southern people has proved that these people 
 who were meanest to the negroes were from the 
 North : 
 
 His round, bullet head, large, light-gray eyes, with their 
 shaggy, sandy eye-brows, and stiff, wiry, sun-burned hair, 
 were rather unprepossessing items it is to be confessed ; his 
 large, coarse mouth was distended with tobacco, the juice 
 of which, from time to time, he ejected from him with 
 great decision and explosive force ; his hands were immensely 
 large, hairy, sun-burned, freckled, and very dirty, and gar- 
 nished w^ith long nails, in a very foul condition. * * * 
 And what was the matter with Legree? And what was 
 there in a simple curl of fair hair to appall that brutal man, 
 familiar with every form of cruelty? To answer this, w^e 
 must carry the reader backward in his history. Hard and 
 reprobate us the godless man seemed now, there had been 
 a time when he had been rocked on the bosom of a mother, — 
 cradled with prayers and pious hymns — his now seared brow 
 bedewed with the waters of holy baptism. In early child- 
 hood, a fair-haired woman had led him, at the sound of 
 Sabbath bell, to worship and to pray. Far in New England 
 that mother had trained her only son, with long, unwearied 
 love, and patient prayers. Born of a hard-tempered sire, 
 on whom that gentle woman had wasted a world of un- 
 valued love, Legree had followed in the steps of his father. 
 Boisterous, unruly, and tyrannical, he despised all her coun- 
 
S6 Old Kentucky 
 
 sel, and would have none of her reproof; and, at an early 
 age, broke from her, to seek his fortunes at sea. He never 
 came home but once after, and then his mother, with the 
 yearning of a heart that must love something, and has 
 nothing else to love, clung to him, and sought, with pas- 
 sionate prayers and entreaties, to win him from a life of 
 sin, to his soul's eternal good. 
 
 That was Legree's day of grace ; then good angels called 
 him ; then he was almost persuaded, and mercy held him by 
 the hand. His heart nearly relented, — there was a con- 
 flict, — but sin got the victory, and he set all the force of 
 his rough nature against the conviction of his conscience. 
 He drank and swore, — was wilder and more brutal than 
 ever. And, one night, when his mother, in the last agony 
 of her despair, knelt at his feet, he spurned her from him, — 
 threw her senseless on the floor, and, with brutal curses, fled 
 to his ship. The next Legree heard of his mother was when, 
 one night, as he was carousing among drunken companions, 
 a letter was put into his hand. He opened it, and a lock 
 of long, curling hair fell from it, and twisted about his 
 fingers. The letter told him his mother was dead, and 
 that, dying, she blest and forgave him. 
 
 It will be remembered that Legree was a Ver- 
 monter, and in any place where he could have op- 
 pressed a human being for his own personal gain, this 
 man would have been a monster. But his conduct, as 
 shown in "Uncle Tom's Cabin," acts very well for 
 effect and helps to bring out the tragedy. 
 
 I have given this much attention to "Uncle Tom's 
 Cabin" because of its wonderful influence and effect, 
 and much more could be said concerning It. History 
 will some day do justice to this question. It will tell 
 how New England Introduced and sold slaves ; how 
 noble Southern men were opposed to Its extension; 
 how, after they had paid for the slaves. New Eng- 
 land began to abuse them ; how the fairest parts of 
 the country have had to struggle under this cloud, 
 that not only separated negro families, but white 
 families; how hate was Intensified until men of all 
 
"Uncle Tom's Cabin" 57 
 
 the States shed their blood; how brother fought 
 against brother; how property was destroyed; how 
 the agitators shunned the conflict; and how, after it 
 was all settled on the battlefields, the basest elements 
 were thrust into power, and homes destroyed, and 
 general suffering followed both for the whites and 
 for the blacks. Maybe in a hundred years history 
 may tell how this great problem, which no human 
 mind can comprehend, has been settled by the mighty 
 hand of a merciful God. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE NEGRO IN KENTUCKY 
 
 All In all, the negroes of Kentucky v c ihe best 
 class of negroes I have ever met. Th - been 
 
 trained by good Virginia people to honee ,: ' 
 ness; trained tO' respect religion, and t, . 
 masters and their masters' children. They arc 
 tionate people, and when you trust them you may 
 rely upon their faithfulness. In these days they were 
 kindly treated; they were made to feel that our 
 homes were their homes, and in speaking about the 
 home and property of the master, they always called 
 it "We-all's"; and manifested absolutely as much 
 pride in the success of our farms, in the quality of 
 our stock, as we did ourselves. They were always 
 kind to our children; and this very thing made us 
 love the negro. We were willing to divide anything 
 with them and they would make any reasonable sacri- 
 fice for us. Among my own people, and among my 
 neighbors, when I was a boy, with one exception, I 
 scarcely ever heard a harsh word spoken tO' a negro 
 or saw one abused. 
 
 Perhaps I can best illustrate this by a visit to an 
 old Kentucky home. I will go with you to my old 
 grandfather's and give it just as it now rises before 
 me as a picture. I may mix it up and throw some 
 things in disconnectedly; but I have an illustrious 
 example in Charles Dickens, whose stories may never 
 be generalized, for he seemed to put in just whatever 
 came to his mind, whether it had connection with the 
 other things or not. Dickens always reminds me of 
 fishing for ocean trout; you never can tell just which 
 
The Negro in Kentucky 59 
 
 way the trout is going. Sometimes it will make a 
 straight shoot, then tack to the right, or to the left, 
 then bound back, and it takes skillful playing to land 
 It safely. 
 
 Grandfather Flood was a typical Virginia English- 
 Irishman, whose father owned a large estate in Vir- 
 ginia, and died before the Revolutionary war. Ac- 
 cording to the law of that day the oldest son in- 
 herited the great bulk of the estate. Grandfather 
 had three brothers that I know came tO' Kentucky, 
 and I think they were accompanied by their two sis- 
 ters. Of course they were poor, and left Virginia to 
 better their condition in Kentucky. Three of them 
 settled in Shelby County, and commenced, in the 
 dense forests, to clear out their little farms. They 
 were industrious and fruitful. They all built log- 
 cabins first, and later good, substantial homes which 
 were afterward improved and weather-boarded. 
 Grandmother Flood and her people also came from 
 Virginia. They were Huguenots, as their name, 
 Bondurant, will show. How I have been thrilled to 
 hear from her lips the history of their early 
 struggles ! She often told me that the happiest days 
 she ever saw, and her whole life was really a happy 
 life, were the first years of their settlement in the 
 woods. They had a little cabin of one room; it 
 had a dirt floor, and was built of round logs, through 
 the cracks of which, she said, she often looked out 
 into the night and saw beautiful stars. Her first bed- 
 stead was composed of forks driven in the ground, 
 and poles laid across to the cracks in the logs, on 
 which were stretched boards, and over these boards 
 was made the bed. She was then but a girl, fifteen 
 years old, of splendid form, vigorous health, and she 
 really had the sweetest disposition of any woman I 
 ever knew. During the day grandfather would cut 
 
6o Old Kentucky 
 
 the brush, and they would burn It at night, like two 
 children playing around a bonfire. I think grand- 
 mother inherited two negroes, who had their own 
 cabin and were as happy as their owners. They 
 raised their little crops, pushed on, commenced rais- 
 ing children, and finally were able to build a comfort- 
 able home of hewn logs and shingled roof, and then 
 weather-boarded it out of planks cut with a whip-saw, 
 two men sawing it, one standing above the other on 
 a platform. And when I can first remember them, 
 though I was a very small child, they were living in 
 great comfort and happiness; and lived to see their 
 children take desirable positions in life; some rise to 
 eminence, and not a stain on the character of any of 
 them. They both lived to a ripe old age, grand- 
 mother being over eighty when she died. 
 
 I take this family to illustrate what I want to say, 
 because I think it was a typical Kentucky family of 
 the old time. They were devout Christians, and their 
 children all became Christians, one of them becoming 
 an eminent Baptist preacher. He had a peculiar 
 name, Noah, and he is perhaps as well known in 
 Missouri, whither he went, as any one, and is as 
 much honored as any man in the State. In every way 
 the blessings that usually follow a family raised in 
 honesty, in Christian teaching and industry, followed 
 their descendants. Grandfather never ceased to be a 
 Virginian in all his ways. He farmed like a Vir- 
 ginian, he lived like one, and he had the prejudices 
 and characteristics of a Virginian. Until a very few 
 years before his death he would never use anything 
 but a wooden mould-board plow. On the handle of 
 each one hung a paddle to scrape off the dirt. He 
 preferred to use oxen for all draft purposes, and 
 thought it was a sin against nature to raise mules, 
 and he would never have one on his place. If he 
 
The Negro in Kentucky 6i 
 
 ever had a mowing scythe on his place, to the time 
 of his death, I never knew it, I have seen grand- 
 mother ride to church many a time in an ox-cart, 
 when she might have had a carriage if she preferred; 
 but she said she thought the cart was safer; and 
 Daniel, walking along driving the oxen, made the 
 security almost certain. No corn was cut on that 
 place; the fodder was pulled off the stalk up to the 
 ears, stuck in bet^veen the stalks to dry, and then in 
 the evenings, after the dew fell, so it would not 
 crumble, all hands went out and tied it in bunches 
 and dragged it to sorting places, where a tall pole 
 was set up, around which the fodder was stacked — 
 and it surely was sweet food for stock. Next the tops 
 were cut off and carried out to make shuck-houses, 
 and the shuck-house, forty feet long, was really a de- 
 lightful thing. It was made of strong forks, twelve 
 feet high or more, put in the ground, along which 
 ran a ridge-pole, and leaning up against this were 
 poles, upon which cross ones were fastened, and the 
 fodder tops put all around it heavily like a shingled 
 roof. Now the corn was gathered, hauled In, put 
 into a great hallway between two immense cribs, and 
 things got ready for the "corn-shucking," which was 
 a great time with the negroes. It meant fun, feast- 
 ing, wrestling, boxing, singing, and a general good 
 time, a revel which scarcely ever closed before mid- 
 night. The neighboring negroes came in, and there 
 would be perhaps thirty or more at a corn-shucking. 
 They divided off into two parties, the corn was 
 divided into two parcels, leaders were chosen, and 
 work began. The side which won out got to eat at 
 the first table, and the other side had to wait on them, 
 and sing while the victors ate. I have never seen a 
 more interesting sight in any theatre, or even at the 
 World's Fair, than was to be seen at the old-fash- 
 
62 Old Kentucky 
 
 ioned negro corn-shucking. Some call them corn- 
 hiiskings; but a Kentucklan will never call a hominy- 
 mortar a hominy-block, or a corn-shucking a corn- 
 husking. The shucks were borne away and put into 
 the shuck-house, during which there was many a 
 wrestle and a scuffle as a test of the manhood of each 
 one. Oh, it was fine fun for us boys ! Good, rich 
 cider flowed free as water. The neighbors came in 
 to see the fun, and there was great feasting for the 
 white folks ; and the negroes had what we had. The 
 great table was stretched out, and on it was the best 
 old ham, generally roast pig, turkeys, chickens, all 
 kinds of vegetables in season, butter of the best kind, 
 good white bread, salt-rising wheat bread, salt-rising 
 corn bread — all in the greatest abundance. And 
 when all were satisfied, and songs had been sung as 
 only negroes can sing, they dispersed to their various 
 homes, and you could hear them singing their songs 
 as they went homeward over the hills, as happy as 
 mortals could be. 
 
 Though he was very kind, grandfather was a stern 
 man. The leader of the negroes in that community 
 was Uncle Joe Flood's Bill, a tall, wiry, active man. 
 They all looked up to Uncle Bill, and always sought 
 favors through his intervention. I remember once 
 there was a fine crowd at the corn-shucking; and 
 they had shucked perhaps nearly an hour in compara- 
 tive silence, for they were afraid to be noisy, even 
 afraid to sing, without the consent of grandfather. I 
 was standing by the side of the dear old man, who 
 was holding my hand when Uncle Bill approached 
 him, took oft his hat, and made as elegant a bow as 
 a Chesterfield, saying, "Mars' Joshy, de boys want 
 me to ax you If you's any dejections to um singin'?" 
 
 "No, Billy, enjoy yourselves," replied grandfather. 
 
 Uncle Bill started at a trot to his place in the 
 
The Negro hi Kentucky 63 
 
 shucking, ci7ing out, "Boys, let no man occupy me. 
 Mars' Joshy says, 'Sing,' " and he started up with 
 "Ho-o-e-Ho!" and the music of the night began. 
 
 The people of those days loved each other as 
 neighbors, and they were generous and kind. If one 
 killed a beef his neighbor had a share of it, and the 
 same provision was made, in the land of abundance, 
 for the negroes, who Wed their homes, their masters, 
 and their children. I don't remember ever seeing a 
 negro, except the boys and young ones, who needed a 
 little correction, whipped by his master, in Shelby 
 County. The crudest punishment I ever saw in- 
 flicted on a negro was given by my grandmother, and 
 in all my memory I believe to-day she was the best 
 woman I ever saw. It came about in this way. 
 
 It was the greatest section for fruit that I ever saw 
 in the countiy. It seemed you had only to stick down 
 a twig or plant a peach stone and you soon had fine 
 trees. Grandfather had a splendid orchard, but 
 grandmother always claimed a right to certain trees, 
 one of which was a very large "sweetening" apple 
 tree which made the finest apple-butter in the count}s 
 having just the right flavor. Of course that apple 
 tree was set apart for that purpose, and we had to 
 let it alone. There was one especial pear tree, too, 
 that grandmother reserved the fruit of for making 
 preserves, and no one was allowed to touch the pears 
 of that tree. But, of course, that was the vei7 tree 
 that I wanted fruit from, and being a spoilt, sickly, 
 petted child, and named for grandfather, I could 
 have taken the privilege to go to it, but out of respect 
 to authority I kept away from the tree until I got to 
 feel that I must have a pear off of It. My body- 
 guard and especial servant was named Peter. Peter 
 was black, mischievous, fat, slick; and if ever two 
 boys were fond of each other, we two boys were. 
 
64 Old Kentucky 
 
 Peter, knowing my great desire for a pear from that 
 tree, climbed over the fence, — a high stake-and-rider 
 fence, — and got me a pear. Grandmother saw him, 
 and called us both to her. Her great benevolent face 
 looked serious, and she seemed surprised that her 
 authority should be ignored; but I now know that 
 she was in fun, but wanted to teach us a lesson. Had 
 I let him, Peter would have lied to protect me; but 
 I told grandmother the truth and she said she was 
 very sorry, and as I was sick, with Peter's consent, 
 she would punish him for us both, a plan to which 
 he readily consented, and begged for her to do so. 
 She told Peter to go and bring her a bridle, and I can 
 see him now, standing with the bridle before grand- 
 mother, clothed in one garment, a very long linen 
 shirt, which came down below his knees. I was 
 dressed exactly as he was, for Peter and I shared 
 alike. Grandmother looked at us, and finally said to 
 Peter, "When horses break through fences, and we 
 can't keep them in their place, we have to tie them 
 up; and I am sorry, Peter, but I will have to treat 
 you like a horse." She fixed the bridle up on Peter, 
 putting the bit in his mouth, and hitched him up to a 
 nail on the porch. Peter looked mightily discour- 
 aged, but enjoyed it better than any of us. I was dis- 
 tressed, and watched him. Grandmother sat down 
 to her knitting and we were all silent. Peter stood 
 there, slobbering, and, as a horse would do, pretend- 
 ing to chew at the bit, and when he could catch my 
 eye he would wink; but when he thought grand- 
 mother was watching him he looked veiy mournful. 
 After a while it got to be too serious for me, for I 
 wanted Peter tO' go with me to the creek to plunge in 
 and catch crawfish, and I went to grandmother and 
 said, "Grandmother, won't you please let my horse 
 loose? It was my fault. Peter will never break 
 
The Negro in Kentucky 65 
 
 through a fence any more." Grandmother drew me 
 to her and kissed me, and said, "You poor little boy, 
 this will teach you never to break any laws, and I 
 hope Peter will learn the same lesson," and she 
 turned Peter loose. He immediately ran out to the 
 fine grass at the back of the house, and wallowed like 
 a horse, and went through all the motions of a horse 
 just let loose, and got up and shook himself, and soon 
 we were in the creek. But I think neither one of us 
 ever lost the lesson that was taught him. 
 
 Grandfather had his notions about religion, poli- 
 tics, and domestic life, and it was almost impossible 
 to change them. He was a great admirer of John 
 the Baptist, of Paul, and of all the old Baptist 
 preachers in the country. Thomas Jefferson and An- 
 drew Jackson were his political god-fathers, and 
 heaven and earth might have passed away, and, if he 
 were still living, he would cling to their principles. 
 He didn't believe in innovations; and I don't believe 
 during his whole life he ever allowed a cook-stove to 
 come into his kitchen. But he was not alone, there 
 were others as bad. It took a year's hard work to 
 get a cook-stove into my father's kitchen, and to the 
 day of his death he contended that food did not taste 
 the same as when cooked around a great fire-place, 
 and I am of the same opinion to-day. 
 
 They used to thrash out their wheat with flails or 
 trample it out with horses, and they took it out when 
 the wind was blowing and cleaned it with the pure 
 wind of heaven, contending that Providence had 
 supplied a means of cleaning wheat without any 
 human intervention. It took a long time before 
 grandfather would lay down the sickle for the scythe 
 and cradle, or use "artificial wind," as he called it, 
 for the wheat fan. 
 
66 Old Kentucky 
 
 A time of great enjoyment was the hog-kllling; 
 and they did kill hogs In those days, and such hog 
 meat! Such bacon and such hams as they made 
 would put modern methods of curing meat to the 
 blush. One old Kentucky ham cured by old Vir- 
 ginia methods, a method which preserved its sweet- 
 ness for two years, would be worth more to me to- 
 day than a wheel-barrow load of the stuff made by 
 Armour or Swift. The morning on which the hog- 
 killing was to be done was a busy one, and every one 
 was interested and alert. Ordinary families would 
 kill ten to fifteen hogs, and larger families would kill 
 more. Grandfather killed about thirty, but not all 
 at once, usually in two killings. The log-heap was 
 made the day before, and large stones placed upon it 
 to be heated. A big cask was set sloping in the 
 ground and leaned against a platform, so that a hog 
 could be dipped into the cask, scalded, and drawn 
 out. By daylight of the great day everything was 
 astir. Usually some of the neighbors would send in 
 a hand or two if needed; if not, some of them would 
 come over to witness It, The rule was that one 
 dressed hog, at least, was to be stretched up on the 
 pole by sunrise. The hogs to be killed were usually 
 put into a pen convenient, and some one, with a very 
 small Kentucky rifle, would shoot them as needed. 
 They had to be shot In precisely one spot between the 
 eyes, and should the one beginning the shooting 
 make a mistake and make a hog squeal, he had to 
 put the gun down and another would take It. One 
 day my father and Ned Flood were to do the shoot- 
 ing, and all went well until the last hog was to be 
 shot. They, with their native Kentucky "devilment," 
 as grandfather called it when anything went wrong, 
 agreed to make that last hog squeal. All day they 
 had been shooting hog about, and neither had missed; 
 
The NciTfo ni Kcnlncky 67 
 
 but by agreement they were to make him squeal just 
 to see what grandfather would do. One raised up 
 and shot the hog through the nose, and there was a 
 great squealing; the other raised up and shot him 
 in the mouth, and then there was confusion, negroes 
 and all laughing, thinking that the men were drunk. 
 Of course they had whiskey at all these affairs, but 
 I don't remember ever to have seen a drunken negro 
 or white man at a hog-killing or a corn-shucking. 
 Grandfather could endure the confusion no longer — 
 the squealing. He was then about seventy-six years 
 old, but rushed into the house, got his old smooth- 
 bore rille, ran out, and the first sight he got of the 
 hog he shot and broke Its back; the hog fell. And 
 to use his favorite expression — "There is no devil 
 if I cannot fetch him down." 
 
 The hogs, when cleaned anci ready to be cut up, 
 were hung upon a pole and left to get cool. They 
 usually took down two or three, took out the spare- 
 ribs, the tenderloins, and such other parts as they 
 liked, and the cooking was commenced. And such 
 cooking, and seasoning; spare-ribs, salted and pep- 
 pered and a little sage put on them, put in great old 
 fashioned ovens, and baked; tenderloins, seasoned 
 and floured and fried to a nice brown. Dinner was 
 prepared largely the day before, with some kind of 
 roast poultry, for poultry was as abundant and cheap 
 as hog-meat, and with hot rolls and Kentucky biscuits 
 and fine butter, all kinds of presei-ves, great chunks 
 of beautiful honey; cider, and for those who wanted 
 it, a little toddy, they had a grand dinner, told an- 
 ecdotes, and enjoyed themselves until time to cut up 
 the hogs and trim them nicely; then the day's work 
 was accomplished, and their hearts had been happy 
 all day, and perhaps the very happiest of them all 
 
68 Old Kentucky 
 
 were the negroes, for they had had their full share 
 in everything. 
 
 These are not "Uncle Tom's Cabin" stories, 
 simply visionary, but are literal truths; and a speci- 
 men of what one found in Kentucky in those old days. 
 And there are old people living in Kentucky to-day 
 who would verify these statements by affidavit. 
 
 In justice to the negro I ought to speak about some 
 of his peculiar characteristics. One of these was his 
 strong attachment to home and to his people, and 
 his respect for religion. He was taught this by his 
 old "marster" and old mistress, the Bible was read 
 to him and where there were only a few negroes they 
 were usually invited in to family worship, which was 
 a common custom. They went to the same church- 
 house, every Sunday, as freely as their masters, ex- 
 cept those who had to attend to domestic work about 
 the house, and it was usually arranged that this 
 work could be alternateci. They heard the same 
 preaching, they took part in the singing, they were 
 baptized by the same white preacher, and took com- 
 munion at the same time with the white people. I 
 never knew but one man, and the memory of him is 
 a nightmare to me, who ever forbade his negroes 
 going to church. When a negro died he was care- 
 fully buried in the family graveyard. I have known 
 but few negroes who were infidels. 
 
 My grandfather had a brother who owned a num- 
 ber of negroes, and was considered one of the best 
 managers and best feeders in the county. He knew 
 and understood negro character well, and it was his 
 special order that there should always be enough left 
 after each meal to feed five hungiy men should they 
 happen tO' come in. And so fearful was he about 
 not being able at all times to meet every demand, 
 that at the beginning of 1812 he began to put away 
 
The Negro in Kentucky 69 
 
 "a nest egg," which he never allowed to be disturbed, 
 though he loaned money. And after his death my 
 brother-in-law, who was his youngest son, told me 
 that there was found in an old chest in his house, un- 
 reasonable as it may seem, a barrelful of silver. 
 Much of it had lain there from as far back as 18 12. 
 He had two negroes, as I stated, who were supposed 
 to be from Africa. I don't know where he got them. 
 They believed in conjuring, and ghosts, and every- 
 thing that was unreal, as a great many other negroes 
 did; but these two especially believed in the super- 
 natural. The pious negroes, especially, worked hard 
 for their conversion, but they contended, when told 
 about Christ, that God Almighty never would walk 
 around on the ground here like a man. They were 
 the Advanced Higher Critics in Kentucky, and latter- 
 day ones have not gotten much beyond them. But 
 tell them something sufficiently unreasonable and 
 they would catch it at once. They believed that 
 "witches" could do anything, and the white boys, 
 who were full of mischief, used to tell them wonder- 
 ful stories to see with what greediness they received 
 them. One I remember well. There was a little, 
 old, dried-up man, who lived away down the hills, 
 and if any one could look like a "witch" it was "Old 
 Burns." The negroes used the word "witch" indis- 
 criminately, not knowing the distinction between 
 "witch" and "wizard." 
 
 The white boys told them various things to get 
 their interest, and finally told them this story. 
 
 "Burns lives, you know, boys, away down on Six 
 Mile, in a cabin ten by twelve. And he had a baby; 
 and one day Burns was sittin' rocking his baby — 
 and a great big panther came and looked in at the 
 door. And it made Burns so mad that he reached 
 under his bed and pulled out his club, forty feet long, 
 
70 Old Kentucky 
 
 with a great Iron knob on it. Burns looked at the 
 panther and kept getting madder and madder. 
 Finally he started, and the panther started; and the 
 first swipe Burns got at him, the panther jumped out 
 of the way and Burns knocked down a beech-tree 
 that was full of beech-nuts. That scared the pan- 
 ther, and then they had it. Up and down they ran, 
 and finally he got another swipe at the panther, but 
 he jumped across the Backbone hills, and when the 
 panther was about one hundred yards ahead Burns 
 made a swipe and hit him on the foot, and knocked 
 down a white oak." 
 
 About this time old Coot, as he was called, was 
 full of excitement, and cried, "Lawd, my Lawd! 
 Then what did he do?" 
 
 "Well, the panther made a dash for the Kentucky 
 River, Burns after him, and getting madder all the 
 time. And when the panther came to a high bluff, 
 Burns was right behind him ; and when the panther 
 jumped he landed on the other side of the river — 
 jumped clear across it; and Burns made a strike at 
 him and his staff divided the Kentucky River and 
 killed a cat-fish lying on the bottom of it." 
 
 Old Bill could not stand it any longer. 
 
 "My Lawd, ain't that Burns a man!" 
 
 And yet that negro never was made to believe that 
 Jesus Christ was here in person, on the earth. 
 
 The negroes were superstitious, the white folks 
 were superstitious, and there is just enough supersti- 
 tion now among us Kentuckians to make it pleasant. 
 What Kentuckian would not rather see the moon 
 clear over his left shoulder, would not rather plant 
 his potatoes in the dark of the moon, would rather 
 lay his rail fence in the light of the moon? What 
 Kentuckian enjoys a dog howling at the window at 
 night, as much as he would a fife and drum? And 
 
The Negro in Kentucky 71 
 
 what Kentucky preacher in the old time would not 
 have preferred to preach to a lot of those good old 
 negroes, that had souls and sang and knew how to 
 pray, had a child-like earnest faith, to the congre- 
 gation dressed in frizzles and frazzles, swallow-tailed 
 coats, and tailored pantaloons, or a great audience, 
 and with a prelude and postlude, and with individual 
 communion cups, as can be found in congregations 
 to-day? In what congregation would his sermon 
 have produced the best results ? 
 
 Sometimes men had to sell a negro; but except 
 those who had to be taken out of the community for 
 crimes committed, and sent down South, negroes 
 were not sold except to neighbors, or to the family, 
 and kind provisions were made for them in disposing 
 of them. These statements are the result of my 
 honest observations. 
 
 It has been said, and believed, that the influence of 
 the negro had a bad effect upon the white children. 
 I do not believe it, and I believe that the most emi- 
 nent native Kentuckians, who have become governors, 
 United States Senators, congressmen from various 
 States, the most profound ministers in the pulpit, 
 teachers and professors in colleges, and such men, 
 would agree with me. It is true that when we would 
 be spending evenings in the cabins with them 
 hearing them tell stories and sing songs, we would 
 be impressed about as children are now when hear- 
 ing of Santa Claus. And I would rather my child- 
 ren would hear those things than to be filled with 
 the idea of Santa Claus, which has led people. In 
 after life, to believe that the story of Christ was a 
 Santa Claus story. After a long experience and care- 
 ful thought on this matter, I am satisfied that the in- 
 fluences of the old-time Kentucky negroes upon the 
 white children were good. A very great majority of 
 
72 Old Kentucky 
 
 them believed as firmly in Christ and religion as 
 teachers in theological seminaries, and accepted the 
 doctrines without reserve, and they impressed this 
 idea upon us all. And though I was raised with 
 negroes and was intimate with them, I never failed 
 to be impressed by the earnest, child-like faith of 
 these faithful old Christians. 
 
 The negroes were taught obedience, and we 
 learned that virtue with them. The negroes were 
 taught to be honest and were punished for dishon- 
 esty just as we children were. And I cannot remem- 
 ber one single bad lesson that I learned from our 
 good old colored people. They were an imaginative, 
 visionary people, and perhaps no people ever believed 
 more In dreams or were more influenced by them. 
 Some one will say, "You might expect such results 
 from such people." Let me tell you, the one dream 
 of all that I have ever heard that made the most 
 Impression upon me was a dream told by a white 
 man. Governor James F. Robinson, of Georgetown, 
 Kentucky, one of the most eminent lawyers of the 
 State, one of the noblest men of his age, had a grand- 
 son who accidentally shot himself. I was Invited, 
 with another young man, to sit the night when his 
 body was lying in the parlor before burial, and away 
 about the midnight hour, the "Grand Old Roman," 
 as they called him, came quietly In and took his seat. 
 The conversation drifted to the subject of impres- 
 sions, influence of mind upon mind at the bar and in 
 the pulpit; and he said: 
 
 "One thing in my life produced a most profound 
 impression upon me with regard to the spirit world. 
 It was a dream that I had. In my dream I passed 
 into the spirit world, and It seemed that I was the 
 only spirit In that great Unknown. I knew not vv^here 
 to go or what to expect, but finally it seemed that 
 
The Negro in Kentucky 73 
 
 I was in Fayette County, and everything was unreal. 
 But in my great loneliness I saw a man approaching 
 me. 'Now,' I thcught, 'I will learn where I am.' 
 As soon as he was within speaking distance I hailed 
 him, and reached out my hand to grasp him, and in- 
 stantly he disappeared, and I was alone again. I 
 went on until I saw, in a grove up near Lexington, 
 what seemed to be a good-sized picnic party, among 
 whom were friends that I recognized, and I directed 
 my steps toward them, and just as I was about to 
 enter in among them they all vanished and I was 
 alone. The distress of my mind cannot be expressed. 
 But I started on, and after while approached a resi- 
 dence which I thought belonged to Colonel Quarles. 
 Now, I felt, I would surely find relief. I approached 
 the door, and when I put my foot on the first step 
 it all vanished, and there I was alone. And I cried in 
 anguish, 'Oh, God, is this eternity, and am I for- 
 saken? Is there nothing real on earth?' and my 
 feelings were so intense that I awoke. And no ser- 
 mon, nothing, has ever taught me the lesson that 
 this dream did, that earthly things are vanity; and 
 that man ought, here, to prepare for companionship 
 in the world to come." 
 
 This was no dream of a negro, but of a great and 
 noble man who' conceived it to be almost a revelation 
 from Heaven to him. Old Kentucky may have had 
 people who believed in dreams, signs, ghosts, and 
 witches, but she never rose to that high plane of civ- 
 ilization which the people residing in Salem reached 
 when they burned witches. I have been at some 
 pains to show the real condition of affairs in the old 
 times, and to show that, though the whites and blacks 
 mingled together in Kentucky, neither race had a very 
 demoralizing effect upon the other, with, of course, 
 a few exceptions. 
 
74 Old Kentucky 
 
 Kentucky had slaves, and so far as I can see she 
 did the best she could for them. They were a help 
 to their masters; and the influence of the whites upon 
 them had much to do in leading them to Christianity 
 and enlightenment. And perhaps there is no like 
 number of colored people in the world to-day who, 
 on the whole, are as happy as were the Kentucky 
 negroes. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT KENTUCKY 
 
 The Kentuckians have been accused of having very 
 high prejudices; of being vindictive, proud, clannish, 
 drunken, and various other things which are equally 
 absurd. Before answering in a brief way some of 
 these things, let me ask a question — would people of 
 this sort be likely to build up a country, to produce 
 citizens that would take high rank in the state, and 
 succeed in every position in life? To ask the ques- 
 tion is to answer it. 
 
 PREJUDICE 
 
 The word prejudice is a word of harsh meaning. 
 The man who is influenced by prejudice is not reli- 
 able; he forms his judgments without evidence or 
 investigation. It has been said that the Kentuckians 
 were never fair in their feelings toward the Indians. 
 Can any one living estimate the provocations they had 
 to despise the Indians and to fight them? It is not 
 necessary to recount the horrible treatment that the 
 early Kentuckians, their wives and children, received 
 at the hands of the most brutal, unfeeling human be- 
 ings that the civilized world has ever come in contact 
 with. The Kentuckians at first simply went in to 
 make homes in a new part of the country that no 
 tribe ever claimed or owned. It was ground over 
 which the several tribes had fought each other 
 for the possession of; but none had ever reached the 
 point of victory where any part of the land was con- 
 ceded to the other tribes. The early settlers tried by 
 
76 Old Kentucky 
 
 treaty and every way to conciliate these Indians, but 
 in vain. 
 
 Let me go back sixty-four years and tell what I 
 heard around the fireside ; for I remember it as well 
 as if told me last year. All my grandparents were 
 living at that time, nor did they all die until I was 
 nearly twenty years old. The stories that were told 
 around the fireside, how fresh in my memory they are ! 
 Nearly all my people on my paternal grandfather's 
 side were killed by the Indians, and many of them 
 were killed under the most cruel circumstances. I 
 heard again and again the account of the attack on 
 Bi-yan's Station, told by my people who were there, 
 and I had intended to give the story as they related 
 it to me, but in the "Winning of the West" there is 
 a fair and Impartial statement of It, except that there 
 are a great many interesting little Incidents told which 
 are not really necessary to the description. Mr. 
 Roosevelt, in a footnote, seems to cast a little doubt 
 upon some statements that were made, especially in 
 regard to Reynolds's speech to Girty. He says that 
 of course the exact words as given by McClurg are 
 incorrect, but they are given him by Draper, and 
 because he had heard some old men tell of it who had 
 been In Bryan's Station and who had themselves 
 heard the speech he gives it. But for this, he says, 
 he would reject It. My grandfather's sister was 
 there, and she told me, and she never omitted. In de- 
 scribing the attack, how young Reynolds took upon 
 himself to be the spokesman, and that he knew Si- 
 mon Girty personally. As she told It, Reynolds said, 
 "Simon Girty, I know you well. You are an in- 
 famous renegade. We all despise you ; and every 
 one in this fort would rather die than to surrender to 
 such a dirty dog as you are. And if I had the mean- 
 
Misconceptions About Kentucky 77 
 
 est dog in Kentucky, I wouldn't disgrace him by call- 
 ing him Simon Girty," 
 
 How often have I heard her repeat the stoiy of 
 the attack the Indians made upon the Cook cabin, 
 in Innis Bottom on Elk Horn, four and one half 
 miles from where Frankfort is now situated. In 
 some way the account of that has been confused. I 
 have not read a histoi*y of Kentucky in twenty-five 
 years; though I remember the account given by Col- 
 lins, an account which is measurably correct, and 
 yet there is some little confusion in that and in recent 
 accounts. In tlie Courier-Journal of October 8, 
 1905, there is a beautiful picture of the place where 
 the Cook family was massacred. It was one of the 
 prettiest scenes on the Elk Horn. 
 
 There must be some confusion in regard to the 
 time when the old fort was erected, for there was 
 no fort there when my people defended their cabin. 
 As told me, after things settled down in Kentucky 
 so that people could leave Bryan's Station, two of 
 the Cooks, Hosea and Jesse, with a brother-in-law 
 named Mastin, concluded to settle down on the beau- 
 tiful Elk Horn. Mastin married Peggy Cook, who 
 was there and knew of the circumstances. Jesse Cook 
 had been out hunting and was shot, but they did not 
 know it. The other two were shearing sheep. It 
 was a charming spring morning, and they had cleaned 
 their guns, and expecting no' trouble had left them 
 empty after cleaning that they might dry, as was 
 often the custom with us in Kentucky. They were 
 old flint-lock guns, and unless the priming was kept 
 dry they were not reliable. 
 
 The women were cheerily singing some old gospel 
 song, when all at once they heard the ringing of 
 rifles close to the cabin. One of the men fell by the 
 sheep he was shearing; the other man was shot, pre- 
 
78 Old Kentucky 
 
 sumably near the heart or through it, but he ran and 
 fell in the door and the women pulled him into the 
 cabin and barred the door, which was made of heavy 
 slabs. The cabin was made of logs closely fitted, 
 so as to need no "chinking" as it was termed, up for 
 about five feet; then the cracks were more open so' as 
 to admit light and air. There was no crack large 
 enough to put a gun through for five feet or more, 
 and there was no way to shoot out without climbing 
 up that high except one place, and that was where 
 the facing was pinned up on the logs and had sprung 
 a few inches in one or two places. When the door 
 was barred the Indians made signs as if they would 
 be very kind tO' them if they would let them in. The 
 one who had stayed behind to rob the dead man 
 came up, and he could speak some English. Aunt 
 Peggy always thought it was Simon Girty, or some 
 one he had taught some English to. They fired the 
 cabin first at the door, trying to burn the door out, 
 but the women put this fire out with what water they 
 had in the cabin. The Indians then climbed up and 
 threw fire through the upper cracks. That was easily 
 put out when it fell to the floor; but the women's re- 
 sources were very limited. Once fires were kindled 
 so as to endanger the cabin in two places, but Aunt 
 Peggy took the bloody shirt from her dead husband 
 and put that out. One of the other women broke up 
 a hen that was sitting, and rubbed the fire out with 
 the eggs. In their desperation they used every avail- 
 able means. 
 
 After this the Indians drew off for a consultation 
 and the women had time to think things over. The 
 guns were there, the old powder-horn was there, but 
 they could not find the bullets. One of the women 
 found a piece of lead, bit off a piece, chewed it as 
 round as she could in that short time, and they loaded 
 
Misconccplions About Kentucky 79 
 
 the gun with this, and when it was loaded she peeped 
 through the crack at the door-jamb and saw the In- 
 dians out in the front. The chief, with his men 
 around him, in order to strilce terror to their hearts, 
 told what he would do to them if they did not sur- 
 render; and thereupon the Indian sat down upon 
 the body of Hosea Cook, having dragged it up in 
 front of the home, and proceeded to scalp him, be- 
 ing directly in range — as old Aunt Peggy said, she 
 thought that God managed it for them. The gun 
 was put through the crack and the Indian was shot 
 squarely through the body. Women knew how to 
 shoot in those days. Aunt Peggy said that when the 
 ball struck the Indian he leaped high off the ground, 
 gav^e a yell, and fell down dead. Though Indians 
 are very brave when they have the advantage, when 
 they think they are in danger they are veritable cow- 
 ards. They took the body of the dead Indian and 
 threw it into the Elk Horn, and it lodged down 
 against a rock, which is called "Indian Rock" to this 
 day. By this time the women had found a saucerful of 
 bullets, and Aunt Peggy said that, strange as it may 
 seem, they hoped the Indians would stay long enough 
 to get a few more of them. But they left. She said 
 during the whole scene there was not a tear shed, 
 but after it was all over they took the bodies of their 
 husbands and washed them and prepared them for 
 burial. And the dear old woman said it seemed as 
 if they shed tears enough over them tO' wash their 
 faces. 
 
 This is the story as I got it from my grandfather's 
 sister and from my grandfather, who, by the way, 
 was not there at that time but knew all the circum- 
 stances. 
 
 Whether all the incidents found in the different 
 books written about early Kentucky life are correct 
 
8o Old Kentucky 
 
 or not, it shows something of the stories that thrilled 
 our young hearts, and makes some apology for the 
 dislike of the Kentuckians for the Indians. When 
 they would tell us how they had to hide their little 
 ones in caves; how they were never sure when the 
 morning sun rose that it would not set in the evening 
 upon slaughtered families, burned homes, ravished 
 women, their dear ones burned at the stake or tor- 
 tured in a thousand fiendish ways, would it be un- 
 natural that we would grow up with a feeling of 
 hostility toward such foes? 
 
 DISLIKE OF THE BRITISH 
 
 One would not expect that people of their own 
 race and language, who had had common ancestry, 
 would commit such barbarities as the British did in 
 the beginning of the war with the colonies up to 
 the battle of New Orleans, a battle which occurred 
 nearly a generation after the struggle commenced. 
 The Kentuckians and their fathers had seen and ex- 
 perienced these cruelties, which were a disgrace to 
 any people claiming to be civilized. And while I 
 shall speak, perhaps, in no very complimentary terms 
 of these acts, yet the after years have revealed to us 
 things that softened our feeling against the British 
 people, for the mass of the English people did not 
 concur in or help to cari*y out many of the most 
 dastardly things that the British government did in 
 this country. What King George, whom Hawthorne 
 calls "a bewildered fool," and his immediate advisers 
 did ought not to be charged to the English people. 
 The King had to go out and purchase hirelings, and 
 when the government could not succeed by that 
 means it used as its allies and instruments the savage 
 Indians. I had purposed to give some account of 
 
Misconceptions About Kentucky 8i 
 
 how the British armed and sent the Indians out to 
 the destruction of the homes of the white men, and 
 the murder of their wives and families. The British 
 strained every nerv'e to drag into the war the entire 
 Indian population of the Northwest and often left 
 the Indians to bear the burden of it after their 
 ravages. And some who had commanded In this 
 country seemed tO' take great pleasure in these Indian 
 forays, where they stole everything they could get, 
 burned the cabins, carried off the women and children 
 into captivity, and committed every crime that they 
 could commit. But why put into a book that claims 
 to be half decent these black, unnatural, and infamous 
 acts of a people who were really our kin? 
 
 We were taught to dislike the British, and scarcely 
 a boy was raised in Kentucky who did not hope 
 for some opportunity to pay them back. One of the 
 first patriotic songs that I heard was : 
 
 "We are marching down to old Quebec, 
 The drums and fifes are beating; 
 The Americans are gaining ground, 
 And the British are retreating." 
 
 Whenever an opportimlty came for the Ken- 
 tuckians to avenge themselves and chastise the British 
 and Indians, they were there ready and willing. At 
 the battle of Fallen Timbers there were a thou- 
 sand Kentuckians under Wayne; at the battle 
 of the Thames, where the war-cry was, "Remem- 
 ber the River Raisin!" the Kentuckians were there 
 doing a noble part; and the first boy bom in 
 Kentucky, so far as we can learn, Richard M. 
 Johnson, a man honored and loved. In the front of 
 the battle met Tecumseh and slew him. But the 
 Kentuckians never got to pay their full debt tO' the 
 British until In the battle of New Orleans, nor 
 
82 Old Kentucky 
 
 did this country have any degree of respect shown 
 from England until the riflemen from Kentucky 
 and old Tennessee sent back and defeated and dis- 
 graced the boastful veterans who had never been 
 conquered by European people. And had that battle 
 not been fought before the final treaty was made 
 and ratified, the map of the United States might 
 have been different. The English people direct 
 from the Old World did not at first come 
 to Kentucky, for reasons known perhaps to them- 
 selves and to us. I don't remember having seen 
 in Kentucky, until I was nearly grown, but one 
 man direct from England. He was a shoemaker of 
 no social standing, and when the occasion rose he 
 showed he was a dog. There was one other man I 
 knew that it was said had spent his early years in Eng- 
 land, then a number of years in Pennsylvania, and 
 then came into our part of the country. I thought he 
 was a clever man, but he was one of the greatest liars 
 that I ever heard, and he told things that were not 
 true when it would do no good. He told my father 
 one day that he had been out hunting a run-away 
 negro; that he started early in the morning, in the 
 snow; he tracked him in the snow from neighbor- 
 hood to neighborhood; and finally in the late 
 evening, making his way back home, having given it 
 up, he said he found the negro in a blackberry patch 
 eating blackberries. 
 
 If we were taught to dislike that class of people, 
 was it prejudice? I want to say here that I have 
 found in later years from acquaintance with many 
 people from England some splendid, true, good men 
 and women. I have found from Scotland and Wales 
 some of the very best ministers that I have ever seen 
 in this country. No people are fonder of home, and 
 try to make better homes for themselves than the 
 
Misconceptions About Kentucky 83 
 
 English people. People who have gone through 
 England say that they are industrious, fiaigal, and a 
 splendid people in all their home-life. To put it 
 about right, I guess, a great deal of our best home-life 
 habits came from England. Many of our best 
 Christian people came from that country, and now 
 there ought not to be any prejudice anyway. The 
 people of the present day in England are not respon- 
 sible for the atrocities that their ancestors practiced; 
 and upon fuller acquaintance between the two classes 
 of people, the admiration Increases. But In politics 
 let America keep her eye on old England. 
 
 PRIDE 
 
 It has been asserted that Kentucklans are people 
 of great pride. In one sense It Is false, and In 
 another It is thoroughly true. If the word is taken 
 in a bad sense, it Is not true ; If taken in good sense, — 
 as Webster defines pride, "sense of one's own worth, 
 and abhorrence of what Is beneath or unworthy of 
 one; lofty self-respect, noble self-esteem; elevation 
 of character;" — It is true. The early Kentucklans — 
 I speak generally — were men and women of splendid 
 physiques, and surrounded by everything to develop 
 strong good bodies. At the risk of repetition, let It 
 be said again, that for everything of natural worth, 
 to make good homes, to produce every needed physi- 
 cal comfort, to develop health and brain-power, no 
 section of the world surpasses Kentucky. The esti- 
 mate that the old preacher gave of It, when he 
 returned from Kentucky to Virginia, was not far 
 wrongs, when taken In a right sense. He felt so good 
 when he had seen that land, that he thought he would 
 preach a sermon on heaven; and after doing all he 
 could to describe that beautiful world, he closed by 
 
84 ^ Old Kentucky 
 
 saying, "Brethren, heaven is a regular Kentucky of 
 a place." 
 
 Kentuckians were proud of their homes, and as 
 soon as circumstances would permit they builded 
 better, and occupied, even before the passing away 
 of the first generation, many of the best homes known 
 in the West, Southwest, or Northwest. They took 
 pride in the achievements of their ancestors, and held 
 up to their children the noblest examples of trae 
 worth. They took great pride in the upbuilding of 
 their educational institutions, and spared no pains to 
 provide the very best teachers and professors for 
 their colleges. Centre College was chartered in 
 1 8 19, when wild beasts roamed the forests in many 
 parts of the State, and men were dressed in home- 
 spun. Georgetov/n College was chartered in 1829 
 and, like Centre College, had at its head and in its 
 faculty distinguished men, and has had such from 
 that day to this. And college after college has been 
 added, until Kentucky ranks high in literary culture. 
 When I was a boy there was a splendid female col- 
 lege in Shelbyville, presided over by a Mrs. Trevis 
 for a good part of a half century. 
 
 They were people who had great respect for re- 
 ligion ; and according to population, perhaps no 
 State in the Union has ever had more evangelistic 
 Christians. Church-life had a great influence upon 
 the people of Kentucky. For fifty years after the 
 State was admitted to the Union there was a very 
 small part of the population living in towns, and 
 churches were dotted all over the State. Almost 
 evei"y neighborhood had its church, and children 
 were taught to respect the ministers of the gospel and 
 the duties of a Christian life. As Roosevelt has 
 said, the Baptists seemed to have the greatest strength 
 In the State. Their preachers lived among the 
 
Misconceptions J bout Kentucky 85 
 
 people, labored with them, shared their sorrows from 
 the beginning, helped fight the Indians, and lived 
 as other citizens did; and as Roosevelt has said, 
 the free democratic spirit of the Baptist church 
 seemed to attract people more to that denomination. 
 These churches constituted the best illustration of 
 States-rights of anything seen in government. Each 
 church had always been a pure democracy; no church 
 had any control over another church; each church at- 
 tended to its own affairs and pretended to have no 
 jurisdiction outside its own membership; and there 
 has been great unity in doctrine and practice in these 
 churches. The ministers of these churches in the 
 second generation were nearly all sons of the early 
 pioneers, and, taken as a class, they were perhaps 
 equal in brain-power, social influence, and wealth to 
 any other profession in the State. Nlany of them 
 inherited splendid farms from their fathers; and, 
 take them all in all, no better class of men could 
 have been found to lead and direct the Kentuckians. 
 Their mode of discipline was such that they settled 
 many disputes out of court. 
 
