a I E> R.ARY 
 
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 Of ILLINOIS 
 
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 «.L HIST. SURVEY 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2012 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://archive.org/details/sesquicentennialOOwall 
 
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FREDERICK A. WALLIS 
 

 A Narrative Historical Edition, Commemorating One Hundred and Fifty Years of 
 
 Statehood, Preserving the Record of the Growth and Development of the 
 
 Commonwealth, and Chronicling the Genealogical and Memorial 
 
 Records of its Prominent Families and Personages. 
 
 FREDERICK A. WALLIS 
 
 Supervising Editor 
 
 GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL 
 
 HAMBLETON TAPP, A.B., M.A. 
 Author and Editor 
 
 HISTORICAL 
 
 THE HISTORICAL RECORD ASSOCIATION 
 
 HOPKINSVILLE, KENTUCKY 
 
 LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY 
 
HAMBLETON TAPP 
 
UJ.I6 
 , / 
 
 (Jtyanka 
 
 We, the Authors, Editors and Publishers of A Sesqui-Centennial History of 
 Kentucky, take this opportunity to make public and permanent, the record of our 
 thanks as we extend it to those who so kindly and generously accepted our invita- 
 tion to become members of our Editorial Advisory Board, and who, in doing so, 
 have contributed immeasurably to its success. They are as follows: 
 
 Hon. Wilson W. Wyatt, Hon. Elwood Hamilton, Mr. R. C. Ballard Thruston, 
 Hon. Edward S. Jouett, Mr. Owsley Brown, Colonel Frank D. Rash, Dr. E. L. 
 Henderson, Mr. Noel Rush, Hon. Emmet O'Neal, Mr. Otto A. Rothert, Dr. R. 
 A. Kent, Dr. Henry H. Sweets, Colonel Lucien Beckner, Rev. C. E. Allen, Mr. 
 W. S. Milburn, Dr. Thomas D. Clark, Hon. John Young Brown, Dr. T. Wallis 
 Rainey, Dr. W. D. Funkhouser, Mr. R. W. Wilson, Mr. J. Winston Coleman, 
 Jr., Mr. Charles R. Staples, Hon. H. V. McChesney, Hon. Alben W. Barkley, 
 Hon. Rosco Stone, Mr. C. E. Allen, Mr. Everett Witt, Dr. Paul L. Garrett, Dr. 
 
 A. M. Stickles, Mr. G. M. Pedley, Mr. Russell Dyche, Dr. Charles A. Keith, Mr. 
 
 B. E. Willis, Dr. W. F. O'Donnell, Dr. Rhodes Thompson, Hon. Virgil Chap- 
 man, Hon. Albert B. Chandler, Hon. Henry D. Shanklin, Hon. Andrew J. May, 
 Dr. J. D. Sory, Hon. Harper Gatton, Hon. Noble J. Gregory, Dr. Henry Noble 
 Sherwood, Dr. William H. Vaughan, Hon. J. M. Robison, Dr. A. A. Page, Hon. 
 Alex Ratliff, Hon. H. H. Tye, Hon. Brent Spence, Dr. James H. Richmond, Hon. 
 Winn Davis, Hon. Joe B. Bates. 
 
 
flan nnh f urpose 
 
 Our purpose has been to publish a history of the commonwealth of Kentucky 
 in a form somewhat different from the pattern heretofore followed, more as a 
 record of the development and progress of the state economically, socially, morally, 
 rather than presenting the political aspect of community life as it has shaped itself 
 from decade to decade, and from year to year. 
 
 The place of Kentucky in the Union of sovereign states has long been unique. 
 It has been from pioneer times the home of a peculiarly gifted people, peculiarly 
 placed at a critical junction in national affairs, a people clothed with and conscious 
 of a large responsibility, sensible of a great opportunity, and moved by the memory 
 and veneration of their origins and ideals. Kentucky came into being not on 
 probation, not as one of the original thirteen commonwealths, but as a new and 
 fully equipped political community, and on terms of equality with all others. 
 
 Kentucky early manifested a disposition and demonstrated an ability to speak 
 for herself and to take a leading and constructive part in the building of the 
 greatest of nations. She took her place in the national councils, and ever since has 
 held that place, recognized for the weight and worth of her advice, for an attitude 
 distinctly American, courageous, and nobly unselfish. 
 
 The roster of its distinguished leaders is a national possession, nor has it been 
 closed. Other great names will be added to the list. The genius of the state will 
 again and again manifest itself as occasion requires, and it is a main purpose of 
 the publication of this history to bring the biographical record down to the present 
 day and to do justice to those who have served the state and nation to our own 
 times, covering all the fields of human endeavor. 
 
 The purpose is not wholly one of sentiment, though sentiment rightly should 
 have its place. Nor is it to offer a cold, chronological recital of events. A sense 
 of proportion will be observed, and more important matters will be given more im- 
 portant consideration. 
 
 There have been those who have represented America as a congeries of states 
 all about alike, except in numbers, climate, topography, soil, industries, natural 
 resources, and so on. This is a wholly mistaken view. It is particularly misleading 
 so far as Kentucky is concerned, which is unique even among the group of states 
 which immediately surround it, wholly unlike Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, or Tennessee, 
 
for example. Kentuckians resemble other Americans in many ways, but constitute 
 a distinct and unique community, as the landscapes differ from those of other states. 
 
 Kentuckians themselves are not alone in recognizing these points of difference. 
 This fact is one reason why a new history of the state is needed, one that looks 
 below the surface, revealing the peculiar genius of the people, recording and assaying 
 the extraordinary movements that have taken place here and the great things done 
 by the state in the development of the United States. 
 
 As Kentucky has her different geographical areas, one distinct from another, of 
 varied topographical features and resources, so among the states Kentucky is dis- 
 tinguished by her character, her deeds, and her role in the whole American drama. 
 
 This history is not written to magnify the virtues of this people but to be just 
 in appraising them. It is alive, throbbing, filled with drama and romance, keeping 
 close to the facts but clothing them with flesh and illuminating them with the 
 spirit of poetry. Problems may not hereby be solved, but are made clear and more 
 capable, therefore, of solution. 
 
 Let it be asked what more could God have done for Kentucky than He has 
 done in the way of a good inheritance and a favorable environment. We have a 
 noble Puritan ancestry that honored God, loved His word, reverenced His day, and 
 obeyed His commands. They embodied their faith in our literature, in our laws, in 
 our life and in our liberty, in great and free institutions, and in seats of education 
 and learning. These have been passed on to us at tremendous cost of treasure and 
 blood. 
 
 The dominant characteristic of every Kentuckian is his unswerving loyalty to the 
 state. He knows he lives in God's own country. For him no sophistry can dispel 
 this inate belief; no calumny can deny nor traduce it; and yet, the best products of 
 Kentucky are her men and women. The Kentuckian himself is the living solvent 
 through which all other attractions are best felt and appreciated. 
 
 Indeed, the very qualities that our people are supposed to most admire, and 
 which down in their hearts they do most admire, such as courage and honor, heroism 
 and chivalry, sacrifice and service are the very qualities to which Kentucky most 
 appeals, and for the exercise of which she forever calls. 
 
 Frederick A. Wallis 
 
iFnreumrft 
 
 That the achievements of the historian are seldom commensurate to his aims 
 is well illustrated by this work. Shortly after having received the galley sheets 
 for review, the author had occasion to read his foreword in the announcement 
 that the Sesqui-centennial History of Kentucky would be written. Judged by this, 
 the effort falls far short of the enthusiastic expressions of laudable intentions to 
 write phases of the commonwealth's history which either have never been or never 
 properly been written. 
 
 Specifically, the writer had expressed the intention of getting away from tne 
 purely political, of introducing the social — more of the actual living of the people — 
 more of the influence of the economic upon the development, a rewriting of the 
 period between 1865 and 1900 with new interpretations and the bringing of the 
 state's vicissitudes and progress from 1900 to date, without bias and without 
 reservations. How far short of original intentions and hopes the effort falls is 
 perhaps more obvious to the author than to anyone else. There were many reasons 
 for the palpable short-comings. The principal one, however, was lack of time. 
 Not that the publisher, Mr. Chester A. Porta, was not excessively generous in the 
 allowance of ample time — this estimable gentleman and friend was more than 
 generous and liberal in every phase of the work. During the entire period, the 
 writer was confronted with such a multiplicity of pressing duties that sufficient 
 time for adequate research and writing commensurate to original hopes was not 
 available. It was even necessary to request a few persons to aid in the research 
 and writing. These are Mrs. Roy Bridwell, Professor Merrill R. Holtzman and 
 Colonel Lucian Beckner, all of Louisville, and Dr. Lucien V. Rule, of Goshen, 
 Kentucky. To these generous, altruistic, as well as able persons, the author owes 
 the deepest debt of gratitude and expresses his heart-felt appreciation. 
 
 The author again recognizes the fact that the work is far from perfection. 
 Mistakes can be found without great difficulty, and he takes little comfort in 
 the fact that no writer is infallible, because had time been available for the careful 
 checking of the writing by several authorities in the field of Kentucky history, 
 many blunders could have been eliminated. Time here — or rather lack of it — 
 has been a limiting, deciding factor, and it is hoped therefore that the critics will 
 not be harshly ungenerous in their criticism. 
 
 Particularly regretful has been the author in his failure to write the history of 
 the state from 1870 to 1900, that very interesting period about which so little 
 has been written and about which so little is known. Finding that he would be 
 unable to write the history of that period the author requested Dr. Lucien Rule, 
 who had written previously — and very ably — the history of the churches, to 
 undertake that important period. Himself unwell and two members of his 
 family seriously ill — and a deadline looming precariously close — Dr. Rule agreed 
 to do what he could, knowing full well that he was in no position to do the 
 job as he desired; he agreed perhaps just as a favor of friendship to the author. 
 The chapter is obviously inadequate — Dr. Rule knows this better than anyone 
 
else. Yet no blame should acrue to the kindly Dr. Rule but to the author, who 
 promises in the not-too-distant future a more adequate treatment of that period 
 in another publication. 
 
 Many heretofore untapped original sources have been used, though not as many 
 as were available. For use of these the author owes a debt of gratitude to The 
 Filson Club, that never-ending source of both inspiration and supply. To Mr. 
 R. C. Ballard Thruston, the best living friend and benefactor of Kentucky history, 
 to "Colonel" Otto A. Rothert, author of much fine Kentucky lore, finder and 
 inspirer of young workers in Kentucky history, generous-hearted friend of struggling 
 Kentucky writers, also to genial, sympathetic Miss Ludie Kincaid, known as curator 
 of The Filson Club, but more properly "Wizardess of the Sources" — to these the 
 author expresses his feeling of gratitude and friendship. Particularly does the 
 writer owe an invaluable debt of gratitude to Miss Evelyn R. Dale, of The Filson 
 Club, for being courageous and patient enough to decipher the writer's illegible 
 cirography and for generously giving time for suggestions and typing. Without 
 her help, the work might not have been completed. 
 
 To the many well-known living Kentucky historians, the author desires to 
 acknowledge gratitude for use, extensive use, of printed materials. Included among 
 these persons are Otto A. Rothert, Professor Thomas D. Clark, of the University 
 of Kentucky, Professor Robert S. Cotterill, of Tallahassee, Florida, Professor 
 Robert McNutt McElroy, of Princeton University, Colonel J. Winston Coleman, 
 Jr., of Winburn Farms, Lexington, Professor E. Merton Coulter, now of the 
 University of Georgia, Judge Samuel M. Wilson, of Lexington, "General" 
 Charles R. Staples — writer, connoisseur and virtuoso of Kentucky lore, Lexington, 
 also Miss Alice Trabue, source of inspiration as well as material, Louisville, and 
 William H. Townsend, well-known Lincoln authority, Lexington. 
 
 Expression of appreciation is made for encouragement and help to Mr. W. S. 
 Milburn, Principal of Male High School, and Mrs. Temple Bodley, widow of 
 the late historian of Louisville, and to Mr. J. Adger Stewart, and Mr. Allen M. 
 Reager, officers of The Filson Club, to Hon. John Fred Williams, State Superin- 
 tendent of Public Instruction and to Mrs. Jouett Taylor Cannon and Bayless 
 Hardin, of the Kentucky State Historical Society. Again the writer would like 
 to reiterate expression of gratitude for the kindness of Mrs. Roy Bridwell and of 
 Mr. Chester A. Porta. 
 
 Now that excessive apologies have been made, the author wishes to express the 
 hope that the reading public will find in this work readable material and a source 
 of accurate information upon the significant phases of the state's history, even 
 some new materials and new interpretations. Whatsoever the public verdict may 
 be, he is nevertheless not sorry for having begun the task, neither has his love of 
 Kentucky history nor his esteem for Kentuckians in any way diminished. He 
 hopes as the years go by to make worthier contributions to the state for which 
 he holds such deep affection. 
 
 Hambleton Tapp 
 
®abl? nf (UntttentB 
 
 Chapter I 
 Chapter II 
 Chapter III 
 Chapter IV 
 Chapter V 
 Chapter VI 
 Chapter VII 
 Chapter VIII 
 Chapter IX 
 Chapter X 
 Chapter XI 
 Chapter XII 
 Chapter XIII 
 Chapter XIV 
 Chapter XV 
 Chapter XVI 
 Chapter XVII 
 Chapter XVIII 
 Chapter XIX 
 Chapter XX 
 Chapter XXI 
 Chapter XXII 
 
 Appendix 
 
 Directory 
 
 Virginia Explorations West of the Tidewater. 
 
 Treaties with the Indians. 
 
 Early Explorers Entering Kentucky. 
 
 Explorers — Hunters — Traders. 
 
 Transylvania. 
 
 The Revolutionary War in Kentucky. 
 
 The Struggle for Statehood. 
 
 Mississippi River Adventures. 
 
 Hostilities with Indians of the Northwest. 
 
 A Frontier Commonwealth. 
 
 Political Development, 1800-1812. 
 
 Kentucky in the War of 1812. 
 
 Middle Period, 1816-1860. 
 
 Negro Slavery. 
 
 The Civil War. 
 
 Social Unrest, 1865-1899. 
 
 Kentucky's Cultural Development. 
 
 The Churches. 
 
 Transportation and Commerce. 
 
 Medicine. 
 
 Education. 
 
 Drifting Sands of Politics, 1900-1944. 
 
To 
 
 The Memory of Those Stout Hearted Men and Women Who, One 
 Hundred and Fifty Years Ago, Brought Into This Union, 
 Kentucky; a New State, in the Full Bloom of Her Re- 
 sponsibilities and Privileges, and Consecrated to the 
 Principles of Unity; and to Their Successors 
 Whose Activities at Home and Abroad Have 
 Emblazoned Her Escutcheon With Fame, 
 and Whose Biographies Make up Its 
 Brightest Pages; This Sesqui- 
 
 CENTENNIAL HlSTORY OF 
 
 Kentucky is Respect- 
 fully and Gratefully 
 DEDICATED 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 VIRGINIA EXPLORATIONS WEST OF THE TIDEWATER, 
 
 1650-1750. 
 
 K, 
 
 .entucky, through much of its history, has been an object of bitter 
 rivalries and fierce fighting, not only on the part of white but red men as well. 
 During the seventeenth century a bloody war of extermination was waged between 
 powerful Indian nations along the Ohio River. This war had left the land, Kentucky, 
 unoccupied, though the victor in the cosmic struggle, the Mengwe, or Iroquois, were 
 left with undisputed title. During the eighteenth century, France and Britain vied 
 mightily for possession, the Indians during the struggle being divided. 
 
 The name of the first white man who traversed the wilds of Kentucky probably will 
 never be known. The first whites to leave a written record of their explorations in 
 this territory found carvings on trees, carvings in arabic letters, indicative of previous 
 Caucasian exploration. Interesting indeed would be the stories behind these carvings; 
 perhaps some bold trader or trapper; perhaps some restless trail-blazer with visions 
 of empire firing his restless brain. 
 
 GOVERNOR SIR WILLIAM BERKELEY'S EXPEDITION, 1650. 
 
 As early as 1650 Virginians began pushing westward. That year Sir William 
 Berkeley, Governor, being interested in westward expansion — not only for imperial 
 gains but for purposes of private trade as well — dispatched, with legislative sanction, 
 explorers beyond the fall line. The persons selected were able woodsmen, among whom 
 were Major Abraham Wood, Edward Bland and others; these were commissioned 
 to explore and "settle to the southward." 1 
 
 This expedition, led by Major Wood, left Fort Henry, at the falls of the Appomattox 
 River, August 27, taking a course west by south. On September 2nd they reached 
 Woodford River. At a point on that stream, because of signs of imminent treachery 
 from the Indians, the party halted, turned about and soon retraced their steps home. 
 The journey, though fraught with hardships and danger, had been exhilarating and 
 enlightening. The country was wild and beautiful; the soil was fertile, with numerous 
 evidences of rich mineral deposits. The West was alluring; it was beckoning. The 
 men were fascinated with its charm. 
 
 JOHN LEDERER'S EXPEDITIONS, 1669, 1670. 
 
 So eager apparently was it for further explorations that the General Assembly of 
 Virginia, in the year 1653, enacted a general law authorizing any persons whomsoever 
 to explore territory south and west. This statute stipulated, however, that such expedi- 
 tions should be strong both in numbers and in ammunition. This legislative encourage- 
 ment, nevertheless, failed at that time to stimulate discovery and exploration. 
 
 After the lapse of sixteen years, John Lederer, a German surgeon, with a commission 
 from Governor Berkeley, explored westward in March of the year 1669. He encountered 
 much cold weather in ascending the Blue Ridge Mountains, and, after reaching a high 
 point in present day Madison County (Virginia), one from which the extensive ranges 
 to the westward could be plainly seen, as well as the Atlantic Ocean to the southeastward, 
 he returned to the settlements in the Tidewater. 
 
 John Lederer apparently made two journeys of exploration in the year 1670. The 
 first of these adventures was begun on the 20th of May. His party consisted of twenty- 
 two whites and five Indians, all of whom were mounted. Upon reaching the vicinity 
 
2 A SESQUI ^CENTENNIAL 
 
 of the site of Lynchburg, however, the party separated, Lederer and one Indian 
 turning southward, and the others returning eastward. Lederer crossed the Roanoke 
 River; he entered the state of North Carolina, there tarrying only a brief time before 
 returning to his home in Virginia. 4 
 
 The second expedition of that year was slightly more important. Lederer, with 
 ten whites and five Indians, set out from the settlements on the 20th of August. 
 Pursuing a more westerly course than previously, his party reached the Blue Ridge 
 (in Rappahannock County) on the 26th. From a peak of the range at this point 
 the explorers beheld towering purple-tinged ranges, one after another, lifting into 
 the clouds. They were discouraged by the number, size and ruggedness of these 
 high-peaked monsters extending endlessly rank after rank. This, together with the 
 suffering from fatigue and bitter cold, caused them to turn back, but not before 
 realizing, perhaps for the first time, that the Pacific Ocean was farther removed from 
 the Atlantic than a few days' journey. 
 
 These are Lederer's words depicting the events of that day: "The six and twentieth 
 of August we came to the mountains, where finding no horseway up, we alighted, 
 and left our horses with two or three Indians below, whilst we went up afoot. 
 The ascent was so steep, the cold so intense, and we so tired, that having with much 
 ado gained the top of one of the highest, we drank the king's health in brandy, 
 gave the mountain his name, and agreed to return back again, having no encourage- 
 ment from that prospect to proceed to further discovery; since from hence we saw 
 another Mountain, bearing north and by west to us, of a prodigious height; for 
 according to an observation of the distance taken by Col. Catlet, it could not be less 
 than fifty leagues from the place we stood upon."" 
 
 CAPTAIN ABRAHAM WOOD'S EXPEDITION, 1671. 
 
 Of vastly greater importance than the sallies of John Lederer were the westward 
 marches of Abraham Wood in 1671. More important too was doughty Major Wood 
 than the adventurous Lederer. This Virginia gentleman was a commanding figure, 
 transcended only by Nathaniel Bacon in contemporary Old Dominion life. "He 
 (Wood) attained eminence as a landowner, politician, soldier, trader and explorer. 
 His position in each of these lines of endeavor was as high as the colony afforded."" 
 
 In an effort to prevent further raids by the Indians from the West into the Tide- 
 water region, incursions which had been devastating, costly and bloody, the Assembly 
 of Virginia had, in 1645, passed a measure providing for the erection of a series 
 of forts along the fall line, which was the western boundary of the Tidewater, as 
 well as the western frontier. Three forts had been built as a result of this legislation 
 of 1645. A fourth had been provided by an act passed the following year. This 
 bastion, known as Fort Henry, had been established at the falls of the Appomattox 
 River (Lynchburg) ; it had been garrisoned by forty-five men under the command 
 of Major Wood. Later during the same year ownership of this fort had been 
 transferred by the Assembly, together with certain property there and 600 acres of 
 land surrounding, to Major Wood, on the contigency that he maintain the fort and 
 keep a garrison of ten men there constantly for a term of three years. Fort Henry 
 was a milestone in westward expansion. 
 
 Major Wood participated in many exploratory ventures to the West and Southwest. 
 Perhaps the most notable expedition launched under his direction was that of the 
 year 1671, at which time he was a major-general. That year he organized an 
 expedition "for the finding out the ebbing and flowing of the Waters on the other 
 side of the Mountains in order to discover the South Sea." 
 
 The personnel of this enterprise consisted of Thomas Batts, Thomas Woods and 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 3 
 
 Robert Fallam. Penecute, an Appomattox Indian, and one Jack Weason were also 
 of the party. All were mounted. 
 
 The explorers left Fort Henry about September 1st, riding rapidly westward. 
 On the third day out they struck a branch of the Roanoke River. The country 
 there contained many Indian villages — Appomattox, Sopony, Totero — some of whose 
 inhabitants were friendly and eager, while others were sullen and apparently suspicious. 
 Many hardships were encountered by the expedition; the terrain was rough; the 
 undergrowth was in places almost impenetrable; food was often scarce; sickness was 
 common, Thomas Wood (or Woods), for example, being stricken with a severe 
 attack of "Flux," which proved fatal; and the horses, as well as the men soon became 
 weary. 
 
 On the 5th of September the party reached a town of the Hanathaskies on an 
 island in the Staunton River. On the 7th the adventurers traveled over hilly and 
 stony ground, coming in sight of the mountains by mid-afternoon. One of the 
 most thrilling discoveries of the journey was made on the 8th, shortly past noon. 
 A tree was found bearing the letters or initials, which had been written with a piece 
 of charcoal, M. A. N. I. This discovery clearly indicated that the name of the 
 first white to penetrate the wilderness is unknown — possibly some trader. The ad- 
 venturers struck the head of the Staunton River and crossed a second mountain on 
 the 9th. That day Penecute, the Appomattox guide, became ill of ague and fever, 
 causing a delay at the Totero village until the 12th.' 
 
 Early on the 13th of September the explorers arrived at the foot of a great 
 mountain, one more rugged, towering and difficult of ascent than those previously 
 encountered. Breathless and weary toward noon they sat down at the summit; 
 gazed out over the giant range to the North and South. An apparently never- 
 ending series of ranges could be seen, ranges following in succession, each higher 
 than the last, "a pleasing tho' dreadful sight." That same day the letters, M. A. N. L, 
 again were found written with charcoal on another tree. Also a noticeable change 
 in the terrain was evident: rich meadow land, with "grass about a man's hight," 
 and small tributary streams. 
 
 That day was the most important of the expedition: The great river — the New 
 River — was discovered. Thus, "on the 13th of September, 1671," as Professor 
 Coulter points out, "the Englishmen who had been sent out for that very purpose 
 discovered the great river — the New River of all future time, and England stood in 
 the Valley of the Ohio — of the Mississippi." 8 
 
 The expedition — apparently without the presence of General Wood — continued 
 for some days down the New River, down a part of that portion known as the 
 Kanawha, reaching the falls on the 17th. The limits of the journey, however, had 
 been reached on the preceding day. But, on the 17th, formal possession of the 
 territory was declared in the name of Charles the Second, "by the grace of God, 
 King of England, Scotland, France, Ireland and Virginia, . . ." and markings were 
 made on four trees, suitable for that purpose, to indicate England's ownership. Thus 
 the English, by right of the discoveries made by Batts and Fallam in 1671, had a 
 more valid claim to the Ohio Valley than either Spain or France — a valid claim not 
 finally made good, however, until 1763. 
 
 The explorers, greatly fatigued from privation and exertion, began their return 
 journey after a brief but close examination of the River for some distance. They 
 arrived at the Appomattox town on the 29th of September "hungry, wet and weary." 
 Their last entry followed two days later: "Oct. 1 being Sunday morning we arrived 
 at Fort Henry. God's holy name be praised for our preservation." 
 
 2— Vol. I 
 
4 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 THE EXPLORATIONS OF JAMES NEEDHAM AND GABRIEL ARTHUR, 
 
 1674. 
 
 The next expedition westward for the purpose of discovery and exploration was 
 that of James Needham and Gabriel Arthur. This enterprise also was sent out by 
 General Abraham Wood. Although abounding in adventure and mishap, it failed to 
 achieve anything of geographical importance in the westward movement. Where 
 these explorers journeyed is apparently not certainly known. Needham was murdered 
 by "Indian John" on the Yadkin. Arthur was captured and condemned to be burned 
 at the stake, but, just as the fagots were being lit, the chief of the tribe, returning 
 from a journey, appeared on the scene, shot the captive's torturer on the spot, and 
 took the captive, Arthur, to his own lodge as guest and friend. After numerous 
 escapades with his captives, which took him from the Yadkin to the mouth of 
 the Scioto River, Arthur arrived safely at the home of General Wood at Fort Henry 
 on June 18, 1674. 10 
 
 GOVERNOR SPOTTSWOOD'S EXPEDITION, 1716. 
 
 In the year 1716 Alexander Spottswood, Governor of Virginia, made his famous 
 Golden Horse Shoe Expedition across the Blue Ridge proper. The pleasant excursion 
 took the Governor and his company of jolly gentlemen across the mountains at the 
 head of the Rappahannock, through Swift Run Gap and into the Shennandoah Valley. 
 In the Valley a river was discovered, which, because of the fertility of the soil 
 adjacent, the Governor denominated Euphrates. As its course was northward he 
 concluded that the river emptied into the lakes. One of the members of the expedition,- 
 Mr. John Fontaine, has left a journal of the journey, one which presents a graphic 
 account of the events which transpired. A portion of this journal is here quoted. 
 Reaching the crest of the Blue Ridge, he explained: "We drank King George's health 
 and all the Royal Family's at the very top of the Appalachian Mountains." Con- 
 cerning events upon reaching the river, Fontaine wrote: "The Governor had graving 
 irons, but could not grave anything, the stones were so hard. I graved my name on a 
 tree by the river side; and the Governor buried a bottle with a paper enclosed on 
 which he writ that he took possession of this place in the name and for King George 
 the First of England. We had a good dinner, and after it we got the men together 
 and loaded all their arms and we drank the King's health in champagne, fired a 
 volley — the Princess' health in Burgundy and fired a volley, and all the rest of the 
 Royal Family in claret and a volley. We drank the Governor's health and fired 
 another volley. We had several sorts of liquors, viz: Virginia red wine and 
 white wine, Irish usuebaugh, brandy, shrub, rum, champagne, canary, punch water, 
 cider, dCc. . . . We called the highest mountain Mount George and the one we 
 crossed over Mount Spottswood."" 
 
 As a fitting memorial of this pleasant excursion, Governor Spottswood, upon reaching 
 Williamsburg, the Capitol, instituted the order of the Golden Horse Shoe, presenting 
 each of the gentlemen accompanying him with a horse shoe of gold, suitably inscribed. 
 
 EXPEDITION OF JOHN PETER SALLEY, OR SALLING, 1743-1746. 
 
 The succeeding expedition for exploring land west of the Blue Ridge was led by 
 John Peter Salley, or Sailing, beginning in 1742. In his band were John Howard — 
 the originator of the enterprise — his son, Josiah Howard, Charles Sinclair and two 
 other men. The venture got under way on the 16th day of March, 1742, at the forks 
 of the James River. Salley led the party to the New River, which was descended 
 to the rapids, in which vicinity this stream was abandoned. The explorers moved 
 overland to Coals River, so named because of the coal seen along its banks. They 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 5 
 
 followed this river to the Kanawha, which was descended to the Ohio. Along the 
 latter stream, they paddled to the Mississippi. While descending the Father of 
 Waters, the entire party was captured by the French, conducted to New Orleans 
 and there held prisoners for three years. Salley, toward the end of the captivity, 
 made his escape and returned home by way of Charleston, South Carolina. " 
 
 CELERON de BIENVILLE'S EXPEDITION, 1749. 
 
 In the year 1749, an expedition was dispatched down the Ohio by the Marquis de 
 la Galissoniere, Commandant in Chief of New France. The purpose of this excursion 
 was "to take anew" formal possession of the Valley, thus reiterating the claims of 
 France as a result of La Salle's explorations. The expedition was under the im- 
 mediate command of Celeron de Bienville, whose detachment consisted of "14 officers 
 and cadets, 20 soldiers, 180 Canadians, and a band of Indians." 1 
 
 Celeron's small army descended the Alleghany River to the Ohio, and down La 
 Belle Riviere. The method of laying claim to the territory was by vocal assertion and 
 by burying leaden plates, bearing inscriptions of France's ownership, at intervals along 
 the banks of the Ohio. The plates were buried at the mouths of the large streams 
 emptying into the Ohio. 
 
 Thus did England and France by the middle of the Eighteenth century know the 
 value of and claim the Ohio Valley. Thus was England and France each confident 
 of its absolute title to the River "Oyo" and its tributaries. Naturally, with so rich 
 a prize at stake, war would follow. 
 
 FOOTNOTES FOR CHAPTER I. 
 
 Clarence Walworth Alvord and Lee Bidgood, The First Explorations of the Trans- 
 Allegheny Region by the Virginians, 1650-1674 (Cleveland: The Arthur H. Clark 
 Company, 1912), p. 114. 
 
 See also William Waller Hening, Statutes at Large (a collection of all the laws of 
 Virginia from the first session of the legislature in 1619, in 13 Vols.: Richmond, 1819- 
 1823), Vol. I, pp. 262etseq. 
 
 Alvord and Bidgood, op.cit., pp. 115-131. 
 
 Tbid., pp. 145-149. 
 
 Tbid., pp. 149-163. 
 
 Tbid., pp. 163-171. 
 
 'Ibid., p. 36. 
 
 Tbid., pp. 185-187. 
 
 William Elsey Connelley and E. M. Coulter, History of Kentucky (Chicago: The 
 American Historical Society, 1922) , Vol. I, p. 45. 
 Alvord and Bidgood, op.cit., p. 193. 
 
 'Tbid., pp. 209-226. 
 The Filson Club Publications No. 13, J. Stoddard Johnston, First Explorations of 
 Kentucky (Louisville: John P. Morton and Company, 1898), p. xi. 
 Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., I, 48. 
 
 "Ibid. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 TREATIES WITH THE INDIANS, 1740-1770. 
 
 A 
 
 t the time of the Virginian explorations into the Trans- Allegheny 
 region, the territory of Kentucky, with the possible exception of one or two isolated 
 Indian villages, was uninhabited. A number of reasons may be advanced to explain 
 this condition: A fierce, all-destroying war between two powerful Indian nations had 
 driven the tribes that might have inhabited it southward; while the country was left 
 vacant; to the Indians, it was a place of mounds and bones — a land of ghosts and not 
 to be occupied. Yet the territory was used as a hunting ground by many tribes, 
 notably Shawnese and their relatives north of the Ohio. 
 
 The Lenape and the Mengwe — or the ancient Iroquois — in crossing the Mississippi 
 River on their trek eastward, toward the middle of the seventh century, had 
 encroached upon the territory occupied by the Alligwi or Tallegwi — ancient Cherokees. 
 As a result the great war — a cruel, devastating struggle — was waged, one enduring 
 perhaps for half a century. The fighting was done apparently north of the Ohio river. 
 The final battle is believed to have been fought at the Falls, where large quantities of 
 bones and relics of combat were found by the first whites to explore that region. 1 
 
 As a result of this gigantic struggle, the Iroquois were left victors with title to 
 Kentucky by right of conquest; while the Cherokees were vanquished and retreating 
 southeastward into Tennessee and North Carolina. The various conterminous tribes 
 invariably recognized the Iroquois ownership of this conquered territory between the 
 Cherokee, or Tennesee River and the Ohio. The Cherokees apparently were not 
 pressed by their fierce and atrocious adversaries, because they withdrew in a leisurely 
 manner to the eastward and then turned sharply southward through the mountains, 
 recognizing their defeat and disaster, as well as transfer of territory. On the other 
 side, the Six Nations, moving eastward, did not pause to occupy their newly-acquired 
 territory. They, however, recognizing the richness of it, reserved that country for 
 future use, consciously contemplating settlement in the future. The name they gave 
 the territory is significant: it is the word "Ken-tah-teh," which means tomorrow, or 
 the coming day, the land of tomorrow, the land where we will live." 
 
 The fiercest disagreements among Kentucky historians has centered about the point 
 of ownership of the territory at the time the whites began occupying it. Some contend 
 for Iroquois, or Six Nations, ownership; while others will have none of that doctrine. 
 Whether or not Colonel Richard Henderson and his associates could legally purchase 
 Kentucky from the Cherokee Indians is the important point involved in the question. 
 
 Much proof exists to support the Iroquois protagonists. At the Treaty of Lancaster 
 (Pennsylvania), 1744, the Iroquois Chief, Tachanoontia, delivered these declarations 
 in a bold oration: "All the world knows we conquered the several nations living on 
 Susquehannah, Cohongownton [Potomac], and on the back of the great mountains 
 in Virginia. The Conoy-uch-rooch (people), . . . feel the effect of our conquests, 
 being now a part of our nations and their lands at our disposal. ... As to what 
 lies beyond the mountains, we conquered the nations residing there, and that land, 
 if the Virginians ever get a good right to it, it must be by us."' 
 
 Also publically, at Fort Stanwix in 1768, where hundreds of braves of numerous 
 tribes had assembled, the representatives of the Cherokees recognized Iroquois owner- 
 ship of the territory between the Tennessee and Ohio rivers. Concerning the question, 
 the Tennessee historian, Mr. John Haywood, makes these statements: "Some visiting 
 Cherokees, at the treaty held at Fort Stanwix, had, on their route, killed game for 
 their support, and on their arrival at Fort Stanwix, they immediately tendered the 
 
8 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 skins to the Indians of the Six Nations, saying, they are yours; we killed them after 
 we passed the big river, the name by which the Cherokees have always designated the 
 Tennessee. The Six Nations claimed the soil by conquest, not as the aboriginal 
 owners, and this is the traditionary account of their nation." 
 
 Even before the middle of the eighteenth century, white settlers were pushing west- 
 ward into territories claimed by the red men, so that, in order to avoid blood-shed, 
 colonial officials set about acquiring lands by treaty. At the same time many prominent 
 colonials interested in gaining lands were eager for the Indians to cede western terri- 
 tories to the Crown, they believing the gaining of grants of lands from the King easier 
 than obtaining it individually from the Indians. 
 
 TREATY OF LANCASTER, 1744 
 
 With affairs in the West therefore rapidly approaching a climax, colonial officials 
 moved for a peaceful settlement by treaty. The colonies most directly concerned — 
 Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia — arranged for a conference with the Indians, 
 that is with the Six Nations as claimants of the land involved, to be held at Lancaster, 
 in June, 1744. A journal graphically recording the proceedings of this "pow wow" 
 was kept by Witham Marshe, secretary with the commissioners for Maryland. This 
 journal, carried both by Mr. Perkins' and Mr. Bodley, G is here quoted: 
 
 "The Maryland commissioners reached Lancaster upon the 21st of June, before 
 either the governor of Pennsylvania, the Virginia commissioners, or the Indians had 
 arrived; though all but the natives came that evening. 
 
 "The next forenoon wore wearily away, and all were glad to sit down, at one 
 o'clock, to a dinner in the court-house, which the Virginians gave their friends, 
 and from which not many were drawn, even by the coming of the Indians, who came, 
 to the number of two hundred and fifty-two, with squaws and little children on 
 horseback, and with their fire-arms, and bows and arrows, and tomahawks, and as 
 they passed the court-house, invited the white men with a song to renew their former 
 treaties. On the outskirts of the town, vacant lots had been chosen for the savages 
 to build their wigwams upon, and thither they marched on with Conrad Weiser, their 
 friend and interpreter, while the Virginians 'drank the loyal healths,' and finished 
 their entertainment. 
 
 "After dinner they went out to look at their dark allies, who had few shirts among 
 them, and those black from wear, and who were very ragged and shabby; at all which 
 the well-clad and high-fed colonists bit their lips but feared to laugh. That afternoon 
 the chiefs and commissioners met at the courthouse, 'shaked hand,' smoked a pipe 
 and drank 'a good quantity of wine and punch.' The next day, being Saturday, 
 the English went to the Dunker's nunnery, and the Indians drank and danced and 
 shrieked. Monday the speaking began, to the satisfaction of all parties, and ended 
 merrily with dancing and music and a great supper. 
 
 "On Tuesday and Wednesday, also speeches were made, varied by dances in which 
 appeared some very disagreeable women who 'danced wilder time than any Indians.' 
 
 "On Thursday the goods were opened, wherewith the Maryland people wished to 
 buy the Indian claim to the lands on which settlements had been made. These 
 goods were narrowly scanned by the red men, but at last taken for £220 Pennsylvania 
 money, after which they drank punch. 
 
 "Friday the Six Nations agreed to the grant desired by the Marylanders, and punch 
 was drunk again; and on Saturday a dinner was given to the chiefs at which . . . 
 they 'fed lustily, drank heartily, and were very greasy before they finished.' At this 
 dinner the Indians bestowed upon the governor of Maryland the name of Tooryhogon, 
 meaning 'Living in the honorable place.' After this came much drinking and, when 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 
 
 that had gone forward some time, the Indians were called on to sign the deed, which 
 had been drawn up, and the English again 'put about the glass, pretty briskly.' 
 Next, the commissioners from Virginia, supported by a due quantity of wine and 
 bumbo, held a conference with the Indians and received from them *a deed releasing 
 their claim to a large quantity of land lying in their colony,' the Indians being per- 
 suaded to 'recognize the King's right to all the lands that are, or by his Majesty's ap- 
 pointment shall be, within the colony of Virginia.' For this they received £220 in 
 gold and the like sum in goods, with a promise that as settlements increased more 
 should be paid, which promise was signed and sealed. . . . The commissioners from 
 Virginia were Colonel Thomas Lee and Colonel William Beverly."' 
 
 Thus, whatever the western and northern boundary of the colony of Virginia was, 
 the Six Nations had renounced all lands in that colony. Apparently, the braves 
 were so much in a stupor during the bibulous proceedings that they were not conscious 
 of ceding anything, because they claimed later that their intention was not to cede 
 lands to Virginia south of the Ohio and west of the Allegheny Mountains. 
 
 Mr. Perkins' account of the treaty of Lancaster ends with these statements: 
 "On the 5th of July, everything having been settled satisfactorily, the commissioners 
 left r the filthy town' of Lancaster, and took their homeward way, having suffered 
 much from the vermin and the water, though when they used the latter would be a 
 curious enquiry. 
 
 "Such was the treaty of Lancaster, upon which, as a cornerstone, the claim of the 
 colonists to the West, by purchase, rested; and upon this, and the grant from the 
 Six Nations, Great Britain relied in all subsequent steps." 8 
 
 Mr. Bodley takes the thesis that the treaty of Lancaster was instigated mainly by 
 certain prominent Virginians eager for vast wealth in lands. He states that Colonel 
 Thomas Lee, "a prominent Virginian of distinguished ancestry," and certain associates 
 desired 500,000 acres of land in what is now West Virginia, along the Ohio River. 
 and contends that the whole of this territory was recognized by Virginia and by the 
 British crown as being within the territory of the Cherokees. He asserts that Colonel 
 Lee wished, as a preliminary move, for the British crown to acquire the Cherokee 
 title, and that Lee's land company, accordingly, petitioned the crown to empower 
 the Virginia government to proceed with a treaty. He states that the Cherokees 
 therefore were particularly invited but "declined to meet with their ancient enemies 
 [the Iroquois]." Mr. Bodley expresses the belief that Colonel Lee was sorely dis- 
 appointed at this setback, saying, "but he doubtless thought that a deed from one 
 Indian nation would serve his purpose about as well as from another, provided the 
 King would recognize it; so he simply ignored the claims of the Cherokees to the 
 lands his company wanted and proceeded to get one from the Six Nations Iroquois!" 9 
 
 Regardless of the private ambitions of individuals in the acquisition of lands west 
 of the Allegheny Mountains, the fact that the white settlers were pushing westward 
 rapidly necessitated the making of a treaty with the Indians as early as possible, 
 in order to stave off war and blood-shed as long as possible. This public danger 
 constantly facing the westward movement probably was, in the long run, the principal 
 reason for most of the land-acquisition treaties made with the Indians. There was 
 no criminality in the fact per se that Sir William Johnson, George Washington, 
 Thomas Lee, Lord Fairfax, Patrick Henry, and others of like prominent character 
 strove to obtain all the land possible for themselves. Proof is lacking that these 
 men, judged by the standards of the times, were guilty of fraud. Land in those days 
 was wealth — money, and to this day prominent men have not ceased to covet and 
 strive for wealth, without imputation of criminality. 
 
10 A SESQUI- CENTENNIAL 
 
 OHIO LAND COMPANY ORGANIZED, 1748. 
 
 The government of the colony of Virginia, beset by clangers in the Trans-Allegheny 
 region both from the Indians and the French, sought to make good her claims and 
 to protect her settlers and their property from violence. Particularly was it eager 
 to forestall the French, who were actively engaged in establishing forts and posts in 
 this region. A race developed therefore between the British and French in occupying 
 the Ohio Valley. The desideratum was to get settlers into the region as quickly as 
 possible. Many prominent Virginian leaders suggested that large grants of this 
 western land be made to land companies, which, in order to gain wealth from their 
 lands, would make every effort to get the region settled and protected. This plan 
 seemed feasible, as well as remunerative. 
 
 Accordingly, therefore, an organization, known as the Ohio Land Company, was 
 effected in 1748. The same year, the company applied to the crown for a charter. 
 Associated with this enterprise were many prominent Virginians, among whom were: 
 Governor Robert Dinwiddie, Colonel Thomas Lee, and Lawrence and Augustine 
 Washington (brothers of George Washington) and an eminent London merchant, 
 Mr. John Hanbury. The petition was approved by the King, and the government 
 of Virginia was ordered to grant the company 500,000 acres within the bounds of 
 that colony, beyond the Alleghenies, two hundred thousand of which were to be 
 located at once. This portion was to be held for ten years free of quitrent. Certain 
 conditions accompanied this generous grant, however: The government expected the 
 company to make settlements. It required that 100 families be settled on the land 
 within seven years. If the latter condition were met, then the company was to have 
 the balance of the grant — 300,000 acres of adjacent land. 
 
 The Ohio Company erected, soon after receiving its princely grant, a storehouse 
 on the south bank of the Potomac river, directly opposite the present city of Cumber- 
 land, Maryland. A large quantity of merchandise, suitable for the frontier trade 
 was sent from England and placed in the storehouse. The company also employed 
 Christopher Gist — a Virginian and Carolinian frontiersman and scout — to explore 
 its newly-granted properties, for the purpose of finding "a large Quantity of good, 
 level Land" suitable for selection and settlement. The lands granted the company 
 were principally between the Monongahela and Kanawha rivers, both north and south 
 of the Ohio; however, Gist was instructed to explore as far down the Ohio as the 
 falls, even down the Mississippi rather "than take mean broken Land." 
 
 LOYAL LAND COMPANY, 1749. 
 
 Other companies were also formed about this time in Virginia, with royal approval, 
 to colonize the West. The Old Dominion had granted 120,000 acres "on and about 
 the watershed" of the Staunton river to Colonel James Patton, one of the most 
 prominent Virginians of the western country, and his associates, prior to 1748. 
 Colonel Patton, on whose grant was established the "Great Divide" the Draper's 
 Meadows settlement, pleased with the success of his first grant, journeyed, that year 
 (1748) into southwestern Virginia to locate good lands for an additional grant. 
 He was accompanied on this expedition by Dr. Thomas Walker, Colonel John 
 Buchanan, Major Charles Campbell and other prominent west country Virginians. 
 The expedition followed the Holston river down into the Cherokee country. As the 
 lands between North Carolina and Virginia had not been surveyed, uncertainty of 
 jurisdiction presented itself, causing the party to curtail its excursion and return 
 northward. 
 
 Nevertheless, these same gentlemen, together with other associates, soon thereafter 
 organized the Loyal Land Company and applied for a charter in the year 1749. 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 11 
 
 A royal charter was issued the same year in London, carrying a grant of 800,000 
 acres of land to be located north of 36° 30' in Virginian lands (now embraced by 
 Kentucky, southeastern Kentucky) . The company employed Dr. Thomas Walker, 
 a Virginia surveyor and explorer, to journey through its territory for the purpose 
 of selecting suitable lands for settlement. The following year, 1750, Dr. Walker 
 made his famous journey through Cumberland Gap into Kentucky, an expedition 
 about which more will be told presently. 
 
 TREATY OF LOGGSTOWN, 1752. 
 
 As keener rivalry developed between the English and French for control of the 
 Ohio Valley, war became more imminent, causing both nations to speed preparations. 
 The government of England, not only encouraged the settlement of the Trans- 
 Allegheny region by making extravagant grants of land, but caused colonial officials, 
 particularly New York and Virginian, to set themselves assiduously to the task of 
 strengthening ties of friendship with the Indians of these regions, all of whose tribes 
 were at the same time being adroitly courted by wily French emissaries. 
 
 Incited by these French agents, the Shawnees and the Delawares complained of 
 encroachments by Virginians into their territory along the Ohio. To placate them 
 and court their favor, Governor Thomas Dinwiddie, of Virginia, appointed com- 
 missioners to negotiate a treaty. Mr. Perkins approaches the treaty-making in this 
 manner: "The English . . . determined to purchase from the Indians a title to the 
 lands they wished to occupy, by fair means or foul; and, in the spring of 1752, 
 Messrs. Joshua Fry, L. Lomax, and James Patton, were sent from Virginia to hold 
 a conference with the natives at Logstown, to learn what they objected to in the 
 treaty of Lancaster, of which it was said they complained, and to settle all difficulties." 
 Loggstown, Loggs Town, or Logstown, was a little village situated seventeen miles 
 and a half below Pittsburgh on the north side of the Ohio. It had been built by 
 the French for the Indians and was used as a trading post, the post being abandoned 
 about the year 1750. Christopher Gist, who visited it in the fall of that year, wrote 
 in his journal: "In the Loggs Town, I found scarce any Body but a Parcel of 
 reprobate Indian Traders, . . ." 11 On the 9th of June, 1752, the commissioners met 
 the red men, most of whom were representatives of the Delawares and Shawnese. 
 The Virginians produced the treaty of Lancaster, claimed its validity, and wished to 
 have it ratified, insisting upon the sales of the western lands. The Indians, however, 
 remained skeptical; were unconvinced; they knew of no sale of lands "west of the 
 warrior's road, which ran at the foot of the Allegheny ridge." At this stage in the 
 negotiations, the commissioners offered goods for a ratification of the Lancaster 
 treaty; described the settlements proposed by the Ohio Company; employed all their 
 powers of persuasion. The red men answered on the 11th of June with these state- 
 ments: "They recognized the treaty of Lancaster, and the authority of the Six Nations 
 to make it, but denied that they had any knowledge of the western lands being 
 conveyed to the English by said deed; and declined having anything to do with the 
 treaty of 1744." 1: The Indians, however, under the circumstances, could not risk 
 utter independence. They continued, saying: "As the French have already struck 
 the Twigtwees, we shall be pleased to have your assistance and protection, and wish 
 you would build a fort at once at the Forks of the Ohio." These proposals not 
 being pleasing, the commissioners called aside Andrew Montour, the half breed 
 interpreter and explorer, son of the celebrated Catharine Montour, and a chief 
 among the Six Nations, and persuaded him to use his influence with the red men. 
 Be it said in his favor that Andrew Montour honestly espoused the cause of the 
 English; was a loyal friend of Christopher Gist and Colonel George Groghan, the 
 
12 A S E S Q U I-C ENTENNIAL 
 
 Pennsylvanian official, explorer and trader; that he was able and honest — introduced 
 by Conrad Weiser, interpreter, trader and explorer, in 1748, to the President and 
 Council of the Province of Pennsylvania and highly commended as "Faithful and 
 prudent." Montour's influence was effective. On the 13th day of June, the Indians 
 united in signing a deed, "confirming the treaty of Lancaster in its full extent, consenting 
 to a settlement southeast of the Ohio, and guaranteeing that it should not be disturbed 
 by them." 1 ' And thus was the "congress" at Loggstown apparently brought to a 
 successful conclusion. 
 
 THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR, 1755-1763 
 
 While the "English outwitted the Indians, and secured themselves, as they thought, 
 by their politic conduct," 10 the French, realizing that a show-down for possession of 
 the Ohio Valley, even for possession of a large part of North America, had to be 
 made soon, strove by every means in their power to draw all the Indians to their side 
 as allies against the British; and they proved that they knew best how to control the 
 natives, even gain their friendship. Though confronted with the ill-will of the 
 Iroquois and with former acts of violence against them, the French, nevertheless, by 
 means of force and kindness, rum and prayer, managed to gather to their standard 
 most of the red men, even neutralized many of the Iroquois and their friends. The 
 reasons for the failure of the English was well expressed by an old chief of the 
 Six Nations at Easton, in 1758: "The Indians on the Ohio left you because of your 
 own fault. When we heard the French were coming, we asked you for help and 
 arms, but we did not get them. The French came, they treated us kindly, and gained, 
 our affections. The Governor of Virginia settled on our lands for his own benefit, 
 and, when we wanted help, forsook us."" 
 
 Although British diplomacy failed to enlist the support of the Indians, be it said 
 that the English of Virginia, particularly the officials, were alive to the seriousness 
 of the situation. Though the French built no forts on the banks of the Ohio itself, 
 Virginian officers knew that Celeron had made his journey down the Ohio; were 
 informed of the numerous forts erected from the Lakes down the Mississippi Valley; 
 were cognizant of the movement of troops southward. These Virginian officials 
 warned the British government that war was imminent; they began building forts 
 on Charter's Creek and at the Fork of the Ohio; they sent settlers into the lands 
 of the Ohio Company and built trading posts. The Assembly voted £10,000, so 
 that two volunteer militia companies were increased to six, and Washington was 
 raised to the rank of lieutenant colonel (Washington, accompanied by Christopher 
 Gist, had carried by that time already his famous Dinwiddie message to the French 
 governor warning the French out of the Virginian territory north of the Ohio) . 
 Ten cannon, lately from England, were forwarded from Alexandria into Western 
 Pennsylvania; and everywhere in Virginia men were enlisting under the Governor's 
 proclamation, which promised those who should serve in the expected war two hundred 
 thousand acres of land on the Ohio. In the spring of 1755 hostilities began. This 
 war, known as the French and Indian War, was long and costly, draining the colonies 
 of both men and materials; yet the reward was great. 
 
 By the Peace of Paris (1763) France ceded to Britain a vast empire in America 
 as well as in India. French claims to Canada and the territory between the 
 Alleghenies and the Mississippi were transferred to England. One ministerial writer, 
 elated over the huge conquest and possibilities of its development insolently boasted 
 of the future splendors of the newly acquired American territory: "We are now in 
 the heart of their [the French peoples'] favorite Louisiana, masters of all that mighty 
 project of uniting by traffick, the lakes and the Ohio, the sources of St. Lawrence 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 13 
 
 and the Mississippi, and of cloathing unnumbered nations with our manufactories. 
 By means of the Mississippi, Canada itself is improved; by this communication its 
 peltry, woods and lakes, are made more subservient, and [on] the fertile plains of 
 the Ohio, brought nearer the Southern Ocean, rise now a navigable colony, which 
 otherwise would have remained a mere inland territory and a feeble barrier." 1 ' 
 
 PONTIAC'S CONSPIRACY 
 
 Quite naturally interest in the trade and land of this newly acquired Trans- 
 Allegheny territory quickly developed, in both England and the colonies. However, 
 scarcely had the war ended when another conflict, known as Pontiac's Conspiracy, 
 broke out in 1763, with tragic suddenness and blood-curdling fiendishness. The 
 able and intelligent Ottawa chief, Pontiac, brooding upon the encroachments of the 
 British, and unable to justify the gift to the English by the French of lands claimed 
 by the Indians, formed a confederation to exterminate the English settlers. Chippeways, 
 Ottawas, Wyandotts, Miamis, Shawnese, Delawares, and Mingoes, laying aside their 
 old hostile feelings for the time being, united under Pontiac in the great enterprise. 
 The voice of that "sagacious and noble man" was heard crying: "Why, says the 
 Great Spirit, do you suffer these dogs in red clothing to enter your country and 
 take the land I have given you? Drive them from it! Drive them! When you are 
 in distress, I will help you." Though the fierce struggle began with direful calamity 
 to settlers along the western frontier, the colonists and the British soldiers met the 
 onslaught with determined zeal to crush the rebellious red men utterly. Soon their 
 truculent efforts, together with the disaffection of some of the tribes and treachery 
 of some of the braves, began to tell. The war ceased as quickly as it had begun. 
 
 ROYAL PROCLAMATION OF 1763 
 
 When news of the outbreak of this gruesome conflict reached London, the British 
 government manifested considerable concern. Some quarters were of the opinion that 
 the trouble was caused by occupation of lands claimed by the Indians, and were 
 convinced that further western settlement should be prohibited. A majority of the 
 ministers probably were of this opinion. Alvord writes: "The very first explanation 
 of the outbreak was that it was due to the encroachment on the lands of the Indians. 
 The Lords of Trade could not have been surprised at this since they had been 
 frequently warned of what must be the consequence of the poorly devised land policy 
 of the colonies. The evil they had been led to fear had, however, already occurred, 
 and their only hope was that they might alleviate the suffering somewhat by an early 
 announcement of their beneficent intentions toward the Indians. The usual and 
 rather indirect method of accomplishing this by sending instructions to the governors 
 was hardly adequate in the crisis, so they proposed to the ministry on August fifth 
 [1763] that a proclamation by the king be immediately prepared. Two subjects 
 only were proposed to be so announced: the reservation of the Indian grounds as 
 indicated in their report on June 8, and the inducements to be offered settlers in 
 various places. It was hoped that the announcement of the boundary would allay 
 the fears of the Indians, and that by skillfully picturing the attractions of other places 
 for settlement the pioneers might be drawn away from the frontier."" 
 
 Because of the resignation of Lord Shelburne as President of the Lords of Trade 
 and the political maneuvering which followed, the Proclamation was not finally 
 signed by George III until October 7, 1763. Though Lord Hillsborough succeeded 
 Shelburne as head of the Lords of Trade, Shelburne's draft, with a few minor changes, 
 was accepted. He, it appears, understood colonial affairs better than the other ministers; 
 in fact, had manifested a strong interest for a long time. The part of the proclamation 
 
14 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 most significent for American history was that aimed at conciliating the Indians. 
 The governors of the provinces and colonies were forbidden to grant lands "for the 
 present, and until our further pleasure be known . . . beyond the Heads or Sources 
 of any of the Rivers which fall into the Atlantic Ocean from the West and North 
 West."" An Indian reservation was thus established south of the lands of the Hudson's 
 Bay Company, west of the province of Quebec and the Appalachian Mountains, 
 and north of the line of the Floridas, the 31st parallel. Settlement upon the Indian 
 lands was prohibited, and settlers already upon such lands were commanded "forthwith 
 to remove themselves." Furthermore private purchases of land from the Indians were 
 forbidden, those that had been made in the Indian reservation were voided, and 
 future purchases were to be made officially, by the governor of the colony involved, 
 for the crown alone. 
 
 Naturally the Proclamation was unpopular in the colonies, particularly in Virginia. 
 This colony had maintained a more or less shadowy claim to the lands between the 
 Alleghenies and the Mississippi almost from the inception of the colony; Virginians 
 interested in western lands insisted that the territory had not been France's to cede 
 to the crown. Many colonists, including George Washington, held that the measure 
 was only a temporary expedient and proceeded with plans for acquiring more western 
 lands. 
 
 Mr. Temple Bodley takes the position that the Proclamation was instigated by 
 prominent colonial and London officials for the primary purpose of acquiring vast 
 blocks of this western land from the crown for their own private gains, while keeping 
 squatters and little settlers, who might cause confusion, off the land; he depicts these 
 designs as dark and sinister, participated in by some of the most eminent colonial and 
 British officials. He attributes momentous influences upon history to the contrivances 
 of the "land syndicate": "Its history begins soon after the peace of 1763, and is 
 at once interesting and amusing; but it is much — very much — more, for it exercised 
 a tremendously powerful and sinister, though strangely overlooked, influence on the 
 whole course and results of the Revolutionary War. Almost, if not quite, as much 
 as the British and Indians, it influenced the destiny of Kentucky. In fact, it largely 
 moulded the history of the United States." 2 " Mr. Bodley appears to be very suspicious 
 where land deals are involved and becomes unduly alarmed. 
 
 Following the Proclamation of 1763 and the English successes under the military 
 leadership of Bradstreet and Bouquet, both of whom had moved westward to assist 
 in effecting the Proclamation, the braves manifested a disposition toward arbitration. 
 General Bradstreet, assisted by Sir William Johnson, Britain's able agent to the 
 Iroquois, succeeded in holding a grand council, with twenty or more tribes early in 
 the summer of 1764. All of the tribes sued for peace. A definite treaty was made 
 with them on the 21st of August at Detroit. This was, however, a sort of preliminary 
 agreement, because the English did not obtain all they desired. 
 
 TREATY OF GERMAN FLATS, 1765 
 
 The chief, Pontiac, finding that his cause was hopeless, retired to live among the 
 Illinois Indians. The Six Nations, under the influence of Sir William Johnson and 
 also the Proclamation, were particularly desirous of a peace settlement. Most of the 
 Iroquois, old allies of England, had been lukewarm toward the Conspiracy from the 
 outset. In fact, the Mohawks and leading tribes were from the first with the British. 
 Sir William therefore had little difficulty in arranging a council at German Flats, 
 on the Mohawk river at the mouth of Canada Creek, in New York." At this 
 conference two propositions were discussed: (1) fixing a boundary west of which 
 Europeans should not go, a provision perhaps suggested by Sir William himself; 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 15 
 
 (2) the other, that the Indians should grant to the traders, who had suffered materially 
 at the hands of the red men in 1763, lands in the west as compensation. 
 
 As it was desired by all, at the time, peace was made with all the western Indians. 
 As to the proposal for a definite western boundary, the savages named "Ohio or 
 Allegheny and Susquehanna rivers as the line; nothing definite was agreed upon, 
 because Sir William was not empowered by the crown to dispose of this matter finally 
 at that time. Upon the other proposition, the Indians exhibited full generosity; they 
 agreed fully to compensate the settlers, who had suffered at their hands in 1763, 
 with a considerable grant of western lands. 
 
 This treaty, quite obviously, did not completely satisfy the Indians nor the white 
 men, because the all-important question of a permanent line beyond which the settlers 
 should not go was not settled. The whites felt that they should have an agreement 
 whereby more lands would be gained; the Indians felt that they should have some 
 proof that the settlers would not encroach further on their lands. Be that as it may, 
 during the year succeeding this agreement, settlers crossed the mountains and took 
 possession of lands in western Virginia, and along the Monongahela. The Indians, 
 having received no pay for these lands — promised at Lancaster — murmured, and once 
 more a border war was feared. General Thomas Gage, Commander of the King's 
 forces, was applied to, probably through Sir William Johnson." 4 General Gage issued 
 orders for the removal of the settlers, but these defied his commands and his power, 
 and remained where they were. 2 ° As the Ohio Company was making every effort to 
 send families to the lands granted it, as poor settlers were eager to sit in new homes 
 in the West, as prominent colonial, as well as British officials, were making every effort 
 to gain western lands and have them settled, naturally the proclamation line of 1763 
 was violated with superb unconcern. Even Sir William, whom the Indians relied upon 
 for protection, was meditating the purchase of a vast tract of land, in territory claimed 
 by the red men, for the establishment of a new colony. 
 
 During this period of Indian irritation, groups of prominent colonial and English 
 gentlemen, including Governor Sir William Franklin, of New Jersey, Sir William 
 Johnson, Samuel Wharton, Thomas Walpole, Richard Walpole, Thomas Pownall, 
 were applying to the British crown for large grants of land in the West. Benjamin 
 Franklin, father of Sir William and colonial agent for the colony of Pennsylvania 
 in London, plied the Lords of Trade assiduously in the interest of the land syndicates, 
 pointing out the advantages of settlement in the West with marked brilliancy and 
 superb effect upon the Lords. Each day the resentment of the Indians against the 
 settlers mounted. Under the circumstances therefore, both for the interest of the 
 land applicants, the settlers and the Indians, a new western boundary line between 
 the whites and the savages was vitally essential. This, Sir William Johnson had 
 suggested in a letter of 1765 to the ministry, but this communication had been mislaid, 
 and he received no instructions upon the point. The irritation became so great 
 during the autumn of 1767 that General Gage wrote to the governor of Pennsylvania 
 upon the subject. The governor communicated his letter to the Assembly on the 
 5th of January 1768, and the representations, expressing the necessity of having the 
 Indian line fixed, were at once sent to England. Benjamin Franklin, all the while, 
 was urging the same thing upon the ministers in London; and about Christmas of 
 1767 Sir William's letters on the subject had been found. Orders were sent him "to 
 complete the proposed purchase from the Six Nations, and settle all differences." 
 But the project for a colony was, for the time being, dropped, a new administration 
 coming in, which was not of that disposition. 
 
 Accordingly, Sir William sent emissaries to the various tribes, and nations, — Iroquois, 
 Shawnese, Delawares, Cherokees, Mingoes, et al., inviting them to a conference at 
 
16 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 Fort Stanwix, New York, in the Fall, 1768. The red men were quite prepared to 
 accept the invitation, particularly the Six Nations, who were more or less either the 
 masters or allies of the nations invited. In their grant that year they made it clear 
 that they had been expecting a treaty agreement, saying: "Whereas his majesty was 
 graciously pleased to propose to us, in the year one thousand seven hundred and 
 sixty-five, that a boundary line should be fixed between the English and us, to 
 ascertain and establish our limits, and prevent those intrusions and encroachments, 
 of which we had so long and loudly complained; and to put a stop to the many 
 fraudulent advantages which had been so often taken of us; which boundary appearing 
 to us as a wise and good measure, we did then agree to a part of a line, and 
 promised to settle the whole finally, whensoever Sir William Johnson should be fully 
 empowered to treat with us for that purpose."" 
 
 TREATY OF FORT STANWIX, 1768. 
 
 Toward the 20th of October, 1768, both whites and Indians began to arrive at 
 Fort Stanwix, New York, the place designated for the congress. The place had 
 been named after General John Stanwix; it was situated between the upper Mohawk 
 and Wood Creek; it became an important point of defense during the colonial 
 period and a center of Indian trade. The Indians had been informed that the meeting 
 would be the most important yet held between the two races and made preparations 
 fitting for the occasion. The Virginia Gazette of December 1, 1768, places the number 
 of Indians in attendance as 3,200 — Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagoes, Senacas, Cayugas, 
 Tuscaroras, Coghnowagos, Tutulos, Shawnese, Delawares, Mingoes of Ohio, Nanti- 
 chokes, Conoys, Chughnuts, Schoras, and Orifcas. This number is perhaps a bit 
 high; however, the red men realized that those present stood a far better chance of 
 receiving good gifts than those at home. Approximately thirty chiefs were in attendance. 
 Twenty boatloads of presents were alluringly displayed before their covetous eyes. 
 
 As managers of the congress were four able, wise and experienced men: "The 
 Honorable Sir William Johnson, Baronet, his majesty's Superintendent of Indian 
 Affairs"; George Croghan and Daniel Claus, Deputy Agents of Indian Affairs; and 
 Guy Johnson, Deputy Agent and acting Secretary. Aiding these were several gentle- 
 men from the different Colonies. The managers had caused to be present three 
 interpreters: John Butler, Andrew Montour and Philip Philips; while Abraham, a 
 Mohawk chief, acted as interpreter for the red men. Present also were the colonial 
 commissioners from the colonies of Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia. These are 
 thus listed: by Butler: "His Excellency, William Franklin, Esq., Governor of New 
 Jersey; the Hon. Frederick Smyth, Esq., Chief Justice of New Jersey; Thomas Walker, 
 Esq., Commissioner from Virginia; Rev. Richard Peters and James Tilghman, Esq., 
 of the Council of Pennsylvania."" Lieutenant Governor Penn, of Pennsylvania, had 
 journeyed to Fort Stanwix early in October; had lingered a long time; had been 
 obliged, because of business obligations, to leave before the conference convened. 
 Thus it is seen that Sir William was in attendance, seeking land for the crown, possibly 
 for himself also; that representatives of three colonies sought land for their colonies, 
 perhaps for their land companies also. Private individuals too were in attendance 
 seeking land for themselves and their friends. 
 
 After the preliminaries were disposed of, the first meeting got under way with an 
 address by Sir William Johnson. In his dignified, impressive manner, Sir William 
 re-stated the purpose of the congress, pointing out the necessity of establishing a 
 boundary line. His address was short and to the point. He pointed out the gravity 
 of the occasion; hoped their decisions would be unanimous. At the end he presented 
 a belt in token of the friendship and generous intention of the crown. The chief, 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 
 
 17 
 
 Abraham, in a brief address, expressed the appreciation of the red men for Sir 
 William's magnanimity and stated that, the matter being one of extreme gravity, 
 the chiefs would retire for consultation, at the end of which they would give their 
 answer. This was on October 24, 1768. 
 
 ^ On October 31st, a deputation of the Six Nations waited upon Sir William and 
 "informed him that a Chief and Warrior of each nation would attend him and deliver 
 their final resolves, which should be made public tomorrow." These observed that 
 what they had to say were the "final resolves" of all the nations, and, having laid out 
 a map, added that they would "agreeably to their just rights, begin the line at the 
 Cherokee (Tennessee) river." 29 
 
 The congress reconvened on Tuesday, November 1, 1768. The Indians seated 
 themselves, and, being informed that Sir William was prepared to hear them, their 
 speaker arose and spoke. Very eloquently he traced the friendship between the 
 Six Nations and the English, pointing out the continued kindness and hospitality 
 of the red men and stating that their friendship would endure if the English did 
 their part. Here he presented a belt. He expressed the hope that the British would 
 keep inviolate the boundary about to be agreed upon; promised that the Indians 
 would do their part; hoped that no further attempts would be made to take their 
 lands, "that this line be considered final." After tracing the boundary lines of 
 the grant, he stated certain conditions on which the grant would be made, namely 
 that the whites be restrained from hunting on the Indian side of the border, that 
 the king give Sir William more help in effecting and preserving justice for the red 
 men, that certain lands in Pennsylvania be deeded to Mr. Penn and the proprietors 
 of Pennsylvania (for which 10,000 Spanish milled dollars were paid the Six Nations), 
 that the traders who had suffered and lost property at the hands of the Indians in 
 1763 be compensated by lands down the Ohio, as well as that George Croghan be 
 compensated for lands he would lose in the Pennsylvania grant, and that "we expect, 
 that no old claims, which we disavow, or new encroachments, may be allowed," 
 including Treaty of Lancaster.™ 
 
 Friday, November 4, 1768, Sir William Johnson, addressing himself to the assembled 
 congress, spoke as follows: "Brothers— I am glad that the boundary is at length agreed 
 upon; and, as I have great reason to think it will be duly observed by the English, 
 I recommend it to you to preserve it carefully in remembrance; to explain it fully to 
 those that are absent; and to teach it to your children, &c. I now give you this belt, 
 to strengthen, ratify, and confirm the boundary, and all transactions necessary thereto." 31 
 Sir William then addressed the commissioners, saying: Gentlemen— Agreeable to 
 his majesty's intentions, signified to me by the Secretary of State, and for the satis- 
 faction of the several nations here assembled, I take the liberty to recommend it 
 strongly to your several provinces, to enact the most effective laws for the due observance 
 of the line, and the preventing all future intrusions; as the expectation thereof, and 
 the reliance the Indians have on your justice, from the assurance I have given them 
 on that head, have proved great inducements to the settlement of the line now estab- 
 lished between the colonies and them."" Whereupon, the commissioners answered 
 that nothing on their parts would be wanting to the obtaining of such security for the 
 boundary as was deemed necessary, on their return to their respective colonies. 
 
 For the grant, the Indians received the equivalent of "ten thousand four hundred 
 and sixty pounds seven shillings and three pence sterling." The actual grant is stated 
 as follows: "We, the said Indians, have for us, our heirs and successors, granted, 
 bargained, sold, released and confirmed, and by these presents, do grant, bargain, 
 sell, release and confirm, unto our said sovereign lord King George the Third, all 
 that tract of land situate in North America, at the back of the British settl 
 
 lements. 
 
18 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 bounded by a line which we have now agreed upon, and do hereby . establish as the 
 Boundary between us and the British colonies in America; beginning at the mouth 
 of the Cherokee or Hogohege river, where it empties into the river Ohio; and running 
 from thence upwards along the south side of the said river to Kitanning, which is 
 above Fort Pitt; from thence by a direct line to the nearest fork of the west branch 
 of Susquehannah; thence through the Allegheny mountains, along the south side of 
 the said west, till it comes opposite to the mouth of a creek called Tiadaghton; thence 
 across the west branch, and along the south side of that creek, and along the north 
 side of Burnet's hills, to a creek called Awandae; thence down the same to the east 
 branch of Susquehannah, and across the same, and up the east side of that river to 
 Owegy; from thence east to Delaware river, and up that river to opposite to where 
 Tianaderha falls into Susquehannah; thence to Tianaderha, and up the west side 
 thereof and the west side of its west branch to the head thereof; and thence by a 
 direct line to Canada creek, where it empties into Wood creek, at the west end of the 
 carrying place beyond Fort Stanwix, and extending eastward from every part of the 
 said line, as far as the lands formerly purchased, so as to comprehend the whole of the 
 lands between the said line and the purchased lands or settlements, except what is 
 within the province of Pennsylvania; together with all the hereditaments and appurte- 
 nances to the same, belonging or appertaining, in the fullest and most ample man- 
 ner; . . . 
 
 The treaty was signed by a chief of each of the Six Nations. It was signed, sealed 
 and delivered in the presence of William Franklin, Frederick Smyth, Thomas Walker, 
 Richard Peters and James Tilghman. 
 
 It appears that the cession of territory to the Cherokee, or Tennessee, River was an 
 afterthought on the part of the Indians. After having extended the boundary line 
 farther northeastward — perhaps through the influence of some white person or persons — 
 they made the following momentous declaration: "We have likewise continued it 
 [the line] south to the Cherokee river, because the same is, and we do declare it to 
 be our true bounds with the southern Indians, and that we have an undoubted right 
 to the country as far south as that river, which makes our cession to his majesty much 
 more advantageous than that proposed."' 4 Two years later, at German Flats, July 
 1770, Sir William told the assembled Six Nations chiefs that the king had not required 
 the territory to the Tennessee. He was answered with these words: "When we met 
 you to so great a number, in so public a manner, at Fort Stanwix, we should hardly 
 have acted as we did, unless we had been possessed of a FULL RIGHT SO TO DO. 
 We now desire that you may assure the King, that it was our property we justly 
 disposed of, and that we had full authority so to do."'' 
 
 Thus not only did the crown receive a tremendous grant of land from the Six 
 Nations, whose title was not questioned, but in the grant was extinguished the Iroquois 
 title to Kentucky. It would appear therefore that Kentucky, at least for the time 
 being, was subject altogether to the control of the British Government. In view of 
 the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, this statement seems to be true, namely, that the Cherokees 
 had no good title to Kentucky, because they neither owned nor possessed it. 
 
 TREATY OF HARD LABOUR, 1768. 
 
 In the South by the year 1768, western boundary lines had been agreed upon by 
 all the colonies except Virginia. The Old Dominion had not been agreeable to 
 having established by the the southern superintendent, John Stuart, continuation of 
 the North Carolina line, at her back because such an act would curtail her western 
 claims, as well as "interfere with the far reaching plans which were being promoted 
 by her citizens for the exploitation of the region.""' According to Mr. Alvord, it 
 
H I S T O RY O F K E N T U C K Y 19 
 
 was not until the orders that a treaty be made fixing a western boundary were received 
 first from Lord Shelburne then from Lord Hillsborough that Virginia reluctantly 
 yielded. It should be pointed out that relations between Virginia and the Cherokee 
 Indians, who claimed also Trans-Allegheny lands at that colony's back were very bad 
 by 1768, even verging upon war. Naturally, they [the Virginians] did not wish 
 John Stuart to extend a line depriving them of territory; nor did they desire to 
 treat with the Cherokees, because they believed the Iroquois had a better claim to this 
 back country. Regardless of their views, however, the British ministry was desirous 
 of establishing a western line north and south throughout, and Virginia had to yield. 
 On October 14, 1768, Stuart convened the Cherokee leaders at Hard Labour, in 
 South Carolina, and succeeded in gaining their assent to an extension of the western 
 boundary line. At that time the line already run behind the more southern colonies 
 as far north as ChiswelPs mine on the Great Kanawha was ratified. The new agree- 
 ment reached provided that this line should be continued from that point "in a 
 straight line about a north course to the confluence of the Great Conhoway (Kanawha) 
 with the Ohio."' The superintendent desired to survey the line immediately, 
 fixing November 10 for the meeting of the commissioners with the Indians. To 
 this date, the red men objected, suggesting that the season by that time would be 
 too far advanced. They had agreed to the date of the treaty, they stated, believing 
 that the line of the Great Kanawha would form the boundary, thus making only 
 necessary the running of the line from the North Carolina limits to ChiswelPs mine. 
 Since the boundary from that point was to be a straight line, instead of following 
 the river, there was not time to survey it before winter set in. Another date, May 
 10, 1769, was agreed upon. The changing of this date brought about many com- 
 plications. The intervening period afforded the Virginians time to ascertain the 
 outcome of Sir William Johnson's meeting with the Indians at Fort Stanwix. What 
 they learned caused them to be highly dissatisfied with the Hard Labour limitations, 
 and they availed themselves of the time allowed to use in instigating a new movement 
 for another settlement, a movement which was to win for them from the Cherokees 
 a greater grant of territory. 
 
 TREATY OF LOCHABER, 1770. 
 
 Naturally, as soon as they were informed that the Iroquois had granted the territory 
 to the crown between the Ohio and the Tennessee, the Officials of Virginia became 
 convinced that Stuart's agreement at Hard Labour was entirely too confining to 
 Virginia, too niggardly an affair both on the part of John Stuart and the Cherokee 
 Indians, whose claim to territory west of Virginia was regarded as shadowy at 
 best. Soon after the Virginian commissioners, Colonel Andrew Lewis and Dr. 
 Thomas Walker, returned from Fort Stanwix, they were sent by Governor Nor- 
 borne Berkeley Botetourt to lay before Superintendent Stuart reasons why the boundary 
 line with the Cherokees should be fixed farther to the west. In his letter to Stuart 
 the governor wrote: 
 
 "Our commissioners Colonel Lewis and Dr. Walker having informed me, that 
 the line you have marked out in your several letters as a boundary betwixt the 
 Cherokees and Virginia will determine a large tract of land to their [Cherokees'] 
 property, which Sir William Johnson has purchased of the Northern Indians at the 
 Treaty of Fort Stanwix; I have by advice of the Council directed these gentlemen 
 personally to confer with you upon that subject, that you may if possible agree to- 
 gether upon a fresh plan which may satisfy the Indians and observe [sic] to this 
 colony the lands lately purchased as well as those which were settled before the late 
 war."" 
 
 3— Vol. I 
 
20 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 Extensive political maneuvering on the part of interested Virginians followed. 
 Learning that the Cherokees were willing to sell the colonists all the land desired, 
 these expansionists and speculators pressed the governor to deal direct with the red men. 
 This proposition, however, the governor turned down, saying that the authority to 
 negotiate was vested in the superintendent, John Stuart. At the same time, a 
 group of Virginians attempted to prevail upon Stuart to form an agreement with 
 the Cherokees to the effect "that a line beginning at the Western termination of the 
 North Carolina line, and running thence in a due west direction to the River Ohio, 
 may be accomplished at much less expense than the other line proposed." 4 " Stuart 
 neither believed that such a line would reach the Ohio, nor that the Cherokees would 
 peacefully agree to such an extension. In the end the opinions of Stuart prevailed, 
 and the House of Burgesses determined on June 15, 1770, to enter upon a treaty with 
 the Cherokees "for the lands lying within a line to be run from a place where the 
 North Carolina terminates, in a due west direction, until it intersects Holstein River, 
 and from there to the mouth of the Great Kanaway." For this cession Virginia 
 agreed to pay two thousand five hundred pounds. It should be pointed out to 
 Stuart's credit that his knowledge of the geography involved was accurate and that 
 he was not seduced by the Virginian land jobbers. He wrote in reporting the Treaty 
 of Lochaber to Lord Hillsboro: "Every step that could be thought of was taken 
 by a set of self interested men in the province of Virginia to embarrass me, in the 
 settlement of a boundary line. Emissaries were sent into the nation, to practice upon 
 the Indians, and prevail upon them to refuse treating with me." " 
 
 At Lochaber in South Carolina, the Superintendent for the Southern Department, 
 John Stuart, met approximately one thousand Indians. He pointed out to them the 
 necessity of changing the line in order to include the settlements on the Holston 
 River, which were west of the old lines. The Indians were not disposed at first to 
 agree to so large a grant; however, ultimately the Superintendent's various arguments 
 were successful. The line agreed upon was to extend from a point six miles east of 
 Big or Long Island in Holston River to the Mouth of the Great Kanawha. Colonel 
 John Donaldson, the surveyor who traced this line by an appointment from the president 
 and council of Virginia, states, "that, in the progress of the work, they came to the 
 head of Louisa River [in Eastern Kentucky], when the Little Carpenter [a Cherokee 
 chief J observed, that his nation delighted in having their lands marked out by natural 
 boundaries; and proposed that, instead of the line agreed upon at Lochaber as 
 aforesaid, it should break off at the head of Louisa River, and run thence to the 
 mouth thereof, and thence up the Ohio to the mouth of the Great Kenhawa." 
 This boundary was accordingly agreed to by the surveyor. 
 
 It is presumed that Colonel John Donaldson in speaking of the Louisa River had 
 in mind a branch of what is now the Big Sandy River in Eastern Kentucky. Scarcely 
 had the agreement been made, however, than claims were made by various interested 
 quarters that the line established by the surveyors was the Kentucky River. The 
 author of this error, according to Alvord, was the superintendent, John Stuart, who 
 stated in a communication to Lord Dartmouth, the successor of Lord Hillsborough, 
 the following: "What Col. Donalson the Virginian Surveyour calls Louisa River in 
 his report, and which forms the present boundary, is in Mitchell's map called Catawba 
 or Cuttawa [Kentucky] River by which map Louisa River is made to fall into the 
 Kenhaway."" Mr. Alvord suggests the question: "Why did John Stuart give to the 
 Kentucky a name which it had never borne before?" It is a known fact today that 
 the Kentucky River was sometimes called the Louisa by the pioneers and explorers, 
 and it was called even at times the Cherokee River. Mr. Alvord assumes that John 
 Stuart knew better than to confuse the two streams, suggests that the superintendent 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 21 
 
 in Indian Affairs for the Southern Department may have been influenced by financial 
 considerations offered by interested Virginians to make the change. There is no 
 proof that such happened, and certainly the presumption is that Stuart acted altogether 
 honorably throughout. The change in line was satisfactory to Lord Dartmouth, an 
 expansionist; however, the Kentucky River line was not assumed by the Virginians, a 
 thing unnecessary really since the Treaty of Fort Stanwix. 
 
 Perhaps it should be pointed out that the Cherokees by this grant ceded lands 
 already ceded by the Iroquois, and that the British accepted them from both, thus 
 recognizing an interest in the lands by the Cherokees. However, as Hall points out, 
 Great Britain followed the policy "of purchasing the conflicting Indian titles, and 
 of making her own claim secure by merging in it all others." 45 (Such is the practice 
 even by the nations of the world today, when people have by bitter experience been 
 forced to realize the fragility of treaties in the hands of those who desire to fight 
 and those reluctant to fight.) The colonials, it is true, did not regard treaties with 
 the Indians very seriously; however, if by making a treaty a war could be avoided and 
 the same ends secured, of course, a treaty was made if possible. In fact, it is a 
 matter of history, many times repeated, that even modern European nations regard 
 treaties only as documents of expedience, not to be seriously held in crises. 
 
 TREATY OF SYCAMORE SHOALS, 1775. 
 
 In January of the year 1775 a land company was organized in Granville County, 
 (western) North Carolina, by Richard Henderson, Judge of the Superior Court, of 
 that district. Associated with him were many prominent men of that section, including 
 William Johnston, Nathaniel Hart, John Luttrel, David Hart, John Williams, James 
 Hogg and Leonard Henley Bullock. Previously, on August 27, 1774, Judge Hender- 
 son had organized a land company, to which the name, Louisa, was assigned, sug- 
 gestive of Kentucky. It is contended by descendants of Henderson that "as early as 
 1764 Richard Henderson & Company, a land company, had been organized and 
 [Daniel] Boone was acting as Henderson's agent," and that Boone had been sent on 
 "his well-known second trip to the territory of Kentucky, in 1769, to secure trustworthy 
 accounts of the country," as Henderson was probably meditating a settlement. 
 
 Judge Henderson, 4 ' early in 1775, visited the Overhill Cherokees, with the idea 
 of purchasing their title to a vast tract of land in central Tennessee and Kentucky. 
 The Cherokees deputed their great Chief Attakullakulla to go home with Henderson 
 and continue negotiations. It was decided that a grand open treaty meeting would 
 be held in the early spring. On March 14, 1775, Colonel Henderson, acting for 
 the company, met the chiefs of that nation, attended by about twelve hundred of their 
 people at Sycamore Shoals, on the Watauga River, the southeastern branch of the 
 Holston. A solemn council was held, during which the "strictest sobriety and dignity 
 was manifested," and on March 17, after full discussion of every matter relating to 
 the purchase, the company obtained from the Indians, in exchange for alluring merchan- 
 dise, pleasing to the red men, to the value of ten thousand pounds sterling, two 
 separate deeds, "signed by Okonistoto, their chief warrior, and by Attakullakulla and 
 Savonooko, the next in rank, in behalf of the nation, and with the assent of the 
 warriors present." The two grants comprehended separate tracts, lying within the 
 chartered limits of Virginia and North Carolina. The first, which pertains to Ken- 
 tucky, was bounded as follows: 
 
 "Beginning on the Ohio river, at the mouth of the Cantuckey, Chenoee, or what, 
 by the English, is called Louisa river; from thence running up the said river, and 
 the most northwardly fork of the same, to the head spring thereof; thence a south- 
 east course, to the top of the ridge of Powell's mountain; thence westwardly along 
 
22 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 the ridge of the said mountain, unto a point from which a northwest course will 
 hit or strike the head spring of the most southwardly branch of Cumberland river; 
 thence down the said river, including all its waters, to the Ohio river, and up the 
 said river, as it meanders, to the beginning." Thus it will be noted that Colonel 
 Henderson and his associates secured a Cherokee grant to practically all of present-day 
 Kentucky — the territory south of the Kentucky River, and the head spring of its most 
 northerly fork, to the mountains and north of the Cumberland River. 
 
 The other grant comprised the heart of Tennessee. The Transylvania Company 
 also secured a "Patch Deed," whereby a tract connecting the large territory with the 
 white settlements in western North Carolina was granted. This was a bold enterprise. 
 Judge Henderson, however, was a bold man, equal to the task. He had weathered 
 many a storm. Only recently, as Judge of the Superior Court of the Western 
 District of North Carolina, he had seen the "Regulators" enter his temple of justice, 
 destroy its fixtures and demolish the building, after severely beating his good friend 
 and legal mentor, John Williams. This was during the September, 1770, session 
 of the court. That night, the courtless Judge mounted his horse and rode away to 
 his home in Granville County. The November following, his home, barn and stable 
 went up in flames. Colonel Henderson was therefore able to devote considerable 
 time to land enterprises outside of North Carolina. 
 
 QUESTION OF THE VALIDITY OF THE GRANT TO HENDERSON 
 
 Professor Robert McNutt McElroy, in his monumental work, Kentucky in The 
 Nation s History, points out that the Transylvania purchase had violated many things: 
 (a) the charter rights of Virginia whose grant included this territory; (b) the Royal 
 Proclamation of 1763, which had excepted this region from territory open to coloniza- 
 tion; (c) the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, as the Transylvania district lay within the grant 
 there made to the King by the Six Nations; (d) a Virginia statute of 1705, which 
 declared that no private citizen could acquire lands from the Indians, which was also the 
 policy of the British government. -50 
 
 The governments of both Virginia and North Carolina promptly denounced the 
 Transylvania purchase in no uncertain terms. Lord Dunmore, Governor of Virginia, 
 issued, March 21, 1775, a proclamation scathing in its wording: "One Richard 
 Henderson and other disorderly persons, his associates, who, under pretense of a 
 purchase from the Indians, contrary to aforesaid orders and regulations of His 
 Majesty, has set up a claim to lands of the crown within the limits of the colony. . . . 
 All Justices of the Peace, Sheriffs, and other officers, civil and military, to use their 
 utmost endeavors to prevent the unwarrantable and illegal designs of the said 
 Henderson and his abettors.""' Governor Alexander Martin, of North Carolina, 
 vented his spleen in even more scurrilous manner. 
 
 Colonel Henderson, in his address to the delegates to the Transylvania Congress, 
 May 23, 1775, took note of these attacks. He deprecates "the unworthy and 
 scandalous assertions, together with the groundless insinuations contained in an 
 infamous and scurrilous libel lately printed and published, concerning the settlement 
 of this country, the author of which avails himself of his station, and under the 
 spacious pretense of proclamation, pompously dressed up and decorated in the garb 
 of authority, has uttered invectives of the most malignant kind, and endeavors to 
 wound the good name of persons, whose moral character would derive little advantage 
 by being placed in competition with his, charging them, among other things equally 
 untrue, with a design *of forming an asylum for debtors and other persons of 
 desperate circumstances'; placing the proprietors of the soil at the head of a lawless 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 23 
 
 train of abandoned villains, against whom the regal authority ought to be exerted, 
 and every possible measure taken to put an immediate stop to so dangerous an 
 enterprise."" 
 
 Regardless of the consequences, Colonel Henderson and his associates had purchased 
 land, several times previously purchased, a vast empire of it, and were launching 
 an enterprise which even had a marked bearing upon the history of the United States. 
 The die had been cast. 
 
 FOOTNOTES FOR CHAPTER II. 
 
 'Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., I, pp. 17.33. (See also The Filson Club History 
 Quarterly, Vol. 12, No. 2, pp. 95-115.) 
 
 2 1 bid., I pp. 1, 2. 
 
 'William M. Darlington, Christopher Gist's Journals (Pittsburg: J. R. Weldin & 
 Company, 1893), p. 143. 
 
 John Haywood, The Civil and Political History of the State of Tennessee from 
 Its Earliest Settlement up to the Year 1796 (Knoxville: Heiskell and Brown, 1823.) 
 p. 16. 
 
 James H. Perkins, Annals of The West: Embracing a Concise Account of Princi- 
 pal Events, Which Have Occurred in The Western States and Territories (1st ed.; 
 St. Louis: James R. Alback, 1850), pp. 72, 73. 
 
 Temple Bodley, History of Kentucky (Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing 
 Company, 1928), pp. 41-43. 
 
 Ibid. (See also The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, XIII, 141). 
 
 "Perkins, op.cit., p. 73. "Darlington, op.cit., p. 34. "Ibid. 
 
 Bodley, op.cit., p. 42. '"Perkins, op.cit., p. 80. h 'Ibid. 
 
 10 Perkins, op.cit., p. 79. "Ibid. u 'Ibid., p. 81. 
 
 'Clarence Walworth Alvord, The Mississippi Valley in British Politics, 2 Vols. 
 (Cleveland: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1917) I, 75. 
 
 Mr. Alvord presents three conditions as being most effective in bringing about 
 the conspiracy of Pontiac (1) trickery and theft practiced upon the Indians by the 
 traders, who, debauching them by means of rum, grew rich upon stolen peltry; 
 (2) the policy inaugurated by the British government at the close of the Seven Years 
 War of curtailing gifts to the red men; (3) and the encroachments upon the Indians' 
 hunting-grounds. 
 
 Concerning the last named cause he writes: 'Tar more important than traders' tricks 
 and British parsimony was the encroachment of the settlers on the Indians' hunting- 
 grounds. In this the land speculator was particularly guilty, for he carried into his 
 bartering for Indian lands the low, cunning tricks of the traders. The Indians of 
 the East had already suffered severely; the Iroquois had made many complaints of the 
 frauds practiced upon them; and now the western Indians saw the settlers pouring 
 across the mountains and filling up the lands granted by crown or colony to promoters 
 or else occupying them without any legal justification whatever. The Indians found 
 themselves face to face with that calamity which so many of their eastern brothers 
 had suffered. No wonder their fears were aroused by the insidious tales of the French 
 fur trader as he told them of English plans to drive out all the forest children and to 
 settle their lands with English farmers. Their untutored minds now understood that 
 the fall of the French meant for them the loss of the only power outside themselves 
 that could stop this westward march. Unwilling to believe in their complete desertion 
 their ears listened eagerly to the fanciful tale of the French traders that the great king 
 was sending an army to the Mississippi Valley to win back his lost territory, and they 
 
24 ASESQUI-CENTENN1AL 
 
 believed that in attacking the British posts they were only preparing the way for the 
 return of their beloved French father." (Alvord, op.cit., I, 186, 187.) 
 
 "Perkins, op.cit., p. 114. n Ibid. 
 
 '"Alvord, op.cit., II, 188. "Bodley, op.cit., p. 53. 
 
 "'"German Flats, N. Y., were the meadow lands south of the Mohawk River, opposite 
 the present village of Herkimer, granted for settlement to the Palatines, who had 
 been brought over to make naval stores and who at the failure of that enterprise 
 were settled on the frontier as a protection against French attack. The exact date 
 of settlement is not known, but it was probably in the year of 1723-24. In 1757 
 the settlement was attacked by the French and Indians and 200 persons killed or 
 captured. During the Revolution the settlers suffered continual depredations. In 
 September, 1778, German Flats was laid waste for ten miles along the river." (Quoted 
 from the Dictionary of American History.) 
 
 In the year 1756 the Board of Trade, in London, altered radically the British colonial 
 Indian policy. Whereas, formerly, Indian Affairs had been administered largely by 
 the colonial governors, now they were to be administered by two superintendents of 
 Indian affairs, from two departments — the northern and the southern department. 
 Colonel, later Sir, William Johnson was named superintendent for the Northern De- 
 partment. It was not until the year 1762 that John Stuart was designated head of 
 the Southern Department; however, he had a predecessor. Johnson dealt principally 
 with the Six Nations, while the Cherokees were Stuart's immediate concern. This was 
 the firj»t steps toward the home government's control of Indian relations. Thereafter, 
 the letters of Sir William Johnson informed the Board of Trade of Indian grievances 
 and uiged the fixing of a line west of which settlement should be prohibited. The 
 settlers, however, disregarded all proclamation lines. 
 
 " Sir William Johnson, 1715-1774, came to America probably in 1737, settling on 
 the Mohawk River, near the mouth of the Schoharie. Here he assumed charge of 
 an estate belonging to his uncle, Vice Admiral Sir Peter Warren. The location 
 being strategic, Johnson set up a store and for several years combined trade with the 
 Indian*, and neighboring settlers with his own interests. A wide acquaintance de- 
 veloped, and he gained a vast knowledge of the Indians. He purchased lands for 
 himself as rapidly as means were available. "Throughout his life, his eagerness to 
 acquire land never waned, and when he died he was proprietor of one of the largest 
 landed estates in the English colonies." 
 
 About the year 1742, Johnson built a house, Mount Johnson, slightly north of the 
 Mohawk River. In 1739 he had married a German girl of the neighborhood, named 
 Catherine Weisenberg. She bore him a son and two daughters. During these early 
 years, he laid the foundations of a large fortune and became intimately acquainted 
 with the Six Nations tribes, particularly the Mohawks, who lived close by. 
 
 William Johnson came into public prominence during King George's War. At the 
 outbreak of that conflict, colonial officials feared that the Iroquois would join the 
 French as allies. Through his efforts, these Indians became allies of the British. 
 He served ably in this war, becoming a colonel of militia, and he succeeded in quieting 
 the red men when peace returned. 
 
 Entering civilian life again, Johnson actively resumed agricultural pursuits and 
 trade in furs. During these years he was able to build a new and more pretentious 
 house, a stone structure, which he called Fort Johnson, on his land north of the Mohawk. 
 By a royal commission, dated April 12, 1750, he was appointed a member of the 
 Council of New York, an office which he held during the remainder of his life. 
 At this time, he was responsible for the management of the affairs of the Six Nations. 
 Becoming irritated, however, with the Assembly of New York, he resigned this position, 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 25 
 
 in spite of strong protests. Unofficially, though, he continued to render useful service; 
 his residence became a sort of advanced "listening post." Johnson, in June and July 
 1754, attended the Albany Congress as delegate and assisted in drafting speeches de- 
 livered to the Indians; also gave other valuable help. The Indians insisted that he be 
 reappointed as their agent, and he was willing to assume the responsibility, providing 
 his authority might proceed from the crown, thus rendering him independent of the 
 colony. 
 
 In 1755 he was assigned by General Edward Braddock to "sole Management & 
 direction of the Affairs of the Six Nations of Indians & their Allies." He was also 
 commissioned major-general of militia. Early in the war (French and Indian) he was 
 sent with a large force northward. At Lake George, he met the French and badly 
 defeated them, even captured their leader, Dieskau. Unable to attack a superior French 
 force at Lake Champlain, he built Fort William at the head of Lake George. His 
 success was conspicuous. In November, 1755, the King made him a baronet and, 
 on February 17, 1756, issued a commission making him a colonel of the Six Nations 
 and their confederates; also "Sole Agent and Superintendent of the said Indians and 
 their Affairs." During the ensuing years, Sir William protected the northern frontier; 
 he held many councils and organized Indian war parties to cooperate with various 
 military expeditions. He accompanied General James Amherst's successful expedition 
 against Montreal in 1760. 
 
 With the downfall of French power in Canada, a vast new territory and many 
 strange tribes came under his jurisdiction. It was his task to make these new tribes 
 friends of the English and to regulate trade with them. In these endeavors he was 
 successful. Duties connected with his office multiplied so rapidly, however, that 
 he was obliged to obtain assistance: In 1756 he appointed George Croghan as 
 deputy superintendent for the tribes in Pennsylvania and the Ohio Valley; in 1760 
 Daniel Claus was appointed a deputy, and in 1762 Guy Johnson, who became a son- 
 in-law of Sir William, was also made a deputy superintendent. He was by that time 
 one of the most powerful men in America. 
 
 "Constantly called upon to settle disputes arising out of the encroachments of 
 white settlers upon the lands belonging to the Indians, Johnson for some years had 
 favored the establishment of a boundary line which should separate the lands open to 
 settlement from the hunting grounds reserved to the Indians. In the autumn of 
 1768 a great congress was held at Fort Stanwix which culminated on November 5 in 
 the signing of a treaty establishing an Indian boundary and opening up large tracts 
 of land along the frontiers of New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. The interior 
 was to be closed to settlement. Johnson was suspected in some quarters of endeavoring 
 to further his own interests in the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, but the charges against 
 him have never been proved." 
 
 Sir William appears to have had a genuine affection for the savages. He constantly 
 pushed projects for civilizing them through education and missionary activities. Much 
 time and effort was spent in the preservation of peace among the various tribes them- 
 selves. His activities required many journeys, innumerable councils with, the Indians 
 and the keeping of voluminous minutes of transactions, as well as the carrying on of 
 a vast correspondence. In 1762, he removed from Fort Johnson to a new residence, 
 Johnson Hall, a short distance north of the settlement which became Johnstown. 
 During his latter years he lived the life of a wealthy landed gentleman and man of 
 affairs, his manner of existence bearing more the resemblance to that of a manorial 
 lord than to that of a frontiersman. He had numerous slaves and servants and 
 entertained freely, occasionally having distinguished Europeans as his guests. After 
 the death of his wife, Catherine, he took an Indian woman named Caroline, niece of 
 
26 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 the Mohawk chief Hendrick, into his home as housekeeper, and she bore him three 
 children. She was succeeded by Molly Brant, another Mohawk woman, sister of the 
 chief Joseph Brant. Molly Brant's position appears to have been one of dignity, 
 and she and their eight children were provided for in Johnson's will." 
 
 Undoubtedly Sir William Johnson was a man of great energy and unusual versatility. 
 He was greatly interested in the advancement of learning, both the arts and sciences; 
 was himself able to write a very interesting and valuable paper on the language and 
 customs of the Six Nations. "Although there is no doubt that he was ambitious, 
 he seems to have had a genuine affection for the Indians with whom so much of his 
 life was spent, and he often exerted himself to prevent them from being dispoiled of 
 their lands by unscrupulous whites. At the same time, however, his insatiable land 
 hunger led him to secure large cessions from them for his own enrichment." In 
 physical appearance, "he was an uncommonly tall, well made man, with a fine counte- 
 nance, which had an expression of dignified sedateness, approaching to melancholy. 
 He appeared to be taciturn, never wasting words on matters of no importance; but 
 highly eloquent when the occasion called forth his powers." The Indians, who called 
 him "Waraghiyaghey," held a deep affection for him. Almost naturally Sir William 
 was an imperalist whose sympathies were unquestionably with the crown; yet the sign 
 of the approaching war disturbed him genuinely. His work was done, however, 
 by the time of his death in 1774. Dictionary of American Biography. 
 
 "Perkins, op. at., p. 127. "Ibid., p. 128. 
 
 "'Mann Butler, A History of the Commonwealth of Kentucky (Louisville: Wilcox, 
 Dickerman, 1834) p. 390. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 382. "Ibid., p. 390. "Alvord, op.at., II, 63. 
 
 "Ibid, p. 386. "Ibid., p. 392. "Ibid. 
 
 M Ibid., p. 389. "Ibid., p. 391. "Ibid., II, 79. 
 
 "Ibid. "Ibid., p. 394. 
 
 Though a good bit of information concerning his life is available, the historian 
 is not able to visualize John Stuart (1700-1779) and form an estimate of his life 
 with the degree of accuracy he explains Sir William Johnson. John Stuart, native 
 of Scotland who emigrated to America and settled in South Carolina about 1748, 
 is said to have campaigned with his brother Francis against the Spaniards in Florida; 
 in 1757 he was commissioned captain in the South Carolina militia. He married 
 into the prominent Fenwick family of that colony and in 1759 became the father of 
 a son John, who later became the famous Lieutenant General Sir John Stuart. 
 
 It appears that Stuart learned well the Southern Indians by having been forced to 
 associate with them, because after the capture of Fort Loudon by the Cherokees under 
 Oconostota, Stuart was spirited away by Attakullaculla (Little Carpenter) whom he 
 sent back to promote peace. In 1762 he was appointed superintendent of Indian 
 affairs for the southern district, with a salary of £1,000 and £3,000 for Indian presents 
 and other expenses. Successful in his business affairs, Stuart built a beautiful house 
 in Charleston and acquired a rich plantation on Lady's Island. 
 
 In his office of Indian affairs Stuart was at first without definite powers and a staff, 
 and he was subservient to the governors, "who had largely handled Indian affairs 
 themselves." Following the proclamation of 1763 his office became more important, 
 and he became responsible to the secretaries of state in England, although not yet 
 independent of the governors. "In 1765 he utilized the plan for the Future Manage- 
 ment of Indian Affairs, emanating from the Lords of Trade, to obtain full imperial 
 status for his department." One of his first acts after having been given this authority 
 was to make, with the help of Governor James Grant, a treaty with the Creek Indians, 
 assuring peace and defining boundaries. Here one of Stuart's weaknesses revealed 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 27 
 
 itself; he was informed by Lord Shelburne, in December 1766, that his expenses were 
 running above all expectation and proportion, as well as that he had put the new 
 plan into operation too quickly in West Florida. Two characteristics seem to reveal 
 themselves, namely a love of independent authority and a tendency to incur enormous 
 expenses in dealing with the Indians, probably because of lavish entertainment and 
 numerous presents. In order to strengthen his authority Stuart suggested to Lord 
 Hillsborough his appointment on all the councils of all the colonies within his district, 
 which was granted. This enabled him to extend his influence widely within the next 
 few years. Steadily his expenses increased. His predecessor had used about £1,500 
 a year. His allowance, which he requested, was £4,000 in 1768, increased to the 
 "imperial" figure of £19,000 by 1776 and continued to mount until his death. Neither 
 his integrity nor his ability, it seems, were seriously jeopardized though seriously 
 questioned. 
 
 As would be expected, John Stuart remained loyal to England during the Revolu- 
 tionary War. His arrest being ordered by the General Assembly of South Carolina 
 early in June 1775, he was obliged to flee Lady's Island to Savannah and later went 
 to St. Augustine, which he made his home until his death. Although successful in 
 raising both whites and Indians for the British service, the expeditions on the Missis- 
 sippi and along the Georgia frontier were failures. "While under the severe censure 
 of the British government for these reasons and the prodigious increase in his 
 expenses Stuart died in Pensacola." Dictionary of American Biography. 
 
 "Ibid., II, 81. "Ibid. "Ibid., II, 83. 
 
 43 James Hall, Sketches of History, Life, and Manners, in the West (Philadelphia: 
 Harrison Hall, 1835), Vol. I, p. 248. 
 
 "Alvord, op.cit., II, 89. 45 Hall, op.at., I, 247. 
 
 'Dictionary of American Biography, "Richard Henderson." 
 
 A quaint and interesting sketch of Judge, or Colonel, Richard Henderson is 
 found in a quaint little volume, An Excursion to The Mammoth Care, and The 
 Barrens of Kentucky with Some Notices of the Early Settlement of The State, by The 
 Reverend R. Davidson (Lexington, Kentucky: A. T. Skillman & Son; 1840). This 
 sketch, (pp. 96-100), which purports to be largely borrowed from the Travels through 
 the United States, by J. Ferdinand D. Smyth, an English physician, who visited 
 Henderson at Boonesborough in 1776, with some help from Filson and Imlay, is here 
 quoted: "Richard Henderson was the son of a poor man in the obscure settlement of 
 Nutbush, in the upper part of North Carolina. He reached maturity without knowing 
 how to read or write, but by persevering application he taught himself letters and 
 arithmetic. Passing through the gradations of constable, under-sheriff, and County- 
 court attorney, he reached the superior judicature of the province; and upon this more 
 conspicuous theater, crowded though it was with able advocates and brilliant orators, 
 he fought his way to distinction. Such were his transcedent abilities, that, while yet 
 a young man, he was raised from the bar to the bench as associate judge of the 
 province; and this exalted station he filled with credit to himself and with increasing 
 reputation. At the same time he was such an agreeable companion, and so gay, 
 affable, and facetious in his manners, that envy was ashamed to show her head; 
 and with all his shining talents and great popularity, he did not provoke a single 
 personal enemy. 
 
 "Mr. Henderson was now enjoying a handsome salary, but having made great 
 purchases, and indulged in an expensive style of living, he soon found himself involved 
 beyond his means. It was then that his fertile genius devised a bold stroke for achieving 
 at once fortune and fame. Under the pretext of examining some back lands, he 
 secretly negotiated with the chiefs of the Cherokee tribe for the purchase of that vast 
 
28 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 domain embraced between the Kentucky and Cumberland rivers. The famous Daniel 
 Boone was his pioneer and agent; and the compact was ratified at Watauga, in 
 March, 1775. For this extensive and valuable tract of land, comprising in fact all 
 that portion lying south of the Kentucky River, Henderson paid the Cherokees, ac- 
 cording to Smith, the ten wagon-loads of cheap goods, such as coarse woolens, trinkets, 
 firearms, and spirits." 
 
 "Hall, op.cit., I, 249-250. 
 
 ^Dictionary of American Biography. 
 
 ^Robert McNutt McElroy, Kentucky in The Nation s History (New York: Moffat, 
 Yard and Company, 1909) p. 35. 
 
 "Ibid,, p. 42. 
 
 "The Filson Club Publications No. 16, George W. Ranck, Boonesborough (Louis- 
 ville: John P. Morton & Company, 1901), p. 200. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 EARLY EXPLORERS ENTERING KENTUCKY. 
 
 CAPTAIN GEORGE CROGHAN, 1765. 
 
 I 
 
 n the year 1765, Captain George Croghan, Deputy Superintendent 
 of Indian Affairs, under Sir William Johnson, was dispatched down the Ohio to 
 pacify the Illinois Indians, following the failure of Pontiac's Conspiracy. 1 During 
 this trip, Croghan visited Kentucky — may have visited it previously. He recorded the 
 experiences of this expedition in a journal, more or less habitual with him. This journal, 
 revealing an active, intelligent mind, as well as a vivid imagination, describes nations 
 and tribes of Indians in the "Northern District of Northern America" — approximately 
 fifty — with the number of their fighting men. The form of the journal is as follows: 
 
 "May 15th, 1765. I set off from Fort Pitt with two bateaux, and encamped at 
 Chartier's Island, in the Ohio, three miles below Fort Pitt. 
 
 "16th. Being joined by the deputies of the Senecas, Shawnesse, and Delawares, 
 that were to accompany me, we set off at seven o'clock in the morning, and at ten 
 o'clock arrived at the Log's Town, an old settlement of the Shawnesse, about seventeen 
 miles from Fort Pitt, where we put ashore, and viewed the remains of that village, 
 which was situated on a high bank, on the south side of the Ohio river, a fine fertile 
 country round it. At 11 o'clock we re-embarked and proceeded down the Ohio to 
 the mouth of Big Beaver Creek, about ten miles below the Log's Town; this creek 
 empties itself between two fine rich bottoms, a mile wide on each side from the 
 banks of the river to the highlands. About a mile below the mouth of Beaver Creek 
 we passed an old settlement of the Delawares, where the French, in 1756, built a 
 town for that nation. On the north side of the river some of the stone chimneys are 
 yet remaining; here the highlands come close to the banks and continue so for about 
 five miles. After which we passed several spacious bottoms on each side of the river, 
 and came to Little Beaver Creek, about fifteen miles below Big Beaver Creek. A 
 number of small rivulets fall into the river on each side. From thence we sailed to 
 Yellow Creek, being about fifteen miles from the last mentioned creek; here and 
 there the hills come close to the banks of the river on each side, but where there 
 are bottoms, they are very large, and well watered; numbers of small rivulets running 
 through them, falling into the Ohio on both sides. We encamped on the river bank, and 
 find a great part of the trees in the bottom are covered with grape vines. This day we 
 passed by seven islands, one of which being about seven miles long. For the most 
 part of the way we made this day, the banks of the river are high and steep. 
 
 The course of the Ohio from Fort Pitt to the mouth of Beaver Creek inclines to 
 the north-west; from thence to the two creeks partly due west."" 
 
 Captain Croghan and his companions reached Kentucky territory on May 23rd. 
 The entry for that date, a portion of which is here quoted, is as follows: "23d. 
 Decamped about five in the morning, and arrived at Big Guyondott, twenty miles 
 from our last encampment; the country as of yesterday; from thence we proceeded 
 down to Sandy River, being twenty miles further; thence to the mouth of Scioto, 
 about forty miles from the last mentioned river. . . ." 
 
 The entries quoted here will be of interest to Kentuckians: "30th. We passed the 
 great Miame River, about thirty miles from the little river of that name, and in the 
 evening arrived at the place where the Elephants' bones are found (Big Bone Lick, 
 in Boone County, Kentucky), where we encamped, intending to take a view of the 
 
30 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 place next morning. This day we came about seventy miles. The country on both 
 sides level, and rich bottoms well watered. 
 
 "31st. Early in the morning we went to the great Lick, where those bones are 
 only found, about four miles from the river, on the south-east side. On our way we 
 passed through a fine timbered clear wood; we came into a large road which the 
 Buffaloes have beaten, spacious enough for two waggons to go abreast, and leading 
 straight into the Lick. It appears that there are vast quantities of these bones lying 
 five or six feet under ground, which we discovered in the bank, at the edge of the Lick. 
 We found here two tusks above six feet long; we carried one, with some other bones, 
 to our boats, and set off. This day we proceeded down the river about eighty miles, 
 through a country much the same as already described, since we passed the Scioto. 
 In this day's journey we passed the mouth of the River Kentucky, or Holsten's River. 
 
 "June 1st. We arrived within a mile of the Falls of Ohio, where we encamped, 
 after coming about fifty miles this day. 
 
 "2nd. Early in the morning we embarked, and passed the Falls. The river being 
 very low we were obliged to lighten our boats, and pass on the north side of a little 
 island, which lays in the middle of the river (Corn Island) . In general, what is 
 called the Falls here, is no more than rapids; and in the least fresh, a bateau of 
 any size may come and go on each side without any risk. This day we proceeded 
 sixty miles, in the course of which we passed Pidgeon River. The country pretty high 
 on each side of the River Ohio. 
 
 "3d. In the forepart of this day's course, we passed high lands; about mid-day 
 we came to a fine, flat, and level country, called by the Indians the Low Lands; 
 no hills to be seen. We came about eighty miles this day, and encamped." 
 
 Unfortunately, at daybreak, on June 8, Croghan and his company were attacked 
 at a point six miles down the Ohio from the mouth of the Wabash, or Ouabache, 
 on the northern shore. This attack was made by a band of eighty warriors of the 
 Kiccapoos and Musquattimes, "who killed two of my men and three Indians, wounded 
 myself and all the rest of my party, except two white men and one Indian; then made 
 myself and all the white men prisoners, plundering us of every thing we had." 
 These Indians, who had been incited by the lies of bitter Anglophile Frenchmen, were 
 very sorry for their acts when they understood the full significance of their rash act. 
 (They ran the risk of displeasing, not only the English, but the more powerful Indian 
 nations as well.) After a short captivity in Vincennes, Croghan and his followers were 
 released, with profuse apologies by the Indians. He was able shortly thereafter to 
 make a treaty of friendship and trade with the Illinois chiefs. Pontiac, himself, took 
 part in the negotiations. This extension of trade into the Illinois, a country to 
 which the English had been barred previously, was a "feather in the cap" of Croghan 
 decidedly.' 
 
 DR. THOMAS WALKER'S JOURNEY IN SPRING, 1750, AND HIS 
 
 JOURNAL.'" 
 
 As previously stated, Dr. Thomas Walker, one of its original members, had been 
 engaged by the Loyal Land Company, in 1749, to explore lands of its grant — located 
 northwest of the dividing line between North Carolina and Virginia — with the object 
 of selecting sites for settlements. Accompanied by Ambrose Powell, William Tomlinson, 
 Colby Chew, Henry Lawless and John Hughs, the expedition of Dr. Walker left his 
 home, Castle Hill, near Charlottsville (Virginia) on the 6th of March 1750, each man 
 mounted and two horses taken along as pack animals. 
 
 The course was south by west. Following this direction, the explorers reached the 
 home of Colonel Joshua Fry on the first day and there spent the night. Colonel 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 31 
 
 Fry, at that time, was Washington's superior in command of Virginia forces; he 
 died, May 31, 1754, at the beginning of the French and Indian War, after the troops 
 had reached the mouth of Will's Creek (which flows into the Potomac at Cumberland, 
 Maryland.) 
 
 Dr. Walker, not only observed natural objects minutely, but took a lively interest 
 in the people along the way and their affairs. This entry is recorded in his journal 
 for the second day out: "March 7th. We set off about 8, but the day proving wet, 
 we only went to Thomas Joplin's on Rockfish (a branch of the upper James River) . 
 This is a pretty River, which might at a small expense be made fit for transporting 
 tobacco; but it has lately been stopped by a Mill Dam near the Mouth to the prejudice 
 of the upper inhabitants who would at their own expense clear and make it navigable, 
 were they permitted."'' 
 
 The company traveled rather slowly, it not having reached the vicinity of Roanoke 
 by the 13th. Nevertheless, the entry for that date is revealing: "We went early to 
 William Calloway's (brother of Colonel Richard Calloway, who accompanied Daniel 
 Boone to Kentucky in 1775) and supplied ourselves with Rum, Thread, and other 
 necessaries & from thence took the main Waggon Road leading to Wood's (General 
 Abraham Wood) or the New River. It is not well Clear'd or beaten yet, but will 
 be a very good one with proper management. This night we lodged in Adam 
 Beard's low grounds. Beard is an ignorant, impudent, brutish fellow, and would 
 have taken us up, had it not been for a reason, easily to be suggested."' 
 
 On March 16, Dr. Walker and his company reached the home of William Ingles" 
 (listed as English in the journal) . The Ingles family resided on a branch of the 
 Staunton River, neighbors of the Pattons and Prestons, in Darper's Bottom. The 
 journal explains: "He (William Ingles) has a mill, which is the furtherest back 
 except one lately built by the sect of People, who call themselves of the Brotherhood 
 of Euphrates, (17th) and are commonly called Duncards, who are the upper in- 
 habitants of the New River, which is about 400 yards wide at this place. They live 
 on the West side, and we were obliged to swim our Horses over. The Duncards 
 are an odd set of people, who make it a matter of Religion not to Shave their Beards, 
 ly on Beds, or eat Flesh, though at present, in the last, they transgress, being con- 
 strained to it, as they say, by the want of a sufficiency of Grain and Roots, they have 
 not long been seated here. I doubt the plenty and deliciousness of the Venison & 
 Turkeys has contributed not a little to this. The unmarried have no private Property, 
 but live on a common Stock. They dont baptize either Young or Old, they keep 
 their Sabbath on Saturday, & hold that all men shall be happy hereafter, but first 
 must pass through punishment according to their Sins. They are very hospitable."' 
 
 Having reached the Middle Fork of the Holston (which joins the French Broad 
 near Knoxville and forms the Tennessee) , the company proceeded rapidly down that 
 stream on the following day. Dr. Walker was seeking one Samuel Stalnaker, a 
 recent immigrant to that locality, who was a hunter and Indian trader, apparently 
 not only well acquainted with that immediate vicinity, but with the entire course of 
 the Warriors' Trace, from the Cumberland Gap (then Cave Gap) to the Ohio River. 
 Dr. Walker, who had known Stalnaker previously, desired not only to gain advice 
 from this bold outlander but wished him to guide the company as well. 
 
 Stalnaker's camp was found that day (23rd) , and the two conversed until evening. 
 It appears that Stalnaker bargained as shrewdly as the celebrated Tom Sawyer, 
 because the entry of the 24th reads: "We went to Stalnaker's, helped him to raise his 
 house and Camped about a quarter of a mile below him. In April, 1748, I met 
 the above mentioned Stalnaker between the Reedy Creek Settlement and Holston's 
 River, on his way to the Cherokee Indians, and expected him to pilate me as far as 
 
32 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 he knew but his affairs would not permit him to go with me." M Within two days 
 the company passed the frontier of civilization. 
 
 Crossing the upper South Fork, Dr. Walker took a straight southwesterly course 
 until the Holston River (in northwestern North Carolina) was reached, after which 
 his company journeyed westward, crossing Clinch Mountain, and reached the river 
 by that name. The company crossed Clinch River (above the present site of Sneedville, 
 Hancock County, Tennessee) ; thence moved up Greasy Creek northwestward and 
 entered the narrow valley between Newman's Ridge and Powell's Mountain, running 
 parallel to the Clinch. On the 11th Dr. Walker went down Big Sycamore Creek 
 six miles to a large "Branch" coming from the southwest. Traveling up the "Branch" 
 by means of a buffalo road to a creek over the West Ridge (Powell Mountain) , 
 "which we took," the explorers, on the 12th, reached Powell River (then called Bear 
 Grass River), ten miles from Cumberland Gap. 
 
 On the 13 th, Cumberland Gap, or Cave Gap, 12 was reached and Kentucky entered — 
 certainly one of the earliest recorded entrances of the state by Englishmen. Dr. 
 Walker's entry for that date is here quoted: "We went four miles to large Creek, 
 which we called Cedar Creek, being a Branch of Bear-Grass, and from thence Six 
 miles to Cave Gap, the land being Levil. On the North side of the Gap is a large 
 Spring, which falls very fast, and just above the Spring is a small Entrance to a 
 large Cave, which the Spring runs through, and there is a constant Stream of 
 Cool air issuing out. The Spring is sufficient to turn a Mill. Just at the foot of 
 the Hill is a Laurel Thicket, and the Spring Water runs through it. On the South 
 side is a plain Indian Road. On the top of the Ridge are Laurel Trees marked 
 with crosses, others Blazed and several Figures on them. As I went down on the Other 
 Side, I soon came to some Laurel in the head of a Branch. A Beech stands on the 
 left hand, on which I cut my name. This Gap may be seen at a considerable 
 distance, and there is no other, that I know of, except one about two miles to the 
 North of it, (no real gap there) , which does not appear to be So low as the other. 
 The Mountain on the North Side of the Gap is very Steep and Rocky, but on the 
 South side it is not So. We called it Steep Ridge. At the foot of the hill . on the 
 North West Side we came to a Branch that made a great deal of flat Land. 
 We kept down it 2 miles, Several other Branches Coming in to make it a large Creek, 
 and < we called it Flat Creek (now Yellow Creek) . We camped on the Bank where we 
 found very good Coal. I did not Se any Lime Stone beyond this Ridge. We rode 13 
 miles this day." 1 The Indian Road — the great Warriors' Trace — led down this creek, 
 and it was followed five miles on the 14th. 
 
 On the 17th, after having moved along the Indian road to Clover (now Clear) 
 Creek, Dr. Walker, dressed in new moccasins, discovered a river, which he called 
 Cumberland. This stream was reached at a point just above present-day Pineville, 
 where the river breaks through Pine Mountain. Instead of crossing the River at the 
 ford, where the Warriors' road crossed — at a point just below Pineville — Dr. Walker 
 kept down the south side, sometimes leaving, sometimes following, following its 
 meanders, probably to seek level land on that side. On the 19th "Ambrose Powell 
 was bit by a Bear in his knee." 14 A search was made for a ford for several days; 
 however, none being found, the entire company, on the 23rd of April, swam their 
 horses across and paddled the supplies across later in a bark canoe. This crossing 
 was effected some five or six miles below the present town of Barbourville. 
 
 The rough rugged country, and apparently no indication of leveler, richer lands, 
 together with the suffering from fatigue of both horses and men, caused Dr. Walker 
 to determine upon a reconnaisance < of the vicinity. Lots having been drawn, the good 
 fortune of accompanying Dr. Walker fell to Ambrose Powell and Colby Chew. 
 
Caufield and Shook. 
 
 Historic Cumberland Gap looking from Tennessee into Kentucky. Through this gap Daniel 
 
 Boone entered Kentucky. 
 
34 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 "I departed," the Doctor states, "leaving the others to provide and salt some Bear, 
 build an house, plant some Peach Stones and Corn." 1J 
 
 On the 24th, Dr. Walker got "Clear of the mountains and found the Land poor 
 and the woods very Thick beyond them. . . . Our Horses suffered very much here 
 for want of food. This day we Came on the fresh track of 7 or 8 Indians, but could 
 not overtake them." ' The following day, "the Land continuing much the Same, 
 the Laurel (or Rhododendron) rather growing worse, and the food scarcer," Dr. 
 Walker climbed a tree on a ridge and "saw the Growth of the Land much the same 
 as Far as my Sight could reach." 1 ' He was probably in the vicinity of what is 
 now Williamsburg, in Whitley County. These considerations caused him to determine 
 returning to the others of the company left in camp on the Cumberland. 
 
 Reaching his companions on the 28th, Dr. Walker made this entry: "We kept 
 up the River to our Company whom we found all well, but the lame Horse was as bad 
 as we left him and another had been bit in the nose by a snake. I rub'd the Wound 
 with Bears oil, and gave him a drench of the same and another of the decoction 
 of Rattle Snake root some time after. The People I left had built an House 12 by 8, 
 clear'd and broke up some ground, & planted Corn, and Peach Stones. They also 
 killed several Bears and cured the meat. This day Colby Chew and his Horse fell 
 down the Bank. I Bled and gave him Volatile drops, & he soon recovered." The 
 house mentioned seems to have been the first erected by Englishmen in Kentucky. 
 The exact reason for its construction is not known, which is not as important a point 
 as some of the earlier controversial historians thought. 
 
 Moving in a northerly direction the company crossed a number of streams, which, 
 in succession, Dr. Walker named for the members of his expedition — Powell, Chew, 
 Tomlinson, Lawless, and Hughes. Turning slightly westward, he touched Rockcastle 
 River, ' but did not cross. 2 " Had he gone over and moved in a northwesterly direction, 
 a day or two of travel would have placed him in the rich bluegrass country. This 
 discovery would have delighted him almost to ecstacy, as this was exactly the type 
 of land he was seeking. Instead, however, upon reaching Milley's, or Cuttawa, or 
 Luisa, otherwise Kentucky River," 1 about the 22nd of May, he turned eastward, probably 
 because of the nature of the country. The river, Milley's or Kentucky, was deep, 
 the banks steep and the country wild and rugged, so that the sorely tried Doctor 
 scarcely knew where to turn. Having constructed a canoe, however, the company 
 crossed the Kentucky about noon of the 24th, after which Dr. Walker "marked a 
 Sycomore, 30 feet round and several Beeches on the North side of the River,"" opposite 
 the mouth of Hunting Creek, now Station Camp Creek, in Estill County. 
 
 Believing that the country to the West was no betcer than this, Dr. Walker, after 
 reaching, on the 28th of May, Red River, 2 " a branch of the Kentucky, turned eastward, 
 crossed three mountains and went through a gap, on the 1st of June, thereby passing 
 the divide between the waters of the Kentucky and Licking rivers. On the 2nd of June, 
 the company crossed a river called by Dr. Walker, Frederick's, after the Prince of 
 Wales, son of George II, later changed to Licking. The point at which the stream 
 was crossed is said to be one mile and a half below present-day Salyersville, in Ma- 
 goffin County. He noted that elk were very plentiful on the stream. Whit Sunday, 
 the 3rd, was spent on the slope in Salyersville on which the court house stands. They 
 found a mossing place in the bend of the river. At this place elk would congregate 
 and spend the winter together like domestic cattle. The animals stand close together 
 for warmth in extreme cold weather; they also feed upon the moss. 
 
 The season was rainy, thus making the progress more uncomfortable and hazardous. 
 Near the river, on Falling Creek, in the late afternoon of the 4th of June, the 
 explorers encountered a violent storm: "We left the River about 10 o'Clock, and 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 35 
 
 got to Falling Creek, went up till 5 in the Afternoon, when a very black Cloud appear- 
 ing, we turn'd out our Horses, got tent Poles up, and were just stretching a Tent, 
 when it began to rain and hail, and was succeeded by a violent Wind which Blew down 
 our Tent & a great many Trees about it, several large ones within 30 yds. of the Tent. 
 We all left the place in confusion and ran different ways for shelter. After the Storm 
 was over, we met at the Tent, and found all safe. 
 
 "5th. There was a violent Shower of Rain before day. This morning we went 
 up the Creek about 3 miles, and then were obliged to leave it, the Timber being so 
 blown down that we could not get through. After we left the Creek, we kept on a 
 Ridge (watershed between Licking and Big Sandy rivers) 4 miles, then turned down 
 to the head of a Branch, and it began to rain and continued raining very hard till 
 night."" On this day, Dr. Walker reached Paint Creek, near the mouth of which 
 is Paintsville, county seat of Johnson County. Two days later, he located a river, 
 which he named Louisa, after the sister of the Duke of Cumberland. This stream is 
 known as the Louisa or Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy and is joined by the Tug, 
 at Louisa, county seat of Lawrence County. 
 
 After crossing the Louisa River, the company turned southward, moving in a 
 southeasterly direction, and crossed the border between present-day Kentucky and 
 West Virginia about the 18th of June. Conditions were far from satisfying as will 
 be noted by the following: "Much hindered by the Gust & a shower of rain. . . . 
 Game is very scarce here, and the mountains very bad, the tops of the Ridges being 
 covered with Ivy and the sides so steep and stony, that we are obliged to cut our 
 way through with our Tomahawks. . . . Woods bad. . . . Game scarce. ... It rained. 
 . . . Weather hot & our Horses so far spent, that we are all obliged to walk."" 
 
 This was not land, in fact, had not been land, that could be sold readily by the 
 Loyal Land Company. Where could a settlement be established on it without tumbling 
 down a mountain or a bank? It had been this way throughout. Men could scarcely 
 exist in this country, much less prosper. Visions of empire faded; the West was not a 
 country for profits in land, not a country for settlement, nor for prosperity. 
 
 Dr. Walker and his sorely beset company moved rapidly down the Greenbriar River 
 to the New, following more or less the course of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, 
 passed Hot Springs on the 9th, reached present-day Staunton on the 11th, crossed 
 the Shenandoah Valley and passed over the Blue Ridge at Rock Fish Gap. He writes: 
 "13th. I got home about Noon.""' 
 
 The journey had been one exacting fortitude and heroism throughout, and, though 
 a Garden of Eden had not been found, many marvelous discoveries had been made. 
 Perhaps fate had intervened to prevent Dr. Walker's turning down the Kentucky 
 River. At any rate, no journey, as far as is known, had been made to compare with 
 it in Kentucky previously by Englishmen. This was an early date for an Englishman 
 to explore so far inland; many a year would elapse before settlement would be made 
 in that territory by the whites from Virginia and North Carolina. Perhaps Dr. 
 Walker's realistic reports contributed to this delay somewhat. Nevertheless, all hail 
 to Dr. Walker, sturdy, intrepid, explorer of Kentucky; knight of the frontier!"' 
 
 JOURNEY OF CHRISTOPHER GIST, 1750, 1751. 
 
 As has been stated, the Ohio Land Company, soon after its receipt of land grants, 
 sought the services of Christopher Gist, a man of middle age residing on his farm in 
 the Yadkin country of Northwestern North Carolina. In the year 1750 the Ohio 
 Company succeeded in employing him, "for one hundred and fifty pounds sterling 
 certain 'and such further handsome allowance as his service should deserve' to explore 
 
 4— Vol i 
 
36 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 and report upon the lands upon the Ohio and its several branches as low as the 
 Falls of the Ohio, . . ," 28 
 
 That Gist was one of the most valuable men on the continent to perform the 
 services required by the company is attested by the fact that he was engaged by the 
 Ohio Company to perform a task in the success of which some of the most important 
 figures of both America and England were vitally interested. Moreover, the journey 
 had tremendous political, as well as commercial, significance, both to the colonies 
 and the British government. Westward expansion, Indian good will, war with France 
 — all were more or less involved in the journey. The instructions, handed to Gist by 
 Governor Dinwiddie, indicate, in a measure, the transcendent importance of the mission, 
 as well as demonstrate the trust placed in Gist. 20 
 
 This, his first journal, opens in this manner: "1750 — In compliance with my In- 
 structions from the Committee of the Ohio Company bearing Date the 11th Day of 
 September 1750. 
 
 "Wednesday, Oct. 31 — Set out from Col. Thomas Cresap's at the old Town on 
 Potomack River in Maryland, and went along an old Indian Path N 30 E about 11 
 Miles." Colonel Cresap, surveyor, farmer, Indian trader and fighter, and agent of 
 the Ohio Company, resided on the north side of the Patomac, fifteen miles southeast 
 of Cumberland, Maryland, on the site of an old Shawnee town. 
 
 Saturday, November 3, following a brief illness, Gist reached the Juniata, "a 
 large Branch of Susquehannah," which he crossed the following morning, climbing 
 over the Allegheny Mountain also. Apparently Gist took with him only one other 
 human being, a Negro boy about seventeen years of age, whom he mentions- as 
 "my Boy." The course was westward, slightly by north. On the 6th, 7th and 8th, 
 of November, snow and extremely cold weather prevented traveling; however, Gist 
 killed a young bear, which provided ample food during the stay in camp. So inclement 
 was the weather and so uncertain his health that Gist did not reach the Ohio River, 
 at Shannopin Town, (now included in Pittsburgh), until Monday, November 19th. 31 
 The town was named for a famous Delaware chief who died about the year 1749. 
 
 Though against his will, Gist remained in Shannopin's Town four days to recover 
 his health. He discovered while there that permitting a compass to be seen by the 
 Indians was dangerous. The Indians in those parts were acutely suspicious of English- 
 men, particularly if bearing compasses. During the preceding year Captain M. Celeron 
 de Bienville had made his celebrated voyage down the Ohio as far as the mouth of 
 the Great Miami, reasserting the claim of the French king to the Ohio Valley. 
 Since Celeron's voyage, French agents had been assiduously plying the ears of the 
 Indians with the propaganda that the English were moving westward to seize and 
 settle the red man's land. The cunning French had been quite successful in stirring 
 resentment and putting the savages on guard for visible signs of seizure and occu- 
 pation. A compass seen in the possession of an English explorer there was somewhat 
 like the red flag waving in the face of the bull. Christopher Gist therefore quickly 
 announced to the Indians that he was the representative of the Governor of Virginia 
 (none too popular with the red men, nor were Virginians), sent to disabuse their 
 minds and to cement their friendship with Great Britain by treaties of alliance against 
 France. This, together with jocularity in the face of threats, made his stay tolerable. 
 
 Colonel Gist departed Shannapin's Town November 24th. He crossed the Ohio, 
 swimming his horses, and began a close study of the terrain traversed. Reaching 
 Loggstown on the following day, he learned that George Croghan and Andrew 
 Montour — or an embassy to the western Indians — had gone through during the past 
 week, which caused some regret for having been delayed. Here the Indians regarded 
 him with palpable suspicion, occasioning some anxiety. 32 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 37 
 
 Though yet unwell, Gist, on the 26th, continued down the river, preferring the 
 wilds to the company resident in Loggstown. He reached the mouth of Beaver 
 Creek the same day; he met there Barney Curran, an Indian trader for the Ohio 
 Company. On the following day Gist crossed the Beaver (named for King Beaver, 
 a Delaware chief) Creek, to the west side, where, on the bottom land, now occupied 
 by the town of Bridgewater, stood, according to Darlington, the "small, but long 
 noted, Indian town, Sarikonk or Soh-kon, a Delaware word signifying 'at the mouth 
 of a stream.' ' : ! Gist left the Ohio and, taking a westerly course, reached, on December 
 14th, a town of the Wyandottes, on the Tuscarawas, the head branch of the Mus- 
 kingum River, within a mile from the "Forks," where Coshocton now stands. Gist 
 calls this town Muskingum. There he ascertained that "the Wyandotts or little 
 Mingoes are divided between the French and English" and that the town consisted 
 of about one hundred houses — an important town. He writes: "When We came 
 within Sight of the Town, We perceived English Colours hoisted on the King's House, 
 and at George Croghan's (a trading post or store) ; upon enquiring the Reason I was 
 informed that the French had lately taken several English Trader's, and that Mr. 
 Croghan had ordered all the White Men to come into this town, and had sent 
 Expresses to the Traders of the lower Towns, and among the Pickweylinnes; and 
 the Indians had sent to their People to come to Council about it." 
 
 The following day Gist learned from two traders, recently arrived, that two of 
 "his People were taken by 40 French Men, & twenty French Indians who had carried 
 them with seven Horse Loads of Skins to a new Fort that the French were building 
 on one of the Branches of Lake Erie." 3 December 18th, the next day, he conferred 
 with Croghan and Andrew Montour, acquainting them "with my Business with 
 Indians, & talked much of a Regulation of Trade with which they were much pleased, 
 and treated Me very kindly." 3 ' On Christmas Day, Gist, then lingering at the Wyan- 
 dotte town, conducted religious services, which were well attended by both whites 
 and Indians. In the diplomatic conduct of this service, Gist manifested an ability 
 to win the red men, which must have amazed even the veteran of Indian diplomacy, 
 George Croghan. The activities of that event are quoted below/' 
 
 The day following the celebration of the advent of the Prince of Peace, Gist and 
 his associates witnessed a spectacle of horrow; yet one perhaps all too common to those 
 localities. This is his account of the tragedy: "This day a Woman, who had been a 
 long Time a Prisoner, and had deserted, & been retaken, and brought into the Town 
 on Christmas Eve, was put to Death in the following manner: They carried her 
 without the Town & let her loose, and when she attempted to run away, the Persons 
 appointed for that Purpose pursued her, & struck Her on the Ear, on the right side 
 of her Head, which beat her flat on her Face on the Ground; they then struck her 
 several Times, thro the Back with a Dart, to the Heart, scalped Her, & threw the 
 Scalp in the Air, and another Cut off her Head; There the dismal Spectacle lay till 
 the Evening, & then Barny Curran desired Leave to bury Her, which He and His Men, 
 and some of the Indians did just at Dark." 38 
 
 Gist remained in the town of the Wyandottes until January 15, 1751, ostensibly 
 because of the conditions of the weather, the season's being extremely inclement. It 
 is very clear, however, that the stay was occasioned principally by reasons of state. 
 He was almost daily receiving reports from returning traders concerning the attitude 
 of the northern tribes toward Britain and France. Among other things, he learned 
 that all the Wyandotte tribes would probably ally themselves with the English and 
 that the Ottawas were firm friends of the French. On the 13th of January, Croghan, 
 Gist and Montour sent up a trial balloon with the Wyandottes: A council was called. 
 In this assemblage Croghan presented four strings of wampum, which were accepted 
 
38 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 and delivered a speech. This was the gist of the address: "That their Father, the 
 King, had sent a large Present of Goods" which was now landed safe in Virginia, 
 under the care of the Governor of that colony, their Brother; that the Governor had 
 sent Gist "to invite them to come and see Him & partake of their Father's Charity 
 to all his Children on the Branches of the Ohio." 3 The wary red men, making a 
 jesture of diplomacy themselves, politely made reply in this manner: That, as a 
 full council was not present, they could not give an answer; that a full council would 
 not convene until spring; "& so the King and Council shaking Hands with Us," 
 states Gist, "We took our Leave." The red men, as early as 1750, were alive to 
 the keen rivalry between the French and the English for their lands and their trade, 
 and, fully realizing the likelihood of war, they were sparring and stalling for time, 
 perhaps considering striving to pick the less costly position for themselves, trying to 
 pick the winner. Perhaps they realized that in the end the red men would lose, no 
 matter which side won. 
 
 The work of Gist and Croghan gains significance as their journals unfold their 
 purposes and their experiences. Possession of a continent might well hinge upon their 
 success or failure. Governor James Hamilton, of Pennsylvania, had selected his 
 best wilderness diplomat for the delicate mission; Governor Robert Dinwiddie, of 
 Virginia, had picked no less carefully. The British Empire probably could not have 
 been better represented in the aboriginal West. 
 
 On the 28th of January, Gist succeeded in gaining the the affirmation of friendship 
 and preference for the English from Delaware spokesmen at the home of their great 
 old war chief, Wingaughalah, at Tuscarawas, on the east branch of the Scioto r in 
 present Ross County, Ohio. Wingaughalah had been a notable war chief during 
 the French wars. Now true to the implication of his name — meaning an ambassador — 
 he was a prominent counsellor in peace time. He lived at Tuscarawas in 1762, 
 where he had the figure of a water lizard tatooed on his face above the chin; he 
 was then named Swe-gach-shasin. His town promised to send representatives to 
 the Loggstown meeting in the spring to hear "what our Brothers have to say to us." 
 This was a diplomatic victory for Gist. 
 
 The envoys extraordinaire of the wilderness reached the Ohio River again on January 
 29th, at the mouth of the Scioto River (present city of Portsmouth, Ohio) , "opposite," 
 as Gist writes, "to the Shannoah Town, 41 where We fired Guns to alarm the Traders, 
 who soon answered, and came and ferryed Us over to the Town." 4 He states that 
 the Shannoah, or Lower Shawnee Town, is situated on both sides of the Ohio River. 
 "It contains about 300 Men, there are about 40 Houses on the S. Side of the River 
 and about 100 on the N. Side, with a kind of State-House of about 90 Feet long 
 with a light Cover of Bark in which they hold their Councils — The Shanaws . . . 
 are great Friends to the English who once protected them from the Fury of the six 
 Nations, which they gratefully remember." 43 
 
 The following day, Wednesday, January 30, George Croghan, who had accompanied 
 Gist thither, delivered an address to the chiefs in council, expressing the friendship 
 of the English and notes of goodwill from the Governor and Council of Pennsylvania. 
 Here Croghan learned that the French were offering a handsome price for his and 
 Andrew Montour's scalps, or their persons dead or alive; also was informed of 
 recent French aggressions. These Shawnese expressed delight at the prospect of 
 attending the Logstown meeting in the spring; they remembered quite well that the 
 English had saved them, at one time, from the fiendish fury of the Six Nations and 
 were grateful. 
 
 At this point in his journal, Gist reveals clearly that espionage and diplomacy 
 were among the most important duties of his mission. Thursday, January 31st, this 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 39 
 
 significant entry is carried: "As I had particular Instruction from the President of 
 Virginia to discover the Strength & Numbers of some Indian Nations to the Westward 
 of the Ohio who had lately revolted from the French, and had some Messages to 
 deliver them from Him, I resolved to set out for the Twigtee Town (on the west bank 
 of the Great Miami, at the mouth of Laramie's Creek, two and a half miles north 
 of Piqua) ." Leaving his Negro boy at the "Shannoah Town," to care for the horses, 
 Gist set out, mounted on a fresh horse, "with my old Company Viz George Croghan, 
 Andrew Montour, Robert Kallander, and a Servant to carry our Provisions dCc 
 N W 10 M." 46 
 
 They took leave of the Shawnese town on February 12, 1751. By the first of 
 March the three great woodsmen had arranged treaties of friendship with the Twigtwees, 
 the Wawaughtanneys (the most ancient of the Miami tribes) and the Pyankeshees 
 or Piankashaws — all tribes of the Miamis, part of the Confederation known as the 
 Illinois Indians, arranged them even in the face of counter-proposals made in their 
 presence by French Indian diplomats. These same Miamis had been formerly staunch 
 friends of the French. Nor had Gist failed to observe the fertility and beauty of 
 the Ohio lands — even noted the presence of growing blue grass — over which he 
 traversed; learned also that the soil was rich and desirable even "as far as the 
 Obache." After visiting Piqua, or Mad Creek (about seven miles west of present 
 Springfield, Ohio) , the company parted, Gist returning alone to the Lower Shawnee 
 Town, where he arrived Friday night, March 8th. There all the Indians turned out to 
 welcome him, celebrated his return by the firing of guns, entertaining and feasting. 
 
 Gist's entry for March 9th is an item of local interest: "In the Shannoah Town, 
 I met with one of the Mingoe Chiefs (in this instance a chief of the Delawares 
 living on the Muskingum and westward), who had been down to the Falls of the 
 Ohio, so that We did not see Him as We went up; I informed him of the King's 
 Present, and the Invitation down to Virginia (Logstown, Pennsylvania) — He told 
 that there was a Party of French Indians hunting at the Falls, and if I went there 
 they would certainly kill Me or carry Me away Prisoner to the French; For it is 
 certain they would not let Me pass: However as I had a great Inclination to see 
 the Falls, and the Land on the E Side the Ohio, I resolved to venture as far as 
 possible." 4 ' 
 
 Soon after breakfast, on the morning of March 12th, Gist and the boy were 
 ferried across the Ohio — the horses having been swam over earlier — and the journey 
 through Kentucky began. His entry concerning the marvels of Big Bone Lick is 
 more detailed than that of George Croghan. Gist wrote later: "Wednesday 13 — 
 We set out S 45 W, down the said River on the S E Side 8 M, then S 10 M, here 
 I met two Men belonging to Robert Smith at whose House I lodged on this Side the 
 Miamee River, and one Hugh Crawford, (both of whom well known Indian traders) , 
 the said Robert Smith had given Me an Order upon these Men, for Two of the 
 Teeth of a large Beast, which they were bringing from toward the Falls of the Ohio, 
 cne of which I brought in and delivered to the Ohio Company — Robert Smith informed 
 Me that about seven Years ago these Teeth and Bones of three large Beasts (one 
 of which was somewhat smaller than the other two) were found in a Salt Lick (Big 
 Bone Lick in Boone County, Kentucky, about one and a half miles from the Ohio 
 River) or Spring upon a small Creek which runs into the S Side of the Ohio about 
 15 M, below the Mouth of the great Miamee River, and 20 above the Falls 
 (inaccurate, very inaccurate reckonings) — He assured me that the Rib Bones of the 
 largest of these Beasts were eleven Feet long, and the Skull Bone six Feet wide, 
 across the Forehead, & the other Bones in Proportion; and that there were several 
 Teeth there, some of which he called Horns, and said they were upward of five Feet 
 
40 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 long, and as much as a Man could well carry: that he had hid one in a Branch at 
 some Distance from the Place, lest the French Indians should carry it away — The 
 Tooth which I brought in for the Ohio Company, was a Jaw Tooth of better than 
 four Pounds Weight; it appeared to be the furthest Tooth in the Jaw, and looked 
 like fine Ivory when the outside was scraped ofT — I also met four Shannoah Indians 
 coming up the River in their Canoes, who informed me there were about Sixty French 
 Indians encamped at the Falls." 
 
 The intelligence transmitted by the Indians was disturbing indeed; however, Gist 
 continued in the direction of the Falls. He probably passed the site of Washington, 
 Mason County, on the 14th of March; likely the Licking River at the Lower Blue 
 Licks, in Nicholas County, on the 15th; and between that date and the 18th passed 
 through parts of Nicholas, Scott and Franklin counties to the Kentucky River, or 
 near it, above Frankfort, reaching a tributary of the Salt River, Floyd's Fork, at 
 Bullitt's Lick, (eighteen miles from Louisville at the Falls) near Shepherdsville, in 
 Bullitt County. At least this is Mr. Darlington's view. Colonel Johnston did not 
 believe Gist journeyed many miles from the Licking River. 4 
 
 Gist and the boy did not reach the Falls, the reason for which are explained in the 
 journal: "the salt Lick here much the same with those before described — this Day we 
 heard Guns which made me imagine the French Indians were not moved, but were 
 still hunting, and firing thereabouts: We also saw some Traps newly set, and the 
 footsteps of some Indians plain on the Ground as if they had been there the day 
 before — I was now much troubled that I could not comply with my instructions, 
 &C was once resolved to leave the Boy and Horses, and to go privately on Foot to view 
 the Falls; but the Boy being a poor Hunter, was afraid he would starve if I was 
 long from him, and there was also great danger lest the French Indians shoud come 
 upon our Horses Tracks, or hear their Bells, and as I had seen good Land enough, 
 I thought perhaps I might be blamed for venturing so far, in such dangerous Times, 
 so I concluded not to go to the Falls but travell'd away to the Southward till we 
 were over the little Cuttaway River (Kentucky River) — The Falls of Ohio by the best 
 Information I coud get are not very steep, on S E Side there is a Bar of Land at 
 some Distance from the Shore, the Water between the Bar and the Shore is not 
 above 3 feet deep, and the Stream moderately strong, the Indians frequently pass 
 safely in their Canoes thro this Passage, but are obliged to take great Care as they 
 go down lest the Current which is much the strongest on the N W Side should 
 draw them that Way; which woud be very dangerous as the Water on that Side 
 runs with great Rapidity over several Ledges of Rocks; the Water below the Falls 
 they say is about six Fathoms deep, and the River continues without any Obstructions 
 till it empties itself into the Mississippi which is accounted upwards of 400 M — The 
 Ohio near the Mouth is said to be very wide, and the Land upon both Sides very rich, 
 and in general very level, all the way from the Falls — After I had determined not to 
 go to the Falls, We turned from Salt Lick Creek to a Ridge of Mountains that 
 made towards the Cuttaway River, & from the Top of the Mountain we Saw a fine 
 level country S W as far as our Eyes coud behold, and it was a very clear Day; 
 We then went down the Mountain and set out S 20 W about 5 M, thro rich level 
 Land covered with small Walnut Sugar Trees, Red-Buds &c.""° 
 
 Darlington states that the creeks Gist crossed, on the 19th, are now known as 
 Bullskin and Gist's, and other branches of Brashear's Creek, in Shelby County. He 
 believes that the explorers reached the Kentucky River, about where the city of Frankfort 
 now stands, crossed at the island above, thence rode southeast through the present 
 counties of Woodford and Fayette to the border of Clark. He called the Kentucky 
 River, the "Little Cuttawa," being under the impression that the "Great Cuttawa," 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 41 
 
 the name then often applied to the Kentucky, was farther west. Darlington suggests 
 that he may have confused the "Great Cuttawa," or Kentucky, with the Cherokee, 
 or Tennessee. "Cuttawa" is a corruption of the Indian name Catawba, and the 
 river was frequently so called by early explorers for the reason that the Great 
 Warrior's Trace from the Indian territory north of the Ohio to the country of the 
 Catawbas, in the Carolinas, passed up its North Fork. 
 
 The line of Gist's exploration crossed that of Dr. Walker's at about the present 
 site of Irvine, county seat of Estill County, on the 21st day of March, 1751. If 
 Gist was in Shelby County on the 19th and in Estill County on the 21st, as there 
 is good reason to believe, his travel during that time was rather rapid — probably 
 because of the relatively level country. The day previous, 20th, he had climbed 
 "up to the top of a Mountain to view the Country. "Colonel Johnston is of the 
 opinion that the elevation from which he viewed the country roundabout was Pilot 
 Knob, a few miles northwest of Clay City, Powell County. His entry for the 22nd 
 is brief: "S E 12 M, I killed a fat Bear and was taken sick that Night."' 3 Perhaps 
 he ate too much of the fat bear. 
 
 Moving in a southeasterly direction, Gist followed the North Fork of the Kentucky 
 River, encountering the wild, rugged terrain of which Dr. Walker complained so 
 frequently. In fact, the entries of the two explorers are strikingly similar concerning 
 that country. Here are quoted the entries of Gist for March 24th, 25th and 27th. 
 "Sunday 24. — Set out ... to a small Creek where We encamped in a Place where 
 we had poor Food for our Horses, & both we and they were very much Wearied: 
 the Reason for our making so many short Courses was, We were driven by a Branch 
 of the little Cuttaway (whose Banks were so exceedingly steep that it was impossible 
 to ford it) into a ledge of rocky Laurel Mountains which were almost impassible. 
 (He was along the North Fork of the Kentucky, perhaps in Breathitt or Perry 
 County.) 
 
 "Monday 25. — Set out . . . killed 2 Buffaloes & took out their tongues and en- 
 camped — These two days we travelled thro Rocks and Mountains full of Laurel Thick- 
 ets which we could hardly creep thro without cutting our Way. 
 
 "Wednesday 27. — Our Horses and Selves were so tired that We were obliged to 
 stay this Day to rest, for We were unable to travel — On all Branches of the little 
 Cuttaway River was Plenty of Coal some of which I brought in to the Ohio Company." 
 
 About the 1st of April, Gist passed through Pound Gap, about twelve miles south- 
 east of Whitesburg, county seat of Letcher County; then he struck the head of Pound 
 Fork of the Big Sandy River, in Wise County, Virginia, according to Darlington. 
 Continuing southeastward, the doughty woodsman, bruised from falls, sore from brush 
 scratches, exhausted from climbing and struggling with laurel, satiated from a too 
 steady diet of bear's meat, struck the Blue Stone River, a branch of the New, in 
 Abbs Valley, Tazwell County, on the 30th of April. It was not until the 8th of 
 May that he reached and crossed the New River, eight miles above the mouth of the 
 Blue Stone. This stream is usually called the Kanawha below the junction of the 
 Gauley and New Rivers. 
 
 His entry for Monday, May 13th, is as follows: "Set out . . . to one Richd Hall's 
 in Augusta County (at or near where Christiansburg now stands, in Montgomery 
 County, according to Darlington) this Man is one of the farthest Settlers to the 
 Westward upon the New River."" 
 
 The last entries were made the 18th and 19th. These are here quoted: "Set out 
 S 20 M to my own House on the Yadkin River, (according to Darlington, on the 
 north side of the Yadkin River, and on the west side of the stream marked Saw 
 Mill Creek, near and west of Reddies River, near the present town of Wilkesbarre, in 
 
42 A S E S\Q U I -CENTENNIAL 
 
 Wilkes County, North Carolina) there I found all my family gone, for the Indians 
 had killed five People in the Winter near that Place, which frightened my Wife 
 and Family away to Roanoke about 35 M nearer in among the Inhabitants, which I 
 was informed of by an old Man I met near the Place. 
 
 "Sunday 19. — Set out for Roanoke, and as we had now a Path, We got there 
 the same Night when I found all my Family well." 4 
 
 On the 14th, while in Richard Hall's home, Gist had written to Colonel Thomas Lee, 
 the President of the Ohio Company and of the Council of Virginia, stating that he 
 would meet with the directors of the Ohio Company by the 15th of June, probably 
 at Williamsburg, Virginia. He had traversed much magnificent country and had 
 experienced the forging of wonderful events. He had an eager report of brilliant 
 success to make to the distinguished President of the Virginia Council, Colonel Thomas 
 Lee, and his elegant associates. That the Ohio Land Company did not immediately 
 become affluent was not the fault of Gist; perhaps fate entered to take a hand. 
 
 FOOTNOTES FOR CHAPTER III. 
 
 'Albert T. Volwiler, George Croghan and The Westward Movement, 1741-1782 
 (Cleveland: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1926) Volwiler's statement: "On May 
 15, he (George Croghan) left Fort Pitt on a journey that was to occupy a memorable 
 place in western annals. His company included Thomas Smallman and a deputation 
 of Delaware, Shawnee, and Seneca chiefs. In his two bateaux were a goodly supply 
 of presents and gold and silver money. He dropped down the Ohio at the rate of 
 twenty to ninety miles a day. The interest and anxiety with which his friends, 
 military and civil officials, and eastern business leaders awaited the outcome of his 
 perilous undertaking is shown by contemporary notices in the "Pennsylvania Gazette" 
 and in Johnson's wide correspondence. To many persons his mission rivaled the 
 Stamp Act in interest. Many business interests hoped to profit more by it than they 
 ever expected to lose through new taxes. Rumors soon began to come out of the 
 West to these persons. One rumor said that Croghan and all his party were burned 
 at the stake; another, that Pontiac had prepared a large Kettle, in which he was 
 determined to boil them, and all other Englishmen that came that Way." (pp. 181-183). 
 
 'Albert T. Volwiler, George Croghan and The Westward Movement, 1741-1782 
 (Cleveland: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1926) pp. 182-189. Also Butler, 
 op.cit., pp. 365-378. Also Darlington, op.cit., pp. 176-192. 
 
 "Butler, op.cit., pp. 365-369. Volwiler, op.cit., 184-187. 
 
 George Croghan is considered by many authorities to have been "the most con- 
 spicuous name in the Western annals, in connection with Indian affairs, for the twenty- 
 five years preceding the Revolutionary War." Native of Ireland, having received a 
 rudimentary education in Dublin, he came to America in 1741, settling in Lancaster 
 (later Cumberland) County, Pennsylvania, near the present city of Harrisburg. 
 
 Quickly becoming a leading citizen, Croghan was appointed by the Governor and 
 Council one of the Justices of the Peace and Common Pleas for Lancaster County. 
 All the while engaging in the Indian trade, he traveled as far as the shores of Lake 
 Erie, about 1746, and two years later, 1748, conducted a trading house at Logstown; 
 later trading houses at the principal Indian towns. 
 
 Noting efforts of the French to conciliate the Indians, Croghan realized the im- 
 portance to the British cause of detaching them, by means of presents and more 
 favorable trade. The President and Council of Pennsylvania, accordingly, wisely 
 appointed him, 1747, their agent to deal with the red men. In this task, he was 
 quite successful. The Indians admired him; respected his integrity; liked his Irish 
 humor, as well as his shrewdness. 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 43 
 
 News of the French encroachments on the Ohio caused Governor James Hamilton, 
 of Pennsylvania, to dispatch Croghan down the Ohio to gain reassurances from the 
 Indians and to manifest the love of the English for them. Croghan reached Logstown 
 soon after Celeron, with the French troops, had left. The increasing intrusion of 
 white settlers on the unpurchased lands of the Indians west of the Susquehanna, in 
 spite of the laws, of the Governor's proclamation, and the threat of the Indians them- 
 selves, determined the government to expel them by force. Accordingly, in May, 1750, 
 a large company, headed by Secretary Robert Peters, George Croghan and the other 
 magistrates and sheriff of the new County of Cumberland, visited the settlers on the 
 Big Juniata, Sherman's Creek, the Path Valley, Big Cover, Auchquick Creek and 
 other places, removed their household goods and burned the log cabins; doubtless 
 by these effective measures preventing an Indian war. Darlington, op.cit., p. 178. 
 
 In November of the same year, George Croghan was dispatched, in company with 
 Andrew Montour, to the Miamis, to renew friendship and to deliver presents. At 
 Logstown, the Indian chiefs told him "their brothers, the English, ought to have a fort 
 on this river to secure the trade, as they expected war with the French in the spring." 
 (Ibid., p. 178.) At Muskingum, he met Christopher Gist. These two traveled 
 together to Piqua. At that place, Croghan met the Indians, delivered his message, 
 distributed presents and made a treaty. This treaty brought a censure for the 
 Governor of Pennsylvania and a rejection from the Assembly, as being negotiated 
 without authority. Particularly displeased was the Assembly with Croghan's expense 
 account. The treaty admitted two new tribes — the Ottawas and Pyankeshees — to the 
 friendship and alliance of the king and his subjects, as the other Miamis had been. 
 But the Governor sent the Miamis, the Ottawas and the Pyankeskees messages of 
 approval three months later. 
 
 In May, 1751, Croghan was at Logstown with Andrew Montour, delivering a 
 message of friendship from the Governor to the Indians and distributing presents. 
 It should be remembered that eastern officials and merchants, who paid for these 
 presents, not only were keeping the peace, but were making handsome profits out of 
 trading with the Indians. Trade was the primary objects of these gentlemen, it 
 seems. The Indians again requested a fort on the Ohio for protection against the 
 French. This, the niggardly Assembly declined, thereby losing both trade and allies. 
 
 In October of 1753, Croghan took part in a treaty of friendship with chiefs and 
 warriors of the Six Nations, Delawares, Shawnese, Wyandots and Miamis, at Carlisle, 
 Pennsylvania. Conferences with Indian chiefs were often held, probably generally 
 held, up to 1754, in Croghan's house at Pennsboro. In fact, chiefs were guests in 
 his home most of the time, even when he was away. 
 
 Becoming disgusted with the refusal of the Assembly of Pennsylvania to spend more 
 money to use in strengthening the good will of the Indians and in strengthening the 
 defenses of the frontier, Croghan moved from his home, Aughquick, in order to be 
 away from the Indians, to whom he had made premises, wise promises, which the 
 short-sighted Assembly refused to fulfill. A part of this was perhaps due to Quakerism. 
 
 When the French and Indian War broke and disaster befell from all sides, the 
 Pennsylvania government quickly made Croghan a captain, as well as an agent free 
 to deal with the Indians as he saw fit. So able was his war work that he was soon 
 called by Sir William Johnson as deputy superintendent of Indian affairs, in which 
 capacity he took part in most of the important conferences with the Indians of the 
 North. Able, wise, perfectly innured to frontier life, with a superior knowledge of 
 Indians and the western country — even of many Indian languages — altogether coura- 
 geous and with a love of adventure and romance, Captain George Croghan became 
 practically indispensable to the English on the frontier. 
 
44 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 During Pontiac's War, Croghan was active; he was with Captain Ecuyer during 
 the investment of Fort Pitt by the Indians. After he was relieved by Bouquet, he 
 resigned out of the service, intending to sail for England. Concerning this proposed 
 journey, he wrote: "I know many people will think I am wrong, but had I continued, 
 I could be of no more service than I have been this eighteen months past, which was 
 none, as no regard was had to any intelligence I sent, no more than to my opinion." 
 General Gage, succeeding Amherst, ordered Croghan to remain. Sir William Johnson, 
 in 1763, sent him to England, to confer with the ministry, about an Indian boundary 
 line. In this voyage, he was ship-wrecked on the coast of France. After a few 
 months, however, he was in Western Pennsylvania trading and treating with the red 
 men again. William M. Darlington, Christopher Gist's Journals with Historical. 
 Geographical and Ethnological Notes and Biographies of his Contemporaries (Pitts- 
 burgh: J. R. Weldin & Co., 1893), pp. 178-188. 
 
 A copy of the journal is found in The Filson Club Publications No. 13, "First 
 Explorations of Kentucky," by J. Stoddard Johnston (Louisville: John P. Morton 
 and Company, 1898) pp. 1-84. 
 
 'Ibid., p. 34. "Ibid., p. 36. 
 
 'William English, properly Ingles, with his father, Thomas Ingles, and family, and 
 a family named Draper, all Scotch-Irish, had recently come from Pennsylvania. They, 
 together with Colonel James Patton and William Preston, his nephew, lived neighbors 
 in what was called Draper's Bottom, the scene of a bloody tragedy five years later. 
 On the 8th of July, 1755, the day before Braddock's defeat, a party of Shawnee 
 Indians from Ohio fell upon the settlement and killed, wounded, or captured nearly 
 every soul there. Colonel James Patton, Mrs. George Draper, Casper Barrier, and 
 a child of John Draper were killed; Mrs. John Draper and James Cull were wounded; 
 Mrs. William Ingles and two children, boys, two and four years old, Mrs. John 
 Draper, and Henry Leonard were taken prisoners; and William Preston, afterwards 
 Surveyor of Fincastle, escaped as he had gone to a distant neighbor's a short time 
 before the incursion. Mrs. Mary Ingles, wife of William Ingles, was taken to Ohio 
 and thence to Big Bone Lick, Kentucky, whence she made her escape and reached 
 home afoot in forty days, after many perils and hardships. She was the first white 
 woman recorded as having been in Kentucky. . . . Draper's Meadows afterward 
 became the home of William Preston, and was called by him Smithfield (now 
 Blacksburg and the seat of Virginia Polytechnic Institute) . The full accounts of the 
 capture and captivity of Mrs. Draper and Mrs. Ingles is graphically related in 
 Connelley and Coulter, History of Kentucky, Vol. I, pp. 75-94. 
 
 "Ibid., pp. 38, 39. "Ibid., pp. 41, 42. ' "Ibid., pp. 47, 48. 
 
 "Mr. J. Stoddard Johnston states that Cave Gap was later named Cumberland Gap 
 by Dr. Walker, although Connelley and Coulter doubt the contention, suggesting that 
 indirectly Dr. Walker admired the Duke of Cumberland, son of George II and Queen 
 Caroline. The Duke (1731-1765) entered the navy at nineteen, but two years later 
 switched to the army. In 1743 he commanded the left wing under his father at the 
 battle of Dettingen, and in 1745 was in command of the army in Flanders (War of the 
 Austrian Succession). On the 16th of April, 1746, in the last battle fought in 
 Great Britain, at Culloden he defeated with great slaughter the Highland forces 
 which supported the fortunes of the young Pretender, refusing quarter to the wounded 
 and prisoners. The poet, Lord Byron, dubbed him "The Butcher." 
 
 "Ibid., pp. 49, 50. "Ibid., p., 52. "Ibid. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 50. "Ibid., p. 53. "Ibid., p. 55. 
 
 'Probably so named because of the numerous shelving rocks, or rock houses, of 
 Eastern Kentucky, so many of which were occupied by Indians, at an early date. 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 45 
 
 Mr. Johnston says that this was the fartherest point west reached by Dr. Walker. 
 He states: "I have lately visited the locality, and near the junction of the Louisville 
 & Nashville and Kentucky Central railroads, in Rockcastle County, found a cave 
 or rock house as large as that described by Doctor Walker, and doubtless the one 
 occupied by him" (p. 59) . 
 
 "Ibid., pp. 56-60. "Ibid., (see 63) . "Ibid., p. 63. 
 
 "'The Red River is known also as the Warrior Fork of the Kentucky River, along 
 which ran the warpath from the Big Sandy leading down it. He probably reached 
 Red River at a point between Clay City and Stanton, county seat of Powell County. 
 As Mr. Johnston points out, he was then fifteen or twenty miles east of Indian Old 
 Fields, or Es-Kippa-Ki-Thi-Ki, Shawnee town, on the waters of Lulbegrud Creek, in 
 Clark County, where tobacco was being raised earlier, no doubt, than the date of 
 Dr. Walker's expedition. Near this town Daniel Boone, Finley and Stewart wintered 
 in 1769. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 66. "Ibid., p. 69. "Ibid., p. 75. 
 
 "Thomas Walker (1715-1794) was born in King and Queen County, Virginia. 
 It is believed that his education was received at William and Mary College. He 
 acquired a knowledge of medicine from his brother-in-law, the senior Dr. George 
 Gilmer, in Williamsburg, to which place he moved following the early death of his 
 father. Later moving to Fredericksburg, he practised medicine and became eminent 
 in the field of surgery. He also kept a general store and carried on importing and 
 exporting operations. In 1741 he was married to Mildred Thornton, the widow of 
 Nicholas Meriwether and a relative of George Washington. He acquired, through 
 this union, about 11,000 acres of land in the present Albemarle County, on which 
 property he lived, calling the estate "Castle Hill." This was the foundation of 
 his fortune. This estate being in the West of that day, Dr. Walker must have 
 journeyed many times to the Valley of Virginia in carrying out commercial trans- 
 actions. 
 
 In 1748 Dr. Walker, in company with a number of prominent men — land speculators 
 all — explored the southern end of the Valley and staked out a large amount of rich 
 claims for themselves under a grant to Colonel James Patton. A large tract sur- 
 rounding the present town of Abingdon came into Dr. Walker's possession in this 
 way. In 1749 the Loyal Land Company was organized, and Dr. Walker became its 
 chief agent. Following his expedition into Kentucky, he was sent to the Virginia 
 House of Burgesses in 1752, the same year being commissioned deputy surveyor of 
 Augusta County, which caused his relinquishing the legislative seat. In the year 
 1755 he became commissary-general to the Virginia troops serving under Washington 
 in the French and Indian War; was present at the memorable defeat of General 
 Braddock. Charges were brought against him in the House of Burgesses of fraud in 
 connection with his management of the commissary department. Although the charges 
 were not substantiated, it was established that he had entered into a secret partnership, 
 in the supply business, with his friend, Colonel Andrew Lewis, an associate in land 
 speculations and a commander of troops whom Dr. Walker supplied. But Lewis was 
 no less highly respected perhaps than Dr. Walker. 
 
 In 1756 Dr. Walker was back in the House of Burgesses, this time from the 
 Frontier county of Hampshire. In this capacity for Hampshire, he continued until 
 1761. That year he sat in the Assembly for the first time from Albemarle. In 
 1763 he built the homestead on the Castle Hill estate, the homestead itself often 
 being called by that name. There he was a neighbor of Peter Jefferson, and later 
 acted as guardian for Peter's son, Thomas. In 1768 Dr. Walker acted for Virginia 
 in the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, apparently taking along as his colleague Colonel 
 
46 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 Andrew Lewis. The following year he signed the non-importation agreement and 
 thereafter took an important part in the revolutionary movement. In 1775 he was 
 appointed one of the commissioners to negotiate with the Ohio Indians at Pittsburgh, 
 and in 1776 was a member of the Virginia Committee of Public Safety. When the 
 state government was organized in that year, he became a member of the executive 
 council. In 1779 he headed the Virginia commission which extended the Virginia- 
 North Carolina boundary to the westward. In 1782 he ended his public career by 
 representing Albemarle in the House of Delegates. 
 
 Dr. Walker's first wife died on November 16, 1778, and sometime thereafter he 
 married her cousin, Elizabeth Thornton. By his first wife he had twelve children, 
 most of whom married into prominent Virginia families and two of whom, John 
 and Francis, attained distinction, the former serving as United States senator 
 and the latter as member of the federal House of Representatives. He died at the 
 age of seventy-nine and was buried at "Castle Hill." He has many descendants 
 living in Kentucky. 
 
 The following paragraph is quoted from Mr. J. Stoddard Johnston's sketch of 
 Dr. Walker: "All the evidence presented in the life of Doctor Walker indicates that 
 he was a man of a large mould, that while careful in detail he had a broad, compre- 
 hensive mind, and exerted a large influence for the good of his fellow-man. In 
 fact, it is not asserting too much to say that, if the full measure of the influence which 
 he exerted in the matter of the exploration, acquisition, and settlement of the West 
 were known, he would be entitled to vastly more credit than has been accorded to him. 
 His relations with the father of Thomas Jefferson brought him in contact with the 
 latter at an impressible age, and from the interest manifested by him through his long 
 life in the same lines, it is easy to conclude that he imbibed from Doctor Walker much 
 of that spirit of inquiry into the natural resources, geography, anthropology, zoology, 
 and botany which made him the best informed man on such subjects, and has rendered 
 his Notes on Virginia, crude as he called them, a standard authority to this day. 
 How much of that varied information which surprised not only his own countrymen, 
 but the learned of all nations, he derived from Doctor Walker is matter of conjecture, 
 but it is certain that he consulted him much, and in one of his letters of inquiry 
 extant he tells him that he knows ^nobody else who can give me equal information on 
 all points.' That the accurate reports derived from Doctor Walker of the value of the 
 western country as a heritage worth preserving led him to throw his whole official 
 as well as personal influence in seconding the plans of George Rogers Clark for the 
 acquisition of the Northwest Territory can admit of little doubt, while the magnetism 
 of Doctor Walker's love for adventure and the extension of Virginia's boundary 
 may well be supposed to have planted the germ which expanded into the purchase 
 of Louisiana and the expedition of Lewis and Clark to the Pacific immediately there- 
 after. Throughout Jefferson's correspondence evidences that he entertained such 
 ideas crop out twenty years before their accomplishment." (pp. 18, 19) . 
 
 2s The Filson Club Publications No. 13, p. 90. 
 
 "INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN MR. CHRISTOPHER GIST BY THE COMMIT- 
 TEE OF THE OHIO COMPANY THE 11th DAY OF SEPTEMBER, 1750. 
 "You are to go out as soon as possible to the Westward of the great Mountains, and 
 carry with you such a Number of Men, as You think necessary, in Order to search 
 out and discover the Lands upon the River Ohio, & other adjoining Branches of the 
 Mississippi down as low as the great Falls thereof: You are particularly to observe 
 the Ways & Passes thro all the Mountains you cross, & take an exact Account of the 
 Soil, Quality, & Product of the Land, and the Wildeness and Deepness of the Rivers, 
 & the several Falls belonging to them, together with the Courses & Bearings of the 
 
H I S T O RY O F K E N T U C KY 47 
 
 Rivers & Mountains as near as you conveniently can: You are also to observe what 
 Nations of Indians inhabit there, their Strength & Numbers, who they trade with, 
 & in what Comodities they deal. 
 
 "When you find a large Quantity of good, level Land, such as you think will 
 suit the Company, You are to measure the Breadth of it, in three or four different 
 Places, & take the Courses of the River and Mountains on which it binds in Order 
 to judge the Quantity: You are to fix the Beginning & Bounds in such a Manner 
 that they may be easily found again by your Description; the nearer in the Land 
 lies, the better, provided it be good & level, but we had rather go quite down the 
 Missippi than take mean broken Land. After finding a large Body of good level 
 land, you are not to stop, but proceed farther, as low as the Falls of the Ohio, that 
 We may be informed of that Navigation; And You are to take an exact Account 
 of all the large Bodies of good level Land, in the same Manner as above directed, 
 that the Company may the better judge where it will be most convenient for them 
 to take their Land. 
 
 "You are to note all the Bodies of good Land as you go along, tho there is not 
 a sufficient Quantity for the Company's Grant, but You need not be so particular 
 in the Mensuration of that, as in the larger Bodies of Land. 
 
 "You are to draw as good a Plan as you can of the Country You pass thro: 
 You are to take an exact and particular Journal of all your Proceedings, and make a 
 true Report thereof to the Ohio Company." William M. Darlington, Christopher 
 Gist's Journals (Pittsburgh: J. R. Weldin & Company, 1893), pp. 31, 32. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 103. 
 Darlington's note concerning the first stages of Gist's journey is here quoted: 
 "Gist's route from Old Town lay by the Warrior's Path, along the base of the Great 
 Warrior Mountain, on the eastern side, passing through the present district of 
 Flintstone, Allegheny County, Maryland, and the townships of Southampton, Monroe 
 and Providence, in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, reaching the Juniata, where 
 Bedford now stands, two paths led to the Ohio (Allegheny) ; the upper directly north 
 to Frankstown, thence northwest to Venango (now Franklin) ; the lower path led 
 west to Shannopin's Town (now Pittsburgh) ; the latter was the route taken by Gist." 
 (Filson Club Publications No. 13, p. 90) . 
 
 "His entry concerning his experience in this town is here quoted: "The people 
 in this Town, began to enquire my Business and because I did not readily inform 
 they, they began to suspect me, and said, I was come to settle the Indian's Lands 
 and they knew I should never go Home Safe; I found this Discourse was like to be 
 of ill Consequence to me, so I pretended to speak very slightingly of what they had 
 raid to me and enquired for Croghan (who is a meer Idol among his Countrymen 
 the Irish Traders) and Andrew Montour the Interpreter for Pennsylvania, and told 
 them I had a message to deliver the Indians from the King, by Order of the President 
 of Virginia, & for that Reason wanted to see M. Montour: This made them all 
 prettv easy (being afraid to interrupt the King's Message) and obtained me Quiet 
 and Respect among them, otherwise I doubt not they would have contrived some Evil 
 against me — I immediately wrote to M. Croghan, by one of the Traders People." 
 (The Filson Club Publications No. 13, pp. 110, 111.) 
 
 'Darlington, op.cit., p. 100. r 'Ib:d., p. 115. 
 
 "The Filson Club Publications, No. 13, pp. 114, 115. "Ibid. 
 
 "This being Christmas Day, I intended to read Prayers, but after inviting some 
 of the White Men, they informed each other of my Intentions, and being of several 
 different Persuasions, and few of them inclined to hear any Good, they refused to come. 
 But one Thomas Burney a Black Smith who is settled there went about and talked to 
 
48 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 them, & several of them came, and Andrew Montour invited several of the well 
 disposed Indians, who came freely; by this Time the Morning was spent, and I 
 had given over all Thoughts of them, but seeing Them come, to oblige All and 
 offend None, I stood up and said, Gentlemen, I have no Design or Intention to 
 give Offense to any particular Sectary or Religion, but as our King indulges us 
 all in a Liberty of Conscience and hinders none of You in the Exercise of your 
 religious Worship, so it would be unjust in you to endeavor to stop the Propagation 
 of His: The Doctrine of the Salvation Faith, and good Works, is what I only propose 
 to treat of, as I find it extracted from the Homilies of the Church of England, which 
 I then read them in the best manner I could, and after I had done the Interpreter 
 told the Indians what I had read, and that it was recommended to his Children: 
 The Indians seemed well pleased, and came up to Me and returned Me their Thanks; 
 and then invited Me to live among Them; and gave Me a Name in their Language 
 Annosanah: the Interpreter told me this was a Name of a good Man that had formerly 
 lived among them, and their King said that must be always my Name, for which I 
 returned them my thanks; but as to living among them I excused myself by saying 
 I did not know whether the Governor would give Me Leave, and if he did the French 
 would come and carry me away as they had done the English Traders, to which they 
 answered I might bring great Guns and make a Fort, that they had now left the 
 French, and were very desirous of being instructed in the Principles of Christianity; 
 that they liked Me very well and wanted Me to marry Them after the Christian 
 Manner, and baptize their Children; and then they said they would never desire to 
 return to the French, or suffer Them or their Priests to come near them more, for 
 they loved the English, but had seen little Religion among them; and some of their 
 great Men came and wanted Me to baptize their Children; for as I had read to them 
 and appeared to talk about Religion they took me to be a Minister of the Gospel; 
 Upon which I desired Mr. Montour (the Interpreter) to tell Them, that no Minister 
 Coud venture to baptize any Children, until those that were to be sureties for Them, 
 were well instructed in the Faith themselves, and that this was according to the 
 great King's Religion, in which He desired his Children should be instructed & We 
 dare not do it in any other Way, than was by Law established, but I hoped if I could 
 not be admitted to live among them, that the great King would send Them proper 
 Ministers to exercise that Office among them, at which they seemed well pleased; 
 and one of Them went and brought Me his Book (which was a kind contrived for 
 Them by the French in which the Days of the Week were so marked that by moving 
 a Pin every Morning they kept a pretty exact Account of the Time) to shew Me 
 that he understood Me and that He and his Family always observed the Sabbath Day." 
 (Ibid., pp. 115-119). 
 
 m Ibid., p. 118. '"Ibid., p. 120. "Ibid., p. 121. 
 
 4, This note is quoted from Darlington, who follows Heckwelder's Indian Nations: 
 "The lower Shawnese Town was situated where the present town of Alexandria, 
 opposite Portsmouth, at the mouth of the Scioto, now stands, and also on the south 
 shore of the Ohio River, directly opposite (in present Greenup County, Kentucky), 
 to which the Shawnese on the north side were compelled to remove, within a few 
 years after Gist's visit, in consequence of a great flood in the Scioto destroying the 
 town at its mouth. George Croghan was there at the time; the water was near fifty 
 feet above the ordinary level. This town was a noted place for Indian trade." 
 (Darlington, op.cit., p. 120). It was the northern terminus of the Warriors' Road, 
 or Trace. r 
 
 Ibid., p. 127. "Ibid., p. 129. 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 49 
 
 44 Croghan perhaps acted wisely in repeatedly using the name of Pennsylvania. 
 The citizens of that colony were undoubtedly more friendly and considerate toward 
 the Indians than the citizens of the other colonies interested in the West. The 
 Indians invariably were more confident of fair treatment at the hands of the peaceful 
 Quakers than from the aggressive, rapacious warlike Virginians who were far more 
 interested in the acquisition of lands in the West than in trading with the Indians. 
 Even the Pennsylvanians themselves were wary of Virginian officials, who asserted 
 claims to lands in Western Pennsylvania, although apparently the finest harmony 
 and friendship existed between Croghan and Gist, who, after all, were ambassadors 
 of the crown. 
 
 'Ibid., p. 131. "Ibid., p. 132. "Ibid., p. 148. "Ibid., pp. 149, 150. 
 
 Johnston's statement is this: "So also he was not on the 18th at Bullitt's Lick, 
 fifteen miles south of the Falls, as others claim, since by Gist's account he had traveled 
 in four days but ninety miles, while the distance from Maysville by direct rail route 
 is one hundred and fifty miles, and pioneers always over-estimated the distance traveled 
 by them in a day. From the topography described, and the proximity of any elevation 
 which would be called a mountain by so experienced a woodsman as Gist, it is evident 
 that he had not progressed far beyond the range which bounds the Bluegrass region 
 on the east. The Licking was known as the Great Salt Lick Creek instead of river, 
 and may have been called the Lower Salt Lick Creek to distinguish it from one of the 
 same name already referred to, which puts into the Ohio, eighteen miles below the 
 mouth of the Scioto, and up which the warriors' path ran. So I am of the opinion 
 that he was at the Lower Blue Licks, or the Olympian Springs, in Bath County — 
 both an hundred miles from the Falls as the crow flies." (Colonel J. Stoddard Johnston 
 is the author of "First Explorations of Kentucky," which is The Filson Club Publica- 
 tions No. 13. This reference is p. 165. 
 
 "Ibid., pp. 151, 152. o2 Ibid., p. 154. "Ibid., p. 162. 
 
 51 1 bid., p. 153. "Ibid., p. 161. 
 
 "Christopher Gist (1706-1759) born in Maryland. His father was surveyor of 
 the western shore of Maryland and one of the commissioners who plotted the town 
 of Baltimore. Practically nothing is known of Christopher's early life and training; 
 however, his writings and maps indicate that he was well educated, and it is probable 
 that he early gained experience in exploration and surveying. In 1750 he was living 
 with his family near Daniel Boone, on the Yadkin, in northern North Carolina. 
 He was appointed in 1750 by the Ohio Land Company to explore its Ohio Lands as 
 far as the Falls of the Ohio. In the Winter of 1751, 52 he explored the country 
 south of the Ohio from the Monongahela to the Great Kanawha. 
 
 About the year 1753 he decided to establish his home in the wilderness near the 
 present Brownsville, Pennsylvania, but seems not to have remained there. "He was 
 at Will's Creek, Maryland, in November of that year when Major George Washington 
 arrived on a mission from Governor Dinwiddie, and on November 15 the two started 
 for Fort Duquesne on the celebrated journey in which Gist twice saved Washington's 
 life. He was with Washington also in the defeat of Coulonde Jumonville, May 28, 
 1754, and in the surrender of Fort Neassity, July 4 following. In the Braddock 
 Campaign he served as guide to the General, and with two sons took part in the 
 disastrous battle of July 9, 1755. Later he raised a company of scouts, of which 
 he seems to have been made captain. In 1756 he went to the Cherokee country in 
 East Tennessee in the vain effort to enlist Indians for service, and for a time was 
 an Indian agent in that locality. He died of smallpox in either South Carolina or 
 Georgia." 
 
50 
 
 A SESQUI -CENTENNIAL 
 
 Gist was married to Sarah Howard. He had five children. Gist was a man highly 
 regarded for his many capabilities, his probity, and his courage. He was the first 
 white American to make a careful exploration of the Ohio River lands in southern 
 Ohio and northeastern Kentucky, preceding Daniel Boone in the latter region by eighteen 
 years. His reports, though brief, show a keen observation both of topography and 
 of the customs of the natives, and his plats and surveys have been praised as models 
 in mathematical exactness and precision in drawing!" 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 EXPLORERS— HUNTERS— TRADERS 
 
 White men had visited Kentucky long before Dr. Walker made explorations 
 in the eastern section. The French were apparently the first white men to traverse 
 this region. By 1693 Arnold Viele's having not only visited but resided for a time 
 appears quite probable. The firm of Baynton, Wharton and Morgan, of Philadelphia, 
 soon after the middle of the eighteenth century were in the habit of sending boats 
 regularly up the Kentucky River to get furs and meats. As game became scarcer in 
 the East, quite naturally adventurous hunters, trappers and traders pushed farther 
 and farther westward, finding the trans-Appalachian region south of the Ohio a 
 veritable hunter's paradise. By 1770 Uriah Stone, Gasper Mansker, John Rains and 
 others had passed through the Cumberland Gap; the same year the celebrated "long 
 hunters," about forty in number, carried out their hunting expedition in Kentucky 
 and the lower Cumberland region. 
 
 Though many visited Kentucky early, some even having published journals of 
 their wanderings and adventures, none achieved the fame and popularity attained by 
 Daniel Boone. Today the aura of romance, adventure and glamour lingers about 
 his name and pleases a hero-worshipping public as completely as a hundred years ago. 
 He was pre-eminently a hunter, a man of the forest, in whose lore none was more wise. 
 
 Boone disliked dwelling closer to civilization than on the fringe or frontier — not 
 that he frowned upon it, but because he loved the forests, its denizens, its beauties 
 and solitudes, as well as its game. Early in life, he had prepared himself carefully 
 for his career, that of "foresting," and was never deterred from his calling. 
 
 In the early spring of 1750 the numerous family of Squire Boone, Daniel's father, 
 had set out southward from Oley township, on Owatin Creek, some eight miles 
 southeast of the present city of Reading, Pennsylvania, for the Yadkin River country 
 in the northwest corner of North Carolina. Glowing reports had been transmitted 
 by each succeeding group of settlers who had removed to this Carolina country — 
 unusually fertile soil, abundant game, mild climate, beautiful country. Each glowing 
 report attracted new migration of Irish, Scotch-Irish, Germans and Quakers. Professor 
 Thwaites has pointed out geographically, the ease with which Pennsylvanians could 
 reach this region. He writes. 
 
 "For several hundred miles the Appalachians run in parallel ranges from northeast 
 to southwest — from Pennsylvania, through Virginia, West Virginia, the Carolinas, 
 and east Tennessee, until at last they degenerate into scattered foothills upon the 
 Georgia plain. Through the long, deep troughs between these ranges — notably in 
 the famous Valley of Virginia between the Blue Ridge and the Alleghanies — 
 Pennsylvanians freely wandered into the south and southwest, whenever possessed by 
 thirst for new and border lands." 1 
 
 The same eminent authority, Professor Thwaites, describes the Boone migration: 
 "With the women and children stowed in canvas-covered wagons, the men and boys 
 riding their horses at front and rear, and driving the lagging cattle, the picturesque 
 little caravan slowly found its way to the ford at Harper's Ferry, thence up the 
 beautiful valley of the Shenandoah. By night they pitched their camps beside some 
 gurgling spring, gathered the animals within the circle of the wagons, and with 
 sentinel posted against possible surprises by Indians, sat around the blazing fire to 
 discuss the experiences of the day — Daniel, as the hunter of the party, doubtless 
 having the most interesting adventures of them all." 
 
 The Boones appear to have tarried for a year in Virginia, on Linnville Creek, 
 
 5— Vol. I 
 
 U. OF ILL LIB, 
 
52 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 six miles north of Harrisonburg, in Rockingham County. The migration resumed, 
 in the autumn of 1751, the Boones pushed on through the Valley of Virginia into 
 North Carolina, not stopping until they had reached the land of the Yadkin, 
 where they could choose practically any portion of the broad expanse of rich, elevated 
 prairie between the Yadkin and the Catawba rivers. Here were abundant meadows 
 for the cattle, fish and game and wild fruits in quantity and luxuriance quite exceeding 
 the most optimistic expectations. Out of this Eden, Squire Boone (Daniel's father) 
 chose a claim at Buffalo Lick, where Dutchman's Creek joins with the North Fork 
 of Yadkin. 
 
 Daniel, then a healthy lad of eighteen years, spent some time helping on the 
 farm and in the smithy, but more often in the woods hunting — in a hunter's 
 paradise! Buffalo was plentiful; a successful Nimrod, with some assistance, could 
 expect to kill from ten to twenty a day, but the noble animal began to recede west- 
 ward behind the mountain's rim with the advance of the white man. This hunter 
 could expect to slay five or more deer a day, and, as Professor Thwaites writes, "in 
 autumn, he might from sunrise to sunset shoot enough bears to provide over a ton 
 of bear-bacon for winter use." 3 Thwaites continues, "Overcome by his passion for 
 the chase, our young Nimrod (D. Boone) soon began to spend months at a time 
 in the woods, especially in autumn and winter. He found also more profit in this 
 occupation than at either the forge or the plow." 4 
 
 During that time Boone learned a good deal about the Indians. The Catawbas 
 lived sixty miles' distance and the Cherokees still farther. Members of these tribes 
 frequently visited the thinly scattered settlements on the Yadkin, seeking trade with 
 the whites, with whom they were then on good terms. These Indians, however, were 
 raided occasionally by Norhern tribes, particularly the Shawnese, who attacked in 
 great fury, sometimes committing depredations upon the whites. 
 
 At the outbreak of hostilities in 1754 between the English colonists on the one side 
 and the French and Indians on the other, Daniel Boone enlisted in Captain Hugh 
 Waddell's North Carolina army of one hundred frontiersmen and was assigned the 
 dual task of teamster and blacksmith. In Braddock's ill-fated expedition into the 
 wilds of Pennsylvania the following year, Boone's was one of the heavily laden 
 baggage-wagons which greatly impeded the progress of the English army. The 
 baggage-train was singled out by the savages led by French officers and fiercely 
 attacked; the teamster casualties were heavy. Boone cut the traces of his team, 
 mounted a horse and galloped to safety/ 
 
 During the campaign Boone had the good fortune of falling in with a Scotch- 
 Irishman of adventurous and romantic tendencies by name of John Finley, or Findlay, 
 whose tales of travel and escapade excited the heart, thrilled the imagination and fired 
 the brain of a kindred soul to exhilaration. As early as 1752 Finley had become a 
 fur trader. His travels had taken him into the Kentucky country as far as the 
 Falls of the Ohio. He suggested to Boone, an easy convert, a means of reaching 
 Kentucky "by following the trail of the buffaloes and the Shawnese, northwestward 
 through Cumberland Gap. To reach this hunter's paradise, to which Finley had 
 pointed the way, was now Boone's daily dream. " G 
 
 But it was several years before Boone's dream would come true. Getting from 
 the forks of the Yadkin to Kentucky in 1755 was indeed no easy task. 
 
 The year following his return from Braddock's "slaughter-pen"; Daniel, then a 
 full-grown man of twenty-one, married Rebecca Bryan, in whose "shining black 
 eyes he had read his fate" before the outbreak of the war. He is thus described at 
 that age: "Behold that young man, exhibiting such unusual firmness and energy of 
 character, five feet eight inches in height, with broad chest and shoulders, his form 
 
Courtesy, Filson Club. 
 
 Daniel Boone 
 
54 A S E S D U I -CENTENNIAL 
 
 gradually tapering down to his extremities; his hair moderately black; blue eyes 
 arched with yellowish eyebrows; his lips thin, with a mouth peculiarly wide; a 
 countenance fair and ruddy, with a nose a little bordering on the Roman. Such was 
 Daniel Boon, now past twenty-one, presenting altogether, a noble, manly, prepossessing 
 appearance."' 
 
 Professor Thwaites also describes Boone's winsome frontier bride: "Rebecca Bryan, 
 whose brow had now been fanned by the breezes of seventeen summers, was, like 
 Rebecca of old, Very fair to look upon,' with jet-black hair and eyes, complexion 
 rather dark, and something over the common size of her sex; her whole demeanor 
 expressive of her childlike artlessness, pleasing in her address, and unaffected, kind in 
 all her deportment. Never was there a more gentle, affectionate, forbearing creature 
 than this same fair youthful bride of the Yadkin." 
 
 Circumstances other than the difficulties of travel developed to deter Boone's 
 immediate attempt to visit Kentucky. In the spring of 1759, the devastating border 
 warfare, which had long scourged the North, reached North Carolina, in all its fury. 
 In April of that year, the Cherokees, at last thoroughly hostile, raided the Yadkin 
 and Catawba Valleys, ruining crops, burning houses and murdering and capturing 
 helpless victims. Daniel and his family, as well as that of the aging Squire, imme- 
 diately moved to the East, Squire locating at Georgetown (now in the District of 
 Columbia) , while Daniel selected Culpeper County, Virginia. 
 
 After two years Daniel returned to the Yadkin. Finding the country even more 
 shaken by Indian massacres, he joined Captain Hugh Waddell and a large company 
 of North Carolinans under the command of Colonel William Byrd, of Virginia, 
 whose slow and cautious movements brought down the criticism of Waddell and 
 later his resignation. As a result of this delay Boone did not participate in the 
 fighting, which had been vigorously and relentlessly waged by Lieutenant Colonel 
 James Grant on the Little Tennessee River. He arrived at the Long Island of 
 Holston River only in time to see the broken, almost annihilated Cherokee braves 
 sue for peace, a peace which most of them remembered to keep. 
 
 More and more Daniel Boone learned about the aborigines — every side of their 
 character. He learned, writes Thwaites, that "the Indian was a savage and fought 
 like a savage — cruel, blood-thirsty, unrelenting, treacherous, seldom a respector of 
 childhood, of age, or of women."" He learned that the red man was a simple child 
 of nature — gullible, noble, generous, unflinching, fun-loving. Many of the aboriginal 
 characteristics and customs Boone liked, particularly their love of the forest and the 
 hunt, their simple manner of living, even foods and medicines. However, Quaker, 
 though he was, and not given easily to hatred, the great woodsman, thought Professor 
 Thwaites, developed a deep aversion to the Indian, but not without cause. 
 
 The interests of the Indian and the frontiersman were the same, namely, the 
 products of the forest. The principal money, with which he purchased rifles, 
 ammunition, iron and salt, was gained in return for pelts. Hence, the men spent 
 a large amount of their time hunting, while women and children remained at home 
 doing a good part of the farm and household work. It was the forest that the 
 borderers largely looked to for subsistence. "Hence," states Professor Thwaites, 
 "those long hunts, from which the men of the Yadkin, unerring marksmen, would 
 come back laden with great packs of pelts for the markets, and dried venison, bear's 
 meat, and bear's oil for their family larders. Naturally, this wandering, adventurous 
 life, spiced with excitement in many forms, strongly appealed to the rough, hardy 
 borderers, and unfitted them for other occupations." 
 
 Naturally, the unerring marksmen of the Yadkin hunters soon caused game to be 
 scarce, so that longer and longer excursions from home into the western reaches of 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 55 
 
 the Appalachians became necessary, causing hunters to remain away months at a time. 
 
 Hunters — including Benjamin Cutbirth, a family connection, and John Stuart, a 
 friend — returning from western adventure and travels and trade along the Mississippi; 
 kindled anew Boone's trans-Appalachian interest. Moreover, game in the Yadkin 
 region had almost completely disappeared, besides, "the rascally agents of Earl 
 Granville, the principal landholder of the Yadkin region, from whom the Boones 
 had purchased, were pretending to find flaws in the land-titles,"" and insisting upon 
 new deeds, for large fees. And the glowing reports concerning the charm and riches 
 of Kentucky related by the dramatic John Finley continued to thrill him. 
 
 In the autumn of 1767 Daniel Boone, William Hill and possibly, Squire Boone 
 (Daniel's brother) crossed the Allegheny ranges to the westward, travelled into 
 the valleys of the Holston and Clinch, in present-day Tennessee. Reaching a fork 
 or the Big Sandy River, and searching for the Ohio, they hunted along a buffalo 
 trail leading down the West, or Louisa fork, of the Sandy, a salt lick within ten miles 
 of the site of Prestonburg, where winter closed in necessitating hibernation for the 
 entire season. The sojourn, however, proved profitable, for buffaloes and other 
 animals came in large numbers to lick the brackish soil. "All the hunters had to 
 do was to 'rise, kill and eat,' " writes Professor Thwaites. 1 " 
 
 Although well west of the Cumberland Mountains, the explorers were all unaware 
 of being in the "land of promise," and, being hemmed in by practically impenetrable 
 thicket, they returned to the Yadkin in the spring. 
 
 John Finley, as a pedier, appeared during the winter of 1768-69, in the Yadkin 
 Valley with horse and wagon; he moved from house to house offering small wares 
 for sale to the wives of the settlement. This thrifty pedier was the same irrepressable 
 Irishman with whom Boone had fraternized during the Braddock campaign. Finley 
 had, in 1752, descended the Ohio accompanied by several voyageurs to the Falls, 
 from which he was conducted by friendly red men to the interior of Kentucky. The 
 beauties and richness of the territory had raised his ebullient Celtic spirits well nigh 
 to ecstacy. It was Finley's animated descriptions in 1755 that had caused Boone to 
 seek the "promised land," which had ended in disappointment. Boone was still 
 sorrowing over the impenetrable brush of the Sandy country when, as though God-sent, 
 the very man needed to re-inspire him knocked at his door. 
 
 That Boone was delighted and thrilled to welcome his old companion is putting 
 it mildly. Throughout the winter at Boone's fireside the high-spirited Irishman 
 recounted his thrilling adventures on Kentucky travel, which, with venison, spirits and 
 tobacco doubtless lost nothing in the telling. Both Boones, Daniel and his brother, 
 Squire, listened fascinated. They resolved to try Kentucky by Finley's proposed route, 
 Cumberland Gap. The reconteur even promised to lead the way. 
 
 BOONE AND FINLEY GO TO KENTUCKY, 1769, TO HUNT AND 
 
 EXPLORE. 
 
 The departure of the expedition is graphically described by Professor Thwaites: 
 "After the spring crops were in, Finley, Daniel Boone, and the latter's brother-in-law. 
 John Stuart, started from Daniel's house upon the first of May. In their employ, 
 as hunters and camp-keepers, were three neighbors — Joseph Holden, James Mooney, 
 and William Cooley. Each man was fully armed, clad in the usual deerskin costume 
 of the frontier, and mounted upon a good horse; blanket or bearskin was strapped 
 on behind the saddle, together with camp-kettle, a store of salt, and a small supply 
 of provisions, although their chief food was to be game. Squire remained to care 
 for the crops of the two families, and agreed to re-enforce the hunters late in 
 autumn. 
 
56 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 STATION CAMP ESTABLISHED. 
 
 Scaling the lofty Blue Ridge, they crossed Stone and Iron mountains and reached 
 Holston Valley, from whence they passed through Moccasin Gap of Clinch Mountain, 
 to Powell's Valley, then the fartherest outpost of white settlement. Here they found 
 a hunter's trail which was followed through Cumberland Gap. Then the "Warriors' 
 path" was discovered. This they followed by easy stages to Station Camp Creek, a 
 tributary of the Kentucky River, in Estill County, Kentucky — re-named because here 
 was built their principal, or "station" camp, the center of their operations for many 
 months to come. Although the principal occupation of the members of the expedition 
 was hunting, nevertheless, exploring, studying the topography and examining the 
 native plants and trees were simultaneous enterprises. A good part of the summer 
 was exhausted in the hunting of deer, perhaps the most profitable summer skin." 
 
 The hunters would divide themselves in pairs each day for company and mutual aid, 
 usually leaving one pair behind as camp keepers. Boone, a taciturn man, usually 
 enjoyed the company of John Stuart, of talkative and sanguine disposition. The time 
 passed from June to December. These were happy days for Boone, perhaps the 
 happiest of his life. The beauty of the country, the genial climate, the absolute 
 freedom of the wilderness life — all conspired to please the tastes of the great woodsman. 
 
 Large packs of skins and generous supplies of meat, all "jerked" for the winter, 
 were collected at Station Camp. 
 
 BOONE AND STUART ARE CAPTURED AND ROBBED BY THE 
 SHAWNESE, DECEMBER 22, 1769. 
 
 Though realizing that Kentucky was in the path between the warring tribes of 
 the North and the South, Boone and his companions had got on so successfully and 
 peacefully that they had practically forgotten the existence of the red men. In late 
 afternoon of December 22, as they were ascending a low hill near the Kentucky River, 
 "in one of the most beautiful districts they had seen," Boone and Stuart were sur- 
 rounded and captured by a party of Shawnese Indians who were returning northward 
 from a hunt in the Green River country. The surprised hunters were forced to conduct 
 their captors to the camps, which were systematically relieved of their stores of pelts 
 and meats. The red men were considerate enough to leave supplies sufficient to last 
 during a journey home, to which Boone and Stuart were ordered to repair with all 
 possible speed, admonished not to return and warned that further trespassing upon 
 treaty hunting-grounds might cause "the wasps and yellow jackets" to sting severely. 
 
 Intelligence of the Station Camp calamity was as severe a blow to the industrious 
 hunters as knowledge of imminent danger from the Indians. The others favored 
 returning to the Yadkin immediately. Boone and Stuart, however, enraged at their 
 losses, determined to follow the robbers. After two days they came upon the same 
 maraudering band of Shawnese and contrived, after nightfall, to regain four of five 
 horses and escape. As ill luck would have it, the wily red men overtook them in 
 two days and again made them prisoners. After a week of captivity, during which 
 time they were treated kindly by their captors, Boone and Stuart escaped in the 
 darkness and returned to Station Camp. 
 
 Their erstwhile companions, believing after a few days that Boone and Stuart 
 had been killed or permanently captured, hastily departed from Station Camp for 
 their homes in the Yadkin Valley. The indomitable and oft-captured Nimrods, 
 however, pursuing overtook the party, to the joyful surprise of all. Particularly 
 delighted were Boone and Stuart, because these met Squire Boone, who, having 
 gathered the fall crops, had set out over the same trail with a fresh supply of horses, 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 57 
 
 traps and ammunition. In the New River region, Squire had been joined by 
 Alexander Neely, a superb hunter and woodsman. Dismayed and grief -stricken as 
 well as realizing his frustration at the reported loss of his brother, Squire Boone 
 reluctantly had set his face toward the Yadkin with the others. 
 
 THE BOONES RETURN TO KENTUCKY ACCOMPANIED BY STUART 
 
 AND NEELY 
 
 The Boones, having staked much upon the Kentucky enterprise, determined to 
 remain to try again. Squire was no whit less stout-hearted than Daniel, nor loved 
 the forest, hunting and exploring less than his famous brother. Stuart and Neely 
 also decided to stay. Upon reaching the Holston Valley, the lighthearted Finley 
 turned northward to seek relatives in Pennsylvania, while Holden, Mooney and Cooley 
 turning southeastward hurried to their homes and loved ones on the Yadkin, with 
 news none too encouraging in regard to possibility of safety and success in the 
 fascinating Kentucky region. 
 
 JOHN STUART IS LOST 
 
 The four who remained in Kentucky returned from the vicinity of Cumberland 
 Gap and built another camp near the Station Camp. Daniel Boone and John Stuart 
 continued hunting as a team, frequently separating during the day to meet at nightfall 
 at a given rendezvous. One evening, soon after their return, Stuart failed to appear, 
 and, not having shown up by sunrise, his companions became apprehensive. The party 
 searched diligently throughout the day and at twilight Daniel came upon the embers of 
 a fire not more than a day old. There was, however, no trace of Stuart, who, it 
 was reluctantly concluded, had been killed or taken by the Indians. Five years later, 
 Daniel Boone, while hunting, in the same vicinity chanced to look into the hollow of 
 a sycamore tree, where human bones and a powder horn bearing Stuart's name was 
 discovered — "the first of the thousands of human beings with whose life blood 
 Kentucky was bought." 1 ' 
 
 Soon after Stuart's mysterious disappearance, Alexander Neely, satisfied with his 
 share of the winters' hunt, started for home, leaving the two Boones alone in the 
 wilderness, and within a few days only the "indomitable Daniel" remained. Per- 
 ceiving that the supply of ammunition was precariously low, it was decided that Squire 
 should return home with the horses, dispose of the furs, report to and minister to 
 the families, and return with needed supplies. "On the first of May, (1770) a year 
 to a day since the departure from the Yadkin, Squire silently wrung his brother's 
 hand, swung himself into the saddle, and set off down the lonesome Warriors' Path." 
 
 At first the solitary Boone was utterly lonely. John Filson has him say: "I 
 confess I never before was under greater necessity of exercising philosophy and fortitude. 
 A few days I passed uncomfortably. The idea of a beloved wife and family, and 
 their anxiety upon the account of my absence and exposed situation, made sensible 
 impressions on my heart. A thousand dreadful apprehensions presented themselves 
 to my view, and had undoubtedly disposed me to melancholy, if further indulged." 
 
 However, as Mr. Bruce points out, "His strong will and the genial influence of 
 the beautiful Kentucky Maytime overcame all feelings of depression. Every day 
 presented some new attraction to him." 2 " He had remained in Kentucky for various 
 reasons: to cut expenses; to improve the camp; to seek inviting places for hunting 
 and trapping; to mend traps and guns; to explore the country and enjoy the thrill 
 of the marvelous land." Aside from many adventures — hair-breadth escapes from 
 savages and the like — Boone explored as far west as the Falls, where he found the 
 fur-trade stockade, of which Finley had informed him. 
 
58 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 Squire returned toward the end of July; he had enjoyed a successful journey, had 
 disposed of the peltry advantageously, and had paid their debts; moreover he brought 
 reassuring news concerning the family on the Yadkin. 
 
 The remaining part of the summer and the autumn the brothers spent in hunting 
 and exploring, this time as far west as the Green River. In October, Squire again 
 journeyed to North Carolina, laden with deerskins but returned before the end of 
 the year, both remaining until the following March, 1771. 
 
 HANCOCK AND RICHARD TAYLOR, TOGETHER WITH OTHERS 
 
 EXPLORE KENTUCKY, 1769. 
 
 Other Hunters 
 
 Daniel Boone and his companions, as ■ suggested, were by no means the only men 
 visiting Kentucky. The trail from the Clinch and Powell valleys had been worn 
 smooth by hunters who had entered through Cumberland Gap. About the same time 
 that Boone was bidding his family farewell in 1769, another party, including Hancock 
 and Richard Taylor, Abraham Hempinstall and one Barbour, frontiersmen of the 
 same type, left Orange County, Virginia, to explore the Ohio and Mississippi valleys. 
 Descending from Pittsburgh in a boat, they explored Kentucky and proceeded into 
 Arkansas, where they camped and hunted during the following winter. 
 
 URIAH STONE AND PARTY HUNT IN KENTUCKY, 1769. 
 
 Another party of hunters and explorers — some twenty or more under Uriah Stone, 
 who had visited Kentucky three years previously — set out from the New River 
 settlements, in the Valley of Virginia, in June, 1769. These entered Kentucky by 
 Cumberland Gap. They sustained approximately the same experiences undergone by 
 the Boone party. Particularly were they impressed by the vast numbers of buffaloes 
 to be found grazing and licking about the salt licks — at one place a hundred acres 
 of the noble, though sluggish, beasts were densely massed. Stone's adventurers were 
 plundered and robbed by the Cherokees, who, leaving them a few guns and little 
 ammunition, ordered them out of the country. The party being large, a few were 
 deputed to return East for supplies, while the others remained. After further un- 
 pleasantness with the red men, half of Stone's men returned home, while the others 
 wandered through Tennessee and westward as far as the Ozark Mountains, returning 
 to the Valley of Virginia by way of Georgia and the Carolinas. Another Virginian, 
 John McCulloch, together with a white man-servant and a negro slave, visited Ken- 
 tucky during the summer of 1769. McCulloch journeyed as far north as Terre Haute, 
 Indiana, went by canoe to Natchez and New Orleans and at length reached Phila- 
 delphia by sea."' 1 
 
 THE LONG HUNTERS. 
 
 Perhaps the most picturesque excursion into Kentucky during the time was that 
 of the "Long Hunters," so called because of their long hunt. This company, formed 
 in the New River and Holston River valleys in the summer of 1770, was under 
 the leadership of Joseph Drake and Henry Skaggs," 4 two superb woodsmen; it 
 proposed both to hunt and explore west of Cumberland Mountain. The party, 
 about forty of the most noted and successful hunters of their communities, set 
 out in early autumn heavily armed and prepared to live off the land, each man 
 taking along three packhorses, rifles, ammunition, traps, dogs, blankets, and salt 
 and clad in the deerskin garb of the times. Plunging through Cumberland Gap 
 without untoward incident, the Hunters made for the salt liks, as was customary, because 
 there animals could be found in profusion. In the words of Professor Thwaites: 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 59 
 
 "At Knob Licks they beheld from an eminence which overlooked the springs Svhat 
 they estimated at largely over a thousand animals, including buffaloe, elk, bear, and 
 deer, with many wild turkeys scattered among them — all quite restless, some playing, 
 and others busily employed in licking the earth; but at length they took flight and 
 bounded away all in one direction, so that in the brief space of a couple of minutes 
 not an animal was to be seen.' Within an area of many acres, the animals had eaten 
 the salty earthy to a depth of several feet."" J 
 
 The Hunters amassed a large and valuable store of skins, furs and "jerk" within a 
 comparatively brief time, so that by February (1771) preparations were made to 
 deliver the rich yield East. Unfortunately, when all was in readiness, a roving band 
 of Cherokees stole into camp during a brief absence and either filched or wrecked 
 practically all the precious stores. The stout-hearted adventurers were amazed 
 and enraged. The often-quoted "Fifteen hundred skins gone Ruination by God," 
 which they carved on a tree with initials appended, perhaps expressed their feeling 
 quite accurately."" Following the great robbery, a series of misfortunes occurred 
 in rapid succession. Among other disasters, two of the whites were carried away into 
 captivity and never again heard of. These events caused many of the Hunters to 
 return to their homes. Some however remained, and, ammunition yet being plentiful, 
 continued the hunt between the Green and Cumberland rivers, until August, by 
 which time an abundant supply of pelts had again been collected, "almost as extensive 
 as that despoiled by the savages."" 
 
 DANIEL BOONE WARBLES IN THE WILDERNESS 
 
 Not long after the Long Hunters had been relieved of their stores of peltry and 
 while in the Green River country, an unusual and amusing incident occurred. Late 
 one afternoon just as a hunting team under the leadership of Caspar Mansker was 
 preparing to go into camp for the night, the ears of a few of the hunters were at- 
 tracted by an anachromatic sound. Mansker commanding silence, the men cautiously 
 moved from tree to tree nearer and nearer the sound. That sound was the voice of a 
 white man hilariously disporting himself in song. Upon closer approach, Daniel Boone 
 was discovered prone in the bush, his hat off and happy notes emitting from his 
 melodic throat in happy, exuberant and abandoned profusion. Many a time Boone 
 must have shaken off the insidious temptings to loneliness during Squire's protracted 
 absence by spontaneous outpourings of song. In fact Boone, in common with most 
 frontiersmen, was fond of singing, as well as of recounting tales of adventure. 
 
 Upon Squire's return, the Boones were delighted to join the Long Hunters for a 
 time, which was good for them as well as pleasant for the Hunters, who were not 
 unacquainted with the fame of Daniel as a woodsman. These named the hills, 
 creeks, rivulets and other conspicuous objects, which became a pleasing practice and 
 for the most part the names have stuck. At one time they discovered that French hunters 
 from the Illinois country had been in the Kentucky region killing buffaloes for 
 their tongues and tallow, which they had loaded into a keel-boat and taken down 
 the Cumberland. Of this excursion Professor Thwaites writes: "In after years one 
 of the Long Hunters declared that this wholesale slaughter was so great r that one 
 could walk for several hundred yards in and around the lick on buffaloes' skulls 
 and bones, with which the whole flat around the lick was bleached.' ' : 
 
 THE BOONES' RETURN, MARCH, 1771. 
 The Boones left their comrades in March laden with the objects of their industry. 
 They left in good spirits, knowing well that the peltry was enough to relieve them 
 of a rather heavy indebtedness. As fate would have it, however, while passing through 
 
60 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 Powell's Valley, near Cumberland Gap — where they might have breathed a sigh of 
 relief for uneventful passage to safety — the brothers were set upon by a war party 
 of Northern Indians. These roughly handled the luckless Nimrods and relieved 
 them of the fat packs, but did not take them prisoners. Contemplation of the fact 
 that after two years of trying, hard and singularly dangerous endeavor, they were 
 poorer than at the beginning was enough to drive even stout-hearted woodsmen to 
 cynicism and despair. However, Daniel "used to say, in after years," writes Professor 
 Thwaites, "that having at last seen Kentucky, his ideal of an earthly paradise, that 
 served as solace for his woes." 29 
 
 WESTWARD HO. 
 
 Upon arriving in the settlement Daniel Boone observed that western outposts, 
 such as the Yadkin settlements, had become crowded, that the game was gone, that 
 the entire East appeared interested in settling or acquiring lands on western waters. 
 Evidences of land speculating projects were everywhere patent. Annoying taxation 
 and other laws, "crowded" populations and diminishing opportunities for new lands, 
 as well as rapid sapping of the soil's fertility, flattering opportunities for freedom and 
 proprietorship in the West: these together with the historical developments — cession 
 by the French of the vast area between the Allegheny Mountains and the Mississippi 
 River by treaty of 1763, the defeat of the Indians that same year, the Treaties of Fort 
 Stanwix, Hard Labour, Locabar and Sycamore Shoals, together with the formation 
 of ambitious land companies by such prominent men as the Lees, the Washingtons, 
 the Franklins, Dr. Walker, Patrick Henry, and Col. Richard Henderson, and with 
 the added fact of the Proclamation of 1763's having become a deadletter. These 
 brought the East westward and caused pioneers to move farther westward. "The 
 man who would today be a captain of industry was then likely scheming to gain 
 control of great tracts of Western lands." 30 
 
 In North Carolina, however, the excitement over lands was not as pronounced as 
 in the Valley of Virginia and "other Mountain troughs to the north and northeast." 
 In the Yadkin country there was popular discontent with government, so pronounced 
 that it presaged trouble and caused the value of land to decline sharply. Tax gatherers, 
 it was felt, were, without support of law, extorting exorbitant sums from the western 
 settlers. Gov. William Tryon had already come to blows with the Regulators, natives 
 who had arisen in defense of the people's rights. 
 
 The Boones, whose desire to move into Kentucky was all-impelling, were affected 
 by this disturbance in that their land could not be disposed of immediately at a satis- 
 factory price. For the next two years and a half therefore, Daniel Boone quietly 
 conducted his farm and made frequent hunting trips into the trans-Allegheny region, 
 journeying as far as French Lick, on the Cumberland, where French hunters were 
 encountered. It is probable that during that two years and a half he moved to the 
 Watauga Valley, remained a brief period then removed to the Yadkin. Early in 
 1773 he, together with Benjamin Cutbirth and others penetrated Kentucky as far 
 as present-day Jessamine County. With each succeeding visit, the lure of the land 
 proved more fascinating and more irresistible. 
 
 THE BOONES AND BRYANS LEAVE FOR KENTUCKY SEPTEMBER, 1773. 
 
 The Boones and Bryans spent the spring and summer of 1773 in active preparation 
 for the long-hoped-for migration to Kentucky. They sold their farms and made as- 
 sembled supplies. Five other families of Boone's community agreed to join in the trek. 
 The Bryan party, numbering forty men, some from the Valley of Virginia and Powell's 
 
H I S T O RY O F K E N T U C KY 61 
 
 Valley, were not to be accompanied on that trip by their families. Daniel, having 
 previously arranged with Captain William Russell, the leading pioneer of the Clinch 
 Valley, to lend assistance to the undertaking, rode on ahead and went into camp at 
 Powell's to await the arrival of the rear caravan. That day, James Boone, Daniel's 
 son, now a sturdy lad of 16, had been sent, accompanied by two men, with packhorses 
 across country to notify Russell and to obtain flour and farming implements. In 
 late afternoon returning heavily laden with supplies and accompanied by Captain 
 Russell's son, Henry (a year James' senior) two of Russell's Negro slaves, and two 
 or three white laborers, young Boone's party, having lost the trail, toward nightfall, 
 tired and confused, made a camp for the night (strangely enough only three miles 
 from Boone's quarters) . At daybreak they were overcome by a roving band of 
 Shawnese in a surprise attack and all killed except a white laborer and a Negro. 
 This sad event plunged the caravan into the depth of gloom and despair. The 
 most fervid entreaties by Daniel Boone could not prevent the return of the entire 
 company to Virginia and Carolina. However, the indomitable pioneer, and his family, 
 refusing to retreat, remained for the winter in an empty cabin upon the farm of 
 Captain David Gass, seven or eight miles from Russell's, sustained by their stock of 
 cattle and by Daniel's trusty rifle.'" 
 
 CLAIMANTS, SURVEYORS, SPECULATORS 
 
 Notwithstanding Boone's ill-fated and abortive attempt in the autumn of 1773, 
 which, for the time being, blanked his ambitions to settle Kentucky, swarms of men — 
 veterans of the French and Indian War with land grants for military services or 
 their representatives, surveyors, speculators, explorers — came to Kentucky beginning 
 that year, lured either directly or indirectly by the lush land, which explorers like 
 Gist, Washington (who had surveyed lands on both the little and Big Sandy, as early 
 as 1767), the Boones and the Long Hunters, had glowingly described. These pioneers 
 who came to Kentucky in 1773 journeyed for the most part in groups and were 
 generally in the employ of speculators or veterans, or both. 
 
 THE COMING OF THE McAFEES, 1773. 
 
 In May, June and July (1773) the stout-hearted McAfee brothers — Robert, James 
 and George — with whom were James McCoun, Jr., and Samuel Adams, drifted down 
 the Ohio from Pennsylvania, and paddled up the Kentucky as far as the site of 
 present-day Frankfort, surveying some of the finest lands in the region. Particularly 
 ambitious for land was Robert, who explored and surveyed in the central and northern 
 portions. Another party entered Kentucky in the same month under Captain Thomas 
 Bullitt, a man of remarkable energy and enterprise, and surveyed lands for Dr. John 
 Connolly in the vicinity of the Falls of the Ohio, where he laid out a town site — now 
 occupied by Louisville. The following year an ambitious surveying expedition came 
 under the leadership of Hancock Taylor, James Douglas and the romantic young 
 John Floyd. 3 These remarkable men and their companions surveyed (for themselves 
 and for others, prominent among whom were Colonel George Washington, Patrick 
 Henry and Colonel William Preston) lands along the upper Ohio and in Kentucky 
 through the present counties of Greenup, Lewis, Bracken, Mason, Gallatin, Trimble, 
 Oldham and Jefferson to the Falls; thence through Shelby, Franklin, Scott, Woodford, 
 Fayette and Clark. 34 Warned of the breaking of Dunmore's War by the doughty 
 scouts Daniel Boone and Michael Stoner, the eager surveyors were obliged to quit the 
 country by way of Cumberland Gap, but not quickly enough to prevent the Indians' 
 killing the popular Hancock Taylor. 
 
62 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 CAPTAIN THOMAS BULLITT SURVEYS IN KENTUCKY, 1773. 
 
 Perhaps the most celebrated company of surveyors, claimants and prospectors to 
 enter that year was that led by Colonel James Harrod from the Monongahela country. 
 Harrod's company, consisting of 31 seasoned frontiersmen of Scotch-Irish temperament, 
 included Abram Hite and Jacob and James Sandusky, all of whom had accompanied 
 Harrod down the Ohio to the Falls the preceding year. " At various times during 
 1773 and 1774 many other surveyors and explorers on the lookout for good lands had 
 visited Kentucky. Among these, most of whom came from either the Monongahela 
 region of Virginia and Pennsylvania or from the Valley of Virginia, were Simon 
 Kenton, '' the perfect scout, Michael Tyger, William Grills, Jacob Greathouse, Joseph 
 Locke and General Thompson. 3 ' Moving westward also was young George Rogers 
 Clark, later the most famous man in the West, who in 1773 staked out a claim along 
 Fishing Creek on the Upper Ohio. 
 
 DUNMORE'S WAR, 1774 (So named because of Lord John Dunmore, Governor 
 of Virginia, who took the leadership of the Colonists) 
 
 The causes of this brief struggle with the red men, principally Shawnese and 
 Cherokees, are easy to explain. The sudden mad rush by the whites over the Alle- 
 gheny rim into reserved treaty lands particularly loved and prized by the aborigines, 
 kindled the wrath of the Indians, who could see little reason why they should vicariously 
 stake the greed and rapacity of land-mad "Virginians" (all frontiersmen were known 
 as Virginians by the red men) by fleeing their homes and surrendering their birthright. 
 Perhaps the incident which set off the affair was the brutal and wanton murder by 
 border ruffians of the family of the noble Mingo Chief, Logan, long a faithful friend 
 of the whites, near Mingo Junction on the Ohio, in early summer, driving the Indians 
 to fury and rage. Logan vowed not to sheathe his tomahawk until he had killed 
 a sufficient number of whites to avenge the foul deed. The Mingos, ablaze with the 
 Are of vengeance, carried the war pipe to villages far and wide. "From Cumberland 
 Gap to Fort Pitt, from the Alleghanies to the Wabash" the Western braves took 
 the war path. 
 
 While Boone and Stoner were in Kentucky in the summer of 1774, they had 
 stopped at Harrodsburg, where on the 16th of June, 1774, James Harrod and his 
 thirty-four companions had begun laying out a town — the first white settlement. 
 Boone, although by no means an astute business man, found time to register as a 
 settler — which entitled him to a half-acre in-lot and in company with a settler put 
 up a cabin for future occupancy. 3 * Meanwhile the personally unpopular but competent 
 and energetic military organizer, Governor Dunmore, pushed the war truculently. 
 One column, led by Dunmore himself, moved by way of Fort Pitt down the Ohio; 
 with this wing marched George Rogers Clark. The other column under General 
 Andrew Lewis, including the borderers of the southwest, eleven hundred strong, 
 descended the Great Kanawha and rendezvoused with the northern wing at Point 
 Pleasant, the triangle between the junction of the Great Kanawha and the Ohio. 
 
 Upon the tenth of October (1774) the able Shawnese Chief, Cornstalk, taking 
 advantage of Dunmore's failure to join the southern column, struck Lewis' wing 
 at dawn upon the wooded eminence above the confluence of the Great Kanawha 
 and the Ohio with one thousand picked braves from all parts of the Northwest. 
 The battle raged uncertainly from morning until evening with all the strength and 
 fury that two powerful and evenly-matched enemies could command. At times the 
 bitter conflict was in doubt; never did braves fight more ably and determinedly. 
 A flanking movement late in the day, led by a daring young Lieutenant, Isaac Shelby, 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 63 
 
 made Cornstalk's position untenable, and he was obliged to withdraw, his warriors 
 executing the difficult maneuver in good order. Throughout the day, the fighting had 
 often been desperate hand-to-hand encounters, the "Big Knives" losing twice the 
 number of casualties in dead and wounded as that of the savages, it was reported. 
 Summarizing his account of the battle, Professor Thwaites makes this poignant state- 
 ment: "Desperately courageous, pertinacious, with a natural aptitude for war combined 
 with consummate treachery, cruelty, and cunning, it is small wonder that the Indian 
 long offered a formidable barrier to the advance of civilization." 40 
 
 Dunmore's War settled the question of efficacy of white settlement of Kentucky. 
 The Shawnese and Mingos were humbled (not however, before Logan had reeked 
 vengeance for the murder of his family) , and the Cherokees retreated behind the 
 new border — peace seemed assured. The rush to Kentucky could begin. Daniel 
 Boone, who, because of conspicuous services to the inhabitants of the Clinch Valley, 
 had been by public demand raised to the rank of Captain, celebrated the successful 
 conclusion of the war by a solitary but supremely enjoyed hunt in the valley of the 
 Kentucky River. 41 
 
 FOOTNOTES FOR CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Reuben Gold Thwaites, Daniel Boone (New York: D. Appleton — Century Company, 
 1935), pp. 13, 14. 
 
 "Ibid., pp. 15, 16. 'Ibid., p. 18. "Ibid., p. 23. 
 
 "Ibid., P. 18. Tbid., p. 21. 'Ibid., p. 25. 
 
 Ibid., p. 26. We are also indebted to Professor Thwaites for a graphic description 
 of Boone's early married life: "Daniel Boone's cabin was a simple box of logs, 
 reared in Vob-house' style, the chinks stuffed with moss and clay, with a door and 
 perhaps but a single window. Probably there was but one room below, with a low 
 attic under the rafters reached by a ladder. A great outside chimney, built either 
 of rough stones or of small logs, coated on the inside with clay mortar and carefully 
 chinked with the same, was built against one end of this rude house. In the fireplace, 
 large enough for logs five or six feet in length, there was a crane from which was 
 hung the iron pot in which the young wife cooked simple meals of corn-mush, pumpkins, 
 squashes, beans, potatoes, and pork, or wild meat of many kinds, fresh and dried; 
 in a bake-kettle laid upon the live coals, she made the bread and corn pone, or 
 fried her steaks, which added variety to the fare. 
 
 "Dishes and other utensils were few — some pewter plates, forks and spoons; wooden 
 bowls and trenchers, with goards and hard-shelled squashes for drinking mugs. For 
 knife, Boone doubtless used his belt-weapon, and scorned the crock plates, now slowly 
 creeping into the valley, as calculated to dull its edge. Over the fire-place, deer's 
 horns served as rests for his gun. Into the log wall were driven great wooden pegs, 
 hanging from which flitches of dried and smoked bacon, venison, and bear's meat 
 mingled freely with the family's scanty wardrobe. 
 
 "With her cooking and rude mending, her moccasin-making, her distaff and loom 
 for making cloths, her occasional plying of the hoe in the small vegetable patch, 
 and her ever-present care of the children and dairy, Rebecca Boone was abundantly 
 occupied. 
 
 "In these early years of married life, Daniel proved a good husbandman, planting 
 and garnering his few crops with regularity, and pasturing a few scrawny cattle and 
 swine upon the wild lands adjoining his farm. Doubtless at times he did smithy- 
 work for the neighbors and took a hand at the loom, as had his father and grandfather 
 before him. Sometimes he was engaged with his wagon in the caravans which each 
 
64 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 autumn found their way from the Yadkin and the other mountain valleys down to the 
 Atlantic cities, carrying furs to market; it was, as yet, too early in the history of the 
 back-country for the cattle-raisers to send their animals to the coast. In the valley 
 of Virginia, hemmed in upon the east by the Blue Ridge, packhorses were alone used 
 in this traffic, for the mountain paths were rough and narrow; but wagons could be 
 used in the more southern districts. The caravans brought back to the pioneers 
 salt, iron, cloths, and a few other manufactured goods. This annual expedition over, 
 Boone was free to go upon long hunts in the forest, where he cured great stores of 
 meat for his family and prepared the furs for market. 
 
 "The backwoodsmen of the Yadkin had few machines to assist them in their labor, 
 and these were of the simplest sort. Practically, every settler was his own mechanic — 
 although some men became, in certain lines, more expert than their neighbors, and 
 to them fell such work for the entire settlement. Grinding corn into meal, or cracking 
 it into hominy, were, as usual with primitive peoples, tasks involving the most machinery. 
 Rude mortars and pestles, some of the latter ingeniously worked by means of springy 
 Weeps/ were commonly seen; a device something like a nutmeg-grater was often used 
 when the corn was soft; two circular millstones, worked by hand, were effective, and 
 there were some operated by waterpower." (Ibid., pp. 31, 32.) 
 
 'Ibid., p. 52. 10 Ibid., p. 58. 
 
 During the latter months of 1765 Boone and several companions made a trip to 
 the new colony of Florida, Britain having acquired it from Spain by treaty in 1763, 
 with the view of taking land for settlement. The trip proved trying, what with many 
 swamps and little game, but Boone liked Pensacola and determined to move thither. 
 However, this stout pioneer's mate, Rebecca, thought it would never do; she refused 
 to budge, and the enterprise was abandoned. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 68. 13 Ibid., p. 69, 70. "Ibid., p. 72. 
 
 "Deerskins were, all things considered, the most remunerative of all. When 
 roughly dressed and dried they were worth about a dollar each; as they were numerous, 
 and a horse could carry for a long distance about a hundred such skins the trade was 
 considered profitable in those primitive times, when dollars were hard to obtain. 
 Pelts of beavers, found in good condition only in the winter, were worth about two 
 dollars and a half each, and of otters from three to five dollars. Thus, a horse-load 
 of beaver furs, when obtainable, was worth about five times that of a load of deer- 
 skins; and if a few otters could be thrown in, the value was still greater. The skins 
 of buffaloes, bears, and elks were too bulky to carry for long distances, and were not 
 readily marketable. A few elk-hides were needed, however, to cut up into harness 
 and straps, and bear and buffalo-robes were useful for bedding." (Thwaites, pp. 74, 75.) 
 
 ""When collected at the camps, the bales of skins, protected from the weather by 
 strips of bark, were placed upon high scaffolds, secure from bears and wolves." 
 (Thwaites, p. 75.) 
 
 "Ibid., p. 78. 
 
 18 H. Addington Bruce, Daniel Boone And The Wilderness Trail (New York: 
 The Macmillan Company, 1930), p. 61. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 61. 
 
 M The Filson Publications: No. 35, "Filson's Kentucky" (Louisville: John P. Morton 
 & Company, 1930), p. 54. 
 
 "'Thwaites, op.cit., pp. 82, 83. "Bruce, op.cit., p. 63. '"Ibid., pp. 89-91. 
 
 "'Collins states that the Long Hunters were under the leadership of Colonel James 
 Knox. He says that only nine of forty hunted between the Green and Cumberland 
 and South of the Kentucky rivers. These statements appear to be inaccurate. Lewis 
 
H I S T O RY O F K E N T U C KY 65 
 
 and Richard H. Collins, History of Kentucky (ed. 1874, Louisville, Kentucky: John 
 P. Morton & Company, 1924), Vol. I, p. 17. 
 2 °Thwaites, op.cit., p. 92. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 93. "Ibid., p. 93. "Ibid-., p. 95. "Ibid., p. 96. 
 1 Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., I, 163. 
 31 Thwaites, op.cit., p. 100. 
 
 "The historian Humphrey Marshall (I, 17-18) writes of Boone: "Without the 
 incumbrance of worldly goods, to give him local attachments; and without the illumina- 
 tion of science to enable him to shine in society; at the age of eighteen, he found 
 himself possessed of high health, and a vigorous constitution; supported by great 
 muscular strength, and nervous activity. What if his heart did ache, when he bade 
 farewell to his native home? His sole reliance for support, was on his own arm; and 
 that had been taught, rather to pose the rifle, than to use the plough. He delighted 
 to chase on foot, the wild deer: and this propensity had often led him to places remote 
 from the habitations of men. Accustomed to be much alone, he acquired the habit 
 of contemplation, and of self-possession. His mind was not of the most ardent nature; 
 nor does he ever seem to have sought knowledge through the medium of books. 
 Naturally, his sagacity was considerable; and as a woodsman, he was soon expert, and 
 ultimately, supereminent. Far from ferocity, his temper was mild, humane, and 
 charitable; his manners gentle; his address conciliating; his heart open to friendship and 
 hospitality. Yet his most remarkable quality, was an enduring, and unshakable 
 fortitude." 
 
 Humphrey Marshall thus describes John Floyd: "He was a man of information, 
 and enterprise, to whom Kentuckians are much indebted, for services. His person 
 was tall, and rather spare, his figure genteel, his complexion dark, his hair bla'ck, his 
 eyes of the same colour, animated, and penetrating: with a pacific disposition; and 
 the manners of a well bred gentleman." (I, 38) . 
 'Collins, op.cit., I, 17. 
 
 "Humphrey Marshall thus describes Harrod: "James Harrod was a man six feet 
 high, well proportioned; and finely constructed, for strength and activity. His com- 
 plexion was dark; his hair and eyes black; his countenance animated; his gait 
 firm, his deportment grave; his conversation easily drawn out, but not often obtruded; 
 his speech was mild, and his manners conciliating, rather by the confidence they inspired, 
 than any grace, or elegance, they displayed. Yet, could he but imperfectly read, 
 or write. Indeed, it was not letters he learned — nor books he studied." (I, 23.) 
 
 Of Simon Kenton, the historian Marshall writes: "In the county of Fauquier, 
 and colony of Virginia, on the nineteenth of April, 1753, was Simon Kenton born, of 
 poor, but respectable parents. At the age of nineteen years, his total ignorance of 
 letters, had not impaired his growth, nor checked the flow of his spirits; he was 
 straight, tall, robust, and athletic." (I, 39). 
 
 Collins, op.cit., I, 17. 
 
 Thwaites, op.cit., pp. 106, 107. 
 
 Upon his return to the Clinch settlements, Boone, finding that most of his friends 
 and moved northward under their local leaders to join General Lewis, prepared to 
 march northward also; however, receiving contrary orders en route, he returned to 
 the Clinch Valley to lend his assistance in defending the settlements of the Southwest, 
 which had been almost drained of manpower. Forts had been erected in each of 
 these mountain valleys; one of these, Moore's, on Clinch River, Lieutenant Daniel 
 Boone commanded. From this stronghold the Lieutenant made frequent sallies against 
 the enemy. His was the most active of the little garrisons in the valley; when neigh- 
 boring forts were attacked his riflemen usually supplied the relief necessary to break 
 
66 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 the siege. As a matter of fact, as future events proved, Boone possessed sound mili- 
 tary ability. Writes Professor Thwaites: Its isolation at first protected the Valley 
 of the Clinch. The commandant of the southwest — which comprised every boy or 
 man capable of bearing arms — was Colonel William Preston (perhaps the most im- 
 portant man in Fincastle County, Virginia) ; under him was Major Arthur Campbell; 
 the principal man in the Clinch Valley was Boone's friend, Russell. (Thwaites, 
 op.cit., p. 105.) 
 
 ""Thwaites, op.cit., p. 111. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 112. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 TRANSYLVANIA 
 
 COLONEL RICHARD HENDERSON DESIRES TO ESTABLISH A COLONY 
 
 IN KENTUCKY 
 
 I 
 
 .t will be recalled that Richard Henderson, a judge of Western 
 North Carolina, and associates had purchased in the name of the Transylvania Land 
 Company, successor to the Louisa Company (which in turn had succeeded "Richard 
 Henderson and Company") a vast area of land in Kentucky lying between the Kentucky 
 and Cumberland rivers, from the Cherokee Indians; that the purchase was made of the 
 Cherokees not because of any validity of title possessed by them, but because they 
 controlled the approaches from Western North Carolina to the area desired. Colonel 
 Henderson undoubtedly gained his knowledge of the beauty and richness of Kentucky 
 lands and the desirability of possession "from the enthusiastic reports concerning soil, 
 climate and scenery" of Daniel Boone, whom he had known and admired for some 
 time. As has been pointed out, there is no conclusive proof, but the supposition is, 
 that Boone began spying out desirable lands for the Henderson Company as early as 
 1767. It is certain, however, that the celebrated woodsman was connected with the 
 Henderson projects in 1773. Henderson, an eager and ambitious land speculator, 
 became interested in establishing a successful colony in the newly acquired trans-Alle- 
 gheny region. He attempted to popularize the project by gaining the support of as 
 many prominent men of the southwest as possible and by advertising to the public 
 through his "Proposals" (December 25, 1774) that a new colony was to be set up. 
 
 HENDERSON HIRES BOONE TO BLAZE A TRAIL 
 
 Even before the conclusion of the treaty with the Cherokees, Colonel Henderson had 
 secured the services of Boone to blaze a trail across the mountains, which was neither 
 an easy nor a safe task. The terrain was extremely rugged and the Indians, who re- 
 sented the Whites' entering their hunting lands to settle permanently, were dangerous. 
 Particularly was the resentment of the Cherokees bitter, because upon examining the 
 goods given them by Henderson they concluded that they had been trimmed. Becoming 
 sullen and wrathful, they prophesied calamities to the Whites should they attempt to 
 settle Kentucky. Neither Henderson nor his associates, however, were inclined to be 
 intimidated or thwarted, not even by either the stinging proclamation of irate Governors 
 Martin (of North Carolina) and Dunmore or the direful warnings of the sullen red 
 men." 
 
 THE BUILDING OF THE WILDERNESS ROAD 
 
 When employed by Colonel Henderson (at the time of the treaty-making at Syca- 
 more Shoals) to cut a road from the Watauga country to the Kentucky River, Daniel 
 Boone little realized the vastly important role which his road would play in the settle- 
 ment of the West: that it would within a few years serve as the highway over which 
 thousands of sturdy, eager men, women and children would hasten westward to lay 
 the foundations of great democratic commonwealths. Little did he realize that within 
 a few years his name would be inseparably linked with the Wilderness Road. 
 
 Boone went at the job of carving a road through with a will; his dreams of living 
 in Kentucky had long been thwarted; now success was promised. He enlisted thirty 
 of the best woodmen of the region without difficulty, because, among other reasons, was 
 the enticing terms of acquiring land offered. 3 
 
 6— Vol. I 
 
68 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 In order for his road to be as accessible as possible to likely immigrants, Colonel 
 Henderson had it started at Long Island, in the Upper Holston, just south of the 
 present line between Virginia and Tennessee — in easy reach of the Valley of Virginia 
 settlements. The company, each member explicitly agreeing to put himself "under 
 the management and control of Colonel Boone, who was to be out pilot and conductor 
 through the wilderness to the promised land," 4 launched their enterprise March 10, 1775. 
 From the Holston, the road builders struck out in as straight a line as possible, winding 
 only now and then to avoid hazardous and tedious ascents and descents, tangled wilder- 
 ness and difficult streams. They crossed Clinch and Powell's rivers and arrived at the 
 Gap without untoward event; they had glazed trees at intervals and cut down the 
 undergrowth. 
 
 Until reaching the Rockcastle River, the trail blazers had experienced no incident 
 more exciting than a bear hunt. However, from that point difficulties and dangers 
 developed and increased rapidly. Their destination was a fine open expanse of land 
 in the Bluegrass region at the confluence of Otter Creek with the Kentucky — an ideal 
 spot selected by Boone long before. To reach this the company turned northward 
 from the Rockcastle and "at once plunged into a region of dead brushwood, through 
 which not even the buffalo had penetrated. The going was very painful; every foot 
 of the way had to be cut or burned through, twenty miles. This dead brush country 
 was succeeded by a scarcely less difficult, though more level country, covered with a 
 dense growth of cane, necessitating more cutting and tedious progress. Still they per- 
 severed until the "promised land" was reached. In the language of Felix Walker: 
 "We began to discover the pleasing and rapturous appearance of the plains of Kentucky. 
 A new sky and strange earth seemed to be presented to our view. So rich a soil we 
 had never seen before — covered with clover in full bloom. The woods were abounding 
 with wild game — turkeys so numerous that it might be said they appeared but one 
 flock, universally scattered in the woods. It appeared that nature, in the profusion 
 of her bounty, had spread a feast for all that lived, both for the animal and rational 
 world. A sight so delightful to our view and so grateful to our feelings almost in- 
 clined us in transport to kiss the soil of Kentucky — in imitation of Columbus, as he 
 hailed and saluted the sand on his first setting foot on the shores of America." 
 ATTACK BY THE INDIANS AT SILVER CREEK, MARCH 24, 1775 
 
 Believing that Indian attack was, for the time being at least, not to be expected, 
 Boone, his mind centered upon building the settlement, hastened as rapidly as possible 
 toward the selected site on the Kentucky. On the night of March 24th while encamped 
 near Silver Creek in present Madison County, not more than fifteen miles from their 
 goal, his company was stealthily surrounded by an Indian war-party. So quietly did 
 the savages take their stations behind trees to wait that the road-makers were com- 
 pletely unaware of their presence until awakened at dawn by their unearthly yells, 
 presaging the beginning of their attack. The affair might have resulted in the slaughter 
 of the Whites but for the high aim of the red men and the coolness of Captain Boone, 
 Who, deserted by a few who took to flight, managed to rally most of the company 
 and to force the savages, who really were few in number, as he had surmised, to with- 
 draw quickly. The engagement resulted in the instant death of one of the Whites, the 
 severe wounding of another, who succumbed three days later, and the painful, though 
 not fatal, wounding of Felix Walker. 
 
 BOONE WRITES TO HENDERSON 
 
 Fearing that the repulsed marauders would secure reinforcements and return to 
 attack again Boone had a crude log fort thrown up as quickly as possible. Mean- 
 while, anxious concerning the stability of his companions, he dispatched a letter to 
 Colonel Henderson, who was coming up at a leisurely pace. A part of the letter, 
 
Caufield and Shook. 
 
 BOONESBOROUGH 
 Under the "Old Elm," May, 
 
 1775- 
 
70 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 here quoted, is rather revealing: "After my compliments to you I shall acquaint you 
 with our misfortune. On March 25 a party of Indians fired on my company about 
 half an hour before day, and killed Mr. Twetty and his negro, and wounded Mr. 
 Walker very deeply, but I hope he will recover. On March 28, as we were hunting 
 for provisions, we found Samuel Tate's son, who gave us an account that the Indians 
 fired on their camp on the 27th day. My brother and I went down and found two 
 men killed and scalped, Thomas McDowell and Jeremiah McPheters. I have sent a 
 man down to all the lower companies [Harrodstown and several camps] in order to 
 gather them all to the mouth of Otter Creek." 
 
 "My advice to you, sir, it to come or send as soon as possible. Your company is 
 desired greatly, for the people are very uneasy, but are willing to stay and venture 
 their lives with you, and now is the time to flusterate [sic] the intentions of the Indians, 
 and keep the country, whilst we are in it. If we give way to them now, it will ever 
 be the case. This day we start from the battleground, for the mouth of Otter Creek, 
 where we shall immediately erect a fort, which will be done before you can come or 
 send — then we can send ten men to meet you, if you send for them. 
 
 "N. B. — We stood on the ground and guarded our baggage till day, and lost nothing. 
 We have about fifteen miles to Cantuck [the Kentucky River] at Otter Creek." 
 
 The road-makers had little work to do between Silver Creek and their destination, 
 as a well-beaten buffalo trace was found leading to Big Lick of the Kentucky. Before 
 reaching Otter Creek's mouth, the members of the company were startled by the dull 
 earth-shaking sound, so familiar to Boone — a herd of two or three hundred buffalos 
 thundering toward the Kentucky. Boone led the party to an eminence to behold the 
 awe-inspiring spectacle. On the eminence they were also able to view the wonderous 
 Kentucky panorama that had so thrilled and delighted Boone, beheld it in all its 
 gorgeously verdant and wild-flowered richness and liveliness. "When they arose," in 
 the words of Mr. Bruce, "at Boone's bidding, it was to descend a gentle slope to a 
 beautiful level in a sheltered hollow. Open toward the Kentucky, which coursed with 
 quiet dignity beneath a precipitous bank, the level was well wooded as it receded inland. 
 Here, as Boone indicated with a wave of his hand, was the end of his Wilderness 
 Road." 7 The site was "a plain on the south side of the river, wherein was a lick with 
 two sulphur springs strongly impregnated." 8 According to Walker's narrative, a 
 fort was begun and a few cabins. This fort, however, was not completed for a long 
 time, because the settlers, soon callous to danger, immediately became completely 
 absorbed in the scramble for good lands.' The "town," the capital of Transylvania, 
 was given the appropriate name, Boonesborough. Wrote Mr. Walker: "We lived 
 plentifully on wild meat, buffalo, bear, deer, and turkey, without bread or salt, generally 
 in good health, until the month of July, when I left the country." 10 
 
 The obtaining of good titles to the lands became a complicated problem indeed. 
 The method of surveying was very inaccurate. Practically every settler became his own 
 surveyor. "With a compass and chain," writes Professor Thwaites, "a few hours' 
 work would suffice to mark the boundaries of a thousand-acre tract."" Claims over- 
 lapped each other in the most bewildering manner. Again quoting from Professor 
 Thwaites: "A speculator who 'ran out' a hundred thousand acres might, without know- 
 ing it, include in his domain a half dozen claims previously surveyed by modest settlers 
 who wanted but a half hundred acres each." 1 " A settler might patent any lands he 
 pleased, but the colony and later the state guaranteed only such entries as covered 
 land not already patented. Overlapping of land claims led to thousands of lawsuits — 
 supplied a lucrative field of endeavor for ambitious young lawyers, who were attracted 
 to the territory early. 
 
 Boone, quickly becoming a surveyor, had laid off the town into two acre lots, which 
 were drawn at public lottery. Those who wished larger tracts in the neighborhood 
 
H I S T O RY O F K E N T U C K Y 71 
 
 might obtain them by promising to plant a crop of corn and by paying to the Transyl- 
 vania Company a quit-rent of two English shillings for each hundred acres. 
 
 FIRST STATIONS 
 
 During that spring three other settlements were established in Transylvania: Harris- 
 burg (previously settled), about fifty miles west of Boonesborough, with about a 
 hundred men; Boiling Spring, about half way between Harrodsburg and Danville, 
 more or less under the leadership of Colonel James Harrod; St. Asaph's (approximately 
 the site of present-day Stanford) , with perhaps thirty men, including Jo Drake (Floyd's 
 brother-in-law) , under young Captain John Floyd, sent out by Colonel William Preston, 
 Chief Surveyor of Fincastle County, Virginia, to keep a bright lookout upon the 
 activities of the "pseudo-proprietor," Henderson, and to gobble up as much good land 
 as possible. During the summer Benjamin Logan arrived with his company and 
 established his station near the site of St. Asaph. 1 North of the Kentucky, on the 
 crown lands were two small stations: Hinkson's, later known as Ruddell's, where were 
 established about nineteen men, near present-day Paris, Bourbon County; and farther 
 down the river on the north side Willis Lee's little settlement, near the present Frankfort. 
 
 Meanwhile Colonel Henderson was plodding his way toward Kentucky. He had 
 completed his preparations two days after the treaty was signed, leaving Watauga 
 on the 20th of March. Professor Rank writes: "The expedition was a prophecy of 
 permanent occupation, for it included not only forty mounted riflemen and quite a 
 number of negro slaves, but a drove of beeves, forty pack-horses, and a train of wagons 
 loaded with provisions, ammunition, material for making gunpowder, seed corn, garden 
 seed, and a varied store of articles of prime necessity at an isolated settlement. Hen- 
 derson was accompanied by four other members of the Company, viz: the Harts and 
 John Luttrell, by his brother, Samuel Henderson, and by the patriotic William Cocke, 
 who had recently declined military service under the royal Governor of Virginia, whose 
 proclamation was issued the very day after the company started, threatening the mem- 
 bers of the Company with fine and imprisonment if they persisted in the occupancy 
 of crown lands in Virginia . . ." Another member of the party was William Bailey 
 Smith, one of the witnesses of the recent treaty — a Virginian surveyor, recently migrated 
 to North Carolina, "tall, rollicking, unstable bachelor, energetic and brave, but with 
 quite a talent for embellishing facts." 10 
 
 HENDERSON'S JOURNEY TO BOONESBOROUGH 
 
 Henderson's company managed, widening the roads somewhat, to reach the last cabin 
 on the blazed trail leading to Cumberland Gap within ten days. There the wagons 
 with the heavy articles had to be abandoned for the time. This last cabin was in what 
 is now Lee County, Virginia; it was occupied by Captain Joseph Martin, daring hunter 
 and fur-trader, the Company's agent for the Powell's Valley division. Of its purchase, 
 who, with several men probably had gone in advance of Henderson's party. At Martin's, 
 the company was joined by William Calk, who kept a journal of the expedition, and 
 four other immigrants from Virginia. It was on April 7, at the Gap that Boone's 
 urgent letter was received. At about the same time they met the first panic stricken 
 refugees hastening back to the settlements. The frantic account ejaculated by these 
 caused their ranks to swell, and Henderson to push on as rapidly as possible. When 
 his men had reached the Cumberland River, where more demoralizing refugees had 
 been encountered, he attempted to get volunteers to carry a message through to Boone. 
 Only one volunteered, the black-eyed, black-haired young rifleman, Captain William 
 Cocke. So agitated and pessimistic had the members of Henderson's party become that 
 there was little hope that the steady and resolute Boone would be found with any 
 
72 A S E SQ U'l -CENTENNIAL 
 
 followers. Worthy of pondering is the idea that perhaps no other than Boone could 
 have prevented the country from being entirely abandoned. Henderson later stated: 
 "It was owing to Boone's confidence in us and the people's in him that a stand was 
 ever attempted." 16 
 
 After the killing of one of their number, on April 4, by the Indians, the Boones- 
 borough settlers, with one exception, experienced no further difficulty for a long time. 
 A number of circumstances aided them: Cornstalk frowned upon treaty violations by 
 the red men, thus checking the Shawnees; while the Cherokees at least for the time 
 respected the Sycamore Shoals agreement. As Boone had suspected, the marauders, 
 who had attacked at Silver Creek, were few in numbers, in fact irregulars discoun- 
 tenanced by the tribes generally. 
 
 HENDERSON'S JOURNEY 
 
 As most of the events of Boonesborough's history during the first few weeks were 
 recorded by Colonel Henderson, perhaps it will be well to quote here his "Journal of 
 a Trip to 'Cantuckey' and of Events at Boonesboro in 1775" 1 ' (Draper MSS) , be- 
 ginning with the conclusion of the Treaty of Sycamore Shoals: 
 
 Monday, March 20th, 1775. Having finished my treaty with the Indians at Wa- 
 taugah, set out for Louisa. 
 
 Tuesday, 21st. Went to Mr. John Seviers. 
 
 Thursday, 23rd. Still at Mr. Seviers because our horses were lost though not uneasy 
 as Messrs. Hart and Luttrell made a poor hand of traveling. 
 
 Friday, 24th. Set off in pursuit of Hart and Luttrell, overtook them both, and 
 lodged at Capt. Bledsoes. 
 
 Saturday, 25th. Came to Mrs. Callaways. 
 
 Monday, 27th. Employed in storing away goods. 
 
 Wednesday, 29th. Continued our journey. 
 
 Thursday, 30th. Arrived at Capt. Martins in Powells Valley. 
 
 Friday, 31st. Employed in making house to secure the wagons as we could not 
 possibly clear the road any further. My wagon and Saml. Henderson came up — also 
 Mr. Luttrell in the evening. 
 
 Saturday, April 1st. Employed in making ready for packing. Mr. Hart came up. 
 
 Tuesday, 4th. Waiting for the wagon — the same evening the wagon arrived though 
 so late we could not proceed. 
 
 Wednesday, 5th. Started off with our pack horses ab't 3 o'clock. Traveled about 
 5 miles to a large spring — the same evening Mr. Luttrell went out hunting and has 
 not yet returned. Nathl Henderson & Jas. Durring went in pursuit of him. — The same 
 evening Saml. Hendersons & John Farrars horses took a scare with their packs and ran 
 away with same. 
 
 Next morning Saml. Henderson 6C Farrar went in pursuit of their horses. 
 
 Thursday, 6th. Traveled about six miles to the last settlement in Powells Valley, 
 where we were obliged to stop and kill a beef wait for Saml. Henderson, &c. Saml. 
 Henderson & John Farrar returned to us with their horses packs and everything safe — 
 we having waited at our camp 10 miles below Martins for them. 
 
 Friday, 7th. About break of day begun to snow. About 11 o'clock received a 
 letter from Mr. Luttrells camp that five persons were killed on the road to the Can- 
 tuckee, by Indians. Capt. Hart, upon the receipt of this news, retreated back with his 
 company and determin'd to settle in the Valley to make corn for the Cantuckey people. 
 
 The same day received a letter from Daniel Boone that his company was fired upon by 
 Indians who killed two of his men though he kept the ground and saved the baggage 
 &c. 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 73 
 
 Saturday, 8th. Started about 10 o'clock. Crossed Cumberland Gap about 4 miles 
 away met about 40 persons returning from the Cantuckey on account of the late mur- 
 ders by the Indians. Could prevail on one only to return. Several Virginians who were 
 with us returned home. 
 
 Sunday, 9th. Arrived at Cumberland River where we met Robt Wills & his son 
 returning. 
 
 Monday, 10th. Dispatched Capt. Cocke to the Cantuckey to inform Capt. Boone 
 that we were on the road. Continued at camp that day on account of the badness of the 
 weather. 
 
 Tuesday, 11th. Started from Cumberl'd, made a very good days travel of near 20 
 miles, kill'd beef &c. 
 
 Wednesday, 12th. Traveled about 5 miles — prevented going any further by the 
 rains and high water at Richland Creek. 
 
 Thursday, 13th. Last night arrived near our camp Stewart and ten other men who 
 camped within half mile of us on their return from Louisa. Camped that night at 
 Sorrel River — they had well nigh turned three or four of our Virginians back. 
 
 Saturday, 15th. Travel'd about 18 miles and camped on the North side of Rock 
 Castle River — this river a fork of Cumberland. Lost an ax this morning at camp. 
 
 Sunday, 16th. About 12 o'clock met James McAfee with 18 other persons returning 
 from Cantuckey. Travel'd about 22 miles and camped on the head of Dicks River 
 where Lunca from McAfees camp came to us resolved to go to the Louisa. 
 
 Monday, 17th. Started. About 3 o'clock prevented by rain. Travel'd 7 miles. 
 
 Tuesday, 18th. Travel'd about 16 miles. Met Michael Stoner with pack horses to 
 assist us. Camp'd that night in the eye of the rich land. Stoner brought us excellent 
 beef in plenty. 
 
 Wednesday, 19th. Travel'd about 16 miles and camped on Otter Creek — a good 
 mill place. 
 
 Thursday, 20th. Arrived at Fort Boone on the mouth of Otter Creek, Cantuckey 
 River where we were saluted by a running fire of about 25 Guns, all that was then at 
 Fort — the Men appeared in high spirits and much rejoiced on our arrival. 
 
 Friday, 21st. On Viewing the Fort, and finding the plan not sufficient to admit of 
 building for the reception of our company and a scarcity of ground suitable for clearing 
 at such an advanced season, was at some loss how to proceed, Mr. Boone's company 
 having laid off most of the adjacent good lands into lots of two acres each and taking 
 as it fell to each individual by lot was in actual possession and occupying them. After 
 some preplexity resolved to erect a fort on the opposite side of a large lick near the 
 river bank which would place us at the distance of about 300 yards from the other 
 fort the only commodious place near or where we could be of any service to Boone's 
 men or vice versa. On communicating my thought to Mr. Luttrell on this subject 
 with my reasons for preferring this place to a large spring over a hill about three 
 quarters of a mile from Fort Boone, he readily gave his assent and seemed pleased 
 with the choice. Mr. Hart said in a very cold indifferent manner "he thought it might 
 do well enough." Accordingly 'twas resolved, that a fort should be built at said place 
 and we moved our tents to the ground — i. e. Mr. Luttrell and myself and our particular 
 company lodged there Saturday night, 22d. 
 
 Sunday, 23d. Passed the day without public worship as no place provided for that 
 purpose. Monday proceeded with the assistance of Capt. Boone & Col. Callaway in 
 laying off lots, finished 19 besides one reserved round a fine spring. Tuesday finished 
 the lots in all 54 i. e. new ones. 
 
 Saturday, 22d. Finished running off all the lots we could conveniently get, to-wit 
 54 & gave notice of our intention of having them drawn for in the evening but as 
 Mr. Robt McAfee, his brother Sami & some more were not well satisfied whether they 
 
74 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 would draw or not, wanting to go down the river about 50 miles near Capt Harrods 
 settlement where they had begun improvements and left them on the late alarm. In- 
 formed by myself in hearing of all attending, that such settlements should not entitle 
 them to lands from us. Appeared much concerned and at a loss what to do. On which 
 the lottery was deferred til next morning at sun rise; thereby giving them time to come 
 to a resolution. 
 
 Sunday, 23. Drew lots. 
 
 Tuesday, 25. Had a second lottery at the end of which every body seemed well 
 satisfied. I had been able by one way or other to obtain 4 lots for the fort garden &c. 
 
 Wednesday, 26. Other people coming, employed in showing lots for their use. 
 Sowed small seed, planted cucumbers &c. 
 
 Thursday, 27. Employed in clearing Fort lot &c. Mr. Luttrell, Nat Henderson & 
 Saml Henderson all that assisted me. Mr. Hart having made choice of a piece of 
 ground for his own & people's cultivation adjacent to the town lands said, Mr. Luttrell 
 reported, that he would have nothing to say to the Fort, things were managed in such 
 a manner, tho' cannot guess the reason of his discontent. 
 
 Friday, 28th. Mr. Luttrell chose a piece of ground about 3/4 of a mile from the 
 fort and set three of his people to work. Two remained with me to assist in cleauring 
 about where the fort is to stand. 
 
 Saturday, 29. Built or rather begun a little house for magazine but did not finish it. 
 
 Wednesday, May 3d. Finished the magazine. Capt. John Floyd arrived here con- 
 ducted by one Jo. Drake from a camp on Dicks River where he had left about 30 men 
 in his company from Virginia, and said he was sent by them to know on what terms 
 they might settle our lands — That if terms were reasonable they would pitch on some 
 place on which to make corn, or otherwise go on the north side of the River. Was 
 much at a loss on account of his message as he was Surveyor of Fincastle under Col 
 Preston who had exerted himself against us. We thought it most advisable to secure 
 them to our interest if possible. Accordingly though the season was too far advanced 
 to make much corn, yet promised them land. 
 
 We restrained these men to settle some where in a compact body for mutual defense, 
 and to be obedient to such laws as should from time to time be made for the Govern- 
 ment of all the adventurers on our purchase and gave them leave to make choice of 
 any lands not before marked by any of our men, or a certain Capt & his men who were 
 settled some where about 50 miles west of us on the head of Salt River of whom we 
 could form no conjecture, but thought it best to prevent any interuption to him or his 
 men 'til we should know, what he intended with respect to us and our titles. The day 
 before this one Capt Collomes and Mr Berry with five other men arrived here from 
 Virginia, and gladly treated with us for lands and other indulgences which we granted. 
 
 Thursday, 4th. Capt Floyd returned home, seemed highly pleased with gaining his 
 point and expressed great satisfaction on being informed of the plan we proposed for 
 legislation which is no more than the peoples sending delegates to act for them in 
 Gen. Conventions &c. 
 
 Friday, 5th. Nothing material — let Mr. Wm Cocke have five yards & a half ozna- 
 burgs off my old tent for which I charge him 5s 6 d Va. money. 
 
 Sunday, 7th. Went into the woods with my brother's Nat, Saml. and Capt Boone 
 after a horse left out on Saturday night. Stayed till night & on our return found Capt 
 Harrod & Col Thomas Slaughter from Harrods Town on Dicks River. 
 
 Monday, 8th, Rainey. Was much embarrassed with a dispute between the above 
 mentioned. Capt Harrod with about 40 men settled on Salt River last year, was driven 
 off and joined the army with 30 of his men and being determined to live in this country 
 had come down this spring from Monongahala accompanied by about 50 men, most 
 of them young persons without families. They came on Harrods invitation. These 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 75 
 
 men had got possession some time before we got here. The reception our plan of 
 legislation met with from these gentlemen as well as Capt Floyd gave us great pleasure 
 and we therefore immediately set about the business and appointed a meeting for 
 Tuesday the 23d Instant at Boonesborough and according made out writings for the 
 different towns to sign and wrote to Capt Floyd appointing an election. Harrodsburgh 
 & the Boiling Spring settlement received their summons verbally by the gentlemen 
 aforesaid. 
 
 Tuesday, 9th. Col Slaughter & Capt Harrod took their departure in great good 
 humor. Our plantation business went on as usual, some people planting others pre- 
 paring &c — We found it very difficult at first to stop great waste in killing meat. 
 Some would kill three, four, five or 1/2 a dozen buffaloes and not take half a horse 
 load from them all. For want of a little obligatory law our game as soon as we 
 got here, if not before, was driven off very much. Fifteen or 20 miles was as short a 
 distance as good hunters thought of getting meat, nay sometimes they were obliged 
 to go thirty though by chance once or twice a week buffaloe was killed within 5 or six 
 miles. It was some pleasure to find wonton men were afraid of discovery & I am 
 convinced this fear saved the lives of many buffaloes, elks and deer — as to bear, no 
 body wasted any that was fit to eat nor did we care about them. 
 
 Wednesday, 10th. Nothing remarkable. 
 
 Thursday, 11th. Common occurrences. 
 
 Friday, 12th. Old story. 
 
 Saturday, 13. No scouring of floors, sweeping of yards or scalding bedsteads here. 
 
 Sunday, 14. No Divine service, our church not being finished — that is to say, about 
 50 yards from the place where I am writing and right before me to the south (the 
 River about 50 yards behind my camp and a fine spring a little to the west) stands 
 one of the finest elms, that perhaps nature ever produced in any region. This tree is 
 placed in a beautiful plain surrounded by a turf of fine white clover forming a green 
 to its very stock to which there is scarcely anything to be likened. The trunk is about 
 4 feet through to the first branches which are about 9 feet high from the ground thence 
 above it so regularly extends its large branches on every side at such equal distances 
 as to form the most beautiful tree that imagination can suggest. The diameter of 
 its branches from the extream ends is 100 feet — and every fair day it describes a semi- 
 circle on the heavenly green around it, of upward of 400 feet and any time between the 
 hours of 10 & 2 100 persons may commodiously seat them selves under its branches. 
 
 This divine tree or rather one of the many proofs of the existence from all eternity 
 of its Divine Author, is to be our church, state-house — council chamber &c and having 
 many things on our hands have not had time to erect a pulpit, seats &Cc but hope by 
 Sunday, Sennight, to perform divine service for the first time — in a public manner 
 and that to a set of scoundrels who scarcely believe in God or fear a devil if we were 
 to judge from most of their looks, words and actions. 
 
 Monday, 15th. Express arrived, ten men, including Maj. Bowman, Capt. Bowman 
 and one Capt. Moore. 
 
 Tuesday, 16th continue, eating meat without bread, and should be very contended 
 were it not for the absence of four men who went down the River by land on Fryday. 
 
 Wednesday, 17th. Hunters not returned. No meat but fat bear. Almost starved. 
 Drank a little coffee & trust to luck for dinner. Am just going to our little plant 
 patches in hopes the greens will bear cropping, if so a sumptuous dinner indeed. Mr. 
 Calloways men got a little spoild buffaloe and elk, which we made out with pretty 
 well depending on amendment tomorrow. 
 
 Thursday, 18th. 'Tis now 12 o'clock and no news of the hunters or the absentees. 
 3 o'clock. Hunters came in but no news of the lost men. 
 
76 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 Friday, 19th. Sent off Mr. Stoner with Capt. Calloway and some of his men in 
 search of persons above mentioned. 
 
 Saturday, 20th. The election for Booneborough was held this afternoon with great 
 regularity when Squire Boone, Daniel Boone, William Cocke, Samuel Henderson, 
 William Moore, and Richard Callaway were elected. 
 
 Sunday, 21st. Capt. Callomees men returned — had been lost. Gave great pleasure. 
 
 Monday, 22d. One Capt. Thos. Guess arrived from above Pittsburg with six or 
 seven men. 
 
 Tuesday, 23d. Delegates met from every town. Pleased with their stations and in 
 great good humor. 
 
 Wednesday, 24th. The Convention met. Sent a message acquainting me that they 
 had chosen Col. Thos Slaughter Chairman, and Mr. Matt Jouett Clerk of which I 
 approved. Open'd the business by a short speech &c. 
 
 Thursday, 25th. Three of the members of the committee waited on the proprietors 
 with a very sensible address — which asked leave to read; read it and delivered in 
 return an answer &c — business went on &c. This day four bills were fabricated & 
 read — 1 for establishing tribunals of justice & recovery of debts — 2d for establishing 
 a militia — 3d for preventing the distruction of game Sic forth a law, concerning fees. 
 The delegates very good men and much disposed to serve their country. 
 
 Saturday, 27th. Finished convent'n in good order — Every body pleas'd. 
 
 Sunday, 28th. Divine service for the first time by the Rev. John Lyth, minister of 
 the Gospel, of England. Most of the Delegates returnd home. 
 
 Monday, 29. No letters from our friends. Letter with an account of the battle, at 
 Boston. 
 
 Friday, 2d June. Hunters returned, very good meal. 
 
 Sunday, 4th. Divine service by Mr. Lyth. 
 
 Monday, 5. Made out commissions for Harrodsburg, Boiling Spring and St. Asaph, 
 both military and civil. 
 
 Tuesday, 6. Abundance of people going away — Selling their lots &c. 
 
 Tuesday, 13th. Col. Boone set off for his family and the young men went with him 
 for salt. 
 
 Saturday, 17th. Muster of men at the fort by Capt. Moore. Thirty two appeared 
 under arms. 
 
 Sunday, 18. Corn planted 26 or 27 of April was tasseled or shot. Had a mess of 
 snap beans. Peas ripe. No meat. Two men from Va. Found bacon on which with 
 the beans we had an excellent dinner. 
 
 Wednesday, 21. Returned home late at night from hunting with a load of buffalo. 
 
 Friday, 23d. Bro. Samuel and two others set off down the river in a canoe to hunt 
 elk, our horses being too much fatigued with constant riding. 
 
 28th. Scarcity of meat. 
 
 30th. Meat plenty and many joyful countenances. 
 
 Saturday, July 1, 1775. Dry weather. People going away. Mr. Luttrell and myself 
 set off for Harrodsburg. Were four days bogning [boggling] in the woods seeking 
 the way. Went too near the river and much plagued with the hills, cane and bad ways. 
 
 Wednesday, July 5. Arrived at Capt. Harrods and found all well. 
 
 Friday, 7th. Set off back in company with Mr. Slaughter and about 12 others who 
 were going in to bring out their families or stock. Harrodsburg seemed quite abandoned; 
 only five men left on the spot to guard the crop &c. We suffered in this journey a little 
 for want of provisions. The weather very dry and the springs being scarce, water was 
 rarely to be gotten. Buffaloe had abandoned their range & were gone into other parts. 
 When we got to this place we found all well, but a scarcity of meat. Sundry people 
 gone since we left home & more going. 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 77 
 
 Wednesday, 12th. Horses being almost worn out my Brothers Nathaniel and Samuel 
 with some others went up the river in a canoe to get meat if possible. Our salt quite 
 out except about a quart which I brought from Harrodsburg. The men sent for salt 
 not yet returned, nor any news from the East — Times a little melancholy, provisions 
 very scarce, no salt, to enable us to save meat at any distance from home, no accou't 
 or arrival from within; Weather very dry — and we not able to raise above fourteen or 
 fifteen fighting men at any one time unless they were all summond, which could not 
 easily be done without long notice they being much dispersed, Hunting &c. 
 
 Thursday, 13th July. Things as usual. Meat a little difficult to get. 
 
 Thursday, 20th. Capt. Linn & his company set off down the river to Lee's settlement 
 with whom I sent two men for a little salt, our men being not yet return'd. 
 
 Sunday, 23d. Nothing uncommon more than a fellow called Grampus belonging 
 to Mr. Luttrell ran away on Thursday which was thought nothing of at first — supposing 
 he would return, but on Saturday it was discovered that he had stolen Mr. Luttrells 
 mare (his only riding beast) and was totally gone. 
 
 Monday, 24th. Mr. Luttrell took a resolution of following his man, and immediately 
 set off. I have intentions of going home as soon as a sufficient number of people come 
 to defend the fort. 
 
 Tuesday, 25th. Weather dry & are still in great want. By Capt. Linn we are 
 informed that 5 or six men were gone down the Ohio to the Falls by order of Capt. 
 Bullet. Mr. Bullets order & his mens resolutions were to pay no regard to our title 
 but settle the land nolens volens. They also inform me that Major Connelly is resolved 
 on the same conduct. 
 
 ;fc jjl ifc Jfc ifc 5$: 
 
 The occurrences of tomorrow & so on you'll find in another stitched book cover'd 
 with brown paper & begins with Wednesday 26th July 1775. 
 
 ESTABLISHING A GOVERNMENT, MAY, 1775 
 
 Little time transpired before shrewd Colonel Henderson determined to unite the 
 settlements of his colony under a government established by delegates of the various 
 communities. The imminent danger from the Indians, the desertion by a third or more 
 of the settlers, the rising resentment by Virginian officials, the disputes, particularly at 
 Harrodstown, relative to obtaining land, the apparent lawlessness and stupidity as to 
 defense, on the part of most of the settlers: These considerations brought about the 
 convening, at Boonesborough on Tuesday, May 23, 1775, of delegates chosen by settlers 
 of four Stations. 
 
 DELEGATES TO THE BOONESBOROUGH CONVENTION, MAY, 1775 
 
 Boonesborough had chosen Squire Boone, Daniel Boone, William Cocke, Samuel 
 Henderson, William Moore and Richard Calloway; Harrodsburg sent Thomas Slaughter, 
 John Lythe, Valentine Harmon and James Douglass; Boiling Spring had elected James 
 Harrod, Nathan Hammond, Isaac Hite and Azariah Davis; while St. Asaph was rep- 
 resented by John Todd, Alexander Spotswood Dandridge, John Floyd and Samuel 
 Wood. 
 
 After having chosen Colonel Thomas Slaughter to be Chairman and Matthew Jouett 
 as Clerk and listened to divine services by the Rev. John Lythe, the House awaited 
 the message of Colonel Henderson, like the Parliament the message of the King. And 
 truly the address of a monarch would likely have been no more regal in bearing, 
 erudite in composition or ceremonious in form; the able though pompous proprietor, 
 thinking of posterity and the pages of history, could not refrain from taking advantage 
 of the occasion to deliver a profound, ponderous, pompous, and prophetic message 
 
78 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 which the centuries could not erase. Being profoundly impressed with the solemnity 
 and auspiciousness of the hour, the Judge ground out a classic. Here is quoted a part 
 of the message: 
 
 "Mr. Chairman, and Gentlemen of the Convention: You are called and assembled at 
 this time for a noble and an honorable purpose — a purpose, however ridiculous or idle 
 it may appear at first view, to superficial minds, yet is of the most solid consequence; 
 and if prudence, firmness, and wisdom are suffered to influence your councils and direct 
 your conduct, the peace and harmony of thousands may be expected to result from 
 your deliberations; in short, you are about a work of the utmost importance to the 
 well-being of this country in general, in which the interest and security of each and 
 every individual is inseparably connected; for that state is truly sick, politically speaking, 
 whose laws or edicts are not careful equally of the different members, and most distant 
 branches, which constitute the whole." 18 
 
 HENDERSON'S MESSAGE TO THE HOUSE 
 
 Judge Henderson envisaged distant generations rising up in deep gratitude and calling 
 them blessed. "You, perhaps," he continued, "are fixing the palladium, or placing 
 the first corner-stone of an edifice, the height and magnificence of whose superstructure 
 is now in the womb of futurity, and can only become great and glorious in proportion 
 to the excellence of its foundation. These considerations, gentlemen, will, no doubt, 
 animate and inspire you with sentiments worthy the grandeur of the subject." 1 ' 
 
 Admonishing that their common danger from the Indians should "secure to us an 
 union of interests" and "harmony in opinion," Colonel Henderson passed to a review 
 of the contract theory of government, dwelling upon its efficacies, then plunged into 
 a learned discourse upon the felicities of law and the beneficence in obedience thereto. 
 He recommended the establishment of tribunals for restraining vice and immorality as 
 well as recovering debts and determining disputes — these to be based upon the laws 
 of England; he asked further that provisions for a regulated militia be made and warned 
 that legislation would have to be passed providing for the preservation of the fast- 
 dwindling game. He assured the delegates that nothing need be feared concerning 
 validity of titles to their lands. As a matter of fact, upon this point, the Judge be- 
 came animated. He dismissed with contempt "the unworthy and scandalous assertions, 
 together with the groundless insinuations contained in an infamous and scurrilous libel 
 lately printed and published, concerning the settlement of this country, the author of 
 which avails himself of his station, and under the specious pretense of proclamation, 
 pompously dressed up and decorated in the garb of authority, has uttered inventives 
 of the most malignant kind, and endeavors to wound the good name of persons, whose 
 moral character would derive little advantage by being placed in competition with his, 
 charging them, among other things equally untrue, with a design 'of forming an 
 asylum for debtors and other persons of desperate circumstances,' placing the pro- 
 prietors of the soil at the head of a lawless train of abandoned villians, against whom 
 the regal authority ought to be exerted, and every possible measure taken to put an 
 immediate stop to so dangerous an enterprise." 20 
 
 In replying to the Proprietor's message, the delegates expressed approbation of the 
 document and concurred both in the theories expressed and the practical governmental 
 necessities. They set to work immediately in their crude open-air hall under the 
 stately elm to establish a government, following British parliamentary forms as meticu- 
 lously and tediously as wilderness conditions would permit. Many of the settlers were 
 educated men, well-versed in British law and procedure. 
 
 Although it had convened on May 23, the convention finished its task four days 
 later. That day (27th) many bills became law, the principal ones of which were: 1. 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 79 
 
 An act for establishing courts of jurisdiction and regulating the practice therein; 
 2. An act for regulating a militia; 3. An act for the punishment of criminals; 4. An act 
 to prevent profane swearing, and Sabbath breaking; 5. An act for writs of attachment; 
 6. An act for ascertaining clerk's and sheriff's fees; 7. An act to preserve the range; 
 8. An act for improving the breed of horses; 9. An act for preserving game. Somehow, 
 item 6, for ascertaining clerks' and sheriffs' fees, was not signed. The convention 
 adjourned that day to meet again on the first Thursday in September." 
 
 BOONESBOROUGH CONVENTION, MAY, 23-27 
 
 As Professor Ranck points out, the compact agreed to by the proprietors and people 
 at Boonesborough on May 17, 1775, "takes historical precedence as the constitution 
 of the first representative government ever attempted west of the Alleghany Mountains.""" 
 
 The following day being the Sabbath, the delegates assembled once more before 
 dispersing to return to their stations, assembled to attend divine services. Under the 
 majestic elm, the delegates, amid the sweet surroundings of Kentucky's natural beauties 
 in late May, bowed their heads — both Anglicans and dissenters — and became a part of 
 the unique service conducted by the minister, Reverend John Lythe, of the Church of 
 England, and a resident of Harrodstown. This was apparently the first time that 
 divine services were officially held by the English-speaking pioneers in Kentucky. Com- 
 mon dangers had drawn the rough woodsmen together in fervent worship of God. The 
 Anglican lithurgy was followed — "the first and last time that prayers were ever 
 publicly recited on Kentucky soil for the King and the royal family of England,"" 
 because in less than a week the exciting news of the battle of Lexington, marking the 
 beginning of the Revolutionary War, reached Boonesborough, enkindling both patriotism 
 and anxiety in the breasts of the isolated woodsmen. Incidentally, the minister, Mr. 
 Lythe, who joined the Virginia militia within a short time, died two years later while 
 fighting pro-British Indians. The religious service in the backwoods was auspicious; 
 it set a precedent that officially Kentucky has not ceased to follow. 
 
 DR. JOHN SMYTH VISITS BOONESBOROUGH, JUNE, 1775 
 
 On June 8 the settlers were startled by the arrival of an English traveler, Dr. John 
 F. D. Smyth, by name, whose visit was ostensibly for the purpose of collecting data 
 for use in writing a book of travels in Colonial America (published in London in 1784). 
 Although he was perhaps acting as a sort of spy for Lord Dunmore and was interested 
 in forming an anti-colonial Indian confederation, Dr. Smyth seems to have done no 
 damage to the people, who were indeed suspicious, as may readily be imagined. His 
 journey was important because of his writings, his observations being both pithy and 
 penetrating. Boonesborough, the woodsmen and Colonel Henderson interested him 
 immensely. Concerning his observations at Boonesborough, he writes: 
 
 "I have observed that throughout all the back country, indeed I had almost said 
 throughout all America, there seems to be no such thing as any idea of subordination, 
 or difference of ranks in life; excepting from the weaker to the stronger; and from 
 the slaves to the whites. 
 
 "In any of their forts it was all anarchy and confusion, and you could not discover 
 what person commanded, for in fact no person did actually command entirely. 
 
 "This total want of subordination renders the whole country particularly disagreeable 
 to strangers, such especially as have been accustomed to the polished intercourse of 
 Europe; for in the back-woods, and frontiers especially, there is no degree of insolence, 
 impertinence and rudeness but they think themselves justifiable in practicing, either to 
 one another, or towards such as may come among them, and in a manner, as well as 
 
80 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 to an extent, that could not be credited by Europeans, had not so many seen and 
 experienced it. 
 
 "Mr. Henderson had epitomised, and simplified the laws of England, for the govern- 
 ment and internal police of his settlement. 
 
 "Magistrates were chosen by the inhabitants, but with his approbation; and such 
 disputes as could not be decided by one or two magistrates were determined by some- 
 thing like a jury, whose decisions were also regulated, and indeed in a great measure 
 directed likewise by Mr. Henderson himself. 
 
 "Although the inhabitants were in reality a rude, barbarous, and unpolished set of 
 men, yet you will frequently find pleasure in their conversation; their ideas are bold 
 and spirited, but their sentiments are not liberal. 
 
 "However, they are certainly a sensible, enterprising, hardy, unpolished race, yet open, 
 free, and hospitable. 
 
 "Pussillanimousness, cowardice and mean spirit appear not there; hitherto they have 
 not reached so far, and as yet are generally confined on the east of the mountains. 
 
 "In our rides through, and around this settlement we visited the confluence of the 
 Kentucky with the Ohio, and strolled for many miles on the banks of the last mentioned 
 river also. 
 
 "Near the confluence is the place on the banks of the Ohio where the skeletons of 
 nine elephants, as they are called, though many say erroneously, were discovered; which 
 has given rise to such multitudes or conjectures among the naturalists and philosophers, 
 without one of them being able to account for this very singular and extraordinary 
 circumstance in a manner reconcilable to common sense and reason. 
 
 "For there certainly is none of the species (of elephants) now in the whole continent 
 of North and South America. 
 
 "It has been lately denied that they are the bones of elephants; and they are asserted 
 to be the bones of some other very large animal, of which likewise at present none of 
 the species is to be found. 
 
 "I would not venture to pronounce upon my weak judgment, whether they are the 
 bones of elephants or not, I mean those few that I saw there, however I am very 
 certain that they are much larger than belong to any other quadruped in the world, 
 that I ever saw or heard of. 
 
 "But to what species they did belong or in what manner they came there, is more 
 than I can undertake to ascertain, or even to guess at." 24 
 
 Dr. Smith expressed amazement at what he termed Colonel Henderson's lack of 
 military perception, particularly in the matter of selecting the site for the fort, work 
 upon which, thanks to the restiveness and antagonism of the red men, had been re- 
 sumed; he not only criticized the site but also the structure of the fort, expressing doubt 
 of its ability to withstand attack. 
 
 THE FORT 
 
 As has been pointed out the settlers both because of laziness and greed for land lost 
 interest in the danger of attack. Work was discontinued upon the fort about June 12. 
 The station itself was unique and interesting. Professor Ranck describes this wilderness 
 outpost thus: "In the summer of 1775 it consisted of twenty-six one-story log cabins and 
 four block-houses, arranged after the usual pioneer style, in a hollow square estimated 
 as two hundred and sixty feet long and one hundred and eighty feet broad. The 
 block-houses, with their projecting second stories, formed the angles or bastions of the 
 fort, and the roofs of the cabins, which were shed-shaped, sloped inwardly. Spaces 
 between the block-houses and the cabins nearest them were intended to be stockaded, 
 but as pickets were the least needed features of the fort in time of peace, it is probable 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 81 
 
 that these were the parts neglected at this time, which afterward had to be supplied 
 to 'finish the fort.' Both cabins and stockades were provided with little portholes 
 for the rifles. The back of the station, so to speak, or back row of cabins comprising 
 one of its longest sides, was substantially parallel with the river, though one of the 
 angles on the river was nearer the bank than the other, while the front commanded 
 the open space in the hollow below the fort, in which were the lick and the two springs. 
 There were two gates — generally forgotten except in time of danger — one in the front 
 and the other in the back wall facing the river." 25 
 
 HENDERSON AND LUTTRELL QUIT BOONESBORO, AUGUST, 1775 
 
 Colonel Henderson and John Luttrell, having awaited the return of Daniel Boone 
 and Richard Callaway who had left Boonesboro on June 13 for the Clinch to fetch 
 their families thither, quit the Capital of Transylvania about the middle of August, to 
 attend pressing business in North Carolina, the former as fate decreed, not to return 
 for years and the latter never again. Boone, upon returning from the settlements, 
 brought numerous supplies, including the all-important item, salt, and a large company 
 of settlers, including the impetuous Hugh McGary — who, with a number of men, were 
 traveling to Harrodstown. With him was his family — including Mrs. Boone and his 
 grown daughter, Jemima — and approximately thirty settlers bound for Boonesborough. 
 
 THE FIRST ENGLISH WOMEN TO LIVE IN KENTUCKY 
 
 These women have not only the distinction of having been the first white women to 
 live in Kentucky but the only ones for at least three weeks. 20 With the arrival of 
 Colonel Callaway's family and those of William Pogue and Barney Stagner, life at 
 Boonesborough was transformed as though by magic: shaving, hair-cutting, washing, 
 sweeping, knitting, quilting and courting began — even looking glasses came into use. 
 
 FATE OF TRANSYLVANIA 
 
 As the summer wore on, the Kentucky settlers became dissatisfied with the proprietary 
 scheme established by Henderson and associates. Several reasons contributed. The 
 spirit of the revolution with its hatred of everything British and feudal spread rapidly 
 to the frontier, causing the settlers to feel more than ever that the land was theirs for 
 the taking — "squatting" had proven itself too popular at Watauga. As both Virginia 
 and North Carolina continued to depreciate the Henderson enterprise, as well as did 
 the Shawnese and even the Cherokees, the settlers were more and more convinced that 
 Transylvania's claim was not good, which was displeasing apparently only to the pro- 
 prietors. A sudden rise in the price of land, decreed by the proprietors, increased the 
 dissatisfaction of the settlers, particularly those at Harrodsburg, who remonstrated 
 formally to the authorities, without satisfactory results. 
 
 HOSTILE INDIAN ACTIVITY 
 
 In December of the year (1775) the Indian outrages in the vicinity of Boonesborough 
 so alarmed the inhabitants that they began to think of Virginia as the best possible 
 source of protection. Reports from friendly red men that the Western tribes were 
 rising against the "Big Knives" added to the anxiety at Boonesborough and Harrods- 
 burg. It was clearly realized that Henderson, who had journeyed to Williamsburg, 
 the Capital of Virginia, to intercede with the Assembly for the recognition of the pro- 
 prietors' title to Transylvania, would be unable to protect the colony in the event of 
 general hostility with the Indians. 
 
82 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK AND JOHN GABRIEL JONES CHOSEN DELE- 
 GATES TO VIRGINIA ASSEMBLY 
 
 Accordingly, Harrodsburg, in an eight day election, which began June 6, 1776, named 
 George Rogers Clark and John Gabriel Jones as delegates, of "West Fincastle," as the 
 new district was called, to carry a petition to the Convention of Virginia begging 
 recognition as a part of the "Old Dominion." The inhabitants of this settlement also 
 selected an "Executive Committee" to express the wishes of the people. This com- 
 mittee drew up the June petition to the Virginia Convention, the petition carried by 
 Clark and Jones. This petition requested Virginia to recognize and incorporate Transyl- 
 vania as a county of Virginia. 
 
 HARRODSBURG PETITIONS THE VIRGINIA ASSEMBLY FOR RECOG- 
 NITION, JUNE, 1776. 
 
 The young high-spirited Clark was away from Harrodsburg at the time of the voting 
 and was not aware of the nature of the proceedings transpiring. Upon returning and 
 receiving intelligence of developments, he was disappointed and vexed, but the people 
 had settled the matter, and he acquiesced. In his memoirs, Clark stated: "I wanted 
 deputies elected at Harrodsburg to treat with the Virginia Assembly. If valuable 
 considerations were procured we would declare ourselves citizens of the State, otherwise 
 we would establish an independent government." Although the Convention had ad- 
 journed before Clark, 27 who suffered a most trying journey — sustaining among other 
 calamities, scalded and bleeding feet — could submit his report, that body nevertheless 
 did make provision to determine accurately Virginia's charter rights in the Kentucky 
 territory and for an inquiry into alleged illegal purchases of land from the Indians. 
 These provisions portended serious trouble for the Transylvania Company, which 
 defended itself immediately by issuing a warning proclamation as to settlement on 
 disputed lands. These proceedings transpired in June and July of 1776. 
 
 Until the Assembly, the Council or Patrick Henry (the Governor) would act, the 
 fiery yet highly intelligent and resourceful young Clark could do little more in Williams- 
 burg than confer and wait. 
 
 In September the highly popular and romantic Captain John Floyd left Boones- 
 borough, relinquishing his position as surveyor of the corporation — a job later taken 
 for a while by Isaac Shelby — to journey to Williamsburg to aid Henderson, who, 
 together with James Hogg and John Williams was waging a desperate legal battle to 
 save Transylvania for the proprietors. 3 
 
 EXTINCTION OF TRANSYLVANIA 
 
 During the first session of the newly created State Legislature of Virginia, which 
 began in Williamsburg in October (1776), Henderson and his colleagues presented 
 the Transylvania Company's claims to recognition, all to no avail. Though the tall 
 Judge was not lacking in legal knowledge, personal charm, juridical legerdemain and 
 amazing energy, his case was a losing game from the outset; his interests ran contrary 
 to those of the Assembly. Virginia assumed jurisdiction over the disputed territory, and 
 on December 7 (1776), passed an act creating the county of Kentucky, thus bringing 
 to an end the proprietary government of Transylvania. n 
 
 THE FATHER OF KENTUCKY COUNTY 
 
 George Rogers Clark, who had pressed the claims of the Harrodsburg settlers adroitly 
 and relentlessly, perhaps deserves the title, "Father of Kentucky County." He had 
 conferred with Governor Henry and convinced this great man that Virginia should 
 claim and protect Kentucky. The Governor had presented the young frontiersman to 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 85 
 
 the Council of State, upon which distinguished body the young woodsman quickly made 
 a marked impression. Clark, having determined to gain Virginia's recognition not 
 only of ownership of Kentucky but her expression of determination to protect it, initiated 
 his strategy by asking that body for 500 pounds of powder for Kentucky. Were the 
 Council to grant this request an admission would thereby be made that Virginia owned 
 Kentucky. The members of the Council sensing this offered to lend Clark the powder 
 provided he would stand surety for it. Claiming that he did not have the money 
 necessary to purchase so large a quantity of powder, Clark, with some show of indigna- 
 tion declared that he was sorry to find that the Harrodsburg settlers would have to seek 
 protection elsewhere, which he was sure of obtaining and added dramatically that "if 
 a County was not worth protecting it was not worth Claiming . . ."" The effect was 
 electric. The powder was granted and conveyed to Pittsburg to await Clark's order, 
 and in the fall, as has been mentioned, Kentucky County was formed, erected out of 
 the western reaches of Fincastle and conforming practically to the present boundaries. 
 
 CLARK DELIVERS THE POWDER 
 
 In December (1776) Clark and John Gabriel Jones left Williamsburg, journeyed 
 to Fort Pitt and, with a small boat and seven boatmen, set out down the Ohio with the 
 powder obtained through the Virginia Council of State. The journey was perilous in 
 the extreme, the Indians having learned of Clark's intentions at Fort Pitt and determined 
 to prevent delivery of the powder at Harrodstown. Clark, however, managed to reach 
 Three Islands near the present Maysville, and, realizing that the savages were almost 
 upon him, hid the powder along Limestone Creek and set the boat adrift to deceive the 
 red men. Then the party set out overland toward central Kentucky for help in moving 
 the powder. On the west bank of the Licking they came upon the deserted cabin of 
 Hinkston and found several surveyors nearby who told them that Captain John Todd 
 was in the vicinity with a company large enough to insure safe delivery of the ammu- 
 nition. Clark not finding Todd immediately pushed on toward Harrodstown, guided 
 by the powerful scout, Simon Kenton, who was then known in Kentucky as Simon 
 Butler. Jones and the boatmen waited to find Todd, who appeared soon after Clark's 
 departure. Although he had but six men, Captain Todd, deeming his force sufficient, 
 determined to deliver the powder. The move proved rash indeed, because at the Lower 
 Blue Licks, his force fell into an ambuscade and two were killed, including Jones, and 
 two captured. Todd and the remnant of his party escaped to McClelland's Fort 
 (Georgetown) . Clark returning from Harrodstown with a company found them there. 
 The entire party, however, was soon attacked by the same Indians. The savages, how- 
 ever, were defeated and fled after their leader, Chief Pluggy, had been killed. Clark 
 then took the powder to Harrodstown without further incident. 
 
 FOOTNOTES FOR CHAPTER V 
 
 Thwaites, op.cit., p. 1 14. 
 
 "Concerning the enterprise, Mr. H. Addington Bruce writes: "The mere fact that 
 Richard Henderson could conceive such a scheme marks him out as a man of superlative 
 self-confidence. But it was by no means a scheme altogether to his credit. He knew 
 perfectly well that Kentucky was a part of Virginia, and that it also came within the 
 provisions of the King's Proclamation of 1763. Nevertheless he steadily if quietly went 
 ahead with his plans. It was his idea to purchase Kentucky from the Cherokees who, 
 he asserted, were its rightful owners; and in order to obtain funds for this purpose he 
 formed a company which he called the Transylvania Company, in accordance with the 
 name he intended giving his colony. John Williams, Leonard Bullock, James Hogg, 
 Nathaniel Hart, David Hart, Thomas Hart, John Luttrell, and William Johnston, all 
 
 7— Vol. I 
 
84 A SEP QUI -CENTENNIAL 
 
 of them North Carolinians, were the men whom he prevailed upon to venture money in 
 his risky undertaking." (H. Addington Bruce, Daniel Boone and the Wilderness Trail, 
 pp. 97, 98.) 
 
 Upon the same question, Professor Thwaites writes: "The company, relying upon 
 popular sympathy and their great distance from tidewater seats of government, pro- 
 ceeded without regard to these (Martin's and Dunmore's) proclamation." (Thwaites, 
 Daniel Boone, p. 116). 
 
 Because of the later prominence in the annals of the West, of many of his associates, 
 the names of Boone's companions are here listed: Squire Boone, Edward Bradley, James 
 Bridges, William Bush, Samuel Coburn, Colonel Richard Calloway, Captain Crabtree, 
 Benjamin Cutbirth, David Gass, John Hart, William Hays (son-in-law of Daniel 
 Boone) , William Hicks, Edmund Jennings, Thomas Johnson, John Kennedy, John 
 King, William Miller, William Moore, James Nail, James Peeke, Bartlet Searcy, 
 Reuben Searcy, Michael Stoner, Samuel Tate, Oswell Towns, Captain William Twitty 
 (wounded at Silver Creek) , John Vardeman, and Felix Walker (also wounded at Silver 
 Creek) . With the company also were Mrs. Hays (Boone's daughter) , who traveled 
 with her husband; a negro woman, accompanying Colonel Calloway; and a negro man 
 (killed at Silver Creek) with Captain Twitty. (Thwaites, op.cit., p. 117.) 
 
 4 Quotation from Felix Walker's autobiographical statement, quoted by Bruce, pp. 
 102, 103. 
 
 Tilson Club Publications No. 16, George W. Ranck, "Boonesborough" (Louisville: 
 John P. Morton & Company, 1901), pp. 163, 164. 
 
 This letter quoted from Collins (op.cit., II, 418) was edited somewhat by Judge 
 Lewis Collins. Boone was admittedly not an apt or erudite letter writer. The "sculped" 
 and "flusterated" were not altered. (Bruce, op.cit., p. 109.) 
 
 Bruce, op.cit., p. 111. 
 
 Ranck, op.cit., p. 166. 
 
 9 J. F. D. Smyth, Esq., an English traveler visited Kentucky soon after the establish- 
 ment of Boonesborough. His description of the country is interesting: "The whole 
 length of the Kentucky, including its meanders, from the source of the Warrior's Branch 
 in the Alegany Mountains, to the confluence of the Kentucky with the Ohio, is certainly 
 between four and five hundred miles, containing a body of land on each side, that 
 cannot be surpassed, and scarcely equalled by any in the universe, for fertility of soil, 
 abundance of game, excellence of climate, and every other beauty and advantage im- 
 aginable, excepting the difficulty of access to it." J. F. D. Smyth, Esq., A Tour in the 
 United States of America, (London, J. Robson, 1784) , I, 325. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 166. 
 
 "Thwaites, op.cit., p. 119. 
 
 n Ibid., p. 120. 
 
 1 Of Benjamin Logan, the historian Marshall writes: "A tall, athletic, contemplative, 
 well balanced, and dignified, figure — distinguished his person, and appearance. He was 
 taciturn — the statesman's eye was crowned in him, with the warrior's brow; while a 
 countenance, which evinced an unyielding fortitude, and an impenetrable guard — invited 
 to a confidence, which was never betrayed. In 1775, a private citizen, aiming at no 
 distinction, even without party, Logan came to Kentucky. His intention was to settle 
 in the country. As his character unfolded itself, he was successively appointed a 
 magistrate, elected a legislator, commissioned a colonel, and promoted to the rank and 
 title of general." (I. 28.) 
 
 "Ranck, op.cit., p. 13. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 21. 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 85 
 
 This journal is found in the Draper Manuscripts (Wisconsin State Historical So* 
 ciety Library) . 
 
 17 Ranck, op.cit., pp. 197, 198. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 178. "Ibid., p. 200. 
 
 " The compact drawn up and agreed to between the proprietors and delegates was a 
 model for governments seeking to coordinate the privileges of proprietors inherent in 
 ownership and the rights of people derived from a Lockean theory of government. 
 This compact or constitution is here carried: 
 
 "Whereas it is highly necessary, for the peace of the proprietors and the security 
 of the people of this colony, that the powers of the one and the liberties of the other 
 be ascertained; We, Richard Henderson, Nathaniel Hart, and J. Luttrell, on behalf of 
 ourselves, as well as the other proprietors of the colony of Transylvania, of the one part 
 and the representatives of the people of the said colony, in convention assembled, of 
 the other part — do most solemnly enter into the following contract or agreement, to wit: 
 
 1. That the election of delegates in this colony be annual. 
 
 2. That the convention may adjourn, and meet again on their own adjournment; 
 Provided, that in cases of great emergency, the proprietors may call together the dele- 
 gates before the time adjourned to; and, if a majority do not attend, they may dissolve 
 them and call a new one. 
 
 3. That, to prevent dissension and delay of business, one proprietor shall act for the 
 whole, or some one delegated by them for that purpose, who shall always reside in the 
 colony. 
 
 4. That there be perfect religious freedom and general toleration; Provided, that the 
 propagators of any doctrine or tenets, evidently tending to the subversion of our laws, 
 shall, for such conduct, be amenable to, and punished by, the civil courts. 
 
 5. That the judges of the superior or supreme courts be appointed by the proprietors, 
 but be supported by the people, and to them be answerable for their malconduct. 
 
 6. That the quit-rents never exceed two shillings sterling per hundred acres. 
 
 7. That the proprietors appoint a sheriff, who shall be one of three persons recom- 
 mended by the court. 
 
 8. That the judges of the superior courts have, without fee or reward, the appoint- 
 ment of the clerks of this colony. 
 
 9. That the judges of the inferior courts be recommended by the people, and approved 
 by the proprietors, and by them commissioned. 
 