 The Methodists and Presbyterians did not take 
 to the country as naturally as the Baptists, and the 
 former were the more zealous perhaps in spreading 
 the gospel. My early recollections of the Methodists 
 were that they were a praying people, a godly people, 
 and a zealous people, and multitudes were conv^erted 
 under their ministry — many of whom joined other 
 churches. Take it all in all, the Presbyterians were 
 perhaps, as far as learning was concerned, the most 
 cultured in the State. I scarcely ever knew a Pres- 
 byterian clergyman who was not a gentleman. But 
 they did not go out much into the country; they were 
 more apt to be found in the towns, and their mode of 
 home-life and child-training was of the best character. 
 
86 Old Kentucky 
 
 These were the three leading denomhiations in that 
 early day in the State, and it seemed to hav^e been 
 the mingling of these three with their peculiar char- 
 acteristics that had a wonderfully good influence upon 
 the communities. In that early day there was very 
 little strife among the denominations and scarcely 
 an infidel In the State. Under Providence they 
 seemed to have combined the happy influences of all 
 three upon the people. 
 
 Why should not a people be proud of such an- 
 cestry and such influences? 
 
 I have not spoken of the influence of other 
 denominations in that early day, because I know little 
 about them. They all, so far as I know, loved 
 liberty, freedom of worship, and taught their chil- 
 dren love of country, and patriotism. 
 
 Kentucky and the great Southwest had learned 
 lessons from the follies of the people in the older 
 States. They had read of the persecutions in New 
 England. Many families in central Kentucky had 
 known of their ancestors preaching from prison bars. 
 The descendants of the Craigs, the Wallers, the Ire- 
 lands and of others from Virginia were a noble class 
 of people, and wielded a strong influence upon the 
 community. From these families many distinguished 
 ministers descended, whose influence is felt through- 
 out Kentucky and other sections of the country to-day. 
 
 CLANNISHNESS. 
 
 Kentuckians are accused of being the most clan- 
 nish people on the earth. In a bad sense, the accusa- 
 tion is false. In a good sense, it Is probably true. 
 If by the criticism people mean that Kentuckians will 
 stick together and aid each other everywhere In a 
 reasonable way, It Is true. The conditions under 
 
Misconceptions About Kentucky 87 
 
 which the State was settled, and the lessons taught 
 by those conditions, the lessons of brotherhood and 
 dependence of sentiment and love, had these results. 
 No people had harder struggles to establish homes 
 than the early settlers of Kentucky; and the very 
 trials they went through tended to bind them 
 together, and to teach them the value of helping one 
 another. And their spirit of clinging together was 
 as strong as their religious spirit. They learned to 
 know one another's worth and were conscious of hav- 
 ing descended from the best stock In the world, and 
 of being worthy of the esteem and regard of their 
 fellow-men. 
 
 There has always been considerable opposition to 
 the Masonic fraternity. The Masons have been 
 accused of sticking together and upholding one 
 another whether In the right or wrong. Nothing 
 Is more false than this accusation. They are a grand 
 people In any part of the world, and whatever 
 charges may be made against Masonry, the public 
 cannot appreciate the amount of good the order has 
 done. And there are little ignorant prejudices 
 against them by those who know nothing about them. 
 The only answer necessary to all these charges may 
 be found in the consideration that the men belonging 
 to this order receive in every community. And with- 
 out fear of contradiction. It may be said that many 
 of the very best citizens of all the communities belong 
 to this fraternity. Next to church men, there is 
 not a grander body of men In the world than the 
 Knight Templars. 
 
 Without any special bonds of organization, the 
 Kentucklans constituted a great social organization, 
 almost Masonic in its nature, and wherever they are 
 found they are generally true. It has been said that 
 there Is scarcely a State In this country where, If a 
 
88 Old Kentucky 
 
 notice was inserted in the papers, "An old Kentuck- 
 ian is in trouble and wants to see some friend from 
 the old State," that they would not rally to him. I 
 believe that it is true, but I do not believe that a 
 Kentuckian would do a dishonorable act to relieve 
 him. 
 
 Fifty years ago it would have been impossible to 
 tell how many relatives a member of an old Kentucky 
 family had. They had married and inter-married 
 and raised large families, until this people, in the best 
 parts of the State, were practically one. One could 
 never know when he would meet a relative. Fifty 
 years ago a magnificent gentleman from either 
 Indiana or Ohio approached me and said, "We are 
 kins-folk; your father and I were cousins." I 
 thought that I knew all my father's cousins, for he 
 had only two uncles living and I knew all their sons. 
 I said, "Sir, you are not my father's cousin, as I see 
 it." He replied, "Have you never heard that a child 
 was born to the widow of Hosea Cook — the Hosea 
 Cook who was killed in the massacre at Elk Horn — 
 three months after his death? I said, "Yes, I have 
 been told so." "I am that child," he said, "the 
 son of Hosea Cook who was killed three months 
 before I was born." Yes, it is true, the Kentuckian 
 never knows where he is going to meet his relatives, 
 and it is true that Kentuckians will stick together to 
 the third and fourth generation. My home has not 
 been in Kentucky for forty years, but I love the old 
 State as well as any man living in it; love her history, 
 love her people, as every true Kentuckian does. 
 "Once a Kentuckian, always a Kentuckian." 
 
 LAWLESSNESS 
 
 A great many people think that there was always 
 a lawless spirit among the Kentuckians. The facts 
 
Misconceptions About Kentucky 89 
 
 are that no people ever respected law or tried to 
 uphold it more strongly than do Kentuckians, and 
 they have ever been ready to defend the laws and the 
 honor of their country, a fact demonstrated on 
 nearly every battlefield known to our history since 
 Kentucky became a State. She has always been 
 ready to pour out her best blood in the defence of 
 the Constitution of the United States, after there was 
 a constitution. The charge has been made that she 
 showed at one time a spirit to set up for herself; 
 but at that time there was no settled government in 
 this country; and when she wished to push the 
 country westward, she was not only opposed by those 
 who laid claim to the great Southwest, but even 
 by her brethren on the Atlantic border. She felt 
 that they had no sympathy for her, and if it was a 
 question as to the unity of the government, and it 
 then looked as if it were that, she intended to main- 
 tain her post and push west her conquests. But as 
 soon as the fact of a settled government was assured, 
 her heart and her best affections went out to it; and 
 it is a fact undisputed in history that her people did 
 more to give this government great territory and to 
 open It up to the Pacific shore than any other people. 
 Soon the question came up as to the acquisition of 
 territory, and the prejudice against extension of 
 slavery made nearly all New England opposed to the 
 conquest and annexation of Texas, and they took very 
 little part in the Mexican war. Kentucky gave her 
 best blood on the hard-fought plains of Mexico, and 
 her men explored this great Western territory to the 
 Pacific coast. 
 
 A truly brave man Is full of human kindness, and 
 has every respect for law. The greatest and bravest 
 men of this country have always been men of tender 
 sympathies. The greatest man, I think, this country 
 
90 Old Kentucky 
 
 ever produced — of course we always except Washing- 
 ton — ^was Robert E. Lee, and he had sympathy as 
 tender as a woman's. Grant, of whom I may speak 
 hereafter, has been considered by many historians as 
 being a brutal man; but it is slander and falsehood 
 to charge him with brutality. He was thoroughly 
 brave, and always true to his word. After terms had 
 been made with General Lee, in tenderness Grant 
 said, "The officers shall keep their side-arms"; and he 
 added, "The men shall keep their private property 
 and horses, — they will need them when they go 
 home." The cartel was signed and Grant's word 
 was pledged to it. Afterward there seemed to be a 
 disposition, upon the part of some in authority who 
 had never been in a battle, to disregard this cartel, 
 but Grant firmly replied, "If this cartel is not kept, 
 there will be another war." Brave men are not law- 
 less men. I have taken pains to Investigate the 
 record of crime in Kentucky during the first sixty 
 years of her history as a State; and I challenge any 
 State to produce a better record. Kentucky had need 
 of no great prisons. The penitentiary in Frankfort 
 held but few criminals, and for sixty years was not 
 larger than an ordinary workhouse in some States. 
 Since the war I have no records. 
 
 Kentucky has had a bad name on account of feuds 
 In the mountain counties. The people there were 
 like mountaineers in Scotland. They were brave, 
 had very little education, and they did have feuds, 
 but not In the early history of the State. These 
 conditions have developed largely since the war, and 
 are the result in a measure of outside Influences and 
 of bad elements that came in there after the war. I 
 have always sympathized with these mountain people, 
 and were I a young man I would be willing tO' go 
 there and devote my life to teaching and leading 
 
Misconceptions J bout Kentucky 91 
 
 those people In a better way. Many of these moun- 
 tain counties have furnished men of brains; and It 
 will not be many generations until these mountaineers 
 win be cultured, and many of them rich, because the 
 mountains are full of minerals. The Kentuckians 
 have never been a lawless people, and no Intelligent 
 man will ever make the charge. 
 
 WHISKEY 
 
 Whatever may be said about whiskey and drunken- 
 ness, I assert that no State, according to population, 
 uses less whiskey than the better class of people in 
 Kentucky has used in all the generations. Drunken- 
 ness never could have produced such people as 
 Kentucky has produced. A drunken, lawless parent- 
 age could not have furnished the able man that 
 Kentucky furnished; and to answer the question, 
 "Why does every Kentuckian carry a cork-screw?" Is 
 to answer a fool according to his folly. Kentucky 
 has been a great whiskey producing State, and is one 
 of the greatest sections in the world In the amount of 
 tobacco It raises. But the people there do not use 
 all their tobacco, nor do they use all their whiskey. 
 Nature provided the most wonderful facilities for 
 the production of these articles; and the world 
 demanded, and needed them, as it supposed. That 
 I may not be misunderstood, I may state that, 
 in my whole life, I have opposed the use of 
 intoxicants, and perhaps to-day am as consistent a 
 prohibitionist as can be found. If my voice would 
 accomplish that result, there would never be manu- 
 factured or used In all these United States another 
 gallon of alcoholic liquor. Of course, alcohol has 
 been considered as almost indispensable in science 
 and in medicine, and it is one of the great gifts to 
 
92 Old Kentucky 
 
 mankind, if not abused; but the abuse of it has been 
 so terrible that I believe the world would be better 
 off were there never to be any more manufactured. 
 I have always avoided fanaticism. The fanatic is 
 unreliable and fanaticism has produced some of the 
 gravest errors. But I do not believe that absolute 
 prohibition is possible or practicable as human society 
 is to-day. Prohibition laws may be passed, but they 
 will never be fully enforced and practiced until the 
 milennium. 
 
 I am no advocate of the manufacture or the use 
 of intoxicants, and alcohol and its products ought 
 to be controlled just like any other terrible evil, but 
 how to do it only God knows. 
 
 But why Kentuckians have been singled out as a 
 great whiskey-drinking people, with all the facts 
 intelligently understood, I cannot comprehend. Phy- 
 sicians say that the greatest single remedy known to 
 science is opium and its products. If it were left 
 to me there never would be another ounce of it made. 
 If without opium and alcohol men would die, let them 
 die ; for the curse these things have brought has over- 
 balanced all the blessing, in my judgment. 
 
 The manufacture of whiskey and brandies in the 
 early day in Kentucky grew out of conditions. There 
 was no limit to the production of cereals and fruits ; 
 without using them there would have been no use 
 for a large part of the labor, for at that early day 
 there was no market convenient. There is a peculiar 
 something in the water of the State that enables them 
 to make, as judges of such things say, the best 
 whiskey in the world. The early Kentuckians had 
 enormous harvests of grain and fruits, and they 
 naturally turned to the converting of these products 
 into whiskey and brandies. There was a great de- 
 mand for these, and many of the best men and best 
 
Misconceptions About Kentucky 93 
 
 farmers put up their distilleries and made honest 
 whiskey and brandy, and felt that they were doing 
 no harm. As time went on, these little distilleries 
 became unnecessary because markets could be reached 
 by means of good roads, flat-boats, and railroads, 
 and the small distilleries gave way to larger concerns 
 which were usually conducted by the most reliable 
 mon in the communities, and the products shipped 
 out to other people. I believe I am correct in stating 
 that during one year one hundred and seventy-nine 
 thousand barrels of whiskey were shipped from 
 Louisville alone. It was manufactured as a matter 
 of business and sold as merchandise, and became 
 famous throughout the world. It would be just as 
 reasonable to suppose that the Hamilton-Brown Shoe 
 Company, perhaps the largest in the world, use in 
 their own communities all the shoes they produce, 
 as that Kentucklans use all the whiskey they make. 
 The Hamilton-Brown shoes, because they are an 
 honest product, go all over the world; Kentucky 
 whiskey goes all over the world. But all Kentucklans 
 do not carry a cork-screw. 
 
 There has been, too, a general disposition to 
 charge Kentucklans with being drunkards, and it is 
 mean and false to do so. I want to give an illustra- 
 tion or two. Henry Clay was charged with often 
 being drunk and similar charges have been made 
 against other great statesmen of Kentucky whom I 
 might name, because men were jealous of them. 
 John G. Carlisle and George G. Vest have been held 
 up as eminent Kentucklans who drank, and I have felt 
 about it as Lincoln did, when Grant, then In command 
 of the army, was accused of being drunk. "I wish," 
 said Mr. Lincoln, "some of my other generals would 
 use the same kind of whiskey." It Is a pity that 
 some other men have not used the same kind of 
 
94 Old Kentucky 
 
 whiskey that Carhsle and Vest did ! But these men 
 were slandered. I was in Washington when George 
 Vest v/as in the Senate and had made a national repu- 
 tation. He and I were close friends, I might say 
 v/e were warm personal friends, and I always felt 
 it an honor to be recognized by Vest. I went over 
 to the capitol and inquired for Senator Vest. I was 
 very promptly informed that he was off in his room 
 drunk, and that he would see nobody. He was 
 locked in his room, and I sent up my name, and was 
 requested to come up, and when I knocked at his 
 door he promptly opened it, and said, "Cook, I am 
 glad to see you. I want you to go home with me. 
 They have worried me until I felt like I didn't want 
 to see any living man ; and shut myself up here to 
 get away from a lot of the damned fools." He was 
 as sober as I was, and there was not even the smell 
 of whiskey on him. 
 
 About the time of my birth all the small distilleries 
 had well-nigh disappeared, but occasionally one could 
 be found. My old grandfather, who, in my estima- 
 tion, was the highest type of manhood I ever saw, 
 preached fifty years to one community, or rather four 
 churches that he had organized, had at one time dis- 
 tilled a great deal of whiskey and brandy. He told 
 me that he had studied carefully through the entire 
 Bible nineteen times, and in looking over the whole 
 matter he thought that whiskey was a great evil. He 
 discontinued the manufacture of it, and I do not 
 remember having seen in his home so much as a 
 bottle of whiskey. Of course some drank, and it 
 was common to see it on the sideboards of other 
 Kentucky homes, but it was not on his. And there 
 may be a curse that follows these things, but a census 
 of his family was taken some time ago, and it was 
 found that of his blood or relatives, twenty-six of 
 
Misconceptions About Kentucky 95 
 
 them became ministers of the gospel. It may be 
 that such results would have come from the kind 
 of whiskey. As an old preacher in Missouri, who 
 was raised in Kentucky, closed after preaching a most 
 ardent temperance sermon — "Brethren, the last argu- 
 ment that I make against the use of whiskey is, you 
 can't get the kind that we had when we were boys. 
 If you could, I would tell you where you might go 
 and get a little." 
 
 I could name men in Kentucky, some of them living 
 to-day, who distilled on a large scale, men whom I 
 knew in college, and they were gentlemen. And in 
 Kentucky to-day more than three-fourths of the 
 counties have strong local-option laws and hold the 
 lid on tight. The greatest curse that comes from 
 whiskey has not been in the family use of It; it has 
 grown out of the saloon influences. There Is nothing 
 in the world so beastly and devilish as the saloon. 
 If authority was given to the Devil to ruin mankind, 
 he could not do it more surely than by establishing 
 saloons in every community. There is no language 
 capable of describing the evils of the saloon. 
 
 But why Is It that Kentucky has been charged with 
 making drunkards for the world, when one man can 
 be found in one of our cities who has done more to 
 corrupt and debase people than all Kentucky has In 
 the last few years? And yet because he is a million- 
 aire and Is not devoid of all feeling of generosity, 
 his movements can scarcely escape the notice of the 
 leading metropolitan newspapers. If he gets sick 
 they have to tell how many nurses he has and where 
 he goes In his private car. And that nasty spirit of 
 toadyism makes the brewing of beer respectable. 
 It Is not beer, properly used, that is destructive to 
 health, I suppose, though I know nothing of it; but 
 it Is the influence that these rich brewers have In 
 
g6 Old Kentucky 
 
 establishing and keeping up saloons. It has been 
 estimated that one brewing concern in St. Louis has 
 opened and controlled twenty-two' thousand saloons 
 in this country, establishing them and putting the 
 commonest men at their head. This is simply what 
 one city has done. Great God, what an influence 
 these immense brewing establishments have had in 
 debasing people! 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 DIFFICULTIES 
 
 Any school-boy can look at his geography and tell 
 how Kentucky is bounded, but a few words in general 
 in regard to its conditions may be in order. Its 
 climate is adapted to the cultiv^ation of everything, 
 almost, necessary to human comfort. Its soil is in- 
 exhaustible; eighty bushels of corn have been raised 
 to the acre after the ground had been in culti- 
 vation for forty continuous years and this with- 
 out using an artificial fertilizer. The lime stone 
 rock is full of phosphates, and there is a richness in 
 the ground and in the grass than can perhaps not be 
 found in any other section of the country. The 
 abundant springs all over the State seem to be im- 
 pregnated with ingredients, especially the phosphates, 
 to be found in like proportions nowhere else. The 
 "blue-grass section" is raised above the sea level 
 hundreds of feet. Lexington has an elevation of one 
 thousand and seventy feet. Material for making 
 good roads is abundant, and the splendid turn-pikes 
 that have been in the State for more than sixty years 
 furnish as good roads as can be found in the world. 
 Near Lexington iron was mined a hundred years ago, 
 and it is said that the Indians worked copper mines. 
 It is said that now the iron district of the State covers 
 about twenty thousand square miles, and the coal 
 area more than four thousand square miles. Nu- 
 merous medical springs have been of great value to 
 the State. The advantages that Kentucky has had 
 from water transportation have never been appre- 
 
98 Old Kentucky 
 
 dated. The Ohio River is the larj;^est of the affluents 
 of the Mississippi in respect to its discharge of water. 
 This averages one hundred and fifty-eight thousand 
 cubic feet per second; that of the Missouri River 
 averages but one hundred and twenty thousand cubic 
 feet. With its numerous tributaries the Ohio River 
 has five thousand miles of high water navigation. 
 Its length below Pittsburg is nine hundred and sev- 
 enty-five miles, and to this add the Cumberland and 
 Tennessee, and it will readily be seen that Kentucky 
 is easily reached by water on almost every side, ex- 
 cept, of course, the mountain districts in the south- 
 west. 
 
 Many of the earlier settlers came into the State in 
 small boats; but the earliest, perhaps, came over 
 the mountains and along the Wilderness road. It 
 would have been no vei*y difficult task for people to 
 come to the State had it not been for the Indians. 
 The State lay between the Indians of the Northwest 
 and the Indians of the Southwest; in their wars with 
 each other they passed through the territory now 
 known as "Kentucky." It is said that more than 
 twelve tribes claimed this land as their hunting- 
 grounds, but no tribe claimed it as a place of perma- 
 nent settlement. The pioneers could have gotten 
 over the mountains, as we have just said, and pene- 
 trated to all parts of the State through the vast, in- 
 terminable forest, had there not lurked all along their 
 path the fierce, cunning, savage Indians. They had 
 more pleasure in the killing of a white man, woman, 
 or babe, than they had in taking the life of a wolf 
 or other wild beast. 
 
 I assert it here for fear of forgetting it at the 
 proper place, that, all things considered, nO' people 
 were more just to the Indians than the Kentuckians 
 were, until their worst passions were aroused by the 
 
Difficulties 99 
 
 horrible and cruel treatment they received from the 
 Indians. The Indians never owned the land, and 
 yet treaties were made with the Indians of the North- 
 west and the Indians of the Southwest, and whatever 
 title they might have claimed the Kentuckians ac- 
 quired by fair treaties, treaties which the Indians 
 never regarded when it suited them to violate their 
 word and make incursions to murder the peaceful 
 families in their little cabins. To do justice, I might 
 say that there were some noble old men among the 
 Indians who would have kept these treaties, but they 
 could not control the young braves. The study of 
 Indians and of Indian character has been one of great 
 interest to the people of Kentucky, for there was 
 something coming up constantly to remind them of 
 the Indian occupation of the ground. There were, 
 in many a field, found enough arrow-heads to fur- 
 nish all the people with flints for their old flint-lock 
 firearms, for percussion-caps were unknown at that 
 day. And then there were the stories told of Indian 
 atrocities, stories told around the fireside and to the 
 children, who would often be hid away when the 
 parents were out from the cabin — hid away in po- 
 tato holes and little caves so that, should the Indians 
 kill the parents before their return from hunting the 
 cows, or working in the fields, the children might 
 not be burned to death should the Indians fire the 
 cabin. 
 
 How often was the question asked, Where did the 
 Indians come from? And it is a question that has not 
 been satisfactorily answered. There were evidences 
 all over the countr\^ that a people had occupied it 
 before the Indians, a people w'ho were dwelling here 
 on the discovery of America. The mound-builders 
 left their record, and some have been disposed to be- 
 lieve that the Indians are the descendants of the 
 
lOO Old Kentucky 
 
 mound-builders. Some have supposed that they 
 came in after the mound-builders had occupied the 
 country for generations and drove the mound- 
 builders out, which opinion I incline to. The mound- 
 builders left evidences of great fortifications, some 
 of them very extensive; and if they had no foes, 
 why the necessity of these? The whole trend of In- 
 dian immigration seems to have been from the North- 
 west. Some doubtless took the more southerly direc- 
 tion, and went into Mexico and South America, 
 where, on the discovei-y of this country, was found 
 such remarkable development as to scarcely be be- 
 lieved. How thrilling the story of the conquest of 
 Mexico and Peru ! Those who went more easterly 
 struck the Great Lakes and went on southeasterly, 
 and occupied what we call the Southwest Territory; 
 then they scattered down the Mississippi River and 
 easterly until they held a large part of the South- 
 west Territory, not as regular inhabitants, but simply 
 roving bands. In the Mississippi Valley were found 
 a multitude of mounds which seemed to have been 
 used as burial-places, for when opened there were 
 found only such things as would naturally be put 
 into the graves with the dead. 
 
 In 1876 I served as Centennial manager for Mis- 
 souri, and with Honorable Thos. Allen, a man of 
 wealth and culture, opened small mounds in south- 
 east Missouri and took from them almost enough 
 potteiy ware to make two wagon-loads. We could 
 not tell the composition of the pottery, but the vessels 
 were of various kinds and shapes, principally shapes 
 of animals and birds. We determined these articles 
 were put there to hold water and food for the benefit 
 of the dead. Much of it was carried to Philadelphia, 
 and from there It was scattered, I do not know where. 
 Some of the finest mounds may be found along the 
 
Difficulties 10 1 
 
 banks of the Mississippi River. On a farm which 
 I bought through which flows the Wyaconda, be- 
 tween those tw^o streams, were many mounds. On 
 one of the largest of these was growing an immense 
 hard maple, and other large trees around it. Anx- 
 ious to know what the mound contained, I dug into 
 it, going most all the way, twenty feet, through a 
 peculiar kind of dirt which must have been brought 
 there from some other place, for it was as absolutely 
 dry as if it had nev^er seen water, and unlike the soil 
 around. I found, nearly twenty feet from the top, 
 what was apparently a grave. Where the skull was, 
 it was protected by stones, and though the whole 
 skeleton dissolved into dust with the exception of a 
 few teeth and small bones of the head, it was evi- 
 dent that the body had been that of a very large man. 
 Though many of my ancestry were killed by In- 
 dians, and though for two generations the intensest 
 hatred burned in the breast of the white people 
 against the Indians, I share none of that feeling 
 to-day. I know that under proper conditions many 
 of the Indians would have made noble men. I have 
 gone through the Indian Territory; I have tried to 
 educate the children of some of the leading Indians 
 of the Territory; and I can truly say that many of 
 them were men of the highest Christian type. I 
 know personally John Jumper, chief of the Seminoles, 
 and I had two of his boys, fine manly fellows. And 
 while they learned books well, they had the peculiar 
 Indian characteristics, for on Saturdays I have seen 
 them, when they thought they were not perceived, 
 with feathers in their hair marching and parading 
 like warriors. Poor fellows, they both died of con- 
 sumption. John Jumper, the old chief of the Sem- 
 inoles, a man of will, and brain, and means, became 
 an earnest preacher, and preached to his people till 
 
I02 Old Kentucky 
 
 his death. His son-in-law, John Brown, became chief 
 of the Seminoles, and I have been in his house and 
 in the house of his brother, who' for many years was 
 treasurer of the tribe, and I can say that the hospi- 
 tality I received was as good as you would find in any 
 gentleman's home, and the Seminoles were the best 
 governed people that I ever saw. Among the Creeks 
 were many noble, intelligent people ; and, population 
 considered, there were more Baptists than in any part 
 of the United States. I make this explanation for 
 fear I may be thought a Kentuckian with a strong 
 prejudice against the Indian. The Indians were cer- 
 tainly cmel to us ; and what more should you expect, 
 when you take into consideration that they were 
 armed and encouraged, led on, their passion excited 
 against us, by some traders in Pennsylvania, but most 
 especially by the British. No people were so cruel 
 to us as were the British. They armed the Indians 
 and made them their allies in every cruelty; and after 
 the close of the Revolution, and the signing of the 
 treaties of peace, while the English held their forts 
 along the Lakes, and while the Northwest Territory 
 was harassed, the English leaders incited the Indians 
 to eveiy beastly crime. They even came into Ken- 
 tucky, against which they had the greatest grudge, 
 and murdered our people. I could give the names of 
 these leaders, but eternal infamy should blot out their 
 names from human recollection. 
 
 The movement into Kentucky started about the 
 beginning of the Revolution, and while the colonies 
 were fighting hard battles under Washington. Ken- 
 tucky was then considered a county of Virginia, and 
 the Virginians and the Tennesseeans were pushing 
 westward and opening up great territory from the 
 Atlantic seaboard to the Mississippi River. I wish 
 I had the time to tell of what the noble men of Ten- 
 
Diffictilties 103 
 
 nessee did, but some abler pen will tell that story 
 some day. 
 
 One of the darkest pages in history, and one that 
 casts infamy upon the British people, or I should say 
 upon the British rulers, was their conduct toward this 
 country during the hard struggle for independence. 
 For independence was not really assured, though 
 treaties had been made, until General Jackson settled 
 the British at the battle of New Orleans. The Ken- 
 tuckians and Tennesseeans were always restless until 
 the Mississippi was opened to the Gulf, and if the 
 government would hav^e allowed them, they would 
 have taken New Orleans long before it fell into 
 American possession. There is only one bright spot 
 in the infamous course of the British toward this 
 country, and that is the masses of the English 
 people sympathized with the Americans, and even 
 in Parliament brave men advocated the cause of the 
 colonies and opposed the war that was being made 
 upon them. George the Third had to hire Hessians, 
 the very slaves among the Germans, to fight his bat- 
 tles, for the English would not furnish the men, and 
 for that reason we can still love our English kin. 
 The King seemed to select the basest characters and 
 put them in authority to harass us, and up to 1 8 1 2 
 the American people were never fairly treated. 
 
 The story of this war I leave to history, but it 
 would be injustice to our old Kentucky ancestors not 
 to say that perhaps not in the history^ of the State 
 were they so elated as after the victory of New 
 Orleans. And they believed that, though there had 
 been a cessation of hostilities between the nations be- 
 fore the battle, that had it not been for that battle 
 America would never have obtained the treaty she 
 did. They thought it was a special providence. 
 There were several in that battle from our section 
 
104 ^^d Kentucky 
 
 of the State whom I knew personally, though I was 
 but a boy. And how I have thrilled In hearing them 
 relate instances connected with that campaign. They 
 said that Lord Pakenham was a man of high char- 
 acter and courage but he was so maddened by the 
 American prejudice against the British that he told 
 his troops just before the final battle that "Beauty 
 and booty" was the watchword. He had the pick of 
 English soldiers, some having been old soldiers with 
 Wellington. 
 
 Jackson had his principal troops from Kentucky, 
 Tennessee, and the other States south of them. If 
 there were any troops from the North I find no evi- 
 dence of it. Of the regular troops there were less 
 than one thousand with Jackson. It was a straight, 
 square contest between the West and Southwest 
 pioneers, the Southerners armed with such weapons 
 as they had, against the well-equipped troops, the 
 flower of the British army. 
 
 On August 24, 1 8 14, the British had captured 
 and almost entirely destroyed the capital of the 
 United States; and to their lasting disgrace they de- 
 stroyed the Capitol and other public buildings, books 
 and papers; nothing was spared but the Patent Of- 
 fice and the jail. Their success seemed good, and 
 they determined to take control of the Mississippi 
 River. "Old HIckoi-y," as he was called, — God keep 
 his memoiy fresh in the minds of the American 
 people, — made preparations to defend New Orleans. 
 Sir Edward Pakenham and General Gibbs were in 
 command of the British forces. Poor Jackson, with 
 his half-equipped army gathered from the rural dis- 
 tricts, stood between him and New Orleans In de- 
 fence of the most sacred rights. January 8, 18 15, 
 the English made the attack. Let me tell you about 
 
Diffi ail ties 105 
 
 the battle as T have heard Colonel Ford, of Shelby 
 County, tell it repeatedly: 
 
 "There was an understanding throughout the whole 
 army and especially among the Kentuckians, who 
 hated the British, that they would die in the trenches 
 rather than surrender. We expected it would be a 
 terrible fight, and we not only worked, but we hoped 
 and we prayed. Three or four days before the battle. 
 General Pakenham sent on a coarse piece of paper, 
 under a flag of truce, this message, 'Jackson, sur- 
 render New Orleans. Pakenham.' He didn't even 
 recognize Jackson as a general. Jackson wrote on 
 the other side of the paper, 'Pakenham, come take it. 
 Jackson.' In about two days another message was 
 received, 'Jackson, I expect to take my breakfast in 
 New Orleans Sunday morning.' Old Hickory turned 
 the paper over and wrote on the other side, 'Paken- 
 ham, if you do, you will take your supper in hell 
 Sunday night.' These messages were made known 
 to the little army and filled it with enthusiasm. 
 
 "We worked like beavers, and got the trenches 
 made the best we could, and word was brought on 
 the morning of the battle early that the British were 
 advancing. Orders were issued to lie low in the 
 trenches and hold the fire. We could see the British 
 coming, and they began shooting a good while before 
 they were within real gun range, and not a gun was 
 fired in return until it seemed they were right upon 
 us. Those immediately in front were said to be a 
 Highland regiment who had fought under Welling- 
 ton. When they were up so close that we could have 
 killed a squirrel at that distance, the order was given, 
 'Take good aim and fire!' It flashed along the line, 
 and the enemy went down like corn-stalks in a storm. 
 They fell back in confusion, and while they were re- 
 forming, our iruns were being reloaded. Some of 
 
I06 Old Kentucky 
 
 our men were cr^'lng and some praying, and when 
 they made the next assault it seemed that it was worse 
 than the first. And almost before we knew it the 
 battle was ended. Pakenham led the final charge, 
 and was shot oft his horse, and confusion followed. 
 It seemed as if the battle was fought and finished be- 
 fore we really understood what was done. But when 
 it was over and the result was known among the Ken- 
 tuckians it was like a regular camp-meeting. They 
 took off Pakenham, and, as we understood, sent 
 him home in a cask of rum to preserve him. The 
 Kentuckians showed that they could not only fight 
 Indians but they could fight the flower of the British 
 troops." 
 
 I have given this account as it was talked of in 
 old Kentucky. As for numbers engaged and mor- 
 tality, you can find them from history. It was one 
 of the most remarkable battles ever fought, and its 
 results were of untold benefit to this country. Such 
 was the manner in which those old Kentuckians spoke 
 of the battle, and their admiration for Jackson can- 
 not be told. There have been conflicting accounts 
 in regard to the battle of New Orleans, and of Jack- 
 son's course of conduct, and how he availed himself 
 of all the means in his power to defend the city, and 
 after it how he was treated by some of the citizens 
 of New Orleans, especially those who had nO' love 
 for this country; for New Orleans was full of for- 
 eigners. There has been no battle fought in this 
 country that I have been more interested in than the 
 battle of Ne Orleans. My place in the South, as 
 the crow flies was about one hundred miles from the 
 old battle-grc jnd. I have gone and looked it over, 
 and there remain the old trenches yet and the brick 
 house in which Pakenham died. Some have exag- 
 gerated the number of American troops, the British 
 
Difficulties 107 
 
 troops, and of the number of killed and wounded 
 on both sides. Hawthorne's history of the United 
 States says that the Americans opened fire when the 
 British advance was within two hundred yards, which 
 is certainly a mistake, for the old rifies of the back- 
 woodsmen and bordermen could not shoot so far. 
 My impression is that the British were not as much 
 as a hundred yards from the men lying in the first 
 trench. But as Hawthrone tells everything beauti- 
 fully, I will give his description of the battle. 
 
 Pakenham got some guns in position, but the gunners 
 were picked off by the Kentucky riflemen, and the guns 
 were dismounted. On the eighth of January he attacked 
 along the whole line. Pakenham and Lambert in person 
 led ten thousand men against the Americans. The west end 
 of Jackson's line was on the river, strengthened by a re- 
 doubt; the east extremity was on a swamp. There was a 
 ditch in front, and eight batteries. The redoubt was taken, 
 but could not be held, owing to the deadly marksmanship of 
 the sharpshooters. When the main British advance was 
 within two hundred yards, the Americans opened fire, and in 
 a short time two thousand and thirty-six of the enemy had 
 fallen. The English veterans had never met such a fire 
 from Napoleon's Grand Army; they were dismayed; they 
 wavered ; Pakenham, and every other English leader ex- 
 cept Lambert, fell ; the men turned and fled. 
 
 Jackson, on the twentj'-first of January, marched into New 
 Orleans in triumph. Volunteers and backwoodsmen, 
 hastily mustered, showed themselves more than a match for 
 the best drilled troops of the world. The gradual i,easoning 
 of a democratic soldiery partly explains this; the heroic 
 prowess to which men become accustomed in our pioneer life; 
 but still more the inspiration, elsewhere in this war so much 
 lacking, of great leadership. For rude and illiterate though 
 he was, Jackson at New Orleans showed the five prime at- 
 tributes of militant genius: decision, energ^% forethought, 
 dispatch, skill in employing resources. In him, democracy 
 at war was fully justified of her children ; and to quote 
 Monroe's dispatch, "history records no example of so glorious 
 a victor>' obtained with so little bloodshed on the part of the 
 victors." The total American loss had been tliirteen men. 
 
io8 Old Kentucky 
 
 Although it may seem out of place, I want to give 
 a tribute to General Jackson from Hawthorne's his- 
 tory. After the disaster at Fort Mims, where the 
 Creeks captured it and slaughtered four hundred of 
 the five hundred and fifty fugitives, men, women, and 
 children, Hawthorne says: 
 
 "It was a terrible calamity; but it had the effect of bringing 
 into the foreground one of the strongest and most striking men of 
 the age, without whose aid and influence America would have had 
 a different destiny. He was an uneducated man, with rough 
 manners and original ideas; strong and wiry of frame, uncouth 
 and rude of aspect. The soul of independence and self-reliance 
 was in him; he had always his own way of meeting emergencies 
 and solving difficulties; narrow and harsh you might call him, 
 for he was bred in the backwoods of Carolina and Tennessee; 
 but his mind was singularly penetrating, and able to grasp and 
 control the essential features of a given situation. He had homely 
 humor, and that masculine tenderness which sometimes seems to 
 surpass the tenderness of women. Altogether, he was a racy, 
 native product, who might have passed his life as the autocrat of 
 a village inn, but who was called by circumstances to be the head 
 of the new western nation. Andrew Jackson feared nothing, and 
 believed himself, not without reason, capable of anything. He 
 was no Boston aristocrat, with one eye on England and the other 
 on his own respectabiliity; but a man of the common people, 
 shrewd, tough, bold, uncompromising, ingenious. As a soldier, 
 he was always victorious in the field; as a man of public affairs, 
 he had his policy and enforced it, and the marks thereof are still 
 visible upon the face of our institutions. He had served in the 
 House and in the Senate before he was thirty years of age, and 
 was judge of the Supreme Court of Tennessee before he was fort\'. 
 When he was present, the world moved, and men appeared each 
 at his true value. His narrow, rugged face, with its long, bony 
 chin and deepset eyes, which could glow with a terrible wrath; 
 his high, narrow forehead, covered with bristly, upstanding hair; 
 his ungainly but unconquerable figure, all steel and whalebone, 
 gave outward notice of the man within. He was a match for 
 any man or anything; and when the Mims massacre brought him 
 flaming from his Tennessee mountains, he was far enough from 
 the theorizers and hesitators at Washington to have his own way, 
 and to disobey orders as seemed to him best. The red tape was 
 never made that could bind those lean, muscular limbs of his; 
 and he was a man who was not afraid to grow, or slow to apply 
 the lessons which experience taught him. 
 
 "Jackson had already marched a body of troops to the South 
 from Tennessee, and when it turned out that they were not re- 
 quired, he had marched them five hundred miles back again, 
 instead of leaving them where they were, to be gobbled up by 
 the national recruiting sergeants. This was, of course, an act of 
 military insubordination; but it was condoned, very wisely, by 
 the authorities, and made Jackson immensely popular with his 
 
Difficulties 109 
 
 people. \Mien therefore the cry of the Mims massacre was heard, 
 Jackson and his men were the first to respond to it. They met 
 the savages in northern Alabama, and in several battles routed 
 them with slaughter. At the battle of the Horseshoe, in the spring 
 of 1814, the Creek nation was annihilated, and their surviving 
 chief, Weathersford, a half-breed, after making a characteristi- 
 cally Indian speech, such as the novelist Cooper might have 
 written for him, to Jackson, formally surrendered to him the 
 nothing he had left. It might repay a curious scholar to make a 
 study of these Indian utterances, and draw from them a deduc- 
 tion as to the nature of the Indian mind. There is uniformly an 
 artless, impudent imbecility about them which leaves one in doubt 
 whether the orator is bluffing, or merely in love with the noise 
 of his own voice-" 
 
 It may be asked why, as General Jackson was not 
 a natlv^e of Kentucky, I have taken such Interest In 
 him and In the battle of New Orleans. It Is an un- 
 disputed fact, SO' far as I can discover, that the Ken- 
 tucky riflemen were put In the front, Jackson de- 
 pending upon them as the best marksmen In his army, 
 to defend the most dangerous position. It Is really 
 diflicult to divide the honors between the Kentucky 
 riflemen, the Tennesseeans, and MIssissippIans, but 
 we have always claimed It as a battle In which the 
 Kentucklans won great distinction. No troops ever 
 served under Jackson who had a higher admiration 
 for him, and this admiration was mutual. The influ- 
 ence these old Kentucklans who served under Jack- 
 son exerted In the politics of the State, gave him pre- 
 eminence over the favorite son of Kentucky. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 SOCIAL LIFE 
 
 In this day of exciting fiction and highly-drawn 
 descriptions of fast living, there is a charm in bring- 
 ing out the everyday home-life of the family. It 
 shows the beginning of the formation of character, 
 and the influences that develop the after life of a 
 people. There is a charm about family life that the 
 majority of good people take pleasure in. A tale of 
 the early life and surroundings of people who have 
 succeeded is read perhaps with more interest than de- 
 scriptions of their higher achievements. Nothing 
 interests people more in the career of Abraham Lin- 
 coln than the incidents and struggles of his early life; 
 even the log-cabin in which he began life is viewed 
 with interest by the multitude, and so much as a chip 
 from it is appreciated. And so people read with 
 pleasure of the ever3^day life of kings and noblemen, 
 people who care but little about the achievements of 
 the King and his nobles. Victoria of England, per- 
 haps, all things considered, the most queenly woman 
 that ever lived, gives some tender and beautiful pic- 
 tures of her life in a diarv she published, "Life in 
 the Highlands." The incidents are so home-like that 
 we are naturally drawn with tender sympathy to her. 
 The more we see of the inner life of such people the 
 more we admire and profit by their example. Though 
 a queen, she had a pure, lovely, motherly character. 
 In that diary there is a simple little extract which 
 seems almost frivolous, but which really brings out 
 her loving nature: 
 
Social Life 1 1 1 
 
 We got up at a quarter to six o'clock. We breakfasted. 
 Mamma came to take leave of us; Alice and the baby were 
 brought in, poor little things, to wish us good-by. Then 
 good Bertie came down to see us, and Vicky appeared as voy- 
 ageuse, and was all impatience to go. At seven we set of? 
 with her for the railroad, Vicomtess Canning and Lady 
 Caroline Cocks in our carriage. A very wet morning. We 
 got into the carriage again at Paddington and proceeded to 
 Woolwich, which we reached at nine. Vicky was safely 
 put into the boat, and then carefully carried on deck of the 
 yacht by Renswick, the sergeant-footman, whom we took 
 with us in the boat on purpose. 
 
 The influence of that mother has told upon her 
 descendants, many of whom have held the highest 
 positions in European courts, and may be seen in her 
 children's children in their love of home and family. 
 Tt is this characteristic in the German Emperor that 
 makes all true men and women his admirers. The 
 interest that President Roosevelt takes in the home- 
 life, and little things of the people of whom he 
 writes, shows one of the prevailing traits of his na- 
 ture, love of home and family; and no one can read 
 his works without feeling that he is a true man in all 
 his purposes. In speaking of the Kentuckians he 
 tells of the early settlers — how they dressed, built 
 their plain little homes, what they ate, how they 
 fared and suffered, courted, married, raised children, 
 frolicked, shared with the needy, fought Indians, 
 and, If need be, fought each other or anybody else. 
 In inquiring into the cause of the peculiar character 
 of the Kentuckians, we will especially give attention 
 to the home-life, their method of training and edu- 
 cating their children. 
 
 The first settlers of Kentucky were very poor; 
 afterward men of means began to come into the 
 State, men drawn principally from the hills and 
 mountains of Virginia. They brought all they pos- 
 
1 1 2 Old Kentucky 
 
 sessed on one horse; and in some instances, doubt- 
 less, carried all they had on their own backs. The 
 blue-grass region of Kentucky was all wooded, heav- 
 ily wooded, and to-day it would cost fifty dollars an 
 acre to clear up and make ready to cultivate. At 
 first they could only clear a small patch and gradually 
 enlarge that patch until it came to- be a large field. 
 The little cabin served them for a home, and it was 
 all they could do for a long time to feed and clothe 
 their increasing families. What were their children 
 to do for an education? The first lesson a child 
 learns from its mother; and if she is a tender and 
 a godly mother, she instils into the minds of her 
 little ones lessons that are the foundation for a noble 
 character. The early permanent settlers were a 
 people who had the highest regard for religion; 
 whatever may be the opinion of others in regard tO' 
 them, they were certainly a people who reverenced 
 God and wanted to do right, and so they taught 
 their children. Whatever other books were want- 
 ing, each family had its Bible, and this being almost 
 the only book in the household, it was highly prized, 
 and its lessons instilled into the mincis of the little 
 ones. An angel looking upon these poor families 
 in the evening hour would have found a mother, with 
 the little ones around her, instructing them and pray- 
 ing with them. One of the first lessons taught was 
 that of strict honesty. 
 
 How well I remember the stoi-y of the first man 
 that I heard of being hanged! His first crime was 
 stealing a pin when he was a boy; then he stole a 
 knife; and he went on until he stole little things 
 from his neighbors; and finally, when he became a 
 man, in the robbing of a traveler he murdered him, 
 for which crime he was hanged. What a lesson this 
 stealing of a pin taught ! It was considered a great 
 
Social Life 113 
 
 crime to tell a He; it ought to be considered a crime 
 to-day. It was considered a disgrace for one to be 
 a liar; and no Kentuckian would allow another to 
 call him such a name with impunity. In early days 
 there were few courts, and men had tO' trust one 
 another's word; a man who would not keep his word 
 could command no respect. If one made a promise 
 to buy or sell anything at a certain figure and refused 
 to keep his contract, he was considered dishonorable, 
 and people would have no business dealings with 
 him. Children were taught to love and venerate 
 their parents, and were always ready to help them 
 and vindicate them, and a boy would fight quicker 
 for his father's or his mother's honor than for his 
 own. Children were taught to be unselfish; and 
 indeed the circumstances made it necessary for them 
 to be so, for the majority of the families were large. 
 It was nothing unusual for a family to have from 
 twelve to sixteen children ; and each had his own 
 duties and his own place, and all clung together with 
 a helpful spirit. One of the happiest and best-regu- 
 lated families I ever knew had sixteen children, all 
 bright and good; and so far as I know there was 
 nothing wrong connected with the name of any one 
 of them. One of the family married a congressman's 
 daughter; I know several of them were ministers of 
 the gospel; and some were teachers, some fanners, 
 and some professional men. Though their father 
 had only two hundred acres of land, they were well 
 provided for; and had a vote been taken as to who 
 was the best man in the county, the father of these 
 children, Israel Christie, would have probably been 
 selected. 
 
 There was very little selfishness among the early 
 Kentuckians; money was not a god then. Money is 
 8 
 
114 Old Kentucky 
 
 good in its place. It builds shelters over us; it puts 
 clothes on us; furnishes means for an education; 
 feeds the poor, builds churches, develops the coun- 
 tiy, increases happiness — when used in its right 
 place. But when used to increase pride, to corrupt 
 and poison the minds of men until it inflames them 
 and drives them to oppress and disregard the most 
 sacred rights of others, it becomes a terrible poison, 
 distilling itself throughout the land. It is like other 
 great necessary blessings, if properly used it works 
 great good. There is scarcely a blessing in human 
 life, which, when perverted, does not become a curse. 
 
 The Kentucky children were taught that character 
 was evei-ything, and to defend it, if need be, with 
 their lives. They were taught that home was a sa- 
 cred retreat, and that he who invaded its purity might 
 expect death. The marriage tie was sacred; for a 
 long time there was no divorce law in Kentucky. 
 Would it not be expected that children trained under 
 these influences would be different from those trained 
 under many of the corrupting influences of modem 
 society? There was a sympathetic influence that per- 
 vaded those communities; was one sick, or in need, 
 or had been unfortunate, brotherly hands were ex- 
 tended him and his, and everything possible was 
 provided for his comfort. And when death came 
 into a family, sympathizing hearts went out to- those 
 in trouble; and the tears of a strong manhood and a 
 tender womanhood mingled with the tears of the 
 bereaved. 
 