 10. That all other civil and military officers be within the appointment of the pro- 
 prietors. 
 
 11. That the office of surveyor-general belong to no person interested or a partner in 
 this purchase. 
 
 12. That the legislative authority, after the strength and maturity of the colony will 
 permit, consist of three branches, to wit: the delegates or representatives chosen by the 
 people; a council, not exceeding twelve men, possessed of landed estate, who reside in 
 the colony, and the proprietors. 
 
 13. That nothing with respect to the number of delegates from any town or settle- 
 ment shall hereafter be drawn into precedent, but that the number of representatives 
 shall be ascertained by law, when the state of the colony will admit of amendment. 
 
 14. That the land office be always open. 
 
 15. That commissions, without profit, be granted without fee. 
 
 16. That the fees and salaries of all officers appointed by the proprietors, be settled 
 and regulated by the laws of the country. 
 
 17. That the convention have the sole power of raising and appropriating all public 
 moneys, and electing their treasurer. 
 
86 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 18. That, for a short time, till the state of the colony will permit to fix some place 
 of holding the convention which shall be permanent, the place of meeting shall be 
 agreed upon between the proprietors and the convention. 
 
 19. To the faithful and religious and perpetual observance of all and every of the 
 above articles, the said proprietors, on behalf of themselves as well as those absent, 
 and the chairman of the convention on behalf of them and their constituents, have 
 hereunto interchangeably set their hands and affixed their seals, the twenty-seventh day 
 of May, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five. 
 
 Richard Henderson. (Seal) 
 Nathaniel Hart (Seal) 
 J. Luttrell (Seal) 
 T. Slaughter, Chairman (Seal) 
 Ranck, op.cit., pp. 208, 209. 
 
 21 Ibid., p. 30. 23 Smyth, op.cit., I, 329, 333. 
 
 22 Ibid., p. 31. 2i lbid., p. 35. 
 
 ""Perhaps several white women had been in Kentucky prior to the Boone women as 
 captives of Indians. See the story of Mrs. Mary Draper Ingles in the History of 
 Kentucky, by Connelley and Coulter. 
 
 6 In May (1776) a petition had been sent to the Virginia Convention from Harrods- 
 burg, imploring that body to take Transylvania under the protection of Virginia, "of 
 which we can not help thinking ourselves a part." (Ranck, p. 243.) 
 
 This petition was "hotly" answered by Colonel Henderson, in Williamsburg. A 
 part of the petition, which is rather significant, is here quoted: "To the Honorable the 
 Convention of Virginia: 
 
 "The petition of the inhabitants, and some of the intended settlers of that part of 
 North America, now denominated Transylvania, humbly sheweth: 
 
 "Whereas some of your petitioners became adventurers in that country from the 
 advantageous reports of their friends who first explored it, and others since allured by 
 the specious shew of the easy terms on which the land was to be purchased from those 
 who stile themselves proprietors, have, at a great expense, and many hardships, settled 
 there, under the faith of holding the lands by an indefeasible title, which those gentle- 
 men assured them they were capable of making. But your petitioners have been greatly 
 alarmed at the late conduct of those gentlemen, in advancing the price of the purchase 
 money from twenty shillings to fifty shillings sterling, per hundred acres, and at the 
 same time have increased the fees of entry and surveying to a most exorbitant rate; 
 and, by the short period prefixed for taking up the lands, even on those extravagant 
 terms, they plainly evince their intentions of rising in their demands as the settlers 
 increase, or their insatiable avarice shall dictate. And your petitioners have been more 
 justly alarmed at such unaccountable and arbitrary proceedings, as they have lately 
 learned from a copy of the deed made by the Six Nations with Sir William Johnson, 
 and the commissioners from this Colony, at Fort Stanwix, in the year 1768, that the 
 said lands were included in the cession or grant of all that tract which lies on the south 
 side of the river Ohio, beginning at the mouth of Cherokee or Hogohege river, and 
 extending up the said river to Kettaning. And, as in the preamble of the said deed, 
 the said confederate Indians declare the Cherokee river to be their true boundary with 
 the southard Indians, your petitioners may, with great reason, doubt the validity of the 
 purchase that those proprietors have made of the Cherokees — the only title they set 
 up to the lands for which they demand such extravagant sums from your petitioners, 
 without any other assurance for holding them than their own deed and warrantee; a 
 poor security, as your petitioners humbly apprehend, for the money that, among other 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 87 
 
 new and unreasonable regulations, these proprietors insist should be paid down on the 
 delivery of the deed." (Ranck, pp. 32, 33.) 
 
 "Jones turned back upon learning that the Convention had adjourned. 
 
 "Proclamation in Ranck, op.cit.. Appendix W. 
 It was on Sunday, July 14, that the Callaway girls and Jemima Boone were captured 
 by the Indians. The circumstances of this gruesome event are here related: The 
 customary Bible reading in early afternoon finished, Elizabeth and Frances Callaway, 
 daughters of Colonel Richard Callaway, and Jemima Boone, daughter of Daniel Boone, 
 secured a rough canoe and started across the Kentucky to visit friends who resided along 
 the opposite bank. When almost across and near a sand bar, they were practically 
 startled out of their wits by four burly Indians running out into the shallow water; 
 these swarthy aborigines seized the canoe and made the girls captives. Upon threat of 
 the tomahawk, the girls, who were rapidly spirited toward the Warriors' Trace that led 
 to the Ohio, refrained from raising an alarm, so that it was milching time before the 
 frightened pair were considered lost. Two pursuit parties were formed: one under 
 Colonel Richard Callaway, which rode to Lower Blue Licks to cut off the Indians; the 
 other under Colonel Daniel Boone, to pursue them. After a two days' chase, Boone's 
 posse overtook the savages within two or three miles of the Upper Blue Licks. 
 
 The genial and popular Captain John Floyd, who had been placed in charge of the 
 land office by Colonel Henderson, has left one of the most graphic accounts of the 
 capture and rescue (found in a letter to Colonel William Preston, July 21, 1776, now 
 in Draper Mss. 33S300-303) . He wrote: "On the same day they (the Indians) took 
 out of a canoe within sight of this place Miss Betsy Callaway, her sister Frances, and 
 a daughter of Daniel Boone, the two last about thirteen or fourteen years old and the 
 other grown. The affair happened late in the afternoon. They left the canoe on the 
 opposite side of the river from us, which prevented our getting over for some time to 
 pursue them. We could not that night follow more than five miles. Next morning 
 by daylight we were on their track; but they had entirely prevented our following them 
 by walking some distance apart through the thickest cane they could find. We observed 
 their course and on which side we had left their sign, and traveled upwards of thirty 
 miles. We then supposed they would be less cautious in traveling, and making a turn 
 in order to cross their track we had gone but a few miles when we found their tracks 
 in a buffalo path — pursued and overtook them in going about ten miles, just as they 
 were kindling a fire to cook. Our study had been how to get the prisoners without 
 giving the Indians time to murder them after they discovered us. We saw each other 
 nearly at the same time. Four of us fired and all rushed on them by which they were 
 prevented from carrying anything away except one shot gun without any ammunition. 
 Mr. Boone and myself had each a pretty fair shot as they began to move off. I am 
 well convinced I shot one through the body. The one he shot dropped his gun — mine 
 had none. The place was covered with thick cane, and being so much elated on recover- 
 ing the three poor little heart-broken girls, we were prevented from making any further 
 search. We sent the Indians off almost naked — some without their moccasins and 
 none of them with so much as a knife or tomahawk. After the girls came to them- 
 selves sufficiently to speak they told us there were only five Indians — four Shawanese 
 and one Cherokee. They could speak good English and said they would then go to 
 the Shawanese towns. The war club we got was like those I have seen of that nation. 
 Several words of their language, which the girls retained, were known to be Shawanese 
 
 In the same letter Floyd pictured a gloomy condition and urged aid from Virginia. 
 He wrote: "I think more than three hundred have left the country since I came out, and 
 not one has arrived, except a few cabineers down the Ohio. I want to return as much as 
 
88 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 any man can do; but if I leave the country now there is scarcely one single man who 
 will not follow the example. When I think of the deplorable condition a few helpless 
 families are likely to be in, I conclude to sell my life as dearly as I can in their defense 
 rather than make an ignominous escape." 
 
 J The course of the attractive and likeable Floyd was somewhat involved. He had 
 been sent out to Kentucky by his fatherly friend, Colonel William Preston, County 
 Lieutenant and Chief Surveyor of Fincastle County, to keep a "bright lookout" on 
 the activities of Colonel Henderson and his associates and, incidentally, to pick out as 
 much good lands for Colonel Preston and his associates as possible. In addition to 
 being deputy surveyor of Fincastle, Captain Floyd was deputy sheriff, under Colonel 
 William Christian, of the same county. It would seem that Floyd would have been 
 suspicious therefore of Colonel Henderson. As a matter of fact the two men became 
 warm friends. So freely was the handsome Virginian trusted by the proprietor that 
 he was made surveyor for Transylvania and placed in charge of the land office. It 
 appears that Henderson acquiesced in Floyd's and Preston's having a large block of 
 land, and there were loud mutterings of suspicion against Floyd both from Harrodsburg 
 and Fincastle. However, he committed neither treachery nor betrayal. He was a land 
 speculator, as were practically all the men he knew. He believed that Colonel Hen- 
 derson had done no wrong and was bold enough to testify in his behalf in the Virginia 
 capital, in spite of the fact that Clark eagerly worked to destroy Henderson's claim. 
 Apparently the Virginians dropped their suspicion of Floyd as quickly as it developed. 
 Later Captain Floyd became one of Kentucky's most prominent pioneer leaders. 
 
 "Through Colonel Henderson's efforts, mainly, Virginia, in December, 1778, granted 
 to the Company by way of compensation two hundred thousand acres of land in Ken- 
 tucky below the mouth of the Green River. The present city and county of Henderson 
 are on this tract. He received a like acreage in Tennessee. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR IN KENTUCKY 
 THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE REACHES THE WILDERNESS 
 
 T 
 
 he first news of independence reached the settlers at Boonesborough 
 toward the middle of August, 1776. A copy of the Virginia Gazette, containing the 
 text of the Declaration of Independence was brought in by a returning settler. This 
 stirring document was read to the assembled garrison, and at its conclusion vociferous 
 cheering and war-whoops expressed the satisfaction of the frontiersmen, who further 
 endorsed the document around a great bonfire that evening. Professor Ranck in con- 
 cluding his report of the occasion writes: "There were sons of Liberty in the Kentucky 
 wilderness as well as on the Seaboard, and some of them right in Boonesborough at 
 this time. 
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR WAR 
 
 The frontiersmen had been keenly conscious of hostilities between the Colonies and 
 Britain long before receipt of a copy of the Declaration of Independence. They knew 
 that British agents had been active, north of the Ohio, in making allies of the red men 
 and in inciting these to depredations against the settlers. The fact that many hunters 
 left the stations and did not return — many of whose bodies later were found scalped — 
 indicated to the settlers that the war was real and close. Long before the beginning 
 of 1777, therefore, outlying settlers had moved into the stockades for protection. 
 Within a few months three hundred people had left the country — well-nigh depopulating 
 it, in fact — and many of the stations had been abandoned — including Huston's, Hinks- 
 ton's, Bryant's, Whitley's, Logan's, Leestown, and McClelland's, some only temporarily. 
 Those pioneers who did not return to the old settlements crowded into Boonesborough 
 and Harrodstown, the only forts capable of providing adequate protection against 
 Indian attack. 
 
 SIR GUY CARLETON, GOVERNOR OF CANADA 
 ORGANIZATION AND PLANS IN THE WEST 
 
 The British realized the importance of smashing the frontier stations and gaining 
 control of the West much sooner apparently than did the colonists, with a few exceptions. 
 In fact, many of the seaboard leaders presumably never understood, or cared about, the 
 importance of the West in the struggle. The British leaders believed that the capture 
 or destruction of the frontier posts would open a back door to the East by way of 
 Virginia through which regulars and savages could pour in such numbers as to bring 
 about the complete defeat or capture of Washington's army. At the outbreak of the 
 war, the English Ministry had sent General Sir Guy Carleton, a shrewd, able and deter- 
 mined leader, to the new world to become Governor of Canada. Carleton immediately 
 realized the importance of winning the Indians as allies — a task by no means impossible 
 because of the natural hatred nurtured by the tribesmen against the colonists for the 
 encroachment of speculators, settlers and hunters. A number of lieutenant governors 
 were appointed by the British government to act principally as Indian agents, their 
 main duties being to maintain good feeling on the part of the red men toward the 
 English, to take command of the most important frontier outposts nearest the Indians, 
 and to direct mixed expeditions of regulars and red men against the frontier settlements, 
 as well as to plan and direct small raids and forays. 
 
90 A S-ESQU. I -CENTENNIAL 
 
 LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR AND COLONEL HENRY HAMILTON 
 
 The best known perhaps, at least the most notorious, inasfar as the Americans were 
 concerned, of these Indian agents was Colonel Henry Hamilton, appointed to command 
 at Detroit. Hamilton, who had seen service in the British army as an officer, was, 
 according to Professor Cotterill, "personally a kind-hearted genial man who constantly 
 did all in his power to mitigate the horrors of savage warfare."" He was called by 
 the frontiersmen and Virginians, the "Hair-Buyer," as he was believed to pay approxi- 
 mately sixty dollars for each scalp of a colonist brought to Detroit. Colonel Hamilton 
 assumed his duties at Detroit in November, 1775, performing them faithfully until 
 captured by George Rogers Clark at Vincennes in 1779. Detroit was an important post. 
 The expeditions and forays of the savages into Kentucky were launched from that point. 
 
 AMERICAN ACTIVITIES WITH THE INDIANS 
 
 The Americans did what they could to counteract the British activity with the 
 Indians. Early in 1776 the Continental Congress had placed George Morgan in Fort 
 Pitt as Indian agent for the tribes north of the Ohio. There was constant rivalry 
 between Morgan at Fort Pitt (at that time in the possession of Virginia) and Hamilton 
 at Detroit. At the same time Congress had sent General Edward Hand, of the Conti- 
 nental Army, to have charge of military operations that might be necessary in the West. 
 Just as the British had forts in the West — Detroit, Michilimacinack, Kaskaskia and 
 Vincennes — so the Americans established posts in the West — Fort Pitt, Fort Henry, 
 (Wheeling, W. Va.), Fort Randolph (at mouth of the Great Kanawha River), later 
 Fort Nelson and Fort Jefferson. The colonists could not match the British navy on 
 the Great Lakes; however, they could and did match everything the British and Indians 
 had to offer in the way of savagry — this for their own protection. 
 
 BRITISH-INDIAN CONFERENCE AT DETROIT, SPRING, 1776 
 
 In the spring of 1776 a grand pow-wow was held at Detroit, lasting five days, where 
 many presents were distributed and generous helpings of "fire water" served the braves, 
 whose chiefs shook the woods with profuse oratory. In the end the braves declared 
 for the British. Morgan, however, soon heard of this and, by a personal visit among 
 the Delawares and Shawnese, did much to nullify the work of Hamilton at Detroit, 
 inducing many of the tribes to attend a meeting at Fort Pitt to make a treaty of peace. 
 He even planned an expedition against the British posts in Illinois, but this miscarried. 
 In the spring of 1777, Hamilton held another meeting at Detroit, at which he delivered 
 more presents, as well as the tomahawk, and spurred the savages to take the warpath 
 against the Kentucky settlements. 
 
 KENTUCKY'S DANGEROUS POSITION 
 
 Kentucky jutted out into the Wilderness, protecting the back door of Virginia, and 
 was vulnerable on three sides to Indian and British attack. If that important wedge 
 could be overrun and the attack pressed eastward, British strategy had a fair chance to 
 succeed. It seems that the Continental Congress should have realized readily the 
 importance of the West to the cause of independence and made adequate provisions for 
 defending Kentucky and striking the enemy north of the Ohio. But Congress was 
 neither able to get out a number of men in any degree comparable to the military 
 population of the East for service along the seaboard, nor provide funds adequate to 
 Washington's necessities, which put support of the West out of the question. It is 
 pointed out that in Kentucky, by way of contrast, the entire military population, even 
 preachers, was in arms, with all property at stake; such are the exigencies of necessity 
 impelled by extreme danger. 
 
t ' . . . 
 
 Courtesy, Filson Club. 
 
 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK 
 
 From a mural. 
 
92 A SESQUI- CENTENNIAL 
 
 THE ATTACKS BEGIN 
 
 In early March of 1777 a few Indian snipers lurked in the vicinity of Boonesborough, 
 waiting to catch settlers away from the fort. It should be pointed out that the 
 immediate grounds around the Kentucky forts had already been cleared of trees, for 
 the double purpose of protection and farming, and that the settlers were obliged to 
 cross these clearings in order to hunt game; in time of danger the wariest hunters 
 would creep back into the forts after nightfall. The garrison in Boonesborough was 
 not immediately aware of the imminent danger, but on this particular day in March 
 Simon Kenton hovered stealthily on the trail of the lurking savages, waiting for night- 
 fall to steal into the fort and give the alarm. Captain Daniel Boone had been put 
 in command of the little force there and, having put the works in tolerable order, was 
 on the alert. Kenton succeeded in making into the fort at nightfall and giving the 
 alarm, but not until two hapless hunters had been slain. The Indians, seeing that the 
 fort was on the alert and too strong to overcome, retired as suddenly as they had ap- 
 peared. 
 
 MILITARY LEADERS CHOSEN 
 
 In the meantime, the occupants of the principal forts put their defences in as good 
 condition as time and materials at hand would allow, while as much ammunition and 
 supply as possible were put in readiness. Though it was known that Colonel John 
 Bowman with a sizeable force would come to Kentucky and assume military command; 
 nevertheless the stations selected leaders to direct the activities: Boonesborough with 
 Captains Richard Calloway and Daniel Boone in command and with a reasonably stout 
 stockade, was soon in readiness and on the alert; while Harrodstown, with the able Clark 
 in command (in fact in command of the entire militia of the county until Bowman's 
 arrival in September, 1777) felt relatively secure; even the doughty head of Logan's 
 Station, Benjamin Logan, whose family along with others had been obliged to leave his 
 fort near St. Asaph, for safety, had in February so far completed the defenses as to 
 bring in his family again. 
 
 ATTACK AT HARRODSTOWN, MARCH, 1777 
 
 Following the incident at Boonesborough, the Indians, about forty-five Shawnese 
 under the famous Chief Blackfish, on March 6 or 7, quietly and quickly moved to 
 the vicinity of Harrodstown, hoping to take the settlers completely by surprise. It was 
 merely accident that prevented Blackfish's prosecuting his murderous surprise. The 
 two Ray brothers, together with William Coomes and Thomas Shores, had gone some 
 distance from the fort to clear ground. Three of them during the course of the day 
 left to visit a sugar camp nearby, leaving Coomes at work. The three ran into the red 
 men completely by surprise and two of them were killed. The one not hit, James Ray, 
 made a run for the fort. The long sinewy limbs of Ray were most likely the fleetest 
 in Kentucky. Upon this occasion his speed was so extraordinary that the out-stripped, 
 humbled, amazed and fascinated young braves soon gave up the unequal race, while 
 the sagacious Blackfish stood transfixed in mingled astonishment and admiration. 
 Reaching the fort, Ray gave the alarm, and Major Hugh McGary, a fiery Irishman, 
 with an unfortunate temper and a propensity for impetuosity and rashness, hastened with 
 thirty men toward the sugar camp. They quickly discovered the lifeless body of William 
 Ray and soon came upon Coomes, who, having detected the Indians, concealed himself 
 securely enough to avoid discovery, even by Blackfish's most ferret-eyed braves. 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 93 
 
 BLACKFISH'S RUSE 
 
 The savages, chagrined by the miscarriage of their plans, decided upon a ruse. They 
 quietly waited in the vicinity for two days, during which time, hoping to lure the settlers, 
 they set fire to a cabin some distance from the fort. This ruse worked; the white men 
 impetuously rushed into the fire of the savages, and, even though protected by the 
 forest, sustained four casualties, while the braves sustained one death. The red men 
 after killing all the cattle found withdrew, but roving bands of marauders continued 
 to harass the settlers throughout the year. It is estimated that the three forts sustained 
 at least a score of isolated murders alone, not considering the losses from concerted 
 attacks. 
 
 ATTACK ON BOONESBOROUGH, APRIL, 1777 
 
 The first nothworthy attack on "the big fort," Boonesborough, was about sunrise, 
 April 24, by a force of savages variously estimated at from forty to a hundred. The 
 assailants, making good their plan to surprise, came near capturing the station with its 
 meagre garrison of twenty-two riflemen. Successful in a maneuver to draw the garrison 
 out, the red men appeared on the verge of winning a victory. Daniel Goodman was 
 tomahawked and scalped by a daring Indian, who, while in his exultation, was killed 
 by the stealthy, ubiquitous and thoroughly dangerous Kenton at the fort gate. The 
 garrison in pursuit of the Indians feigning retreat was practically cut off. Only by 
 desperate chances were the fort gates reached, and this after Daniel Boone, Isaac Hite, 
 John Todd and Michael Stoner were wounded. A number of the Indians was killed — 
 three of them, it was reported, by Simon Kenton alone. On this occasion Kenton saved 
 Boone's life. The account is graphically recorded by Professor Thwaites: "Boone was 
 shot in the ankle, the bone being shattered. Kenton, with that cool bravery for which 
 this tall, vigorous backwoodsman was known throughout the border, rushed up, and 
 killing a warrior whose tomahawk was lifted above the fallen man, picked his comrade 
 up in his arms, and desperately fought his way back into the enclosure." 3 After their 
 failure to carry through the planned strategy, the Indians, who were seldom prepared 
 for a protracted siege, retired, carrying along their dead. 
 
 THE WORK OF THE WOMEN 
 
 Perhaps because it was the larger settlement, Harrodsburg was more often attacked 
 than Boonesborough, although simultaneous sieges were often in progress, thus pre- 
 venting the sending of re-enforcements, from one fort to another. "The women at 
 both stations played a part equal to that of the men," as Professor Thwaites writes, 
 "fearlessly taking turns at the port-holes, from which little puffs of white smoke would 
 follow the sharp rifle-cracks whenever a savage head revealed itself from behind bush 
 or tree." And when not on fighting duty the women often melted their pewter plates 
 into bullets. They were always counted on to load the rifles and hand them to the 
 men, caring for the wounded, and cook whatever food they could find. As Professor 
 Thwaites declares: "It was a time to make heroes or cowards of either men or women 
 — there was no middle course." 5 
 
 LIFE AND CUSTOMS 
 
 During these perilous times when danger lurked everywhere, life had to go on as 
 normally as possible: Hunting had to be conducted far from the forts, and game 
 brought in after nightfall usually. An element of thrill being in the imminent danger, 
 entertainment and dancing went on with great hilarity; courtships were fast and furious 
 and marriage celebrations entered into with remarkable zest. The first marriage had 
 been that of "Betsy" Calloway and Samuel Henderson, brother of Colonel Richard, 
 
94 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 on August 7, 1776, at Boonesborough. The rites had been performed by Squire 
 Boone, Baptist elder as well as Indian fighter. "There was dancing to fiddle-music 
 by the light of tallow 'dips,' and legend says the guests were treated to some home- 
 grown watermelons. . . ." 6 A diarist has left this record concerning a similar event 
 at Harrodsburg: "July 9, 1777. — Lieutenant Linn married — great merriment."' At 
 the stations, when not under siege, half of the men acted as guards and scouts, while 
 others cultivated patches of corn and other food plants, within sight of the forts. 
 The greatest precaution sometimes failed. One day in May, 1777, two hundred Indians 
 suddenly surrounded a cornfield at Boonesborough, and it was with painful and 
 harrowing difficulty that the settlers succeeded in reaching the stockade, followed by 
 a gruelling siege lasting two days before the savages retired. 
 
 THE ATTEMPT AT LOGAN'S 
 
 The Shawnese, not having been successful at Harrodsburg and Boonesborough, 
 next turned their wrath upon Logan's station (Stanford) . They appeared on the 
 morning of May 20 (1771) while the women were milking the cows and a few men 
 were standing guard, as was the usual custom. The savages concealed in a thick cane- 
 brake, fired upon the men serving as guards. On was shot dead, another mortally 
 wounded and a third so critically hit that he was unable to escape. The others, including 
 the women, were able to reach the fort and close the gate. 8 
 
 The Indians apparently did not continue the attack long. They retired to return 
 later. Boonesboro, Harrodstown and Logan's were attacked several more times during 
 that trying year. Logan's, being the smallest and shortest supplied, was the most 
 sorely beset. It was during this dreadful year that Colonel Logan made his incredible 
 trip to the Holsten settlements, two hundred miles away. His station constantly 
 attacked, powder and lead had been nearly exhausted. Collins has it that "during a 
 siege" (Vol. II, p. 469) Logan, accompanied by two faithful companions, stole out 
 at night through the Indian lines and pushed south-eastward. Avoiding Cumberland 
 Gap to save time, he moved over the mountains, altogether indifferent to brush, 
 boulders and peaks; reached Holsten; secured four kegs of powder and four horse- 
 loads of lead; rushed back to keep up the spirit of resistance in the fort, leaving his 
 companions to bring the ammunition; and was in the station within ten days. That 
 the savages had besieged the fort during the entire time is not likely. However, there 
 is glory enough for Colonel Logan without the inclusion of the more dramatic circum- 
 stances. Actually the time appears to have been late autumn and the ammunition, 
 a concern of all the stations, was "protected in transit by twelve sharp-shooters." 
 
 COLONEL JOHN BOWMAN ARRIVES WITH MILITIA FROM VIRGINIA 
 
 Colonel John Bowman arrived at Harrodsburg, on August 1, with one hundred 
 militiamen from Virginia. Being advised of the critical condition at Logan's, Colonel 
 Bowman hastened his men to the relief of the valient little garrison. Although 
 the red men, forewarned, withdrew, they contrived to set up an ambuscade and entrap 
 the advance guard of militiamen, killing several. Upon these bodies were pinned 
 proclamations signed by Colonel Hamilton, to the effect that all the frontiersmen who 
 returned their allegiance to His Majesty, George III, would be promptly pardoned 
 and forgiven of treason. Colonel Logan, apparently indignant, at the clever propa- 
 ganda, destroyed the documents. 
 
 The appearance of Bowman and his militiamen greatly heartened the hardpressed 
 frontiersmen, whose number of effective fighting men in Kentucky had dwindled at 
 one time to less than one hundred. A little later forty-eight horsemen came from the 
 Yadkin to Boone's relief. To make an impressive display, these men as they emerged 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 95 
 
 from the tangled woods, marched in open order and boldly and in plain view filed 
 through the gates of the palisade, while lurking Shawnese watching the procession 
 "fled into Ohio with the news that two hundred Long Knife warriors had arrived from 
 Virginia." 11 In October another hundred expert riflemen came from Virginia. These 
 additions inspired new hope in the garrisons of all the forts. They enabled the erst- 
 while practically beleaguered settlers to think of taking the offensive. Actually in 
 June Major Smith, with seventeen other Boonesborough men, had pursued a band 
 of Indians as far as the Ohio, killing one red man. However, in a short time the 
 Indians besieged Boonesborough, with a force of approximately two hundred men. 
 Accomplishing no appreciable success, they, after two days, retired and this station 
 enjoyed a respite from attack — and almost continuous anxiety — which had lasted inter- 
 mittently for five months. At Harrodstown the year's military activities were brought 
 to a successful close, thanks to the presence of Clark, his readiness and efficiency. This 
 alert leader, on that last maneuver of the year, forewarned of the presence of Indians 
 by the uneasiness of the cattle, flanked the redmen's ambuscade, killed four and 
 scattered the remaining braves in all directions. Although Kentucky was not free 
 from Indian menace, at least this engagement at Harrodstown brought to a close 
 the notable clashes of the dreadful year 1777 in Kentucky. 
 
 CIVIL GOVERNMENT AND JUSTICE MADE EFFECTIVE 
 
 Although on April 19, (1777), two burgesses had been chosen to represent Ken- 
 tucky County in the Virginia Assembly, such were the exigencies of the times that 
 the hard-pressed settlers could give little attention to civil government. With the 
 coming of a brief lull, however, they turned their attention to civil justice. Harrods- 
 town, which had been designated the seat of government by the Legislature of Virginia 
 in erecting Kentucky out of Fincastle County, was the scene September 2, 1777, of 
 the first important court held in Kentucky. This was known as the Court of Quartet 
 Sessions and composed of five judges: John Todd, John Floyd, Benjamin Logan, John 
 Bowman and Richard Calloway, with Levy Todd as clerk. Though not trained in 
 the law these men were universally prominent and popular, no men deserved more 
 from Kentucky because few men had suffered more for her. The provisions of the 
 act creating Kentucky now being put into effect, the extensive county soon enjoyed 
 a well-organized form of government. Under the circumstances, the vicissitudes of the 
 times made the military organization most important. The composition of the ranking 
 military organization most important. The composition of the ranking military 
 personnel was as follows: John Bowman, county lieutenant; Anthony Bledsoe, lieutenant 
 colonel; George Rogers Clark, major; and Daniel Boone, James Harrod, John Todd 
 and Benjamin Logan, captains. Logan also served as sheriff, while John May was 
 the official surveyor. Order was preserved by ten justices of the peace in the different 
 stations. Every free white man was an elector "who one year prior to the date of 
 the election was possessed of 25 acres of land 'with house and plantation thereon,' or 
 100 acres without these, and who in his own right or that of his wife was possessed 
 of an estate for life." " With the closing of the year Kentucky had about the same 
 population as its beginning. 
 
 Although their spirits were less depressed at the close of the year, the settlers 
 realized that they were neither free from further attack nor immune to destruction. 
 Though most of the primal settlers were yet alive, they knew all too well the horrors 
 of savage warfare. 13 Naturally they looked to the future with anxiety. Reports were 
 discouraging: The Indians had organized a Northwestern Confederation against the 
 Americans; the noble Chief Cornstalk had been foully murdered by mutinous American 
 soldiers, thus loosing the wrath of the remaining friendly Shawnese tribes; while rumors 
 
96 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 continued to trickle through concerning a large-scale invasion by summer; making 
 matters worse was the fact that all efforts by the American colonists to strike the 
 enemy from Pittsburg had either not passed the planning stage or proven abortive 
 altogether, and rumors of the rankest inefficiently and incompetence there reached 
 Kentucky. In January, 1778, British Colonel Hamilton wrote General Carleton that 
 "the Indians had brought in seventy- three prisoners and 129 scalps." 14 
 
 Clear-headed, bold, aggressive young George Rogers Clark realized that unless 
 the enemy was forestalled on his own ground Kentucky likely would be overrun and 
 lost. He therefore prepared to take over the war in the West. From that time until 
 the end of the struggle, Clark became the dominant figure in the West. To him we 
 shall now turn our attention. 
 
 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK AND THE WAR IN THE WEST 
 
 An Olympian Figure. General Clark was nature's favorite. In physique, he was 
 large and powerful, with a litheness, a symetry and grace discernible at a glance. His 
 features were strong and handsome, with keen blue eyes, massive brow, and reddish hair. 
 
 No less favored was he in mind than in body. His intellect was powerful. He 
 anticipated events with prophet-like genius, fathomed the minds of men, baffled and 
 amazed his enemies, and attracted warm friends without effort. This intrepid intellect 
 imposed tasks upon the great physique which few men could have endured. 1 ' 
 
 The strong mind and powerful body combined to form a masterful personality. 
 Qualities of daring and courage, traits of unswerving determination, and stern, unre- 
 lenting prosecution of duty mingled with characteristics of kindness and generosity, 
 and ability to love both friend and principle deeply characterized this singular person- 
 ality. And there was a calm dignity and gravity which reminded many of General 
 Washington. 
 
 Never, perhaps, did Nature more perfectly endow her child to perform a super- 
 human task than she did George Rogers Clark. 
 
 A Kentucky Pioneer. Born in Albemarle County, Virginia, in 1752, Clark began 
 life on the frontier. The dangers and opportunities of the West appealed to him 
 while he was a young man. He may have visited Kentucky as a surveyor in his 
 twentieth year; certainly in 1775 he was at the rude station, Harrodstown, striving 
 to organize the people and prepare the stations for defense. 
 
 The land, Kentucke, fascinated this young pioneer. In a letter to his brother, 
 Jonathan, July 6, 1775, young Clark asserted: "A richer and more beautiful country 
 than this I believe has never been seen in America . . . land ... as good as any in 
 the world ... I am convinced that if he (Clark's father) sees ye country he will 
 never rest until he gets in it to live." One of Clark's best biographers, William H. 
 English, wrote of him, "He was brave, energetic, bold, prepossessing in appearance, 
 of pleasing manner, and in fact, with all the qualities calculated to win upon a frontier 
 people. The unorganized and chaotic condition of the country needed such a man, 
 and the man had come." 
 
 Although the land was fabulously beautiful and surpassingly fertile, danger lurked 
 everywhere: not only the known dangers of the wilderness with its hazards, its wild 
 beasts and poisonous reptiles but dangers from savage men who sought with fiendish 
 cunning to ply the tomahawk and the scalping knife upon every white person in the 
 country. As the War of Independence had begun, there was danger that hordes of 
 these savages, supported and led by British and Tories, would cross the Ohio River, 
 fall upon the lonely Kentucky stations, destroy them, and murder or torture every 
 person who could not escape. In fact, seldom a week passed but that some luckless 
 settler and his helpless family were attacked and killed or tortured. Infants' brains 
 
H I S T O RY O F K E N T U C KY 97 
 
 were clashed out against trees, and men were burned at the stake: There was, in 
 truth, the danger that Kentucky would be destroyed. Strong attacks, in force, were 
 being prepared to be loosed even then on the outlying stations. Finally, there was the 
 danger that Virginia, with a dangerously exposed western frontier, would be overrun 
 by savage hordes and white renegades led by British officers and the cause of inde- 
 pendence crushed out between two armies. 
 
 Young Clark grasped the situation completely as early as the spring of 1776. With 
 an eye to the beauties of the country, the wealth of the land, and the helplessness of 
 the people, he resolved to make a desperate effort to save Kentucky. No doubt he 
 discussed the situation in the stockade at Harrodstown with his close friends: Joseph 
 Bowman, Leonard Helm, William Harrod, Robert Todd, Edward Worthington, and 
 Silas Harlan. Appeasing the Indians would be futile; merely attempting to defend 
 the stations would not be sufficient. He formulated a plan. 
 
 Clark determined that the best way to serve Kentucky was by striking boldly into 
 the heart of the wild and little known territory of the enemy in the Northwest. If the 
 British and Indians could be surprised and destroyed in the territory from which their 
 raids were launched, Kentucky could be saved. 
 
 As a first step, he had dispatched, in April, Benjamin Linn and Samuel Moore as 
 spies into the Illinois territory (extending from the Wabash and Miami rivers west 
 to the Mississippi, and from the Ohio north to the Illinois) with instructions to ob- 
 serve closely the transpiration at Kaskaskia and Vincennes. After an absence of two 
 months these scouts return to Harrodsburg. Having disguised themselves as hunters, 
 they had entered both posts without molestation and acquired the information desired. 
 They reported that there was no suspicion of an attack from Kentucky, that the fort 
 at Kaskaskia was unguarded, and "that while the French feared the American back- 
 woodsmen, whom they regarded as desperadoes, they were luke warm in their attach- 
 ment to the British flag." 16 
 
 Visits Virginia. Fortunately, Patrick Henry was Governor of Virginia at the time; 
 and Governor Henry's intimate advisers were Thomas Jefferson, George Wythe, and 
 George Mason. In contemplating the extraordinary brilliancy of this group in con- 
 ference — Clark, Henry, Jefferson, Wythe, and Mason — one biographer writes in a 
 spirit of undisguised ecstasy. Nor can he be censured. In fact, when did five abler 
 men ever meet in America? The eager young Clark proposed a campaign into the 
 Northwest. 17 Each conferee readily envisioned the importance as well as the danger 
 and difficulty, and each supported the plan. Certain enabling acts were pressed through 
 the Assembly at Williamsburg. However, the plan to lead an army into the North- 
 west was not divulged to the members of the Legislature. Clark was commissioned a 
 Lieutenant Colonel of Virginia Militia. 
 
 Unable to recruit a desired force of five hundred men, Colonel Clark, after muster- 
 ing nearly two hundred men, dropped with his force by flatboats from Pittsburgh down 
 the Ohio in the spring of 1778. Late in May the little army landed at the Falls of the 
 Ohio and went into training on Corn Island, a fertile, wooded strip of seventy acres, 
 on which a strong stockade and cabins were built. In order to facilitate his recruiting, 
 Colonel Clark had permitted a number of families to accompany the soldiers. 
 
 The Kaskaskia Campaign. June 24th, the little army, after weeks of strenuous 
 training, was in readiness for the adventure. At last the complete plan, which had 
 been carefully guarded, was revealed and marching orders issued. The force which 
 shot the rapids that morning in the small boats while the sun was in total eclipse was 
 probably the strangest, wildest band in appearance that the eyes of white men had 
 beheld since the time of Attila. These soldiers were savagely bronzed and bearded, 
 big and fierce; they wore hunting shirts and breechcloth, were naked of foot and 
 
98 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 limb, with bed, food, powderhorn, knapsack and gun about their shoulders or at 
 their sides. 
 
 The boats glided along rapidly. The shadowy shore line to the north with its dark 
 mass of tangled trees, concealing savage men and savage beasts, held no fears for 
 Clark's swarthy giants; these thrilled at the prospect of danger and adventure. Al- 
 though outwardly grim, Clark, who thought the eclipse a good omen, was delighted 
 to the heart's core. The great dream of this young leader, twenty-five years old, was 
 beginning to come true. His sword was pointed toward the Northwest, toward the 
 strongholds of a fierce enemy, toward the heart of an empire. The hand of destiny 
 was moving. 
 
 Pursuing his plan to take the enemy by surprise, Colonel Clark, after landing his 
 men opposite the mouth of the Tennessee River, struck cut boldly through the wilds 
 of southern Illinois for Kaskaskia instead of going by way of the Mississippi River, 
 as was expected by the commandant at Kaskaskia. 
 
 That post was surrounded on the night of July 4th. So stealthily and quickly did 
 the "Big Knives" move that the British Commandant, Philip Rochblave, was taken 
 in bed with his wife. That surprised and irate gentleman in night apparel and his 
 surprised and frightened wife, routed from their bed, presented a spectacle altogether 
 amusing to Clark's "barbarian," whose lusty jibes were none too edifying to the boudoir 
 of the Commandant's lady. 
 
 The dazed and befuddled garrison had been surprised, immobilized and made 
 prisoner before it fully realized what had befallen, while the excitable French popu- 
 lace, realizing that they were hopelessly entrapped by these fierce, "barbaric" giants 
 from out of the darkness, were completely panic-stricken; they plead for their lives. 
 This hot July night at Kaskaskia, 1778, was the biggest fourth of July that Clark 
 and his backwoodsmen had ever known. 
 
 Not An Appeaser. Kaskaskia seized and Cahokia, (the latter by a small force 
 under Major Joseph Bowman, sent out from Kaskaskia by Clark) , to the north on 
 the Mississippi River, captured many braves of the numerous tribes living in the 
 Mississippi Valley came in to request a council to discuss terms with Clark. This 
 sagacious leader of the "Big Knives" knew the two sides of the nature of the red 
 men perfectly, having been a friend of the noble Mingo chief, Logan, and also a 
 witness of the bloody atrocities in Kentucky. Yet he knew them as simple, generous 
 children of Nature. He answered the red men's request by saying that, as their hearts 
 were not in the cause of the "Big Knives," it was too early to talk terms of peace, 
 and he set a later day for their return. 
 
 The day arrived for the big powwow. A large number of chiefs and braves arrived. 
 Instead of the plan customarily followed by the English officers, that of giving presents 
 of fire water, beads and trinkets, Colonel Clark stood out before them holding a bloody 
 red belt in one hand and a white belt in the other. He made them a speech. In it, 
 he explained the cause of the Americans in a masterful way. His language was 
 simple, as the braves liked, yet trenchant, direct, sincere and brave, a brilliant exempli- 
 fication of confidence and courage. Toward the close of the address, Colonel Clark 
 held out the belts to the enrapted warriors and continued with these words: 
 
 "Here is a bloody belt and a white one. Take whichever you please. Behave like 
 men and don't let your present situation, being surrounded by the "Big Knives," cause 
 you to take up the one belt with your hands when your hearts drink up the other." 
 
 The chieftains had listened with grave attention. Colonel Clark had complimented 
 their intelligence and sincerity by telling them of abuses that brought about the war, 
 and he had satisfied their pride as warriors by his defiant courage. The braves went 
 into a protracted powwow. The following day they kindled the council fire and pre- 
 sented the white belt. The sacred oipe of peace was passed around the circle of Indian 
 
H I S T O RY O F K E N T U C K Y 99 
 
 chiefs and to Clark himself. The red men realized that the "Big Knife" was a master 
 spirit, and they respected him. The direct American leader, single-handed, had won 
 a victory of far-reaching consequence. 
 
 His Vincennes Campaign. Colonel Clark's campaign for the capture of Vincennes 
 on the Wabash is a familiar part of Kentucky and of national history. It is a thrilling 
 story of courage and patriotism recounted by school children. Yet to us of this late 
 date, the intense action, the superbly brilliant leadership of Clark, and the stark 
 heroism maintained throughout, is fairly overwhelming. Every scene was crammed 
 with thrilling drama. 
 
 The doughty friend of the American cause, Francis Vigo, having returned from 
 Vincennes to St. Louis, early in February, 1779, hastily repaired to Kaskaskia and 
 reported to Colonel Clark that the Lieutenant Governor of Canada, Henry Hamilton, 
 had moved down from Detroit to Vincennes, on the Wabash, with a force of six 
 hundred British regulars and Indians. 
 
 Clark realized that the American situation was desperate. If he remained at 
 Kaskaskia and Cahokia, Hamilton would attack and destroy him, and the helpless 
 Kentuckians south of the Ohio would be annihilated. Only one chance of safety 
 remained: He could strike out in the dead of winter with his small force of less 
 than two hundred men across a region of two hundred miles, most of which was 
 flooded, and attack Hamilton's overwhelming force lying behind the strong walls of 
 Fort Sackville. 
 
 The situation was desperate indeed, but the more Colonel Clark contemplated the 
 dark situation, the more pleased he became, taking strength from desperation. He 
 determined to make the desperate move. 
 
 The small army set out from Kaskaskia on the morning of February 5, 1779. The 
 scenes of the intense drama which followed appear fiction-like to smug business-as-usual 
 populaces of today. How colorful and kaleidoscopic the events: the steady soldiers 
 of the little army and the excited French natives standing in Kaskaskia with bowed 
 heads listening to the eloquent benediction of the patriot priest, Father Pierre Gibault; 
 the gay and exhilarated long-riflemen marching out of the town (Clark mounted on 
 his fierce Mexican charger, which was soon to be abandoned) ; the little drummer boy 
 beating wildly, while the giant sergeant, Henry DeWitt, beamed down with an approv- 
 ing, good-natured grin. 
 
 Then the changing scene: The driving, pelting rain made icy by the chilly mid- 
 winter wind; the miles upon miles of dreary, watery waste; the monotonous and 
 fatiguing wading, accompanied by the slush of boots sinking knee-deep into water 
 and mud. 
 
 Colonel Clark's good sense was evident at all times. For diversion he would have 
 the companies vie in bringing in game and presenting feasts. He encouraged story- 
 telling, welcomed lusty jokes, and directed and played games with his fierce men as 
 though they were children. In fact, they looked to him as a father and trusted him 
 like three-year babes. 
 
 Whereas marching conditions had been trying, they became grave by the 17th: 
 deepening water, which stretched for miles without a visible spot of dry land; the 
 almost continuous down-pour becoming more icy; clothes wet all the time and no 
 change; fires no longer made; food running out; physical strength failing rapidly; 
 sleep, only fitful sleep, on wet, freezing ground in wet, freezing clothes. The Little 
 Wabash stretched out five miles wide with no apparent means of crossing. 
 
 Colonel Clark now maintained rigid discipline, but presented a confident, though 
 determined, countenance. On one occasion, upon reaching an unusually wide stretch 
 of icy water, he grasped the drummer boy and placed him on the broad shoulders of 
 Henry DeWitt, who waded into the water while the brave little boy wildly beat the 
 
 8— Vol. I 
 
100 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 charge. Clark, with a great shout, plunged in shoulder high. Visibly affected by 
 the bold gesture, the hungry, shivering men cheered and plunged in, wildly shouting 
 as they went. 
 
 The last two days out were days of absolute desperation. Upon reaching a danger- 
 ously wide and deep expanse of water, which the exhausted men were loath to plunge 
 into, Clark smeared dampened powder on his face and with a terrible Indian war 
 whoop, plunged into the deep water, which was encrusted with a sheet of ice; the 
 stronger men plunged behind him, while the weaker, falling and staggering, clung to 
 steady comrades, the sides of the boat and to branches of trees; many too weak to 
 lift themselves up the bank on the other side, fell back into the icy water and had to 
 be rescued; all the while, the trusty Major Bowman, grim of visage and with rifle 
 clinched, brought up the rear. 
 
 But the end was in sight. Late that afternoon, the twenty-second, upon reaching 
 higher ground, Clark and his starved, exhausted men beheld a heartening sight. In 
 plain view a short distance away was Fort Sackville and Vincennes. 
 
 The remaining part of the story is well known: Clark's winning over of the French 
 at Vincennes, who fed the men and unearthed a supply of much-needed powder; the 
 investment of Fort Sackville; the deadly accuracy of Clark's riflemen; the bold demand 
 upon Hamilton to surrender at discretion; the dramatic meeting between Clark and 
 Hamilton in the old Catholic Church, St. Xavier's, in Vincennes; Hamilton's complete 
 capitulation. Whether or not the rude American flag was made by the patriotic hands 
 of Alice of Old Vincennes, suffice it to say that an American flag was raised over Fort 
 Sackville on February 25, 1779. 
 
 Colonel Clark's desperate venture had succeeded beyond the wildest dream. The 
 results were of vast importance: The lives of the people of Kentucky were saved, and 
 the western boundary of the new nation would be the Mississippi River. Washing- 
 ton's exposed flank was no longer in danger, and, in addition, the northern boundary 
 of the United States would be the Great Lakes instead of the Ohio River: The states 
 of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and a part of Minnesota would be 
 carved out of Clark's magnificent conquest. 
 
 Stern in Retaliation. While Colonel Clark and his ever-trusted and faithful Major 
 Bowman were negotiating with Governor Hamilton and his second in command, 
 Major Hay, at St. Xavier's Church, an incident occurred which revealed the bitter 
 feeling of Clark and his men toward the savages and renegades who collected scalps 
 in Kentucky. 
 
 A report had reached the "Big Knives" that a party of Indians sent to the Falls of 
 the Ohio by Hamilton, known to the Kentuckians as the "hair-buyer," was returning 
 to Fort Sackville laden with scalps. Orders were issued for their capture. Some of 
 Clark's men, fully aware that the scalps might be from the heads of their own wives 
 and children, quickly attacked and captured the unsuspecting red men. Two Indians 
 were killed on the spot, three wounded, and six taken prisoners. Of these six, two, 
 being whites and prisoners of the Indians, were released, while the four remaining 
 were brought to the fort gate. There the head of each of these was split open with 
 a tomahawk and the body thrown into the Wabash River. 
 
 These bloody executions had a telling effect upon Governor Hamilton, who had en- 
 couraged the taking of scalps, even paying the savages approximately sixty dollars 
 for each scalp; and particularly upon Major Hay, "the Indian partisan," who trembled 
 violently and turned ghostly pale upon beholding the gory executions. 
 
 Harsh Terms of Surrender. Clark's terms of surrender were considered unnecces- 
 sarily harsh by Hamilton, who questioned the American leader as to the reason. 
 
 "I told him," replied Clark, "that I knew the greater part of the principal Indian 
 partisans of Detroit were with him; that I wanted an excuse to put them to death, 
 
 
Caufield and Shook. 
 
 GENERAL CLARK AND HIS MEN IN THE ATTACK ON VINCENNES 
 
 From a Mural in the Seelbach Hotel. 
 
102 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 or otherwise treat them as I thought proper; that the cries of the widows and the 
 fatherless, on the frontiers, which they had occasioned, now required their blood from 
 my hands." 
 
 After the surrender, however, Colonel Clark, true to his fine sense of honor, treated 
 his prisoners kindly and humanely. These after a short captivity were released upon 
 taking an oath of neutrality. Many of them, pleased with Clark, and sympathetic 
 with his cause, espoused the American side, serving it effectively in the vicinity of 
 Detroit. 
 
 THE GREAT INVASION 
 
 The foul murder of the noble chief Cornstalk while on a friendly visit to Captain 
 Arbuckle at Point Pleasant — Cornstalk, great Shawnese Chief, friend of the Americans, 
 who had constantly counciled peace to the tribes — enraged and enfuriated the Indians 
 generally. Their fury in the early part of 1778 naturally turned on Kentucky. Clark's 
 expedition could not be launched in time to prevent an invasion, and because of the 
 imminent danger few Kentucky settlers had participated in the campaign into the 
 Northwest, obviously — though the historian, Professor Cotterill, attempts to use this 
 fact as proof that Clark's plan was both unsound and unpopular, which is patently 
 ridiculous. 
 
 SALT MAKING IN KENTUCKY 
 
 Vital to living in the Kentucky settlements was salt, particularly as the peoples' chief 
 diet was game. So hazardous had become the transporting of this precious article 
 from the old settlements that late in 1777 the Virginia government sent out several 
 large salt-boiling kettles, so that the frontiersmen could make their own salt. Both 
 settlers and militiamen were alloted into companies, one to relieve another until enough 
 salt would have been manufactured to last a year. Daniel Boone was put in command 
 of the first company, about thirty in number, who, with kettles tied to pack-horses, 
 early in January (1778) went to the Lower Blue Licks. 
 
 CAPTURE OF BOONE AND HIS PARTY FEBRUARY, 1778 
 
 The party worked steadily without molestation for about a month; several horse- 
 loads of salt had been sent to Boonesborough, though most was stored in camp await- 
 ing shipments. Only about half of the party would work at making salt at a time; 
 the others customarily stood guard or hunted game. The relief party was daily ex- 
 pected by the men. Toward evening of the 7th of February, Boone in a wide circuit 
 was slowly making his way to camp. His packhorse was laden with buffalo meat and 
 some beaver skins. A blinding snow storm was in progress, which caused him to 
 neglect his usual precautions. Suddenly four burly Shawnese sprang from an ambush. 
 As resistance was out of the question, Boone therefore sought to outrun his assailants 
 until shots whizzing near his head convinced him that the red men could easily kill 
 him, if they chose; he had to surrender. 
 
 A RICH PRIZE 
 
 THE RED MEN ARE DELIGHTED WITH THEIR CAPTIVE 
 The prisoner was conducted to the Shawnese camp a few miles distant, where he 
 found a hundred and twenty savages under command of the famous Chief Blackfish 
 and two French-Canadian Indian officers in British service, Charles Beaubien and 
 Pierre Lorimer. Boone was easily recognized by many members of the party, among 
 whom were James and George Girty, brothers of the famous white renegade, Simon 
 Girty. He even saw some among the number who had captured him eight years be- 
 fore. These laughed heartily at having again so rich a prize. Boone's reputation, 
 among the whites as the most famous of American woodsmen, was perhaps as great 
 
H I S T O RY O F K E N T U C K Y 103 
 
 among the red men, and he was as highly admired and respected as among the frontiers- 
 men. The simple aborigines must have regarded him, as Professor Cotterill points 
 out, in the same romantic, revering light as do school children today. In fact all of 
 the braves were moved to hilarity, so pleased were they with their "bag" of the day. 
 He was loudly welcomed to camp; the braves shook his hands, slapped him on the 
 back and called him brother, enjoying to the full this exhibition of mock civility and 
 friendship. Boone in turn made it appear that he enjoyed it as much as his captors. 
 The Indians told him that they were on their way to attack Boonesborough, invited 
 him to lead them, but first insisted that he induce his fellow salt-makers to surrender. 
 Boone realized that his situation was critical. Whatever happened, he was a captive 
 and his companions had little chance of escaping; more important still, only a part 
 of the stockade at Boonesborough had been completed and this was manned by a 
 poorly equipped garrison of one-fifth the number of effective fighting men which the 
 red men had; he did not believe that Boonesborough, under the circumstances, attacked 
 by such a force could hold out. He therefore determined to make the best bargain 
 possible. Relying upon his thorough knowledge of Indian nature and taking full 
 advantage of his extraordinary prestige and popularity with these children of nature, 
 he addressed them, presenting these plausible arguments: The fort, on the alert at all 
 times, was strongly manned and would repel an Indian attack now. He promised to 
 persuade the salt-makers to surrender provided good treatment be guaranteed. He 
 and his companions were willing to go to the Shawnese villages north of the Ohio. 
 He could persuade the settlers at Boonesborough to return to their former allegiance, 
 suggesting that in the spring when the weather was mild and enough horses were 
 available to provide the women and children a comfortable journey northward he 
 would lead the braves to Boonesborough and effect the desired change without loss 
 of life. (Hamilton was paying £20 for each live and well captive delivered at Detroit.) 
 
 BOONE'S STRATAGEM 
 
 Boone's arguments were really accepted by Blackfish, who was delighted with his 
 sagacious captive; all the red men appeared satisfied; however, both Beaubien and 
 Lorimer were disappointed and disgusted. Perhaps the Indians were not greatly im- 
 pressed by arguments concerning impregnability of Boonesborough, but they were 
 greatly impressed at having the inimitable and great woodsman; were eager to get 
 him northward for display. Going with his captors to the camp, Boone, after some 
 argument, succeeded in persuading his companions to surrender, hoping thereby at 
 least for the time being to save their families at Boonesborough. The captives were 
 but twenty-seven in number, three having gone to Boonesborough with a load of salt. 
 The party, the salt having been destroyed, the kettles, axes and other supplies taken, 
 started next day; the weather was severe, the snow being deep, and food unusually 
 scarce, so scarce indeed that slippery elm bark was sometimes the only food available. 
 Each night the prisoners were tied, causing the suffering from the cold to be more acute, 
 and closely watched. They descended the Licking, crossed the Ohio in a large boat 
 made of frame and buffalo hides, entered the trail leading to the Shawnese towns on 
 the Little Miami, which were reached on the tenth day. 19 
 
 The prisoners were taken to the chief Shawnese town, Little Chillicothe, about 
 three miles north of the present city of Xenia, Ohio. There was great popular re- 
 joicing in camp at so large and distinguished a number of captives. Boone and six- 
 teen of the prisoners were soon adopted into the tribe, presumably because of their 
 good conduct. Boone had the good fortune to be adopted by Blackfish as a son and 
 given the name Sheltowee (Big Turtle) — perhaps because of his powerful torso and 
 short, sturdy limbs. The adoption ceremonies, with the plucking of hair — except a 
 
104 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 forelock — by the squaws and the great feast on dog-meat was rather rigorous, though 
 Boone submitted as though highly pleased. As a matter of fact, he rather liked the 
 Indian mode of living; his foster father, old Blackfish, idolized him; the squaws did 
 the drudgery, as well as the raising of corn and vegetables; he was free to indulge 
 his major passion, hunting, to the limit; all of the Indians like him, apparently were 
 proud of their "brother." 20 
 
 NEWS OF THE CAPTURE AND DESPONDENCY AT BOONESBOROUGH 
 
 Meanwhile life at Boonesborough was tempered with anxiety. The men, who had 
 carried the salt to the station, returned and found that the salt-camp had been 
 plundered and all of the company gone. The supposition was that they had been 
 captured and many perhaps killed and scalped. Hastening back to Boonesborough, 
 they gave the alarm, which caused panic. It was the heaviest blow Kentucky had yet 
 suffered, and, after the hostile encounters of the preceding year, the belief was that 
 no mercy would be shown by the savages, if the party had fallen into their hands. 
 The families of the missing men gave them up for lost and mourned for them as 
 dead. Many hastened back to the old settlements in Virginia and Carolina, even 
 Boone's wife being one of the number. Garrisons, particularly at Boonesborough, 
 stood on guard continually, anxiously awaiting the attack which all felt sure would 
 come. 
 
 BOONE AND OTHERS TAKEN TO DETROIT MARCH, 1778 
 
 Toward the 10th of March Boone and those of the captives not adopted by the 
 Shawnese set out with Blackfish and a large party of braves and squaws for Detroit, 
 there to collect Hamilton's bounty money and to display the peerless woodsman. 
 The trip was a trying one, because Boone witnessed frequently the gauntlet running 
 to which the more fractious of the captives were subjected. This thrilling ordeal often 
 seriously crippled and sometimes killed the victims. Even Boone early in his captivity 
 had been forced to run the gauntlet; however, "by taking a dodging, zigzag course 
 and freely using his head as a battering-ram to topple over some of the warriors in 
 the lines, he had emerged with few bruises."' 1 The fact that Boone was so well-liked 
 and appeared so happy led to jealously and to the belief on the part of some of the 
 captives that he was a traitor. 
 
 BOONE MEETS HAMILTON AND BLACKFISH REFUSES TO ACCEPT 
 
 A RANSOM FOR BOONE 
 
 Immediately upon the arrival of Blackfish and his party, Colonel Hamilton sent 
 for the famous woodsman, news of whose capture had apparently reached Detroit 
 long before. Hamilton took a quick liking to Boone, who talked very freely about 
 Kentucky. There was no more reason why he should not deceive the British than the 
 red men, which he proceeded to do, apparently with signal success. As was his custom, 
 Boone carried a black leather satchel around his neck in which was concealed his old 
 commission as captain in the British colonial forces, signed by Lord Dunmore. This 
 he displayed to Colonel Hamilton. Boone's naive duplicity worked as effectively as 
 it had with Black Fish. The English seemed to place great confidence in him. He 
 told them how the crops had been destroyed the previous year, that the settlements 
 were in a weak condition, with little hope of obtaining help from Congress. It ap- 
 pears that he gave to Hamilton the same promise given to Black Fish, that he would 
 surrender the people of Boonesborough and conduct them to Detroit to live under 
 British jurisdiction. So pleased was the British leader that he offered £100 ransom 
 money to Black Fish, but the old chief stated that he loved his "son" too strongly 
 
H I S T O RY O F K E N T U C K Y 105 
 
 to let him go, which statement may contain some element of truth. Upon the party's 
 leaving, Hamilton presented Boone with a pony, saddle, bridle, and blanket, and a 
 supply of silver trinkets to use as money among the red men and admonished him to 
 remember his duty to the King. 
 
 BRITISH AND INDIAN PREPARATIONS TO INVADE KENTUCKY 
 
 Returning to Chillicothe, Boone discovered that preparations were being made for 
 the spring offensive against Kentucky, runners having been sent from village to village 
 carrying the war-pipe, and he realized that his living among the Indians was no longer 
 a guarantee against invasion — though his presence had done much to protect Kentucky 
 during the past four months. He therefore waited for the most propitious time to 
 make his escape, which could have been attempted long before, so much confidence 
 did the red men place in him. 
 
 BOONE'S ESCAPE 
 
 June 16, while Black Fish and a party were at the saline springs of the Scioto 
 River, Boone, who had carefully prepared for the moment with rare astuteness, made 
 his escape while the Indians were running to the woods after a huge flock of wild 
 turkey, which had greatly excited them. He headed straight for Boonesborough, a 
 distance of one hundred and sixty miles. He did not dare to stop to shoot game 
 because of fear of attracting the attention of probable pursuers, and he ate only one 
 meal during the journey, which required four days. Worn, hungry and utterly ex- 
 hausted, he was received as one from the dead. The only relatives to greet him were 
 his brother, Squire and his daughter Jemima (Mrs. Flanders Calloway) . But the 
 whole population rushed up to him "with astonishment and delight." The garrison 
 expected a speedy attack and waited on the alert for ten days. During that time, 
 while the garrison expected to be attacked hourly, Boone succeeded in getting the 
 stockade completed — posterns and bastions strengthened, badly needed repairs made 
 and actually a well begun. When returning scouts reported no signs of the approach 
 of an enemy, the garrison sank back into the usual lethargy, and the well inside the 
 stockade was not completed. Meanwhile, in the Northeast, Clark and his plucky 
 little army was moving toward Kaskaskia." 
 
 FORAYS INTO INDIAN TERRITORY 
 
 The Indians were in no hurry to attack, even after the reception of glittering 
 presents and powerful harangues, made brighter still by bountiful swigs of British 
 firewater. Summer wore on. The garrison did not lose its anxiety with the loss of 
 its energy to work. Late in the season Simon Kenton, the inimitable scout, brought 
 the heartening news of Clark's capture of Kaskaskia, and soon thereafter the popu- 
 lation was further delighted by news of the arrival of the French fleet to cooperate 
 with Washington's army. From time to time raiding parties were sent out from 
 Boonesborough to the Shawnese villages on the Scioto to learn of Indian movements — 
 and, incidentally, to bring in as many horses and scalps as possible. Toward the close 
 of August, Boone, wearied of being confined inside the stockade, led a party of thirty 
 raiders, among whom were Simon Kenton and Alexander Montgomery. Enroute home 
 after a week's absence, this party discovered a large force of the enemy at the Lower 
 Blue Licks, only a short distance from Boonesborough. 
 
 THE SIEGE OF BOONESBOROUGH SEPTEMBER 7-17, 1778 
 
 The motley army of from three to four hundred Indians — mostly Shawnese but 
 some Wyandots, Cherokees, Delawares, Mingos, and other tribesmen — and Canadians 
 
106 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 — from ten to thirty or forty — crossed the Kentucky River at the ford just below the 
 Station, at about 10 o'clock on the morning of September 7, and without the least 
 attempt to conceal its movements deliberately moved around to the South of the 
 fort taking positions near the hills. The army was under the supreme command of 
 the celebrated Chief Black Fish, Boone's foster "father" with the Chiefs Moluntha and 
 Blackhoof as subordinates; while the French-Canadian "Indian Officer," de Quindre, 
 served as aide and adviser, with the well-known Negro, Pompey, as an interpreter. 
 (He had been with Black Fish when Boone was captured.) With the savages in full 
 war paint and regalia, the Canadians in the uniforms of British officers and the Eng- 
 lish and French colors flying, the army presented a colorful, though somewhat terri- 
 fying, spectable to the riflemen, who quietly watched every movement through loop- 
 holes in the fort. Not a shot was fired, in fact, the garrison was so weak — a fighting 
 force of thirty men and twenty boys — that all possible ammunition had to be conserved, 
 while the Indians, on their part, appeared to expect Boone to fulfill his promise of 
 delivering over the garrison without a struggle. The Indians, expecting a brief cam- 
 paign, were scantily equipped, carrying "nothing heavier than flint-lock rifles and 
 buckskin wallets of parched corn, for wild game was depended upon for meat," but 
 there was a train of pack-horses, brought along principally to carry back the women, 
 children and heavier articles desired. 5 
 
 THE PARLEY 
 
 After the forces of Black Fish had taken position in the woods south of the fort, 
 within rifle shot, their leader made no more war-like demonstration than the immediate 
 sending of "an unarmed English-speaking Messenger with a flag of truce." 2 * Within 
 the fort all was quiet with not a person in view, so eager was the garrison to conceal 
 its real weakness. The only signs of life were the smoke rising from the great fire- 
 places and the neighing of the horses. The messenger, with flag of true conspicuously 
 in evidence, mounting a stump gave a loud "halloo" in protracted pioneer style. The 
 garrison fearful of showing eagerness did not respond. With another mighty call, 
 an answer came within the block-house nearest. The messenger then announced him- 
 self as bearer of a request from the British-Indian force for a meeting between the 
 opposing chiefs to consider the contents of letters, carried by his commander, from 
 Governor Hamilton to Captain Boone. The garrison, secretly delighted to gain time — 
 perhaps time enough for re-enforcements from the Holston settlements to arrive — 
 consented, after a deliberate silence to give the impression of reluctance, but "only 
 under the guns of the fort and at the hands of three unarmed leaders of the enemy." 21 
 These conditions were quickly agreed to, because within a short time the messenger 
 reappeared to announce the presence of Black Fish, de Quintre and Moluntha, who 
 as token of their good faith brought seven roasted buffalo tongues. (Nothing could 
 have been more acceptable to the "half-starved" settlers.) The diplomats of the 
 enemy were met by Captain Boone, Colonel Calloway and Major W. B. Smith, "carry- 
 ing only a white hankerchief tied to a ramrod.""' The Messenger acted as interpreter. 
 The meeting was embarrassing to Boone. He faced Black Fish, who had loved him 
 as his own son, had made him a member of his own family and the "Shawnese King" 
 Moluntha, who had befriended and been particularly kind to him. Now Moluntha 
 "sorrowfully reproached" him for killing his son across the Ohio a few days before, 
 but Boone assured the old Chief that it was not his act. Black Fish handed Hamil- 
 ton's dispatches to Boone. Among other things Hamilton offered pardons to all who 
 would take the oath of allegiance, and commissions for Boone and the other leaders. 
 By way of making it easier, Black Fish stated that he had brought along forty horses 
 for the old folks, the women and the children to ride."' The representatives of Boones- 
 borough appeared highly pleased with the offer, but intent upon delay, proposed a 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 107 
 
 truce of two days to enable all the garrison to consider Hamilton's terms. The chiefs 
 believing that Boone would persuade the garrison to capitulate just as he had the 
 salt-makers, consented freely. After a friendly stroll about the exterior of the stock- 
 ade in which the parleyers chatted freely in high good humor, they separated, neither 
 side to make a hostile move until the expiration of the truce. 
 
 The garrison, realizing that the enemy had no cannon and confident that the heavy 
 timbers of the stockade could resist rifle bullets, determined immediately not to sur- 
 render. They made last minute preparations — carried in as much water from the lick 
 spring as possible (thanks to the forebearance of the Indians) gleaned the few re- 
 maining vegetables at night and, the women and children helping, cleaned rifles, picked 
 flints, distributed powder and moulded an extra supply of bullets. The enemy fore- 
 bore even to molest the cattle, which, coming to the gate at night, were got inside 
 the stockade. 
 
 In the cool of the second evening Black Fish and his party appeared before the 
 stockade for the reply. The answer was made by Boone himself, who stated that 
 "the garrison had determined to defend the fort while a man was living." The realiza- 
 tion that their "favorite and enforced kinsman" preferred not to return to his adopted 
 family "astonished, disappointed, and exasperated the Indians." Their plans had 
 truly gone awry. Maintaining countenances of imperturbable gravity, they walked 
 aside to confer together. Presently to the surprise of the Boonesborough leaders 
 conciliatory overtures were made by DeQuindre through his interpreter, DeChaine. 
 He proposed, as he had orders from Hamilton to avoid blood shed, that a treaty be 
 drawn up, signed by nine representative men of the garrison. As they had the same 
 strong reason for gaining time the pioneers agreed that a peace meeting be held next 
 morning in the hollow at the Lick Spring, in easy rifle range of the nearest bastion." 
 
 THE RUSE OF THE INDIANS 
 
 Next morning the representatives from the two camps moved to the shade of the 
 cool sycamores, the pioneers being invited to seat themselves on deerskins and panther 
 skins, spread on the ground by their hospitable enemies, who passed around the pipe 
 and a jorum of whiskey. ' The powwowing lasted all day, being protracted by the 
 pioneers, who ate and drank as much as possible at the expense of Britain's Detroit 
 commissary department. A sort of treaty, with little meaning — probably because of 
 a prevaling inebriety — was drawn up, to be signed the following morning. It appears 
 that by nightfall the diplomats had become quite hilarious. The crafty abstemious 
 DeQuindre must have thought that Boonesborough would be his after all. But neither 
 party was sincere. That night a strong party of Indians stole unobserved and hid in 
 the weeds and bushes near the hollow. Next morning Black Fish led the way to a 
 rude table under the great elm. The pioneers observed that strong young braves took 
 the places of the older Indians who had been serving as attendants and mentioned it 
 to Black Fish who with magnificent stolidity and imperturbability declared that they 
 were the same. The sham treaty was signed, and Black Fish said that as customary, 
 the Indians would like to conclude by handshaking all around. Two braves to each 
 white. When the pioneers perceived that the handshakes were strong grips tugging 
 them toward the underbrush, they lurched loose, waved their hats and ran, while 
 almost simultaneously the crack of rifle fire came from the fort. The Indians, un- 
 armed, ran into the bushes, while the pioneers raced toward the stockade, but not 
 before the savages hidden in the brush began firing. Their volleys painfully wounded 
 Daniel and Squire Boone, the latter receiving a ball in the left shoulder, and another 
 unnamed "commissioner," who, unable to reach the fort, was obliged to remain hidden 
 behind a stump until nightfall. 4 
 
108 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 THE END OF THE FIASCO 
 THE SIEGE BEGINS 
 
 Unsuccessful in their attempt to capture or kill the leaders of the pioneers, the 
 Indians resorted to another deception. Scarcely had the last shot been fired when the 
 settlers heard loud noises — the gathering, gearing and loading of ponies and pack- 
 horses, the clutter of camp paraphanalia being assembled and loaded for moving and 
 orders given suspiciously loud — indicating the breaking of camp. That night — 
 Thursday — a party of red men moved in close to the fort, and next morning before 
 daybreak, when objects were not discernable to the anxious watchers in the station 
 noises indicating the retreat of the entire enemy force were made. The call of the 
 bugle resounded more faintly and faintly through the neighboring hills, as though 
 moving away, and the horses were heard splashing and clattering as they crossed the 
 river, all gradually dying away. Then the Indians quickly stole back and posted 
 themselves in ambush near the buffalo road and close to the bank of the river. The 
 ruse failed to work; no one of the garrison budged from the peaceful fort. Soon the 
 Indians were convinced, and the battle began. All day long from behind trees, rocks, 
 hillocks, logs and bushes, the red men fired at every porthold and crack discernable, 
 and the garrison answered. "At night," writes Professor Ranck, "the surrounding 
 forests, the solemn cliffs, and the everlasting hills were doubly sublime in the red 
 glow of a multitude of savage camp-fires." 35 
 
 THE ATTEMPT TO UNDERMINE THE FORT 
 
 The leaders of the enemy, deeming a direct assault across the cleared space in the 
 face of withering and deadly accurate rifle fire, determined to resort to another strata- 
 gem, keeping up the rifle fire as a decoy. The first warning of the new deception came 
 between the firing when some of the pioneers heard sounds like those of woodchoppers 
 coming from the river bank back of the fort, and soon after a broad muddy channel 
 was noticed to begin in the water in the same locality and run down the stream. As 
 some alarm was felt, one of the garrison at great risk stole out and caught a glimpse 
 of a pole moving as if being used to lossen dirt. De Quindre was trying to push 
 a mine from the river bank to the back wall of the fort, or under it. The garrison 
 quickly built a tower of thick, bullet-proof wood and mounted it on the top of the 
 cabin which had served as Henderson's kitchen. The watcher confirmed the fears, 
 and a counter mine was begun from within the fort to meet the enemy mine. As luck 
 would have it, the weather became cloudy and drizzly, quenching the fierce September 
 heat, conserving the rapidly diminishing water supply, and making the enemy's task 
 more difficult. Later rain fell in earnest. 
 
 Events crowded one upon another making the siege a thrilling nightmare, in which 
 the women and girls worked and fought shoulder to shoulder to the men and boys. 
 Professor Thwaites presents a graphic picture: "Sometime — the attack lasted through- 
 out the night, the scene being constantly lighted by the flash of rifles and the glare 
 of hurling fagots. Besiegers and garrison frequently exchanged fierce cries of threat 
 and defiance, mingled with many a keen shaft of wit and epithet; at times the yells 
 and whoops of the savages, the answering shouts and hurrahs of the defenders, the 
 screams of women and girls, the howling of dogs, the snort and bellowing of the 
 plunging livestock, together with the sharp rattle of firearms, creating a deafening 
 hubbub well calculated to test the nerves of the strongest. 
 
 THE WOODEN CANNON AND THE MINE AND COUNTERMINE 
 
 Practically every strategem and device known to savage cunning, French trickery, 
 and pioneer resourcefulness was employed. The settlers built a crude wooden cannon, 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 109 
 
 banded with scrap iron, loaded it with musket balls and fired it into a knot of savages 
 who, out of rifle range, had been taunting the garrison to madness; the volley scattered 
 the group pell mell, although no knowledge as to casualties could be obtained; with 
 the second blast the gun blew up, which being suspected by the red men their taunts 
 became bolder than before. On Sunday evening the 13th, the Indians succeeded in 
 hurling lighted torches against the side of the stockade and in dropping lighted 
 arrows wrapped with oiled flax on the roofs of the cabins, seeking to prevent the 
 extinguishment by sweeping the fired places with a hail of bullets. Consternation 
 seized the garrison, because there was not enough water to put out the blazes, but 
 relief came just as quickly, because it was noticed that the flames died out; the wood 
 was too damp from the recent drizzle to catch. The suffering of the settlers and 
 livestock from thirst was great; would have been unbearable had it not been for the 
 timely showers. Mining and countermining went on from day to day at a monotonous 
 yet, frightening pace; by the 15th the laborers in the station trench could hear the 
 sound of the enemies' digging implements, so close were the two together: the crisis 
 was at hand.'' All day long the rain fell in torrents, and the night was inky black. 
 The anxious and harrassed garrison waited for some event that would usher in what- 
 soever direful calamity the fiendish savages intended to perpetrate. Yet, sorely tried, 
 apparently forgotten by Virginia and by Congress, feeble, worn out, starved, anxious, 
 harassed and weary with dread and anxiety, these strong pioneers — men, women and 
 children — never thought of surrender; "they battled as valiantly and suffered as nobly 
 for freedom and for country as did the men of Bunker Hill or the shivering heroes 
 of Valley Forge."' 8 
 
 The weary night wore to an end, and the dawn of Wednesday, September 16, 1778, 
 broke clear. All was calm and quiet; no noise in the tunnel; soon the clatter and 
 bustle of campbreaking was heard; and the Indians were seen in slow, leisurely retreat, 
 at last verified by weary scouts returning at noon. The rain had caused the tunnel 
 to cave in, which with the red men was "the straw that broke the camel's back," they 
 had known nothing but failure from the beginning, and had had enough. The joyful 
 pioneers threw open the gates to let out the starving "half-mad" cattle, and gave way 
 to wild rejoicing until acute fatigue forced them to rest. 
 
 THE SIEGE IS RAISED 
 
 It had been a trying experience, but the little wooden fort had held, though the 
 garrison had been closely invested for nine days and nights. The loss had not been 
 severe — only two killed and four wounded; while it was known that the enemy had 
 lost thirty-seven killed (among whom was the well-known negro, Pompey, killed by 
 a sharp-shooter while trying to snipe from the protection of a tree) and a large 
 number wounded. The enemy retired, Boone's men picked up a hundred and 
 twenty-five pounds of flattened bullets, handfuls being scooped up beneath the port- 
 holes of the bastions, and it was estimated that a hundred pounds of lead were buried 
 in the logs of one bastion alone. Kentucky had never before known such a siege, 
 and, perhaps never in their history had Indians been known to make such a sustained 
 attack. Boone, who was tried by court martial for treason (in connection with his 
 friendliness to Governor Hamilton) and exonerated with an elevation in rank, de- 
 clared that the invasion and siege were a blessing in disguise; that doughty woodsman 
 soon set out to North Carolina for his family. 
 
 Only a few days after the siege was raised a company of eighty men from Holston 
 arrived at Boonesborough. Although making desultory attacks with small parties and 
 raiding for livestock and waylaying for scalps, the savages made no further serious 
 effort that year at an invasion in force. The same month, September, a party of 
 
110 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 white men traveling from Harrodsburg to Logan's was fired upon but no damage 
 done. However, a cornshelling party sent out from Harrodsburg under Colonel Bow- 
 man was fired upon from a canebrake, with a loss of seven men before the savages 
 were driven off. It was in the fall of the same year that the Legislature of Virginia 
 made the grant of two hundred thousand acres of land at the mouth of Green River 
 to the moribund Transylvania Company. 4 The same fall Colonel Clark at Kaskaskia 
 ordered Captain William Lynn, returning with a company of three months' volunteers 
 whose term of enlistment had expired, to begin building a fort on the mainland across 
 from Corn Island, to which in December the families moved from Corn Island, thus 
 marking the beginning of Louisville. Just a few months later in April, 1779, Colonel 
 Robert Patterson began the erection of a fort where Lexington now stands and started 
 laying off this town. 
 
 Clark's successes, the French alliance, the defense of Boonesborough — these, together 
 with the fact that the Virginia Legislature adopted laws for the preemption of land 
 in Kentucky caused an influx of population — the moving of entire families — and the 
 erection of other stations. Clustered about the Falls under the protection of Clark 
 at Fort Nelson were Lynn's Station, on Beargrass Creek, Brashear's on Floyd's Fork, 
 and Sullivan's five miles from the Falls, as well as Floyd's, Chenowith's, Squire Boone's, 
 Sullivan's, the Old Dutch and others. Isaac Ruddle led a company to Hinkston's 
 old station on Licking and established Ruddle's, as did John Martin, Martin's in the 
 same locality (between Paris and Cynthiana) . From Logan's Station went out settlers 
 to establish Whitley's, Worthington's, Field's and Pittman's stations. The stations 
 about Harrodsburg — Harrod's, McAfee's, McGary's, Sandusky's — were numerous. For 
 a time the people rushed into Kentucky, the lust for land being almost as compelling 
 as the lust for gold. Naturally the savages did a remarkable business in scalps along 
 the dreary Wilderness Road. 
 
 BOWMAN'S EXPEDITION AGAINST THE SHAWNESE, MAY, 1779 
 
 These horrible murders, together with the memory of the "great invasion" of the 
 preceding year, caused demand for retaliation. The military leaders decided upon an 
 expedition against the Shawnese village of Old Chillicothe, on the Little Miami. Colonel 
 John Bowman, the ranking officer, called upon the settlers to rendezvous at the mouth 
 of the Licking River as soon as the corn had been planted. This time was additionally 
 advisable in order to gain the services of seventy prospectors from the Monongahela 
 country, who were upon the point of returning home. Captain William Harrod ac- 
 cepted the task of recruiting these at Fort Nelson and leading them to the mouth of 
 the Licking. The Boonesborough men, twenty-five in number, were led by Captain 
 John Holder, a man of recognized ability, while those of Logan's were under the 
 command of their noble leader, Benjamin Logan, serving as second in command under 
 Bowman. Bryant's and Lexington sent a company under Levi Todd, Martin's and 
 Ruddle's another under Lieutenant John Haggin, while McAfee's and Harrodsburg's 
 men were under the command of Captain Silas Harlan. Major Michael Bedinger 
 was adjutant and quartermaster. Once across the River, the little army, numbering 
 a little over two hundred men, marched in three divisions, under Logan, Holder and 
 Harrod. The vicinity of Old Chillicothe was reached quickly, quietly and without 
 mishap. 
 
 THE BATTLE NEAR OLD CHILLCOTHE, MAY, 1779 
 
 Because night was fast approaching and the red men were unaware, Colonel Bow- 
 man decided not to attack until morning, although the red men apparently were com- 
 pletely unaware of the presence of a white force. Historians have failed to agree as 
 to what the strategy of the Kentuckians was, how they fought and, particularly, the 
 
H I S T O RY O F K E N T U C KY 111 
 
 conduct of divisions and leaders. These movements, however, seem to have transpired: 
 Colonel Logan led his division, one-third of the force, to the left to encircle the town; 
 Harrod moved to the right, while Holder held the front. Logan was to await a signal 
 to begin the attack, the strategy being obvious. Then things happened prematurely. 
 Dogs, catching the scent, began barking wildly; and one of Holder's men fired his 
 rifle, disclosing to the Indians certainly, both the presence and position of enemy troops. 
 The savages took position in a big cabin — perhaps council house — in the center of 
 the town, while the white men pressing in took possession of cabins as they advanced. 
 When they had advanced to within seventy yards of the fortress cabin, the savages 
 stiffening held firm. The fighting continued until ten o'clock, by which time Bowman 
 had lost nine men, and his army had pillaged most of the town, securing large quan- 
 tities of booty, and had taken nearly one hundred and sixty horses. Although their 
 losses were great, the savages far outnumbered the whites, and, seeing the Kentuckians 
 were fascinated by plundering, began leaving their stronghold and showing signs of 
 out-flanking their assailants. Logan had waited for an order, which apparently did 
 not come, and consequently had to act upon his own without contact with the other 
 flanks. Bowman, realizing that if out-flanked his force would be cut to pieces and 
 seeing that many could not be restrained from plundering, ordered a retreat. The order 
 came as a complete surprise to Holder and Logan, it appears, who thought that all 
 was going well. The savages, really in a desperate condition, were only too glad to 
 be relieved and were too crippled to follow immediately. However, after a time, 
 realizing that the whites must have felt themselves beaten, and most eager to regain 
 the horses, they dashed after Bowman's column, which was moving slowly and in an 
 orderly manner, although it is not difficult to imagine that some of the officers and men 
 were gradually abating their fury caused by the retreat order by swearing vehemently 
 and eloquently at Bowman. About ten miles out the savages sighted the Kentuckians 
 and rushed upon them headlong firing when in range. The volley was luckily in- 
 effective. Logan quickly realized the acute danger, together with most of the officers, 
 and promptly had formed a hollow square, placing the most seasoned men in front 
 of the enemy. The men thus formed held the savages at bay. The onslaught checked, 
 the retreat was resumed slowly and cautiously, the men under perfect control and the 
 booty safe. Then Red Hawk, who had supplanted the fallen Black Fish, hung on 
 the rear, harassing and attacking at every favorable opportunity. This strategy might 
 have caused ultimately panic and destruction had not the leading officers, the bold and 
 resourceful Logan in the forefront, swung with a fierce annihilating cavalry charge, 
 which took the savages completely by surprise and scattered them pell mell in the wildest 
 confusion. This charge freed the Kentuckians from further annoyance. They 
 crossed the Ohio and dispersed to their homes convinced that Bowman had been de- 
 feated and that the expedition was a failure. However, the excursion was by no means 
 a failure nor a defeat, other than tactical. Nor should the old Indian fighter, Colonel 
 John Bowman, who was made the scapegoat unjustly, and was more or less ruined, 
 be credited with a defeat. 42 
 
 LOSSES 
 
 The loss to the whites was negligible, while the red men's was rather severe both in 
 men and property. The people of Kentucky, generally, regarded the battle as a defeat 
 for them. As has been pointed out by other historians, the moral effect of the retreat, 
 which had to be ordered, was incalculably great. 
 
 The following is Bowman's version of the battle, disclosed in a letter to his uncle 
 in Virginia, June 15, 1779: 
 
 "I marched 296 Men to one of the Shawnee Towns and Placed them at their Different 
 Posts without ever Being Discovered, but the Dogs being so very uneasy I expect gave 
 
112 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 a Suspicion, about an hour Before Day an Indian came to see what was the cause of 
 the Dogs barking at such a Rate and come within five feete of the line where I had 
 placed the men. I had given orders not to fire a gun till day lite without we should 
 be discovered this Indian discovering of us Raised the Shout and Immediately was 
 Shot down by onely one of our men this gave the Indians time to Get into Sume Block 
 Houses they had Bult to Defend themselves, we cept our Posts Being Placed all 
 Round the Town and it being Dark Sum Indians came Rushing on us, which occasioned 
 a brisk fire they Returned into their Block Houses by their cryes their appered to be 
 many wounded amongst them but at daylight finding that the had fortified themselves, 
 that we could not Storm the Place without sacrificing many a man, I ordered them to 
 withdraw at a convenient Distance and cept the fort in action till we gathered up wards 
 of 200 horses we Packed up what Plunder we could and Sot fier to the greatest Part 
 of the Town, the good Skins and furs that was burnt their was in everybody's opinion 
 worth ten times as much as what we Brought away and that Sold for £31,666.14 
 (allowing for paper money depreciation, about £ 1,583 specie) the Indians overtook us 
 on our Return, about 15 miles from the Towns, and pushed hard to Retake what we 
 had got the Battle lasted about three Ours, in which Sum of our horses got away the 
 Indians with Drue with a considerable Loss as appered by Blod and sines they left. 
 we Saw where eight had Been dragged away through the weades and only one left ded 
 on the ground at the town we Lost Seven Men and five wounded and at this place one 
 Ded we returned in twenty Days to our Respective places of abode." 44 
 
 THE HARD WINTER, 1779-80 
 JOHN FLOYD RETURNS WITH HIS FAMILY 
 
 In spite of Bowman's "defeat," throughout the summer and fall (1779) the tide 
 of immigration continued to roll high into Kentucky without abatement. The Indians 
 had been so badly crippled in loss of property — food supplies and live-stock — that 
 they were not in position to organize a large-scale invasion; however, small parties of 
 raiders made frequent forays, principally ambushing immigrants, scalping or taking 
 prisoners, plundering supply trains and camps and stealing horses. The year 1779-80 
 was that of the winter known as "the dreadful winter" — apparently unprecedented cold 
 in these parts from early November until February. The rivers were frozen as far 
 south as Nashville; emigrant wagons were stalled in the drifts while crossing the 
 mountains; and, every where was reported unparalleled suffering and hardship. "See 
 them (the immigrants) ," spoke Chief Justice George Robertson in an address in Frank- 
 lin County (Kentucky) in 1843, "encamped at night expecting to be massacred by 
 Indians; behold them in the month of December, in that ever-memorable season of 
 unprecedented cold, called the hard winter, traveling two or three miles a day, frequently 
 in danger of being frozen, or killed by the falling of horses on the icy and almost 
 impassable trace, and subsisting on stinted allowances, of stale bread and meat." 
 Winter had appeared early that year. In the late fall the ice and snow came, remaining 
 two months without a thaw, and the biting wind howled through the lonely trees, 
 drifting snow in giant banks. The blast froze the blood of starving man and beast, 
 small game was found by the score frozen to death along the trails. The wildest, most 
 ferocious beast of the forest appeared at the stockades, completely docile, in search 
 of food. Even horses, cattle and men succumbed to the terrible "frost." In October 
 the fascinating and enterprizing John Floyd, together with his lovely wife, Jane, their 
 infant son, William Preston, and a host of brothers and sisters-in-law, set out from 
 Virginia, via Cumberland Gap, for the Falls. These arrived at the Falls on Novem- 
 ber 8, 1779, practically without the necessities of life, having suffered acutely along 
 the way. The women and children were in a desperate plight, and the gallant Floyd, 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 113 
 
 himself, was practically "a skeleton." At that time corn was selling for $100.00 
 per bushel at the Falls, later rising to $165.00 per bushel (continental currency). 
 One reason for the extreme scarcity of corn is presented by Professor Thwaites. He 
 writes: "The Indians had, the preceding summer, destroyed most of the corn through- 
 out Kentucky; the game was rapidly decreasing, deer and buffaloes having receded 
 . . . and a temporary famine ensued." 4 Foodstuffs, by the end of the year, were 
 practically impossible to secure, with flour "as precious as gold dust." In this de- 
 plorable plight, tried, true and humane hunters — among whom were Daniel Boone 
 and James Harrod — braved the zero temperatures to find game for the hungry people. 
 In spite of all the hazards, however, land-hungry settlers continued to come to Ken- 
 tucky particularly after Clark's victory at Vincennes, with the capture of Governor 
 Hamilton and his troops. 
 
 ACTS OF THE VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE, MAY 1779 
 WILDERNESS ROAD IMPROVED AND A COURT OF LAND COMMIS- 
 SIONERS APPOINTED 
 
 Throughout the year, 1779, the General Assembly showed an increasing interest in 
 its county, Kentucky, one of whose representatives was the often-mentioned Colonel 
 Richard Calloway. The May session passed several acts of importance to the large 
 county: One provided for the establishment of a ferry across the Kentucky River near 
 Boonesborough, the project being placed under the supervision of Colonel Calloway — 
 probably the first public ferry west of the Alleghanies. Another act provided for a 
 pack-horse road to Kentucky, through Cumberland Gap — Boone's old trace, the Wilder- 
 nes Road, was improved under the supervision of Captain Kinkead, it became the most 
 used and most serviceable highway in the early West. Virginia provided, further, for 
 a stronger military establishment: Two battalions of militia were to be enlisted for 
 Kentucky; each battalion to consist of ten companies, each company fifty men; enlist- 
 ment to be for nine months; the pay to be provided by Virginia. One of the most 
 important acts passed by this session of the Virginia Assembly provided for a Court of 
 land commissioners, the principal duty of which being to adjudicate land claims. 
 Although there was much confusion in land claims both before and after its passage, 
 this act was intended to be fair and judicious. There was such a multiplicity of varied 
 claims, such imperfect surveys — and in hundreds of cases no surveys at all — and such 
 a rapid influx of land hungry people — people with whom legal dealing was none too 
 easy — that it is doubtful whether any law or any court could have worked satisfactorily 
 on the spot and immediately. Professor Robert McNutt McElroy speaks of the 
 wilderness "palpitating with the Anglo-Saxon passion, the pursuit of land." 4 ' Litiga- 
 tion growing out of conflicting claims proved very enticing to many ambitious young 
 lawyers from the East; later swarms of these professionals ranging from shysters to 
 barristers were drawn hitherto. But it was not so much the claims as the overlapping 
 of boundaries that caused the greatest confusion. The act provided for validating 
 most of the claims. The quickly-appointed commissioners, able and conscientious men 
 all, hurried to Kentucky and went to work, in spite of the hard winter, which had caused 
 such scarcity, as one journalist put it, that a few starving persons ate starved buffalo 
 and died for lack of solid food. 4 ' 
 
 The personnel of this commission was William Fleming, Edmund Lyne, James Barbour 
 and Stephen Trigg. The court becoming circuit for the convenience of the claimants 
 convened en October 13 at St. Asaph's (where John Williams was appointed clerk), 
 Harrodsburg on the 26th, Louisville or Fort Nelson, November 16th, Boonesborough 
 December 18th and Bryant's Station January 3, 1780. More than three thousand 
 claims were presented during the first year of the court's existence, it has been estimated. 4 
 
114 A S E S Q U I-C ENTENNIAL 
 
 The failure of Colonel Bowman to inflict a stinging defeat upon the Shawnese had 
 many unfortunate consequences. The Indians became more bold and arrogant, keeping 
 Kentucky in danger and anxiety constantly, and making it impossible for Clark to 
 enlist enough men to carry out his most cherished ambition of attacking Detroit, the 
 nerve center of British-Indian activity in the West. Clark realized that his brilliant 
 victories at Kaskaskia and Vincennes would not for long halt savage warfare in the 
 West, certainly not while Detroit, Sandusky and Mackinac remained in British hands. 
 He did believe, however, that the capture of Detroit and its garrison would go far 
 toward breaking the resistance of the red men in the West. But Clark, able to obtain 
 only a handful of men from Virginia and only thirty from Kentucky, and practically 
 not enough supplies to keep the garrison at Vincennes, was obliged to give up the 
 fondest hope of his life, a hope that had become an obsession; it was perhaps the 
 bitterest disappointment of his life of many disappointments: "Never was a person 
 more mortified," he wrote, "than I was at this time, to see so fair an opportunity to 
 push a victory; Detroit lost for want of a few men." 50 
 
 COLONEL DAVID ROGERS' AND CAPTAIN ROBERT BENHAM'S 
 
 DISASTER 
 
 The increased arrogance of the red men, together with a burning impulse for 
 terrible revenge animated by memory of the damage inflicted by Bowman's expedition 
 was not long in generating palpable results along the Ohio River and in Kentucky. 
 One of the tragedies incident to this mania for horrible revenge is here related: Colonel 
 David Rogers, member of the Virginia General Assembly, had been dispatched by 
 Governor Henry down the Mississippi to New Orleans to obtain supplies deposited 
 there for Virginia. "He had secured the supplies and was returning by way of 
 Kaskaskia to deliver dispatches to Colonel Clark and to obtain a military escort. His 
 mission was executed, and he had started on his journey up the Ohio toward Pittsburgh, 
 with three keel boats laden with supplies and approximately one hundred men. Near 
 the mouth of the Little Miami River catastrophe fell. 01 An expedition of red men, 
 under the leadership of the renegades, Elliott and the three Girtys, which had been 
 in the neighborhood of Lexington, on its return came down the Licking and was in 
 the same vicinity along the Ohio as that of Rogers' at the same time. Colonel Rogers, 
 observing a few of the savages and thinking his party unobserved, decided to land 
 and surround the Indians. The cunning savages, however, had known of Rogers' 
 presence for some time, and, seeing his band disembark, began to surround the entire 
 force. Rogers, seeing that he had fallen into a trap, being surrounded by several 
 hundred men, made a desperate effort to break through the enemy line, but all in vain. 
 After a brief but hard fight, only a few of his men were alive. It is said that only ten 
 men escaped the savage fury; one boat with five men aboard had escaped by pushing 
 into the current and drifting to the Falls. Captain Robert Benham was one of those 
 who fell, being shot through both hips so that his limbs were helpless. He dragged 
 himself to a tree-top, where he lay concealed after the engagement. On the evening 
 of the second day, he killed a racoon with his rifle. The report attracted a human voice 
 not far distant. Preparing to shoot an Indian, Captain Benham discovered a companion 
 and fellow-sufferer, one Watson, both of whose arms were broken. A co-partnership 
 for mutual aid and defense was formed. Benham shot the game which his friend drove 
 toward him, and . . . (Watson) with sound legs then kicked it to the spot where he 
 with sound arms sat ready to cook it. To procure water, the one with legs took a hat 
 by the brim in his teeth, and walked into the Licking up to his neck, while the man with 
 arms was to make signals if any boat appeared in sight. In this way, they spent about 
 six weeks, when, upon the 27th of November, they were rescued."" Rogers' disaster 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 115 
 
 befell October 3 and cast a spell of gloom over Kentucky during the last days of 1779. 
 If land-hungry people in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina, 
 desirous of settling in Kentucky heard of Bowman's "Defeat" or Rogers' disaster, their 
 obsession for land far outweighed their considerations of safety. They had heard of 
 Clark's brilliant conquest, which doubtless caused them to feel more or less that the 
 West was pacified. The year 1780 saw an amazing influx of immigrants. It is stated 
 that the population grew from one hundred and fifty to twenty thousand in little more 
 than a year's time. More immigrants were coming from the Monongahela country 
 of Virginia and Pennsylvania and from Maryland. These came down the Ohio braving 
 the fiendish rapacity of the Shawnese, who plied a prosperous business in scalps and 
 plunder at their expense along La Belle Riviere. This shift of immigration from the 
 Cumberland Gap route — which was still used — to the Ohio caused northern Kentucky 
 to grow rapidly, particularly Louisville at the Falls. It is reported that three hundred 
 boat-loads of immigrants landed at the Falls in the spring of 1780, most of whom 
 settled around Fort Nelson or along Beargrass Creek. " In May of that year, John 
 May, the county surveyor, opened his office at Harrodsburg and was kept busy thence- 
 forth. Other reasons existed for the rapid growth of population around Fort Nelson 
 or Louisville: The Fort was Clark's headquarters — Clark, whose fame as masterful 
 and brilliant conqueror of British and Indians had spread far and wide. Fort Nelson, 
 moreover, was the strongest fortification in Kentucky. Furthermore, the locality be- 
 came stronger with the return of Clark's men, the withdrawal of the Illinois regiment 
 to Fort Nelson — largely in order that these soldiers could be paid in Virginia paper 
 money — and the arrival of Colonel George Slaughter, at the Falls with one regiment 
 (a very small regiment) from Virginia.' 4 Clark was military head of Kentucky. His 
 headquarters and most of his troops being at the Falls, his principal Kentucky interest 
 appearing to be concentrated there, some of the leaders of Central Kentucky became 
 both iealous and antagonistic — an unfortunate condition which has not as yet altogether 
 ceased to exist. 
 
 A FORT AT THE MOUTH OF THE OHIO 
 
 As early as 1778, Governor Patrick Henry not only had comprehended the necessity 
 both of free trade along the Mississippi River and possession of the eastern bank of 
 that stream, if independence were achieved, and he prepared both to trade and possess,, 
 encouraging the Spanish at New Orleans and St. Louis, under Governor Bernando 
 de Galvez and Lieutenant Governor Fernando De Leyba respectively. He believed 
 that a strong fort near the mouth of the Ohio would accomplish this purpose, but 
 because of the continuous depletion of funds in the Virginia treasury, he was unable 
 to carry out this latter project. What influence Clark exerted upon Governor Henry 
 in the adoption of this statesmanlike policy is not known; however, it may be safely 
 assumed that Clark had touched upon these points with the Governor prior to 1778. 
 
 CONDITIONS IN KENTUCKY, 1780 
 
 Conditions in Kentucky in 1780 were unsettled, revolutionary and dangerous. Only 
 one man, Clark, was capable of coping with these trying circumstances. "At no time 
 did he (Clark) demonstrate in more varied and striking ways his ability as an organizer 
 and leader of men under adverse conditions," writes Professor James. ' This able man 
 was given full power to act by Thomas Jefferson, who had become governor of Virginia 
 in 1779: to engage in a campaign against Detroit, to lead an expedition against the 
 Shawnese or to construct a fort at the mouth of the Ohio. He declined to attack the 
 Shawnese, which was the great desire of the Kentuckians, saying to these that if they 
 were ready to furnish one thousand men and five months' supplies the capture of 
 Detroit would be assured and thereby permanent peace, and he started preparations 
 
 9— Vol. I 
 
116 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 for the expedition. But the frontiersmen having little interest in campaigning so great 
 a distance from home, deprecated both Clark and Virginia, the latter for an apparent 
 lack of concern both in the matter of affording protection and providing supplies and, 
 probably more important to them, her land policy. One wrote: "We have distressing 
 news from Kentucky which is entirely owing to a set of Nabobs in Virginia taking 
 all the lands there by office warrants, & Pre-Emption Rights — Hundreds of families are 
 ruined by it. In short it threatens a loss of that country — should the English go there 
 and offer them Protection from Indians the greatest part will join. It is a truth that 
 the people There publicly say ic. Let the great men say they, who the land belongs to 
 come & defend it for we will not lift up a gun in Defense of it."° c Many complained 
 about it being taxed while defending the country (Virginia's) while other decried the 
 possibility of being satisfactorily governed by a state, the seat of which was 600 miles 
 away. A petition was drawn up, signed by 672 inhabitants and sent to Congress — a 
 petition asking that Kentucky and Illinois be made into a separate state or that 
 Kentucky be taken over by Congress. It appears that little attention was paid to this 
 movement and that Clark, by suppressing it, made himself unpopular, thus setting up 
 one more obstacle in the way of the expedition against Detroit — injuring even chances 
 of the success of appropriations for a fort at the mouth of the Ohio. 5 On August 23, 
 1780, Colonel Clark wrote his brother saying: "The partisans in these Countries are 
 again Soliciting me to head them, as their Governor General as all those from foreign 
 states are for a new Government but my duty obliging me to Suppress all such pro- 
 ceedings I consequently shall loose the Interest of that party." 59 
 
 ERECTION OF FORT JEFFERSON NEAR THE MOUTH OF THE 
 
 OHIO RIVER 
 
 Governor Jefferson, heartily endorsing Clark's decision to build a fort at the mouth 
 of the Ohio, advised him not to look to Virginia for much help, the reason being that 
 she had, because of her herculean contributions to the war in the East, become prac- 
 tically bankrupt. Clark, after consulting John Todd, Governor of the Illinois territory, 
 set to the task, with his usual energy, of establishing the fort. His reasons for the 
 venture were rather obvious. It would become the key to the trade of the West. (In 
 protecting this trade he had been forced to station an armed boat so as to command 
 the navigation of both rivers.) It would be a station from which the Chickasaw 
 Indians and the English posts on the Mississippi could be watched. Tories and de- 
 serters passing down the river might there be apprehended. Moreover, it would both 
 facilitate intercourse with the Spaniards and prevent their getting control of the Ohio 
 and Mississippi River country in that region. Finally, it would prevent the British 
 regaining control of the Upper Mississippi as well as prevent their advancing farther 
 northward from Natchez. 
 
 FORT JEFFERSON 
 
 On April 14 Clark set out from the Falls with his expedition of approximately two 
 hundred men to establish the post at the mouth of the Ohio. As he intended the place 
 not only as a military establishment but an important settlement as well, he took three 
 weeks to select the site, which was at the "Iron Banks," five miles below the mouth. 
 The name given was Fort Jefferson, which consisted of "several stout blockhouses and a 
 fort." Workmen and settlers were attracted to this location by the promise of four 
 hundred acres of land to each family, at a price to be fixed by the Virginia General 
 Assembly. 
 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 117 
 
 BRITISH PLANS IN THE WEST, 1780 
 
 The British, during the winter and summer of 1780 were engaged in working out a 
 comprehensive plan for the conquest of the entire West. The plans contemplated the 
 retaking of the Illinois country, the capture of Fort Nelson, at the Falls, Forts Pitt 
 and Cumberland, an invasion of the East by way of the West and attacks on New 
 Orleans and Spanish posts on the Mississippi. Four movements were projected: One 
 from Chicago to attack by way of the Illinois River, another to "watch" Vincennes and 
 the other French posts; yet another, a more formidable one, to "amuse" Clark at the 
 Falls — this under command of Captain Henry Bird; and yet another, to move up the 
 Mississippi, to Natchez, under command of General John Campbell, there to be joined 
 by a force from the North, which was to capture St. Louis en route. 
 
 COLONEL CLARK FORESTALLS THE BRITISH CONQUEST OF THE 
 
 WEST 
 
 Without going into detail, except in one instance, it is perhaps not extravagant to 
 state that either Clark or Clark's influence frustrated the first three movements, while 
 the Spaniard Galvez, completely discomforted the British in the South, thus bringing 
 the grand enterprises to complete failure. That spring and summer Clark was superbly 
 magnificent in masterful leadership, as well as amazingly ubiquitous. The British and 
 Indians — the latter of whom mortally feared him as one with superhuman powers — 
 believing that Clark was far away at the Falls, set out from the upper Mississippi 
 nearly a thousand strong, late in April, to attack the American and Spanish posts. 
 His timely arrival at Cahokia probably saved that post, because after a brief attack, the 
 enemy withdrew. The savage attack on St. Louis was repulsed after he, Clark, had 
 crossed the river to advise his gallant friend, De Leyba, although it does not seem likely 
 that he was there during the attack. Writes Professor James: "It may well be be- 
 lieved that the knowledge that he was in the vicinity caused the Indians to withdraw. 
 The savages retreated rapidly northward, abandoning all effort to capture territory, 
 even refused to fight in their own territory, a force which Clark hastily collected and 
 put under command of Colonel John Montgomery."'' 
 
 Meanwhile the savages were exacting a heavy toll of scalps and plunder from the 
 streams of immigrants. Even the British General Arent S. DePeyster, in charge at 
 Detroit, wrote on May 17: "The Delawares and Shawnese are . . . daily bringing in 
 Scalps and Prisoners . . . those unhappy people being part of the one thousand families 
 who to shun the oppression of Congress are on the way to possess the country of 
 Kentuceky where if they are allowed quietly to settle, they will soon become formidable 
 both to the Indians & to the Posts."'" Such havoc was wrought by these scouting 
 parties of savages upon immigrants and isolated families of settlers that hundreds turned 
 in desperation to Clark for help before the whole country should become "a mere scene 
 of carnage and Desolation." One group wrote: "If you could Assist us in that 
 perticular" and "Honour our enterprize with your Presence and Command you would 
 have the Consolation of redeeming from Destruction a Scattered divided and Defence- 
 less People who have no other Probable source of defence but through your means." 
 Such petitions deeply affected Clark; yet he did not believe that attacking the Shawnese 
 was the most important project at that ime, even though as a result his popularity 
 dropped considerably in Kentucky. 
 
 Hastening back to Fort Jefferson, near which the furious Chickasaws beat the war 
 torn toms in burning fury, Clark kept a weather eye on affairs in upper Kentucky, 
 believing that the British and Indians were likely soon to invade at some point. Toward 
 the end of May, seeing that the attack was imminent; he quietly left Fort Jefferson 
 with two companions, "all completely disguised as Indians,"' 4 and made his way on 
 
118 A S E S\Q U I -CENTENNIAL 
 
 foot to Harrodsburg for the purpose of organizing the country for defense. Seeing 
 that land acquisition transcended every other interest there, with magnificent finality, 
 Clark closed the land office and proceeded to enlist troops." 
 
 BYRD OR BIRD'S INVASION AND THE CAPTURE OF RUDDLE'S AND 
 MARTIN'S STATIONS, JUNE 22, 1780 
 
 In June came the dreaded invasion. The original British and Indian plans called 
 for the capture of Fort Nelson. These plans, however, were revised at the last minute 
 by Colonel Henry Bird, or Byrd, who probably knew of Colonel George Slaughter's 
 arrival, with troops at the Falls. Bird knew definitely that the British expedition on 
 the Mississippi had failed. Moreover, he feared the return of Clark, it appears. Bird, 
 with one hundred and fifty whites, including the renegade, Simon Girty — in command 
 of the Wyandots — and one thousand Indians, and equipped with two pieces of light 
 field artillery, crossed the Ohio about the 11th and, finding the Licking greatly swollen, 
 decided to proceed up that stream, as, for one reason, boats could carry the field pieces 
 and other equipment. On reaching the site of present day Falmouth, at the forks, 
 the shallowness of the water, which was receding rapidly, made necessary overland 
 travel. So muddy was the way that a road had to be built. So much time was ex- 
 pended that it was eleven days before Bird's motley force appeared before unsuspecting 
 Ruddle's Station. As resistance on the part of the garrison there was hopeless in the 
 face of cannon, Ruddle, "dispirited," prevailed upon his men whose fortitude was 
 unshaken, to acquiesce in surrender. "A written agreement was entered into by Bird 
 and the Kentuckians, by which the former undertook to ensure good treatment." 66 
 Bird was unable to maintain control over his blood-thirsty savages, who, as soon as 
 the gates were thrown open, fell to plundering in the wildest most fiendish manner 
 and "took possession of the prisoners and mistreated them in every way that suggested 
 itself to their savage fancy. Families were separated, and complaints, if made, were 
 silenced rudely by the club or tomahawk."" By the time that Bird's army reached 
 Martin's station, five miles away up the South Licking, the savages had somewhat 
 slacked the thirst for blood, so that this garrison was not as cruelly handled, although 
 no abatement in plundering was noticeable. Satisfied with their slight success and 
 laden with plunder the savages were ready to return northward, according to the wish 
 of Colonel Bird, who is said to have been sickened by the fiendish butchery and brutality 
 at Ruddle's. Bird set out for Detroit with about one hundred prisoners over the 
 route by which he came. Many of the women and children, unable to bear the strain 
 of the fatiguing march fell by the wayside and were summarily relieved of their 
 suffering by the tomahawk. The cannon were left at the Miami towns, where shortly 
 after, they were buried to prevent being captured. 
 
 CLARK'S EXPEDITION, AUGUST, 1780 
 
 Although the closing of the land office at Harrodsburg displeased the land speculators, 
 so eager were the men generally to strike a death-dealing blow at the Shawnese that in 
 some cases only boys and old men were left to guard the stations. Such was Clark's 
 efficiency and dispatch that approximately one thousand men rendezvoused at the mouth 
 of the Licking by August 1, fully equipped with long rifles, dried meat and parched 
 corn. A small cannon was attached to Colonel John Floyd's militia from the Falls. 
 Many well known leaders were present, including James Harrod, John Floyd, Hugh 
 McGary, Benjamin Logan, Daniel Boone, Levi Todd and William McAfee. 
 
 Clark crossed the river on the 2nd. Four days later his swift moving army rode 
 into the vicinity of Old Chillicothe. The savages, however, had been warned and had 
 escaped. The Americans burned all the houses and pressed forward to Piqua, a few 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 119 
 
 miles distant on the Big Miami, arriving there the following day. Piqua was a large 
 town, so constructed as to be easily defended. The log houses were sturdily constructed 
 and a strong blockhouse had been so located and built as to be a citadel for defense. 
 The cabins were generally surrounded with "truck patches," used for raising vegetables. 
 Simon Girty and one of his brothers were said to be there with several hundred red men. 
 
 THE ATTACK ON OLD CHILLICOTHE AND PIQUA, AUGUST 6, 1780 
 
 The Kentucky forces were divided into four columns, two under Clark, and two 
 under Colonel Benjamin Logan, who was to make a detour and attack from the rear. 
 This maneuver Logan's wing was slow in executing, which circumstance nullified its 
 importance, as the Indians were not trapped. The fighting was done mainly by the 
 columns under Clark, with whom Floyd served. The engagement endured in a skirmish- 
 ing way throughout the day, the savages taking advantage of bushes, groves, cabins 
 and the blockhouse for shelter. Floyd brought up the cannon, and the blockhouse 
 was demolished, which struck terror in the red men and caused them to retreat to a 
 ravine at sun down. In escaping some of them came so close to Clark's lines that 
 fighting was renewed at close range. 70 The heaviest loss was on the side of the Indians 
 and "had Logan been present the defeat would have been a decisive one." 73 Being 
 short of provisions Clark was obliged to abandon the plan to attack the Delawares. But 
 his victory was a real one, both Old Chillicothe and Piqua having been destroyed, as 
 well as the Shawnese' ripening crops of corn and vegetables, their means of existence 
 through the winter months, immunizing the Kentucky settlements to attack for the 
 remaining part of the year. However, Clark's men suffered acutely from hunger upon 
 the return march, short rations of green corn and vegetables alone saving them. The 
 army was disbanded at the mouth of the Licking." 
 
 KENTUCKY COUNTY DIVIDED 
 PUBLIC EDUCATION PROVIDED 
 
 The rapid growth of population in 1779 and 80 caused the Assembly of Virginia, in 
 November, 1780, to divide Kentucky County into three political parts: Fayette County, 
 north of the Kentucky, with John Todd, County Lieutenant, and Daniel Boone, his 
 immediate subordinate, or Lieutenant Colonel, the appointments being made by Gov- 
 ernor Jefferson; Jefferson County, west of the Kentucky, with John Floyd, Colonel, and 
 William Pope, Lieutenant Colonel; and Lincoln County, south of the Kentucky, with 
 Benjamin Logan, Colonel, and Stephen Trigg, Lieutenant Colonel; the surveyors of 
 the counties respectively were Colonel Thomas Marshall (father of Chief Justice John 
 Marshall), James Thompson, and George May. In 1779 and 1780 through the in- 
 stigation of the representatives of Kentucky County, at Williamsburg, Richard Calloway 
 and John Todd, the two settlements Boonesborough (1779) and Louisville (1780) 
 were incorporated, with an imposing list of personalities as trustees. At Colonel Todd's 
 instance, the Virginia Assembly dedicated the escheated lands of tory refugees in trust 
 "as a free donation from this commonwealth for the public school or seminary of 
 learning to be erected within said county."' The system of county governments and 
 statutory powers of the local justices enabled the levy of small taxes for pressing military 
 and civil need. The first in the history of taxation within the state, as pointed out by 
 Mr. Brown, is the head-tax of ten pounds of tobacco, which the justices of Lincoln 
 County on November 21, 1783, imposed upon their constituents. Military considerations 
 were yet supreme: Clark, commissioned a brigadier general in the Virginia militia by 
 Thomas Jefferson January 22, 1781, making him officially the supreme military head 
 of the district. 
 
120 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 ANOTHER EFFORT TO PREPARE A CAMPAIGN AGAINST DETROIT, 
 SPRING AND SUMMER, 1781 
 
 Neither the Council of Virginia nor General Clark had abandoned the idea to taking 
 Detroit, which contrary to Professor CotterilPs sarcastic, sneering and suspicious opinion 
 of the plan, seems to have been both logical and wise. In the early part of 1781, there- 
 fore, Clark was instructed to recruit men and collect supplies, while Virginia, on her 
 side of the mountains would — provide a part of both; in addition aid was also to be 
 sent by Pennsylvania. The plan failed. The reasons are numerous. Virginia, which 
 had been invaded, was obliged to defend herself against the ravages of the traitor, 
 Benedict Arnold, and also to aid the other southern states invaded. So desperate was 
 the situation for a time that Clark was called to Virginia to serve under Baron Steuben. 
 Attempts to recruit Virginians, who were averse to leaving their homes and families 
 while endangered, failed miserably. Spring had passed before Clark was released from 
 duty with the Continental army; it was very late indeed to begin recruiting an army 
 and collecting supplies for a summer campaign. 
 
 Late in the summer, a small number of Pennsylvania militiamen under Colonel 
 Lochry started down the Ohio for the Falls to join Clark. Collins has this entry for 
 August 25, 1782. (The date was August 24, 1781.)— "Col. Archibald Lochv, Capts. 
 Orr, Stockely, Campbell, and Shannon, and 101 men, when on their way down the 
 Ohio to the Falls to join Gen. Clark's expedition, land on the Indiana shore, at a 
 creek since called Lochry's, nine miles below the Great Miami, and are fired on by the 
 Indians from the bluff; 42 killed and 64 taken prisoners." — Thus it is seen that the 
 expedition met a tragic and horrible fate. 74 The people of Kentucky, fearful of attack 
 on their homes and families by the savages, would not enlist in an enterprise which would 
 take them so far from home. There was jealousy and bickering among the Kentucky 
 militia officers most of whom, Floyd being one of the exceptions, voted against the 
 expedition." Supplies were very scarce in Kentucky and difficult to obtain, Virginian 
 paper currency being practically worthless. To make matters worse, ill-luck, such as 
 the spoiling of meat, was encountered at every turn. Slaughter's "regiment" was in a 
 ragged, starving and "lousy" condition.' Moreover, Indian atrocities, keeping the 
 hungry people anxious, often panic stricken, appeared to increase weekly, causing the 
 populace to frown upon an expedition against Detroit. And Virginia's conscription 
 law had brought forth a general storm of disapproval, derision and contempt. These 
 and other reasons made impossible Clark's cherished hope, his greatest ambition, to 
 capture Detroit.' 7 But few Kentuckians had his vision, in fact, most of them were 
 content merely to defend their own homes when attacked and, when angry from fresh 
 savage atrocities, to engage in punitive expeditions while the anger lasted. Perhaps 
 Professor Cotterill is correct in these statements: "The Kentuckians care little, probably 
 knew little, of the merits of the dispute (the Revolutionary War) ; they were seemingly 
 as little concerned with the results. They were Kentuckians first and Virginians after- 
 wards. . . . But no leader, no matter how mediocre or unpopular, ever proposed an 
 expedition against the Shawnese and failed to find enthusiastic support among the 
 Kentuckians."' 
 
 The year 1781 was one of tremendous hardships and suffering in Kentucky, as will be 
 seen. Collins writes: "In March . . . several parties entered Jefferson County, and killed 
 Colonel William Linn and Captains Tipton and Chapman. Captain Whittaker and 
 fifteen men pursued and traced them to the foot of the Falls. Supposing that the 
 enemy had crossed the river, they embarked in canoes to follow them. While they 
 were making their way across the river, they were fired upon by the Indians, who were 
 standing on the Kentucky side, and nine were killed or wounded. The rest returned and 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 121 
 
 defeated the enemy."" McAfee's station and Montgomery's were both attacked that 
 year and suffered heavily. 
 
 Perhaps the most graphic account of conditions and experiences in Kentucky during 
 the year 1781 is found in the illuminating correspondence of Colonel Floyd, to which 
 and to whom attention is here turned: 
 
 Floyd's Letter to Jefferson on Conditions at the Falls: Floyd in a letter to Governor 
 Jefferson, April 16, 1781, described very vividly conditions existing at the Falls in the 
 winter and spring of that year: 
 
 "We are obliged to live in Forts in this County, and notwithstanding all the Caution 
 that we use, forty-seven of the Inhabitants have been killed & taken by the Savages, 
 Besides a number wounded since Jany. last — Amongst the last is Major William Lyn." 
 
 As he recalled examples of savage horrors, Floyd in tones of indignation pictured 
 atrocious brutalities: "Whole families are destroyed," he declared, "without regard to 
 Age or Sex — Infants are torn from their mothers Arms & their Brains dashed out 
 against Trees, as they are necessarily removing from one Fort to another for safety or 
 Convenience — Not a week passes & some weeks scarcely a day without some of our 
 distressed inhabitants feeling the fatal effects of the infernal rage and fury of those 
 Execrable Hell hounds." Then Colonel Floyd presented another angle of the wretched 
 picture: 
 
 "Our garrisons are dispersed over an Extensive Country, and a large proportion of the 
 Inhabitants, are helpless indigent Widows & Orphans who have lost their Husbands and 
 father by Savage Hands, and left among Strangers, without the most common neces- 
 saries of Life. Of those who have Escaped, many have lost all their stocks, and have 
 not any Land of their own, nor where withal to purchase. Our dependance to support 
 cur familys is upon getting wild meat & this is procured with great difficulty & danger; 
 and should it fall to the Lott of some in this County who are thus situated to serve 
 as Regular Soldiers according to Law, their families must evitably starve." 
 
 Floyd next described the military situation in Kentucky, particularly at the Falls: 
 
 "Our Garrison at the falls is made sufficient to stand an attack with light Cannon, 
 but our numbers which will risk themselves in it, will by no means be sufficient to 
 defend it from an Army which we are frequently threatened with from Detroit — Our 
 Inhabitants being so dispersed that they could not be collected to any one place in the 
 County in less than fifteen days. The Confidence of the People here have in General 
 Clarke's vigilance, his enterprising Spirit & other Military Virtues, together with their 
 inability (to) remove, have been barely sufficient to keep this County from being left 
 entirely desolate. Major Slaughter at the Falls of Ohio has about 500 pds. of powder 
 & lead in proportion, which is all the Public Ammunition in this County; none of that 
 delivered to Col. Bowman last Winter, having been sent me, and there is very little 
 in the county of private property. 
 
 "There is not at this time, I am informed & believe, more than fifty thousand Lbs. 
 of Beef in this County, Fayette & Lincoln; upwards of one hundred thousand Weight 
 of that laid up in this County being entirely rotten & lost. Corn is plenty in Lincoln 
 & Fayette, but there is no flour in any of these Counties. The men you order for Genl. 
 Clarke's Expedition will be raised without difficulty, notwithstanding all the disadvantages 
 the County is under. The Canoes also shall be ready in time, tho' one fourth of the 
 Militia must guard while they are on hand. Salt may be had here sufficient for an 
 army of two thousand men Six months, and perhaps more." 
 
 During the winter of 1780-81 Floyd was busily engaged in surveying, collecting food 
 and making preparations for taking the Jefferson Militia with Clark in a proposed 
 campaign across the Ohio. Judging by the contents of a letter written to General 
 
122 A S E S Q U I- CENTENNIAL 
 
 Clark, April 16, 1781, Floyd's winter activities of that year met with something in 
 the nature of disaster. He wrote Clark: 
 
 "I have been more infortunate in my little hunt last winter than the rest. I hired 
 seven or eight men, went to Lee's Cabbins with Horses Loaded with Salt, gave £1000 
 for Building Canoes, killed & saved 54 Buffalos, 4 Elk & 2 Large wild Hogs & Brought 
 it down safe to between Goose Crepk & Beargrass where my Vessells were overset by 
 a Gale of Wind & sunk my whole Cargo to the bottom. Besides the Meat Tallow &c 
 I lost five Guns, my saddle Bags, Surveying affairs, Warrants, Field Books & all my 
 Memorandums about Lands for seven years past. . . . This is my second defeat at Sea." 
 
 Thus ended the winter, a discouraging one for both Floyd and Clark. 
 
 During the spring and summer of 1781 conditions grew worse in Jefferson County. 
 Floyd's letter to General Clark, dated Jefferson, August 10, 1781, describes graphically 
 the plight of the country: 
 
 "The Savages are constantly pecking at us, & in a few weeks this handful of wretched 
 people will be invaded on all sides by them & their Infernal Leaders. . . . The reason 
 that the Country is not now left waste is the inability of the Settlers to remove, having 
 already lost most of their horses, and the Ohio only runs one way. The Militia are 
 entirely without ammunition and I find it impossible to procure any." 8 " 
 
 Floyd, during the weeks preceding, had prepared canoes for the Virginia Govern- 
 ment; had stood good for their cost, £40,000, but had received nothing on account. 
 He admitted that he was left entirely without cash. "People have been so long amused 
 with promises of paying off expenses," he declared, "that the credit of the State is very 
 little better here than in Illinois." 
 
 The campaign across the Ohio, for which Clark and Floyd had been so long and 
 eagerly preparing, had to be given up. Supplies were almost non-existent; good money 
 could not be had; and a majority of the officers of the three Kentucky counties — 
 Jefferson, Fayette and Lincoln — were opposed to the venture. 3 
 
 rr Floyd's Defeat." Early in September, 1781, the settlers of Squire Boone's Station 
 on Brashear's Creek, moving to the Low Dutch Station, near Louisville, for greater 
 protection, were intercepted and defeated with considerable slaughter, near Long Run 
 Creek; they having been caught in an ambuscade. 4 
 
 Colonel Floyd immediately collected a party of twenty-seven men, and hurried to 
 the relief of the survivors. His party was also drawn into an ambuscade, in spite of 
 the precautions of dividing his forces and marching with great care. And a desperate 
 fight ensued. The Indians, it was reported, were engaged to the number of two hundred. 
 The battle lasted for several hours. Fourteen of the whites and thirteen of the savages 
 were killed. Floyd was severely wounded in a foot, and, almost exhausted, was about 
 to be killed by an Indian. In the nick of time Samuel Wells, a young man of twenty, 
 quickly rode up, dismounted, gave Floyd his horse, and ran along by the side, holding 
 to a stirrup. Colonel Floyd, out of gratitude to Wells, with whom he had been on bad 
 terms, gave him a hundred acres of fine land. 85 
 
 That night, Friday, at ten-thirty, Floyd hastily penned a note to General Clark, who 
 was probably at Fort Nelson. The letter, dated September 14, 1781, indicates consider- 
 able perturbation. No doubt the kind-hearted man was anguished from grief because 
 of the loss of his friends, and his wound must have given him intense pain: 
 
 "I have this minute returned from a little Excursion against the Enemy & my party 
 27 in number are all dispersed & cut to pieces except 9 who came off the field with 
 Capt. Asturgus mortally Wounded and one other slightly wounded. I don't yet know 
 who are killed. Mr. Ravenscroft was taken prisoner by (the side of) me. A party 
 was defeated yesterday near the same place & many Women & Children Wounded. 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 12i 
 
 I want Satisfaction. Do send me 100 men which number with what I can raise will do. 
 The Militia have no good powder, do send some 
 
 "I am die 6Cc &c 
 1 can t write guess at the rest 
 
 ATTACK ON FORT JEFFERSON 
 
 During Clark's absence Fort Jefferson had been attacked. The Chickasaw Indians 
 resented the occupation of their lands for a village, Clarksville, and the erection of a 
 fort. Though Clark intended it, they were not paid for the land and began showing 
 their resentment by raids on isolated families; in one instance an entire family, the 
 Music, with one exception was brutally murdered. The garrison at Fort Jefferson, 
 under command of Captain Robert George, was in a wretched condition. As many 
 suffered from fever ond ague, not more than thirty were effective. The Indians, know- 
 ing of Clark's absence and of the miserable condition of the garrison came on, according 
 to Collins, a thousand or twelve hundred strong to the work of bloody extermination, 
 led by one Colbert, a Scotchman. The siege lasted five or six days during which time 
 the garrison was reduced to the direst extremeties "by famine, sickness, scarcity of water, 
 watching and fighting." The principal food was pumpkins, with the blossoms yet on 
 them.* 8 Help had been sent for at Kaskaskia, but the distance was great; yet the 
 plucky band refused to surrender, even under the direst threats. The savages made a 
 desperate night assault in close formation. As they crowded on Captain George Owen, 
 commander of a blockhouse, opened point blank with a swivel gun crammed with rifle 
 and musket balls. The charge wrecked havoc: bloody slaughter and gory carnage, a 
 pile of mutilated savages. Other efforts to storm the fort and to set fire to it proved 
 fruitless. At last General Clark arrived with reinforcements and supplies, "and the 
 baffled savages sullenly withdrew, still threatening direful vengeance." 88 As sickness 
 was prevalent among the inhabitants of the village, causing the death of many, crops 
 destroyed, and stock lost, both the settlement and fort were soon abandoned. 
 
 GREAT IMMIGRATION OF GIRLS TO KENTUCKY, 1781 
 
 One of the few pleasant aspects of the trying year, 1781, was the "Great immigration 
 of girls to Kentucky."" It was a land of beauty, dangers and men, and so the girls 
 migrated in large numbers. 
 
 THE END OF THE REVOLUTION IN THE EAST 
 
 The surrender of Cornwallis and his army at Yorktown, Virginia, in the fall of 1781 
 brought the war to a close in the East, where the Americans by having captured two 
 large British armies and broken the powerful Iroquois confederation had made it prac- 
 tically impossible for the enemy to continue the war. It was falsely believed by the 
 western frontiersmen that cessation of hostilities in the East would mark the end of 
 hostilities in the West, particularly in Kentucky. Such, however, was not the case. The 
 British under the able Governor General Sir Guy Carleton maintained a stronger hold 
 on Canada than ever and Detroit was yet firmly in their grasp; moreover, the savages 
 having learned of the disaster in the East and driven to desperation lest they lose their 
 lands and be punished for aiding the English, were eager to make a last effort to 
 exterminate the Kentuckians. The British continued to retain the favor of the savages, 
 keeping it active by the expenditure of larger and larger sums for presents: "I cannot," 
 General Frederick Haldimand, District Commander, wrote, October 6, 1781, to Major 
 de Peyster, "help expressing my surprise not only at the astonishing amount of these 
 Bills, so soon following the last, but at so great expense being incurred at all."" 1 The 
 British were eager for the formation of a real Indian confederation, consisting of both 
 
124 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 northern and southern tribes and nations — Shawnese, Mingoes, Hurons, Ottawas, 
 Wyandottes, Delawares, Pottawattomies, Cherokees and Creeks — and the able white- 
 Indian Iroquois chieftain, Joseph Brandt, or Brant, and the efficient British officer, 
 Captain Alexander McKee, were astutely arranging a vast conference in the winter of 
 1782. Late in February chiefs of the Shawnese, Wyandottes, Delawares and ten other 
 tribes assembled at Detroit to map the spring and summer strategy. The chiefs were 
 instructed to make no attack, particularly on Kentucky, until spring. As a feint, small 
 parties were to be sent out to steal horses and otherwise harrass, keeping the settlers 
 off their guard until the grand expedition could be launched. The design of these 
 pretentions was to capture Fort Nelson and the other posts and at a single blow lay 
 waste the entire frontier. During the late winter the most exposed settlements of 
 Kentucky were surprised "a number of prisoners taken, cabins burned, and stock killed." 5 * 
 Soon the disillusioned Kentuckians awoke to the fact that the War in the West was 
 — with the British and Indians free to concentrate completely, and at the same time 
 eager for a victory — really beginning in earnest, and they became greatlv alarmed. To 
 make matters worse, the ablest military leader in the West, General Clark, had tendered 
 his resignation to Benjamin Harrison, Governor of Virginia. (But the Governor, 
 expressing complete confidence in him, refused to relieve him from service.) Further- 
 more, many of the officers in the West were under suspicion of collusion and peculation, 
 in connection with the spending of the state's money for military supplies, and Virginia 
 appointed a committee to investigate accounts — William Fleming, Thomas Marshall, 
 Samuel McDowell, Daniel Smith, and Granville Smith. 93 
 
 THE ATTACK ON STRODE'S STATION, MARCH, 1782 
 
 A party of twenty-five Wyandottes took the war path early in the spring. Moving 
 rapidly into Kentucky, they appeared before Strode's Station early in March. This 
 station was quite small (a garrison of some thirty men), serving as an outpost for 
 Boonesborough, only ten miles away. A part of the garrison had gone to Boonesborough 
 to aid in warding off an expected attack there, but within the fort were several hunters 
 from a neighboring post. The savages, in surprising the fort, killed two men, but 
 were unable, even after a siege of thirty-six hours, to do more. After destroying the 
 sheep, they departed "in high spirits, a short time before the return of those who 
 had gone to Boonesborough. The Indians moved eastward and crossed the Kentucky. 
 Either by accident or design one of their rafts drifted past Boonesborough. This craft 
 discovered by the garrison was taken as an ominous sign that a large force of savages 
 was near. Colonel Logan at Logan's Station was promptly warned of the danger 
 facing Lincoln County. He dispatched fifteen men to Estill's Station (fifteen miles 
 from Boonesborough and about two and a half miles from Richmond) with orders 
 for Captain James Estill to increase the number to forty men and search for the 
 Indians. On the day after the party left Estill's Station, a body of Indians appeared 
 there at dawn, "killed and scalped Miss Innes, a daughter of Capt. Innes, in sight of 
 the fortification, and took as captive, one Monk, a slave of Capt. Estill. From the 
 latter they obtained a plausible but highly exaggerated account of the strength of the 
 station and number of fighting men in it — which so alarmed them that they beat a 
 hasty retreat." 04 
 
 ESTILL'S DEFEAT AT SMALL MOUNTAIN CREEK (NEAR MOUNT 
 STERLING) , MARCH 22, 1782 
 
 Messengers were dispatched to find Estill. These two boys came upon the company 
 on the morning of March 21. It was determined upon at once to pursue. Five, unwilling 
 to leave their families unprotected for long, soon returned to the station, thus leaving 
 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 125 
 
 thirty-five. Estill encamped that night near the Little Mountain, the present site of 
 Mount Sterling. Early next morning, leaving behind ten men whose horses were too 
 jaded to travel, the company, twenty-five strong, moved forward, marching in four 
 lines. About an hour before sunset six Indians were discovered cutting rations from 
 the body of a buffalo. Three of these savages were killed, one shot from the rifle of 
 David Cook slaying two of the number. "The battle began at a buffalo crossing on 
 Small Mountain Creek, a branch of Hinkson, in a bend of the creek, where a small 
 branch put in on the east side, and was fought principally between that and the branch 
 below," writes Collins. ° It appears that the Indians, who had lost three of their original 
 twenty-five, were making off, disinclined to fight, when their leader so sorely wounded 
 as to be unable to move farther, ordered his men to stand fast and fight. The order 
 was one of desperation, and the braves picked positions for a life and death battle. 
 The fighting was man to man from behind trees, each for himself, rifle and knife, 
 cunning and brawn, "tooth and claw." It was sanguinary and deadly, with losses heavy 
 on both sides. Captain Estill ordered Lieutenant William Miller to lead six men in a 
 flanking movement, which not being properly executed, failed miserably, panic, it is said, 
 seizing Miller and his men. Captain Estill, attempting to protect a wounded friend, 
 was killed at that time, a knife plunged into his body, while his assailant, a huge 
 screaming Wyandotte fell almost instantly. The frontiersmen were obliged to retreat 
 so hastily that their dead were left on the field; they refused to leave their wounded, 
 though, experiencing the most trying difficulty in carrying them forty miles to the 
 station. Estill's Company had lost seven killed and three wounded, while the savages, 
 who by their desperate fighting held the field and could claim a victory, had lost seven- 
 teen killed and three wounded. 00 
 
 The news of the disaster which befell Estill created consternation throughout Ken- 
 tucky. Never before had Indians fought the whites so determinedly in this section. 
 Now the hated savages, particularly the Wyandottes, were dreaded more than ever. 
 All expected a great invasion, many shuddered, dreading lest it fall on their families 
 and friends. On their side, the Indians were aroused perhaps as never before. A short 
 time prior, an expedition had been sent out from Fort Pitt to fall upon, ruthlessly 
 murder and pillage a town of friendly Moravians of the Wyandottes. Simon Girty, 
 even had he been less eloquent and crafty, would have encountered no difficulty in 
 arousing the fierce Wyandottes — whose agent he was — to a terrible passion for annihila- 
 tion of the white man. 
 
 The braves convened in Old Chillicothe early in August to have the final touches 
 of flaming fiendish savagery put on their passions, prior to taking the warpath. Mean- 
 while Kentucky and Virginia had reached low ebb in ability either to attack or defend. 
 It is perhaps not an exaggeration to state that Clark was the one bastion which pre- 
 vented an overwhelming invasion by British and Indians, because the English leaders 
 in and around Detroit, believing that he planned to attack that post during the summer, 
 refused to dispatch troops southward in numbers of overwhelming proportions. ' More- 
 over, there was the Indians' fear of Clark, a real force. 98 
 
 Eleven hundred Indians, "the greatest single body mustered during the Revolution, 
 had been collected finally through the efforts of Captain Alexander McKee, William 
 Caldwell, Joseph Brandt and the sinister Simon Girty, a favorite with the Wyandottes. 
 This formidable army moved to attack Wheeling first but while on the march, they 
 were overtaken by Shawnese messengers who implored them to return and aid in the 
 defense of their village against an expected attack by Clark. The alarm, according 
 to Professor James, had grown out of the appearance of the row-galley at the mouth 
 of the Licking. Most of the savages refused to proceed farther toward Wheeling. 
 However, Girty and Caldwell were able to persuade a small body of rangers and three 
 
126 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 hundred Wyandottes and Lake Indians to turn southward to attack settlements in 
 Kentucky. 
 
 MILITARY STRENGTH OF KENTUCKY, 1781, 82 
 
 The military strength of Kentucky, as reported the previous summer, was 1,236, with 
 this disposition: Jefferson County 354, Lincoln 732, and in Fayette 150. It is probably 
 safe to estimate the strength in the summer of 1782 as not exceeding 1,500. This 
 number, of course, as Professor Cotterill points out, could not be assembled at any 
 given point for any one definite purpose. Moreover, there was wide dissension and 
 jealousy both among the officers and men, as has been stated. 
 
 CAPTAIN ALEXANDER McKEE, SIMON GIRTY, THE WYANDOTTES 
 AND SHAWNESE INVADE KENTUCKY, AUGUST, 1782 
 
 Captain William Caldwell was in supreme command, with Girty more or less ad- 
 vising his fierce Wyandottes, who predominated overwhelmingly, and the well-known 
 Moluntha leading the Shawnese. The army crossed the Ohio at the mouth of the 
 Licking, following Bird's old route, and ascended the latter stream almost to Ruddle's, 
 when the course was changed, and a rapid movement made toward central Kentucky. 
 After detaching a part of his force to mislead the settlers in the other forts, Caldwell, 
 with the main body, marched straight to Bryan's, or Bryant's Station, about five miles 
 from Lexington, which on the night of August 15 was stealthily surrounded by the 
 savages who concealed themselves so noiselessly that the garrison inside was altogether 
 unaware of their presence. Meanwhile the detached party to harrass and decoy had 
 been doing quite well. On the 10th it had struck Hoy's Station (440 yards S. W. of 
 Foxtown, 6 miles N. W. of Richmond, in Madison County, on the Lexington road) 
 and carried off two boys, one of them William Hoy's son. Having disclosed their 
 position, these braves then began a slow retreat toward the Ohio, hoping to draw as 
 many men from Bryan's and its vicinity as possible. The plan succeeded, because 
 Captain John Holder, bent upon punishing these "insolent savages" pursued rapidly 
 with troops from his own station and a few collected at Boonesborough, Strode's and 
 McGee's as he passed. At the Upper Blue Licks, he approached the Indians as they 
 disappeared on the trail leading to the Lower Blue Licks. The savages incredible as it 
 seems, managed to catch Holder in an ambuscade in spite of all precautions. From 
 this, extraction was managed only after desperate fighting and the loss of one killed and 
 three wounded. This battle there (one mile below the Upper Blue Licks) is known as 
 Battle Run — given the stream near which the Indians were overtaken. Holder was 
 glad enough to retreat, leaving the savages in possession of the field. It was during 
 this time that Colonel Nathaniel Hart was waylaid in the vicinity of White Oak 
 Station (one mile above Boonesborough on the Kentucky River in Madison County), 
 while out hunting for his horses; he was badly crippled by the savages, then shot and 
 scalped, his mutilated body left lying. 
 
 THE ATTACK ON BRYAN'S STATION, AUGUST 16, 1782 
 
 News reached Bryan's of the events at Hoy's and at Battle Run while the red men 
 lay around that station.'' 9 Throughout the night the garrison of forty-four made prep- 
 arations to move next morning to Holder's aid, which was as the savages and Girty 
 wished. The Indians' leaders committed the blunder of believing that the garrison or 
 a part of it had moved out without their detecting it, so that when a Negro, Jim, 
 disclosed himself he was fired upon, thus giving the first intelligence to the garrison of 
 the fort's investment. Preparations to leave were halted, and the men quickly took 
 stations for defence. Two messengers galloped out to seek aid from Lexington; these 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 127 
 
 were not fired upon because the Indians were fearful lest their strength be revealed. 
 Even the women, aided by the slaves were permitted to milk the cows without being 
 molested. 10 ' These went to the spring and carried in as much water as possible, con- 
 ducting themselves in such manner as to indicate no consciousness of the Indians' being 
 there. Elijah Craig, in command at Bryan's, desiring to know the strength of the 
 Indian force, dispatched thirteen men at about eight o'clock into the lane beside the 
 fort to decoy the enemy into firing, thus revealing their positions and strength. The 
 scheme worked. The red men fired upon these ineffectively and immediately made a 
 headlong rush toward the fort. This was as Craig desired. A deadly volley met the 
 assault, causing the attackers to recoil and retire in confusion. During the remaining 
 part of the morning and early afternoon desultory firing was maintained on both sides, 
 doing little damage. The red men, however, got in their sorry work of pillaging — 
 the burning of outlying cabins, and stables, the slaughtering of livestock and the 
 destroying of crops — particularly corn and vegetables. This ravaging, in the end, was 
 by no means inconsequential. Three hundred hogs, one hundred and fifty head of 
 cattle and a large number of sheep destroyed and a number of horses stolen. Collins 
 states that a company of Indians was marched out in full view of the garrison outside 
 the fort. This being done, the exposed whites would be taken by a heavy fire from all 
 sides, which would cause a hasty retreat. 101 When the gate would have been opened, 
 savages hidden nearby would rush the fort and overpower the remaining portion of 
 the garrison. He states that Craig, suspecting the Indians' intentions, sent out thirteen 
 men, with orders to fire rapidly as they moved along the Lexington road, appear to run 
 away, then to circle around and reenter the fort by the opposite gate; while in the fort 
 preparations were made to receive the expected attack. Writes Collins: (II, 189) 
 "Instantly Girty sprang up at the head of his five hundred [sic] warriors, and rushed 
 rapidly upon the western gate, ready to force his way over the undefended palisades. 
 Into this mass of dusky bodies, the garrison poured several rapid volleys of rifle balls 
 with destructive effect. Their consternation may be imagined. With wild cries they 
 dispersed to the right and left, and in two minutes not a single Indian was to be seen." M 
 Soon the decoy party returned "in high spirits." 
 
 Toward two o'clock, the first relief party, forty in number under Colonel Levi Todd, 
 of Lexington, approached the fort. The two messengers, Bell and Tomlinson, had 
 overtaken Todd and his men enroute from Lexington to Hoy's Station, fixed as the 
 general rendezvous. A part of Todd's men were on foot, and it was by the greatest 
 exertion that they reached Bryan's by two o'clock. In order to reach the fort by the 
 Lexington road the reinforcement had to pass by a hundred acre field of high corn. 
 Hidden in this field, the savages waited. Warned by shots from the field sixteen 
 horsemen pushed their steeds at top speed and, aided by the speed and a dense cloud of 
 dust, managed to gain the fort. The foot soldiers, Todd with them, struck serious 
 difficulty. It was only after the most harrowing experience and the loss of two men 
 killed and two wounded that Colonel Todd managed to extricate these troops and flee 
 toward Lexington. 
 
 Toward sundown the fire from both sides slackened. The Indians, their strategy 
 having failed in the crucial tests, were discouraged. Their losses, although not great, 
 were felt, and no impression whatsoever had been made on the fort, while on the other 
 hand the county was rapidly rising, making their stay untenable. Many of the braves 
 counciled raising the siege and moving northward. The disappointed renegade, Girty, 
 determined to attempt negotiation. Near one of the bastions was a large stump to 
 which he crept on his hands and knees and from behind which he hailed the garrison. 
 He told them that further resistance would be madness, as he had six hundred men 
 and was hourly expecting reinforcements with artillery, which would blow their cabins 
 
128 A S E S Q U I -CENTENNIAL 
 
 to bits almost instantaneously. He advised them to surrender and accept a pledge of 
 good treatment and climaxed his remarks by announcing his name, asserting, with no 
 evidence of humility or regret, that the settlers, he was sure, knew him well. Where- 
 upon a young man, Aaron Reynolds by name, "highly distinguished for courage, energy, 
 and a frolicksome gaiety of temper," took it upon himself to answer Girty, saying: 
 "That he (Girty) was very well known; that he himself had a worthless dog, to which 
 he had given the name *Simon Girty,' in consequence of his striking resemblance to the 
 man of that name; that if he had either artillery or reinforcements, he might bring 
 them up and he d — d; that if either himself, or any of the naked rascals with him, 
 found their way into the fort, they would disdain to use their guns against them, but 
 would drive them out again with switches . . . and finally, he declared that they also 
 expected reinforcements . . . and that if Girty and his gang of murderers remained 
 twenty-four hours longer before the fort their scalps would be found drying in the sun 
 upon the roofs of their cabins." 1 Girty, assuming to be deeply offended but knowing 
 that he "did not have a leg to stand on," retired and reported to the chiefs and officers. 
 At dawn, though the camp fires still burned, the camps were deserted. In addition 
 to the cabins, stables, corn and vegetables destroyed, the cattle and sheep killed and 
 the horses stolen, the Indians had killed four of the garrison. There is some disparity 
 among the historians in the estimated loss sustained by Caldwell's forces; however, 
 it is not likely that the red men sustained more than a dozen casualties, although 
 Collins fixes the loss at thirty. The retreat of the Indians was conducted with de- 
 liberate slowness, so that the white pursuit party — expected by them — would know 
 where to find them, the desire being of course to lure the frontiersmen into a trap or 
 large ambuscade. The red men encamped the night of the eighteenth at the Upper 
 Blue Licks, with the army of Kentuckians only four miles away near the Licking. 
 
 The country round about had been thoroughly aroused, and throughout the seventh 
 relief companies had arrived at Bryan's. Colonel John Todd, Colonel Daniel Boone 
 and Lieutenant Colonel Levi Todd from Fayette; Colonel Stephen Trigg and Majors 
 Hugh McGary and Silas Harlan from Lincoln: These brought in one hundred and 
 thirty-five men. Colonel Logan, absent at the time, was soon scouring Lincoln County 
 for a larger force. In Logan's absence, Trigg was in command. A hasty council of 
 war was held on the evening of the seventeenth. With little deliberation, the council, 
 realizing that its force was one of picked men, experienced and mostly well-mounted 
 and being advised that the number of the savage force was inconsiderable, J decided 
 with little dissension — McGary preferring to await Logan — to pursue immediately. 
 Nearly a third of the men assembled were officers who for the time were content to 
 take position in the ranks. On the morning of the eighteenth Trigg had ridden rapidly 
 along the Buffalo trace, the hot-blooded Kentuckians burning for contact with the hated 
 red men. 
 
 On the morning of the nineteenth, having reached the Lower Blue Licks, the van 
 of the Kentuckians' force perceived a number of red men leisurely ascending the 
 rocky slope on the other side of the Licking. All having come up, another council of 
 war was decided upon. From this point and through the end of the battle which 
 followed, historians have issued many conflicting — some confusing — accounts, among 
 whom are Marshall, Butler, the Rev. John A. McClung, Governor James T More- 
 head and Judge Samuel Wilson (the leading authority) . The Collins include several 
 original accounts, including Boone's report to Governor Harrison, of Virginia. 10 " 
 These seem to be the facts: Although there appears to have been no effective supreme 
 commander, John Todd by his rank must have been in nominal control. At the 
 council meeting some impatience probably influenced the planning; tempers were none 
 too mild. Even the most reckless, however, could not fail to recognize the fact that 
 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 129 
 
 the Indians had been deliberately encouraging the Kentuckians to follow their trail, 
 the red men even having been so obliging as to mark the route of retreat by cutting 
 limbs from trees and leaving camps unscratched. These signs, of course, pointed to 
 an ambuscade which those keen woodsmen recognized. The question of what course 
 to follow now presented itself acutely. Colonel Boone, the greatest woodsman of them 
 all and who had brought along a fine young son, was asked for his opinion. He 
 advised one of two courses: either to await Colonel Logan, who could not be far behind 
 with four or five hundred men; or, if they must attack at once, to divide the force, 
 send one wing up the river to cross and attempt the rear of the Indians' position, while 
 the other attacked from the front. Boone knew the terrain perfectly; he believed the 
 Indians lay in ambush in ravines, just a mile beyond the Rocky bluffs — a perfect place 
 for such an artifice. The rocky escarpment would be difficult to ascend, and he felt 
 certain that the enemy force was far more numerous than theirs. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF BLUE LICKS, AUGUST 19, 1782 
 
 The general opinion seems to have favored immediate frontal attack in one line. 
 That two men were sent out to reconnoitre seems to be true, these returning after a 
 while to report that they had been unable to find the enemy. It is said that Major 
 Hugh McGary, an unusually hot-headed man, smarting under the taunts received 
 by those who opposed his council of the previous day to await Logan, hastily arose 
 from the deliberations at this point and quickly mounting his horse shouted: "Delay 
 is dastardly; let all who are not cowards follow me, and I will show them where the 
 Indians are." 10 Whereupon the council quickly broke up, a few of the officers follow- 
 ing at first, then all, a total of one hundred and eighty-one men, plunging into the river 
 pell mell. This may have happened, certainly could have; however, as has been pointed 
 out by others, the battle was not affected by this action; had it been very significant, 
 Boone, Levi Todd, Logan and Clark — all of whom made reports of the campaign, 
 certainly one of them would have mentioned the circumstance, but not one does, which 
 of course is rather convincing proof that McGary did nothing of significance enough 
 to affect the battle. Upon reaching the other side the entire force was halted apparently 
 and organized into military formation. The army was drawn up in three divisions, 
 with Colonel John Todd, the highest ranking officer probably in command of the 
 center; Colonel Stephen Trigg in command of the right wing; Colonel Daniel Boone 
 leading the left; while an advance company of feelers and scouts — Majors Silas Harlan 
 and William McBride commanding — was to proceed some distance in advance of the 
 center. Apparently the little army moved off under perfect control and in sanguine 
 and eager spirits. ° The rugged terrain even today has a "wild and lonely aspect." 
 The high ridge, which the army rapidly ascended had been stripped bare of practically 
 all vegetation except a few cedars; yet beyond the escarpment, the country was rather 
 heavily wooded, making difficult the holding in position a military line, but affording 
 protection both to attackers and defenders, with an advantage to concealed defenders. 
 The advance continued unmolested to within fifty yards of the ravine which Boone 
 had picked as the Indians' ambuscade. At that point Harlan and the twenty-five were 
 struck by a murderous fire; all but three, including Harlan and McBride, were cut down 
 by the fierce volley. Behind the reconnaissance company was the center under Colonel 
 John Todd; this division was exposed on an open ridge. The battle began with extreme 
 fury. Colonel Boone, who says that it fell his lot to begin the attack, and the left 
 ferreted out the red men and drove them back a hundred yards. As Trigg came on 
 with the right, he was fired upon by a number of Indians who lay hidden in front of 
 their main line. This fire, killing Trigg and several of his men, threw his column 
 into confusion. The Indian left, perceiving the advantage, maintained a heavy fire 
 
130 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 and began a flanking movement, which began swinging the Kentucky right behind the 
 center. Todd's men, already exposed in front, now were struck on their right flank. 
 Perceiving themselves being slowly encircled and Todd already having fallen, these 
 broke in rapid retreat. Boone, who had been more than holding his own, as soon as 
 he realized what was happening on the right and rear, ordered his men to follow him 
 to prevent being encircled. He, knowing the country well, after tenderly carrying his 
 dead son, Israel, where the savages could not find the body, led his men off to the left 
 toward the Licking and swam it to safety two or three miles down. The fierce 
 Wyandottes, clearly perceiving their advantage, now discarded their rifles, drew their 
 tomahawks and scalping knives and closed in for bloody execution. Panic by now had 
 seized the Kentuckians, most of whose leaders had already fallen. There was a mad 
 rush for the ford. "He that could remount a horse was well off," wrote Levi Todd, 
 "and he that could not had not time for delay."" The action had not lasted perhaps 
 longer than five minutes, but the worst was yet to come — the worst losses were suffered 
 at the water's edge and in crossing the river. Appearing from every quarter, it seemed, 
 the fiendish cruel Wyandottes, with unearthly shouts, maddened by the taste of blood, 
 plied their favorite weapons with sadistic fury and joy. Benjamin Netherland, being 
 splendidly mounted, was one of the first to reach the opposite shore. He, perceiving 
 the awful spectacle being enacted on the bank and in the water on the other side, ordered 
 a number of horsemen, coming up behind him to halt and fire upon the savages so 
 sorely pressing their comrades. Netherland, because of having counciled delay, had 
 been charged with cowardice. The volley was so effective that the Indians reeled back, 
 thus giving time for the harassed footmen to get across. This was a very timely service 
 by Netherland, because it afforded time for all the survivors to cross, scatter and break 
 through the rugged country toward home. As it was some of the Indians pursued for 
 twenty miles; however, most of them, "laden with scalps and spoils, returned exultantly 
 to their northern homes." 
 
 The British and Indians had sustained a loss of ten men wounded and from seven 
 to ten killed, including a French leader Le Bute, apparently their only white casualty. 
 The Kentuckians lost sixty-six killed and four captured, including Todd, Trigg, Har- 
 lan and McBride. This was the most appalling calamity Kentucky had ever sustained. 
 
 Meanwhile Colonel Logan, having raised the militia, had advanced to Bryan's 
 Station. Todd's men had a day's start on him. He, a resourceful Indian fighter, 
 having learned of the headlong pursuit, feared disaster. He had advanced on the 
 road only twenty-five miles when the first fugitives from the battle were encountered. 
 The news greatly saddened this fine man and made him very cautious. He halted 
 his men and threw out scouts far in advance, waiting through the day while the fugi- 
 tives came in. Then he turned and went back to Bryan's. Writes Professor Cotterill: 
 "The news had already reached the fort and the ensuing hours of desolation are not 
 to be described in words. Here while the stricken families lamented and strong men 
 seemed shocked into listlessness, Logan waited."" It was not until the twenty-fourth 
 that, with five hundred men, he began his march to the Lower Blue Licks. The muti- 
 lated bodies of the dead were collected and buried in a common grave. 1 * Then Logan 
 returned to Bryan's, which seems to have been entirely sensible. 
 
 Scarcely had the distress and mourning subsided than the survivers, their relatives 
 and the people in general began seeking the cause of the disaster. Who was to blame? 
 Major Hugh McGary became the scapegoat. He, it was said, had been so rash that 
 the catastrophe was caused. The people always find it more convenient to fix a blame 
 upon one man than upon a group or upon a trend which the people themselves have 
 caused. But McGary would not satisfy the officials of Virginia, besides, the legal people 
 of his county perhaps did not wish to censure him too severely (after all, it appeared 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 131 
 
 that he had been brave to the point of absolute recklessness with his life) . Moreover, 
 McGary was not quite important enough to receive the total blame. General Clark 
 was, however, important enough, and it was very convenient to "lay many things at 
 his door." He was blamed in petitions and General Assembly, petitions for intervention 
 and relief from Indians, who, if they should invade again, it was contended, would 
 bring about the "Entire Breach of our country." It was pointed out that families, 
 even numbers of young men, were quitting the country, and that more threatened to 
 leave unless protection should be sent them. Others petitioned Congress that Kentucky 
 be taken under the protection of the general government. Clark was most bitterly 
 criticised for not having established other fortified posts in addition to Fort Nelson. 
 Even the mild and magnanimous Boone in a letter — telling of the disaster and asking 
 for aid — to Governor Harrison wrote: "I know that your own circumstances are 
 critical, but are we to be wholly forgotten? I hope not. I trust about five hundred 
 men may be sent to our assistance immediately. If these shall be stationed as our 
 county lieutenants shall deem necessary, it may be the means of saving our part of 
 the countrv; but, if they are placed under the direction of Gen. George Rogers Clark, 
 they will be of little or no service to our settlement. The falls lie one hundred miles 
 west of us, and the Indians northeast; while our men are frequently called to protect 
 them. I have encouraged the people in this country all that I could; but I can no 
 longer justify them or myself to risk our lives here under such extraordinary hazards. 
 The inhabitants of this country are very much alarmed at the thoughts of the Indians 
 bringing another campaign into our country this fall. If this should be the case, it 
 will break up these settlements. I hope, therefore, your Excellency will take the matter 
 into your consideration, and send us some relief as quick as possible." 11 (This does 
 not seem to be Boone's diction) . 
 
 Although the noble Boone, in closing, made the statement that the letter expresses 
 his "sentiments without consulting any person," the historian, knowing the great 
 woodsman's difficulties in spelling and in writing, is led to the belief that some other 
 wrote the letter for him. Certainly he had heard others express their opinions con- 
 cerning conditions freely. Boone was, because of his tremendous prestige, perhaps the 
 most logical man in central Kentucky to send such a letter. The fact that he stated 
 in this letter the belief that Governor Harrison would soon receive "an express" from 
 Colonel Logan may or may not be significant. Certainly there must have been a 
 general understanding that the leaders of Central Kentucky would make a desperate 
 effort to obtain aid from Virginia. Another declared that Louisville was a Town 
 without Inhabitants, a Fort situated in such a manner, that the Enemy coming with a 
 design to lay waste our Country, would scarcely come within one Hundred miles of 
 it, & our own Frontiers open & unguarded." 11 '' 
 
 Stirred by these reports from prominent leaders of Fayette and Lincoln counties, 
 Governor Harrison wrote Clark a sharp letter rebuking him for failing to communicate 
 concerning the state of affairs and for his neglect in carrying out orders for the 
 establishment of additional posts, which would have prevented, the Governor charged, 
 the disaster at Blue Licks. Clark, feeling much aggrieved at having received criticism 
 which he deemed wholly unwarranted, insisted that the Falls must first be fortified, 
 maintaining that the completion of Fort Nelson had likely saved the Western country, 
 because the enemy, dispairing of capturing so formidable a post, had divided his force, 
 one being sent against Wheeling and another against Kentucky. This division, he 
 contended, had prevented the enemy from taking the District. He maintained that 
 the Kentuckians in their failure to keep scouting parties continuously employed, as he 
 had ordered, was responsible for the surprise invasion. He characterized the conduct 
 of the leaders at Blue Licks at "extremely reprehensible," brought about in large part 
 
 10— Vol. I 
 
132 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 by an attempt to offset their former neglect of duty. Although Clark considered 
 Fort Nelson as the most important post in the District, he had proposed, however, 
 Nelson having been completed, to construct a fort at the mouth of the Kentucky and 
 another at the mouth of the Licking. Actually county officials refused their assistance 
 in furnishing the necessary men and supplies, and his own garrison, dwindling rapidly 
 by desertions caused by failure to receive pay, necessary food and clothing, was scarcely 
 sufficient to man Fort Nelson. 11 ' 
 
 Be all these things as they may, the truth was that in the campaign and battle of 
 Blue Licks the Kentuckians had been out-planned, out-maneuvered and, unfortunately, 
 out-fought, even though in the fight there were instances of the noblest, most self- 
 sacrificing heroism. Their rashness in not having awaited the arrival of Logan brought 
 about their undoing. Marshall sums it up by stating: 
 
 "Such, on the one hand, is the effect of inconsiderate rashness; such, on the other, 
 the ascendancy of prudence, over the affairs of men. In nothing, is this observation, 
 so often in substance made, more frequently illustrated, than in war, and battle. What 
 indeed: is fate, but the work of man's own hands, hanging on means of their own 
 choosing?' 
 
 ,,,118 
 
 THE ATTACK AT KINCHELOE'S STATION 
 
 Soon after the disaster at Blue Licks, some western Indians, returning from the 
 engagement there, according to Marshall, desirous of more scalps and further pilfering 
 and plundering, dropped into Jefferson County and raided along Salt River. Colonel 
 John Floyd immediately called out the militia and scoured the country, without finding 
 them. On the first day of September, having found no Indians, the militia was dis- 
 banded. Among these men a few were from Kincheloe's Station, a settlement of six 
 or seven families on Simpson Creek, in present Spencer County. These men had reached 
 the Station and, feeling no danger imminent, had relaxed and retired, all being greatly 
 fatigued. During the night a band of Indians fell upon the station. Some of the 
 settlers were not aroused from their beds before the bloody execution began. Several 
 persons — men, women and children — were killed, perhaps all would have been had not 
 the darkness enabled some to escape. The fight of parents to save their children, 
 was a most gruesome, pitiful and heroic affair, even women dealing out bloody execution 
 with axes and clubs. 119 
 
 CLARK'S CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE SHAWNESE, NOVEMBER, 1782 
 
 Although blamed, as he thought unjustly, Clark set about with his accustomed 
 vigor, efficiency and dispatch to organize a retaliatory exposition. He had been pro- 
 foundly shocked by the Blue Licks disaster and was impelled by "the liveliest feelings 
 of sympathy for the distress of the sufferers." 1 ' During September and October, 
 preparations were carried forward for a joint campaign: General William Irvine, 
 from Fort Mcintosh, northwest of Pittsburgh, against Sandusky; while Clark was to 
 strike the Shawnese towns; nine hundred men also were to be sent against the Genesee 
 towns. 
 
 Clark found that the spirit of the Kentuckians was running high, which was greatly 
 to his liking, but he encountered annoying and delaying difficulties in obtaining sufficient 
 provisions and equipment, so low was the state of Virginia's credit. Moreover, many 
 men refused to enlist, fiercely confronting Clark with the fact that Virginia owed 
 them for former services and demanding pay as a condition to agreement to aid in 
 the campaign. He replied: "If I was worth the money I would most cheerfully pay 
 it myself and trust the State, but can assure you with thruth that I am entirely 
 Reduced myself by advancing Everything I can Raise, and except what the State 
 owes me am not worth a Spanish dollar. I wish it was in my power to follow your 
 
H I S T O RY O F K E N T U C KY 133 
 
 proposition to step forth and save my country from the disgrace that is like to fall 
 on her."" In order to provide Flour for the expedition he exchanged 3,200 acres of 
 his own land. 
 
 In spite of all the drawbacks — lack of supplies and money, jealously, quarrelling 
 and grumbling, a sizeable army was raised — Kentuckians would always come forth 
 to fight the Shawnese. Two divisions, consisting of a a total of one thousand and 
 fifty mounted men, rendezvoused at the mouth of the Licking. The doughty Colonel 
 Logan led the militia from Fayette and Lincoln counties; while the eager Colonel 
 Floyd, barely thirty-two years of age, led the regulars from Fort Nelson and the 
 militia from the Western stations up the Ohio, bringing along the artillery. " General 
 Clark, in supreme command, set out on November 4, for Chillicothe, the Shawnese 
 stronghold. As usual, he maintained rigid discipline, throughout the six days march. 
 He was one of the very few military commanders ever able to maintain discipline in 
 the Western militia during the Revolution. He had worked out minutely a plan of 
 attack. Three miles from the town Colonel Floyd was sent forward with three hun- 
 dred men to attack. 
 
 THE ATTACK UPON CHILLICOTHE, NOVEMBER 10, 1782 
 
 Apparently Floyd's duty was to move around the town by a circuitous route and 
 rush in by surprise from behind, driving the savages pell mell into the waiting muzzles 
 of Clark's rifles. Unfortunately, however, a straggling Indian of the war party 
 which had invaded Kentucky discovered the appoach and gave the alarm of "a mighty 
 army on the march." The town was immediately evacuated in wild precipitation, 
 with an Indian loss of only ten killed and ten taken prisoners. Chillicothe and five 
 other towns, including Pickaway and Willstown, were burned to the ground, and ten 
 thousand bushels of corn and large quantities of provisions destroyed. Colonel Logan 
 in an excursion with one hundred and fifty men to the head of the Miami River 
 captured the English trading post there with valuable supplies, burning all that could 
 not be carried away. Clark, after vainly attempting to bring on a general engagement 
 for four days, brought his army, laden with booty, to the mouth of the Licking, 
 where it was disbanded. He had suffered four casualties — two killed by the enemy 
 and two killed by accidents. Although no wholesale slaughter, as the Kentuckians 
 had hoped for, had been effected, the campaign had been eminently successful. The 
 savages had been completely cowed. These fleeing pell mell from their own homes, 
 wives and children at the alarm, were vastly different from the invincible red men 
 putting aside the rifles at Blue Licks and stepping in with tomahawk and scalping 
 knife to annihilate Kentucky's finest soldiers. By this blow Clark not only saved the 
 frontier settlements from danger of attack, but frustrated the British design of union 
 of Northwestern and Southwestern tribes, a plan, which, if carried out, might con- 
 ceivably have effected the capture of Kentucky and the recapture of Illinois, "with 
 Kentuckians . . . driven across the mountains and 'the other inhabitants into the 
 sea.' ' Practically overnight he had reversed the situation completely from one of 
 Kentuckians fearing another Indian invasion, which would bring a saturnalia of blood 
 and the loss of Kentucky, to the complete intimidation of the Shawnese, who now 
 began to question the potency of the Great White Father, George III. In addition, 
 the British again feared an attack on Detroit. As Daniel Boone stated: "The spirits 
 of the Indians were damped, their connexions dissolved, their armies scattered and a 
 future invasion entirely out of their power." 12 " 
 
 The Indians, moreover, were afraid, wretched and miserable, as the British admitted; 
 these homeless aborigines shuddered in abject despair as they gloomily looked forward 
 to a hard winter without food, without shelter, without clothing, with the possibility 
 
134 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 of starvation or pestilence taking away the squaws and children — and the British no 
 longer able to furnish gifts and provisions. 1 *" 
 
 This campaign was the last of the Revolutionary War; the long struggle was brought 
 to a close. The fighting did not cease for long, however, with the red men whose 
 lands were steadily being taken and they, themselves, steadily driven westward by the 
 truculent, land hungry Americans. 
 
 FOOTNOTES FOR CHAPTER VI 
 
 Ranck, op.cit., p. 53. 
 
 R. S. Cotterill, History of Pioneer Kentucky (Cincinnati: Johnson and Hardin, 
 1917), p. 109. 
 
 Thwaites, op.cit., p. 141. 
 "Ibid., p. 142. "Ibid. 
 
 6 Ranck, op.cit., p. 53. 
 
 Thwaites, op.cit., p. 143. 
 
 An unusual incident occurred a short time after the gate was closed. The story 
 is here quoted from Collins (II, 469) : "Harrison, one of the wounded men, by a 
 violent exertion, ran a few paces and fell. His struggles and exclamations attracted 
 the notice, and awakened the sympathies, of the inmates of the station. The frantic 
 grief of his wife gave additional interest to the scene. The enemy forebore to fire 
 upon him. . . . The case was a trying one and there was a .strong conflict between 
 sympathy and duty on the part of the garrison. The number of effective men had 
 been reduced from fifteen to twelve, and it was exceedingly hazardous to put the 
 lives of any of this small number in jeopardy; yet the lamentations of his family were 
 so distressing, and the scene altogether so moving, as to call forth a resolute determi- 
 nation to save his life, if possible. Logan, always alive to the impulses of humanity, 
 and insensible to fear, volunteered his services, and appealed to some of his men to 
 accompany him. But so appalling was the danger, that all, at first, refused. At 
 length John Martin consented, and rushed, with Logan, from the fort; but he had not 
 gone far, before he shrank from the imminence of the danger, and sprang back 
 within the gate. Logan paused for a moment, then dashed on, alone and undaunted — 
 reached, unhurt, the spot where Harrison lay — threw him on his shoulders, and, 
 amidst a tremendous shower of rifle balls, made a safe and triumphant retreat into 
 the fort." Says Mr. Cotterill, in his History of Pioneer Kentucky, concerning Colonel 
 Logan: "It may be said in passing that his mental and moral equipment surpassed 
 even his physical. He was probably the most heroic figure that ever trod Kentucky 
 soil." (p. 116). 
 
 9 Collins (Vol. I, p. 19) states that by December 31, 1777, the Indian forays into 
 Kentucky County had been so disasterous that the number of men left at the stations 
 was: Boonesborough 22, Harrodsburg 65, and Logan's 15 
 
 Thwaites, op.cit., p. 144. 
 
 Most likely courts of some type must have been convened prior to this sitting, as 
 petty cases must have risen which demanded immediate attention. Professor Cotterill 
 (op.cit., p. 119) shows that a court was held at Logan's in July (1777) in which 
 Bowman, Riddle, Calloway and Logan were judges and Levi Todd, clerk. 
 
 "James Alton James, The Life of George Rogers Clark, (Chicago: University of 
 Chicago Press, 1928) , p. 55. 
 
 Professor James (p.52) presents a characteristic and graphic description of these 
 horrors: "Men were killed or captured while at work in the fields or out hunting. 
 Women and children were burned in the houses, or, as in other cases the entire family 
 were carried away as prisoners. Hard pressed by their pursuers, the Indians killed 
 
Caufield and Shook. 
 
 GENERAL CLARK SIGNING A TREATY WITH THE INDIANS 
 
 From a Mural in the Seelbach Hotel. 
 
136 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 such prisoners as hindered their rapid retreat. Thus the tomahawk saved them from 
 sharing the fate of their companions, which was frequently more cruel. Upon arrival 
 at an Indian village, men prisoners were forced to satisfy the savage instincts of their 
 captors by running the gauntlet or by being subjected to untold cruelties. Some of 
 them were sold to British and French traders. . . . Women were forced to become 
 the wives or slaves of the warriors, and children were adopted into the tribe." 
 James, op.cit., p. 53. 
 
 "Material for this section on Clark and the war in the West is taken from these 
 sources: a. Letter of George Clark to George Mason, b. Memoir of George Rogers 
 Clark; c. Journal of Major Joseph Bowman; d. Diary of George Rogers Clark; 
 e. English, William Hayden. Conquest of the Country Northwest of the River Ohio, 
 1778-83, and Life of George Rogers Clark. 2 Vols. (Indianapolis, 1897) . f. George 
 Rogers Clark, A Biographical Sketch, by Hambleton Tapp (The Filson Club His- 
 tory Quarterly) , Vol. 13, No. 3; g. James, George Rogers Clark. 
 
 1G James, op.cit., p. 112. Guided by this report, Clark, in a letter to Governor Henry 
 gave a concise statement of the situation and submitted a plan of action to take the 
 Illinois country. He thought that Kaskaskia, near the Mississippi should by all means 
 be taken: It controlled the navigation of the Mississippi and Ohio, thus preventing 
 the Americans from receiving goods from the Spaniards with which to carry on trade 
 with the Indians; it was the center from which the British were able to keep control 
 of the Indian tribes and send them against the Kentucky settlements; and it furnished 
 provision for the garrison at Detroit. He asserted that a force would have to be 
 sent to take Kaskaskia or in less than twelve months send an army against the Indians 
 on the Wabash, "which would cost ten times as much and not be of half the service." 
 
 "Clark had set out from Harrodsburg on October 1, 1777, for the express purpose 
 of making an appeal to the Governor for aid. 
 
 Later Services. The glorious day, February 25, 1779, was the highest point in 
 Clark's career. After that, although for several years he was the most outstanding 
 leader in the West, his light gradually waned. He, however, continued to serve Ken- 
 tucky and Virginia brilliantly until the close of the Revolution, never failing to strike 
 terror into the hearts of the Indians whenever he met them. 
 
 Following Captain Byrd's bloody forays into Kentucky in June, 1780, General Clark 
 led an army of approximately 1,000 Kentuckians against the Shawnese in Ohio. In 
 this campaign, although the Indians retreated to safety, their principal villages — Chilli- 
 cothe on the Scioto and Piqua on the Great Miami — were destroyed and their crops 
 laid waste. 
 
 Indians Superstitious. Something strange there was about the rapidity with which 
 Byrd's army retired from Kentucky. His force was not only large but carried along 
 cannon large enough to batter down any stockade in the district. Kentucky for the 
 moment was in his power. The question arises as to why the red men, though vic- 
 torious and with the successful work only begun, should flee northward across the Ohio. 
 
 The story persists that the Indians, while they were executing their fiendish business 
 at Martin's and Ruddle's stations, heard a rumor that General Clark was approaching. 
 Their superstitious fear of the name Clark completely overcoming them, the savages 
 made such haste that they abandoned much booty and along the way tomahawked 
 prisoners who could not keep up. The suggestion has been advanced that Captain Byrd, 
 horrified by the brutal slaughter, made no effort to deny the rumor of Clark's ap- 
 proach, in order to prevent recurrences of the inhuman butchery. 
 
 Last Service of the War. In the autumn of 1782, following the tragic defeat of 
 the Kentuckians at the Blue Licks, General Clark collected the militias of the three 
 counties — Jefferson, Fayette and Lincoln — for an invasion of the Shawnee territory. 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 137 
 
 Again the villages along the Miami were destroyed. This time the complete winter's 
 supply of Indian corn was totally destroyed. The spirit of the fierce Shawnees was 
 broken; they had no further stomach for attacking Kentucky. 
 
 Thus did Clark continue to serve Kentucky brilliantly throughout the Revolutionary 
 War. In spite of these notable services, however, the bright zenith of his military 
 career had been reached on February 25, 1779, that day at Vincennes when Hamilton 
 surrendered, and the American flag was run up. 
 
 Founder of Louisville. The few families brought by General Clark down the Ohio 
 in the late spring of 1778 remained in the stockade on Corn Island after the departure 
 of the army for the Northwest. 
 
 These families soon became restive and desired to move to the mainland, on the 
 Kentucky side. This, General Clark would not permit until some means of safety 
 should have been provided. A fort known as Fort-on-Shore was erected opposite Corn 
 Island at what is now near Twelfth and Rowan streets, in Louisville. It was com- 
 pleted in December, 1778, and the settlers then moved into their new home. Around 
 this fort a large settlement grew up, to which was given the name Louisville, after 
 the French King, Louis XVI. The eminent Kentucky historian, Colonel Reuben T. 
 Durrett, was of the opinion that General Clark not only deserves the honor of having 
 founded Louisville but the distinction of having suggested the name as well. 
 
 Clark also drew up plans and made a map of the city. He envisioned not only a 
 great commercial metropolis but one of the most beautiful cities of the nation, one 
 embellished with spacious parks, majestic trees, and broad avenues. But, alas, for 
 the ambitious plans of the founder of Louisville: weak-kneed politicians surrendered 
 to the selfish interests of greedy commercialists, and the spacious green parks and 
 broad clean avenues there along the Ohio River never developed. 
 
 Journeyed to Virginia, 1783. At the end of the War, General Clark, who had 
 been relieved of command by the Governor of Virginia because of the near bankruptcy 
 of that state, was residing with his parents at Mulberry Hill, on what is now Poplar 
 Level Road, near Louisville. He was practically penniless. During that year 1783 
 he made the long, tedious and lonely journey across the mountains to Richmond, the 
 capital of Virginia. There, fatigued and in rags, he applied to Governor Harrison 
 for a small advance on the sums he had advanced to maintain the Illinois Regiment. 
 The man who had saved a state and won an empire was obliged to supplicate his 
 government for money owed him in order to buy food and clothing. In Richmond, 
 sympathy and praise were profusely expressed, but no money for bread was available, 
 and the forlorn hero sadly retraced his painful steps to the Falls of the Ohio. 
 
 Beset by Financial Difficulties. Already dejected and despondent, General Clark 
 was soon beset with lawsuits for the recovery of sums advanced to him for the support 
 of his army. Practically all he had left in the way of salable property was taken 
 from him. Yet, swallowing his disappointment and sorrow, he resolutely set about 
 his new task of granting lands, of the Clark grant, north of the Falls, to his old 
 comrades, who had served him so bravely during the Kaskaskia and Vincennes cam- 
 paigns. 
 
 In the years 1798 and 1799 death came to his aging parents at Mulberry Hill. 
 This was a great loss, as the affection between Clark and kindly father and mother 
 was deep. They had treated him as tenderly as though he were an only child. Al- 
 though his father had considerable property, the fine old man could leave practically 
 nothing to his son, George Rogers, for any property so willed would be subject to 
 seizure by creditors. But General Clark continued to reside at Mulberry Hill for 
 three years, forced to depend upon the generosity of his admiring and sympathetic 
 brothers William and Jonathan. 
 
 Pleasant Family Ties. The family life of the victor of Vincennes, although he 
 
138 ASESQUI-CENTENN1AL 
 
 remained a bachelor, was marked by tenderness and affection. Clark's many brothers 
 and sisters ministered with fine loving-kindness to his afflictions, giving him comfort 
 and encouragement at every turn. His youngest brother, William, even sold his own 
 farm and house to meet a pressing obligation, contracted in connection with providing 
 supplies for the army. The many nieces and nephews worshipped him almost to the 
 point of idolatry. 
 
 Established Clarksville, Indiana. General Clark, in 1803, moved across the Ohio 
 River opposite the Falls and founded a town which came to be called Clarksville. 
 This town he laid out with great care and enthusiasm, hoping that it would grow 
 rapidly and become one of the most beautiful cities in America. But, alas, the town 
 did not grow; after a few years, it became a deserted village; and another of his fine 
 dreams was shattered. There he built a log cabin on a prominent point within sight 
 and sound of the Falls. It is said that he was fond of sitting on the rude porch and 
 gazing out over the Beautiful Ohio, a stream which had figured so prominently in his 
 great career. The graceful bend below the Falls, the mighty pounding of the waters 
 along the rapids and the slowly rising mist presented a scene which must have been 
 soothing to his troubled mind. 
 
 The conqueror of the Northwest Territory received each year Indian chiefs and 
 warriors at his home. These old braves visited him to smoke the pipe of peace and 
 friendship, with, as they insisted, "The first man living, the great and invincible Long 
 Knife." 
 
 Lewis and Clark Expedition Launched. Previous to moving to Clarksville, General 
 Clark had recommended William Clark, his youngest brother, to his good friend 
 President Jefferson, as a capable young man worthy of any difficult and honorable 
 assignment. And during the year 1803, the aging warrior had the great honor of 
 giving his blessing to the beloved brother and to Captain Meriwether Lewis, of the 
 Lewis and Clark Expedition, as they set out from Clarksville on their hazardous and 
 thrilling adventure across the vast stretches of the West to the vast expanse of the 
 Blue Pacific. The expedition would make history. 
 
 Fails in Business. To aid in winning a livelihood, General Clark built a mill north 
 of the Falls near Clarksville. This was operated without success; he was not a good 
 business man. At odd times, to occupy his mind, which was ever active, he gathered 
 specimens of pre-historic animals in Kentucky. Some of these he sent to President 
 Jefferson, who also was interested in pre-historic remains. General Clark was an 
 omnivorous reader and collected a large library. Most of these volumes, however, he 
 generously gave to his friends and relatives. 
 
 Debts Plague Him. Ever and anon, the old debts would rise to plague him; they 
 would not be permanently downed; and lawsuits were continuously coming up, giving 
 his troubled mind no peace. But never did Clark's friends and brothers cease to 
 help. Jonathan plead for the payment of the just claims before both the Virginia 
 Legislature and the Congress at Washington. 
 
 Virginia and Congress Deaf to His Appeals. In a written petition to Congress, 
 the neglected hero spoke feelingly of the justness of his claims: 
 
 "I engaged in the Revolution with all the Ardor that Youth could possess. My 
 zeal and Ambition rose with my success, determined to Save those Countries which 
 had been the Seat of my toil at the hazard of my life and fortune. 
 
 "At the most gloomy period of the War, when a Ration could not be purchased on 
 Public Credit I risked my own, gave my Bonds, Mortgaged my Lands for supplies, 
 Paid strict attention to every department, flattered the friendly and confused the hos- 
 tile tribes of Indians by my emissaries, baffled my internal enemies (the most dangerous 
 of the whole to the Public Interest) and carried my Point. Thus at the end of the 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 139 
 
 War, I had the pleasure of seeing my Country Secure, but with the loss of my Manual 
 activity and a prospect of future indigence . . . Suits commenced against me . . . 
 My military and other lands earned by my Service as far as they would extend were 
 appropriated for the payment of those debts, and demands yet remaining ... I see 
 no other resource remaining but to make application to my Country for redress." 
 
 Ever a Patriot. Although probably realizing that he would never be free of debt 
 in his lifetime, the noble patriot penned one of his finest statements. These are the 
 lines: "Although the quantity called for is considerable, it will not more than com- 
 pensate me for the losses I have actually sustained by my involving myself so im- 
 prudently in the public expenses which I doubt without assistance, I never shall get 
 clear of, but a country was at stake, and if it was imprudence, I suppose I should do 
 the same should I again have a similar Field to pass through." Yet, in spite of this 
 ringing appeal, the country turned a deaf ear to the plea. The alternative request in 
 the memorial, namely, "or such other relief as may seem proper," was likewise in- 
 effective. 
 
 Health Fails. The exposure and sacrifices of the "great campaign" had overtaxed 
 Clark's strength, seemingly super-human though he had been. His health gradually 
 failed. Painful rheumatism developed. And then a fateful day in 1809, the paralytic 
 stroke. That day a party of acquaintances from Kentucky on a hunting excursion 
 made him a visit and, "after spending some time with him in a jovial way, departed 
 on their hunt, leaving him alone in his humble cabin. Some time after their departure, 
 he was stricken with paralysis and fell to the floor helpless, and, for a time, unconscious, 
 without anyone present to assist him. He fell in front of the old-fashioned log fire- 
 place, in such a way as to burn one of his legs, which brought him to consciousness, 
 but he never recovered from this stroke of paralysis. He lived, however, about ten 
 years after it, but in a helpless condition, and the burn on his leg finally turned to 
 erysipelas, which made its amputation an absolute necessity. " 
 
 The Amputation. General Clark bore up under this terrific affliction with remarkable 
 firmness and bravery. The amputation was performed by Dr. Richard Ferguson amid 
 surroundings which are as unusual as any case in medical history. 
 
 Friends and neighbors came in, all striving to help and bring comfort. Colonel 
 George Rogers Clark Floyd, son of the old warrior's beloved friend, Colonel John 
 Floyd, who was killed by the Indians in 1783, brought a company of soldiers to Dr. 
 Ferguson's office, near Fifth and Main streets, Louisville, where the amputation was 
 performed. The troops surrounded the house, while fifers and drummers made lively 
 music for two hours, the time required to amputate the leg. During that ordeal, 
 Clark kept time to the music by beating with his fingers on the table. Other than a 
 good quantity of whiskey, no anaesthetic was administered, because medical opiates 
 had not yet come into use. Although the suffering from the operation was intense, 
 the great old soldier bore up unflinchingly. Early that evening fifes and drums once 
 more made lively music to soothe the suffering hero, and later he was serenaded with 
 violin music until late at night. 
 
 Following the amputation, General Clark was taken by his lovely sister, Mrs. Lucy 
 Croghan, wife of Major William Croghan, to Locust Grove on what is now Blanken- 
 baker Lane, between River and Brownsboro roads, a few miles east of Louisville. 
 There he resided, a helpless invalid, the remaining years of his life. 
 
 Virginia Presented a Sword. A day came in the year 1812 when the state of Vir- 
 ginia, through its legislature, voted to present to the old hero of Vincennes a sword — 
 the second one — as a symbol of that state's appreciation for his meritorious services. 
 The bill also provided a pension of $400.00 to be paid on the first of January each 
 year as long as he should live. An eloquent letter informing him of the action of 
 
140 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 Virginia was written by the Hon. James Barbour, Governor of Virginia. General 
 Charles F. Mercer, member of the Virginia Assembly, who had introduced the bill, 
 journeyed to Kentucky, and, at Locust Grove, presented the beautiful sword. William 
 English, in his life of Clark, describes the presentation scene: 
 
 "It is said that the second sword was presented by General C. F. Mercer, the 
 gentleman who had introduced the measure in the Virginia legislature, and that he 
 made the presentation in a graceful way with some complimentary remarks befitting 
 the occasion. General Clark was then old and decrepit, one leg gone, the other para- 
 lyzed, and all the energy and ambition of his younger days had departed. Earthly 
 honors could be of little moment to him then, as he sat there in his invalid chair and 
 listened to the polished Virginian's eloquent words. He took the beautiful unsheathed 
 sword, and holding it before him on his two open hands, looked at it long and earnestly. 
 Doubtless at the moment his memory dwelt upon the glories of Kaskaskia and Vin- 
 cennes . . . It is . . . Probable that . . . he . . . said, in a feeble voice broken by tears, 
 *you have made a very handsome address, and the sword is very handsome, too. 
 When Virginia needed a sword, I gave her one. I am too old and infirm, as you see, 
 to ever use a sword again, but I am glad that my old mother state has not entirely 
 forgotten me, and I thank her for the honor and you for your kindness and friendly 
 words.' " 
 
 The End. In a few years another stroke came. It was fatal. On February 13, 
 1818, the sad, lonely old hero breathed his last. He was laid to rest in the simple 
 family burying ground at Locust Grove, while Kentuckians, the high and the low, 
 mourned his passing, as though he was the father of each. Judge John Rowan, an 
 eloquent and famous Kentucky jurist, delivered the funeral oration. His first sentence 
 expressed the feeling of the mourning audience: "The mighty oak of the forest has 
 fallen, and now the scrub oaks may sprout all around." 
 
 Kentucky Failed to Remember. Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Virginia and Missouri have 
 erected magnificent monuments to commemorate the heroic deeds of George Rogers 
 Clark. Kentuckians have not been kind to the memory of General Clark. The years 
 have passed, and few are conscious that his remains now rest in Cave Hill Cemetery, 
 in Louisville, with a small simple marker at his head. But, God helping us, the day 
 will come, and not too far distant, when the people of Kentucky will rise to their 
 responsibility and erect a noble monument to the memory of the great soldier who 
 saved Kentucky from destruction during the dark days of the Revolution — a monument 
 adequate to the noble deeds and heartbreaking sacrifices which he made that Kentucky 
 might live. 
 
 See Appendix A. 
 
 " Professor Thwaites takes the position that Boone merely appeared to be happy, 
 in order to avoid suspicion. He writes: "In the crowded slightly built wigwams it 
 was impossible to avoid drafts; they were filthy to the last degree; when in the home 
 villages there was generally an abundance of food — corn, hominy, pumpkins, beans 
 and game, sometimes all boiled together in the same kettle — although it was prepared 
 in so slovenly a manner as to disgust even so hardy a man of the forest as our hero; 
 the lack of privacy, the ever-present insects, the blinding smoke of the lodge-fire, 
 the continual yelping of dogs, and the shrill, querulous tones of old women, as they 
 haggled and bickered through the live long day — all these and many other discomforts 
 were intensely irritating to most white men." (Thwaites, op.cit., p. 153). 
 
 "'Thwaites, op.cit., p. 155. Professor Cotterill states that the savages kept scrupul- 
 ously their promise of good treatment. 
 
 "Several days after Boone's return another of the escaped captives, Stephen Han- 
 cock, returned to the fort. He reported that the Indians, who had refrained from 
 attacking while Boone was a prisoner, had postponed their invasion for three weeks. 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 141 
 
 He further charged that Boone while a captive had been on friendly terms with Gov- 
 ernor Hamilton and had promised to deliver its garrison into the hands of the British 
 and Indians. This accusation was shocking to the excitable settlers; Boone was quickly 
 regarded by some as a renegade. Even his old friend, Colonel Richard Calloway, turned 
 against him, while the ambitious W. B. Smith claimed command of the fort. After a 
 time many began to see Boone's motives and swung back to his support, and later a 
 public trial resulted in a complete exoneration. 
 
 Professor Cotterill gives date as September 8, which does not have the support 
 of the soundest evidence. See Ranck, p. 76 
 
 ' Both Professor Thwaites, the outstanding authority, after the death of Dr. Draper, 
 on the Draper Manuscripts, and Professor Ranck, the authority on Boonesborough, 
 state that the supreme command was under Black Fish, "with Lieutenant Antoine 
 Daghnieau of Dagniau DeQuindre as principal aide and adviser." Professor Cotterill 
 places "Fontenoy de Quindre" in supreme command. Thwaites relies upon the Draper 
 Mss., while Ranck uses the Haldimand Mss. (Ranck, op.cit., pp. 72, 73). 
 
 "Ranck, op.cit., pp. 76, 77. 
 
 "Ibid., 78. "Ibid., p. 80. "Ibid., p. 81. 
 
 "There is little doubt but that Hamilton desired as little bloodshed as possible. 
 He had been paying, for sometime, more for live, well prisoners than for scalps. 
 Actually this much-maligned man was both humane and able. Yet the Americans 
 could not dissociate "hair-buyer" from him, and he suffered terrible humiliation as 
 a prisoner of Clark and in Virginia. 
 
 30 Ibid., p. 83. "Ibid., p. 84. 
 
 "The Boonesborough Representatives were: Daniel Boone, Richard Calloway, Wil- 
 liam Bailey Smith, William Buchanan, Squire Boone, Flanders Calloway, Stephen 
 Hancock and William Hancock. 
 
 3 Tbid., p. 88. "Ibid., pp. 89, 90. ""Ibid., p. 92. ""Ibid., p. 163. 
 
 Of this situation Professor Ranck writes: "The outlook was black indeed. It 
 was raining, and the pent-up people could slake their thirst, but they were worn out 
 by labor, the heat, and incessant watching and by privations, for the long-draw-out 
 provisions were about exhausted, and though some of the miserably reduced live stock 
 remained, the pioneers had already reached the starvation point. There were dis- 
 sensions among the principal officers of the garrison, possibly over conflicting claims 
 to the leadership. Colonel Calloway was the ranking officer; Major W. B. Smith, 
 however, according to what is apparently his own statement, had been appointed com- 
 mandant of the fort by Clark after the capture of Boone at the Blue Licks, while 
 the actual leadership during the siege seems, by common consent of the settlers, to 
 have fallen to Captain Daniel Boone from his special gifts and experience in Indian 
 ways and warfare. The methods of Boone at this time were strongly disapproved by 
 the venerable Calloway, but all were united in the face of the enemy, and especially 
 now when the fate of Boonesborough was trembling in the balance." (Ranck, op.cit., 
 p. 98). 
 
 '"Ibid., p. 100. 
 
 3 'Within the walls sixty persons were capable of bearing arms but only forty were 
 effective, some of these being negroes; Logan's Fort had sent a reenforcement of fifteen 
 men and Harrodsburg a few others. 
 
 4 °As has been pointed out, a like number of acres was granted by North Carolina 
 in Tennessee to the company. 
 
 "With the erection of this fort (Fort-on-Shore) followed by Fort Nelson (also 
 erected by Clark) , this locality became rapidly one of the strongest and most populous 
 sites in the territory. 
 
142 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 42 Professor Cotterill places responsibility for defeat upon the "Monogahelians," 
 who, he contends, plundered instead of fighting. This explanation obviously does 
 not satisfy. 
 
 4 'The Indians lost two Chiefs — the famous Black Fish and the well-known Red Hawk. 
 Black Fish was "badly wounded," writes Professor Ranck, "and, though successful in 
 battle, surrendered to get the benefit of a white surgeon, which, owing to the confusion 
 and exigencies of the retreat, he failed to receive, causing the wound to prove fatal." 
 (Ranck, op.cit., p. 109) . Of the expedition, Collins writes (Vol. I. pp. 19, 20) : 
 Colonel John Bowman ... is compelled to retreat, and loses 8 or 9 men, but kills 
 two celebrated Indian Chiefs, Blackfeet (sic) and Red Hawk, burns the town and 
 seizes 163 horses and other spoils." 
 
 Temple Bodley, History of Kentucky, (Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing 
 Company, 1928), pp. 202, 203. 
 
 °Thwaites, op.cit., p. 173. 
 
 "Ibid., pp. 175, 176. 
 
 4 'Robert McNutt McElroy, Kentucky in the Nation s History (New York: Moffat, 
 Yard and Company, 1909), p. 101. 
 
 "Daniel Trabue's Autobiography and Diary," Colonial Men and Times, ed. by 
 Lillie DuPuy Van Culin Harper (Philadelphia: Innes & Sons, 1916), p. 56. 
 
 49 Concerning the new land law and the land system, Perkins (Western Annals, 2nd 
 ed., p. 231) writes: The (land) law itself was vague, and the proceedings of the 
 court, and the certificates granted to claimants under the law, were more indefinite and 
 uncertain. The description of tracts were (sic) general, the boundaries not weir 
 defined, and consequently the claims, when located, interfered with each other. Each 
 family that settled on waste or unappropriated lands belonging to Virginia, upon the 
 western waters, was entitled to a preemption right to any quantity of land not ex- 
 ceeding four hundred acres; and, upon the payment of two dollars and twenty-five 
 cents on each one hundred acres, a certificate was granted, and a title in fee simple 
 confirmed. 
 
 "Each settler could select and survey for pre-emption any quantity of waste or 
 unappropriated lands, not exceeding one thousand acres to each claimant, for which 
 forty dollars for each hundred acres were required. Payments could be made in the 
 paper currency of Virginia, which had depreciated greatly." 
 
 Perkins lists the various types of land claims existing in 1779 as follows: 
 
 "But the military operations of 1779 were not those which were of the most vital 
 importance to the West. The passage of the Land Laws by Virginia was of more 
 consequence than the losing or gaining of many battles, to the hardy pioneers of 
 Kentucky and to their descendants. Of these laws we can give at best but a vague 
 outline, but it may be enough to render the subject in some degree intelligible. 
 
 In 1779 there existed claims of very various kinds to the western lands: 
 
 1. Those of the Ohio, Walpole, the other companies, who had a title more or less 
 perfect, from the British Government: none of these had been perfected by patents, 
 however. 
 
 2. Claims founded on the military bounty warrants of 1763; some of these were 
 patented. 
 
 3. Henderson's claim by purchase from the Indians. 
 
 4. Those based on mere selection and occupancy. 
 
 5. Others resting on selection and survey, without occupancy. 
 
 6. Claims of persons who had imported settlers; for each such settlers, under an 
 old law, fifty acres were to be allowed. 
 
 7. Claims of persons who had paid money into the old colonial treasury for land. 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 143 
 
 8. The claims of officers and soldiers of the Revolution, to whom Virginia was 
 indebted. 
 
 "These various claims were, in the first place, to be provided for, and then the re- 
 sidue of the rich vallies beyond the mountains might be sold to pay the debts of the 
 parent State." (James H. Perkins, Annals of the West, 2nd ed., St. Louis, James R. 
 Albach, 1850), pp. 228, 229. 
 
 5 Butler, History of Kentucky, p. 87. 
 Cotterill, who referred to Butterfield, History of the Girtys says the mouth of the 
 Little Miami, while Butler and Perkins give the mouth of the Licking. The mouths 
 of these streams are not many miles apart, the Licking emptying into the Ohio just 
 below the Little Miami's mouth on the opposite side. 
 Perkins, op.cit., p. 228. 
 
 53 Cotterill, op.cit., p. 161. 
 
 "Virginia by the legislative act of 1779 provided that two regiments would be sent 
 to Kentucky; however scarcity of money and supplies caused her to send only the men 
 under Colonel Slaughter — perhaps not more than one hundred in number. 
 
 "James, George Rogers Clark, p. 192. 
 
 "'Letter of Colonel George Morgan to Major Trent, July 24, 1780 (Draper Mss. 
 46J59) quoted by James, op.cit., p. 193. 
 
 "This petition "that the Continental Congress will take proper Methods to form 
 us ("Kentucky and Illinois") into a Separate State" is brought out by Mr. John 
 Mason Brown. (Filson Club Publication No. VI, John Mason Brown) , "The Political 
 Beginnings of Kentucky": Louisville, 1889, p. 59. Mr. Brown says that his attention 
 was called to the petition by his friend, Theodore Roosevelt, who had discovered it 
 in the State Department at Washington. See Theodore Roosevelt, The Winning of 
 The West, 4 vols. (New York, 1889-96) , II, 398. 
 
 "Jefferson, by way of approving Clark's acts, wrote, March 21, 1780: "I approve 
 much of your most active endeavors to apprehend the guilty & put them into a course 
 of trial. . . . You seem to expect that writings may be found about them which will 
 convict them of treason." (Clark Papers, Vol. Ill), p. 453, quoted from James, op.cit., 
 p. 194. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 194. 
 
 ' The historian, Professor Cotterill sarcastically questions the motives and wisdom 
 of both the Virginia Council and Colonel Clark. See pp. 161-163 of his History of 
 Pioneer Kentucky. See James, pp. 192-209, for a more enlightening statement. Also, 
 McElroy, Kentucky in The Nation s History, pp. 101-105. 
 
 Gl-r 
 
 James, op.cit. 
 
 "Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collection, X, 396., quoted from James, op.cit., 
 p. 199. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 199. 
 Mr. R. C. Ballard Thruston, a collateral descendant of and notable authority on 
 Clark, is not of the opinion that Clark was disguised as an Indian; he stated that 
 Clark, seeing that he was recognized by the Indians who were hidden in force nearby 
 as he crossed the Tennessee River, motioned several times as though beckoning men 
 on the other side to creep up and surround the savages, a strategem which proved 
 successful. 
 
 "'McElroy, op.cit., pp. 102, 103. 
 
 ''Cotterill, op.cit., p. 164. 
 
 "Ibid., pp. 208-209. 
 Professor Cotterill takes the position that Bird was not affected by the Massacre; 
 this does not seem at all likely, because certainly Bird, a respectable British army 
 
144 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 officer, with an ethical standard, had not reached the stage of total depravity and 
 sadism so recklessly enjoyed by Simon Girty. We shall not deprive Bird of all the 
 impulses of civilized humanity. 
 
 Clark was so favorably impressed with young Floyd's military capacity that early 
 in 1781, upon the resignation of Colonel (Matthew?) Christy, he recommended to 
 Governor Jefferson that Floyd be appointed County Lieutenant, or Colonel, of the 
 Jefferson County Militia. Clark's letter to Jefferson, January 21, 1781, carried this 
 complimentary recommendation: "I would be leave to recommend to you Colo. Jno. 
 Floyd, an Inhabitant of the County, as a Gentleman that I am convinced will do Honor 
 to the appointment and known to be the most capable in the County, a soldier, Gentle- 
 man, and scholar whom the Inhabitants from his actions, have the greatest confidence 
 in." (George Rogers Clark Papers, Virginia Series, Vol. 3, p. 500) . Jefferson, who 
 had previously heard of Floyd, "the most beloved man in Kentucky," followed the 
 advice of Clark and made the oppointment soon thereafter. 
 
 70 "At this time," writes Professor James, "Joseph Rogers, a cousin of Clark's, who 
 for two years had been a prisoner among the Indians, made his escape, and running 
 toward the Americans, shouted to them not to shoot him, for he was a white man. He 
 was mortally wounded, however, and Clark reached his side but a short time before 
 he died." (pp.212, 213). 
 
 ''William H. English, (Conquest of The Country Northwest of the Ohio, 1778- 
 1783, and Life of George Rogers Clark, 2 Vols. (Indianapolis, 1897), pp. 680, 683. 
 
 ,2 James, op.cit., pp. 210-213. 
 Brown, op.cit., p. 93. The preamble, (taken from Henning, Statutes at Large, 
 p. 287) , declares that it is the policy of the commonwealth "always to promote and 
 encourage every design which may tend to the improvement of the mind and the 
 diffusion of useful knowledge, even among its remote citizens whose situations a bar- 
 barous neighborhood and a savage intercourse might otherwise render unfriendly to 
 science." 
 
 74 A number of the prisoners, including Colonel Lochry, were afterwards murdered. 
 Ranck, and Cotterill spell the name as Loughry. 
 
 "Many of the Kentucky militiamen were furious at Clark for requiring them to 
 serve on the ponderous patrol "galley" which was rowed up and down the Ohio 
 looking for Indian invasion. 
 
 G A good example of the rampant jealousy and the wretched condition of the regular 
 troops may be gained from a portion of a letter written by Captan James Sullivan, 
 May 22, 1781, to General Clark: 
 
 "Dear Sir: Since my last by Col. Floyd's express, I have engaged a sufficient number 
 of hands, to complete nearly all the boats you wanted, but I am much distressed, for 
 want of the necessary guard and fattaiges (fatigues) , Major Slaughter refusing to 
 furnish either which put me under the necessity of applying to Col. Floyd for a Guard 
 from the Militia. I wish you would consider us, and send some good man in his 
 place, as you may depend nothing can be done for the good of the State until he is 
 removed. After eating up almost everything, I furnished he & his Lousey Corps is 
 near starving, & so shall remain for me . . . (Clark Papers, 556) . 
 
 "Had he captured that important point, it is not too ambitious to assert the proba- 
 bility that thousands of square miles of territory might have been acquired in the 
 treaty ending the War and thousands of lives, later taken by the Indians, saved. 
 
 Instead of being praised and aided by populace officers and men for his vision, his 
 military genius, his willingness to sacrifice everything he possessed, his patriotism, his 
 tireless energy, most of the people in Kentucky criticised and often despised him; 
 many brother officers, both in Kentucky and outside, jealous and envious, threw every 
 possible obstacle in his way, and some even basely betrayed him: It was like being 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 145 
 
 slapped and spat upon by the person whose life he had saved. And the instances of 
 profiteering, shirking and stealing by many engaged to aid in the preparation of the 
 proposed expedition against Detroit are altogether too true and too disgusting. (See 
 James, op.cit., pp. 235-243) . 
 
 78 Cotterill, op.c'it., pp. 175, 176. 
 
 79 Collins, op.cit., II, 371, 372. 
 
 s °George Rogers Clark Papers, Vol. 3, pages 529-531. 
 
 "Ibid., pp. 532, 533. "Ibid., pp. 584, 585. 
 
 8J "For two years many of Clark's troops had served without having received the least 
 pay, and during that time had been given neither shoes, stockings, nor hats. Others 
 for a like period had received no clothing of any sort from the state. Forced to live 
 on half rations, they conceived themselves totally neglected, while the main army, as 
 they firmly believed, lacked nothing and was even supplied with luxuries." (James 
 op.cit., p. 257, 258.) In this conception, as we know, they were entirely wrong. 
 
 The ambuscade, according to Moses Boone's account, began at "13 mile tree' 
 (eight miles from Linn's Station) and continued for a mile. The "Long Run" was 
 midway between "the 13 and 14 mile trees." 
 
 ""Another description of Floyd's Defeat is given in Draper Manuscripts 5B64. An- 
 other version, written in 1880 by G. T. Wilcox to Thomas W. Bullitt, appears in the 
 Louisville Courier- Journal, July 28, 1880. It is republished in The Filson Club's 
 eight-page Program of a Pilgrimage to the Sites of Floyd's Station, etc., April 24, 1921, 
 printed in 1921. 
 
 ''George Rogers Clark Papers, Vol. 3, page 604. 
 
 An alleged attempt by General Henry Hamilton to bribe Floyd and Clark, the cir- 
 cumstances of which are to be found in only a few sources, is related in Mrs. Laetitia 
 Preston Floyd's letter and here quoted: 
 
 "He (Hamilton) made a proposition to Clark and Floyd, if they would give up 
 the country to the British, they should have as much boundary of land on the west 
 bank of the Ohio as they might wish and any title under that of Duke. Each gentle- 
 man had received the proposition at the same time but was afraid to divulge it. 
 Floyd, having less caution than Clark, communicated the fact to Clark. They agreed 
 to keep it concealed from the troops, who were so famished and discontented, that if 
 they had known how, they would have gone to any help to be fed and saved from 
 the tomahawk of the ruthless savages. This incident was communicated to Mr. Charles 
 Fenton Mercer upwards of thirty years ago by Mrs. Croghan, the sister of General 
 Clark and mother of Colonel Charles C. Croghan. Mrs. Breckinridge had at the same 
 time corroborated the fact." 
 
 87 Collins, op.cit., II, 40. 
 
 "Ibid., "Ibid., 'Ibid., I, 20. 
 
 James, op.cit., p. 251. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 259. 
 Clark had wished to be relieved of public duty, so that he might devote his atten- 
 tion to his land holdings, "an unprecedented Quantity of the finest Lands in the 
 Western world." However, he wrote, "Not only was his request to be relieved from 
 service refused, full confidence in him having been expressed by the Governor, but 
 his powers were made more extensive." (James, op.cit., 260) . 
 
 ''Collins, op.cit., II, 634. 
 
 "Collins, op.cit., II, 635. 
 
 "Ibid., II, 635. See also Cotterill, op.cit., pp. 179, 181. 
 
 °'James, op.cit., p. 265. 
 
 Professor James has presented an illuminating account of the difficulties which beset 
 Clark at that time: "Fully aware that the task was the most difficult he had ever 
 
146 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 undertaken, Clark pushed his preparation vigorously for foiling the main attack of 
 the enemy, which, it was understood, would be directed against Fort Nelson. *If we 
 should be so fortunate as to repel this invasion without too great a loss to ourselves,' 
 he wrote, *the Indians will all scatter to their diiferent Countries and give a fair oppor- 
 tunity for a valuable stroke to be made against them.' In reply to his appeal for armed 
 boats to prevent the incursions of Indians south of the Ohio, Governor Benjamin 
 Harrison wrote: f I am sorry to inform you that we have but four shillings in the 
 treasury, and no means of getting any more.' 
 
 "Assuming a part of the expense himself, Clark gave special attention to the con- 
 struction of four armed galleys with the design of using them to control the navigation 
 of the Ohio at the Mouth of the Miami. Spies and scouting parties were constantly 
 engaged on the various trails leading to the settlements in order to prevent possible 
 surprise. Early in July one of the boats, with a 73-foot keel, was completed, having 
 bullet-proof gunwales 4-feet high and false gunwales which could be raised in case 
 of an attack. When completely equipped it was to be manned by 110 men and was to 
 carry a six-pounder, two fours, and a two-pounder. The obstacles encountered in 
 carrying out defensive measures were continuous. Militia ordered on duty at Fort 
 Nelson refused to march, and a company of thirty-eight men serving on the row-galley 
 deserted, even after unusual concessions had been granted them. The regiment of 
 state infantry promised for western defense could not be sent for it was found that 
 their service would be necessary to guard the coast. Added to the general confusion 
 and lack of discipline incident to the fear of attack there was a spirit of insurgency on 
 the part of certain leaders born of the desire to form an independent state and calcu : 
 lated on purpose for disaffection & evasion of duty." (James, op.cit., pp. 260-262.) 
 
 "Ibid., p. 268. 
 
 "Colonel Reuben T. Durrett has left an interesting description of Bryan's Station: 
 "a palisaded post of forty cabins occupied by ninety men, women, and children. . . . 
 The inclosure, which was 200 yards long and 40 yards wide, was surrounded by a 
 wall 12 feet high. At each of the corners was a blockhouse two stories high with the 
 upper story projecting 2 feet beyond the lower." (Filson Club Publications, No. XII, 
 23, m 24.) 
 
 10 °The women wished to aid the Indians in their strategy of secrecy. Somehow the 
 story of their going to the spring for water — a perfectly natural and habitual thing — 
 does not please Professor Cotterill, so that he scoffs at it and has the slaves go, though 
 he does permit the women to milk the cows. 
 
 101 Collins, op.cit., II, 188, 189. 
 
 ™Ibid., p. 189. lm Ibid., II, 191. 
 
 104 The principal reason for the differences in details found in the various histories 
 is caused by the fact that different men living at the time heard or saw the thing in a 
 different way; some reported years later and their remembrance of details is often 
 different; many of these reports are among the Draper Manuscripts, for instance, a 
 very reputable authority, indeed, and often these manuscripts contradict in details. 
 
 "James, op.cit., p. 272, who quotes Draper Mss., 52J37. 
 
 10C Collins, op.cit., II, 657-662. 
 
 ,n7 James, op.cit., p. 273, who quotes G. W. Stipp, The Western Miscellany (Xenia, 
 Ohio, 1827), p. 92; Sometimes quoted as Bradford, Notes en Kentucky. 
 
 '""Boone states that McGary commanded the center; this, unless some confusion 
 existed, does not seem logical in view of the presence of other officers of higher rank, 
 such as Lieutenant Colonel Levi Todd, without divisional command. Marshall says 
 that McGary led the van, that is kept in front. (I, 139) . 
 
 ^'However, Marshall contends that they moved "with the utmost disorder." 
 
 u "Thwaites, op.cit., p. 189. 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 147 
 
 James, op.cit., p. 273. 
 
 112 Thwaites, op.cit., p. 189. 
 
 m Cotterill, op.cit., p. 193. 
 "About noon," writes Marshall (I, 143) "the battle ground was approached, and 
 the dead bodies seen strewed along the field. Some were mangled by savages — some 
 by vultures — some by wild beasts; they were swollen, and rendered quite yellow, by 
 the scorching rays of the sun, upon their naked skins . . . none knew the remains of 
 his friend, when found — so much were the visages of the dead disfigured." 
 Collins, op.cit., II, 661. 
 "Connelley and Coulter, I, 186. 
 James, 276. 
 
 n8 Marshall, op.cit., I, 143. 
 During that year (1782) according to a letter from Mrs. Laetitia Preston Floyd 
 to her son, Benjamin Rush Floyd, February 22, 1843 (Draper Mss 6J89-108) there 
 was "an operation across the Ohio" from Louisville designed to forestall an Indian 
 raid: Her account is as follows: 
 
 "In that year (1783) [sic] Colonel Floyd had learned a party of thirty Indians 
 had assembled to cross the Ohio and destroy the settlements on Bear Grass during 
 the night. Floyd forthwith sent a runner, collected all the men the neighborhood 
 [presumably the neighborhood of his station, on the Middle fork of Beargrass Creek, 
 then six miles from Louisville] could furnish, twenty in number, crossed the river 
 above the falls, marched to the encampment of the Indians, who were asleep, com- 
 menced the work of death, and only three Indians escaped. Two of Floyd's men 
 were killed. Hempinstall, who was alive in 1844 living near Shelbyville, killed with 
 his tomahawk and butcher knife, fourteen of the Indians." 
 
 ™lbid., I, 146. 
 
 " Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., 187. 
 
 "Yet Kentuckians then seemed to appreciate him no more than now. A ruthless 
 political adventurer, whose purpose is personal aggrandizement and enhancement, 
 even to the point of the near destruction of the state may obtain an imposing monu- 
 ment to his memory while a Clark can often give his fortune, his health, his energy, 
 his very life to save that state from utter destruction, and, few even pause to be 
 grateful, so frail and insubstantial is human nature. 
 
 "The dashing Floyd was a familiar and conspicuous figure: His tall person, dark 
 complexion, coal black hair and flashing though kindly dark eyes. Mounted on his 
 celebrated charger, Pompey, clad in his fine scarlet cloak, conspicuously rumbling in 
 the breeze, he was one of the handsomest men in the West. He gained at that time 
 in addition to the title, "best loved man in Kentucky," another — "the scourge of the 
 Indians." 
 
 " James, op.cit., p. 278. 
 
 '"Ibid., p. 279. 
 
 U ' J Again Professor Cotterill's high prejudice against Clark causes him to minimize 
 
 sneeringly the results of this campaign. See his History of Pioneer Kentucky, p. 197. 
 
 * The campaign to have been conducted by General Irvine did not materialize. 
 
 General Washington, having been assured by British authorities that the war was 
 
 over, countermanded the order for the expedition. 
 
 11— Vol. I 
 
VII 
 THE STRUGGLE FOR STATEHOOD, 1783-1792 
 
 The end of the War made possible to the people of Kentucky the shifting of some 
 of their interest from military to political and economic affairs. Immigrants with 
 land warrants were moving in rapidly, and, with the official announcement of the 
 signing of the protocol in Paris, both the Virginia government and the people of the 
 District lost most of their interest in war, even unwilling to defray the expense of 
 the erection of forts at the mouth of the Kentucky and Licking rivers. Kentucky 
 had gained favorable propaganda in the East, where thousands of persons were pre- 
 paring to migrate to the "new Eden." Even James Monroe, member of the Council 
 of Virginia, had about decided to take the trail westward, to the fascinating land, 
 "the land of promise." Writes Professor James: "So keen was the rivalry to secure 
 choice locations of land that the commissioners sent by Virginia to adjust the military 
 accounts were with difficulty able to secure attendance upon their meetings." 1 Stock- 
 ades were being thrown open, forts abandoned, compact communities established with 
 house after house, and hundreds of acres of lands cleared like the older Eastern 
 settlements. 
 
 The able Marshall in his pungent, graphic and masculine style of writing has left 
 a priceless statement of the changing Kentucky in the year 1783. He writes: "As 
 a consequence of the apparent safety, many new settlements were made in different 
 parts of the country. So that, to a great extent, it was no longer a military enterprise, 
 but a mere act of civil employment, to commence a new improvement, or establish, 
 a new station. Emigrants continued to augment the population. The people, finding 
 themselves much at their ease, turned their industry to the improvement of their 
 domestic affairs. The arts, connected with agriculture, took their residence in the 
 country; and those which furnished the household, and kitchen, with vessels, and 
 cabinet work, for ordinary use, had already become naturalized. Money was tolerably 
 current; and labour of every kind well rewarded. Plenty abounded; cattle and hogs, 
 were seen to increase, and thrive to an astonishing degree; and the fields were burthened 
 with Indian corn. Some trade, and barter sprung up among the citizens — amusements 
 succeeded; and horse races were run. Schools were opened, for teaching, reading and 
 writing in the vernacular tongue; and preachers of the gospel were heard publically 
 proclaiming the terms of salvation. To fill up the circle of the year, with its agreeable 
 productions, it may be added — that sundry crops of wheat were raised on the south 
 side of the river; and some distilleries erected on a small scale, in which spirits were 
 produced from Indian corn. Merchandise, transported from Philadelphia to Fort 
 Pitt, in wagons, and thence to the falls of the Ohio in flat-bottomed boats, were 
 landed; and a retail store opened, by Daniel Brodhead, in Louisville."" 
 
 A new set of leaders were superceding the fine old heroes — new leaders interested 
 in political and economic affairs, with little respect for the older men and their great 
 deeds. So shabbily was the noble Boone treated by the land sharks that he practically 
 was penniless and with few willing friends, he sadly left the state. The old leaders 
 disappeared quickly. The fascinating Floyd was killed near Bullitt's Lick (in the 
 vicinity of present day Shepherdsville) by the Indians in the spring of 1783. Clark, 
 deserted by his government, apparently unappreciated by the people, soon to be be- 
 trayed and partly disgraced and superceded by a traitor, broken in health and mentally 
 anguished, found solace in alcohol, and after a few years, dropped from public notice. 
 The magnanimous and kindly James Harrod had been foully murdered; while the 
 greatest of all the scouts, Simon Kenton, lived a retired, simple life, barely ekeing out 
 an existence at farming. Logan alone of all the "Olympians" lived through and re- 
 
150 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 mained in prominence, though never accorded the high offices by the people which he 
 so richly merited. In the mad, selfish scramble for land, petty men easily forgot the 
 magnificent sacrifices which the majestic heroes of the forest had so nobly made. 
 The terms of the treaty of Paris did not alter the status of Kentucky. However, 
 thanks to the conquest by Clark and the astute diplomacy of John Jay, the Mississippi 
 River was made the nation's Western boundary, and all of the Old Northwest terri- 
 tory was ceded to the United States. 
 
 Professor Cotterill has made a few wise observations, along the lines, above-mentioned, 
 which we feel justified in quoting: "Whatever the paper stipulations might have 
 been, by no stretch of the imagination can we conceive the Kentuckians permitting 
 themselves to become French, Spanish or English. The Mississippi did not become 
 the western boundary of the young nation merely by treaty; the retention of the west 
 was the necessary result of aggressive settlement beginning when Boone blazed the 
 way along the Wilderness Road. Had the treaty of Paris left the transmontane lands 
 nominally Spanish or English, the western settlers could have been depended upon 
 to violate it swiftly and effectually. England, at least, knew this fact well [Apparently 
 the head of the British Ministry, Lord William Shelburne did but not the members 
 of Parliament in general] and the other nations could hardly have been ignorant 
 of it. Nothing done at Paris could affect the destinies of the Kentuckians; their 
 future was not a matter of diplomacy; they were Virginians and could be changed 
 by no power but themselves. No sentiment need be wasted on the generosity or 
 shrewdness that extended the United States to the Mississippi; the diplomats merely 
 recognized an unalterable status quo. Within the next few years there was much 
 talk in Kentucky about a union with Spain; it was an evidence of discontent rather 
 than an earnest of intention." 4 
 
 COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF KENTUCKY ESTABLISHED 
 
 As the district began to develop and expand at the close of the Revolution, political 
 progress was instituted to make for the convenience of the increasing population which 
 by the close of 1783 had reached thirty thousand. That year, in March, the Judicial 
 District of Kentucky had been created, including the three counties. The act provided 
 for three justices, who, being appointed by Governor Harrison, were: John Floyd 
 (probably understood to be the Chief Justice) of Jefferson County; Samuel Mc- 
 Dowell, late of Virginia, becoming a resident of Fayette County; and George Muter 
 (who did not serve until 1785), of Lincoln County. Walker Daniel was appointed 
 "attorney general for the District of Kentucky," and John May, clerk. Upon the 
 death of Floyd (April, 1783) , Benjamin Sebastian became Chief Justice; while Harry 
 Innes succeeded to the attorney generalship upon the death of Daniel, who also 
 perished at the hands of the savages. As it had been set up to relieve litigants from 
 the tedium and expense of journeying to Richmond to find a higher tribunal, this 
 court was vested with wide powers; it possessed Appellate jurisdiction; it could hear 
 and decide land cases originating in any part of the District, it was given the power 
 to try cases involving treason, felonies and misdemeanors, with certain exceptions; 
 and its scope included cases of common law and equity. The court was opened on 
 the third of March at Harrodsburg. Wrote Marshall: "A grand jury, was em- 
 pannelled and sworn for the body of the district; and who in the course of its sitting, 
 presented nine persons for selling spiritous liquors without license; eight for adultery, 
 and fornication; and the clerk of Lincoln county, for not keeping up a table of his 
 fees; besides a few others for smaller offences."' 
 
 As Harrodsburg did not possess a building suitable for its sittings, the court ad- 
 journed to "the meeting house near the old Dutch settlement, six miles from its place 
 of meeting." Before the final adjournment of the March session the court provided 
 
Courtesy, Danville Chamber of Commerce. 
 
 Replica of log building in which the nine Constitutional Conventions of the Commonwealth of 
 Kentucky were held in 1792. The building to the left being a reproduction of the original build- 
 ing in which the debates were held. In this building also was held the first District Court of the 
 Commonwealth. The building in the center is a replica of the first jail (gael) and the third 
 building to the right being a reproduction of the first Presbyterian Church in Kentucky. These 
 buildings are located on the original site and the reproductions were made possible by a gift to 
 the Commonwealth by Miss Emma Weisiger, and the cost of construction of the buildings was 
 made possible by the financial support of the Danville Chamber of Commerce and the Common- 
 wealth of Kentucky. 
 
152 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 for the establishment of a court house near Crow's Station. Walker Daniel and 
 John May were authorized to employ persons to build a log house, "large enough 
 for a court room in one end, and two jury rooms in the other; on the same floor." 
 These gentlemen were further authorized to contract for the building of a prison, 
 "of hewed, or sawed, logs; at least nine inches thick." 8 It was presumed that Walker 
 or May or both would pay for the construction of the buildings and collect rent, and 
 in case of the removal of the court from that location would be reimbursed. The 
 authorizations were carried out, and at the location designated the town of Danville, 
 the first capital of the District and state, developed. The next step in the political 
 development of the District was the sending of a delegate or delegates to the Old 
 Congress, meeting in Philadelphia. The counties, of course, had been sending repre- 
 sentatives to sit in the Virginia General Assembly for some time. 
 
 THE POMEROY-GALLOWAY FIASCO, 1783 
 
 The same year there occurred an event which might have caused serious trouble, 
 had there been more landless persons in Kentucky, had the people been revolutionary 
 and the officials less zealous. The celebrated radical, Thomas Paine had issued a 
 dissertation in Philadelphia arguing the thesis that Virginia's Charter Claim to lands 
 west and northwest, including Kentucky, were not valid; therefore, the deeds issued 
 by that state to lands in Kentucky were likewise null and void. In Pennsylvania, two 
 demigogues, one Galloway and one George Pomeroy, who had studied the Paine con- 
 tentions, seeing marvelous possibilities in the specious contentions, promptly moved to 
 Kentucky, the former "setting up" in Fayette, the latter in Jefferson County. Soon 
 these gentry were haranging the landless and "down-trodden" in most eloquent tones. 
 It appears that the land-owners of Jefferson were not greatly perturbed by the tirades 
 of Pomeroy; however, in Fayette, Galloway's efforts caused excitement on the part of 
 the common-people and resentment by the landowners. 
 
 Galloway: He declared publically in his enthusiasm "that he had news of Con- 
 gress' action annulling all Kentucky claims and assuming ownership of the soil." 
 Even more startling to the land-lords was "the actual appropriation of lands by those 
 who affected to believe the rumor." 9 Walker Daniel, the Attorney General, declining 
 to become involved in the question of the validity of Virginia's title, indicted these 
 "tribunes of the people" under an ancient colonial Statute of Virginia "leveled against 
 the spreaders of false news." Great excitement prevailed in Fayette, where a large 
 concourse of people attended the hearing. Poor Galloway was mute in court; he 
 possessed not even a copy of his master's tract. Proof against him was convincing, 
 and, being found guilty, a fine of one thousand pounds of tobacco was pronounced 
 against him. Possessing neither money nor tobacco, the poor fellow saw only a long 
 term of prison facing him and was very despondent. Some one, however, suggested 
 the expedient of quitting the country never to return, which was a pleasant relief. 
 Apparently both malefactors left the District with sighs of relief. The first test in 
 Kentucky between the common people and the landowners had gone decidely in favor 
 of the conservative latter class; this was not the last test; nor was the disturbing 
 question of land ownership settled. 
 
 DIFFICULTIES OF DEFENSE AND OBJECTIONS TO VIRGINIA'S 
 CONFUSING LAND GRANTS 
 
 Soon after the establishment of Boonesborough and Harrodsburg, many settlers 
 began clamoring against prevailing land policies. For a generation following, the 
 problem of obtaining land, easily, with good title and no overlapping claims, was 
 one of the two transcendent and pressing interests of the people. With the system 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 153 
 
 practiced, the settlers encountered many reasons for complaint, among which were 
 these: (1) Henderson's title to lands in Kentucky was questionable; (2) Settlers were 
 opposed to paying to the proprietors quit rents; (3) In the scramble for good land 
 in both the vicinity of Boonesborough and Harrodsburg, the early-comers obtained 
 the best lands, leaving the later arrivals the lands passed over as undesirable, yet 
 offered at the same price; (4) The majority of people coming from the Holston 
 settlements and from Pennsylvania preferred being squatters, untroubled with money 
 payments, their claims being known as tomahawk claims, which caused tremendous 
 overlapping and confusion; (5) Virginia claimed all the land, basing her claim upon 
 her charter of 1609, and declared that Henderson and his associates were usurpers 
 and imposters, as did the governor of North Carolina; (6) Powerful syndicates of 
 land-jobbers, particularly, the Indiana and Vandalia companies, pretending to have 
 title to West Virginia and a large part of Kentucky, on the grounds of having obtained 
 it from the Iroquois, labored against Virginia before the British Ministry prior to 
 the Revolution and with the Old Congress during and following that conflict, be- 
 lieving that they could progress further with their sinisterly selfish designs with Con- 
 gress as owner than with Virginia, and therefore casting doubts upon the validity of 
 Virginia deeds to western lands; (7) a group of land speculators, some of whom were 
 most vulturous, sinister and despicable of men, at various time cleverly and cunningly 
 spread rumors in various localities in Kentucky that, as the titles to the land were 
 not good, the people would lose their lands and receive no compensation, or that in- 
 vasion by powerful forces of British and Indians was imminent. This villanious 
 propaganda often caused the price of land to drop precipitately, enabling these specu- 
 lators to gain possession of vast tracts at a nominal cost, (8) Virginia, through per- 
 mission of the British government granted warrants to lands in Kentucky to her 
 veterans of the French and Indian War, which set in motion a swarm of land specu- 
 lators, because, as many of these veterans wanted quick money, their warrants could 
 be purchased very cheaply, these transactions causing surveyors (many of whom had 
 quietly bought up warrants for themselves) to come out to explore and survey the 
 best lands as quickly as possible — this bringing about much overlapping of claims; 
 (9) the British crown had granted to certain friends, notable among whom were 
 Dr. John Connolly, John Campbell, William Byrd and William Preston, huge tracts 
 of from one to six thousand acres (It was really in connection with the grants to 
 Connolly and Campbell that the potentialities of the country about the Falls was 
 brought to the public notice) ; (10) following the Revolutionary War, Virginia 
 granted to her veterans of that conflict warrants which entitled them to select lands 
 in Kentucky. These and many other land complications had arisen since Boone had 
 blazed the trail to Boonesborough. Blame for the confusion was leveled at Virginia. 
 Many settlers because of the confusion, and the apparent injustice to some, began to 
 agitate separation from the Old Dominion. 
 
 Humphrey Marshall who was living at that time and who was a nephew of one of 
 the official surveyors, Colonel Thomas Marshall, wrote concerning the confusion in 
 the matter of claims in 1783: "As in 1780, so now, the public attention was turned 
 to the acquistion of land, by locating treasury warrants: And now, as then, the business 
 was very much engrossed by the hunters. These, were generally illiterate, and ignorant 
 of what the law required to constitute a good location. They never-the-less proceeded 
 to make entries, urged by their employers, with all the avidity of men, fearful of loss, 
 and intent upon gain. Hence they strewed the locations over the face of the country, 
 as autumn distributes its falling leaves; heedless of those which had previously fallen; 
 and almost as destitute of intelligent design, as they were ignorant of the legal conse- 
 quences."" 
 
 Her failure to provide adequate military protection was a source of even interser 
 
154 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 dissatisfaction with Virginia on the part of Kentuckians than the difficulties growing 
 out of her land policy. Many reasons existed for this failure and dissatisfaction: 
 Distance, expense, lack of supplies and provisions, shortage of man power and re- 
 luctance on the part of many to cross the Mountains; the general exhaustion of 
 Virginia caused by her herculean efforts in the East during the War; the refusal of 
 the people of Kentucky to bear the expense of equipment and labor to erect forts at 
 strategic points, such as the mouth of the Kentucky and of the Licking rivers. The 
 actions of Congress in taking over control of the territory north of the Ohio caused 
 Virginia to believe she would ultimately be obliged to cede Kentucky to the Central 
 Government; this belief naturally caused reluctance on the part of the Old Dominion 
 to spend money, supplies and men in defending that territory; a reluctance, however, 
 which both weakened Kentucky and caused bad feeling; the fact that Virginia had 
 forbidden the Kentucky people to march forces across the Ohio to chastise the red 
 men without her consent, even though Congress had insisted upon the action, left 
 Kentuckians very bitter because they were left helpless, at the mercy of the savages, 
 who realizing their immunity, were emboldened to raid, plunder, pillage, kidnap and 
 scalp to their hearts' content so long would be the time required for a message to cross 
 the mountains to secure permission and help from the government at Richmond; and 
 making matters worse, since Congress had acquired the territory north of the Ohio, 
 that body had done nothing to restrain the savages from invading and marauding 
 Kentucky — in fact, numerous bands of warriors overran the District slaughtering, 
 plundering, stealing and taking scalps. These conditions became so aggravating as 
 time went on that more and more people demanded separation from Virginia and 
 independent statehood. 
 
 There were other reasons impelling Kentuckians to clamor for separation: The re- 
 moteness from the state capital made communication "slow uncertain and expensive." 
 In times of public danger this condition sometimes proved disasterous, and it was 
 always exasperating. As Mr. Temple Bodley points out: "One might travel hundreds 
 of miles through a difficult and dangerous mountain wilderness to look into a land 
 title at Richmond, or to attend the trial of a suit, or to settle an account, or to collect 
 a claim against the state, and perhaps be delayed here for months at runious expense 
 before he could return to home and family. Many were the lawful land titles lost by 
 pioneer soldiers and others unable to look after them at the capital." * 
 
 Another reason existed to actuate Kentuckians to strive for separation, a reason 
 which became more compelling as Kentucky commerce developed. This was to ob- 
 tain free navigation of the Mississippi River through its mouth. Naturally while 
 Kentuckians had no commerce, they — although Clark and a few others had realized 
 its importance from the beginning — paid little attention to free navigation of the 
 Father of Waters but by the close of 1783, with the beginning of real interest in 
 peace-time pursuits, they began to realize that they could carry on no very profitable 
 or extensive commerce with the outside world without the free use of the Mississippi 
 and therefore began clamoring for its opening. But Spain, the owner of Louisiana 
 since the peace of Paris of 1763, was very jealous of controlling the Mississippi, 
 especially the lower part, and as much of the land adjacent as possible. In fact one 
 of the reasons for Spain's having entered the War against Britain was this possibility 
 which the Wily French diplomats had cleverly and adroitly dangled before the covetous 
 eyes of the Hibernian dons. In the preliminary peace talks, Vergennes, the French 
 Premier, actually hoped to recompense Spain for entering the war by handing oVer 
 the trans-Appalachian region, as Gibraltar had not been recaptured from the British 
 and as the French and Spanish fleets had suffered crushing defeats at the hands of 
 Admirals Rodney, Graves and others. To the Americans, the astute, and friendly 
 Lord Shelborne had indicated his belief that Britain's interests would be better served 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 155 
 
 by that region's being under American control, than under either Spanish or French; 
 he was therefore agreeable to a separate treaty with the Americans, who, on their part, 
 knowing the disposition of the French, felt no compunctions about entering into an 
 independent agreement, although having previously premised Vergennes not to nego- 
 tiate without French cooperation. Vergennes, however, later agreed to the actions of 
 the American diplomats, John Jay and Benjamin Franklin, both of whom had been 
 keenly alive to western American interests for many years. Spain promptly forbade 
 American commerce through the lower Mississippi. This came just at a time when 
 Kentuckians were producing a small amount of surplus products — at a time when they 
 needed some good money badly — and caused them to be highly incensed, not only at 
 Spain but at both Virginia and Congress, neither of whom appeared disposed to 
 antagonize Spain. They knew that carrying products across the mountains to Eastern 
 markets was far too hazardous, tiring and expensive to justify that undertaking. They 
 therefore talked for separation, seemingly the most plausible course. Moreover, it 
 was patent that if the Mississippi was opened to Western trade, the representative 
 commercialists and political leaders of the seaboard states realized that all possibilities 
 of a profitable trade from the West would be lost. Many of the leaders therefore 
 desired that the Mississippi be kept closed. 
 
 IMMINENT INDIAN INVASION, 1784 
 
 While the rapidly expanding population of Kentucky busied itself with building, 
 clearing and expanding, the shocking reports arrived, that the Cherokees, erstwhile 
 more or less pacific and inactive, were contemplating an invasion from the South, 
 their home being along Chickamauga Creek in southern Tennessee. As their logical 
 invasion route would be by way of Cumberland Gap and into Lincoln County, the 
 leaders of that county were greatly perturbed. Moreover, the Shawnese, though the 
 War had ended, continued to raid south of the Ohio to steal much-needed and very 
 valuable horses. It was generally believed that some sort of an agreement had been 
 made between the southern and northern Indians — the latter of whom were obviously 
 encouraged and supplied by the British, who had never surrendered (as had been 
 promised in the treaty of 1783) the posts in the Northwest — for joint invasion of 
 Kentucky and for the destruction of its settlements. 
 
 THE MEETING OF MILITIA OFFICERS AT DANVILLE, NOVEMBER, 1784 
 
 Realizing that the situation could become critical, even desperate, Benjamin Logan, 
 Colonel of the Lincoln County Militia, called a meeting, for a date in November 1784, 
 of the militia authorities of the District to be held in Danville, which was by that 
 time considered the capital of the District. This convocation had not proceeded far 
 when the desirability of separation presented itself in very stern form indeed. Ken- 
 tucky was on the verge of being invaded and the District had no authority to prevent 
 it. John Mason Brown has very ably analyzed the situation. He writes: "To await 
 the enemy's coming was manifest unwisdom. But was to authorize a levy of the 
 Militia and a march into the enemy's country, or lay a tax to support the troops? There 
 was no declared state of war, and consequently the county lieutenant possessed no 
 statutory authority to call out the men or take measures to equip and supply them. 
 These powers had lapsed with the promulgation of the peace with Great Britain. 
 There were no magazines of war material, nor any public funds. It was not possible 
 to pledge the public credit, for there was no legislative power at hand to authorice it. 
 In short there was no public machinery other than the meager authority of the county 
 justices, limited as it was by the statutes erecting the counties, and that of the militia 
 colonels now upon a peace footing. An executive or military act required, first to be 
 
156 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 sanctioned by the Governor of Virginia. New and original powers could be had only 
 from the legislature at Williamsburg [Richmond]." 15 
 
 Logan proposed to strike the Cherokees before they could strike Kentucky. This 
 action, however, could not be authorized because the meeting had not the authority. 
 As Mr. Brown writes, "Not a ferry could be established, a village incorporated, or 
 a necessary magisterial office created without the ruinous delay and cost attending a 
 journey of petitioners to the eastern limits of Virginia." 14 
 
 Quite naturally therefore the meeting called to consider a single Military proposal 
 discussed many inconveniences and grievances, and broadened into a consideration of 
 general political matters. It was the concensus of opinion that the time had come 
 when Kentucky should be erected into "a separate and independent State," and be- 
 come a member of the American Union, with its own independent local government. 
 Pursuant to this general belief, the convocation determined to call a convention to 
 meet the following month, December, 1784, in Danville, and suggested to the militiamen 
 of the District that they elect delegates — one from each militia company — to act as 
 representatives. The call was to deliberate upon the condition of the District and 
 suggest a remedy for the difficulties." 10 
 
 THE SECOND MILITARY CONVENTION DECEMBER, 1784 
 
 The call met with enthusiastic response, and the companies immediately elected 
 delegates for the convention which assembled in Danville on December 22. As is 
 pointed out by Mr. Brown the assemblage, being composed almost entirely of native 
 Virginians, manifested no antagonism or ill-feeling toward the mother state. Having 
 elected Judge Samuel McDowell as President and Thomas Todd, later a justice of 
 the Federal Supreme Court, as Clerk, the convention proceeded to their announced 
 agenda. Humphrey Marshall, the outstanding critic of the numerous "separation" 
 conventions, writes that their inquiries, and deliberations, . . . were conducted with 
 much decorum. 16 As a matter of fact, the conventions were composed for the most 
 part of the most important men — educated, experienced in public leadership and men 
 of property, the aristocrats of the District — of the counties, men whose culture, grace, 
 decorum, manners and gallantry are, the frontier conditions considered, astounding. 
 A session of ten days resulted in the opinion that some of the grievances could be 
 remedied by action of the General Assembly of Virginia, but that most could be, 
 alleviated only by the erection of Kentucky into an independent state looking to 
 membership in the Federal Union. It was pointed out that requesting Virginia to 
 agree to separation would not occasion indignation because the Old Dominion in her 
 constitution of 1776 had provided for the establishment and government of new 
 territories westward of the Alleghany Mountains. A resolution was therefore adopted 
 by the convention to request Virginia for separation — a resolution "embraced with 
 considerable ardour, by many of the convention, who urged the exposed situation of 
 the District, and its want of political power, as unanswerable arguments for change; 
 even at the hazard of losing some objects of minor importance. 17 Writes Mr. Marshall 
 further: "Thus dawned the aurora of separation, which some hailed with auspicious 
 invocations, and others, deprecated with ominous forebodings." 18 
 
 Notwithstanding the fact that a good majority of the delegates were in favor of 
 applying to the General Assembly of Virginia for an act of separation, these repre- 
 sentatives declined to make the application, because they could not say that they had 
 been elected for the express purpose of requesting an act of separation. They felt 
 that the people of the District should be given the opportunity of expressing their 
 opinion upon this proposition. The convention therefore, earnestly recommending 
 separation, requested in a resolution to the people that they, at their respective county 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 157 
 
 elections in April of the next year for members of the legislature, choose representatives 
 to meet in convention, in the May following at Danville; "for the express purpose of 
 considering, and deciding, on the propriety, and expediency, of applying to the general 
 assembly, for an act of separation, and permission to become an independent member 
 of the union." 1 ' The resolution, in lieu of a public press, was disseminated over the 
 district by means of conversations and written circulars. The suggestion met with 
 public favor. The voting, which was spirited, resulted in the election of twenty-six 
 delegates, selected on the basis of "an approximate representation of the population 
 of the three counties."" 
 
 THE FIRST CONVENTION SELECTED BY THE PEOPLE, MAY, 1785 
 
 The delegates assembled at Danville on May 23. Generally, their purpose was to 
 consider the state of the District; specifically, it was "to inaugurate the movement for 
 an orderly and legal constitution of a new State." The convention, organized with 
 Judge McDowell as president, and Thomas Todd as clerk, proceeded to business rather 
 slowly. Again was notable the fine decorum, the aristocratic bearing and manners, 
 the studied deliberation and sagacious forebearance, the meticulous adherence to 
 parliamentary ethics and courtly conduct that had characterized the preceding con- 
 ventions. " Time for full expression was given each delegate desiring to speak, and 
 it was not until the ninth day of the session (May 31) that the first resolutions were 
 passed. 
 
 The first series were as follows: 
 
 "Resolved, unanimously, as the opinion of this committee, that a petition be pre- 
 sented to the Assembly, praying that the said district may be established into a state, 
 separate from Virginia. 
 
 "Resolved unanimously, as the opinion of this committee, That this district when 
 established into a state, ought to be taken into union with the United States of 
 America, and enjoy equal privileges in common with the said states."" 
 
 RESOLUTIONS FOR THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF VIRGINIA 
 
 In the convention's petition "To the Honourable the General Assemby of Virginia" 
 many ideas are touched upon: The reasons for requesting separation — remoteness 
 from the seat of government and other inconveniences which subject "the good 
 people thereof to a number of grievances too pressing to be longer borne"; the poli- 
 tical justification for separation, namely, the democratic principle of self-determina- 
 tion; the expression of being anxiously desirous to cultivate the most perfect harmony 
 with our brethern in the other parts of the state"; the convention also called attention 
 to the provisional clause in the constitution of Virginia providing for the establishing 
 of new states out of the Old Dominion's western territories; and it promised that as 
 soon as the new state was established a constitution would be framed and that this 
 constitution would be based upon the acts of assembly of Virginia "which may be in 
 force at the time of separation," the common law of England, certain statutes or 
 acts of Parliament, applicable to the District. The instrument of the convention also 
 promised that as soon as convenient "an equal number of commissioners from Vir- 
 ginia and the said state, be appointed and authorized to settle and adjust the propor- 
 tion of the state debt to be paid by each; and if the commissioners cannot agree, that 
 the difference be referred to and settled by Congress, as provided by the articles of 
 confederation and perpetual union." 4 
 
 RESOLUTIONS FOR THE PEOPLE OF THE DISTRICT 
 
 In addition to these resolutions another set was passed for the consideration of 
 the constituents of the district, these resolutions being as follows: 
 
158 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 "Resolved, That this Convention recommend it to their constituents, to elect deputies 
 in their respective counties, to meet at Danville on the second Monday of August next, 
 to serve in convention, and to continue by adjournment till the first day of April next, 
 to take further under their consideration the state of the district. 
 
 "Resolved unanimously, That the election of deputies for the proposed convention, 
 ought to be on the principles of equal representation. 
 
 "Resolved, That the petition to the assembly for establishing this district into a 
 state, and the several resolves of the former and present convention, upon which the 
 petition is founded, together with all other matters relative to the interest of the 
 district, that have been under their consideration, be referred to the future convention, 
 that such further measures may be taken thereon, as they shall judge proper." 25 
 
 The complete address to the inhabitants of the District is a lengthy document, 
 whose form and political philosophy were borrowed from the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence. The causes which impelled them to seek separation are strikingly and 
 completely listed. 26 
 
 Perhaps one of the most telling arguments of this address was that referring to 
 the expense of remaining with Virginia in taxes. The question of taxes has ever been 
 a touch point with the voters, as the politicians have ever known. On this point the 
 petition declares: 
 
 "By an act of the last session of assembly, we find, that the revenue law is now 
 fully and immediately to be in force within the district, so that we shall not only 
 pay a very considerable part of the tax for supporting the civil government of Vir- 
 ginia, but also be obliged to support our supreme court, and every other office we need 
 in the district, at our own charge; and we are of opinion, that the additional expense 
 of the salaries to a governor, council, treasurer and delegates to congress, will for a 
 number of years be more than saved out of the funds before alluded to, without any 
 additional tax on the people." 2 ' 
 
 Toward the close of the address, the convention conjures up a bit of flattery to 
 the voters and recommends the election of delegates for another convention to meet 
 at Danville "on the second Monday in August next to take further into consideration 
 the state of the district, and the resolves of this and the preceding convention." 
 
 The address ends with the following significant resolution: "That the number 
 of members for each county, be as follows; for the county of Jefferson, six — for the 
 county of Nelson, six — for the county of Lincoln, ten — for the county of Fayette, 
 eight; and that the elections be held on the July court day of each county, at the 
 courthouse." 29 
 
 A few facts relative to this May, 1785 convention are worthy of mention: The 
 decision to accord six delegates to Nelson county, which had been erected out of 
 Jefferson County, "south of Salt River," on January 1, 1785, which attests the rapid 
 influx of immigration at the Falls; the provision that suffrage be extended from a 
 property-holding basis to a universal manhood basis, contrary to the constitution of 
 Virginia; the fact that "the petition to the Assembly for establishing this district into 
 a state, and the several resolves of the former and present Convention upon which the 
 petition is founded ... be referred to the future Convention." 30 
 
 It is rather obvious that the question of extension of the suffrage caused considerable 
 discussion: The equal suffrage provision having passed unanimously, the many con- 
 servatives of the convention, apprehensive of the reaction of the Assembly of Virginia 
 — which was elected upon the county basis, regardless of population, with property 
 qualifications for suffrage privileges, — felt that the measure should be brought before 
 the people of the District in the next canvasses, so that the following convention, 
 fortified by a fresh mandate from the people would feel enough strengthened to pro- 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 159 
 
 ceed with the question of separation, regardless of the attitude of Virginia upon the 
 suffrage question. 
 
 Though characterized by many historians as one who "severely impunged" the 
 motives of the members of this May convention, Humphrey Marshall certainly under- 
 stood well the trends in Kentucky at that time, as this paragraph explaining the 
 cause for adoption of universal manhood suffrage, indicates: "The resolution of 
 the convention, which has been made the subject of remark, was then a creature of 
 local circumstances, and matters of fact at the time, rather than the result of any 
 political sagacity. It was for the times and occasions near at hand, rather than for 
 those in the future, and distant. It was for a state of equality. For if equality ever 
 existed in a civilized society, it was in those early periods of the settlement of Ken- 
 tucky — when danger, the mode of living, and other circumstances, common to all — 
 had placed all, on a common level. In such a community, entering into a political 
 state, their equality, would of course, form, the basis of their constitution. And for 
 reasons perfectly analogical, and equally conclusive, when circumstances of inequality 
 occurred, that were permanent in their nature; the constitution should conform to 
 them. But if it should not, the reasons which would be opposed to it, to be solid, 
 must take their foothold on some other ground." 1 
 
 Apparently, there was some doubt in the minds of many members of the convention 
 as to the superiority of suffrage on the basis of universal manhood over the property 
 ownership basis. These representatives also were certain that some of the most in- 
 fluential and largest property owners, who had migrated from Virginia following the 
 pioneers, were definitely opposed to the idea in practice, though agreeable to the 
 theory. Yet they realized too that equality was the tendency of the times, made in- 
 evitable by the winning of the Revolution, and that a vast majority of the people of 
 Kentucky — practically all the pioneers and the young men who had recently come in 
 — favored and practiced equality voting, regardless of property. Consequently, being 
 politicians, interested in reelection and advancement, they simply — knowing the feeling 
 of the majority — voted unanimously in favor of equal right in each man to vote," 
 and then referred all matters which had confronted the convention to the people that 
 they might express their views in their voting for representatives for the next (August) 
 convention, knowing that neither the large propertied conserves nor the Virginia As- 
 sembly could then charge arbitrary action on the part of the conventions, knowing 
 too that people would likely be pleased to be considered so important. 
 
 Mr. Marshall takes the position that "the convention doubted of being supported 
 by a majority of the people," which view does not appear logical, and classes the 
 delegates as revolutionists (in a light sense, it seems) in favor of separation — "stepped 
 a little further forward — saw more reasons, and talked both, faster, and louder, in 
 favor of it, than others, who did not see things in the same light — feel them with the 
 same sensibility — nor desire the event with the same ardour." He continues with this, 
 however, that it is proper "to concede, that the situation of the country, without any 
 exaggeration, realized many serious evils, while the proposed change, without being 
 able to cure all, promised many important ameliorations, and improvements. "'" He 
 considered the address to the people as drawn for purely purposes of propaganda 
 calculated to cause the people to be dissatisfied with Virginia. "Indeed, the con- 
 vention," he writes, "seems to have found a draftsman, (not as it is thought, a 
 member;) who was warm for a separation, and certainly held a glowing pen; whose 
 traits or representation, partake at least, as much oratory, as history — and which ap- 
 pear to be as well drawn, to awaken, and inflame impatience among the people, at their 
 connection with Virginia, as the writer himself was inflamed with the subject — and 
 impatient under the restraints which surround them."' 3 Perhaps the "draftsman" 
 mentioned was the notorious James W. Wilkinson, 4 who had arrived in Lexington 
 
160 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 in February, 1784, as the leading agent of a Philadelphia mercantile house and opened 
 a store. The diction of the address to the people does not appear oratorical and 
 florid enough to be Wilkinson's, however. But Marshall, even that early had found 
 his Cataline and marked him for destruction, a well-deserved destruction, it seems. 
 
 Prominent among the delegates of this, the May convention, 1785, were George 
 Muter, Samuel McDowell, Benjamin Logan, Caleb Wallace, William Kennedy, Harry 
 Inees, James Speed, James Garrard, Levi Todd, John Coburn, Robert Patterson, 
 Andrew Hynes, Matthew Walton, James Rogers, James Morrison and Philip Bar- 
 bour. These were "the best and most tried and highly trusted of all the pioneers," 
 writes Mr. Brown. 00 That they were either the most prominent or among the most 
 prominent leaders of their counties cannot be denied. 
 
 THE CONVENTION OF AUGUST, 1785 
 
 On the 8th of August, the delegates convened at Danville and proceeding to orga- 
 nize elected Samuel McDowell president. 
 
 The convention then resolved itself into committee of the whole on the state of 
 the District, electing George Muter chairman. After some discussion and delibera- 
 tion Judge McDowell resumed the chair and Mr. Muter announced that the com- 
 mittee was ready to report, that it had made several amendments, which he read in 
 his place and afterwards delivered to the clerk. The report was as follows: 
 
 "Your committee having maturely considered the important matters to them re- 
 ferred, are of opinion that the situation of this district upwards of five hundred miles 
 from the seat of the present government, with the intervention of a mountainous 
 desert of two hundred miles passed only at particular seasons, and never without danger 
 from hostile nations of savages, precludes every idea of a connection on republican 
 principles, and originates many grievances; among which we reckon the following: 
 
 1st. "It destroys every possibility of application to the supreme executive power, 
 for support or protection in cases of emergency, and thereby subjects the district to 
 continued hostilities and depredations of the savages; relaxes the execution of the 
 laws, delays justice, and tends to loosen and dissever the bonds of government. 
 
 2nd. "It suspends the operation of the benign influence of mercy, by subjecting 
 comdemned persons, who may be deemed worthy of pardon, to tedious languishing 
 and destructive imprisonment. 
 
 3rd. "It renders difficult and precarious the exercise of the first and dearest right 
 of free men — adequate representation — as no person properly qualified, can be expected, 
 at the hazard of his life, to undergo the fatigue of long journeys, and to incur burthen- 
 some expenses, by devoting himself to the public service. 
 
 4th. "It subjects us to penalties, and inflictions which arise from ignorance of the 
 laws, many of which have their operation and expire before they reach the district. 
 
 5th. "It renders a compliance with many of the duties required of sheriffs and clerks, 
 impracticable; and exposes those officers, under the present revenue law, to inevitable 
 destruction. 
 
 6th. "It subjects the inhabitants to expensive and ruinous suits in the High Court 
 of Appeals, and places the unfortunate poor, and men of mediocrity, compleatly in 
 the power of the opulent."' 
 
 A number of other grievances were listed principally pertaining to laws of taxation, 
 land statutes, the appointment of sheriffs, offensive operations against the Indians, 
 punishment for certain offences, etc. Then after the usual reference to the natural 
 rights of man, the principal resolution of the convention, unanimously adopted, follows: 
 
 "Resolved therefore: That it is the indispensable duty of this Convention, as they 
 regard the prosperity and happiness of their constituents, themselves, and posterity, 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 161 
 
 to make application to the General Assembly, at the ensuing session, for an Act to 
 separate this district from the present government forever on terms honorable to both 
 and injurious to neither; in order that it may enjoy all the advantages, privileges, 
 and immunities of a free, sovereign, and independent republic."'' 
 
 All of the items of the committee of the whole having been unanimously agreed to, 
 the convention then proceeded to prepare, through committee two addresses — one 
 to the General Assembly of Virginia and the other to the people of the District. 
 Mr. Marshall states that the convention threw aside the address (to the Virginia 
 Assembly) of their predecessors "as too frigid, and insipid." 
 
 The address to the Legislature of Virginia is unmistakably from the active pen of 
 James Wilkinson, whose oily personality had simply captivated the people of Fayette 
 County generally and particularly the young men who liked his show of boldness, 
 recklessness and dash. Mr. Brown writes concerning the address: "The style was 
 somewhat ambitious, as were all his writings, and the rhetoric rather turgid, but the 
 matter was sound and the tone unobjectionable." 5 One may venture a bit further. 
 The style is bombastic, flaming, vainglorious, hypocritical and showy, as the perusal of 
 one paragraph will indicate/" 
 
 Having adopted the address to the General Assembly of Virginia, the convention 
 adopted a resolution providing for the selection of two commissioners to present the 
 petition to the Assembly at its winter session of 1785-86 and to labor for its adoption. 
 Judge George Muter and Judge Harry Innes were unanimously elected to be the 
 commissioners. Be it said in their favor that these able gentlemen, not unknown in 
 the Old Dominion, were accorded a favorable hearing by the Assembly. The petition 
 to the Legislature having been drawn, attention was then centered upon the address 
 to the people. This address was a report upon Indian affairs and a warning to the 
 people, particularly the militia officers, to prepare for fighting and to be on the alert. 
 The address, apparently composed by the garrulous and ambitious Wilkinson, is so 
 replete with gasconade, bombast, breast-beating heroics and Greek tragedy tones that 
 as a historical document it is practically valueless. Here are quoted a few of the 
 flamboyant sentences: "Blood has been spilt from the eastern to the western extermity 
 of the district. . . . Five hundred Indians might be conducted undiscovered, to our 
 very thresholds, and the knife may be put to the throats of our sleeping wives and 
 children. For shame — let us rouse from our lethargy, let us arm, associate, and em- 
 body — let us call upon our officers to do their duty, and determine to hold in detesta- 
 tion and abhorance, and to treat as enemies to the community, every person who shall 
 withhold his countenance and support, of such measures as may be recommended for 
 our common defense; . . ." etc., etc. 4 
 
 THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF VIRGINIA PASSES AN ACT OF 
 SEPARATION JANUARY, 1786 
 
 The General Assembly in its winter session (January, 1786), appearing as eager 
 to be rid of the District of Kentucky as the citizens of the District for separation, 
 promptly (January 10) passed a bill entitled, "An act concerning the erection of 
 the District of Kentucky into an Independent State." The act (See Appendix B. 
 p. ) contains many salutary and prudent "details of procedure prescribed for put- 
 
 ting in motion a new and independent political machinery and conserving public and 
 private rights." There were a few vital provisions on which separation was conditioned, 
 namely: If the people of Kentucky would hold another convention and declare for 
 separation under the terms of the act, then "they shall & may proceed to fix a day, 
 posterior to the first day of September, One thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, 
 on which the authority of this commonwealth . . . shall cease and determine forever. 
 
162 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 over the proposed state, and the said articles become a solemn compact, mutually 
 binding on the parties, and unalterable by either without the consent of the other." 42 
 But this is contingent upon another provision, namely, "That prior to the first day 
 of June, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, the United States in Con- 
 gress, shall assent to the erection of the said district into an independent state, shall 
 release this commonwealth from all its federal obligations arising from the said district, 
 as being part thereof." 43 And then follows another condition — Congress must agree 
 "that the proposed state shall . . . posterior to the first day of September, one thousand 
 seven hundred and eighty-seven, or at some convenient time future thereto, be admitted 
 into the Federal union." 44 The Act further provides that the District may through 
 its convention assume the authority "to take the necessary provisional measure for 
 the election and meeting of a convention at some time prior to the day fixed for the 
 determination of the authority of this commonwealth . . . and posterior to the first 
 day of June, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, aforesaid, with full power 
 and authority to frame and establish a fundamental constitution of government for 
 the proposed state, and to declare what laws shall be in force therein, until the same 
 shall be abrogated or altered by the legislative authority, acting under the constitution, 
 so to be framed and established." 4 Though these conditions may have appeared wise 
 and judicious to Virginia at the time, they proved a hurdle over which Kentucky 
 could not leap in time to fill the requirements. As Humphrey Marshall writes: 
 "It was at variance, with the ardour and impatience, observable in the convention, 
 which applied for its passage." 4 ' Nevertheless the voters prepared to elect a new 
 convention in August, which, according to the act of separation, was to meet in Dan- 
 ville on the 4th Monday in September to pass upon that act. 
 
 The same session of the Virginia Assembly passed acts for the creation of three 
 new counties. These, carved from Lincoln and Fayette counties, were designated as 
 Bourbon, Madison and Mercer and accorded equal representation in the District's 
 convention, a system applied to all of the counties at that time. 
 
 RELATIONS WITH THE INDIANS, 1785 
 Although Wilkinson's lurid and redundant verbiage, used in the Address to the 
 People, is practically meaningless, the relations with the Indians at that time, were 
 of a very serious and threatening character and therefore require explanation. In 
 spite of the treaty of 1783, neither the red men nor the British brought an end to 
 the hostilities in the region north of the Ohio. Although the latter did not openly 
 fight the western settlers, they held the military posts in the Northwest, contrary to 
 the treaty of 1783, and encouraged raids and supplied military materials for such in- 
 cursions along and south of the Ohio River. Congress, desirous of peace with the 
 Indians, adopted the policy of holding "pow wow," bestowing presents and generally 
 following a policy of appeasement as being the cheapest course. Indian commissions 
 were appointed by that body to hold conferences with the nations and tribes. Aside 
 from appeasing, the principal duty of these commissioners was to purchase the Indians' 
 claims to lands. A satisfactory agreement having been made with the Iroquois, a 
 commission — George Rogers Clark, Richard Butler, of Pennsylvania, and Oliver Wol- 
 cott, of Massachusetts — was appointed by Congress, April 18, 1785, to hold a con- 
 ference with the northwestern Indians. 
 
 The reason which the British gave for not surrendering the posts of the Northwest 
 — including Detroit — was that the Americans had not fulfilled certain parts of their 
 treaty obligations, but their real reason was to hold the trade of the Northwest, which 
 necessitated holding as much land as possible. Naturally, they tried to prevent the 
 Americans from settling the West, and, in this used the Indians to terrorize, kill 
 destroy the settlers on their way westward, as well as to make raids on the settlements 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 163 
 
 in Kentucky. Obviously the Indians had a real grievance in that their lands, contrary 
 to the agreements of Congress, were being rapidly taken by tenacious squatters and 
 reckless speculators, in spite of repeated warnings. These depredations and thefts 
 infuriated the red men, who often took their revenge by crossing the Ohio and falling 
 upon innocent and isolated Kentuckians, some of whom were killed or captured, the 
 homes pillaged and burned and stock, particularly horses, stolen. Such things were 
 happening in 1785 and 1786. A report to the Secretary of War in 1790 states that 
 during the preceding seven years, 1,500 Kentucky settlers had been killed by the 
 Indians, and that 2,000 horses and property amounting to 15,000 pounds sterling had 
 been carried away by these marauders. 4 ' 
 
 Washington was thoroughly disgusted with the practices of some land engrossers, 
 as this letter, November 3, 1784, shows: 
 
 "Such is the rage for speculating in, and forestalling of lands on the No. West of 
 the Ohio, that scarce a valuable spot, within any tolerable distance of it, is left with- 
 out a claimant. Men in these time talk with as much facility of fifty, and hundred, 
 and even five hundred thousand acres, as a gentleman formerly would do of one 
 thousand. In defiance of the proclamation of Congress, they roam over the Indian 
 side of the Ohio, mark out Lands, survey and even settle on them. This gives great 
 discontent to the Indians, and will, unless measures are taken in time to prevent it, 
 produce a war inevitably with the western tribes. . . . Declare all steps heretofore 
 taken to procure land on the Northwest side of the Ohio, contrary to the prohibition 
 of Congress, to be null and void — and that any person thereafter, who shall procure 
 lands, shall not only be considered as outlaws, but fit subjects for Indian vengeance. 
 If these or similar measures are adopted, I have no doubt of Congress's deriving a 
 very considerable revenue from the western territory."* In spite of the fact that 
 Congress caused some of the land-grabbers to be moved off, these tenacious, leech- 
 like men returned as soon as the storm blew over. 
 
 The very fact that such a multitude of people moved down the Ohio to increase 
 the population of Kentucky with amazing rapidity is indication that dangers from the 
 Indians were far from uppermost in the minds of the people. Twelve thousand immi- 
 grants came to Kentucky in the year 1784, making a total of forty-two thousand 
 population. A traveler wrote in 1785, "And by the numbers which pass, seems as 
 the old states would depopulate, and the inhabitants be transported to the new." 
 It is estimated that a thousand boats descended the Ohio during the year. "At the 
 opening of navigation in 1786," writes Professor James, "a thousand people, it was 
 said, went to Kentucky by boat within forty days."' 1 Mr. William Littell, a bitter 
 enemy of Humphrey Marshall, (in his Political Transactions) writes: "During this 
 year (1785) frequent intelligence was received of hostile designs, machinations, and 
 warlike preparations of the Indians, but they were not actually very troublesome."" 
 The question then arises as to why the wildly excited address to the people of immi- 
 nent Indian incursions. The answer is apparently given by Humphrey Marshall, who 
 wrote: "The frontiers were sometimes alarmed, perhaps, some lives might be lost, 
 in the course of the summer; and no doubt the country had now grown strong, and 
 felt restless under the pressure of circumstances, which a few years before were sup- 
 ported with patience, or changed with facility, by individual exertion."" 2 It was not, 
 he contends, as much an apprehension of danger as a desire to rule. Rumors of Indian 
 trouble would disgust Virginia, who was following the Congressional policy of arbitra- 
 tion and peace; she would be made to feel that the trouble was caused by the Ken- 
 tuckians themselves and would likely be glad to give the District its independence 
 immediately, while, on the other hand, the arousing of the Kentuckians to collect mili- 
 tary forces without either consent or aid from Virginia would cause the Kentuckians 
 more than ever to feel strong and self reliant and to demand immediate independence. 
 12— Vol. r 
 
164 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 Marshall's explanation is that the whole idea was a clever scheme drawn up by wily 
 Wilkinson to force Virginia's hand. This, under the circumstances, seems to be a 
 reasonable interpretation. The question then arises as to how the unscrupulous and 
 revolutionary Wilkinson could have gained the ascendency so completely over the 
 able men of the convention, even to the point of practically insulting the Mother 
 state, Virginia, as well as showing the crassest ingratitude. Again Mr. Marshall seems 
 to have the logical explanation: 
 
 "If nature, education, and some knowledge of parliamentary proceedings had given 
 him [Wilkinson] a decided advantage over the other members, of the convention, he 
 did not want vanity to see it; nor ambition to avail himself of circumstances, so much 
 in his favour, and so convertible, to his purposes: at that time, it is supposed, per- 
 fectly laudable. While it is to be admitted without hestitation, that the perspicuity 
 of his arrangements, and the ease, and elegance of his style, gave both a dignity, and 
 grace to the proceedings of the convention, which they otherwise would not, it is 
 probable, have attained. For, although, that convention contained other men, of very 
 considerable talents, and acquirements, they readily yielded to Wilkinson, or were 
 thought to be his inferiors, as speakers, and as writers." 53 It may be readily assumed 
 that Wilkinson lost no opportunity to advertise himself as a man of great consequence 
 from the East, a hero of the Revolution, a scholar, an orator, a cosmopolite, a gentle- 
 man of transcendent culture, polish, refinement, and style and, at the same time, a 
 champion of the common people. Marshall's contention is that Wilkinson captivated 
 the convention and was able thereby to indite the flaming documents calculated to 
 force immediate action by stirring the people to a dangerously threatening revolutionary 
 attitude and by aggravating and taunting Virginia. Marshall must be given credit 
 for asserting the belief that Kentucky should be separated from Virginia, when all of 
 the hazards would have been eliminated. He explains further: "It is not a subject 
 for surprise if politicians, engrossed by their schemes, orators enraptured by the warmth 
 of their passions, or writers heated by the fervour, with which their favourite objects 
 are pursued, on the one hand; and the sober reviewer of the same transactions, or 
 one who afterwards describes the same state of things, on the other: should not see 
 with the same optics, or give to the same subjects, the same colouring, of light, and 
 shade." 04 He continues his explanation of Wilkinson's power over the convention: 
 "Who, in a word, was not enchanted, by a style so brilliant — expressions so glowing, 
 sentiments so patriotic, as those in which the interesting subjects of those appeals to 
 the legislature, and to the people of the district, were made? There was not one. 
 There is a fascination, an enthusiasm, on these occasions, to which honest men, even 
 think it a virtue to yield; and to oppose, or impair which, would be thought at such 
 times less criminal, than treason, or sacrilege." 00 
 
 WORK OF THE INDIAN COMMISSION, 1785 
 
 Returning to Indian affairs, the afore-mentioned American commission, composed 
 of George Rogers Clark, Richard Butler and Oliver Wolcott, °° fixed the date, October 
 1, as a suitable time for beginning the conference with the tribes of the Northwest. 
 Clark, as head, had been entrusted with six thousand dollars for the purpose of pro- 
 viding presents, entertainment and other necessary expenses connected with wheedling 
 the braves out of a good treaty. Clark and Butler fixed upon the mouth of the Miami 
 (near Cincinnati) as the place of meeting and moved the date up to October 25. The 
 tribes having been "worked upon" thoroughly by Alexander McKee's agents, Simon 
 Girty and Captain William Caldwell, were not disposed to treat with the Americans. 
 Finally, by November 10, however, the Wyandottes and Delawares, unable longer to 
 resist the lure of glittering trinkets and sparkling firewater, gathered for the con- 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 165 
 
 ference. Dancing, drinking and lurid and wild revelry brightened the nights and 
 clouded the days, but the sulking Shawnese, for whom the "pow wow" was intended, 
 failed to appear. At last Clark, who had never believed in a policy of dilly dallying 
 and appeasement, commanded the Indians either to decide upon attending the conference 
 or prepare for war. This was effective; the Shawnese appeared. "Chief Molunthee\ 
 beating a drum and singing, accompanied by the other chiefs, marched to the council 
 house, the armed warriors headed by their war chief, followed by the young warriors 
 dancing and by the women and children. Their salute was returned with three volleys 
 by the American troops." 51 At the mouth of the Miami, Clark had caused Captain 
 Finney and his seventy men, sent as a guard for the commission, to clear the ground 
 and build blockhouses, so that the braves found a rather formidable fortress on their 
 old "stamping ground." Clark, getting down to business immediately demanded of 
 the Indians that they recognize the treaty of 1783, that they recognize the Fort Mc- 
 intosh treaty line (the Great Miami River) and return all American prisoners. The 
 demands were summarily rejected. With equal tenacity the commissioners determined 
 not to recede. Clark spurned the black string of Wampun presented, and in an 
 ultimatum declared: "It rests now with you; the destruction of your women and 
 children, or their future happiness, depends on your present choice. Peace or War 
 is in your power; make your choice like men and judge for yourselves." 
 
 TERMS OF THE TREATY WITH THE INDIANS, JANUARY, 1786 
 
 This strategy proved successful. By the terms, drawn up, January 31, 1786, the 
 Indians agreed to three concessions: (1) to recognize the sovereignty of the United 
 States over the territory ceded by Great Britain; (2) The territory between the Big 
 Miami and the Wabash was to be reserved to the tribes there in conference; and (3) 
 Five hostages were given as assurance that all white prisoners were to be released. 
 
 Throughout the conference the red men had been sullen, insulting and difficult to 
 manage. But for the commanding Clark, who overawed the chiefs, the meeting likely 
 would have broken up and the commissioners themselves murdered. Scarcely had the 
 ink dried on the treaty before news reached Clark that the braves had no intention of 
 abiding by their agreement that they had signed merely to gain time, as they had 
 feared the Americans would attack their villages. Many factors were involved: The 
 treaty of 1783 had made no concessions to the red men, who blamed the American 
 government; the British continued to spend large sums of money to keep clever agents 
 operating among the tribes, agents whose object it was, not only to foster and maintain 
 Indian hatred against the Americans, but to make raids repeatedly on the Kentucky 
 settlement as well, exorbitant prices being paid them by the agents for plunder gotten 
 from the Americans; Congress neither had the money nor the strength to establish 
 justice and prevent and punish lawlessness, violence and theft in the West, which re- 
 ceived an excessive number of villains, theives, and outlaws bent upon robbing the 
 Indians of their lands, in spite of Congress, 60 who pursued the impossible policy of 
 attempting to treat with the tribes singly instead of by confederation; government 
 in the Northwest (North of the Ohio) was practically non-existent — especially at 
 Vincennes — because of the refusal of the people to abide by law, thus causing bitter- 
 ness on the part of both the French and Indians against the Americans, and Clark 
 bitterly lamented the influence of the "numerous refugees and vagabonds (Americans) 
 who, disregarding all authority, preyed on these communities. [Kaskaskia and Vin- 
 cennes]. " G1 The fine patriot, Father Pierre Gibault in a letter, June 6, 1786, to the 
 Bishop of Quebec presents a striking picture of conditions in the Illinois country. 02 
 
 Even in Kentucky there was no great respect for law and order on the part of 
 large sections of the population, and violence, prodigious drinking of hard liquor 
 
166 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 (in fact about the only way to obtain shiftless men to work on fortifications which 
 would protect them against the tomahawk was to offer to pay in whiskey or rum) 
 and a spirit of demoralization, ruffianism and mutiny was all too prevalent. 
 
 It is not difficult to understand that the simple-minded children of the forest, the 
 red men, suffered greatly at the hands of the worst of the whites of the West. Ken- 
 tucky, of course, was the region most inviting to the Indians to strike, as it contained 
 the biggest reward in potential scalps and plunder, and to it the savages again turned 
 their attention early in the year 1786. Early in July (1786) the Wabash tribes 
 determined on a war of extermination against the Americans, and by the middle of 
 the month between four and five hundred warriors were moving southward. Writes 
 Professor James: 
 
 "There was despair during the spring and summer of 1786 in nearly all of the 
 communities west of the mountains, for the havoc wrought by savage bands was 
 general. As on previous occasions, the brunt fell on the Kentucky settlements, where 
 a score of Indian parties from the Wabash committed the customary depredations. 
 The settlers in the vicinity of Louisville suffered most severely. The Limestone and 
 Licking settlements were devastated by warriors of the Chickamauga tribe. A portion 
 of this tribe had settled north of the Ohio. The eastern and southern frontiers were 
 troubled by Indians living on the Tennessee River. The settlements on Beargrass, 
 frequently visited by parties of Indians from across the Ohio, were again raided. 
 Early in April Colonel William Christian, a noted leader on retaliatory expeditions, 
 set out in pursuit of the plunderers at the head of twenty volunteers, and overtook 
 the party after crossing the Ohio. The order to strike all together was disobeyed, 
 and Colonel Christian, with two companions, rode in advance of the others. Three 
 Indians whom they overtook were killed, but in the combat Colonel Christian and 
 Captain Isaac Keller were both mortally wounded. 
 
 "The sacrifices of other settlers led to the demand for a retaliatory expedition in 
 force. Clark, together with a number of representative men of Jefferson County, 
 besought the citizens of the other three counties of Kentucky to aid in their defense 
 against the incursions of their relentless and common enemies." 03 
 
 Although the military leaders of the District had no authority to lead an invasion 
 force into the Indian territory, Governor Patrick Henry, always sympathetic with the 
 frontiersmen where Indians were concerned (and now that his good friend Colonel 
 William Christian had been killed more sympathetic than ever) , gave "some general 
 instructions to commandants of counties, to adopt the necessary means of defence." 
 Naturally the county lieutenants interpreted these instructions as broadly as possible. 
 They determined to raise an army — in spite of the failure of Congress and of Virginia 
 to send troops — and to march an expedition against the Indians on the Wabash. 
 
 From the outset disagreement existed in Virginia as to the commander-in-chief of 
 the expedition. Clark was obviously the man best qualified, in fact was the only 
 one seriously considered after it was known that Congress would not send an expe- 
 ditionary force. Many, however, charged that Clark at times "drank to excess." 
 which was probably true; at least when confronted he did not deny it. Some charged 
 that "he was but the wreck of his former self."'' Those close to him were not of this 
 opinion, however. John May, who was very frequently associated with him and who 
 did not support his policies, wrote, in a letter to Governor Henry, July 14, 1786, 
 concerning Clark — and May's judgment cannot be seriously doubted: "I find that 
 it is the unanimous opinion of the inhabitants of this country that General Clark is 
 the properest person to take command here, and notwithstanding the opinion which 
 prevails below (Virginia) of his not being capable of attending to Business, I am of 
 the same opinion of the Rest of the Country. I have been with him frequently, and 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 167 
 
 I find him as capable of business as ever, and should an expedition be carried against 
 the Indians I think his name alone would be worth half a regiment." GC 
 
 This view was also concurred in by Colonel Benjamin Logan (who had blamed 
 Clark for the Blue Licks disaster), leader in Lincoln County, and by Colonel Levi 
 Todd, leader in Fayette County. For a time Clark declined to lead, though favoring 
 such an expedition; he resented the criticism, was conscious of the fact that Lincoln 
 County, chief dependence for troops, was "seemingly not in favor of an expedition, 
 and he disliked undertaking the venture without a sprinkling of regulars to steady 
 the militiamen. He did accept the command, however. 
 
 THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE WABASH INDIANS SEPTEMBER, 
 
 OCTOBER, 1786 
 
 Early in August a meeting of the militia officers of the District of Kentucky, pre- 
 sided over by Colonel Logan, was held at Harrodsburg. Plans were laid for the 
 expedition against the Wabash Indians on the Vermilion River. One-half of the 
 militia on foot or mounted, as they might choose, were to assemble at Clarksville 
 (immediately across the Ohio from Louisville) . In order to provide a necessary 
 number of men, the expedient of conscription was invoked, causing a storm of pro- 
 test, and to obtain a pack-horse for every four men and provisions for fifty days, the 
 officers were obliged to requisition off the country, which occasioned much resentment 
 on the part of the populace thus hit. Twelve hundred men, or about half the number 
 expected, arrived, and, though the plans had to be modified on the spot to suit the 
 size of the force, the expedition moved out of Clarksville on September 17 toward 
 Vincennes, a march of eight days. Enroute a council of Officers decided, according 
 to recommendation of the commanding General, to dispatch Colonel Logan to Ken- 
 tucky to collect another division of militiamen to strike the Shawnese villages on the 
 headwaters of the Mad River. 
 
 Bickering, criticism, jealously and insubordination manifested themselves from the 
 beginning among both officers and men, in spite of the "resolution adopted by the 
 officers that they consider themselves engaged in a common cause and bound them- 
 selves to give every aid to each other, without, as well as within, their respective 
 counties, to carry into execution the agreement."" A delay of eight days at Vincennes. 
 occasioned by low water in the Wabash causing the delivery of the supplies up that 
 stream by boat to be impossible, was well-nigh fatal. (These did arrive, however, but 
 because of the delay and the warm weather half of the provisions had spoiled.) An 
 army of undisciplined, rebellious militiamen and disaffected officers, with nothing to do 
 but wait, becomes a difficult problem indeed. Clark, assuring the men that a march 
 of a few days would bring them to the Indian villages, ordered an advance on short 
 rations. Toward the close of the third day out, mutiny broke out in certain companies, 
 instigated, it is said, "by some officers of rank, who were displeased with the general." 
 The general complaint was that the provisions would not hold out, the fear of being 
 stranded in the midst of enemy territory being excellent propaganda. Between two 
 and three hundred men "turned their backs upon the camp, and took the road home." 
 Writes Marshall: "They were addressed by the general in person, in the most soothing, 
 and ernest terms of entreaty to stay and to accomplish the object of the expedition, 
 by a conquest both certain and easy; but to no purpose. The general, whose intelli- 
 gent mind, at once traced the ruinous consequences of this mutiny, and refractoriness, 
 without the power to avert them if his entreaties failed; had recourse not only to the 
 most conciliating terms of soliciation, but even shed tears."' The entreaties were in 
 vain; the mutineers went home. To save their own "hides," these placed the entire 
 blame upon Clark. Such wild statements as, "he had degenerated into an inebriate 
 
168 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 sloth only occasionally roused for the commission of some lawless act,"'° were often 
 heard of the old hero of Vincennes. A tumultous council of the officers was immediately 
 held, and, although the remaining men might easily have pushed on less than two days 
 and perhaps won a signal victory, such was the mutual distrust and fear of failure 
 of supplies that it was decided to abandon the expedition and return home. 
 
 With luck in treachery as amazing as that of Iago, affairs were going well for 
 General James Wilkinson. His highest ambition seems to have been at that time, 
 to be military commander in the West and to supercede Clark as commissioner of 
 Indian Affairs for the West. To do this he would be obliged to supplant Clark, who 
 would have to be ruined. To this task he set himself assiduously with all of his 
 peculiar genius at the gentle art of blackmail.' 1 He wrote, with "much meaning" to 
 those who "knew how to interpret, and appreciate" immediately following the ill- 
 fated campaign, "that the sun of General Clark's military glory had set, never more 
 
 ,,72 
 
 to rise. 
 
 Humphrey Marshall, who can scarcely be classed as a friend of Clark, wrote: 
 "Rumours, were indeed, unfavorable to the reputation of General Clark. But those 
 rumours, had been set afloat, by his enemies, who wanted an apology for their own 
 conduct; and who in turn, were accused of fomenting the insubordination, and mutiny, 
 of which they availed themselves to terminate the campaign dishonourably." " There 
 seems to be little doubt but that Clark was drinking far too much, probably did during 
 the campaign, which must have been very discouraging to him particularly when the 
 officers refused to leave Vincennes until the supplies should arrive and when he was 
 obliged forcibly to impress supplies from the citizens of Vincennes.' At that time 
 Clark's name was connected with a proposed campaign down the Mississippi against 
 the Spanish. Rumors of this proposal, together with his Vincennes troubles, caused 
 the Secretary of War, in 1787, to order an investigation. The committee conducting 
 this investigation adopted a report to Clark's discredit, but no further action was 
 taken. 75 
 
 COLONEL LOGAN'S EXPEDITION AGAINST THE SHAWNESE, 
 
 OCTOBER, 1786 
 
 The campaign conducted by Colonel Logan was eminently successful. Early in 
 October an expedition of eight hundred men struck the Shawnese villages at the head 
 of the Great Miami. Most of the warriors had moved westward to oppose Clark. 
 Professor James writes: "Ten of their villages, containing two hundred houses, to- 
 gether with the winter supply of corn, amounting to 15,000 bushels, were burned. 
 Ten Indians were killed, and thirty-four, including two chiefs, were taken prisoners." 
 One act of barbarity and cruelty occurred on the return march which partly nullified 
 the effect of the victory. The Kentuckians had taken prisoner the aged Shawnese 
 chief, Moluntha, who had often befriended the Americans. This chief, shortly after 
 the surrender, was killed by Major Hugh McGary, who had previously committed 
 many acts of rashness, lawlessness and violence. Although Colonel Logan refused 
 the request of the officers that it be conducted on the spot, a court martial was held 
 after the expedition returned to Kentucky. 
 
 PROPOSED CONVENTION OF AUGUST, 1786 
 
 Carrying out the provisions of the Act of Separation passed by the Assembly of 
 Virginia, January 10, 1786, the people of the District of Kentucky had elected their 
 representatives in August following to a new convention to be held in September. 
 Prior to this, however, the difficulties with the Indians had arisen, so that when the 
 time arrived for the delegates to assemble at Danville a quorum could not be mustered, 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 169 
 
 so many having accompanied Clark and Logan against the Wabash and Shawnese 
 tribes. 
 
 Issues were never wanting in the canvasses of the candidates for the conventions. 
 Some conservatives were in no hurry to leave their beloved "old mother state" Virginia 
 (though not opposing separation) ; others were strong for separation (but agreeable 
 to Virginian legal processes) ; while still others, the radicals — if we are to accept the 
 statements of Humphrey Marshall — argued for immediate separation by action of the 
 people. Campaigning was therefore spirited; often accompanied by lively speeches 
 and debates, in the hurly-burly, rough-and-tumble style of the frontier. 
 
 THE CONTEST BETWEEN GENERAL JAMES WILKINSON AND 
 HUMPHREY MARSHALL, 1787 
 
 In Fayette County that August the campaigning was vigorous, particularly between 
 the flashy General James Wilkinson, radical, and young Humphrey Marshall, con- 
 servative, a neophyte in politics. During that campaign, Wilkinson gained the undying 
 hatred of his young, twenty-six-year-old barrister opponent. According to Marshall 
 this aversion — which the flippant General in time must have rued — was caused by a 
 clever stratagem, as he thought. Preceding the voting in Fayette on the first day of the 
 balloting, the General had addressed the voters, who had assembled in Lexington from 
 all parts of the county, in an impassioned speech, advocating separation prior to the 
 date fixed by Virginia law — this to be effected by the people of the District through 
 their suffrage.' Many persons, especially the conservative countrymen from the re- 
 mote parts of the county, murmured against the allegedly radical, revolutionary and 
 bold utterances of Wilkinson. This wily adventurer, it was charged, attempted to 
 justify his position with the Virginia law (that providing for the separation) by a 
 deliberate misconstruction of the word posterior. Humphrey Marshall, taking the 
 stand, denounced Wilkinson's mechanations as illegal, revolutionary and dangerous — 
 denounced apparently to the satisfaction of the out-of-Lexington portion of the 
 audience. Shortly thereafter — late in the day — the viva voce voting began. Accord- 
 ing to Marshall, the poll was closed, in a short time thereafter, when it was seen that 
 only one hundred of the crowd of approximately five hundred had voted and that most 
 of these votes had been cast in favor of Wilkinson's opponents. 7 The sheriff, a friend 
 of the General, seeing the trend of affairs, ordered the election postponed in spite of 
 the fact that the law provided for the election to be opened for five successive days. 
 Those of the rural districts who had been unable to cast their ballots declared, it was 
 stated, before leaving Lexington their intention of returning to vote on the fifth day 
 of the election. To forestall this, the militia officers, friends of Wilkinson, ordered 
 militia musters in the remote parts of the county for that day, the fifth day, so that 
 a large part of those against the General would be unable to vote. Meanwhile, these 
 officers encouraged his friends in Lexington and its vicinity to come out and vote. 
 By means of this stratagem the General was able to be one of Fayette's representatives, 
 while Humphrey Marshall "bit the dust." From that time on Marshall pursued the 
 tinseled and loquacious Wilkinson with a vicious hatred, a venomous loathing, a 
 relentless denunciation, as patient, as remorseless, as certain to bring destruction as 
 the trump of doom. 
 
 Mr. Marshall in explaining the meteoric rise of General Wilkinson to local fame 
 throws light also upon his habits: "Wilkinson's experience," he writes, "had taught 
 him, that the way to men's hearts, was down their throats. He lived freely, and 
 entertained liberally. If he paid for his fare it was well for those who furnished it; 
 if he did not, it was still well for himself and those who feasted on it. He sur- 
 rounded himself with the idle young men, of both town and country, who loved him 
 
170 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 dearly; because they loved his beef, his pudding, and his wine. They served to propa- 
 gate his opinions, to blazon his fame, to promote his popularity, and to serve him in 
 elections: objects of primary consideration with him." 7a 
 
 As has been pointed out, so few delegates reported at Danville on September 30, 
 because of the campaigns against the Indians, that a quorum could not be obtained, 
 though those reporting convened each day for many days. These prepared "a memorial 
 reciting the reasons why the convention could not proceed to business and requesting 
 some alterations in the Act of Separation." 8 " They named John Marshall, a prominent 
 lawyer of Richmond, son of Colonel Thomas Marshall and later Chief of the United 
 States Supreme Court, to act as their agent in representing the memorial to the 
 General Assembly. Meanwhile a few, together, with the clerk, convening from day 
 to day, were able to keep alive the convention's legal status, until the military expedi- 
 tions returned, making possible a quorum. 
 
 CONVENTION OF JANUARY, 1787 
 
 Early in January, 1787, a quorum having been obtained, the convention quickly 
 passed, under the terms of the Act of Separation, a resolution to the effect "That it 
 was expedient for, and the will of the good people of the District to separate from 
 the State of Virginia and become an independent State." 81 On the heels of this action 
 came a letter to the president of the contention, Judge Samuel McDowell, a letter 
 from a member of the Virginia Assembly. It stated that the Act of Separation had 
 been repealed. This intelligence created a sensation somewhat like the shock from 
 an exploding bomb. There were mingled feelings of wrath, frustration and dispair. 
 After the years of tedious painstaking and laborious, yet patient, efforts at separa- 
 tion — not untempered with inconveniences, danger and suffering — all, at one fell 
 sweep, had crashed, like an insubstantial structure in the throes of a mighty earth- 
 quake — all at that moment seemed lost! However, such was the decorum of the con- 
 vention, the intelligence, dignity and forebearance of the individual members that 
 no violence occurred. 
 
 This circumstance, bringing to mind the Kentucky political conventions of this 
 century, commends and stamps them as remarkable men. Their first thought seems 
 to have been to forestall or appease the public temper, which, it was feared, might 
 become so violent and unreasoning that rash acts, harmful to the country, would be 
 perpetrated. Even Humphrey Marshall, no friend of the convention's leaders, com- 
 mends "their sense of moral and legal obligation," which caused them to conform 
 meticulously to the law. We may assume, knowing the temperaments of Virginians, 
 that on the spur of the moment some, more needle-tempered than others, perhaps de- 
 manded that immediate action be taken toward separation, regardless of Virginia 
 authority. But whatsoever wrath manifested itself was smothered quickly and dignity 
 and reason prevailed. After all, upon calm reflection, the Virginia Assembly had 
 acted in the best interest of Kentucky, as John Marshall had stated. 
 
 The reasons, stated by the Assembly, for the repealing act were these: (1) "That 
 the time contemplated in the repealed act was not sufficient to enable Congress to 
 determine on proper deliberation as to the propriety of admitting the proposed state 
 into the union. (2) "That twelve months had been given for purposes which could 
 not now be complied with in that time. (3) "That the people of the district were 
 represented as being much divided respecting the propriety of separation."' 3 These 
 reasons, though not pleasing upon cursory examination, were, as John Marshall stated, 
 based upon "principles which will finally conduce more to the peace and harmony of 
 the district, . . . than to enable the present convention to decide the question finally." 8 ' 
 Therefore, as Marshall suggests, following the initial wrath and the chagrin felt by 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 171 
 
 those who had built castles in the air with the fabric of anticipated offices, emoluments 
 and power (a thing not unheard of among human beings), "the convention was 
 solicitous to soothe the popular mind, and preserve peace, in the country"*" quickly 
 adjourned and the members returned to their respective counties, there to guide the 
 popular reaction — and perhaps to prepare for the August canvass for delegates to an- 
 other convention to be held at Danville, beginning in September, 1787, according to 
 the act of Virginia. 
 
 THE PROPOSED JAY TREATY CLOSING THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER TO 
 
 AMERICAN TRADE, 1786-1787 
 
 Scarcely had the convention adjourned (January, 1787) when news reached Ken- 
 tucky of a more inflammatory character than had perhaps been experienced in the 
 District. This news was to the effect that the Congress was about to ratify, with Spain, 
 a treaty providing for the closing of the Mississippi River to American commerce for 
 twenty-five or thirty years. This news seems to have been conveyed in a letter from 
 John Marshall, in March, 1787, to Colonel Thomas Marshall. 86 These are the facts: 
 Congress, some months previously, had empowered the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, 
 John Jay, to negotiate a treaty of commerce with Don Gardoqui, Minister at New 
 York for Spain, which power seemed disposed to allow the United States a treaty of 
 commerce, thereby opening to her some of His Catholic Majesty's colonial ports. ' 
 In empowering Jay to negotiate a treaty with the Spanish Minister, Congress had set 
 up one condition. Such a treaty the United States would ratify "that only provided 
 it should ^particularly . . . stipulate the right of the United States to . . . the free 
 navigation of the Mississippi ... to the ocean.' " After some weeks Mr. Jay had 
 revealed to Congress an inability to proceed without the United States' agreeing to 
 forego the navigation of the Mississippi River for twenty-five or thirty years. Pro- 
 fessor Paxson writes: "Both Jay and Washington believed that it would be another 
 generation before the actual needs of the western settlements would include the river." 
 The seven Northern states were favorable to agreeing to the closing of the river, in 
 order to gain commercial advantages to the East, and, their representatives therefore, 
 were quick to champion the suggestion of Jay that so much of his instructions as 
 concerned the Mississippi be rescinded. However, under the Articles of Confederation 
 Congress could not enter into treaties without the consent of nine states. This number, 
 the North could not muster because the Southern states, under the lead of Virginia, 
 who was keenly aware of the importance of the Mississippi River to the West, easily 
 blocked Jay's proposals, and the treaty never materialized, but this brazen attempt on 
 the part of the North to bargain away the life artery of the West for selfish commercial 
 advantages left bad feeling, distrust and suspicion in the West. Mr. Temple Bodley 
 in his "Introduction" to Littell's Political Transactions considers this willingness on the 
 part of the Northeastern and North Central states to stifle the West as having serious 
 effects upon the attachment of the frontiersmen to the Union. He writes: "When, 
 to all other causes of complaint on the part of the Kentuckians (their dire poverty; 
 the desperate savage war they had endured for years after peace had come to their 
 fellow-Americans east of the Alleghanies; the indifference to their danger on the part 
 of their state and federal governments; and the closing of their only market outlet 
 by the Spaniards) was added this plainly illegal attempt of the northern majority in 
 Congress to barter away their navigation right, who can wonder that the Kentuckians 
 were wrathful; or that they demanded a prompt separation from Virginia and a state 
 government of their own to look after their own interests; or if many of them hotly 
 denounced Congress; or if some talked of revolt from the Confederation, and others 
 feared that continued injustice might bring it about?" 1 * Although serious, perhaps 
 
172 A S E S Q U I -CENTENNIAL 
 
 Kentucky's plight was neither as desperate nor as pitiful as the quotation avers; 
 actually at that time Kentucky had little if any commerce down the Mississippi River. 
 However, that surrender of navigation would likely bring dangers in the future was 
 readily recognized by the Kentucky leaders, all of whom knew that the Mississippi 
 was the only satisfactory artery for the outlet of their and their countrymen's produce. 
 
 So alarmed were many of the leaders of the District by this news from John Mar- 
 shall and others that some of them, together with other citizens, held a public meeting 
 at Danville by way of protest. This meeting appointed a committee, headed by Judge 
 George Muter, to draw up a circular letter to the citizens of the district/ This letter, 
 bearing the date of March 29, 1787, and signed by George Muter, Harry Innes, John 
 Brown and Benjamin Sebastian, although expressing some alarm, is both moderate and 
 practical: "The inhabitants of the several counties in this district," it runs, "will be 
 requested to elect five members in each county, to meet at Danville on the first Monday 
 in May, to take up the consideration of this project of congress — to prepare a spirited, 
 but decent, remonstrance against the cession; to appoint a committee of correspondence, 
 and to communicate with one already established on the Monongahala, or any other 
 that may be constituted — to appoint delegates to meet representatives from the several 
 districts on the western waters, in convention, should a convention be deemed neces- 
 sary — and to adopt such other measures, as shall be most conducive to our happiness. 
 As we conceive that all the inhabitants residing on the western waters, are equally 
 affected by this partial conduct of congress, we doubt not but they will readily approve 
 of our conduct, and cheerfully adopt a similar system, to prevent a measure which 
 tends to almost a total destruction of the western country." 92 
 
 Obviously the government of Virginia was the most effective agency which could 
 protest the proposed sacrifice of the West. Many Virginian leaders, without the 
 knowledge of Kentuckians, had been keenly alive to all that was happening in Con- 
 gress. In fact, John Marshall in his letter had expressed fairly accurately the general 
 feeling among Old Dominion leaders upon the proposition. He had averred that 
 "The negociation which has been opened with Spain, for ceding the navigation of the 
 Mississippi — negociation so dishonourable and injurious to America, so destructive of 
 the natural rights of the western world, is warmly opposed by this country, and for 
 this purpose the most pointed instructions are given to our delegates in congress. I 
 persuade myself that this negociation will terminate in securing, instead of ceding that 
 great point." * In fact, long before Kentucky had been informed concerning the Jay 
 proposals, the Virginia House of Delegates had, on November 29, 1786, adopted 
 resolutions far stronger in protest and indignation than the expressions contained in 
 Kentucky's circular letter. 94 
 
 Having learned of the action of the Virginia Assembly, as well as the failure of the 
 Northern states to perpetrate their "perfidy" in Congress, the leaders of Kentucky, 
 confidently expecting the District to be admitted to the Union in the near future, 
 took no further action at that time upon the Mississippi River question. Having done 
 with their speaking and writing, they prepared for the August election of delegates 
 to a new convention in conformity with the recent legislation of Virginia. 
 
 THE ATTITUDE OF GOVERNOR EDMUND RANDOLPH TOWARD THE 
 ACTION OF KENTUCKY LEADERS AGAINST THE INDIANS 
 
 In the midst of all the vexations, dangers, suspicions and suffering in Kentucky, 
 just at a time when irritation against both Virginia and the Congress had tried the 
 patience of the District practically to insufferability, a thing occurred which vexed 
 Kentucky temper even yet further: Governor Edmund Randolph, of Virginia, May 1, 
 1787, penned a very naive note to Harry Innes, Attornev General of the District. 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 173 
 
 This note carried a few items, which though he stated as routine, the Governor must 
 have known that they would have repercussions: He wrote: "We have reason to 
 believe that the late hostilities, committed on the Indians, have roused their resent- 
 ment. It is the duty of government to prevent and punish, if possible," he continued, 
 "all unjust violences." An concluding, "I beg leave, therefore, to urge you to institute 
 the proper legal inquiries for vindicating the infractions of the peace." 9 ' 
 
 ATTORNEY GENERAL HARRY INNES' LETTER TO GOVERNOR 
 EDMUND RANDOLPH, JULY, 1787 
 
 In his reply Judge Innes having pointed out to the Governor that the charges made 
 were too vague to justify official action (which the Governor doubtless knew) , dis- 
 closed the causes for the recent activities referred to against the Indians, declaring 
 that they (against the Cherokees and Shawnese) were purely of a necessary punitive 
 nature. These had been made necessary, he declared, by bold incursion of the savages. 
 The excursions referred to by the Governor had been led by Colonel John Logan, 
 Colonel Robert Todd and by Colonel John Hardin, all leaders of the highest integrity. 
 These expeditions, he stated, not only were justified, but had to be staged, if the 
 white people in Kentucky were to save their lives and protect their property. Judge 
 Innes, well informed concerning the political temper of the people of the District, 
 informed Governor Randolph that the Kentuckians were highly incensed by the 
 policies pursued by both Congress and the Virginia government — even ventured this 
 warning to his Excellency. "The Indians have been very troublesome on our frontiers, 
 and still continue to molest us, from which circumstance I am decidedly of the opinion 
 that this western country will in a few years act for themselves and erect an inde- 
 pendent government; for under the present system we cannot exert our strength, 
 neither does Congress seem disposed to protect us, for we are informed that those very 
 troops which congress directed the several states to raise for the defense of the western 
 country, are disbanded. I have just drop'd this hint to your excellency for matter of 
 reflection. If some step is not taken for our protection a little time will prove the 
 truth of the opinion." 96 
 
 Although he does not so state, Governor Randolph apparently has reference to small 
 scale punitive operations into the Indian territories, operations whose principal objects 
 were to chastise the savages for theft of property (mainly of horses) by killing a few 
 red men and recovering as many of the pilfered chattels as possible. Small irregular 
 bands of red marauders, lured by the prospect of valuable property, were numerous 
 among both the Shawnese and Cherokees, though not sanctioned by the responsible 
 governors of those tribes. Quite naturally the punitive whites struck whatsoever red 
 men could be found, as all looked alike to them. The heads of the tribes who were 
 trying to keep the peace therefore felt aggrieved when informed that innocent tribes- 
 men had been attacked and killed in Indian territory, supposedly inviolate by treaty. 
 But the whites who lost men and horses certainly believed their policy justified. If 
 the Governor had meant the expedition of Clark and Benjamin Logan against the 
 Wabash and Miami Indians, it seems that these leaders would have been named. 
 Obviously he did not refer to them, as Judge Innes' letter makes clear, although Mr. 
 John Mason Brown makes this declaration concerning them stating: "Clark wisely 
 refused to be provoked by the instructions that came from the Attorney General of 
 Virginia directing Innes to institute a criminal prosecution. Logan quietly returned 
 to his farm after a successful campaign, and Innes dexterously avoided the necessity 
 of any official action by reminding the Governor that the Attorney General of Virginia 
 had no authority to instruct Kentucky officials — the right to do so lay solely with the 
 Governor." 97 
 
174 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 THE CONVENTION OF SEPTEMBER, 1787 
 
 The canvasses and elections of the delegates for the convention called for September, 
 (1787), at Danville transpired without untoward incident. The delegates assembled 
 there and conducted a convention marked by little excitement or debate. The principal 
 question, that of separation, passed unanimously, in accordance with the latest act of 
 the Virginia Assembly. This done, the convention adopted resolutions fixing December 
 31, 1788, as the time for separation, and calling upon the Virginia Legislature to 
 appoint a representative for Kentucky in the National Congress. The Hon. John 
 Brown (serving at that time in the State Senate for the District), being acceptable 
 to both Virginia and Kentucky, was selected as a member of the Virginia delegation 
 in the Congress, specifically representing the District of Kentucky. These things done 
 Kentucky waited, feeling certain that now the territory would be admitted to the 
 Union by formal vote of the Congress, which the Act of Separation prescribed should 
 be passed prior to July 1, 1788. 
 