 One of the most marked characteristics of Ken- 
 tucky life was the love and practice of genuine hos- 
 pitality. That lesson was taught by word and deed; 
 it was taught at home; it was taught by the minis- 
 ter in the pulpit; it was taught as one of the cardinal 
 virtues of social life. The Bible is full of this lesson, 
 
Social Life 115 
 
 and some of the most beautiful pictures in it are pic- 
 tures of a generous hospitality, especially to the 
 stranger. The Saviour and his apostles taught it — 
 "Be mindful of entertaining strangers, for thereby 
 some have entertained angels unawares." Kentucky 
 hospitality was not grudging hospitality, it was open, 
 frank, free ; for the guest v/as expected to be as much 
 at home as the host. And this was not done in the 
 spirit in which it is too often done now, in the ex- 
 pectation of being entertained in return. I never 
 knew of a stranger being turned from the door of 
 any Kentuckian as long as I lived in the State, and 
 cannot remember that any charge was ever made for 
 such kindness. The families were not inn-keepers 
 and they did not keep account of visits with each 
 other, and at the end of the year balance accounts — 
 as it has been reported is done in some parts of the 
 world east of us. Some of the people were poorly 
 prepared to entertain, but they did their best. Nor 
 did the rich spurn the poor. I never knew but one 
 selfish Kentuckian, and he was not a native of the 
 State; he was without the spirit of hospitality; he 
 entertained nobody, and nobody entertained him. 
 It is a fact that he was so mean and selfish that he 
 was mean and cruel to his slaves who worked for 
 him. This was the only exception that I ever knew, 
 and everybody hated him, and the meanest dogs in 
 the countr}' were named for him. As a general thing 
 the old Kentucky home was the home of the maimed, 
 of the stranger, and of those in need. 
 
 Few things have exerted a greater influence upon 
 people than their hospitality where it is genuine, 
 frank, cordial, and grows out of a true spirit. Enter- 
 taining may be done by anybody, either for policy, 
 or selfish pride; but one to be genuinely hospitable 
 must have it in the very nature; it must be inborn. 
 
ii6 Old Kentucky 
 
 No man can be a thorough gentleman hi feehng that 
 is not born with the instincts of a gentleman. He 
 can be polite, and conform to all the rules of polite- 
 ness, but there will be something lacking unless he 
 has the instincts of a gentleman, and when he has 
 those instincts he will show them under almost any 
 condition of life. The bravest in war are the most 
 tender to those who are in suffering; and the tnily 
 hospitable man will be kind to any one that may be 
 entertained under his roof. Of course the kinds of 
 entertainment depend, in a measure, upon the ability 
 to entertain, upon the worldly rank and wealth. As 
 a general thing, truest hospitality is found among 
 those in the humblest walks of life. 
 
 One thing that I remarked in my boyhood in Ken- 
 tucky was that no man of wealth ever was inhospit- 
 able to his poor neighbors. The wealthiest family in 
 our neighborhood was marked for its kindness to 
 those that came within its doors. This family was 
 named Meriweather, and I think I may say without 
 exaggeration that the estate was worth a quarter of 
 a million of dollars, and yet Aunt Kittie, in her con- 
 versation with her neighbors or in her home, never 
 seemed tO' know that she was "above" the families 
 around her. The family that had acted proud and 
 haughty and selfish, whatever might be its wealth, 
 never had any standing in that community. It was 
 a marvel how rapidly Kentucky was settled in the 
 beginning; and how rapidly the people developed 
 their homes and provided for the greatest comforts 
 of human life. I have seen, in the fifties, every- 
 thing considered, as elegant homes and as elegant 
 entertainment in Kentucky as I have ever found in 
 later years in any of the States. When I was in 
 Georgetown College, from 1855 to 1858, my father 
 being dead and the family scattered, I had no home 
 
Social Life 117 
 
 and I spent a great part of my vacations visiting 
 around with my college-mates through the different 
 counties. It would really give me pleasure to men- 
 tion numbers of them that lived In the most comfort- 
 able and elegant style. Many of my school-fellows 
 lived In counties Immediately adjoining Georgetown 
 and Lexington, and It Is like a pleasant dream to go 
 back over those scenes of enjoyment we had together. 
 Had I been a prince I could not have fared better 
 than I did with the Hunts, the Paynes, the War- 
 fields, the Clays, the Morgans and Breckinrldges — 
 oh, I can't name them all. But, all In all, I think the 
 most charming time I ever spent was at the home of 
 Robert W. Scott, not far from Frankfort. His fa- 
 ther, Joel Scott, was a born nobleman ; his two sons 
 that I knew, John and Robert, were worthy of their 
 father. Robert Scott's home seems to me now as a 
 dreamland of beauty. He was a fine gentleman, and 
 his wife, I think, was a sister of Honorable William 
 Preston, one of the noted men of Kentucky. While 
 I was there the three children that I remember best 
 were Mary, Ella, and John; Preston, the older one, 
 was not there. A lovely young lady from eastern 
 Kentucky, Miss Dixon, was a guest at the same time. 
 The hospitality was perfect; the home delightful; 
 the table was laden with ever>'thlng that was beau- 
 tiful and good; the servants were well trained, and 
 there was enough to meet every want; the horses 
 were the pick of the State ; the carriages elegant and 
 comfortable; and everything seemed to be directed 
 with a view to the comfort of their guests. The 
 roads were splendid; the scenery beautiful; and we 
 could drive in the moonlight or In the early morning. 
 I feel like leaving, as to the many families, also 
 who were just as kind, this memorial to the family 
 that gave me the happiest entertainment that I had 
 
ii8 Old Kentucky 
 
 known. The enjoyment of young people in those days 
 was not like it is now. There was plenty of litera- 
 ture; there was perfect freedom to enjoy what you 
 would; but I never saw a playing-card in that house; 
 never heard a word that was not pure, nor did I see 
 one act that indicated anything but purest nobility 
 of soul. For pleasure we did not have to seek the 
 card-table, the dance-hall, nor the wine-cup. There 
 was prayer in that house every day; and we romped 
 like children, and mingled as one family. 
 
 People that cultivate hospitality grow to be better, 
 and when they transmit as a gift to their children 
 they give them that which should produce happiness, 
 the exaltation of social life, the love of home, and 
 that which makes them better citizens. People that 
 are inhospitable are apt to be selfish and narrow. 
 But why should I say more about old-time Kentucky 
 hospitality? As far as the name of the State has 
 gone it has been recognized without question. 
 
 In the year 1847, or thereabout, on a cold threat- 
 ening night in early winter, about dark, as snow be- 
 gan to fall and the family were gathered around the 
 open fire, ready to enjoy a good, warm evening meal, 
 such as could be found in those days in the old Ken- 
 tucky home, after the abundance had been gathered 
 in for the winter, — the abundance of fruits, vege- 
 tables, cider and choice meats, — a timid, uncertain 
 knock was heard at our door. Father answered the 
 call, and as he was sure it was not the hearty knock of 
 a neighbor, he went to see who it w^as, instead of 
 calling out, "Come in," as was the usual custom. 
 All listened, and every child was quiet. 
 
 "Can I get to stay all night? I have no money 
 and am sick." 
 
 "Where are you from?" 
 
 "New Orleans, and have walked all the way, and 
 
Social Life 119 
 
 to-day have not tasted food except a few walnuts 
 that I picked up by the road side." 
 
 I never saw father hesitate before, but in those 
 days New Orleans was thought to be a pestilence- 
 breeding ground, full of all fevers and malignant 
 diseases; and the question of bringing any of those 
 diseases into the family was a serious one. Every- 
 thing was against the poor stranger; he was sick, 
 almost in rags, and he had no money. Mother went 
 to the door with her little ones around her, and her 
 heart appealed to her and fears were set aside. She 
 said, "Billy, bring the stranger in. Come right in, 
 sir." 
 
 With feeble, trembling steps he staggered in, and 
 soon was seated by the bright fire. Great tears rolled 
 down his sad face. This was the first tramp we had 
 ever seen, and we all cried; our hearts went out to 
 greet and cheer this sorrowing stranger. Having 
 been warmed and rested — he could take nothing on 
 his stomach, so long unaccustomed to good food, but 
 a little tea — he was placed in a good warm room, 
 bathed, and warm, clean clothes were put on him, 
 and he was placed on a soft bed, such as his poor 
 body had not been accustomed to for a long time. 
 He was tenderly cared for, and in a few days began 
 to gain strength; then comfortable clothes, though 
 poorly fitting, were furnished him. When able he 
 told us his sad story. 
 
 His name was William Shaw, and he was the son 
 of a wealthy farmer in the valley of Virginia. He 
 had been tenderly raised and well educated. There 
 were two boys, his brother being named Thomas. 
 They were of a proud family. William, having 
 learned something of the world, grew restless on the 
 farm and wanted to try active business. After much 
 persuasion his father furnished him means to load a 
 
120 Old Kentucky 
 
 flat-boat, and he started to New Orleans, determined 
 to make his fortune before he returned. He sold his 
 cargo to advantage, and had means to enjoy life and 
 to enter into business. He had an honest, trustful 
 nature, and before he was aware of it his means were 
 well-nigh consumed and supposed friends deserted 
 him. Things every way went against him; for, hav- 
 ing been raised tenderly, and not acquainted with 
 the ways of the world, he was not prepared to meet 
 the realities of a life of struggle. He was honest, 
 proud, sober; and, in a strange city, full of vice, and 
 of people of all nationalities, what could he do? 
 
 Two things had brought him into^ trouble — inex- 
 perience, and trust in others. And, from what we 
 could learn, he lost, while trying to recover his money 
 as he saw his store going, by gambling. Having 
 been accustomed, by habit too frequent among gen- 
 tlemen at home, to gamble, he hoped to recover 
 something; but in those days, on the river, and in the 
 city, there were expert gamblers, and he was no 
 match for them. When reduced almost to want he 
 sought means of employment. He was not practical; 
 the only way open was to go to hard work, and he 
 was neither large nor stout, and wholly unaccus- 
 tomed to manual labor. His descriptions of the ef- 
 forts he made and of his loneliness were pitiful. 
 
 Why did he not go home, or write for aid? That 
 was a question that seemed hard to answer. His 
 explanation was that his pride and sense of shame 
 drove him to desperation, and he determined to die 
 in an effort to recover something. He had hope that 
 he might recover sufficiently to appear at home at 
 least in a decent manner; and he drifted from place 
 to place, not writing or receiving letters for nearly a 
 year. Letters were written to him at New Orleans, 
 but he was drifting from place to place. After a 
 
Social Life 121 
 
 while, as a last resort, he took his axe and went out 
 on the shore of Lake Pontchartrain to cut wood with 
 common laborers and negroes ; he was utterly desper- 
 ate. Finally he got intO' south Mississippi, and 
 thence started home on foot. He said that for 
 months he was in a dazed condition. He made his 
 way to our home, a distance of nearly a thousand 
 miles, on foot. He still held to his purpose to work 
 to gain means to dress himself decently and to go 
 home. He thought may be he could find work in 
 one of the States as he passed through; but each 
 mile that brought him nearer home increased his de- 
 sire to travel on. He was scarcely competent to 
 think or act rationally. 
 
 After gaining health and strength in our home he 
 begged to be permitted to earn something and then 
 prepare himself to return to his father's house. He 
 worked faithfully and did all he was allowed to do, 
 for we all had the tenderest sympathy for him. He 
 would accept no money or help when he was able 
 to work, still refusing to let his home folks know his 
 condition. Finally, father learned the address of 
 his people, and wrote them without his knowledge. 
 In those days the means of communication between 
 Virginia and Kentucky were difiicult in winter, and it 
 was a month before any information came, and it 
 was a question whether the letter reached its destina- 
 tion, or whether the man's representations were cor- 
 rect. In the early opening of spring, one day when 
 just a little snow was on the ground, about noon, we 
 were all in the house when a call was heard at the 
 front gate. Instantly William began to tremble; 
 and not expecting anything, as he had not been in- 
 formed of father's having written a letter, he cried 
 out, "That is Tom's voice!" We all rushed out, and 
 beheld an elegant gentleman, finely mounted, still 
 sitting on his horse. He instantly dismounted, and 
 
122 Old Kentucky 
 
 the two brothers rushed into each other's arms, ex- 
 claiming, 
 
 "Tom, dear Tom !" 
 
 "William, dear Wilham!" 
 
 "Mother?" 
 
 "Dead." 
 
 "Father?" 
 
 "Dead. But, William, they thought of you con- 
 stantly. Both died with your name on their lips; 
 prayed for you, and left — if you ever returneci — 
 their blessing, with a full share in all the inheritance 
 acquired for us two boys. We felt that you were 
 dead. Thank God ! that you still live and can go 
 back home; we will be as we were when little boys, 
 always stay together, live together, and every day 
 we can gO' and place flowers around the graves of 
 those dear ones who would have died happier had 
 they known you were alive and could come home." 
 
 We all, even the negroes, cried like babies. Such 
 gratitude as was shown us for simply doing a duty, 
 offers of gold and presents to pay us; but not one 
 cent or present of value would be received, and when 
 they remembered that we were of good Virginia 
 blood they saw the impossibility of paying. We had 
 been paid already. They wanted to take me home 
 with them tO' educate me, even to make me an heir; 
 but there was no one in our home who could be 
 spared. In a day or two I went with them to Frank- 
 fort to bring back the horse William rode when he 
 went away. The boat started with them while I was 
 there, and the tender caresses they gave me nearly 
 broke my heart; a lonelier boy was nowhere to be 
 found than I was during that long ride home alone 
 that day; and there was in my selfish heart a feeling 
 that I wished I might have accepted the gold watch 
 they offered me. I wanted the watch; but every feel- 
 ing of my nature revolted at the thought of taking 
 
Social Life 123 
 
 for hospitality — my people would have held me as 
 an Achan. 
 
 William went home with his brother; and the 
 two were like lovers while William lived; but the 
 exposure to hard fortune and want in the South left 
 seeds of disease in his body, and before long he was 
 placed by the side of his dear mother, Thomas, sad 
 and lonely, lived to see the wreck of their beautiful 
 home during the unnatural and cruel desolation of 
 the war. 
 
 Do 1 think that many Kentucky families would 
 have been so kind as ours? I do not believe that 
 many in my part of the State, or with whom I was 
 acquainted, would have been less kind. It was just 
 the Kentucky nature. Besides the pleasure that it 
 gives a generous soul to be kind and sympathetic 
 toward the needy, I believe it is the best investment 
 that one can make. "Bread cast upon the waters will 
 return"; it may be after "many days," but it will 
 come back. It is the best investment one can make 
 for one's children's children. I believe this because 
 the great Master has taught it, and I believe from 
 my own experience. From the time I began my ca- 
 reer, a fatherless boy, to the present, the only one left 
 of that family that cared for the poor wanderer, 
 never have I been turned unkindly from any door or 
 failed to receive the best hospitality the home of- 
 fered — from the poor hut to the most elegant and 
 wealthy homes in this country, and the homes of 
 statesmen and foremost men of letters and of cul- 
 ture. Such fortune has followed me in many States, 
 in the largest cities, and all through one of the gloom- 
 iest and most fearful wars of modern times. How 
 often has it seemed to me that I have been drawing 
 from the fund of mother's kindness to a creature in 
 want, and that it has been paid with compound inter- 
 est again and again. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 HOME-LIFE 
 
 In describing home-life it must not be taken for 
 granted that this description applies to all the fam- 
 ilies in Kentucky. C.Tsar said that all Gaul was di- 
 vided into three parts, and Kentucky is divided into 
 many more, so far as property and social conditions 
 are concerned. The best part of the blue-grass sec- 
 tion was peopled principally by the better class of 
 Virginians and some of the other States. But there 
 are mountainous clistricts, where the mountaineers 
 seem to be a distinct class, and how they lived I don't 
 know except by hearsay; and so far as I know, 
 there was not a county in what is termed the blue- 
 grass section that has not a good many poor people 
 in it. There are streams, hills, and creeks in some 
 portion of each county, along which a great many 
 poor people settled. They w^ere usually the poor 
 who came in late from Virginia after the best land 
 was occupied, and there is no question that some 
 as good Virginia families settled in these poor hills 
 as settled in any other part of the State. But on the 
 whole they lived in inferior houses; cleared out little 
 patches of land for cultivation; and so pressed were 
 they for a living that they neglected the education 
 of their children, and many who bore the names of 
 distinguished Virginia families raised children who 
 could scarcely read or write, and transmitted to them 
 much of the common negro language that they had 
 learned from contact with the negroes in Virginia 
 before coming to Kentucky. They were not crimi- 
 nals, but unfortunate poor, fairly industrious, brave, 
 
Home -Life 1 25 
 
 honest, and Ignorant. Often In the spring would 
 they come into what were termed the "settlements," 
 to procure a little bacon and corn, which they usually 
 got whether they had money or not. In my earliest 
 recollection they would bring into the "settlements" 
 clap-boards, axe handles, and hoop-poles, which were 
 needed for the barrels in which very many of the 
 best Kentuckians put their whiskey to haul to Louis- 
 ville. And I have lived to see some of the boys who 
 hauled those hoop-poles rise from their very poverty 
 and become "good livers," and some of them became 
 wealthy. The "blood" was there, but the circum- 
 stances were against them. Many of these families 
 had but one horse, and several families would join 
 together to haul out their loads and do the grinding 
 at the grist-mill, where it usually required four horses 
 to work successfully the best grist-mill. 
 
 One circumstance made a deep impression upon 
 me when a boy, and excited my sympathy for these 
 people. There were four brothers who bore the 
 name of a distinguished family in Virginia; one died; 
 the other three had to go to the mill, and they car- 
 ried the grist of their brother's widow. In going 
 to the mill they decided as to which "turn," as they 
 called it, should be ground first. The widow's turn 
 was to be ground first, the eldest brother's next, and 
 so on through the three, according to age. They 
 hitched up their horses and went out to drive and 
 care for them. The miller, not knowing the ar- 
 rangement they had made, put up the first turn that 
 he came to. After they had ground awhile the eld- 
 est brother went up to see how near the first turn was 
 out, and discovered that the widow's had not been 
 touched, but that one of the other's had been put up. 
 He dashed down and halloed to the drivers to stop 
 the mill; and they caught the horses and stopped 
 
126 Old Kentucky 
 
 them. Mr. Roberts, the miller, a splendid man, 
 went down to see what was the matter, thinking that 
 some terrible calamity had happened. The oldest 
 brother cried out as if in deep distress, "Stop the 
 mill! Stop the mill! My Lord, the wrong turn is 
 up. It will never do to rob the widow ! The wid- 
 ow's turn must be ground first." After reasoning 
 with them for some time, Mr. Roberts persuaded 
 them that it would make no difference, that all the 
 turns would be ground before they left, and finally 
 they yielded to his persuasion. 
 
 This is literally true, and I tell the story to show 
 the simplicity of these poor, untrained minds. 
 
 Many of the people who lived along the streams, 
 or creeks, as they called them, lived in a very poor 
 way; in how poor a way I can not tell, but will give 
 one other circumstance of lowly life. 
 
 A certain young preacher, who had charge of the 
 New Liberty Female College, in Owen Count}^ was 
 called upon to celebrate the rites of matrimony down 
 on Eagle Creek. A mischievous physician of the 
 town, who had practiced down in that part of the 
 county, and knew the conditions, insisted upon going 
 as guide and companion. When they rode up to the 
 door of the cabin, a lank, tall, fuzzy-headed man met 
 them and courteously Invited them in. There seemed 
 to be little preparation for a wedding. The table 
 was set, on which was some kind of fowl, that looked 
 more like a crane than anything else, and there was 
 some bacon, bread, coffee, and a chunk that looked 
 like ginger-bread. There was a curtain stretched 
 across the cabin. One or two neighbors soon came 
 in, when the announcement was made that the wed- 
 ding might proceed. Now the young preacher had 
 never married but one couple before, and having 
 made a great failure in the ceremony, he had con- 
 
Home-Life 127 
 
 eluded to write out a form of ceremony and commit 
 it. He had prepared what he thought was about 
 the proper thing, commencing, "Sir, do you take this 
 lovely young woman that leans upon your arm to 
 be your lawfully wedded wife?" and so on. When 
 the curtain was pulled aside, out came an old lame 
 woman leading a blind man by the hand ! How the 
 ceremony was finished I never learned. But the 
 mischievous doctor, who had practiced all over those 
 hills, knew how the minister was bored, and would 
 not consent to leave until all hands had partaken of 
 the wedding feast, v/hich, one may imagine, was not 
 inviting. The preacher, feigning sick headache, or 
 any other kind of ache that would excuse him, did 
 not eat. 
 
 This Is true, and not overwrought, for this writer 
 was there. Lowly life in Kentucky was lowly, 
 elegant life was elegant, and I shall not try to describe 
 cither further, but shall take the average of Kentucky 
 home life, as I have seen it. The wedding occurred 
 In Owen County, and before we leave it I will say 
 that it was like no other county in the State in many 
 respects. There were no real "rich" people In it, 
 but the great mass of its population were good livers. 
 For honesty and religion it had no superior. Our 
 old circuit judge said that if all his district was like 
 Owen County there would be little use of circuit 
 courts. Start through the county any day In the 
 week, you would be apt to see people going to church 
 somewhere. According to its population, it had 
 more Christians than almost any other county in the 
 State, and It was peculiar in this that nine-tenths of 
 the Christians were Baptists, and nearly the same 
 proportion were Democrats. It belonged to the 
 Ashland district, and General John C. Breckinridge, 
 with whom I spent a good deal of time in the South 
 
128 Old Kentucky 
 
 during the war, said to me that in his whole exper- 
 ience he had never found a people who had more 
 sterling integrity than the people of Owen County. 
 
 Home-life in Kentucky in the best parts of the 
 State was almost ideal, as it appears to me now 
 after having mingled with people of nearly all the 
 States. Everything that one could desire, Nature 
 had provided. The home of the rich, in the coun- 
 try, was not ostentatiously furnished, but seemed to 
 be arranged for comfort. Those Virginia-Kentucky 
 women were model housekeepers, and nowhere was 
 cooking done to greater perfection. The following 
 quotation from Mark Twain, who never exaggerates 
 anything but always speaks sober truth, will give 
 some idea of what is an outside impression concerning 
 the mode of Kentucky living. I give it for what it 
 is worth. And though It seems exaggerated in quan- 
 tity, I endorse fully the quality. This was taken from 
 The North American Review, and is headed 
 
 MARK TWAIN ON SOUTHERN COOKING. 
 
 It was a heavenly place for a boy, that farm of my Uncle 
 John's. The house was a double log one, with a spacious 
 floor (roofed in) connecting it with the kitchen. In the 
 summer the table was set in the middle of that spacious and 
 breezy floor, and the meals — well, it makes me cry to think 
 of them. Fried chicken, roast pig, wild and tame turkeys, 
 ducks and geese; venison just killed, squirrels, rabbits, 
 pheasants, partridges, prairie chickens; biscuits, hot batter 
 cakes, hot buck-wheat cakes, hot "wheat bread," hot rolls, 
 hot corn pone ; fresh corn boiled on the ear, succotash, butter 
 beans, string beans, tomatoes, peas, Irish potatoes, sweet po- 
 tatoes; buttermilk, sweet milk, "clabber"; watermelons, 
 muskmellons, cantaloupes — all fresh from the garden; apple 
 pie, peach pie, pumpkin pie, apple dumpling, peach cobbler — 
 I can't remember the rest. The way that the things were 
 cooked was perhaps the main splendor — particularly a cer- 
 tain few of the dishes. For instance, the corn bread, the 
 hot biscuits and wheat bread, and the fried chicken. These 
 
Home-Life 129 
 
 things have never been properly cooked in the North — in 
 fact, no one there is able to learn the art, so far as my ex- 
 perience goes. The North thinks it knows how to make 
 corn bread, but this is gross superstition. Perhaps no bread 
 in the world is quite as good as Southern corn bread, and 
 perhaps no bread in the world is quite so bad as the North- 
 ern imitation of it. The North seldom tries to fry chicken, 
 and this is well ; the art cannot be learned north of the line 
 of Mason and Dixon, nor any\vhere in Europe. This is not 
 hearsay; it is experience that is speaking. 
 
 Perhaps what food satisfies one depends largely 
 upon taste and habit. Had Mark Twain been per- 
 mitted to enjoy the evening meal, they called It 
 dinner, at Sherry's in New York, a dinner given by 
 the New England Society where four hundred of the 
 most distinguished, wealthy New Englanders of New 
 York met annually to celebrate, he would not have 
 been so frank In expressing great admiration for 
 Southern cooking. It was said that It took four 
 thousand dollars to provide the supper, and how 
 much was spent on other things was not estimated. 
 I was an Invited guest, and our distinguished Ken- 
 tucklan, Henry Watterson, made the principal 
 address. It w^as a great occasion, and to an old 
 Kentucklan who had spent a quarter of a century In 
 the West, an occasion of great expectation. Many 
 distinguished men were upon a high platform where 
 they could be seen, and they certainly showed up to 
 great advantage. Though it has been about ten 
 years ago, the picture Is very vivid In my mind. On 
 the platform, among other distinguished men was 
 Ellhu Root, Chauncey Depew, I think, Plerpont 
 Morgan I know was there, and Henry Watterson, 
 sitting In the seat of honor, for he was to make the 
 main address. All were seated by number. Finally 
 the trouble began; an elaborate way-bill, called a 
 9 
 
130 Old Kentucky 
 
 "menu," was presented to each one, and if ever that 
 way-bill has been read thoroughly by any one to this 
 day, I have never heard of it. It was principally 
 French, mongrel English and outlandish expressions. 
 Without attempting to name the different articles, I 
 will say that it seemed that they had swept the pools, 
 the ponds, the swamps, and all strange places to get 
 the materials for dinner. Never having tasted ter- 
 rapin, I thought that when we came around to that, 
 I certainly would be delighted. We had gone 
 through with the frogs and different kinds of soups, 
 and then cam.e the terrapin and canvas-back duck. I 
 had eaten among the Indians, among the negroes, 
 among white folks, and among the Dutch, but I never 
 tasted anything like that terrapin. It seemed to be 
 mixed up with little chips, and gristles, small bones, 
 spices, flavoring extracts, sage, me, and hair-oil. I 
 tackled it boldly — I had tried several other dishes and 
 soups and failed, but the first mouthful of this dis- 
 couraged me. I turned to the Hon. Norman B. 
 Eaton, and said, "How do you like this?" And his 
 answer fully concurred with my judgment; I then 
 knew he was a wise man. It took till very late in 
 the night to go through with the whole business, but 
 I hung on with the hope of hearing Henry Watterson 
 speak. And I would have liked to know what he 
 thought of that elegant repast. But those old gentle- 
 men certainly did enjoy themselves, and if I could 
 have gathered up all the corks that were pulled there 
 that night it would have made fishing corks enough 
 for all the boys fishing in the Kentucky River. 
 
 The Kentuckians must be a curious people, for they 
 seem to have thrived on what many contend to be 
 very unwholesome and deadly food. They ate 
 everything that they wanted to; hot biscuits, ham, 
 coffee, and other things that modern methods say 
 
Home-Life 131 
 
 are deadly, and yet they used to grow six feet tall and 
 more. What would they have grown to be if they 
 had such breakfast-foods, and such inventions as the 
 present age? Poor, ignorant people, they didn't 
 know anything about Grape-nuts, Egg-o-See, Per-fo, 
 Elijah's Manna, and such things. In Boston, once, 
 a very bright little man, not more than five feet tall, 
 no beard on his face, a little sharp-looking, kind man, 
 said to me, "How is it Kentucky raises so many big 
 men? Nearly all that T have seen are six feet tall." 
 I did not quite explain the conditions, but remarked 
 that I heard my father say that in early days they 
 fed all the little men to the pigs and let the big ones 
 grow. With a serious look up into my face he said, 
 "I want to know." 
 
 There was a great deal of visiting between Ken- 
 tucky families. A quilt was esteemed much more 
 highly if all the neighborhood women had a hand in 
 making it, and the quilting was an enjoyable occasion, 
 when all the news and opinions of the neighborhood 
 could be had. The women then discussed the whole 
 round of domestic life generally, and each one made 
 known her methods in house-keeping, chicken-raising, 
 soap-making, candle-dipping, sausage-seasoning, gar- 
 dening, medicine, and all those wonderful things. 
 Aunt Betsy, who raised sixteen children, told how 
 she managed them ; Aunt Ellen told how she raised 
 chickens; but poor Aunt Ursula, though she tried 
 often to give her experience, never got farther than 
 "My goose had — " And to this day I have never 
 known what her goose had. 
 
 The medical practice of that day was wonderful. 
 Most of the medicine was raised in the garden — 
 tansy, rue, rhubarb, confrey, sassafras, red pepper, 
 garlic, and other things I do not remember. I should 
 not have omitted, one little corner was always set 
 
132 Old Kenlucky 
 
 apart for mint. Those various remedies were pre- 
 pared and at hand if the children had any of the 
 ordinary diseases; and the remedies were nearly 
 always mixed in some way with honey and whiskey. 
 But the bitter stuff, such as tansy, mixed with whis- 
 key, which was forced on the children for worms, 
 turned many people so against it that they could never 
 use it aftenvard. 
 
 The men thoroughly enjoyed log-rolling, horse- 
 racing, shooting-matches, elections, house-raisings, 
 hunting, and fishing. Every neighborhood had its 
 little schoolhouse where for three or four months the 
 children went to school or as many of them as could 
 be spared. How I remember the first one in our 
 neighborhood! It stood near the old meeting-house, 
 surrounded by woods, near a sparkling spring. 
 Wood and water were very essential, and the big 
 boys could go out and bring in the wood, and the 
 smaller ones and the girls could go to the spring and 
 drink, and bring the teacher a gourd full of water. 
 They all liked the privilege of performing these 
 tasks. To prevent two scholars getting out together 
 to play, a big card was hung at the door with "OUT" 
 on one side and "IN" on the other side, so that those 
 who could spell might indicate their absence or return 
 by turning this sign. For the little fellows who 
 could not spell there was a forked stick which might 
 be taken out and returned when a little fellow went 
 out or came in. Dear little log schoolhouse, with 
 broad fire-place, benches of split ash or poplar, 
 smoothed ofl and wooden pins put in for legs, so 
 high my little feet could not touch the floor, with the 
 little neighbor children gathered there learning their 
 lessons from Webster's old spelling book — with the 
 picture of the mastiff, of the milk-maid, and of the 
 unjust judge deciding whose ox had been gored, and 
 
Home-Life 133 
 
 of the boy in the apple tree — how you rise before me ! 
 I must say, frankly, that early Kentuckians suffered 
 greatly on account of their ignorance. They seemed 
 to be more ignorant in regard to the treatment of 
 serious diseases than anything else. In ordinary 
 diseases of childhood the mothers seemed to know 
 what to do; and it was a blessing, that healthy coun- 
 try, that there were so few cases of severe sickness. 
 The small-pox broke out in our section early in the 
 forties, and the physicians did not know how to treat 
 it. They put the patients in close, warm rooms, on 
 feather-beds, and, as far as possible, excluded fresh 
 air. As a result, many of the people died. One I 
 remember, a great loss to his community, the Rev. 
 William Ford, of Shelby County. There were very 
 few cases of typhoid fever, but one I remember well. 
 A small boy, about ten years old, was taken with a 
 severe chill; he was put to bed and two physicians, 
 the best known in that part of the country, v/ere 
 summoned. They bled him freely, and the marks 
 of the lance can be shown on his arms to-day; he 
 was given calomel, wrapped up, and kept warm. 
 And from the time he was taken sick, the latter part 
 of February, till he began to recover, the first of June, 
 he had not one drink of cool water, nor was he 
 thoroughly bathed. He became a living skeleton, 
 and had it not been, seemingly, for a special provi- 
 dence, he would not be worrying you w^ith this fool- 
 ishness to-day. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 REMINISCENCES 
 
 Home ! No word In the language awakens more 
 tender recollections, except, perhaps, the word 
 "mother." It was one of those words which means 
 almost a whole lifetime. The man or woman who 
 had a home in childhood and can throw off the tender 
 memories that it brings is unnatural, unreliable, and 
 will not make a good citizen. Of course some poor 
 unfortunate creatures that have been raised in the 
 slums, under the most unhappy influences, and have 
 never known really what home means, are to be 
 pitied and not blamed. The history of our criminals 
 shows that a very large majority of them have never 
 known the privilege of a good home in childhood. 
 Not more than ten per cent, of the convicts in our 
 prisons have had good Christian homes in childhood ; 
 and really, when we sum up the total of our popula- 
 tion, tracing each person through six generations, it 
 is wonderful how few have become criminals, as each 
 human being is the result of two columns that really 
 run back through all the periods of the world's his- 
 tory to Adam. The home is the first school that we 
 attend, and the lessons we learn there are more last- 
 ing and valuable than those learned in the highest 
 colleges and universities. "Mother" was the first 
 teacher, and it will be found that a very large per 
 cent, of the thoroughly good and great men had good 
 mothers. "Without good homes the church would 
 have been a failure, and our country would never 
 have attained greatness. A good home on earth is 
 a type of heaven, and the good mothers "who have 
 
Reminiscences 135 
 
 gone before" may be in large measure the guardian 
 angels of those who are left. While our fathers 
 have all honor for their stRiggles and manly efforts 
 to support us and lead us aright, we owe vastly more 
 to our patient, tolling, loving mothers. 
 
 Last year there was a great home-coming of Ken- 
 tuckians in Louisville, her queenly city. Noble men 
 and women made pilgrimages from far off to come 
 back to the old Kentucky home. According to the 
 census reports, 600,000 native bom Kentuckians are 
 living in other States and Territories of the Union. 
 Many who came had gained great distinction and had 
 risen to the highest positions of trust and responsi- 
 bility, and yet when they were thrown together they 
 were all plain Kentuckians. Everything was pro- 
 vided for their comfort; and sentiments were uttered 
 there that will go down the ages and result in great 
 happiness. 
 
 I want now tO' suggest another home-coming, where 
 we can each go back to the old days and mingle with 
 "the old folks at home." It will do us all good, 
 make us better men and women. Were we to go 
 back to these old places to-day they would not look 
 like they did sixty years ago. But let us put away 
 from our minds the changes that have taken place in 
 sixty years or more, and look at things as they seemed 
 to us then, and let us tell our children of our early 
 lives and try to induce them to become men and 
 women. I want to go back and see the old place 
 once more; I will go to the old county where I was 
 born, see the old homes and old faces, and look again 
 at scenes that were very dear to me. 
 
 In one neighborhood all my grandparents and 
 nearly all their children were settled. Evei^ house 
 was near a fine spring, and around them grew magnifi- 
 cent forests. Such forests I have seen nowhere else 
 
136 Old Kentucky 
 
 between ocean and ocean; magnificent poplars, which 
 others call tulip trees, some of them two hundred 
 feet tall and measuring nearly eighteen feet in circum- 
 ference; immense black walnuts, that would make 
 thousands of feet of lumber; ash, hickory, burr oak, 
 hard maple, and almost every tree grown in the 
 State. In some places the prevailing tree was the 
 beech, and there were great beech forests. In those 
 days there were trees standing with the marks on 
 them made by the claws of bears, and grandfather has 
 pointed out to me different trees where he had killed 
 bears after he settled there. In order to get ground 
 to cultivate, these magnificent forests had to be 
 sacrificed tO' some extent. Every dwelling that I 
 remember in the county was near a fine spring of 
 water. I see the old house as I saw it when a child. 
 The first house or cabin had been turned into a hen- 
 house ; the house that was new when I was born was 
 of hewed logs, two rooms; one large family room 
 with white ash floor on which I never saw a carpet. 
 Along one side of this was a shed-room and the rest 
 was a porch. The upstairs of the house was all 
 one room, where we boys slept, nothing between us 
 and the sky but the shingles — and we were well and 
 happy. Adjoining this house was a kitchen, and 
 there was a hall between. This house was regarded 
 as very comfortable. Afterwards there was a frame 
 addition put on, which always seemed to me tO' spoil 
 the old house. For a long time there was not a 
 stove in the house; but the immense fireplace was 
 a constant joy and a great deal of trouble to keep 
 going in cold weather. 
 
 I look out on the north over the magnificent 
 forests stretching to my grandfather's farm, and for 
 nearly a mile northeast to the Old Indian Fork meet- 
 ing-house. Grandfather owned all this land, and 
 
Reminiscences 137 
 
 had enough to divide and give homes to a large 
 family of children. We always had good gardens, 
 abundance of milk and butter, and poultry. The 
 hogs could nearly live on the mast in the forest, and 
 the cattle on the range outside. Nearly every home 
 had its bees, and when the family desired more honey 
 they could go out in the woods and cut down a bee- 
 tree. It was a veritable land of milk and honey. 
 Then there were the old spring-houses, built up of 
 stone, with water running through down into a basin, 
 in which were set the milk and butter, always cool 
 and fresh. Nearly every one had what was termed 
 "a sugar camp," where they made sugar and rich 
 syrup from the maple. What more was to be 
 desired than these old-time people had? 
 
 Yet their lives were full of toil. To clear off 
 those forests, and cultivate the crops, required the 
 strongest efforts of manhood. The women carded 
 the wool and flax, spun and wove clothes for wearing 
 apparel, and blankets and sheets for the beds. The 
 old Kentuckians would always have good feather- 
 beds, on which they slept summer and winter. It 
 was difl'icult to get shoes, and one pair a year was 
 about all we boys expected. They had to tan the 
 hides and make the shoes at home; and such shoes 
 as they were ! But we were very proud of them. 
 The lasts were imperfect, and it was a wonder, with 
 the fits that we had, that we ever had feet we could 
 walk on. Even to-day, when pulling on the com- 
 fortable "American Gentleman" shoe, I think of 
 the things old Uncle Abe, the negro shoemaker, 
 used to make; but we knew no better in those days; 
 we thought we had the best. 
 
 The day was put in by all of us at work; there 
 were no drones; if one was able to work one was 
 expected to do so, from early morning until the sun 
 
138 Old Kentucky 
 
 went down — and then the feeding and such things 
 had to be done. We went out in the morning to plow, 
 barefooted, and in the dew, and often had to stop 
 to take the mud from between our toes. And how 
 all hands watched the sun to know when twelve 
 o'clock came; and when the horn sounded we went 
 to the house and ate such a dinner as I cannot find 
 to-day, which, if we believe all that the present-day 
 advocates of patent-right cooking teach us, certainly 
 would have killed us. There is a great deal of non- 
 sense put forth in this age in treating of dietetics. We 
 ate what we wanted, when we wanted it, and as much 
 as we wanted, and there were very few boys in our 
 section who' did not grow up six feet tall, rugged, 
 hardy, splendid men, and girls into beautiful women. 
 I scarcely ever was awake long enough to see patient, 
 industrious, loving mother retire. She was working 
 to provide for us, and was always kind and cheerful. 
 I do not remember that she ever struck me a blow 
 in anger; but how she punished me when I did 
 wrong — she would take me off by myself and pray 
 with me, and try to instill into my very soul the prin- 
 ciples of a beautiful Christian life. And before I 
 was thirteen years old I was led to Christ, and never, 
 from that day to this, have I ever purposely done 
 anything to dishonor my profession. 
 
 Mother — home — what sweet memories come to 
 me when I think of them ! 
 
 The first death that I remember well was of a 
 half-brother of mine. I stayed by his bed almost 
 constantly day and night for nearly a week, and when 
 the end came my very soul seemed to go out with his 
 life. I stood by the grave in the old family burying- 
 ground, and the love I had for that boy has never 
 diminished, and it comes to me as a sad, sweet 
 memory to-day. 
 
Reminiscences 139 
 
 I have no doubt, even after all these years, that if 
 you would put a stake between Christiansburg and 
 Shelbyville, and draw a circuit with a diameter six 
 miles long, that you would enclose in it a population 
 of as true and noble a people as ever lived on earth. 
 Nearly all the families were attached to some church. 
 What a noble band gathered at the old Mulberr>^ 
 meeting-house where the Presbyterians worshiped ! 
 Those Presbyterians were of the right stripe — noble, 
 good people. At a time there was a ver}^ small 
 Methodist church in Christiansburg; and I think, 
 according to numbers, I never saw a more earnest 
 people. I would go a long way to-day, w^ere it 
 possible, to see old Father Messick, in the fullness of 
 Christian feeling, kneel down, put up his hands, and 
 shout glory to his God, The Baptists were the pre- 
 vailing denomination in all that section of country; 
 and in this circle would be found "Six Mile." 
 Though it was located in Christiansburg, it was 
 called "Six Mile," I presume, because there was the 
 spring from which Six Mile started. The Baptists 
 had awkward ways of naming their churches. They 
 liked to name them from some stream, as Benson, 
 Fox Run, Elk Horn, and others. In this circle, in 
 addition to those churches named, would be found 
 Indian Fork and Buffalo Lick. The former was 
 located where the Indians, when making their raids, 
 separated; the latter where the buffaloes came to 
 lick salt. None of these names would indicate any- 
 thing very appropriate for church names, but could 
 I give the names of many of the families belonging to 
 these churches they would show the origin, and in 
 some cases the nationality. 
 
 Not to drag into publicity the families of other 
 people, I will use my own as an example. My 
 mother's name was Bondurant — of course this is 
 
140 Old Kentucky 
 
 Huguenot; and her father was a Flood, an Irishman, 
 My paternal grandfather was English, and his wife, 
 my grandmother, was a Jones, a Welsh family — all 
 from Virginia families that we have never been 
 ashamed of. By inter-marriage, within two or 
 three generations we became kin to everybody; and 
 there never was, that I can find, a war or any 
 honorable conflict that we were not in it. They were 
 not "broilers" and fighters at home, but peaceful, 
 Christian people; but when it became necessary in 
 defense of any principle or right the old rifles were 
 taken from over the door, and they used them well. 
 I always kept away from anger if I could, and the 
 only time I ever spent In watching war and other 
 people fight was from '60 to '65, when I was in the 
 South. 
 
 But my mind turns back to the old home; and I 
 want to go once more to the old church where my 
 grandfather ministered for fifty years. He preached 
 nearly every Sunday, and a great part of the time was 
 pastor of four churches, which I think he organized. 
 Indian Fork was his home church and where I first 
 Avent to Sunday-school, a bare-footed lad with every 
 rag I had on me made by mother at home. The 
 Sunday-schools were not up to the modern style; they 
 did not have modern appliances. We had no Sun- 
 day-school picnics or entertainments; those poor ig- 
 norant people thought that If they would Instill Into 
 our minds freely and thoroughly the doctrines of the 
 New Testament, have us commit as much as pos- 
 sible — sometimes nearly a whole book — and explain 
 them to us, pray It Into us as far as they could, and 
 have us commit to memory many of the old-fashioned 
 gospel songs, that they had done a pretty good work. 
 And I don't see in these days that anything better is 
 done. Many whole chapters of the Testament 
 
Reminiscences 14 ' 
 
 learned then, and very many of those good old 
 songs have clung to us from that day to this, and 
 come more readily to us than things we have learned 
 in the last decade or so. They usually met on one 
 Saturday of each month to settle the affairs of the 
 church, see that the fellowship was all right, and had 
 anything occurred between the members the first 
 thing to do was to reconcile them if possible; they 
 nearly always succeeded. One of the worst quarrels 
 I remember was where two hard-headed brothers got 
 into a difficulty over a crossed fence. They were men 
 in advanced life, too, but became highly enraged. 
 One called the other "a contaminated liar," the other 
 threw an axe at him. The quarrel was brought before 
 the church for settlement; and after the facts were 
 stated one older brother rose and said, "I want to 
 ask both of these brethren a question."^ Then he 
 asked the one what he meant by "contaminated liar" 
 —if it was for the glory of God? The man replied 
 that he was not sure, but he knew that if he just 
 called him a liar there would be trouble and he 
 thought he would qualify it. Then the old brother 
 asked the other man if he flung the axe for the glory 
 of God? He replied that, now that he thought 
 about it, he wasn't sure. One old brother then said, 
 "Brethren, let us pray." They had a season of 
 earnest, tender prayer, and when it was oyer the one 
 w^ho had called the other a name said with tears in 
 his eyes, "I'm monstrous sorry, but I got mad and 
 forgot myself." He had not more than uttered this 
 when the other came fonvard and said, "I was to 
 blame in the whole business ; I was too hast>'." They 
 shook hands and cried, and the thing was settled for- 
 ever. Was that a bad way to settle the trouble? 
 Those "poor, ignorant old fellows" did not know any 
 
142 Old Kentucky 
 
 better way than that. It is a pity there is not more 
 such "ignorance" ! 
 
 Sunday morning, the regular preaching day, was a 
 great day. Old Indian Fork stood there on historic 
 ground, where the Indian trail forked. Great 
 forests were around it, and there was the grave-yard; 
 for every church had its grave-yard. As it looked 
 then it would have made a beautiful picture. By ten 
 o'clock the people began to come. A great many 
 came on horseback, the young men riding nice sleek 
 horses. It was a disgrace not to have a good horse. 
 The young ladies, who prided themselves upon their 
 equipment, came up from every direction, and many 
 of them had come for miles; they were beautiful 
 riders, and I now think of them as cultured, elegant 
 people. There were several stiles around the fence, 
 and, the young ladies having dismounted, while their 
 escorts went to care for and tie up the horses under 
 the shade of the trees they primped themselves and 
 made ready, and then marched in to church, looking 
 as pretty and fresh as a summer morning. A large 
 number of the older people rode horseback, some 
 came in wagons; and those within a mile or two 
 would walk, they preferred it; often they would 
 walk three miles to church. When the congregation 
 was about assembled the old leaders would begin a 
 song, and perhaps out of a congregation of three 
 hundred ninety per cent, would sing, young and old. 
 They sang by note, and their voices could be heard 
 a long distance, with every part being carried. Old 
 Uncle Dick Dodson for many years acted as choir- 
 master. He would begin to pat his feet and an- 
 nounce his hymn, which was likely to be for the first, 
 "Amazing Grace, How sweet the sound"; next, per- 
 haps, "Am I a soldier of the cross?" and then, "How 
 firm a foundation. Ye Saints of the Lord!" By the 
 
Reminiscences 143 
 
 time these songs were sung the hearts and minds went 
 out to Hea\en, and they sang a song that I cannot 
 find in any pubhshed hymn-books of this day; it was 
 the last hymn before the preaching commenced. 
 
 "When for eternal worlds we steer, 
 And seas are calm and skies are clear, 
 And hope in liveb' exercise. 
 And distant hills of Canaan rise. 
 The soul for joy then spreads her wings 
 And loud her heavenly sonnet sings — 
 I'm going home." 
 
 Omitting the rest of it, we come to the last stanza, 
 which always seemed beautiful to me: 
 
 "The nearer still she draws to land, 
 The more her ardent powers expand ; 
 With steady helm, and full-spread sail, 
 Her anchor drops within the vale. 
 And then for joy she folds her wings. 
 And soft her heavenly sonnet sings — 
 I'm safe at home." 
 
 The people were now ready to receive the gospel, 
 and the faithful old minister, six feet tall, with a 
 pleasant smile on his face, announced his text, per- 
 haps such a text as this — "We know that all things 
 work together for good to them that love God, to 
 them that are the called according to his purpose." 
 