 WEAKNESS OF THE OLD CONGRESS, 1787-1788 
 
 Congress had presented many indications that it was unselfishly interested in the 
 West. Most of the western lands had been required of the states as early as 1781. 
 The Ordinance of 1784 (drawn by Thomas Jefferson) , providing for the government 
 of territories, had been passed, and though never having gone into effect, it provided 
 a formula later followed. The Ordinance of 1785, providing for the sale of public 
 lands in the West had been enacted. And the noble-spirited Ordinance of 1787, not 
 only outlining the government of the territories but establishing the processes through 
 which territories might devolve into statehood, had been decreed, even the state of 
 Massachusetts acquiescing. Yet, though it mustered enough statesmanship and nobility 
 to enact these measures, the Old Congress by 1787 was moribund, expiring, dying, 
 had by then even failed to respond to stimulants. Attendance was irregular and quo- 
 rums were difficult to obtain. Moreover, it was unpopular, and commanded little re- 
 spect, as the members realized. Two-thirds and unanimous majorities were required 
 for passage of important measures, though majorities, because of interstate and sec- 
 tional jealousies, could seldom be obtained. This timorous one-branch government 
 of the Confederacy cowered discredited and impotent. Now that the Constitutional 
 Convention had been held and the states were voting upon the new government, this, 
 the Old Congress, waited paralyzed for a coup de grace; affirmative votes of nine 
 states for the new government would give it a welcome death, thereby taking it at 
 last out of misery. 
 
 THE OLD CONGRESS REJECTS KENTUCKY'S PLEA, 1788 
 
 Soon after his appointment by the Virginia Assembly, to represent the Kentucky 
 District in the Congress, John Brown journeyed to New York (the then national 
 capital) to press the special proposal of admitting Kentucky to the union/ 8 In Febru- 
 ary, (1788), he presented this proposal or petition of the Kentucky convention. His 
 resolution met with fatal delays — fatal, because, according to Virginia's act, separate 
 statehood had to be granted prior to July 4, 1788. These delays were according to 
 Mr. Bodley, intentionally caused by the northern states, who were "loath to admit 
 another southern state into the union to destroy their majority vote in Congress." 9 ' 
 The proposal first encountered a vote of postponement, delaying consideration until 
 May 30. Congress, on June 2, resolved that "it is expedient that the district of Ken- 
 tucky be erected into an independent state," and that "the address and resolutions 
 from the district of Kentucky, with the act of the legislature of Virginia ... be re- 
 ferred to a committee ... to prepare and report and act for acceding to the independence 
 
H I S T O R Y O F K E N T U C K Y 175 
 
 of the said district of Kentucky and for receiving f the same into the union as a mem- 
 ber thereof in a mode conformable to the articles of confederation.' 
 
 The committee, consisting of ten members, was elected and did nothing; whereupon 
 it was discharged. Mr. Brown then offered a motion, seconded by Mr. Carrington, 
 of Virginia, for the ratification of the compact between the state of Virginia and 
 the said District, viz. separation of the two and admission to the Union. Considera- 
 tion of the motion was delayed either by lack of time or the passage of postponement 
 measures until July 3, when it was certain that nine states had ratified the Constitution, 
 establishing a new government. At that time the Old Congress, though yet affirming 
 the belief that the petition should be granted, considered its power at an end, and 
 advised Kentucky to apply to the new Congress under the Constitution for ratifica- 
 tion of separation from Virginia and admission to the Union. Copies of resolutions 
 to this effect were ordered sent to the Virginia General Assembly and to Samuel Mc- 
 Dowell, late president of the Kentucky convention. 101 Thus the Old Congress by de- 
 laying tactics — probably as much occasioned by sheer weakness and timidity as by 
 selfishness and malice 102 — had prevented Kentucky statehood; this was not the first 
 disappointment — and John Brown had failed. 
 
 THE "SPANISH CONSPIRACY" 
 
 While Mr. Brown was attempting to obtain favorable action from the morbund and 
 "rascally" delegates of the old Congress, a transaction was transpiring in New York 
 between him and the first Spanish Minister, Don Diego de Gardogui, to the new 
 nation which became a cornerstone in the development of what some historians have 
 designated as the "Spanish Conspiracy," an intrigue allegedly calculated to take Ken- 
 tucky out of the Union and make her a colony of Spain. 
 
 The idea of the existence of a "conspiracy" was introduced by the historian, Hum- 
 phrey Marshall. He suggested that a few of the leaders of Kentucky were striving 
 for "violent" secession from Virginia and were seeking to establish an independent 
 state, so that negotiations might be carried through to make Kentucky a part of the 
 Spanish empire. The motive was alleged for personal gain, and the excuses were 
 
 (1) failure of Virginia to protect and defend Kentucky and make her burdens easier; 
 
 (2) the failure of Congress to accept her as a state of the Union, and (3) the hesitancy 
 of Congress to open the Mississippi to its mouth to Kentucky commerce, thereby creating 
 grave political and economic situations which threatened political revolution and 
 economic destruction. 
 
 SPANISH POLICY IN AMERICA 
 
 Perhaps the position of Spain should be explained before the relations between Mr. 
 Brown and Don Gardoqui are traced. Spaniards were inclined to abhor and dread 
 the Americans, because of their violent and aggressive temperaments and, particularly, 
 because of their encroachments westward toward Spanish territory. His Catholic 
 Majesty was determined at all costs to hold his North American territories, though 
 dreading the day when conflict would break out with the rapacious frontiersmen. The 
 secret clause of the treaty of 1783, agreed to between Britain and the United States, 
 could not long be kept secret. This secret clause provided that, if England succeeded 
 in holding West Florida, the United States would accept as her southern boundary 
 between the Appalachicola and the Mississippi a line running through the mouth of 
 the Yazoo, that is, a line running approximately along the 32° North Latitude; other- 
 wise, if Spain regained West Florida the southern boundary of the United States 
 would be the 31° North Latitude. Undoubtedly, this venture of the American envoys 
 in haute politique added to the ill-humor of Spain against the Americans, but, as 
 
176 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 Professor McLaughlin remarks, "her wrath needed no stimulus; her course of oppo- 
 sition to the United States had been for years consistent and unflagging."" The wily 
 Spaniard set about to stop the westward march of the Americans. His Catholic 
 Majesty's government was quick to inform the Congress that Spain had intentions 
 neither of abiding by the secret clause nor of recognizing England's having the privilege 
 of negotiating navigation concessions on the lower Mississippi, both borders of which 
 were held by the arms of Spain. She warned that any and all American shipping 
 caught in those waters would be summarily confiscated. Spain really was in earnest, 
 nervous and afraid, and diplomats were shrewd enough to take advantage of every 
 opportunity which might strengthen her colonies and weaken the United States, 
 whether it be by threat of force or use of cunning. And the wily don was not without 
 resource. First, he could employ straight diplomacy, backed by firm control of the 
 lower Mississippi; second, he could intrigue with the Indians, who had peculiar ways 
 of making life to the Americans unpleasant on the frontiers; third, he could cultivate 
 dissatisfaction among the westerners, and "by bribes and threats help to bring about 
 the separation of the western territory from the eastern states." 10 Declares Professor 
 McLaughlin: Spanish gold looked good and fair to the average westerner, whose cur- 
 rency was often nothing better than otter skins or whiskey, and it was not hard to 
 find those whose consciences did not revolt at the sight of a reasonable bribe." 10 
 
 THE BROWN GARDOQUI CONFERENCES, JULY, 1788 
 
 Don Gardoqui took a keen interest in the Congressional haggling in June and July, 
 1788, over the question of admission of Kentucky to the Union. He was pleased with 
 the impasse, because he must have felt as did Mr. Brown that "the eastern states 
 would not . . . assent to the admission of the District to the Union, as an independent 
 state, unless Vermont, or the province of Maine, is brought forward at the same 
 time."" Apparently aware of Mr. Brown's bitter disappointment and acrid disgust 
 of the failure of Congress, the wily Don Gardoqui, with Iago-like cleverness, and as 
 perfidious and sinister in design, approached the Kentucky representative upon the 
 question of the District's relation to the Union. His purpose was not only to prevent 
 Kentucky's entering the Union but to lure the District into the arms of Spain; he 
 could "play-up" Congress' failure to admit the District to statehood, thereby enhancing 
 the existing bitterness of the westerners, and he could dangle the idea of commercial 
 privileges and the opening of the Mississippi to Kentucky shipping. In private meet- 
 ings the suave materialistically-minded Spaniard and the disappointed Kentuckians 
 discussed their problems and propositions. Light is thrown upon the subject and 
 manner of discussion in these conferences by a letter, (New York, July 10, 1788) 
 written by Mr. Brown to Judge George Muter, a leader in the Kentucky conventions 
 and one of the most prominent men of the District. 10 ' Assuming that nothing could 
 be expected from the Old Congress, because, among other things, "the jealousy of 
 the growing importance of the western country, and an unwillingness to add a vote 
 to the southern interest." 108 
 
 BROWN'S LETTER TO JUDGE GEORGE MUTER, JULY, 1788 
 
 Mr. Brown expressed the belief that the best course would be for the District to 
 declare her independence of Virginia and proceed to draw up a constitution, a course 
 which, he believed, was popular in Kentucky. This letter, however, was primarily 
 written to appraise Judge Muter of Gardoqui's proposals. Concerning this matter 
 Brown wrote: "In private conferences which I have had with Mr. Gardoqui, . . . 
 I have been assured by him in the most explicit terms that if Kentucky will declare 
 her independence, and empower some proper person to negotiate with him, that he 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 177 
 
 has authority, and will engage to open the navigation of the Mississippi, for the ex- 
 portation of their produce on terms of mutual advantage. But that this privilege 
 never can be extended to them while a part of the United States, by reason of com- 
 mercial treaties existing between that court, and other powers of Europe. As there 
 is no reason to doubt the sincerity of this declaration, I have thought proper to com- 
 municate it to a few confidential friends in the District, with his permission, not 
 doubting but that they will make a prudent use of the information, . . ." c The 
 letter to Judge McDowell, read to the convention, related principally to the negative 
 actions of Congress. However, an enclosure, regarded as confidential, stated the 
 Gardoqui proposals. It was not until August 4, 1806, however, that Judge McDowell 
 revealed its contents. It was published only then to refute charges by Humphrey 
 Marshall that Brown and other contemporary leaders had sought to detach Ken- 
 tucky from the Union and join her to Spain. 
 
 DON DIEGO GARDOQUFS DISPATCHES TO MADRID, JULY, 1788 
 
 Though not as direct and lucid as Brown's letters, the dispatches of Don Gardoqui 
 to the Foreign Office at Madrid are nevertheless interesting. "Foreseeing some of the 
 occurrences, I took occasion during the past year," he wrote, "to cultivate the friend- 
 ship of the aforesaid Brown, and to introduce such topics as I thought would pro- 
 duce good results."" He wrote, (July 25, 1788) to Count Florida Blanca, the Spanish 
 Prime Minister, concerning the conferences with Mr. Brown: "Our friendship grad- 
 ually increased and my sentiments naturally made an impression on him, in as much 
 as they touched upon those obstacles, imposed by our treaties with other nations, 
 which forbade us according any extension of favor to his section of country (meaning 
 navigation of the Mississippi) while pertaining to the United States, artfully in- 
 sinuating that only themselves could remove the difficulty, inasmuch as, if separated, 
 they would afford excuse for regarding them as an interior district without maritime 
 designs, and perhaps we could devise some plan for adjusting the markets so much 
 needed, in some of our possessions. I carefully observed his appearances as I told 
 him this, and it seemed to me that I could discern the satisfaction it gave. He said 
 he would reflect upon it and would see me and talk at leisure upon the subject." 
 
 Several days passed before Mr. Brown called upon Gardoqui again. At this next 
 meeting Mr. Brown announced having dispatched letters to Judge Muter and Mc- 
 Dowell. Gardoqui thought that "He (Brown) seemed quite satisfied and obliged to 
 me . . . and, in short, that he hoped to communicate matters of importance productive 
 of benefit to that country." A The ambitious Spaniard stated in a dispatch (July 25, 
 1788) to Count Florida Blanca that his guest expected the Kentucky convention 
 (meeting that month, July) to "resolve upon the erection of an independent state 
 . . . and that he would arrive (in Kentucky) in time to inform and aid what he had 
 discussed with me, for he deemed it a very fit and important subject for consideration, 
 and for the present he thanked me for himself and in the name of all the country, 
 which would be under lasting obligations to me." 1 " 
 
 Another important statement of this dispatch, namely, the mention of English in- 
 trigue in Kentucky will be developed further in this history. Suffice it to state here 
 upon this point that the Spanish diplomat was keenly aware concerning Mississippi 
 affairs. He stated: "I think we need not be disturbed by the English intrigues for 
 obtaining the friendship of that District [Kentucky], because its inhabitants well 
 know how infinitely important to them is communication and friendship with their 
 neighbors of the Lower River who have that which they need, and the Port which 
 naturally pertains to their country."" 4 
 
 The dealings of Mr. Brown in the conferences with Gardoqui are presented by the 
 
178 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 historian, Humphrey Marshall as evidence of the former's complicity in the "Spanish 
 Conspiracy." It is not necessary here to enter a disquisition upon that subject. That 
 Mr. Brown engaged in treasonable activities does not appear likely, judging by both 
 evidence and logic; that he wished Kentucky detached from Virginia and attached to 
 the Union is true; that he regarded free navigation of the Mississippi as Kentucky's 
 most vital concern appears certain; that he was willing for Kentucky to enter nego- 
 tiations with Spanish agents concerning free navigation, even agreeable to the District's 
 making concessions to His Catholic Majesty's government, appears likely; however, 
 that Mr. Brown seriously contemplated Kentucky's becoming a part of the Spanish 
 empire appears neither correct nor logical, although undoubtedly Florida Blanca con- 
 templated Spain's taking over both people and country. On the other hand, that 
 Mr. Brown, as well as the people of the District as a whole were irritated at the attitude 
 of the central government in many important matters is certain to wit, for these 
 reasons: the matter of the proposed Jay treaty to close the Mississippi to American 
 trade for a period of years; the faliure to protect Kentucky against the Indians; the 
 refusal to admit Kentucky to the Union; and the continued failure to recognize 
 Kentucky's commercial interests either by means of negotiating with or forcing Spain 
 to open the Mississippi — all these tended to make Kentuckians bitter toward both the 
 Central Government and toward the East, particularly the Northeast. 
 
 At the time of the Gardoqui conferences, Mr. Brown was residing in the same house 
 in New York with James Madison, his old college mate and friend. Brown related 
 the affairs of the meetings to Mr. Madison, who approved the course taken. Years 
 later, in 1834, Mr. Madison wrote a letter to Mr. Mann Butler, a letter which is 
 indeed illuminating, particularly as to the propriety of Mr. Brown's conduct. Writes 
 Mr. Madison: "I have received your letter of the 21st ult., in which you wish to 
 obtain my recollection of what passed between Mr. Brown and me in 1788 on the 
 overtures of Gardoqui, 'that if the people of Kentucky would erect themselves into 
 an Independent State, and appoint a proper person to negotiate with him, he had 
 authority for that purpose, and would enter into an arrangement with them for the 
 exportation of their produce to New Orleans.' 
 
 "My recollection, with which reference to my manuscript papers accords, leaves 
 no doubt that the overture was communicated to me by Mr. Brown. Nor can I 
 doubt that, as stated by him, I expressed the opinion and apprehension that a knowledge 
 of it in Kentucky, might, in the excitement there, be mischievously employed. This 
 view of the subject evidently resulted from the natural and known impatience of the 
 people on the waters of the Mississippi for a market for the products of their ex- 
 uberant soil; from the distrust of the Federal policy, produced by the project for 
 surrendering the use of that river for a term of years; and from a coincidence of the 
 overture in point of time, with the plan on foot for consolidating the Union by arming 
 it with new powers, an object, to embarass and defeat which, the dismembering aims 
 of Spain would not fail to make the most tempting sacrifices, and spare no intrigues. 
 
 "I owe it to Mr. Brown, with whom I was in intimate friendship when we were 
 associated in public life, to observe that I always regarded him, whilst steadily at- 
 tentive to the interests of his constituents, as duly impressed with the importance of 
 the Union, and anxious for its prosperity. I pray you to accept with my respects, 
 my cordial salutations.""' 
 
 That Mr. Brown and most of his Kentucky associates ever contemplated the Dis- 
 trict's becoming a part of the Spanish empire — as was carged later — is most unlikely 
 appears indisputable. However, that Kentucky was bitter and distrustful of the 
 Central Government and the East is patent, and the situation was grave. The people 
 of the District generally believed that the new government, if the Constitution were 
 adopted, would likely agree to the closing of the Mississippi for a term of years. 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 179 
 
 KENTUCKY'S ATTITUDE TOWARD RATIFICATION OF THE FEDERAL 
 
 CONSTITUTION, 1787 
 
 This belief was held by the powerful Patrick Henry and many other imminent 
 Virginians, including Richard Henry Lee, William Grayson, George Mason, James 
 Monroe — even James Madison, the "Father of the Constitution," the friend and con- 
 fident of Mr. Brown, must have entertained some doubts, although he had hoped 
 that the Kentucky delegation in the Virginia convention would vote to ratify the 
 Constitution. The vote of the Kentucky delegation was as might have been expected 
 — against ratification of the Federal Constitution. The delegates voted thus: Robert 
 Breckinridge, Rice Bullock and Humphrey Marshall for ratification. John Fowler, 
 John Logan, Henry Pawling, John Steele, Matthew Walton, Thomas Allen, Alexander 
 Robertson, Green Clay and Henry Lee voted against ratification. William Irvine and 
 John Edwards did not vote. 119 
 
 Although the Kentucky District's vote was in opposition to ratification of the Con- 
 stitution, the majority of the delegates as well as "the bent of educated opinion in 
 Kentucky" was in favor of the Federal Constitution with amendments or, at least, 
 a new constitution. Jefferson, Madison and Brown, who were close personal friends 
 and frequent correspondents, were of one opinion, at least as late as the early summer 
 of 1788, upon union, Constitution and navigation of the Mississippi. This opinion is 
 expressed by Mr. Jefferson in a letter from Paris (where he was American Minister) 
 May 28, 1788, to Mr. Brown. "I wish to see that country (Kentucky)," he wrote, 
 "in the hands of people well-disposed, who know the value of the connection between 
 that &C Maritime States, and who wish to cultivate it. I consider their happiness as 
 bound up together, and that every measure should be taken which may draw the 
 bands of Union tighter; it will be an efficacious one to receive them into Congress, 
 as I perceive they are about to desire, if to this be added an honest and disinterested 
 conduct in Congress as to everything relating to them we may hope for a perfect 
 harmony — the navigation of the Mississippi was perhaps the strongest trial to which 
 the justice of the federal government could be put. If ever they thought wrong about 
 it, I trust they have got to rights. I should think it proper for the Western Country 
 to defer pushing their right to that navigation to extremity as long as they can do 
 without it tolerably; but that the moment it becomes absolutely necessary for them, 
 it will become the duty of the maritime states to push it to every extremity to which 
 they would their own right of navigating the Chesapeak, the Delaware, the Hudson, 
 or any other water; a time of peace will not be the surest for obtaining this object." 
 The "Sage of Monticello" continues with this expression of hope relative to the 
 Constitution: 
 
 "I am greatly anxious to hear that nine states accept our new constitution. We 
 must be contented to accept of its good, and to cure what is evil in it hereafter. It 
 seems necessary for our happiness at home; I am sure it is so for our respectability 
 abroad." 120 
 
 On May 27, 1788, Mr. Madison, wrote from Orange, Virginia, to Mr. Brown: 
 
 "I have endeavored to calculate with as much accuracy as possible the comparative 
 merit of the new & old system in relation to the Mississippi, and cannot but persuade 
 myself that if the vote of Kentucky should turn on that point her intelligent & candid 
 friends will embrace the Constitution. There are considerations both of a general 
 nature and peculiar to the Western interest, which, in my opinion, recommend the 
 same policy. It gives me a great deal of pleasure and no small hopes to find that 
 you view the matter in the same light that I do, and that the confidence reposed in 
 your judgment on the question by the members from that district will be made use 
 of on the side wished by the federalists. The unfortunate turn given to the Kentucky 
 
 13— Vol. I 
 
180 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 elections has not yet extinguished the hopes of this part of the community, nor the 
 fears of their rivals. The calculations which are generally made leave rather a bal- 
 ance, but a very minute one, on the federal scale, after adding Kentucky to the 
 opposite one. But the issue must be somewhat uncertain where the data are so far 
 from being clear & precise and the calculations so nice & tickleish." 121 
 
 A printed copy of the Constitution, reaching Danville, had been long and earnestly 
 debated in a formal, parliamentary and highly enlightened manner before the Political 
 Club there at several Saturday night meetings, and "the concurrence or dissent of the 
 club and noted section by section in memoranda that are yet legible." It is significant 
 that this able and distinguished society of frontiersmen 122 passed the following reso- 
 lution, labeled as the "primary Resolution A": Resolved that it is the opinion of this 
 Club: That the Federal Constitution ought to be preceded by a Declaration of Rights, 
 in which it should be clearly expressed that the Congress of the United States shall 
 not have power by law to alter, repeal, or change any part of the Constitution; and 
 that all laws contrary to the true spirit, intent, and meaning of the same shall be 
 void. 
 
 Apparently Mr. Madison, upon report of the list of delegates elected by Virginia 
 to the Virginia convention, did not feel very confident of these delegates' supporting 
 ratification; however, he was hopeful. The attitude which the Old Congress had 
 taken toward admission of Kentucky to the Union and the telling arguments which 
 the powerful Patrick Henry and his able colleagues William Grayson, Benjamin Har- 
 rison and George Mason, had brilliantly presented before the convention had had 
 marked effect upon the Kentucky delegates. Henry and his associates had "insisted 
 that ratification of the Constitution would be followed by a surrender of the Missis- 
 sippi, and studiously kept alive the apprehensions of the Kentuckians." 1 " They prophe- 
 sied that ratification would lead to an inevitable reunion of church and state and 
 that times would revert to the period preceding the statute of religious liberty, which 
 particularly aroused the ire of the Baptists, now grown numerous. Besides these 
 direful prophesis, the eloquent Henry and his able colleagues took as the basis for 
 their opposition the absence of a bill of rights and the dangers of over-centralization; 
 return of the hydra-headed monster, tyranny, was also freely suggested to the liberty- 
 loving delegates. 
 
 In the end, as has been pointed out, practically all of the Kentucky delegates had 
 voted with Henry, their idol and friend in the dark days of the Revolution. Whether 
 they would have voted the same way had Henry been arrayed on the other side is 
 problematical. However, the friends of the Constitution finally carried the Virginia 
 convention by a small majority, even without the Kentucky delegation. 
 
 GARDOQUPS FAILURES 
 
 Meanwhile the Spanish Minister, Don Diego Gardoqui, was encountering diffi- 
 culties in New York. He had failed in all of his diplomatic ventures. As the 
 cardinal part of Spanish policy in North America was isolation, this minister had 
 attempted to gain the sanction of the United States government to the closing of the 
 Mississippi for a term of years. This move had failed, having been blocked in the 
 Old Congress by Southern states' representatives. 
 
 Gardoqui was very fearful that an army of frontiersmen might move southward 
 into Spanish territory at any day, open the Mississippi by force, even sack New 
 Orleans, a fear which was shared by the Spanish governor at New Orleans, Don 
 Estaban Miro. Gardoqui had expressed this melancholy thought in a dispatch to 
 Don Bernardo de Galvez, Viceroy of New Spain, August 23, 1785. It reads: 
 
 "La emigracion aquel rio es asombrosa, especialmente de aquellas classes de gentes 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 181 
 
 que no estan muy subordinadas a la ley y buen gobernio. Que la prohivicion de la 
 corte de Espana sea justa o injusta politica, o de otra manera, no sera facil contener 
 a esta clase de gentes el que se priben del goce de suo utilidades naturales." 12 He 
 wrote, August 1, 1787, this note to Don Manuel de Cespedes, Governor of East 
 Florida: 
 
 "La arrogancia y liberdad con que ultimamente se han explicado, en gazetas y 
 cartas, los habitantes de los nuevos establici mientos sobre las orillas del Ohio »y 
 imediaciones al Misisipi me obligan a reiterar lo much que dicta la prudencia, el que 
 todas nuestras fronteras se pongan en estado de mayor respecto." 
 
 Finally Don Dieto awoke to the realization that Spain's policy of isolation was 
 unwise and should be changed to enable the people of the West to have an outlet 
 for their commerce; however, "Spanish pride barred any reconsideration." As is 
 pointed out by Mr. John Mason Brown, Spain's diplomatic influence with the United 
 States was steadily growing weaker. The able Galvez, friendly to the Americans, 
 sagacious and resourceful, was no longer available, as he had moved to Mexico to be 
 viceroy. There was jealousy and cross-purpose between Gardoqui and Miro, each 
 having personal ambitious for political preferment and financial power, and each 
 engaging in haute intrigue for his own advantage. Moreover, the frontiersmen were 
 daily becoming more restive. 
 
 FOOTNOTES FOR CHAPTER VII 
 
 James, George Rogers Clark, p. 281. 
 
 'Marshall, op.cit., I, 161. 
 
 However, that we conquered the Northwest should not be forgotten. "We are 
 in reality," declared Theodore Roosevelt (The Winning of the West, II, 381.) given 
 nothing more than we had by our own prowess gained; the inference is strong that 
 we got what we did get only because we had won and held it." Encroaching on Eng- 
 lish territory is a far different thing from encroaching on Spanish and Mexican terri- 
 tory as we discovered in the War of 1812. 
 
 4 Cotterill, op.cit., p. 199. 
 
 "Marshall, op.cit., I, 159. 
 
 'Ibid. "Ibid. "Ibid. 
 
 The Filson Club Publications, No. 6 (John Mason Brown, The Political Beginnings 
 of Kentucky: Louisville, 1889) , p. 54. 
 
 In an article, signed by Connolly and Campbell, carried in the Virginia Gazette 
 issue of April 7, 1774, the virtues of this vicinity were thus extolled: "the advantageous 
 Situation of this Place, formed by Nature as a temporary Magazine or Repository, 
 to the produce of the very extensive and fertile Country of the Ohio and its Branches, 
 as well as the necessary Merchandise, suitable for the Inhabitants that shall emmigrate 
 into that Country (as Boats of fifty Tuns Burthen may be navigated from New 
 Orleans up to the Town) is sufficient to Recommend it; but when it is considered how 
 liberal nay profuse, Nature has been to it otherwise, in stocking it so abundantly that 
 the slightest industry may support the most numerous Family with the greatest Plenty 
 and amazing Variety of Fish, Fowls, and Flesh the Fertility of the Soil, and Facility 
 of Cultivation, that fit it for Commodities of great Value with little Labour; the 
 Wholesomeness of the Waters, and Serenity of the Air, which render it healthy; and 
 when Property may be so easily acquired we may, with Certainty, affirm that it will 
 in a short time be equalled by few inland Places on the American Continent." (Quoted 
 in Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., I, 218) . 
 
 'Marshall, op.cit., I, 149, 150. Mr. Marshall presents many examples of the slip- 
 shod manner in which claims were made. For instance: "George Smith enters five 
 
182 ASESQUI-CENTENN1AL 
 
 hundred acres of land on a treasury Warrant, lying on the north side of the Ken- 
 tucky, a mile below a creek, beginning about twenty poles below a lick, running down 
 the river, Westerly and northwestwardly for quantity." (I, 150) . 
 
 The Filson Club Publications, No. 31: (Temple Bodley, "Reprints of Litteli's 
 Political Transactions In and Concerning Kentucky," Louisville: John P. Morton 
 Company, 1926) , p. v. 
 
 John Mason Brown, The Political Beginning of Kentucky, p. 58. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 59. "Ibid., p. 60. 
 
 '"History of Kentucky, (2nd ed.) I, 193, 194. 
 
 "Ibid., 194. "Ibid. "Ibid., 195. 
 
 2 Brown, op.cit., p. 62. 
 
 2 ]Ibid., p. 63. 
 
 "It is a sad commentary upon modern education, manners and intelligence to compare 
 the personnel and proceedings of these orderly conventions with those of the present 
 day, particularly the meetings of the General Assembly at Frankfort. 
 
 2 Quoted from the Journal of the Convention by Bodley, Litteli's Political Trans- 
 actions, p. 61. 
 
 "Ibid., pp. 62, 63. "Ibid., 63, 64. 
 
 These causes are here quoted: 
 
 "In the course of our enquiries we find that several laws have passed the legislature 
 of Virginia, which, although of a general nature, yet in their operation are particu- 
 lary oppressive to the people of this district; and we also find, that from our local 
 situation, we are deprived of many benefits of government, which every citizen therein 
 has a right to expect; as a few facts will sufficiently demonstrate. 
 
 "We have no power to call out the militia, our sure and only defence, to oppose ~ 
 the wicked machinations of the savages, unless in cases of actual invasion. 
 
 "We can have no executive power in the district, either to enforce the execution of 
 laws, or to grant pardons to objects of mercy; because such a power would be incon- 
 sistent with the policy of government, and contrary to the present constitution. 
 
 "We are ignorant of the laws that are passed until a long time after they are 
 enacted; and in many instances not until they have expired: by means whereof penalties 
 may be inflicted for offences never designed, and delinquents escape the punishment 
 due to their crimes. 
 
 "We are subjected to prosecute suits in the High Court of Appeals at Richmond, 
 under every disadvantage, for the want of evidence, want of friends, and want of 
 money. 
 
 "Our money must necessarily be drawn from us, not only for the support of civil 
 government, but by individuals, who are frequently under the necessity of attending 
 on the same. 
 
 "Nor is it possible for the inhabitants of this district, at so remote a distance from 
 the seat of government, ever to derive equal benefits with the citizens in the eastern 
 parts of the state; and this inconvenience must increase as our country becomes more 
 populous. 
 
 "Our commercial interests can never correspond with, or be regulated by theirs, 
 and in case of any invasion, the state of Virginia can afford us no adequate protection, 
 in comparison with the advantages we might, (if a separate state,) derive from the 
 Federal Union. 
 
 "On maturely considering truths of such importance to every inhabitant of the 
 district, with a firm persuasion that we were consulting the general good of our infant 
 country, we have unanimously resolved, f that it is expedient and necessary for this 
 district to be separated from Virginia, and established into a sovereign independent 
 state, to be known by the name of the "commonwealth of Kentucky," and taken into 
 
H I S T O RY O F K E N T U C K Y 183 
 
 union with the United States of America.' In order to effect this purpose, we have 
 agreed on a petition, to be presented to the legislature of Virginia, at their next ses- 
 sion, praying that a separation may take place, in which petition are fully set forth 
 such terms as we thought beneficial to our infant country and not inconsistent for 
 Virginia to grant." Bodley, op.cit., p. 64. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 65. "Ibid. "Ibid. *°Ibid. 
 
 31 Marshall, op.cit., I, 198. 
 "Ibid., I, 206, 207. 
 "Jbid., I, 206. 
 Charles R. Staples, History of Pioneer Lexington, 1779-1806 (Lexington, Transyl- 
 vania Press, 1939) p. 27 et seg. 
 Bodley, op.cit., p. 66, 67. 
 
 The delegates to this convention are here listed: 
 From Lincoln — Samuel McDowell, George Muter, Christopher Irvin, William Ken- 
 nedy, Benjamin Logan, Caleb Wallace, Harry Innes, John Edwards, James Speed. 
 From Fayette — James Wilkinson, James Garrard, Levi Todd, John Coburn, James 
 Trotter, John Craig, Robert Patterson. 
 
 From Jefferson — Richard Terrell, George Wilson, Benjamin Sebastian, Philip Bar- 
 bour. 
 
 From Nelson — Isaac Cox, Isaac Morrison, Andrew Hynes, Matthew Walton, James 
 Morrison, James Rogers. (Quoted from Marshall, I, 207) . 
 Bodley, op.cit., 66, 67. 
 Brown, op.cit., 70. 
 Brown, op.cit., 70, 71. 
 
 'See copy of the address in Appendix A, p. ..._. 
 40 Bodley, op.cit., 71, 72. 
 4 Brown,op.cit., pp. 72, 73. 
 4 Bodley, op.cit., p. 77. 
 "Ibid. "Ibid. "Ibid. 
 
 "Marshall, op.cit., I, 226. 
 The Filson Club Publications, No. 7, Reuben T. Durrett, "The Centenary of 
 Kentucky," (Louisville: John P. Morton Company, 1892), p. 47. 
 ""Quoted by James, op.cit., pp. 306, 307. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 323. (Quoted from Craig, The Olden Time, II, 499) . 
 "Ibid. 
 
 "'Bodley, op.cit., p. 14. 
 "Marshall, op.cit., I, 216. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 213. "Ibid., I, 220. "Ibid., I, p. 219. 
 
 Apparently Wolcott unable to attend at the last minute, had General Parsons, 
 of Massachusetts, substituted for himself. 
 " 7 James, op.cit., pp. 335, 336. 
 "Ibid., p. 377. "Ibid. 
 Marshall writes that the Indians were somewhat disposed to abide by treaties 
 and live at peace. But, he declares, "parties of white men traversing the country on 
 both sides of the Ohio, seldom permitted a party of Indians, in the most pacific time, 
 to escape, after discovery, without molestation." (I, 339, 340) . 
 "Ibid., p. 341. 
 
 '"Quoted by James, op.cit., pp. 349, 350. 
 "Ibid., p. 345. 
 "Marshall, op.cit., I, 247. 
 "'James, op.cit., p. 352. 
 
184 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 ^'Quoted by James, op.cit., p. 352. 
 "Ibid., p. 355. 
 '"Marshall, op.cit., I, 248. 
 
 m m. 
 
 James, op.cit., p. 353. 
 
 ' Writes Mr. Bodley: "By amazing inventions, forgeries, and sleight-of-hand sub- 
 stitutions of documents, he fooled a number of his confiding fellow delegates into 
 signing letters seeming to support his audaciously false representations about Clark 
 to the Governor of Virginia." (Bodley, op.cit., p. XIII) . 
 
 "Marshall, op.cit., p. 249. 
 
 ' Ibid., pp. 249, 250. He continues: "Candour, however, extorts a confession, 
 that is made with regret, that General Clark, at this time, 'was not the man he had 
 been? A high sense of injustice, and neglect, had been left to corrode the mind of 
 General Clark, by the government, whose territory he had enlarged, and whose repu- 
 tation he had raised to renown. This had produced a chagrin, which, in the mortifi- 
 cation, and ennui, incident to the want of employment, and inaction, had sought ex- 
 tinguishment, or oblivion, in the free use of ardent spirits.' " 
 
 ' Even though deeply affected by the treacherous hostility on the part of certain 
 ambitious and rebellious officers and by the deplorable mutiny, Clark resolved to gain 
 something out of the disaster; otherwise Kentucky would be attacked quickly in force 
 by the savages. Placing a garrison of one hundred and fifty men, together with a 
 company of artillery, at Vincennes to overawe the red men in that vicinity, with the 
 hope that Kentucky might not be invaded, he proceeded to send messages to the_ 
 Wabash chiefs to the effect that they choose war or peace. As usual his method of 
 dealing with the aborigines was direct and manly — the method they liked. Whether or 
 not they chose war or peace was of little moment to him. However, if they should 
 choose to continue hostilities, he wrote, "We shall adopt measures without delay to 
 send a great Many families to take possession of your lands and make a Conquest 
 of them Forever without showing you any mercy." (James, op.cit., p. 357) . He in- 
 vited them to meet him in council at Clarksville on November 20 for the consideration 
 and peace and friendship. He declared to them that the reason he had not marched 
 on and destroyed their towns was because the French at Vincennes had sent a plea 
 to him not to attack, giving a pledge to him that the Indians would remain quiet on 
 their lands. Strengthening his appeal was an accompanying note prepared by Colonel 
 J. M. P. Le Gras, French leader at Vincennes, verifying Clark's statements and ad- 
 vising them to agree to negotiate. The chiefs agreed but asked that the conference 
 be postponed until spring, which was promptly accepted by Clark. Thus, even though 
 having been betrayed and deserted, Clark managed to wrest a measure of success from 
 disaster and Kentucky again for the time being was spared. 
 
 '"Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., I, 240. 
 
 '"James, op.cit., pp. 356, 357. 
 
 "Marshall, op.cit. , I, 243. Obviously the historian is on questionable ground in 
 here accepting the unsupported statement of Mr. Marshall, a decided partisan. How- 
 ever, that this gentleman was a known and consistent conservative, constantly solicitous 
 of Virginia, there can be little doubt; and that General Wilkinson a known radical, 
 treacherous, adroit, suave and dangerous, there can be no doubt also. 
 
 '"Ibid., I, 244. 
 
 "Ibid., I, pp. 244, 245. 
 
 ™Tbe Filson Club Publications No. 6, (John Mason Brown, "The Political Begin- 
 nings of Kentucky,") p. 74. 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 185 
 
 "The Filson Club Publications No. 31, (Temple Bodley, "Littell's Political Trans- 
 actions in and Concerning Kentucky"), p. 16. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 76. **Ibid., p. 17. ' "Ibid., p. 76. "Ibid. 
 The Filson Club Publications, No. 6, p. 78. 
 
 87 Frederic L. Paxson, History of The American Frontier 1763-1893, (Boston: Hough- 
 ton Mifflin Company, 1924) , p. 84. 
 
 **The Filson Club Publications, No. 31, p. XV. 
 Paxson, op.cit., p. 84. 
 
 "The Filson Club Publications, No. 31, p. XV. 
 
 91 The question was thoroughly debated at a meeting of the "Political Club," a sort 
 of social and debate organization composed of many of the ablest, most distinguished 
 and socially prominent men of the District. So distinct an honor was it to belong 
 to this club of congenial and convivial spirits who convened on Saturday afternoons 
 and evenings at Grayson's Tavern, in Danville, that the origin of many of the politi- 
 cal animosities of Kentucky may be traced to the social jealousies of membership or 
 non-membership in this delightful association which had been organized by Judge 
 Samuel McDowell. The Filson Club Publications, No. 6, pp. 79, 80. See also The 
 Filson Club Publications, No. . ., Thomas Speed, "The Political Club," Louisville, 
 John P. Morton Company, 18), pp. 
 
 ™The Filson Club Publications No. 31, (Temple Bodley, "The Political Trans- 
 actions") , p. 78. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 79. 
 
 ' These resolutions are as follows: 
 
 "Resolved, unanimously, That the free use and navigation of the western streams 
 and rivers of this Commonwealth and of the waters leading into the sea, do of right 
 appertain to the citizens thereof, and ought to be considered as guranteed to them 
 by the laws of God and nature as well as compact. 
 
 "Resolved, unanimously, That every attempt in Congress or elsewhere to barter 
 away such right ought to be considered as subversive of justice, good faith, and the 
 great foundations of moral rectitude, and particularly of the principles which gave 
 birth to the late revolution, as well as strongly repugnant to all confidence in the 
 federal government, and destructive to its peace, safety, happiness and duration. 
 
 "Resolved, That a Committee ought to be appointed to prepare instructions to the 
 Delegates representing this State in Congress to the foregoing import, and to move 
 that honorable body to pass an act acknowledging the right of this State, and that 
 it transcends their power to cede or suspend them, and desiring the said delegates to 
 lay before the General Assembly such transactions as have taken place respecting the 
 cession of the western navigation." (The Filson Club Publications, No. 6, p. 81). 
 
 9> Bodley, op.cit., p. 80. 
 
 "[Ibid., pp. 81, 82. 
 Brown, op.cit., p. 83. 
 
 While in New York Mr. Brown resided in the same house with Mr. Madison, a 
 colleague representing the Old Dominion and close friend since William and Mary 
 College days. (Bodley, op.cit., p. xxii) . 
 
 Bodley, op.cit., p. xxiv. It should be pointed out that all of the opposition to Mr. 
 Brown's proposal was not confined to the North. 
 
 ™lbid., p. 89. 
 Ibid., p. 93. Also sketch of the life of Samuel McDowell, Appendix ___., pp. 
 'The eminent historian, Professor Andrew C. McLaughlin, writes this of the Old 
 Congress: "That sober body of deputies was getting to be worse than helpless; a 
 good part of the time it could not even pass resolutions; and it was largely made up 
 
HIS- 
 
 186 A S E S Q U I- CENTENNIAL 
 
 of decidedly second-rate men, who could not see an inch into the future. The whole 
 fabric of the Confederation was creaking in every joint." The American Nation: A 
 History, Vol. 10, "The Confederation and The Constitution," by Andrew C. Mc- 
 Laughlin (New York, Harper & Brothers, 1905) , p. 172. 
 McLaughlin, Confederation and Constitution, p. 92. 
 
 ™Ibid., p. 93. 10 Tbid., p. 94. 
 
 10G Bodley, op.cit., p. XXXI. 
 See sketch of Muter's life, Appendix , pp. 
 "Ibid. ™Ibid., pp. XXXII. XXXIII. "Ibid., p. XVII. 
 
 nl Brown, op.cit., pp. 146, 147. 
 
 "Ibid. ™Ibid. ni Ibid., p. 148. 
 
 ""See Humphrey Marshall, History of Kentucky (ed. 1812) ; T. M. Green, The 
 Spanish Conspiracy, Robert Clarke and Company (Cincinnati, 1891) ; John Mason 
 Brown, The Political Beginnings of Kentucky; Temple Bodley, Littell's Political Trans- 
 actions. 
 
 '"Caroline Maude Burson, The Stewardship of Don Esteban Miro, (New Orleans: 
 American Printing Company, 1943), p. 139. 
 
 n7 Bodley, op.cit., p. XXXV. 
 
 " 8 Brown, op.cit., pp. 115, 116 (Letter from Mr. Madison, April 9, 1788, to Mr. 
 Brown) . 
 
 "Ibid., p. 106. ™Ibid., pp. 115, 116. "Ibid., pp. 107. 108. 
 
 "Ibid., pp. 1 14, 115. "ibid., p. 107. "Ibid., p. 1 19. 
 
 125 McLaughlin, op.cit., pp. 298-305; also John Fiske, The Critical Period, (Boston r 
 Houghton Mifflin Company, 1888) , pp. 335-338. 
 
 "The efforts of the friends of the proposed Constitution were equally strenuous," 
 writes John Mason Brown. "The debate led by Madison and Pendleton was, as 
 Bancroft observes, Veil seconded by George Nicholas, John Marshall, James Innes, 
 Henry Lee, and Francis Corbin.' Their correspondence was incessant with those 
 who could aid in forming public opinion or enforcing the arguments they suggested, 
 or conteracting the suggestions that inflamed popular alarm. George Nicholas had 
 not yet made Kentucky his home, but relatives and friends had preceded him thither, 
 and these he plied with all his arguments. James Innes was in constant corres- 
 pondence with his brother, Harry Innes, at Danville, and kept him informed of all 
 that was done, and of all the hopes and fears of the friends of the Constitution. 
 John Marshall had been the agent of the District of Kentucky before the legislature 
 of Virginia, and he, it seems, consulted with Samuel McDowell, the stated chairman 
 of the Kentucky Conventions." Brown op.cit., pp. 119, 120. 
 
 It is something to Patrick Henry's ability and statesmanship to note that ten of 
 the twelve imperfections which he attributed to the Constitution were admitted and 
 remedied by immediate amendment — the Bill of Rights. 
 
 Actually before it adjourned for the last time, that legislative assembly adopted 
 this report of its committee composed of Madison, Hamilton, Williamson and Dane: 
 
 "Resolved, That the free navigation of the river Mississippi is a clear and essential 
 right of the United States, and that the same ought to be considered and supported 
 as such. 
 
 "Resolved, That no further progress be made in the negotiations with Spain by the 
 Secretary for Foreign Affairs; but that the subject to which they relate be referred to 
 the federal government which is to assemble in March next." (Brown, op.cit., p. 122) . 
 
 "Ibid., p. 123. 
 
 ™Ibid. 
 
G. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 MISSISSIPPI RIVER ADVENTURES 
 
 ardoqui had hoped that the Constitution would not be adopted, 
 hoped that the Congress could agree to forego the use of the Mississippi for a term of. 
 years in return for commercial concessions elsewhere, had hoped that the District would 
 become an independent state, hoped that it would secede from the Union and join Spain. 
 All these possibilities had failed. As a stop to the Americans to keep them from opening 
 the Mississippi by force he resolved, if pleasing to His Catholic Majesty, to grant a 
 tract of Spanish trans-Mississippi land to American colonists. Such a venture had 
 possibilities. 
 
 THE NEW MADRID COLONY, 1788 
 
 Gardoqui's object in encouraging Americans to colonize in Spanish trans-Mississippi 
 territory was principally to establish a buffer between Kentucky (the fierce, violent 
 Kentuckians) and New Orleans. As the Spanish government had, for a number of 
 years, been eager to cause more settlers to occupy Louisiana, Gardoqui must have 
 suggested the possibilities there to several men whom he met in New York, and many 
 schemes must have been spun. The most magnificent project, however, was granted 
 to Colonel George Morgan, an attractive and energetic man of remarkable versatility 
 — a capable soldier, experienced explorer, bold adventurer and shrewd trader. Morgan 
 had represented the Philadelphia mercantile establishment of Morgan, Buynton (his 
 father-in-law) and Wharton prior to the Revolution and as early as 1766 had traded 
 in the vicinity of Kaskaskia, where he staked claims to thousands of acres of land. 
 Title to this land having been challenged, and the Old Congress' failure to pass upon 
 a request for permission to plant a colony in Illinois had caused him to turn to Gar- 
 doqui with a grand and fascinating scheme for colonization. So attractive and captiva- 
 ting was Morgan that the crafty, cynical Spaniard, whose motto was to distrust every- 
 one, was completely convinced, even by such illogical arguments as, that the proposed 
 colony would hold not only the Kentuckians but all Americans as well in check, and 
 that the buffer settlement would secure to Spain an exclusive use of the Lower Missis- 
 sippi. With magnificent self-confidence and grandiloquent poise Colonel Morgan re- 
 quested and received in gigantic proportions. He requested an immense block of land 
 on the west bank of the Mississippi, "extending back and westward through two degrees 
 of longitude, and having a river front from Cape Cinque Hommes to the mouth of 
 the St. Francis, or Red River, in which province Morgan, the grande empresario, was 
 to transmigrate thousands of laborers, farmers, and artisans, and to found the town 
 of New Madrid (Ance a la Graisse) Missouri. Although the item of personal re- 
 compense to the leading adventurers occupies a large portion of the plans for the 
 colony, Morgan requested and received assurances of religious freedom, unobstructed 
 commerce to the Gulf and a measure of local self-government, although the oath of 
 fealty to the Spanish monarch was required. He even promised the entranced Gar- 
 doqui a population of 100,000 souls within ten years. Apparently neither Gardoqui 
 nor Florida-Blanca scrutinized Morgan's requests very closely, because they were both 
 numerous and excessive, little indeed having been overlooked, even concerning be- 
 quests for his wife and five children. 4 
 
 Enroute to his new trans-Mississippi province, Colonel Morgan passed through 
 Lexington, Kentucky, February 1, 1789. According to General James Wilkinson, 
 ever on the alert for news concerning the Spanish West, Morgan was taking along 
 two surveyors and forty or fifty settlers "who will continue," wrote the jealous General 
 
188 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 to Miro, "to be as American as when on the Ohio."" 5 The ambitious empresario moved 
 directly to the west bank of the Mississippi and established New Madrid. 
 
 Much jealousy was occasioned by the enterprising Morgan's movement. None 
 was more perturbed than the pretentious Wilkinson, who by that time was a Spanish 
 agent and subject, as well as American officer; he was very anxious lest he lose some 
 trade advantages on the Mississippi — promised by Governor Miro — as a result of the 
 new colony. Immediately putting "a spy upon him (Morgan) ," this colorful renegade 
 hastily dispatched a statement of his fears to Miro, the Governor at New Orleans. 
 Colonel Morgan presented himself and his credentials, as well as an outline of his 
 plans and requirements, to Don Esteban Miro at New Orleans early in June of 1789. 
 The governor was amazed at the magnificence and audacity of both the empresario's 
 scheme for colonizing and his personal assumptions and demands, commenting upon 
 it to the Minister for the Indies, he exclaimed: "The conditions are such that one 
 may prophesy the Colony will be completely independent in fifty years and give 
 cause to grave intranquillity concerning the Province and New Spain. By such a 
 plan I would hazard the complete depopulation of the United States within ten years; 
 and bring to Louisiana the greater part of the population including perhaps the Con- 
 gress itself, since the Surveyor General, Don Thomas Hutchins, has already inquired 
 of Don Daniel Clark of New Orleans if Colonel Morgan's plan had been accepted, 
 for if it were he would willingly relinquish his post and salary to become a vassal of 
 His Majesty. Furthermore he was confident New Jersey, Fort Pitt and Kentucky 
 would lose their best citizens." 7 
 
 The intelligent Miro, with a genuinely sincere interest in Spanish success in Louis- 
 iana, as well as his own personal preferment over Gardoqui, was able to persuade 
 the ambitious Morgan that his grand plans might be depressed somewhat without 
 greatly injuring his imperialistic aspirations, although the allotments of 320 acres to 
 these men who had accompanied him, together with his (Morgan's) being Civil Com- 
 mandant and Indian Commissioner, were allowed to stand. The entire establishment 
 of New Madrid was to comprise twenty-five square leagues, extending twenty leagues 
 above and ten below the military post of the newly established city, to be known later 
 as New Madrid. 8 And be it said to the credit of the Spanish governor that he, al- 
 though doubting that any salutary results would emanate from the novel venture, 
 strove to make the New Madrid colony a success for His Catholic Majesty's govern- 
 ment: He sent one of his most trusted subordinates, Lieutenant Don Pedro Foucher, 
 to New Madrid to look after military affairs; he strove to realize some success for 
 the Church; provided for fair treatment for the Indians; even called attention to the 
 other Spaniards in Louisiana that the King wished the new colonists treated with 
 "such kindness and gentleness that they would be inspired to love His Royal Person 
 and Government;" 9 and he permitted the new colonists to send "their goods and food- 
 stuff duty free, if for their own use, and subject to a 6% import duty if intended 
 for sale to their neighbors." 10 
 
 That Colonel Morgan was more successful as a promoter than a colonizer is gleaned 
 from a complaint which John Ward, one of the colonists, brought to New Orleans 
 in January of 1790 in behalf of forty-two of the inhabitants against Colonel Morgan. 
 The principal complaint was that Morgan had required each to pay $48.00 for their 
 320 acre allotments, while settlers in other parts of the province allowed like acreage 
 were granted land free by the Crown, with no incidental costs. The settlers, more- 
 over, were alarmed lest the magnificent empresario "find it to his caprice" to levy 
 burdensome taxes upon them. Their fears had become so real that a sort of anarchy 
 had broken out, causing the settlers of Ance a la Graisse, as it was known by the 
 Spaniards, to seek aid of the Crown, which being unobtained, they vowed that they 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 189 
 
 would abandon the country. 11 And thus the ambitious Colonel Morgan's grand schemes 
 and colony decayed. 
 
 Many bold designers, both American and alien applied to the Spanish minister, 
 at New York, and to the Spanish governor, at New Orleans, for vast tracts of land 
 for colonizing purposes, and the Spaniards were usually inclined to be generous, even 
 lavish, in their grants, usually made so by their fervid desire to avoid violence with 
 the Kentuckians and to maintain their hold on Louisiana and the Mississippi. 
 
 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK'S SCHEME OF COLONIZATION IN 
 
 LOUISIANA, 1788 
 
 Even George Rogers Clark, with a weather-eye to the possibilities in Spanish terri- 
 tory, forwarded March, 1788 a scheme to the Spanish governor proposing a large grant 
 of land — extending from the thirty-sixth to the thirty-eighth degree of latitude and 
 measuring back westward from the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers two 
 degrees of longitude. Upon this land he wished to plant a colony; he desired to be 
 able to grant 1000 acres to each family and requested the privilege of religious tolera- 
 tion and of a local government. Nothing, however, came of these proposals. In 
 fact, in a short time Clark was threatening to lead an army against the Spaniards, 
 which position was more natural than the colonization overtures. 
 
 PIERRE WOUVER D'ARGES 
 
 While Colonel Morgan was enthusiastically pushing his disasterous scheme, another 
 gentleman, Pierre Wouver d'Arges, a Knight of St. Louis, who had served with the 
 French Grenadiers in the American Revolution, was pressing a project which might 
 have been equally disasterous for Spain. D'Arges, like others, had been rewarded 
 for his war services by means of land-grants on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. He 
 had visited these holdings and perhaps attempted to occupy them. In 1785 while 
 passing through Kentucky, he met General Wilkinson, whose suspicions he aroused. 
 The designs of d'Arges were perhaps a bit shadowy, which would serve all the more 
 to raise Wilkinson's suspicions, because he himself, dealt in and thrived on shadowy 
 designs. At any rate the former Grenadier had business in Kentucky which seemed 
 to be more significant than the claim of interest in the District only as "a naturalist." 
 The wily Wilkinson reported him as unsociable and as having only one friend in the 
 District, a Frenchman by name of Barthelemi Tardiveau. During an entire year, 
 Wilkinson declared, this Frenchman, Wouver d'Arges, never went two leagues away 
 from Louisville," in spite of the fact that he had drawn heavily upon M. Barbe 
 Marbois, then Consul General for France at Philadelphia." Wilkinson's suspicions 
 were further aroused by d'Arges' expression of admiration for the progress which had 
 been made in Kentucky and the note of delight sounded upon his reading the first 
 petition for separation from Virginia. According to Wilkinson, he exclaimed "My 
 God! My Country (France) has been blind but soon she will open her eyes!" 1 
 
 A year after going to Kentucky, d'Arges decided to abandon his lands north of the 
 Ohio because of the constant violence between the Americans and red men, causing 
 farming and speculating in that region to be both hazardous and of doubtful profit- 
 ability. Before his departure, however, some neighbors, claiming to represent 1582 
 families, either Germans or of German descent, begged him to arrange for "their 
 emigration to His Catholic Majesty's dominions farther south on the Mississippi." 1 ' 
 This proposal being pleasing, d'Arges journeyed to New Orleans to make formal 
 application for lands for a colony. There Miro informed him of a lack of authority 
 to make such a grant but probably suggested a trip to Europe that the proposals 
 might be laid before persons with more authority. By February 1787, d'Arges had 
 
190 A S E S Q U I- CENTENNIAL 
 
 directed his way to Paris where the scheme was presented enthusiastically to the Span- 
 ish Ambassador, the Count de Aranda. So animated was this diplomat by the pro- 
 posal that d'Arges was sent to Madrid for conference with Florida-Blanca. The 
 Prime Minister being equally impressed, the plan was taken, before the Supreme 
 Council, which body presented it to the King. Within four days after this, Royal 
 assent to d'Arges' colonization scheme had been obtained and arrangements made for 
 the former French Grenadier to sail from La Coruna for New York in September. 
 The Crown had also provided him with 600 dubloons for his expenses and introductory 
 letters for Don Gardoqui and Governor Miro. 16 
 
 The instructions from Florida-Blanca to Wouver d'Arges, both written and oral, 
 were very broad and liberal in their scope, intended to lure Kentuckians and, in fact, 
 perhaps Kentucky herself, into the Spanish fold. It appears that the enthusiastic 
 Frenchman had expressed to the Spanish Ministers perfect confidence in being able to 
 induce not less than the 1582 Kentucky families to migrate gladly to Spanish do- 
 minions on the Mississippi. 1 ' His Catholic Majesty's Government therefore wished 
 to make the venture thoroughly worthwhile for the colonists by making liberal land 
 grants, trade privileges and a measure of both political and religious freedom. The 
 secret oral instructions to d'Arges may have had to do with detaching Kentucky from 
 the Union. D'Arges and Gardoqui having disagreed as to the former's first work — 
 whether the first concern was to encourage Kentuckians to migrate to Louisiana, as 
 Gardoqui contended, or promote commercial enterprises, as d'Arges insisted — the 
 French empresario was instructed to proceed to New Orleans by way of Havana in- 
 stead of going to Kentucky first, reaching his destination in April 1788. 
 
 The interests of Miro were of such nature that he deemed the gentle detention 
 of d'Arges in New Arleans advisable. The energetic Frenchman had hoped to go 
 up the River to the Ohio by September, at least by October. He was not aware that 
 the previous year General James Wilkinson, while visiting the Crescent city, had 
 negotiated a commercial treaty with Miro, whereby the Spaniard was to have all the 
 Kentucky products desired, both of the principals expecting vast personal profits; the 
 principal general object of the agreement was presumed to be the delivery of Ken- 
 tucky and her people to Spain. 19 With such brilliant projects pending therefore Miro 
 felt that if d'Arges were allowed to go to Kentucky Wilkinson would suspect duplicity 
 and the transactions in their parleys thereby be jeopardized, which could mean the 
 loss of great potential wealth, as well as Kentucky. At least he determined to hold 
 d'Arges until advice would have been received from Madrid concerning the Wilkinson 
 proposals, while allowing him the 100 pesos stipulated by the Crown. Moreover, 
 after all, Miro was not quite convinced of the Frenchman's integrity and zeal, nor 
 had been Gardoqui apparently. Therefore, Miro contrived to hold the adventurous 
 Frenchman, who had become extremely impatient, as well as critical of the Governor, 
 until December upon the excuse of awaiting instructions from Florida-Blanca. Though 
 he suspected the "doublecross," d'Arges could do little more than chafe and mani- 
 fest displeasure. On December 1, 1788, there arrived in New Orleans the long 
 awaited order approving heartily the negotiations with Wilkinson, His Catholic Majesty 
 even being willing to lower the tariff duties, formerly agreed to on imports down the 
 River, from 25% to 15%. This intelligence made d'Arges more or less useless and 
 certainly a person to be kept out of Kentucky; however, the Crown was prepared to 
 offer him the new post of Commandant to be established at Ance a la Graisse, with 
 a compensation of 100 pesos monthly and the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Either 
 these proposals reached d'Arges too late or he was already launched upon a new enter- 
 prise, because nothing came of them. 
 
 It is entirely possible that d'Arges was splaying" Spain for what he could get, with 
 the ultimate object of detaching Kentucky for France. Particularly does this idea 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 191 
 
 gain credence when consideration is given to the fact that several Frenchmen were in 
 Kentucky at about the same time, ostensibly upon "scientfic" missions. 21 Writes Dr. 
 Burson: "It is perhaps significant that d'Arges' friend Tardeveau (Barthelemi) , 
 while later enjoying the hospitality of the French Minister to the Congress, the Count 
 de Moustier, is said to have presented that gentleman with a carefully prepared report 
 on the settlements of the Western District."" It is certainly true that the Minister, 
 the Count de Moustier, did send to his Government a Memoire, a large part of which 
 was prepared by B. Tardeveau. 
 
 The biography of Barthelemi Tardiveau considered the thumb-sketch of that 
 Frenchman by the Count de Mouster, minister plenipotentiary from France to the 
 United States, 1788 and 1789, so excellent that he quoted it verbatim. This de- 
 scription is both vivid and revealing, as the following indicates: 
 
 THE TARDIVEAUS, BARTHELEMI AND PIERRE 
 
 "M. Tardiveau — a French trader, who has been living several years in Kentucky 
 and who is now negotiating with Congress in behalf of the people of Illinois. He 
 has seen the interior of America as a Philosopher, a Politician, and a Trader. His 
 conversation is interesting, but he writes even better than he talks. He is a man of 
 much talent and of keen feeling which has not been dulled by long misfortunes and 
 a tedious sojourn in a near wilderness. It is hard to know what one should admire 
 the most — his courage or his patience, or his ease in imitating successively the abbe 
 Raynal's style or Pope's harmonious touch. The Muses have tried to make amends 
 to him for the rigour of fate. M. Tardiveau has given me much interesting informa- 
 tion concerning the country he inhabits. If circumstances should lead us to enter 
 into relations with the Western country, he should be remembered; his advice and 
 perhaps his influence would be of great use to us . . ." 2 
 
 Barthelemi was born in Nantes, France, about 1750. He was of a large family. 
 Nantes at the time was one of the chief colonial ports of France. The commercial 
 aristocracy were said to have decided leaning toward the liberal "Philosophy" of the 
 time. In this environment the Tardiveaus, Pierrre and Barthelemi, were reared. 
 They received superb educations, Barthelemi gaining mastery of both English and 
 Spanish — which later served him well, indeed. The city of Nantes became a very 
 important port for the shipping of goods to the American colonies at the outbreak of 
 the Revolution, the populace there being decidedly friendly to the American cause. 
 It was in connection with commerce, and the Revolution, that Barthelemi came to 
 Philadelphia in the summer of 1777, having been favorably recommended to Benjamin 
 Franklin to "establish himself in Philadelphia/ 4 Perhaps his brother Pierre came at 
 the same time. Soon the brothers were at the head of a Philadelphia commercial 
 house, which was doing considerable business in supplying flour to the Virginia regi- 
 ments in the West. In 1781, perhaps earlier, the Tardiveaus were in Kentucky furnish- 
 ing flour to George Rogers Clark's men. In payment for these supplies, Virginia 
 granted them land. An agreement signed in October 1782 states that "in considera- 
 tion of 70,000 weight of flour delivered by Bartholomew Tardivou merchant" this man 
 was to receive certain lands, being thus situated: "2,000 acres on the north fork of 
 Licking Creek within 8 miles of the Ohio, 1,000 acres on Clay Creek a few miles 
 above Drumon's Lick, and 500 acres on Richland Creek ten miles from Bryan's station 
 on the Kentucky River.""' 
 
 The Tardiveaus became associated with Jean A. Honore in Kentucky and estab- 
 lished at Louisville a firm which traded in fur, flour and lands/ Jean and Barthelemi 
 sailed from Redstone, on the Monongahela, in 1782 and 1783, to trade with the 
 Spaniards at New Orleans; however, they were attacked by hostile Indians and robbed, 
 
192 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 and their commercial venture with the Crescent City thus frustrated. Their plans 
 were completely stopped in 1784 by the closing of the Mississippi River to American 
 trade by Spain. 
 
 The taking of the French towns Kaskaskia, Cahokia and Vincennes in the Illinois 
 territory resulted in much bad feeling between the tranquil priest-guided French in- 
 habitants, with their communal land system and elaborate legal procedure, and the 
 lawless, irreverant and highly individualistic and roving Yankees, Irishmen and Scots, 
 who scorned the Frenchmen as "a priest-ridden, backward people, devoid of ambition 
 or enterprise."" There was constant disputing until the Northwest Ordinance of 
 1787, was actually put into effect. Naturally, while Virginia claimed the territory, 
 her Board of Western Commissioners received complaints of every sort. Mr. Rice 
 gives this example: "A certain M. Carbonneaux, a not aire in the Illinois settlements, 
 requested a private conference in order to discuss his countrymen's grievances. The 
 Board consented, and on February 3, 1783, "the attorney general for the Western 
 District met him at the Falls and by the assistance of Capt. Tardeveux [sic] as in- 
 terpreter collected what he had to say and presented it in writing to the Board . . .' 
 M. Carbonneaux had indeed a great deal to say. After exposing in detail the mis- 
 treatment of the French settlers at the hands of the Virginia troops, — fences had been 
 broken, cows stolen, and orchards raided — the law-abiding notaire suggested that the 
 inhabitants of Illinois be permitted to enjoy their own laws and customs." 28 Not 
 only his brilliant linquistic attainments but his familiarity with people, customs and 
 affairs of the West and his easy manners, affable disposition and charm of conversation 
 made Barthelemi invaluable as an interpreter in the West, in fact for this ability 
 he became a political figure in the West — an ability which in the long run served him 
 better than any other talent used in his American ventures. 
 
 HIS DISLIKE OF THE WILDERNESS 
 
 Barthelemi was perhaps never happy in the West, where there was so little to 
 harmonize with his sensitive, poetic and cultured intellect. He had come principally 
 to gain money, which elusive phantom he chased through the wilds, sometimes feeling 
 fortune near, but it, like the port of gold at the end of a rainbow, never quite within 
 his grasp. He stayed on even when the gloom of pressing loneliness had driven him 
 practically to despair. B. Tardiveau was not troubled by questions of allegiance. 
 He turned now to Americans, now to French, now to Spanish. As Mr. Rice points 
 out, "He served any master who could help him rebuild his fortune and leave the 
 'savage country which offered no scope for his talents.' ' : At Louisville d'Arges be- 
 came his confidential friend, and he was acquainted with Wilkinson, Dunn, Bullitt, 
 and Brown. He decided to try his luck with the Spanish authorities at New Orleans. 
 
 Before he turned his concentrated attention toward Louisiana, however, Barthelemi 
 was engaged by General Harmar to act as interpreter for him at Vincennes, Kaskaskia 
 and Cahokia in 1787. This task, he performed so admirably that the French- Americans 
 there, fearful of losing their lands, engaged him as their special agent before Congress 
 at New York. So able and ingratiating was he at the Capital that the French- 
 Americans were able to secure Congressional recognition to their claims and in addition 
 more land. In New York Tardiveau met and was much in company with Don Diego 
 Gardoqui, the Count de Moustier and St. John de Crevecoeur, with the last named 
 of whom he became as intimate and affectionate as a brother. Most likely Gardoqui 
 suggested to Barthelemi the establishing of a colony in Louisiana. 
 
 Not only did the Count de Moustier forward copies of Tardiveau's Memoir sur 
 Mississippi to the French Foreign Office, but he incorporated much of it into his own 
 report to France. Barthelemi had made a favorable impression upon him, so favorable 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 193 
 
 indeed that the French minister plenipotentiary not only dispatched glowing reports 
 but recommended his protege for a vice-consulate. 
 
 Major Beckwith, unofficial British agent at New York, obtained a copy of Tardi- 
 veau's paper, which found its way to the Foreign Office in London, and Gardoqui in 
 due time dispatched information concerning its contents to the Spanish Court. Quite 
 naturally the Spaniard was keenly interested in the Memorial. The Spanish minister, 
 realizing the importance of this ambitious Frenchman, decided to court his favor — 
 this by holding out hope of financial gain by service to H. C. M.'s Government, a 
 thing done deftly and discreetly. 
 
 In New York B. Tardiveau spent many happy hours with kindred spirits in the 
 winter and spring of 1788. His pleasantest hours, however, were spent in company 
 with St. John de Crevecoeur, who had only recently published his Lettres d'un Culti- 
 vates, which fired the cultured soul of Tardiveau well-nigh to ecstacy — as the daughter, 
 "Fanny" Crevecoeur, his heart. The two men parted reluctantly in the Spring, but 
 kept up a warm correspondence for some time following, much of which is extant/ 1 
 
 Late in the year, 1789, B. Tardiveau awaited in Danville the arrival of General 
 Arthur St. Clair, newly-appointed American governor in the Northwest. Barthelemi 
 there met his brother Pierre, both of whom were known, respected and received by 
 the leading families there, Barthelemi even having the distinction of becoming a 
 member of the exclusive Political Club. The brothers, in Danville, were busily en- 
 gaged in the project of building a cotton factory, an enterprise in which many promi- 
 nent Kentuckians, including General Wilkinson and Payton Short, were engaged. 
 Barthelemi, as usual, like the people of the West, in general, was short of cash. If 
 and when land was sold, he was obliged to accept more land, cotton, wheat, flour 
 tobacco or some other commodity as payment. This circumstance being the cast 
 throughout the West, tremendous pressure was put upon New Orleans, which had 
 good hard Spanish specie, for commercial privileges. 
 
 General St. Clair, arriving in the Northwest early in 1790, B. Tardiveau repaired 
 to Kaskaskia, where he reported his Congressional mission and received his com- 
 mission — more land. 
 
 St. Clair recognizing this lonely Frenchman's ability, placed great confidence in 
 him, which meant a good deal, because soon Barthelemi was a probate judge and 
 lieutenant colonel of St. Clair County. It appears, in addition, that he served under 
 General Josiah Harmar in October 1790 and under General St. Clair in 1791 against 
 the Indians, being listed as one who served without donation. Throughout the year 
 1791, Barthelemi was engaged in the three activities, Indian fighting, land speculation 
 and commercial endeavor. 
 
 THE SCIOTO AFFAIR, 1790-1792 
 
 In the year 1790 an affair developed which changed Barthelemi's life perceptibly. 
 That year, following the successful efforts of the land promoters — the Rev. Manasseh 
 Cutler, William Duer, Winthrop Sargent and other Ohio Associates'" — the Scioto Land 
 Company was able to entice upward of 600 emigrants, mostly French, from Europe 
 to buy land on the Scioto River and build a town known as Gallipolis. These emi- 
 grants, by the "riren voice" and through the clever salesmanship of Joel Barlow, 
 agent of the Scioto Associates, were lured into purchasing some 300,000 acres of 
 the "Garden of Eden in Ohio." These came. They were in no way prepared for 
 frontier wilderness life; the Indians were dangerous and threatening; and their titles 
 had not been made good by Congress. The result was as might have been expected 
 — disaster, tragedy, failure; it became known as a great fraud perpetrated upon in- 
 nocent unhappy people by clever swindlers eager to dispoil oppressed wretched immi- 
 
194 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 grants of hard-earned money. Many of the promoters were actually distressed about 
 the unhappy affair. None was more so than the Marquis de Lezay-Marnesia, a 
 French Utopian desiring to take oppressed Frenchmen "back to nature," who had 
 aided Barlow in Europe. The colony within a few months time was reduced from 
 a population of more than 600 to approximately 100, the wretched people having 
 died or fled. So acute was the situation that the French Minister, Jean de Ternant, 
 discussed plans with Pierre Audrian, French Merchant at Pittsburgh (friend of B. 
 Tardiveau) for removing and saving the remnant of the unhappy colonists. 
 
 Quite logically, Barthelemi became interested in his unfortunate fellow-countrymen. 
 As one of the best informed men concerning the West, he was sought for advice and 
 help, and, being both a humanitarian and a man of commercial enterprise, he quite 
 naturally proposed the establishment of a colony in Louisiana for the rehabilitation 
 of his countrymen, together with others — a certain percentage of Americans, for their 
 initiative and enterprise, and a good class of financially independent Frenchmen These 
 proposals he made in a long letter — a sort of sequel to the "Memoire sur le Missis- 
 sippi" — to the Baron Carondelet, newly-appointed governor of Louisiana, who suc- 
 ceeded Miro. He proposed also commercial concessions on the Mississippi and the 
 building of flour mills in Illinois. Furthermore Barthelemi suggested being sent to 
 Europe — Savoy, Switzerland, Germany, Flanders, Holland — as recruiting agent for 
 immigrants and an advance of 4000 pesos juertes. The governor was sufficiently in- 
 terested to summons Barthelemi to New Orleans for conference. The journey was 
 made, and Tardiveau made a good impression; in fact, the Baron was so well pleased 
 with the proposals that on April 16, 1793, he entered into an agreement with Barthe- 
 lemi, Audrain and Pierre de Hault de Lassus, a Scioto emigre to advance 9000 pesos 
 for building flour mills at New Madrid and Ste. Genevieve and, in addition, pre- 
 pared to lay out territory near New Madrid for the new colony. In Fort Celeste at 
 New Madrid, December 15, 1793, Barthelemi took the oath of allegiance to the King 
 of Spain. 4 
 
 Although not having gone to Europe, Barthelemi felt very confident that his pro- 
 posed colony would become a fact, and he was directed by Baron de Carondelet to 
 gather a group of workmen to begin construction of a flour mill at New Madrid. 
 The work progressed very slowly and many months later, June 1794, Tardiveau was 
 obliged to report that the construction was at a stand-still. 5 
 
 The reason work was at a stand-still was because the workmen had been pressed 
 into service to work on fortifications. The reason for the throwing up of fortifica- 
 tions, an urgent business, was the fear that the Revolutionary Legion would attack 
 Louisiana. The Legion was, or was to be, an army raised in the United States by 
 Frenchmen and certain prominent Western Americans for the purpose of wrestling 
 Louisiana from the Spanish authority and restoring it to the former owners, the French 
 Members of the National Assembly in France, particularly the Girondists, throughout 
 1792 were interested in the magnificent project, and their agent "Citizen" Edmond 
 Charles Genet in 1793 labored energetically in forming the Revolutionary Legion. 
 Barthelemi's Memoire sur le Mississippi had borne fruit, but not as its author — a 
 conservate who had not kept pace with affairs in France — had expected, that is through 
 action of the Bourbon Monarch, with the Count de Moustier, de Crevecoeur and the 
 Tardiveaus taking a prominent role. Spanish intelligence was quick to report activities 
 in the West to Baron Carondelet. This report was deleterious to the interests of 
 Barthelemi. The governor of Louisiana learned that Andre Michaux and Auguste 
 Lachaise, agents sent by Genet to Kentucky in 1793, had enlisted the aid of brother 
 Pierre, who had acted as interpreter for Lachaise when he had called upon George 
 Rogers Clark, Benjamin Logan and others, relative to leading and supporting the 
 proposed march of the Legion upon New Orleans. 3 " 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 195 
 
 The prospect of a raid into Louisiana by the "barbarous" Westerners thoroughly 
 alarmed the Spaniards, and, when his relationship to Pierre was ascertained, Barthe- 
 lemi was practically ruined. Carondelet even learned that Pierre held a colonel's 
 commission in the Revolutionary Legion and that Pierre Audrain had been receiving 
 Patriots in his home at Fort Pitt. The home government rebuked Baron Carondelet 
 and penalized him for his rashness in making concessions to Tardiveau, whose gran- 
 diose scheme of commerce and colonization immediately tottered and crashed as 
 completely as a house of cards. ' 
 
 All of his dreams shattered, Barthelemi, whose greatest ambition in life had been 
 to amass a small fortune to enable his return to Europe that he might spend the 
 remainder of his life with cultured, refined people and follow the muses, sadly re- 
 paired to New Madrid to spend his few remaining years, perfunctorily farming the 
 rich lands which he owned. His settlement, New Bourbon, a few miles from New 
 Madrid, languished and was abandoned, and the colony of New Bourbon became 
 only a sad memory. Don Barthelemi Tardiveau died at New Madrid, February 22, 
 1801. 38 
 
 Pierre lived to be a very old man; lived with his old friend of Revolutionary War 
 days, Robert Craddock, at a place called "The Hermitage," near Bowling Green, 
 Kentucky, dying in the year 1835. The old bachelors lived like hermits and were 
 thought "queer"; however, they were public-spirited, giving their scanty property to 
 the cause of public education in Bowling Green, which city has erected a monument 
 to their memory. 4 
 
 GENERAL JAMES WILKINSON'S CONSPIRACY WITH SPAIN- 
 FIRST PHASE, 1787—1789 
 GENERAL WILKINSON'S TRADE SCHEME, 1787 
 
 In the summer of 1787 General Wilkinson launched a project of far-reaching im- 
 portance, to both Kentucky and the Nation, one whose repercussions have not as 
 yet ceased to be heard. June of that year found him purchasing tobacco, flour, bacon, 
 butter, etc., from the farmers of Fayette County for shipment down the Mississippi 
 to New Orleans, with the idea of testing the possibility of trade in . the prohibited 
 Lower Mississippi region with the Spaniards, trade with the object of lucrative profits. 
 
 Perhaps it will be well to sketch briefly Wilkinson's public career, because he was 
 in many respects the most remarkable man who came to Kentucky during the Critical 
 Period. He arrived in Lexington in February, 1784, with a cargo of goods from a 
 Philadelphia establishment and opened a store the following month, offering to the 
 people everything from buttons to wines. 41 
 
 Though young in years, 32, he was widely experienced. As will be recalled, he 
 had served under Arnold, Gates and Washington, been involved in the Conway Cabal', 
 found irregular in his accounts as Clothing-General, had double-crossed Arnold and 
 betrayed Gates and had shrunk from accepting a duel. Yet unabashed he had arrived 
 in Kentucky greedy for power, replete with stratagems and eager for spoils. Intrigue 
 was his ruling passion, with hard drinking and greed for money pushing hard for 
 second place. 42 
 
 Wilkinson was readily welcomed by the people of Fayette County; in fact, his 
 popularity rose amazingly fast, particularly with the young men. His attractive person- 
 ality, colorful imagination, bold schemes and florid language appealed to them. Be- 
 sides, he had associated with the great, and he was a charming story-teller. The 
 Kentucky historian, Mr. Temple Bodley, writes of him: "He was the most designing 
 plausible, treacherous, and amazingly successful scoundrel in American history." 43 
 
 In the summer of 1786, Wilkinson contested for a seat in the third convention to 
 
 14— Vol. I 
 
196 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 be held in Danville the following September. This was the famous race with young 
 Humphrey Marshall, recently arrived from Virginia — a race which has been men- 
 tioned. Incidentally, Marshall, who became a prominent public figure and Kentucky's 
 first outstanding historian, was as remarkable in some respects as Wilkinson. Strange- 
 ly enough, these two exerted a greater influence on Kentucky history for a few years 
 than any other men. Mr. Temple Bodley describes Marshall as: "an ambitious, coarse- 
 grained, shrewd young lawyer-politician of twenty-six, who seems to have had a positive 
 mania for vindictive personal quarrel." 44 Yet Humphrey Marshall was more than 
 this. He had marked ability, unusual courage, dauntless persistency, solid education 
 and, in a short time, unusual wealth. He became the leader of the Federalist party 
 in Kentucky. 
 
 The race between Marshall and Wilkinson in the summer of 1786, in Fayette 
 County was not remarkable; however, Wilkinson misjudged his rival. In one of their 
 speakings, Wilkinson, as usual over-confident, treated him with sneering contempt, 
 offending the proud young Marshall irreparably. Then Wilkinson defeated him by 
 a clever election trick. "Doubtless sore over his defeat," writes Mr. Bodley, "and 
 galled by witnessing the great popularity and influence of his more accomplished rival, 
 Marshall was henceforth Wilkinson's inveterate enemy, tracking and pursuing him 
 unflaggingly and savagely." 45 
 
 General Wilkinson, probably amazed at his fabulous popularity, shrewdly realized 
 the possibility of converting it into power and wealth. He therefore cunningly plotted 
 to ruin General George Rogers Clark, this by means of forged evidences to officials 
 in the East, in order to supercede him as Commissioner of Indian Affairs for Congress 
 and to become military leader in the West. In both of these he was remarkably suc- 
 cessful. 
 
 His next scheme was to take advantage of the turmoil in Kentucky to impress the 
 Spanish governor of Louisiana, Don Esteban Miro, with the idea that the Kentuckians 
 were on the point of invading Louisiana, that he alone had power to prevent it. 
 
 Accordingly, in June (1783) Wilkinson set out for New Orleans, his cargo having 
 gone on before. He had dispatched, very shrewdly, a letter previously to an ac- 
 quaintance, Daniel Clark — later a partner — stating that Don Esteban Miro should 
 be warned not to confiscate the cargo nor cause the arrest of its owner, who was one 
 of the most powerful personages in the West, lest the acts lead to war and perhaps 
 the loss of Louisiana to Spain. Actually in presenting the matter to the governor, 
 Clark hinted that the great personage, Wilkinson, perhaps would like nothing better 
 than to be arrested, that an excuse for war would thereby be obtained. 
 
 The cargo had been halted at Natchez; however, upon the commandant's ascer- 
 taining the prominence of its owner, he, fearing that confiscation would displease his 
 superiors, permitted the produce to pass. The boat reach New Orleans prior to 
 Wilkinson's arrival. There, the Intendant, Don Martin Navarro, was upon the point 
 of confiscating the cargo as a matter of routine when warning came from Miro that 
 the usual procedure be not followed. Writes the nephew of Daniel Clark: "Gov- 
 ernor Miro, unacquainted with the American government, ignorant even of the po- 
 sition of Kentucky with respect to his own province, but alarmed at the very idea of 
 an irruption of Kentucky-men, whom he feared without knowing their strength, 
 communicated his wishes that the guard be removed from the boat, which was ac- 
 cordingly done." 48 
 
 Wilkinson arrived in New Orleans July 2, as audacious, confident, magniloquent, 
 bland, suave and elegant as ever. Though no blast of trumpets or thirty-gun salute 
 announced the arrival, he created an impression of magnificence, pomp and circum- 
 stance forthwith. After calling upon Clark for a brief conference, he repaired with 
 a petition to the executive chambers, where for hours he fascinated, frightened and 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 197 
 
 amazed Don Esteban. The wily General informed the Governor that the Kentuckians, 
 furious at the failure of either Virginia or the Congress to open the Mississippi for 
 their trade, were gathering a huge army under George Rogers Clark to attack the 
 Spaniards in Louisiana and to take New Orleans. Miro was palpably alarmed. 
 Wilkinson suggested, however, that the impending catastrophe might be averted, that 
 the Kentuckians might even be persuaded to secede from the Confederation and ally 
 themselves with Spain, if His Catholic Majesty's Government would offer them the 
 free use of the Mississippi. He represented his own influence in the West as being 
 of such transcendant importance that he with Miro's help could bring about the se- 
 cession and alliance. 47 
 
 The realistic Miro, whose training had been European, though fascinated and quite 
 deceived by Wilkinson, surely must have suspected the adventurer's profuse expressions 
 of primary interest in the welfare of "his suffering fellow Kentuckians" as being a 
 bit overplayed. At least he was moved to summons the Intendant Navarro as a 
 witness and collaborator in the transactions. Wilkinson had professed willingness to 
 make any personal sacrifice, "even his honor/' to help his fellow Kentuckians. He 
 need not have gone that far, because Miro, realizing the military weakness of Louisiana, 
 was prepared to make concessions. The General professed to be so solicitous of his 
 countrymen's welfare that he was willing to renounce his American citizenship and 
 take the oath of allegiance to the King of Spain. This he did, asking that he be 
 made an agent of the Crown with the assignment of leading Kentucky into secession 
 and alliance with Spain. Having presented most dramatically his "sales talk," he 
 deftly and casually suggested that as a "starter" an exclusive privilege of trading in 
 Louisiana with Kentucky products might be accorded him. This would be a tempting 
 bait, he alleged, to lure Kentuckians into taking the desired step. Of course, it may 
 be presumed that Wilkinson's chief interest was personal profits. With this end in 
 view, therefore, it was actually neither to his interest to secure an independent Ken- 
 tucky nor a free trade Mississippi, because either would destroy his long dreamed of 
 trade monopoly on the Mississippi between Kentucky and Louisiana. He could make 
 plausible arguments to both Miro and the Kentuckians, and he was clever enough to 
 speak with moving conviction. 
 
 WILKINSON NEGOTIATES WITH MIRO AND NAVARRO 
 
 Unquestionably impressed with Wilkinson's magnificent proposals Miro and Na- 
 varro, feeling that a supreme stroke of diplomacy for His Catholic Majesty's Govern- 
 ment was being negotiated, requested the General to reduce his proposals to writing. 
 Wilkinson agreeing begged two weeks in which to gain much needed rest and re- 
 laxation. By August 22 (1787) he had prepared a document known as his "Memo- 
 rial," handed it to Miro and Navarro, who, on September 25, sent it with comments 
 of their own to Valdes, Foreign Secretary at Madrid and President of the Council of 
 the Indes. 48 By way of introducing the "Memorial" to Valdes they wrote: 
 
 "After ten or twelve days, which he (Wilkinson) asked to be given in order to 
 rest, and having announced that he had projects of great importance to propose, he 
 related to us all that is contained in the annexed Memorial, on which he offered to 
 work as he really did, delivering it to us on the 3rd of this month. He is a young 
 man of about 33 years, although by his aspect he represents more, of exceedingly 
 agreeable appearance, married, has three small children; in his manners and address 
 he shows that he has received a very good education, which his uncommon talents 
 have taken advantage of, as is evidenced in his memorial; trustworthy reports we 
 have obtained are convincing circumstances that asure us he exerts the greatest in- 
 fluence in the said district of Kentucky, which would enable him to persuade the in- 
 habitants of the country to follow his leadership in a critical moment. 
 
198 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 "The Memorial explains itself so well that it would be presumptious on our part 
 and wearisome to your Excellency were we to undertake to comment on it in its 
 entirity, and we will therefore limit ourselves only to corroborating it and reporting 
 upon the truth of its principal points. All he relates regarding the situation of the 
 Western Settlements up to the Appalachian Mountains is absolutely certain, as also 
 that they are powerful on account of their numerous population from which also 
 results the certainty that Louisiana cannot resist their attacks, in the supposition of 
 course, that it will not be judged advisable to pledge H. M. to maintain an army 
 here." 49 
 
 WILKINSON'S "MEMORIAL," 1787 
 
 Wilkinson's "Memorial" is, to say the least, an able and unique paper. It con- 
 tains much history, some of which is incorrectly analyzed, and is replete with sensa- 
 tional suggestions and convincing argument, and withal penned in the elegant and 
 smooth, though ornate and rather heavy, English prose style of the eighteenth century. 
 Much of what he stated was apparently true.' 
 
 General Wilkinson opens his amazing document by picturing the misfortune and 
 misery of the people of Kentucky — their desertion by Virginia and by the Congress 
 and the East's desire to stifle and ruin the West by negotiating the closing of the 
 Mississippi. He pictured then the dreams of Kentuckians, and Westerners in general, 
 of prosperity and opulance, dreams which were somewhat shattered by the knowledge 
 that the East was trying to bargain away the free navigation of the Mississippi for 
 purely selfish reasons. He asserted that high British officials, sizing up the situation, 
 had made overtures to the West to make a joint attack on New Orleans to open the 
 Mississippi, averring that Britain would consider Louisiana as sufficient pay for her 
 efforts, while the West would be remunerated by free navigation. And he warned 
 that the people of Kentucky "will direct their aims to the navigation of the Mississippi, 
 the object upon which are based all their hopes of worldly happiness, and without 
 which poverty and misery will be their only fate; but they will pursue it with valor 
 and perseverance: knowing well the character of the Americans and the martial spirit, 
 the last war infused into all classes. I speak with certainty when I say they will take 
 up any proposition, no matter how desperate, in a cause of the utmost importance 
 to them and their posterity." 1 War against Spain, however, stated the General, was 
 not a desideratum of the people of the District; rather they preferred to separate 
 themselves from the American Congress and thereafter to negotiate a friendly arrange- 
 ment with the Government of H. C. M. 
 
 Wilkinson further stated that Spain should not relinquish or weaken her hold on 
 the Mississippi, insisting, however, that she should grant commercial concessions there 
 only to those who deserved them; an arrangement which would both tease the West- 
 erners and keep them in a turmoil. These, in turn, would look to the Congress to 
 effect the opening of that river, which task being impossible for that body, the West 
 would be inclined to turn away from the Union. Those who would be instrumental 
 in leading Kentucky from the Union and into amity with Spain would be the ones 
 who would deserve special trade concessions and that these men should also receive 
 assignments as agents of the Spanish king, that he, Wilkinson, was one of those 
 "humble" men ready for appointment and service. If this plan failed, he believed 
 that Spain should build a strong fort at Ance a la Graisse. Once H. C. M. had the 
 Mississippi strongly guarded from the north, he declared, American colonists might be 
 welcomed to Louisiana, persons of substance being preferred. Some inducements other 
 than generous gifts of land should be granted, he thought, such as kindly, English- 
 speaking priests to walk among American emigrants "to teach the young and propagate 
 the faith."" He felt that these Americans, enjoying their property in freedom, un- 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 199 
 
 coerced in matters of religion and free from burdensome imposts would in time come 
 to regard Spain with mingled feelings of gratitude and affection. This desideratum's 
 having been a fait acompli, the satisfied settlers would write enthusiastic letters to 
 their former countrymen, which would bring swarms of desirable Americans to Louis- 
 iana and Florida. 
 
 General Wilkinson further promised to be alert and faithful in Kentucky to the 
 interests of the H. C. M. and to keep the proper officials informed as to the events 
 transpiring on the Ohio. The wily General, a seasoned politician, was constrained 
 to warn that the "vagaries of fortune," always capricious, uncertain and unforeseen 
 might conspire, in spite of their best efforts, to defeat their plans and expectations; 
 he believed that the utmost secrecy should be maintained, suggesting, in addition, that 
 the success of the magnitudinous venture was contingent upon Miro's continuing as 
 Governor of Louisiana and upon Martin Navarro's being appointed Minister to the 
 United States. 
 
 So much for the conspiracy. Another matter close to Wilkinson's heart was pre- 
 sented. He wished that opportunity be granted him to provide in a material way 
 for his wife and children. He therefore asked "to be allowed to consign to his agent 
 in New Orleans a cargo of negroes, cattle, tobacco, flour, bacon, grease, butter and 
 apples, to the value of 50 or 60,000 pesos."' He was willing that the returns from 
 this cargo be deposited in the Royal Treasury at New Orleans "as a guarantee of 
 conduct or the outcome of the plan was known or he had established himself in 
 Louisiana." 54 
 
 Miro and Navarro appear to have been completely satisfied with Wilkinson and 
 his "Memorial." They permitted him to dispose of his cargo in New Orleans at a 
 profit and allowed a special trade monopoly down the Mississippi; taking his own 
 figures as to amount of produce. They provided him with a cipher (and, incidentally, 
 "satisfied the curious of New Orleans by announcing that the gentleman had come 
 representing some Western establishments desirous of trading with the Capital"), 
 and, in order to receive the reply at the earliest possible date, they dispatched the 
 "Memorial" direct to Valdes, thereby, cutting out the usual circuituous procedure. 
 
 In the same dispatches Miro asked for instructions concerning the matters to which 
 Wilkinson had alluded: The status to be given immigrants from America; the 
 nature of the negotiations to be projected with Kentucky, if and when that District 
 should secede from the American Congress; whether or not Wilkinson and his friends 
 were to be permitted to trade with Louisiana, paying 6 per cent duty, since both the 
 colony and H. C. M. stood to profit thereby. Among the dispatches were also re- 
 quests that the governorship of the Louisiana be made a Captaincy General, to 
 facilitate the Wilkinson proposals and that Navarro replace Gardoqui as envoy to 
 the Congress. 53 
 
 It should be pointed out that the Ministers at Madrid were perhaps equally as 
 impressed as Miro and Navarro. They held the matter under advisement for a year, 
 by the end of which, having come to a decision, informed the Governor and Indendant 
 of Louisiana that the Crown approved of the steps taken. Wilkinson was authorized 
 to proceed, and his trade monopoly was secured. 
 
 GENERAL WILKINSON'S PERFIDY 
 
 According to Mr. Bodley's statement, General Wilkinson, while in New Orleans, 
 wrote a confidential letter to his friend, General Arthur St. Clair (then President of 
 the Congress) , stating that he was charmed with the Spanish officials and that, "what- 
 ever may have been my opinion, and whatever may be the opinion of others, I am 
 convinced that the commercial treaty with Spain, on the principles proposed by Mr. 
 
200 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 Gardoqui, ought to be embraced by the United States. "The subject," he continues, 
 "has been viewed through a false medium by the southern interests, and, without 
 reasoning upon it, I must observe that should they finally reject the proposition of 
 Mr. Gardoqui, I fear they will soon have cause to regret the decision and weep over 
 their own works." 
 
 Having accomplished more perhaps than his wildest dreams had conjured, the wily 
 and elated Wilkinson was ready to depart from New Orleans. He carried two non- 
 committal letters to further his alleged scheme to detach Kentucky. One of these 
 was designed to be exhibited to Kentuckians freely and generally, while the other was 
 to be served only to certain leaders or "notables," whom Wilkinson represented as 
 favoring his scheme. 
 
 Writes Mr. Bodley: 
 
 ff Armed with these letters, the traitor took ship for Charleston and thence passed 
 on to Virginia, where the people were then greatly agitated about the adoption of 
 the proposed Federal Constitution. From Richmond Governor Randolph wrote Madi- 
 son: 'General Wilkinson, who is now here, is not to be appeased in his violence 
 against the Constitution; and it is presumed that, through his means, the vote of 
 Kentucky will have the same direction. He is irritated by Colonel Harry Lee declaring 
 that the surrender of the Mississippi would probably be among the early acts of the 
 new Congress.' Of all things, Wilkinson wanted political disorder in the west — 
 not efficient federal or state government. If he was to profit by his exclusive trade 
 privilege, the controversy in Congress over the navigation must continue; the Ken- 
 tuckians must be kept incensed about its proposed surrender; to Miro they must be 
 made to seem almost ready for secession from the Union. Wilkinson wrote him that 
 Kentucky would be an independent state by January 1, 1789, and soon, thereafter, 
 would send treaty commissioners to New Orleans." 
 
 WILKINSON'S RETURN 
 
 In February (1788) General Wilkinson arrived in Lexington regaled with all the 
 pomp and circumstance of a conquering hero. "He arrived," writes Mr. Staples, 
 "in a chariot, with four horses, and several slaves." His suspicious, acrid and im- 
 placable enemy, Humphrey Marshall, having described the grand entry, declared: 
 "Soon it was rumoured that he had made a contract with the Spanish governor, which 
 enabled him to ship tobacco, and deposit it in the King's store, at ten dollars per 
 hundred — which none but Spanish subjects could do. In fact, that he was a Spanish 
 subject; having taken the necessary oath of allegiance, &c. He forthwith proposed 
 buying tobacco, and let it be known that he had an exclusive privilege at New Orleans; 
 spoke in high terms of the right of navigating the Mississippi, and of a commercial 
 connexion between the two countries — with occasional hints, and inuendoes, that nothing 
 was necessary to bring it about, but the separation, and independence of Kentucky- 
 He had previously encouraged the raising of tobacco, and was now the buyer of that 
 article: for which he sometimes paid a few Spanish dollars; and readily promised the 
 residue. This was perfectly satisfactory to the great number of those who made it; 
 and who could see no other certain market for the commodity: while in others, it 
 excited a disposition to become adventurers in the same kind of enterprise: a few 
 there were, whose suspicions were awakened, 'that more was meant than a mere 
 traffic in tobacco'; but, who, being left without any certain data, on which to raise an 
 accusation; and still less able to stem the current of popular opinion, now gathering 
 and running in favor of Wilkinson — kept their conjectures to themselves, or whispered 
 them to a few friends only. For measures were soon taken, and sentiments and 
 opinions, propagated, to make the people believe that they were greatly indebted to 
 General Wilkinson, for opening that navigation, which Mr. Jay had wanted to sur- 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 201 
 
 render; and for realizing that commerce, which congress would not procure for Ken- 
 tucky. That the general, had secured the emoluments of this trade to himself, was 
 a circumstance not worth mentioning, among these patriotic leaders. "' 
 
 WILKINSON'S BRIBE LIST OF KENTUCKY "NOTABLES" 
 
 General Wilkinson had asked Miro for $18,700 to bribe the "notables" of Ken- . 
 tucky to join the "conspiracy," but the Spanish Governor would not advance the 
 money without the General's revealing the names of those to be bribed and the yearly 
 amount deemed necessary to keep them loyal to and working in the Spanish interest. 
 Whereopon Wilkinson presented the amazing "List of the Notables of Kentucky that 
 should be pledged to H. C. M." This "List," which is copied from the Pontalba 
 Papers, follows: 
 
 "Harry Innes, Esquire, attorney and counseller at law, now has $500.00 from the 
 State of Virginia, $1000.00. 
 
 Benjamin Sebastian, Jurist, $1000.00. 
 
 John Brown, Member of Congress, $1000.00. 
 
 Caleb Wallace, one of our Judges, enjoys $1000.00 from the State of Virginia, 
 $1000.00. 
 
 John Fowler, zealous advocate of our cause and a man of influence, $1000.00. 
 
 The above are confidential friends, who support my plans. 
 
 Benjamin Logan, lately a Major of Militia, $800.00. 
 
 Isaac Shelby, a planter of means and influence, $800.00. 
 
 James Garard, Colonel of Militia and a man of influence, $800.00. 
 
 These favor separation from Virginia and an amicable agreement with Spain. 
 
 William Wood, a Minister of great power, $500.00. 
 
 Henry Lee, Colonel of Militia, $500.00. 
 
 Richard Taylor, a planter of much influence, $500.00. 
 
 These favor separation from Virginia, but their aims do not go beyond that. 
 
 General Lawson arrived in Kentucky just at the time that I was leaving there; he 
 is a gentleman of high attainments and Military knowledge, is my friend and will 
 embrace our principles, $1000.00. 
 
 George Nicholas, has lately arrived in Kentucky; he is among the more wealthy 
 gentlemen of the Country, of great ability and it will be a great point to attract him 
 to our political aims. I have for some time been an intimate friend of his and I 
 believe that he will offer his services, $2000.00. 
 
 Alexander Scott Bullitt, a man of means and ability, but very capricious. Never- 
 theless he will serve our cause, $1000.00. 
 
 Thomas Marshall, Surveyor, $1000.00. 
 
 Humphrey Marshall, a villain without principles, unscrupulous and may cause us 
 much harm, $600.00. 
 
 George Muter, has $1000.00 from the State of Virginia, $1200.00. 
 
 Green Clay, a private party of some influence, $500.00. 
 
 Samuel Taylor, a private party of some influence, $500.00. 
 
 Robert Caldwell, Colonel of Militia, $500.00. 
 
 Richard Sanderson, Surveyor, Popular, but not very capable, $500.00. 
 
 Total, $18,700.00"" 
 
 WILKINSON PLIES HIS TRADE BETWEEN KENTUCKY AND NEW 
 
 ORLEANS 
 
 Throughout the spring and summer of 1788, Wilkinson was busy raising money, 
 buying tobacco, pork and other products, building boats and securing crews to carry 
 
202 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 his produce to New Orleans. He dispatched a pirogue from Kentucky in March, 
 which had arrived in New Orleans on April 10, only twenty days after departure 
 and a record. He paused to write Miro of his political progress, pointing out that 
 Kentucky had seceded from Virginia and would be independent by December 31; 
 he enclosed extracts from the Kentucky Gazette of March 8 (1788), which reported 
 the Danville Assembly of September 17, 1787 to indicate his progress. But he re- 
 minded his friend, Miro, that all this had required much money; claimed that he had 
 spent 4,000 pesos of his own money, but, if H. C. M. would accept his tobacco, 
 Spain need go to no further expense. 60 On June 10, 1788, five flatboats arrived from 
 Kentucky a sixth having sunk enroute. This shipment consisted of tobacco, "166 
 tuns of casks," a cargo valued at 7,000 pesos. The master of the flotilla, Major Isaac 
 Dunn, of Danville, brought a secret code from Wilkinson purporting to show that 
 Kentuckians were planning to secede and that "their allegiance would be determined 
 by the current of the river flowing past their dwellings."" 1 This message stated that 
 an assembly would meet in June, to determine the District's form of government and 
 elect a political agent empowered to treat with Spain concerning the proposed alliance. 
 Wilkinson averred that he had confided their plans only to two persons, Colonel 
 Alexander Bullitt and Jarvey Jones, but had shown several friends the letter from 
 Miro and Navarro, all being favorably impressed. " 
 
 WILKINSON'S TROUBLES 
 
 Wilkinson, although maintaining a magnificent appearance, did not greatly prosper. 
 On the face of it his monopoly was something of a bonanza. Yet, actually, it did 
 not work satisfactorily, for many reasons, even though luck seemed to be with the 
 General on all occasions. The collecting of supplies, which could not be paid for 
 in cash, was neither easy nor cheap; the purchasing or building boats was expensive; 
 crewmen were scarce; the journey down the river was fraught with many hazards, 
 anyone of which might wipe out a cargo. Moreover, Spain actually did not need 
 tobacco, which was Wilkinson's principal product of trade; could not conveniently 
 take enough Kentucky tobacco to give Kentuckians the relief desired; actually Spanish 
 pesos were not as plentiful as Wilkinson had hoped, and, consequently, he was obliged 
 to take much of his return in products, such as liquors and dry goods, and the trans- 
 porting of these goods from New Orleans to Kentucky was no easy problem, though 
 these commodities were rather welcomed in Kentucky (yet, the people desired good 
 hard money, a commodity extremely scarce throughout the West) . Politically, Wilk- 
 inson had his problems too. In fact, he was obliged to spend so much time keeping 
 up the fraying ends of the threads of his crazy-quilt political adventures that necessary 
 attention could not be given to his commercial project, even though it was his major 
 interest. He must keep the Kentuckians believing him their loyal leader, the Spaniard 
 believing him their loyal agent. Time became as tortuous to him as the bed of 
 Procrustes. But he kept his ready wits working; he could face his creditors, converse 
 with those he had betrayed and give the "double cross" to admiring friends with 
 warmth, eagerness, charm, ease, elegance and confidence so fascinating as to excite 
 the interest even of his most bitter and implacable enemy, Humphrey Marshall. 
 But the noose, which he had no intentions of permitting to ensnare, steadily tightened: 
 profits did not materialize, causing no end of difficulties; Kentuckians became more 
 and more suspicious of his intentions, especially after the expected profits failed to 
 become reality; and Miro, also growing rather suspicious, asked for more proof that 
 his scheme of detaching Kentucky was succeeding. Furthermore, the General enter- 
 tained lavishly and speculated unwisely in land schemes. Nevertheless, things for a 
 time shaped themselves to fit his prognostications. With a view to shaping things to 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 203 
 
 enhance his fortunes, he became a member of the next Kentucky convention, which 
 convened in Danville, July 28, 1788, and lasted only for a few days. 
 
 THE CONVENTION OF JULY, 1788 
 
 Although the personnel of the July convention had been chosen in April, a quorum 
 could not be mustered on the day set, the 28th, and therefore the assembly did not 
 officially begin until July 29. That day, the chairman, Judge Samuel McDowell, 
 laid before the body the "sundry papers and resolutions of the Congress of the 
 United States, addressed to Samuel McDowell, esquire, late President of the Con- 
 vention in Kentucky." 03 The members of the convention, their patience already taxed 
 to the breaking point, were, as it may be fully visualized, not moved to a demonstra- 
 tion of affection toward the Congress by these communications announcing the decision 
 of the Confederation government to reject Kentucky's plea for admission to the 
 Union. Following a brief discussion, the convention went into committee of the 
 whole, which after deliberation reported through Shelby. As some of the repre- 
 sentatives favored certain changes, the report was referred back to committee for 
 amendments. 
 
 At this point the procedure of the convention was broken by the introduction of a 
 proposal; probably made by Judge Caleb Wallace, then a Justice of the Supreme Court 
 of the District, declaring the acts of the Virginia Legislature annulled by the recent 
 acts of Congress. This proposal was committed "to a committee of the whole con- 
 vention. 
 
 That this resolution was debated with any unusual degree of animation is not 
 brought out in the Journal of the convention, though it was modified and revised 
 before adoption. The historian, Humphrey Marshall, reads treasonable activities into 
 the proceedings of this convention. If such did occur, the minutes do not bear it out. 
 
 Following this action, Mr. Shelby, on July 31, reported that the resolutions previous- 
 ly reported, having been amended to include the suggestions of various delegates, were 
 ready to be voted upon. Having been twice read, these were unanimously agreed to, 
 even sustained by Colonel Thomas Marshall, who later suspected treasonable designs 
 on the part of certain members. The most important of these resolutions is here 
 quoted: 
 
 "Resolved, Whereas, It appears to the Members of this Convention that the United 
 States in Congress assembled have for the present declined to ratify the compact 
 entered into between the legislature of Virginia and the people of this District re- 
 specting the erection of the District into an Independent State, in consequence of 
 which the powers vested in the Convention are dissolved, and whatever order or 
 resolution they pass can not be considered as having any legal force or obligation — 
 But being anxious for the safety and prosperity of ourselves and constituents do 
 earnestly recommend to the good people inhabiting the several counties within the 
 District, each to elect five representatives on the times of holding their Courts in the 
 month of October next, to meet at Danville on the first Monday in November follow- 
 ing, to continued in office until the first day of January, 1790; and that they delegate 
 to their said representatives full powers to take such measures for. obtaining admission 
 of the District as a separate and independent member of the United States of America, 
 and the navigation of the river Mississippi, as may appear most conducive to these 
 important purposes. And also to form a constitution of government for the District 
 and organize the same when they shall judge it necessary, or to do and accomplish 
 whatever on a consideration of the state of the District may in their opinion promote 
 its interests. * 
 
 Another resolution provided that every free male inhabitant of each county be 
 given the privilege of voting in his respective county. It was also resolved that the 
 
204 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 printer of the Kentucky Gazette be requested to publish the proceedings and resolves 
 of Congress laid before the convention, as well as the proceedings of the convention 
 and the recommendation for another meeting in November. 07 
 
 Perhaps it should be pointed out that the contents of letters from John Brown to 
 Judges Muter and McDowell relating to the meeting between Messrs. Brown and 
 Gardoqui were known to some, even to the Marshalls, and there was no indication of 
 a suspicion of treason on Brown's part, such as is insinuated by Humphrey Marshall 
 in his History. In fact concerning the Kentucky congressman, this resolution was 
 passed unanimously, to wit: 
 
 "Ordered, That the President to wait on John Brown, Esquire, when he returns 
 to this District, and in the most respectful terms express to him the obligations which 
 this Convention and their constituents are under to him for his faithful attention to 
 their interest in Congress. 
 
 "Ordered, That the thanks of this Convention be given to Mr. Thomas Todd for 
 his services as Clerk this session." 69 
 
 The July convention adjourned after passage of its resolutions. The members 
 separated in a spirit of harmony, agreed as they were, without a dissenting vote, upon 
 the plan to organize a new state and apply for admission to the Union. 
 
 BRITISH INTRIGUE IN AND CONCERNING KENTUCKY 
 
 How Spain and France were concerned with schemes to detach Kentucky have been 
 presented. Now evidence will be presented to show an interest on the part of Eng- 
 land to make the District a protectorate of Britain. Before entering upon this matter, 
 however, a few observations will be presented here. A cursory "knowledge of the 
 history of the District during this period proves conclusively that the people there 
 were, at best, restive and dissatisfied with both the governments of Virginia and 
 of the Confederation. They felt no particular attachment to the Union. In fact, 
 even in the East there was not a strong attachment on the part of the generality to 
 the Union, nor a desire to forge a stronger, larger union, as is proven by the efforts 
 in the East to stifle the growth of the West and to prevent the adoption of the Con- 
 stitution. The chances are that the majority of people in Kentucky were more an- 
 tagonistic to the Union than favorable, and the abundance of foreign intrigue would 
 seem to indicate that many of the inhabitants were not averse to joining a foreign 
 country. Perhaps knowledge of this condition spurred a few of the leaders, including 
 John Brown, to seek desperately to obtain admission of the District to the Union. 
 Conditions in the West were not unknown to the leaders in the East. As early as 
 1784, General Washington had made these statements: 
 
 "The western states (I speak now from my own observation) stand as it were 
 upon a pivot; the touch of a feather would turn them any way. They have looked 
 down the Mississippi . . . and they have looked that way for no other reason than 
 because they could glide gently down the stream, without considering perhaps, the 
 difficulties back again, and the time necessary to perform in it, and because they have 
 no other means of coming to us but by long land transportation and unimproved."'" 
 
 Conditions in Kentucky being generally known, adventurers repaired thereto to 
 profit by the situation, adventurers ready to adopt and further (or pretend to further) 
 the nationality of whatsoever government would give the highest return. 
 
 THE VISIT OF DR. JOHN CONNOLLY, OCTOBER, 1788 
 
 Taking up again the subject of British intrigue in Kentucky, General Wilkinson 
 in his "Memorial" to Governor Miro had stated that "an English gentleman of rank 
 approached me on the subject, and although he would not guarantee the conduct of 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 205 
 
 his Court, did not however doubt that at whatever time the Western Americans would 
 separate themselves from the primitive States, Great Britain would receive them 
 under its protection with pleasure . . . Would supply them from Canada, with arms, 
 ammunition, clothing and money for attacking Louisiana and opening the Mississippi."' 
 This statement may or may not have been true; yet, judging by developments a year 
 later, it probably was. Be this as it may, in October, 1788, Dr. John Connolly, came 
 to Kentucky and made practically the same proposals. 
 
 DOCTOR CONNOLLY'S PROPOSALS 
 
 Dr. Connolly, who journey from Detroit, made his visit ostensibly to initiate 
 proceedings calculated to restore his 2,000 acres of land at the Falls (the site of 
 Louisville) , which when he had espoused the Tory cause had been confiscated under 
 the verdict of a jury. The amount and value of the land justified a visit without 
 one's being suspected of international espionage and intrigue. Connolly moved 
 stealthily, quickly and adroitly, communicating his design only to four persons, 
 namely, General Wilkinson, Colonel Thomas Marshall, Judge George Muter and 
 General Charles Scott. Wilkinson assuming that the purpose of the visit was to 
 enlist his services, showed himself friendly and interested and communicated to Miro 
 the proposals made. These stated briefly were: The British Government would equip, 
 arm and finance an expedition of 10,000 troops down the Mississippi to New Orleans, 
 where a British fleet from the mouth of that stream would cooperate with the land 
 expedition. The object would be to open the Mississippi for the Western settlers, 
 so that they might engage in commerce to the Gulf freely and safely. Dr. Connolly, 
 in the name of Lord Dorchester, Governor-General of Canada, promised "honors and 
 rewards to such men of influence as would fall into the scheme, and military rank 
 in the British army equal to that which had been held by them in the American 
 service."' A part of the army would be composed of Kentuckians. Presumably 
 Britain would make Kentucky a protectorate; perhaps even take over Louisiana. 
 
 Apparently Dr. Connolly's proposition was not attractive enough to bring forth 
 either duplicity or triplicity on Wilkinson's part, because he neither became a British 
 agent nor swore allegiance to His Majesty King George III, which is a good indica- 
 tion that Dr. Connolly did not offer him enough. 
 
 It appears that practically the same proposals were presented to Colonel Marshall 
 as to Wilkinson. These items were revealed by Colonel Marshall in a letter to 
 President Washington, a personal friend, February 12, 1789. In this same letter he 
 intimated his suspicions of John Brown's desiring Kentucky's separation from the 
 Union and alliance with Spain, a suspicion later admitted to have been groundless. 
 This letter being of unusual significance is here quoted: 
 
 "Dear General — The nature of the subject upon which I do myself the honor to 
 address you, will I hope be admitted as an excuse for the trouble you will have in 
 reading this letter. The political situation of this Western country appears to me to 
 be something critical, and therefore I have undertaken, though reluctantly, to give 
 you a statement of facts preceding our present situation, so far as they have fallen 
 within my knowledge. 
 
 "In the Spring, 1787, General Wilkinson went to New Orleans with a cargo of 
 tobacco, &c. and was requested by the Governor of that place to give his sentiments 
 freely, in writing, respecting the political interest of Spain and the Americans of the 
 United States inhabiting the western waters. This he did in an Essay, as he calls 
 it, contained in about 15 or 20 sheets of paper. I saw the Governor's letter to him 
 acknowledging the receipt of it, and informing him that he would lay it before the 
 King of Spain: a copy of this essay he produced and read in our late Convention 
 
206 A S E S Q U I- CENTENNIAL 
 
 held for the district; and as well as my memory (which I acknowledge is not very 
 accurate) serves me, the substance of it is as follows: 
 
 "He urges our natural right of following the current of rivers flowing through 
 our country into the sea. He states the extent of our country, the richness of our 
 soil, abounding in choice productions proper for foreign markets, to which we have 
 no means of conveying them, should the Mississippi be shut against us. He states 
 the advantages Spain might derive from allowing us the free use of that river. He 
 goes on to shew the rapid population of this country, and the eagerness with which 
 every individual looks forward to that navigation. He states the general abhorence 
 with which the people of the western waters received the intelligence that Congress 
 was about to sacrifice their dearest interest by ceding to Spain the navigation of the 
 Mississippi for twenty or thirty years, and represent it as a fact that they are on the 
 point of separating themselves totally from the Union on that account. 
 
 "He addresses himself to their fears by a pompous display of our force, and urges 
 that should Spain be so blind to her true interest as to refuse us an amicable participa- 
 tion in the navigation of that river, and thereby force us into violent measures, 'Great 
 Britain stands with her arms expanded ready to receive us,' and assist our efforts for 
 the accomplishment of that object, and quotes a conversation he had a few years 
 ago with a member of the British Parliament to that effect. He states the facility 
 with which their province of Louisiana might be invaded by the United forces of 
 the British and Americans, by means of the river Illinois, and the practicability of 
 proceeding from thence to their province of New Orleans, it not being more than 
 twenty days. Britain, he says, will in that case aim at the possession of Louisiana 
 and New Orleans for herself, and leave the freedom of the navigation to America; 
 and pretty forcibly the great danger the Spanish interest in North America would be 
 in from the British power, should that nation possess herself of the mouth of the 
 Mississippi, and thereby hold the two grand portals of North America, — that river 
 and the St. Lawrence; and concludes with an apology for the freedom with which 
 he has treated the subject, and adds, that it has at their own particular request been 
 drawn from a man 'whose head may err, but whose heart cannot deceive.' 
 
 "This essay has, I am told, been laid before the Court of Madrid; and as a violent 
 separation from the United States seems to be laid down as the groundwork upon 
 which every other consequence depends, I think it probably has produced instructions 
 from that Court to the Spanish resident at Congress, that if the Western country 
 should declare itself seperate from the Union, to avail himself of that event. I found 
 this conjecture upon Mr. Brown's confidential letters from Congress to his friends 
 in this district; some of those letters I have seen. 
 
 "He mentions that in a private conversation, which he had with Don Gardoqui, 
 he was informed that so long as this country remained a part of the Union, we had 
 nothing to expect from Spain, but if we were to declare ourselves seperate from, 
 and independent of, the United States, he was authorized to treat with us respecting 
 commerce and the navigation of the Mississippi. 
 
 "Mr. Brown, having returned from Congress, was called upon in Convention in 
 November last, to give such information respecting our affairs in Congress as might 
 be proper for us to know. He told us that he did not think himself at liberty to 
 mention what passed in private conversations between himself and Don Gardoqui 
 respecting us; but this much he would venture to inform us, that provided we were 
 united in our councils, everything we could wish for was in our reach; — meaning, as 
 it appeared fully to me, that if we would assume government and declare seperate 
 from the Union, Spain would give us every indulgence we could ask for. 
 
 "About this time arrived from Canada the famous Doctor (now Colonel) Conolly; 
 his ostensible business was to inquire after, and repossess himself of, some lands he 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 207 
 
 formerly held at the Falls of Ohio; but I believe his real business was to sound the 
 disposition of the leading men of this district respecting the Spanish business. He 
 knew that both Colonel Muter and myself had given it all the opposition in Con- 
 vention we were able to do, and before he left the district, paid us a visit, though 
 neither of us had the honor of the least acquaintance with him. 
 
 "He was introduced by Colonel John Campbell, formerly a prisoner taken by the 
 Indians, and confined in Canada, who previously informed us of the proposition he 
 was about to make. He (Conolly) presently entered upon his subject, urged the 
 great importance the navigation of the Mississippi must be of to the inhabitants of 
 the Western Waters, shewed the absolute necessity of our possessing it, and concluded 
 with assurances that were we disposed to assert our right respecting that navigation, 
 Lord Dorchester was cordially disposed to give us powerful assistance, that his Lord- 
 ship had (I think he said) four thousand British troops in Canada beside two regi- 
 ments at Detroit, and could furnish us with arms, ammunition, clothing and money; 
 that, with this assistance, we might possess ourselves of New Orleans, fortify the 
 Balize at the mouth of the river, and keep possession in spite of the utmost efforts 
 of Spain to the contrary. He made very confident professions of Lord Dorchester's 
 wishes to cultivate the most friendly intercourse with the people of this country, 
 and of his own desire to become serviceable to us, and with so much seeming sincerity, 
 that had I not before been acquainted with his character as a man of intrigue and 
 artful address, I should in all probability have given him my confidence. 
 
 "He admitted of the justice of my observation, and said he had urged the same to 
 his Lordship before he left Canada. He denied that the Indians are stimulated 
 against us by the British, and says Lord Dorchester observed that the Indians are 
 free and independent nations, and have a right to make peace or war as they think 
 fit, and that he could not with propriety interfere. He promised, however, on his 
 return to Canada to repeat his arguments to his Lordship on the subject, and hopes, 
 he says, to succeed. At taking his leave he begged very politely the favor of our 
 correspondence; we both promised him, provided he would begin it, and devise a 
 means of carrying it on. He did not tell me that he was authorized by Lord Dor- 
 chester to make us these offers in his name, nor did I ask him; but General Scott 
 informs me that he told him that his Lordship had authorized him to use his name 
 in this business. 
 
 "It appears plain to me that the offers of Lord Dorchester, as well as those of 
 Spain, are founded on a supposition that it is a fact that we are about to seperate 
 from the Union; else, why are those offers not made to Congress? We shall, I 
 fear, never be safe from the machinations of our enemies, as well internal as external, 
 until we have a seperate State, and are admitted into the Union as a federal member. 
 I have the honor to be, with the most respecful esteem and regard, your most obedient 
 and very humble servant, T. Marshall."' 3 
 
 Although no vital result emanated from it, the visit of Dr. Connolly initiated a 
 train of small events, which forge a veritable chain, each link connected: A few 
 Kentuckians became Britain conscious, as well as her friends. Suspicion of a British 
 plot was aroused. Information relative to Kentucky was obtained. A report was 
 made by Connolly to Lord Dorchester. The matter of this report was sent, in the 
 spring of 1789, to Lord Sydney, British Foreign Secretary, who probably assigned an 
 agent to look into developments in Kentucky and the West. Quite soon it was known 
 in foreign courts that Kentucky, a disturbed territory, was an object of international 
 intrigue. Lord Dorchester after expressing the apprehension that the American Con- 
 gress was likely to surrender the privilege of free navigation of the Mississippi to 
 Spain made this sensational revelation: 
 
208 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 "In a late Convention, held at Danville, it has been proposed by those who are 
 gained over to the Spanish views to throw themselves under the protection of that 
 power. 
 
 "But the general result of more private councils among them is said to be to declare 
 Independence of the Federal Union, take possession of New Orleans, and look to 
 Great Britain for such assistance as might enable them to accomplish these designs. 
 A Committee of private correspondence has been appointed by them to influence all 
 the inhabitants west of the mountains in the same measures. 
 
 "I enclose some of their political reflexions on the state of aifairs in the Western 
 country." 74 
 
 One of the enclosures, captioned "Desultory Reflections By a Gentleman of Ken- 
 tucky," reveals the fact that, as Mr. Brown states, "a few prominent men were in- 
 clined to look with complacency upon the suggested British protectorate."" The 
 "Gentleman," after projecting the propositions, that the Mississippi is indispensable to 
 the people of the West, that barriers — economic and political, as well as physical, 
 interposed between the East and the West to make inexpedient their permanent co- 
 hesion or union, and that the mouth of the Mississippi attracts the West as a Mecca 
 or magnate, to the oblivion of the East, presents a rather startling depiction of the 
 state of affairs in Kentucky and the remedy. This statement of his then follows: 
 
 "The politics of the Western Country are verging fast to a crisis, and must speedily 
 eventuate in an appeal to the patronage of Spain or Britain. No interruption can 
 be apprehended from Congress, the seditious temper and jarring of the Atlantic 
 States forbid general arrangements for the public good, and must involve a degree 
 of imbecility, distraction, and capricious policy which a high toned monarchy can 
 alone remedy, but the revolutions and changes necessary to reconcile the people to 
 such a government must involve much delay. Great Britain ought to prepare for the 
 occasion, and she should employ the interval in forming confidential connexions with 
 men of enterprize, capacity, and popular influence resident on the Western Waters."' 
 
 Soon after dispatching this information, Lord Dorchester, firmly convinced of 
 Kentucky's imminent secession from the Union, procured, through a British intelli- 
 gence agent in New York, Major Beckwith, a copy of a brochure pertaining to Ken- 
 tucky from the French Minister at New York, the Count de Moustier. As the 
 treatise, known by the title, Memoire sur to Mississippi, was written by one of marked 
 ability ("by a man of judgment") whose proposition was to induce France to take 
 posession of New Orleans, and thereby to secure to herself all the trade of that vast 
 country, Lord Dorchester became more anxious than ever concerning the protection 
 of Kentucky. The paper, which is scholary and statesmanlike, was composed by the 
 cultured and philosophical Bartelemi Tardiveau, friend and intimate of the brilliant 
 St. John de Crevecoeur, French consul at New York and literary man of extraordinary 
 ability." Particularly exciting to the Governor of Canada was the expression, in the 
 dissertation, of fear of British ascendancy in Kentucky, which, it stated, would be 
 detrimental to the interests of France. 78 
 
 It is quite evident that some prominent person or persons in Kentucky were colla- 
 borating with Connolly and Dorchester, for the dispatch, No. 126, of August 27, 
 1789, from the Governor of Canada to Lord Sydney, contains an ingenious and in- 
 teresting treatise, "Observations upon the Colony of Kentucky," written by some 
 well-informed and intelligent resident of the District. This paper contains a mass 
 of condensed information which would be useful to Britain in the event of her taking 
 over Kentucky. The work gives information concerning towns, transportation systems, 
 counties, soil, products, population, militia, inhabitants, political status, commercial 
 development and leading men. " Sample items from the "Observations" are here 
 given: 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 209 
 
 "Louisville is a town opposite to the falls of the Ohio, upon the south shore, very 
 handsomely situated, containing about two hundred houses, and in the vicinity of the 
 place are quaries of rough marble of an excellent quality for building." Aside from 
 description of towns the "Observations" indicate keen interest in commercial possi- 
 bilities: 
 
 "OBSERVATIONS UPON THE COLONY OF KENTUCKY" 
 
 "From the falls to the confluence of the Ohio with the Mississippi, upwards of 
 four hundreds miles, the current is gentle and the winds, during the summer months, 
 south or southwesterly, so that vessels of considerable burthen can and will in future 
 sail up to the foot of the falls. At this place is already established a warehouse for 
 the reception and inspection of tobacco, and inspectors are appointed by the Legisla- 
 ture. The distance from Louisville, the most westerly settlement of Kentucky, to 
 Limestone, the most easterly, is by the rout of Danville, about one hundred and ninety 
 miles, traveling on a large and very good carriage road, both sides of which, generally 
 speaking, are tolerably inhabited, & in some places good improvements; in other parts, 
 from the tenure of large military grants and particular exposure to the incursions 
 of the Savages, the inhabitants are scattered." 
 
 The writer knew something of geology and soils, as this excerpt indicates: "Ken- 
 tucky in general appears to be a limestone soil excellently watered, abounding with 
 cane, which affords nourishment to their numerous cattle during a short winter, and 
 saline springs, which by simple evaporation plentifully supply the country [with salt], 
 and tobacco, which latter article is raised in considerable quantities by slaves, as 
 practiced in Virginia, and latterly, by particular permission, is sent down to New 
 Orleans." 
 
 Concerning the people, the informant declares: "The Inhabitants of Kentucky 
 are composed of men who fled from the horrors of civil war during the late con- 
 tention, of a great number of military who were disbanded from the American Army, 
 of families from the Middle and Southern States, and laterly by a number of emi- 
 grants from the North of Ireland, so that this settlement may be said to consist of 
 soldiers and husbandmen." 
 
 Industry and its possible development are treated in this concise paragraph: "The 
 Trade" of this country is now confined to the internal barter of its inhabitants and 
 the supply of new emigrants, and lately to the exportation of flour and tobacco by 
 special permits to New Orleans, and this intercourse will probably be increased through 
 the medium of the colony establishing at New Madrid on the west shore of the Mis- 
 sissippi, opposite the mouth of the Ohio, under the direction of Mr. Morgan." 
 
 Toward the end of the discourse the author makes this observation and prediction: 
 "The continual emigration from the Atlantic States, flowing from various causes, the 
 result of the late revolutional war, must suddenly form very great and extensive 
 colonies upon the Ohio, its lateral branches, and the Mississippi, which will eventually 
 open a field for a more extensive commerce than what the northern parts of America 
 have yet offered, and consequently New Orleans must become, at no distant period, 
 the great emporium of North America, and therefore highly worthy of the marked 
 attention of the British Government as a commercial and manufacturing kingdom." 8 ' 
 
 P. ALLAIRE, BRITISH SECRET AGENT ASSIGNED TO KENTUCKY, 1790 
 
 That the British Foreign Office was impressed and caused to take action by Lord 
 Dorchester's reports is proven by the fact that in 1790 it maintained an agent, P. 
 Allaire, to observe and report upon conditions and occurrences in the West, particu- 
 larly Kentucky. Mr. Allaire's dispatches were sent to Sir George Yonge, are entitled 
 
210 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 "Occurences" and may be found in the British consular correspondence of the Foreign 
 Office (F. O. IV, Vol 8) . Perhaps his most interesting correspondence is contained 
 in "Occurrences" for the period from July 5 to August 3, 1790. This report in 
 part reads: 
 
 "But with your permission I will inform you what I think may be done with cer- 
 tainty . . . from 5 to 7000 Men may be had from the Western Country that would 
 assist any nation to take the Floridas from the Spaniards on Condition that the West- 
 ern Territory should have a free Navigation of the Mississippi it is now in your 
 power, (If a War with Spain is actually begun tho by recent accounts they have 
 asked Pardon) to bind us in Adamantine Chains of Friendship & Alliance with you 
 — take the Floridas, open a free Navigation of the Mississippi for the Western In- 
 habitants, and you bind that Country & its inhabitants for Ever in spite of Congress 
 or all the world, for without the Mississippi, its fruitfulness is useless, a few frigates 
 & 2000 Men would Retake it in three Weeks & if proper means were made use of I 
 would Engage for a Sufficient Number to Assist, those People are not as yet Subject 
 to the Laws of the Union, they are at present a large body of People, governed by 
 local Laws of their own forming, and propose being part of the Union on certain 
 Conditions, as a proof of which they undertake Expiditions against the Indians, destroy 
 them & add their Lands to their possessions, they have drove away two Spanish posts of 
 30 & 25 men, and have demanded & Obtained a free Navigation for their produce, 
 this has been done contrary to the Express Orders of Congress, if therefore a proper 
 mode is made use of, which I will communicate If you order it, nothing so Easily done 
 as your Regaining the Floridas, your answer to this, must be in the Mercantile Stile, 
 which I shall fully comprehend." 81 
 
 After November 20, 1790, the Foreign Office determined to dispense with the 
 services of Mr. Allaire, who became greatly perturbed. In March 1791, he, perhaps 
 hoping to be reinstated, wrote to the Office: "If those persons of Kentucky have 
 not some compensation made them, you create more Enemies, they may and Will in 
 future be of Essential benefit to your House if properly treated." 8 ' Apparently the 
 Foreign Office had lost interest. However, with Allaire, it was a matter of a job. 
 But, aside from this, the correspondence of Allaire proves again Britain's desire to 
 entice Kentucky from the Union by means of opening and controlling the Mississippi, 
 that artery vital to Kentucky. 
 
 THE CONVENTION OF NOVEMBER, 1788 
 
 The fact that a convention was to be held at Danville in November with plenary 
 powers appeared to meet with general approval in the District, and the candidates 
 set about the task of canvassing their respective counties with much spirit. Shortly 
 before election day, there appeared in the Kentucky Gazette a long letter over the 
 name of Judge George Muter. 83 This letter argued earnestly against the idea of 
 framing a constitution of government and applying to Congress for admission to the 
 Union before receiving the consent of Virginia. 
 
 Althoug the article of Judge Muter, the Chief Justice, often considered the first 
 citizen of the District, caused somewhat of a sensation, this discourse, sound and 
 logical, as well as legal in argument, produced a change of opinion on the part of 
 many prominent persons, some of whom became members of the November convention. 
 The ideas are said to have been those of Colonel Thomas Marshall, who probably 
 influenced Judge Muter's opinions perceptibly at that time. Yet, the opinions ex- 
 pressed are those of an orderly legal mind and could have been those of Judge Muter. 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 211 
 
 JUDGE GEORGE MUTER'S ARTICLE IN THE KENTUCKY GAZETTE 
 
 OCTOBER, 1788 
 
 His first contention was that to form a constitution and organize a government 
 without Virginia's consent would be a violation of a statute of that state "denouncing 
 as treason the setting up of governments within her limits."' His next contention 
 was that the powers given the forthcoming convention were too extensive, asserting 
 belief that under them the District was empowered to treat with Spain to obtain the 
 navigation of the Mississippi River; this, he saw clearly, was repugnant to the Con- 
 stitution. The Judge further declared that Kentucky should make no move to obtain 
 free navigation of that river except through the General Assembly of the Old Do- 
 minion. 
 
 The article had raised some legal obstacles, which, upon reflection, some of the 
 District's leaders considered insurmountable, causing them to switch their erstwhile 
 position of favoring the organizing of a state government and applying for admission 
 to the Union without first having obtained Virginia's consent. These few leaders, 
 foremost among whom were Judge Muter, Colonel Marshall and Mr. John Edwards, 
 were able to forestall the organizing of a state government before Virginia's consent 
 would have been obtained. 8 " 
 
 THE PERSONNEL OF THE NOVEMBER, 1788, CONVENTION 
 
 The personnel of the November convention was indeed distinguished. Mercer 
 County elected Judge McDowell, Christopher Greenup, Jack Jouett, Judge Harry 
 Innes and the Congressman, John Brown; Fayette sent General Wilkinson, Colonel 
 Marshall, Judge Muter, Mr. Crockett and John Allen; Lincoln returned, among 
 others, Colonel John Logan and Colonel John Montgomery; and Jefferson, Richard 
 C. Anderson, Judge Benjamin Sebastian and others of like calibre; while the other 
 counties, Nelson, (sending the distinguished General Matthew Walton) , Madison 
 (represented by the well known William Irvine) and Bourbon (John Edwards) , sent 
 their outstanding men. 
 
 THE INFLUENCE OF JUDGE MUTER'S ARGUMENTS IN THE CON- 
 VENTION OF NOVEMBER 
 
 So animated do most of the Kentucky historians become in defending the leaders 
 of the one side — principally John Brown, Samuel McDowell, Christopher Greenup, 
 Harry Innes and Caleb Wallace — that they fail to see that the arguments presented 
 by Judge Muter, aided and abetted by the brace of Marshalls and John Edwards, 
 were sound, logical, constitutional and legal. Obviously there was little to justify the 
 District's withdrawal from Virginia without that state's consent — and truely the Old 
 Dominion had been rather amenable — other than impatience, which can be under- 
 stood. The propositions presented were examined in the light of Muter's contentions, 
 and the convention was, more or less, dominated by his legal interpositions.'" 
 
 The convention's being dominated by the warnings made by Judge Muter and 
 Colonel Marshall was deeply regretted by certain leaders, notably John Brown and 
 Harry Innes. For several years Mr. Brown had been contemplating the preparation 
 of a constitution for Kentucky. Actually he had prepared a draft, which was elabo- 
 rated by Mr. Jefferson and revised by his warm friend, Mr. Madison. On September 
 26, 1788, Mr. Madison had written this to Mr. Brown: "I believe you are already 
 pretty well acquainted with my ideas of government so far as they vary from the plan 
 chalked out by Mr. Jefferson. But in compliance with your request on that subject 
 I will take the first convenient occasion of explaining them in writing. The delay 
 cannot, I presume, be material, as the formation of a government for Kentucky must 
 
 15— Vol. I 
 
212 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 already be concluded, or suspended for reasons which will not cease immediately." 
 Expressing concern relative to the matter of their last conversation before departing 
 from New York, namely the proposed closing of the Mississippi for a term of years, 
 Mr. Madison enclosed a copy of resolutions passed in Congress, September 16, 1788, 
 concerning that river. The first resolution denied that Congress had intended agreeing 
 to a closing of the Mississippi, and the second stated, "That the free navigation of 
 the River Mississippi is a clear and essential right of the United States, and ought 
 to be considered and supported as such." 87 
 
 This action of Congress eliminated the possibility of the central government's 
 negotiating with Spain to close the West's artery of commerce. It should have quieted 
 all clamor and fear in Kentucky, but it did not. 
 
 THE BROWN, JEFFERSON AND MADISON CONSTITUTION FOR 
 
 KENTUCKY 
 
 As soon as he had learned that Kentucky had not acted toward adopting an in- 
 strument of government and would hold another convention in November (1788) 
 Mr. Madison apparently rushed to completion the draft of the proposed constitution 
 for Kentucky which had been initiated by Mr. Brown and elaborated by Mr. Jefferson, 
 and forwarded it to Mr. Brown in Kentucky. This document, which actually was 
 not submittd to the convention, probably was destroyed years later in the burning 
 of the public offices at Frankfort. 8 " The document, were it extant, would be of 
 tremendous historical interest and value. During its meeting, the convention was 
 so divided in opinion that the consideration of a state constitution was considered 
 premature and inadvisable. Even Mr. Brown's innocent resolution, "That it is the 
 wish and interest of the good people of this District to separate from the State of 
 Virginia, and that the same be erected into an Independent member of the Federal 
 Union," 89 was put "on the table" and thus effectively beaten. Whether or not, as 
 Mr. Humphrey Marshall suggests, the belief was that Mr. Brown and certain others 
 designed a violent separation from Virginia with the idea of creating an independent 
 state to deal with Spain as a sovereign power is not altogether clear. 
 
 Two days after Mr. Brown's resolution was tabled (Saturday, Nov. 8) General 
 Wilkinson, who probably feared separation more than any thing else, introduced a 
 resolution to the effect that a report be made to the people of the District begging 
 them to be harmonious and asking for instructions more unified for another convention. 
 The astute General, sensing the cautious feeling of the convention, apparently en- 
 countered little difficulty in securing passage of his measure, though the members did 
 not suspect his sinister design. The introduction of Wilkinson's resolution reveals the 
 situation somewhat. It is this: 
 
 "Whereas, it is the solemn duty, so it is the ardent desire of this Convention, to 
 pursue such measures as may promote the Interests and meet the approbation of their 
 Constituents; but the discordant opinions which at present divide the good people 
 they represent, render it doubtful whether they can adopt any plan which will embrace 
 the opinions of all, or even secure the support of a majority. In this state of em- 
 barassment — perplext with doubt and surrounded by difficulties — in order to avoid 
 error and to attain truth, to remove the Jealousies which have infected society, and 
 to restore that spirit of harmony and concord on which the prosperity of all depends, 
 They deem it most eligible to address their Constituents on the momentous occasion." 00 
 
 The expression reveals the effect which the warning of the Marshalls and Judge 
 Muter had made upon the leaders of the District. A few of these had feared, or 
 pretended to fear, that Mr. Brown and others planned some radical, revolutionary 
 action. Of course, Mr. Marshall suspected that Wilkinson was involved in treason- 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 213 
 
 able dealings with Spain (which supposition was correct) . It would appear that Mr. 
 Brown and his associates — Judge Innes, Judge McDowell and others — if they were 
 involved in treasonable dealings with Spain, would have collaborated with General 
 Wilkinson, an avowed friend of Spain. Such, however, was not the case. Affairs 
 in the convention broke so well for General Wilkinson that he was able to take the 
 leadership as the champion of another address to Virginia, to Congress and to the 
 people — just the thing desired by the Marshall and Muter to forestall any possible 
 radical secession from Virginia or the Union. Actually, the status quo was Wilkin- 
 son's real desire and not separation, because his transcendent interest at the time was 
 his trade monopoly. If Kentucky became either a state of the Union or a possession 
 or ally of Spain, the wily General, of course, would lose obviously his trade monopoly. 
 His best course in duplicity therefore was one of delaying action. Perhaps he would 
 be able to lie cleverly and plausibly enough to both Kentuckians and Miro not only 
 to hold their confidence but gain their approbation as well. More than ordinary 
 talents would be required to execute this desideratum, actually both genius and verve 
 to do the thing with 'eclat; how well the General exercised his peculiar talents in 
 turning this "job" to his advantage, the records reveal clearly. 
 
 Wednesday, November 5, the counties of Mercer and Madison petitioned the con- 
 vention with this request: "That a manly and spirited address be sent to Congress 
 to obtain the Navigation of the River Mississippi." 02 The following day this petition 
 was passed, and a committee, consisting of Messrs, Innes, Wilkinson, Marshall 
 (Thomas) , Muter, Brown, Sebastian and Morrison was appointed. 
 
 Quite clearly Wilkinson dominated the committee, because the address to Congress 
 indicates both his thoughts and phraseology, the disportation of both knowledge and 
 logic, as well as the florid, ebullient rococo and melodramatic style, can not be mis- 
 taken. This quotation alone is amply convincing: 
 
 "Fathers, Fellow Citizens, and Guardians of our rights: As we address you by 
 the endearing appellation of Fathers, we rely on your paternal affection to hear us; 
 we rely on your Justice as men and citizens to attend to the wrongs done to men and 
 Citizens, and as a People recognized by the solemn Acts of the Union, we look for 
 protection to the Federal Head."" 3 
 
 WILKINSON IN THE SADDLE 
 
 Employing pressure-salesman's tactics, the General invoked all the knowledge of 
 history, the laws of Nature, the logic and economics at his command to "convince" 
 Congress of the great and profitable transaction she was missing in not securing the 
 opening of the Mississippi. He cried out against the court of Spain as a usurper of 
 a natural American right in closing the river and begged Congress to save her for- 
 gotten child, the West. "If you would be worthy Guardians," he 'sobbed,' defend 
 our rights. We are a member that would exert every muscle to your service. Do 
 not cut us off from your Body. By every tie of consanguinity and affection, by the 
 remembrance of the blood which we have mingled in the common cause, by a regard 
 to Justice and to policy we conjure you to procure our right. May your Councils be 
 guided by wisdom and justice, and may your determinations be marked by decision 
 and effect. Let not your beneficence be circumscribed by the Mountains which divide 
 us. But let us feel that you are really our Fathers & assertors of Our Rights. Then 
 you would secure the prayers of a people whose Gratitude would be as warm as their 
 vindication of their Rights will be eternal. Then our connexions shall be perpetuated 
 to the latest times, a Monument of your Justice and a Terror to your Enemies."' 4 
 
 The fact that Wilkinson was a traitor to his country, citizen of Spain and desired 
 less than anything else the opening of the Mississippi seems not to have affected his 
 
214 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 poise, charm of manner and daring in the least. His popularity appears not to have 
 diminished. Actually he was able to secure acceptance of himself as the star in the 
 role of opening the Mississippi. He took the floor, reported his trip to New Orleans 
 and read parts of his Memorial to the delegates. Of course, he did not report all nor 
 read all, but, with the exception of the Marshalls and perhaps Muter, he was able to 
 create a very favorable impression. Affairs seemed to go just as he desired, and to 
 this effect he reported to Miro. Although the report to Miro, an ingenius and auda- 
 cious document indeed, was extremely garbled and colored, bold and lurid falsehoods, 
 the document is sensational and interesting. ° 
 
 In this effort, Wilkinson states that Marshall and Muter had been scattering dis- 
 trusts and apprehensions "calculated to do injury to our cause." He called attention 
 to his reading of the Memorial before the convention, which he said gained the 
 "unanimous thanks of that body, in token of its approbation of my conduct on that 
 occasion," and enclosed a copy of the Kentucky Gazette. Actually, the gullible con- 
 vention had passed this resolution: 
 
 "Resolved, That the President of this Convention shall, during the recess thereof, 
 with the advice of three or at the request of five Members, call a Convention, and in 
 case of death, removal, or other disability of the President, any six members shall have 
 power to call a meeting of the said Convention." 9 
 
 Concerning his supporting the proposals for sending addresses to the people of the 
 District, the General Assembly of Virginia and Congress, the General explains the 
 matter away to Miro in this way: "I assented to these last proposals the more readily, 
 that should any of them be rejected, then the people would be invited to adopt all 
 the measures necessary to secure for themselves a separate government from that of 
 the United States, [this was palpably false] because it would have become evident 
 that Congress had neither the will nor the power to satisfy their hopes." 97 
 
 Wilkinson, expressing the belief that the nation would fall apart, the West separat- 
 ing from the East, suggested that Spain could hasten the national disintegration by 
 keeping the Mississippi tightly closed to American commerce. "This event (the 
 disintegration) is written in the book of destiny," he expaciated. "But if, to produce 
 it, we trust solely to the natural effect of political measures, we shall experience some 
 delay."' He expressed the hope that the proposed Jay, or Gardoqui, treaty might 
 be adopted by Congress, as this would cause revolution in the West. 
 
 The "noble" General could not close without suggesting his value to H. C. M. 
 and therefore made bold to ask for further trade concessions — a monopoly on the 
 commerce down the Mississippi from Kentucky. In the best Hamlet-like vein he 
 declared: "The grant of this boon ought to be looked upon as the price of our 
 attachment and gratitude, and I beg leave to be permitted to repeat, that there must 
 be known no instance of its being extended to any other than those (particularly 
 Wilkinson) who understand and promote the interest of Spain in this part of the 
 country ... I flatter myself that, after the dangers I have run and the sacrifices 
 which I have made, after having put my honor and my life in your hands, you can 
 have no doubts of my favorable dispositions towards the interests of His Catholic 
 Majesty, as long as my poor services shall be necessary."'' 
 
 General Wilkinson "took in" Governor Miro almost as completely as he did the 
 Kentucky conventions. Aside from a mind as clever as that of Iago, he was as 
 comely as Absalom, as demigogic as Alcibiades and as bold as Cataline. He seemed 
 to know precisely how to captivate the people of Kentucky, almost hypnotize them. 
 He realized the importance of externals in the public eye and therefore kept up an 
 artificial glitter, a dazzling showiness, the appearance of opulence, a debonair devil- 
 may-care touch of boldness and brass-lunged protestations of patriotism and bravery, 
 together with a ready fund of noisy, coarse humor. These, the people liked then, 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 215 
 
 these they like now. How the delegates to the convention failed to recognize his 
 attributes as mere sham, pretentiousness and hypocracy, his declarations as overplayed 
 and his style as patently rococo is rather difficult to understand. The majority, at 
 least for a time, thought him decidedly the most elegant, accomplished and able gentle- 
 man among them; they quickly climbed his "band-wagon"; notwithstanding the Cato- 
 like warnings, the Cicero-like denunciations of Humphrey Marshall, whose philippics 
 were considered as actuated by jealousy and natural vindictiveness. Incidentally how 
 Marshall was misled into associating John Brown with a Wilkinson conspiracy is 
 difficult to understand, unless, in this case, Marshall's personal vindictiveness really 
 completely submerged his reason. 
 
 Although badly "taken in," Miro did not completely trust the General, but the 
 Spaniard did believe that the connection with Spain would be more profitable finan- 
 cially to the General than anything the Americans could offer and therefore hold 
 him to Spain's interest. Miro expressed his views to Valdes in a communication of 
 April 11, 1789, from New Orleans. 300 The fact, however, that he was able to be the 
 dominating spirit of the November convention and at the same time was able to con- 
 vince Miro that he (Wilkinson) not only would serve Spain's interests but that he 
 held Kentucky in the hollow of his hand marks him as a genius in his particular field 
 
 r i 101 
 
 or endeavor. 
 
 THE ADDRESS TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF VIRGINIA 
 
 On Thursday, November 6 (the third day of the convention) the committee ap- 
 pointed to prepare an address to the General Assembly of Virginia reported through 
 its chairman, Mr. Edwards, its work as ready for consideration. The warnings issued 
 by the Marshalls and Muter had made arbitrary separation from the "Old Dominion" 
 untenable. This address to Virginia was tabled, many of the delegates apparently 
 believing that certain amendments were necessary. It seems that Judge Harry Innes 
 became chairman of the committee at this juncture. He proceeded to make certain 
 modifications and reported to the convention, Monday, November 10. The amended 
 address was "twice read and again amended and agreed nemini Contradicente." 
 The tone of this address was "loyal, and its expressions respectful and judicious," as 
 Mr. Brown suggests, indicative of the moderate sentiment of the convention. In 
 part it stated: 
 
 "Being fully impressed with these ideas and justified by frequent examples, we con- 
 ceive it our duty as freemen, from the regard we owe to our constituents, and being 
 encouraged by the Resolutions of Congress, again to appeal to your honorable body 
 praying that an act may pass at the present session for enabling the good people of 
 the Kentucky District to obtain an independent government, and be admitted into 
 the confederation as a member of the Federal Union, upon such terms and conditions 
 as may appear just and equitable. . . . We again solicit the friendly interposition of 
 the parent state with the Congress of the United States for a speedy admission of 
 the District into the Federal Union, and also to urge that honorable body in the 
 most express terms to take effective measures for procuring to the Inhabitants ol 
 this District the free navigation of the River Mississippi." 103 
 
 Before adjourning, the delegates adopted a resolution providing for another con 
 vention to convene on the first Monday in August, 1789. 
 
 The delegates parted in bad humor, and their feelings became more bitter as the 
 weeks passed. Factionalism prevailed. Wilkinson, Brown, Innes and others were 
 angrily accused of unpatriotically engaging in a "Spanish conspiracy" to detach Ken- 
 tucky from the Union, while the Marshalls, Muter and others were charged with 
 conspiracy to make Kentucky a protectorate or colony of Great Britain. Butler calls 
 
216 A S E S Q U 1-C ENTENNIAL 
 
 the group headed by the Marshalls and Muter as the "Court Party," while the other 
 is denominated the "Separatists."" By September, 1790, Colonel Marshall was con- 
 vinced that he had wronged both Messrs. Innes and Brown and therefore wrote 
 Washington to inform him of the entire absence of sedition in the District. Washing- 
 ton's reply was characteristic of the mellow, wise statesman. A part of it is here 
 quoted from Mr. John Mason Brown's Political Beginnings: 
 
 WASHINGTON'S LETTER TO COL. MARSHALL, SEPTEMBER, 1790 
 
 "I never doubted that the operations of this government, if not perverted by preju- 
 dice or evil designs, would inspire the citizens of America with such confidence in it 
 as effectually to do away with these apprehensions which, under the former confedera- 
 tion, our best men entertained of divisions among themselves, or allurements from 
 other nations. I am therefore happy to find that such a disposition prevails in your 
 part of the country as to remove any idea of that evil which a few years ago you so 
 much dreaded." 100 
 
 ACTS OF THE VIRGINIA ASSEMBLY, DECEMBER SESSION, 1788 
 
 The convention which convened at Danville, in the Court House, July 20, 1789, 
 under the chairmanship of Judge Samuel McDowell was informed that the General 
 Assembly in its last session had passed several acts of importance to the District. 
 Among these: Mason County had been established and another, the third, act of 
 separation passed. The delegates were most interested in the latter. This act, in 
 addition to providing approximately the same machinery for separation and fixing 
 September 1, 1790 as the limit for Congressional approval of statehood, contained 
 two contingencies which greatly excited the representatives at Danville. The first, 
 Kentucky was to pay a portion of the domestic debt of Virginia. The second provided 
 that the time "for completing the titles of the officers and soldiers on the state and 
 continental establishments of Virginia, to the bounty lands assigned them in the district 
 for their military services," 106 be unlimited, regardless of Kentucky's becoming an in- 
 dependent state. 
 
 THE CONVENTION OF JULY, 1789 
 
 These measures being considered unjust, the members of the convention quickly 
 passed a resolution begging the Assembly of Virginia to rescind them speedily. Hav- 
 ing previously passed a motion for the taking of a census in October, the convention 
 adjourned to await Virginia's reply. 1 7 
 
 Seeing the justice of the arguments in the Kentucky Memorial, the Virginia Assembly 
 lost little time in rescinding the objectionable provisions and passing the final Act of 
 Separation, December 18, 1789. This legislation provided for another convention, 
 to meet in July, 1790. 
 
 CONVENTION OF JULY, 1790 
 
 The convention which met at Danville in July worked with dispatch, clearing away 
 the important matters within five days. Upon the all important question of separation 
 from Virginia, the delegates were quite divided, as the vote was twenty-four for 
 separation to eighteen against. 100 This indicates a growing distrust in influence of the 
 so called "radicals," probably because of the rumors concerning Wilkinson's pro- 
 Spanish activities. Of course, the influence of the activities of the "Court Party" 
 should not be minimized. This is borne out by the fact that Judge George Muter 
 was unanimously elected president of the convention. Moreover, the stabilizing in- 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 217 
 
 fluence of Washington's accession to the presidency was strongly felt in Kentucky, 
 bringing stronger loyalties to the Old Dominion and to the Union. 
 
 Having ratified separation, the convention framed a dignified acceptance to Vir- 
 ginia, in accordance with the Act of Separation, expressing it's gratitude for that 
 state's many services, and also penned a request to Congress for admission to the 
 Union on June 1, 1792. 
 
 This done, the assembly provided for the election of delegates to a convention to 
 meet in April, 1792 for the purpose of making a state constitution. Following this 
 work, the convention adjourned. 
 
 Surcease of conventions seems to have brought with it surcease of expressions of 
 personal political animosities, both sides apparently being rather ashamed of the 
 petulant, malicious and irrational calumniations irresponsibly broadcast during the 
 past few years (a delicate and fine tinge of feeling which present day Kentucky poli- 
 ticians as a whole seem incapable of experiencing and executing) . All seem to have felt 
 relieved and grateful that, after all the threatened dangers a successful and happy 
 ending was in sight. During the interim, however, one question of controversy pre- 
 sented itself, which was to plague Kentucky for more than half a century — that of 
 slavery. As will be discussed in a succeeding chapter this subject will be only cursorily 
 treated here. Suffice it to state that at that time opinion of the District in the aggre- 
 gate, both religiously and politically, was averse to a perpetuation of that peculiar 
 institution. 
 
 KENTUCKY A POLITICALLY-MINDED DISTRICT 
 
 The questions of free navigation of the Mississippi, separation and statehood had 
 been so long pending and were so vital to the people generally that a high percentage 
 of the entire populace of the District became interested actively in the discussions, 
 canvasses and elections, so that by 1790 "perhaps no other American community ever 
 so completely gave itself over to thoughts and arguments on constitutional principles." 
 Universal manhood suffrage, a radical departure for the time, added zest to public 
 participation. The members of the aristocratic Political Club of Danville debated 
 with singular brilliancy every vital public question, and the Kentucky Gazette, which 
 had been established in 1787 by vote of the convention of May, 1785, 111 for the pur- 
 pose of making known political matters to the people and also to serve as a forum 
 for the use of any person who felt that he had something of importance to state, served 
 as an excellent medium for disseminating political information. Moreover, public 
 speaking and debating were very popular, the enthusiastic people turning out in large 
 numbers to cheer their champion — often to heckle the opponent. Kentucky at that 
 time was probably unique among the provinces of both Europe and America. Writes 
 Professor Huntley Dupre, in his superb paper, "The Political Ideas of George 
 Nicholas": 
 
 The Kentucky Gazette published extracts from Thomas Paine's Rights of Man from 
 time to time, and impartially published a host of letters discussing and debating the 
 various points of view on the nature and form of government desired for the prospec- 
 tive State. These vigorous letters were signed by "X.Y.Z.," "Philanthropos," "Toris- 
 mond," "A.B.C.," "The Disinterested Citizen," "H.S.B.M.," "Little Brutus," "Rob 
 the Thrasher," "Salamander," "Will Wisp," "Felte Firebrand," and "The Medlar," 
 a woman. The Gazette also published accounts of county committee meetings. 11 " 
 
 With the passing of the old controversy, the smoldering enmity between the "haves" 
 and "have nots" burst into flame once more and burned hot on the eve of the Con- 
 stitutional Conventions. Concerning this social and economic question Judge Harry 
 Innes wrote the following, August 27, 1791, to Thomas Jefferson: "The people of 
 Kentucky are all turned politicians — from the highest in Office to the Peasant — the 
 
218 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 Peasantry are perfectly mad — extraordinary prejudices & without foundation have 
 arisen against the present Officers of Government — the Lawyers and the Men of 
 Fortune — they say plain honest Farmers — are the only men who ought to be elected 
 to form our Constitution. . . . They have given a very serious alarm to every thinking 
 man, who are determined to watch & court the temper of the people." 
 
 NATURE OF FIRST KENTUCKY CONSTITUTION ADOPTED 
 
 The first Constitution of Kentucky was a queer mixture of the democratic ex- 
 perience of frontier life and the contribution of distinguished philosophers, chief 
 among whom, according to Professor Lowry, was John Locke. Other natural-law 
 thinkers, including Mentesquieu, James Madison and George Wythe, exerted an 
 influence upon the building of this frontier charter of government. However, the 
 Federal Constitution, which was well known, was followed rather consciously and 
 closely: It is probably true that the leaders of the Convention were well enough 
 versed in political philosophy to justify Professor Lowry's statement that "Basic to 
 all of these discussions and the constitutions which resulted from them was the idea 
 of an original state of nature, anterior in reason, if not in time, to political society 
 which was established as a means of escaping the inconveniences of such a state," 
 and Professor Dupre's contention, "that the resultant society was the result of a com- 
 pact, which when broken by the delegated government, would warrant the use of the 
 right of revolution, 11 " by the betrayed members," is probably true. Yet, to assume 
 that the masses of the people knew anything about political philosophy academically, 
 studied Locke and his successors, were familiar with natural-law theories or consciously 
 considered the theory of the right of revolution is far too much of a compliment to 
 their erudition, especially when the apparent fact is considered, that vast numbers 
 could neither read nor write and that most could probably do little more than that. 
 It is true that Kentucky was an ideal setting, in which to make a practical test of 
 Locke, even of Rousseau, yet the majority of the voters likely knew no more about 
 Locke then than now, nothing or nearly nothing. 
 
 PERSONNEL OF THE CONVENTION 
 
 Even with all the fulsome praise of the first Kentucky Constitution, this document 
 was largely the work of one sole man. And even in spite of this man's transcendent 
 talents, the Constitution may have been a more satisfactory document, in certain re- 
 spects, for posterity had he not dominated its making. A good majority of the 
 members of the Constitutional Convention were "conservative men of property and 
 education," who were conversant with political philosophy. These men, though re- 
 sembling the "Fathers of the Federal Constitution" in points of social economic and 
 cultural, as well as political, prominence, were nevertheless not duplicates of the 
 majority of that distinguished group. They more nearly resembled the democratic 
 Virginians, Thomas Jefferson and George Mason. Elected representatives in the 
 Convention also were six ministers of the Gospel — the Reverends John Bailey, Benedict 
 Swope, Charles Kavanaugh, George Smith, James Crawford and James Garrard. 
 These men were actuated by fine humanitarian convictions, though all did not enjoy 
 the advantages of ripe scholarship and culture. These men had deep convictions upon 
 the question of freedom. All of the able treatises of the most brilliant political 
 philosophers could never have convinced them that the safeguarding of property was 
 the supreme duty of government. 
 
 COLONEL GEORGE NICHOLAS, VIRGINIAN 
 
 The Constitution of 1792 was preeminently the handiwork of Colonel George 
 Nicholas. So completely did he dominate the convention that he was able to in- 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 219 
 
 corporate into that instrument certain ideas which were probably repugnant to the 
 majority of voters in the District. It is desirable therefore to turn to a consideration 
 of this remarkable man. He was born, according to Collins, in the year 1743 at 
 Williamsburg, Virginia, the son of Robert Carter, a distinguished lawyer, and Anne 
 (Cary) Nicholas. In person, he was stocky, tending toward corpulency, fair of 
 complexion, with bushy light brown hair and heavy eyebrows, large bright blue eyes, 
 straight nose, generous mouth; in fact, he was a man of striking and handsome visage; 
 his countenance was open, frank, mild, intelligent and benevolent; his manners were 
 courtly and engaging, his attire always meticulous — his general bearing genteel and 
 winning, often fascinating; his intellectual powers were both brilliant and apparently 
 indefatigable; his scholary attainments comparable to those of George Wythe and 
 his talents, learning and experience in the law were scarcely surpassed. His brother, 
 Wilson Cary Nicholas, became United States senator and governor of Virginia, his 
 brother, John, congressman, while another, Philip, a judge in Virginia. A son, 
 Samuel Smith, became one of Louisville's most distinguished lawyers and jurists. 
 During the Revolutionary War, Colonel Nicholas became a captain in the Virginia 
 line. Following this conflict, he practiced law at Charlottesville, in Albemarle County, 
 which sent him to the General Assembly and to the convention, called to pass upon 
 the Federal Constitution. In the Assembly he became a staunch supporter of Jeffer- 
 son and, in 1784, cooperated with Madison in the struggle for religious freedom in 
 Virginia, in spite of being a member of the Episcopalian Church. The struggle for 
 ratification of the Federal Constitution brought out his finest talents. He stood with 
 Madison, Edmund Pendleton, Washington and John Marshall for the adoption of 
 that instrument. The brilliancy which he displayed in that convention made him 
 famous throughout Virginia. When he came to Kentucky in 1788 he was already 
 well known by reputation and immediately welcomed by Mercer County as one of 
 its foremost lawyers and public men. Shortly afterwards, in 1792, this county sent 
 him to Danville as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention. 119 
 
 Speaking of this convention, Governor James T. Morehead declared: "It abounded 
 in talent, integrity, and patriotism. George Nicholas was its brightest luminary. If 
 he was not a transcendent orator according to the Demosthenian process of resolving 
 eloquence into action alone, his powers of argumentation were of the highest order, 
 and his knowledge of the laws and institutions of his country placed him in the front 
 rank of the distinguished men by whose wisdom and patriotism they were established 
 . . . and he came to Kentucky in the fullness of his fame and in the maturity of his 
 intellectual strength. " As a teacher of law Colonel Nicholas became to Kentucky 
 what George Wythe was to Virginia, having instructed men who became the state's 
 ablest and most distinguished lawyers, among whom were Joseph Hamilton Daveiss. 
 John Rowan, Martin D. Hardin, Robert WicklifTe, William T. Barry, Isham Talbott. 
 and many others. 121 
 
 THE CONSTITUTION OF 1792 
 
 The Kentucky Constitution of 1792 provided for a bi-cameral legislature with the 
 members of the lower house elected annually by vote of white males twenty-one years 
 of age or more. The governor and members of the senate were to be elected indirectly 
 by an electoral college every four years, no provision being made for lieutenant gov- 
 ernor. A court of appeals was established, which not only enjoyed appellate jurisdic- 
 tion but original jurisdiction of suits involving titles to land. Mr. Bodley writes that 
 "under the conditions then prevailing in Kentucky, this provision was deemed wise; 
 for trials of titles by judges and juries in the counties where the lands lay were probably 
 found often unfair, where one party was a non-resident and the other a resident of 
 the county." ' This article was prepared by Colonel Nicholas. Previously, however, 
 
220 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 as he had not discussed it with his constituents, he resigned his seat and appealed to 
 the voters of his county, who returned him promptly. 
 
 Professor Dupre summarizes the liberal section of the Constitution very ably. He 
 writes: 
 
 "The Bill of Rights most strikingly demonstrates the adherence of its framers to 
 the liberal political thought of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, stemming 
 from John Locke. Ringing excerpts from Article XII read: *That the general, great, 
 and essential principles of liberty and free government may be recognized and estab- 
 lished, We declare . . . That all men, when they form a social compact, are equal, 
 and that no man or set of men are entitled to exclusive separate public emoluments 
 or privileges from the community, but in consideration of public services. . . . That 
 all power is inherent in the people, and all free people, and all free governments are 
 founded on their authority, and instituted for their peace and happiness. For the 
 advancement of these ends, they have at all times an inalienable and indefeasible right 
 to alter, reform or abolish their government, in such manner as they may think proper. 
 . . . That all men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God 
 according to the dictates of their consciences. . . . That no human authority can, 
 in any case whatever, control or interfere with the rights of conscience. . . . That 
 the civil rights ... of any citizen shall in nowise be diminished or enlarged on account 
 of his religion. . . . That all elections shall be free and equal. . . . That trial by jury 
 shall be as heretofore, and the right thereof remain inviolate. . . . That right, in a 
 peaceable manner, to assemble together for their common good. . . . The rights of 
 the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State shall not be questioned. 
 . . . That ... the military shall, in all cases and at all times, be in strict subordination 
 to the civil power. . . . That everything in this article is excepted out of the general 
 powers of government, and shall forever remain inviolate.' " 123 
 
 The article of the Constitution concerning the Negro slaves, which caused the 
 sharpest controversy during the entire convention, will be considered here briefly. 
 Article IX, the portion of the Constitution devoted to slavery, was drawn and de- 
 fended by Colonel Nicholas This article was thus phrased: 
 
 "Article IX, Section 1. The legislature shall have no power to pass laws for the 
 emancipation of slaves without the consent of their owners, or without paying their 
 owners, previous to such emancipation, a full equivalent in money for the slaves so 
 emancipated. They shall have no power to prevent emigrants to this State from 
 bringing with them such persons as are deemed slaves by the laws of any one of the 
 United States, so long as any person of the same age or description shall be continued 
 in slavery by the laws of this State. That they shall pass laws to permit the owners 
 of slaves to emancipate them, saving the rights of creditors and preventing them from 
 becoming a charge to the county in which they reside. They shall have full power 
 to prevent any slaves being brought into this State as merchandize. They shall have 
 full power to prevent any slaves being brought into this State from a foreign country, 
 and to prevent those from being brought into this State who have been, since the 
 first day of January, One thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine, or may hereafter 
 be imported into any of the United States from a foreign country. And they shall 
 have full power to pass such laws as may be necessary to oblige the owners of slaves 
 to treat them with humanity, to provide for them necessary cloathing and provision, 
 to abstain from all personal injuries to them extending to life or limb, and in case of 
 their neglect or refusal to comply with the directions of such laws, to have such slave 
 or slaves sold for the benefit of their owner or owners." 1 " 4 
 
 As is readily noted this Article is both mild and humane, with a safe-guard against 
 the evils of the slave traffic. However, the entire tenor of the paragraph is the as- 
 sumption of slavery in perpetuity. The fact that a majority of the enfranchized in 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 221 
 
 Kentucky were opposed to continued slavery might have justified at least a provision 
 for gradual emancipation with compensation. This fact apparently made no impression 
 upon the minds of the aristocratic property-owners who formed a majority in the 
 convention. The champions of emancipation, moreover, were men of marked ability 
 and noble conviction. The Reverend David Rice, the Father of Presbyterianism in 
 the West, was equal to most in debate, while Charles Kavanaugh, George Smith and 
 James Garrard were scarcely less able. However, Colonel Nicholas carried all before 
 him in the debates. Mr. Rice, during the discussions, on April 11, resigned his seat, 
 probably to test the sentiment of his constituents. Writes Winston Coleman: "In a 
 vigorous speech before the convention at Danville, in April, 1792, he (Rice) loudly 
 proclaimed the evils of slavery and the probable deterioration of the state if the in- 
 stitutions were allowed to persist and, in conclusion, pleaded that the convention 're- 
 solve unconditionally to put an end to slavery in Kentucky.' This speech, Slavery 
 Inconsistent with Justice and Good Policy, appeared in pamphlet form three months 
 before the Constitutional Convention . . ." 12s Judge Harry Innes was returned in 
 "Father" Rice's place. Innes, although a patrician, able and popular, was an emanci- 
 pationist unafraid to speak and vote his convictions. Unfortunately, however, he 
 took his seat too late to be helpful to the anti-slavery cause in the Convention. 
 
 THE MOTION TO REPEAL ARTICLE IX IS DEFEATED 
 
 On Wednesday, April 18, a motion was made to rescind Article IX. The Journal 
 for that day states: 
 
 "A motion was made by Mr. Taylor, of Mercer, and seconded by Mr. Smith, of 
 Bourbon, to expunge the Ninth Article of the Constitution, respecting slavery, which 
 was negatived; and the yeas & nays on the question were ordered entered on the 
 Journals. 
 
 "The names of those who voted in the affirmative were: Mr. Andrew Hynes, Mr. 
 Samuel Taylor, Mr. Jacob Froman, The Honorable Harry Innes, The Reverend John 
 Bailey, the Reverend Benedict Swope, the Reverend Charles Kavanaugh, the Reverend 
 George Smith, Mr. Robert Frier, the Reverend James Crawford, the Reverend James 
 Garrard, Mr. James Smith, Mr. John McKinney (the schoolmaster of the wildcat 
 story), Mr. George Lewis, Mr. Miles W. Conway, and Mr. John Wilson." 
 
 "The names of those who voted in the negative were Mr. President (Samuel Mc- 
 Dowell) , Mr. Benjamin Sebastian, Mr. John Campbell, Mr. William King, Mr. 
 Matthew Walton, Mr. Joseph Hobbs, Mr. Cuthbert Harrison, Mr. George Nicholas, 
 Mr. Benjamin Logan, Mr. Isaac Shelby, Mr. William Montgomery, Mr. Thomas 
 Kennedy, Mr. Joseph Kennedy, Mr. Thomas Clay, Mr. Higgason Grubbs, Mr. Hub- 
 bard Taylor, Mr. Thomas Lewis, Mr. John Watkins, Mr. Richard Young, Mr. Wil- 
 liam Steele, the honorable Caleb Wallace, Mr. Robert Johnson, Mr. John Edwards, Mr. 
 Benjamin Harrison, Mr. Robert Rankin, & Mr. Thomas Waring. Yeas 16; Nays 
 26." 128 
 
 Clearly, protection of property was more important to the landed aristocrats (who 
 were liberal upon most questions) , who dominated the Convention, than any possible 
 human rights the Negro slaves might possess. Doubtless Colonel Nicholas had little 
 difficulty in convincing them of the sovereignty of property in government as revealed 
 by John Locke and the other sanctity of property philosophers. On the other hand, 
 the gentlemen who dominated that convention were far too sensible and just to agree 
 to a sudden cessation, especially one without compensation to the masters. Be that 
 as it may, the ministers, the teachers and Judge Innes, the fine liberal, deserve praise 
 for the courage in the face of such formidable opposition. The ministers particularly 
 deserve praise, because they were rather contemptuously treated. So fine was their 
 
222 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 attitude that when a measure was introduced to prevent ministers of the Gospel from 
 becoming members of the Legislature, they voted, to the man, in favor of it, manifesting 
 a spirit of Christianity well-nigh Christ-like. 1 "' 
 
 Concerning the question, Professor Dupre writes: "Slavery was not universal in 
 Kentucky but was largely confined to the Blue Grass. The patrician plantation 
 system of Virginia was alien to conditions in Kentucky, where a middle class culture 
 was in process of development. But to the influential landowners in Kentucky slaves 
 were property that had to be protected under law." 12S 
 
 Mr. John Mason Brown writes this valedictory concerning Article IX: 
 
 "The political unwisdom of this vote has always been apparent to calm observers. 
 Its effects yet linger, though the cause has disappeared. And the unfortunate step 
 was taken under the guidance of a man whose ability and uprightness can not be 
 questioned, whose experience in affairs was large, and whose performances justified 
 confidence. But Nicholas was not yet a Kentuckian. He had not yet learned the 
 ways of the West, not comprehended where the interests of the new Commonwealth 
 were different. 
 
 "Had George Nicholas been already ten years in Kentucky he would have voted 
 with Garrard and Innes and the Baptist preachers to exclude slavery from Kentucky. 
 Had he not been a member of the convention a Constitution omitting the ninth article 
 relative to slavery would have been promulgated. His argument was elaborately pre- 
 pared and carefully reasoned, from premises that he stated with strength and terseness. 
 The MS. statement of his points of argument still exists, a singular example to those 
 who read it in the light of what a century has brought forth of a fabric of false 
 conclusions reared by accurate logic upon a foundation of unsound premises. And 
 it had weight chiefly with the more intellectual element of the convention. The flaw 
 of the argument was more apparent to the conscience of the preachers than to the 
 intellectual apprehension of their fellow delegates, the lawyers." 129 
 
 In response to criticism for inconsistencies in a speech delivered at Bryan's Station 
 in 1799, Colonel Nicholas defended his position upon the question of slavery as being 
 entirely consistent, stating in part: 
 
 "In my speech at Bryan's, I endeavored to impress on the minds of my hearers the 
 necessity of having a constitution, which should contain within it, certain great and 
 important principles, and amongst others, the inviolability of every species of property, 
 as established by law. In the doing of this, I dwelt largely on the attack which 
 was threatened against property in slaves, and endeavored to prove, that admitting 
 slavery was an evil, and that the policy of the state required that it should be 
 done away, that as that evil had been . . . established by law . . . that that evil 
 could not now be justly removed by the means of laws acting compulsorily on the 
 owners, without the State's making the owners a real and just compensation. . . . The 
 resolutions which were then adopted, contain the substance of the ideas which I de- 
 livered at the time. . . . You will find that they contain no justification of slavery. 
 Nor a prohibition to emancipation: so far from it, they admit the idea that the legis- 
 lature ought to have powers to direct it . . . upon fair and just terms. 
 
 "I inherited a number of slaves from my father, and I have since purchased others, 
 at their particular request. I have sold none, but such as were of a temper that could 
 not be governed without severity. ... I never did approve of slavery, but I have 
 thought that the removing of it in a proper manner, would produce greater evils to 
 the country, than it would remove." 10 
 
 Regardless of all this, Kentucky now had a Constitution, was leaving Virginia, be- 
 coming an independent state and entering the Union. Her hopes and dreams after 
 the interminable nightmare, were coming true. r 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 223 
 
 FOOTNOTES FOR CHAPTER VIII 
 
 'Brown, op.cit., p. 128. 
 
 2 1 bid., p. 128. 'Ibid., p. 127. 
 His personal and family requests are listed by Dr. Burson thus: 
 
 "For himself, his wife and his five children, he would be content with a Royal 
 grant of 1,000 acres each on the Mississippi and seigneurial rights over three or four 
 additional square leagues which he might select, thereby lending dignity and permanence 
 to his line. He was entirely willing to leave to the Crown's judgment the salary he 
 was to receive as Civil Governor and the pension to be paid his widow, while his two 
 younger sons were to be under His Majesty's protection and his two daughters sent 
 to New Orleans to be educated by the nuns until they were old enough to marry or 
 their father should make other plans for them. As for the eldest son, then eighteen 
 years old, he was to be permitted, if and when he so desired, to follow his father to 
 Louisiana and there enjoy the same rank in the Spanish army he had enjoyed when 
 he abandoned the American army in which he was then serving. To this litany of 
 needs Morgan wished to add one final request, namely that the Royal Treasury ad- 
 vance him twenty pesos for traveling expenses for each member of the several thousand 
 worthy families desirous of joining his colony but unable to pay their own expenses. 
 Morgan for his part was willing to look after the details provided the King would 
 permit him to draw on the Royal Treasury as funds were needed." (Burson, The 
 Stewardship of Don Esteban Mir 6, pp. 132, 133. 
 
 "Burson, The Stewardship of Don Esteban Mir 6, p. 134. 
 
 This expression of fears and predictions is here quoted: 
 
 "In a political point of view Morgan's establishment can produce no good result, 
 but, on the contrary, will have most pernicious consequences; because the Americans 
 who may settle there will, on account of their proximity to and their constant inter- 
 course with their countrymen on this side of the river, retain their old prejudices and 
 feelings, and will continue to be Americans as if they were on the banks of the Ohio. 
 On the other side, the intention of detaining the productions of this vast country at 
 a point so distant from their real market, whilst the Americans remain the carriers of 
 that trade, can not fail to cause discontents and to embroil the two countries in diffi- 
 culties. Probably it will destroy the noble fabric of which we have laid out the foun- 
 dations and which we are endeavoring to complete. If it be deemed necessary to 
 keep the Americans at a distance from Louisiana, let the Spaniards at least be the 
 carriers of the produce they receive in their ports, and of the merchandise which is 
 acceptable to the Americans." (Brown, op.cit., p. 129). 
 
 Burson, p. 133. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 133. "Ibid., p. 134. "Ibid., p. 134. "Ibid., p. 135. 
 
 "Brown, op.cit., p. 130. 
 
 'Burson, op.cit., p. 136. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 136. "Ibid., p. 137. "Ibid., p. 137. 
 
 'Brown, op.cit., p. 131. 
 
 lv Burson, op.cit., p. 138. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 139. "Ibid., pp. 142, 143; also Brown, op.cit., pp. 131, 132, 133. 
 
 "Ibid., p. til. "Ibid., pp. 136,137. 
 
 J3 Rice, op.cit., p. 1. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 2. "Ibid., p. 3. 
 
 2 "In a document dispatched from Lord Dorchester to Lord Sydney, August 27, 
 1787, this statement is found: "Lacassang & Co., Louisville, and Tardezvous, at 
 
224 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 Danville, are mercantile houses of note in the interest of France." (Brown, op.cit., 
 c. f. p. 131). 
 
 "Ibid., p. 4. "Op.cit., p. 4. 2 °Ibid., p. 5. Ibid., p. 15. 
 
 See Rice "Appendices." 
 "See Paxson, op.cit., pp. 69-74. 
 
 33 Rice, op.cit., p. 43. 
 
 J7W V p. 45. "Ibid., p. 45. 3 7fo7/., p. 46. 3 7W., p. 47. 3 7W V p. 48. 
 
 3 'See The Filson Club History Quarterly, Vol. 4, pp. 78-90, Sketches of the lives 
 of Robert Craddock and Pierre Tardiveau, by Professor Thomas C. Cherry. 
 
 4 °Rice, op.cit., p. 48. 
 Charles R. Staples, The History of Pioneer Lexington, 1799-1806 (Lexington, 
 Transylvania Press, 1939) , pp. 27-30. 
 
 4 'See Mr. Temple Bodley 's sketch of Wilkinson, in Littell's Political Transactions, 
 etc., pp. VII-X. 
 
 43 Bodley, op.cit., p. VIII. 
 
 "Ibid., p. XL "Ibid. 
 Bodley, History of Kentucky, (who quotes Daniel Clark, Corruption of Wilkin- 
 son) , p. 402. 
 
 'An excellent bibliography of the Wilkinson conspiracy is listed by Dr. Burson in 
 her volume The Stewardship of Don Esteban Miro. A part of her bibliography is 
 here carried: I. J. Cox's "The Pan-American Policy of Jefferson and Wilkinson," in 
 Mississippi Valley Historical Review, I, 2 (1914), 212-239; James Wilkinson's Me- 
 moirs of My Own Times, in 3 volumes, Abraham Small (Philadelphia, 1816) ; James 
 Wilkinson's Wilkinson, Soldier and Pioneer, Rogers Printing Company, (New Or- 
 leans, 1935) ; "General James Wilkinson by his Great Grandson," in Louisiana His- 
 torical Quarterly, I, 2 (1917), 79-166; also Thomas R. Hay's "General James Wilk- 
 inson — The Last Phase," in Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XIX, 2 (1936), 407-435; 
 Miro and Navarro to Valdes (Spanish Secretary of Foreign Affairs) Reservado No. 
 13, also known as Representacion No. 13 (from Pontalba Transcripts; Gayarre Notes, 
 Book 4075, Duplicadosdel Gobernador Miro: Duplicados 1789-1799"; Temple Bod- 
 ley's "Memorial and Expatriation Declaration of Wilkinson," in The Filson Club 
 Publications No. 31, J. P. Morton Company (Louisville, 1926) ; Gilbert Pemberton's 
 "Notes on General Wilkinson's Memorial and Miro and Navarro's Despatch No. 13," 
 in Publications Louisiana Historical Society, IX, (1916), 45-54; William R. Shepherd's 
 "Documents and Papers Relating to Wilkinson," in American Historical Review, IX, 
 3 and 4 (1904) ; Roscoe R. Hill's Descriptive Catalougue of the Documents Relating 
 to the History of the United States in the Paples Procedentes de Cuba Deposited in 
 the Archivo General de Indias at Sevilla. 
 
 4 Burson, op.cit., p. 149. 
 
 4 'Bodley, Littell's Political Transactions, etc., p. xlii. 
 
 " A copy of the "Memorial," taken from copies of the Pontalba Transcripts in The 
 Filson Club, is given in Appendix ___., pp. ..... See also Bodley, History of Kentucky, 
 
 pp. 403-424. 
 
 ^Bodley, History of Kentucky, p. 436. 
 
 " 2 Burson, op.cit., p. 150. 
 
 : Tbid., p. 151. "Ibid. "Ibid., p. 152. 
 
 "Bodley, op.cit., p. XLIV (cites Library of Congress Northwest Territory Papers, 
 loose) . 
 
 "Ibid. 
 
 "Marshall, op.cit., I, 283, 284. 
 
 "'Quoted by Bodley, op.cit., pp. XL VI, XL VII. 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 225 
 
 °°Burson, op.cit., p. 153. 
 
 "Ibid. "Ibid., p. 154. 
 
 " Brown, op.cit., p. 175. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 176. 
 
 "Wilkinson, eager to please Don Esteban Miro, presented to the Governor of 
 Louisiana the proceedings of the convention of July (1788) in this version: "I dis-- 
 covered that the proposed new government of the United States had inspired some 
 with apprehensions, and others with hopes — so much so that I saw that this circum- 
 stance would be a cause of some opposition and delay. I also perceived that all idea 
 that Kentucky would subject itself to Spain must be abandoned for the present, and 
 that the only feasible plan to the execution of which I had to direct my attention was 
 that of a separation from the United States, and an alliance with Spain, on conditions 
 which could not yet be defined with precision. . . . The question of separation from 
 the United States, although discussed with vehemence among the most distinguished 
 inhabitants of this section of the country, had never been mentioned, in a formal 
 manner, to the people at large, but now was the time for making this important and 
 interesting experiment, and it became my indispensable mission to do so. I had to 
 work on a ground not yet prepared for the seed to be deposited in it, and I felt that 
 to produce a favorable impression I had to proceed with reserve, and avoid with the 
 utmost care any demonstration which might be calculated to cause surprise or alarm. 
 
 For these motives, I gave an equivocal shape to the expression of my design, speak- 
 ing of it in general terms, as being recommended by eminent politicians of the Atlantic 
 Coast, with whom I had conversed on this affair, and thus, by indirect suggestions 
 and argument, I inspired the people with my own views, without presenting them as 
 such, because it would have been imprudent in me to divulge them under the existing 
 circumstances, and I can give you the solemn assurance that I found all the men be- 
 longing to the first class of society in the district, with the exception of Colonel Mar- 
 shall, our surveyor, and Colonel Muter, one of our judges, decidedly in favor of separa- 
 tion from the United States and of an alliance with Spain. At first, these two men 
 had expressed this same opinion with warmth, but now their feelings have taken a 
 different direction, from private motives of interest and personal pique; for which 
 reasons I have very little to dread from their influence; but, at the same time, I fore- 
 saw that they would avail themselves of the opposition made by some literary dema- 
 gogues, who were under the influence of fear and prejudice. Nevertheless, I determined 
 to lay the question before our Convention, and I took the necessary measures ac- 
 cordingly." 
 
 Wilkinson then ventures this information: 
 
 "From this proceeding of Congress it resulted, that the Convention was of opinion, 
 that our proposed independence and separation from Virginia not being ratified, its 
 mission and powers were at an end, and we found ourselves in the alternative, either 
 of proceeding to declare our independence, or of waiting according to the recommenda- 
 tion of Congress. This was the state of affairs, when the Honorable Caleb Wallace, 
 one of our Supreme Judges, the Attorney-General Innis, and Benjamin Sebastian 
 proposed a prompt separation from the American Union, and advocated with intrepidity 
 the necessity of the measure. The artifice of Congress was exposed, its proceedings 
 reprobated, the consequences of depending on a body whose interests were opposed 
 to ours were depicted in the most vivid colors, and the strongest motives were set forth 
 to justify the separation. The arguments used were unanswerable, and no opposition 
 was manifested in the course of the debates. It was unanimously conceded that the 
 present connection was injurious to our interests, and that it could not last any length 
 of time. Nevertheless, sir, when the question was finally taken, fear and folly pre- 
 vailed against reason and judgment. It was thought safer and more convenient to 
 
226 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 adhere to the recommendations of Congress, and, in consequence, it was decided that 
 the people be advised to elect a new Convention, which should meet in the month of 
 November in conformity with the ordinance which you will find in the Gazette, No. 2." 
 Bodley, op,cit., pp. I-LIII. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 178. "Ibid., p. 179. 
 
 "Mr. John Mason Brown, a very able man indeed but one who cannot be proven to 
 have been without prejudice against Humphrey Marshall, wrote this interesting footnote 
 (op.cit., p. 180) concerning that Kentucky historian: 
 
 "The resolutions of the convention of July, 1788, are incorrectly given in the draft 
 published by Marshall. (History of Kentucky, Vol. I, pp. 325, 326, 327, edition of 
 1812.) He omits that important part of the paper which recites that the resolutions 
 were 'unanimously agreed to'; an omission necessary to the political argument pursued 
 by him. The resolve of thanks to Brown is also left out. It is much to be regretted 
 that so strong and well informed a writer as Marshall should have had so little of the 
 true historic reverence for accuracy. The history of Marshall was not written until 
 1812, twenty-four years after the event. During this period his sentiments toward 
 Innes, Brown, Wallace, and Nicholas had been those of bitterest hostility, most cordially 
 reciprocated by them. He really wrote his side of a personal quarrel and called it 
 (and no doubt thought it) history. Mr. Roosevelt ('Winning of the West') has 
 recognized how this affects the trustworthiness of Marshall as an historical authority. 
 Paxton, his relative, admits of Humphrey Marshall and his history, that 'it is able and 
 interesting, but prejudice and partisanship appear on every page. He was an over- 
 weening Federalist, and wrote more as a politician than as an impartial historian.' 
 (Paxton, Genealogy, etc., of the Marshall Family, p. 81.) " 
 
 Ibid., p. 180. Thomas Todd was later an Associate Justice of the United States 
 Supreme Court. 
 
 ' See Burson, op.cit., 147; also Vol. 8, The Chronicles of American Series, ed. Allen 
 Johnson (Benjamin Franklin Edition), Max Farrand, The Fathers of the Constitution 
 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1921), pp. 56 et seq.; also, Fremont P. Wirth, 
 The Development of America (Cincinnati: American Book Company, 1941), p. 185. 
 
 ' Bodley, op.cit., p. LIV. 
 
 ' 2 Brown, op.cit., pp. 183, 184. 
 
 "Butler, History of Kentucky, ed. 1836, pp. 519-521. 
 
 ' Quoted from Brown, op.cit., pp. 186, 187 (who gives this citation, "Dorchester to 
 Sydney, No. 107, 11th April, 1789, MS. Canadian Archives, Colonial O&ce Records, 
 Series Q., Vol. XLI, p. 283") . 
 
 75 Ibid., p. 187. '"Ibid., p. 188. 
 
 "Rice, op.cit., p. 
 A translation of this remarkable paper is carried in Appendix pp. 
 
 "The leading men listed are, "Colonel George Muter, Chief Justice, with a salary 
 from Virginia, Major General (Charles) Scott, Brigadier General Wilkinson, Colonel 
 Levi Todd, Colonel Robert Todd, Colonel Robert Johnson, Colonel Robert Patterson, 
 Colonel (Thomas) Marshall, Secretary of the Land Office, and Colonel Campbell." 
 (Brown, op.cit., pp. 255, 156. 
 
 sn Brown, op.cit., pp. 354-156. 
 
 "The Register of the Kentucky State Historical Society, Vol. 38, No. 122, pp. 54, 55 
 ("Some Notes on The British Intrigue in Kentucky, 1788-1791," by Schuyler Dean 
 Hoslett) . 
 
 ""Ibid., p. 55. 
 See sketch of life of Muter in Appendix , pp. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 192. 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 227 
 
 The question arises as to why Judge Muter and Colonel Marshall had changed 
 their position following the July convention, at which time they supported the resolution 
 conferring upon the November meeting plenary powers. The probable answer is that 
 they feared that certain leaders were ambitious to obtain independence of Virginia and 
 then to negotiate with Spain as a /sovereign state for the free navigation of the Mis- 
 sissippi, perhaps even to join Spain. Humphrey Marshall had some inkling of Wilkin- 
 son's intrigues with Miro, and he suspected even more than he knew concerning the 
 General's treasonable activities. That Kentucky might make some sort of bargain with 
 His Catholic Majesty's Government must have been common talk. Even John Brown 
 was linked with some sort of proposed independent agreement with the authorities at 
 New Orleans. Writes Dr. Burson: "One member of the General Congress, John 
 Brown, . . . had hurried home from Philadelphia to promote a General Assembly look- 
 ing to independence and the formation of a commercial arrangement with Spain. Ac- 
 cording to (Oliver) Pollock, Brown was sure that they would select him to send him 
 with the proper credentials to treat with Miro, and, as if in confirmation of his state- 
 ment, the Pennsylvania Gazette of August 6, 1788, declared that ^according to reports 
 received through different channels Kentucky had directed a petition to the King of 
 Spain asking his protection since Congress was unwilling or unable to grant the ac- 
 commodations they thought satisfactory. With such an agreement the Kentuckians 
 would enjoy the free navigation of the Mississippi.' Since Pollock had been an im- 
 portant figure in winning Galvez and the Crown to support the American colonies in 
 their revolt against English rule, Miro must have felt the portentousness of the times 
 when he declared that in any event delegates would probably be waiting upon him in 
 New Orleans the following spring." (Burson, op.cit., p. 155. Miro to Minister, 
 Representacion No. 29, November 3, 1788, is cited.) Though most of these expressions 
 were based upon heresay and rumor, the student, nevertheless, gains a fairly clear idea 
 of the general temper of Kentucky at that time. 
 Brown, op.cit., pp. 195, 196. 
 
 "'Ibid., p. 196. "Ibid., p. 197. 
 
 'Bodley (quoting Littell) op.cit., p. 30. 
 
 "Brown, op.cit., p. 259. (who carries a copy of the Minutes of the Convention of 
 November, 1788. 
 
 !,1 Bodley, op.cit., p. LVIII. 
 "Brown, op.cit. (Appendix) p. 258. 
 
 93 7 bid., p. 260. "Ibid. 
 
 9 "A part of the report (Miro's Representacion No. 34, February 12, 1789) is here 
 quoted: 
 
 "You will find enclosed number 3 to be two newspapers that contain all the pro- 
 ceedings of our last convention, and will observe that the memorial to Congress was 
 presented by me, and probably you will be surprised that a good Spaniard should have 
 dictated such a document, but after pondering over it you will observe that my policy 
 has been to justify our separation before the world, and to insure the co-operation of 
 a few friends in the Atlantic States in order to divide them, because once this is known 
 it will be impossible for the United States to obtain the results to which we aspire, not 
 only did I satisfy my sentiments or inclinations, but I also endeavored to arrange my 
 memorial in such a way that its style would be more appropriate to excite the passions 
 of our people, and carry with it the conviction that Congress neither has the power 
 nor inclination to entertain their petition, therefore, if after having publicly and 
 energetically claimed our rights and established clearly and legally our wishes, Congress 
 should not uphold them, (which you know it cannot do even were it so inclined), then 
 
 16— Vol. I 
 
228 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 not only the people of Kentucky, but the world at large will justify us for looking for 
 protection somewhere else. 
 
 "Your conduct in protecting the expedition of the boat destined to this country will 
 doubtless merit H.C.M. approval, for really, my friend, it is an important point gained, 
 that of convincing the people of Kentucky that instead of sending their money over 
 the mountains to purchase various necessities, those can be obtained in New Orleans 
 on better terms and in exchange for their own products. Good-bye, very dear friend, 
 tomorrow I am going to the falls of the Ohio to dispatch my barges. Believe me 
 always your faithful servitor and grateful friend, James Wilkinson — Sr. Dn. Estaban 
 Miro. (Translations in The Filson Club from Spanish documents in the Louisiana 
 Historical Society, New Orleans, Louisiana.) 
 Brown, op.cit., p. 263. 
 
 07 Bodley, op.cit., p. LIX. 
 
 "Ibid., p. LIX. 
 Ibid., LX. See also Burson, op.cit., pp. 157, 158. 
 
 °°"In paragraph *B,' you will [note] Brigadier Wilkinson's praiseworthy boldness in 
 presenting publicly in the convention his first memorial, in so doing it appears to me he 
 has bound himself completely in such a manner that should he not obtain Kentucky's 
 separation from the United States, he will no longer be able to live there unless he 
 eliminates those articles that could be prejudicial to him which may be possible on 
 account of the opposition of Marshall and Muter. For the purpose of petitioning for 
 Independence, admission as a member of the Union and the free navigation of the 
 Mississippi it was resolved that in the said Convention to formulate new memorials. to 
 Virginia and to Congress, and in spite of the fact that Wilkinson insists, in this and 
 subsequent paragraphs, in maintaining a contrary opinion, I believe that Independence 
 and Union will be conceded to them and that the answer that Congress gave them was 
 not a subterfuge, for the right of the District of Kentucky to these benefits, in accord- 
 ance with the Articles of Confederation under which the new United States established 
 their first government, is incontestable. 
 
 "The manner in which he explains himself in paragraph *C makes me fear that he 
 will find the concession of trade to the inhabitants of Kentucky very contrary to the 
 principal project, although under an import of fifteen per cent, and that this facilitates 
 them the long desired free navigation, for which he felt confident they would have 
 exposed themselves to all the resentment of Congress by separating themselves from their 
 government, if through no other means could they have obtained it; in this I am 
 totally of his opinion, as I explained in my secret dispatch No. 32. However, as is 
 natural, the petition of Congress will be that ships coming to load the products of 
 Kentucky be allowed to enter through the Baliza, a constant opposition to this demand 
 and a few other obstructions I can suscitate, to those who do not come down to settle, 
 such as, not buying tobacco from them for account of the Royal Treasury may probably 
 have the same effect." (Translated from documents belonging to the Louisiana His- 
 torical Society, copies in library of The Filson Club.) 
 
 It should be recalled that three months after the November (1788) convention 
 Colonel Thomas Marshall wrote the letter to General Washington, which suggested a 
 suspicion that certain leaders, including Wilkinson's were intent upon violently separat- 
 ing Kentucky from Virginia and negotiating in a sovereign capacity with Spain. 
 Brown, op.cit., p. 262. 
 
 W3 Ibid., pp. 201, 202. 
 
 104 Butler, op.cit., p. 175. 
 
 In a letter of December 18, 1788, to President Washington, Judge Harry Innes wrote 
 from Danville these statements concerning the "British conspiracy": 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 229 
 
 "In the latter end of this summer," said he, "it was suggested to me that the British 
 court had emissaries in Kentucky. From the abhorrence and destestation, which I have 
 to a British connexion, other than that of friends and allies, I was induced to keep a 
 look-out, and scrutinize the conduct of all strangers. My observations soon convinced 
 me of the truth of the case. Among others, Lieutenant-Colonel Connolly (late of Fort 
 Pitt) from Detroit has visited this district. His conduct has alarmed my fears. He had 
 some confidential conferences with influential characters. He touched the key to fro- 
 mentations, and offered assistance to enable the inhabitants of the western country to 
 seize on the city of New Orleans, and secure thereby the navigation of the Mississippi. 
 How his machinations are to be counteracted is the great object. I would be more 
 explicit if the conveyance of my letter were more certain. It is entrusted to chance; 
 I must therefore act with caution. 
 
 "Relying implicitly on this fact, that whatever tends to disturb the peace of United 
 America would distress and injure your tranquillity and repose, and that your aiding 
 hand would not be withheld when your country's cause required it, I have ventured 
 to solicit your advice and directions on this interesting subject, and would wish to write 
 confidentially to you on this business, if by your answer I should conceive myself 
 justified in the attempt. Should this proposed communication meet your approbation, 
 will it not be advisable to invent a cipher for the preservation of that secrecy, which 
 the magnitude of the subject requires. This being arranged, I pledge my honor to 
 give you from time to time a faithful detail of facts. 
 
 "Danville, Ky., Dec. 18th, 1788." (The Writings of George Washington, ed. Jared 
 Sparks, Vol. IX, pp. 474, 475.) 
 
 Writings of George Washington, Vol. IX, pp. 211, 212. 
 ™Ibid., p. 181. 
 
 Brown, op.cit., p. 217. 
 
 Hening, Statutes at Large, Vol. XIII, p. 17. 
 
 The vote was divided as follows: For, Messrs. Bullitt, Thruston, Croaghan (sic) , 
 Caldwell, Grundy, Logan, Montgomery, Shelby, Davis, Bowman, Todd, Muter, T. 
 Marshall, Young, Grant, H. Marshall, Garrard, Edwards, Shipp, G. Lewis, Pickett, 
 Waring, Vancover and Davidson. Against; Slaughter, Thomas, Hynes, J. Lewis, 
 Shepperd, Taylor, Lillard, Froman, Green, Bryan, Irvine, Reynolds, Talbott Reid, Han- 
 cock, Allin, Roate and Waller. (Photostat copies in the library of The Filson Club 
 of Journals of Conventions at Danville, Ky., 1788-1792, pp. 40-46. 
 
 Though it is noted that the conservative leaders voted for, the newer delegates gen- 
 erally voted against separation, which is likely indicative of the mounting conservative 
 feeling among the electorate. 
 
 The counties were Jefferson, Nelson, Fayette, Madison, Mercer, Woodford, Lincoln 
 and Bourbon. 
 
 E. Merton Coulter, "Early Frontier Democracy in the First Kentucky Constitution," 
 Political Science Quarterly, XXXIX (December, 1924), p. 669. 
 
 That convention resolved "That to assure unanimity in opinion of the people 
 respecting the propriety of separating the district of Kentucky from Virginia and 
 forming a separate state government, and to give publicity to the proceedings of the 
 convention, it is deemed essential to the interests of the country to have a printing-press." 
 (Connelly and Coulter, op.cit., I, 229.) 
 
 The Register of the Kentucky State Historical Society, Vol. 39, p. 206. 
 "Ibid., p. 207. "Ibid., p. 207. "Ibid. 
 
 "''Brown, op.cit., p. 231. 
 
 See Bodley, History of Kentucky, pp. 489-491; also The Lawyers and Lawmakers 
 
230 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 of Kentucky, ed. H. Levin (Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1897), pp. 215- 
 219. 
 
 ""Collins, op.cit., Vol. II, p. 664. 
 
 "The following is a bibliography listed by Professor Dupre concerning Colonel 
 Nicholas' party in the Convention: W. H. Perrin, J. H. Battle, and G. C. Kniffin, 
 History of Kentucky (Louisville, 1886), p. 296; Niels, Henry Sonne, Liberal Kentucky, 
 1780-1828 (New York, 1939), p. 8; Clifton S. Lowry, The Influence of John Locke 
 Upon the Early Political Thought of Kentucky (Lexington, 1940, unpublished Doctor's 
 dissertation, University of Kentucky), p. 154; E. Merton Coulter, "Early Frontier De- 
 mocracy in the First Kentucky Constitutions," Political Science Quarterly, XXXIX, 
 (December, 1924), p. 665; Letters and Other Writings of James Madison (Philadelphia, 
 1865), Vol. I, pp. 560, 561; The Filson Club Publications No: 29 (Asa Martin, The 
 Anti-Slavery Movement in Kentucky Prior to 1850), p. 16; Bennett H. Young, History 
 and Texts of The Three Constitutions of Kentucky (Louisville, 1890) , p. 9; John C. 
 Doolan, "The Constitutions and Constitutional Conventions of 1792 and 1799," Pro- 
 ceedings of the Sixteenth Annual Meeting of the Kentucky State Bar Association 
 (Louisville, 1917), p. 139. 
 
 ™Ibid., p. 664. 
 
 Z Ibid - 
 
 122 Bodley, op.cit., p. 491. 
 
 ^Register of the Kentucky State Historical Society, Vol. 39, pp. 208, 209. 
 
 124 Brown, op.cit., pp. 228, 229. 
 J. Winston Colman, Jr., Slavery Times in Kentucky (Chapel Hill, The University 
 of North Carolina Press, 1904) , p. 290. 
 
 " Journals of Conventions at Danville, Ky., 1788-1792 (Photostat copies in the library 
 of The Filson Club, p. 80) . 
 
 Mr. John Mason Brown expresses surprise that the known liberals and emancipationists 
 Wallace, Walton and Sebastian voted to sustain slavery but concludes that it may be 
 attributed to Colonel Nicholas' "dominating ability." Perhaps another explanation is 
 that these gentlemen possessed property in slaves. 
 
 "Brown, op.cit., p. 230. 
 
 1_s Dupre, op.cit., p. 209. 
 
 "Brown, op-cit., p. 231. 
 
 130 Bodley ? LittelFs Political Transactions, etc., pp. XLVI-XLVIL 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 HOSTILITIES WITH THE INDIANS OF THE NORTHWEST 
 
 A, 
 
 .s has been stated, the close of the Revolution brought no surcease of 
 hostilities in the West, where the Indians, if anything, became more determined than 
 ever to check the influx of white settlers. The red men were aided and abetted in their 
 hostilities against the western Americans by the British agents in command of the 
 Northwest posts, which by the treaty of 1783 should have been surrendered to the 
 American government. 
 
 PRECARIOUS POSITION OF KENTUCKY 
 
 Kentucky — still an exposed triangle jutting into enemy territory — found that her 
 condition was more desperate following the war than during the war, the reason being 
 continued Indian attacks and no corresponding aid from either the Federal Government 
 or the Virginia Assembly. Virginia, at that time, in a condition of near bankruptcy, felt 
 unable to send troops and supplies over the mountains to succor Kentucky, which was 
 seeking by every means to be independent of the Old Dominion and was likely at any 
 time to become a member of the Union. Moreover, many Virginian leaders believed 
 that the Kentuckians had so antagonized the red men as to be responsible for the 
 raids by the braves. Governor Edmund Randolph in 1787 and Governor Beverly 
 Randolph in 1790 publicly expressed this opinion. 1 Virginia had gone so far as to 
 forbid Kentucky from fostering military expeditions outside her borders except under 
 conditions so restricted as to encourage the savages to attack and pillage, a measure 
 very galling to the Kentuckians. 
 
 The Federal Government, if it can be said that she had an Indian policy, followed 
 that of appeasement and treaty-making. Various commissions had been appointed at 
 different times to treat with the tribes, with the hope of either making them allies or 
 neutrals; at the same time to gain lands without bloodshed. Following he Revolution, 
 Congress adopted the policy of presents and treaties, making treaties with as many 
 tribes as possible. 
 
 POSITION OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 This plan, though continued by the Federal Government for a century perhaps, never 
 succeeded. At no time during this period was a number of tribes anything like ap- 
 proximating a majority held friendly by arbitrament, nor were all those members of 
 the tribes held by treaty willing to abide by the agreement to which they had agreed. 
 In fact, the treaties acted as an immunity from punishment to bands of marauders 
 who would waylay settlers en route to Kentucky, take scalps, prisoners, booty and 
 horses. The leaders of the supposedly friendly tribe could say to Congress truthfully 
 that they had not only not violated the treaty, but that they had honestly striven to 
 prevent violations. The Federal Confederation authorities, inclined to accept these 
 protestations, both had refused to send aid to Kentucky and permission for Kentuckians 
 to attack, though all the while Indian atrocities became more destructive and intolerable. 
 They wished their piece-meal treaty-making policy to succeed, were even willing to 
 take the Indian's word that he was not the aggressor. Officials of the Federal Govern- 
 ment, notably President Washington, were inclined to be more sympathetic to Kentucky's 
 plight than those of the Confederation had been. 
 
232 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 KENTUCKY'S ATTITUDE 
 
 Kentuckians' general attitude toward the red man was the same as that which had 
 been held by old Virginia frontiersmen, namely, that "the best Indian is a dead Indian." 
 The Kentuckians were proud, aggressive people who were determined to have the West. 
 They regarded the Indian as inferior and their experiences had taught them that he was 
 a treacherous, blood-thirsty savage, far more vicious, dangerous and treacherous than 
 any other form of human nature the world had known. Be it said, however, that this 
 opinion was not held by a majority of the members of the Political Club of Danville, 
 who on February 17, 1787, and May 12, 1787, had debated the question of Indian 
 ownership of the land and intermarriage between the two races, these very deliberately, 
 justly, rationally and in a spirit of broadmindedness and humanitarianism." It must 
 be remembered, however, that the distinguished members of the Political Club were 
 the intelligencia, a small minority. The hideous and fiendish barbarities committed 
 by the red men in Kentucky during the war had not left a good taste in the mouths 
 of Kentuckians for the "children of nature," and the continued acts of violence perpe- 
 trated upon the whites entering Kentucky by way of the Cumberland Gap and down the 
 Ohio did not allay the hatred and abhorence of them. 
 
 The Indians, always silently resentful at the encroachments of the whites, had had 
 their smoldering anger bellowsed by the treaty of 1783, which ceded lands to the United 
 States claimed by the Indians, this without the red men's even having been consulted. 
 Aside from this, many other causes for ill-feeling existed. White traders constantly 
 swindled the braves at every turn. Moreover, many of the Indians, aside from the sensual 
 pleasures derived by the savage in slaughtering and scalping, were keenly alive to the 
 value of booty derived from successfully attacking white settlers. So luring was this 
 prospect that honest treaty-keeping chiefs were practically powerless to prevent way- 
 laying, raiding and pillaging. 3 
 
 The toll of life and the destruction of property were terrific. Most of the havoc 
 wrought was along the Ohio. Bands of savages would lie securely concealed in bushes 
 along the north bank of the Ohio (sometimes the south bank), and wait for a breeze 
 to push flatboats laden with settlers' families, household furniture, livestock, imple- 
 ments, etc., close to the shore. Suddenly the wilderness quiet would be broken by a 
 volley of rifle shots, often killing or wounding most of the white men at first fire. 
 Frequently the red men were bold enough to row out in canoes, board the flatboats, 
 kill and scalp the remaining white men, capture the women and children, killing and 
 scalping some, then give themselves over to the most abandoned savage pillaging and 
 plundering — and woe to the women and children if quantities of spirits were found. 
 The sadistic saturnalias culminating such orgies are practically indescribable. Little 
 wonder that enraged Kentuckians tracked down any red men they could, slaughtered 
 them and scalped them, regardless of innocence or guilt. Little wonder that they 
 became indignant at the apparent disinterest of the Virginia Assembly and of the 
 Federal Government. 
 
 THE DISASTER OF THE HARDIN FAMILY 
 
 Hundreds of these savage attacks occurred between 1780 and 1795. 4 The attack 
 made upon the Hardin family in 1780 — which settled in Nelson (later Washington) 
 County and became one of Kentucky's most prominent families — here described, may 
 be taken as an example. 
 
 Early in the year 1780, a number of the Hardin men and their kin were busily 
 engaged in building two boats — one large, one smaller — in which to move their property 
 — cattle, horses, hogs, implements, furniture — and their families down the Ohio to the 
 Falls; while their women ceaselessly wove, cooked, packed from dawn till late at night. 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 233 
 
 In March the two boats quietly dropped down the Monongahela and into the Ohio, 
 the large boat in front, requiring most of the men, the smaller behind, carrying the 
 precious cargo of women and children, and controlled and guarded mostly by boys. 5 
 
 On the twentieth of March, 1780, just as the boats were nearing the mouth of 
 Limestone Creek (Maysville) , they were attacked suddenly and furiously by a large 
 company of Indians from the northern shore. Two men steering the family boat were 
 both killed by the first volley fired, while the other boat was riddled with leaden balls; 
 on the latter boat nearly half of the men were soon killed or crippled. No assistance 
 could be given therefore to the family boat. This craft soon drifted to the northern 
 shore, where it was stormed. However, the savages were held back until the last man 
 and boy on board fell. The last was ten-year-old Stephen Hardin, son of Jack Hardin. 
 From the beginning, this little fellow had loaded his rifle, fired and reloaded, like a 
 grim veteran. When the Indians at last had killed the only man left, Stephen ran to 
 the side of his mother to protect her. Two red men rushed on him, tomahawk in hand 
 and yelling like wild demons. The little fellow shot one dead; the other paused. Then 
 another savage rushing up shot the plucky boy dead. The red fiends, now maddened 
 and stirred to the highest pitch of demoniacal savagry, quickly wreaked their vengeance. 
 Two wounded boys were scalped and chopped to pieces; the brave little Stephen was 
 scalped and torn apart, his bloody scalp slapped in the face of the mother. Then the 
 wild plundering began. 
 
 Before the men in the large boat could get their unwieldly ark turned and run ashore, 
 the hideous butchery had been completed. These men found awful evidence of the 
 barbarity wrought, though the women and children living had been hurried away 
 into captivity as night and darkness came on. Jack Hardin, Jr., grandson of one who 
 was present, has depicted the scene vividly in this moving paragraph: 
 
 "As soon as the Indians left the family boat the men that were able to, crossed the 
 river. The scene that met them on reaching the boat I give as related by my grand- 
 father, Thomas Hardin. He and Shively, though wounded, crossed with the party, 
 the two above named and four of the five unhurt men, Jack Hardin, little John Hardin, 
 Mark Hardin, and Samuel Robertson, who was related to the family. As they neared 
 the shore where the boat lay, the terrible havoc opened to their view. Two brave men 
 lay dead on top of the boat. Mrs. Shively lay dead and mangled in the edge of the 
 river, her babe a few feet from her, its head split open. The brave little Stephen, son 
 of Jack Hardin, lay on the rocks stripped, and chopped and gashed all over. The 
 interior of the boat was strewn with the slain. Near the center lay the grim form 
 of the Indian Stephen had killed. Robertson found the body of his two sons. The 
 unfortunate Shively found his wife and child, Jack Hardin, his son Stephen. Others 
 were standing by their dead. Silent and terrible was their grief. Little John Hardin 
 at last broke the spell that bound them all by saying in a loud voice: 'It's done; let 
 us bury our dead, and take unsatisfied revenge on the murderers as long as we can 
 raise an arm to slay an Indian.' A general Amen was the response. Silently but 
 vigorously the party went to work. When their mournful task was completed their 
 agony was renewed in contemplation of the miseries of the living death of the women 
 and children they had seen driven off by the savages. Jack Hardin's wife and four- 
 year-old son, Robert, were with them. Robinson's wife and two children were gone. 
 The wife and two daughters of one of the brave men lying dead on the top of the 
 boat were gone. Others that I do not recollect were gone. Jack Hardin and Rob- 
 ertson were crushed, helpless, and unmanned. They sat by the pile of earth that 
 covered their dead. Their grief was too deep for tears; their comrades could not 
 disturb them." 
 
 Momentarily undone by the horrible scene, the Hardins and their companions sank; 
 then a wild surge for revenge all but drove them mad. There the Hardins, the Rob- 
 
234 A S E S Q U I -CENTENNIAL 
 
 ertsons, the Hardings and the Shivelys solemnly swore eternal war upon the Indians 
 and vowed never to rest until their wives and children were found and delivered. 
 
 True to their promise, they took the war path as soon as possible. They became 
 the scurge of the savages. From the mouth of the Licking and the Falls of the Ohio 
 northward, along the Scioto, the Miami, the Wabash and even down the Sandusky to 
 the shores of Lake Erie, they stole noiselessly through the shadows of the forest, struck 
 silently, swiftly and mortally. Soon Mordecai Lincoln, the Davises, the Paynes and 
 the Carlyles joined them. Seldom a stroke of the hatchet, or a report of the deadly 
 rifle, failed to deliver a brave to his happy hunting-ground. Many a red skull was 
 cleft to the throat, many a red heart was pierced with lead, many a black scalp swung 
 from the belts of the Hardins and their company. 
 
 After four years, the women and children, who had suffered inhuman tortures, even 
 had been forced to witness the burning at the stake of one of their would-be deliverers, 
 the heroic Shively, arrived at their old homes on the Monongahela in Southern Penn- 
 sylvania. The first attempt of the Hardins to settle in Kentucky had met with tragedy; 
 their second attempt was successful. 
 
 PUNITIVE EXPEDITIONS OF 1787: HARDIN'S 
 
 In addition to the major operations conducted by General Clark and by Colonel 
 Benjamin Logan, the year 1787 witnessed three additional expeditions, of a punitive 
 nature: that of Colonel John Logan against the Cherokees in Tennessee, that of Major 
 William Oldham against the Shawnees along the Wabash and that of Colonel John 
 Hardin.' 
 
 Indian horse-stealing raids in Nelson (now Washington) County, particularly on 
 Pleasant Run Creek (a few miles east of the present town of Springfield) , led Colonel 
 Hardin to organize a punitive expedition. Late in August, he led two hundred mounted 
 militiamen, northward, crossing the Ohio near the Falls. This expedition is graphically 
 described by Jack Hardin, Jr. He writes: "All the men in the Pleasant Run settlement 
 enrolled themselves, near forty, and were clamorous to be led on at once, thinking and 
 saying that they were enough to face all the Indians on the Wabash. But fortunately 
 for John, he was at this time appointed County Lieutenant, with the rank of Colonel, 
 which gave him the command of the militia of the country. He was now clothed with 
 the authority to call out as many men as he deemed necessary and strike with them 
 where he thought best. He made his arrangements to move with two hundred men, 
 well armed and mounted, as soon as possible after the men had completed their crops. 
 In August he made the move with his two hundred men, and with him all the Hardin 
 clan and connections that were in Kentucky except Indian Bill and his. He crossed 
 the Ohio at Louisville and went over the country to the head branches of the Wabash. 
 Indians fled before them, carrying everything they could with them. He divided his 
 little army into four squads and swept over a wide breadth of country, destroying all 
 the huts and truck patches of corn, pumpkins and potatoes until he had marched about 
 a day beyond White River and some distance to the left of Indianapolis, when his 
 advance scouts discovered several parties of Indians in bunches of ten to thirty, 
 maneuvering as spies and scouts. He on receipt of this intelligence sent orders to 
 different squads to concentrate on him. Ordering his scouts to lead him the shortest 
 route to the largest band, he succeeded in finding their encampment and charged before 
 the Indians were aware of the approach. The red men were routed so quickly that 
 they left everything in the hands of the victors, including all their arms except the 
 knives carried in their belts. Between thirty and forty horses and as many rifles were 
 captured. Among the horses there were six or eight that were stolen from the Pleasant 
 Run settlement in the spring; three of them were Col. John's. The Indians lost ten, 
 in killed and wounded, that fell into Col. John's hands. The whites had a few slightly 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 235 
 
 wounded with cuts from knives in hand-to-hand fights that took place in the pursuit. 
 Soon after this affair his force was united. He crossed the Wabash and marched 
 several days toward the Illinois River. He could not find any body of Indians but 
 squads of squaws and children fleeing for life. These he left unharmed except to take 
 from them the horses that were often found with them. He deemed it unsafe to press 
 farther, as he was now near two hundred miles in the enemy's country. He bore to the 
 left and swept the country back between Vincennes and his route out. They laid 
 waste everything as they went. Not a hut, corn or bean patch in a belt of a hundred 
 miles long and fifty miles wide in the Indian country proper. Aside from Col. John's 
 fight, parties had a number of small affairs, and a number of Indians were killed. In a 
 short campaign Col. John enabled settlers to re-stock themselves with horses and strike 
 a stunning blow to the Indians. The captured horses were, a large majority of them, 
 the ones that had been stolen from the settlements on Salt River and Pleasant Run, 
 showing that the Colonel had struck the identical Indians that had been so long depre- 
 dating on them, and ruined them so effectually that they never crossed the river after- 
 ward. For no Indians ever molested these settlements any more." 8 
 
 JUDGE HARRY INNES REMONSTRATES AGAINST THE INDIANS 
 
 The same year, 1787, the attorney general for the District of Kentucky, Harry Innes, 
 informed Governor Randolph, of Virginia, that the red men had become so hostile and 
 destructive that Kentucky would likely revolt and become independent, "for, under 
 the present system, we cannot exert our strength, neither does Congress seem disposed 
 to protect us. 
 
 In July of the year 1790, Judge Innes, in appealing to the Secretary of War, General 
 Henry Knox, for aid, presented a dismal picture of Kentucky's losses and her plight. 
 He declared that "during the seven years which had elapsed since the close of the 
 Revolutionary War the Indians had slain fifteen hundred people in Kentucky itself, 
 or on the immigrant routes leading thither, and had stolen twenty thousand horses, 
 besides destroying immense quantities of other property." 10 
 
 SITUATION IN 1790 
 
 The situation in 1790 as far as the West was concerned was briefly this: Virginia 
 refusing to aid Kentucky against the Indians, wished to be relieved of further re- 
 sponsibility. Kentuckians, who had suffered terrifically at the hands of the Indians, 
 partly because of lack of help from Virginia and the Federal Government, was de- 
 termined to fight the savages wheresoever found; they were even preparing for a large- 
 scale expedition north of the Ohio. The Federal Governmental authorities, at last 
 aware of the failure of the treaty-making policy, finally resolved to subdue the red men 
 north of the Ohio, fully convinced that Kentucky, a Federal responsibility, should not 
 be permitted to act alone. General Arthur St. Clair, Governor of the Northwest, in 
 a letter to President Washington, September 14, 1789, expressed the belief that the 
 Kentuckians would continue to retaliate, thus upsetting the treaty Indians and causing 
 them to join the hostile ones, "prudently preferring open war to a delusive and uncertain 
 peace. 
 
 In response to the popular western clamor, President Washington on January 4, 
 1790, appealed to Congress to provide for calling forth the militia of the United States. 
 This had a quieting effect upon the Kentuckians for a time, but not for long. Soon 
 they resumed military preparations on their own account. " 
 
 PRELIMINARY INCURSIONS AND EXCURSIONS 
 
 Meanwhile the Indians were hastening the day of general and active belligerency. 
 Early in the year 1790 a band of fifty- four red men, principally Shawnees and Chero- 
 
236 A S E S Q U I -CENTENNIAL 
 
 kees, built a camp at the mouth of the Scioto River (in Ohio) . Their principal objects 
 were piracy, brigandage, robbery, violence and bloodshed, loot and booty — to be perpe- 
 trated upon settlers sailing down the Ohio. Having established a lookout on the 
 Kentucky side near Limestone (Maysville) , the savages attacked a newly-built station, 
 twenty miles from Limestone, capturing or killing all of the fifteen occupants. This 
 brutal act of aggression brought a cry of indignation from the Kentuckians, who im- 
 mediately demanded that General Josiah Harmar, in command of Federal troops on the 
 Ohio frontier, march against the fiendish marauders. This request was agreeable to 
 Harmar, who set out shortly with a column of regular troops in pursuit. 
 
 THE PUNITIVE EXPEDITION OF HARMAR AND SCOTT INTO THE 
 SCIOTO COUNTRY, APRIL, 1790 
 
 The commander was joined in route by two hundred and thirty volunteer Kentucky 
 mounted riflemen under a famous veteran of the Revolutionary War and picturesque 
 Indian fighter, General Charles Scott. Soon the expedition plunged into the Scioto 
 country. Unfortunately, the presence of the white men was quickly discovered by the 
 red men, who saved themselves by means of flight. A short time thereafter a band of 
 Scott's men overtook a party of stragglers, four of whom were killed. This was prac- 
 tically the sole achievement of the hasty campaign, and the Indians were unimpressed. 
 
 In anticipation of general border hostilities, President Washington had ordered, late 
 in 1789, Governor St. Clair to make requisition upon Virginia for a thousand militia- 
 men and upon Pennsylvania for five hundred. The Governor, having planned wide- 
 scale activities, ordered the Virginia and Pennsylvania men to guard the Upper Ohio, 
 General Harmar to move up the Miami against the Maumee villages and Major John 
 Francis Hamtranck to march against the Wabash tribes. 
 
 The main expedition, that under General Harmar, took shape rather slowly. How- 
 ever, by mid-September, the army was thought to be ready to take the field. A nucleus 
 of three hundred and twenty men was formed by Harmar's regulars. Militiamen from 
 Kentucky and Pennsylvania numbering one thousand one hundred and thirty, two- 
 thirds of whom were Kentuckians, joined the regulars. As the expedition would be 
 largely a Kentucky affair, General Knox had advised Harmar to induce the outstanding 
 military leaders of this District — Logan among others — to go along as senior officers 
 and also that they be treated with "great cordiality." 4 Unfortunately this was not the 
 case. Harmar's disposition was not one to attract Kentucky leaders. In fact, most of 
 the leading Kentuckians were prejudiced against the campaign from its incipiency. 
 This was caused (1) by a conscription measure (which galled proud individualistic 
 Kentuckians, who, to show their contempt, hired substitutes of inferior quality) and 
 (2) by a long-standing dislike for General Harmar. The expedition was foredoomed 
 to disaster. Writes Theodore Roosevelt: lD 
 
 "The regulars felt the utmost disappointment at the appearance of the militia. They 
 numbered but few of the trained Indian fighters of the frontier; many of them were 
 hired substitutes; most of them were entirely unacquainted with Indian warfare, and 
 were new to the life of the wilderness; and they were badly armed. The Pennsylvanians 
 were of even poorer stuff than the Kentuckians, numbering many infirm old men and 
 many mere boys. They were undisciplined, with little regard for authority, and in- 
 clined to be disorderly and mutinous." 10 
 
 HARMAR'S MOTLEY ARMY 
 
 Toward the end of September (1790) General Harmar set out with his motley army 
 of destitute regulars, two battalions of Kentuckians and one of Pennsylvanians, number- 
 ing in all 1453 men, many mounted. The number was sufficient to execute its task 
 
H I S T O RY O F K E N T U C K Y 237 
 
 with distinction; however, General Harmar (more than two-thirds of whose men were 
 raw militia and nearly four-fifths of whom were worthless) though a brave man, was 
 not suited even to command a small force against Indians. 1 ' The militiamen were 
 rebellious from the outset. They insisted upon electing their own commander, a demand 
 in which General Harmar acquiesed under threat of mutiny, and instead of electing 
 Colonel John Hardin, veteran of the Revolutionary War and hero of innumerable 
 deadly encounters with the Indians, and Harmar's choice, they selected Colonel Robert 
 Trotter, who, according to Roosevelt, was "a mere incompetent." It was clear from 
 the outset that Hardin would insist upon obedience and discipline, that Trotter would 
 humor the militiamen and would not cooperate with either Hardin or the Commander, 
 and that Harmar, fearing mutiny, would cross the militia as seldom as possible. Very 
 loose discipline therefore, was one of the outstanding attributes of the campaign. 
 
 HARMAR'S MARCH, OCTOBER, 1790 
 
 The march northward was painful and slow; the commissary service was "rotten," 
 pack-horses constantly strayed and were stolen; the militiamen paid little attention to 
 the instructions of the regulars, who soon became alarmed at the conditions prevailing; 
 the fire arms were found to be even more limited and inferior than at first checked; and, 
 ominous indeed, after having marched for two weeks, the General was informed by a 
 captured Maumee that the Indians were well aware of the approach of his force. The 
 army was then induced to move faster; it reached the Miami towns on October 17 
 (1790), which were found to be deserted. Harmar now stood at the junction of the 
 two branches of the Miami, the St. Mary and the St. Joseph, about one hundred and 
 seventy miles from Fort Washington (Cincinnati) , the starting point. The confluence 
 of these streams forms the Maumee. The deserted towns consisted of approximately 
 three hundred huts — two hundred wigwams and one hundred good cabins — surrounded 
 by gardens, orchards and immense corn fields. Harmar had these destroyed, even 
 twenty thousand bushels of corn found stored away. Incidentally the soldiers loaded 
 themselves with booty. This in itself was no small achievement; it justified in the 
 opinion of some claim to a successful campaign. 
 
 COLONEL TROTTER'S FOLLY 
 
 On October 18, Colonel Trotter was ordered out on reconnaissance with a detach- 
 ment to ascertain the location of the enemy. A short distance having been traversed, 
 two Indians were discovered and chase immediately given in the most reckless abandoned 
 manner. All four of the field officers took part in the spirited fox and dog-like dash, 
 leaving their troops halted leaderless in the dangerous enemy territory for an hour. 
 The two savages, who might have been decoys as well as spies, at length having been 
 killed, the officers returned to their column and ordered it back to camp, having accom- 
 plished nothing. Harmar was so highly incensed by the conduct of this escapade that 
 he relieved Trotter and appointed Hardin in his stead. 
 
 DEFEAT OF COLONEL HARDIN 
 
 Colonel Hardin having received the same order left camp next morning with two 
 hundred men, including thirty regulars. Soon, however, the militiamen having become 
 sullen, riflemen began to desert and fall back. Perhaps half of them had left him when 
 Colonel Hardin stumbled on an Indian war party numbering approximately a hundred 
 men. Briefly, the official report is that the savages rushed up firing, that the militia 
 fled precipitately, in spite of Hardin's insistent pleading to stand fast and fight, and 
 that the regulars who stood and fought, being left unsupported, were cut to pieces, 
 their captain saving his life by hiding in a swamp. Judge James Hall relates the 
 incident in this manner: 
 
238 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 "Colonel Hardin was detached with a small party in pursuit of them. After pur- 
 suing them for six miles, he fell into a snare they had prepared for him. The Indians 
 having divided themselves into two parties, had returned on each side of their own 
 trail, at a distance from it, and then approaching it, had concealed themselves in the 
 tall grass, and were quietly waiting the approach of the Americans. When Colonel 
 Hardin and his detachment had passed into the ambushed spot, the enemy rose, dis- 
 covering themselves on all sides, like the followers of Roderick Dhu, in the splendid 
 conception of Scott, and standing exposed in the prairie, fired upon the troops, who 
 were instantly thrown into disorder. The gallant leader endeavored in vain to rally 
 the panic struck men. The Indians, greatly superior in number, rushed in upon 
 them, and such as did not find safety in flight, were almost instantly overpowered 
 and slain." 1 '' 
 
 This defeat so greatly dispirited the militia that General Harmar turned and began 
 the return march toward Fort Washington. After the movement had continued a 
 few miles, Colonel Hardin, on the 21st, appealed to General Harmar for permission 
 to make another attempt. The General, "grasping at straws" in the hope of redeeming 
 the campaign, granted the request, assigning to Hardin a detachment of four hundred 
 men, sixty of whom were regulars. Hardin correctly surmised that the savages would 
 gradually creep back to their towns. These towns were in the vicinity of what is 
 now Fort Wayne, Indiana. With considerable belief that success might be attained, 
 General Harmar picked the best of the militiamen and assigned the regulars to Major 
 John P. Wyllys, a gallant and efficient officer. 
 
 HARDIN'S SECOND ATTEMPT 
 
 Colonel Hardin set out that night and reached the vicinity of the towns at daybreak 
 of October 22nd. The detachment was divided into three columns, which marched 
 a few hundred yards apart. The middle column, consisting mostly of regulars, was 
 under the personal command of Major Wyllys. The flanking columns were com- 
 posed of militiamen. 
 
 Immediately after the crossing of the Maumee, Indians were seen, which excited 
 the militiamen into giving chase, and soon the columns were quickly out of touch 
 with each other. The chase of the small Indian parties carried along most of the 
 militiamen, the major number, pursuing up the St. Joseph, in utter disregard of 
 Colonel Hardin's most insistent orders to the contrary. Perhaps the Indians had 
 pre-arranged such a strategem, in order to catch a detachment unsupported and annihi- 
 late it. At any rate this is almost precisely what happened. The strongest body of 
 red men arranged an ambuscade into which the regulars fell. An unequal struggle 
 followed, which was desperate in the extreme, the gallant Wyllys and his regulars 
 fighting to the end. Judge Hall thus describes the sanguinary affair: "The onset 
 was of the most desperate character. The Indians, throwing aside their guns, fought 
 with the tomahawk only. Never did men fight with more heroism than Willis and 
 his regulars. Surrounded and overpowered, they met their fate with inflexable courage. 
 For a time, they defended themselves with the bayonet, and made great havoc in the 
 ranks of the assailants. But the savages increased in number, like the heads of the 
 fabled Hydra, and when one fell, several others rushed forward to fill his place and 
 avenge his death. The brave Willis [sic] and his whole party were slain; scarcely one 
 was left."" 1 
 
 By the time the militia returned from its unauthorized chase and drawn up in 
 battle lines, the regulars' doom had been sealed. However, these militiamen, flushed 
 by their easy triumph of the morning fought well, repelling even the fiercest charges 
 of the savages. Then they marched slowly back to the Miami towns, their flanks not 
 seriously assailed by the Indians, whose relative losses were high enough to dispirit 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 239 
 
 them. Harmar, taking Hardin's second attempt as a second defeat, dejectedly re- 
 sumed the march southward toward Fort Washington. 
 
 RESULTS OF HARMAR'S CAMPAIGN 
 
 Theodore Roosevelt pronounces the result a mortifying failure, states that the 
 regulars lost seventy-five men killed and three wounded, the militia twenty-eight 
 wounded and one hundred and eight killed or missing." The conduct of the militia 
 had been outrageous from the beginning. General Harmar, as previously stated, 
 apparently was in no way qualified to lead a large body of militiamen; however, he 
 deserved better support than he received, and the conduct of the militiamen toward 
 the tried and true patriot, Colonel John Hardin, was a flagrant disgrace to both 
 Pennsylvania and Kentucky. The march home was long and dreary. The militia 
 steadily became more ungovernable, so that at one time Harmar reduced them to 
 order only by threatening to turn artillery fire on them. 
 
 The expedition soon came to be known as "Harmar's defeat." Both Harmar and 
 Hardin were court martialed and both honorably exonerated. Be it said for Hardin 
 that he returned to Kentucky, where his countrymen received him as a "brave and 
 active officer."" The Indians, whose losses had been rather heavy, were nevertheless 
 in no way crushed or crippled. The blow had only been severe enough to increase 
 their anger and unite them. The western tribes now rose as one to make open war. 
 As Roosevelt declares, "Along the Ohio people lived in hourly dread of tomahawk 
 and scalping knife; the attacks fell unceasingly on all the settlements, from Marietta 
 to Louisville."" 4 
 
 THE KENTUCKY BOARD OF WAR 
 
 The general feeling in Kentucky was one of bitterness toward General Harmar, 
 who was blamed for the failure to achieve the measure of success desired. Even 
 President Washington was more inclined to blame Harmar than the Kentucky militia." 
 The results of the campaign at least enabled Kentuckians to renew the demand that 
 the regular army officers be not sent to lead their militiamen and that, as they under- 
 stood western Indian affairs best, their own officers should command expeditions sent 
 against the red men. In this Washington and Knox could not acquiesce. However, 
 something of a compromise was granted: A "Board of War" was to be appointed 
 which should have the power to call out the militia for warfare against the Indians 
 and to act in conjunction with the regular troops. Appointed to this commission were 
 Isaac Shelby, Charles Scott, Harry Innes and John Brown; an able board indeed. 
 However, to command the United States Army of the West, the Governor of the 
 Northwest, General Arthur St. Clair, was appointed, in spite of the protests of Con- 
 gressman John Brown and other prominent Kentuckians. 
 
 As other historians have pointed out, the extension of powers to Kentucky gave 
 that District the authority which many national leaders knew, perhaps feared, it would 
 assume anyway. The Board soon exercised its authority by preparing for a campaign 
 against the Wabash Indians, whom Hamtranck had only stirred up. This proposal, 
 Secretary Knox approved, as he believed the effect would be to split the western tribes, 
 thus providing time for St. Clair to prepare for a major campaign. 
 
 Two expeditions were planned therefore: one under the colorful General Charles 
 Scott;" the other under the showy General James Wilkinson. Kentuckians, enthusiastic 
 concerning these excursions, eagerly enlisted. Within a short time eight hundred well- 
 equipped, one-month-enlisted, mounted volunteers came up. Toward the end of May, 
 Scott with Wilkinson and Hardin in command assembled at the mouth of the Kentucky, 
 crossed the Ohio and moved swiftly into the Wabash country. Unfortunately the 
 red men had been warned of the approach and escaped just as the Kentuckians fell 
 
240 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 on their towns. Writes a Wilkinson biographer: "These towns were effectively and 
 joyously destroyed, a task particularly well carried out by Wilkinson and his detach- 
 ment who put Kethtipecanuck on Eel Creek to the torch and slaughtered any fleeing 
 refugees who could be caught. 28 Little resistance was offered. The Americans loss 
 was only five wounded; while the red men suffered a loss of thirty- two slain and 
 forty-one captured, mostly women and children. In addition, several towns had been 
 plundered and burned, and the growing grain destroyed. Even the well constructed 
 log-houses occupied by the few French living there were put to the torch along with 
 the wigwams. The campaign was considered a success. Militiamen were not slow, 
 upon reaching home, to boast of their prowess in the field and Scott and Wilkinson 
 did not list reticence and modesty among their talents. Writes Major Jacobs: "Scott 
 wrote handsomely of his second-in-command's efficiency, and Wilkinson spoke well 
 for himself. He told of the villages he had burned, of the acres and acres of growing 
 corn that he had destroyed, and mentioned with favorable emphasis the thirty-two 
 warriors he had slain." 2£ He had captured quite a number of women too, concerning 
 whom he boasted to the authorities humane treatment. 
 
 WILKINSON'S EXCURSION, AUGUST, 1791 
 
 This "build up" aided General Wilkinson immediately, because a new excursion 
 against the Wabash braves was agreed upon. Again Major Jacobs, Wilkinson bio- 
 grapher, is quoted: "The Kentucky Committee agreed and selected Wilkinson to 
 command it. He gathered five hundred and thirty-two rank and file at Fort Washing- 
 ton and started with them for L'Anguille, a village about one hundred miles distant. 
 August 1, was the date of their departure; within twenty days they had destroyed the 
 village named as their objective, cut down four hundred and thirty acres of corn, and 
 taken a few prisoners. They might have done even more, according to Wilkinson's 
 report, if his men had not wearied and the horses become footsore while floundering 
 in mud and swamps for four hundred and fifty-one miles. The raid had no decisive 
 effect other than to arouse the exasperated Indians to greater violence. But Wilkinson 
 had added materially to the kind of reputation that made for preferment." 30 
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR THE ST. CLAIR CAMPAIGN, 1791 
 
 Meanwhile General Arthur St. Clair and the Federal authorities proceeded slowly 
 with preparations for the general and sustained campaign. Levies were made upon 
 Kentucky, whose citizens frowned upon the proposed expedition from the beginning. 
 These are the reasons: They objected to the idea of being led by a Federal officer, 
 particularly by St. Clair, whom they disliked personally; they opposed sustained cam- 
 paigns against the red men, preferring quick, touch and go affairs, such as those 
 executed by Scott and Wilkinson; they thought the pay of $2.10 per month, allotted 
 by Congress, ridiculously and laughably low, nor did they fancy six months' enlist- 
 ments; worst of all, they opposed and scorned the adopted policy of conscription. 
 Kentucky was asked to supply one thousand of the two thousand called. The small 
 pay attracted the very poorest material outside Kentucky, while the Kentuckians who 
 were conscripted into service went most grudgingly to the rendezvous at Fort Washing- 
 ton (Cincinnati) . 31 Theodore Roosevelt declares that "there was positive dereliction 
 of duty on the part of the quartermaster, and the contractors proved both corrupt and 
 inefficient. The army was often on short commons, lacking alike food for the men 
 and fodder for the horses; the powder was poor, the axes useless, the tents and clothing 
 nearly worthless; while the delays were so extra-ordinary that the troops did not make 
 the final move from Fort Washington until mid-September." 32 
 
H I S T O RY O F K E N T U C K Y 241 
 
 INDIAN AND BRITISH ACTIVITIES 
 
 Meanwhile the Indians steadily became more hostile, insolent and united. Previously 
 a maraudering band had struck and eliminated the settlement at Big Bottom on the 
 Muskingum, forty miles north of Marietta; another had even attacked the town of 
 Cincinnati, under the guns of Fort Hamilton. Aiding and abetting the savages were 
 the British, whose primary concern in the West was retention of the lucrative fur 
 trade. It was to the advantage of Britain that the aborigines retain control of the 
 Northwest — and that the English hold the forts in this territory, which were by treaty 
 to have been handed over to the United States at the end of the Revolutionary War, 
 be retained to encourage them — because, once the Americans were on the land, the 
 British would lose the fur trade. The British agent, Alexander McKee, keenly aware 
 of this trade's importance, and undoubtedly resentful toward America, sought to unite 
 the Indians, the reasons being rather apparent. Accordingly, he called a general con- 
 ference of tribes for April to convene at the Miami Rapids — the very home of braves 
 attacked by Harmar a short time before (the place of meeting apparently was se- 
 lected to honor signally resistance to Americans) : McKee, however, because many of 
 the braves were on the war path, was obliged to linger on the Miami and postpone 
 the meeting from time to time until July 1 arrived. On that day were assembled 
 myriads of braves: not only Shawnese, Delaware, Wyandotte, Ottawa and Pottawa- 
 tamie Indians, but representatives of the Iroquois, even outlanders from so far West 
 that they carried bows, spears and tomahawks instead of guns and were clad in buffalo 
 skins instead of blankets. McKee, in his speech to the assembled sachems and braves, 
 declared that the sole purpose of the British was to promote the welfare of the con- 
 federated Indians, asked the auditing red men what they desired, and guardedly ad- 
 vised them to make peace with the United States. He advised them to make peace, 
 however, only upon terms consistent with their "honor and interest." As Mr. Roose- 
 velt points out, "Such cautious advice was not of a kind to promote peace; and the 
 goods furnished the savages at the council included not only cattle, corn and tobacco, 
 but also quantities of powder and balls. 33 Naturally the British representatives at 
 Philadeluhia reported with considerable animation the desire of H. M. to bring about 
 peace, which greatly deceived the American officials; however, the frontiersmen were 
 not deceived; they were fairly certain that Britain was really the mainstay and support 
 of the red men in their warfare against the United States. 34 
 
 ST. CLAIR'S MARCH NORTHWARD OCTOBER, 1791 
 
 Having devoted practically no time to training his army, General St. Clair slowly 
 moved the motley force out of Fort Hamilton (twenty-five miles north of Cincinnati) 
 on October 4. The army consisted of less than two thousand men (a sufficient num- 
 ber) : two small regiments of regulars, two of six months' levies, several hundred 
 drafted Kentucky militiamen, who were reluctant, sullen and rebellious from the 
 outset, some cavalry and two small batteries of light artillery. The officers were men 
 of experience and undoubted courage, a few rather able. Roosevelt describes Major 
 General St. Clair as "broken in health ... a sick, weak, elderly man, high minded 
 and zealous to do his duty, but totally unfit for the terrible responsibilities of such 
 an expedition against such foes." 35 
 
 Major General Richard Butler, the second in command, aside from being dis- 
 tinguished for remarkable bravery, was a valuable officer, though also aging and per- 
 haps unsuited for the type of campaign facing him. Of the Kentucky militia men, 
 no general officer would take command, which was given finally to Colonel William 
 Oldham, a gallant man, but by no means a Clark, Logan or Shelby. As to the men, 
 they were of "wretched stuff," perhaps most of the regular recruits coming, from 
 
242 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 Eastern streets, debtors' prisons, grog shops and waterfronts. The "contemptible" 
 pay of two dollars and ten cents a month — an act of "mean parsimony" on the part 
 of the Federal Government — was scorned by "men of good bodily powers, and in the 
 prime of life, and especially men able to do the rough work of frontier farmers." ' 
 Good frontiersmen could not be hired to risk their lives fighting savages in the forest 
 for two dollars a month, especially if they believed the savages would whip them. 
 Having learned his lesson by bitter experience, General Harmar, after sizing up the 
 situation emphatically predicted defeat for St. Clair's army. 
 
 The columns trudged slowly northward through "deep woods" and across wet 
 prairies, cutting their own road, and making five or six miles a day. The woods 
 abounded with game, both deer and bear often bounding into camp. 38 On October 13 
 (1791) a halt was made to build another fort, Fort Jefferson. Wisely enough was 
 the decision to erect forts along the line northward for protection and permanent 
 defense. Due to the wretched management of the commissary department a further 
 delay was occasioned, so that the march was not resumed until October 24, by which 
 time many troops were left behind because of sickness. Already desertions were fre- 
 quent. Really the officers scarcely knew the men, most of whom not only knew 
 nothing about the manual of arms but had never seen an Indian. The regulars soon 
 were whipped into some semblance of discipline, but the short-term levies were as 
 wild and scornful of restraint as the militia. Soon entire squads were deserting, while 
 St. Clair's gout became so severe that General Butler was obliged to take over. The 
 long delays had used so much time that enlistments began to expire, causing a constant 
 shrinkage of the heterogeneous army. The realization that six-months' enlistees con- 
 stituted a large part of his army was one of the factors which had caused St. Clair 
 to push the campaign through that year, regardless of lack of preparations, approaching 
 winter, inclement weather and inferior and dwindling supplies. While the deserting 
 militiamen were escaping in squads and bands, the soldiers remaining steadily became 
 more disorderly. Two of these attempting to desert were apprehended and hanged, 
 while another, who had shot a companion, was also hanged. These stern measures 
 failed to halt either the disintegration or the demoralization. 
 
 As the army crept along grudgingly, signs of the constant presence of the savages 
 were more and more evident. Now and then a tawny brave was seen lurking in the 
 forest; occasionally one would be killed by a scout; more than once a scout was killed 
 or captured by red men. The Indians knew every move of the whites, whose position 
 logically became more precarious the farther northward they moved into the dense 
 forest toward the "most formidable Indian confederacy in the Northwest." J The 
 density of the forest was of such a nature as to require the keenest scouts' being on 
 duty at all times to prevent surprise attack in force or ambush. In fact President 
 Washington vividly recalling the horrible results of the ambuscade into which Brad- 
 dock had fallen in 1755, repeatedly had warned St. Clair to be alert and on guard 
 at all times. The gout-ridden St. Clair, however, was suffering too acutely to devote 
 much attention to precaution against ambush, and his second in command, General 
 Butler, was almost as sick most of the time as St. Clair himself. The burden fell 
 upon the Adjutant-General, Colonel Winthrop Sargent, an old Revolutionary War 
 officer, whose activity probably prevented the campaign from breaking up even before 
 the Indians were reached, but Colonel Winthrop could not correct blunders which 
 were made before the march began and which his superiors continually committed. 
 
 General St. Clair had some excellent scouts, who could have covered his front and 
 flanks for miles around. These, however, were rarely ever sent out, and when they 
 were their reports, which did not go to General St. Clair, were practically useless. 
 Twenty friendly Chickasaw Indians, who served as scouts, were sent on a mission 
 which took them out of touch with the General altogether until after the battle. In 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 243 
 
 fact, the commanding officer apparently dismissed all thoughts of a surprise attack 
 soon after he left Fort Hamilton. When the army was approximately fifty miles from 
 the Miami towns, sixty Kentucky militiamen deserted in a body and fled southward. 
 Fear that these would plunder desperately needed commissary supplies located several 
 miles to the south caused St. Clair to dispatch one of his two regiments of regulars 
 after them, thus weakening his only trustworthy portion by one half. This movement 
 astonished and dismayed Captain Bradley, who had been none too pleased with the 
 progress from the outset. 41 
 
 ST. CLAIR'S DEFEAT 
 
 At length in the late afternoon of November 3, the army, now reduced to fourteen 
 hundred men, made camp on the eastern fork of the Wabash, high up, where it was 
 probably not more than fifteen yards wide. Snow lay on the ground and ice covered 
 the pools; palls of snow matted the thick-limbed trees of the dense forest. Parties of 
 Indians had been spied during the afternoon, and "they skulked around the lines at 
 night," attracting frequent fire from the sentinels. St. Clair and Butler could have 
 prepared for an impending blow, but they did not. The regular army was drawn 
 up in two lines, about seventy yards apart, the right flank resting at the edge of a 
 steep bank above the river. At least most of the camp was on a narrow rise of 
 ground, on the center of which were placed the artillery and most of the horses. 
 Butler's, Clark's and Patterson's battalions, commanded by General Butler, formed 
 the second line. On both flanks the ground was rather low. Mr. Marshall writes 
 that the right flank was defended by "Faulkner's corps, the river, and a steep bank: 
 a part of the cavalry, and some pieces of artillery covered the left." 4 * The Kentucky 
 militiamen were advanced one quarter of a mile over the river and placed in the same 
 order as the regulars. These were under command of Colonel Oldham. It appears 
 that Colonel Oldham had been cautioned to be on the alert, being ordered to send 
 out patrols of twenty or thirty men in different directions before daylight to scour 
 the woods. This, he failed to do, it seems. Captain Slough had discovered during 
 the night the approach of savages in such numbers, that he reported to General But- 
 ler. That General, however, apparently thought so little of the intelligence that he 
 made no report of the matter at all. 4 As was the custom, the army was drawn up 
 in line for parade a half hour before day "to pay its respects to aurora," 44 dismissal 
 coming about half hour before sunrise. His neglect having been ascertained, Colonel 
 Oldham was ordered to send out the scouting parties previously ordered. The militia- 
 men of Colonel Oldham had just stacked their arms when "a sudden and unexpected 
 irruption" burst into camp, making their presence generally known by rapid and heavy 
 fire accompanied by blood-curdling yells. This unexpected and horrible sally threw 
 the militiamen into utter confusion. After a few moments' resistance, they broke and 
 "fled in wild panic" to the camp of the regulars, plunging into and throwing them 
 momentarily into dismay and confusion. 
 
 The drums beat the call to battle and the troops sprang to arms; their volleys 
 momentarily checked the onrush of the hideously painted and brightly feathered 
 braves, causing them to move back and to begin encirclement of the camp. After 
 the pickets had been killed or driven in, the savages began moving in unison closer 
 and closer to the main lines. 
 
 A furious battle ensued. The Indians now quiet, like carnivorous beasts certain of 
 their prey, moved almost imperceptibly and deftly from behind tree or log to tree 
 and log, ever closer, rifles rattling incessantly. The soldiers stood in close formation 
 in the open; their musket and artillery fire made a mighty noise but did little execution, 
 because only occasional glimpses of the hideous slinking savages could be gained, 
 seldom long enough for effective aiming; while the soldiers, huddled close together 
 
 17— Vol. I 
 
244 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 completedly surrounded, were perfect targets for the murderous fire of the red men, 
 and the execution was frightful and appalling. Report had it that the braves were 
 led by the able Miami chief, Little Turtle, and, although St. Clair's men did not 
 know the number of the enemy, it was certain that the best warriors of the Delawares, 
 Shawnees, Wyandottes, the Miamis and many of the most reckless and adventurous 
 of the Iroquois, the fiercest of the upper lakes braves, as well as the most ferocious 
 of the renegade half-breeds and whites who lived in the Indian towns, were fighting 
 the doomed American troops. 
 
 The officers displayed extraordinary courage in the crisis. St. Clair and Butler 
 moved up and down the lines, which faced outward, encouraging the men to stand 
 fast. These exposed themselves as targets for the enemy. St. Clair's clothing was 
 pierced by eight bullets, though himself untouched, even a lock of his grey hair being 
 carried off. Butler's arm was broken early in the fight and later his abdomen received 
 a mortal wound, which troubled him not at all. It is said that a isavage, seeing him 
 propped against a tree helpless, broke through and cleft his skull with a tomahawk. 
 As the savages crept steadily closer, taking an ever heavier and heavier toll of the 
 exposed and huddled whites, St. Clair rallied his men and led a charge, which cleared 
 the camp. But the nimble braves simply bounded into the forest out of reach, then 
 quickly returned, refilling the gap and moving the circle closer — the relentless and 
 inexorable tightening circle. The artillerymen particularly were special targets; one 
 by one was picked off until all but one officer — who was wounded — lay dead. The 
 savages ran to the cannons but could not operate them, though they did pause long 
 enough to scalp the fallen gunners. After this, charge after charge was made by 
 the clumsy soldiers, who seemed to know nothing about Indian fighting. In the face 
 of each desperate surge, the savages would simply glide away to safety, many times even 
 circling and striking the rear of the attacking party before it could return to the 
 lines. Around the guns the dead soon lay in piles, the stark, bloody heads of the 
 scalped presenting a gory spectable, altogether too horrible, ghastly and unnerving. 
 
 Soon more and more men completely undone by the gruesome action, huddled closer 
 and closer in the center of the camp. Some were so beside themselves that they stood 
 by the fire completely bereft of reason; others broke into the officers' quarters to find 
 liquor, while others stole food and began eating violently. The charges made no 
 effect upon the braves, who fought with the utmost daring, ferocity and brutality, 
 asking no quarter, giving none. Actually the Indians were seldom seen through the 
 dense smoke except as hideous, dull-colored moving objects darting from behind trees, 
 momentarily seen then lost. They seemed to suffer no loss; seemed to enjoy the 
 ghastly carnage. The militiamen had been of no value from the outset, at which 
 time, Colonel Oldham had been killed while vainly attempting to rally them and 
 "damning them for cowards." 4t At last it dawned upon General St. Clair that he 
 was hopelessly defeated and unless something were done quickly his entire force 
 would be annihilated and scalped. He determined to try for the road. 
 
 THE RETREAT 
 
 Collecting the few remaining horses and the remnant of the yet dependable regu- 
 lars to form the head of a column under the gallant Colonel Darke, he ordered a 
 determined smash through the Indian line toward the road, appealing to the dazed 
 men in the center to fall in behind. The drive was so sudden, so desperate and 
 smashed so hard that the Indians reeled back allowing the breach. The miserable 
 men about the fires at last comprehended that the movement was a retreat and began 
 running pellmell allowing nothing, not even the wounded, women or children to stand 
 in their way. The Indians, taken completely by surprise, allowed half the column 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 245 
 
 to pass before many shots were fired. At last they turned and fell upon the rear. 
 Here the brave Major Clark was trying to rally his decimated battalion to cover the 
 retreat, but he was killed and the effort abandoned. The flight became a wild stam- 
 pede completely uncontrollable. Horses, soldiers, camp followers, the few women, 
 all mixed together. Commands, pleas for help, impulses to humanitarianism and 
 ethics — nothing had the slightest effect upon the wild stampede, where only one instinct 
 was felt — the maniacal desire for personal safety. Again and again St. Clair risked 
 his life in trying to save the rear, but always he was carried along in the stampede. 
 
 Before reaching Fort Jefferson, the worn out remnant of St. Clair's army met the 
 regular regiment which had been sent out to apprehend the deserting militia company. 
 This, together with the wretched "rabble," entered the fort. There the most severely 
 wounded were left and the flight continued to Fort Washington. Had panic not 
 prevailed, the retreat might have been conducted in a leisurely manner, because the 
 savages, not unmindful of the rich booty awaiting them in camp, pursued the fleeing 
 column only four miles and then returned to the scene of carnage. The abundant 
 plunder was all that savages' dreams could have conjured — horses, tents, guns, axes, 
 powder, clothing, blankets. Their own loss had been so slight that they were not 
 in the least troubled — probably one-twentieth that of the whites. Their victory was 
 so overwhelming that the impetus to fight was greatly stimulated in all the tribes. 
 
 The whites had sustained a very heavy loss. Six hundred and thirty men had been 
 killed and more than two hundred and eighty wounded. It is estimated that more 
 than two thirds of the whole number engaged in battle were casualties. Moreover, 
 the savages had butchered everyone, wounded or unwounded, who fell into their hands, 
 one luckless white even having been eaten. 40 When he received the messenger with 
 St. Clair's announcement, President Washington was beside himself with fury, regret 
 and sorrow. Pacing up and down the floor he bitterly excoriated St. Clair, particu- 
 larly censuring him for not taking adequate precaution against attackment and entrap- 
 ment. An eye witness has recorded his dramatic utterances. "He went off with that 
 last solemn warning thrown into his ears," bitterly shouted the President; "and yet 
 to suffer that army to be cut to pieces, hacked, butchered, tomahawked, by a surprise, 
 the very thing I guarded him against! O God! O God! He's worse than a murderer! 
 How can he answer it to his country! The blood of the slain is upon him — the curse 
 of widows and orphans — the curse of heaven." 47 
 
 News of the disaster reached Kentucky quickly and as quickly brought forth voluble 
 expression. It was somewhat an "I told you so." Had there been any doubt previously 
 as to the comparative merits of volunteer mounted militiamen, led by their own 
 officers, and regulars and drafted militia led by regular officers, such doubt was now 
 definitely dispelled. Many of the florid-noted politicians took the stump at every 
 opportunity, and bellowed from brass-like lungs their conviction of the excellence of 
 militia led by officers of their own choosing and castigated regular troops and regular 
 officers, particularly recruited regulars, holding high the recent "brilliant" and success- 
 ful operations of Scott and Wilkinson as fair illustrations. In January, Wilkinson, 
 now a Colonel in the United States army, with a hundred and fifty mounted volun- 
 teers, rode to the scene of the defeat and carnage to bury the dead. The weather was 
 bitterly cold and snow lay on the ground. Four miles from the battle field proper, 
 or at the end of the Indian pursuit, bodies were found. Presence of these was revealed 
 by small snow mounds, the mounds becoming thicker as the camp was approached. 
 There blackened, scalped, stripped bodies, unrecognizable because of the work of the 
 elements and the ferocity of wolves and other carnivorous beasts. The carrions were 
 buried in a shallow trench dug into the frozen ground. 4S Congress and Washington 
 finally exonerated the luckless St. Clair, for the sake of his courage and honorable 
 character. After all, though the General was capable enough, Congress was re- 
 
246 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 sponsible in a measure — two dollar a month soldiers with less than six months' train- 
 ing! Even Washington, as President, was not entirely blameless, though Knox was 
 more culpable than he, perhaps. 
 
 EFFECT OF ST. CLAIR'S DEFEAT 
 
 The defeat suffered by St. Clair was practically as much of a strain on the Federal 
 Government as upon the shattered army. The Central Government was as weak and 
 unsteady as a child learning to walk. This child did not have the well wishes of a 
 majority of the population, it seems. Particularly in the West was it unpopular. 
 Perhaps most of the frontier leaders were unfriendly too, often unreasonably bitter 
 toward Washington, his cabinet and administration. These chose to regard the Cen- 
 tral Government and the Washington administration as an arbitrary power, aristo- 
 cratic in organization and conducted for the benefit of the commercial interests of 
 the East. Frontiersmen heaped opprobrium upon the head of the "Father of His 
 Country" not only unblushingly but with the greatest gusto. 49 Perhaps another dis- 
 aster such as that suffered by St. Clair would have wrecked the Federal Government/ 
 Actually the Government encountered extreme difficulty in organizing another cam- 
 paign against the Indians of the West. The people of the East (who really paid 
 most of the taxes) did not favor spending money for such purposes, and, consequently, 
 Congress was disposed to be disgustingly niggardly. Moreover, the people of the 
 West, as mentioned, were unfriendly to the Government. Under the circumstances 
 therefore, President Washington decided to attempt arbitration once more. 
 
 Accordingly, in the spring of 1792, General Anthony Wayne, now in command, 
 was instructed to select two envoys to deal with the Shawnese.'' Wilkinson, now a 
 brigadier general and second in command, was requested by Wayne to select one of 
 the ambassadors; the choice was the gallant Kentuckian, Colonel John Hardin. Wayne's 
 selection was the Federal officer, Major Alexander Truman. Mr. Humphrey Marshall 
 suggests the possibility of jealousy and treachery on Wilkinson's part determining the 
 appointment of Colonel Hardin/ 2 which does not appear plausible, in this case. Never- 
 theless, the mission was a desperate and dangerous one, as the destination would be 
 the Indian villages in Northern Ohio, on the Sandusky River. And the selection of 
 Colonel Hardin an improper choice, because, of all the families of Kentucky, the 
 Shawnese hated that of Hardin more than any other, as the Hardins were the scourge 
 of the red men. 
 
 THE MISSION OF HARDIN AND TRUMAN TO THE INDIANS, JUNE, 
 
 1792 
 
 Colonel Hardin weighed the matter for a long time. He could see little hope of 
 coming out alive, especially as he was a Hardin, known and despised by the Indians. 
 Yet he knew that fame and security would be the reward for success, and he felt the 
 mission a duty to his country. His relatives and friends implored him to refuse the 
 task. However, he deemed it, finally, a patriotic duty paramount to all else. He 
 left the Pleasant Run settlement in Nelson County (now Washington County) early 
 in April and arrived at Fort Washington (Cincinnati) on the 19th of the same month 
 to await instructions. 
 
 In a letter to his wife, "Jenny," he expressed the hope to return in two or three 
 months but admitted that it might be longer. In spite of efforts to the contrary, a 
 note of melancholy pervades this letter. He realized that he would likely never see 
 his family again, and it filled him with grief as his letter of May 19, 1792, his last 
 one, indicates; he was an affectionate father and husband. 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 247 
 
 A few days later, Colonel Hardin was on his way to the Shawnee villages. He had 
 reached a point in what is now Shelby County, Ohio, when he encountered a company 
 of Indians; these proposed pitching camp and conducting him, on the morrow, to their 
 chiefs. To this he assented. That night he was murdered. His horse, saddle and 
 valuables were taken. 
 
 On and near the spot where he died, Ohio has established a town bearing his name, 
 and, not far distant, a county, also bearing his name. Perhaps the people of Washing- 
 ton County have never been more generally striken with grief than when they re- 
 ceived news of his death. He was to them a father, protector and councellor." The 
 historian, Lewis Collins, describes Colonel Hardin as "a man of unassuming manners 
 and great gentleness of deportment; yet of singular firmness and inflexibility."' 4 Major 
 Truman also was murdered. 
 
 Even in the face of the Hardin tragedy, the government did not cease attempting 
 to arbitrate. In the fall (1792) General Rufus Putnam succeeded in negotiating a 
 treaty with the Wabash and Illinois tribes. In May (1793) an attempt was made to 
 execute a treaty with the Northwest tribes and with the Iroquois nation. The powerful 
 Indian leader, Joseph Brant, Iroquois chief, prevented such an agreement. In this 
 he was encouraged, most likely, by the British through their Governor of Canada, 
 Lord Dorchester, who insinuated to the red men British hostility toward the United 
 States, apparently for the purpose of stiffening Indian resistance. He even predicted 
 imminent hostilities between Britain and the United States, which naturally pleased 
 the victory-glutted and spoil-heavy braves greatly, thus making peace impossible."" 
 
 * "MAD ANTHONY" WAYNE APPOINTED COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF 
 
 With extreme reluctance President Washington had set about to select another gen- 
 eral to lead another army against the ferocious Indians north of the Ohio. In April 
 (1793) he had placed the name of Anthony Wayne, affectionately called "Mad An- 
 thony," before the Senate for conformation. "Mad Anthony" was a name with 
 which to conjure. Warm friends and bitter foes immediately had risen to praise or 
 blame. Washington had written these words to that august body: "The appointment 
 was not the determination of a moment, nor was it the effect of partiality and in* 
 fluence; for no application (if that in any instance could have warped my judgment) 
 was ever made in his behalf by any one who could have thrown the weight of a feather 
 into his scale, but because, under a full view of the circumstances, he appeared to be 
 the more eligible."" Washington's influence carried. Major-General Anthony Wayne 
 became Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the United States. 
 
 A NEW ARMY MADE 
 
 Soon a third gleaning of the "off-scourings of large towns and cities, enervated by 
 idleness, debauchery and every species of vice" was being recruited to serve as soldiers 
 for another test of strength between the United States and the braves of the North- 
 west. He collected about a thousand of these men. So tough were they that perhaps 
 only Wayne could handle them. He set out from Pittsburg and built barracks at 
 what was called Legiontown, Penna., having determined that Harmar's and St. Clair's 
 mistakes would not be repeated. For more than a year he put his army through 
 military paces which for ruggedness and toughness would have done credit to the 
 finest traditions of Prussia. By the summer of 1794, he had whipped into shape the 
 toughest legion perhaps the country has ever known, and he was prepared to "take on" 
 the worst the braves could offer. 
 
 General Wayne's army set out from Fort Washington in September 1794. It was 
 
248 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 constantly swollen by the arrival of militia from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia 
 and Maryland. 
 
 THE MARCH NORTHWARD INTO INDIAN TERRITORY 
 
 The General had it move in a slow but certain manner, building forts as progress 
 was made northward. When a third of the way through the wilderness toward Lake 
 Erie, he caused a strong fort for winter quarters to be erected, which he thought strong 
 enough to name after Nathanael Greene, Fort Greenville. This fort became a sort 
 of advanced bastion, depot, rendezvous and headquarters. At the site of St. Clair's 
 disaster, he ordered bones scraped away and erected Fort Defiance. All the while, 
 following and watching the meticulously efficient army, the braves were amazed and 
 abashed; the perfect order, discipline, scouting, picketing, precision and slow relentless 
 progress northward rather disconcerted them. "The general in the powdered hair and 
 blue coat faced with red" 57 left no doubt in the minds of the Indians that he was 
 formidable and meant business. However, with British assurance of men and supplies 
 and Lord Dorchester's insinuation that H. M. would soon be at war with the United 
 States, Little Turtle, an able and prudent leader, decided to risk the gage of battle. 
 
 KENTUCKY TAKES A HAND, 1793, 1794 
 
 Since the disaster on the Wabash, the Kentuckians had become unusually voluble 
 and very loud in their contempt for regulars and regulars' generals. In fact, they 
 had expressed vociferous disapproval of Wayne, decrying his possible ability to defeat 
 the red men, as soon as they received news of his assignment. Even though General 
 Wilkinson had been appointed Brigadier General and second in command, they had 
 failed to warm up to the campaign. No volunteers coming forward, Governor Isaac 
 Shelby was requisitioned to send a thousand mounted riflemen. Conscription had to 
 be applied in 1793, and Charles Scott was selected to lead. Though the season was 
 well advanced, Scott led his men to Fort Washington in October (1793). As it was 
 decided that no major engagement would be brought on that year, Wayne dismissed 
 the Kentucky militiamen for the winter season, ordering them to return in the spring 
 (1794). The militiamen returning to Kentucky carried the news of Wayne's ability 
 to lead a tough army and openly praised his powerful legion. Sullenness changed to 
 enthusiasm and by spring the old fighters were ready to follow the grim, hard "Mad 
 Anthony." They liked him because they knew that he liked to fight, knew that he 
 had control of his men and that the braves would not catch him napping. It was 
 not until July (1794) that the Kentuckians, sixteen hundred strong, and volunteers, 
 met Wayne's army again, at Fort Recovery. With them were the colorful Major 
 John Adair (later Governor), Captain William Clark, brother of George Rogers and 
 later famous in the Lewis and Clark expedition to the mouth of the Columbia River, 
 (1804-1806) and the terrible Hardin clan to serve as scouts (each with a deadly 
 determination to avenge the foul murder of their beloved kinsman, Colonel John) . 
 
 HARDIN SCOUTS 
 
 This interesting account of the action of the Hardins in the Battle of Fallen Timber 
 and before is graphically recounted by Jack Hardin, Jr. 
 
 "As Gen. Wayne neared the Indian fortifications these wild scouts closed in around 
 them, shooting every Indian that ventured out of reach of the main force to carry 
 messages or hunt for game. As Wayne neared the Indians' main force these pesti- 
 ferous scouts drew in closer every day and hourly grew more independent and auda- 
 cious until they had edged up close enough to form as skirmishers. For several days 
 before Wayne reached the ground an almost unbroken skirmish raged day and night. 
 When shielded by darkness they crept up near enough often to fire into the main 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 249 
 
 camps. When Wayne came in contact and routed the Indians, these deadly scouts 
 took them on the wing as they were fleeing from Wayne and slaughtered them without 
 mercy. They pursued the broken Indians for several days, cutting down several, fifty 
 miles from the battlefield. The campaign closed, and with it the military career of 
 the old men of the Hardin family and their relatives closed forever. Many of them 
 were far advanced in age. All of them had reached the middle stage of life or passed, 
 it. From boyhood up they had never known peace only at intervals of short duration. 
 All their active life had been spent in war, turmoil and hardships. A new life now 
 began with them." (Hardin Family, pp. 262, 263) . 
 
 In June two thousand savages had gathered at the Maumee under Little Turtle 
 and Blue Jacket, the largest force of red men which had ever marched against the 
 whites. The British, fearful that their forts (which were really in American territory) 
 would be attacked, had given the red warriors every encouragement. A strong attack 
 on Fort Recovery, repulsed with losses, proved to the braves that Wayne's force was 
 different from the others; many were dejected and deeply discouraged. Moreover, 
 the scouts were maintaining so perfect a screen that surprise was impossible; too, the 
 dreaded scouts were even ambushing and scalping the braves! 
 
 "Mad Anthony" apparently forgot nothing. And his staff consisted for the most 
 part of able men, including John Mills, Henry DeButts and Young William Henry 
 Harrison. The pompous and vain-glorious General James Wilkinson did not habit- 
 ually frequent the company of Wayne, because "his advice, he felt, was being neg- 
 lected and he was irritated because of that." GC Wayne was fully aware of the vital 
 importance to the new nation of success. 
 
 In the scorching days of early August (1794) his army approached a village less 
 than twenty miles from the confluence of the Auglaize with the Maumee. This brought 
 exuberance to the Kentucky militia. Wrote William Clark, "Everybody was flushed 
 with the Idea of Supprizing them in the moment of providing for their Wives & 
 Children the Scheme was perposed & certain Suckcess insured, if attempted." Gen- 
 eral Wilkinson, coming in from the right flank, opined to the General that the belief 
 of the Kentuckians was sagacious, "the Indians should be' attacked at once." "Mad 
 Anthony did not agree, and the Brigadier General felt snubbed."" 
 
 Wayne waited. At the crossing of the Maumee, he had constructed Fort Defiance, 
 far north of the heart of the enemy territory, a flouting challenge and insult to the 
 braves. Harassed by the clamor of pacifistic Congress — men who feared risking a 
 battle, he asked the chiefs and sachems to meet him in a peace conference. The braves, 
 however, stalling for time, asked for ten days of truce, during which he was not to 
 move northward. Realizing this a ruse for time to collect more warriors, Wayne pro- 
 ceeded down the north bank of the Maumee. The Indians were encamped ten miles 
 distant, at the foot of the rapids near the British fort commanded by Major William 
 Campbell. They had taken up position on the right bank of the river under direction 
 of Chief Blue Jacket. The position was in the midst of a dense forest which had 
 been partly uprooted by a fierce cyclone some time past. Boyd thus describes the 
 place: "There the great trees lay heavily on splintered limbs, their roots reaching 
 out like coiling tenacles. They sprawled in all directions, in piles or levelled almost 
 with the ground where they had sheared their limbs in the violent fall. No paths led 
 through this jagged entanglement; there was no way for a horse or for a platoon of 
 men in formation to break through."*' 
 
 THE BATLE OF FALLEN TIMBERS, AUGUST 20, 1794 
 
 The Indians, having expected Wayne to attack immediately, had lain behind the 
 fallen timbers throughout the long hot 18th and 19th of August. "Mad Anthony," 
 suffering excruciating pain in his leg, which was now swollen all the time, from an 
 
250 A S E S Q U I -CENTENNIAL 
 
 old wound received during the Revolution, had spent those two days throwing up an 
 earthern mound around his camp for the protection of his impediment and, incidentally, 
 for breastworks in case of retreat. In charge of this he had placed young Captain 
 Zebulon Pike. 
 
 By seven o'clock of the 20th the day was bright and hot and the men were standing 
 in attack formation, "stripped down to little more than cartridge box and bayonetted 
 musket." Linen shirts open down low, no packs, no blankets, they were really stream- 
 lined for combat. * His scouts having reported the savages as in the vicinity of the 
 British Fort Miami, Wayne ordering Major Benjamin Price and his cavalry detach- 
 ment to move forward along the bank of the river, through a bottom planted in corn, 
 for reconnaissance, gave the general order of the day, "Forward!" 
 
 "Mad Anthony's" divisional positions in the advance were approximately the same 
 as in the battle. His right wing along the bottom between the forest and the river 
 was covered by the cavalry under Captain Robert MisCampbell. The center was 
 manned by the Legion proper, the infantry — in two lines extending into the forest. 
 The left was dominated by the Kentucky mounted militia under Major General 
 
 Charles Scott with Brigadier Generals Todd and Joshua Barbee in command 
 
 of battalions under him. As the column advanced Price, scouting in front, reported 
 that the braves had been located behind a strip of fallen timbers, perhaps two miles 
 before the main column of the Legion. MisCampbell was ordered with his cavalry 
 to charge the enemy's left; the infantry in the center to rush forward with the bayonette 
 after the first fire, so that the braves would not have time to re-load. Scott was 
 ordered to swing to his left, locate and strike the enemy's right. All went well, with 
 the old fighter, "Mad Anthony," in the thick of the fight. The braves, who had 
 been subsisting for three days on one meal a day and keeping uncomfortable positions, 
 had little stomach for the cold bayonets of the relentless Legion, and moved back. 
 When they perceived their left threatened with encirclement by MisCampbelPs swift- 
 moving cavalry, they took to precipitous flight toward the British Fort Miami, getting 
 away before the Kentucky Mounted Militiamen could contact them. The battle was 
 finished within a short time. Wayne's Legion advanced to the muzzles of the British 
 fort. 
 
 The position of the English officer, Major William Campbell, was unenviable. 
 In the first place, his fort was located on soil ceded to the United States by Britain 
 in 1783. Many Englishmen were found dead on the battle field by the Americans, 
 and English battle paraphernalia were also picked up. Perhaps Major Campbell de- 
 sired to aid the Indians openly and open fire with his cannon, but he dared not start 
 a war between Britain and the United States. The braves had rushed for the gates 
 of Fort Miami but were prodded away by British sentries' bayonets; they then con- 
 tinued the flight; rushed past Alexander McKee's trading post, past the few log cabins 
 surrounding it, rushed to the bank of the river and across "to the forest on the other 
 side of the rapids."" They had no more fight left in them. 
 
 Wayne had suffered some casualties, one hundred wounded including Captains 
 
 Slough and Solomon Van Rensalear and Lieutenant Campbell Smith; thirty 
 
 dead, including Captain MisCampbell and Lieutenant Fowles. A few hours after the 
 battle the work of burning and destroying began, the Kentuckians being of particular 
 service in this category. Even Alexander McKees's trading post was put to the torch; 
 village after village was consigned to flames; fields of once luscious corn, hundreds 
 of acres, were seared and blackened, completely destroyed. Moreover, the Indian loss 
 had been perhaps a hundred killed, including eight Wyandott chiefs; their wounded 
 were in proportion. "It was the most complete and important victory," writes Theo- 
 dore Roosevelt, "ever gained over the northwestern Indians during the forty years' 
 warfare to which it put an end."'' After attempting vainly for several days to provoke 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 251 
 
 Major Campbell to open fire, "Mad Anthony" marched his army to Fort Defiance. 
 Toward the middle of September he started westward for the towns on the St. Mary's 
 and St. Joseph's rivers, the scene of Harmar's disaster. There the Indians were too 
 cowed to offer resistance. The army spent six weeks there, burning towns, destroying 
 fields and stores and building Fort Wayne. There, according to Roosevelt, the mounted 
 volunteers grew mutinous, "but were kept in order by their commander Scott, a rough, 
 capable backwoods soldier."'" These Kentuckians, their term of service expired at 
 length, were sent home. At Greeneville in the summer of 1795, the braves of the 
 northwestern tribes made peace with Wayne, agreeing to friendship with the United 
 States and ceding most of what is now the state of Ohio. Wayne's success may be 
 said to have brought the pioneer history of Kentucky to a close, the end of a period.'' 
 
 FOOTNOTES FOR CHAPTER IX 
 
 Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., Vol I, pp. 376, 377. 
 
 'Speed, The Political Club, pp. 118, 134, 135. Writes Mr. Speed: "It has been 
 seen that it was the opinion of the club that the Indians had certain rights to the 
 land. This and the fact that the question of intermarriage was considered at all to 
 show that thoughtful men a century ago, who had the best opportunities for knowing 
 Indian character seem to have had liberal views concerning those mysterious people. 
 In the earlier days the terms "noble savages" and "child of nature" were not so en- 
 tirely poetical as at this time. Contact with civilization has not advanced the Indian 
 as much as it has injured him, perhaps. It is a singular fact disclosed by these old 
 Political Club papers, that the pioneers of Kentucky, while fighting the Indians, were 
 yet willing to do them justice, and saw enough good in the savage to lead them even 
 to consider the possible propriety of intermarriage with the white race." (The 
 Political Club, pp. 135, 136). 
 
 Theodore Roosevelt, The Winning of the West, (New York: The Current Litera- 
 ture Publishing Company, 1905) , Vol. V, pp. 69-72. 
 
 'Ibid., V, 76-85. 
 
 "Reference: The facts of the tragedy which befell are taken from Jack Hardin, Jr., 
 History of The Hardin Family in the Early Settlement of Kentucky, (Louisville: 
 Baptist World Publishing Company, 1915). 
 
 "Hardin, op.cit., pp. 12, 13. 
 
 Colonel John Hardin. Of all the virile clan of Hardins (which family has been 
 one of the state's most outstanding) , perhaps the most notable of the pioneer was 
 Colonel John. He was the recognized leader and councellor of the family. He alone 
 of all men could control the proud, independent, individualistic clan. Writes Jack 
 Hardin, Jr.: "His (John's) coming to stay gave new life to the settlement. New 
 life, new energy and enterprize sprang up, not only with the Hardins and their rela- 
 tives, but all partook. Churches, roads, schools, mills, etc., were planned and put in 
 existence. Things began to take shape all round. A head that governed all things 
 was located among them, and that head was Col. John Hardin." (221, 222). 
 
 However, the settlers of Washington County looked to John Hardin more for 
 military than civil leadership. In war his record had been brilliant. Innured to the 
 hardships and dangers of the frontier as a mere boy, his early years were spent in 
 roaming the forest and hunting, in which vocation he became expert. In fact, such 
 expertness did he achieve in marksmanship that his fame was more than local. As a 
 lad, he learned the Indian mode of warfare, even becoming more cunning perhaps than 
 the savages themselves. 
 
 In Governor Dunmore's War, 1774, against the Chief, Cornstalk, and his united 
 tribes, young Hardin served as insign in a militia company. During a minor engage- 
 
252 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 ment, he was wounded. In this instance, he had sunk on one knee, the better to 
 support his gun and aim; while in this position, he was struck, the ball entering the 
 thigh, ranging up seven inches and lodging near the groin, from which it was never 
 extracted. Before the wound was healed, and while on crutches, he rejoined Dun- 
 more's army on the march. 
 
 John Hardin first visited Kentucky in 1775, presumably with Colonel James Harrod's 
 company. The outbreak of the Revolutionary War having been verified, however, 
 he hastened eastward to recruit a company of riflemen and was mustered into the 
 Continental Army as lieutenant, serving with General Daniel Morgan's celebrated rifle 
 corps. Soon warmly admired by his commander, Hardin was often selected for vital 
 though perilous tasks which required initiative, discretion and intrepidity. He gained 
 the reputation of being singularly cool, courageous and able in scouting and recon- 
 noitering excursions. 
 
 The historian, Lewis Collins, relates this adventure: "While with the northern 
 army under General Horatio Gates, young Lieutenant Hardin was sent forward to 
 capture an enemy soldier, in order to gain information. Stealing silently in advance 
 of his detail, Hardin found himself, upon reaching abruptly the summit of a hill, in 
 the presence of three British soldiers and a Mohawk Indian. The moment was critical. 
 In a flash, he leveled his rifle and ordered the enemy to surrender. The British im- 
 mediately dropped their guns — the Indian clubbed his. They remained motionless, 
 while Hardin advanced slowly. None of his men having then come up, he turned 
 his head slightly and called. Instantly the Indian reversed his gun. Hardin caught 
 the gleam of light reflected and instantly shot his assailant, but not before a ball had 
 parted his own hair. The other members of the detachment arrived at that moment, 
 and the prisoners were taken to camp." 
 
 In the year 1779, some months after the surrender of General Burgoyne, John 
 Hardin resigned his commission, but not before he had been offered a majority. The 
 following year he returned to Kentucky to survey lands granted under military war- 
 rants for himself, members of his family and friends. He was, like many other pioneers, 
 a surveyor in his own right. 
 
 During the year 1787, Colonel Hardin's family came to Nelson County to take up 
 permanent residence. That year was an important one for him: It marked the real 
 beginning of his career as a prominent leader in Indian warfare. That year he was 
 appointed quartermaster by General George Rogers Clark for the campaign against 
 the Indians on the Wabash. His appointment, three years later, to the office of 
 County Lieutenant, by Virginia, with the title of colonel, gave him supreme command 
 of military affairs in the large county of Nelson. (Washington County, of course, 
 had not been made at that time) . (Hardin, pp. 221, 223) . 
 
 8 Hardin, op.cit., pp. 235, 236, 237. 
 
 Quoted by Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., I, 377. 
 
 "The Winning of the West (New Library Edition, 1896) , Vol. Ill, Part 1, p. 84. 
 Quoted by Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., I, pp. 380, 381. 
 
 "Ibid., I, 381. 
 Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., I, 381. 
 
 "Ibid., I, 382. 
 
 ""Mr. Roosevelt in preparing his monumental Winning of the West, closely studied 
 the American State Papers, Indian Affairs and Military Affairs. 
 
 "Winning of the West, op.cit., Vol. Ill, Part 1, p. 85. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 86. 
 
 "Winning of the West, Vol III, Part 1, p. 88. 
 
 10 James Hall, Sketches of History, Life and Manners in the West (Philadelphia, 
 1835), Vol. II, pp. 135, 136. 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 253 
 
 '"Major John Plasgrave Wyllys had achieved a brilliant record as fighting soldier 
 and able officer. In his native Connecticut, he had, in January, 1776, enlisted in Wol- 
 cott's Connecticut State Regiment; Brig. Maj. to General Wadsworth, Aug. 7, 1776; 
 taken prisoner, Sept. 15, 1776, during the retreat from New York; exchanged, Decem- 
 ber, 1776; a captain in Webb's Continental Regiment, January 1, 1777; Major, Oct. 
 10, 1778; transferred to Third Connecticut, Jan. 1, 1783; retained in Swift's Connec- 
 ticut Regiment, June 1783, serving to Dec. 1783; Major in United States Infantry, 
 June 1783 (John B. Dillon, History of Indiana [1859], p. 243) . 
 
 "Sketches of the West, II, 136. 
 
 "Winning of the West, III, I, 91. 
 Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., I, 383. 
 
 "'Winning of the West, III, I, 92. 
 
 2o Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., I, 383, 384. 
 
 "Many persons including Thomas Jefferson and General Jonathan Clark, busied 
 themselves in the interest of George Rogers Clark, who was passing his time, in and 
 about Louisville, distributing lands to soldiers, collecting geological and anthropological 
 remains and writing his memoirs. Many charged that Clark had already drunk himself 
 into incompetency. This charge does not appear true; he had many enemies eager 
 to wreck him beyond redemption, including General Wilkinson. A letter from Jefferson, 
 Philadelphia, March 7, 1791, to Judge Innes expresses a keen interest in Clark's being 
 assigned to command. Mr. Jefferson writes: "The federal council has yet to learn by 
 experience, what experience has long ago taught us in Virginia, that rank and file 
 fighting will not do against Indians. I hope this year's experience will be made in a 
 more auspicious form. Will it not be possible for you to bring General Clark forward? 
 I know the greatness of his mind & am the more mortified at the cause which obscures 
 it. Had not this unhappily taken place, there is nothing he might not have hoped: 
 could it be surmounted, his lost ground might yet be recovered. No man alive rated 
 him higher than I did, & would again, were he to become again what I knew him. 
 We are made to hope he is engaged in writing the account of his expeditions north of 
 Ohio. They will be valuable morsels of history, and will justify to the world those 
 who have told them how great he was." (The Works of Thomas Jefferson [New 
 York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1904], Vol. 6, p. 210.) 
 
 "'From his native county, Cumberland in Virginia, Charles Scott had volunteered 
 and served in Braddock's army as a corporal in 1755. Upon the outbreak of the 
 Revolutionary War, he was the first to raise a company of volunteers south of the 
 James, serving with such conspicuous distinction that a Virginia county was named 
 for him. Having migrated westward and settled in Woodford County (Kentucky) in 
 1785, General Scott soon became one of the most prominent leaders in the District, as 
 well as one of the most skillful and deadly Indian fighters. As a prisoner at Charleston 
 during the Revolution, he had cowed a British officer with his stentorian oaths, in the 
 rapid utterance of which he became quite an artist, achieving a reputation as a wizard 
 in this line, even in the hard-swearing, blasphemous District of Kentucky — where com- 
 petition and proficiency were of the highest order. (Collins, II, 706.) 
 
 James Ripley Jacobs, Tarnished Warrior (New York: The Macmillan Company, 
 1938), p. 112. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 113. 
 Tarnished Warrior, p. 113. 
 
 'Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., I, 384. 
 
 3 " Winning of the West, III, I, 150. Mr. Roosevelt cites the American State Papers 
 and the St. Clair Papers throughout. 
 
254 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 s3 Winning of the West, III, I, 145 Mr. Roosevelt cites the "Canadian Archives, 
 McKee's speech to the Indians, July 1, 1791." 
 
 "Ibid., Ill, I, 146, 147. 
 
 35 Ibid., Ill, part I, 150. 
 
 "Marshall, History of Kentucky (ed. 1824), I, 378. 
 
 'Winning of the West, III, I, 151. 
 
 ss Ibid., Ill, 152. Mr. Roosevelt cites the Bradley Mss. The "Journal and Letters 
 of Captain Daniel Bradley." 
 
 "Ibid., Ill, I, 153. 
 
 40 1 bid., Ill, I, 154. 
 
 "Ibid., Ill, I, 155. 
 
 4 ~History of Kentucky, I, 387. This does not agree, however, with St. Clair's report, 
 which places the horses and artillery in the center. 
 
 "Ibid., I, 380. 
 
 44 1 bid., I, 381. 
 
 4: 'Ibid., Ill, I, 160, 161. 
 
 "Ibid., Ill, I, 168, 169. 
 
 4 'Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., I, 386; also, Thomas Boyd, Mad Anthony Wayne, 
 p. 243. 
 
 4 Ibid., Ill, I, 170. Mr. Roosevelt cites McBride's Pioneer Biography, John Reily's 
 "Narrative." 
 
 'Henry Jones Ford, "Washington and His Colleagues," passim. (Chronicles of 
 America Series, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1918.) 
 
 "Winning of the West, III, I, 175. 
 
 ° Bodley, Littell's Political Transactions, etc., p. 
 
 "History of Kentucky, (ed. 1824), I, . 
 
 ° 3 Hardin, op.cit., pp. 252, 255. 
 
 "History of Kentucky, II, 316. 
 
 "Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., I, 387. 
 
 "Thomas Boyd, Mad Anthony Wayne (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1939), 
 p. 249. 
 
 "Boyd, op.cit., p. 269. 
 
 ^Marshall, op.cit., II, 136. 
 
 "Winning of the West, III, I, 198, 199. Also Hardin, History of The Hardin 
 Family, pp. 259-261. 
 Boyd, op.cit., p. 279. 
 
 cl Boyd, op.cit., p. 283. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 283. 
 
 ""Boyd, op.cit., p. 287. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 289. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 294. 
 
 '"'Winning of the West, III, I, 217. 
 
 "Ibid., Ill, I, 219. 
 
 '"Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., I, 389. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 A FRONTIER COMMONWEALTH 
 LAUNCHING THE NEW STATE 
 
 JL ebruary 4, 1791, Congress had decided to admit Kentucky to the 
 Union, fixing the date as June 1, 1792. This act was the first of its kind adopted by 
 Congress; it was signed by President Washington while the capital was in New York. 
 During the interim, the District, in accordance with its constitutional provision, had 
 named electors, to an electoral college, who had chosen Isaac Shelby to be governor. 
 This choice apparently met with general approval, because he was both able and popular. 
 Just how much consideration, if any, the electors gave Benjamin Logan, Daniel Boone, 
 George Rogers Clark, Charles Scott, Samuel McDowell, Harry Innes, and others is 
 not known. It is, of course, true that a few of these were more deserving of the office, 
 in point of service to Kentucky than was the man named; however, the selection of 
 Shelby was undoubtedly a felicitous one. In him resided much of the experience, versa- 
 tility, good common sense and indomitable power of will characteristic of Washington. 
 
 The population of Kentucky on June 1, 1792, is estimated at approximately 100,000/ 
 A sizeable number of this lithe, vigorous people seems to have attended the inaugural 
 ceremonies, which were held in Lexington (designated as the temporary capital) . The 
 governor-elect rode on horseback from his home, Traveler's Rest (in what is now Lincoln 
 County, only a few miles southeast of Danville) . He stopped at Danville (apparently 
 on June 3) where a lavish greeting and banquet was accorded him by the citizens there, 
 who were his friends. Along the road, crowds of citizens accorded a continuous ovation 
 resembling a procession of triumph. 
 
 Lexington, a place boasting one thousand population, was "the largest and most 
 important town in the state, in spite of mud roads and of thieving Indians, who carried 
 off the settlers' Negroes and sold them at Detroit for Whiskey." 3 The name Lexington 
 (in Massachusetts), the title of a British nobleman, had become the slogan of the 
 American Revolution. Lexington, Kentucky, was the first spot of ground on the con- 
 tinent named to commemorate that battle. Her stores were well filled, her factories 
 flourished (especially gun-powder mills) , her livestock trade was constant, her schools 
 growing, and commercialists at all hours breezed in and out of the busy metropolis — 
 the commercial and cultural hub of the vast West. 
 
 PROFESSOR GEORGE W. RANCK'S ACCOUNT OF THE INAUGURATION 
 
 OF ISAAC SHELBY 
 
 Perhaps the most intimate account of the events associated with the inauguration is that 
 by Professor George W. Ranck. His account, here quoted, perhaps cannot be greatly 
 improved upon: 
 
 "Such was the settlement, crowded with strangers, where on Monday the 4th of June 
 1792, commenced the First Session of the Kentucky Legislature, and the organization 
 of the State government. On that day Governor Shelby arrived from Danville, where 
 all the conventions had been held, and as he came on horse back down the hill which 
 overlooked the little capital, the citizens made the valley of the Elkhorn resound with 
 the cracking of their flintlock rifles and with the roar of an old six-pounder, which the 
 explosive and emphatic Mad Anthony Wayne requested the use of a short time after. 
 The Governor, provided with leggins, saddlebags, and holsters, was halted with his escort 
 at the intersection of the two principal streets of the village, where he was received 
 with military honors by the largest and most picturesque procession that the West 
 country had ever seen. There with all the formality and punctiliousness that Sir 
 
256 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 Charles Grandison himself could have desired, he was presented with a written address 
 of welcome in behalf of Lexington by Mr. Bradford, or Old Wisdom, as he was ad- 
 miringly called, the chairman of the town Board of trustees, the editor of the only 
 newspaper in the Commonwealth, and a gentleman of substantial scientific attainments. 
 The oath of office was then administered to the Governor, who, after more salutes had 
 been indulged in, took his place in the procession, which immediately began to move, 
 and to the sound of drum and fife and ten village bells, he was escorted through the 
 main street, past the printing-office; the site of the old block-house, the prosperous 
 looking stores, and the liberty pole, the pillory and the stocks, the court-house yard, 
 where the soldiers hitched their horses, at the Sheaf of Wheat Inn, where he "lighted' 
 from his tired nag and lodged. The Tight Infantry' and the 'troop of horse' then 
 paraded to the paved public square, the inaugural ceremonies were concluded by the 
 firing of fifteen rounds, one for each of the states then in the Union and a general 
 discharge of rifles in honor of the New Governor." 4 
 
 The State House was "a gloomy but substantial two story log building of the regular 
 pioneer type, above whose gabled roof on Main Street floated the American flag." 5 
 
 The Legislature met first to elect officers and adjourned; the rest of the day was 
 spent in rejoicing, in the announcement of the appointments made by the Governor, and 
 interchange of courtesies with the citizens. 
 
 On the 6th members assembled in the Senate chamber of the State House to receive 
 formally the Governor's message, delivered in person, Federal style. The Governor 
 entered the unpretentious room precisely at noon, attended by the Secretary of State. 
 Standing at right of the Speaker of Senate, he respectfully addressed the Senate and 
 then the House members, after which he proceeded to read his communication. At the 
 close he delivered to each speaker a copy, then "retired as solemnly and as formally as 
 he had entered." Two houses "gravely" voted an address to his Excellency then ad- 
 journed. This imitation of a kingly custom of Great Britain was in striking contrast 
 to Western life. 
 
 SALARIES 
 
 One of the first and, as was thought, important considerations, to which the Legis- 
 lators turned their attention was salaries for the state officials. So scarce had been 
 good cash in Kentucky since the beginning that a few pounds would be held with 
 tenacious niggardliness, few desiring to contribute to anything, particularly the upkeep 
 of a government. In fact, many had opposed establishment of a state government because 
 of the fear that high taxes would be exacted for its upkeep. 
 
 So great was the fear of popular opposition to the expense of government upkeep that 
 the Legislature fixed the salaries of state officials at levels completely inadequate. That 
 of the chief executive was $1000 per year; the heads of the executive departments were 
 allowed $333 1/3; and the members of the state's supreme court received $666 2/3; 
 while the legislators permitted themselves to be paid one dollar per day while in session.' 
 Although believing that he was a good institution, the law-makers did not deem a 
 chaplain vital enough to their session to be paid for his services. However, in 1798 
 they provided a salary for the services of a divine by each member's agreeing to deduct 
 one dollar from his own meager pay. Taxes were, by legislative enactment, to be levied 
 upon land, cattle, carriages and billiard tables. 8 
 
 Two of the most important enactments of this initial Legislature were the establishing 
 of the judicial system and the selection of a permanent capital. The manner of per- 
 forming this latter task was indeed singular. The Constitution provided that the Lower 
 House should choose by ballot twenty-one persons, from which number five commissioners 
 who should fix the site of the capitol were to be selected. As they were the principal 
 contenders, the counties of Fayette and Mercer were accorded the privilege of elimina- 
 
.!'■'" 
 
 
 Courtesy, Filson Club. 
 
 Isaac Shelby 
 First and Sixth Governor of Kentucky. 
 
258 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 tion, each alternately striking out the name of one delegate until only five should 
 remain. These five commissioners were accorded the privilege of selecting the site. 
 The contending sites were Legerwood's Bend, Delany's Ferry, Petersburg, Louisville, 
 Lexington, Frankfort and Leestown. The commissioners, who were appointed June 18, 
 1792, were John Allen and John Edwards, of Bourbon County; Robert Todd, of Fayette; 
 Henry Lee, of Mason; and Thomas Kennedy, of Madison/ On December 5, the com- 
 missioners reported their recommendation of a site as being Frankfort, and three days 
 later the Legislature adopted the report of the commissioners, soon after which the law- 
 makers adjourned to hold their next sessions in the house of Andrew Holmes at Frank- 
 fort, "on the Kentucky River." 10 
 
 Many persons through the years have wondered why Frankfort was chosen as the 
 site for the capitol. Accessibility and location seems to have been a minor consideration 
 on the part of the commissioners. These were apparently interested in obtaining the best 
 material offer. The citizens of Frankfort made the best offer — an amazing offer for so 
 small a town — (less than 400 population) . For a temporary capitol, they gave, rent 
 free, for seven years a house built by General James Wilkinson, and for the erection 
 of a permanent capitol building they deeded in fee simple eight public lots. In addition 
 they gave thirty lots, and, if more were necessary, they agreed to donate twenty-five 
 half-acre lots yet to be laid off. Furthermore, they gave rents accruing for tobacco and 
 flour warehouses for seven years. For the erection of the capitol building citizens gave 
 ten boxes of window glass, 1,500 pounds of nails, $166 2/3 worth of locks and hinges, 
 and the necessary amount of stone and lumber. The lumber was to be cut by a private 
 sawmill free, and two horses and a wagon were furnished to haul the stone and lumber 
 to the capitol site. Eight citizens gave bond to donate $3,000 in gold or silver. These 
 items constituted an offer, which, considered in the light of the times was little short of 
 fabulous. Frankfort secured the capital; however, from time to time, she has been 
 forced to defend her conquest. The citizens of Louisville and Lexington have felt 
 keenly the disappointment of not having been accorded the honor, and after the capitol 
 burned in 1813 and again in 1824 the citizens of Frankfort were obliged again to come 
 forward with substantial material gifts to secure their hold of the capital. 
 