 He didn't commence by telling us about the higher 
 criticism, or what the learned men had said; he 
 didn't know anything about such things and he cared 
 less. He had studied the whole Bible through nearly 
 twenty times from beginning to end, and didn't need 
 a concordance. He believed ever>^ word of it. He 
 told his people about the great God that had purposed 
 and had created them; he told them of God's love 
 for a fallen race; he told them that in Jesus Christ 
 God had given evidence that everything his children 
 needed would be supplied to them, that when he had 
 given the greater gifts his hand would withhold no 
 
144 ^^d Kentucky 
 
 good thing from his children; he appealed to them 
 to love and serve the good Father who was preparing 
 a home for them. Usually he would preach to them 
 for two hours, instructing and exhorting them in the 
 most tender way. And his people knew he meant 
 and believed every word he said, and that his love 
 for them was a tender love as of a shepherd for his 
 flock. In all his life he never accepted one dollar as 
 remuneration for any service he could render them. 
 He taught them that it was their duty to support the 
 gospel, but as he was better off, perhaps, than any 
 member of the church, he did not need and he would 
 accept nothing. 
 
 Kentucky owes more to the old pioneer ministers 
 who helped fight her foes, who defended their 
 families, and lived as any other citizens; who cared 
 for them in sickness and in trouble, and by example 
 and teaching led them to a higher life, and taught 
 them by every means to be unselfish, than can be 
 easily realized. Perhaps I might say here that the 
 old dear Christian women of the State had more to 
 do in the formation of character than everybody else. 
 Blessed and sacred be their memories! 
 
 While the men who have accomplished great 
 results are known in history, the names of the women 
 who deserve equal credit have not been recorded, for 
 their lives were more of heroic, patient home sacri- 
 fice than of public activities. For the same reason, 
 many of the most useful and able men of Kentucky 
 have not been known to history; yet they had vei-y 
 much to do in shaping the destiny of the State. In the 
 convention that formed the Constitution of the State 
 there were six ministers of the Gospel, and when the 
 vote was taken upon the pro-slavery clause every one 
 voted against it. The persecutions that they and 
 their fathers had endured because of the connection 
 
Reminiscences 145 
 
 of church and state made them very careful to see 
 that no such thing could prevail in Kentucky. It 
 was a law in Kentucky for a long time, if it is not 
 even now, that no minister of the Gospel could hold 
 public office. The Constitution made by these men 
 has long since ceased to be binding in many respects, 
 but the many principles they taught have never failed 
 to have influence in the State. Tt gave absolute 
 religious freedom, placing all religious bodies on an 
 equal footing; it forbade commerce in slaves, and 
 made provision for their emancipation by law when 
 desired; it secured freedom of the press; it gave 
 freemen, regardless of property qualification, a free 
 ballot; it made the people the sovereigns. As a 
 class, the early ministers of the State were a remark- 
 able body of men; God knew that common, inferior 
 men could not do the work required for the establish- 
 ment of Christianity in the State. Many of them 
 were men of splendid judgment, great common sense, 
 and with tender human sympathies and cheerful dis- 
 position. They did not draw long solemn faces; they 
 were cheerful and enjoyed jokes and wit, and many 
 of their expressions became every-day proverbs. 
 On one occasion a young man who had a little 
 smattering of learning came to preach for my old 
 grandfather. They went up into the great high 
 pulpit, and the young man was put up to try whether 
 he could preach or not. He took for his text, "Now 
 abideth faith, hope, and charity." He started out 
 pretty well, dividing his subject into three heads, and 
 started on Faith. But before he got through with 
 faith he lost himself, and turned back to his coat 
 that was hanging on the back of a chair, and com- 
 menced to read a little essay upon hope and charit}'. 
 Never before had that congregation seen a paper 
 
146 Old Kentucky 
 
 drawn out to help a man preach. He finally 
 stumbled, halted, and quit. Whereupon, the old 
 preacher rose and said, "Brethren, I had not 
 expected to say anything on this occasion, but as 
 the young brother has exhibited nothing, I feel called 
 upon to say something." All over that part of the 
 counti-y afterward, when anything had not come up 
 to standard, and didn't "exhibit" anything, the saying 
 was, "It is like the young preacher." 
 
 A great many things were told as jokes on the 
 preachers that had no foundation or truth — one that 
 has been repeated in many States. I heard a very 
 clever man in St. Louis tell it as a fact, and it was 
 used with great effect at the anecdote club. It was 
 this. 
 
 It was known that an old preacher was going to 
 preach the next Sunday on the flood, and some mis- 
 chievous person so pasted the leaves of his Bible as to 
 break the connection, and just at the bottom of 
 the page he read, "And Noah took unto himself a 
 wife" — then he turned to the top of the page and 
 began the description of the ark — "three hundred 
 cubits long, fifty cubits in breadth, and thirty cubits 
 in height; pitched inside and out with tar." The 
 old man turned back and read it the second time, 
 thinking he had made a mistake ; finding apparently, 
 that he had not, he finally said, "Brethren, I would 
 not have believed it had it not occurred in the word 
 of God." 
 
 But the following, I think is literally a true story. 
 
 There was one old preacher who usually preached 
 about the same sermon, whatever text he took. A 
 young deacon, who thought he was smart, told the 
 old preacher that if he would take a text and preach 
 a sermon suitable to it or growing out of it, he would 
 give him a twenty-dollar gold-piece. It was under- 
 
Reminiscences 147 
 
 stood that at the next monthly meeting the test was 
 to be made, and the older deacons were to be a com- 
 mittee to judge. The old preacher took his text, 
 which is found in Romans, "Much every way." It 
 was Paul's answer to the question, "What advantage 
 hath a Jew?" The old preacher performed his duty, 
 came down, and the committee decided that he was 
 honestly entitled to the money; for his text was 
 "much every^ way," and he had preached for two 
 hours and in every sort of fashion. They enjoyed 
 such jokes, and would often tell things on each other. 
 
 An old negro preacher preaching on Noah's ark 
 related what a big thing it was, and he then told how 
 his old "Marster" in Virginia had undertaken to 
 build a barn to hold all his stock and grain. And he 
 said, "Brethren, old Marster built a barn three hun- 
 dred feet long, three hundred feet high — " Then 
 an old brother exclaimed, "Stop, brother!" But be- 
 fore he could shut oft his words, the preacher 
 added — "and three feet wide." The preacher re- 
 torted upon the brother who had interrupted him, 
 and said, "Brother, if you had let me alone I would 
 have widened that barn." 
 
 It was a regular picnic to us youngsters to have 
 the preachers come to visit, for we knew there was 
 going to be plenty to eat and the very best; there 
 would be discussions and explanations of parts of 
 the Bible; and many witty jokes in which they were 
 always careful to say nothing that a child or a woman 
 might not hear. They were clean, excellent, loving 
 men, capable of instructing and leading the youth; 
 and under their influence the Christian religion al- 
 most swept the State. 
 
 Nothing comes to my memory more pleasantly 
 than a trip from Louisville to Frankfort on one of 
 the beautiful little boats that came up that river. 
 
148 Old Kentucky 
 
 Louisville, sixty years ago, was a beautiful little city 
 in which could be found many of the most noble and 
 cultured people. The boat that I remember best was 
 named The Dove. It started out in the evening and 
 went on up the Ohio, then at Carrollton it turned, 
 and went up the Kentucky River, which to me is one 
 of the most beautiful rivers in the world. The far- 
 ther we went the higher the bluffs became. There 
 were nice farms along the way, and the river, at 
 that time, had locks and dams. How gracefully the 
 little boat would go into the locks and rise with the 
 water as It was let In, and be ready, when It reached 
 the level, to pursue Its way. I can see it now making 
 its way around up to the old wooden bridge that con- 
 nected Frankfort with South Frankfort, and when 
 she went above the bridge we had to lower her smoke- 
 stacks. That old wooden bridge which I have 
 crossed hundreds of times, what a faithful old high- 
 way! 
 
 Frankfort was always to me one of the most 
 charming places In Kentucky, and it has always 
 grieved me to hear of any effort being made to re- 
 move the capitol from It. I spent nearly two years 
 In that town, and I remember the people as an ele- 
 gant, hospitable class, almost entirely thoroughbred 
 Virginia-Kentuckians. I have seen the greater part 
 of the beautiful Rocky Mountains, the grandeur of 
 which none can describe; but no scenery has ever 
 impressed me as the scenery around Frankfort. 
 There was scarcely anything In South Frankfort 
 then. I can remember only one first-class home there, 
 and that stood just fronting the entrance to the old 
 bridge. Now South Frankfort is full of attractions, 
 and I learn that the new capitol Is to be built there. 
 A favorite resort with me was the old cemetery where 
 many of their noble dead rest in peace. 
 
Reminiscences 149 
 
 From the time that I can remember, Lexington 
 was a most attractive place. It seemed that the 
 people had brought the art of living well almost up 
 to perfection, not only in the town, but also in the 
 surrounding country. And there is no use for me 
 to try to tell anybody about the conditions and at- 
 tractions of that town and its surroundings. Lexing- 
 ton is known all through the country as a place that 
 has no superior, if it has an equal, everything consid- 
 ered. 
 
 Outside of my own county there Is no place in the 
 State that has so many sacred memories to me as 
 Georgetown. It was there that I attended college 
 for three years, from ^^^ to '58, and by common 
 consent, I think, it is agreed that no other years in 
 the history of that college had a better class of stu- 
 dents. And though I have spent half the days of 
 my life in college work, I do not think that I ever 
 saw a school that was more faithful in instructing 
 and guiding its students. Dr. Campbell was a 
 model college president, a highly educated, cultured 
 gentleman. He was to me not only a faithful guide 
 and instructor, but he drew me close to him with al- 
 most the feeling of a son to his father. Professor 
 Farnham was almost a walking library, and an un- 
 assuming Christian gentleman. His instruction in 
 science and higher mathematics has had much to do 
 in shaping my life. Professor Thomas was the most 
 patient teacher in Greek and Latin that I ever saw. 
 Both Professor Farnham and Professor Thomas 
 were natives of Maine, and I question if the State 
 ever turned out two better men. Dr. N. M. Craw- 
 ford, son of the distinguished William H. Crawford 
 of Georgia, was my teacher in Hebrew. He was 
 one of the most dignified, cultured, genial, approach- 
 able men that I have ever known. It is not simply 
 
150 Old Kentucky 
 
 the admiration of a boy for these great men that I 
 now record, but it is the dehberate judgment formed 
 in mature age. All these have passed over after 
 long lives of great usefulness. One who is fresh in 
 my memory still lives — Prof. J. J. Rucker, who' has 
 been at his post for half a century; and there are 
 multitudes who hold him in great affection. 
 
 The class of '58 was composed of twenty-one 
 graduates, and was considered one of the best classes 
 the college ever had. These graduates were princi- 
 pally from Kentucky, Virginia, and the other South- 
 ern States, and many of them gave up their lives in 
 the civil war. Two became prominent judges rn the 
 State — Richard Reed and Quincy Ward. Reed died 
 a tragic death. I have not seen or heard from Ward 
 for many years. In that class was Dr. George Var- 
 den, who became very prominent as a linguist, but I 
 do not know whether he is living to-day or not. One 
 fellow-classman that I have constantly kept in touch 
 with, for we have lived in the same State for more 
 than a quarter of a century, is, all things considered, 
 perhaps the best man in the class. He is a very 
 prominent lawyer in Kansas City. He served with 
 distinction as Minister to Switzerland. He is a dis- 
 tinguished man, and Is honored by all who know him. 
 His name is John L. Peak. 
 
 For some reason Georgetown has been made the 
 town in which many of the most celebrated cases in 
 Kentucky were tried. One that impressed me most 
 occurred in '57. An old gentleman of Scott County, 
 who left a fine estate, made a will and gave to a 
 daughter, in addition to her portion, an old negro 
 woman valued at not more than $100. The other 
 heirs, for some reason, felt that this was discrimina- 
 tion and brought suit. It had been tried in various 
 courts for seven years, until feeling ran high and the 
 
Reminiscences 151 
 
 costs amounted to nearly $8,000. By agreement it 
 was finally tried in the Georgetown court, and all 
 were to abide by the decision. The lawyers were the 
 most distinguished. They were John C. Breckin- 
 ridge, James F. Robinson, Garret Davis, Thomas 
 Lindsay, and Robert Wolley. Itjvyas a battle of 
 giants. Garret Davis spoke as long as he could stand, 
 and then sat down on a table and finished his speech. 
 James F. Robinson, "the Old Roman," made a most 
 impressive appeal. I see him now standing up be- 
 fore the jury, holding his palsied hand with the 
 other, as he commenced, after addressing the court 
 and jury: 
 
 "It has always been a sacred principle that a man 
 has the right to dispose of whatever he has acquired 
 as he may desire. The old patriarch, when he saw 
 death coming to him, called his children to him and 
 gave instructions to each one as to what his will 
 should be. And finally he gave instructions as to 
 what to do with his bones when he should be dead. 
 He wanted them carried back to his old home." 
 
 He made a wonderful appeal. 
 
 Robert Willey commenced with a wonderful de- 
 scription of the Trojan war, which he said lasted 
 seven years, as long as this trial had lasted; and he 
 made a most beautiful address. 
 
 John C. Breckinridge was in the prime of his early 
 manhood; and I have never seen a jury swayed as 
 he swayed that jury. My recollection is that he won 
 his case. 
 
 The social life around Georgetown was almost per- 
 fect. Many of the finest families in the State lived 
 there. 
 
 There is one thing that a boy who lived in Ken- 
 tucky can never forget. I refer to the elections, that 
 were held three days, commencing Monday and clos- 
 
152 Old Kentucky 
 
 ing Wednesday. Why it required three days to take 
 the meager vote that was cast I never could under- 
 stand. Usually very little was done the first day; 
 but Tuesday morning things began to wax warm. 
 Nearly all of the people were politicians, and excite- 
 ment in general elections usually ran high. In all of 
 the districts there were some voters who were poor 
 and ignorant, and the question was how to control 
 these votes. It was not unusual to form what they 
 called "bull-pens" away in the hills, down on some 
 stream, where they gathered together as many ig- 
 norant voters as they could, both parties practicing 
 the same scheme, and kept them there, giving them 
 everything to eat and drink ; and many of them were 
 kept drunk until the election was over, and did not 
 vote at all. I am sorry to report this, but I want 
 to give every side of Kentucky life. And I cannot 
 deny that by Wednesday evening things were red- 
 hot, and many fights occurred among the common 
 class, but I do not remember a single case where a 
 man was killed. Their actions grew out of the ex- 
 citement, and after it was all over, good-will re- 
 mained. What times the elections were for us boys ! 
 They were held beginning the first Monday in Au- 
 gust. The watermelons were getting ripe, and the 
 good old negroes were pemiitted to have their ginger- 
 cakes and cider to sell, and usually got all the spare 
 change the boys had. 
 
 The Kentuckians were a fun-loving people, and 
 always liked, in some way, to have a contest in their 
 fun. Shooting-matches were common, and were al- 
 ways conducted on gentlemanly principles. They 
 usually shot for turkeys, but sometimes they shot for 
 quarters of beef, the best shots getting the best quar- 
 ters, the poorer shots taking the fore-quarters. 
 
 They were fond, too, of barbecues, but there al- 
 
Reminiscences 153 
 
 ways had to be some contest to show feats of man- 
 hood or skill with the rifle. One of the most re- 
 markable barbecues that I remember was a contest 
 in killing crows and hawks, which abounded in that 
 wooded country as perhaps in no other, and were de- 
 structive to the chickens. They decided as far as 
 possible to exterminate them in that section, and the 
 section was divided off by a line running through. 
 One side was arrayed against the other side as to 
 who would procure the most scalps. They hunted 
 diligently, and it was even considered fair if a party 
 from one side could steal a scalp from a party on the 
 other side. Everything was considered fair in 
 what was termed "The Crow War." An immense 
 barbecue was prepared, and it was understood that 
 the side which produced the most scalps could eat 
 first and the others were to wait on them. Joyous 
 excitement ran high, and perhaps it would be no ex- 
 aggeration to say that there were ten barrels of 
 scalps brought in, counted, and destroyed. 
 
 As I have said before, in everything there was a 
 patriotic spirit. Great honor and respect were 
 shown to the old men who had been soldiers. I re- 
 member the impression made on me, which was both 
 serious and ridiculous, in the honor that was paid to 
 a very old citizen, an old Revolutionary soldier. 
 After the Revolution he had settled in rather a hilly 
 part of the country, as many of those old Virginians 
 did, as there was good water there and a large forest 
 around them. He was patriotic and loved the old 
 flag, and when he was between seventy and eighty 
 he would have been ready to shoulder his musket in 
 defence of his country. He had the respect of every- 
 body, but in some ways he was a man of bitter spirit 
 and very tenacious of his own opinions. When he 
 died the whole people thought that they ought to 
 
154 Old Kentucky 
 
 give him a burial befitting such a character. Some 
 people, before his death, thought he was rather stren- 
 uous in his opinions, as I have said. He was an ar- 
 dent Democrat, and believed that a Whig was a 
 Tory, and he had no patience with anything that 
 looked toward toryism. But when he died every- 
 body said that Uncle Meshack Pierson ought to have 
 a good funeral, and that everybody should contribute 
 a part to it. He lived two or three miles from the 
 old Indian Fork Church, and a great multitude, 
 some on foot, some in wagons, some on horseback, 
 and some in ox-carts, met at his house to escort the 
 remains to the church. One man on horseback with 
 a red sash around him rode in front. The body was 
 brought in a wagon; fifteen men on horseback rode 
 on either side of the wagon, and had their firearms, 
 which it seemed to me they carried up-side down; 
 one man rode up in the wagon with the coffin and 
 carried a United States flag. In front were two men 
 playing on fifes, and two beating on drums. And it 
 was the most mournful music that I had ever heard; 
 the fifes seemed to be crying and the muffled drums 
 to be laboring to give expression to their sorrow. 
 They came slowly on, and finally reached the 
 church — a lonesome building in the midst of heavy 
 forests, and in the yard the largest weeping-willows, 
 the prettiest and most solemn that I had ever seen. 
 I had never seen a grave, and it looked like an awful 
 place to put anybody into. The people gathered 
 round it, and they laid two poles across it, and on 
 these poles the cofllin, which was really a wooden box 
 covered with lamp-black. One rather large man, in 
 passing around, fell in or partly in. There seemed 
 to be something the matter with his head; but he 
 was pulled out, and the service proceeded. My old 
 grandfather, as minister, stood at the head of the 
 
Reminiscences 1 5 5 
 
 grave, and he looked very solemn, so much so that 
 I was afraid he was sick. He was usually very cheer- 
 ful and bright, and the prayer that he offered was so 
 different from what it would have been had he been 
 at the creek ready to baptize a lot of people. The 
 people stood with their hats off and a good many of 
 them were crying, and out of sympathy, mother said, 
 I bawled too. I think this must have happened after 
 the salute was fired, and I was scared. When the 
 coflin was lowered a great many people threw some 
 green into the grave, which of course I did not under- 
 stand. The men with the guns then stood around, 
 and all fired at once, and it was the greatest sound I 
 had ever heard from guns fired by a grave. They 
 stood around a few minutes, and everybody tried to 
 think of something good to say of the departed. The 
 men fired again, and fifes and drums starting up, the 
 procession formed and passed out of sight and we all 
 went home. I have never enjoyed a funeral so much 
 since. 
 
 THE LAND OF LONG AGO 
 
 "Across the wid'ning waste we hear 
 
 Bird songs that greet the morn, 
 Where shineth through the rosy mist 
 
 The land where we were born; 
 Oh, lightly from its far-off hills 
 
 The W^inds of Memory blow. 
 It is our own, our native land — 
 
 The Land of Long Ago. 
 
 "There, stretching out beneath the sun. 
 
 Lie meadows bright and fair; 
 On rugged slopes the berry vines 
 
 Run riot everywhere; 
 And climbing up the tinted cliff, 
 
 Where Wonder flowers grow, 
 Laugh children that we played with in 
 
 The Land of Long Ago. 
 
156 Old Kentucky 
 
 "Blow soft; blow soft! across the waste, 
 
 O Winds of Memory! 
 And set atune Aeolian chords 
 
 Wherein our heartstrings be — 
 And croon for us from happy hours 
 
 The music sweet and low, 
 The old-time airs, the lullabies, 
 
 The songs of Long Ago! 
 
 "But hush ! a funeral note steals in 
 
 And skies are turning gray; 
 
 For us no more shall golden dawn 
 
 Unfold to perfect day; 
 We sail beyond the sea and sky — 
 
 A way that none may know, 
 O happy shore! good-b^^e! good-bye! — 
 Our Land of Long Ago!" 
 
 —Sheifey. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 Kentucky's pride in her men 
 
 I am puzzled to know what to say of the men that 
 Kentucky has given to the world. There are so many 
 of them and they have attained such high positions 
 that it seems to be impossible to do anything like jus- 
 tice in speaking of them and their achievements. In 
 the first place the number of these can scarcely be es- 
 timated, and to undertake to call them by name would 
 be impossible, and perhaps some of the most worthy 
 may not be mentioned. 
 
 The same thought occurs to me here as it has 
 again and again, that the great, guiding hand of 
 Providence has had much to do in all the affairs of 
 men. There are no accidents with God. He formed 
 his plans in wisdom and he himself selected the va- 
 rious instrumentalities to accomplish them. It can- 
 not be denied that many of these plans have not been 
 in the beginning seemingly important, but the results 
 were wonderful, and largely contributed to advance 
 all that has been good in the world. When He 
 wanted a successor to King Saul He did not go 
 among the great captains of Israel; He selected a 
 little shepherd boy to put at the head of the nation. 
 Who would have thought, from the human stand- 
 point, that Cromwell would have been selected to 
 bring great glory to the English people? Who has 
 been able to understand why an Insignificant peasant 
 girl, Joan of Arc, should have been called to accom- 
 plish such seemingly Impossible things, and have such 
 Influence over nations? Why were "Ignorant fisher- 
 men" selected as the great apostles of Christianity? 
 
158 Old Ken lucky 
 
 Martin Luther was a peasant's son. He was cruelly 
 treated in his childhood, and beaten for frivolous 
 things until his back was bloody. God knew why 
 He wanted Martin Luther; the world sees the re- 
 sults. Of the man to carry through the war of 
 American independence there was no question. The 
 man was chosen, the only man living, perhaps, that 
 could have done what he did, and went down, after 
 one of the most heroic events in the history of man- 
 kind, as the Father of his Country. George Wash- 
 ington was ordained to the work that he had to do, 
 and he did it, constantly trusting in the Higher 
 Power. Let us not forget that in all these results 
 the glory must be given to one higher than we. 
 
 Who can tell why the honor was given to Ken- 
 tucky of being the home of men whose names will 
 go down in history? And when I speak of Ken- 
 tucky in this connection, I want it distinctly under- 
 stood that Kentucky in her history and achievements 
 cannot be separated from her old mother Virginia ; 
 the glory of the one is the glory of the other. There 
 had to be a great question settled in this country, and 
 every kind of compromise, it seemed, that could be 
 thought of was suggested. But war had to settle 
 two questions — the question of slavery and the ques- 
 tion as to whether all these States were bound to- 
 gether by a rope of sand or whether they were bound 
 in an indissoluble Union. A poor boy, born in pov- 
 erty, raised in poverty, without means for an educa- 
 tion, seemingly with nO' great destiny in the world, 
 was called to the great and seemingly impossible task 
 of leading the nation to the final settlement of these 
 questions. Abraham Lincoln was no more to be 
 compared, so far as human thought could go, with 
 the other great statesmen of this country than Peter 
 the fisherman was to be compared to the great high 
 
Kentucky's Pride hi Her Men 159 
 
 priests of the Jews or to CjEsar on his throne, and 
 yet there is no question that Lincohi was the man and 
 the only man that could have accomplished the re- 
 sults. And when his work was done, as God saw it, 
 though we have never understood it, by a cruel hand 
 he gave up his life. Abraham Lincoln was never 
 understood, and to-day thoughtful men wonder at 
 the peculiarities, the power, and the influence and 
 nobility of that sad life. On the other side, the 
 leader had to be selected to perform his part in the 
 destiny of mankind; and whatever may be said of 
 the man or the cause, Jefferson Davis was a remark- 
 able personality. And from all the great men of the 
 South, God called him from Kentucky ; he was born 
 and reared not very far from where Abraham Lin- 
 coln was born and reared. Jefferson Davis was a 
 brave, able, forceful man, and doubtless as consci- 
 entious in his convictions as was Lincoln. There had 
 to be a leader chosen to open the war in the South- 
 west, and to begin the most bloody battle that, up 
 to that time, had ever been fought upon the conti- 
 nent — the battle of Shiloh. Albert Sidney Johnston, 
 the son of a distinguished family in Kentucky, was 
 put at the head of that army. How well I remember 
 him and how he looked ! I can see him now as he 
 stood in Nashville before he took charge of the 
 aiTny. A great, strong, serious, honest-looking man. 
 He spoke in slow, measured terms as he made a 
 short address. He looked sad, serious, and I can't 
 help thinking that he understood, better than any 
 of the rest did, the seriousness and sadness of his un- 
 dertaking. 
 
 Who that knew John C. Breckinridge did not ad- 
 mire him? To me to-day, of all the Kentuckians I 
 have known, he is the ideal Kentuckian. He was a 
 handsome man ; as was remarked once, it seemed that 
 
i6o Old Kentucky 
 
 when Nature had made him she broke the mould, 
 for no other man looked like John C. Breckinridge. 
 I may say from a long and intimate acquaintance 
 with him, extending before the war, I never saw a 
 weakness in him. He was full of magnetism, and 
 seemed able to sway men at will. I have heard him 
 at the bar, when he was pitted against some of the 
 best brains of Kentucky, and he was a master among 
 men; I have seen him sway the multitudes in his 
 political addresses; I have seen him in the height 
 of his power and glory; I have seen him in social 
 life; and he always was the same. Few men ever 
 made greater sacrifices for convictions than John C. 
 Breckinridge. Many of his friends felt, and he felt, 
 that had he taken the other side he would have 
 reached the highest gift of the nation. I think he 
 really never saw a happy day after the war com- 
 menced. When he was at camp in Byrnesville, Mis- 
 sissippi, before the battle of Shiloh, with his Ken- 
 tucky boys around him, he, more than any other, 
 realized what was before them, and I think he suf- 
 fered as much for others as he did for himself. One 
 evening I was at headquarters; we had been talking 
 until late, and all the camp was still, there was 
 scarcely a sound heard that would indicate that an 
 army lay there. Unexpectedly the band struck up 
 "My Old Kentucky Home," and it seemed a sur- 
 prise to all. I looked at the General and saw great 
 tears streaming from his eyes, for he loved his old 
 Kentucky home. Silently each one of us retired to 
 his own place, and there was not a word spoken be- 
 tween us that night. The battle soon came on, and 
 there are doubtless now some left in Kentucky who 
 remember Breckinridge's solicitude for his Ken- 
 tucky boys. Among the mortally wounded was a 
 handsome Shelby County boy, Willie Farmer, who 
 
Kentucky's Pride in I let- Men i6i 
 
 was scarcely grown. His thigh was shattered; he 
 was laid upon a cot in Corinth in the great room 
 where the wounded were placed, and where, every 
 day, soldiers were dying; he was so badly wounded 
 that the physicians said nothing could be done for 
 him. The morning before he died the physician came 
 to me and said, "You ought to tell Willie, he does 
 not know it, but gangrene has set in and he will not 
 live to see the sunset." So I went and tallied with 
 the boy. He was calm, brave, and made various 
 requests, one was that if it was possible he wanted 
 his body taken care of, and after the war was over 
 or when it was possible he wanted It laid in the old 
 Christiansburg graveyard by the side of his mother. 
 After his death it seemed impossible, as things were, 
 to get the body out. I prepared it for burial as well 
 as I could, and had a great box made, and as Bragg 
 was then commander of the post I spoke to him 
 about it. He paid me scant courtesy. I consulted 
 Breckinridge, and there was a private understanding 
 between us that I was to do as I pleased, and should 
 I get into trouble he would stay with me, whatever 
 the cost might be. That day there was to be brought 
 a train of box-cars to carry off the wounded; and I 
 spoke to some of the Kentucky boys and told them of 
 my plans. I was acting absolutely contrary to what 
 General Bragg had said. I intended to take that 
 body out at whatever cost, for I had given my prom- 
 ise to a dying boy. When the train pulled in the box 
 was sitting right on the platfoiTn. I made arrange- 
 ments with the Kentucky boys immediately on the 
 arrival of the train to shove that box into a car. I 
 remember two boys more especially, from Shelby 
 County, Kentucky — Henton and Thomas; it may 
 be one of them is living to-day. As soon as the box 
 
1 62 Old Kentucky 
 
 was placed back in the end of the car wounded sol- 
 diers and all sat down upon it and covered it. It 
 was carried to its destination, my home in Mississippi, 
 put in a vault, and when the war was over all that 
 remained of the young soldier was brought back and 
 laid beside his mother. Without General Breckin- 
 ridge I never could have done it. 
 
 General Breckinridge was a man of fine judgment, 
 clear discernment, and seemed to me to have almost 
 prophetic vision. He and General Ben Hardin 
 Helm were in camp at Jackson, Mississippi, before 
 the fall of Vicksburg. General Helm and I had 
 been out swimming in Pearl River, and when I came 
 back I felt fresh, hopeful, and bright. I went over 
 to General Breckinridge's headquarters, and it 
 seemed that he understood my feelings. He came to 
 me, put his ai*ms around me, and said, "Cook, we 
 shall never win. We shall all be a set of rag-a- 
 muffins." I was shocked and surprised, and never 
 breathed it to a human being. This was before 
 Vicksburg fell, after the South had gained many 
 victories and when we felt almost invincible. And 
 I felt that from that time General Breckinridge did 
 not want to live; and it was thought by those close 
 to him that he courted death at the battle of Chlck- 
 amauga. 
 
 It would take pages to tell of the splendid men 
 and women that Kentucky has produced. How many 
 generals and ofHcers of all ranks and how many men 
 Kentucky furnished to the North and the South 
 would be hard to enumerate. One reason I have 
 spoken especially of John C. Breckinridge is, that 
 there is less mention made of him in eulogies and in 
 the histoi*y of Kentucky than of any man of equal 
 merit who has lived in the State — if he ever had an 
 equal. 
 
Kentucky's Pride in Her Men 163 
 
 Another man that I admired greatly was General 
 John Morgan. I kncvv' him before the war, and my 
 only tvvo living brothers were with him, when not on 
 detached duty, in many of his most important raids. 
 My best friends were with him, and if General Mor- 
 gan was ever guilty of an inhuman act, or of robber}^ 
 or of anything that was unbecoming a gentleman, I 
 never found it out. It is not necessary to say any- 
 thing of his ability as a soldier; he left his own 
 record. 
 
 One of the purest and best public men in Ken- 
 tucky, a man about whom little has been said in 
 print, was Green Clay Smith, who had in his veins 
 the best blood in the State. His father was an At- 
 torney-General, and Green Clay was the nephew of 
 Cassius M. Clay. He was a man of commanding 
 presence, handsome, vigorous, of splendid mind and 
 heart. He was honored in many ways; he went 
 into the army and became a general; he was brave 
 and resourceful; and he was one of the first men to 
 teach General Forrest that he was not invincible. 
 He was sent to Congress from Kentucky, and was 
 made chairman of the military committee. And 
 when the nominating convention met it selected Lin- 
 coln for a second term for the presidency, and Green 
 Clay Smith came within five votes of being selected 
 to make the race for Vice-President. He was an in- 
 timate friend of Mr. Lincoln's, really his pet, and 
 always had free access to him and to the White 
 House. He has told me many incidents that I have 
 never seen published in regard to Mr. Lincoln's 
 private troubles, some of which I could tell, but it 
 would probably do no good. Some of them showed 
 weakness and some strength. He was appointed 
 Governor of Montana, with the expectation of be- 
 coming Senator of that State. But he gave It all up 
 
164 Old Kentucky 
 
 and became a plain Baptist preacher. He visited 
 me several times at my home, and was one of the 
 most congenial and lovable men that I ever knew. 
 I think he made great sacrifices to carry out his con- 
 victions, and I once asked him why he made the sac- 
 rifices; he replied that in his soul he felt it to be his 
 duty, and that he believed had he not done so he 
 would never have had a happy day. He died at his 
 home in Washington, D. C, where I saw him a few 
 months before his death. His mind was peaceful, 
 he seemed happy, and he felt that he was carrying 
 out his honest convictions. Many would feel that 
 the bravest and noblest act of Mr. Smith's life was 
 the sacrificing of personal gain and political honor to 
 do what he thought was right. His life was no fail- 
 ure. He taught a lesson, and showed a heroism and 
 personal worth that many cannot comprehend. 
 
 Kentucky has been justly proud of her men in po- 
 litical life. Perhaps the Kentuckian who attained 
 the widest reputation as a politician was Henry Clay. 
 It is not necessai-y here to pass any eulogy on him or 
 to give much concerning his history, for his name 
 is familiar to every reader of American history. He 
 was a great man, an orator, a gentleman, a kind 
 neighbor, and an affectionate husband. One of the 
 most striking speeches that he ever made was on his 
 return from Washington, where he had been the 
 foremost figure in the great compromise effort. His 
 friends at Lexington met him on his arrival and 
 forced him to go to the hotel and make an address 
 from its balcony. "Fellow-citizens, friends, and 
 neighbors," he said, "I am very glad to see and greet 
 you all; but there is a plain, good woman at Ash- 
 lands that I would rather see than all of you. Good 
 night." He had a beautiful home; the Kentuckians 
 loved the name of Ashlands. Strange as it may seem, 
 
Kentucky's Pride in Her Men 165 
 
 while personally Henry Clay was very popular in 
 Kentucky, he had there his bitterest political foes. 
 He was not popular in the whole State, for a great 
 many of the old Democrats believed that Clay was 
 not a true man, that his political doctrines were not 
 sound, and they opposed him intensely and bitterly, 
 and even when he was candidate for the highest office 
 in the nation they did not support him. One of the 
 most bitter political contests ever waged in Kentucky 
 was in 1844. Clay was the unanimous choice of the 
 Whig party for President. James K. Polk, of Ten- 
 nessee, was nominee of the Democratic party, and 
 Mr. Clay was the third time beaten in his efforts for 
 election. That was the first Presidential election 
 that I ever remember well ; and it seems to me that 
 there was as much excitement as there was in the last 
 Presidential election before the war. The polk- 
 stalk created nearly as much enthusiasm as the old- 
 log-cabin did in Harrison's time. All along the 
 highways trees were trimmed up to great heights and 
 bundles of polk-stalks fastened on them. To-day 
 the name of Henry Clay is held by all Kentuckians, 
 of whatever party, in very high esteem. And why 
 should not Kentuckians be proud of such men? 
 
 Kentucky has always had an able bar; and you 
 will find her sons have always taken highest rank 
 wherever they have gone, as judges, advocates, and 
 men in public affairs in many States. To-day there 
 is no abler man on the supreme bench than Justice 
 Harlan. Kentucky's sons have had much to do in 
 the legislative affairs of the country, and she has 
 furnished United States Senators and Representatives 
 to very many States. Missouri has been almost as 
 much benefited by the men she received from Ken- 
 tucky as she has from all other sources, native-born 
 or otherwise. The eight Governors she received 
 
1 66 Old Kentucky 
 
 from Kentucky have all been men of worth and dis- 
 tinction; the eight Senators she received from Ken- 
 'tucky have showered lustre upon her name. Many 
 of those great men — all of them, perhaps, ought to 
 be named; but it would be unfair and almost impos- 
 sible to try to select those most distinguished. Take 
 away from Illinois the men of renown sent to her by 
 the old Commonwealth, and it would almost impov- 
 erish her political history. Among some in this State 
 we might mention Yates, Oglesby, Palmer, Adlai E. 
 Stevenson, and Orville H. Browning — the latter two, 
 in my opinion, the superior, all things considered, of 
 any above mentioned. 
 
 Many of the most distinguished clergymen and 
 educators found in various States, especially in Mis- 
 souri, were Kentuckians. Why should not the Old 
 Commonwealth be proud of her sons? And had I 
 the information and the time there are high tributes 
 that could be paid to the noble women of the State; 
 for really they had more to do in the forming of 
 character than the men, and were eminently worthy 
 of the admiration and loyal homage that was paid 
 to them. 
 
 Kentucky has always had an able public press. All 
 through the State were men of brains conducting 
 newspapers; two deserve especial mention. 
 
 George D. Prentice was a remarkable man; 
 though a native of Connecticut, his life's work was 
 done in Kentucky. From 1830, and until succeeded 
 by Henry Watterson, he was the editor of the Louis- 
 ville Journal, one of the leading weekly newspapers 
 in the countiy. He was a man of wonderful gifts; 
 and not only did he write editorials for his paper, 
 but he was the author of many poems of merit. His 
 Prenticeana, a collection of his witticisms, has gone 
 through several enlarged editions. He was a pe- 
 
Kentucky's Pride in Her Men 167 
 
 cullar and remarkable man, and perhaps enjoyed 
 from his friends as much esteem as any man who 
 lived in Kentucky, and in the hatred of his enemies 
 was also as fortunate. 
 
 Many of the old-time Democrats believed Prentice 
 to be a traitor to the best interests of the State, and 
 taught their children to believe that if his policies 
 were adopted, the State would be rained. Perhaps 
 the divided sentiment in the State had much to do 
 with its destinies in the civil war. He was a brilliant 
 man, and while not considered an orator was one of 
 the most impressive speakers that I ever heard. An 
 address which he delivered in '58 to the students of 
 Georgetown College made a profound impression 
 and could not well be forgotten. And his appear- 
 ance when he stepped forward, and without introduc- 
 tion began, " 'With this, or on this,' said the Spartan 
 mother, as she took a shield from the wall where it 
 had hung since the death of the patriot father, and 
 handed it to her son as he was about to start to the 
 battle," thrilled the audience. His influence, what- 
 ever may be the difference of opinion, was great in 
 the State. 
 
 All in all, Kentucky has never had a greater 
 editor, and in many respects a greater man, than 
 Henry Watterson, a native of Washington, D. C, 
 born Febraary 16, 1840. He vv^as a young man 
 when the civil war began, and in 1861 went to Ten- 
 nessee and remained with the Confederates until the 
 close of the war. When the war closed he assumed 
 the editorship of the Nashville Banner, remaining 
 there one year, when he succeeded George D. Pren- 
 tice as editor of the Louisville Journal. Tn 1868 
 the Journal was consolidated with two- other news- 
 papers and became the Courier-Journal, with Mr. 
 Watterson as part owner and editor-in-chief. In 
 
1 68 Old Kentucky 
 
 1876 he was elected to Congress, but all his insthict 
 seemed to be connected with editorial work, and 
 since that time he has had absolute control of his 
 paper. He has traveled, lectured, and been honored 
 everywhere. He is really a part of Kentucky, and 
 he carries Kentucky and Kentuckians in his great big 
 heart. Among all the great men who attended the 
 Home-coming, and all the great addresses that were 
 made, Henry Watterson showed himself to be per- 
 haps the most brilliant of them all. 
 
 In Shelbyville, January 7, 1856, was born, of 
 good old stock, a man that all Kentucky is proud of. 
 He was graduated from West Point in 1878, went 
 actively into service, and distinguished himself on 
 evei-y occasion. He rose rapidly, until now he is 
 chief-of-staff of the United States Army. Had you 
 been at Shelbyville the Home-coming week you 
 would have seen him, surrounded by multitudes of 
 his old friends and admirers, on one of the finest 
 horses Kentucky could produce, presented to him by 
 those who honored him. He was known to every- 
 one of them as General James Franklin Bell. 
 
 He said in a very kind letter to me recently, "I 
 am not an old Kentuckian"; and with great modesty 
 he indicated that he ought not to be classed with 
 the old heroes that I have mentioned in the book. 
 Modesty and real greatness generally go together. 
 While General Bell would cheerfully give the last 
 drop of blood in his body to defend the old flag any- 
 where in the world, it is true of him as of others, 
 "Once a Kentuckian, always a Kentuckian." 
 
 One of the great men of the nation, honored and 
 loved, not only by Kentuckians but all good men, 
 is Justice J. M. Harlan ; and I should be glad to add 
 more concerning him, but Hon. Champ Clark, in his 
 article, has done this for me. 
 
Kentucky's Pride in Her Men 169 
 
 I do not mean by what I have said about the pubHc 
 men of Kentucky to intimate that I have mentioned 
 all the great names that ought to be honored ; I have 
 selected just a few as characteristic of the whole. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 THE POETIC SPIRIT 
 
 The history, the sceneiy, the social life of Ken- 
 tucky are all conducive to the poetic spirit; and 
 while there have been many beautiful things written 
 in poetry by Kentuckians and about Kentucky, we 
 shall mention only two of the poets. The name of 
 Stephen Collins Foster, who wrote "My Old Ken- 
 tucky Home," is loved and honored, not only in Ken- 
 tucky, but really in all civilized countries. As a 
 tender home song it unites the sentiment of the Old 
 World with the New, and it has done as much to 
 encourage and foster the home spirit as any song 
 that was ever written. It brings to memory scenes 
 of home, childhood, father and mother, and the most 
 hallowed and sacred memories of the human heart. 
 And could every descendant of Kentucky have it in 
 full, framed and hung upon the wall so that his 
 children might know it from infancy, it would be a 
 blessing. 
 
 While "My Old Kentucky Home" is especially 
 dear to Kentuckians, for the beauty, the sweetness, 
 and tenderness of the sentiment it would create a 
 love for home in children everywhere. It is not 
 generally known that Foster, though not a native of 
 Kentucky, became imbued with the very spirit of her 
 people, and has written some of the tenderest negro 
 songs. He found the inspiration for "My Old Ken- 
 tucky Home" in a counti-y home near Bardstown. 
 He is, too, the author of "Old Black Joe," "Massa's 
 in de Cold, Cold Ground," "WiUie, We Have 
 Missed You," and many other songs; and one of his 
 
The Poetic Spirit 171 
 
 tenderest songs is "Old Folks at Home." At the 
 Home-coming Kentiickians devoted a good part of 
 one day in paying tribute to Foster's memory, and 
 to the unveiling of a model of the statue to his mem- 
 oi^y, in the presence of twenty thousand people. 
 
 It has been tiiithfully said, "Let who will write 
 your laws, so T may write your songs." Songs have 
 had an inspiring influence among all people. Who 
 can tell the power of music over the human soul? 
 No one can estimate the effect that song and music 
 has had upon our country, to say nothing of what it 
 has always had in other lands. Take "My Country, 
 'Tis of Thee," "Columbia," "Home, Sweet Home," 
 "Dixie," "Yankee Doodle" — they all have their 
 place and have accomplished their results. 
 
 Theodore O'Hara possessed, in my estimation, the 
 highest patriotic and poetic genius, not only of any 
 man in Kentucky but of any man in the world. He 
 was born in 1820, within a half mile of the scene of 
 the Cook massacre, on what is yet known as the 
 Theodore O'Hara place, within five miles of Frank- 
 fort. This place was originally a part of the Innis 
 patent. The old spring-house of the famed author 
 of the "Bivouac of the Dead" still stands, but the 
 house in which he was born and in which he passed 
 his early days has passed away and only the founda- 
 tion remains. He has been said to have "produced 
 the only perfect and universal martial eulogy that 
 the world has known." "The Bivouac of the 
 Dead" has been translated into almost every Euro- 
 pean language, and since it was written, more than 
 fifty years ago, it has been almost as popular in Eng- 
 land as in the United States. 
 
 On a monument commemorating one of the hard- 
 est-fought battles of the Crimean War the last four 
 lines of the first stanza of O'Hara's poem are in- 
 
172 Old Kentucky 
 
 scribed. Over the gate-way of the National Ceme- 
 tery at Arhngton the whole first stanza is inscribed, 
 and in Arhngton, as at Antietam, and other National 
 cemeteries, the entire poem is produced, stanza by 
 stanza, on slabs along the driveways. 
 
 He served in the Mexican war, and wrote "The 
 Bivouac of the Dead" on the occasion of the removal 
 of the remains of the Kentuckians, who fell in the 
 battle of Buena Vista, to their native soil. He had 
 not only the poetic, but the martial spirit; he went 
 on a filibustering expedition to Cuba ; and at the out- 
 break of the civil war he became an officer on the 
 staffs of Albert Sidney Johnston and John C. Breck- 
 inridge, in the Confederate service. I want tO' in- 
 scribe here as a monument to his memory, and hope 
 that it may be written where the letters will never 
 fade, his words to others. 
 
 "On fame's eternal camping-ground 
 Their silent tents are spread, 
 And glory guards, with solemn round. 
 The bivouac of the dead. 
 
 "Nor shall your glory be forgot 
 While fame her record keeps, 
 Or honor points the hallowed spot 
 Where valor proudly sleeps. 
 
 "Nor wreck, nor change, nor winter's flight, 
 Nor Time's remorseless doom 
 Can dim one ray of holy light 
 That gilds your glorious tomb." 
 
 Who would not be proud of such a noble spirit? 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 CLOUDS 
 
 The year 1858 seems to me to have been one of 
 the happiest that Kentucky ever enjoyed. It may 
 be that my feelings had something to do with my 
 judgment, as that was the year of my graduation 
 and the beginning of my active life. But it was for 
 the State a year of fine crops, prosperity and peace. 
 Happiness seemed to reign everywhere; and there 
 was no evidence that Kentucky was so near to the 
 sad, dark hours that were just before her. There 
 was some disquiet among political men in regard 
 to the condition of the country, but not more excite- 
 ment than there had been some years previous. The 
 people seemed to be enjoying life thoroughly, and 
 when you contrast that time with what happened a 
 few years later it seems that the impossible came to 
 pass. Families were then united, communities ap- 
 peared to be thoroughly at peace among themselves, 
 the young people were at the height of their enjoy- 
 ment, and the State seemed to be on the eve of great 
 prosperity. 
 
 In 1859 clouds began tO' gather, but still there 
 seemed to be no great dread or alarm and things 
 moved along very smoothly. 
 
 The year i860 opened with unrest, and upon the 
 part of many the year foreboded nothing that would 
 make for peace and happiness. This was a year of 
 great political excitement; parties were divided all 
 over the country^ People were divided North and 
 South on political issues. The South seemed almost 
 a unit; and there was a strong feeling existing to 
 
174 ^Id Kentucky 
 
 secede from a government which they felt was hos- 
 tile to their best interests. They were encouraged in 
 this sentiment by many people in the North, who 
 seemed to desire to be cut loose from them and to let 
 them go in peace. Many of the Democrats in the 
 North almost championed their cause, while many 
 of the fanatics of the North felt that to be in league 
 with the South was almost to be in league with the 
 Devil. 
 
 The idea of secession was not a new one, for in 
 the history of the country there was scarcely one of 
 the New England States that had not at some time 
 encouraged the feeling of withdrawing from the 
 Union in her own special interests. 
 
 The Border States were divided, and the wisest 
 men felt that should war occur these States would be 
 the battle-ground, and would suffer most. The spirit 
 of the majority of the Eastern States in making 
 John Brown a hero and almost a saint suggested what 
 the South might expect in case there was a war. It 
 gave them reason to believe that that most fanatical 
 spirit would even turn the negro loose on their wives 
 and children. At this time the question as to whether 
 this was an indissoluble Union or whether States 
 might secede was not settled. The wisest men of the 
 Border States felt that a republican government could 
 not prosper and exist with slavery as a recognized 
 institution. It was unnatural and absurd. 
 
 Kentucky, by reason of her peculiar situation, ex- 
 pected that in case of war she would be, in a large 
 measure, the battle-ground, and hence decided that 
 she would stand neutral ; that she would not take up 
 arms against the government nor would she bear arms 
 against her sister States. That was the feeling of 
 the people. It was naturally impracticable, and the 
 State might have known that, with the spirit of her 
 
Clouds 175 
 
 people being what it was, she could not keep men 
 from going out and joining cither one army or the 
 other. Her sons had taken part in every war since 
 she became a State, and it would be only natural that 
 in a war between the States they would join one side 
 or the other; neutrality was an impossibility. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln was elected by the most radical abol- 
 itionist element of the country, and when this hap- 
 pened they felt that all hope of compromise was 
 ended. The whole country was intensely excited, 
 and the inevitable had to come. It was at the risk 
 of his life Mr. Lincoln reached Washington, and 
 when the people in Washington, who had seen Presi- 
 dents along the generations, saw him, it seemed as 
 if it was almost a burlesque for such a man to as- 
 sume such a position. South Carolina seceded, and 
 finally bombarded Fort Sumter, and when that gal- 
 lant Kentuckian, Major Anderson, had to surrender 
 the fort and take down the Stars and Stripes, the 
 whole country seemed to take fire; call was made 
 by Mr. Lincoln for more troops and was responded 
 to. 
 
 The dark days had come. On July 21, 1 861, the 
 battle of Bull Run was fought. The last bond be- 
 tween the States was broken. The Southern troops 
 hurled back what they called "the Northern horde" 
 upon Washington. The day this battle was fought 
 I was at Frankfort, Kentucky, and it was a day long 
 to be remembered. The young men almost went 
 wild; and I heard, as the Confederate flag was 
 waved through the streets, such expressions as this, 
 "We'll follow that flag, and cheer it even in hell!" 
 Older men read the account of that battle with tears 
 streaming from their eyes; they had loved their 
 country, and they took a more serious view of what 
 was before them. I was an intensely Southern man. 
 
176 Old Ken lucky 
 
 by instinct and training, but I went off and read the 
 account of that battle with tears running down my 
 face. Most of the people could not comprehend 
 what that war would mean. 
 
 Preparations began to be made and companies 
 foiTned; and often from the same family, brothers, 
 who had been rocked in the same cradle, and who 
 would at any time have died for one another, sepa- 
 rated. Some went with the North and some with 
 the South. Neighborhoods were divided; even lov- 
 ers were divided; old neighbors, who had loved one 
 another, began to grow suspicious of one another, 
 and to take up arms to enter into one of the bloodiest 
 struggles in history. Beautiful, happy Kentucky was 
 in the midst of the storm. The oldest and most aris- 
 tocratic families furnished the first troops that went 
 from the State. Their sons, with hot blood in their 
 veins, could not be restrained. Nearly all the best 
 young men of the State went into the war. How 
 many can never be known, and they will never find 
 the resting-places of all her dead. They will never 
 mark the graves of perhaps half of them, for they 
 cannot be found. 
 
 Kentucky soon fell under the control of the North- 
 ern army. Fanaticism and hate raised to the surface 
 many common men who did their utmost to disin- 
 herit, disfranchise, and rob men of Southern senti- 
 ment who had gone out from the State, and the old 
 men who remained in the State; and it would be 
 hard to conceive of more infamous legislation than 
 was made while this party held its power in Ken- 
 tucky. But it is still more remarkable how soon this 
 outrageous legislation was done away with and wiped 
 out after the war closed, and men returned from 
 both arniies. One of the most pleasant things con- 
 nected with the change in these laws was that the 
 
Clouds 177 
 
 men who were bravest and fought hardest on the 
 Northern side immediately went to work to right the 
 wrongs and give every citizen his just rights. There 
 were noble men who came back from the Northern 
 army with the love for their old State and for their 
 fellow-citizens waiTn in their breasts; and it was not 
 long until you could scarcely discover in Kentucky 
 any personal feeling of hostility among those who 
 really took the most active part. Those who had 
 been the bravest on both sides during the war were 
 the first to strike hands in friendship when the strug- 
 gle was ended. A few cowards and cravens, who 
 took no part in the war, became very courageous and 
 bitter after it was over, but they got no sympathy 
 from the true men. Kentucky was soon in peace; 
 and there was marrying and inter-marrying between 
 those of Northern and Southern sentiment; and the 
 old State set out in her march of development and 
 improvement as she never had before; and had a 
 foreign war occurred every true soldier of the South 
 would have gone in for the defence of his country, 
 and, if need be, have cheerfully died in the trenches. 
 I can illustrate the general feeling among the 
 best men of the South, I think, by an incident in my 
 own life. I was called upon to make an address at 
 the Social Union, Tremont Temple, Boston, some 
 time after the war, and was introduced, by agree- 
 ment, as a "Rebel." I began by saying I was not 
 much of a Rebel like many were; that I only had a 
 light case of it; and for the moment I seemed to be 
 apologetic. I could see that some were delighted 
 with my seeming apology, while others seemed rather 
 disgusted. Finally I straightened up my six feet of 
 length and said, "I had it about this bad — If every 
 Blue-coat in America had been in one heap and a 
 magazine was placed under them, I would have 
 12 
 
178 Old Kentucky 
 
 crawled in and fired it. And before the war closed 
 I felt that should we be ovenvhelmed, I would rather 
 go and live with the root-digger Indians than to have 
 associated with you Yankees. I would have left no 
 stone unturned to help the Southern men ; but when 
 it was all over and calm reflection came to me, I 
 said, 'Thank God the country was not torn asunder, 
 and that we have a government that will protect 
 every inch of territory.' And if need be, to defend it, 
 I would crawl to Bunker Hill Monument, shedding 
 drops of blood all the way, and defend this country 
 with my life." I told them that my ancestors had 
 been in the Revolution; that they had fought in al- 
 most all the battles for the gaining of this country; 
 that a majority of them had been killed by the In- 
 dians in Kentucky. I told them that I loved every 
 inch of American soil, and that I would teach my 
 children, and those who came under my instiaiction, 
 to do the same. A great shout went up, "Thank 
 God for such Rebels!" 
 
 I give this as an illustration of how I believe the 
 best men in the South felt, and they have proved it 
 since. I said to those people that while I was thank- 
 ful for the results, there were wrongs that they had 
 committed and injustices which they had done us, 
 which they seemed readily to admit, for the spirit of 
 brotherhood had come to abide in this country. And 
 it gives me satisfaction to know that when the last 
 sun I shall see set shall go down, it will cast its dying 
 reflection, the last of the day, on a land the most 
 happy and prosperous the world has ever known. 
 
 While no one who has not seen the horrors of 
 battle and suffered the anguish that war brings can 
 fully understand it, there are many things brought 
 out in a war such as v/e had which give a higher ap- 
 preciation of the spirit of the American people. 
 
Clouds 179 
 
 There were many incidents which proved the per- 
 sonal kindness and sympathy which were found 
 among the men who were engaged in battle. There 
 seemed to be no personal animosity between the men ; 
 and when it was possible the soldiers of the two 
 armies would divide the last they had with their foes. 
 The truth is, many of the Southern soldiers were al- 
 most starved to death, and it was a mystery how long 
 they endured it. After the surrender at Vicksburg 
 and the Star Garrison had surrendered, everything 
 that the Yankees had was offered to the starving, and 
 every provision that could be was made for their 
 comfort. 
 
 The saddest sight I saw during the war was when 
 the wounded were brought in from the battlefield of 
 Shiloh. Not only were the wounded Southerners 
 brought In, but a great part of the Northern men. 
 Their suffering and distress would have melted the 
 hardest heart. For twenty-four hours, while trying 
 to minister to them, my eyes were scarcely dried 
 from tears, nor did I eat one mouthful or sleep one 
 minute. For the first few days they died so rapidly 
 they could scarcely be buried. There were many in- 
 cidents that might be recited, but I will only mention 
 the one that affected me most. 
 
 There was one young fellow, a splendid specimen 
 of manhood, from one of the New England States, 
 bright and handsome. I went to him to comfort 
 him; I forgot that he ever raised a gun against our 
 men. Fie said that he knew that he must soon die, 
 and die far from home among strangers; that his 
 father and mother perhaps would never know how 
 the end came; that he had been taught to love and 
 honor his mother's God. He felt that he died doing 
 his duty, and wanted, If possible, for me to get word 
 back and send some tender messages. I took a note 
 
i8o Old Ken lucky 
 
 of all this, hoping to carry out his last dying wish; 
 but there was no means of getting letters out at that 
 time, and there was scarcely any means of getting 
 letters during the entire war. My mother was dead 
 six months before I knew it, and my only sister nearly 
 a year before I learned of it. I could not get the 
 letter through, and in some way I lost the name, the 
 address, and the memoranda I had written, and I 
 have never been able to do what was in my heart to 
 do. There were thousands of these cases. 
 
 It has been said that war is hell; and there is no 
 question that war is horrible always. How near it 
 may be hell depends in a good measure upon whether 
 a demon's spirit leads the troops or not. It can be 
 much mitigated if conducted in a right spirit. But 
 many of the most tender incidents connected with 
 war never reach the public. The suffering of the 
 women and children scarcely ever gets into public 
 print, and little is said about it. Many of the 
 women and children had to be sent North, especially 
 from Alabama and Tennessee. At one time there 
 was estimated to be more than 500 little waifs, child- 
 ren of Southern soldiers who had been killed in the 
 war, in one building in Louisville. Many of them 
 were so small they did not even know the names of 
 their parents. The people of the State tried to pro- 
 vide as well as they could for them, and many found 
 good homes and perhaps will never know who their 
 parents were. 
 
 I had a lovely cousin, the wife of Rev. Thomas 
 Daniel, of Shelby County, Kentucky, who had no 
 children. She heard of the condition in Louisville, 
 and determined to go there to see if she could not find 
 a child for her home. It was upon her mind, and in 
 the night she dreamed that she saw these children 
 and saw the one she wanted. Next day she went to 
 
Clouds 1 8 1 
 
 the city, proceeded to seek children out, and looking 
 among them her eyes fell upon the picture given her 
 in her dream. She started forward and said, "That 
 is my child." The little one, only about three years 
 old, reached out to her and said, "This is my mam- 
 ma." My cousin took her to her home, and no 
 mother was ever more tender to her child than she 
 was to that one; and on her deathbed it was her re- 
 quest that I take that child, then about fifteen years 
 old, and educate and care for her, and she left her a 
 handsome competence. I educated her and saw her 
 married to one of the best men in the State. After 
 her marriage it came out, in some way, that her name 
 was Scott and that all her people had died, the last 
 of whom was her aged grandfather, who. had fol- 
 lowed her every day with his prayers. And God 
 surely answered those prayers, for no child ever had 
 a better home or better surroundings. Many, many 
 incidents of this character might be mentioned. 
 
 One I will give as it was given to me by Dr. Ford, 
 of Louisville. 
 
 Among the people sent back from the anriy was a 
 delicate woman with two children, aged about three 
 and five, the one a boy, the other a girl. When she 
 reached Louisville she was very feeble, and took a 
 room, where she tried to provide for her little ones. 
 She had taught them to have faith in God, and that 
 if she should ever leave them, to go and tell Him 
 what they wanted. Not long after she reached the 
 city, heartbroken, disease seized her and she died. 
 Some officials, who paid no attention to those little 
 children, for ever)'thing was confusion and such 
 things were common then, buried her. It was a 
 chilly night about the first of November, and hunger 
 impelled the children to go out and seek something 
 to eat. They wandered about tiie street until they 
 came in front of a restaurant. In the window they 
 
1 82 Old Kentucky 
 
 saw many things which attracted them, but which 
 they did not know how to get. The Httle girl said, 
 "Buddie, mamma said If we wanted anything to ask 
 Jesus; and let's kneel down and tell Him we want 
 bread." Some one passing noticed the movement, 
 heard the request for bread, and went in, got a loaf 
 of bread, and handed It to them, thinking they were 
 some street waifs who would be cared for. They 
 devoured the bread as they walked along the street, 
 and finally reached Walnut street walking hand In 
 hand. The little girl again suggested that they pray 
 for some place to sleep. They kneeled down on the 
 pavement, and just as they kneeled, a noble, good 
 man, walking along, reached them and thought he 
 would listen to what they had to say. This is what he 
 listen to what they had to say. This Is what he 
 heard, "Oh, Jesus, mamma said If we wanted any- 
 thing to ask you for it, and we have no- place to 
 sleep." As they rose this man took them by the 
 hand and said, "You shall have a place to sleep; 
 come with me." He took them to his comfortable 
 home nearby, and when he went In with them he told 
 his wife the circumstances. They had just lost their 
 little one and the cradle was empty. With that true 
 spirit of Kentucky hospitality and love, the childless 
 mother took them In her arms. She had them 
 bathed, dressed them In the clothes of her own dead 
 child, gave them supper, and then put them in a cosy 
 bed. The children had a sweet, restful night. In 
 the morning they were unwilling to awaken them. 
 While the wife played a soft piece of music on the 
 piano the man went and listened If he could hear any 
 sound. The music awoke them, and the little girl 
 said, "Brother, where are we? I reckon this Is 
 heaven." And it was indeed heaven to those little 
 bereaved children. From the best Information I can 
 get, they grew up as children of that family, and 
 were loving, Christian characters. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 KENTUCKIANS AND BORDERMEN 
 
 By Theodore Roosevelt 
 
 The American backwoodsmen had surged up, wave 
 upon wave, till their mass trembled in the troughs of 
 the AUeghanies, ready to flood the continent beyond. 
 The people threatened by them were dimly conscious 
 of the danger which as yet only loomed in the dis- 
 tance. Far off, among their quiet adobe villages, 
 in the sun-scorched lands by the Rio Grande, the slow 
 Indo-Iberian peons and their monkish masters still 
 walked in the tranquil steps of their fathers, ignorant 
 of the growth of power that was to overwhelm their 
 children and successors; but nearer by, Spaniard and 
 Creole Frenchmen, Algonquin and Appalachian, 
 were all uneasy as they began to feel the first faint 
 pressure of the American advance. 
 
 As yet they had been shielded by the forests which 
 lay over the land like an unrent mantle. All through 
 the mountains, and far beyond, it is stretched without 
 a break; but toward the mouth of the Kentucky and 
 Cumberland rivers the landscape became varied with 
 open groves of woodland, with flower-strewn glades 
 and great barrens or prairies of long grass. This 
 region, one of the fairest in the world, was the de- 
 batable ground between the northern and southern 
 Indians. Neither dared dwell therein, but both used 
 it as their hunting-grounds; and It was traversed 
 from end to end by the well-marked war traces w^hich 
 they followed when they invaded each other's terri- 
 tory. The whites, on tr}'ing to break through the 
 barrier which hemmed them in from the western 
 
184 Old Kentucky 
 
 lands, naturally succeeded best when pressing along 
 the line of least resistance; and so their first great 
 advance was made in this debatable land, where the 
 uncertainly defined hunting-grounds of the Cherokee, 
 Creek, and Chickasaw marched upon those of 
 Northern Algonquin and Wyandot. 
 
 Unknown and unnamed hunters and Indian traders 
 had from time to time pushed some little way into 
 the wilderness; and they had been followed by 
 others of whom we do indeed know the names, but 
 little more. One explorer had found and named the 
 Cumberland River and mountains, and the great pass 
 called Cumberland Gap. Others had gone far be- 
 yond the utmost limits this man had reached, and had 
 hunted in the great bend of the Cumberland and in 
 the woodland region of Kentucky, famed amongst the 
 Indians for the abundance of the game. But their 
 accounts excited no more than a passing interest; they 
 came and went without comment, as lonely stragglers 
 had come and gone for nearly a century. The back- 
 woods civilization crept slowly westward without 
 being influenced in its movements by their explora- 
 tions. 
 
 Finally, however, among these hunters one arose 
 whose wanderings were to bear fruit; who was des- 
 tined to lead through the wilderness the first body 
 of settlers that ever established a community in the 
 far west, completely cut off from the seaboard 
 colonies. This was Daniel Boone. He was born 
 in Pennsylvania in 1734, but when only a boy had 
 been brought with the rest of his family to the banks 
 of the Yadkin in North Carolina. Here he grew up, 
 and as soon as he came of age he married, built a 
 log hut, and made a clearing, whereon to farm like 
 the rest of his backwoods neighbors. They all tilled 
 their own clearings, guiding the plow among the 
 
Kentuckians and Bordermen 185 
 
 charred stumps left when the trees were chopped 
 down and the land burned over, and they were all, as 
 a matter of course, hunters. With Boone hunting 
 and exploration were passions, and the lonely life 
 of the wilderness, with its bold, wild freedom, the 
 only existence for which he really cared. He was a 
 tall, spare, sinewy man, with eyes like an eagle's, and 
 muscles that never tired; the toil and hardship of his 
 life made no impress on his iron frame, unhurt by 
 intemperance of any kind, and he lived for eighty- 
 six years, a backwoods hunter to the end of his days. 
 His thoughtful, quiet, pleasant face, so often por- 
 trayed, is familiar to every one; It was the face of 
 a man who never blustered or bullied, who would 
 neither inflict nor suffer any wrong, and who had a 
 limitless fund of fortitude, endurance, and indomit- 
 able resolution upon which to draw when fortune 
 proved adverse. His self-command and patience, 
 restless love of adventure, and, in time of danger, 
 his absolute trust in his own powers and resources, 
 all combined to render him peculiarly fitted to follow 
 the career of which he was so fond. 
 
 The way in which the southern part of our western 
 country — that Is, all the land south of the Ohio, and 
 from thence on to the Rio Grande and the Pacific — 
 was won and settled, stands quite alone. The region 
 north of It was filled up in a very different manner. 
 The Southwest, including therein what was once 
 called simply the West, and afterward the Middle 
 West, was won by the people themselves, acting as 
 Individuals, or as groups of individuals, who hewed 
 out their own fortunes In advance of any govern- 
 mental action. On the other hand, the Northwest, 
 speaking broadly, was acquired by the government, 
 the settlers merely taking possession of what the 
 whole country guaranteed them. The Northwest is 
 
1 86 Old Kentucky 
 
 essentially a national domain; it is fitting that it 
 should be, as it is, not only by position but by feeling, 
 the heart of the nation. 
 
 North of the Ohio the regular army went first. 
 The settlements grew up behind the shelter of the 
 Federal troops of Hannar, St. Clair and Wayne, 
 and of their successors even to our own day. The 
 wars in which the borderers themselves bore any 
 part were few and trifling compared to the contests 
 waged by the adventurers who won Kentucky, 
 Tennessee, and Texas. 
 
 In the Southwest the early settlers acted as their 
 own aiTny, and supplied both leaders and men. 
 Sevier, Robertson, Clark, and Boone led their fel- 
 low-pioneers to battle, as Jackson did afterward, 
 and as Houston did later still. Indeed the South- 
 westerners not only won their own soil for them- 
 selves, but they were the chief instruments in the 
 original acquisition of the Northwest also. Had it 
 not been for the conquest of the Illinois towns in 
 1779 we would probably never have had any North- 
 west to settle ; and the huge tract between the upper 
 Mississippi and the Columbia, then called Upper 
 Louisiana, fell into our hands, only because the Ken- 
 tuckians and the Tennesseeans were resolutely bent 
 on taking possession of New Orleans, either by bar- 
 gain or battle. All of our territory lying beyond the 
 Alleghanies, north and south, was the first won for us 
 by the Southwesterners, fighting for their own land. 
 The northern part was afterward filled up by the 
 thrifty, vigorous men of the Northeast, whose sons 
 became the real rulers as well as the preservers of 
 the Union; but these settlements of Northerners were 
 rendered possible only by the deeds of the nation as 
 a whole. They entered on land that the Southerners 
 had won, and they were kept there by the strong arm 
 
Kentuckians and Bordermen 187 
 
 of the Federal Government ; whereas the Southerners 
 owed most of their victories only to themselves. 
 
 The first-comers around Marietta did, it is true, 
 share to a certain extent in the dangers of the exist- 
 ing Indian wars; but their trials are not to be men- 
 tioned beside those endured by the early settlers of 
 Tennessee and Kentucky; and whereas these latter 
 themselves subdued and drove out their foes, the 
 former took but an insignificant part in the contest 
 by which the possession of their land was secured. 
 Besides, the strongest and most numerous Indian 
 tribes were in the Southwest. 
 
 The Southwest developed its civilization on Its 
 own lines, for good and for ill; the Northwest was 
 settled under the national ordinance of 1787, which 
 absolutely determined Its destiny, and thereby In the 
 end also determined the destiny of the whole nation. 
 Moreover, the Gulf coast, as well as the interior, 
 from the Mississippi to the Pacific, was held by for- 
 eign powers; while in the North this was only true 
 of the country between the Ohio and the Great Lakes 
 during the first years of the Revolution, until Ken- 
 tucky backwoodsmen conquered it. 
 
 The warlike borderers who thronged across the 
 Alleghanies, the restless and reckless hunters, the 
 hard, dogged frontier farmers, by dint of grim 
 tenacity overcame and displaced Indians, French, and 
 Spaniards alike; exactly as, fourteen hundred years 
 before, Saxon and Angle had overcome and displaced 
 Cymric and Gaelic Celts. They were led by no one 
 commander; they acted under orders from neither 
 king nor congress; they were not cari7lng out the 
 plans of any far-sighted leader. In obedience to the 
 instincts working half blindly within their breasts, 
 spurred ever onward by the fierce desires of their 
 eager hearts, they made in the wilderness homes for 
 
1 88 Old Kentucky 
 
 their children, and by sO' doing wrought out the des- 
 tinies of a continental nation. They warred and 
 settled from the high hill-valleys of the French Broad 
 and the Upper Cumberland to the half-tropical basin 
 of the Rio Grande, and to where the Golden Gate 
 lets through the long-heaving waters of the Pacific. 
 The story of how this was done forms a compact and 
 continuous whole. The fathers followed Boone or 
 fought at King's Mountain; the sons marched south 
 with Jackson to overcome the Creeks and beat back 
 the British; the grandsons died at Alamo or charged 
 to victory at San Jacinto. They were doing their 
 share of a work that began with the conquest of 
 Britain, that entered on its second and wider period 
 after the defeat of the Spanish Armada, that cul- 
 minated in the marvelous growth of the United 
 States. The winning of the West and Southwest is 
 a stage in the conquest of a continent. 
 
 Not only were the Indians very terrible in battle, 
 but they were cruel beyond all belief in victory ; and 
 the gloomy annals of border warfare are stained with 
 their darkest hues because it was a war in which help- 
 less women and children suffered the same hideous 
 fate that so often befell their husbands and fathers. 
 It was a war waged by savages against armed settlers, 
 whose families followed them into the wilderness. 
 Such a war is inevitably bloody and cruel; but the 
 inhuman love of cruelty for cruelty's sake, which 
 marks the red Indian above all other savages, ren- 
 dered these wars more terrible than any others. For 
 the hideous, unnamable, unthinkable tortures prac- 
 ticed by the red men on their captured foes, and on 
 their foes' tender women and helpless children, were 
 such as we read of in no other struggle, hardly even 
 in the revolting pages that tell the deeds of the Holy 
 Inquisition. It was inevitable — indeed it was in 
 
Kentiickiaiis ciud Bordermcn 189 
 
 many instances proper — that such deeds should awake 
 in the breasts of the whites the grimmest, wildest 
 spirit of revenge and hatred. 
 
 The history of the border wars, both in the ways 
 they were begun and in the ways they were waged, 
 makes a long tale of injuries inflicted, suffered, and 
 mercilessly revenged. Mercy, pity, magnanimity to 
 the fallen could not be expected from the frontiers- 
 men gathered together to war against an Indian tribe. 
 Almost every man of such a band had bitter personal 
 wrongs to avenge. He was not taking part in a war 
 against a civilized foe; he was fighting in a contest 
 where women and children suffered the fate of the 
 strong men, and instead of enthusiasm for his coun- 
 try's flag and a general national animosity toward 
 his enemies, he was actuated by a furious flame of 
 hot anger, and was goaded on by memories of which 
 merely to think was madness. His friends had been 
 treacherously slain while on messages of peace; his 
 house had been burned, his cattle driven off, and all 
 he had in the world destroyed before he knew that 
 war existed and when he felt quite guiltless of all 
 offence; his sweetheart or wife had been carried off, 
 ravished, and was at the moment the slave and con- 
 cubine of some dirty and biiital Indian warrior; his 
 son, the stay of his house, had been burned at the 
 stake with torments too horrible to mention ; his 
 sister, when ransomed and returned to him, had told 
 of the weary journey through the woods, when she 
 carried around her neck as a horrible necklace the 
 bloody scalps of her husband and children; seared 
 into his eyeballs, into his very brain, he bore ever with 
 him, waking or sleeping, the sight of the skinned, 
 mutilated, hideous body of the baby who had just 
 grown old enough to recognize him and to crow and 
 laugh when taken in his arms. Such incidents as 
 
190 Old Kcnliicky 
 
 these were not exceptional; one or more, and often 
 all of them, were the Invariable attendants of every 
 one of the countless Indian Inroads that took place 
 during the long generations of forest warfare. It 
 was small wonder that men who had thus lost every- 
 thing should sometimes be fairly crazed by their 
 wrongs. Again and again on the frontier we hear 
 of some such unfortunate who has devoted all the 
 remainder of his wretched life to the one object of 
 taking vengeance on the whole race of the men who 
 had darkened his days forever. 
 
 Our frontiers were pushed westwardly by the war- 
 like skill and adventurous personal prowess of the 
 Individual settlers; regular armies by themselves 
 could have done little. For one square mile the 
 regular armies added to our domain, the settlers 
 added ten — a hundred would probably be nearer the 
 truth, A race of peaceful, unwarlike farmers would 
 have been helpless before such foes as the red Indians, 
 and no auxiliary military force would have protected 
 them or enabled them to move westward. Colonists 
 fresh from the Old World, no matter how thrifty, 
 steady-going and Industrious, could not hold their 
 own on the frontier; they had to settle where they 
 were protected from the Indians by a living barrier 
 of bold and self-reliant American borderers. The 
 West would never have been settled save for the fierce 
 courage and the eager desire to brave danger so 
 characteristic of the stalwart backwoodsmen. 
 
 These armed hunters, woodchoppers, and farmers 
 were their own soldiers. They built and manned 
 their own forts; they did their own fighting under 
 their own commanders. There were no regiments 
 of regular troops along the frontier. In the event 
 of an Indian Inroad each borderer had to defend 
 himself until there was time for them all to gather 
 
Kentuckians and Bordcrmen 191 
 
 together to repel or avenge it. Every man was ac- 
 customed to the use of arms from his childhood; 
 when a boy was twelve years old he was given a 
 rifle and made a fort-soldier, with a loophole where 
 he was to stand if the station was attacked. The 
 war was never-ending, for even the times of so-called 
 peace were broken by forays and murders; a man 
 might grow from babyhood to middle-age on the 
 border, and yet never remember a year in which 
 some one of his neighbors did not fall a victim to the 
 Indians. 
 
 The Virginians were the only foes of the western 
 Indians really dreaded; for their backwoodsmen were 
 of warlike temper, and had learned to fight effective- 
 ly in the forest. The Indians styled them Long 
 Knives; or to be more exact, they called them col- 
 lectively the "Big Knife." There have been many 
 accounts given of the origin of this name, some 
 ascribing it to the long knives worn by the hunters 
 and backwoodsmen generally, others to the fact that 
 some of the noted Virginia fighters in their early 
 skirmishes were armed with swords. At any rate 
 the title was accepted by all the Indians as applying 
 to their most determined foes among the colonists; 
 and finally, after we had become a nation, was ex- 
 tended so as to apply to Americans generally. 
 
 The interests of the Virginians and Pennsylvanians 
 conflicted not only in respect to the ownership of the 
 line, but also in respect to the policy to be pursued 
 regarding the Indians. The former were armed 
 colonists, whose interest it was to get actual posses- 
 sion of the soil; whereas in Pennsylvania the Indian 
 trade was very important and lucrative, and the num- 
 erous traders to the Indian towns were anxious that 
 the redskins should remain in undisturbed enjoyment 
 of their forests, and that no w^hite man should be 
 
192 Old Kentucky 
 
 allowed to come among them ; moreover, so long as 
 they were able to make heavy profits, they were 
 utterly indifferent to the well-being of the white 
 frontiersmen, and in return incurred the suspicion and 
 hatred of the latter. The Virginians accused the 
 traders of being the main cause of the difficulty, as- 
 serting that they sometimes incited the Indians to 
 outrages, and always, even in the midst of hostilities, 
 kept them supplied with guns and ammunition, and 
 even bought from them the horses that they had 
 stolen on their plundering expeditions against the 
 Virginia border. These last accusations were un- 
 doubtedly justified, at least in great part, by the facts. 
 The interests of the white trader from Pennsylvania 
 and of the white settler from Virginia were so far 
 from being identical that they were usually diametri- 
 cally opposite. 
 
 The settlement of Kentucky was a much more ad- 
 venturous and hazardous proceeding than had been 
 the case with any previous westward extension of 
 population from the old colonies ; because Kentucky, 
 instead of abutting on already settled districts, was an 
 island in the wilderness, separated by two hundred 
 miles of unpeopled and almost impassable forest 
 from even the extreme outposts of the seacoast com- 
 monwealths. Hitherto every new settlement had 
 been made by the simple process of a portion of the 
 backwoods pioneers being thrust out in advance of 
 the others, while, nevertheless, keeping in touch with 
 them, and having their rear covered, as it were, by 
 the already colonized country. Now, for the first 
 time, a new community of pioneers sprang up, isolated 
 in the heart of the wilderness, and thrust far beyond 
 the uttermost limits of the old colonies, whose solid 
 mass lay along the Atlantic seaboard. The vast belt 
 of mountainous woodland that lay between was as 
 
Kentuckians and Bordermen 1^93 
 
 complete a barrier as If it had been a broad arm of 
 the ocean. The first American incomers to Kentucky- 
 were for several years almost cut off from the bulk 
 of their fellows beyond the forest-clad mountains. 
 They had come to settle on ground to which, as far 
 as it was possible, the Indian title had been by fair 
 treaty extinguished. They ousted no Indians from 
 the lands they took; they had had neither the chance 
 nor the wish to themselves do wrong; in their eyes 
 the attack on the part of the Indians was as wanton 
 as it was cruel; and in all probability this view was 
 correct, and their assailants were actuated more by 
 the desire for scalps and plunder than by resentment 
 at the occupation of the hunting grounds to which 
 they could have but little claim. In fact, throughout 
 the history of the discovery and first settlement of 
 Kentucky, the original outrages and murders were 
 committed by the Indians on the whites, and not by 
 the whites on the Indians. In the gloomy and fero- 
 cious wars that ensued, the wrongs done by each side 
 were many and great. 
 
 By the end of 1775 the Americans had gained 
 firm foothold in Kentucky. Cabins had been built 
 and clearings made; there were women and children 
 in the wooden forts, cattle grazed on the range, and 
 two or three hundred acres of corn had been sown 
 and reaped. There were perhaps some three hun- 
 dred men in Kentucky, a hardy, resolute, strenuous 
 band. They stood shoulder to shoulder in the wil- 
 derness, far from all help, surrounded by an over- 
 whelming number of foes. Each day's work was 
 fraught with danger as they warred with the wild 
 forces from which they wrung their living. Around 
 them on every side lowered the clouds of the im- 
 
 13 
 
194 Old Kentucky 
 
 pending death struggle with the savage lords of the 
 neighboring lands. 
 
 These backwoodsmen greatly resembled one an- 
 other; their leaders were but types of the rank and 
 file, and did not differ so very widely from them ; yet 
 two men stand out clearly from their fellows : above 
 the throng of woodchoppers, game-hunters, and In- 
 dian fighters loom the sinewy figures of Daniel Boone 
 and George Rogers Clark. 
 
 The men with families and the young men who 
 intended to make permanent homes formed the heart 
 of the community, the only part worth taking into 
 account. There was a steady though thin stream of 
 such immigrants, and they rapidly built up around 
 them a life not very unlike that which they had left 
 behind with their old homes. Even in 1776 there 
 was marrying and giving in marriage, and children 
 were born in Kentucky. The new-comers had to 
 settle in forts, where the young men and maidens had 
 many chances for courtship. They married early 
 and were as fruitful as they were hardy. Most of 
 these marriages were civil contracts, but some may 
 have been solemnized by clergymen, for the common- 
 wealth received from the outset occasional visits from 
 ministers. 
 
 These ministers belonged to different denomina- 
 tions, but were all sure of a hearing. The back- 
 woodsmen were forced by their surroundings to exer- 
 cise a grudging charity toward the various forms of 
 religious belief entertained among themselves — 
 though they hated and despised French and Spanish 
 Catholics, when off in the wilderness they were 
 obliged to take a man for what he did, not for what 
 he thought. Of course there were instances to the 
 contrary, and there is an amusing and authentic 
 story of two hunters, living alone and far from any 
 
Kenluck'uuis cuid Bordcnucn 195 
 
 settlement, who quarreled because one was a Catholic 
 and the other a Protestant. The scceder took up his 
 abode in a hollow tree within speaking distance of 
 his companion's cabin. Every day on arising they 
 bade each other good-morning; but not another word 
 passed between them for the many months during 
 which they saw no other white face. There was a 
 single serious and important, albeit only partial, ex- 
 ception to this general iiile of charity. After the 
 outbreak of the Rcv^olution, the Kentuckians, in com- 
 mon with other backwoodsmen, grew to thoroughly 
 dislike one religious body which they already dis- 
 trusted; this was the Church of England, the Episco- 
 pal Church. They long regarded it as merely the 
 persecuting ecclesiastical arm of the British Govern- 
 ment. Such of them as had been brought up in any 
 faith at all had for the most part originally professed 
 some form of Calvinism; they had very probably 
 learned their letters from a primer which in one of 
 its rude cuts represented John Rogers at the stake, 
 surrounded by his wife and several children, and in 
 after lives they were more familiar with the "Pil- 
 grim's Progress" than with any other book save the 
 Bible; so that it w^as natural for them to distmst the 
 successors of those who had persecuted Rogers and 
 Bunyan. Still, the border communities were, as 
 times then went, very tolerant In religious matters; 
 and of course most of the men had no chance to dis- 
 play, or indeed to feel, sectarianism of any kind, for 
 they had no issue to join, and rarely a church about 
 which to rally. 
 
 By the time Kentucky was settled the Baptists had 
 begun to make headway on the frontier, at the ex- 
 pense of the Presbyterians. The rough democracy 
 of the border welcomed a sect which was Itself es- 
 sentially democratic. To many of the backwoods- 
 
196 Old Kentucky 
 
 men's prejudices, notably their sullen and narrow hos- 
 tilit}^ toward all rank, whether or not based on merit 
 and learning, the Baptist's creed appealed strongly. 
 Where their preachers obtained foothold, it was 
 made a matter of reproach to the Presbyterian cler- 
 gymen that they had been educated in early life for 
 the ministry as a profession. The love of liberty, 
 and the defiant assertion of equality, so universal in 
 the backwoods, and so excellent in themselves, some- 
 times took very warped and twisted forms, notably 
 when they betrayed the backwoodsmen into the belief 
 that the true democratic spirit forbade any exclusive 
 and especial training for the professions that produce 
 soldiers, statesmen, or ministers. 
 
 The fact that the Baptist preachers were men 
 exactly similar to their fellows in all their habits of 
 life, not only gave them a good standing at once, but 
 likewise enabled them veiy early tO' visit the farthest 
 settlements, traveling precisely like other backwoods- 
 men; and once there, each preacher, each earnest 
 professor, doing bold and fearless missionary work, 
 became the nucleus round which a little knot of true 
 believers gathered. 
 
 The early settlers of course had to suffer great 
 hardship even when they reached Kentucky. The 
 only two implements the men invariably carried were 
 the axe and rifle, for they were almost equally proud 
 of their skill as warriors, hunters, and woodchoppers. 
 Next in importance came the sickle or scythe. The 
 first three tasks of the pioneer farmer were to build 
 a cabin, to make a clearing — burning the brush, cut- 
 ting down the small trees, and girdling the large — 
 and to plant corn. Until the crop ripened he hunted 
 steadily, and his family lived on the abundant game, 
 save for which it would have been wholly impossible 
 to settle Kentucky so early. If it was winter-time, 
 
Kentuckians aftd Bordermen 197 
 
 however, all the wild meat was very lean and poor 
 eating, unless by chance a bear was found in a hollow 
 tree, when there was a royal feast, the breast of 
 the wild turkey serving as a substitute for bread. If 
 the men were suddenly called away by an Indian 
 inroad, their families sometimes had to live for days 
 on boiled tops of green nettles. Naturally the chil- 
 dren watched the growth of the tasseled corn with 
 hungry eagerness until the milky ears were fit for 
 roasting. When they hardened, the grains were 
 pounded into hominy in the hominy-block, or else 
 ground into meal in the rough hand-mill, made of 
 two limestones in a hollow sycamore log. Until flax 
 could be grown, the women were obliged to be con- 
 tent with lint made from the bark of dead nettles. 
 This was gathered in the spring-time by all the people 
 of a station acting together, a portion of the men 
 standing guard while the rest, with the women and 
 children, plucked the dead stalks. 
 
 In the West the War of the Revolution was an 
 effort on the part of Great Britain to stop the west- 
 ward growth of the English race in America, and 
 to keep the region beyond the i\lleghenies as a 
 region where only savages should dwell. 
 
 All through the winter of '76-'77 the northwestern 
 Indians were preparing to take up the tomahawk. 
 Runners were sent through the leafless, frozen woods 
 from one to another of their winter camps. In each 
 bleak, frail village, each snow-hidden cluster of bark 
 wigwams, the painted, half-naked warriors danced 
 the war dance, and sang the war song, beating the 
 ground with their war clubs and keeping time with 
 their feet to the rhythmic chant as they moved in 
 rings round the peeled post, into which they struck 
 their hatchets. The hereditary sachem, the peace 
 chiefs, could no longer control the young men. The 
 
198 Old Kentucky 
 
 braves made ready, the plumes of the war eagle were 
 braided Into their long scalp locks, and some put on 
 necklaces of bear's claws, and head-dresses made of 
 panther skin, or of the shaggy and horned frontlet 
 of the buffalo. Before the snow was off the ground 
 the war parties crossed the Ohio and fell on the 
 frontiers from the Monongahela and Kanawha to the 
 Kentucky. 
 
 On the Pennsylvania and Virginia frontiers the 
 panic was tremendous. The people fled into the 
 already existing forts, or hastily built others; where 
 there were but two or three families in a place, they 
 merely gathered into block-houses — stout log-cabins 
 two stories high, with loop-holed walls, and the upper 
 story projecting a little over the lower. The savages, 
 well armed with weapons supplied them from the 
 British arsenals on the Great Lakes, spread over the 
 country; and there ensued all the horrors incident to 
 a war waged as relentlessly against the most help- 
 less non-combatants as against the armed soldiers in 
 the field. Block-houses were surprised and burnt; 
 bodies of militia were ambushed and destroyed. The 
 settlers were shot down as they sat by their hearth- 
 stones in the evening, or ploughed the ground during 
 the day; the lurking Indians crept up and killed them 
 while they still-hunted the deer, or w^hile they lay in 
 wait for the elk beside the well-beaten game trails. 
 
 The captured women and little ones were driven 
 off to the far interior. The weak among them, the 
 young children, and the women heavy with child, 
 were tomahawked and scalped as soon as their steps 
 faltered. The able-bodied, \v\\o could stand the 
 terrible fatigue, and reached their journey's end, 
 suffered various fates. Some were burned at the 
 stake, others were sold to the French or British 
 traders, and long afterward made their escape, or 
 
Kentuckians and Bordermen 199 
 
 were ransomed by their relatives. Still others were 
 kept in the camps, the women becoming the slaves 
 or wives of the warriors, while the children were 
 adopted into the tribe, and grew up precisely like 
 their little red-skinned playmates. 
 
 Seventeen hundred and eighty-two proved to be 
 Kentucky's year of blood. The British at Detroit had 
 strained every nerve to drag into the war the entire 
 Indian population of the Northwest. They had 
 finally succeeded in arousing even the most distant 
 tribes — not to speak of the twelve thousand savages 
 immediately tributary to Detroit. So lavish had 
 been the expenditure of money and presents to se- 
 cure the good-will of the savages and enlist their 
 active services against the Americans, that it had 
 caused serious complaint at headquarters. 
 
 Early in the spring the Indians renewed their 
 forays; horses were stolen, cabins burned, and 
 women and children were carried oft captive. The 
 people were confined closely to their stockaded forts, 
 from which small bands of riflemen sallied to patrol 
 the country. From time to time these encountered 
 marauding parties, and in the fights that followed 
 sometimes the whites, sometimes the reds were vic- 
 torious. 
 
 One of these conflicts attracted wide attention on 
 the border because of the obstinacy with which it was 
 waged, and the bloodshed that accompanied it. In 
 March a party of twenty-five Wyandots came Into the 
 settlements, passed Boonesborough, and killed and 
 scalped a girl within sight of Estill's Station. The 
 men from the latter, also to the number of twenty- 
 five, hastily gathered under Captain Estill, and after 
 two days' hot pursuit overtook the Wyandots. A fair 
 stand-up fight followed, the better marksmanship of 
 the whites being oftset, as so often before, by the 
 
200 Old Kentucky 
 
 superiority their foes showed in sheltering them- 
 selves. At last victoi-y declared for the Indians. 
 Estill had despatched a lieutenant and seven men to 
 get arounci the Wyandots and assail them in the rear; 
 but either the lieutenant's heart or his judgment 
 failed him, he took too long, and meanwhile the 
 Wyandots closed in on the others, killed nine, includ- 
 ing Estill, and wounding four, who, with their un- 
 hurt companions, escaped. It is said that the Wyan- 
 dots themselves suffered heavily. 
 
 These various ravages and skirmishes were but the 
 prelude to a far more serious attack. In July the 
 British captains Caldwell and McKee came down 
 from Detroit with a party of rangers, and gathered 
 together a great army of over a thousand Indians — 
 the largest body of either red men or white that 
 was ever mustered west of the Alleghanies during 
 the Revolution. They meant to strike at Wheeling; 
 but while on their march thither were suddenly 
 alarmed by the rumor that Clark intended to attack 
 the Shawnee towns. They at once countermarched, 
 but on reaching the threatened towns found that the 
 alarm had been groundless. Most of the savages, 
 with characteristic fickleness of temper, then declined 
 to go farther; but a body of somewhat over three 
 hundred Hurons and lake Indians remained. With 
 these, and their Detroit rangers, Caldwell and Mc- 
 Kee crossed the Ohio and marched into Kentucky, 
 to attack the small forts of Fayette County. 
 
 Fayette lay between the Kentucky and the Ohio 
 rivers, and was then the least populous and most 
 exposed of the three counties into which the grow- 
 ing young commonwealth was divided. In 1782 
 it contained but five of the small stockaded towns in 
 which all the early settlers were obliged to gather. 
 The best-defended and most central was Lexington, 
 
Kentuckians and Bordermen 201 
 
 round which were grouped the other four — Bryan's 
 (which was the largest), McGee's, McConnell's, 
 Boone's. Boone's Station, sometimes called Boone's 
 New Station, where the tranquil, resolute old pioneer 
 at that time dwelt, must not be confounded with his 
 former fort of Boonesborough, from which it was 
 several miles distant, north of the Kentucky. Since 
 the destruction of Martin's and Ruddle's stations on 
 the Licking, Bryan's on the south bank of the Elk- 
 horn was left as the northernmost outpost of the 
 settlers. Its stout, loopholed palisades enclosed 
 some forty cabins, there were strong block-houses at 
 the corners, and it was garrisoned by fifty good rifle- 
 men. 
 
 These five stations were held by backwoodsmen of 
 the usual Kentucky stamp, from the up-country of 
 Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina. Gen- 
 erations of frontier life had made them with their 
 fellows the most distinctive and typical Americans 
 on the continent, utterly different from their Old- 
 World kinsfolk. 
 
 Throughout June and July the gunboat patrolled 
 the Ohio, going up to the Licking. Parties of back- 
 woods riflemen, embodied as militia, likewise pa- 
 troled the woods, always keeping their scouts and 
 spies well spread out, and exercising the greatest care 
 to avoid being surprised. They greatly hampered 
 the Indian war bands, but now and then the latter 
 slipped by and fell on the people they protected. 
 Early in August such a band committed some rava- 
 ges south of the Kentucky, beating back with loss a 
 few militia who followed It. Some of the Fayette 
 men were about setting forth to try and cut off Its 
 retreat w^hen the sudden and unlooked-for approach 
 of Caldwell and McKee's great war party obliged 
 them to bend all their energies to their own defence. 
 
202 Old Kentucky 
 
 The blow fell on Bryan's Station. The rangers 
 and warriors moved down through the forest with 
 the utmost speed and stealth, hoping to take this, the 
 northernmost of the stockades, by surprise. If they 
 had succeeded, Lexington and the three smaller 
 stations north of the Kentucky would probably like- 
 wise have fallen. 
 
 The attack was made early on the morning of the 
 1 6th of August. Some of the settlers were in the 
 corn-fields, and the rest inside the palisades of stand- 
 ing logs; they were preparing to follow the band of 
 marauders who had gone south of the Kentucky. A 
 few outlying Indian spies were discovered, owing to 
 their eagerness; and the whites being put on their 
 guard, the attempt to carry the fort by the first rush 
 was, of course, foiled. Like so many other sta- 
 tions, — but unlike Lexington, — Bryan's had no 
 spring within its walls, and as soon as there was 
 reason to dread an attack it became a matter of vital 
 importance to lay in a supply of water. It was 
 feared that to send the men to the spring would 
 arouse suspicion in the minds of the hiding savages; 
 and, accordingly, the women went down with their 
 pails and buckets as usual. The younger girls 
 showed some nervousness, but the old housewives 
 marshalled them as coolly as possible, talking and 
 laughing together, and by their unconcern completely 
 deceived the few Indians who were lurking nearby — 
 for the main body had not yet come up. This ad- 
 vance guard of savages feared that, if they attacked 
 the women, all chance of surprising the fort would 
 be lost; and so the water-carriers were suffered to 
 go back unharmed. Hardly were they within the 
 fort, however, when some of the Indians found that 
 they had been discovered, and the attack began so 
 quickly that one or two of the men who had lingered 
 
Kentuckians and Bordermen 203 
 
 in the corn-fields were killed, or else were cut off and 
 fled to Lexington; while, at the same time, swift- 
 footed runners were sent out to carry the alarm to 
 the different stockades, and summon their riflemen 
 to the rescue. 
 