 THE ORGANIZATION OF THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM 
 
 As has been pointed out, the other important work of the first Legislature was the 
 establishment of the judiciary system. The highest court provided for was denominated 
 the Court of Appeals consisting of three judges: The Chief Justice, the appointment 
 being conferred upon Harry Innes, former Attorney General; and two Associate Justices, 
 Benjamin Sebastian and Caleb Wallace being selected. The other courts established 
 were, the county courts, courts of Quarter Session and a court of Oyer and Terminer. 
 The Court of Appeals was organized on June 28, 1792. The personnel of the Appellate 
 Court carried over from the old District Court, with the exception of George Muter, 
 who was given a less lucrative place in the Court of Oyer and Terminer at $100 per year. 
 However, the elevation of Judge Innes to the Federal District judgeship brought the 
 vacancy appointment in the Court of Appeals to Muter, which elevation was effected 
 before the end of the year. 
 
 THE KENTON VS. McCONNELL CASE 
 
 In 1795 an unfortunate decision by the Court of Appeals, reversing a ruling of the 
 Virginia Land commissioners, set the people into a state of wild excitement and clamour. 
 As thousands of land claims were based upon rulings of these commissioners, numerous 
 claimants felt that if a ruling by the commissioners were permitted to be reversed by the 
 Court of Appeals and stand, then none of their holdings based upon decisions made 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 259 
 
 by the Virginia commissioners were secure, and they had visions of thousands of law- 
 suits, charging at the same time that the reversal was effected for the purpose of throw- 
 ing a lucrative business to the lawyers. Judge Wallace had warmly dissented with his 
 colleagues. In the legislative session of 1795, the Senate passed a resolution to impeach 
 and remove the obnoxious justices. Though a necessary two-thirds majority required 
 by the Constitution failed to be mustered, the resolution, nevertheless, was transmitted to 
 the House, which summoned Judges Muter and Sebastian to appear before it. These 
 justices, however, refused claiming that the House had no authority to review or in 
 any way interfere with the decisions of the judiciary. The body resoluted against the 
 obdurate gentlemen, impeaching their characters, integrity and intelligence. The attempt 
 to remove the judges failed. However, during the following year Judge Muter reversed 
 his opinion, which quieted the clamour for the time being. But the people and the 
 Legislature had got a taste of influencing the courts by noise, intimidation and resolution; 
 this they did not forget, and thirty years later a real crisis developed as a result of the 
 Legislature's trying to control judicial decision. 12 
 
 FURTHER EFFECTS OF THE KENTON VS. McCONNELL CASE 
 
 So general and popular was the revulsion against the judiciary set off by the unfor- 
 tunate land case decision of the Appellate Court, that the Legislature, though frustrated 
 in its efforts to destroy this the highest court (which was protected by the Constitution, 
 in as far as state constitutions can protect such organizaions) , turned in its frenzied 
 wrath to strike the helpless lower courts — the Court of Oyer and Terminer, and the 
 county courts. Moreover, the original jurisdiction in land cases conferred upon the 
 Court of Appeals was transferred to six district courts set up at this time at Washington, 
 Paris, Franklin, Lexington, Danville, and Bardstown. The first personnel of the 
 Court of Oyer and Terminer — George Muter, Samuel McDowell and Christopher 
 Greenup — was composed of talented men; however, following their resignations, the 
 ridiculously low salary of $100 a year failed to attract men with a knowledge of the law. 
 The business of the District Courts became largely that of handling land cases, until 
 they too became victims of the wrath and short-sightedness of a Legislature influenced 
 far too much by the clamour of an ignorant and property-less rabblement. Repealing 
 the courts "set up a dangerous precedent," writes Professor Coulter, "which faulty logic 
 years later demanded should be applied to the Court of Appeals . . ."' 
 
 REFORM OF THE CRIMINAL CODE 
 
 Because of inability to do otherwise at that time, the Constitution of 1792 adopted 
 the Virginia criminal code, which contained much of the severity of the British legal 
 system. The Virginia code imposed the death penalty for twenty-seven crimes, a system 
 more severe than most of the other states, which had already made some progress in 
 reform. Naturally the democratic people of the frontier were opposed to a continuation 
 of a medieval system of criminal law and a cry for reform soon emanated from them. 
 The Danville Political Club had in 1787 debated the question, "Ought capital punish- 
 ment to be inflicted for any other crime than that of murder and treason?" The decision 
 was in the negative. That the death penalty was meted out for crimes whose effect little 
 endangered the state or the well-being of society was clear. Articles advocating reform 
 occurred in John Bradford's Kentucky Gazette as early as November, 1794. 1 " John 
 Breckinridge, one of the most talented lawyers in the state and one of the leaders of 
 Western democracy, became the outstanding leader of reform of the criminal code. 
 It was observed by many that instead of decreasing crime, the severe code actually in- 
 creased it. Petitions were drawn up praying for relief. By 1796, John Breckinridge 
 was working upon a reform code. ' Collins states that in November, 1797, "Punishment 
 by death abolished, except for murder in the first degree." 1 ' 
 
 18— Vol. I 
 
260 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 The crime of murder in the first degree under the new code included, "all murder 
 which shall be perpetrated by means of poison, or by laying in wait, or by any other kind 
 of wilful, deliberate and premeditated killing, or which shall be committed in the perpe- 
 tration or attempt to perpetrate any arson, rape, robbery or burglary." 18 It was pro- 
 vided that all persons adjudged guilty of taking human life, not falling into the category 
 of first degree murder, were subject to punishment by imprisonment from five to eighteen 
 years. With the curtailment of the policy of extermination as punishment for crime, 
 the necessity now arose for a state penitentiary. A house of incarceration therefore was 
 established at Frankfort. 
 
 The new code reflected the prevalence and brutality of the "rough and tumble" per- 
 sonal combats of the time on the frontier and undertook to check them. The Mirror, 
 March 17, 1798, quoted the law pertaining to this peculiar type of violence. This 
 statute is, in part, thus: "Whosoever on purpose and of malice aforethought, by laying 
 in wait, shall unlawfully cut out, or disable the tongue, put out an eye, slit the nose, 
 ear or lip, or cut off or disable any limb or member, with intention in so doing to maim 
 or disfigure such person, or shall voluntarily, maliciously, and of purpose, pull or put 
 out an eye, while fighting or otherwise, every such offender, his or her aiders, abettors 
 and counsellors" shall be on conviction confined in the "jail and penitentiary house" 
 from two to ten years and pay a fine not exceeding $1000. 1J This act appears to be 
 severe enough, however, slaves were excluded from its "benefits," which caused some 
 criticism. 
 
 SALARY REFORM 
 
 The reform movement carried to the salaries of state officials. Governor Shelby had, 
 in 1793, pointed out to the Legislature that salaries were entirely inadequate, particularly 
 those of the judges of the Court of Oyer and Terminer, which had been fixed at $100 
 a year. In 1796 the assemblymen decided to brave popular wrath and raise salaries from 
 the bracket of the ridiculous. They provided that the Governor's salary be increased 
 by one-third, and the heads of the executive departments were to receive $600 per annum 
 instead of $333 1/3. They also raised the pay of legislators from $1.00 to $1.50 per day. 
 
 These actions brought down a storm of popular disapproval. In their wrath the masses 
 charged that the salary changes were unconstitutional, and determined to "get" the 
 solons in the next election. The acts were not in violation of the Constitution, and 
 therefore the disgruntled suffragists could make no modifications. However, the inci- 
 dent serves as one explanation of the present-day opposition to increasing the salaries of 
 public officials, which are woefully inadequate, causing serious effects in many ways. 
 Actually Kentucky (1944) has a law limiting the salaries of persons in the pay of the 
 state officials to $5,000 per year, except the governor. This foolish prejudice of the 
 state's voters against adequate compensation for public employees has probably done 
 more to place unqualified persons in public office, and to corrupt officials while in office, 
 than any other one thing. Yet the people will not be convinced. The result is that, 
 for the most part, the best qualified persons of the state shun public office. Why should 
 a person give up a $20,000 a year job to accept one paying $5,000 or less? 
 
 THE ELECTION OF 1796 
 
 The Constitution of 1792, it will be recalled, provided that the governor be chosen 
 by an electoral college chosen by the popular voters. In the election of 1796, the 
 names of four candidates were presented to the electoral college: Benjamin Logan, who 
 received twenty-one votes; James Garrard, seventeen votes; Thomas Todd, fourteen; and 
 John Brown, one. The question arose as to whether a majority or a plurality was 
 necessary for election; the Constitution failed to state. The electors decided that a 
 majority was necessary and proceeded to vote upon the two highest, Logan and Garrard. 
 
H I S T O RY O F K E N T U C K Y 261 
 
 This vote gave Garrard a majority. However, the Constitution made no provision for 
 a second ballot except in case of a tie. The implication was strong therefore that a 
 mere plurality should elect, and Logan was not one to take an injustice tamely, as all 
 his life he had fought for justice and right. He applied to the Attorney General, John 
 Breckinridge for an opinion. However, Breckinridge felt that he should not commit 
 the government in the matter and refused an official opinion, perhaps fearing violence. 
 He did, in his capacity as private citizen, state that as the Constitution made no provision 
 for a second ballot except in the case of a tie and as the electors represented the popular 
 vote — where the highest vote always elected regardless of whether it was a plurality or 
 majority — it was his opinion that Logan had been elected Governor. His statement, 
 according to the Kentucky Gazette, May 28, 1796, was "That Ben. Logan was constitu- 
 tionally elected Governor upon the first ballot, and ought to have been declared and 
 returned as such by the electors." 
 
 The Seriate, which had been invested by statute with the power to decide disputed 
 gubernatorial elections, was now appealed to by Logan. But that body, eager to circum- 
 vent responsibility, refused to interfere upon the ground that any law that does not 
 promote the peace and welfare of the state is unconstitutional. (Here again the legis- 
 lative branch was assuming judicial power.) With no further legal recourse open, 
 Logan, in order to avoid violence, let the case drop, and a dangerous situation passed 
 without further turmoil. However, if any man ever deserved to be governor, that man 
 was the noble Kentucky hero Benjamin Logan — but such are the exigencies of politics — 
 and such is the limit of gratitude of many politicians for unselfish services to the state. 
 
 The immediate upshot was a further weakening of respect for the Constitution. The 
 court trouble, the legislative usurpations, the salary question and the disputed guberna- 
 torial election — all these served to weaken respect for the Constitution/ Clamor became 
 louder for a new instrument of government. 
 
 THE FRENCH SCHEME AGAINST LOUISIANA, 1793— KENTUCKY'S 
 
 SITUATION 
 
 Two reasons why the people of Kentucky had fought so long and strenuously for 
 statehood were (1) that the Mississippi River might be opened to Kentucky shipping 
 free from duty and (2) that Kentucky might be protected against the Indians. The 
 people, with these worthy objects in mind, held together in the long struggle for state- 
 hood, bore disappointment time and again with remarkable fortitude and forebearance, 
 because the ultimate objectives were recognition as being ample recompense for long 
 suffering. Statehood, however, did not bring the coveted goals. The Federal Govern- 
 ment, it appeared to Kentuckians, was neither willing, nor able, to crush the Indians 
 nor force Spain to open the Mississippi to Kentucky trade. Kentuckians therefore by 
 1793 manifested a feeling of frustration, accompanied by mounting indignation and 
 wrath. Trade was stagnant, and, as usual, money was scarce. They honestly believed 
 that the prejudice of the East against the West caused the Federal Government not 
 only not to crush the red men but to keep the Mississippi closed as well. As a matter 
 of fact, the Central Government, though weak, cautious and conservative, was slowly 
 moving toward the accomplishment of both the Kentucky objectives, but far too slowly 
 to inspire confidence in the destitute and desperate Westerners, who encountered the 
 same Spanish hindrances down the Mississippi — a tariff of 15% ad valoren imposed on 
 unloading for purposes of examination and a 6% additional duty exacted for reloading" — 
 as during the 1780s and suffered atrocities from the savages just as brutal and horrible 
 as during the Revolution. The West was ripe therefore for something revolutionary. 
 
262 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 KENTUCKY'S REACTION TO THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 
 
 At this point the French Revolution (1789-1795) began to be felt in the West, 
 particularly in Kentucky. (The influence of the French Revolution in Kentucky and 
 the scheme here to wrest Louisiana from Spain, in order to open the Mississippi, is so 
 thoroughly and admirably treated by Professor Coulter in Connelley and Coulter, 
 History of Kentucky, I, 318-346 that this author is content merely to summarize, more 
 or less, that able scholar's findings.) The attitude of the people of the West toward 
 France had been one of gratitude since they had learned in 1778 that the government 
 of the United States had concluded with her treaties of "amity and commerce and alli- 
 ance." When they learned that the French people had overthrown the last vestiges of 
 tyranny and had set up a republic with a constitution, greatly influenced by that of the 
 United States, these people of the West regarded the French people as doing just the 
 thing which America had done in throwing off oppression and gaining freedom, and, as 
 the Westerners despised the British — who were at war with France — they were rather 
 eager for the American government to go to the aid of France against Britain. They 
 felt that the war, like their Revolution, was a struggle for freedom against tyranny. " 
 The generalty of the West despised Spain even more than Britain (if such a thing could 
 be possible), because Spain's keeping of the Mississippi closed was keeping people on 
 "western waters" poor. France was at war against both Britain and Spain. Moreover, 
 the commercial class of the East was inclined to favor Britain, and the aggregate view 
 in the West was bitterness against both the East and its commercial class. This aggre- 
 gate believed not only that the Federal Government was the instrumentality of the com- 
 mercialists of the East in keeping the Mississippi closed but in having passed legislation 
 placing a tax upon whiskey as well. Naturally the tax upon spirits was bitterly resented 
 in Kentucky. This is the reason: With poor roads and with no good outlet except 
 down the Mississippi — and that closed — the people of this state could make little profit 
 in bulk products; however, by turning their corn into whiskey, they could have a product 
 which was valuable in small quantities; they could carry enough on horseback to make 
 a satisfactory amount of profit. Now with the government's having placed a tax upon 
 their one profitable product which could be easily transported — and at a time when 
 trade was practically stagnant — these people quite obviously were very angry, as were 
 the people of Western Pennsylvania. As Professor Paxson points out: "The corn could 
 also be distilled into whiskey and with reduced bulk and concentrated value be available 
 for a real export trade. Every farmer had his still. The whiskey excise struck him not 
 as a manufacturer but as a farmer, whereas the Eastern farmer bought his whiskey 
 instead of making it, and dodged the inquisitorial tax." 2 
 
 The government at Philadelphia appeared to favor Britain, with the exception of 
 Thomas Jefferson, who was rather sympathetic to the French, and Jefferson was the 
 one man in the cabinet liked by the Westerners. Moreover, the people of the frontier 
 felt that the West was the only true repository in the nation of true democracy; the. 
 government's apparent favoring of the Eastern commercial class and Britain seemed 
 to prove this to their satisfaction. 
 
 The Revolutionary government of France counted upon the support of the American 
 Government in her war against Britain and Spain, 24 not only because of the treaty of 
 1778 but because of the general belief that kindred political philosophy — the fight of 
 democracy against tyranny — would cause the United States to come to the aid of France. 
 
 "CITIZEN" EDMUND GENET 
 
 As early as November, 1792, the French minister of foreign affairs, Lebrun, had pro- 
 posed sending "Citizen" Edmund Genet as minister to the United States, secretly in- 
 structed to foment a revolution in the Spanish colonies/' Genet was "to endeavor to 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 263 
 
 secure a treaty with the United States. Such a compact . . . would conduce repidly 
 to the freeing of Spanish America, to opening the navigation of the Mississippi to the 
 inhabitants of Kentucky, to delivering our ancient brothers of Louisiana from the 
 tyrannical yoke of Spain, and to reunite, perhaps, the fair star of Canada to the Ameri- 
 can constellation. Should there be timidity in cooperation on the part of the American 
 government, he was to take all measures which comported with his position to develop 
 in Louisiana and in the other provinces of America adjacent to the United States the 
 principles of liberty and of independence. Kentuckians who had 'long burned' with 
 the desire for the free navigation of the Mississippi, it was pointed out, would doubtless 
 assist him without compromising Congress, and he was authorized to support agents 
 in Kentucky and in Louisiana for carrying out the project." 26 
 
 Early in 1793 Genet set sail from France for Charleston, South Carolina. In Charles- 
 ton he was enthusiastically received by the Jeffersonian faction. The reception re- 
 ceived apparently turned his head somewhat, because without having consulted the 
 Government of the United States, Genet proceeded to fit out privateers to prey on 
 British commerce. He provided for an armed expedition, made up of 1,500 Georgia 
 frontiersmen under Samuel Hammond, which was to proceed against Spanish East 
 Florida. "Another adventurer, William Tate," writes Professor James, "was to be 
 commander-in-chief of an expedition consisting of 2,000 frontiersmen which was to 
 proceed along the Tennessee and the Mississippi for an attack on New Orleans."" 
 
 Immediately upon landing at Charleston, M. Genet, who as Albert J. Beveridge 
 writes, "was received by public officials with obsequious flattery and by the populace 
 with a frenzy of enthusiasm almost indescribable in its intensity," 28 set to work executing 
 his plans — fitting out privateers, engaging seamen, issuing letters of marque, and 
 reprisal, administered to American citizens oaths of 'allegiance' to the authority then 
 reigning in Paris. All this was done before he presented his credentials to the Ameri- 
 can Government. His progress to the Capital in Philadelphia was an "unbroken 
 festival of triumph." However, there was dignified restraint upon the part of Wash- 
 ington, interpreted by Genet and many of his followers as hostility both to them and 
 liberty. Writes Mr. Beveridge, "but if Washington's heart was ice, the people's heart 
 was fir*." As Genet approached Philadelphia, Mr. Jefferson April 28, 1793, wrote 
 this to Mr. Madison: "We expect Mr. Genet here within a few days. It seems as 
 if his arrival would furnish occasion for the people to testify their affections without 
 respect to the cold caution of their government." 3 ' The conservative propertied people, 
 led by Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury, were rather naturally opposed 
 to Genet and the revolutionary government he represented; while the agrarian, the 
 laboring and the frontier people, led by Jefferson were sympathetic toward the French 
 Revolution and the French ideas of "liberty, equality, fraternity" — the rights of man. 
 No where else was there keener more genuine sympathy for the Revolution than in 
 Kentucky. (Actually the Genet affair was forging two political parties: the con- 
 servative, or Federalist, led by Hamilton; the liberal, or Republican, led by Mr. Jeffer- 
 son. The Genet affair was a political affair.) 
 
 Even without the ready advice of the brilliant and attractive Mr. Hamilton, the 
 Secretary of the Treasury, Washington was shrewd enough to realize that a headlong 
 dive into war against both Britain and Spain, which of course would involve the 
 Indians too, just to pull the chestnuts out of the fire for the revolutionary government 
 of France, and to obey the frenzied impulses of the masses, would be nothing short 
 of madness. He believed that the desired ends could be gained without recourse to 
 war. The upshot was the celebrated Proclamation of Neutrality, issued by Wash- 
 ington in April, 1793 (which was probably drawn up by Edmund Randolph, Attorney 
 General) . "The paper itself," writes the distinguished American diplomat and 
 statesman, John W. Foster, "is a simple announcement of the neutral attitude of the 
 
264 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 United States, and a warning to American citizens to observe it, but its influence is 
 in the significance of the act under the embarrassing circumstances surrounding the 
 government, the strict impartiality of its enforcement, and the resulting legislation 
 of Congress, which became a model for all other nations." 
 
 Jefferson in his private correspondence expressed his disgust at the proclamation, 
 which he characterized as "an act of pussillanimity." However, in his official re- 
 lations as Washington's Secretary of State, he sustained the principal as a correct 
 policy of government, and his state papers on the subject are a clear and forcible 
 statement of the attitude of the administration. 
 
 M. Genet was so completely captivated by the applause of the masses as he had 
 proceeded to Philadelphia that he began to assume governmental function for him- 
 self, "Every remonstrance of Washington's government brought forth a more un- 
 reasonable and extravagant reply from this minister, until finally his language and 
 his conduct forced the President to suspend his diplomatic functions, and ask for 
 his recall." 33 
 
 DEMOCRATIC SOCIETIES 
 
 Throughout the nation Democratic societies, as a result of the French Revolution, 
 were organized with the revolutionary Jacobin Clubs of France as models. All of 
 the jacobin trappings were employed — liberty poles, the tricolored cockades. "Each 
 society had its corresponding committee; and thus their organizations were welded 
 into an unbroken chain,"' 4 writes Mr. Beveridge. Their avowed purpose was to cherish 
 the principles of human freedom and to spread the doctrine of true republicanism. 
 These societies soon developed into efficient agencies of the Republican Party of Mr. 
 Jefferson. They drank toasts to the French Republic and to the guillotine. One con- 
 servative, disgusted at their excesses, exclaimed: "What hugging and tugging! What 
 addressing and caressing! What mounte-banking and chanting! with liberty caps and 
 other wretched trumpery of sans cullotte foolery!" 30 
 
 KENTUCKY DEMOCRATIC SOCIETIES 
 
 Perhaps in no other state of the Union was enthusiasm for the French Revolution 
 more voluble than in Kentucky. The first of the Democratic societies formed in 
 Kentucky was that of Lexington, which was organized through the influence of John 
 Bradford, editor of the Kentucky Gazette, in the summer of 1793. This club was 
 formed in August, with John Breckinridge as chairman, Thomas Todd and Thomas 
 Bodley as clerks. It was established upon the plan and "embracing the laudable 
 objects of the Philadelphia Democratic Society." 30 
 
 Before the end of the year (1793) another society was formed at Georgetown, 
 and yet another at Paris. Apparently one of the chief objects of these Kentucky 
 clubs, as in other states, was to attack the Washington administration, particulary 
 its foreign policy. It was quite obvious that the failure of the national administration 
 to open the Mississippi River was the chief grievance of Kentuckians against Washing- 
 ton, though the excise was patently unpopular. The question therefore was mainly 
 economic. The Lexington Society, December 13, 1793, issued an address, "To the 
 People West of the Alleghanies," and printed it in broadside form for distribution 
 throughout the West. 
 
 The broadside declared that "the use of the Mississippi was a God-given right 
 which must now be secured forever not only for themselves but for their children. 
 Now was the time to act; and if they were to be worthy of their offspring they would 
 delay no longer. The national government had done nothing; and gave no promise 
 of anything better in the future." 37 The broadside brought out the idea also that 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 265 
 
 repeated requests and memorials to Congress had been "treated with a neglect 
 bordering upon contempt." It expressed the belief that neglect to open the Mississippi 
 by the Federal Government was due to the desire of the East to retard the West. 
 The document called upon other communities to organize Democratic Societies. 8 It 
 was suggested in many quarters of Kentucky that a test boat be sent down the 
 Mississippi to ascertain what action the Spanish authorities would take, though very- 
 well known what would happen. Suggestions were made therefore that after the 
 Spaniards had seized the boat, force should be used by Westerners to open the 
 Mississippi. 
 
 Opening of the Mississippi by force was a clever idea which Genet knew would 
 appeal to Kentuckians; quite certainly it worked. The Kentuckians had been ready 
 previously to open it by force themselves; now with the proffer of powerful French 
 aid, they were jubilant. With such outstanding and trusted leaders as George 
 Rogers Clark, John Brown and John Breckinridge favoring the scheme, there can 
 be little doubt about the popular feeling in Kentucky, although the local Federalists, 
 headed by Humphrey Marshall, favored a policy of waiting for the Washington 
 administration to act. 
 
 Upon reaching Philadelphia, Citizen Genet had found a letter from George 
 Rogers Clark awaiting him. This letter not only offered Clark's services to France 
 in an armed expedition against Spanish Louisiana but divulged plans for fitting out 
 the expedition and carrying it into effect. Genet, who had just received the cold 
 rebuff from Washington, probably had his spirits lifted by Clark's enthusiastic com- 
 munication. However, information from Hamilton to the effect that the United 
 States government would not pay the debt to France contracted during the American 
 Revolution in advance — the payment being a contingency upon which Genet had 
 confidently relied in forming his plans to attack Louisiana — was a terrific disappoint- 
 ment to him. Moreover, Thomas Jefferson, with whom Genet soon conferred after 
 reaching Philadelphia, made it clear to the French minister that although caring very 
 little what happened to the Spaniards in Louisiana he would be obliged to follow 
 the policy of Washington and would be a part of no scheme which might threaten 
 to plunge the United States into war with a power with whom she was at peace. 
 He declared that Genet's "enticing officers and soldiers from Kentucky to go against 
 Spain was really putting a halter around their necks; for they would surely be hung 
 if they commenced hostilities against a nation at peace with the United States." 3 ' 
 Mr. Jefferson well knew what was transpiring in Kentucky. Breckinridge, Brown 
 and Clark were all his close personal friends. Yet Mr. Jefferson acted very honorably 
 in the affair; he was loyal to the trust which Washington had reposed in him. 
 
 GEORGE ROGERS CLARK AND THE PROPOSED CONQUEST OF 
 
 LOUISIANA 
 
 Although M. Genet had suffered two serious disappointments (the rebuff of the 
 Washington administration and the failure to collect money owed by the United 
 States to France) , nevertheless he determined to carry out his plans for conquest of 
 Louisiana with Kentuckians' taking the major role. Having learned that he could 
 not expect the official support of Jefferson in the enterprise, he proceeded to send 
 agents into Kentucky to contact Clark, Benjamin Logan, Governor Shelby and other 
 prominent leaders whose support he expected in organizing Kentucky for the venture 
 against the Spaniards. 
 
 Genet was able to secure from Jefferson a letter of introduction in behalf of 
 Andre Michaux, a botanist by avocation and a political agent by force of circum- 
 stances. He had even been bold enough to reveal to Jefferson his objective of winning 
 
266 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 Louisiana for France and either setting it up as an independent state with com- 
 mercial treaties with France and the United States or annexing it to the former. 40 
 He made it clear to Jefferson that France could easily count upon the support of 
 Kentucky because of the prevalent discontent, occasioned by the Mississippi naviga- 
 tion problem in that quarter. Incidentally, Jefferson knew that this discontent was 
 quite real, as he was in close touch with western affairs. (Jefferson had enjoyed a 
 personal acquaintance with Michaux, made pleasant by their mutual interest in 
 scientific knowledge) . 
 
 That Clark was eager to lead an expedition against the Spaniards in Louisiana 
 is very easily explained. Briefly, it was the shabby treatment which he had received 
 both from the state of Virginia and the Federal Government. Professor James writes: 
 "The year 1792 was ... a critical one in Clark's life. His claims against Virginia, 
 including his pay as an officer and the purchase of flour and other necessities for 
 his army in the Revolution, amounting to $20,500, had been rejected by the Assembly. 
 . . . The main reason, as stated by his brother (Jonathan), was the spirit of parsimony 
 which controlled the majority. The court of appeals also, in June, decided adversely 
 against the granting of half-pay to troops serving in the state line. A month earlier, 
 Clark declared, while preparing another petition to the Virginia legislature, 'I have 
 given the United States half the territory they possess, and for them to suffer me 
 to remain in poverty, in consequence of it, will not redound much to their honor 
 hereafter. If I meet another rebuff I must rest content with it, be industrious, and 
 look out further for my future bread. . . .' His last hope for relief was evidently 
 shattered through the report on his memorial (by his brother, Jonathan) (November 
 1, 1792) containing the following statements: c Have not been able to bring on 
 your memorial, and begin to fear I shall not have it in my power to do anything 
 for you this Assembly. . . . As to the flour I am certain from all I can discover you 
 will get nothing ... as to commutation [compensation], I shall bring that on — I 
 have your discharge from the Governor, and hope to succeed. I understand you 
 intend in — therefore do not expect you will get this . . .' 
 
 "Then scarcely forty years of age," continues Professor James, "proud, ambitious, 
 with his services seemingly unappreciated by his country, with prospects blighted, 
 without employment, dependent on the generosity of his family, there was left to 
 Clark, as he thought, only a life of obscurity." 41 
 
 The prospect of French conquest of Louisiana, with the opening of the Mississippi 
 — which was the burning, compelling question — really the only economic hope for 
 Kentucky — offered a new and inviting future to the embittered, disappointed dis- 
 illusioned Clark. Once more he saw an opportunity, not only of retrieving his 
 dwindled monetary fortune, but of being the hero of the West anew. Clark took 
 his cue of writing to Genet from a letter to him written by his friend Thomas 
 Paine. 4 " 
 
 The letter of Clark to Genet, dated February 5, 1793, is detailed. He declared: 
 "My country has proved notoriously ungrateful, for my Services, and so forgetful 
 of those successful and almost unexampled enterprises which gave it the whole of 
 its territory on this side of the great mountains, as in this way in my very prime of 
 life, to have neglected me. And yet, although I feel I never shall resent. . . . 
 Since I relinquished my command over the western country, congress had not one 
 successful campaign in it. The Indian tribes, from New Mexico to the Alleghany 
 mountains are my friends and could be brought to march under my banners — and why? 
 because I was Just and dealt uprightly and manfully with them, while, by frequent 
 defeats, I made them trouble." And proceeding to the main purport of his address, 
 he stated: "If you and the free nation you represent will but concur in the project 
 — by sanctioning my proceedings, duly commissioning me to that end, supplying me 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 267 
 
 with some small resources by Letters of credit or cash, and suffering me to raise 
 my own men in this Country, and to appoint them such officers as, I am sure, will 
 execute the business with promptitude, secrecy and decision. I say secrecy; for until 
 the blow is struck, the design of the expedition itself ought, by no means, to transpire." 
 
 Continuing he unfolded his plan and touched upon the extent of his power in the 
 West: "I can raise abundance of men in the western country — men as well American 
 as French who have repeatedly fought, obtained Laurels, and never yet were met 
 with repulse under my command, men through whose courage, fidelity to their country 
 and confidence in my arrangements, which never yet failed them of success, took the 
 Illinois and Post St. Vincennes from the Britons, saved St. Louis and the rest of 
 Louisiana for the Spaniards, from that nation, humbled the whole Northern and 
 Southern tribes of Indians (those in particular who are so hostile and triumphant) 
 to the very dust, preserved Kentucky, Cumberland and the whole territory north 
 west of the Ohio to the United States, and protected the western frontiers of Vir- 
 ginia and Pennsylvania from British and Indian depredations. These are not ex- 
 aggerations. All America will concur with this my unexaggerated testimony in their 
 favor, and these are the men, who, with me, will instantly expatriate ourselves, (as 
 the Law direct) , and are ready to become citizens of the French Republic — if my 
 proposals shall have been approved of." 
 
 Specifically Clark declared: "Out of Kentucky, Cumberland, the settlement on 
 Holston, the Wabash and the Illinois I can (by my name alone) raise 1500 brave 
 men, or thereabouts — and the French at St. Louis and throughout the rest of Louis- 
 iana, together with the American Spanish Subjects at the Natchez would, I am sure 
 of it, (for they all know me, flock to my Standard. These last would amount to, 
 at least, as many more. With the first 1500 alone I can take the whole of Louisiana 
 for France. I would begin with St. Louis, a rich, large and populous town — and 
 by placing only two or three frigates in the Mississippi's mouth, (to guard against 
 Spanish succours) I would engage to subdue New Orleans, and the rest of Louisiana. 
 If further aided, I would capture Pensacola; and if Santa Fe and the rest of New 
 Orleans were objects — I know their strength and every avenue leading to them for 
 conquest. . . . For our pay and gratifications in Land, (as we abandon our own here) 
 we shall confide in the Justice and generosity of the great nation we shall serve, after 
 our labours are over. To save congress a rupture with Spain, on our accounts, we 
 must first expatriate ourselves, and become French citizens. This is our intention." 4 
 
 Clark asked for 3,000 pounds sterling to promote the project. Genet decided to 
 accept this plan for an attack on New Orleans and appointed Clark "Major General 
 of the Independent and Revolutionary Legion of the Mississippi." 44 
 
 Although the amazing letter is a bit boastful, Genet was undoubtedly impressed, 
 but, as he was in such a position as to "grab at straws," he probably would have 
 accepted a man less celebrated than George Rogers Clark; however, he did know 
 something of Clark's military ability and his power in the West. He therefore settled 
 upon this scheme of campaign: A combined attack by the frontiersmen and the 
 "independent Indians of the Southwest against the Floridas, the advance of Clark's 
 force upon New Orleans, the blocking of the mouth of the Misssissippi by a French 
 naval force, and the sending of a fleet against Canada." 
 
 Armed with letters of introduction from Mr. Jefferson and John Brown, then a 
 member of Congress from Kentucky, to Clark, Governor Shelby, Benjamin Logan, 
 and others, Andre Michaux, in July (1793) set out for Kentucky, ostensibly to study 
 botanical specimens. He found many of the state's leading men in a receptive mood, 
 among them being John Breckinridge and George Nicholas. Logan at first was 
 hesitant, declaring that he would rather wait for a while to ascertain the outcome of 
 the negotiations between the United States and Spain. Within a few months, how- 
 
268 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 ever, his patience was exhausted and he urgently requested acceptance of his services 
 by France. He declared, December 31, 1793, "I have taken my leave of appoint- 
 ments in this state of the United States and do presume that I am at liberty to go 
 to any foreign country I please and intend to do so." 40 Associated with Michaux 
 were the two agents, Charles DePauw and Samuel Fulton, who served as agents of 
 supply. These, together with a Captain Sullivan, John Montgomery and William 
 Thompson, collected supplies and contracted for transport in Central Kentucky an 
 the Cumberland region of Tennessee. Transportation facilities seem to have been 
 the most annoying problem. Actually only two or three boats were delivered. Money 
 was the most important item. Clark advanced what little he could raise and applied 
 repeatedly to Genet for more. The truth was that Genet had no funds. His failure 
 to secure money from the United States government actually presaged failure of the 
 entire enterprise. Solicitations were made in the Bluegrass region. Some of Lex- 
 ington's most prominent citizens subscribed, among whom were John Breckinridge, 
 John Bradford, Levi Todd, Thomas Todd, Robert Patterson and Andrew Holmes. 
 
 Some idea may be obtained of the extent of the supplies collected from these 
 figures: Fulton collected 15,000 pounds of bacon, twenty barrels of flour, and six 
 hundred pounds of lard. William Thompson reported four hundred barrels of flour 
 and a thousand pounds of bacon. John Montgomery, in Tennessee, reported (Jan- 
 uary, 1794) to Clark that he had between 19,000 and 20,000 pounds of beef, over 
 1,100 pounds of bear meat, seventy or seventy- four pairs of venison hams, some beef 
 tongues, one large flat bottomed boat and four pirogues, 500 bushels of corn and 
 10,000 pounds of pork. 48 
 
 As to the matter of sufficient troops to form an army for the enterprise, Clark 
 seems never to have entertained the slightest doubt but that men would come forward 
 in overwhelming numbers when the time to move arrived. Frontiersmen were so 
 inured to rugged living that they required little formal "boot training." Clark 
 wished to avoid the appearance of Kentucky's being an armed camp, and he actually 
 intended expatriation when the time should arrive for actually beginning the military 
 movement. No embarrassment, he thought, would accrue to the Federal Government 
 relative to international diplomatic problems. As to small arms, every man who 
 should come forward would have his own musket; however securing cannon was a 
 difficult problem — he actually did obtain two, it appears. Perhaps sufficient powder 
 and lead was found in Kentucky. 
 
 In January (1794) Clark deemed the enterprise so generally popular in Kentucky 
 that he issued a proclamation in the midst of calling for volunteers. (This procla- 
 mation was printed in the Centinel of the Northwestern Territory, Cincinnati, Jan- 
 uary 25, 1794, and was copied in the Kentucky Gazette, February 8, 1794). He 
 announced the purpose to be "the reduction of the Spanish posts on the Mississippi, 
 for opening the trade of that river and giving freedom to all its inhabitans." All 
 volunteers were to be amply paid either in land that should be conquered or in 
 money. All persons entering the service were to be provided one thousand acres of 
 land, and if they served one year or for the duration of the war, they should receive 
 two thousand acres. Officers were to be recompensed according to their rank. "All 
 lawful plunder to be equally divided according to the custom of war." One dollar 
 per day would be paid volunteers who should not care for land. 4 " 
 
 Soon after the issuing of Clark's proclamation, Arthur St. Clair, Governor of the 
 Northwest Territory, issued a proclamation warning all people under his jurisdiction 
 to refrain from taking part in the war between France and Spain, and specifically 
 cautioned them against attaching themselves to Le Chaise (an associate of Michaux) , 
 De Pauw, or any other French agents. The Kentuckians were indignant at this 
 proclamation, particulary at the Federal Government for leaving them in their "deso- 
 
H I S T O RY O F K E N T U C K Y 269 
 
 lated and deserted," condition. This indignation was voiced in the Kentucky Gazette, 
 a special issue of February 8, 1794. An "Old Fashioned Republican," writing in this 
 issue (probably by way of answering St. Clair) declared, "From Government we have 
 nothing to hope. . . . To talk of infractions of the laws, is puerile, when the govern- 
 ment we live under has suffered an infraction of that only law, which can be a just 
 consideration for obedience to any government." And he declared by inference that, 
 the Kentuckians would follow Clark at all hazards.'' The Federal Government had, 
 with the issuance of Clark's proclamation, become thoroughly alarmed. A detach- 
 ment of General Wayne's army was sent down the Ohio to fortify Fort Massac as 
 a warning. 
 
 However, by March (1794) the enterprise was definitely given up. Clark could 
 obtain no money, and Fouchet, who displaced Genet, frowned upon the enterprise. 
 Clark issued orders, April 20, 1794, countermanding all orders that had been given 
 previously. He was perhaps the biggest loser in money (the movement was so popular 
 in the state that he probably lost no popularity) , and he never recovered. Many 
 private citizens lost varying amounts. 
 
 Judged in the light of the time, neither Clark nor the other Kentuckians were 
 guilty of any sort of treasonable proceedings. The principle object of the Kentuckians 
 was the opening of the Mississippi. They felt that the Federal Government had 
 deserted them in their most important design and that they were therefore justified in 
 whatsoever course they might choose to take. 
 
 In a sense, the enterprise was political; the Jeffersonians, comprising the bulk of 
 the Kentucky population, favored the enterprise, while the Federalists, looking to the 
 National Government, opposed. Actually the proposed enterprise probably helped 
 to force the Federal Government to action in negotiating a treaty with Spain for the 
 opening of the Mississippi. 
 
 GOVERNOR SHELBY AND THE ENTERPRISE 
 
 The official attitude of Governor Shelby toward the French enterprise was one of 
 mild complaisance; he followed a watchful waiting policy. Close personal friend of 
 many of the leaders — particularly John Breckinridge, his Attorney General — he ap- 
 parently resolved to take no official action until and unless it was clear to him that 
 official action was necessary. Certainly he wished the Mississippi opened as did all 
 good Kentuckians; their economic well-being demanded it. He was urged by so many 
 Federal officials to take action that he must have become rather irritated; yet he 
 remained outwardly calm with perfect self-control. It is even likely that he never 
 believed the proposed enterprise would materialize. 
 
 In a letter of January 13, 1794, to Edmund Randolph, who had succeeded Thomas 
 Jefferson as Secretary of State, he wrote: "I have great doubts, even if they do try 
 to carry their plan into execution, (provided they manage their business with pru- 
 dence) whether there is any legal authority to restrain or punish them, at least 
 before they have actually accomplished it: for, if it is lawful for any one citizen of 
 this state to leave it, it is equally so for any number of these to do it. It is also 
 lawful for them to carry with them any quantity of provisions, arms, and ammu- 
 nitions; and, if the act is lawful in itself, there is nothing but the particular intention 
 with which it is done that can possibly make it unlawful; but I do know of no law 
 that inflicts a punishment on intention, only, or any criterion by which to decide what 
 would be sufficient evidence of that intention, if it was a proper subject of legal 
 censure. 
 
 "I shall, upon all occasions, be averse to the exercise of any power which I do not 
 consider myself as being clearly and explicitly invested with, much less would I as- 
 sume a power to exercise it against men who I consider as friends and brethren, in 
 
270 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 favor of a man whom I view as an enemy and tyrant. I shall also feel but little 
 inclination to take an active part in punishing or restraining any of my fellow citizens 
 for a supposed intention only to gratify or remove the fears of a minister of a prince, 
 who openly witholds from us an invaluable right, and who secretly instigates against 
 us a most savage and cruel enemy."' 51 Undoubtedly the able legal mind of John 
 Breckinridge worked in helping Shelby to produce this paper. 
 
 In pursuing the policy which he did, Governor Shelby, as has been pointed out, 
 undoubtedly saw the possibility of further influencing the Federal Government to 
 secure the free navigation of the Mississippi. "This project," writes Professor Coul- 
 ter, "was a most excellent weapon to use in playing on the fears of the Federal 
 Administration." 02 James Brown, Secretary of State for Kentucky, in writing to 
 Shelby, February 15, 1794, states: "I am happy that, whilst you have expressed your 
 devotion to the laws and the constitution of the Union, you have reminded the govern- 
 ment of those whose object is to do what government ought long ago to have done 
 r jj53 
 
 for us. 
 
 Needless to state, the Baron de Carondelet, Governor of Louisiana for Spain, at 
 New Orleans, fully appraised of Genet's proposals and of the affairs in Kentucky, 
 was, to state it mildly, very "jittery." He frantically appealed to Spain for additional 
 troops, urging all dispatch. "If some four frigates," he exclaimed, "were to present 
 themselves here with 1,200 French troops there would arise a faction in this city in 
 favor of the Convention (French Government) which would cause great havoc and 
 perhaps the loss of the province. . . . To these important reasons must be added the 
 fears inspired in us by the very disquieting movements of the Americans settled in 
 the West, against whom I cannot oppose sufficient forces in case of any hostility 
 from them." 54 There is little doubt but that Clark, with only a small force, could 
 have taken New Orleans easily, so weak were the Spanish forces in Louisiana, so 
 great was the discontent, and so unwilling were the Spanish subjects to fight. 
 
 THE JAY TREATY WITH ENGLAND, 1794 
 
 The singular victory of General Wayne (a part of whose troops had been Ken- 
 tuckians) at Fallen Timbers, August 20, 1794, allayed somewhat for the time being 
 the bitterness of Kentuckians toward the Washington administration. It convinced 
 these people not only of the efficiency of the Federal Government but relieved them 
 of the fear of further Indian invasion from the North. The pressing and all-im- 
 portant question of free navigation of the Mississippi River, however, had not been 
 settled, and Kentuckians now that the Genet scheme had evaporated, clamored louder 
 than ever for action on the part of the national administration. 
 
 THE JAY MISSION TO ENGLAND 
 
 While the Kentuckians clamored for action against Spain, President Washington, 
 deeming the points of dispute with Britain (surrender of the Northwest posts being 
 most desired by the United States) most pressing, dispatched Chief Justice John 
 Jay to England to treat with His Majesty's ministers. The very news of a mission to 
 England (in the face of transcendent problems with Spain) inflamed a majority of 
 the Kentuckians almost instantaneously. They would have considered treating with 
 Britain a personal injury, but sending the arch enemy of the West — the man who in 
 the summer of 1785 had been willing to bargain away free navigation of the Missis- 
 sippi for a term of twenty-five or thirty years to Spain — this, they felt, was adding 
 insult to injury.'' 
 
 Before the well-meaning noble patriot, Judge Jay, was far out at sea, a public 
 meeting was held at Lexington, May 24, 1794, and impassioned resolutions drawn 
 up and passed. These in part state: 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 271 
 
 "That the inhabitants West of the Appalachian Mountains are entitled by nature 
 and by stipulation to the free and undisturbed navigation of the River Mississippi. 
 
 "That we have a right to expect and demand that Spain should be compelled im- 
 mediately to acknowledge our right, or that an end be put to all negotiations on 
 that subject. 
 
 "That the injuries and insults done and offered by Great Britain to America call 
 loudly for redress, and that we will to the utmost of our abilities support the General 
 Government in any attempt to obtain redress. 
 
 "That the recent appointment of the enemy of the Western Country to negotiate 
 with that nation, and the tame submission of the General Government when we 
 alone were injured by Great Britain, make it highly necessary that we should at this 
 time state our just demands to the President and Congress." 
 
 On May 14, 1794, citizens of Lexington had burned Mr. Jay in effigy. The Ken- 
 tucky Gazette of May 31 describes the occasion. At an hour appointed, he was 
 brought forth from a barber shop replete in sartorial appointment. He was placed, 
 amid the tumultous shouts of the delighted populace, erect on the platform of the 
 pillory, holding uplifted in his right hand an iron rod and holding extended Swift's 
 late speech in Congress upon the subject of British depredation. About his neck 
 was suspended a rope. The populace all the while shouted in glee at the bizarre 
 spectacle. "After exhibiting him in this condition," states the Gazette, "for some 
 time, he was ordered to be gullotined, which was soon dexterously executed, and a 
 flame instantly applied to him, which, finding its way to a quantity of powder which 
 was lodged in his body, produced such an explosion that after it there was scarcely 
 to be found a particle of the disjecti membra Plenipo."* 7 
 
 Many other instances of insults heaped upon the "noble envoy" (as Professor 
 McElroy describes him) by the people of Kentucky could be cited. That Washington 
 was attempting to avoid a war with England was a point rather in his disfavor, be- 
 cause Kentuckians for the most part continued to loath Britain and favor France. 
 Without considering the possibility of good emanating from successful negotiation, 
 the Kentuckians took for granted that whatsoever treaty Jay arranged with England 
 would injure the West. 
 
 When the terms of the treaty were known to the public at last, a national storm 
 of tumultous disapproval and indignation burst, particularly from Kentucky. The 
 Kentucky Gazette, of August 1, 1795, contained the full text of the document. 
 Actually the terms were not all that was desired, but a good deal had been twisted 
 from stubborn Albion, in which promise was made to withdraw from the Northwest 
 posts (which would be greatly to Kentucky's advantage) . As it stood, war was 
 avoided, and perennially suspicious Spain, taking the treaty to mean an alliance be- 
 tween the United States and Britain (which could be disasterous to H. C. M. in the 
 new world) at last showed a willingness to negotiate upon the question of free navi- 
 gation of the Mississippi. Actually therefore the Jay Treaty worked for the solution 
 of Kentucky's acutest problems. Kentuckians, however, did not take it this way. 
 The hurricane of abuse, vilification, indignity and calumny heaped upon that noble 
 triumvirate of patriots, Washington, Hamilton and Jay, was well nigh incredible. 
 When the people discovered that Humphrey Marshall, one of Kentucky's Senators, 
 had cast his vote for the despised document, they were thrown into a cataclysm of 
 rage. An attempt was made at the next session of the State Legislature to instruct 
 him to vote against it, should it come up for another vote. Relative to Mr. Mar- 
 shall's action in the United States Senate, Professor McElroy writes: 
 
 "Marshall's stand was one which required the utmost courage. He stood alone 
 among his fellow-Kentuckians of prominence, 'the only advocate in this State/ as a 
 hostile antagonist declared, ? of that most infamous production.' And yet he was right, 
 
272 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 and his numerous antagonists wrong. It would be hard to find a serious student of 
 our history, at the present day, who would deny that Jay's Treaty, though by no 
 means perfect, was the best which could have been hoped for, and was, moreover, of 
 great advantage to the country at large, and to Kentucky in particular." 58 
 
 Professor McElroy presents several examples of the reckless statements of people 
 and press, quoted below: 
 
 "The outcry against the treaty, even after its approval by the Senate, was fierce 
 in the strongly Democratic regions of Kentucky. A meeting of free citizens of Clark 
 County ventured to send a petition and remonstrance to the President, with the hope 
 of helping to prevent his signing it. 'Should you, sir!' ran the petition, 'concur 
 with the Senate in the signature of that treaty, our prognostication is, that Western 
 America is gone forever . . . lost to the Union, and grasped by the voracious clutches 
 of that insatable and iniquitous George, the Third, of Britain.' In the 'Political 
 Creed of a Western American,' reappears the tendency, before manifested, to insult 
 everyone who showed any disposition to favor the treaty. 'I believe,' it reads, 
 'that the treaty formed by Jay and the British King, is the offspring of a vile 
 aristocratic few, who are enemies to the equality of man, friends to no government, 
 but that whose funds they can convert to their private emolument. ... I believe that 
 the political dotage of our good old American Chief has arrived; ... I do sincerely 
 believe (from a knowledge of the man), that the Senator from Kentucky, who voted 
 in favor of the treaty, was actuated by motives the most dishonorable . . . that he is 
 a stranger to virtue, either private or public, and that he would sell his country for 
 a price, easily to be told. 
 
 "I do also believe that Kentucky has as little reason to complain on this important 
 occasion, as any of her sister States, as she had a perfect knowledge of the character 
 of the man she delegated to represent her, knew that he possessed a soul incapable 
 of good, and sentiments opposed ... to her interest!" 59 
 
 Governor Shelby, strongly opposed to the treaty, called attention of the Legisla- 
 ture to the document, suggesting that it was contrary to the Constitution. Professor 
 McElroy is of the opinion that the Governor was "looking unmistakably in the 
 direction of nullification of a fundamental federal law." cc The Legislature, however, 
 did nothing to carry out Governor Shelby's suggestion. As the time approached for 
 the evacuation of the Northwest posts, the Kentuckians began to realize at last that 
 "the Federal Government had adjusted one of their burdens, and to feel that Jay's 
 treaty was perhaps not wholly bad after all." 01 
 
 THE PINCKNEY TREATY, 1795 
 
 Meanwhile the Washington administration set itself assiduously to the task of 
 gaining for the West that for which Kentuckians were ready to fight, namely, free 
 navigation of the Mississippi River. 
 
 Before news of the initiation of this effort could reach the West, however, Ken- 
 tuckians were clamoring vociferously for action against Spain. Issues of the Ken- 
 tucky Gazette during the fall of 1793 voiced the sentiments of the people in no 
 uncertain terms. "How long will America submit to the operation of paying a heavy, 
 degrading tribute to a Spanish officer . . .," it screamed. "How degrading such re- 
 strictions!" "How humiliating to an American!"' 2 
 
 The Lexington Democratic Society in October (1793) passed this resolution: 
 
 "Resolved, that the free and undisturbed use and navigation of the River Miss, 
 is the Natural Right of the Citizens of this Commonwealth; and is inalienable ex- 
 cept with the soil; and that neither time, tyranny nor prescription on the one side, 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 273 
 
 nor acquiescence, weakness or non-ues on the other can ever sanctify the abuse of 
 this right." 03 
 
 Nothing apparently resulting in the way of action on the part of the Federal 
 Government from broadsides and resolutions, the Legislature, December 20, 1794 
 proceeded to instruct her representatives in the United States Senate "to require 
 information of the steps which had been taken to obtain navigation of the Mississippi 
 and to transmit such information to the Executive of this State.' This order being 
 delivered in the Senate by the Kentucky representatives, that federal body requested 
 the "President to convey to the Governor of Kentucky such information concerning 
 the negotiations with Spain, as he may deem advisable and consistent with the course 
 of the negotiations." 64 
 
 The President accordingly appointed James Innes (brother of Kentucky's Judge 
 Harry Innes) of Virginia to convey information concerning the progress of the 
 transactions to Governor Shelby. The announcement of James Innes' appointment 
 was disclosed by Edmund Randolph, Secretary of State, in a letter to the Governor. 
 These words announced the feeling of President Washington concerning the ticklish 
 matter: 
 
 "In this step your Excellency will discern a further proof of the anxiety of the 
 President to remove all grounds of dissatisfaction: and indeed, sir, I cannot pass by 
 this occasion of asserting my persuasion that, after the most ample disclosure of the 
 public conduct respecting the Mississippi, you will find that nothing has been left 
 unattempted by him, which his powers, his exertions, and the situation of our country 
 would permit." 00 
 
 Mr. Innes' first communication of the details of the negotiation was an elaborate 
 account of the relations between Spain and America. He pointed out that Spain 
 had always been an enemy of the United States, even though a nominal ally during 
 the American Revolution. He stated that H. C. M. had not recognized American 
 independence, nor had she ever consented to a pact or treaty of any kind with us. 
 He pointed to the fact that the President had decided not to enter into any com- 
 mercial relations with the Court of Madrid, until our right to the "free use of the 
 Mississippi shall be unequivocally acknowledged and established, on principles never 
 hereafter to be drawn into contestation." 60 
 
 Besides the instructions to acquire the free navigation of the Mississippi, Mr. 
 Pinckney was required (1) to secure a port of deposit within Spanish possessions at 
 the mouth of the Mississippi and (2) insist upon acceptance of the 31° N. Latitude 
 claimed by Spain. 67 
 
 It should be pointed out that James Innes had expected to reach Kentucky in time 
 to present his information to the General Assembly meeting in November of 1794. 
 However, "A series of untoward events" prevented his reaching Frankfort before 
 January 10, 1795, some days after the adjournment of the Legislature. Meanwhile, 
 the Governor, legislators and people chafed, blaming once more the Federal Govern- 
 ment for delay and accusing it of insincerity. 68 After Innes had made known his 
 information, however, forthright, sincere Governor Shelby appeared satisfied and 
 pleased. At the next session of the Legislature, November, 1795, he laid before the 
 Assembly the Innes correspondence. However, having heard nothing recently con- 
 cerning the negotiations, he was inclined to be doubtful again, which caused the 
 Legislature again to call for information. All of this impatience was uncalled for, 
 likely would not have been expressed had the Governor and Assembly known that 
 the able, indefatigable Thomas Pinckney had, on the preceding October, signed the 
 treaty of San Lorenzo de Real with Spain, gaining admission of (1) free naviga- 
 tion, (2) right of deposit, (3) the 31° N. Latitude as the northern boundary of 
 Florida and (4) a commercial treaty between Spain and the United States. In- 
 
274 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 telligence of this treaty brought relief and joy to Kentucky, even a modicum of 
 respect for the Washington administration, and, had not the hated Jay treaty come 
 up, their joy might have been full. 69 
 
 MORE SPANISH INTRIGUE 
 
 As was pointed out, the delay encountered by the faithful and able Thomas Pinck- 
 ney in negotiating with the crafty Spanish diplomats caused the Kentuckians once 
 more to clamor for action against Spain. Particularly was their anger inflamed by 
 the realization that the year's abundant crop could not be profitably sold, with 
 Spain's blocking the natural outlet. The loud threats had repercussions in New 
 Orleans, where the Baron de Carondelet was Governor. 
 
 Carondelet, believing an attack from Kentucky imminent, as well as thinking that 
 England and the United States had formed an alliance, fearful that Louisiana with 
 New Orleans were in danger of being wrested from Spain, 70 frantically cried to 
 Spanish authorities in Madrid for aid (admitting that New Orleans, matted with 
 fifth columnists, was powlerless against an army from Kentucky, especially under 
 Clark) and at the same time determined to try intrigue in Kentucky once more. 
 
 By this time the old master of intrigue, Wilkinson, though a pensioner of Spain 
 and. a Spanish subject, was a high military officer in the United States army and 
 could not be trusted to act for H. C. M. in Kentucky. Wilkinson, however, pro- 
 tested to Spanish authorities an interest in detaching Kentucky from the Union.' 
 Carondelet determined to communicate with Judge Benjamin Sebastian, "an ex- 
 Episcopal clergyman, British born, and none too loyal to his adopted country, who 
 had worked himself into the responsible position of a judge of the Supreme Court 
 of Kentucky."' 2 Judge Sebastian had been employed previously by Miro to keep 
 a lookout upon the activities of Wilkinson, who was not trusted by Spain. The 
 chances are that Carondelet was actuated more by fear than by the belief that Ken- 
 tucky could be detached from the Union. Appeasement was perhaps his motive, 
 and he had great bargaining power — the Mississippi River. A letter of July 16, 
 1795, written by the Baron in New Orleans, to Judge Sebastian, not only indicates 
 that this jurist was in the "Spanish Conspiracy" but shows also a complete change 
 of policy on the part of Madrid (though insincere, as later events proved) . The 
 letter states this: 
 
 "The confidence reposed in you by my predecessor, brigadier general Miro, and 
 your former correspondence with him, have induced me to make a communication to 
 you, highly interesting to the country in which you live, and to Louisiana. 
 
 "His majesty being willing to open the navigation of the Mississippi to the people 
 of the western country, and being also desirous to establish certain regulations, 
 reciprocally beneficial to the commerce of both countries, has ordered me to proceed 
 on the business, and to effect in a way the most satisfactory to the people of the 
 western country, his benevolent design. 
 
 "I have, therefore, made this communication to you, in expectation that you will 
 procure agents to be chosen and fully empowered by the people of your country, to 
 negotiate with Colonel Gayoso on the subject, at New Madrid, whom I shall send 
 there in October next, properly authorized for that purpose, with directions to con- 
 tinue in that place, or its vicinity, until the arrival of your agents. 
 
 "I am, by information (doubtless from Wilkinson or Sebastian) , well acquainted 
 with the character of some of the most respectable inhabitants of Kentucky, particu- 
 larly of Innes, Nicholas, and Murray, to whom I wish you to communicate the purport 
 of this address, and should you and those gentlemen think the object of it as important 
 as I do, you will doubtless accede, without hesitation, to the proposition I have made 
 
H I S T O RY O F K E N T U C K Y 275 
 
 of sending a delegation of your countrymen, sufficiently authorized to treat on a sub- 
 ject which so deeply involves the interest of both our countries." 73 
 
 Upon receiving this letter Judge Sebastian wrote Judge Innes and Mr. William 
 Murray, announcing important business for discussion. Colonel George Nicholas was 
 called in. As Carondelet's communication touched upon Kentucky's acutest problem, 
 the three gentlemen were quite interested. They dispatched Judge Sebastian with a 
 letter for Colonel Don Manuel Gayoso De Lemas, Governor of Natchez and Auglia- 
 kabee, at New Madrid. This letter expressed their interest, encouraged Carondelet 
 to open the Mississippi, but pointed out that they had no authority whatsoever to 
 send agents empowered to negotiate. They hinted that, if the Father of Waters was 
 not opened to the West for free trade, Spain would likely drive Kentucky to use 
 force, as its navigation was indispensable to the Western people. 74 Colonel Nicholas 
 and his associates very wisely refrained from making the Carondelet correspondence 
 public, as this would have led immediately to wild public clamor, factionalism and 
 strife. 
 
 Sebastian and Gayoso, making little progress in negotiating in New Madrid, 
 journeyed to New Orleans to confer with Carondelet, who was upon the point of 
 granting concessions when news arrived of Spain's agreeing to the Pinckney Treaty 
 which brought a halt to negotiations.' 
 
 Two years elapsed (1795-1797) and Spain did not open the Mississippi in ac- 
 cordance with her agreement with the United States. This failure, it may be assumed, 
 did not improve the dispositions of the Kentuckians. Carondelet, it appears, was 
 deluded by the idea that refusal to open the River might lead to a secession of the 
 West from the Union and maybe its ultimate joining the Spanish Empire. He 
 therefore sought once more to try intrigue, presenting a proposition completely 
 "sugar-coated". He thought doubtless that the time was most propitious, because 
 John Adams, whose name and acts were anathema to Westerners, was President. 
 Perhaps most Kentuckians were even ready to nullify the acts of the Adams adminis- 
 tration, because actually the following year (1798) the Kentucky Legislature passed 
 the celebrated "Kentucky Resolutions" nullifying Federal acts. Writes Mr. Bodley, 
 "Whatever may be said of the grounds for believing that Adams' Federalist adminis- 
 tration aimed to send an army into Kentucky to enforce arbitrary and unconstitu- 
 tional acts of Congress, there can be no question that the belief was general in the 
 state. The fact was afterwards declared by many men of highest reputation there, 
 including men who had not been involved in the party controversy on either side, 
 and even by some who had been of the Marshall faction." Certainly the wily 
 Spaniards thought the time opportune. Toward mid-summer of 1797 therefore Baron 
 de Carondelet dispatched his agent Dr. Thomas Power (presumably a scientist or 
 naturalist) to Louisville, with instructions to approach Sebastian, Nicholas, Innes, 
 Murray and other gentlemen with a set of proposals concerning the West. These are 
 the proposals: 
 
 "That they (the Kentuckians) should exert their influence to detach the inhabi- 
 tants of 'the western country' from the federal union and form a new government; 
 that $100,000 would be paid to them, and additional compensation equal to the 
 salaries they received from any offices they might lose by 'taking an active part in 
 endeavouring to effect a secession'; that Fort Massac on the lower Ohio should be 
 garrisoned by the new western government with troops whom Spain would pay 
 $100,000 and supply with guns and ammunition; that Louisiana's bounds should 
 extend east of the Mississippi to a line drawn from the mouth of the Yazoo River 
 in a general southeasterly direction, and that lands north of that line should 'belong 
 to the new government.' 
 
 19— Vol. I 
 
 ? 55' 
 
276 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 Judge Innes expressed to Power the opinion that the proposal was a "dangerous 
 project which ought not to be countenanced."'* Sebastian concurred in this, but 
 expressed the belief that a written answer should be made, and asked Judge Innes 
 to confer with Colonel Nicholas upon the matter, agreeing to concur in their de- 
 cision. To this agreeing, Judge Innes rode to the home of Colonel Nicholas, pre- 
 sented the matter, and after conference the two wrote and signed this answer: 
 
 "We have seen the communication made by you to Mr. Sebastian. In answer 
 thereto, we declare unequivocally, that we will not be concerned, either directly or 
 indirectly, in any attempt that may be made to separate the western country from 
 the United States. That whatever part we may at any time be induced to take in 
 the politics of our country, that her welfare will be our only inducement, and that 
 we will never receive any pecuniary or other reward for any personal exertions made 
 by us to promote that welfare. 
 
 "The free navigation of the Mississippi must always be the favourite object of 
 the inhabitants of the western country; they cannot be contented without it; and 
 will not be deprived of it longer than necessity shall compel them to submit to its 
 being withheld from them. 
 
 "We flatter ourselves that everything respecting this important business will be 
 set right by the governments of the two nations; but if this should not be the case, 
 it appears to us that it must be the policy of Spain to encourage by every possible 
 means the free intercourse with the inhabitants of the western country, as this will 
 be the most efficient means to conciliate their good will, and to obtain without hazard, 
 and at reduced prices, those supplies which are indispensibly necessary to the Spanish 
 government, and its subjects." 79 
 
 Again Nicholas and Innes wisely refrained from making public the overtures 
 made to them. Obviously what to do was a perplexing question. Clearly, for the 
 public good, secrecy was best; however for their private good, if the affair were later 
 known, secrecy was not best, as the charge of conspirators, intriguers and traitors 
 would be raised against them (which did come to pass) . Thus ended for the time 
 being Spanish intrigue in Kentucky. By the Treaty of San Ildefonso in 1800 Spain 
 receded Louisiana to France, and in 1803 France sold Louisiana to the United States. 
 Somewhat prior to 1800, however, Britain and Spain, which had not conformed to 
 the Pinckney Treaty, had declared war. Quickly a plan was constructed for a 
 British fleet to ascend the Mississippi and meet an army of four thousand frontiers- 
 men under the direction of Colonel William Blount (former Governor, then U. S. 
 Senator from Tennessee, who for complicity in this conspiracy was expelled from 
 the Senate) and Orr, of Tennessee, Colonel William Whitley of Kentucky, and 
 certain others. These were to wrest the control of the Mississippi from Spain.* 
 
 THE KENTUCKY RESOLUTIONS, 1798 AND 1799 
 
 These Resolutions, which have been discussed at length in most American histories, 
 grew out of a national political situation. So well known are they that an exhaustive 
 study is here unnecessary, particularly considering the fact that Professor McElroy 
 has made so thorough a study of the topic. How Kentucky became conspicuously 
 associated with national events in this instance is here briefly explained. 
 
 After Washington retired from the presidency in 1797, the Federalist Party under 
 the nominal leadership of President John Adams became narrowly partisan; it sought 
 to use national legislation for its own enhancement and the discomforture of its 
 enemies, the Republicans, or Jeffersonians. 
 
 During the year 1790, many Frenchmen, liberals and revolutionaries who were 
 suppressed by the Directory (including many writers and editors) , came to the United 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 277 
 
 States. These, practically all of them, in the light of the conservatism and pro- 
 British tendencies of the Federalists, became Republicans. Soon they were loudly pro- 
 claiming the cause of Jefferson and the liberal tenets in general. They criticised 
 freely the anti-French and the centralization policies of Mr. Adams and his followers. 
 These French-Americans irritated the Federalists considerably. 
 
 The French Government, annoyed at America because of its failure to join her in 
 the European war in 1793 (see the Genet affair) , had refused to accept the American 
 Ambassador, General Charles C. Pinckney and, in other ways, insulted the American 
 Government, so that the Adams' administration, as well as a large section of the 
 public became indignant. Meanwhile, the Republican press, particularly the French- 
 American journalists, maintained an incessant attack against the Federalist adminis- 
 tration. The Federalists, sought to silence their enemies by legislation. Congress 
 passed three laws by way of carrying out the Federalist policy of repression. This 
 legislation was passed at a time when Adams was riding his one crest of national 
 popularity. His enemies had come forth with much publication which was "inde- 
 cently insulting and sometime, maliciously untrue." 82 This had occurred at the time 
 that France had insulted America, so that people everywhere were clamoring for 
 strong measures against the Directory of France. The startling disclosure of in- 
 dignity revealed by the XYZ correspondence made public by Adams inflamed the 
 public to white heat against France — and Foreigners in general — even against the 
 Republican Party. Recklessly riding the crest of popular clamor in their favor, the 
 Federalist Congress passed the Naturalization Law, the Alien Act and the Sedition 
 Law. Professor McElroy thus presents these acts: 
 
 "Accordingly, on June 18, 1798, the exultant Federalists passed the first act of 
 their disastrous program. It declared that henceforth naturalization papers should 
 be granted only to such foreigners as had resided fourteen years in this country, and 
 had declared their intention of becoming citizens, at least five years before the time 
 for obtaining their papers. Further, that aliens coming to this country after the 
 passage of this law, must be registered, and must bring their certificates of registration, 
 when they appeared for naturalization, as proof that they had lived fourteen years 
 in the country: and that 'alien enemies,' (citizens of countries hostile to the United 
 States) , could not become citizens at all. 
 
 "Seeing that this long period of naturalization would necessarily increase the alien 
 class, as under its provisions but few foreigners could for the present be admitted, 
 the next law was designed to keep them safe and quiet during their long term of 
 uncertain allegiance. It gave the President full power to order all aliens whom he 
 judged dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States, or whom he suspected 
 of treasonable or secret machinations against the Government, to leave the country 
 within a certain definite period; and, if any alien so outlawed were found in the 
 country after the date fixed by the President, he was liable to imprisonment for three 
 years, and would never again be eligible for citizenship. If one thus imprisoned were 
 deemed better out of the country, the President could send him out, and, if he re- 
 turned without permission, he might be imprisoned for as long a time as the President 
 should think necessary for public safety. Besides the registration required that under 
 the new Naturalization law, the President was given power to require from each ship 
 captain, upon his arrival, a list of all alien passengers. 
 
 "In the case of the so-called, 'alien enemies,' still more stringent legislation was 
 thought necessary. The law gave the President power, in time of war or invasion, 
 to apprehend, restrain, or remove all natives, citizens or subjects of hostile govern- 
 ments, upon such terms as he should see fit to impose. It was thus an act deliberately 
 setting aside the right of trial by jury in the case of foreigners, and submitting them 
 
278 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 to the- arbitrary arrest and imprisonment of a single man, without restraint other 
 than his own conscience. 
 
 "The Sedition Act, so called, was even more despotic. The first Amendment to 
 the Constitution declares that, 'Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the free- 
 dom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and 
 to petition the Government for a redress of grievances/ But this bold piece of 
 legislation pronounced it a high misdemeanor, punishable by fine and imprisonment, 
 'for any persons unlawfully to combine and conspire together with intent to oppose 
 any measure of the Government of the United States, . . . and to impede the opera- 
 tion of any law of the United States, or to intimidate persons from taking or holding 
 public offices, or to commit, advise or attempt to procure any insurrection, riot, or 
 unlawful assembly.' Section two provides a fine and imprisonment for printing or 
 publishing, 'any false, scandalous and malicious writing against the Government of 
 the United States, or either House of Congress, or the President, with intent to 
 defame them, or bring them into contempt or disrepute; or to excite against them 
 the hatred of the good people of the United States, or to stir up sedition, or with 
 intent to excite any unlawful combination therein for opposing or resisting any law' 
 of the United States or any lawful act of the President; or to 'aid, abet, or en- 
 courage, any hostile design of any foreign nation against the United States.' Sec- 
 tion three declared that truth should be given as evidence, and that the jury should 
 be judges both of law and fact. 
 
 "Had the Federalist leaders sought to make themselves detested, they could not 
 have found a surer way than the passage of these laws. Jefferson and his immediate 
 followers saw, or pretended to see, in them the beginning of a movement toward 
 changing the Republic into a Monarchy. Tor my own part,' the former wrote to 
 S. T. Mason, T consider these laws as only an experiment on the American mind, to 
 see how far it will bear an avowed violation of the Constitution. If this goes down, 
 we shall immediately see attempted another Act of Congress, declaring that the 
 President shall continue in office during life, reserving to another occasion the trans- 
 fer of the succession to his heirs, and the establishment of the Senate for life. . . . 
 That these things are in contemplation, I have no doubt; nor can I be confident of 
 their failure, after the dupery of which our countrymen have shown themselves 
 susceptible.' " 83 
 
 Thomas Jefferson, an astute politician, believed that the Federalists had gone too 
 far. He judged that the legislation, particularly the Sedition Law, would not be 
 popular with the people, believed that these laws were unconstitutional, saw a good 
 opportunity to wreck the Federalist Party and to put his own, the Republican, in 
 power. Acting upon this assumption, he set about to organize (in which field he 
 was superbly efficient) . He believed that the proper method for gaining the de- 
 sired objectives was for some, at least, of the State legislatures to nullify the Acts. 
 His first thought was to begin with North Carolina, which at the time seemed a likely 
 field for his "Republican" endeavor; however, that state soon showed "a disposition 
 to desert the faltering standard of Jeffersonian Democracy." 84 
 
 Kentucky, it soon developed, was the best state for launching his project; however, 
 Jefferson was not immediately aware of this fact, in spite of his numerous influential 
 friends in that quarter. But he soon learned through his close friend John Breckin- 
 ridge. In fact, throughout the latter part of the summer of 1798 meetings pro- 
 testing the Federalist legislation were held in various parts of Kentucky. These 
 meetings adopted resolutions, which were often carried in the newspapers. Professor 
 McElroy selects a set of resolutions adopted by a mass meeting in Clark County 
 and quotes them. These are here carried also, to indicate the feeling of the people 
 
H I S T O RY O F K E N T U C K Y 279 
 
 against the Adams administration. Kentucky was actually the nation's hotbed of 
 Republicanism, pro-French sympathy and anti-Federalist sentiment: 
 
 "First, Resolved, That every officer of the Federal Government, whether legisla- 
 tive, executive, or judicial, is the servant of the people, and is amenable and ac- 
 countable to them: That being so, it becomes the people to watch over their conduct 
 with vigilance, and to censure and remove them as they may judge expedient: . . . 
 
 "Second. Resolved, That war with France is impolitic, and must be ruinous to 
 America in her present situation. 
 
 "Third. Resolved, That we will, at the hazard of our lives and fortunes, support 
 the Union, the independence, the Constitution, and the liberty of the United States. 
 
 "Fourth. Resolved, That an alliance with Great Britain would be dangerous and 
 impolitic; That should defensive exertions be found necessary, we would rather sup- 
 port the burthen of them alone than embark out interests and happiness with that 
 corrupt and totering monarchy. 
 
 "Fifth. Resolved, That the powers given to the President to raise armies when he 
 may judge necessary — without restriction as to number — and to borrow money to 
 support them, without limitation as to the sum to be borrowed, or the quantum of 
 interest to be given on the loan, are dangerous and unconstitutional. 
 
 "Sixth. Resolved, That the Alien bill is unconstitutional, impolitic, unjust and 
 disgraceful to the American character. 
 
 "Seventh. Resolved, That the privilege of printing and publishing our sentiments 
 on all public questions is inestimable, and that it is unequivocally acknowledged and 
 secured to us by the Constitution of the United States. That all the laws made to 
 impair or destroy it are void, and that we will exercise and assert our just right in 
 opposition to any law that may be passed to deprive us of it. 
 
 "Eighth. Resolved, That the bill which is said to be now before Congress, de- 
 fining the crime of treason and sedition, and prescribing the punishments therefor, 
 as it has been presented to the public, is the most abominable that was ever attempted 
 to be imposed upon a nation of free men. 
 
 "Ninth. Resolved, That there is a sufficient reason to believe, and we do believe, 
 that our liberties are in danger; and we pledge ourselves to each other and to our 
 country, that we will defend them against all unconstitutional attacks that may be 
 made upon them. 
 
 "Tenth. Resolved, That the foregoing resolutions be transmitted to our repre- 
 sentative in Congress, by the Chairman, certified by the Secretary, and that he be 
 requested to present them to each branch of the Legislature and to the President, 
 and that they also be published in the Kentucky 'Gazette.' "* 
 
 Perhaps the most notable mass meeting held in Kentucky to consider the Alien 
 and Sedition laws was that in Lexington in the summer of 1798. The principal 
 speaker for the occasion was announced to be the able Colonel George Nicholas, 
 who spoke at great length pouring forth eloquent and sententious arguments against 
 the despised legislation. At the close a wild cheer greeted the orator. Presently 
 some one cried for young Henry Clay, a lawyer recently arrived from Virginia. 
 Spontaneous encouragement brought the lithe, lean tow-headed barrister to the plat- 
 form. Professor McElroy thus describes the event: 
 
 "He mounted the wagon which served as a speaker's platform, and, taking up 
 the theme of Federal ursupation which Nicholas had used to such good effect, he 
 poured forth a torrent of invective, so remarkable and so unexpected, that, as an 
 eyewitness of the scene declared, 'it would be impossible to give an adequate idea 
 of the effect produced.' As that matchless voice, hitherto silent, but soon to become 
 a controlling and compelling factor in national and international affairs, floated over 
 the wondering throng of hardy frontiersmen, 'indignation came like a dark shadow 
 
280 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 upon every countenance. The flame that burned in his own heart was caught up 
 and lighted in every other. He ceased — but there was no shout. The feelings of the 
 gathered multitude were too wild and deep for applause/ He had voiced the pre- 
 vailing opinion of his fellow citizens as no other living man could have voiced it, 
 and no more words were wanted. The leading Federalist orator of the region, Wil- 
 liam Murray, came forward to the support of the Administration; but the crowd 
 refused to hear him, and would have dragged him from the stand had not Nicholas 
 and Clay interfered. Next, a Federalist named McLean attempted to secure a hearing, 
 but the indignant crowd rushed forward with hostile intent, and 'it was only by a 
 precipitate night into the country that he escaped being treated with personal in- 
 dignity.' Then, the ugly humor of the crowd suddenly vanishing, they raised the 
 heroes of the day, George Nicholas and Henry Clay, upon their shoulders, and bore 
 them away in triumphal procession." 86 
 
 Clearly Kentucky was an excellent field for Mr. Jefferson's particular political 
 action. In the late summer of 1798, John Breckinridge journeyed to Virginia to 
 transact certain business. While there he visited Albemarle County and stopped at 
 Monticello, where he and Jefferson discussed the plan of state legislative action. It 
 was arranged that Breckinridge present a set of resolutions to the Kentucky General 
 Assembly. Jefferson's paper containing his plan and the desired resolutions is rather 
 long and tedious. The most notable point brought out after setting up his premise 
 that the Alien and Sedition laws are unconstitutional is this, "that the co-States re- 
 curring to their natural right, in cases not made federal, will concur in declaring these 
 acts void and of no force, and will each take measures of its own for providing that 
 neither these acts, nor any others of the general government, not plainly and in- 
 tentionally authorized by the Constitution, shall be exercised within their respective 
 
 „87 
 
 territories. 
 
 Though he adhered very closely to the philosophy, dictum and form of the Jeffer- 
 son paper, John Breckinridge on the most vital point differed with his friend and 
 did not hesitate to express his own belief (which is very important to Kentucky) . 
 Breckinridge did not believe that one state could nullify effectively a Federal act, 
 and his resolutions therefore contain this significant difference from the Jefferson 
 idea. The Ninth Resolution states, "that the Co-States recurring to their natural 
 right in cases not made federal, will concur in declaring these acts void and of no 
 force and will each unite with this Commonwealth in requesting their repeal at the 
 next session of Congress." 88 
 
 Mr. Breckinridge and the Kentucky Assembly intended "these resolutions to mean 
 that if a majority of the States deemed an act of Congress unconstitutional and op- 
 pressive, and petitioned Congress for its repeal, and Congress still persisted in the 
 obnoxious law, it would then be the duty of that majority of States to declare that 
 law void, and to protect their citizens from its operation." 8 ' This is far different 
 from the doctrine that a single state may nullify a Federal law. 
 
 In his message to the Legislature Governor Garrard pointed out the desirability 
 of that body's adopting resolutions more or less in accordance with the Jefferson 
 suggestions. Shortly thereafter the Breckinridge resolutions were introduced. So 
 certain were the Republicans of the passage of their measures that they made little 
 effort at debate. However, there was some opposition. Writes Professor McElroy: 
 
 "The staunch Federalist, William Murray, of Franklin County, exerted all his 
 forensic power to create a sentiment against them: but to no purpose. He pointed 
 out, in a convincing manner, the fact that the people of the nation, and not the 
 State Legislatures, are the legally constituted censors of the Federal Government. 
 The people of the nation, the several individuals composing the States, he declared, 
 not the States themselves, are the parties to the Federal compact. Is there any 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 281 
 
 clause, either in the Federal, or in the State Constitution, which delegates the power 
 reserved by the people to their State Legislature. . . . Because the Constitution of 
 the United States has been violated, will you violate your own Constitution? Where 
 is the clause which has given you censorship? Where is the clause which has 
 authorized you to repeal to declare void, the laws of the United States? ... It is 
 the people only that have a right to inquire whether Congress hath exceeded its 
 powers; it is the people only that have a right to appeal for redress. To the General 
 Assembly is delegated merely State powers. The authority to determine that a law 
 is void is lodged with the Judiciary of the United States."" 
 
 Virginia alone supported Kentucky in the venture. Most of the other states bitterly 
 denounced the Kentucky Legislature and Governor for their action. However, Mr. 
 Jefferson was satisfied, because the matter had got before the people, even though 
 the Federalists in Congress quashed debate upon the matter — which was to their in- 
 calcuable disadvantage. 
 
 At its next session, (November, 1799) the Kentucky General Assembly reaffirmed 
 its former resolutions by passing new ones. The meat of their matter is this: "That 
 the several states who formed that instrument (the Federal Government), being 
 sovereign and independent, have the unquestioned right to judge of its infractions 
 and that a nullification, by those sovereignties, of all unauthorized acts done under 
 colour of that instrument is the rightful remedy: That this commonwealth does upon 
 the most deliberate reconsideration declare, that the said alien and sedition laws, are 
 in their opinion, palpable violations of the said constitution; and however cheerfully 
 it may be disposed to surrender its opinion to a majority of its sister states in matters 
 of ordinary or doubtful policy; yet, in momentous regulations like the present, which 
 so vitally wound the best rights of the citizen, it would consider a silent acquiescence 
 as highly criminal: That altho' this commonwealth as a party to the federal compact, 
 will bow to the laws of the Union, yet it does at the same time declare, that it will 
 not now, nor ever hereafter, cease to oppose in a constitutional manner every attempt 
 from what quarter soever offered, to violate that compact: And finally, in order that 
 no pretexts or arguments may be drawn from a supposed acquiescence on the part of 
 this commonwealth in the constitutionality of those laws, and be thereby used as 
 precedents for similar future violations of the federal compact; this commonwealth 
 does now enter against them, its solemn protest." 91 
 
 The upshot of the whole affair was the discomforting of the Federalist Party: 
 The people began clamoring. Adams, distrusting some of the Federalist leaders, 
 decided to send a commission to France, which was well received; this action split the 
 Party, which caused Jefferson and the Republicans to be jubilant — because they knew 
 that the days of Federalist supremacy were numbered. As Professor McElroy writes, 
 "The Kentucky Resolutions had brought the weakness of the Administration clearly 
 before the public, and Adams' heroism (in agreeing to treat with France) had hope- 
 lessly divided the Federalist party." 02 In the election of 1800 Jefferson and the Re- 
 publicans swept the nation, thus attesting to his political astuteness, the fallibility of 
 parties and leaders and the capriciousness of people. 
 
 THE ARBITRATIONS ACT, 1795 
 
 The General Assembly in 1795, further reflecting the suspicions of the people 
 toward the courts, passed a bill known as the Arbitration Act. This law provided 
 that persons having controversy could nominate others as arbitrators and make state- 
 ments of their cases in writing, which might be presented to any court of record, 
 where the whole was to be entered. The clerk of this court was to certify it to 
 persons named as arbitrators, who were authorized to subpoena witnesses to attend 
 
282 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 them, the process being executed by sheriff or constable. The arbitrators were to 
 be sworn and to decide the matters submitted to them according to "law and equity." 
 The decision had the force of court decision. The arbitrators were allowed nine 
 shillings per day and charged to work with dispatch. 
 
 The historian, Humphrey Marshall, writes concerning this law: "Thus was intro- 
 duced into the judicial department, an irresponsible tribunal; and thus by a single 
 wind, and under the specious pretence of expediting and cheapening the administra- 
 tion of justice, was the trial by jury dispensed with; and the door thrown open by 
 law for every species of irregularity." 93 
 
 SETTLEMENT OF THE VIRGINIA-KENTUCKY BOUNDARY, 1799 
 
 Reports continually coming to Frankfort that persons with Virginia land warrants 
 were laying out land in the Big Sandy region belonging to Kentucky, the Legislature 
 passed an act authorizing the Governor to arbitrate the eastern boundary of the 
 Commonwealth with Virginia. The suggestion being agreeable to the Old Dominion 
 government, the matter was arranged for settlement. Virginia's Governor appointed 
 Archibald Stewart, Joseph Martin and Creed Taylor as its commissioners; while 
 Governor Garrard appointed John Coburn, Robert Johnson and Buckner Thruston. 
 
 The commissioners concluded a convention at the forks of the Big Sandy (Louisa, 
 in Lawrence County) in October, 1799. The line was agreed to run from the North 
 Carolina boundary along the top of the Cumberland mountains, keeping highest part 
 between the head waters of the Cumberland and Kentucky rivers, along Pond Fork 
 of Tug, down Tug to Big Sandy to Ohio. The point at issue was whether or not 
 the Virginia commissioners would insist upon the west fork of the Big Sandy (Levisa 
 Fork) or agree to accept the east fork (the Tug River) which would enable Ken- 
 tucky to gain more land. Eastern Kentuckians are fond of recounting the story of 
 how the agreement was made by the commissioners who met in a log house at Sandy's 
 forks: how the rain came down in torrents; how ardent spirits were circulated freely 
 through the night (causing both conviviality and hilarity) ; how when the unsteady 
 commissioners looked out next morning the Tug had "come down" with a vast ex- 
 panse of water, so that it was twice as wide as the Big Sandy; how the Virginian 
 commissioners feeling none too good and being eager to get home, readily agreed to 
 the Tug as being the boundary line between the two states; and how soon thereafter 
 they departed, following which almost immediately the Big Sandy "came down" with 
 a mighty wall of water, dwarfing the smaller Tug. This story is an Eastern Ken- 
 tucky tradition. 
 
 GREEN RIVER LANDS 
 
 The General Assembly in 1795 passed a land act which provided for the disposal 
 of unclaimed lands south of Green River. The act secured to each householder two 
 hundred acres of land by giving each preemption rights. Thirty dollars per hundred 
 acres was the price fixed, which drew a numerous population into that area, especially 
 as payment was suspended. Speculating ensued. 
 
 In 1797 another Green River land act was passed. This provided for from 100 
 to 200 acres for the settler moving there before July 1, 1798, who should reside one 
 year, and tend two acres of corn, with a fence; first rate land $60 per hundred, second 
 rate $40 per hundred acres (of course no first class land was found) . The act 
 allowed more time for payment to those who had purchased under the act of 1795. 
 Thus Green River relief having begun, there was scarcely any end to it. A more 
 lenient law was passed in 1799, which was soon amended; and was followed by a 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 283 
 
 new act in 1799, which was amended in favor of amelioration and leniency within 
 eleven days. 
 
 In 1800 another Green River relief act was passed; it was amended nine days after 
 its passage for more leniency. This act allowed nine years in which to pay, price 
 $30 or $40 per hundred acres, with 5 per cent interest. Writes Mr. Marshall: "By 
 this time, and indeed before, it may be said from the first indulgence granted, the 
 whole southern section of the state were united in expecting indulgences. No man 
 could be elected to the legislature from that quarter, unless be was an advocate 
 for Relief. There was hence a perfect understanding, and union of sentiment, among 
 the *Green River band' in the general assembly; and it had become formidable in 
 that body, by its numbers as well as its union. Its votes were for barter and ex- 
 change. . . . To the inconsiderate, the indolent, and the embarrassed portion of man- 
 kind, nothing seems so desirable as indulgence; give it but the name of relief, and it 
 becomes fascinating: not only to the Green River people, but to such as have been 
 described, universally. While they make a most formidable phalanx at elections 
 throughout the state: and relief laws characterize our legislation." 94 
 
 Three other interesting matters came up in the General Assembly of 1795, namely 
 (1) Robert Breckinridge, refusing to run for Speaker of the House (having served 
 since the beginning) , was succeeded by Edmund Bullock following a spirited race 
 with John Adair, Richard Young, Joseph Crockett and Thomas T. Daveiss; (2) 
 complaint was made that six year terms were too long for service in the United States 
 Senate, a memorial prepared which died without action; and (3) a proposal to opening 
 a poll at the election in the ensuing year to take the sense of the people as to calling 
 a constitutional convention. 
 
 THE SECOND CONSTITUTION, 1799 
 
 From its very beginning the Constitution of the state had been decidedly unpopular 
 with many sections of the population (and there were many categories of people) . Yet 
 the propertied men were pleased with it for the most part, and their representatives 
 in the Senate therefore opposed actions of the House to take a poll to judge the 
 sense of the people. The moneyless class disliked the Constitution. They looked 
 upon government as a thing which should give them something in the way of material 
 advantages. * They saw that the propertied people held the positions in the state 
 government, felt that these were getting favors out of it, and were inclined to be 
 bitter against the governmental state of affairs. When the Senate rejected a bill 
 passed by the House in 1795 concerning occupying claimants, a more or less popular 
 outcry against the Senate and a clamor for a constitutional convention to make the 
 government more democratic went up. Those who really had enough legal knowledge 
 to understand the Constitution and were inclined to believe it too removed from the 
 popular touch were therefore quite pleased when the reaction from sections of the 
 populace in opposition to the Senate's action against occupying claimants, because they 
 knew that a strong clamor for a new constitution could be launched with hope of 
 success. A cry of aristocratic arose against the Senate, the most vulnerable branch. 
 At that time the Senate unfortunately had been duped into favoring a bill which 
 provided for the selling of a large block of Green River land to a syndicate of land 
 speculators for $250,000, land which the poor people coveted. 
 
 Writes Humphrey Marshall, a propertied conservative, but withal a practical- 
 minded man, concerning the matter: "Thus early was the jealous, if not jaundiced 
 eyes of the democracy turned upon the senate, when it was found to possess some 
 independence; and to answer the purpose for which it was intended — *a check upon the 
 house of representatives.' The cry of ARISTOCRACY , was hence repeated, got 
 into the public prints, and spread throughout the country, with a malign effect. For 
 
284 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 certainly there was no one property of a PRIVILEGED ORDER, that being the 
 meaning in which the appellation was taken, about the constitution of the Senate. If 
 it was filled by men of more age, experience, and wisdom, or possessing more property, 
 than those of the house of representatives, it was certain that they did not derive 
 either from their official situation, but carried them into it" 9 " Actually, the Senate 
 was composed of some of the best, most reliable men of the state. 
 
 A technical student of democratic form could find many provisions of the state's 
 first constitution vulnerable to criticism. (1) The constitution was too aristocratic 
 in its tendencies; (2) the governor was elected not by the people but by a group of 
 electors, who were "aristocrats"; (3) the senators were appointed by electors instead 
 of by the people and they were "aristocrats"; (4) the people had been hoodwinked 
 into believing that they actually governed and that their rights and liberties were 
 secured in the bill of rights, when in fact "the document proper nullified these the- 
 oretical liberties." 97 The charge was made further that the Senate was a dangerous 
 Oligarchy. Electors appointed the senators, and the senators, in turn, gave patronage 
 to the electors, who kept in office the senators, who retained the electors. It was further 
 pointed out that the Senate was all-powerful, as it elected its speaker, who, under the 
 constitution, succeeded to the gubernatorial office upon the death, disability, resig- 
 nation or impeachment of the governor. Then the recent disputed governor's contest 
 brought more criticism to the constitution — this for its obscurities. A new constitu- 
 tion should be made, it was argued, which must be liberal, with increased direct power 
 of the people over the government greatly augmented. 
 
 The constitution, 1792, provided that the people might vote in 1797 and in 1798 
 their opinion as to the expediency of a constitutional convention and if a majority both 
 times favored a convention then the Legislature was to call one in 1799. At any 
 time, however, the General Assembly by two-thirds majority could call a convention. 
 As it opposed calling a convention (because of fear of property-less radicals gaining 
 control) , the senate naturally came in for an extra broadside of abuse. 
 
 As time went on, the new cause enlisted every species of discontent and radicalism 
 in its ranks, so that the conservative propertied men, becoming alarmed, began to 
 organize to protect the "fundamental principles of government" against the onslaughts 
 of an irresponsible mob action bent upon violence. John Breckinridge, landed aristo- 
 crat and slave-owner of the Jeffersonian Republican school of thought (but a bit 
 more conservative than the "sage of Monticello") was the leader of the conservative, 
 propertied class. Breckinridge in answering a "Voter" who was advocating a con- 
 vention, declared it was all an attempt to confiscate the large estates and to free the 
 slaves; that it was an attempt to destroy the so-called ^aristocracy'. He puts the 
 queries, "Are you a large land holder? . . . Are you a slave holder? No, I will 
 give you my right hand if you are. This is the Canker that preys upon you. This 
 is what produces all your bellowing about conventions, conventions. This is what 
 stirs up your envy, wounds your pride and makes you cry aristocracy. . . . And where 
 is the difference, whether I am robbed of my house by a highwayman, or of my slaves 
 by a set of people called a convention?" 98 
 
 A galaxy of handbills, pamphlets, newspaper articles were scattered over the land 
 by protagonists and antagonists of a convention. Such papers as the Kentucky 
 Gazette and the Kentucky Palladium were crowded with heated arguments, some 
 quite exaggerated and inflamed. The conservatives sought to gain strength by 
 harping upon the idea that if a convention were called slavery would be tampered 
 with, but the idea apparently was not considered dangerous enough to deter the move- 
 ment. As Professor Coulter writes: "There was a certain amount of genuine dis- 
 content that would be satisfied in no other way (than by a new or changed constitu- 
 tion.) 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 285 
 
 A large group of slave-holders met at Big Springs, near Lexington, in April, 1798, 
 apparently under the inspiration of John Breckinridge, and passed strong resolutions 
 against a convention and against changing the constitution. However, in spite of all 
 the work done by the conservatives — their organizing, their direful predictions of loss 
 of property and rule of the mob — nothing could keep down the clamor of the masses 
 for a convention. By June, 1799, eleven new counties had been erected, the greater 
 number of which in the Green River section, "whose population had been rapidly 
 increased by means of the head right laws." 10 Most of the voters in the new counties, 
 of course, favored a convention, and the Legislature showed a disposition to carry 
 through the wishes of the masses. 
 
 Meanwhile the slavery question was causing some discussion. The conservatives, 
 whether they believed it or not, charged that radicals in a convention would free the 
 slaves or so change the slavery section of the constitution that a succeeding Legislature 
 could easily abolish this institution in the state. Actually Henry Clay spoke out in favor 
 of emancipation, even though a Lexington pro-convention meeting passed resolutions 
 declaring among other things for gradual emancipation, and calling a meeting for the 
 April court day (1799). 
 
 Conservative property owners, realizing that the convention would be held, in spite 
 of all opposition, set about to organize for gaining control of the forthcoming said 
 convention. Various meetings were held for agreeing upon measures to support and 
 upon candidates to run. The conservatives of Fayette County met early in February 
 at Bryant's Station. These things were discussed as measures which a new constitu- 
 tion should contain, according to Mr. Marshall: "Equality of representation; a divided 
 legislature; the independence of the courts, and judges; maintenance of the compact 
 with Virginia; and the continuation of slavery, exempt from legislative emancipation. 
 These were severally resolved, affirmatively. The latter subject, emancipation, produced 
 a considerable opposition, and some warmth in debate, so that this resolution was 
 qualified with various ameliorative provisos; such as came into the constitution. 
 
 "Committees of two members from each religious society, and from each militia 
 company, were recommended, to meet at the same place on the third Saturday of 
 the same month for the purpose of agreeing on a list of names of persons to be 
 elected as representatives to the convention." 101 Mr. Marshall writes of another 
 meeting (mentioned above) held at Colonel Patterson's "which entered into a resolu- 
 tion in favor of gradual emancipation; and who also formed a ticket, and recom- 
 mended a fuller meeting at the seminary [Transylvania], on the April court day: 
 but with little effect. Neither were the Bryant's Station measures generally imitated." 1 " 
 
 The elections disclosed the fact that the radicals could not be elected to public 
 office in large enough numbers in Kentucky to endanger ownership of property. Mr. 
 Marshall writes that "The elections were made, of characters very similar to those 
 who formed the first constitution; with the exchange of John Breckinridge, for George 
 Nicholas." 103 
 
 The convention met in the state house at Frankfort, July 22, 1799; it chose Alexander 
 Scott Bullitt, president and Thomas Todd, clerk; it adopted the rules of the late House 
 of Representatives. The proceedings were "with open doors" and about the same 
 as those of the Legislature. The different propositions, or debates produced little 
 that is either useful, or amusing," wrote acrid Humphrey Marshall, whose History 
 carries a complete copy of the constitution, which was adopted August 17, 1799 — to 
 go into effect June 1, 1800. 104 
 
 The new constitution, for the most part, followed the text of the old. The numerous 
 fears expressed relative to radical changes did not transpire, however, the changes 
 were along the road of democracy. The major change was the method of electing 
 the governor and senate, together with the abolition of the electoral college. The 
 
286 ASESQU1-CENTENNIAL 
 
 chief executive and the members of the Senate were to be elected by direct vote of 
 the people. The office of lieutenant-governor was created and made elective in the 
 same manner. The terms of the governor, lieutenant-governor, and senators were 
 four years, not subject to re-election for the succeeding seven years after expiration 
 of terms; representatives one year; lieutenant-governor to be speaker of the Senate 
 and had the privilege while that body was in committee of whole to< debate and vote 
 upon all subjects, and to cast the deciding vote in case of a tie. Military service 
 was required of all freemen except Negroes, Mulattoes, and Indians — and those having 
 conscientious scruples against bearing arms, who were required to pay "an equivalent 
 for personal service." 1 ' The executive officers — secretary of state, treasurer, attorney 
 general, et al. — were to be appointed by the governor. 
 
 The judicial power, both as to matters of law and of equity, was vested in a court 
 of appeals, or supreme court, "and in such inferior courts as the general assembly 
 may from time to time erect and establish." The judges were to be appointed by 
 the governor, just as the Federal Constitution provided. As a matter of fact the 
 new constitution, like the old, was more or less modeled upon the Federal Constitution. 
 An arbitration clause, providing for settlement of cases outside of court, was inserted 
 into the new constitution. 
 
 Such reactionary tendencies as an effort to require property qualifications for voting 
 were beaten. Sheriffs, who had hitherto been elected by popular vote were now to 
 be appointed by the governor. Voting was to be done openly, vive voce "over the 
 table." 
 
 The clause on slavery was repeated from the first constitution, with this added 
 clause: "In the prosecution of slaves for felony, no inquest by a grand jury shall be 
 necessary, but the proceedings in such prosecution shall be regulated by law; except 
 that the general assembly shall have no power to deprive them of the privilege of an 
 impartial trial by petit jury." 106 
 
 That the conservatives in the convention were shrewder lawyers and parliamentarians 
 than the liberals appears certain. They won another victory regarding amending the 
 constitution. Amending was made almost an impossibility. First, a majority of all 
 the members elected to each house of the General Assembly, within the first twenty 
 days of their stated annual session, had to concur in passing a law "for taking the 
 sense of the good people as to the necessity or expediency of calling a convention," 
 then a poll had to be taken in the counties at the next general election held for 
 representatives "who have voted for calling a convention," and if it appear that a 
 majority of all the citizens of the state entitled to vote for representatives have voted 
 for a convention, then the General Assembly shall direct that a similar poll be taken 
 the next year. If it appear at the second vote that a majority of all the citizens entitled 
 to vote for representatives have cast their ballots for a convention, then the Legislature 
 at its next meeting shall call a convention, "to consist of as many members as there 
 shall be in the house of representatives." 101 Thus was calling another constitutional 
 convention made almost impossible — attesting to the innate conservatism of Kentuckians 
 as awhole. 
 
 FOOTNOTES FOR CHAPTER X 
 
 For sketch of life of Isaac Shelby, see Appendix B. 
 
 'Mrs. William B. Ardery (et al) , Kentucky in Retrospect (Frankfort: Sesquicen- 
 tennial Commission, 1942), p. 41. 
 
 George W. Ranck's "How Kentucky Became a State" in Harper's Magazine, Vol. 
 85 (June, 1892), p. 48. 
 
H I S T O RY O F K E N T U C K Y 287 
 
 4 Ranck, op.cit., pp. 48, 49. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 49. "Ibid., p. 49. 
 
 'Connelley and Coulter, History of Kentucky, I, 307. 
 
 7W V I, 308. 10 7W., I, 309. "Ibid., I, 310, 311. "Ibid., I, 312. 
 
 'Ibid., I, 309. tt Zte/., I, 310. ,8 7W., I, 311. "Ibid., I, 313. 
 
 ™Ibid., I, 314. Professor Coulter quotes the Breckinridge MSS. (1793 and 1797). 
 
 "Collins, H^ory o/ Kentucky (1924 ed.), I, 24. 
 Connelley and Coulter, History of Kentucky, I, 314. (Professor Coulter quotes 
 the Mirror, a newspaper of Washington, Mason County, established early in 1797 
 "by William Hunter and Beaumont, who afterwards removed it to Frankfort." 
 
 "Ibid., I, 314. 
 
 " Connelley and Coulter, History of Kentucky, I, 315-317. 
 
 n Ibid., I, 320 (citing F. A. Ogg, The Opening of the Mississippi, New York, 1904) , 
 449, 450. 
 
 " C. R. Fish, The Development of American Nationality (New York: American 
 Book Company, 1924) , p. 93. 
 
 "Frederic L. Paxson, History of the American Frontier, 1763-1893, pp. 106, 107. 
 
 ybid., io7. 
 
 "James, George Rogers Clark, p. 410. 
 
 "Ibid., pp. 410, 411. "Ibid., p. 419. 
 
 "'Albert J. Beveridge, The Life of John Marshall (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Com- 
 pany, in 4 volumes, 1916), Vol. II, p. 28. 
 
 "Ibid., II, 28. "Ibid., II, 29. 
 
 'John W. Foster, A Century of American Diplomacy (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin 
 and Company, 1902), p. 154. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 155. "Ibid., p. 153. 
 Beveridge, op.cit., II, 38. 
 
 Ibid., p. 39. 
 
 36 Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., I, 320. 
 
 "Ibid., I, 320. "Ibid., I, 321. "Ibid., I, 323. 
 
 4 °Ibid., I, 323. (Quoting The Complete Annals of Thomas Jefferson, pp. 130, 
 
 13 i-> 
 
 4 James, op.cit., pp. 417, 418. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 419. 
 
 43 Conneley and Coulter, op.cit., I, 326 327 (Quoting "Correspondence of Clark, 
 and Genet," 967-971). 
 
 44 James, op.cit., p. 420. 
 
 45 Ibid., 420, 421 (Citing F. J. Turner, "Policy of France toward the Mississippi 
 Valley," American Historical Review, X, 263) . 
 
 "Ibid., I, 328. "Ibid., I, 329, 330. "Ibid., I, 331, 332. 
 
 "Ibid., I, 330. "Ibid., I, 331. 
 
 0l Ibid., I, 330 (Quoting American State Papers, Foreign Relations, I, 455, 456) . 
 
 "Ibid., I, 343. " : 7W., I, 344. 
 
 ' 4 James, op.cit., p. 422. 
 
 5 °McElroy, Kentucky in the Nation s History, p. 187. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 188. (Quoting Kentucky Gazette, May 31, 1794, and referring to the 
 issue of January 25, 1794, and February 8, 1794; also to LittelPs Political Trans- 
 actions, Ch. IV.) 
 
 "Ibid., p. 190. "Ibid., pp. 193, 194. "Ibid., p. 195. "Ibid., p. 197. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 192. "Ibid., p. 195. "Ibid., p. 196. 
 
 A Ibid., p. 198 (Citing Kentucky Gazette, February 7, 1795) . 
 
 G Tbid., p. 199. (The full text appeared in the Kentucky Gazette March 14, 1795.) 
 
288 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 "Ibid., p. 199. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 200. 
 
 '"Connelley and Coulter, History of Kentucky, I, 354. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 355. 
 
 "Ibid., I, 335. 
 
 7 7W, I, 355. 
 
 72 McElroy, op.ctf., p. 201. 
 
 ' 3 Bodley, Lit tell 3 s Political Transactions, p. LXXX (Quoting Street's Report, etc., 
 Frankfort, 1806, 8) . 
 
 7 7W V p. LXXXII. 
 
 ' 5 See Bodley, op.cit., pp. LXXXIII-LXXXV, for full text of terms presented by Gay- 
 oso. 
 
 "Ibid., p. LXXXVI (Citing Innes Papers, XXII) . 
 
 "Ibid., p. LXXXVI. 
 
 "Ibid., p. LXXXVII. 
 
 "Ibid., p. LXXXIX. 
 
 80 McElroy, op.cit., pp. 209, 210. 
 
 Tienry Jones Ford, Washington and His Colleagues (New Haven: Yale Univer- 
 sity Press, 1921) , p. 220 et passim. 
 82 McElroy, op.cit., p. 216. 
 w Ibid., pp. 216-220. 
 "Ibid., pp. 220. 
 
 85 Kentucky in the Nation s History, pp. 220-222. 
 "Ibid., p. 224, 225. 
 "Ibid., p. 248. 
 "WiT/., p. 249. 
 ""Ibid., p. 249. 
 "WiV/., p. 245. 
 "Ibid., p. 261. 
 "Ibid., p. 264. 
 
 "History of Kentucky, II, 176. 
 [7W., II, 181, 182. 
 
 °Connelley and Coulter, History of Kentucky, I, 390. 
 "Marshall, <#.«*., II, 183. 
 
 97 Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., I, 390 (Citing Arguments of "A Plain Republican" 
 in Kentucky Gazette, June 8, 1793). 
 
 B8 Ibid., I, 391, 392 (Quoting from Breckinridge MSS., 1798, April 20) . 
 
 "Ibid., I, 394. 
 
 "Marshall, op.cit., II, 290. 
 
 "Marshall, op.cit., II, 292. 
 
 102 Ibid., II, 292. 
 
 ™Ibid., II, 293. 
 
 ""Ibid., II, 294. 
 
 ,0 7&J., II, 304. 
 
 106 1 bid., II, 311. 
 
 ,0 7W., II, 311. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT, 1800-1812 
 POLITICAL LEANINGS 
 
 A 
 
 -s in the nation, so in the state, political parties were not quick to 
 develop. Kentuckians were early more interested in movements and in events than 
 in parties, although differences arising upon the public questions did in time tend to 
 develop party affiliations to some extent. Kentuckians were so unanimous in their 
 beliefs upon certain public questions vital to them that the instrument of parties 
 was not necessary; however, after a few years some of their interests came to be 
 associated with the Jeffersonian party, which was known as Republican, Democratic- 
 Republican and Democratic (later developing into the Democratic party of our time) . 
 In the East, where a more equal division of opinion existed, the two-party system could 
 develop early, but not so in Kentucky, where the people were more or less equal and 
 where most of the people felt the same way about most of the important questions. 
 As the people of the West felt that the East was laboring consciously to retard 
 and frustrate that section's growth, and as the Federalist Party was the first political 
 party to take the ascendency in the East, quite naturally the frontiersmen quickly 
 developed a voluble hatred toward the Federalist Party. Even aside from this, how- 
 ever, the West would not have espoused the Federalist Party. The Federalists stood 
 for centralization, commercialism (as opposed to agrarianism as pursued by the small 
 farmer), qualification for voting and holding office, the rule of the "wealthy and 
 well-born," high taxes, formal military establishment, formalism and ceremony in 
 government, favoritism of Britain over France, and many other things anathema to the 
 free and equal Westerners. Quite naturally, the people of Kentucky would in time 
 join whatsoever party developed best calculated to fight the Federalist beliefs. 
 
 KENTUCKY FRONTIER IDEAS 
 
 The frontiersmen early clamored for recognition of the West in national councils, 
 the opening of the West, the defeat of the Indians, the wresting of the Northwest 
 posts from Britain, separation from Virginia, admission to the Union and many other 
 important matters which they felt the Federalists opposed; moreover, they violently 
 deprecated most big Federalist measures, such as the Naturalization Law, the Alien 
 Act and the Sedition Law. 
 
 However, Kentuckians tended to have a sort of innate sense of loyalty and fairness. 
 They showed clearly that they did not wish separation from Virginia badly enough 
 to pull away from the Union and join Spain, or any other foreign power. They had 
 been so grateful for "Mad Anthony" Wayne's victory, the impetus of which had 
 been under the auspices of a Federalist administration, that they sent the Federalist 
 Humphrey Marshall to the United States Senate in 1795, even in preference to the 
 beloved Jeffersonian John Breckinridge; and they resented French insults to the 
 American Government in 1798, 1799. They even tended to show some gratitude for 
 the abortive attempt of the Federalist kinsman of Humphrey Marshall, Joseph Ham- 
 ilton Daviess, to prosecute Aaron Burr for treason, when later it was believed that 
 Burr had been guilty all the time. But in spite of these sporatic changes the Ken- 
 tuckians were by nature subject of the Jeffersonian doctrines, and instinctively went 
 into the Jeffersonian, or Republican Party. Therefore, never at any time did the 
 Federalist Party make any appreciable headway in the state. Not until the 1820's 
 and 1830's did any second party gain strength. Practically all of the state's early 
 political leaders — Brown, Innes, Shelby, Breckinridge, Nicholas, Garrard, Scott, Clay — 
 
290 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 were Republicans. The Marshall clan — Colonel Thomas, Humphrey, Joseph M. 
 Street, Joseph Hamilton Daveiss, William Murray — tenacious, courageous, persistent 
 and deserving of admiration for its daring and bravery against rough and overwhelming 
 opposition — never had a following large enough to weld it into an effective political 
 organization. Consequently the political fights were for the most part merely cases 
 of personality in the one party — the most popular man in the one party would win 
 upon his personal merits; his ability to get votes. 
 
 ELECTION OF 1800 
 
 The election of 1800, the first under the new constitution, seems not to have caused 
 much excitement. James Garrard was re-elected governor and Alexander Scott Bullitt, 
 lieutenant governor, the first Kentucky had elected. 1 John Breckinridge was made 
 Speaker of the House and later appointed United States Senator. Yet there was 
 more or less of excitement and tenseness as well as a great deal of merriment, flattery, 
 debating and "hot air" with every election in Kentucky. The people "took to" elec- 
 tions, politics and political campaigns almost from the beginning. They liked the 
 overdone flattery which the candidates lavished with great largess, even to the kissing 
 of the babies, and they delighted in the spread-eagle, flamboyant, expansive and heated 
 oratory of the grandiose candidates. And something not to be neglected were the 
 barbecues, where whiskey was freely served from the barrel and where the sky was 
 the limit in oratory. If, during the course of proceedings at these barbecues a few 
 persons (whose corn liquor caused them to make extravagant boasts as to their own 
 prowess, or charges concerning the wickedness and perfidy of one or more of the 
 candidates) happened to get eyes gouged out, ears chewed off or a few bones broken, 
 it was all in the course of operations, and was not taken too seriously by the people. 
 An article by Charles Curryman in the Kentucky Gazette of July 3, 1810, stated in 
 part: "The candidate asked me to drink some grog, and took me to a booth, and 
 there I was saluted with a hearty shake of the hand from all the candidates, who 
 seemed to be as much my friends as if they had known me all their lives. Soon after 
 the candidates began to speak, and they all promised a great deal of good things to 
 us people if we would elect them. My candidate promised he would reform the 
 courts which delayed business, and would support his own measures, and oppose those 
 of the other people, and he neither expected the good nor the bad — another that he 
 would support the people's interest, another, that his interest and our was the same; 
 another, that he counted on our suffrage to be elected and serve us — and so on." 2 
 
 Although the Kentuckians preferred the vocal type of campaign, the written word 
 was not without power. They recognized this early in establishing the Kentucky 
 Gazette. John Bradford, founder of this journal, was a thoroughgoing democrat. 
 Far from narrowly partisan, however, his columns were open to all — even the de- 
 spised Humphrey Marshall. Bradford was truly an able journalist. Hunter and 
 Beaumont's Kentucky Mirror, which had been moved from (Mason County) to 
 Frankfort and the name changed to Palladium, 3 was Democratic, or Republican, in 
 tone; while the Western World, of Frankfort, under the control of Humphrey Mar- 
 shall and Joseph M. Street, 4 together with John Wood, was Federalist in sympathy 
 and tone. (The diction of the newspapers was trenchant, virile, often vitriolic and 
 violently partisan.) Later (1810) Marshall founded the American Republic to carry 
 on for Federalism. For the most part the Republican papers could play up the natural 
 interest of the people of the District and State, without straining the point for 
 "thunder"; however, Mr. Marshall played up treason, real or imagined, to influence 
 the people against many of the most popular political leaders. He conjured up 
 "Spanish Conspiracy" unon most every occasion, all going back to the dealings which 
 
Courtesy, Filson Club. 
 
 Humphrey Marshall 
 
 1756-1841 
 
 —Vol. I 
 
292 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 John Brown, Harry Innes, James Wilkinson, George Nicholas, Benjamin Sebastian, 
 and others, had transacted with Spanish agents concerning opening of the Mississippi. 
 The fact that Marshall "nailed to the post" Wilkinson and Sebastian (publishing 
 everything in blatant and excited language) and brought out things in connection 
 with the case of Innes vs. Marshall, the Congressional investigation of Innes and the 
 investigation of Wilkinson (1808), which produced a nauseous sensation in the 
 public nostril, tended to bring under suspicion the many whom Marshall implicated 
 as participants in treasonable activities. (See Connelley and Coulter, History of 
 Kentucky, I, 457, 468). So many things there were which projected themselves — 
 Spanish Conspiracy, French Conspiracy, Burr Conspiracy — that Mr. Marshall was 
 able to keep things lively most of the time, as well as maintain his enemies, who were 
 very numerous, in a condition of tremulous anxiety, to say the least. 
 
 Although the newspapers were a means of disseminating political material, the 
 favorite means of campaigning in writing was by means of the hand-bill, freely dis- 
 tributed everywhere. The hand-bill was a great consolation and prop to both the 
 candidate and the voter, regardless of what was written — just as is the candidate's card 
 today, 1944,) a sine qua non to both, regardless of what it contains; the voters expected 
 them and they give the candidate a feeling of importance — helped to dispell timidity — 
 "break the ice." 
 
 Now and then the verbiage of editors and candidates, as well as private citizens 
 writing in newspapers under assumed names, such as "Publius," "Coriolonus," "Agri- 
 cola," would become so enthusiastic as to cause a challenge to a duel. One of the 
 most loudly-heralded and celebrated of these although not caused by a newspaper, was 
 fought between Henry Clay and Humphrey Marshall in 1809.° 
 
 POLITICS AND THE JUDICIARY 
 
 Among the two worst political tendencies of the voters, aside from gullability and 
 ignorance, were their attitudes toward the courts and toward the salaries of officials. 
 Toward the former, they were very suspicious and irreverent; toward the latter, they 
 believed that public officials should be paid as little as possible. The effect was as 
 one would expect, namely, incapable judges and incompetent officials in general, 
 particularly as concerned lower court judges and lower officials. 
 
 In 1802, through the leadership of Felix Grundy, of Nelson and Washington 
 counties, later of Tennessee, the whole system of inferior courts was remade. The 
 purpose of the change was to abolish completely the District Courts and Quarter 
 Session Courts and substitute Circuit Courts. Mr. Grundy argued that circuit courts 
 would cost the state less money and at the same time bring a more competent class 
 of judges. He argued that under the old system designing lawyers constantly took 
 advantage of the ignorance of judges and imposed upon them shamefully. Circuit 
 courts too would be more convenient and distribute justice more evenly. Arguments 
 were brought up against all these points, and it was contended that constant meddling 
 with the courts by the Legislature would ultimately make of them nothing more than 
 puppets in legislative hands. One writing in the Palladium declared: "The caprice 
 which abolished the office of a judge, which increases his duty or reduces his salary, 
 will force him to resume the profession he had deserted, and to employ, in behalf 
 of individuals, those talents, which in the service of the state, had been rewarded with 
 poverty and disgrace." 
 
 The measure carried and in 1802 the old system was abolished. Over each circuit 
 one judge and two assistants presided. The judge followed the circuit while the 
 assistants were residents of the county where the court happened to be in session. It 
 was specifically provided that the assistants be not "learned in the law." There seemed 
 
H I S T O RY O F K E N T U C K Y 293 
 
 to be a public prejudice against learned judges, it being held that ordinary common 
 sense possessed by the masses was enough for the settlement of cases in the courts. 
 The new system, of course, did not succeed. The assistants, who were uually ignorant 
 of the law, often puffed-up ignoramuses, apparently contributed a great deal to the 
 delay, miscarriage and blocking of justice.' 
 
 Mr. Marshall declared: "The practice which ensued under this system, had the' 
 effect to retard business, and in other respects proved pernicious. If the knowing 
 judge happened to desire to rule his right and left hand man, and they were willing to 
 be ruled, they sanctioned his opinions, and matters went on smoothly, tardy as might 
 be their pace — it was rather, however, the cause of dispatch. But when the assistants 
 conceded they knew as much, or more, than the president, they were commonly re- 
 fractory and kept him in check: he being in general a resident in town, or an itinerant 
 of his circuit, and a lodger in town, where the court was held, could attend early or 
 late; while his brother judges, residing in most cases, in the country, remained at home 
 for breakfast; then came to town, put up their horses at the tavern, took a round of 
 smoking or chatting; then to court; and if anything had been done, were ready to 
 rehear and confirm, or reverse it." 8 
 
 Even the Court of Appeals was not free from popular suspicion, and the Legislature 
 was prone to interfere with it. The constitution of 1799, in its omission of the clause 
 preventing the reduction of the judges' salaries during their incumbency, was a power- 
 ful weapon held by the Legislature over the Court. The conviction of Judge Benjamin 
 Sebastian, in 1806, of receiving a Spanish pension was a blow to the prestige of this 
 Court and at the confidence which the people had in it. Such a public clamor followed 
 the passage of an act granting the superannuated and retired Judge George Muter 
 an annual pension of $300 that the following year the General Assembly repealed the 
 act, leaving that noble patriot and public servant in utter want. Fortunately Judge 
 Thomas Todd, of the Appellate bench and later of the United States Supreme Court, 
 took the old gentleman to his own home and cared for him during the years of life 
 remaining. Public opinion often has not the least sensation of gratitude and mag- 
 nanimity. 
 
 The general result of the attitude of people and Legislature toward the courts was 
 this: inferior men became judges, men who would work for small pay, men who were 
 easily handled by able lawyers, men who could not even keep order in their courts. 10 
 
 THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE, 1803 
 
 Following the ratification of the treaty of San Lorenzo de Real, or the Pinckney 
 treaty, with Spain, a period of unprecedented prosperity in Kentucky developed. There 
 was almost no end to the amount of flour, pork, cider and tobacco which might be 
 produced and shipped down the Mississippi. The economic future of the state looked 
 promising. At last the people appeared to be contented. 
 
 The period of ease and calm was short-lived, however. Since the cession of Lou- 
 isiana by France to Spain by the Treaty of Paris in 1763, the French leaders had never 
 ceased to think of regaining that vast colonial empire for their people. This was 
 contemplated by the Old Regime, the Directory and lately by Napoleon. By a secret 
 treaty manipulated by the "Little Corporal" and Talleyrand in 1800, known as the 
 Treaty of San Ildefonso, the Spanish Monarch, perhaps by means of intimidation, 
 was induced to recede the whole of Louisiana (not including the Floridas) to France. 
 Napoleon had visions of a great colonial empire in the New World, which would 
 serve as a supplier of raw goods, an outlet and a market for the home land. He hoped 
 to insure the safety of Louisiana from England by making Santo Domingo a powerful 
 guarding bastion for Louisiana, as the island was situated at the entrance to the Gulf 
 of Mexico. 
 
294 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 Meanwhile news leaked out and reached the United States of this significant trans- 
 action. The Americans, in spite of friendship for France, in some quarters, particularly 
 wLth the Jeffersonians — and especially in the West — were not disposed to welcome the 
 powerful dictator, Napoleon, and his apparently all-conquering legions to their shores 
 to threaten the life of the nation. Even the erstwhile Francophile, Mr. Jefferson, 
 changed his position very quickly — and very sensibly. He declared: "The day that 
 France takes possession of New Orleans fixes the sentence which is to restrain her 
 forever within her low water mark. It seals the union of two nations, which in con- 
 junction can maintain exclusive possession of the ocean. From that moment we must 
 marry ourselves to the British fleet and nation." 11 
 
 Kentuckians probably learned first of the Treaty of San Ildefonso in connection 
 with the refusal of the Spanish Intendant Morales, in New Orleans, in October, 1802, 
 to allow that city as a place of deposit for American goods, which meant the closing 
 of the Mississippi once more. 
 
 The Kentuckians, realizing the portend of the action, were indignant. Feeling sure, 
 however, the Jefferson, their friend, would be able to negotiate a satisfactory arrange- 
 ment, they, through the Legislature, passed resolutions of protest and sent them to 
 Washington. These resolutions were, considering former resolutions, remarkably mild 
 and forebearing in tenor, although Kentuckians were prepared as usual to fight. The 
 resolutions to Mr. Jefferson closed with this statement, carried in the Kentucky Gazette, 
 December 7, 1802: "We rely with confidence on your wisdom and justice, and pledge 
 ourselves to support at the expense of our lives and fortunes, such measures as the 
 honor, and interests of the United States require." 12 
 
 Mr. Jefferson gave the vital matter immediate attention. He instructed the Ameri- 
 can Ambassador, Robert R. Livingston, to purchase, if possible, the Isle of Orleans and 
 the Floridas. He dispatched James Monroe as special envoy to aid Mr. Livingston. 
 He contemplated purchasing the Isle of Orleans at least. 123 This information he 
 dispatched posthaste to Kentucky. Meanwhile developments moved so rapidly in 
 France that Mr. Monroe's presence actually was not essential, although this gentleman 
 was erroneously considered an able diplomat. 
 
 Napoleon's fleet was decisively defeated by the English under Lord Nelson in 1800, 
 and his army of 10,000 men, under his brother-in-law, Le Clerc, was destroyed by the 
 combined assault of the fanatical Negro patriot Toussaint L'Ouverture and the yellow 
 fever, so that Santo Domingo could not be held. These disasters caused Napoleon to 
 realize that he could not hold Louisiana against the English. Better get something 
 out of the land by negotiation than to lose all without compensation, he reasoned; 
 therefore, sell all. l2b The American diplomat, Livingston, was fairly overwhelmed, 
 April 11, 1803, by Talleyrand's offer; though he gulped, he bought. And Mr. Jeff- 
 erson, in spite of his former statements regarding strict interpretation of the Constitu- 
 tion, bought for approximately $15,000,000. The Kentuckians were jubilant. Even 
 the Federalist, Humphrey Marshall, magnanimously praised Mr. Jefferson. "There 
 is no hesitation," he wrote, "in saying, that whatever motive preponderated, the course 
 pursued by the president was substantially correct." 1 Thus was brought to a peaceful 
 end the most far-reaching event in the West — the Nation, for that matter — since the 
 conquest of the Old Northwest by George Rogers Clark. It stands today perhaps as 
 the most significant event in American history. 
 
 CHRISTOPHER GREENUP ELECTED GOVERNOR, 1804 
 
 In the year 1804, the people elected Christopher Greenup, of Franklin County, as 
 governor. Mr. Greenup was a man of considerable intellectual endowments, unflinch- 
 ing courage and spotless integrity. 14 One of his finest practices as chief executive was 
 to appoint capable and honest men to office regardless of party affiliation. One of his 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 295 
 
 first acts was to appoint John Rowan, an able lawyer of Bardstown and Louisville 
 (later Congressman, Senator and Judge of the Court of Appeals) to be Secretary of 
 State. Elected with him was John Caldwell, to be Lieutenant Governor. 
 
 Some idea of the material prosperity of the state can be gained from his inaugural 
 address. Upon this point he declared: 
 
 "I am happy ... to be able to say, that the commonwealth is in a prosperous and 
 flourishing state — progressing in agriculture, manufactures and commerce — in harmony 
 with her sister states — pursuing like them, those principles of genuine republicanism 
 which as they minister to good and order and social happiness in each state, strengthen 
 the cords of our confederacy, and promote the prosperity and grandeur of our Amer- 
 ican nation; like them she is emulous of becoming a prominent and weighty link in 
 the federative chain; nor can her pretentions to conspicuity in the union be thought 
 visionary by those who consider her present attainments, and judge of the future 
 from the past: But a few years ago, within the recollection doubtless of many of you, 
 was this country a wilderness, unvisited by civilization or science — Now science, civiliza- 
 tion, commerce and all the arts which facilitate and sweeten human intercourse, not 
 only exist in an advanced state, but are cherished and promoted by our government. 
 Commerce, without which a pacific nation may be wise, virtuous, and happy, but never 
 splendid, has already notwithstanding the late occlusion of the port of Orleans, and 
 our tenure by courtesy, of the Mississippi, unfurled her sails on our rivers, and rode 
 in our harbors — a pleasing presage: Now that those obstacles are removed by the 
 late acquisition of Louisiana, may we not expect her amplest influence." 15 
 
 Among the events transpiring that year, 1804, were these: Henry Clay first elected 
 to the House of Representatives; the expedition of Meriwether Lewis and William 
 Clark (youngest brother of George Rogers) set out (after having received the blessings 
 of George Rogers in Louisville) for the Pacific; the Mirror, Danville's first newspaper, 
 founded; the Republican Register, Shelby ville's first newspaper, founded; Daniel Brad- 
 ford published the first Kentucky magazine, the Medley; the Ohio Canal Company 
 incorporated. 
 
 In 1805 John Adair and Buckner Thruston were appointed to the United States 
 Senate, while John Breckinridge, United States Senator, was appointed by Jefferson 
 as U. S. Attorney General. By far the most sensational transpiration of that year, 
 however, was occasioned by the visit of Aaron Burr. 
 
 COLONEL AARON BURR VISITS KENTUCKY 
 
 So much has been written concerning Aaron Burr, who was certainly one of the 
 most fascinating characters in American history, that this historian will make no effort 
 to seek his frailties or magnify his virtues — surely he possessed both in a marked degree. 
 Whether he was saint or devil has too often been determined by the political affiliations 
 of writers. Pro-Jeffersonians have labored at length to make him all bad, as well as 
 have Hamiltonians; while many anti-Jeffersonians and many pro-Federalists have 
 strained equally hard to present him as good and innocent. 
 
 That he was brilliant in personality, daring and ambitious is true. That he lost 
 caste with Jefferson and the party leaders generally during the contested election of 
 1800, when in the contest before Congress he lacked one vote of being made president 
 instead of vice-president of the United States (which latter office the Jeffersonians 
 assumed he was seeking) is fact; that he was defeated for the governorship of New 
 York largely through the energetic influence of his bitter political and personal enemy, 
 Alexander Hamilton, and because of a slur cast upon his character during that heated 
 gubernatorial election by Hamilton challenged him to a duel and killed him are matters 
 of history. 
 
296 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 Regardless of how good or how evil he was, the killing of Hamilton ruined Burr in 
 the East. Still young and ambitious, he determined to go West, to try his fortunes 
 afresh in that new land of opportunity. He knew that Hamilton had been despised 
 in the West; calculated that he, Burr, would be welcomed with wide-open arms in 
 that trans-Appalachian country. Doubtless Colonel Burr had known of restiveness 
 in the West, known some movements had been made calculated to take that section 
 out of the Union, known that the Spanish West offered a promising field for intrigue 
 and conquest, known that vast acreages of virgin soil could be had for the asking, 
 expected one or more of the Western states to accept him as political leader — in fact, 
 the West was a promising field for the rebuilding of his lost fortunes of various kinds. 
 
 With these thoughts in mind — after unsuccessful efforts to make deals with Britain 
 and Spain 7 — he therefore started, in the early part of 1805, on a trip to the West 
 to survey the situation. Doubtless he had been encouraged by the old master of 
 intrigue, General James Wilkinson, now commander-in-chief of the United States 
 Army and Governor of the vast Territory of Louisiana, whom he planned to meet 
 again, at Pittsburgh. What actually Colonel Burr intended to do has never been 
 known precisely; perhaps he did not know himself, being somewhat visionary. Cer- 
 tainly many nebulous schemes turned in his agile mind. Albert J. Beveridge writes 
 this upon the matter: 
 
 "Only in the fresh and undeveloped West did a new life and a new career seem 
 possible. Many projects filled his mind — everything was possible in that inviting 
 region beyond the mountains. He thought of forming a company to dig a canal around 
 the falls of the Ohio and to build a bridge over the river, connecting Louisville with 
 the Indiana shore. He considered settling lands in the vast dominions beyond the 
 Mississippi which the Nation had newly acquired from Spain. A return to public 
 life as Representative in Congress from Tennessee passed through his mind. 
 
 "But one plan in particular fitted the situation which the apparently certain war 
 with Spain created. Nearly ten years earlier, Hamilton had conceived the idea of 
 the conquest of the Spanish possessions adjacent to us, and he had sought to enlist 
 the Government in support of the project of Miranda to revolutionize Venezuela. 
 Aaron Burr had proposed the invasion and capture of the Floridas, Louisiana, and 
 Mexico two years before Hamilton embraced the project, and the desire to carry out 
 the plan continued strong within him. Circumstances seemed to make the accom- 
 plishment of it feasible. At all events, a journey through the West would enlighten 
 him, as well as make clearer the practicability of his other schemes. . . . 
 
 "On April 10, 1805, Burr left Philadelphia on horseback for Pittsburgh, where he 
 arrived after a nineteen days' journey. Before starting he had talked over his plans 
 with several friends, among them former Senator Jonathan Dayton of New Jersey, 
 who thereafter was a partner and fellow 'conspirator.' 
 
 "Another man with whom Burr had conferred was General James Wilkinson. Burr 
 expected to meet him at Pittsburgh, but the General was delayed and the meeting was 
 deferred. Wilkinson had just been appointed Governor of Upper Louisiana — one 
 of the favors granted Burr during the Chase impeachment — and was the intimate 
 associate of the fallen politician in his Mexican plan until, in a welter of falsehood and 
 coruption, he betrayed him. Indeed, it was Wilkinson who, during the winter of 
 1804-05, when Burr was considering his future, proposed to him the invasion of Mexico 
 and thus gave new life to Burr's old but never abandoned hope. 
 
 "On May 2, Burr started down the Ohio. When he reached Marietta, Ohio, he 
 was heartily welcomed. He next stopped at an island owned by Harman Blenner- 
 hassett, who happened to be away. While inspecting the grounds Burr was invited 
 by Mrs. Blennerhassett to remain for dinner. Thus did chance lay the foundations 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 297 
 
 for that acquaintance which, later, led to a partnership in the enterprise that was 
 ended so disastrously for both. 
 
 "At Cincinnati, then a town of some fifteen hundred inhabitants, the attentions of 
 the leading citizens were markedly cordial. There Burr was the guest of John Smith, 
 then a Senator from Ohio, who had become attached to Burr while the latter was 
 Vice-President, and who was now one of his associates in the plans under consideration. 
 At Smith's house he met Dayton, and with these friends and partners he held a long 
 conversation on the various schemes they were developing." 18 
 
 A week later, Colonel Burr again met Dayton in the "unhealthy and inconsiderable 
 village of Louisville." " From Louisville he traveled by horseback to Frankfort and 
 Lexington. He reached the former town on May 25. Rumors had spread before him 
 concerning his pending visit. Naturally a personage such as Burr — former vice-presi- 
 dent, nearly president, the man who had killed Alexander Hamilton — attracted more 
 than usual interest and speculation. He stayed with John Brown whom he had known 
 personally while the latter was in the United States Senate, over which body Col. 
 Burr had presided while vice-president of the United States. He made no effort at 
 display, merely wished letters of introduction from Mr. Brown to certain political 
 leaders in Tennessee. Burr seems to have had little difficulty in interesting the ad- 
 venture-loving John Adair, of Frankfort, in some sort of western enterprise. In 
 November, 1805, the Legislature elected John Adair to fill out the unexpired term of 
 John Breckinridge (deceased) in the United States Senate. 
 
 Colonel Burr continuing his journey entered Tennessee, where he met the most 
 powerful men of that state, including Andrew Jackson, who was delighted with the 
 charming, manly personality of the graceful, cultivated and beautifully poised easterner. 
 Shortly thereafter he floated down the Cumberland and met Wilkinson at Fort Massac. 
 If a treasonable plot was hatched, it seems that Wilkinson was as deep in it as Burr. 
 The General gave Burr letters of introduction to political leaders in New Orleans. 
 The two must have talked over a Mexican project." 
 
 Concerning the New Orleans visit, Mr. Beveridge writes this: 
 
 "The notables of the city were eager to befriend Burr and to enter into his plans. 
 Among them were John Watkins, Mayor of New Orleans, and James Workman, 
 Judge of the Court of Orleans County. These men were also the leading members 
 of the Mexican Association, a body of three hundred Americans devoted to effecting 
 the 'Liberation' of Mexico — a design in which they accurately expressed the general 
 sentiment of Louisiana. The invasion of Mexico had become Burr's overmastering 
 purpose, and it gathered strength the farther he journeyed among the people of the 
 West and South. To effect it, definite plans were now made. 
 
 "The Catholic authorities of New Orleans approved Burr's project, and appointed 
 three priests to act as agents for the revolutionists in Mexico. Burr's vision of Spanish 
 conquest seemed likely of realization. The invasion of Mexico was in every heart, on 
 every tongue. All that was yet lacking to make it certain was war between Spain and 
 the United States, and every Western or Southern man believed that war was at hand. 
 
 "Late in July, Burr, with justifiably high hope, left New Orleans by the overland 
 route for Nashville, riding on horses supplied by Daniel Clark. Everywhere he found 
 the pioneers eager for hostilities. At Natchez the people were demonstrative.""' 
 
 On his return from New Orleans, Col. Burr was everywhere joyously acclaimed. 
 Men and women vied with one another in doing him honor. He brought news of 
 progress concerning a proposed descent upon the Spanish possessions. At Nashville 
 a great public banquet was given in his honor, and he came in on the arm of ^Old 
 Hickory" who beamed with delight at the prospects of Spanish territory." At Lex- 
 ington and Frankfort the same enthusiasm was shown. He met and fascinated Henry 
 Clay. 
 
298 A S E S Q U I- CENTENNIAL 
 
 "But," declared Mr. Beveridge, "soon strange, dark rumors, starting from Natchez, 
 were sent flying over the route Burr had just traveled with such acclaim. They were 
 set on foot by an American, one Stephen Minor, who was a paid spy of Spain. Burr, 
 it was said, was about to raise the standard of revolution in the Western and Southern 
 States. Daniel Clark wished to advise Burr of these reports and of the origin of them 
 but did not know where to reach him. So he hastened to write Wilkinson that Burr 
 might be informed of the Spanish canard: 'Kentucky, Tennessee, the State of Ohio 
 . . . with part of Georgia and Carolina, are to be bribed with the plunder of the 
 Spanish countries west of us, to separate from the Union.' And Clark added: 'Amuse 
 Mr. Burr with an account of it.' 
 
 "Wilkinson himself had long contemplated the idea of dismembering the Nation; 
 he had even sounded some of his officers upon that subject. As we have seen, he had 
 been the leader of the secession movement in Kentucky. . . . But if Burr ever really 
 considered, as a practical matter, the separation of the Western country from the 
 Union, his intimate contact with the people of that region had driven such a scheme 
 from his mind and had renewed and strengthened his long-cherished wish to invade 
 Mexico. For throughout his travels he had heard loud demands for the expulsion of 
 Spanish rule from America; but never, except perhaps at New Orleans, a hint of 
 secession. And if, during his journey, Burr so much as intimated to anybody the 
 dismemberment of the Republic, no evidence of it ever has been produced." 23 
 
 By this time the cunning Wilkinson had got "cold feet." An old plotter, he had 
 coolly surveyed the prospects and decided that none of Burr's schemes would work out. 
 He therefore gave Burr a letter of introduction to William Henry Harrison, asking 
 that gentleman to send Burr as a territorial delegate to Washington. 
 
 In pursuance of this scheme Burr went East. All the while Eastern papers were 
 screaming treason. He called upon Harman Blennerhassett, captivated this impres- 
 sionable Irishman with a scheme to settle a large area of land beyond the Mississippi 
 known as the Bastrop grant. From wealthy Blennerhassett, he secured money to help 
 carry out his project. 
 
 In August, 1806, Col. Burr started West again. This time to put into execution his 
 enterprise, whatsoever it was. At Blennerhassett's Island (a beautiful strip in the 
 Ohio off the Ohio shore, near the mouth of the Muskingum) he had begun con- 
 struction of fifteen large boats which would accommodate 500 men. Burr himself 
 continued down the Ohio to further other preparations. Soon rumors leaked out 
 through Blennerhassett's clumsiness, and in a short time all sorts of wild charges flew 
 through the air against Burr concerning revolution, treason, detaching the West from 
 the Union, etc' 
 
 Humphrey Marshall, who had been suspicious of Burr from the beginning, now took 
 up the hue and cry in earnest, collaborating with Joseph M. Street in Frankfort's 
 Western World. Writes Mr. Beveridge: 
 
 "Daveiss and Humphrey Marshall now resolved to stay the progress of the plot 
 at which they were convinced that the Republican Administration was winking. If 
 Jefferson was complacent, Daveiss would act and act officially; thus the President, by 
 contrast, would be fatally embarrassed. Another motive, personal in its nature, in- 
 spired Daveiss. He was an able, fearless, passionate man, and he hated Burr violently 
 for having killed Hamilton whom Daveiss had all but worshiped. 
 
 "Early in November the District Attorney moved the United States Court at Frank- 
 fort to issue compulsory process for Burr's apprehension and for the attendance of 
 witnesses. Burr heard of this at Lexington and sent word that he would appear 
 voluntarily. This he did, and, the court having denied Daveiss's motion because of 
 the irregularity of it, the accused demanded that a public and official investigation be 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 299 
 
 made of his plans and activities. Accordingly, the grand jury was summoned and 
 Daveiss given time to secure witnesses."" 
 
 Henry Clay became Burr's attorney. Daveiss being unable to produce a single 
 witness, Burr, "after a dignified and grave harangue" was discharged, "to the tumul- 
 tuous delight of the people."" 
 
 Two weeks later the dauntless Daveiss again demanded of Federal District Judge. 
 Harry Innes the apprehension of Burr. The latter again called upon Clay, who 
 requested of Burr a written pledge of innocence, which was promptly complied with. 
 Young Clay, so convinced of Burr's not having committed any act tainted with treason, 
 "declared in court that he 'could pledge his own honor and innocence' for those of his 
 client." 27 
 
 Although the grand jury had been summoned November 25, but the case was not 
 taken under consideration until December 4, because of the fact that Colonel Daveiss 
 was unable to get the desired witnesses, John Adair and Davis Floyd, of Jeffersonville, 
 Indiana, into court. 
 
 Daveiss' charges were the same as those he had stated previously, namely (as re- 
 corded in the Kentucky Gazette, November 10, 1806) : 
 
 "Motion in the Federal Court of the Kentucky District against Aaron Burr, Esq., 
 late Vice-President of the United States, for crimes of high misdemeanor. 
 
 "On Wednesday, about noon, on the 5th inst., Joseph Hamilton Daveiss, Esq., 
 attorney of the United States for the above district, rose and addressing the court, said 
 that he had a motion to make of the utmost magnitude and extraordinary nature and 
 which regarded the welfare of the Union at large. 
 
 "Col. Daveiss then uttered his historic charge to the court, Judge Harry Innes, 
 presiding, that it was his firm conviction and belief that Col. Burr had been and was 
 engaged in the matter of providing the means for *a military expedition and enterprise 
 within this district, for the purpose of descending the Ohio and Mississippi therewith, 
 and making war upon the subjects of the King of Spain, who are at peace with the 
 people of these United States. To-wit: on the Provinces of Mexico, on the west- 
 wardly side of Louisiana, which appertains and belongs to the King of Spain, an 
 European Prince, with whom these United States are at peace/ 
 
 "And further Col. Daveiss stated: r I have information on which I can rely, that all 
 the western territories are the next object of the scheme — and finally all the region of 
 the Ohio is calculated as falling into the vortex of the new revolution. What the 
 practicability of the scheme is, I will not say; but certainly any progress in it, might 
 cost our country much blood and treasure, . . „ 
 
 On Friday, December 5, the jury returned the second indictment against Burr, as 
 "Not a true Bill." This was a notable achievement for Mr. Clay and his colleague, 
 Colonel John Allen. Yet one's admiration is captured by the stark courage and pluck 
 of Joseph Hamilton Daveiss, who confronted by able legal opposition and a noisy, 
 antagonistic court-room crowd, stood by his guns and tried every means he knew to 
 make the indictment stand. Not long afterward Clay in private interview with Mr. 
 Jefferson in Washington, became unpleasantly aware that the latter believed that all 
 the charges made by Colonel Daveiss true. Burr was later indicted for treason (after 
 Mr. Jefferson had become interested) and tried in Richmond before Chief Justice 
 John Marshall in one of the most famous trials in American history. Again he was 
 not found guilty. 
 
 Years later Mr. Clay wrote from Washington, October 15, 1828, to his friend Dr. 
 Richard Pindell, Lexington, this letter: 
 "My Dear Doctor: . . . 
 
 "Public prosecutions were commenced, in the Federal Court of Kentucky, against 
 Col. Burr, in the fall of 1806. He applied to me and I engaged as his counsel, in 
 
300 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 conjunction with the late Col. John Allen, to defend him. The prosecutions were 
 conducted by the late Col. Joseph Hamilton Daviess, a man of genius, but of strong 
 prejudices, who was so great an admirer of Col. Hamilton, that, after he had attained 
 full age, he (Col. D.) adopted a part of his name as his own. 
 
 "Both Col. Allen and myself believed there was no ground for the prosecution, and 
 that Colonel Daviess was chiefly moved to institute them by his admiration of Col. 
 Hamilton and his hatred of Col. Burr. Such was our conviction of the innocence 
 of the accused, that, when he sent us a considerable fee we resolved to decline accepting 
 it, and accordingly returned it. We said to each other, Col. Burr has been an eminent 
 member of the profession, has been attorney-general of the State of New York, is 
 prosecuted without cause in a distant State, and we ought not to regard him in the 
 light of an ordinary culprit. 
 
 "The first prosecution entirely failed. A second was shortly afterward instituted. 
 Between the two I was appointed a Senator of the U. S. In consequence of that 
 relation to the general government, Col. Burr, who still wished me to appear for him, 
 addressed the note to me, of which a copy is herewith transmitted. I accordingly 
 again appeared for him, with Col. Allen; and when the Grand Jury returned the bill 
 of indictment not true, a scene was presented in the court-room which I had never 
 before witnessed in Kentucky. There were shouts of applause from an audience not 
 one of whom, I am persuaded, would have hesitated to level a rifle against Col. Burr if 
 he believed that he aimed to dismember the Union, or sought to violate its peace 
 or overturn its constitution. . . . 
 
 "Henry Clay."" 
 
 JUDGE SEBASTIAN DISGRACED 
 
 That same year, Judge Benjamin Sebastian (December 6) was convicted by the 
 House of Representatives of receiving, while on the supreme bench, a Spanish pension 
 of $2,000 a year; his resignation was accepted and further charges dropped. Ken- 
 tuckians since 1800 had steadily become more attached to the Union, so that by 1806 
 talk of separation in that quarter was almost universally frowned upon, as wily, astute 
 James Wilkinson likely knew. Even the staunch Federalist, Joseph Hamilton Daveiss, 
 after 1806, received considerable praise for his matchless courage, in striving against 
 overwhelming opposition to prosecute Col. Burr. 
 
 ELECTION OF 1808 
 
 Two candidates presented themselves for governor in the August election of 1808, 
 namely, Colonel John Allen (Allin, in Marshall's History) and General Charles Scott. 
 Mr. Marshall writes this concerning the men: "In point of qualification, and political 
 fitness, of the two, had it not been for a suspicion imbibed from Mr. Allen's conduct 
 in relation to Sebastian and Burr, there should have been no doubt of Mr. Allin's 
 superiority. 
 
 "A more amiable man has rarely lived — while it is believed, his very amiability 
 misled him. With Sebastian, he had been in habits of intimacy; as he had with Judge 
 Innis, and with General Adair; with Colonel Burr, it is thought, his intercourse was 
 but very slight. No candid man of intelligence thought him participient with either. 
 But if he could not, or would not, see the offences of those against whom so much 
 appeared, he was clearly unfit to be governor; nevertheless, he received a large suffrage, 
 but the majority of General Scott, was greater than the whole number of Mr. Allin's 
 votes. Yet, nothing decisive is to be inferred, as to the predominant consideration, 
 however desirable to the politician, who would speculate upon the inducements which 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 301 
 
 influence popular elections, from the result of this: General Scott had the reputation 
 of military service in all the wars of the preceding half century, and military merit 
 had ever been decisive with the people of Kentucky." General Scott, who was not 
 a highly cultured man with a mastery of grammar and diction, had freely admitted 
 his literary and legal limitations to the people during the canvass; he stated simply 
 that he would serve if the people wanted him, and they did want him. 
 
 General Scott chose his son-in-law, Jesse Bledsoe (an able man) to be secretary of 
 state. 
 
 The old warrior's address to the Legislature, which convened in December, is not 
 remarkable from any point of view. Mr. Marshall states that it contained the 
 "customary acknowledgements to the people," and promised the "public good" to be 
 the "great object of pursuit." 32 The Governor called attention to the fact that the 
 militia, whose number reached 32,236, had not been sufficient, not equipped, did not 
 possess rifles, and recommended home manufacturing ("the standing topic") to the 
 solons. He noted that the time was one of privations and advised the giving of 
 "debtors some respite by prolonging the time for replevy." 
 
 NAPOLEONIC WARS 
 
 The burning question of the time had to do with foreign affairs — our relations with 
 Britain and France. These nations were in a life and death struggle. Napoleon, the 
 Hitler of that day, was attempting to conquer the world, it appeared; in fact, he had 
 been remarkably successful to that time. As usual England was holding out. A 
 stalemate had been reached, for the time being; with Britain, whose Nelson had won 
 the decisive victory of Trafalgar, mistress of the seas; while France, whose "Little 
 Corporal" had won the brilliant and devastating victories of Marengo, Austerlitz, Jena 
 and Friedland, master of the continent proper. 
 
 England conceived the idea of preventing supplies from getting to France by means 
 of a blockade. This blockade was put into operation by ministerial measures known 
 as Orders in Council. Napoleon retaliated by declaring a blockade of the British 
 Isles in the Berlin and in the Milan Decrees of 1805 and 1806. Any ship bound for 
 France caught by the British therefore were seized; conversely, any ship bound for 
 England caught by French seamen were confiscated, ships and cargoes. 
 
 American supplies in huge amount were reaching both countries, with more going 
 to England obviously than to France, and more American ships were seized by Britain 
 naturally than by France. American shippers, commercialists, business men, manu- 
 facturers and farmers were doing a terrific business, and, the "sky was the limit" in 
 prices, were quite willing, for the most part, to take the chance of losing ships, even 
 to lose them now and then, in order to realize the vast profits. They could have lost 
 many more ships and still been prosperous. 
 