 At first but a few Indians appeared, on the side of 
 the Lexington road; they whooped and danced de- 
 fiance to the fort, evidently inviting an attack. Their 
 purpose was to lure the defenders into sallying out 
 after them, when their main body was to rush at the 
 stockade from the other side. But they did not suc- 
 ceed in deceiving the veteran Indian fighters who 
 manned the heavy gates of the fort, stood behind 
 the loopholed walls, or scanned the country round 
 about from the high block-houses at the corners. A 
 dozen active young men were sent out on the Lexing- 
 ton road to carry on a mock skirmish with the decoy 
 party, while the rest of the defenders gathered be- 
 hind the wall on the opposite side. As soon as a 
 noisy but harmless skirmish had been begim by the 
 sallying party, the main body of warriors burst out 
 of the woods and rushed toward the western gate. A 
 single volley from the loop-holes drove them back, 
 while the sallying party returned at a run and en- 
 tered the Lexington gate unharmed, laughing at the 
 success of their counter-stratagem. 
 
 The Indians surrounded the fort, each crawling up 
 as close as he could find shelter behind some stump, 
 tree or fence. An irregular fire began, the whites, 
 who were better covered, having slightly the ad- 
 vantage, but neither side suffering much. This lasted 
 for several hours, until early in the afternoon a party 
 from Lexington suddenly appeared and tried to force 
 its way into the fort. 
 
 The runners who slipped out of the fort at the first 
 alarm went straight to Lexington. There they found 
 
204 Old Kentucky 
 
 that the men had just started out to cut off the re- 
 treat of the marauding savages who were ravaging 
 south of the Kentucky. Following their trail they 
 speedily overtook the troops, and told of the attack 
 on Bryan's. Instantly forty men under Major Levi 
 Todd countermarched to the rescue. Being ignorant 
 of the strength of the Indians they did not wait for 
 the others, but pushed boldly forward, seventeen be- 
 ing mounted and the others on foot. 
 
 The road from Lexington to Bryan's for the last 
 few hundred yards lay beside a field of growing 
 corn taller than a man. Some of the Indians were 
 lying in this field when they were surprised by the 
 sudden appearance of the rescuers, and promptly 
 fired on them. Levi Todd and the horesmen, who 
 were marching in advance, struck spurs into their 
 steeds, and galloping hard through the dust and 
 smoke reached the fort in safety. The footmen were 
 quickly forced to retreat toward Lexington; but the 
 Indians were too surprised by the unlooked-for ap- 
 proach to follow, and they escaped with the loss of 
 one man killed and three wounded. 
 
 That night the Indians tried to burn the fort, 
 shooting flaming arrows onto the roofs of the cabins 
 and rushing up to the wooden wall with lighted 
 torches. But they were beaten off at each attempt. 
 When day broke they realized that it was hopeless 
 to make any further effort, though they still kept up 
 a desultory fire on the fort's defenders; they had 
 killed most of the cattle and pigs, and some of the 
 horses, and had driven away the rest. 
 
 Girty, who was among the assailants, as a last 
 shift, tried to get the garrison to surrender, assuring 
 them that the Indians were hourly expecting rein- 
 forcements, including the artillery brought against 
 Ruddle's and Martin's stations two years previously; 
 
Kentttckiaus and Bordermen 205 
 
 and that if forced to batter down the walls no quar- 
 ter would be given to any one. Among the fort's de- 
 fenders was young Aaron Reynolds, the man whose 
 profanity formerly roused Captain Patterson's ire; 
 and he now undertook to be spokesman for the rest. 
 Springing into sight he answered Girty in the tone 
 of rough banter so dear to the backwoodsmen, tell- 
 ing the renegade that he knew him well, and de- 
 spised him; that the men in the fort feared neither 
 cannon nor reinforcements, and, if need be, could 
 drive Girty's tawny followers back from the walls 
 with switches; and he ended by assuring him that 
 the whites, too, were expecting help, for the coun- 
 try was roused, and if the renegade and his followers 
 dared to linger where they were for another twenty- 
 four hours, their scalps would surely be sun-dried 
 on the roofs of the cabins. 
 
 The Indians knew well that the riflemen were mus- 
 tering at all the neighboring forts; and as soon as 
 their effort to treat failed, they withdrew during 
 the forenoon of the 17th. They were angry and 
 sullen at their discomfiture. Five of their number 
 had been killed and three wounded. Among the 
 children within its walls during the siege there was 
 one, the youngest, a Kentucky-born baby, named 
 Richard Johnson; over thirty years later he led the 
 Kentucky mounted riflemen at the victory of the 
 Thames, when they killed not only the great Indian 
 chief Tccumsch, but also, it is said, the implacable 
 renegade Simon Girty himself, then in extreme old 
 age. 
 
 Extract of a letter from Captain Caldwell, dated 
 at Wakitamiki, August 26, 1782, giving British 
 account : 
 
 When I last had the pleasure of writing you, I expected 
 to have struck at Wheeling as I was on my march for that 
 
2o6 Old Kentucky 
 
 place, but was overtaken by a Messenj^er from the Shaw necs, 
 who informed me that the Enemy \vas on their march for 
 their countr\', which oblifj^ed me to turn their way, and to 
 my great mortification found the alarm false & that it was 
 owing to a Gondals coming up to the mouth of Licking 
 Creek, and landing some men upon the south side of the 
 Ohio which when the Indians saw supposed it must be 
 Clark. It would have been a lucky circumstance if they 
 had come on, as I had eleven hundred Indians on the ground, 
 and three hundred within a day's march of me. When the 
 Report w^as contradicted They mostly left us, many of them 
 had left their towns no way equipped for war, as they ex- 
 pected as well as myself to fight in a few days, notwith- 
 standing I was determined to pay the Enemy a visit with 
 as many Indians as would follow me: accordingly I crossed 
 the Ohio with three hundred Indians and Rangers and 
 marched for Br3'ants Station on Kentucky, and surrounded 
 the fort the 15th in the morning, & tried to draw" 'em out 
 by sending up a small party to try to take a prisoner and 
 shew themselves, but the Indians were in too great a hurry 
 and the whole shewed too soon — I then saw it was in vain 
 to wait any longer and so drew nigh the fort, burnt three 
 Houses which are part of the Fort but the wind being con- 
 trary prevented it having the desired effect. Killed upwards 
 of 300 Hogs, 150 head of Cattle, and a number of Sheep, 
 took a number of Horses, pull'd up and destroyed their 
 potatoes, cut down a great deal of their corn, burn't their 
 hemp and did other considerable damage—by the Indians ex- 
 posing themselves too much wc had 5 Killed and 2 Wounded. 
 
 By the summer of 1790 the raids of the Indians 
 had become iinhearable. Fresh robberies and mur- 
 ders were committed every day in Kentucky, or along 
 the Wabash and Ohio. Writing tO' the Secretary of 
 War, a prominent Kentucklan, well knowing all the 
 facts, estim.ated that during the seven years which 
 had elapsed since the close of the Revolutionary War 
 the Indians had slain fifteen hundred people in Ken- 
 tucky itself, or on the immigrant routes leading 
 thither, and had stolen twenty thousand horses, be- 
 sides destroying immense quantities of other prop- 
 
Kenltickians and Bordermen 207 
 
 crty. The Federal generals were also urgent in as- 
 serting the folly of cari7ing on a merely defensive 
 war against such foes. All the efforts of the Federal 
 authorities to make treaties with the Indians and 
 persuade them to be peaceful had failed. The In- 
 dians themselves had renewed hostilities, and the dif- 
 ferent tribes had one by one joined in the war, be- 
 having with a treachery only equalled by their fe- 
 rocity. With great reluctance the National Govern- 
 ment concluded that an effort to chastise the hostile 
 savages could no longer be delayed; and those on 
 the Maumee, or Miami of the Lakes, and on the 
 Wabash, whose guilt had been peculiarly heinous, 
 were singled out as the objects of attack. 
 
 The expedition against the Wabash tov/ns was led 
 by the Federal commander at Vincenncs, Major 
 Hamtranck. No resistance was encountered; and 
 after burning a few villages of bark huts and de- 
 stroying some corn he returned to Vincennes. 
 
 The main expedition was that against the Miami 
 Indians, and was led by General Harmar himself. 
 It was arranged that there should be a nucleus of 
 regular troops, but that the force should consist 
 mainly of militia from Kentucky and Pennsylvania, 
 the former furnishing twice as many as the latter. 
 The troops were to gather on the 15th of September 
 at Fort Washington, on the north bank of the Ohio, 
 a day's journey down-stream from Limestone. 
 
 Nevertheless, the net result was a mortifying fail- 
 ure. In all, the regulars had lost 75 men killed and 
 3 wounded, while of the militia 28 had been wounded 
 and 108 had been killed or were missing. The 
 march back was very dreary; and the militia became 
 nearly ungovernable, so that at one time Hannar 
 reduced them to order only by threatening to fire 
 on them with the artillery. 
 
2o8 Old Kentucky 
 
 The loss of all their provisions and dwellings ex- 
 posed the Miami tribes to severe suffering and want 
 during the following winter; and they had also lost 
 many of their warriors. But the blow was only se- 
 vere enough to anger and unite them, not to cripple 
 or crush them. All the other western tribes made 
 common cause with them. They banded together 
 and warred openly; and their vengeful forays in- 
 creased in number, so that the suffering of the settlers 
 was great. Along the Ohio people lived in hourly 
 dread of the tomahawk and scalping knife; the at- 
 tacks fell unceasingly on all the settlements from 
 Marietta to Louisville. 
 
 The West had grown with astonishing rapidity 
 during the seven years following the close of the 
 Revolutionary war. In 1790 there were in Ken- 
 tucky nearly seventy-four thousand, and in the South- 
 west Territory nearly thirty-six thousand souls. 
 
 The conduct of the Americans in the years which 
 closed with Wayne's treaty did not shine very 
 brightly; but the conduct of the British was black, 
 indeed. On the Northwestern frontier they behaved 
 in a way which can scarcely be too harshly stigma- 
 tized. This does not apply to the British civil and 
 military officers at the Lake posts; for they were 
 merely doing their duty as they saw it, and were 
 fronting their foes bravely, while with loyal zeal they 
 strove to carry out what they understood to be the 
 policy of their superiors. The ultimate responsibility 
 rested with their superiors, the Crown's high advis- 
 ers, and the King and Parliament they represented. 
 Their treatment both of the Indians, whom they pro- 
 fessed to protect, and of the Americans, with whom 
 they professed to be friendly, forms one of the dark- 
 est pages in the annals of the British in America. 
 Yet they have been much less severely blamed for 
 
Kentuckians and Bordermen 209 
 
 their behavior in this matter, than for more excusable 
 offences. American historians, for example, usually 
 condemn them without stint because in 18 14 the 
 army of Ross and Cockburn burned and looted the 
 public buildings of Washington; but by rights they 
 should keep all their condemnation for their own 
 country, so far as the taking of Washington is con- 
 cerned; for the sin of burning a few public buildings 
 is as nothing compared with the cowardly infamy of 
 which the politicians of the stripe of Jefferson and 
 Madison, and the people whom they represented, 
 were guilty in not making ready by sea and land to 
 protect their capital and in not exacting full revenge 
 for its destruction. 
 
 The count against the British on the Northwest- 
 ern frontier is, not that they insisted on their rights, 
 but that they were guilty of treachery to both friend 
 and foe. The success of the British was incompat- 
 ible with the good of mankind in general, and of 
 the English-speaking races in particular; for they 
 strove to prop up savager)^ and to bar the westward 
 march of the settler-folk whose destiny it was to 
 make ready the continent for civilization. But the 
 British cannot be seriously blamed because they 
 failed to see this. Their fault lay in their aiding and 
 encouraging savages in a warfare which was neces- 
 sarily horrible; and still more in their repeated 
 breaches of faith. The horror and the treachery 
 were the inevitable outcome of the policy on which 
 they had embarked ; it can never be otherwise when 
 a civilized government endeavors to use, as allies in 
 war, savages whose acts it cannot control and for 
 whose welfare it has no real concern. 
 
 Doubtless the statesmen who shaped the policy 
 of Great Britain never deliberately intended to 
 
 14 
 
2IO Old Kentucky 
 
 break faith, and never fully realized the awful na- 
 ture of the Indian warfare for which they were in 
 part responsible; they thought very little of the mat- 
 ter at all in the years which saw the beginning of 
 their stupendous stniggle with France. But the acts 
 of their obscure agents on the far interior frontier 
 were rendered necessary and inevitable by their 
 policy. To encourage the Indians to hold their own 
 against the Americans, and to keep back the settlers, 
 meant to encourage a war of savagery against the 
 border vanguard of white civilization; and such a 
 war was sure to teem with fearful deeds. Moreover, 
 where the interests of the British crown were so 
 manifold it was idle to expect that the Crown's ad- 
 visers would treat as of much weight the welfare of 
 the scarcely known tribes whom their agents had 
 urged to enter a contest which was hopeless except 
 for British assistance. The British statesmen were 
 engaged in gigantic schemes of warfare and diplo- 
 macy; and to them the Indians and the frontiers- 
 men alike were pawns on a great chessboard, to be 
 sacrificed whenever necessary. When the British au- 
 thorities deemed it likely that there would be war 
 with America, the tribes were incited to take up the 
 hatchet; when there seemed a chance of peace with 
 America the deeds of the tribes were disowned; and 
 peace was finally assured by a cynical abandonment 
 of their red allies. In short, the British, while pro- 
 fessing peace with the Americans, treacherously in- 
 cited the Indians to war against them; and, when 
 it suited their own interests, they treacherously 
 abandoned their Indian allies to the impending ruin. 
 Most important of all, the slavery question, which 
 aftei-ward rived in sunder the men west of the Alle- 
 ghanies as it rived it asunder those east of them, was 
 of small importance in the early years. West of the 
 
Kentuckiatis and Bordermcn 211 
 
 Allcghanics slaves were still to be found almost 
 everywhere, while almost ever}'where there were also 
 frequent and open expressions of slavery. The 
 Southerners still rather disliked slavery^, while the 
 Northerners did not as yet feel any very violent an- 
 tagonism to it. In the Indiana Territory there were 
 hundreds of slaves, the property of the old French 
 inhabitants and of the American settlers who had 
 come there prior to 1787; and the majority of the 
 population of this Territory actually wished to re- 
 introduce slavery, and repeatedly petitioned Congress 
 to be allowed the reintroduction. Congress, with 
 equal patriotism and wisdom, always refused the pe- 
 tition ; but it was not until the new century was well 
 under way that the anti-slavery element obtained con- 
 trol in Indiana and Illinois. Even in Ohio there 
 was a considerable party which favored the intro- 
 duction of slavery, and though the majority was 
 against this, the people had small sympathy with the 
 negroes, and passed very severe laws against the in- 
 troduction of free blacks into the State, and even 
 against those already in residence therein. On the 
 other hand, when Kentucky's first constitutional con- 
 vention sat, a resolute effort was made to abolish 
 slavery within the State, and this effort was only de- 
 feated after a hard struggle and a close vote. To 
 their honor be it said that all of the clergymen — 
 three Baptists, one Methodist, one Dutch Reformed, 
 and one Presbyterian — who were members of the 
 constitutional convention, voted in favor of the aboli- 
 tion of slaverv^ In Tennessee no such effort was 
 made, but the leaders of thought did not hesitate to 
 express their horror of slaver}- and their desire that 
 it might be abolished. There was no sharp differ- 
 ence between the attitudes of the Northwestern and 
 the Southwestern States toward slavery. 
 
212 Old Kentucky 
 
 North and South alike, the ways of life were sub- 
 stantially the same; though there were differences, 
 of course, and these differences tended to become 
 accentuated. Thus, in the Mississippi Territory the 
 planters, in the closing years of the century, began 
 to turn their attention to cotton instead of devoting 
 themselves to the crops of their brethren farther 
 north; and cotton soon became their staple product. 
 But as yet the typical settler everywhere was a man 
 of the axe and rifle, the small pioneer farmer who 
 lived by himself, with his wife and his swarming 
 children, on a big tract of wooded land, perhaps 
 three or four hundred acres in extent. Of this three 
 or four hundred acres he rarely cleared more than 
 eight or ten ; and these were cleared imperfectly. 
 On this clearing he tilled the soil, and there he lived 
 in his rough log house with but one room, or at most 
 two and a loft. 
 
 The man of the Western waters was essentially a 
 man who dwelt alone in the midst of the forest on 
 his rude little farm, and who' eked out his living by 
 hunting. Game still abounded everywhere, save in 
 the immediate neighborhood of the towns; so that 
 many of the inhabitants lived almost exclusively by 
 hunting and fishing, and, with their return to the 
 pursuits of savagery, adopted not a little of the sav- 
 age idleness and thriftlessness. Bear, deer, and tur- 
 key were staple foods. Elk had ceased to be com- 
 mon, though they hung on here and there in out of 
 the way localities for many years; and by the close 
 of the century the herds of bison had been driven 
 west of the Mississippi. Smaller forms of wild life 
 swarmed. Gray squirrels existed in such incredible 
 numbers that they caused very serious damage to the 
 crops, and at one time the Kentucky Legislature 
 passed a bill imposing upon every male over sixteen 
 
Kenluckicuis and Bordermen 213 
 
 years of age the duty of killing a certain number of 
 squirrels and crows every year. The settlers pos- 
 sessed horses and horned cattle, but only a few sheep, 
 which were not fitted to fight for their own existence 
 in the woods, as the stock had to. On the other 
 hand, slab-sided, long-legged hogs were the most 
 plentiful of domestic animals, ranging in great, 
 half-wild droves through the forest. 
 
 All observers were struck by the intense fondness 
 of the frontiersmen for the woods and for a restless, 
 lonely life. They pushed independence to an ex- 
 treme; they did not wish to work for others or to 
 rent land from others. Each was himself a small 
 landed proprietor, who cleared only the ground that 
 he could himself cultivate. Workmen were scarce 
 and labor dear. It was almost impossible to get 
 men fit to work as mill hands, or to do high-class 
 labor in forges even by importing them from Penn- 
 sylvania or Maryland. Even in the few towns the 
 inhabitants preferred that their children should fol- 
 low agriculture rather than become handicraftsmen; 
 and skilled workmen such as carpenters and smiths 
 made a great deal of money, so much so that they 
 could live a week on one day's wage. 
 
 The Westerners were a farmer folk who lived on 
 the clearings their own hands had made In the great 
 woods, and who owned the land they tilled. Towns 
 were few and small. At the end of the century there 
 were some four hundred thousand people in the 
 West; yet the largest town was Lexington, which 
 contained less than three thousand people. Lexing- 
 ton was a neatly built little burg, with fine houses 
 and good stores. The leading people lived well and 
 possessed much cultivation. Louisville and Nash- 
 ville were each about half its size. In Nashville, 
 of the one hundred and twenty houses but eight 
 
214 O^d Kentucky 
 
 were of brick, and most of them were merely log 
 huts. Cinchinati was a poor little village. Cleve- 
 land consisted of but two or three log cabins, at a 
 time when there were already a thousand settlers in 
 its neighborhood on the Connecticut Reserve, scat- 
 tered out on their farms. 
 
 Kentucky had grown so in population, possessing 
 over two hundred thousand inhabitants, that she had 
 begun to resemble an Eastern State. When, in 1796, 
 Benjamin Logan, the representative of the old wood- 
 choppers and Indian fighters, ran for governor and 
 was beaten, it was evident that Kentucky had passed 
 out of the mere pioneer days. It was more than a 
 mere coincidence that in the following year Heni-y 
 Clay should have taken up his residence in Lexing- 
 ton. It showed that the State was already attract- 
 ing to live within her borders men like those who 
 were fitted for social and political leadership in Vir- 
 ginia. 
 
 Though the typical inhabitant of Kentucky was 
 still the small frontier farmer, the class of well-to-do 
 gentry had already attained good proportions. Else- 
 where throughout the West, in Tennessee, and even 
 here and there in Ohio and the Territories of Indi- 
 ana and Mississippi, there were to be found occa- 
 sional houses that were well built and well furnished, 
 and surrounded by pleasant grounds, fairly well 
 kept; houses to which the owners had brought their 
 stores of silver, and linen and heavy, old-fashioned 
 furniture from their homes in the Eastern States. 
 But by far the greatest number of these fine houses, 
 and the largest class of gentry to dwell in them, 
 were in Kentucky. Not only were Lexington and 
 Louisville important towns, but Danville, the first 
 capital of Kentucky, also possessed importance, and, 
 indeed, had been the first of the Western towns to 
 
Kentiickians and Bordennen 215 
 
 develop an active and distinctive social and political 
 life. It was in Danville that, in the years immediately 
 preceding Kentucky's admission as a State, the Politi- 
 cal Club met. The membership of this club included 
 many of the leaders of Kentucky's intellectual life, 
 and the records of its debates show the keenness with 
 which they watched the course of social and political 
 development not only in Kentucky but in the United 
 States. They were men of good intelligence and 
 trained minds, and their meetings and debates un- 
 doubtedly had a stimulating effect upon Kentucky 
 life, though they were tainted, as were a very large 
 number of the leading men of the same stamp else- 
 where throughout the country, and with the doctrin- 
 aire political notions common among those who fol- 
 lowed the French political theorists of the day. 
 
 Of the gentry many were lawyers, and the law 
 led naturally to political life; but even among the 
 gentry the typical man was still emphatically the big 
 landowner. The leaders of Kentucky life were men 
 who owned large estates, on which they lived in their 
 great roomy houses. 
 
 In many ways the life of the Kentuckians was al- 
 most like that of the Virginia gentry, though it had 
 peculiar features of its own. Judged by Puritan 
 standards, it seemed free enough; and it is rather 
 curious to find Virginia fathers anxious to send their 
 sons out to Kentucky so that they could get away 
 from what they termed "the constant round of dissi- 
 pation, the scenes of idleness, which boys are per- 
 petually engaged in" in Virginia. One Virginia gen- 
 tleman of note, in writing to a prominent Kentuckian 
 to whom he wished to send his son, dwelt upon his 
 desire to get him away from a place where boys of 
 his age spent most of the time galloping wherever 
 they wished, mounted on blooded horses. Kentucky 
 
21 6 Old Ken lucky 
 
 hardly seemed a place to which a parent would send 
 a son if he wished him to avoid the temptations of 
 horseflesh; but this particular Virginian at least 
 tried to provide against this, as he informed his cor- 
 respondent that he should send his son out to Ken- 
 tucky mounted on an "indifferent nag," which was 
 to be used only as a means of locomotion for the 
 journey, and was then immediately to be sold. 
 
 The gentry strove hard to secure a good education 
 for their children, and in Kentucky, as in Tennessee, 
 made every effort to bring about the building of 
 academies where their boys and girls could be well 
 taught. If this was not possible, they strove to find 
 some teacher capable of taking a class to which he 
 could teach Latin and mathematics; a teacher who 
 should also "prepare his pupils for becoming useful 
 members of society and patriotic citizens." Where 
 possible the leading families sent their sons to some 
 Eastern college, Princeton being naturally the fa- 
 vorite institution of learning with people who dwelt 
 in communities where the Presbyterians took the lead 
 in social standing and cultivation. 
 
 The whole West owes an immense debt to the 
 hard-working frontier preachers, sometimes Presby- 
 terian, generally Methodist or Baptist, who so gladly 
 gave their lives to their labors and who struggled 
 with such fiery zeal for the moral well-being of the 
 communities to which they penetrated. Wherever 
 there was a group of log cabins, thither some Metho- 
 dist circuit-rider made his way or there some Baptist 
 preacher took up his abode. I'heir prejudices and 
 narrow dislikes, their raw vanity and sullen distrust 
 of all who were better schooled than they, count for 
 little when weighed against their intense earnestness 
 and heroic self-sacrifice. They proved their truth by 
 their endeavor. They yielded scores of martrys, 
 
Kent itcki cms and Bordermen 217 
 
 nameless and unknown men who perished at the 
 hands of the savages, or by sickness or in flood 
 or storm. They had to face no little danger 
 from the white inhabitants themselves. In some 
 of the communities most of the men might 
 heartily support them, but in others where the 
 vicious and lawless elements were in control, they 
 were in constant danger of mobs. The godless and 
 lawless people hated the religious with a bitter ha- 
 tred, and gathered in great crowds to break up their 
 meetings. On the other hand, those who had ex- 
 perienced religion were no believers in the doctrine 
 of non-resistance. At the core, they were thoroughly 
 healthy men, and they fought as valiantly against 
 the powers of evil in matters physical as in matters 
 moral. Some of the successful frontier preachers 
 were men of weak frame, whose intensity of convic- 
 tion and ferv^or of religious belief supplied the lack 
 of bodily powers; but as a rule the preacher who 
 did most was a stalwart man, as strong in body as in 
 faith. One of the continually recurring incidents in 
 the biographies of the famous frontier preachers is 
 that of some particularly hardened sinner who was 
 never converted until, tempted to assault the preacher 
 of the Word, he was soundly thrashed by the latter 
 and his eyes thereby rudely opened through his sense 
 of physical shortcoming to an appreciation of his 
 moral iniquity. 
 
 A distinctive type of character was developed west 
 of the Alleghanies, and for the first generations the 
 typical representatives of this Western type were 
 to be found in Kentucky and Tennessee. 
 
CHAPTER XITI 
 
 KENTUCKY DURING THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 By Champ Clark 
 
 General William Tecumseh Sherman once said, 
 "War is hell!" Those who lived in the Border 
 States during our civil war and who are old enough 
 to remember the tragic events of that bloody but 
 heroic epoch in our annals will with one accord in- 
 dorse his idea, if not his sulphurous language. 
 
 It was easy to be a Union man in Massachusetts. 
 It was not profitable to be anything else. It was 
 easy to be a Confederate in South Carolina. It was 
 not safe to be anything else. But in Kentucky, Mis- 
 souri, and the other Border States, it was perilous to 
 be the one thing or the other. Indeed, it was danger- 
 ous to be neither and to sit on the fence. 
 
 I was a child when Sumter was fired on, living in 
 Washington County, Kentucky. I remember an old 
 fellow from whom the Union raiders took one horse 
 and the Confederate raiders another. So when a 
 third party of soldiers met him in the road and in- 
 quired whether he were a Union man or a rebel, be- 
 ing dubious as to their army affiliations, he answered 
 diplomatically, "I am neither one nor the other and 
 very little of that," and thereby lost his third and 
 last horse to Confederates disguised in blue uniforms. 
 
 The Kentuckians are a peculiar people — the most 
 hospitable, the most emotional, the kindest hearted 
 under the sun; but they are bom warriors. A gen- 
 uine son of "the Dark and Bloody Ground" is in his 
 normal condition only when fighting. It seems to 
 me that somebody must have sown that rich land 
 
Kentucky During the Civil War 219 
 
 with dragon's teeth in the early days. To use a sen- 
 tence indigenous to the soil, "A Kentuckian will fight 
 at the drop of a hat and drop it himself." So the 
 war was his golden opportunity. He went to death 
 as to a festival. Nearly ev^ery able-bodied man in 
 the State — and a great many not able-bodied — not 
 only of military age, but of any age, young enough 
 or old enough to squeeze in, took up arms on one 
 side or the other and sometimes on both. 
 
 Neighbor against neighbor, father against son, 
 brother against brother, slave against master, and 
 frequently wife against husband; the fierce conten- 
 tion entered even into theology, rent congregations 
 in twain, severed the ties of blood, and blotted out 
 the friendships of a life time. 
 
 Men who were born and reared on adjoining 
 farms, who had attended the same schools, played 
 games, courted the same girls, cianced in the same 
 sets, belonged to the same lodges, and worshiped in 
 the same churches, suddenly went gunning for each 
 other as remorselessly as red Indians — only they had 
 a clearer vision and a surer aim. From the mouth 
 of the Big Sandy to the mouth of the Tennessee, 
 there was not a square mile in which some awful act 
 of violence did not take place. 
 
 Kentucky has always been celebrated for and 
 cursed by its bloody feuds — feuds which cause the 
 Italian vendetta to appear a holiday performance 
 in comparison. Of course the war was the evening- 
 up time, and many a man became a violent Unionist 
 because the ancient enemies of his house were South- 
 ern sympathizers, and vice versa. Some of them 
 could have given pointers to Fra Diavolo' himself. 
 
 As all the e\'il passions of men were aroused and 
 all restraints of propriety as well as all fear of law 
 were removed, cvei-y latent tendency toward crime 
 
220 Old Kentucky 
 
 was warmed into life. The land swarmed with cut- 
 throats, robbers, thieves, firebugs, and malefactors of 
 every degree and kind, who' preyed upon the old, the 
 infirm, the helpless, and committed thousands of 
 brutal and heinous crimes — in the name of the 
 Union or the Southern Confederacy. 
 
 I witnessed only one battle during the civil war. 
 A line in Gen. Basil W. Duke's entertaining book, 
 "Morgan's Cavalry," is all that is vouchsafed to 
 it in the literature of the war; but surely it was the 
 most astounding martial caper ever cut since Nimrod 
 invented the military art, and it fully illustrates the 
 Kentuckian's inherent and ineradicable love of fight- 
 ing. 
 
 I saw seven home guards charge the whole of 
 Morgan's Cavalry — the very flower of Kentucky 
 chivalry. 1 was working as a farm-hand for one 
 John Call, who was the proud owner of several fine 
 horses of the famous "copper-bottom" breed. Mor- 
 gan had, perhaps, as good an eye for a "saddler" as 
 was ever set in a human head, and during those 
 troublous days his mind was sadly mixed up on the 
 meum and tuum when it came to equines — a remark 
 applicable to many others besides Morgan, on both 
 sides at that. 
 
 Call, hearing that Morgan was coming, and know- 
 ing his penchant for the noblest of quadrupeds, or- 
 dered me to mount "in hot haste" and "take the 
 horses to the woods." Just as I had climbed upon a 
 magnificent chestnut sorrel, fit for a king's charger, 
 and was rounding up the others, I looked up, and in 
 the level rays of the setting summer sun saw Mor- 
 gan's cavalry in "all the pride, pomp, and circum- 
 stance of glorious war" riding up the broad gravel 
 road on the backbone of a long, high ridge, half a 
 mile to the south. Fascinated by the glittering array, 
 
Kentucky During the Civil War 221 
 
 boylikc, T forgot Call and the peril of the horses and 
 watched the gay cavalcade. 
 
 Suddenly I saw seven horsemen emerge from the 
 little village of Mackville and ride furiously down 
 the turnpike to within easy pistol range of the Con- 
 federates and open fire. I could hear the crack of 
 the revolvers and see the flash and smoke, and when 
 Morgan's advance guard fell back on the main body, 
 I observ'ed that one riderless horse went back with 
 them and that only six home guards rode back to 
 Mackville in lieu of the seven who had ridden forth 
 to battle. 
 
 Morgan's command halted, deployed in battle 
 line, and rode slowly up the hill, while I rode a great 
 deal faster to the woods. 
 
 The home guards had shot one man out of his 
 saddle and captured him, and Morgan had captured 
 one of them. Next morning the home guards, from 
 their forest fastness, sent in a flag of truce and regu- 
 larly negotiated an exchange of prisoners according 
 to the rules in such cases made and provided. Of 
 course Morgan would have paid no attention to the 
 seven men, but he supposed that even his own native 
 Kentucky never nurtured seven dare-devils so reckless 
 as to do a thing like that unless they had an army 
 back of them. 
 
 I have often thought of that matchless deed of 
 daring, and can say in the language of the French- 
 man who witnessed the charge of the Light Brigade 
 at Balaklava: "It is magnificent, but not war." 
 
 Years afterward one of the seven was sending his 
 children to school to me. After I became well ac- 
 quainted with him, one day I said to him, "Gibson, 
 I have always wanted to know what made you seven 
 fellows charge Morgan." "Oh," he replied, "we 
 were all full of fighting whiskey" — an explanation 
 
222 Old Kentucky 
 
 which explained not only that fight but thousands 
 more. 
 
 If that splendid feat of arms had been performed 
 in New England by New Englanders, the world 
 could scarcely contain the books which would have 
 been written about it. It would have been chronicled 
 in history and chanted in song as an inexhaustible 
 theme. 
 
 It is generally assumed by the wiseacres who write 
 the histories that in the Border States the old, 
 wealthy, prominent slave-holding families all ad- 
 hered to the Confederacy, and that only the poor, the 
 obscure natives and the immigrants from the North 
 stood by the old flag. This is a serious mistake. 
 The great historic dominant family connections di- 
 vided, thereby making confusion worse confounded. 
 Prominent people wore the Confederate gray. 
 Others just as prominent wore the Union blue. 
 
 Dr. Robert J. Breckinridge, the great theologian, 
 with a decided and incurable bias for politics, who 
 presided over the Republican National Convention 
 of 1864, which nominated Abraham Lincoln and An- 
 drew Johnson, was a stanch Union man. Two of 
 his sons achieved high rank in the Confederate 
 armies and two others in the Union armies. 
 
 His illustrious cousin, John C. Breckinridge, re- 
 signed his seat in the United States Senate to be- 
 come a lieutenant-general in the Southern army, while 
 James S. Jackson, Representative from the Green 
 River district, resigned his seat in the House to be- 
 come a brigadier in the Union army, and died a 
 hero's death, leading his division on the hard-fought 
 field of Perryville. 
 
 Rodger Hanson, the eloquent, became a Confed- 
 erate general and fell on the field of his glory at 
 
Kentucky During the Ch-il Jl^ar 223 
 
 Stone River, while his brother won distinction on 
 the other side as general of brigade. 
 
 John J. Crittenden — the best beloved of Ken- 
 tucky statesmen — unflinchingly stood by the Union, 
 while one of his sons wore the double stars of a 
 Union major-general, another achieving similar rank 
 in the Confederate army. 
 
 The Henr}^ Clay branch of the great Clay family 
 espoused the Confederate cause, while the Cassius 
 M. Clay branch fought with the traditional courage 
 of the race for the solidarity of the Union. 
 
 John Marshall Harlan — now Mr. Justice Harlan, 
 of the Supreme Court, — with a pedigree running 
 back to the cavaliers of Jamestown, — won renown 
 on many a bloody field, fighting under "Old Pap" 
 Thomas — "the Rock of Chickamauga." 
 
 In the same army were Lovell H. Rosseau, the 
 ideal soldier and princely gentleman, and Benjamin 
 H. Bristow, who missed the Presidency only by a 
 scratch and through lack of organization of his 
 forces. 
 
 I had two schoolmates, older than myself, named 
 Dickinson, beardless boys and brothers. One of them 
 enlisted with Morgan as a private and the other in 
 brave old Frank Wol ford's famous First Kentucky 
 Union Cavalry. The strange fortunes of civil war 
 brought these brothers face to face in the great In- 
 diana-Ohio raid, — 'the greatest ride ever taken since 
 horses were first broken to bit and rein, — and when 
 Morgan was captured, the Confederate Dickinson 
 surrendered to his Union brother. 
 
 The only instance on record during the entire war 
 of one field officer killing another in battle was at 
 Mill Spring, when Gen. Speed Smith Fry, of Ken- 
 tuck3% a Union soldier, shot and killed General Zolli- 
 coffer, commanding a brigade of Tennessee Confed- 
 
2 24 Old Kentucky 
 
 erates. The only parallel to this sanguinary per- 
 formance in all our military annals was the killing 
 of Tecumseh, at the battle of the river Thames, by 
 Col. Richard M. Johnson, another Kentuckian, pop- 
 ularly called "Old Dick." 
 
 Ed. Porter Thompson, of Kentucky, a Confeder- 
 ate captain, hobbled into the battle of Murfreesboro 
 on his crutches, and for two days fought side by 
 side with those possessing the soundest and most stal- 
 wart legs, thereby rivaling the far-resounding feats 
 of Charles XII of Sweden at Pultowa and Gen. Jo- 
 seph Wheeler at Santiago of being carried into battle 
 upon a stretcher. 
 
 AN ARITHMETIC CLASS 
 
 When the war began I was eleven years old and a 
 member of a remarkable arithmetic class. I was 
 quick in mathematics. A strolling English phre- 
 nologist, Charles R. Whittern, came into the Glenn's 
 Creek neighborhood down in Washington County, 
 where I then lived, and established a school. I love 
 to think of him, and I cherish his memory most 
 gratefully because he was the best country school- 
 teacher that ever instructed me. If I should become 
 rich I would erect a handsome monument to his 
 memory. He built up a reputation for teaching 
 arithmetic. There were three grown men in that 
 class. I was a little chap and they made a pet of me. 
 Two of these men led extraordinary careers "in the 
 days that tried men's soul's" from '6i to '65. One 
 of them, named Orville Bush Young, was thirty 
 years old at least. When hostilities began he studied 
 for, three or four months to determine whether it was 
 his duty to enlist in the Union Army or to go to 
 Bacon College at Harrodsburg and prepare himself 
 
Ken lucky During the Civil War 225 
 
 to become a minister of the gospel in the Christian 
 Church, vulgarly called the "Campbellite" Church. 
 He studied the matter conscientiously. I know he 
 did. God never made a better man. He enlisted in 
 Company F, Capt. Frank Hill, Tenth Kentucky In- 
 fantry, commanded by Col. John Marshall Harlan, 
 now Mr. Justice John Marshall Harlan, of the Su- 
 preme Court of the United States. That was after 
 Morgan Rousseau and Wolford had taken out the 
 daredevils who were determined to get in early. It 
 was after William H. Seward's optimistic prophecy 
 of a ninety days' picnic was exploded and when all 
 men knew that it was to be a long and terrible war. 
 
 When Young went to Lebanon to enlist. Squire 
 Land, whose sister-in-law Young was to marry if he 
 survived the war, went along with him to bring the 
 horses back. Land got drunk and when Young held 
 up his hand to be sworn in Land held up his also and 
 was sworn in unbeknownst to himself. When he 
 sobered up next morning and discovered his predica- 
 ment he said, "I will do anything I am ordered to 
 except charge breastworks. That's an inhuman per- 
 formance and I will not do it." 
 
 After more than two years' service they were or- 
 dered for the first time to charge breastworks — in 
 front of Jonesburg, near Atlanta. True to his word, 
 Land, who up to that time had made a good soldier, 
 went as hard as he could clatter to the rear, while 
 Young, as color-bearer, for his regiment, was the 
 first man to place the Stars and Stripes on the Con- 
 federate breastworks. General Sherman sent for 
 him and offered him a captaincy for that exploit, but 
 he declined it, saying simply that he did not enter the 
 army to get an oflice. Congress awarded him a gold 
 medal. Bush Young deserv^es to rank with Havelock 
 as a Christian soldier. 
 
 IS 
 
226 Old Kentucky 
 
 Another member of that arithmetic class was 
 Isaiah Coulter — "Big Zay" as he was called, to dis- 
 tinguish him from others of the name. Kentucky 
 nev^er produced a finer physical man. He was about 
 twenty years old, stood six feet six in his stockings, 
 was straight as an arrow, with dark skin, magnificent 
 black eyes, and abundant hair as black as a raven's 
 wing. He looked like an Indian chief. I have a 
 tender recollection of him, for he was very good to 
 me, and a man who is good to a boy is not a bad man. 
 He belonged to "Sue Munday's Guerrillas" as they 
 are popularly called. He loved that species of ir- 
 regular warfare. There were about fift}' in his com- 
 pany. Whenever the Federals caught one of Sue 
 Munday's men they hanged him. 
 
 Finally, when Quantrill was killed at Shelbyville, 
 "Big Zay" was shot clear through the body with a 
 Minie ball. Knowing that it was sure death if he 
 surrendered, he made one of his men thrust a silk 
 handkerchief through his body with a ramrod and 
 tie knots at both ends to staunch the flow of blood. 
 Then mounting his thoroughbred horse he rode 
 thirty miles into Anderson County to the house of an 
 aunt; but he died of that wound. 
 
 The third fully grown young man who was a 
 member of that arithmetic class was Nimrod Hen- 
 derson, who served four years in the Fourth Ken- 
 tucky Union Infanti-y, and went scathless through 
 the Red River expedition with Banks, to be nearly 
 killed in a saw mill long after the return of peace. 
 
 Nothing can better illustrate the awful situation 
 in Kentucky than the history of that arithmetic class. 
 
 STUMP SPEAKERS IN KENTUCKY 
 
 The first candidate for Congress that I ever saw 
 was Aaron Harding, of Greensburg. He served 
 
Kentucky Dining ihc Civil JVar 227 
 
 two or three terms. He was a lame man, and during 
 a two hours' speech at Mackville I am certain that 
 he never mov^ed his heels two inches. I marveled 
 then that he could stand so still and talk so long and 
 I wonder at It yet. 
 
 The first candidate for Governor that I ever saw 
 and heard was Col. Thos. E. Bramlette, who was 
 elected in 1863. Judge Harlan was elected At- 
 torney-General on the same ticket with him. They 
 both spoke at Mackville on a fine October day in 
 Heni-y Isham's sugar grove. Bramlette was a large, 
 handsome man, the typical Kentuckian. ITe was 
 about fifty years old, and wore the first pair of the 
 sort of eye-glasses one hooks upon the nose. He 
 was a widower and when he put on his glasses he 
 looked the audience over and began by saying, "I 
 hope the ladies will not think m.y heart as old as my 
 eyes are" — a fine mot, which is all I remember of 
 that speech. 
 
 Mr. Justice Harlan was then not quite thirty, and 
 was in the flower of his years. He was a tall, strap- 
 ping, sinewy young man, blonde as any lily, and en- 
 joyed life to its full. His voice had great carrying 
 power, and he made the welkin ring in that autumn 
 day of the long ago. I was only a chunk of a boy, 
 but T could discern that Harlan was a greater man 
 than Bramlette, and I couldn't understand why he 
 was not running for the high office, T propounded 
 that query that night to my father, a man of rare 
 sense, who, while he was never a candidate for an 
 office in his life, was always a most enthusiastic 
 amateur politician. In kindliest way he explained to 
 me the availability^ of candidates, which Avas my first 
 lesson in practical politics; but I look back yet with 
 fond regret to my lost theory of "the fittest." 
 
 Gen. John Cabell Breckinridge was the handsom- 
 
2 28 Old Kentucky 
 
 est man I ever saw or ever expect to sec. He was one 
 of my father's Democratic idols. I, with the curiosity 
 of a child, which enables a child to learn, once 
 asked what sort of a man Breckinridge was. "Oh! 
 he has a two-and-a-half-story head," was his graphic 
 description, which was literally true. When he re- 
 turned from his European exile I was a student at 
 Kentucky University and heard him return thanks to 
 his neighbors and friends for the enthusiastic recep- 
 tion which they gave him. With enraptured eyes I 
 gazed upon that majestic form and with eager ears 
 drank in his eloquence. One sentence out of that 
 speech I shall never forget. In talking of himself, 
 his past and future, he said, "Politically, I am an 
 extinct volcano!" In very truth he had 
 
 "The front of Jove himself, 
 An eye like Mars to threaten and command, 
 A stature like the herald Mercury 
 New lighted on a Heaven-kissing hill. 
 A combination and a form indeed 
 Where every god did seem to set his seal 
 To give the world assurance of a man." 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 KENTUCKY, HER HISTORY AND HER PEOPLE 
 
 By Reuben T. Durrett 
 
 For one hundred and eighty-five years after the 
 first settlement at Jamestown, Kentucky was a part of 
 Virginia, and during four-fifths of this long period 
 was an unknown land. The Virginians along the 
 Atlantic slope showed no early disposition to settle 
 beyond the mountains that walled them in on the 
 west. They erected their manor houses and built 
 their tobacco barns on the rich lands of rivers that 
 flowed from the mountains to the sea, and were con- 
 tent. What they had to sell the ocean would bear 
 to foreign parts, and what they wanted to buy the 
 same ocean would bring to their doors. There were 
 no known inducements in the unknown lands beyond 
 the mountains to induce them to the dangers and the 
 hardships of a wilderness filled w'ith wild animals 
 and still wilder savages. 
 
 But whether the Virginians would go to the dis- 
 covery of Kentucky or not, the country was so lo'- 
 cated that to remain unknown was impossible. The 
 great Mississippi and the beautiful Ohio were upon 
 Its borders for hundreds of miles, while their tribu- 
 taries penetrated thousands of miles within. Upon 
 these rivers hunters and traders and adventurers 
 were to paddle their canoes in spite of dangers, and 
 the fair land of Kentucky could not Indefinitely escape 
 their eyes. 
 
 VIEW OF PRIMEVAL KENTUCKY 
 
 From the summit of the Appalachian Mountains 
 on the east, declivities lead down two thousand feet 
 
230 Old Kentucky 
 
 to a plateau that gracefully undulates for five hun- 
 dred miles to the margins of the Ohio and the 
 Mississippi rivers on the west. Descending through 
 deep cut channels from their mountain springs, the 
 Sandy, the Licking, the Kentucky, the Salt, the 
 Green, and the Cumberland rivers roll their navi- 
 gable waters for hundreds of miles through soil as 
 exuberant as the famous delta of the Nile. Over 
 an area that millions might inhabit, of mountain and 
 hill and plain and valley, stands a dark forest of 
 oak and beech and ash and hickory and walnut and 
 cherry and maple and sycamore and linden and cedar 
 and pine, with lofty poplars towering above like 
 hoary sentinels of the centuries that have marked 
 their growth. Here and there, where the trees of 
 the forest cast not their shadow, the cane and the 
 clover and the rye and the blue-grass cover the soil 
 like emerald isles in the forest seas. Toward the 
 sunset, between the Salt and the Green rivers, spreads 
 out for miles a treeless land covered with a forest of 
 herbage, on which countless buffalo and deer forever 
 feed. The woods are full of wild animals, the 
 rivers swarm with endless varieties of fish, and the 
 air is darkened with flocks of birds. From out the 
 earth burst springs whose waters, warmed by the 
 summer's sun, whiten their channels with salt, and 
 deep down beneath the surface are mysterious caverns 
 cut out by subterranean streams, in which are de- 
 posited beds of saltpeter. Beneath the hills and 
 mountains are strata of coal and beds of iron and 
 quarries of stone, and over all hangs a bright sky 
 tempered by genial airs. As if to add to the pic- 
 turesqueness of the scene, there are numerous 
 mounds, which were reared in the distant past by a 
 long-ago people who' had become mighty in the land 
 and passed away without leaving a histoiy, a tradi- 
 
Kentucky, Her History and Her People 231 
 
 tion, or a name. On the mountain sides, the rhodo- 
 dendron and the Calmia latifolia display their charm- 
 ing blossoms; in the valleys, the magnolia contrasts 
 the snow of its huge corolla with the scarlet of the 
 delicate cardinal flower; and everywhere on the hills 
 and plains wild flowers of infinite form and color 
 lend enchantment to the view. It is "a land of 
 brooks, of water, of fountains and depths that sprmg 
 out of the valleys and hills." ^ 
 
 HOW THE PIONEERS LIVED 
 
 The first inhabitants of Kentucky, on account of 
 the hostility of the Indians, lived in what were called 
 forts. These structures had little in common with 
 those massive piles of stone and earth from which 
 thunder missiles of destmction in modern times. 
 They were simply rows of the conventional log 
 cabins of the day, built on four sides of a square 
 parallelogram, which remained as a court or open 
 space, serving as a play-ground, a muster-field, a cor- 
 ral for domestic animals, and a storehouse for imple- 
 ments. The cabins which formed the fort's walls 
 were dwelling-houses for the people, and contained 
 the i-udest conveniences of life. The bedstead con- 
 sisted of forks driven in the dirt floor, through the 
 prongs of which poles extended to cracks in the wall, 
 and over which buffalo skins were spread for a mat- 
 tress and bear skins for a covering. The dining- 
 table was a broad puncheon hewn smooth with an 
 adze, and set on four legs made of sticks inserted in 
 auger holes at the comers. The chairs were three- 
 legged stools made in the same way, and the table 
 furniture consisted of wooden plates, trays, noggins, 
 bowls, and trenchers, usually turned out of buckeye. 
 A few tin cups and pewter plates and delf cups and 
 
232 Old Kentucky 
 
 saucers and two-pronged Iron forks and pewter 
 spoons were luxuries brought from the old country, 
 and only found upon the tables of the few who could 
 afford them. The fireplace occupied nearly one whole 
 side of the house; the window was a hole covered 
 with paper saturated with bear's grease, and the door 
 an opening over which hung a buffalo skin. Near 
 the door hung the long-barreled flint-lock rifle on the 
 prongs of a buck's horns pinned to the wall, and 
 from which place it was never absent except when in 
 use. 
 
 In these confined cabins whole families occupied a 
 single room. Here the women hackled the wild 
 nettle, carded the buffalo wool, spun the thread, wove 
 the cloth and made the clothes. The men wore 
 buckskin hunting-shirts, trousers, and moccasins, and 
 the women linsey gowns in winter and linen in sum- 
 mer. If there was a broadcloth coat or a calico 
 dress, it came from the old settlements, and was only 
 worn on rare occasions. 
 
 Such a life had its pains, but it also had its pleas- 
 ures. Of evenings and rainy days, the fiddle was 
 heard, and the merry old Virginia reel danced by 
 both young and old. A marriage, that sometimes 
 united a boy of sixteen to a girl of fourteen, was an 
 occasion of great merriment, and brought out the 
 whole fort. When an itinerant preacher came 
 along, and favored them with a sennon two or three 
 hours in length, it was also a great occasion. A 
 young man had some difficulty in making his sweet- 
 heart understand all he had to say in a small room 
 filled by her parents and brothers and sisters, but on 
 essential points it was easy to remove the discussion 
 to the open space. The shooting-match, the foot- 
 race, wrestling, jumping, boxing, and, it may be 
 added, fighting, afforded amusement in the open 
 
Kentucky, Her History and Her People 233 
 
 space, and blindfolded and hide-and-seek, and qullt- 
 ings, knittings, and candy-pullings made the little 
 cabins merry on many occasions. The corn-field 
 and the vegetable garden were cultivated within 
 range of the rifles of the fort, and sentinels were on 
 guard while the work was being done. 
 
 now THE INDIANS RETARDED THE SETTLEMENTS 
 
 The great obstacles to the rapid population of the 
 country were the Indians. They lurked in the woods 
 and confined the settlers to the forts. They did not 
 occupy the soil, but lived to the north and the 
 south and the west, and kept Kentucky for a hunting- 
 ground. They crossed the Ohio in small parties, 
 and, like thieves in the night, crept stealthily upon 
 their victims and shot them down or tomahawked 
 them unawares. More people were killed in this 
 desultory way than in regular battles. In 1790 
 Judge Innes wrote to the Secretary of War that dur- 
 ing the seven years he had lived in Kentucky the In- 
 dians had killed one thousand five hundred souls, 
 stolen twenty thousand horses, and carried off prop- 
 erty to the value of fifteen thousand pounds sterling. 
 If to this fearful number we add all the deaths pre- 
 vious to 1783 and subsequent to 1790, the time 
 covered by Judge Innes's estimate. In battle and by 
 murder, we shall have a terrible summary. Not less 
 than three thousand six hundred men, women and 
 children fell at the hands of the savages in Kentucky 
 before the final victory over them by General Wayne 
 in 1794. It may be doubted whether the Indians 
 would not have been less formidable If they had lived 
 In Kentucky. They would then have been extermin- 
 ated by the pioneers, instead of being crippled In their 
 raids and left to recover and return. 
 
234 Old Kentucky 
 
 PIONEER WOMEN 
 
 Among all the sufferers at the hands of the Indians, 
 none bore heavier sorrows and received less credit for 
 them than the pioneer women. Boone and Kenton 
 and other heroes, as they deserved, figured largely 
 in history and biography. But who has heard of 
 the many brave women who have resisted or suc- 
 cumbed to the tomahawk and the scalping knife of 
 the savages? While their husbands fired from the 
 loop-holes of the forts upon the besieging enemy, 
 their wives molded the bullets with which their guns 
 were loaded. They guarded the forts while the men 
 were fighting the Indians or hunting the game. 
 When death took a pioneer from his toils, it was the 
 women who wrapped him in his coarse shroud and 
 laid him In his rough coffin and wetted his obscure 
 grave with their tears. They were the doctors of the 
 times, and while their remedies for wounds and dis- 
 eases seem strange to modern science, yet their catnip 
 tea and soothing herbs and elder salve were thought 
 to work wonderful cures in their day. From their 
 home in the old settlements they brought religious 
 feelings, and when the itinerant preacher turned the 
 hour-glass for the second or third time and still went 
 on with his mighty lungs and voice, the women never 
 grew weary of him, but heard the words of the good 
 man to the end, and remembered them. Collectively 
 and individually, they showed a courage on trying 
 occasions of which men might well be proud 
 
 When the cabins of Jesse and Hosea Cook, near 
 Frankfort, were taken by the Indians and both the 
 Cooks killed, their brave widows showed a courage 
 which has few parallels in the whole course of human 
 action. The Indians, having failed to force the 
 strong door which shut them out from the two 
 
Kentucky, Her History and Her People 235 
 
 women and their children, made attempts to burn 
 the house. They ascended to the roof and repeatedly 
 applied the torch, which was extinguished by the 
 women, first with water, while it lasted, then with 
 broken eggs, and finally with the blood-saturated 
 clothing of their dead husbands lying on the floor. 
 
 Finally, and to the great relief of long vexed and 
 sorely tried humanity, the tenth and last convention 
 met at Danville, April 2, 1792, and in accordance 
 with the resolutions of the previous convention and 
 the act of Virginia of December 18, 1789, authoriz- 
 ing the separation, and the act of Congress of 
 February 4, 1791, admitting Kentucky into the 
 Union, to take effect June i, 1792, proceeded to make 
 a constitution for the new State. Samuel McDowell, 
 who had been the president of all the preceding con- 
 ventions, except two, was made the president, and 
 Thomas Todd, who had been the clerk of all the 
 others, was made the clerk of this. Five members 
 appeared from each of the nine counties then in the 
 State, making the whole number of delegates forty- 
 five. 
 
 There were six ministers of the gospel in this con- 
 vention, the convention that framed the constitution, 
 and when the vote was taken upon the pro-slavery 
 clause every one of them voted against it. They 
 were Revs. John Bailey, Benedict Swope, Charles 
 Kavenaugh, George Smith, James Crawford, and 
 James Garrard, Another minister, David Rice, had 
 been elected to the convention, but resigned before 
 any of the principles of the constitution came to vote. 
 He was, however, succeeded by Harry Innes, who 
 voted against the pro-slavery clause, just as Minister 
 Rice would have voted if he had been there. 
 
 The constitution made by these men has long since 
 ceased to be binding. It nevertheless has a historic 
 
236 Old Kentucky 
 
 interest, because it was the fundamental law with 
 which our commonwealth began its life. Its author, 
 George Nicholas, from his associations with the 
 makers of the Constitution of the United States, gave 
 it a decidedly Federal cast. Our Governor and our 
 Senators were trammeled with the cumbrous ma- 
 chinery of electors, and it gave to the Court of Ap- 
 peals original jurisdiction in land suits; but with all 
 its faults, our constitution of 1792 was a vast im- 
 provement upon many of its written and unwritten 
 contemporaries. It placed all religions upon an 
 equal footing. It forbade commerce in slaves, and 
 provided for their emancipation by the legislature. 
 It secured the freedom of the press. It gave to all 
 free men the right to vote without property qualifi- 
 cations. It mitigated the horrors of imprisonment 
 for debt. It made all citizens equal before the law. 
 It lodged in the people all primal and ultimate 
 sovereignty, and opened the great highway of 
 progress to all men alike. 
 
 CONDITION OF KENTUCKY WHEN SHE BEGAN STATE- 
 
 HOOD 
 
 The condition of Kentucky when it first became an 
 independent State was very different from what we 
 now see it. With the exception of the spots of 
 cleared land around the villages and forts, and the 
 few houses outside of them, the whole country was 
 covered by the original forest, in which lurked In- 
 dians and bears and wolves and panthers and wild- 
 cats. All land travel was over dirt roads, full of dust 
 in the summer and deep in mud in the winter. One of 
 these roads led from Cumberland Gap through Crab 
 Orchard, Danville, Bardstown, and Bullitt's Lick to 
 Louisville. Another crossed the Big Sandy at the 
 forks, and leading through Morgan's and Strode's 
 
Kentucky, II cr History and Her People 237 
 
 stations to Lexington, passed on through Frankfort 
 and Drennon's Lick to Louisville. A third led from 
 Maysville by the Lower Blue Lick and Paris to Lex- 
 ington; a fourth from the mouth of the Licking to 
 Lexington, and a fifth from Middle Tennessee to 
 Danville. These main roads were passed over by all 
 persons either coming into the State or going out 
 from it. Cross-roads connecting with the main roads 
 at various points formed the lines of internal and 
 neighborhood communication. Some of them fol- 
 lowed lines originally marked out by the buffalo, time 
 out of mind before, and were broad enough for high- 
 ways of commerce; but most of them were mere 
 traces and bridle paths, which no one but a woods- 
 man or acquaintance could follow. Across the 
 streams were no bridges, and people passed them at 
 shallow places called fords, or in rude flatboats or 
 canoes used for ferries. The travel and trade upon 
 the rivers were In canoes and flatboats, and barges 
 and keels propelled by oars or sails. Only a few 
 meadows or pastures had yet been prepared, but over 
 broad areas were natural meadows, while cane brakes 
 and wild clover fields and patches of pea vine and 
 swards of blue-grass of natural growth were every- 
 where to be seen. 
 
 A hundred thousand inhabitants were scattered 
 over the nine counties* into which the original Ken- 
 tucky County had been divided, and most of them 
 were still dwelling in villages and forts. The In- 
 dians were yet in the land, and life was not safe out- 
 side of fortified places. Only the year before the 
 
 *These nine counties were: Jefferson, Fayette, and lincoln, the 
 three counties into which Kentucky County had been subdivided in 
 1780; Nelson, formed out of Jefferson in 1784; Bourbon, out of 
 Fayette in 1785; Mercer and Madison, out of Lincoln in 1785; 
 Mason, out of Bourbon in 1788; and Woodford, out of Faj'ette in 
 1788. 
 
238 Old Kentucky 
 
 savages had rallied in such strength as to surprise the 
 army of General St. Clair and crush it with such 
 slaughter as had not occurred since Braddock's de- 
 feat on the Monongahela, or Todd's at Blue Licks. 
 While the new government was being inaugurated, 
 a large party of them entered the State, and almost in 
 the shadow of the house in which the first legislature 
 met, murdered citizens and stole property. Even as 
 late as March 10, 1795, a number of citizens of 
 Louisville and Jefferson County bound themselves by 
 written contract to pay the sum set opposite their 
 names for Indian scalps within their vicinity.* 
 
 On the farms that had been opened near the forts 
 the rudest kind of agriculture prevailed. The farmer 
 broke up his ground with the wooden mold-board 
 plow, and planted his corn and sowed his wheat with 
 his hand. The grain was cut with a reap hook or 
 cradle, and beaten out with the flail or by the feet of 
 horses ridden over the straw with the heads on laid 
 in a circle for this purpose. His flour was sifted 
 through a coarse linen cloth, and his grain ground in 
 the hand mill or beaten in the mortar. A few horse- 
 mills and water-mills were in the country, but they 
 were not generally used or accessible. His crop was 
 cultivated with the hoe, and his carpenter's work 
 done with the axe, the adze, and the auger. His flax 
 was spun on the small wheel, his wool on the large 
 wheel, and both woven on the hand-loom. 
 
 The buffalo' and the deer were growing scarce, and 
 the farmer was raising domestic animals for food. 
 His cattle and sheep, however, were what are known 
 as scrubs, and his horses of an inferior breed. His 
 vegetable garden consisted of little more than cab- 
 bages, pumpkins, turnips, beets, and peas. His cows 
 
 * Original contract signed by the parties in the possession of 
 R. T. Durrett. 
 
Kentucky, Ilcr Hislui y mid Ilcr People 239 
 
 fed upon the cane, and gave rich and well-flavored 
 milk, which, with the butter and curds and cheese 
 which were made of it, were about the best food put 
 upon the table. Whatever the table afforded, how- 
 ever, was generously given to every comer, no matter 
 at what hour he arrived, nor whence he came. Abun- 
 dance of fish came from the streams, the woods af- 
 forded squirrels and opossums, and the fields rab- 
 bits and quails. 
 
 The peach was about the only domestic fruit that 
 was abundant, the apple tree not yet being old 
 enough for full bearing. Wild fruits, however, were 
 abundant. The persimmon, the grape, the papaw, 
 the mulberry, the haw, the May apple, the black- 
 berry, the wild strawberry and the wild goose plum 
 were gathered and eaten by all, and so were the 
 walnut, the hickory nut, and the chestnut. Brandy 
 was distilled from the peach and wine fermented 
 from the grape and beer from the persimmon, but as 
 early as 1783 whiskey had been distilled from corn, 
 and that was now in use either as mint julep or as 
 grog or toddy. Those who could afford it had Ma- 
 deira wine and Jamaica mm on their table, but the 
 common drink was whiskey. 
 
 The most important mechanics in the country were 
 the blacksmiths, the carpenters, and the wheelwrights. 
 They made pretty much ever^^thing that was made 
 with such simple tools as the saw, the file, the jack- 
 plane, the draw-knife, the axe, the adze, the auger, 
 and the hammer. They were not particular about 
 sticking to their trades, but each did what of the 
 work of the other he could and something of what 
 belonged to neither. They managed among them to 
 make guns and furniture and implements, that be- 
 longed to the trade of neither, and so altogether they 
 met the wants of the community. 
 
240 Old Kentucky 
 
 There was one printing establishment, and that 
 was in the log cabin of John Bradford, at Lexington, 
 whence was issued once a week the Kentucky Gazelle, 
 which was begun August 11, 1787, on a half sheet 
 of coarse paper nineteen inches long and ten wide. 
 The paper was printed on a hand press, and it re- 
 quired a whole day's hard work to run off an edition 
 of five hundred. Not a book had yet been printed in 
 the State, and not a pamphlet beyond the dignity 
 of Bradford's Almanac. Only a few books had 
 been brought Into the State, and they were unequally 
 distributed. Such as they were, the religious char- 
 acter predominated, and more copies of Bunyan's 
 "Pilgrim's Progress," and Milton's "Paradise Lost," 
 and Baxter's "Saint's Rest," and Fox's "Book of 
 Martyrs" were to be seen than any other books. It 
 is necessary to add, however, that some of our 
 pioneers had upon their shelves the works of Paine, 
 Rousseau, and Voltaire, 
 
 There were schools in log houses in the stations 
 and villages, and Transylvania Seminary was open at 
 Lexington. But little beyond Dilworth's Spelling- 
 book and Horton's Arithmetic was attempted at these 
 schools; but in Transylvania Seminary, and such 
 select schools as Craig's at Georgetown, and Priest- 
 ley's at Bardstown, and Fry's in Mercer, and Finley's 
 in Madison County, quite a high order of education 
 for a new country might be obtained. 
 
 The Baptists, the Presbyterians, the Catholics, the 
 Methodists, and the Episcopalians were the leading 
 religious denominations, and of these the Baptists 
 were the most numerous. A Baptist church had left 
 Spottsylvania County, Virginia, and come to Ken- 
 tucky in a body, singing and praying and preaching 
 and preserving church government through a wilder- 
 ness of five hundred miles. No church edifice had 
 
Kentucky, Her History and Her People 241 
 
 yet arisen beyond the architecture of the log cabin. 
 Most of the preaching was done in private houses or 
 in the forts, but the rarity of the sermons made all 
 denominations glad to hear one several hours in 
 length, whether they agreed with its doctrines or 
 not. 
 
 The medical profession had not reached the high 
 grade to which McDowell and Brashear and their 
 successors afterward bore it, but such men as Freder- 
 ick Ridgley were doing noble practice in Lexington 
 and other parts of the State. Some of them made 
 vain attempts to run out disease with the flow of 
 blood from open veins, and used calomel until it 
 produced a worse malady than. the one attempted to 
 be removed; but their blood letting and mercuiy 
 dosing were then the style. The doctor carried his 
 drug-store in his saddle-bags, and compounded and 
 put up his own prescriptions. He rode by day and 
 by night, in sunshine and in storm, over a wide ex- 
 tent of country and earned the fees he got, which 
 were often paid in corn and meat and vegetables. 
 
 No pioneer State ever presented a stronger bar 
 than Kentucky. The lawyers of 1792 were men 
 most of whom had been ruined by the Revolution- 
 ary war, and who had come to Kentucky to provide 
 for themselves and families. Some of them, like 
 George Nicholas, Harr)^ Innes, George Muter, 
 William Murray, Christopher Greenup, and James 
 Hughes, had made fame in their native State, and 
 the terribly intricate land titles they had to deal 
 with made their legal learning acute, incisive and 
 profound. He who familiarizes himself with the 
 legal questions settled in the cases reported in 
 Hughes and Hardin, and Snead and Bibb will not 
 fail to conclude that the pioneer bar In Kentucky 
 has had but few superiors in any land. 
 16 
 
242 Old Kentucky 
 
 There were no post-offices and no mall carriers. 
 Letters had to be borne from place to place by pri- 
 vate hands, and John Bradford had to provide 
 carriers for his Kentucky Gazette. Almost every one 
 who came into the State or went out of it, or went 
 from one place to another within it, was the bearer 
 of one or more letters. 
 
 Travel had not yet reached the refinement of the 
 stage coach. People went from place to place on 
 horseback or afoot; and it was not unusual for the 
 women of 1792 to ride a dozen or more miles on 
 horseback, or to walk half as far to pay a social visit. 
 
 In the principal towns and stations there were 
 stores, in each of which all the articles sold were 
 jumbled together. Nails and calico, axes and broad- 
 cloth, delf-ware and silks, furniture and bonnets, 
 lumber and hats, sugar and medicine, whiskey and 
 books were sold over the same counter. The women 
 of the country brought in their linen and linsey and 
 jeans, and bartered them in the stores for tea and 
 coffee and such other articles as they could not make 
 at home; but the stores sold few things that could 
 be produced at home by the husband or the wife. 
 
 Males and females generally dressed in garments 
 made of linen, linsey, or jeans woven at home. A 
 few who could afford it wore broadcloths, silks, 
 prints, calamancoes, durants, tammies, shalloons, or 
 ratinels procured from the stores, and paid for them 
 with tobacco and beef and pork and corn. 
 
 But little money was in circulation, and barter was 
 the almost universal medium of exchange. The 
 Spanish dollar was about the only silver known, and 
 this was cut with a hammer and chisel into halves 
 and quarters and bits and picayunes for the conven- 
 ience of change. Some old trappers who wanted sil- 
 
Kentucky, Her History and Her People 243 
 
 vcr for their beaver skins complained that the dol- 
 lar was sometimes cut into five or six quarters. 
 
 A few first-class farmers like Isaac Shelby had 
 blooded horses and fine cattle and sheep and hogs 
 on their farms, but they were exceptions. The long- 
 snouted hog of the woods, the shabby cattle of the 
 mountains, the Barbary sheep, and the ponies the 
 Indians loved to steal were the kind usually found 
 upon the farms. Game roosters for fighting were 
 found in many places where all else were scrubs, and 
 sometimes a fine race-horse imported from Virginia 
 was seen among the miserable hacks. 
 
 WHAT A CENTURY HAS ACCOMPLISHED 
 
 Such was the condition of Kentucky when she 
 began her career as an independent State one hun- 
 dred years ago, and three hundred years after the 
 discovery of Columbus. The beginning of her state- 
 hood on the third centennial anniversary of the dis- 
 covery of America is a coincidence that it is not likely 
 her sons will ever forget. Through all time to 
 come the two events will move along the same path- 
 way of centuries, separated only by the difference of 
 time bebveen the discovery of the one and the inde- 
 pendence of the other. 
 
 Standing as we do at the favored terminus of a 
 hundred years of marvelous progress, our glad eyes 
 rest upon the evidences of advancement in our own 
 State that could not have been anticipated by the 
 Avisest. Could Clark and Shelby arise from their 
 hallowed graves to-day and look upon their country, 
 they would know it not. The same blue sky, with its 
 bright sun by day and its pale moon by night, is above 
 us. The same broad land, with its rich soil and 
 navigable rivers, is beneath us. The same healthful 
 climate wraps us around and imparts its enlivening 
 
244 Old Kentucky 
 
 summer breezes and its chastening winter winds. All 
 else, how changed ! 
 
 The great forest which cast its dark shadow upon 
 the land has passed away, and with it the wild beasts 
 and wilder savages that infested it. In its stead we 
 behold immense fields of grain and pastures of grass, 
 sporting with the consenting breezes like ocean waves 
 toying with the passing winds. Vast areas of de- 
 nuded forest now covered with growing hemp and 
 tobacco remind us of the trying days when the 
 haughty Spaniard, fortified upon the shores of the 
 Mississippi, shut out our products from the markets 
 of the world. The roads first marked out by the 
 sagacious buffalo, and afterward adopted by the 
 pioneer, with their summer's dust and their winter's 
 mud, have given place to macadam thoroughfares 
 and to railroads on which the iron horse, unconscious 
 of the burden of a thousand steeds behind him, 
 bounds over hills, darts through mountains, springs 
 across rivers, and speeds along plains with the ve- 
 locity of the eagle's flight. From our matchless 
 rivers have disappeared the pirogue, the canoe, the 
 keel, and the barge propelled by sluggish oars and 
 sails, and in their places we have those leviathans 
 of omnipotent steam which glide along with their 
 immeasurable cargoes as if the opposing winds and 
 currents were but toys to allure them to their play. 
 The broad prairies and the evergreen canebrakes, on 
 which the buffalo and the deer grew fat for the food 
 of man, are seen no more, and in their places the 
 meadows of timothy and the pastures of blue-grass 
 are the Eden of the Durhams and the Holsteins, of 
 the Southdowns and the Cotswolds. Orchards and 
 vineyards and gardens and nurseries surround happy 
 mansions on the hills and in the valleys and along 
 the plains where the wild roots grew. The whole 
 
Kentucky, Her History and Her People 245 
 
 face of the country has been changed as if touched 
 by the magician's wand, and the wilderness has 
 been made to blossom as the rose. 
 
 Two millions of inhabitants are spread over the 
 one hundred and twenty counties into which the 
 State has been divided, showing an average increase 
 of nineteen thousand souls for every year of the 
 century closed in 1892. It is an intelHgent, indus- 
 trious, and progressive population, engaged in most 
 of the commendable pursuits of civilization. They 
 have opened agricultural and grazing and mineral 
 lands, and erected manufactories, the surplus prod- 
 ucts of which go to enrich the markets of the world. 
 They have built cities in different parts of the land, 
 a single one of which has double the population and 
 many times the wealth of the entire State when its 
 independence began. 
 
 While reaching this increase of population, they 
 have made mistakes in legislation, as all civilized 
 peoples have done in every age and clime. They 
 blundered in finance, in 18 18, when they created 
 forty independent banks, and turned them loose to 
 prey on the community with their paper capital of 
 nearly $8,000,000. They were quick to discover 
 their error, and at the end of two years repealed the 
 charters of these moneyless institutions. They have 
 since established two hundred and fifty banks worthy 
 to bear the name, which now meet the wants of the 
 community with their solid capital of $35,000,000. 
 They blundered in 1820, when they began their wild 
 acts of relief, whose follies fed upon their own fool- 
 ishness until they brought on that conflict between 
 the old Court of Appeals and the new, which shook 
 the commonwealth to its center. Experience again 
 brought them wisdom, and they repealed the act 
 establishing the new court, and left the people to 
 
246 Old Kentucky 
 
 pay the debts they had contracted instead of looking 
 to unconstitutional laws to avoid them. They blun- 
 dered in internal improvements until they found the 
 State staggering under a load of debts, with little of 
 valuable works to show for the money they had cost; 
 and they blundered in the passage of ill-digested laws, 
 to be quickly repealed; but with all their follies of 
 legislation, the wisdom of their acts was greatly in 
 the ascendant. 
 
 They have three times renewed their first organic 
 law, and each time made advances along the line of 
 enlightened progress. The constitution of 1799 did 
 away with the federal features of that of 1792, and 
 brought the people nearer to the agents who were 
 to administer their government. The constitution 
 of 1850 improved upon that of 1799 in the interest 
 of the people by making almost all offices elective, 
 and by opening wider the various avenues of prog- 
 ress. This was the first of our organic laws which 
 looked to the education of the people, and it began 
 the great work of setting apart forever in the cause 
 of popular education the million of dollars obtained 
 from the United States, with its increase from other 
 sources. The educational fund was, at that time, 
 more than $1,300,000, and recently it has been in- 
 creased by another $600,000 from the United States, 
 which, with other accumulations, will swell the 
 school fund to $2,300,000 at this date. It was under 
 this constitution, also, that the old and meaningless 
 forms of pleading, inherited from rude ages, were 
 abolished, and codes of practice established in their 
 stead. The last constitution, of 1891, has departed 
 widely from the beaten track of its predecessors and 
 made radical changes, the wisdom or the folly of 
 which time alone can determine. The makers seem 
 to have honestly struggled to meet the wants of the 
 
Kentucky, Her History and Her People 247 
 
 acl\anced and progressive people, and It remains to 
 be seen whether the changed and ever-varying con- 
 ditions of our citizens have been sufficiently provided 
 for in this instrument. 
 
 In the interest of broad humanity, they passed the 
 act of 1798, repealing the bloody code inherited 
 from the mother country, which made our people 
 liable to be hanged for no less than one hundred and 
 sixty-five enumerated crimes. We can hardly realize 
 that as late as 1798 Kentuckians were subject to the 
 death penalty of the law for larceny, perjury, for- 
 gery, arson, obtaining money under false pretenses, 
 etc. They were a little slow and stealthy in doing 
 so, but they repealed that disgraceful law by which a 
 man was punished at the whipping-post, by omitting 
 this degrading penalty from the revised statutes of 
 1870. They have established asylums for the in- 
 sane, and schools for the blind and the deaf and 
 dumb, and retreats for the aged and homes for the 
 poor. Even their prisons are no longer those sick- 
 ening dungeons which came down from the dark 
 ages, but decent homes of confinement where mercy 
 guards the victims and humanity allures them to re- 
 form. Like prudent heirs who have not squandered 
 the estate bequeathed by their ancestors, they have 
 not diminished the magnificent territoi*y they ob- 
 tained from Virginia, but have enlarged it. In the 
 southwestern corner of the State they acquired from 
 the Chickasaw Indians, in 18 19, seven millions of 
 acres, out of which the flourishing counties of Mc- 
 Cracken, Ballard, Marshall, Carlisle, Calloway, 
 Graves, Hickman, and Fulton have been made. 
 With a moral courage that never shrank from the 
 candid expression of opinions on Important subjects, 
 they gave to their country the resolutions of 1798-9 
 as the embodiment of the doctrine of States' rights. 
 
248 Old Kentucky 
 
 These celebrated resolutions have shaped the politi- 
 cal faith of leading parties ever since, and they seem 
 destined to exert an undiminished influence for all 
 time to come. 
 
 The farmer has laid aside the rude and clumsy 
 helps to his industry, and now uses implements which 
 almost do his work for him. Pie opens his land and 
 puts in his crop and cultivates it and gathers and pre- 
 pares It for market by machinery that leaves him 
 little to do with his hands. The mechanic who was 
 a maker and mender of all kinds of things has be- 
 come a specialist, and now we have an expert for 
 every different occupation. The house that was 
 built by the carpenter of 1792 now requires the 
 services of the cabinetmaker, the joiner, the plumber, 
 the plasterer, the glazier, the painter, the mason, the 
 turner, the upholsterer, and a dozen others, with an 
 architect to direct the little army. Those great clv- 
 Ilizers of the world, the newspaper and the printing- 
 press, have advanced step by step in progressive Im- 
 provements until they have almost reached perfec- 
 tion. There are newspapers in almost every village 
 In the State, numbering something like three hundred 
 In all, and turning out at a single Issue seven hundred 
 and fifty thousand impressions. There are printing 
 presses, like the great Hoe of the Courier-Journal, 
 with almost human Intelligence, that print and fold 
 twenty-five thousand eight-page papers In an hour. 
 The first book printed in the State was Issued from 
 the hand-press of Maxwell & Gooch, at Lexington, 
 In 1793. It required long and weary months of la- 
 bor to get out a small edition of this little volume of 
 ninety-six octavo pages. Such a book could now be 
 sent out In a large edition from one of our principal 
 publishing houses in a single week. 
 
 All over our broad land free schools have been es- 
 
Kentucky, Her History and Her People 249 
 
 tablished, in which the children of all citizens may 
 acquire a good business education. If they would 
 then extend their studies, there are private schools 
 everywhere in which the higher branches of learn- 
 ing may be pursued; and if they would yet go far- 
 ther, there are colleges at Danville and Richmond 
 and Lexington and Georgetown and Bardstown or 
 St. Mary's, in which a finished education may be ob- 
 tained. There are medical schools and law schools 
 and theological schools and schools of art and science 
 and design and mechanics, in which almost every 
 branch of human knowledge is open to the student. 
 There are public libraries and association libraries 
 and special libraries and private libraries, where the 
 best books of all ages and countries are stored. Most 
 of the leading religions of the times are represented, 
 and with all of them combined in the interest of hu- 
 man souls, there is scarcely a nook or corner in which 
 prayer and song and preaching may not be heard. 
 Many of the church edifices of our cities are fine 
 specimens of ecclesiastical architecture, and the ten- 
 dency is to make these structures yet more worthy of 
 the sacred office to which they are devoted. In every 
 part of the State post-offices have been established, 
 and in the leading cities letters and packages are de- 
 livered at the doors of those to whom they are ad- 
 dressed. More rapid than mail carriers in the trans- 
 mission of news and knowledge there are telegraph 
 wires throughout the State, over which electricity 
 flashes messages regardless of time and space; and 
 there are telephone wires over which the human 
 voice, in conversational tones, is heard at distances 
 where the thunders would be silent. That myster- 
 ious energy which thunders in the storm-cloud and 
 gilds the darkness of the night with the glow of the 
 midday sun has been made to move machinery with 
 
250 Old Kentucky 
 
 a velocity hitherto unknown, and to dispel the shad- 
 ows of the night. Passenger cars propelled by its 
 invisible might glide along the thoroughfares of our 
 cities, and provisions are being made to make it the 
 motive power of locomotives to draw immense trains 
 of cars over the lines of the railroads extending over 
 our vast country. We call this subtle agency elec- 
 tricity, and assign to it possibilities for the future as 
 great as its mysteries are now and have been in the 
 past. Steam engines have been placed in every po- 
 sition in which power is required. They ride on our 
 railroads, they float on our rivers, they whirl in our 
 factories, they know not weariness, nor require rest. 
 By day and by night, in sunshine and in cloud, they 
 cease not their mighty efforts. They perform the 
 work which the entire population of the State could 
 not do without them, and exist among us as two mil- 
 lions of constant unwearying toilers. 
 
 Our people live in houses that differ from those 
 of the last century as the palace of the prince differs 
 from the hovel of the peasant. In the Croghan 
 house at Locust Grove, and the Clark house at Mul- 
 berry Hill, both of which have come down to us 
 from the last century, we have specimens of the best 
 styles of the houses erected by our forefathers when 
 they thought it safe to leave the forts and dwell in 
 the open country. The Croghan is a square house 
 built of brick, one story high, with two rooms on 
 each side of a broad hall, while the Clark is a par- 
 allelogram, built of hewed logs two stories high, 
 with one room above and one below on each side of 
 the hall. 
 
 The style of the buildings that followed these 
 pioneer structures was the basement house with steps 
 leading to the floor above the ground, and finally this 
 was followed by what now prevails in a strange mix- 
 
Kentucky, Her History and Her People 251 
 
 ture of the Gothic castle, the Italian \illa, and the 
 Elizabethan cottage with the Virginian mansion. A 
 few who prefer comfort to display yet build the old 
 manor houses with large rooms and broad halls, in- 
 closed by plain but solid walls. The gas that lights 
 and heats these houses, the furnaces that warm them, 
 the water that flows through them, the photographs 
 that hang on the walls, the machine-made furniture 
 that adorns the rooms, the mattresses of hair, the 
 comforts of down, the porcelain, the glass, the gilded 
 knives and forks and spoons, the plated ware, and, 
 in fact, nearly all the articles of luxury or comfort 
 are the work of the century which has just closed. 
 It may be added that new kinds of meats, drinks, 
 vegetables and fruits are now placed upon the table 
 for breakfast, lunch, dinner, tea, and supper at hours 
 that would not have been tolerated by the pioneers. 
 We have bored into the deep-seated rocks of the 
 earth, and penetrated great reservoirs of natnaral gas 
 held down for untold ages by arches of anticlinal 
 axes, and laid long lines of iron pipes to conduct it 
 to our homes and our factories. Its smokeless light 
 and its dirtless heat are as great improvements upon 
 the coal fire and artificial gas light of our times as 
 these were upon the wood fire and the tallow candle 
 of our ancestors. 
 
 We have had no dearth of historians to record 
 these advances of our country and people, there hav- 
 ing been no fewer than eighteen of them from Fil- 
 son, in 1784, to Smith, in 1889; and yet there is 
 room for one more to leave unsaid much that has 
 been said, and to say much that has been left un- 
 said, and to say what is to be said in a different style. 
 We naturally incline to good opinions for John Fil- 
 son, the first historian of Kentucky, in honor of 
 whom our club has been named, but all prejudice 
 
252 Old Kentucky 
 
 aside, when we take into consideration the Httle his- 
 tory the new State had to be written in 1784, and 
 allow for the superior deserts of his map of Ken- 
 tucky and life of Boone, we must candidly say that 
 the merits of his history have not been surpassed by 
 those of any since written. 
 
 MILITARY CHARACTER 
 
 With a bravery worthy of the chivalrous race 
 from which they sprang, Kentuckians fought the In- 
 dian at home until his war-whoop no longer rang in 
 the forest and his scalping-knife no longer gleamed 
 at the cabin door. They followed him to Chilli- 
 cothe and to Pickaway, to the Maumee and tO' the 
 Tennessee, to his mountain fastnesses and to his for- 
 est retreats, until, in 1794, at the Fallen Timbers, 
 they dealt him that fatal and crushing blow from 
 which he never sufficiently recovered to return to his 
 favorite fighting- and hunting-grounds. Nor was 
 their bravery of that narrow kind which risks life 
 for self alone. They fought under Harrison at Tip- 
 pecanoe and on the Thames, under Jackson at New 
 Orleans, under Houston in Texas, and under Taylor 
 and Scott in Mexico; and on every field they won a 
 name that their descendants are proud to claim as 
 a part of their glorious inheritance. And alas ! when 
 cruel fate decreed that their own country must suffer 
 the horrors of civil war, and that they must meet 
 their brothers and friends upon the field of battle, 
 they shrank not from the duty to which conscience 
 called. They sent to the Union Army eighty thou- 
 sand of their brave sons, and to the Confederate 
 Army half as many more, making the largest num- 
 ber in proportion to population contributed by any 
 State to the civil war. They laid down their lives 
 
Kentucky, Her History and Her People 253 
 
 on many a well-fought field under their Confederate 
 leaders, Johnston and Breckinridge and Preston and 
 Buckncr and Morgan and Duke and Marshall, and 
 they fought not less nobly under Union commanders. 
 
 DISTINGUISHED KENTUCKIANS 
 
 AH along the line of the century which closes its 
 circle to-day, Kentuckians have made enviable names 
 at home and abroad. Were we to attempt to enum- 
 erate them on this occasion, the day would pass and 
 the coming night envelop us in its darkness before 
 the list could be completed. We rejoice that among 
 the first of philanthropists, her gifted son, John 
 Breckinridge, drafted the law of 1798 which did 
 away with the death penalty for all crimes except 
 murder; that her learned lawyers, Harr>^ Toulmin 
 and James Blair, led the way of modern codes when 
 they issued their review of the criminal law in 1804; 
 that her ingenious inventors, John Fitch and James 
 Rumsey, had mastered the principles of the steam- 
 boat in 1787 ; and that Thomas H. Barlow invented 
 the Planetarium and made a model of the first loco- 
 motive in 1826. They point with pride to their dis- 
 tinguished surgeons, Walter Brashear, who, in 1806, 
 first amputated the thigh at the hip joint, and 
 Ephraim McDowell, who became the father^ of 
 ovariotomy in 1809. Two Presidents of the United 
 States and four Vice-Presidents first saw the light 
 in Kentucky homes, and another of her favored sons 
 was Chief Executive of the Confederate States. 
 They have been United States cabinet officers and 
 justices and speakers and ministers abroad, and have 
 filled the highest ranks in the army and navy. They 
 have been the governors, the lieutenant-governors, 
 the legislators, and the judges of sister States. Such 
 
254 Old Kentucky 
 
 statesmen as Clay and Crittenden, such orators as 
 Menifee and Marshall, such journalists as Prentice 
 and Penn, such poets as O'Hara and Cosby, such ar- 
 tists as Jouett and Hart, have made fame for them- 
 selves and their State which bore their names to 
 every portion of the civilized world. I refrain from 
 allusions to the distinguished living, though the effort 
 at suppression is hard, knowing as I do that any 
 enumerating of them would require more time than 
 can be given on this occasion. 
 
 THE FUTURE 
 
 We may not presume to peer into the dark un- 
 known and attempt tO' foretell what is to come; but 
 the data of the past and the present are suggestive 
 of the future. None of us now present can hope to 
 witness another Kentucky centenary. All of us will 
 be laid to rest with the occupants of our cities of the 
 dead before this day can make its return. Even those 
 who shall then be here will not, probably, see our 
 population increased by such a ratio as accompanied 
 the years of the century just closed. Half a dozen 
 or more millions may then be here engaged in the 
 different pursuits of life. They will not abandon 
 the municipalities, nor those blue-grass lands peren- 
 nially enriched by the decaying limestone on which 
 they rest; but a new center of population and indus- 
 try and wealth will be then found in our mineral 
 regions. The coal and iron underlying tAvelve thou- 
 sand square miles of mountainous counti*y that the 
 pioneers deemed of no practical use, will give to 
 these lands a value beyond that of the blue-grass 
 fields. The coal will be lifted from its bed of ages, 
 and sent abroad to warm the people and move the 
 machinery of the world. The iron will be mined and 
 
Kentucky, II cr His lory and Her People 255 
 
 welded into bands to unite the nations of the earth. 
 Raih'oads will rush through the mountain valleys, 
 and furnaces and factories will glow along their 
 lines. A hardy population of miners will build their 
 cottages upon the hillsides and mountain slopes, and 
 the rugged country will be changed from a wilder- 
 ness to a region of picturesque beauty. The moun- 
 taineers thus brought in contact with enlightening in- 
 dustries, and in full view of the glories of the ad- 
 vancing world around them, may cease those ven- 
 dettas which have disgraced humanity, and become 
 an industrious, thriving, and progressive people. 
 With half a dozen millions of inhabitants farming 
 upon our blue-grass plains, and mining in our moun- 
 tains, and grazing stock upon our hills, and manufac- 
 turing in our cities, and cultivating the arts and the 
 sciences everywhere, Kentuckians of the century to 
 come may rejoice in the blessings of a country as far 
 in advance of ours as the one we enjoy is beyond that 
 of the pioneers. 
 
 The frowning mountains and the rugged hills 
 Will yield to plastic art; and, to the hum 
 Of wheels and the ring of anvils, uncounted 
 Joyous tongues will swell Industry's chorus 
 Until the earth, the waters, and the air 
 Resound with the harmonies of progress. 
 
 Onward, still onward and forever, will 
 Be the watchword until millions of feet 
 Threading the byways of spreading commerce 
 And myriads of hands manipulating 
 The useful arts have made tlie ^vilderness 
 Of the everlasting, rock-ribbed mountains 
 To blossom as the rose. 
 
 When that glorious time shall come, we who close 
 the first and open the second centui-y of our State- 
 hood to-day will not be forgotten by those who may 
 participate in the second centenary^; but we may be 
 remembered as a happy people on an emerald isle in 
 
256 Old Kentucky 
 
 the midst of the river of centuries, whose joyous 
 v^oices resounding through the ages and minghng 
 with those on the shore of 1792 and with those on 
 the shore of 1992 will unite them into one grand 
 harmony of kindred sounds. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 THE HOME-COMING 
 
 There is no question that love of home is one of 
 the great influences that tends to make good citizens. 
 A tenderness pervades the heart when memories of 
 the old home come upon one, and this love is one of 
 the noblest sentiments within the human breast. It 
 is an influence that extends throughout one's life, and 
 the more noble the nature, the more intense it is, and 
 it grows with the years. As age creeps upon one the 
 mind turns to scenes of childhood, and in the dying 
 hour home scenes come vividly before the mind, and 
 the last recollections of life are recollections of 
 mother, father, and of the joys of childhood in the 
 old home. Every one who loves the race, every one 
 who loves his country should encourage this feeling 
 in the young, for it will make better and happier citi- 
 zens, and make them strive to have homes like father 
 and mother had for them. Without home influences 
 Christianity would fail to accomplish Its purposes; 
 and it may be said — no home, no church; no church, 
 no religious influences, no upbuilding of the race; no 
 good citizenship, no patriotism. 
 
 The first commandment with promise is "Honor 
 thy father and mother," and this ought to be the first 
 lesson taught to children, and It can be taught best 
 at the mother's knee. The noblest influences that 
 enter into life have their beginning In the early days 
 of happy childhood In the well-regulated home. 
 Many great men In the hour of death go back in 
 memoi-y to home and mother and the caresses they 
 17 
 
258 Old Kentucky 
 
 received in childhood. It has been said that Presi- 
 dent Garfield before he passed away seemed to go 
 back to his childhood, and that he wanted his mother 
 to rock him to sleep Avith the little song that she used 
 to sing when he was a child. One can readily be- 
 lieve that this is true, from his conduct the day he 
 was inaugurated President of the United States. 
 Surrounded by many of the great men of his own 
 counti-y and of foreign countries, in the midst of 
 splendor, as soon as he had taken the oath of ofHce 
 he turned tenderly to his old mother, who was sitting 
 behind him, and kissed her with the affection of a 
 little child. He remembered how the tired hands of 
 his mother had toiled to give him what advantages 
 she could, and how she had sacrificed every comfort 
 for him ; and though she was old and plain, he was 
 not ashamed of her, and that very act of affection 
 endeared him to the hearts of all good people. Few 
 men who have had good homes and mothers have 
 become criminals; and those who stand in the sa- 
 cred desk cannot do better service than to help pa- 
 rents build and keep Christian homes; and the faith- 
 ful teacher should teach, next tO' the fear of God, 
 obedience and love tO' parents. 
 
 One of the most marked characteristics of Ken- 
 tucky life was the inculcation of love for home and 
 respect for parents. The sanctity of the home was 
 guarded carefully and no one dared encroach upon 
 it; although there were exceptions, this was the gen- 
 eral rule. The man would die to protect his home 
 and the purity of his family. 
 
 According to the census there are nearly 600,000 
 native Kentuckians dwelling in other States, Terri- 
 tories, and countries. The great majority of them 
 are engaged in social and domestic pursuits, and have 
 been home-builders, but a large number have be- 
 
The Home-Coming 259 
 
 come very prominent in public and social life as 
 teachers, ministers of the gospel, and representatives 
 of this counti-y in foreign lands. Yet it would be 
 hard to find a genuine Kentuckian, wherever he may 
 be, and whatever his employment, who has not the 
 spirit that he inherited from his old home State. It 
 has been universally accepted tiaith, "Once a Ken- 
 tuckian, always a Kentuckian." Not only those who 
 left their old homes in the commonwealth, but those 
 who have remained in their Kentucky homes, follow 
 with keen delight their kinsmen and fellow-citizens. 
 They are with them in their labors and they rejoice 
 in their successes. There is no spirit of jealousy; 
 the more successful a Kentuckian becomes, the more 
 he is loved and honored by his native State. 
 
 One of the most beautiful and inspiring events 
 that has occurred in this country was the home gath- 
 ering of Kentucky people in Louisville in June, 1906. 
 Such a gathering perhaps has never been seen in this 
 country. The home people's longing for a return of 
 those who had gone out from the Commonwealth 
 resulted in a plan to bring as many back as possible. 
 It was a plan beautiful in conception and it was 
 worthily carried out. The Governor of the State 
 went through the formality of issuing a proclama- 
 tion for the children of the old State to come back 
 home for a visit, to renew old acquaintances, and to 
 test the hospitality of their State, to see whether it 
 had degenerated in this time of commercial selfish- 
 ness. It was a beautiful proclamation, and in the 
 course of it Governor Beckham said : 
 
 "Wherever you have wandered, into whatever 
 land or clime you may have gone to take up your 
 abode, you are now, by parental authorit}^, sum- 
 moned back to the dear old State that gave birth to 
 your fathers. The old dinner-horn, that in days of 
 
26o Old Kentucky 
 
 yore told you of the approaching meal, has been 
 taken down from the wall, and there issues from its 
 sonorous and hospitable mouth a trumpet call reach- 
 ing the remotest corners of the earth and breathing 
 into the ear of every home-loving Kentuckian the 
 magical and irresistible appeal that he drop all else 
 and forthwith begin his pilgrimage back to his na- 
 tive heath. A joyous welcome awaits you." 
 
 The whole proclamation is beautiful and happy 
 in its expression. The time appointed for the home- 
 coming was from June 13 to June 17, and it is just 
 and proper to say that the suggestion that such a 
 home-coming be held was made by a daughter of 
 Kentucky living in Denver, Colorado, Miss Louise 
 Lee Hardin. The very name suggests Kentucky 
 blood of the purest strain. She was received with 
 the most distinguished honor and was presented with 
 a beautiful gold medal. Rev. Dr. Carter Helm 
 Jones, pastor of the Broadway Baptist Church, on 
 behalf of the Commercial Club, made the following 
 address, and presented the medal to Miss Hardin : 
 
 "Governor Beckham and Fellow-Kentuckians : 
 
 " 'The sun shines bright' in our warm Kentucky 
 hearts. I would like to ask the Kentuckians present 
 what would become of us if we did not have sugges- 
 tions from our women — not that we are likely to be 
 permanently without them, what to do with them 
 sometimes is the question ; and yet how could we live 
 without them? I rejoice that Kentucky has never 
 been an Eveless Eden, but women's e^^es have always 
 been the stars for our night; her smiles have always 
 made our radiant mornings; her sacramental touch 
 has divinized our daily toil; and her love has given 
 the meridian glory to our day. Of course, it was a 
 woman's suggestion that we should have this home- 
 
The Home-Coming 261 
 
 coming. Why not? We men are prone to act upon 
 the cold intellectual impulse of the head, but our 
 women walk to the music of heart throbs, and this 
 great occasion is the answer to the question as to 
 whether sentiment has yielded to the march of crass 
 industrial commercialism. So it was that many 
 months ago a daughter of Kentucky, moved by a 
 heavenly vision, stretched out her lingers until she 
 touched the heart-harp of a thousand strings, and 
 evoked music that was heard around the world. 
 Music that had power to freight itself with light and 
 love and sound — the gleam of the hearth-fire, the 
 fragrance of the old rose and honeysuckle, the song 
 of birds, the prattle of children, the rhythm of run- 
 ning brooks, the breath of summers whispering in 
 the blue-grass. Yes, a music insistent enough to hush 
 the dissonance of all the world's grind and sordid 
 craft and sweet enough to woo envying angels from 
 the very heavenly ramparts. For I believe, if we 
 could see and hear the unseen, for us the all above 
 would pulse with vibrant pinions while 
 
 " ' * * * Those Angel faces smile 
 
 Which we have lovel long since, and lost awhile.' 
 
 "And so, in behalf of the great Commercial Club 
 of our imperial city, representing the best city in all 
 this world, I come to decorate you, Miss Hardin. 
 T greet you as one of our sisters worthy to stand 
 among those 
 
 " 'The Knightliest of the Knightly race 
 That since the days of old, 
 Have kept the lamp of chivalry 
 Alight in hearts of gold.' 
 
 "And now, fair Kentuckian, speech that would 
 like to have been 'silvern' has faltered into failure. 
 
262 Old Kentucky 
 
 Let it, thus, give way tO' 'golden silence' which shall 
 bear our beautiful and lasting message. May I call 
 you, dropping for the nonce the conventional prefix, 
 Louise Lee Hardin? We shall 'miss' you when you 
 are gone. Louise, linking you with universal wom- 
 anhood, Lee with immortality of fame, and Hardin 
 with the unique glory of your own Kentucky. Pre- 
 cede us always. Miss Hardin, along your radiant 
 way, and in the sweet bye-and-bye come graciously 
 to meet us and show us the way to the New Kentucky 
 Home — the 'House not made with hands.' " 
 
 The home-comers met in the beautiful city of 
 Louisville, and what a revelation it was to many of 
 them to see the improvement of that city ! Some had 
 seen it more than fifty years ago when it was merely 
 a quiet little hospitable city. I remember it well as 
 it was in the fifties, and the impression that it made 
 on me at that time is vividly before me now. The 
 first great surprise was the Ohio- River, the first 
 river beside the Kentucky that I had ever seen. I 
 remember that it looked greater to me then than the 
 ocean has looked to me since, and I could not under- 
 stand how people could get over such a vast body of 
 water. And standing there I saw a steamer coming 
 over, and on the side was written John Sliallcross, 
 which I thought was simply a motto that meant he 
 would sure make the trip, which he did to my joy 
 and surprise. There was really not much to Louis- 
 ville then, but what there was was good. There was 
 a superior class of people, as hospitable as they were 
 in my old county, Shelby. The old Louisville hotel 
 was my stopping-place, and I have found very few 
 better hotels since. We went there sure of good 
 treatment, and when we married we carried our 
 brides there, and we were treated as Kentuckians 
 
The Home-Coming 263 
 
 want to be treated. Main Street had then some very 
 good buildings, and I remember we had some old 
 friends in the grocery business named King; and 
 Morton & Griswold published the old almanac, 
 which I would rather have to-day, without a number 
 missing, than the Encyclopedia Brittanica. 
 
 Kentuckians love good old Louisville and the 
 city was prepared In spirit and ability to take care 
 of the vast crowds that came to the old home 
 gathering. There was scarcely a Kentuckian that 
 wasn't proud of the city. It has beautiful homes, 
 It has metropolitan stores, fine churches, and schools, 
 a population of more than 300,000, ten great rail- 
 roads; It has medical schools, law schools, and 
 perhaps the best theological seminary in the world. 
 It has splendid river transportation, reaching thirty- 
 three navigable rivers; a waterway to the Gulf of 
 Mexico, $100,000,000 Invested In manufactories, 
 the richest banks in the South, surrounded by the 
 richest known agricultural section; It has as good 
 hotel accommodations as can be found In the country, 
 and, without further enumeration, it has almost 
 everything desirable. 
 
 This beautiful city was opened to the home-comers. 
 They were welcomed In every way, by the Gov^ernor, 
 the Mayor, and then by the President of the Com- 
 mercial Club, perhaps one of the most active com- 
 mercial clubs in the country. Every man and woman 
 who came into Louisville, so far as we know, felt 
 that everything good In the city was open to him or 
 her, the hospitality was unbounded. All classes of 
 Kentuckians were represented In that gathering; the 
 old became young again ; and as a solid old soul 
 said, "Nobody In Louisville seemed stuck-up." The 
 greatest men In the nation were there, and there was 
 a joyous feeling of equality manifested by all. It 
 
264 Old Kentucky 
 
 would take a book to record the names of those who 
 came from all parts of the world to join In this gath- 
 ering. Every State and Territory in the Union has 
 Kentuckians in it, and there is scarcely a country 
 known to mankind but what you will find Kentuckians 
 in that country. In a measure the great Southwest 
 has been built up principally through Kentucky in- 
 fluence, and whatever was the political or religious 
 sentiment of the people there, they were one people 
 in spirit — they were Kentuckians There was some- 
 thing almost pathetic in the gathering, many old 
 people making the pilgrimage back to the old home 
 place. 
 
 It would be a pleasure to mention by name many 
 of them, people I have known almost all my life; 
 but one that comes to me first was one of the purest 
 and best men I ever knew, Preston H. Leslie. He 
 was eighty-eight years old, and he came all the way 
 from Helena, Montana, to mingle with his old-time 
 friends. He served Kentucky well, having been in 
 the State Senate for eight years, and Governor of the 
 State from 1 871 to 1875 ; he was Governor of Mon- 
 tana, he was United States Attorney for the District 
 of Montana, and during his entire life has always 
 been an earnest Christian. He came back, and in the 
 course of the few remarks that he made, with tears 
 streaming down his face, he said, "I am glad once 
 more to look upon the dear old commonwealth." 
 
 Three of Missouri's former governors were 
 there — the able, capable and indomitable David R. 
 Francis, the brilliant William Stone, now United 
 States Senator, and the cultured and handsome Thos. 
 T. Crittenden, perhaps, all things considered, the 
 best-bred Kentuckian, descended from one of the most 
 distinguished families of the Union. Our own Tom 
 L. Johnson, almost holding a life tenure on the 
 
Tlie Home-Coming 265 
 
 mayoralty of Cleveland, and our Carter Harrison, 
 so long Mayor of Chicago, are numbered, too, among 
 the sons of Kentucky. Among her distinguished 
 sons there are now in Congress five United States 
 Senators, and one, General Bell, is well known as the 
 Chief of Staff of the United States Army. One of 
 Kentucky's most brilliant and distinguished men. 
 Judge Wm. Lindsay, of New York, made one of the 
 finest addresses that was heard during the gathering, 
 and another of her sons, Adlai E. Stevenson, was 
 there almost in the enjoyment of youthful happiness. 
 But it is useless to try to name them all, for her noble 
 sons are found everywhere. 
 
 There were many amusing things told at the 
 home-coming. One old man came from Missouri to 
 Kentucky with a wheel-barrow, and made the trip all 
 right, too. One old Kentucky woman, Mrs. Nevin, 
 who left the State fifty-six years ago and went to Cali- 
 fornia, came back in her special car, being a woman 
 of very large means, who, it is said, never has less 
 than $100,000 in gold in her strong box in her safety 
 vault. When she reached the Ohio River she 
 shouted, "Glory Hallelujah!" with tears of joy run- 
 ning down her cheeks, and nearly every one in the 
 party was affected. When asked about the trip, she 
 said, "I don't like to talk too much, or rather, I am 
 afraid to talk. I was put in jail once for talking too 
 much, and kept there for twelve days for shouting 
 'Hurrah for Jefferson Davis!' When I reached this 
 old river I could not help crying. I am seventy years 
 old, and looking back I can say I never knew a sorrow 
 in my old Kentucky home." 
 
 It is said that there never were so many tears shed 
 on one occasion as were shed when the people as- 
 sembled in that home-coming. Old memories stirred 
 their hearts, and in conversation they went back to 
 
266 Old Kentucky 
 
 the old times, and lived over old scenes, and it did 
 them good and made them better people. Old 
 people went back in memory to their homes of child- 
 hood; they looked in upon their old cabin where they 
 were born, they saw again the better homes their 
 parents provided for them and in which those parents 
 died; they wandered in the grand old forests; they 
 went to the little streams where they caught their 
 first fish and where they learned to swim ; they went 
 gathering nuts and papaws in the woods, into the 
 old orchards to visit the favorite apple tree; they 
 remembered the names of the horses, cows and dogs ; 
 they went to the grave)^ards where their dead were 
 buried, to the old church where they first heard sacred 
 song and prayer, to the little log schoolhouse where 
 they learned their letters ; they remembered their first 
 sweethearts, and then the lonely, lonely years when 
 they went out from their old Kentucky home to make 
 their way in the world. They remembered every- 
 thing — everything. Oh, those thousand sacred mem- 
 ories that come crowding intO' the heart, how much 
 they have to do v^'ith our lives as we daily toil along, 
 helping to build up the kind of country that Ken- 
 tuckians are taught to love ! 
 
 Wednesday, June 13th, was reception and welcome 
 day. The address of welcome by Honorable Henry 
 Watterson is a gem of beauty and ought to be pre- 
 served. In order to do this I gladly give it a place 
 in this book, and do so with his full approbation. In 
 closing a recent letter to me, Mr. Watterson said, "I 
 acknowledge your veiy kind letter and thank you 
 for it. I shall be very greatly honored if you see fit 
 to use anything of mine which you can lay hands 
 upon." The Courier-Journal has furnished me full 
 copies of the entire proceedings and given me author- 
 ity to use anything I desire. And the time will surely 
 
The Home-Coming 267 
 
 come when Kentuckians, in justice to themselves, will 
 see that the whole proceedings of the home-coming 
 and all the addresses, with many of the most promin- 
 ent names, shall be put where they will be preserved 
 in the archives of the State. 
 
 I give the address of Mr. Watterson in full. 
 
 " 'Once a Kentuckian, always a Kentuckian.' 
 From the cradle to the grave, the arms of the mother- 
 land, stretched forth in mother-love — the bosom of 
 the mother-land, immortal as the ages, yet mortal in 
 maternal affection, warmed by the rich, red blood of 
 Virginia — the voice of the mother-land, reaching the 
 farthest corners of the earth in tones of Heavenly 
 music — summon the errant to the roof-tree's shade 
 and bid the wanderer home. What wanderer yet was 
 ever loath to come? Whether upon the heights of 
 fortune and fame, or down amid the shadows of the 
 valley of death and despair, the true Kentuckian, 
 seeing the shining eyes and hearing the mother call, 
 sends back the answering refrain — 
 
 " 'Where'er I roam, \vhatever realms I see, 
 My heart, untraveled, fondly turns to thee.' 
 
 "Kentucky! Old Kentucky! The vei7 name has 
 had a charm, has wrought a spell, has made a melody 
 all of its own ; has woven on its sylvan loom a gloi'y 
 quite apart from the glory of Virginia, Kentucky's 
 mother, and the glory of Tennessee, Kentucky's 
 sister. It has bloomed in all hearts where manhood 
 and womanhood hold the right of way. The drama 
 of the ages, told in pulse-beats, finds here an interlude 
 which Fiction vainly emulates and His'toi-y may not 
 o'erleap. Not as the Greek, seeking Promethian fire 
 and oracles of Delphos, nor as the Roman filled with 
 the joy of living and the lust of conquest; not as the 
 ^'iking, springing to the call of wind and wave, nor 
 
2 68 Old Kentucky 
 
 as the Latin, dazzled by the glitter of gold, mad with 
 the thirst for glory; neither as the Britain and the 
 Teuton, eager for mastership on land and sea, the 
 Kentuckian, whom we, in filial homage, salute pro- 
 genitor. He was as none of these. Big in bone and 
 strong of voice — the full-grown man prefigured by 
 the psalmist — never the ocean mirrored his fancies, 
 nor the snow-clad peaks that reach the skies inspired; 
 but the mystery of strange lands, the savagery of 
 Nature and the song of the greenwood tree. 
 
 "The star that shone above him and led him on 
 was love of liberty, the beacon of his dreams, the light 
 of the fireside. He cut a clearing in the wildwood 
 and called it 'home,' Pie read not romance, he made 
 it; nor poetry, he lived it; his the forest epic, the 
 Illiad of the canebrake, the Odyssey of the frontier, 
 the unconscious prose-poem of the rifle and the camp, 
 the blockhouse and the plow, the Holy Bible and the 
 old field school. 
 
 "Happy the man who has sat in childhood upon a 
 well-loved grandsire's knee, awed by the telling of 
 the wondrous tale; how even as the Dardanae fol- 
 lowed Aeneas, the Virginians followed Boone; the 
 route from Troy to Tiber not wearier, nor flanked 
 by greater hazard, than that betwixt the shores of 
 the Chesapeake and the Falls of the Ohio; the moun- 
 tains standing, gorgon-like, across the pathless way, 
 as if, defending each defile, to hold inviolate some- 
 dread, forbidden secret; the weird wastes of wil- 
 derness beyond; the fordless stream; the yawning 
 chasm ; the gleam of the tomahawk and the hiss of 
 the serpent; yet ever onward, spite of the haunting 
 voice of the elements, stripped for the death-struggle 
 with man, spite of the silence and the solitude of re- 
 luctant Nature, like some fawn-eyed maiden, resisting 
 his rude intrusion; ever onward; before him the 
 
The Homc-Coming 269 
 
 promised land of the hunter's vision; in his soul the 
 grace of God, the fear of hell and the lov^e of Vir- 
 ginia ! 
 
 "God bless Virginia ! Heaven smile upon her as 
 she prepares to celebrate Avith fitting rite three cen- 
 turies of majestic achievement, the star-crown upon 
 her brow, the distaff in her hand, nor spot, nor blur 
 to dim the radiance of her shield ! 
 
 "They came, the Virginians, in their home-spun in 
 quest of homes; their warrant their rifles; their pay- 
 ment the blood of heroes ; nor yet forgetting a pro- 
 verb the Chinese have that 'it needs a hundred men 
 to make a fortress, but only a woman can make a 
 home' — for they were quick to go back for their 
 women; their wives and their sweethearts; our grand- 
 mothers, who stood by their side beautiful and daunt- 
 less, to load their fowling-pieces, to dress their 
 wounds, to cheer them on to battle, singing their 
 simple requiem over the dead at Boonesborough and 
 bringing water from the spring at Bryan's Station, 
 heart-broken only when the news came back from the 
 River Rasin. 
 
 "I am here to welcome you in the name of all the 
 people of this lovely city, in the name of all the people 
 of this renowned commonwealth, to welcome you as 
 kith and kin, but you will not expect me, I am sure, 
 to add thereto more than the merest outline of the 
 history of Kentucky as it is known to each and every 
 one of you, from the time when the pathfinders, un- 
 der the lead of Harrod and Henderson, of Boone and 
 Kenton, blazed their way through the forest, and the 
 heroes led by Logan and Shelby, by Scott and Clark, 
 rescued the land from the savage, to the hour which 
 smiles upon us here this day; a history resplendent 
 with illustrious names and deeds; separating itself 
 into three great epochs and many episodes and ad- 
 
270 Old Kentucky 
 
 ventures in woodcraft and warcraft and statecraft: 
 the period of the Clays, the Breckinridges and the 
 Crittendens, with its sublime struggle to preserve the 
 Union of the States as it had come down to them from 
 the Revolution, with always the Marshalls and the 
 Wickliffes, the Boyles and the Rowans, the Johnsons 
 and the Browns, the Adairs, the Deshas, and the Mc- 
 Dowells, somewhere at the fore — "Old Ben Hardin" 
 having a niche all to himself — none of them greater 
 than he ; the period of the war of sections, when even 
 the Clays, the Crittendens, and the Breckinridges 
 were divided, when for a season the skies were hung 
 in sable and all was dark as night, the very sacrifices 
 that had gone before seeming to have been made in 
 vain, the 'dark and bloody ground' of barbaric fancy 
 come into actual being through the passions and mis- 
 takes of Christian men ; and, finally, the period after 
 the war of sections, when the precept 'once a Ken- 
 tuckian, always a Kentuckian,' was met by the ans- 
 wering voice, 'blood is thicker than water,' and the 
 Goodloes, the Ballards, and the Speeds, the Harlans, 
 the Frys, and the Murrays, clasped their hands across 
 the breach and made short shrift of the work of Re- 
 construction with the Buckners, the Prestons, and the 
 Dukes. Thus is it that here at least the perplexed 
 grandchild cannot distinguish between the grizzled 
 grandfather who wore the blue and the grizzled 
 grandfather who wore the gray. 
 
 "Kentucky, which gave Abraham Lincoln to the 
 North and Jefferson Davis to the South, contributing 
 a very nearly equal quota of soldiers to each of the 
 contending armies of that great conflict — in point of 
 fact, as many fighting men as had ever voted in any 
 election — a larger per centum of the population than 
 has ever been furnished in time of war by any 
 modern State — Kentucky, thus rent by civil feud, 
 
The Home-Coming 271 
 
 was first tO' know the battle was ended and to draw 
 together in reunited brotherhood. Kentucky struck 
 the earliest blow for freedom, furnished the first 
 martyrs to liberty in Cuba. It was a Crittenden, 
 smiling before a file of Spanish musketr}% refusing to 
 be blindfolded or to bend the knee, for the fatal vol- 
 ley, who uttered the key-note of his race, 'A Ken- 
 tuckian always faces his enemy and kneels only to his 
 God.' It was another Kentuckian, the gallant Hol- 
 man, who, undaunted by the dread decimation, the 
 cruel death-by-lot, having drawn a white bean for 
 himself, brushed his friend aside and drew another in 
 his stead. Ah, yes; we have our humors along with 
 our heroics, and laugh anon at ourselves, and our mis- 
 haps and our jokes; but we are nowise a bloody- 
 minded people; the rather a sentimental, hospitable, 
 kindly people, caring perhaps too much for the pic- 
 turesque and too little for consequences. Though 
 our jests be sometimes rough, they are robust and 
 clean. We are a provincial people and Ave rejoice 
 in our provincialism. We have always piqued 
 ourselves upon doing our love-making and our 
 law-making, as we do our plowing, in a straight fur- 
 row; and yet it is true that Kentucky never en- 
 countered darker days than came upon us when the 
 worst that can befall a commonwealth seemed passed 
 and gone. The stubborn war between the Old Court 
 party and the New Court part}^ was bitter enough; 
 but it was not so implacable as the strife which 
 strangely began with the discussion of an honest 
 difference of opinion touching a purely economic 
 question, of National, not State, policy. Can there 
 be one living Kentuckian who does not look back with 
 horror and amazement upon the passions and inci- 
 dents of those evil days? 
 
 "General Grant once said to me, 'You Kentuckians 
 
272 Old Kentucky 
 
 are a clannish set. Whilst I was in the White House, 
 if a Kentuckian happened to get in harm's way, or 
 wanted an office, the Kentucky contingent began to 
 pour in ; in case he was a Republican, the Democrats 
 said he was a perfect gentleman, in case a Democrat, 
 the Republicans said the same thing; can it be that 
 you are all perfect gentlemen?' With unblushing 
 candor I told him that we were, that we fought our 
 battles, as we washed our linen, at home; but that 
 outside, when trouble came, it was Kentucky against 
 the universe. Mr. Tilden said of a lad in the blue- 
 grass country who had fallen from a second-story 
 window upon a stone paving without a hurt and had 
 run away to his play, that it furnished conclusive 
 proof that 'he was destined for a great career in Ken- 
 tucky politics.' Let me frankly confess that, peace- 
 maker though I am, and at once the most amiable 
 and placable of men, there have been times when I, 
 even I, half wanted to go down to the cross-roads 
 'and swear at the court.' That was when things 
 did not swing to suit me. That was when the ma- 
 jority appeared to think they knew more than I did. 
 We grow so used to blessings that we heed them not 
 and look beyond. Yet, when trouble or danger as- 
 sails us, or humiliation, or sorrow — or, when leagues, 
 oceans, continents lie between ourselves and the van- 
 ished land from whose sacred hntels ambition has 
 lured us, or duty torn — and the familiar scenes rise 
 up before us — how small these frictions seem, how 
 small they are, and how they perish from us ! 
 
 "I have stood upon the margin of a distant sea and 
 watched the ships go by, envious that their prows 
 were westward bent. I have marked the glad waves 
 dancing to the setting sun, heartsick with thoughts 
 of home. And thus wistful, yearning, ready to take 
 my dearest enemy by the hand and forgive him, yea. 
 
The Home-Coming 273 
 
 to sop gravy with him out of the selfsame dish, these 
 words of the vagabond poet, whose sins the Record- 
 ing Angel long ago blotted out of his book, have 
 come to me and sung to me and cheered me even as 
 a mother's lullaby: 
 
 " 'In all my wanderings round tliis world of care, 
 In all my griefs — and God has given my share — 
 I still had hopes my latest hours to crown, 
 Amid these rural scenes to lay me down, 
 To husband out life's taper at the close. 
 And keep the flame from wasting by repose, 
 I still had hopes — for pride attends us still — 
 Among the swains to show my book-learned skill. 
 Around my fire an evening group to draw. 
 And tell of all I felt and all I saw; 
 And as a hare whom hounds and horns pursue. 
 Pants to the place from whence at first he flew, 
 I still had hopes my long vexations past, 
 Here to return and die at home at last.' 
 
 "Home ! There may be words as sweet, words 
 as tender, words more resonant and high, but, within 
 our language round, is there one word so all-embrac- 
 ing as that simple word 'home'? Home, 'be it ever 
 so humble, there's no place like home,' — the old 
 Kentucky home: the home of your fathers, and of 
 mine; of innocent childhood, of happy boyhood, of 
 budding manhood; when all the world seemed bright 
 and fair, and hearts were full and strong; when life 
 was a fairy-tale, and the wind, as it breathed upon 
 the honeysuckle about the door, whispered naught 
 but of love and fame; and glory strode the sun- 
 beams; and there was no such music as the low of 
 cattle, the whir of the spinning-wheel, the call of the 
 dinner-horn, and the creaking of the barnyard gate. 
 Home — 
 
 " 'Take the bright shell 
 
 From its home on the lea, 
 And wherever it goes 
 
 It will sing of the sea. 
 So take the fond heart 
 
 From its home by the hearth, 
 'Twill sing of the loved ones 
 To the ends of the earth.' 
 18 
 
274 O^d Kentucky 
 
 "For it's 'home, home, home,' sighs the exile on 
 the beach, and it's 'home, home, home,' cries the 
 hunter from the hills and the hero from the wars — 
 
 " 'Hame to my ain countree,' 
 
 always home, whether it be tears or trophies we 
 bring; whether we come with laurels crowned, or 
 bent with anguish and sorrow and failure, having 
 none other shelter in the wide, wide world beside, 
 the prodigal along with the victor — often in his 
 dreams, yet always in his hope — turns him home ! 
 
 "You, too', friends and brothers — Kentuckians 
 each and eveiy one — you, too, home again; this your 
 castle, Kentucky's flag, not wholly hid beneath the 
 folds of the Nation's, above it; this your cottage, 
 Kentucky-like, the latchstring upon the outer side; 
 but, whether castle or cottage, an altar and a shrine 
 for faithful hearts and hallowed memories. Be sure 
 from yonder skies they look down upon us this day; 
 the immortal ones who built this Commonwealth, 
 and left it consecrate, a rich inheritance and high re- 
 sponsibility to you and me; who, like the father of 
 Daniel Webster, shrank from no danger, no toil, no 
 sacrifice to serve their country and raise their children 
 to a condition better than their own. In God's name, 
 and in Kentucky's name, I bid you something more 
 than welcome; I bid you know and feel, and carry 
 yourselves, as if you knew and felt that you are no 
 longer dreaming that this is actually God's country, 
 your native soil, that, standing knee-deep in blue- 
 grass, you stand full-length in all our homes and all 
 our hearts." 
 
 Thursday, June 14, was Stephen Collins Foster 
 day, in honor of a man whom Kentuckians loved and 
 honored. A monument was unveiled to his memory, 
 
The Home-Coming 275 
 
 aniitl one of the most inspiring and solemn scenes, 
 and when the monument was unveiled the audience 
 broke forth singing "My Old Kentucky Home," 
 Foster's great song. It is a song that has gone 
 around the world; you hear it in Paris, in Berlin, 
 and in South America, and in foreign lands it is one 
 of the most familiar of American songs. It is one 
 of the ties that binds the sentiment of the Old World 
 with the New; it brings up most hallowed scenes and 
 thoughts of dear ones that never will be seen again. 
 Why should not Kentuckians love it? While "My 
 Old Kentucky Home" appeals especially to Ken- 
 tuckians, it is a song for all America. Foster was 
 endowed with peculiarly tender gifts; he could touch 
 chords that it seemed no other man could touch. 
 Among some of his songs are "Old Black Joe," 
 "Massa's in de Cold, Cold Ground," "Nellie was a 
 Lady," "Old Uncle Ned," "Willie, We Have 
 Missed You." and "Old Folks at Home"— 
 
 "Way down upon de Suwanee river, 
 Far, far awa\% 
 Dat's where dis darky's heart am ever, 
 Dat's whar de old folks stay." 
 
 The Courier- Journal says, "Foster was not only 
 the greatest song-writer America has produced, but 
 one of the greatest the world has ever known." 
 
 The Honorable Mr. Stevenson made an eloquent 
 address, which I give in full. Mr. Stevenson said: 
 
 "Fellow-citizens: 
 
 "Fifty years and more ago I became a resident of 
 the magnificent State stretching northward from the 
 Ohio to the Wisconsin line and to the great inland 
 sea. A Kentuckian born, I have kept the faith, and 
 at your invitation return to bear some humble part 
 in the ceremonies of this hour. The announcement 
 
276 Old Kentucky 
 
 that Kentucky had set apart a 'Home-coming Week,' 
 that the latchstring was out and a glad welcome 
 awaiting touched the hearts of all the sons and 
 daughters of the grand old commonwealth. 
 
 " 'Once in grace — always in grace.' 
 
 'Once a Kentuckian — always a Kentuckian.' For 
 wherever on this green earth the footsteps of her 
 children may have wandered — all roads, at some 
 time, lead back to the old home; to the hearthstone 
 around which cling the tender memories of child- 
 hood; to the little mounds where sleep the ashes of 
 ancestral dead, 
 
 "The earnest desire to meet and mingle again with 
 those whose ancestors, with ours, endured the hard- 
 ships and dangers of frontier life — whose fortitude 
 and wisdom made sure and steadfast the foundations 
 of a splendid State — has been realized, and from be- 
 yond the Mississippi and the Ohio, at your cordial 
 bidding, we are to-day in our ancestral home. 
 
 "The home-coming to which you have invited us 
 is without a parallel. The kindly words that have 
 been spoken, the cordial grasp of the hand, the hos- 
 pitality extended, all give assurance in the largest 
 measure that we are welcome. 
 
 "No place so fitting for this home-coming could 
 have been selected as this splendid city. We rejoice 
 with you in its prosperity; we share with you its 
 glory. Grandly situated upon the banks of the beau- 
 iful river 'whose waters flow unvexed to the gulf,' 
 itself the mart of a mighty commerce; its railroads 
 holding it in sure touch with the remotest parts of the 
 continent, the home of a people that knows no su- 
 perior in all that constitutes the loftiest civilization — 
 truly, all that our eyes behold this day is but the 
 
The Home-Coming 2^^ 
 
 earnest of the grander day yet to dawn upon this 
 magnificent city. 
 
 "The hours are waning, and the unparalleled occa- 
 sion that convened this vast assemblage will soon 
 pass into history; but henceforth, for aye, Louis- 
 ville — the emporium of our noble commonwealth — 
 will live in our memories with the home-coming of 
 Kentuckians, with that welcome that springs only 
 from the heart, with a hospitality that knew no 
 bounds, with the renewal of friendships that neither 
 distance nor time could dissolve. 
 
 "It has been said that no one can ever get away 
 from his ancestors. It Is equally true that he can 
 never get wholly away from the old home. To her 
 sons, Kentucky skies were ever the brightest, her 
 daughters the fairest, her orators the most eloquent. 
 
 "Illinois has not been unmindful of her obligation 
 to her sister State to the southward — separated by 
 the Ohio, but united by ancestral ties, and the mem- 
 ories of common dangers. More than seventy years 
 ago, while there yet survived within her borders he- 
 roes of the Thames, of Tippecanoe, and of 'the mel- 
 ancholy Raisin,' Illinois honored herself by giving 
 to a splendid county the name of 'Jo Daviess' in en- 
 during commemoration of her gratitude to the pro- 
 found lawyer, peerless orator and warrior as knightly 
 as ever Kentucky sent forth to meet death upon the 
 field of battle. 
 
 "The occasion Is fitting to mention an event of the 
 deepest consequence to what was then known as 'the 
 Illinois Country.' It was Indeed an event of pro- 
 found significance, and one which hastened the gath- 
 ering forces which were soon to wrest from the Brit- 
 ish crown no small part of the splendid domain won 
 from France by Wolfe's brilliant victory at Quebec. 
 
278 Old Kentucky 
 
 " 'the heroic clark' 
 
 "While the Revolutionary war was still in prog- 
 ress — and its glorious ending as yet but dimly fore- 
 shadowed — Gen. George Rogers Clark planned an 
 expedition, whose successful termination has given his 
 name to the list of great conquerors — one declared 
 by John Randolph worthy of mention with the cam- 
 paigns of Hannibal in Italy. Bearing the commission 
 of Patrick Henry, Governor of Virginia, with two 
 hundred daring followers — gathered from Harrod's 
 Station, the Valley of the Elkhorn, the Falls of th<" 
 Ohio and other sparsely populated settlements in 
 Kentucky — the heroic Clark crossed the Ohio and 
 began his perilous march. After enduring hardships, 
 the recital of which, even now, makes the heart sick, 
 the undaunted leader and his little band reached the 
 colonial capital — Kaskaskia — upon the banks of the 
 upper Mississippi. The British commander and his 
 garrison were surprised and quickly captured. The 
 British flag was lowered and 'the Illinois Countiy' 
 taken possession of in the name of the commonwealth 
 whose Governor had authorized the expedition. 
 Thus, by the far-seeing statesmanship and heroism 
 of Clark and the endurance and courage of his little 
 band of Kentucky riflemen — heroes all as 'knightly 
 as ever fought beneath a plume' — the symbol of 
 British authority disappeared forever from the do- 
 main of Illinois, to be succeeded in the then near fu- 
 ture by the ever-inspiring symbol of an 'indissoluble 
 Union of indestructible States.' A splendid county in 
 Illinois will hand clown to future ages the illustrious 
 name of Clark, while the record of his glorious 
 achievements — and that of his equally heroic com- 
 rades — are among our enduring historic treasures. 
 
 "In the beautiful cemetery near the capital city 
 
The Home-Coming 279 
 
 of this commonwealth — where sleep so many of her 
 illustrious dead — stands a monument unique and im- 
 posing, erected by a grateful people to the heroes 
 who fell upon the bloody field of Buena Vista. In- 
 scribed upon that monument with the names of Mc- 
 Kee and of Clay is that of an illustrious Illinoisan — 
 a Kentuckian by birth — the peerless soldier, John J. 
 Hardin. It was of these and their comrades, in 
 death as in life, your own poet wrote the inspiring 
 lines inscribed to-day upon a hundred monuments : 
 
 " 'On fame's eternal camping ground 
 Their silent tents are spread.' 
 
 "With such memories as a heritage, is it strange 
 that your call has been obeyed, and that so many 
 Illinoisans are your guests at this wondrous home- 
 coming? 
 
 "And, my fellow-citizens, what a glorious his- 
 tory — how inspiring to its youth — that of this grand 
 old State! There are those yet living whose good 
 fortune it was to have known its 'builders' — the men 
 who set up its public defences; the men under whose 
 auspices Kentucky became a State in the Federal 
 Union — and little more than a century ago entered 
 upon its marvelous career. Out of the stirring inci- 
 dents here occurring might be garnered the very 
 warp and woof of the romances of histoi7. The an- 
 nals of the old commonwealth teem with incidents of 
 perilous adventure — are resplendent with deeds of 
 noble self-sacrifice. Upon braver men, nobler and 
 more devoted women than those by whose toil and 
 sacrifice was laid deep and enduring the foundations 
 of this commonwealth — the sun in all his course has 
 nowhere looked down. The story of frontier life, 
 its hardships, privations, and dangers, can never lose 
 Its pathetic interest, llow the old home near the 
 
2 8o Old Kentucky 
 
 seaboard was abandoned for a habitation in the wild- 
 erness ; how the log cabin gave shelter from the win- 
 ter's storm, while the rifle of the pioneer protected 
 his loved ones from wild beast and yet wilder men. 
 How in time — with the advancing tide of civiliza- 
 tion — the red man burned his last wigwam and sadly 
 turned his footsteps toward the setting sun. How 
 magnificent cities have sprung into being, and be- 
 come the marts of busy trade. How, as if by the 
 wand of magic, the vast forests have been trans- 
 formed into splendid farms — the comfortable 
 homes of civilized men. And all this during a pe- 
 riod extending little beyond that of a single human 
 life. And how Kentuclcy — where but a handful of 
 the boldest frontiersmen were struggling for mastery 
 with savage foe at the time of the formation of the 
 Federal Government — now in these early years of 
 the twentieth century contains a population two- 
 thirds that of our entire country when Washington 
 was inaugurated President. 
 
 "More than all this, we glory in the fact that in 
 the struggle for wealth and power, the claims of ed- 
 ucation, of religion, of charity have not been for- 
 gotten. Your schoolhouses, universities, churches 
 asylums — institutions for the care and relief of the 
 poor and the unfortunate — all bear witness to the 
 glad fact, that the humane efforts of this people have 
 kept even pace with material advancement and pros- 
 perity. 
 
 "As one standing, alas, 'upon the western slope,' 
 let me adjure the young men of Kentucky to study 
 thoroughly the history of their native State. It was 
 the first after the original thirteen to effect State or- 
 ganization, and the second to secure admission into 
 the Federal Union. Its pathway from the beginning 
 has been luminous with heroic achievements. In all 
 
The Home-Coming 281 
 
 that constitutes true grandeur in a people, Kentucky 
 knows no superior among the great sisterhood of 
 States. Let me say to you, young men of my native 
 State, it is high privilege and high honor to be a citi- 
 zen of this great republic. It is, in very truth, a gov^- 
 ernment of the people, in an important sense a gov- 
 ernment standing separate and apart; its foundations 
 the morality, the intelligence, the patriotism of the 
 people. Never forget that citizenship in such a gov- 
 ernment carries with it high responsibility that is per- 
 sonal, one that you cannot evade. Study thoroughly 
 the history of your country, how our liberties were 
 achieved, and the benefits of stable government se- 
 cured by the great compact which for more than a 
 century — in peace and during the storm and stress of 
 war — has held States and people in indissoluble 
 union. And how during the great civil conflict — the 
 most stupendous the world has ever known — human 
 liberty through baptism of blood attained a new and 
 grander meaning, and the Union established by our 
 fathers was made, as we humbly trust in God, endur- 
 ing for all time. 
 
 ''most illustrious of all sons 
 
 "My fellow-citizens, I am honored by the invita- 
 tion to speak on this, 'the Greatest Kentucky Day,' 
 of the most illustrious of all the sons of this old com- 
 monwealth. Of one, a Kentuckian by birth, by 
 adoption an Illinoisan, and at all times — in its grand- 
 est conception — an American. 
 
 "And yet, when I would speak of Abraham Lin- 
 coln, I am reminded of the embarrassment of the 
 French orator, Bousset, when he pronounced his 
 matchless eulogy upon the Prince of Conde. Said he, 
 'When I open my lips to celebrate the immortal glory 
 
282 Old Kentucky 
 
 of the Prince of Conde I find myself equally over- 
 whelmed by the greatness of the theme and the need- 
 lessness of the task. What part of the habitable 
 globe has not heard of the wonders of his life? 
 Everywhere they are rehearsed. His own countr}'- 
 men in extolling them can give no information ev-en 
 to the stranger.' Of Lincoln, nO' words can be ut- 
 tered, nor withheld, that could add to or detract from 
 his imperishable fame. His name is the common her- 
 itage of all the people and all time. 
 
 "He was born in the same year that witnessed the 
 retirement of Jefferson and the inauguration of 
 Madison as President. He came from the common 
 walks of life — from what in other countries would 
 be called the great middle class. His early home was 
 one of the humblest, where he was a stranger to the 
 luxuries of life. His opportunities for education 
 were only such as were common in the remote habita- 
 tions of our western country near one century ago. 
 In the words of my neighbor and friend, Philips, one 
 of the most eloquent of his eulogists, 'He lived with 
 nature and learned of her. He toiled, but his toil 
 was never hopeless and degrading. His feet were 
 upon the earth, but the stars shining in perennial 
 beauty were ever above him to inspire contemplation. 
 He heard the song of the thrush and the carol of 
 the lark. Fie watched the sun in its course. He 
 knew the dim paths of the forest, and his soul was 
 awed by the power of the storm.' 
 
 "Under such conditions began a career that in 
 grandeur and achievement has but a single counter- 
 part in our history. And what a splendid commen- 
 tary this upon our free institutions — upon the sub- 
 lime underlying principle of popular government ! 
 How inspiring to the. youth of noble aims every inci- 
 dent of a pathway that led from the frontier cabin 
 
The Home-Coming 28 
 
 o 
 
 to the chief executive mansion, from the humblest 
 station to the most exalted yet attained by man. 
 
 "In no other country than ours could such attain- 
 ment have been possible for the boys whose hands 
 were inured to toil, whose bread was eaten under the 
 hard conditions that poverty imposes; whose only 
 heritage was brain, integrit>', lofty ambition, and in- 
 domitable purpose. Let it never be forgotten, that 
 the man of whom I speak possessed an integrity that 
 could know no temptation, a purity of life that was 
 never questioned, a patriotism that no sectional lines 
 could limit, and a fixedness of purpose in great 
 achievement that knew no shadow of turning. 
 
 "The decade extending from our first treaty of 
 peace with Great Britain to the inauguration of 
 Washington has been truly denominated the critical 
 period of our history. The eloquence of Adams and 
 of Henry had precipitated revolution. The unfalter- 
 ing courage of Washington and his comrades had se- 
 cured independence, but the more difficult task of 
 government was yet to be achieved. The hour for 
 the constructive statesman had arrived, and James 
 Madison and his associates — equal to the great 
 emergency — formulated the Federal Constitution. 
 
 "No less critical was the period that bounded the 
 active life of the man whose memory we honor to- 
 day. One perilous question to national unity for 
 near three-quarters of a centuiy, the subject of re- 
 peated compromise by patriotic statesmen ; the apple 
 of discord producing sectional antagonism, whose 
 shadow had darkened our national highway from 
 the beginning — was now, for weal or woe, to find 
 determination. Angry debate in the Senate and the 
 forum was now hushed, and the supreme question 
 that took hold of national life was to find enduring 
 arbitrament in the dread tribunal of last resort. 
 
284 Old Kentucky 
 
 "It was well known that in such an hour — with 
 such tremendous issues in the balance — that a steady 
 hand was at the helm ; that a conservative states- 
 man — one whose mission was to save, not to de- 
 stroy — was in the high place of responsibility and of 
 power. It booted little then that he was untaught of 
 schools, unskilled in the ways of courts, but was of 
 supreme moment that he could touch responsive 
 chords in the great American heart. All important 
 that his very soul yearned for the preservation of the 
 government established through the toil and sacrifice 
 of the generation that had gone. How hopeless the 
 republic in that half hour, had its destiny hung upon 
 the statecraft of Talleyrand, the eloquence of Mira- 
 beau or the genius of Napoleon. 
 
 ''the plain brave man 
 
 "Fortunate, indeed, that the ark of our covenant 
 was then borne by the plain, brave man of concilia- 
 tory spirit, of kind words and whose heart — as Em- 
 erson has said — 'was as large as the world, but no- 
 where had room for the memory of a wrong.' 
 
 "Nobler words have never fallen from human lips 
 than the closing sentences of his first inaugural, ut- 
 tered in one of the pivotal days of human history — 
 immediately upon taking the oath to 'preserve, pro- 
 tect and defend' his country, 'I am loath to close. 
 We are not enemies but friends. We must not be 
 enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must 
 not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords 
 of memoi*y stretching from every battlefield and pa- 
 triot's grave to every living heart and hearthstone 
 all over this broad land will yet swell the chorus of 
 the Union, when again touched, as surely they will 
 be, by the better angels of our nature.' 
 
The Home-Coming 285 
 
 "In the light of what we now know so well, 
 nothing is hazarded in saying that the death of no 
 man has been to his country so irreparable a loss — 
 one so grievous to be borne — as that of Abraham 
 Lincoln. When Washington died, his work was 
 done, his life well rounded out — save one, the years 
 allotted had been passed. Not so with Lincoln. To 
 him a grander task was yet in waiting — one no other 
 could so well perform. The assassin's pistol proved 
 the veritable Pandora's box from which sprung evils 
 untold — whose consequences have never been meas- 
 ured — to one-third of the States of our Union. But 
 for his untimely death how the current of histoiy 
 of this, our Southland, would have been changed — 
 and many a sad chapter remained unwritten — is no 
 mere matter of speculation. How earnestly he de- 
 sired a restored Union, and that the blessings of 
 peace and of concord should be the common heritage 
 of ever)^ section is known to all. 
 
 "When in the loom of time have such words been 
 heard above the din of fierce conflict as his sublime 
 utterances, but a brief time before his tragic death: 
 'With malice toward none, with charity for all, with 
 firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, 
 let us strive on to finish the work we are in to bind 
 up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall 
 have bom the battle and for his widow and his or- 
 phan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just 
 and lasting peace among ourselves and with all na- 
 tions.' 
 
 "My fellow-citizens, the men who knew Abraham 
 Lincoln, who saw him face to face, have, with few 
 exceptions, passed the grave. Another generation 
 is upon the busy stage. The book has forever closed 
 upon the dread pageant of civil strife. Sectional ani- 
 mosities, thank God, belong now only to the past. 
 
2 86 Old Kentucky 
 
 The mantle of peace Is over our entire land and pros- 
 perity within our borders. 
 
 " 'The war drum ihrohs no longer, and the battle flags are furled, 
 In the parliament of man, the federation of the world.' 
 
 "Through the instrumentality — in no small meas- 
 ure — of the man born upon your soil, the government 
 established by our fathers, 'untouched by the finger 
 of time,' has descended to us. The responsibility of 
 its preservation and transmission rests upon the suc- 
 cessive generations as they come and go. To-day, 
 at this auspicious hour — sacred to the memory of 
 Lincoln — let us, his countrymen, inspired by the sub- 
 lime lessons of his wondrous life and grateful to God 
 for all He has vouchsafed to our fathers and to us 
 in the past, take courage and turn our faces reso- 
 lutely, hopefully, trustingly to the future. 
 
 "I know of no words more fitting with which to 
 close this humble tribute to the memory of Lincoln 
 than those Inscribed upon the monument of Moliere, 
 'Nothing was wanting to his glory; he was wanting 
 to ours.' " 
 
 June 1 6th was Daniel Boone's day, and a statue to 
 the memory of the immortal hero was unveiled. 
 And though Colonel Breckinridge Castleman and the 
 incomparable Colonel Durrett made admirable ad- 
 dresses, they seemed to feel that it was impossible 
 to do justice to the memory of the great old hero 
 who opened up beautiful Kentucky to the people be- 
 yound the mountains. For purposes that a wise 
 Providence seemed tO' have set apart this hero, he 
 seemed to want no characteristic for success ; he was 
 In every power a perfect man for the task set before 
 him. By Instinct he seemed to know the way through 
 the forests and he understood Indian character and 
 
The Honic-CowiHi^ 287 
 
 Intrigue. Perhaps Kentucky, and indeed the whole 
 Northwest, does not owe an equal measure of grati- 
 tude to any other man. It is one of the sad things 
 that a man of such wonderful endurance, skill, and 
 fortitude in carrying out his task was not appreciated 
 during his lifetime, nor for a long time after. He 
 was almost crowded out of his beloved Kentucky by 
 land-sharks and selfish men who came in after the 
 danger was over. He wandered off to Missouri, 
 where he spent the declining years of his life; but 
 it is pleasant to know that his blood flows throuirh 
 the veins of some of the best people living in this 
 State. I have recently gone through a section of the 
 State where Boone lived and died, and it seemed that 
 I could almost feel the spirit of the grand old hero 
 as I looked over the land where he lived, hunted, and 
 died. 
 
 But Daniel Boone needs no encomium; w^ords can- 
 not portrav his life and character. He stands out as 
 one man alone; almost as marked as Columbus, the 
 discoverer of this counti-y. The exercises around his 
 monument were of the most tender character. There 
 were many of his descendants there who wept with 
 pride over the deeds of their ancestor. Old Ken- 
 tuckians, gathered there from all parts of the coun- 
 try, stood around and cried like children; and the 
 younger generation had such impressions made upon 
 them that they will always revere Daniel Boone and 
 teach their children to honor him. 
 
 Whatever may be wanting in Kentuckians and 
 however fierce they may be in battle or however 
 daring in danger, they have a very strong religious 
 instinct and respect for Christianity. When all the 
 days appointed for the regular gathering passed ov^er, 
 multitudes lingered in the city to spend the Sabbath, 
 and the home-coming week was fittingly closed on 
 
288 Old Kentucky 
 
 Sunday night by religious services held in the ar- 
 mory and attended by 8,006 people. Most of the 
 city churches were supplied by eminent visiting min- 
 isters; and no day, perhaps, was more enjoyed than 
 that Sunday. The motto of the last meeting was, 
 "Till We Meet Again," and the old song was sung 
 so that their very souls were stirred. "Their hearts 
 filled to the breaking point by the touching and im- 
 pressive words spoken by earnest and eloquent men. 
 While almost stricken at the thought of parting, but 
 uplifted, thrilled, and inspired by the marked solem- 
 nity and deeply religious character of the occasion, 
 8,000 home-comers and their Kentucky friends 
 streamed slowly through the great doors of the ar- 
 mory, with the words of the sacred song still on their 
 lips. When the throng reached the street they still 
 sang, and for five minutes after the great farewell 
 meeting had heard the benediction pronounced the 
 deeply appealing old song flowed out on the night 
 air." The last meeting was the culmination of a re- 
 markable week, and it is delightful to know that the 
 pilgrims from thousands of shrines in other homes 
 and other States brought their religion and fear of 
 God with them. Grand old body of noble men and 
 women ! May the tender mercies of a loving God 
 keep you and yours, and when the great Home 
 Gathering comes may we all meet again to enjoy 
 eternal fellowship ! 
 
 jn^V^Uqf^ 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 II 1 1 nil i I '■ 
 
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