 Quite naturally interested Americans did not relish losing ships and cargoes. They 
 therefore lodged complaints with the Federal Government, when they suffered having a 
 ship searched or confiscated. They wished to "have their cake and eat it too" which 
 is quite natural. Mr. Jefferson's government protested that the searches, seizures, 
 confiscations, in fact the rr Orders" and the rr Decrees" violated the principal of freedom 
 of the seas, and were contrary to that nebulous element known as international law. 
 The British realized that while a stream of supplies to France flowed from America 
 Bonaparte would not lose his power; conversely, Napoleon realized the same thing 
 regarding England. Each country, believing the destruction of the other to be the 
 most important and essential thing in life, was willing to handle the American merchant 
 marine rather roughly. 
 
302 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 JEFFERSON'S FOREIGN POLICY 
 
 Mr. Jefferson, being a pacifist and a dreamer, desired by all means to avoid war, 
 and he feared that if seizures and confiscations continued war with either Britain or 
 France, or both, would be inevitable. He did take such war-like measures as having 
 guns mounted on rafts to form a sort of dry land navy for protecting the coast and 
 as calling upon the state militias to be in readiness, but he had no intentions of going 
 to war apparently. Jeffersonian economy and decentralization had left the nation 
 almost completely unprepared for war. 
 
 THE EMBARGO ACT, 1807 
 
 Mr. Jefferson felt that he had a decisive weapon, by use of which he would be able 
 to force England and France to their knees, without resort to war. He believed that 
 with the devastating war in progress, both England and France must have American 
 supplies, especially food stuffs, in order to survive. The Orders and the Decrees were 
 hateful. He would withhold supplies therefore from England and France until one or 
 both withdrew the despised measures. Captivated, fascinated, intoxicated with this 
 idea of peaceful coercion, he induced Congress in 1807 to pass the celebrated Embargo 
 Act, forbidding American goods from leaving for Europe and European goods from 
 entering the United States. 
 
 The effects were quite immediate and obvious: European nations grown accustomed 
 to engaging in death struggles for centuries, somehow had survived without America. 
 England and France managed the same thing in that instance, in spite of the Embargo. 
 With no markets, the United States rapidly dropped from boom to depression — 
 almost over night. New England shippers were the first to feel the pinch, with business 
 dead, capital dwindling, with their vessels rotting in harbor and the sailors drinking 
 and smoking themselves to death in the grog shops, while their children went hungry. 
 But the agricultural states soon felt the pinch too. The vast excess of farm supplies 
 for Europe simply rotted; there were no markets. Even Mr. Jefferson, who could 
 find no market for the products of his Monticello plantation, was himself financially 
 ruined. A storm of bitter protest emanated from New England and New York. The 
 Southerners, even most of the Westerners, being largely Republicans, stuck with Jeff- 
 erson and waited, stomached the Embargo, though greatly nauseated indeed. 4 Ken- 
 tucky followed suit. Perhaps the most interested work of the General Assembly of 
 1808 was the passage of a set of resolutions, prepared by Mr. Clay, condoning the 
 foreign policy of the national administration. 
 
 KENTUCKY RESOLUTIONS CONCERNING THE EMBARGO 
 
 Among the resolutions are found these paragraphs: 
 
 cr Resohed, That the embargo was a measure highly judicious, and the only honourable 
 expedient to avoid war — whilst its direct tendency, besides annoying those who had 
 rendered resort to it necessary, was to preserve our seamen and property, exposed to 
 the piratical depredations of foreign vessels. [It should be pointed out that the New 
 England ship-owners and sailors were so bitter against the Embargo as to be practically 
 beside themselves with rage. The expedient of Kentuckians talking of measures to 
 avoid war and measures to protect the property and lives of Yankee sea-going men was 
 something strange and bizarre. But such things are done in the name of party regu- 
 larity.]" 
 
 "Resolved, That whether war, a total non-intercourse, or a more rigid execution of 
 the embargo system, be determined on, the general assembly, however, they may regret 
 the privations consequent on the occasion, will cordially approve and co-operate in 
 enforcing the measure, for they are sensible, that in the present crisis, of the nation, 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 303 
 
 the alternatives are, a surrender of liberty and independence, or, a bold and manly 
 resistance. 
 
 "Resolved, that Thomas Jefferson is entitled to the thanks of his country for the 
 ability, uprightness and intelligence which he has displayed in the management, both 
 of our foreign relations and domestic concerns." 3 '' 
 
 The only man in the Legislature apparently with courage enough to come forward 
 against the Embargo, and consequently the Resolutions (and that may have been 
 occasioned by the fact that he was a Federalist — but certainly, regardless, he showed 
 a courage nevertheless, as was always the case, apparently — even in the duel which 
 he fought about that time with Mr. Clay) . Mr. Marshall, and a one-man crusade — 
 tirade as his enemies would say — introduced resolutions condemning the Embargo 
 and advocating "manly" action. His third resolution is noteworthy; here quoted: 
 
 "That the United States of America have for several years experienced from the 
 governments of Great Britain and of France, repeated usurpations on their sovereignty 
 and independence, and manifold injuries to their rights of navigation and commerce, 
 and that, having, in the spirit of amicable negotiation, employed in vain and exhausted 
 the means of friendly adjustment, without obtaining from either of those governments 
 the reparations due to their just claims for past injury, imposing in the meantime on 
 themselves a rigorous embargo, the better to avoid new causes of irritation and of 
 conflict, it now remains only, for these states, to continue this self-immolating re- 
 striction on their rights, submit their commerce and navigation, unarmed, to the 
 insults and depredations of the unfriendly belligerents, or, authorizing the armament of 
 merchant ships and their convoys, and disclaiming all intercourse with the aforesaid 
 belligerents, so long as they continue their unjust decrees, orders, or aggressions, assert 
 their national independence, with the spirit of freedom, in the practical exercise of 
 their undoubted right of navigation and commerce. In this choice of difficulties, 
 difficulties insuperable to the eye of despondence and to the heart of timidity, there 
 is one course open to honor and to patriotism; it is worthy the American character, 
 it is suitable to the rights and dignity of a sovereign and independent nation: it is, 
 to resume the practical exercise of those just rights of navigation and of commerce, 
 which have been suspended, to the universal destress of the nation, and to defend 
 them with all the energies of a people determined to be free and independent"™ 
 
 Mr. Marshall's resolutions advocated repeal of the Embargo Act, arming of American 
 ships, abstaining from commerce with England and France while their "Orders" 
 and "Decrees" were inforce, the meeting of force with a declaration of war by the 
 United States, and a declaration by the Legislature that Kentucky would support any 
 measure "necessary and proper to protect the rights of the citizen, and maintain the 
 honour and independence of the nation." 37 
 
 Humphrey Marshall (despised by the Republicans, or Jeffersonians) certainly right 
 for once, at least, received one vote for his resolutions — his own — such are the exe- 
 gencies of party politics. He bitterly deplored the rejection of his measures. Ac- 
 tually, inwardly, thousands of good Jeffersonians deplored the Embargo. After a 
 time many leading Kentucky property owners, disgusted with the course taken, left 
 the party — later became Whigs. Among this was the ageing, yet very prominent Judge 
 Samuel McDowell. His letter of April 14, 1810, to his friend Andrew Reid, of 
 Rockbridge County, Virginia, here quoted, is quite revealing: 
 
 "Mr. and Mrs. Mathewes is now here and Perhaps will hand you this and can give 
 you the news of this Country, but news is Scarce here, Only People seeme surprised 
 that Congress should be obliged to Borrow 4 or 5 Millions of Dollars to even be able 
 to Carry on Government so soon After Mr. Jefferson in his last Communication to 
 Congress says that the Treasury was so over stocked with cash that he advised Con- 
 gress lay out the surplus money in the Treasury in Cuting Canells and opening Pub- 
 
304 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 lick Roads. (How hipocritical or indeed it deserves a worse name) . When Jefferson must 
 have known that his most abomonable schemes of Gun Botes, Imbargoes, Nonenteroses 
 6Cc together with his friends Wilkinson &c, Withe the Raskely Conduct of several most 
 Eminent Democrates that he Put into office by making room for them by Turning out 
 good honoust men who were real friends to the Republick, Because they were not 
 friends to (his) Jefferson's Election as President. But I fear a Wors Evel is still 
 awaiting America than any of the above, from Jefferson's Conduct with the two Bele- 
 gerent Powers that was his marked Partiallity in favour of France and his conduct 
 towards England, and I fear Mr. Madison is going too much in the steps of his Prede- 
 cessor. I only pray that God would be Pleased to Prevent the evels that I believe 
 Jefferson has designedly Laid the Plan to bring about (viz) a Connection with France 
 and of Course be a Colony, or Jefferson be a Noble or Perhaps King. I hope that the 
 whole wicked Scheemes of Governmental Intreagues may be fully brought to Publick 
 view, that the Real enemys of our Liberty and Independence may be fully discovered 
 is the sincere wish of your sincere friend &c. 
 
 Sam'l McDowell." 38 
 
 THE NON INTERCOURSE ACT, 1809 
 
 The Embargo Act had become so unpopular by 1809 that another act, known as 
 the Non-Intercourse Act, was passed, repealing the despised and ineffective law of 
 1807, and providing for the continued non-intercourse with Britain and France and 
 their dependencies, but lifting the restrictions to trade with the other countries. This 
 act quite obviously did not prevent the flow of goods to England and France, as other 
 nations simply transhipped. Both England and France therefore continued to seize 
 and confiscate American goods and ships. 
 
 Soon after the passage of the Non-Intercourse law the Decree of Ramboulet was 
 Issued by Napoleon, providing for the seizure of United States ships and cargoes. 
 American goods carried to Spain, Holland and other French-dominated lands and 
 waters were seized to the amount of "many millions" worth of merchandise. Again 
 the nation was greatly vexed, and the Jeffersonians received more criticism. 
 
 POPULATION, 1810 
 
 During this period Kentucky steadily grew in population, as evinced by the census 
 of 1810. That year the census indicated a white population of 324,237; a slave popu- 
 lation of 80,561; and a free Negro population of 2,759. These figures show an in- 
 crease during the past ten years of 144,362 whites, 40,218 slaves, and 2,115 free 
 Negroes. The total population for 1810 was 407,657 persons of all descriptions. 
 
 THE ELECTION OF 1812 
 
 The Non-Intercourse Act of 1809 having failed of its desired purpose, the Congress 
 passed an act known as Macon's Bill No. 2. This law provided for general lifting of 
 embargo upon all nations, with the provision that if England or France repealed 
 "Orders" or "Decrees" then the Non-intercourse would be slapped back upon the one, 
 England or France, which failed to comply. The Kentuckians by that time were 
 thoroughly disgusted with Jeffiersonian and Madisonian appeasement measures and 
 called for stern action. They did not, however, break with the Republican party. 
 
 As Britain controlled the seas, naturally most of our trouble — impressment of 
 American seamen, seizure of American ships and cargoes — was with that nation. For 
 a time through the good offices of the British Ambassador, Mr. David Montague 
 Erskine, it appeared that an arrangement very favorable to the United States in re- 
 turn for a relaxation of the Non-Intercourse Act would be made; however, Mr. Ers- 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 305 
 
 kine's efforts were disallowed by the British Ministry and that ambassador recalled. 
 In return an Americophobe, Mr. Francis James Jackson, was appointed. He per- 
 pertrated every studied insult to the United States possible, it seems, and the American 
 people in their wrath loudly demanded his removal, which was done. The wily Na- 
 poleon hoodwinked Mr. Madison into believing that "he loved the American people" 
 and would repeal the "Decrees." Affairs with Britain had reached such an impasse 
 by 1810 that in Kentucky war seemed certain. Moreover, Henry Clay, Speaker of the 
 National House of Representatives, had become the leader of a small but powerful 
 group of Congressmen known as the "War Hawk," who demanded war with England. 
 In addition, the Indians of the Northwest under the able leadership of the noble Te- 
 cumseh and his brother, Olliwockica, called the "Prophet," were actively forming a 
 strong federation of both the Northern and Southern tribes to present a united front 
 against the encroachments of the whites. Incidents of violence by the braves against 
 the whites were becoming numerous, and it was certain that war against them was 
 imminent. 
 
 Under the circumstances therefore, Kentuckians turned once more to the old warrior, 
 Isaac Shelby, for their governor, Scott's term expiring in 1812. That year Shelby 
 was easily elected, with Richard Hickman as Lieutenant Governor. 4 
 
 FOOTNOTES FOR CHAPTER XI 
 
 'Collins, History of Kentucky, I, 25. 
 "Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., I, 477. 
 'Collins, I, 24. 
 [Ibid., p. 15. 
 
 °Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., I, 478. 
 [Ibid., I, 481. 'Ibid., I, 481. 
 "Marshall, op.cit., II, 351. 
 ''Marshall, op.cit., II, 415, 416. 
 10 Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., I, 483. 
 Ibid., I, 428, citing Fish, American Diplomacy, 144. 
 J2 Jbid., I, 427. 
 
 12a Samuel Eliot Morison and Henry Steele Commager, The Growth of the American 
 Republic, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1930) p. 274. 
 " b Ibid., p. 275. 
 "Marshall, op.cit., II, 362. 
 "Collins, op.cit., II, 303, 304. 
 "Marshall, op.cit., II, 368. 
 "Collins, op.cit., I, 25. 
 ''Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., I, 455. 
 "Beveridge, John Marshall, III, pp. 286-291. 
 "Ibid., Ill, 291. 
 2 °Beveridge, op.cit., Ill, 295. 
 "Ibid., Ill, 295. 
 "See Dr. W. R. Jillson's Burr bibliography, which follows: 
 
 Bibliography — Primary Sources 
 
 Alexander, Holmes M., Aaron Burr, The Proud Pretender. (New York, 1937.) 
 
 Anonymous, Trial of Aaron Burr. Senate Debates. 1852. 
 
 Bradford, Daniel, Kentucky Gazette. Lexington, 1806.) 
 
 Burr, Aaron, The Private Journal of Aaron Burr. (New York, 1858.) 
 
 Carpenter, T., The Trial of General Aaron Burr for Treason. (Washington, 1807.) 
 
306 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 Clark, Daniel, Proofs of the Corruption of General James Wilkinson. (1809.) 
 Colton, Calvin, Life and Times of Henry Clay. (New York, 1846.) 
 
 Daveiss, Joseph Hamilton, A View of the President's Conduct Concerning the Con- 
 spiracy of 1806. (Frankfort, 1807.) Reprinted in Quarterly Publication of the 
 Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio, Vol. XII, Nos. 2 and 3. (Cincin- 
 nati, 1917.) 
 Hunter, William, The Palladium. Frankfort, 1806. 
 Innes, Harry. Innes Mss. Vol. 18. Library of Congress. 
 
 Jefferson, Thomas, A Proclamation by the President, etc., November 27, 1806. 
 Jefferson, Thomas, Message from the President, etc., January 22, 1807. 
 Marshall, Humphrey, History of Kentucky, Vol. II. (Frankfort, 1824.) 
 Robertson, David, Reports on the Trials of Colonel Aaron Burr. (Philadelphia, 1808.) 
 Robertson, David, Trial of Aaron Burr for Treason. (New York, 1875.) 
 Street, Joseph, and Wood, John, The Western World. (Frankfort, 1806.) 
 Tunstall, Thomas. U. S. District Court Order Book G. Frankfort, 1806. 
 Wilkinson, James, Burr's Conspiracy Exposed, etc. (Washington, 1811.) 
 Wood, John, Full Statement of Trial and Acquittal of Aaron Burr. (Alexandria, 
 Virginia, 1807.) 
 
 Bibliography — Secondary Sources 
 
 Adams, Henry, History of the United States of America. 9 Vols. (New York, 
 
 1889-93.) References are to Vol. Ill, "During the Second Administration of 
 
 Thomas Jefferson." (New York, 1890.) 
 Anonymous, Memoir of Henry Clay. (Philadelphia, 1854.) 
 Beard, Charles, The Aaron Burr Conspiracy. (New York, 1936.) 
 Beveridge, Albert J., Life of John Marshall. (New York, 1919.) 
 Brady, Joseph P., Trial of Aaron Burr. (New York, 1913.) 
 
 Butler, Mann, History of the Commonwealth of Kentucky- (Louisville, 1834.) 
 Carrier, A. H., Monument to the Memory of Henry Clay. (Cincinnati, 1858.) 
 Channing, Edward, History of the United States, Vol. IV. (New York, 1917.) 
 Channing, Edward, The Jeffersonian System. (New York, 1906.) 
 Clark, Thomas D., A History of Kentucky. (New York, 1937.) 
 Collins, Lewis, Historical Sketches of Kentucky. (Cincinnati, 1850.) 
 Collins, Richard H., History of Kentucky. Vol 1. (Covington, 1882.) 
 Colton, Calvin, Private Correspondence of Henry Clay. (Cincinnati, 1856.) 
 Coombs, J. J., Trial of Aaron Burr for Treason. (1807.) (1864.) 
 Crittenden, H. H., The Crittenden Memoirs. (New York, 1936.) 
 Cox, Isaac J., and Swinford, H. A., An Introduction to a reprint of View of the 
 
 President's Conduct Concerning the Conspiracy of 1806. See Daveiss above. 
 Davis, M. L., Memoirs of Aaron Burr. (New York, 1836.) 
 Jenkinson, Isaac, Aaron Burr, etc. (Richmond, Indiana, 1902.) 
 Jillson, W. R., "Henry Clay's Defense of Aaron Burr." Lexington Herald, December 
 
 19, 1942. 
 Jillson, W. R., Henry Clays Defense of Aaron Burr in 1806. (Frankfort, 1943.) 
 Johnson, L. F., History of Franklin County, Kentucky. (Frankfort, 1912.) 
 Kennedy, W. P., Henry Clay Not Aaron Burr's Attorney, etc. Congressional Record, 
 
 December 14, 1942. 
 Kentucky. Act to Prevent Unlawful Warlike Enterprizes. (Frankfort, 1807.) 
 Kerkhoff, J. D., Aaron Burr — Romantic Biography. (New York, 1931.) 
 Kerr, Charles, History of Kentucky. Vol. 1. (Chicago, 1922.) 
 Knapp, Samuel L., Life of Aaron Burr. (New York, 1835.) 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 307 
 
 McCaleb, W. F., Aaron Burr Conspiracy and New Orleans. (American Historical 
 
 Association, 1904.) 
 McCaleb, W. F., The Aaron Burr Conspiracy. (New York, 1936.) 
 McClung, J. A., Outline History [of Kentucky to 1846]. (Maysville, 1847.) 
 McClung, J. A.., Outline History [of Kentucky to 1846}. (Covington, 1882.) 
 McElroy, R. M., "The Burr Conspiracy," in Kentucky in the Nation s History. (New- 
 
 York, 1909.) 
 Mallory, Daniel, The Life and Speeches of Henry Clay. (New York, 1844.) 
 Mayo, Bernard, Henry Clay, Spokesman of the New West. (Boston, 1937.) 
 Miller, Shackelford, Wilkinson-Burr Conspiracy. (Louisville, 1922.) 
 Parton, James, Life and Times of Aaron Burr. (New York, 1858.) 
 Perrin, W. H., Kentucky: History of the State. (Louisville, 1886.) 
 Prentice, George D., Biography of Henry Clay. (Hartford, Connecticut, 1831.) 
 Randall, E. O., Blennerhassett. Ohio Archeological and Historical Society. Colum- 
 bus, 1900.) 
 Safford, William H., Blennerhassett Papers. (Cincinnati, 1891.) 
 Schachner, N., Aaron Burr: Biography. ( — .) 
 
 Schneider, N. F., Blennerhassett and Burr Conspiracy. (Zanesville, 1938.) 
 Schurz, Carl, Henry Clay. (Boston, 1899.) 
 Seitz, D. C, The "Also Rans." (New York, 1928.) 
 Shaler, N. S., Kentucky, A Pioneer Commonwealth. (Boston, 1884.) 
 Shane, John D., interview with John Lewis, September, 1855, Kentucky Papers, Draper 
 
 Collection, Manuscript No. 15CC13-16. (Madison, Wisconsin.) 
 Smith, Zachary F., History of Kentucky. (Louisville, 1892.) 
 Spofford, W. H., Aaron Burr. Library of Historical Characters, Vol. VII. (Boston, 
 
 1905.) 
 Staples, Charles R., History of Pioneer Lexington, Kentucky. (Lexington, 1939.) 
 Todd, Mrs. A. R., "Burr and Blennerhassett at Chaumiere," The Register, Kentucky 
 
 State Historical Society, Vol. 14. (January, 1916.) 
 Van Deusen, G. G., Life of Henry Clay. (Boston, 1937.) 
 Wandell, S. H., Aaron Burr in Literature. (London, England, 1936.) 
 Wandell and Minnegerode, Aaron Burr. 2 vols. (New York, 1925.) 
 Wilkinson, James, Memoirs of My Own Times. Vol. I. (Philadelphia, 1816.) 
 Wilson and Fiske, Apple ton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography. (New York, 
 
 1887.) 
 Wilson, Samuel M., History of Kentucky, Vol. II. (Chicago, 1928.) 
 Wilson, Samuel M., "Court Proceedings in 1806 in Kentucky Against Aaron Burr and 
 
 John Adair," The Filson Club History Quarterly, Vol. 10. (January, 1936.) 
 Wirt, William, "Against Aaron Burr," in Modern Eloquence, Vol. XV. (Philadelphia, 
 1903.) 
 "Ibid., Ill, 294, 295. 
 "'Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., I, 441. 
 "Beveridge, op.cit., Ill, 318. 
 "Ibid., Ill, 318. "Ibid., Ill, 319. 
 
 "The Filson Club History Quarterly, Vol. 17, p. 224 (Dr. W. R. Jillson, "Aaron 
 Burr's Trial at Frankfort.") 
 "Ibid., 225, 226. 
 "Collins, op.cit., I, 26. 
 "Marshall, op.cit., II, 457, 458. 
 "Ibid., II, 458. "Ibid., II, 459. 
 34 McElroy, op.cit., pp. 318, 319. 
 Ibid., I, 459. A few years previously, 1793, Kentuckians were bitterly denouncing 
 
 21— Vol. I 
 
308 A S E S Q U I- CENTENNIAL 
 
 Washington for attempting to preserve peace by issuing the Neutrality Proclamation; 
 but Washington was thought to be a Federalist; now Mr. Jefferson, a Republican, is 
 warmly praised for striving to keep the peace by means of the destructive Embargo. 
 Such has been and is the power of political party in Kentucky. 
 
 "Ibid., II, 460. 
 
 "Ibid., II, 461. 
 
 3 *The Filson Club History Quarterly, Vol 16, p. 181 ("Thirteen Letters by Samuel 
 McDowell") . 
 
 "Ibid., II, 466. 
 
 "Ibid., II, 472. 
 
 41 Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., I, 546. 
 
 "Drake, Wilson, Ardery, Kentucky in Retrospect, p. 60. 
 
A, 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 KENTUCKY IN THE WAR OF 1812 
 THE BATTLE OF TIPPECANOE 
 
 .ctually the declaration precipitating the War of 1812 was due 
 principally to the West; not to the East, which seemed to have most cause for grievance 
 against Britain — such as impressment of seamen, confiscation of ships and cargoes, etc. 
 The two most decisive causes of the War were the West's desire for expansion (West 
 and Northwest) and the depredations of the Indians, believed to have been incited by the 
 British. In 1811 certain Wabash Indians committed both marauder and murder along 
 the Ohio, at least one victim being a Kentuckian. 1 That year, Kentucky leaders were 
 well aware that Tecumseh and his brother, the Prophet, were busily engaged in forming 
 a vast Indian confederation composed of both Northern and Southern tribes. 
 
 That the whites steadily encroached upon lands claimed by the red men in Indiana 
 is certain. However, Tecumseh, the able Wabash chieftain, who often visited terri- 
 torial Governor William Henry Harrison at Vincennes, the capital, was able to hold 
 his inflamed braves in check, able to prevent outrages for some time. In 1811, Te- 
 cumseh, though, visited tribes of the South, with the object of bringing these into the 
 proposed great Indian confederation. With that noble leader gone, the Prophet was 
 unable to hold in check the Wabash braves. Depredation and loss of life occurred. 
 
 The territorial governor collected troops at Fort Knox (a part of Vincennes) during 
 the summer of 1811 for a march to that Prophet's village, now that the braves had 
 obligingly presented a causa belli. It has been suggested by some that Harrison de- 
 sired to bring on a conflict, in order to gain military laurels." However this may be, 
 he moved northward toward the Prophet's village, with contingents of regular troops, 
 and Kentucky and Indiana militia. In October, he paused at the site of Terre Haute 
 to erect Fort Harrison. Proceeding northward, he perceived that the redmen — steadily 
 becoming more sullen — were determined to hold their lands; but these made no move 
 against his force immediately; even permitted the moving through the Prophet's town 
 early in November and on the mouth of Tippecanoe Creek. The area through which 
 Harrison marched was unceded, and the procession might be considered therefore an 
 act of war, points out Professor Paxson. The General did not destroy the village as 
 his men suggested but proceeded on the night of November 6 to select a camping site, 
 being guided by his Indian scouts. There he was 150 miles away from his base, in 
 hostile territory, with insufficient supplies, and with troops restive under attempted 
 discipline. Professor Paxson describes the battle' which followed, November 7, in this 
 version: 
 
 "The American camp was on a hog's-back south of the Tippecanoe Creek, as it 
 enters into the Wabash. The American army did not entrench, for it lacked trenching 
 tools. The men slept on their arms, through a rainy night. Sentries were placed, 
 and one of these gave the warning about 4 o'clock on the morning of November 7, 
 that the Indians were rushing the camp. From the moment of the onset until daybreak 
 the outcome of the engagement was uncertain, but with daylight the American marks- 
 men were able to drive the Indians back, and hold their ground. Through the next 
 ten days Harrison worked his force back to Vincennes, and the further they marched 
 the more they convinced themselves that they had won a great victory. As time passed 
 on, the events of Tippecanoe ran the gauntlet of hostile controversy; but Harrison's 
 supporters in the Northwest never wavered in their belief in his military genius. He 
 was the first personality of political consequence to emerge from the Northwest Terri- 
 tory, and throughout the remaining thirty years of his life the Hero of Tippecanoe 
 
310 A S E S Q U I-C ENTENNIAL 
 
 was a personification of the frontier spirit. Had he not been as well the eager repre- 
 sentative of the frontier desire to quiet Indian land titles, his vogue would never have 
 been enough to make him President."* 
 
 General Harrison, although his losses were rather severe, was perhaps lucky. The 
 fate of St. Clair's army, under similar circumstances, will be recalled. In spite of the 
 fact that many historians, from Marshall to Paxson, have spoken rather disparingly 
 of Harrison's military ability, it is certainly safe to assume that he possessed more than 
 ordinary skill. Not the least of his assets was the esteem and confidence placed in him 
 by his men. Our loss in killed was 62, and total casualties of 188; while the red men's 
 loss was perhaps less than half that number.' Included in our Kentucky dead were 
 Colonels Joseph Hamilton Daveiss and Abraham Owen. "To these departed spirits," 
 writes Butler, "may be added Colonel Geiger and Colonel Samuel Wells, who headed 
 a small company of the gallant young men in the neighborhood of Louisville, including 
 Croghan, O'Fallon, Shipp, Chum and Edwards; who with Meade and Captain Funk, 
 all fleshed their arms for wider, though not nobler fields, under the same gallant skill- 
 ful Harrison."" 
 
 Mr. Butler explains the losses in this manner: "Suffice it to say for our own purpose, 
 that the Indians experienced at the battle of Tippecanoe, fought at their own cabins, 
 and at their own time, with about equal numbers, a heavier loss than is known to 
 have ever been inflicted upon this subtle and fugitive enemy, in any night attack, in 
 our history."' One amusing incident, recounted by Colonel Rueben T. Durrett, 
 founder of The Filson Club. Colonel George Rogers Clark Floyd (son of the 
 celebrated pioneer, Col. John Floyd and named for his father's warm friend, General 
 George Rogers Clark) commander of the Fourth Regiment, was roused from his tent 
 before day at Tippecanoe by savage yells and rifle fire. Without taking time to dress, 
 he grabbed his sword and rushed out to battle in his night shirt, plunging into the 
 thick of the fight, more or less, in nature's gift to him. Maddened by the treachery 
 of the savages, he fought like a demon, being every where, it seemed, along the lines 
 urging his men to frenzy against the tawny foe. He appeared up and down the lines 
 like a mad white fantom striking terror and death to the red men. The story was 
 related at a banquet given in Louisville in his and that of other Louisvillian veterans' 
 honor shortly after the battle. 
 
 POLITICAL ACTION 
 
 Following the Battle of Tippecanoe, Kentuckians found enough recently shipped 
 British rifles and other equipment on the ground to convince their state's political 
 leaders that England had incited and supplied the red men. This was good material 
 for Henry Clay, young Speaker of the Lower House of Congress, and his insistent 
 "War hawk" colleagues. Though they were disappointed with Mr. Jefferson's pacifiistic 
 policies, Kentuckians, for the most part, remained loyal to him. Mr. Madison, how- 
 ever, could not gain this loyalty. They clamored for action more vociferously with 
 the perpetration of each fresh British outrage.' Embargo had failed, Non-Intercourse 
 failed, and Macon's Bill No. 2 was no better. After all, party loyalty was all right 
 but by 1812 the old line Jeffersonians were both superannuated in years and in power. 
 Young, virile, enthusiastic, fighting Republicans were crowding out the old-timers of 
 the Jefferson school in quite a noisy and predatory manner. It is said that Henry 
 Clay' and his friends bluntly announced to Mr. Madison that his nomination in 1812 
 for a second term depended upon whether or not he would agree to call for a declara- 
 tion of war against Britain. 
 
 As stated by Professor McElroy, the desire of Kentucky to invade Canada was ex- 
 pressed by Mr. Clay in these words: "The conquest of Canada is in your power: 
 I trust I shall not be deemed presumptuous when I state that I verily believe that the 
 
Courtesy, Filson Club. 
 
 Henry Ci.ay 
 
312 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 militia of Kentucky are alone competent to place Montreal and upper Canada at your 
 feet. Is it nothing to the British nation; is it nothing to the pride of her monarch, to 
 have the last of the immense North American possessions, held by him in the com- 
 mencement of his reign, wrested from his dominions? Is it nothing to us to extinguish 
 the torch that lights up savage warfare?" 
 
 In his message to Congress of June 1, 1812, President Madison indicated his willing- 
 ness to bow to the wishes of the "Warhawks" by suggesting the advisability of prepara- 
 tions for opposing force to force in defence of American rights. He listed a catalogue 
 of grievances among which were concerned with freedom of the seas (as though he 
 were acting for Federalist New England, which was violently opposed to war with 
 England) , but containing two charges of Britain's causing Indian outrages in the 
 West. Eccentric, sarcastic old John Randolph of Roanoke, the bitterest Old School Re- 
 publican opponent of a war against Britain, was soon whipped down by the eloquent 
 arrogant "Warhawks", and on June 4, 1812, the Lower House passed a declaration 
 of war against England. The measure was bitterly opposed in the Senate, where it 
 was debated twelve days (even Kentucky's John Pope striving desperately to defeat 
 it) before it was narrowly enough passed. It was somewhat Mr. Clay's war, and even 
 though the Nation was dangerously unprepared for it (thanks to the old Jeffersonian 
 policy of economy) , yet the American is rather thrilled with the ardent patriotism of 
 young "Harry of the West." 
 
 A few days later, toward the end of June, the news reached Kentucky; the populace 
 of this war-like state were greatly rejoiced. "Celebrations and impassioned orations 
 were the order of the day throughout the Commonwealth," states the Lexington 
 Reporter. 11 
 
 The ebullient outbursts and the ardent oratory soon received a decided chill in the 
 form of news of Hull's disasterous and, as generally believed, dastardly surrender of 
 the Michigan territory at Detroit. A few weeks earlier the retiring Governor Scott 
 had issued a call for 1500 Kentucky volunteers to join the army of the superannuated 
 General William Hull; commander at Detroit. 1 " These joyous troops had reached 
 Georgetown when the strange news of the disaster arrived, the announcement that 
 Hull had thrown out the white flag and surrendered "without firing a shot" to General 
 Isaac Brock and Tecumseh — a force twice as large as the British and Indian and be- 
 hind a river and breastworks at that. 3 
 
 An outburst of indignation quickly spread throughout Kentucky, mounting in due 
 time to little short of fury. For a while the Kentucky newspapers were filled with 
 bitter denunciations of Hull to whose "imbecility, cowardice, or treachery" the disaster 
 was attributed. Mr. Madison came in for a full blast of criticism for keeping in office 
 in the War Department an army of men so old and decrepid as to be not only not 
 able to take the field but incapable of making intelligent decisions either. Even 
 Madison himself was despaired of as a war president — and it is quite true that he was 
 not equipped to be a war leader, in spite of his earlier greatness. 
 
 While hesitancy and indecision plagued the Washington officials, the people of 
 Kentucky clamored for action. Their men were moving northward to the front, and 
 they did not fancy having them slaughtered because of the stupidity of some superan- 
 nuated holder of an office or title, gained by a glib, sycophantic tongue and political 
 wire-pullers, with little consideration given to ability, leadership or fighting quality. 
 President Madison procrastinated and the Commonwealth leaders acted for them- 
 selves. A council of War met — composed of Governor Scott, Shelby, Clay, Greenup, 
 Thomas Todd and others — and decided to confer upon the choice of the Kentucky 
 people, William Henry Harrison, the rank of brevet Major General of Kentucky 
 Militia; these authorized him to take charge of troops moving northward. Writes 
 Professor McElroy concerning this action: "This decision was extraordinary, in view 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 313 
 
 of the fact that General Harrison was not a Kentuckian; but the Governor and his 
 advisers knew the hold which he had upon the hearts of the Kentuckians, and their 
 confidence in the appointment was shown by their decision to, 'increase the detach- 
 ment ... to be sent to the relief of Hull, to three thousand.' ' : 
 
 This action was rather high-handed, yet as most of the troops for the war in the 
 Northwest would be Kentuckians, apparently the mild-mannered, greatly harassed 
 Madison made no angry outburst, although he had picked General James Winchester 
 of Tennessee to be commander of the Western army. Actually Winchester had taken 
 command at Fort Wayne, September 19, 1812. Mr. Madison wisely decided to yield 
 to the Kentucky wishes and, in pursuance thereof, countermanded his first orders and 
 gave the command to General Harrison. 10 
 
 General Harrison was faced with a difficult task. His objective was Upper Canada. 
 But Michigan had been surrendered to the enemy, making his task doubly difficult. 
 Moreover, Lake Erie, of most important strategic value, was securely held by the 
 British, really making progress impossible to land force. His troops, which never 
 reached a number greater than 6,000 (most of whom were Kentuckians), were un- 
 trained, and his commissary service was abominable. In addition the swampy, cold 
 country was infested with ferocious savages. No matter how much ability the com- 
 mander possessed — and he certainly possessed, according to Professor McElroy, "ample 
 ability," the task was herculean, and disasters might have been expected. 
 
 On January 1, 1813, General Winchester's division, composed of the Kentucky 
 volunteers of Lieutenant Colonels William Lewis and John Allen, with a small body 
 of regulars, reached Fort Defiance. Having arrived at the Rapids of the Maumee, 
 on January 10, these awaited the arrival of General Harrison. They reached that 
 point greatly dispirited from their long march and in a bad frame of mind, having 
 entered the service in August, marched and countermarched for five months under 
 the most trying conditions to no apparent purpose. Now they were encamped — ex- 
 hausted, shivering and hungry — in the middle of a frozen wilderness to await a con- 
 tingent of their fellow Kentuckians, who were passing through the same horrors of 
 mud, swamp, hunger and cold which they themselves had undergone. In one month 
 their terms of enlistment would expire, and they had determined to go home. 
 
 THE DISASTER AT FRENCHTOWN 
 
 On January 14, news reached the camp that two companies of Canadian militia, 
 and two hundred Indians were quartered at Frenchtown on the River Raisin, only 
 thirty-eight miles away. The inhabitants, fearing massacre, urgently appealed for 
 help. The Kentuckians demanded permission to march upon Frenchtown, and Gen- 
 eral Winchester granted consent. Colonel Lewis, a few hours later, moved out with 
 550 Kentucky volunteers and a short time later was followed by Colonel Allen with 
 110 more. Indians, contesting the way, were put to rout and Frenchtown easily taken. 
 
 As has been pointed out by many historians, holding Frenchtown was the heighth 
 of folly. Winchester should have taken his men and news of heartening victory 
 (which would have meant a great deal to the weary army of Harrison) and retired 
 on the main force. A strong British garrison was stationed at Maiden, only eighteen 
 miles distant, "with a fast frozen lake forming an easy highway for them and with 
 General Harrison, and his wing of the army, too far away to serve as reinforcements." 
 Yet Winchester, upon ascertaining intelligence of the victory moved forward with 250 
 regulars, commanded by Colonel Wells, leaving General John Payne with 300 Ken- 
 tucky volunteers to guard his camp at the Rapids, and await the arrival of General 
 Harrison. He entered Frenchtown January 20, and found Colonel Lewis' proud men 
 posted within a strong palisade. 
 
314 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 This was not the only blunder of Winchester. Instead of "massing all his men 
 within the picketing," he encamped Colonel Well's regulars "in an open space to 
 the right of the Palisade." 1 ' His own quarters were in a farmhouse, almost a mile 
 away. He pointed out to Colonel Samuel Wells the possibility of erecting a breast- 
 work for the protection of his camp. Next morning, all being quiet, Wells was 
 actually permitted by General Winchester to return to the Rapids of the Maumee. 
 
 Shortly thereafter a Frenchman brought news that a large force of British and 
 Indians had left Maiden apparently for Frenchtown. The Kentuckian historian of 
 the War, General Robert McAfee, writes that the news must have been discredited 
 alike by officers and men, for no preparations were made by the one, nor apprehen- 
 sions exhibited by the other. The most fatal security prevailed — many of the troops 
 even wandered about the town till late in the night. Colonel Lewis and Major 
 Madison, alone, seemed to be on the alert; they cautioned their men to be prepared 
 at all times for an attack."" It seems that that day, January 22, passed without 
 incident, but at daybreak "three guns fired in rapid succession, followed by a heavy 
 discharge of artillery, firing grape and small bullets," announced the approach of 
 the enemy. General Henry Proctor was on hand with 2,000 British regulars, Indians 
 and Canadians. 
 
 Professor McElroy thus describes the battle: 
 
 "In spite of the suddendness of the assault, Lewis' Kentucky volunteers, lodged 
 within the palisade, repulsed the first attack made upon them, but the regulars, en- 
 camped in the open, were instantly thrown into a panic. Not having presence of 
 mind to take refuge within the palisade, they fled, in wild confusion, down the path 
 leading to the Rapids. The savages pursued them, slaughtering without mercy. 
 Colonels Lewis and Allen gallantly left the comparative shelter of the palisade, and, 
 with two companies of Kentucky volunteers, endeavored to stay the panic, but with- 
 out effect. Their heroism but added new victims for the slaughter. Colonel Allen, 
 although severely wounded in the thigh, continued to cheer on his men, and when 
 attacked by two Indian warriors at once, had succeeded in cutting down one of them, 
 when a shot, from the rifle of a third, put an end to his heroic struggle. Colonel 
 Lewis was speedily overpowered and made prisoner, and General Winchester, who 
 had arrived from his distant quarters, was captured, while frantically appealing to 
 his regulars to stand and give battle. 
 
 "All who had ventured outside the shelter of the palisade were lost; but the most 
 of the Kentucky volunteers, having been held within those feeble defences, were still 
 unconquered and defiant. Again and again Colonel Proctor tried to dislodge them. 
 He posted a six-pounder some two hundred yards from the enclosure, knowing that 
 the palisades would be a poor defence against artillery; but the Kentucky riflemen 
 within shot the horse which was to convey the necessary ammunition, and the gun 
 remained silent." 1 " 
 
 Meanwhile, the Indians and Canadians attacked Col. Well's regiment, posted on 
 the open ground, "with savage yells, and a slaughtering fire, from the cover of the 
 houses, and enclosures which flanked them." 2 ' After a brief action, in which many 
 were killed, this regiment gave way in total confusion. General Winchester, coming 
 up from his distant quarters, strove to rally the contigent "within cover of the picket- 
 ing occupied by the Kentuckians," but the panic was so complete that no order was 
 effective. The routed men fled through the deep snow along the road over which 
 they had advanced from the Rapids, thirty-six hours previously. "They were," writes 
 Judge John A. McClung, "pursued by four times their number of Indians, and an 
 indiscriminate and almost total butchery ensued." Colonels Allen and Lewis left the 
 picketing, and strove heroically to rally the fugitives, but Allen was killed and Lewis, 
 as well as Winchester, taken prisoners. Many Kentuckians, among whom were Wool- 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 315 
 
 folk, Simpson and Meade (all killed) , strove desperately to rally Well's men — even 
 to bring them to the shelter of the picketing, but all in vain. The fugitives were 
 completely panic-striken; scarcely one of these escaped death or captivity. Mean- 
 while the Kentuckians inside the palisade under Majors George Madison and Ben- 
 jamin Graves held the enemy at bay — held them for four hours. During this time 
 six field pieces played upon them incessantly from many positions, until at length all 
 of their ammunition was exhausted except one keg of cartridges. 
 
 General Proctor then summoned them to surrender, through General Winchester, 
 offering honorable terms and ample protection for the wounded. After considerable 
 parleying, the terms, which seemed honorable, were accepted. The terms, so far as 
 those unhurt were concerned, were faithfully kept, but the treatment of the sick and 
 wounded was a far different story. This account of the latter is recorded by McClung: 
 "These were left in Frenchtown, without a guard, as had been stipulated, under the 
 care of the American surgeons, attended by a single British officer and a few inter- 
 preters. A number of drunken Indians entered the town on the morning after the 
 battle, and the helpless wounded were murdered with circumstances of shocking bar- 
 barity. The wounded officers, Major Benjamin Graves, Captains Nathaniel G. S. 
 Hart and Paschal Hickman, were tomahawked, and two houses crowded with wounded 
 officers and men, were set on fire, and consumed, with their helpless inmates. This 
 dreadful crime is chargeable to the gross negligence, if not wilful connivance of 
 Proctor and is an indelible stain upon the honor of the British arms."" 
 
 THE DISASTER OF FORT MEIGS 
 
 General Harrison reached the Rapids at about the time of Winchester's disaster. 
 He immediately started the construction of Fort Meigs on the Maumee and sent a 
 hasty call to Governor Shelby for immediate reinforcements. With the entire left 
 wing of his army gone, Harrison was in a critical condition. Writes Professor Mc- 
 Elroy: "Any day might witness, at Fort Meigs, scenes such as Frenchtown and 
 the Raisin had just witnessed, while an added danger lay in the fact that a large 
 portion of his volunteers, having completed the term of their enlistment, had declined 
 to remain and face the dangers of an almost desperate position. Had General Proctor 
 availed himself of this moment of weakness, to follow up his success at Frenchtown 
 by a sudden attack upon the unfinished defences of Fort Meigs, he might easily have 
 freed the Northwest from the presence of American troops. But, for some unex- 
 plained reason, Harrison was allowed time to complete the fortifications, before the 
 long expected attack was made."" 
 
 The gallant and venerable Governor Shelby, who had been authorized by the 
 Legislature to raise a large force and to take the field personally, lost no time in 
 enlisting reinforcements. The brutal horrors of the River Raisin had so far enraged 
 Kentuckians that it seemed all wished to go. He enlisted four regiments (3,000 
 men) , who rendezvoused at Newport. These were placed under the command of 
 General Green Clay. The advanced guard of these volunteers reached Fort Meigs 
 on April 12, only a short time before a large British flotilla, abundantly supplied with 
 provisions for a siege, appeared at the mouth of the river. The British batteries were 
 placed above and below Fort Meigs, and the troops carefully posted, while Tecumseh 
 (who had been unable to save the doomed Kentuckians at Frenchburg) guarded with 
 his savages all the ways of approach, to prevent communication with the rest of the 
 Kentuckians, known to be enroute. 
 
 On May 4, the remaining detachment under General Clay reached Fort Defiance, 
 and Lieutenant David Trimble accomplished the dangerous task of entering the be- 
 leaguered fort to inform General Harrison of their presence. Harrison at once 
 
316 A S E S Q U I -CENTENNIAL 
 
 directed Clay to send 800 men to the north shore of the Maumee, to capture enemy 
 batteries there, spike the cannon, and then recross to Fort Meigs; while Clay himself 
 with the rest of his men was to fight his way into the fort along the southern shore. 
 Clay entered the fort successfully but did it by a difficult plan in order to avoid the 
 Indian sharpshooters: "landed above, built . . . flatboats, with high-planks, which 
 were bullet-proof, and thus drifting down the river, entered Fort Meigs with the loss 
 of scarcely a man." 24 
 
 The movement upon the north shore was quite different. It was disasterous. 
 Judge McClung gives this account: "They accordingly rushed upon the batteries, 
 which were abandoned in disorder by the artillerymen, and the real object of the 
 expedition was in a moment accomplished. A small force of Indians and Canadians, 
 however, showed themselves upon the skirts of the wood, and opened a straggling 
 fire, which was eagerly returned by the Kentuckians, and the retreating enemy was 
 hotly followed up, in considerable disorder, for nearly two miles. The detachment 
 was dispersed in small parties, no general command was retained over it, and no one 
 seems to have understood, that they were expected to retreat rapidly to their boats 
 as soon as the cannon were spiked. The consequences were such as might have been 
 predicted. Proctor came up with a British force and intercepted their retreat, the 
 Indians crossed over in great numbers and reinforced the retreating party, which had 
 decoyed the Kentuckians into the woods, and the whole detachment, with the exception 
 of about one hundred and fifty men, was killed or taken. The prisoners were taken 
 within the walls of the old British fort, below, under a very slender guard, and while 
 huddled together in this place, the Indians amused themselves in shooting them down 
 and scalping them. This cruel sport continued for some time, until it was interrupted 
 by the arrival of Tecumseh at full gallop, who instantly and with great indignation, 
 put a stop to the massacre. A sortie was made about the same time from the fort, 
 against a battery on the southern shore of the river, in which a company of Kentucky 
 militia brilliantly distinguished themselves, but sustained great loss."" 
 
 The 5 th of May was on the whole a disasterous day. Had Colonel Dudley in- 
 formed his men precisely as to their full task, and had they been better trained, they 
 would have retired quickly, after spiking the guns, to the Fort, but they did not 
 know apparently what the plan was, or were too undisciplined to follow orders. 
 Judge McClung expresses the belief that Colonel William Dudley, himself, did not 
 comprehend fully what was expected. Be that as it may, news of the capture of 
 Fort George by General Dearborn alarmed Proctor, so that he abandoned the siege 
 and returned to Maiden. McClung estimates Proctor's force, including Indians, at 
 3,200 men, and Harrison's at 2,500 rank and file fit for duty. 
 
 The next few months were spent by General Harrison in preparing a decisive blow 
 against Maiden. A call again went out to Kentucky for more men. When Congress 
 adjourned, Colonel Richard M. Johnson hastened home and raised a cavalry regiment. 
 Governor Shelby issued another call for volunteers to assemble at New Port. This 
 time the venerable governor deemed the time ripe to take the field in person: * I 
 will lead you to the field of battle, and share with you the dangers and honors of 
 the campaign," 27 he proclaimed. Four thousand Kentuckians met him at the place 
 of rendezvous, "eager to avenge the horrors and barbarities of the Raisin and Fort 
 Meigs."" 
 
 While Harrison and the Kentuckians were undergoing their tragedies and frustra- 
 tions in the northern wilds, an episode was being enacted on Lake Erie which proved 
 to be the "open sesame" for the Americans in the North West. Captain Oliver 
 Hazard Perry had been sent by the War Department, early in the spring to build a 
 flotilla of boats with which to clear the British under Captain Barclay from Lake 
 Erie, and then transporting Harrison's army across the lake to Canada. His task of 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 317 
 
 building ships from green timber was not an easy one, but Perry was an able and 
 determined young officer. By August 4, he had accomplished the difficult feat of 
 constructing the little fleet. On September 10, he brilliantly achieved the first ob- 
 jective. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE 
 
 The eloquent monographist of the Battle of the Thames, Colonel Bennett H. Young, 
 writes this of the Battle of Lake Erie, or Put-in Bay: "With almost incredible energy 
 and efforts he (Perry) managed to construct nine vessels, capable of carrying fifty-four 
 guns. Commodore Perry could not restrain himself as he saw the British fleet maneu- 
 vering off the Canadian coast, and on the 10th of September, 1813, with all his 
 squadron, he engaged the British fleet. Perry's flag-ship, the Lawrence, was disabled, 
 and he boarded the Niagara. He had placed some Kentucky riflemen in the masts, 
 and under their deadly fire a large number of British officers and seamen were killed, 
 and after a tremendous conflict, at three o'clock the British flag was hauled down, and 
 for the first time in her naval history Great Britain, the "Mistress of the Sea," had lost 
 an entire squadron, and had surrendered this to a young man only twenty-seven years 
 of age. His dispatch to General William Harrison, then in camp at the falls of the 
 Maumee, 'We have met the enemy and they are ours,' immortalized him. It is 
 unfortunate that all the names of these Kentucky riflemen have not been preserved; 
 they numbered about one hundred and fifty. They were largely from Colonel William 
 E. BoswelPs and Colonel R. M. Johnson's regiments, and their accurate aim did much 
 to dishearten the British and keep the decks clear during the conflict. This victory 
 gave to the United States the mastery of Lake Erie. It was impossible for the British 
 to construct a navy and organize a naval force on Lake Erie again, and the destruc- 
 tion of Commodore Barclay's fleet made access to Canadian territory by the United 
 States entirely practicable and comparatively easy, and rendered possible the pursuit, 
 which was afterward made, of Proctor and Tecumseh. Perry subsequently carried 
 his ships into Lake St. Clair, and in person he followed the fortunes of General Harri- 
 son and Governor Shelby. Six hundred British sailors were made prisoners. Commo- 
 dore Robert Heriot Barclay, the British commander, went into battle with one arm, 
 and during the fight lost the other. The British loss in killed and wounded was two 
 hundred, American loss twenty-six killed and ninety-six wounded. The news of this 
 magnificent victory was communicated to the Kentucky troops about fifteen miles 
 from Portage River, and gave new zeal and enthusiasm to the Kentuckians as they 
 were nearinj the end of their tedious and difficult march." 29 
 
 General Harrison, realizing the import of Perry's brilliant victory, lost no time in 
 following up. Shelby's mounted Kentuckians had arrived. The order was forward! 
 Leaving the horses on the American side of the lake, they boarded the American and 
 captured British ships and joyfully crossed to the Canadian side. On the shore Harri- 
 son and Shelby spoke these words: "Remember the River Raisin." Harrison added, 
 "but remember it only whilst victory is suspended. The revenge of a soldier cannot 
 be gratified on a fallen enemy." 30 
 
 Harrison's eager army moved forward to Maiden, only to find it burned and in 
 ashes, the enemy fled. Now the commander longed for horses. One small pony was 
 obtained, on which to mount the venerable Shelby (the idol of the army, who had 
 modestly refused to share command with Harrison) . 
 
 The enemy did not halt at Sandwich, where Tecumseh had earnestly pled with the 
 brutal Proctor to make a stand. He even moved through Detroit, where Colonel 
 Richard M. Johnson and his dashing mounted volunteers joined Harrison's army oh 
 September 30, to the great relief of all. 
 
 It is a Kentucky tradition that Shelby in a council of war declared that he would 
 
318 A S E S Q U I -CENTENNIAL 
 
 "follow Proctor and his savages to Hell if necessary, to avenge the wrongs of Ken- 
 tucky." 33 For three days the American army rapidly pursued the fleeing enemy, 
 skirting the southern shores of Lake St. Clair and ascending the meanders of the 
 Thames, Perry's squadron following with much-needed supplies. The enemy's retreat 
 became faster; he left military stores and provisions at various camps. Now and 
 then British deserters came to the American camp. On October 3, American scouts 
 discovered Proctor's army in camp only a few miles away preparing for battle. Two 
 days later Harrison's army advanced to attack the enemy, posted in a strong position 
 in a beech wood, on the north bank of the Thames. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF THE THAMES 
 
 The British left was protected by the river, whose bank at that point was forty 
 feet high. On their right was a long swamp, in whose morasses the mass of the savages 
 lay hidden. Between the right and left wings was a small swamp. In numbers the 
 two armies were about even, but upon Harrison devolved the task of charging a pro- 
 tected position, with an army composed largely of volunteers. 
 
 General Proctor in preparing the defense had made the mistake of placing his men 
 in open line, leaving about three feet between them. Colonel Johnson and his brother, 
 Lieutenant-Colonel James Johnson, had carefully trained their cavalrymen to charge 
 just such a position. 
 
 Colonel Johnson, discovering Proctor's blunder, informed Harrison that he could 
 break the British line in a single charge and requested permission to attack. General 
 Harrison at once authorized the charge and quickly formed his line of battle: Major 
 General William Henry's division (three Kentucky brigades) faced the British regu- 
 lars, who occupied the strip between the small swamps and the river. At right angles 
 to him, facing the large swamp, where the Indians were hidden, stood Major General 
 Joseph Desha's division (two brigades of Kentucky volunteers) . At the crotchet 
 formed between Desha's and Henry's division (a most important point) the venerable 
 Governor of Kentucky, Isaac Shelby, who at the age of sixty-six preserved the vigor 
 of youth, took his stand, to see that his Kentucky lads did well that day. 
 
 On the right between the small swamp and the river the two Johnsons, their regi- 
 ment of horses out in front stood ready to strike. Discovering that the space in front 
 of him was only large enough for the maneuvering of one of his mounted battalions, 
 Colonel Richard Johnson ordered his brother to charge the British regulars in his 
 front with one battalion, while he himself led the other across the swamp, upon 
 Tecumseh's red men. 32 
 
 At this point the author turns to quote the account of the battle by Colonel Young, 
 whose vivid, graphic, stirring, imaginative language is always inspiring to Kentuckians. 
 Colonel Young here takes up the story: "Amid hurried movements and while the spirit 
 of the men was thrilled to the enthusiastic joy which ever fills a true warrior's breast 
 at battle's eve, the command 'Forward, Charge!' rang out on the oppressive stillness 
 which surrounded the expectant host. 
 
 "Hardly had the horses begun to move when another cry, terrible in its intensity 
 and with foreboding wrath in its tones, filled the space overshadowed by the mighty 
 monarchs of the forest. From the stalwart throats of nearly six hundred Kentuckians 
 there arose the cry, 'Remember the Raisin!' As they lifted this mighty shout to 
 Heaven they saw about them the forms of their murdered comrades and friends and 
 relations. They beheld the bedizened, painted savages, with barbarous cruelty, strike 
 their wounded foes and casting their bodies, when dead or writhing, into the flames 
 to be consumed. They remembered the bones of their fellow-citizens scattered along 
 the river and the fields and woods adjacent thereto, and before them rose visions 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 319 
 
 of those fleshless skeletons which, seven days before, they had for the second time 
 committed to mother earth. 
 
 "Eight months and thirteen days had elapsed since this awful tragedy at Raisin 
 had been enacted, but the two visits that these charging men had made to that dread- 
 ful spot and the scenes they had there witnessed (for many in the command had been 
 at the River Raisin) burned into their brains and created in their minds images which. 
 nerved every arm, thrilled every soul, and inspired every heart with the desire to 
 punish and to destroy those who had been responsible for that awful catastrophe. 
 
 "As the cry of these Kentuckians resounded through the forests, it fell upon the 
 ears of the British regulars, who themselves had been at the battle of the Raisin, and 
 whose officers had connived at, or at least permitted, the slaughter of Allen, Graves, 
 Hickman, Woolfolk, Simpson, and their noble commands. 
 
 "The galloping columns caused the earth to shake and the great beeches to vibrate 
 as men and horses, maddened with the excitement of battle, crowded, shouted, and 
 rushed to the conflict. The very boughs and leaves of the overshadowing trees swayed 
 and trembled as if keeping time to the cadence of war's weird, strange, and frenzied 
 notes. 
 
 "In the fierce charge there was but one cry, oft repeated, but rising each time in 
 sharper and sterner tones, 'Remember the Raisin! Remember the Raisin!' 
 
 "These avenging warriors, catching the enthusiasm and delirium of combat, rose 
 high in their stirrups and plunging their spurs into the flanks of their chargers, as 
 they approached the enemy still more furiously, waved their guns aloft and with their 
 voices made stronger and stronger by the excitement of their impetuosity, cried the 
 more vehemently, 'Remember the Raisin! Remember the Raisin!' 
 
 "No human power could resist such an assault. Cowering on the earth, or taking 
 refuge behind the trees in their line, the red coats of the Forty-first British gave way. 
 The second line, one hundred yards behind, fared no better than the first. As well 
 attempt to resist the cyclone or ward off the lightning as to stay this onslaught. The 
 Kentucky horsemen were invincible. No sooner had they passed the second line than, 
 wheeling about, they sprang to the ground, and with deadliest aim poured their fire 
 into the fear-stricken infantry, who in their terror begged for a mercy and implored 
 a pity which at Raisin and Meighs they had denied the friends and brothers of the 
 men who had now defeated them, and before whom they knelt as suppliants for mercy. 
 
 "No act of cruelty marked the conduct of these scrupulously brave heroes. They 
 accepted the surrender of men who had acquiesced in and permitted the murder of 
 their fellow-Kentuckians only a few months before. Civilization and humanity con- 
 trolled their embittered and justly indignant hearts, and not a single excess detracted 
 from the splendor of their victory or the grandeur of their achievement. 
 
 "A quarter of a mile away at the rear, in the edge of the forest, along the trail, 
 was the commander of the British regulars, General Henry A. Proctor, who was 
 responsible for the revolting butchery and brutality at Raisin and Meigs. He came 
 to Canada as the colonel of a British regiment, and his atrocities had never been 
 reproved by his government. For his conduct at Raisin he had been promoted to a 
 brigadier-general. 
 
 "His ear was quick to detect danger. He knew his fate if the Kentuckians (many 
 of whom had sworn that he should not be taken alive) should capture him. 
 
 "He distinctly heard the tramp of Johnson's mounted men, and his ear caught that 
 portentous and to him fateful cry, 'Remember the Raisin!' Dismayed, he watched 
 and waited for the result. He saw one line brushed out of the path of the horsemen 
 or rush in confusion upon the second line. He beheld this last line disappear and 
 the black hunting-shirts and gray breeches of the Kentuckians as they dismounted 
 and turned in furious onslaught uoon his stricken and helpless grenadiers, and then. 
 
320 A SESQUI -CENTENNIAL 
 
 with his cowardly conscience impelling him, he turned his horse's head eastward and 
 accompanied by a small guard of horsemen precipitately fled toward Burlington. Hard 
 pressed by Major DeVall Payne, he abandoned his baggage and followers and fled 
 through the forest to escape capture. His ignominious conduct brought upon him 
 the contempt of his associates. He was tried by court-martial, disgraced, and deprived 
 of pay for six months, and was publicly reprimanded by his superiors by order of 
 his government. 
 
 "A sterner conflict and more sanguinary fate awaited the second battalion, under 
 the immediate command of Colonel Johnson and Major David Thompson. This 
 battalion consisted of the companies of Captain James Coleman, Captain William 
 M. Rice, Captain S. R. Combs, Captain James Davidson, Captain Jacob Stucker, and 
 Captain Robert Berry. On the right of this battalion was the gallant Colonel Richard 
 M. Johnson, on the left Major Thompson. 
 
 "This second battalion was formed in two columns, on horseback, while one com- 
 pany was dismounted, and on foot placed in front of the right column, which was 
 led by Colonel Johnson. The front of each column was something like five hundred 
 feet. In front of the column led by Johnson was a company on foot, while in front 
 of those, mounted, was what was known as the Torlorn Hope,' in the courage and 
 gallantry of which on that day was written one of the most heroic and sublimely brave 
 acts which had ever been recorded of Kentucky men. 
 
 "The Torlorn Hope' consisted of twenty men. Colonel Johnson himself rode by 
 its side. It was led by the grand old pioneer William Whitley, and was composed, 
 so far as known, of the following persons: 
 
 "William Whitley, of Lincoln, enlisted as a private in James Davidson's company; 
 Benjamin S. Chambers, quartermaster, a lawyer from Scott County; Garrett Wall, 
 forage master, Scott County; Eli Short, assistant forage master, Scott County; Samuel 
 A. Theobald, lawyer, Franklin County, judge advocate; Samuel Logan, second lieu- 
 tenant, Coleman's company, from Harrison County; Robert Payne, private, James 
 Davidson's company, probably from Lincoln or Scott County; Joseph Taylor, private, 
 J. W. Reading's company; William S. Webb, private, Jacob Stucker's company, Scott 
 County; John L. Mansfield, private, and a printer, Jacob Stucker's company, Scott 
 County; Richard Spurr, private, Captain Samuel Combs' company, Fayette County; 
 John McGunnigale, private, Captain Samuel Combs' company, Fayette County. 
 
 "These twenty men, with Colonel R. M. Johnson and the pioneer William Whitley, 
 at once advanced to the front. The main line halted for a brief space, until this 
 advance could assume position, and when once they were placed, at the command Tor- 
 ward, march!' they quickly and calmly rode to death. 
 
 "In the thickest of the swamp, in which lay Tecumseh and his red soldiers, they 
 peered in vain for a foe. Not a man stirred, but the ominous silence betokened only 
 the more dreadful fire when the moment of contact should come. 
 
 "Along a narrow space they advanced. Stunted bushes and matted and deadened 
 grass impeded their horses' feet, but these heroes urged their steeds forward with 
 rapid walk, seeking the hidden foe in the morass that skirted the ground upon which 
 they had aligned. 
 
 "These were not unwilling victims to war's savage sacrifices. They understood and 
 realized the dangerous and deadly mission upon which they were bent; six hundred 
 comrades rode behind, but were partially removed from danger. This noble vanguard 
 was the cynosure of all eyes, and their fellows watched with almost stilled hearts to 
 hear the signal guns which meant wounding and death to these twenty men who were 
 daring so much and who were ready to receive into their own hearts and bodies the 
 leaden hail which in an instant all knew must be emitted from the ambush into which 
 with open eyes, steady minds, and unblanched cheek this gallant band was now so 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 321 
 
 bravely pushing. Fifteen hundred savages, with their cocked rifles at their shoulders 
 and with their fingers upon the triggers, were waiting and watching only a few yards 
 away, and behind trees and fallen logs and thick underbrush, with the silence of 
 assassins, were longing for the word which should order them to pour death's missiles 
 into the chivalrous squadron which, with absolute fearlessness, was seeking them in 
 their lair. 
 
 "Into their minds came memories of those they loved, half a thousand miles away, 
 in peaceful Kentucky homes. Years these heroes lived in the few seconds required 
 to pass the narrow space between them and their foes. . . . Seconds were transformed 
 into years. Almost breathless, and with an anxiety which temporarily stilled every 
 physical function, the battalion waited for the instant when death's messengers should 
 be turned loose and in their fury be hurled upon the brave men who composed the 
 advance. 
 
 "The suspense was brief. A loud, clear, savage voice rang out the word Tire!' 
 The sharp crackling of half a hundred rifles was the response, and then the deafening 
 sound of a thousand shots filled the air. The smoke concealed those who fired the 
 guns, but the murderous effect was none the less terrible. Of the twenty, one alone 
 escaped unhurt or failed to be unhorsed. A mass of fallen struggling horses, a com- 
 pany of wounded, dying men, lay side by side. The bleeding beasts whinneyed to 
 dead masters, and wounded masters laid their hands on the quivering bodies of their 
 faithful steeds. Of the twenty, fifteen were dead, or to die. Their leader, with a 
 dozen wounds, still sat erect, his judge advocate, Theobald, close to his side. The 
 remainder were lost in the battle's confusion. 
 
 "The Torlorn Hope' had met its fate. Its mission was to receive the fire of the 
 savages, when their fellows and comrades might safely charge upon the red men with 
 guns unloaded. Its purpose had been fulfilled. The promise of its commander to 
 save all life possible, spoken at Great Crossings, in Kentucky, on the 18th of May, 
 had been kept, but the Torlorn Hope' had been annihilated. On this fateful field it 
 had won imperishable renown and had carved out fadeless glory. It had been de- 
 stroyed, but its members had magnified Kentucky manhood and written in the life- 
 blood of three fourths of its members a story of courage and patriotic sacrifice which 
 would live forever. Whenever and wherever their deed should be told it would com- 
 mand the world's applause, and down through all the ages excite in the hearts of 
 Kentuckians noblest pride in the glorious immortality they had purchased by their 
 unselfish, superb, and patriotic sacrifice for their country's cause. 
 
 "It was Johnson's idea that as soon as this Torlorn Hope' or advance guard ap- 
 peared, the whole fire of the Indians would be concentrated upon it. There could be 
 little doubt that the majority, if not all, of its members would instantly fall, and that 
 after having thus drawn the fire of the enemy the remainder of the battalion would 
 then advance upon the Indians, receiving no damage at all. 
 
 "This plan would have worked most admirably had it not been for the unfortunate 
 topography which confronted these two columns of the second battalion. For any 
 column of cavalry the swamp chosen by the Indians as their battle-ground was prac- 
 tically impassable; water, decayed trees, and willows rendered a charge on horseback 
 utterly impracticable. Men on foot might find their way through by careful picking, 
 but a column of cavalry would find it impossible to keep themselves in line or charge 
 with any such speed as would place them among the enemy before they had time to 
 reload. 
 
 "When this Torlorn Hope' had fallen, and when the front of his column had 
 received the fire of the Indians, Johnson at once saw his mistake. He ordered all 
 his men to dismount but himself, and then at their head, with his horse floundering in 
 the water and mud of the swamp, carried his men forward to the charge. 
 
322 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 "The experienced, courageous, and valiant Tecumseh stood in the swamp with his 
 red followers, encouraging them by his commands, reproving them by his sharp censure 
 when they were disposed to run, and threatening to kill all who refused to fight the 
 white men who were now forcing the battle with such vigor and enthusiasm. 
 
 "The five hundred and fifty men of Johnson's battalion were reinforced by quite 
 a number of volunteer infantrymen from Trotter's, Donaldson's, and Simrall's regi- 
 ments, who, hearing the firing and the shouts both of the Indians and white men, 
 rushed to the assistance of their comrades. 
 
 "For a quarter of an hour the result of the battle seemed in doubt. Twelve hundred 
 Indians in the swamp and on their chosen battlefield, behind trees and fallen logs, 
 did not hesitate to throw down the gage of battle to the six or seven hundred Ken- 
 tuckians who now advanced to the assault. 
 
 "As the lines were pushed along through the morass Colonel Johnson saw, behind 
 a fallen tree, an Indian chief who, with vigorous words of command and loud cheers 
 and most earnest encouragement, was urging the red men to stand firm against the 
 assaults of the white men. 
 
 "At the head of the column opposing these red men, Johnson, still sitting upon his 
 white mare, rode around the tree and advanced upon the red man. At the first fire 
 he had lost by a wound the use of his left hand, in which he would carry his bridle. 
 The Indian, placing his gun to his shoulder, immediately fired and added another 
 to the many wounds already received by the gallant Kentuckian, and then, having 
 exhausted his trusty rifle, with uplifted tomahawk he advanced upon the white man 
 who, although wounded, was now riding upon him fearlessly and rapidly. The savage, 
 jerking his tomahawk from his side and waiting for no assistance except his own 
 strong arm backed by his courageous soul, rushed upon Colonel Johnson to strike him 
 from his horse, but when he had advanced within four feet Johnson, letting his horse 
 loose, seized his pistol from his helpless left hand and fired its contents into the breast 
 of the Indian. Being loaded with one bullet and three buckshot, at such close range 
 and piercing the heart of the Indian, he instantly fell dead. Some said it was 
 Tecumseh. He was certainly a great leader, and it was at this time that somebody 
 in the battle killed Tecumseh. 
 
 "The red men with amazement looked upon the sudden and unexpected death of 
 their valiant chief. They heard no more his shouts of encouragement, saw no more 
 the gallant wave of his hand, and with utter alarm and despair, with a great cry of 
 disappointment, they rushed from the battlefield. 
 
 "In a single instant every hope was crushed and every national aspiration perished. 
 These children of the forest, taught by the incantations of the dead warrior's brother 
 to believe that Tecumseh was immortal, saw him reel, fall, and die as others of the 
 race had done. Tecumseh's eloquence had made them confident that the hated white 
 man's advance could be stayed, and that the nation of seventeen fires could not prevail 
 against the red man protected and led by the Great Spirit. 
 
 "In a single instant they realized that nothing was left for the Indian. Deserted 
 by their British red-coated allies, who now fled in dismay and terror from the aveng- 
 ing and uplifted hand of the Kentucky Long Knives, they had no heart for battle 
 and no courage to prolong a contest which had to them been fraught with absolute 
 ruin. 
 
 "They were not faithless, however, even in such awful gloom, to him who had led, 
 encouraged, and directed them through so many years and in so many battles. Tenderly 
 and reverently they lifted the warm, bleeding, and stilled body of the great chieftain 
 into their arms; stalwart warriors became his pallbearers. With a wild, weird shout 
 of heartbroken despair, they abandoned the battle and bore Tecumseh's body into 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 323 
 
 the pathless depths of the surrounding forest, there to give him a hasty and honorable 
 burial. 
 
 "The dust of Tecumseh, in their loving hearts, was too sacred for the white man's 
 view. The great warrior had loved the trees and the rivers and the waving grasses, 
 and the silence and grandeur of their surroundings, and amid these they imagined 
 that his departure from this world's scenes to another would best suit his noble con- 
 ception and his grand ideas of life here and hereafter; and thus, with the rustling of 
 the leaves in response to the tread of moccasined feet, as a requiem, they moved on 
 amid the black darkness to a distant place in the wooded wilderness where a few of 
 his comrades, with their tomahawks and their hands, hollowed out a grave under a 
 widespreading monarch of the forest, which was to stand guard over the sacred spot 
 forever, and where in the peace, and yet in the terror of the tomb, Tecumseh was to 
 rest forever. 
 
 "Persuasion, threats, rewards, promises, money, glory were all used without avail. 
 The red man alone knew where Tecumseh was put away, and the red man died with 
 the secret in his heart. His loyalty to the dust of his leader was proof against all 
 research, all exploration, all investigation, and all inquiry. Grand in life, Tecumseh 
 was and is grand in death. In the isolation and desolation of his burial he becomes 
 almost sublime, for to this day *no man knows where they had laid him.' " 
 
 Harrison's, Shelby's, the Kentuckians' victory was complete. The Raisin and Fort 
 Meigs had been avenged. The war in the Northwest was over. The Kentucky troops 
 eagerly returned home. Congress, April 6, 1818, voted thanks to Harrison and Shelby 
 and requested the President of the United States to cause two gold medals to be 
 struck, "emblematical of this triumph, and presented to General Harrison and Isaac 
 Shelby, late Governor of Kentucky." 34 
 
 THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS 
 
 Kentucky troops did not play a controlling part in the Battle of New Orleans; 
 however, a controversy concerning the part played by Kentucky volunteers warrants 
 some consideration of it — the last battle of the War of 1812. Furthermore, a British 
 reporter of the battle wrote that the action of one Kentuckian contributed greatly to 
 the demoralization of the Brit'sh officers and troops, and thus did much toward causing 
 their loss of the engagement. Both of these points will be explored. 
 
 In the first instance, Commodore Patterson, in a report to the Secretary of the 
 Navy, January 13, 1815, makes this charge: "General Morgan's right wing, com- 
 posed ... of the Kentucky militia, commanded by Major Davis, abandoned their breast- 
 works, flying in a most shameful and dastardly manner, almost without a shot." 
 
 This charge, made by an officer of no particular national significance, might have 
 been ignored, but for other charges. Andrew Jackson, a national hero, the command- 
 ing general of the engagement, made charges even more severe. This is his statement: 
 
 "Simultaneously with the advance upon my lines, he (General Pakenham) had 
 thrown over in his boats a considerable force to the other side (west side) , of the 
 river. These having landed were hardly enough to advance against the works of 
 General Morgan; and, what is strange and difficult to account for, at the very moment 
 when their entire discomforture was looked for with a confidence approaching to 
 certainty, the Kentucky reenforcements in whom so much reliance had been placed, 
 ingloriously fled, drawing after them, by their example, the remainder of the forces; 
 and thus yielding to the enemy that most formidable position." 3 " 
 
 When it had been learned that the British would strike at the mouth of the Missis- 
 sippi, Federal authorities sent out a hasty call for volunteers. Kentucky quickly dis- 
 patched 2,200 men under the command of Major General John Thomas, with 
 
 12— Vol. I 
 
324 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 Brigadier General John Adair as second in command. These reached New Orleans 
 on January 4, 1815, where they found both the British and Americans confronting 
 one another, and "preparing for a decisive engagement." 
 
 The Kentucky troops reached New Orleans in a wretched condition — without arms 
 and equipment. Jackson wrote: "Hardly one third of the Kentucky troops, so long 
 expected, are armed; and the arms they have are barely fit for use." 3 ' Arms and 
 supplies did not reach New Orleans for many days after the battle. The Kentucky 
 troops therefore went into camp "without tents, or proper bedding, most of them 
 without the necessary clothing and cooking utensils." 38 
 
 On the morning of the battle, January 8, about 1,000 of the 2,200 Kentucky troops 
 marched to their places with effective weapons. When the preliminary discussion as 
 to arrangement of troops came up, General Adair suggested that it would be wise 
 to reserve several detachments, to reenforce points most threatened by the British 
 army (of Wellington's regulars) under Lord Edward Pakenham. General Jackson 
 had acquiesced in the suggestion and ordered Adair's 1,000 armed Kentuckians to 
 take position immediately in the rear of General Carroll's Tennesseans, occupying 800 
 yards in the center of the breastworks on the eastern side of the river. 
 
 Against this position the veteran British army advanced at an early hour. Adair 
 formed his Kentuckians into two lines and moved them forward to the support of 
 the Tennesseeans. Writes Professor McElroy: "The combined force of Kentucky 
 and Tennessee riflemen were then arranged in open order, line behind line, in order 
 that the first line having fired might give place to the second, which in turn would 
 yield to the third, and so on, until the entire body had delivered its fire, the rear 
 ranks meanwhile recharging their pieces." 39 
 
 The British columns advanced under a heavy fog, but with the first fire of artillery, 
 the fog lifted slowly, so that it was soon disclosed clearly that Carroll's and Adair's 
 position was the objective. They moved resolutely, slowly, in perfect order, according 
 to the best 18th century European mode of advance. The field over which they 
 traversed was "as level as the surface of the calmest lake." All the while American 
 shots pierced their lines from front to rear cutting deep gaps. 
 
 The Tennessee and Kentucky riflemen held their fire until the enemy was within 
 one hundred and fifty yards, then with deliberate deadly aim, they poured out every- 
 thing they had. The slaughter was frightful, horrible. Yet a few of the resolute 
 Britishers reached the breastwork with the scaling ladders, but not many, and none 
 went over. The ranks wavered and gave way. Packenham was dead and most of the 
 officers wounded or dead. General Lambert, taking command, tried a second assault, 
 but all in vain. The British had lost heart and hope. They were decisively defeated. 
 The main body of Lord Packenham's army of 10,000 troops was decisively crushed, 
 by a force not exceeding 4,600 men, "of whom almost one-fourth were Kentuckians." 
 
 THE FEAT OF E. M. BRANK, KENTUCKIAN 
 
 Now comes the story of the effect produced upon the British army by the coolness 
 and daring of one Kentucky rifleman. It is graphically told by one of the British 
 officers, who participated in the engagement: 
 
 "We marched in solid column in a direct line, upon the American defences. I 
 belonged to the staff; and as we advanced, we watched through our glasses, the 
 position of the enemy, with that intensity an officer only feels when marching into 
 the jaws of death. It was a strange sight, that breastwork, with the crowds of beings 
 behind, their heads only visible above the line of defence. We could distinctly see 
 their long rifles lying on the works, and the batteries in our front, with their great 
 mouths gaping towards us. 
 
 "We could also see the position of General Jackson, with his staff around him. 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 325 
 
 But what attracted our attention most, was the figure of a tall man standing on the 
 breastworks, dressed in linsey-woolsey, with buckskin leggins, and a broad brimmed 
 felt hat that fell round the face, almost concealing the features. He was standing in 
 one of those picturesque graceful attitudes peculiar to those natural men dwelling in 
 forests. The body rested on the left leg, and swayed with a curved line upward. The 
 right arm was extended, the hand grasping the rifle near the muzzle, the butt of which 
 rested near the toe of his right foot. With the left hand he raised the rim of the hat 
 from his eyes, and seemed gazing intently on our advancing column. The cannon of 
 the enemy had opened on us, and tore through our works with dreadful slaughter; but 
 we continued to advance, unwavering and cool, as if nothing threatened our progress. 
 
 "The roar of cannon had no effect upon the figure before us; he seemed fixed and 
 motionless as a statue. At last he moved, threw back his hat-rim over the crown with 
 his left hand, raised the rifle to the shoulder, and took aim at our group. 
 
 "Our eyes were riveted upon him; at whom had he leveled his piece? But the 
 distance was so great, that we looked at each other and smiled. We saw the rifle 
 flash, and very rightly conjectured that his aim was in the direction of our party. 
 My right hand companion, as noble a fellow as every rode at the head of a regiment, 
 fell from his saddle. 
 
 "The hunter paused a few moments, without moving his gun from his shoulder. 
 Then he reloaded and assumed his former attitude. Throwing the hat-rim over his 
 eyes, and again holding it up with the left hand, he fixed his piercing gaze upon us, 
 as if hunting out another victim. Once more the hat-rim was thrown back, and the 
 gun raised to his shoulder. This time we did not smile, but cast glances at each 
 other, to see which of us must die. 
 
 "When again the rifle flashed, another one of our party dropped to the earth. 
 There was something most awful in this marching on to certain death. The cannon 
 and thousands of musket balls playing upon our ranks, we cared not for; for there 
 was a chance of escaping them. Most of us had walked as coolly upon batteries more 
 destructive, without quailing; but to know that every time that rifle was leveled toward 
 us, and its bullet sprang from the barrel, one of us must surely fall; to see it rest, 
 motionless as if poised on a rack, and know, when the hammer came down, that the 
 messenger of death drove unerringly to its goal, to know this, and still march on, was 
 awful. I could see nothing but the tall figure standing on the breastworks; he seemed 
 to grow, phantom-like, higher and higher, assuming, through the smoke, the super- 
 natural appearance of some great spirit of death. Again did he reload and discharge, 
 and reload and discharge his rifle, with the same unfailing aim, and the same unfailing 
 result; and it was with indescribable pleasure that I beheld, as we neared the American 
 lines, the sulphurous cloud gathering around us, and shutting that spectral hunter from 
 our gaze. We lost the battle; and to my mind, the Kentucky rifleman contributed 
 more to our defeat, than anything else; for while he remained in our sight, our atten- 
 tion was drawn from our duties; and when, at last, he became inshrouded in the smoke, 
 the work was complete; we were in utter confusion, and unable, in the extremity, to 
 restore order sufficient to make any successful attack. — The battle was lost." 41 The 
 Kentucky rifleman was E. M. Brank, of Greenville, Kentucky. Such was the conduct 
 of the 1,000 armed Kentuckians in the decisive battle on the east side of the river. 
 Now for a consideration of the conduct of the 170 Kentuckians on the west bank, 
 conduct which, as Commodore Patterson and General Jackson stated, caused the defeat 
 of the Americans there. 
 
 THE BATTLE ON THE WEST BANK 
 
 To Major A. Lacarriere Latour, Jackson's chief engineer, was assigned the task 
 of selecting suitable terrain for defense for the troops on the west bank. He selected 
 
326 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 a position, which he afterward declared could have been guarded easily by 1,000 men, 
 considering the breastwork provided, and actually he thought that half that number 
 would have been sufficient — providing that cannon had been mounted in the specified 
 outworks. 4 
 
 However, General Morgan, commander of Louisiana militia and commander on 
 the west bank, after a conference with Commodore Patterson, decided to disregard 
 the expert advice of Latour. He chose a line lower down the river. On January 7, 
 he massed his Louisiana troops — some 500 in number — and prepared for battle. His 
 position was critical. On his right was an open plain, practically undefended, where 
 a flanking movement could be disastrous — subject only to the fire of Commodore 
 Patterson's guns from the right bank. 
 
 The weakness at this point did not escape General Jackson's alert eye. He had 
 designed to employ the unarmed Kentuckians to defend this vulnerable point. He 
 had planned to arm them from an armory in New Orleans, and pursuant to this plan 
 had issued orders for 500 of the Kentuckians to march to that city and secure these 
 arms. General Adair, however, unknown to Jackson, had already borrowed this 
 equipment for his men on the east bank. The long tramp of ten miles, begun in the 
 afternoon of the 7th, through mud and water, was futile, except for the fact that 
 170 ancient pieces of various patterns were secured. Provided with these antique 
 firing rods, therefore, 170 of this unfortunate detachment of Kentuckians, under the 
 command of Colonel Davis, crossed the river and sloshed through the inky darkness 
 to the camp of General Morgan. 
 
 Arriving shortly before daybreak of the 8th they found the camp already in 
 commotion. News reached them that the British were moving up the west bank and 
 that Major Arnaud, who had been sent down the river to check them, was rapidly 
 retiring. The sleepy, hungry, fatigued Kentuckians were ordered immediately to the 
 support of Arnaud and his 150 Louisiana militiamen. Writes Professor McElroy: 
 "For twenty-four hours not one of them had slept; they had marched, without food, 
 almost continuously since the afternoon of the previous day; they were armed with 
 an assortment of guns with whose efficiency they were not acquainted, but which, to 
 say the least, did not give them great confidence. Some were old flintlock muskets, 
 which were by no means certain to fire, when wielded by men unaccustomed to their 
 use. Some were guns whose bore was too small for the cartridges which had been 
 provided; some were old muskets or, fowling pieces; while more than one man was 
 in effect unarmed, the lock of his gun being out of commission. However, at the 
 word of command, they advanced to the support of Major Arnaud and his one 
 hundred and fifty Louisiana militia, who were facing what proved to be a British 
 detachment of one thousand men, under Colonel Thornton."" 
 
 About a mile below General Morgan's line, the Kentuckians met Arnaud's retreat- 
 ing detachment, which, seeing the size of the reenforcement, continued to retire until 
 the shelter of a neighboring wood was reached, after which they took no further part 
 in the battle. There was nothing for the Kentuckians to do but retire on Morgan's 
 line. But these were given no respite. They were ordered to the unprotected right 
 flank and beyond on the plain, leaving a gap of 200 yards practically undefended. 
 British Colonel Thornton, seeing an excellent opportunity, of course, decided to strike. 
 He feigned at Morgan's entrenchments, near the river to deceive, then threw his force 
 on the flanks of the Kentuckians with the idea of turning their right and striking from 
 behind. His plan worked magnificently. Flanked at both ends of their lines, the 
 Kentuckians had to flee, perhaps precipitately, after firing several volleys with their 
 ancient pieces. 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 327 
 
 With the facts in mind, no man of fair mind would have censured the Kentuckians, 
 who of all human frailties detested and despised cowardise on the field of battle most. 4 * 
 But Jackson at the time of his indictment against them did not possess the facts, and 
 he was a man of quick and violent temper. And worse still, when he made up his 
 mind changing it was almost impossible. 
 
 In an address, General Jackson bitterly arraigned these Kentuckians to their faces'. 
 He spoke: "To what cause, was the abandonment of your lines owing? To fear? 
 No! You are the countrymen, the friends, the brothers of those who have secured 
 to themselves by their courage the gratitude of their country, who have been prodigal 
 of its blood in its defence, and who are strangers to any other fear than that of dis- 
 grace. To disaffection to our glorious cause? No! my countrymen; your general does 
 justice to the pure sentiment by which you are inspired. How then could brave men, 
 firm in the cause in which they are enrolled, neglect their first duty, and abandon 
 the post committed to their care? ... to want of discipline, disregard to obedience, 
 and a spirit of insubordination, not less destructive than cowardice itself." 
 
 The accused Kentuckians, in none too good a mood, and rightly, answered the 
 charge as follows: "We were ill-armed, we had been on our feet for twenty- four hours, 
 during which time we had hardly tasted food; the cartridges we had were too large 
 for our pieces; on our arrival before day, after a hard march of several miles, partly 
 through mud, without being allowed a moment's rest, we were ordered to advance a 
 mile further. Having obeyed without a murmur, we found ourselves in view of the 
 enemy, on whom we fired several volleys, maintaining that position, which was none 
 of the best, until, being outflanked on our right, and cannonaded with grapeshot from 
 the brakes on our left, we were forced to retreat on Morgan's line, where we were 
 ordered to take a position along a canal, uncovered and extended on a front of 300 
 yards, our left separated from the other troops by an unguarded space of ground, and 
 our right covered by a paltry detachment of sixteen men, stationed two hundred yards 
 from us; a vast plain, offering no manner of shelter, lying in our rear. We were 
 turned on the right and cut off on the left. In so precarious a situation, how could 
 we avoid giving way?" 4 '' 
 
 Of course, the blame should not have been placed upon the Kentuckians, but upon 
 the War Department for failure to provide supplies and upon Morgan for incom- 
 petency. A court of inquiry set up February 9, 1815, exonerated the Kentuckians, and 
 Jackson approved the proceedings. 
 
 General Jackson, however, did not retract his original statement in writing, nor 
 his oral condemnation of the Kentuckians' conduct. That started the feud. Ken- 
 tuckians became very bitter and insistent that a public apology be made. Fire-eating 
 John Adair, acted as spokesman and demanded of Jackson a public retraction, which 
 Jackson would not make. The affair became bitter and acrimouious. The Kentucky 
 Reporter took up the fight and unwittingly carried a typographical error, as a state- 
 ment of Jackson, in a place very derogatory to Adair. Each accused the other of 
 complicity in the Burr Conspiracy. A challenge was made and accepted and a duel 
 with pistols arranged, but by the timely mediation of friends prevented, a reconciliation 
 being effected upon the field — "in the presence of seconds, surgeons and invited 
 friends." 4 ' Perhaps the truth was that Jackson, glad to praise the Kentuckians for 
 bravery, was far too stubborn, and that Adair was far too hot-headed and insistent. 
 Later they became good friends. 4S 
 
 Aside from the fact that Henry Clay was the envoy at the Treaty of Ghent who 
 saved the Mississippi from joint control, the Battle of New Orleans was the last 
 episode of the war — really had followed the Treaty of Ghent! 
 
328 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 FOOTNOTES FOR CHAPTER XII 
 
 ^axson, History of the American Frontier, pp. 170, 171. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 165. 
 
 3 See also Alfred Pirtle, The Battle of Tippecanoe (1900), in The Filson Club Pub- 
 lications, No. 
 
 'Ibid., p. 166. 
 
 5 Mann Butler, History of Kentucky, p. 338. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 337. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 338. 
 
 s McElroy, Kentucky in the Nation s History, p. 315 et passim. 
 
 In 1803 Henry Clay had been chosen to represent Fayette County in the lower house 
 of the Kentucky Legislature, and had been regularly returned at each election until 
 1806. In that year he had been chosen to fill out the unexpired term of General 
 Adair, one of Kentucky's United States Senators. At the close of the session of the 
 Senate, where he had made a considerable reputation as a debater, Clay had returned 
 to his position as the representative of Fayette County in the Kentucky Legislature, 
 where he continued to serve until 1809, when he was again sent to the United States 
 Senate, this time to fill a post of honor, where his abilities as an orator and debater 
 won him distinction, Clay was elected to represent the Fayette District of Kentucky 
 in the national House of Representatives. His choice as Speaker of the Twelfth 
 Congress was a signal tribute to the capacity for leadership which he had shown in 
 each of these positions." (McElroy, op.cit., p. 335.) 
 
 10 Ibid., p. 325. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 332. 
 Lexington Reporter, May 9, 1812, for full text of the call. "The Governor, at 
 the same time, organized ten regiments, amounting to 5,500 troops, as Kentucky's quota 
 of the 100,000 militia called for by the United States. It is said that Madison 
 proposed making Clay general of the forces in the field, but that Gallatin discouraged 
 the idea, saying: 'But what shall we do without Clay in Congress.' ' : (McElroy, cf. 
 333.) 
 
 "Ibid., p. 333. "Ibid., p. 335. "Ibid., pp. 339, 340. (Quoted by McElroy.) 
 
 "Ibid., p. 335. "Ibid., p. 338. "Ibid., p. 339. "Ibid., pp. 340, 351. 
 Collins, op.cit., p. 301. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 302. 
 
 "McElroy, op.cit., p. 344. 
 
 'Ibid., p. 345. "Ibid., p. 345. 
 
 ^'Collins, op.cit., p. 305. Also see Z. F. Smith, The History of Kentucky (Louis- 
 ville: Courier-Journal Job Printing Company, 1886), p. 477. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 305. 
 
 'McElroy, op.cit., p. 346. 
 
 * This circumstance is related by Professor McElroy: "Harrison had retired to 
 Upper Sandusky, after Proctor's withdrawal, and had left Fort Meigs in charge of 
 General Clay. On July 20, a second feeble attempt to capture the fort was made by 
 General Proctor, but it was easily repulsed. Proctor then turned his forces, numbering 
 1,500 men, against Fort Stephenson, held by Col. George Croghan, of Kentucky, with 
 only 150 Kentucky volunteers. So indefensible was the place that General Harrison 
 had already ordered its abandonment; but the attack came too soon. Proctor made 
 only one assault, which was so gallantly repulsed that he decided to give up the 
 attempt and hastily returned to Maiden." 
 
 "The Filson Club Publications No. 18, Colonel Bennett H. Young, The Battle of 
 the Thames (Louisville: John P. Morton and Company, 1903), pp. 50, 51. 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 329 
 
 '"McElroy, op.cit., p. 348. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 349. "Ibid., p. 352. 
 
 Young, op.cit., pp. 76-93. 
 
 "McElroy, op.cit., p. 355. During the course of his career, General Harrison had 
 made some enemies. When the Congressional resolution was offered providing for the 
 medals to Shelby and Harrison, the latter's name was stricken off. Shelby instructed 
 his friends to refuse, in his name, any honor which could not be shared with General 
 Harrison. And the original motion was therefore adopted in 1818. (Young, p. 122.) 
 
 '"McElroy, op.cit., p. 356. 
 
 "Quoted by McElroy, pp. 356, 357. 
 
 37 Quoted by McElroy, p. 358. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 359. "Ibid., p. 361. "Ibid., p. 362. 
 
 "Quoted by Professor McElroy from Durrett MSS. 
 
 *Tbid., p. 365 (Citing Latour's "Historical Memoir of the War in West Florida and 
 Louisiana in 1814-15"). 
 
 "Ibid., pp. 367, 368. 
 
 'Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., II, 569. 
 
 4 °Ibid., II, 569. Quoting from Gayarre's History of Louisiana, IV, 490. 
 
 "Ibid., II, 570. 
 
 "'McElroy, op.cit., p. 372. 
 
 4S See The Filson Club Publications No. 19, Z. F. Smith, Battle of New Orleans 
 (Louisville: John P. Morton and Company, 1904) . Also Anderson Chenault Quisen- 
 berry, Kentucky in The War of 1812 (Frankfort: The Kentucky State Historical 
 Society, 1915). 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 MIDDLE PERIOD, 1816-1860 
 THE POLITICAL TEMPER, 1816 
 
 JLollowing the Battle of New Orleans, the times generally were* 
 marked by unity and good feeling, even manifesting itself in the Kentucky disposition. 
 True considerable dissatisfaction with the Jackson censure of Kentucky troops lingered. 
 However, neither party spirit, nor Jackson political prominence had developed far 
 enough to cause a sharp division among the people, although the name Andrew Jackson 
 or "Old Hickory" was anathema to the public generally in the state. The War, never- 
 theless, had enhanced the natural spirit of rebelliousness and boldness, and many, re- 
 turning home without employment, turned to politics. Naturally these preferred the 
 rabble-rousing, boisterous type of politics, and the people seemed to favor the exemplifi- 
 cation of passion and "brass" in political campaigns. Amos Kendall, the editor who be- 
 came a national figure during the Jacksonian period, came to Kentucky seeking his 
 political and journalist fortunes. He wrote: "I have, I think, learnt the way to be 
 popular in Kentucky, but do not as yet put it in practice. Drink whiskey and talk 
 loud, with the fullest confidence, and you will hardly fail of being called a clever 
 fellow." 
 
 It appears that the generality of suffragists was course, passionate and ignorant, 
 easily played upon by the boldest, loudest and crassest politicians. 
 
 The spirit of national unity however, manifested in the "Era of Good Feeling," did 
 not fail to touch Kentucky. Henry Clay, for his part in the War of 1812 and his 
 participation in the Treaty of Ghent as an American commissioner, was throughout 
 the state a popular idol, feted, flattered, banquetted and apotheosized at every turn. 
 Even the retiring President, James Madison, was warmly acclaimed by the General 
 Assembly for steering the nation through "a just and necessary, but a tempestuous and 
 boisterous war, difficult on account of the power of the enemy, but rendered more 
 dangerous by a faction at home (meaning the New England Federalists) ."" 
 
 The venerable Governor Shelby who had guided the state through many trials, not 
 the least of which was the War of 1812, reached the end of his term in 1816, full of 
 years and honors. In taking his leave of the Legislature, he declared: "I cannot take 
 my leave of the general assembly without expressing to them the grateful sense I shall 
 always entertain for the favorable light in which my countrymen have viewed my public 
 conduct, and offering to the Divine Disposer of all human affairs, my devout ac- 
 knowledgement for His many favors extended to our country, and many fervent prayers 
 that His protecting arm, may long preside over its destinies." 3 The Legislature replied 
 in terms of deep respect and gratitude, knowing that the retiring statesman's advanced 
 age made improbable their having him as governor or a political contender again. 
 
 THE ELECTION OF 1816 
 
 The end of the War of 1812 left Kentucky with a plethora of political timber. 
 Many men of ability had made names for themselves during the conflict and, returning 
 home, these could see greater possibilities in law and politics. The electorate of the 
 commonwealth, always having a propensity to honor the military hero, were quite 
 naturally eager to support men who had served with distinction during the late war. 
 Such a large crop of these developed, however, that intense rivalries were engendered, 
 and, particularly in the connection with the races for minor offices. In the political 
 contests the rules of war, so well learned, were more or less applied, that is, nothing 
 
332 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 barred, which practice the voters appeared decidedly to enjoy. This type of politics 
 was not projected into the gubernatorial contests at that time, because the people usually 
 settled upon one man so intensely that opposition would vanish. 
 
 The valedictory of the venerable Shelby was the sign for the ambitious for office to 
 begin turning more earnestly to politics. Two strong candidates came forward for 
 governor — Major George Madison and Lieutenant Colonel James Johnson. Both men, 
 having received many military honors, were well known in the commonwealth. How- 
 ever, Madison, now become rather old, had served in all the wars, having fought with 
 distinction even as a boy under age during the Revolution; he had taken part in prac- 
 tically every excursion against the Indians, big and little, and had distinguished himself 
 again for bravery during the later war. Colonel Johnson, a younger man, had only the 
 distinction of the exceptional services in the battle of the Thames. Both men well- 
 liked; Madison, ever a lovable man, was exceptionally popular. As the weeks advanced, 
 the political weather-vanes pointed toward the Madison star. Johnson, seeing the case 
 to be hopeless, retired from the race, "declaring that it would be futile to run against 
 a man so universally popular." 4 
 
 This was a decided victory for the Republicanism. Madison was considered staunch 
 in that faith, while Johnson was deemed a conservative, or, as some would declare, a 
 Federalist under the influence of John Pope, now under the ban because of his vote 
 in the United States Senate against the War of 1812. 
 
 With Johnson out of the way, interest centered in the race for Lieutenant-Governor. 
 Three candidates appeared, namely Gabriel Slaughter (who had been elected Lieutenant- 
 Governor in 1808) , Richard Hickman and James Garrard. As Major Slaughter, who 
 had served with distinction in the Battle of New Orleans and was generally highly- 
 respected for his firmness and fairness, was generally regarded as a Republican, he 
 was acceptable to the leaders of that party and, at the same time, enjoyed the secret 
 support of the conservatives, who, as pointed out were often labeled Federalists by 
 political opponents/ John Pope, wealthy, proud, aristocratic, able, independent man 
 of affairs, was the leader of the conservative group. As the Federalists were generally 
 more unpopular than ever in Kentucky because of the unpatriotic actions taken by 
 Federalist New Englanders at the Hartford Convention toward the close of the War 
 of 1812, the Republican leaders were inordinately pleased to stigmatize Pope and his 
 group with the denomination of Federalism in order to direct the voters' passions 
 against them. Federalism connoted Hartford Convention and disloyalty. 
 
 It so happened that Slaughter, rather dignified and conservative personally, and Pope 
 had been very close personal friends for many years, mutually admiring the ability, 
 integrity and loyalty of each other. Throughout Pope's political unpopularity, Major 
 Slaughter remained loyal, though their association was not generally known to Re- 
 publican leaders. Through Pope's secret influence, Slaughter received the support of 
 the conservatives and, as he enjoyed a large section of the support of the Republicans, 
 won the race for Lieutenant-Governor with little difficulty. 
 
 As fate would have it, a short time after the August elections (at which Madison and 
 Slaughter were elected), October 14, 1816, Madison died and Gabriel Slaughter became 
 Governor. A few days later the Republican leaders were shocked to learn that the 
 new Governor had appointed John Pope to be Secretary of State, which office was re- 
 garded as next in importance to that of the Governor. Charles S. Todd, who had been 
 appointed Secretary by Governor Madison, had written a letter to Slaughter which was 
 interpreted as a resignation, although Todd's intentions certainly were not to have the 
 letter regarded in that light. Governor Slaughter "stretched the blanket" somewhat 
 in this instance, because he wished his friend Pope to have the office. 
 
Courtesy, Filson Club. 
 
 John Jordan Crittenden 
 
 Governor of Kentucky, Cabinet Member, Congressman, 
 Senator, Author of the famous Crittenden Compro- 
 mise — one of Kentucky's greatest statesmen. 
 
334 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 Announcement of John Pope's appointment invoked a storm of disapproval and pro- 
 test from the Republican press. Aside from having voted against the War and sup- 
 ported the United States Bank (vastly unpopular with the Republicans) Pope happened 
 to be a personal and political enemy of Henry Clay, the idol of the people. The Lex- 
 ington Reporter, The Louisville Journal and Focus, The Kentucky Gazette, Matthew 
 Lyon's newspaper called The Scourge of Aristocracy and Repository of Important Po- 
 litical Truth — all these were merciless in their attacks upon Slaughter and Pope, both 
 of whom were repeatedly accused of being Federalists and covert betrayers of the will 
 of the people. The Frankfort Argus, taking up the cry, addressed an open letter to 
 Governor Slaughter which called his attention to the idea that the appointment of Mr. 
 Pope was a "Melancholy confirmation of the grey adage that misfortune seldom comes 
 alone."' In the Reporter young James T. Morehead started a series of letters ener- 
 getically declaring that the appointment was a "daring outrage upon the wishes of the 
 people.'" He charged Governor Slaughter with apostasy to the Republican party and 
 asked Mr. Pope to confess his political sins to the people and beg for forgiveness. The 
 general argument was that the people had not elected Slaughter and that by changing 
 the policies of Madison, who had been elected by the voters, the will and wishes of 
 the people were being defeated. It was suggested that another election should be held 
 in order that the people might register their wishes. 
 
 Meanwhile Governor Slaughter continued to show his independence of the wishes 
 of the Republican leaders by appointing his friend General Martin D. Hardin to fill 
 out the unexpired term of William T. Barry in the United States Senate, made vacant 
 by resignation. Hardin, a member of the powerful and aristocratic Hardin family 
 of pioneer fame and a kinsman of the wizardous though eccentric and powerful lawyer, 
 Ben Hardin of Bardstown, was a conservative, known to be none too friendly to the 
 Republicans. The Republican leaders and office-seekers therefore were fairly beside 
 themselves with fury and rage at Slaughter. Despite the fact that Hardin was later 
 elected by the Legislature to fill out the unexpired term, the clamor was not in the 
 least allayed, because Republican leaders forthwith railed and charged that Slaughter 
 had manipulated the General Assembly to have his friend elected. The old cry of 
 Federalist! was hurled at Hardin, who was really a very able and highly respected man. 
 
 Joseph Cabell Breckinridge, a member of the Legislature, began a "long and minute 
 constitutional argument to show that Slaughter was not entitled to fill the unexpired 
 term of Madison."'' The constitution simply stated that in case of death, resignation, 
 etc. of the governor, the lieutenant-governor would serve "until another be duly quali- 
 fied." Breckinridge admitting that "the constitution was not so full and clear upon 
 the subject as could be wished"; yet he felt that there should be a new election. 10 
 
 Slaughter's supporters, the conservatives, argued with much reason and logic that 
 "the constitution should be interpreted in the ordinary light in which such documents 
 were viewed, and not in the distorted and prejudiced manner which characterized those 
 who wanted to oust Slaughter — and that mostly for political reasons."" Actually, as 
 pointed out by Professor Coulter, the Republican leaders were not particularly interested 
 in the constitution. In fact, only after Governor Slaughter had committed certain 
 political acts which were displeasing to them did they suddenly discover that the con- 
 stitution was being violated and that it was their duty to uphold that sacred instrument. 
 Slaughter's supporters also pointed out the fact that in every other state in the union 
 the interpretation given to the gubernatorial succession clause made the lieutenant-gov- 
 ernor fill out the entire unexpired term of the governor. So was it true in the case of 
 the nation, and it seems that no one questioned the right of the vice-president, as well 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 335 
 
 as the duty, to fill out the unexpired term of the president in case of death, resigna- 
 tion or removal. 
 
 In spite of the lucid and logical arguments of the conservatives, a bill was introduced 
 in the House, January 21, 1817, to enquire into the constitutionality of authorizing by 
 law an election for governor at the next election. This measure was defeated in both 
 the House and Senate by comfortable majorities. The bitter Republican leaders now 
 determined to take the fight to the people, to ask them to return to the Legislature only 
 those candidates who favored a new gubernatorial election, and "the purging of the 
 state government of its self-appointed chief magistrate." 1 " 
 
 Many prominent and able men took the stump in favor of new election. Among 
 these were John Jordan Crittenden, destined to become one of Kentucky's most dis- 
 tinguished men; also Joseph Cabell Breckinridge; William T. Barry, lawyer, diplomat, 
 soldier, cabinet member; George M. Bibb, Justice of the Court of Appeals, United 
 States Senator, cabinet member; and Jesse Bledsoe, United States Senator, lawyer, 
 judge, orator. Henry Clay, although taking no part in the agitation, was thought to 
 favor a new election; certainly, he was an enemy of John Pope, leader of the Slaughter 
 faction. However, it is probably safe to state that Mr. Clay was gradually pulling 
 away from the Republicans and leaning more toward the conservatives, whose leader, 
 with the founding of the Whig Party, he became. Pope and George Robertson, able 
 lawyer and jurist, bore the brunt of the battle against new election, and these were 
 supported by such wealthy, aristocratic men as Robert Wickliffe, known as the "Old 
 Duke." The Republican leaders, most of whom, excepting Crittenden, later became 
 Jacksonian democrats, tried to establish in the minds of the people, whose passions were 
 easily inflamed, the idea that Slaughter was a ursurper trying to rob the people of their 
 right to rule. Judge Robertson declared: "Under false colors they have without a 
 solitary argument, but merely by flattery and pretty names induced many honest, un- 
 suspecting men to join them in their unholy crusade against the constitution." 
 
 Governor Slaughter appeared to remain aloof from the rough and tumble, passionate 
 campaign. In his first message to the Legislature he had shown himself to be superior 
 to many governors by presenting a fine program for reform and progress, including 
 advocacy of internal improvement, proper training of the militia and, most remarkable, 
 an earnest appeal for the education of the citizenry of the state. Upon this point he 
 had declared: "Knowledge and virtue are everywhere the surest basis of public happi- 
 ness; the strongest barriers against oppression, a powerful check to mal-administration, 
 by rendering it necessary for those in power to secure not the blind, but the enlightened 
 confidence of the people." 14 And he boldly proclaimed that the state was responsible 
 in this matter, having the responsibility of educating the children where the parents 
 were unable. 
 
 The new Assembly convened, in December, 1817. The Lower House was pre- 
 dominently new election, while the administration's majority had been cut in the Senate, 
 which could change only one-fourth (the one-fourth elected being mostly new election) . 
 The people had spoken. As Professor Coulter states, "A legislature had been elected, 
 backed by the people on any raid on the constitution it should feel compelled to make." 1 
 Robert Wickliffe later declared: "The war had thrown upon society a mass of sixty 
 days' Majors, aids-de-camp to military generals and some of whom from having worn 
 swords and all of whom from having eaten public beef, were qualified for the Legisla- 
 ture. You had too, Sir, a goodly number of lawyers, lacking clients, who had time, 
 and who felt as if they had talents to legislate for you. They also became your Legis- 
 tors, and being homogenous with the offal of the war formed the basis of the Legisla- 
 ture of 1817. They proclaimed the doctrine of vox populi, vox Dei — that the people 
 
336 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 could do anything and that they themselves were the people — that it was absurd to say 
 that the constitution could or ought to control the voice of the people as expressed by 
 their representatives — and the constitution was the creature, and the people the Creator, 
 and to suppose it to be the supreme law was to make the creature control the Creator." 
 
 Governor Slaughter's message to the Legislature was even more able than that of 
 the preceding year (1816). He not only reiterated his proposals for progress — internal 
 improvements and the establishment of a public school system — but he presented sage 
 advice upon governmental workings. 1 ' He declared that government in America was a 
 departure from the simple democracy where the people acted in the first instance, but 
 it was nevertheless government of the people, made for their benefit and dependent upon 
 their will. In the end, he reasoned, the will of the people always carried, but constitu- 
 tions prevented the momentary passions of the hour from destroying the fabric. He 
 did not believe that every momentary passion and prejudice should be considered the 
 will of the people. The framers of government in America, he argued, had wisely 
 "constructed the vessel of state so as to prevent its being driven by every popular blast 
 from its proper course, by interposing checks and balances, to stay the intemperance 
 and rashness of the moment, and to give time for sober reason of the community to 
 be exercised. To protect the weak against the strong, the minority against the majority, 
 and to secure all and everyone against violence, injustice and oppression, the people in 
 their highest sovereign character assembled in convention for that special purpose, have 
 by a written constitution established certain rules and principles, and barriers, they have 
 solemnly pledged their faith to each other to observe inviolable, until the constitution 
 itself shall be altered or abolished." 1 ' The branches, he thought, were so dexterously 
 arranged and balanced, with checks and balances, that no single branch should be able 
 to gain the ascendancy. This arrangement provided the cornerstone of freedom — pro- 
 tections against sudden bursts of unreasoning passion. 
 
 The Governor intimated that the people did not properly understand the principle 
 upon which American liberties were based. This led to another plea for education. 
 "When we reflect how much the very existence of our government depends on the 
 virtue and intelligence of the people, and for how many ages the friends of freedom, 
 and human happiness have been struggling to devise some form of government alike 
 secure against tyranny and anarchy, how indispensable is it to diffuse information, 
 and qualify those who are to succeed us, to understand the plan and principles of gov- 
 ernment, furnished us by our revolutionary sages. Without intelligence the people never 
 can be safe against the delusions to which they are exposed from the violence of party 
 spirit, and the arts and intrigues of designing ambition." 19 He called upon his fellow 
 citizens to abate their party violence and differences. 
 
 But the able message had little affect upon the Republican leaders; nor upon the 
 unfriendly press, which twisted the message absurdly for partisan purposes, and charged 
 the Governor with merely attempting to allay criticism of him in calling for a cessation 
 of party strife. The Lower House set to work immediately to execute the mission for 
 which it was elected, namely provide for a new election. The bill was rushed through 
 that chamber by a vote of fifty-six to thirty. The Senate, after spirited debate, rejected 
 the measure by a vote of eighteen to fourteen. 
 
 Public passion of the moment had almost ruled the day, had almost succeeded 
 in running rough shod over the constitution for partisan purposes. The conservative 
 Senate, none too popular with the generalty, had saved the day. The clamor quickly 
 subsided. The question was settled. Even James T. Morehead, later as Lieutenant- 
 Governor, showed no disposition upon the death of Governor Breathitt to believe other 
 
 
H I S T O RY O F K E N T U C K Y 337 
 
 than that he was to serve out the deceased governor's full term. However, political 
 passion was by no means at an end in Kentucky! 
 
 PROSPERITY 
 
 Following the purchase of Louisiana, trade down the Mississippi River increased 
 rapidly. Population also rapidly grew, with the result that farm and factory products 
 multiplied. The invention of the steamboat shortened the time of a trip from Louis- 
 ville to new Orleans from thirty or forty, to six or seven days, with the resultant lower- 
 ing of the cost of this transportation about two-thirds." Simultaneously roads eastward 
 were being improved, so that by 1812 Kentucky was sending 500,000 hogs annually, 
 as well as many other products, over the mountains, toward the Atlantic seaboard. 
 
 The tremendous increase in the export business, together with the rapidly rising 
 mercantile transactions demanded the establishing of a system of banking. In the 
 pioneer days, Kentuckians being possessed of practically no specie, had used hides, par- 
 ticularly beaver, in lieu of money. Later other commodities were employed; land war- 
 rants tended somewhat to supplant hides. With the opening of the Louisiana trade on 
 a large scale, coins of many sizes, nationalities and denominations found their way 
 into the state. These coins were usually weighed by the merchants and traders by way 
 of fixing some value upon them." 1 Kentucky from the beginning suffered from a lack 
 of good — in fact any kind of — circulating medium. There just was not enough money 
 in the state. Immigrants came to Kentucky to make money, but the money was in the 
 East, around such financial centers as Boston, New York and Philadelphia. 
 
 The trade to New Orleans became so large and valuable even by 1802 that the Gen- 
 eral Assembly incorporated that year an institution denominated the Kentucky In- 
 surance Company, chartered primarily as an insurance company but inadvertantly, 
 perhaps, given banking powers. Kentuckians having had no banking experience knew 
 little or nothing about financial economy. However, this company was soon realizing 
 eight percent profits, which led to a storm of denunciation by the moneyless populace, 
 who characterized it as a "monied aristocracy." This monopoly was not of long dura- 
 tion, because, December 27, 1806, the Legislature chartered the Bank of Kentucky, 
 with a capital stock fixed at about $1,000,000, half of which was reserved for the state, 
 which was to chose annually the president and six of the twelve directors. The Gen- 
 eral Assembly was given power to increase, at any time the number of directors from 
 twelve to twenty-four, insuring permanent management of the bank to that body, 
 "which," as Professor McElroy declares, "would be generally certain to know very 
 little about its affairs, and to intervene for the worse in any critical moment."" 
 
 The long period of warfare in Europe soon had drained the warring nations of gold, 
 and European countries had suspended specie payment. Millions in paper were soon 
 printed. Demands for goods were enormous, manpower scarce and business flourishing. 
 Prices soured. The same conditions soon were felt in the United States. In Kentucky 
 the War of 1812 had greatly stimulated business, which flourished as never previously. 
 Prices soared here to unheard of levels. Gold was so scarce that the Bank of Kentucky 
 for a time suspended specie payment. Speculation developed quickly, with the ac- 
 companying raising of prices still higher and reckless unnecessary buying by erstwhile 
 level-headed business men. The end of the war brought no immediate surcease to spend- 
 ing and speculation. The United States experienced the same thing during the Civil 
 War and the First World War. Of course, the "bubble" did burst, and depression 
 and misery followed; fortunes were wiped out almost overnight — markets gone, vastly 
 accumulated stocks with no sales, men out of employment, debtors unable to pay and 
 
338 A SES QUI -CENTENNIAL 
 
 panic everywhere. We are experiencing the same inflated conditions today (1945). 
 Depression may come again. 
 
 In the absence of specie, paper-money was used in vast quantities. Moreover, times 
 were so good that credits were easily obtained. Land rose to unheard of prices. Farm 
 land around Lexington was selling for $100 an acre, while town lots there were nearly 
 as high as in Boston, New York, Philadelphia or Baltimore. During the same time 
 land sold in the corporate limits of Louisville for $30,000 an acre." Common wool 
 sold at 50 cents a pound; the best grades of Merino for $2.00; hemp at $80 the ton; 
 flax at $15 the hundred pounds; while there was an acute scarcity of artisans of all 
 classes, especially smiths, carpenters, joiners, brick makers and layers, painters and 
 glaziers, cotton and wool machine makers, fullers, clothiers, upholsters, and many 
 others. * 
 
 Immediately upon the close of hostilities, English manufacturers began dumping their 
 long-accumulated stocks on the American markets for whatsoever price they would 
 fetch. The New England manufacturers quickly complained and cried for protection, 
 which Congress granted in the form of the tariff of 1816 (about an average of 25%). 
 The Kentucky manufacturers, who had profited greatly by Embargo, Non-Intercourse 
 and the War of 1812 to build extensive manufacturing, were soon complaining also. 
 Kentucky merchants, however, quick to see possibilities of vast profits, sped eastward 
 to buy British goods and quickly to return for enormous sales at exorbitant prices. 
 Soon it seemed that everyone was turning merchant. Credit was easy, and people bought 
 to excess. "Who would wear an old coat," wrote Hezekiah Niles, "when he could so 
 easily obtain a new one at the *store'?"" Rationalism and thrift were thrown to the 
 wind; an orgy of spending was at hand. Millions in needless debts were created. 
 
 All kinds of paper, mostly worthless was floating. Specie payments were out of the 
 question. Congress, however, in 1816 created the Second Bank of the United States 
 to stabilize the currency, establishing branch banks in Lexington and Louisville. A 
 sound currency, with specie payment, however, would not for the time being aid Ken- 
 tucky, because naturally the branch banks would not accept worthless paper, and this 
 action would cause merchants to become alarmed and to demand good money, which 
 could not be obtained, and panic would ensue — brought on by the folly of the people. 
 
 HARD TIMES 
 
 Depression came about as quickly as was possible. As a matter of fact, world-wide 
 depression had come on the heels of the Napoleonic debacle. It was an inexorable law 
 of economics that soon after the end of war, European nations would be able to pro- 
 duce their own goods and would return to specie payment. This would cause a surplus 
 of commodities in the United States, which would be unable to find markets and, all 
 the while, men would be returning home seeking jobs, which could not be found. Prices 
 would fall. Creditors would howl. Banks would forclose — the same old story that 
 mankind never seems to learn to prepare for. 
 
 Kentucky quickly began to suffer — unemployment, ruination of manufacturing, loss 
 of markets for farm products, foreclosures, seizures, ruin, suffering, mounting wrath. 
 The people in their extremity cried for the politicians "to do something." These 
 politicians, neophites in economies, reasoned that the people needed more paper money, 
 so that spending could continue. The Legislature therefore in the session of 1817-18 
 chartered forty independent banks, in forty towns of the state, with an aggregate 
 capital of almost $10,000,000. These were permitted to redeem their notes with the 
 paper of the Bank of Kentucky, instead of specie. This would, of course, ruin the 
 fairly sound Bank of Kentucky, which had resumed specie payment in 1817. 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 339 
 
 Writes Judge John A. McClung: "In the summer of 1818, the state was flooded 
 with the paper of these banks. Their managers were generally without experience or 
 knowledge of finance, and in some instances, destitute of common honesty. The conse- 
 quences were such as might have been anticipated. Speculation sprung up in all direc- 
 tions. Large loans were rashly made and as rashly expended. Most of these bubbles 
 exploded within a year, and few were alive at the end of two years. In the meantime . 
 the pressure of debt became terrible, and the power to replevy judgments was extended 
 by the legislature from three to twelve months by an act passed at the session of 
 1819-20. During the summer of 1820, the cry for further relief became overwhelming, 
 and vast majorities of both houses, were pledged to some measure which should relieve 
 the debtor from the consequences of his rashness. The reign of political quackery was 
 in its glory. The sufferings of the patient were too acute, to permit him to listen to 
 the regular physician who prescribed time, industry and economy, as the only honest 
 and just remedy. He turned eagerly to the quacks, who promised him instantaneous 
 relief, by infallible nostrums and specifics, without pain — without self-denial, and 
 without paying the penalty which nature always imposes, upon any gross violation of 
 her laws."" 
 
 Soon after this, a very exciting gubernational contest developed in the summer of 
 1820. The candidates who could shout loudest against the banks and sympathize most 
 touchingly with the poor injured people would be calculated to receive the largest 
 vote. In the August contest General John Adair, well known and beloved in the state 
 for many reasons, received 20,493 votes, while William Logan tallied 19,947 and Gen- 
 eral Joseph Desha garnered 12,419. For Lieutenant Governor William T. Barry re- 
 ceived 33,022, while his opponent William B. Blackburn collected 22,722. Adair and 
 Barry, both heartily in favor of the relief of the debtor at almost any cost, were 
 elected." 
 
 Long before the election, however, the financial conditions steadily became more 
 chaotic. Following the launching of the Forty Independent banks, that had hastened 
 to print millions of worthless paper, speculation hastened to reach a new high. Men 
 began to look upon "banks as institutions for making the poor rich." A mania for 
 borrowing developed, with little or no good collateral or security. In fact few of the 
 new banking officials possessed the slightest knowledge of banking, and a few of them 
 were actually dishonest. "All hastened to get into debt," writes Professor Sumner, 
 "because to do so was not only the only way to get rich, but the only way to save one's 
 self from ruin."" 
 
 The reckoning came swiftly. "The Forty Thieves," as the new banks came to be 
 dubbed, soon found themselves in serious straits. They could not pay their demand 
 notes and loudly accused the Bank of the United States of bringing on their ruin, 
 "thus," as Professor McElroy writes, "drawing upon it the hatred which they themselves 
 merited." The Bank of Kentucky held out bravely for a time, but the pressure from 
 the Bank of the United States, which held much of its paper, was too severe. May 
 4, 1820, the stockholders voted to suspend, and the branch banks of the B.U.S. held 
 the field without a rival. 
 
 THE REPLEVIN LAW, 1820 
 
 As conditions grew steadily worse, the people clamored vociferously for relief. 
 The word relief proved to be a God-send to many rabble-rousing politicians, whose 
 principal interest was getting elected. The canvasses for the legislative session of 1820 
 clearly indicated that the people would vote for those who could promise most in the 
 way of relief. Those who attempted to be rational and economically sound were 
 
 2 3— Vol. I 
 
340 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 violently pounced upon as being pro-monopoly and anti-relief — enemies of the people. 3 
 The personnel of the 1820 session was predominently relief at any cost. There is no 
 doubt but that the people were suffering. Those who remember the conditions in the 
 United States following 1929 know what a depression can cause. Yet, then as now, 
 there was and is grave doubt that prosperity can be ushered in by legislation, inflation 
 and spending. But then, as now, people grabbing at a straw to save themselves, will 
 close their eyes to reason and vote for glittering promises and tantalizing nostrums. 
 
 A committee of the Legislature of 1820, appointed to study conditions and make 
 recommendations, brought in this report: "The balance of trade being against us to a 
 great amount, when the year 1819 commenced, many began to see and feel that they 
 had been deluded by appearances; and such was the universal pressure over the whole 
 United States, that even the Bank of the United States, with all its power and in- 
 fluence, was almost driven to the brink of ruin, and was only saved by the fortunate 
 arrival of $250,000 in specie from the states of Kentucky and Ohio, at a moment when 
 every other resource had failed, as acknowledged by the president of that bank, in 
 his last report. In this state the pressure was unprecedented in every quarter of the 
 country; alarm and distrust pervaded every class of our citizens, it was evident to 
 every reflecting and humane mind, that widespread ruin and desolation would soon 
 overwhelm thousands of our best citizens, unless some expedient could be resorted to, 
 for the purpose of saving the country. A twelve months replevin law was resorted to, 
 in the first instance, which only dammed up the current for a time to again break 
 loose with redoubled fury. As the hopes and expectations for that year were cut off 
 for the want of a market, because it cannot be forgotten, that in the spring and summer 
 of the year 1820, the products of the country had fallen to prices far below what was 
 ever known before, and although abundance and plenty smiled around the husbandman, 
 his debts were increasing, and a fearful look-out for the day of execution and ruin, met 
 the unfortunate in every direction. These are stubborn facts which cannot be denied, 
 and are now fresh in the recollection of all. Under these circumstances the Legisla- 
 ture of 1820 assembled. — What can be done to save the country? was the universal 
 inquiry. The resources and funds of the state were known to be ample and it was 
 determined to draw upon her as the safest expedient."" 
 
 It was thought that the amending of the Replevin Law would bring considerable 
 relief. Replevin in its legal sense means, "A personal action which lies to recover pos- 
 session of goods and chattels wrongfully taken or detained." The writ by virtue of 
 which goods and chattels are recovered. The twelve months replevin law made it im- 
 possible for the creditor to collect his debt or retrieve his property for a period of a 
 year. This worked a tremendous hardship upon the creditor and, in fact, practically 
 killed the credit system. 
 
 The legislators set to work in earnest to "loosen-up" things for the people. Having 
 once become infatuated with floods of paper or fiat money, these solons could not resist 
 the siren-like temptations to usher in a saturnalia of it. Writing of their work, Pro- 
 fessor McElroy states: "As an initial step in their dangerous program, the new Legis- 
 lature passed a bill providing a charter for the banks which Humphrey Marshall, with 
 characteristic scorn, describes as, 'the paper bubble, called The Bank of the Common- 
 wealth of Kentucky; The People's Bank; God save it.' This governmental monstrosity 
 was indeed a veritable paper mill, such as is often dreamed of today by those socialistic 
 philosophers who believe that the government can create prosperity by the mere opera- 
 tion of its printing press. Its sole business was to turn out money, which it was not 
 required to redeem in specie. The value of this money rested upon public lands, and 
 it was receivable for taxes and all public debts; but, in order to insure its being ac- 
 
H I S T O RY O F K E N T U C K Y 341 
 
 cepted also in payment of private debts, which was the chief cause of the creation of 
 the bank, the law provided, that if a creditor refused to accept payment in this bank 
 paper, the debtor could * replevy the debt for the space of two years'."' The capital 
 stock was about $2,000,000, and the bank could issue paper to the amount of $3,000,000 
 with certain unclaimed lands owned by the state as backing. Humphrey Marshall, a 
 very wealthy aristocrat, declared with his usual acidity that the only real capital of the- 
 bank was $7,000 appropriated by the Legislature for the purchase of an outfit for 
 printing the notes. 4 
 
 No chance existed for the failure of the Bank of the Commonwealth, because the 
 institution was not obliged to redeem its paper in specie, or in anything else, other 
 than the doubt-valued land. It was established purely for the relief of debtors. The 
 creditors, however, were unjustly discriminated against by this "leveling" Legislature. 
 They could accept, under the new replevin law, payment in the paper of the Bank of 
 the Commonwealth, worth perhaps fifty cents on the dollar, or they could wait two 
 years with the hope of obtaining justice from the courts, during which time they en- 
 joyed neither their property, nor pay for it — a dilemma? assuredly., Even a simple-minded 
 fellow would know that something was illegal or unconstitutional about this brazen 
 piece of legislation which violated the obligation of contracts. As the class discrimi- 
 nated against was, for the most part, the conservative, intelligent propertied class, little 
 time was lost in getting a case into a circuit court for a test of the constitutionality 
 of the law. 
 
 Leaders for Relief (John Rowan, William T. Barry, George M. Bibb, Solomon P. 
 Sharp, Amos Kendall, Joseph Desha, John Adair) and Anti-Relief (Robert Wickliffe, 
 George Robertson, Chilton Allen, Ben Hardin, John J. Crittenden, John Pope, Thomas 
 F. Marshall) girded for a last-ditch battle. 
 
 Writes Judge McClung: "The question of the power of the legislature to pass the 
 act, was raised at an early day, and was quickly brought before the circuit courts. 
 Judge [James] Clark, of Clark County, boldly decided the act unconstitutional, in 
 the first case which came before him, and brought upon himself a tempest of indigna- 
 tion, which thoroughly tested the firmness of his character. He was summoned to 
 appear before a called session of the legislature, which was convened in the spring of 
 1822, and violent efforts were made to intimidate, or remove him by address. The 
 gallant judge defended his opinion with calm reason, and invincible firmness, and partly 
 from a want of a constitutional majority, party perhaps from the suggestion, that the 
 legislature should await the decision of the supreme court of Kentucky upon the sub- 
 ject, the legislative storm blew over, leaving the judge as it found him. He adhered 
 steadily to his decision, and was quickly supported by Judge Blair of Fayette, in an 
 opinion replete with learning, temper and eloquence. Great was the indignation of the 
 party at this refractory spirit displayed by the inferior judiciary. :,B 
 
 Being frustrated in their attempt to oust Judge Clark because of their inability to 
 muster the necessary two-thirds majority, the Relief party was lashed to fury; it was 
 beside itself with rage at this "treachery to the peoples' interest." " As suggestions had 
 been made at the trial of Judge Clark that the Court of Appeals was the tribunal of 
 last resort, the infuriated Relief men turned their burning eyes toward the three scholar- 
 ly members of that august institution. "Feeling-out" was begun, followed by inti- 
 midatory clamor. 
 
 OLD COURT AND NEW COURT 
 
 Kentucky Legislatures had never been noted either for friendliness or respect for 
 courts. Now the wrath of this Legislature was out of all bounds, and a good majority 
 
342 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 of the people were solidly of the same feeling, favorable to whatsoever action it might 
 take, no matter how extreme. Recently the United States Supreme Court had handed 
 down a decision in a Kentucky case appealed, Bank of the United States vs. Halstead, 
 which declared that the relief law prohibiting the sale without the owner's consent of 
 lands under execution for less than three-fourth of the appraised value was invalid. 
 Still another decision concerning Kentucky had been made recently in the case known 
 as Green vs. Biddle. In this latter case, decision of the court was that the Kentucky 
 courts' decisions of 1797 and 1812 relative to land titles were both unconstitutional 
 since they were an impairment of contract between Virginia and Kentucky, made at 
 the time of separation whereby all land disputes were to be determined by the laws of 
 the mother state." 7 Writes Professor Stickles, "When the full effect of this decision 
 reached Kentucky, the cup of resentment against the federal judiciary was almost full." 
 This, in addition to Judge Clark's decision in Williams vs. Blair, quickly followed by 
 that of Fayette County's Judge Blair in Lapsley vs. Brashear, produced unbounded 
 popular rage. Running the vitriol-like dose to the brim was the fact that the Legisla- 
 ture had been unable to oust the noble Judge Clark. Now running the gall and vitriol 
 over the brim — and a gargantuan dose indeed — were the latest decisions of the Court 
 of Appeals, which upheld the decisions of Judges Clark and Blair. Of course, the 
 replevin laws were clearly a violation of both the clause of the Federal Constitution 
 and of that of the state constitution against laws impairing the obligation of contracts 
 and against expost facto laws, but the Relief people and their representatives were of 
 the opinion that the immediate will of the majority through the Legislature was sov- 
 ereign, regardless of court decisions and constitutions; transcended all else — a theory 
 not unknown even in our day. 
 
 Whereas Judge James Clark, who later became governor of Kentucky, showed superb 
 moral and mental courage in daring to brook rough public wrath, the justices of the 
 Court of Appeals manifested supreme moral and intellectual courage in concurring 
 with Clark and Blair. The Relief-inclined section of the populace, most of whom were 
 rough, ignorant people, would gladly in mob spirit have torn these judges limb from 
 limb, and the Legislature was in little less elemental spirit. 
 
 The Court of Appeals was made up of three members, namely, John Boyle, Chief 
 Justice, and William Owsley and Benjamin Mills, associates. The character and in- 
 telligence of these exemplary men merit some biographical consideration. 
 
 John Boyle (Chief Justice of the Kentucky Court of Appeals for more than sixteen 
 years), born of humble parents in Botetourt County, Virginia, in 1774, came to Garrard 
 County in 1779, where he spent the remainder of his life. Having received a good 
 classical education, he took up the study of law under Thomas Davis, of Mercer 
 County, a member of Congress. His agile mind, compelling energy and marked ag- 
 gressiveness, together with stability of character, enabled him to rise rapidly in law and 
 politics; elected to Congress 1802, reelected twice without opposition; refused a fourth 
 term, "because a political life was less congenial to his taste, than the practice of his 
 profession amid the sweets of his early home." Mr. Boyle refused many federal ap- 
 pointments proffered by Presidents Jefferson and Madison — governorship of the terri- 
 tory of Illinois, associate justiceship of U. S. Supreme Court and others. He accepted 
 a justiceship on the bench of the Court of Appeals; made Chief Justice in 1810, serving 
 until 1826, when he resigned to accept a justiceship in one of the U. S. Circuit Courts, 
 serving until his death in 1835. For one year in the latter; part of his life he was sole 
 professor of law in Transylvania University. "Numbers of young men," writes Collins, 
 "followed him to the quiet of his home, where his pleasures were divided between teach- 
 ing law, miscellaneous reading, and the cares of his family and farm."' 8 
 
H I S T O RY O F K E N T U C K Y 343 
 
 William Owsley (1782-1862), born in Virginia, was moved with his family to Lincoln 
 County, District of Kentucky, in 1783. He received a sound early education; became 
 deputy sheriff under his father, Lincoln County's high sheriff. While deputy he at- 
 tracted the attention of John Boyle, who, delighted with the intellectual capacity of 
 the young man, proffered the use of his extensive library and the benefit of his teaching 
 in law. A license to practice being soon attained, young Owsley rose rapidly in the 
 legal profession. He represented Garrard County in the Legislature, in which body he 
 became favorably known. Governor Scott appointed him to the Court of Appeals 
 bench in 1812, but when the Legislature passed a law reducing the number of justices 
 to three, young Owsley immediately resigned; however a vacancy occurring in 1813, 
 Governor Shelby reappointed him. 
 
 Writes Collins: "During the service of Boyle, Owsley and Mills, on the supreme 
 bench, that ever memorable controversy between the old and new court parties was 
 waged. The annals of Kentucky's history will attest the momentous character of that 
 struggle, and duly commemorate the virtues of the men that were then made con- 
 spicuous. Never before did the fires of discord burn more fiercely in any civil com- 
 munity. Never before was a State so near anarchy, revolution and ruin. Firmness, 
 wisdom and coolness alone could save the country in that time of dread and peril. 
 All these qualities were pre-eminent in the judges who then sat upon the bench. They 
 were equal to the crisis. They withstood the storm of popular tumult, careless of the 
 rage of disappointed partisans, flushed with temporary triumph, but crossed in the 
 enjoyment of victory. It seems Providential that such men were on the bench to save 
 the State in that stormy trial." 39 
 
 Judge Owsley, having safely steered through the rough seas of political strife, 
 resigned from the bench in 1828 to retire to private legal practice and the husbanding 
 of his agrarian holdings in Garrard County. But he was quickly returned to the 
 Legislature from Garrard. Soon finding his legal practice too large to handle satis- 
 factorily, Judge Owsley gave up his circuit court practice, moved to Frankfort and 
 devoted his energies to practicing before the Court of Appeals. This he did until 1843 
 when he determined to retire. Purchasing a fine landed estate in Boyle County, he 
 gave up his law business and removed to his country seat. The Whig Party demanding 
 his services, he ran for governor in 1844 against the strongest, most popular candidate 
 the Democrat Party had run in Kentucky, General William O. Butler. The vote re- 
 ceived by Owsley was 59,680 — it was 1,191 more votes than received in the state by 
 General Harrison in 1840. 
 
 As governor, Owsley was distinguished for hard work, economy (began paying off 
 the public debt) interest in internal improvements and public education. 
 
 Collins thus describes him: "In person, Gov. Owsley was tall (about 6 feet 2 inches 
 high) and slender. His disposition was reserved, and he talked but little. In times of 
 greatest excitement, there was seldom any perceptible change in his spirits or demeanor. 
 He was proverbial for honesty, firmness, and impartiality; and made the principle of 
 right the ground of every action. His manners were plain, simple, and purely repub- 
 lican. As a public speaker he was staid, sensible, and practical — seldom enthusiastic; 
 but occasionally, when roused or stung by something pointed or unfair in his adversary, 
 he was quick, spirited, and powerful." 40 
 
 Benjamin Mills (1779-183..), born in Worcester County, Maryland, moved to the 
 vicinity of Washington, Pennsylvania, where he was well educated and began the 
 study of medicine; at an early age he became president of Washington Academy 
 (which later became Washington and Jefferson College). While yet a young man, 
 Mr. Mills decided to remove with his father to Bourbon County, Kentucky, where he 
 
344 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 took up the study of law. His abilities and diligence soon gained for him a lucrative 
 practice. He represented his county in the lower house of the General Assembly for 
 many terms. In 1816 he failed of election to the United States Senate against Isham 
 Talbot by only three votes of the Legislature. In 1817 he accepted appointment to 
 the Montgomery circuit as judge, principally, it appears, to relieve himself of a legal 
 practice so heavy that his health was becoming impaired. During the succeeding year, 
 he accepted appointment to the Fayette circuit, the lawyers of whose bar had unani- 
 mously requested his appointment. Judge Mills was elevated to the Court of Appeals 
 bench in 1820, resigning that post in 1828 to practice law before that court. 
 
 Collins analyzes the Mills character thus: "As a man, Judge Mills was never re- 
 markably popular. Though kind and faithful in every relation of life, he aimed, by 
 a course of firm and inflexible integrity, rather to command the approbation than to 
 win the affections of his fellow men. He was, to a very great extent, a self-made man, 
 and affords a fine example of the ennobling tendency of republican institutions, and an 
 encouragement to all meritorious young men who are struggling in obscurity and 
 poverty. 
 
 "As a practitioner of the law, by a profound and thorough knowledge of its prin- 
 ciples, and the most approved forms of practice, he soon rose to eminence. As a public 
 speaker, he was clear, logical and forcible; but not possessing a fine voice, and seldom 
 using the ornaments of rhetoric, he was less admired as an orator than many others. 
 
 "As a legislator, he was zealous and active in the promotion of wise, and the resis- 
 tance of injudicious measures. Some of the most valuable provisions of the statutes 
 of the state, had their origin in his conceptions. His efforts on the exciting new election. 
 question in 1816, will be remembered by those familiar with the politics of that day, 
 as having a great influence in settling a construction of the constitution, which, in 
 several instances since, has been acquiesced in with happy effects by the people of the 
 state. 
 
 "As a circuit judge, he conducted the business of the courts with uncommon in- 
 dustry and energy. The promptness and general accuracy of his decisions, and the 
 perfect impartiality of his administration of justice, gained for him the respect of the 
 orderly portion of the community." 41 
 
 In summarizing his estimate of them, Professor Stickles declares: "in a state which 
 is noted for the ability and high rank of its bar and the production of able jurists, 
 Boyle, Owsley, and Mills will always be honored and respected for their sacrifice, fear- 
 lessness, and consummate ability in maintaining the integrity of the law and, what was 
 more important, as it seemed to them, protecting at a critical time organized society 
 itself." 42 
 
 Chief Justice John Boyle, on October 8, 1823, delivered the decision in the case of 
 Blair vs. Williams. In the case of Lapsley vs. Brashear each judge handed down an 
 opinion. 
 
 George Robertson, one of the ablest and foremost lawyers throughout the entire 
 period of controversy, wrote in his Scrap Book (pp. 49, 50) : "As was forseen, these 
 decisions produced very great exasperation and consequent denunciation of the court. 
 The judges were charged with arrogating supremacy over the popular will — their 
 authority to declare void any act of the Legislature was denied, and they were de- 
 nounced by the organs and stump orators of the dominent relief party as usurpers and 
 self-made kings. No popular controversy waged without bloodshed, was ever more 
 absorbing or acrimonious than that which raged, like a hurricane, over Kentucky for 
 about three years succeeding the promulgation of these judicial decisions." 4 ' 
 
 The reasoning of the judges was in the channel of that presented by the heroic Judge 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 345 
 
 Clark, namely that the late replevin law was in violation of both the Federal and State 
 Constitution's Provisions against ex post facto laws and breach of contract. The opin- 
 ions were scholarly and are said to be models of their type. The opinion of Chief 
 Justice Boyle particularly has been praised as a "polished metaphysical essay." Mill's 
 opinion is pointed out as that representing the most practical reasoning. Practically 
 all of the well-established conservative, propertied, intellectual class hailed the able 
 opinions as among the great and fearless judicial opinions of all time. Most, but not 
 all by any manner of means, of the lawyers of the commonwealth supported the three 
 judges. But, with the masses, the picture was vastly different, and many lawyers of 
 ability concurred with the masses, while the majority of the Legislature was on that 
 side. Reason and law appear to have been on the side of the judges and the anti-relief 
 group, yet not all justice was on this side, in spite of the past "folly of the people." 
 When out of jobs, with mounting debts, nothing with which to discharge obligations, 
 loss of homes imminent, children hungry yet food (though plentiful) not obtainable, 
 no market for products, the people are not under these circumstances quite convinced 
 that constitutions, laws and decisions should stand between them and happiness and 
 keep their children from bread. Moreover, convinced that the government is theirs, 
 that their will is sovereign, they are rather inclined in time of crisis to believe that it 
 is their right to force changes for their relief, regardless or precedent. More and more 
 the world is accepting the principle that humanity comes before property and law. 
 
 Denunciations by public, press and legislators were followed by demands upon Gov- 
 ernor Adair to remove the offending judges. The demands upon the governor were 
 presented in a set of resolutions, drawn by legislative committee, containing twenty-six 
 pages of preamble and less than one page of resolutions. 44 The court was denounced 
 as an intolerable tyranny and bitterly arraigned for thwarting the will of the people. 
 The Legislature made bold to state that it would furnish no facilities for enforcing the 
 court's decision; it declared the relief laws constitutional and sneered that, when ex- 
 pedient to repeal, the Legislature and not the Court would act. The resolutions were 
 adopted in the House by 56 to 40. Again the judges were not removed because of 
 inability of the relief legislators to muster a two-thirds majority. 
 
 The judges replied in a superbly able address. They declared that the replevin 
 laws violated the obligation of contracts, that the Court and not the Legislature had 
 the constitutional power to declare legislation unconstitutional. They warned of the 
 anarchy which would prevail were the decision resisted. They denied that the court 
 could be tyrannical except under the control of the legislative branch and warned that 
 the Federal courts would concur with the state courts in the matter because of the 
 clause in the Federal Constitution against violation of contracts. Yet, in spite of the 
 fact that constitutions may at times seem to thwart human needs, it is axiomatic that 
 without constitutions and law human liberty and order cannot exist. Had the Relief 
 Party succeeded, chaos would have resulted, though its cause was very appealing. 
 
 Defeated in their efforts to address the three judges out of office, the Relief Party 
 began advocating a constitutional convention. Certainly the old constitution needed 
 amending; many Anti-Relief Party men recognized this. The members of this party, 
 however, believing — and perhaps rightly — that the purpose of the proposed convention 
 was to incorporate relief measures in a new constitution, united almost solidly against 
 a convention, and most of the conservatives, realizing that relief men would control 
 such a convocation, swung their influence against it; these even spread propaganda to 
 the effect that convention would free the slaves, property would be made unsafe and 
 law and order be destroyed. The columns of the Kentucky Gazette reflected disgust 
 at such conjuring up of "ghosts and hobgoblins." 4 ""' The Lower House passed the con- 
 
346 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 vention measure during the session of 1823, by a substantial majority, but the Senate 
 defeated it by a close vote. And thus the proposal for a constitutional convention died. 
 Now the leaders of the Relief Party determined to carry the fight once more to the 
 people. A legislature and a governor were to be elected during the following summer 
 (1824). Their hope was to gain complete control of the government, as far as such 
 control could be achieved through the ballot. 
 
 Between 1820 and 1824 political thinking and tactics had undergone almost a com- 
 plete metamorphosis. As late as 1820 campaigns for governor had been waged along 
 lines of personality. That year, in fact, the bitterest sort of fight had been waged 
 around the question of Adair's military ability and around his possible complicity in 
 the Burr conspiracy — things that had happened long ago — and Adair had won by only 
 500 votes. Now the people and the leaders were interested primarily in the economic 
 and judicial problems of the day, both those in Kentucky and in the nation. In the 
 state the issue was clear, relief or anti-relief. And there were some national implica- 
 tions. Henry Clay, candidate for president that year was inclined toward the Anti- 
 Relief Party in the state, and he opposed Andrew Jackson, whose supporters in the State 
 were Relief men. John Quincy Adams (also a candidate for the presidency) wrote 
 in his Memoirs that the people in Kentucky were "in a flame of internal combustion, 
 with stop laws, paper money, hunting down Judges, in which Clay is on the unpopular 
 side, which at this time is the side of justice." 40 
 
 GUBERNATORIAL ELECTION OF 1824 
 
 The Relief Party chose General Joseph Desha, a man with an honorable military- 
 record, defeated candidate in 1820, and generally well-known and popular, as its candi- 
 date, "because he stood for the continuation of the relief system and for the distruction 
 of all opposition, including the judges if they chose to stand in the way" 47 The Anti- 
 Relief Party chose as its candidate (really not in the way candidates are selected today) 
 Judge Christopher Tompkins, "a good man but not nearly so well known as Desha." 4 ' 
 
 The campaign was highly spirited with a plethora of stump oratory and considerable 
 of physical violence. Desha, who had carefully planned his campaign long before the 
 canvass, proved to be a more clever campaigner than Tompkins. The unsettled eco- 
 nomic conditions were much in his favor, and he took full advantage of them. Ac- 
 tually he carried water on both shoulders, making the welkin resound for relief in 
 localities heavily of that persuasion and throwing out some hope for the judges in 
 localities inclined toward anti-relief. 49 The truth was grossly distorted which seemed 
 highly pleasing to the people then as now. The election was held in August. Desha 
 won by a vote of 38,378 to 22,499 for Tompkins. General Robert B. McAfee re- 
 ceived 33,482 to 25,382 for William B. Blackburn for lieutenant governor. 50 In No- 
 vember of the same year Henry Clay received for president, in Kentucky, 17,321 to 
 6,455 votes for Jackson. During the same month, the Capitol at Frankfort was de- 
 stroyed by fire— a loss of $40,000. Due to Desha's campaign methods, his large 
 majority could not be considered as "an overwhelming victory for the relief party 
 principles." Yet the Relief Party made just this assumption, and, with a large majority 
 in the Lower House, proceeded to handle the "judicial tyrants" in its own none too 
 tender way. 
 
 "AN ACT REORGANIZING THE COURT OF APPEALS" 
 In November, 1824, the Legislature listened to a long message from Governor Desha, 
 in which the Supreme Court of the United States was bitterly indicted, and statements 
 anything but friendly hurled at the judges of the Court of Appeals. The Governor 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 347 
 
 defended the replevin laws and opposed the recent judicial decisions, leaving no doubt, 
 now that the election was passed, on which side he £tood. The Legislature needed no 
 further encouragement. John Rowan, supreme leader of the Relief Party in the 
 General Assembly, introduced in the House "another long and fulminating preamble 
 and resolutions" for the removal of Boyle, Owsley and Mills by address.' 1 The old 
 charge of the Courts making the people and the Legislature subservient was renewed 
 at length. Notice was sent to the three judges that on December 2 the House would 
 proceed to consider these resolutions and that they were at liberty to attend to give any 
 response which they might deem proper. The judges requested a week's time, which 
 was granted, and they then made their reply. 
 
 Professor Stickles points out that "the answer of the judges, while controversial, 
 was calm, sensible and considerate, but not considerate enough to be acceptable to their 
 accusers." " The judges pointed out that the judiciary might be responsible to the 
 Legislature when guilty of misdemeanors and that an address might be made to the 
 governor demanding the removal of the judges for any reasonable cause not subject to 
 impeachment. The charges, however, were criticisms of the judges for certain official 
 decisions rendered. As the Court of Appeals was a coordinate body with the Legislature 
 under the constitution, the judges did not recognize such accusations as coming legally 
 within the Legislature's purview. They vigorously defended their right to declare acts 
 of the Legislature unconstitutional. They candidly maintained their belief that the 
 Assembly was not only attempting to control and swallow up the Court of Appeals but 
 also "to occupy the consecrated ground reserved by and to the people themselves . . .""' 
 They declared that if the principles contended in the preamble were carried out a 
 serious war between the Legislature and the people themslves would eventuate, and 
 "the freedom and prosperity of the latter, with all the sacred principles of their govern- 
 ment, must fall in one common ruin at last." 
 
 The legislative leaders again advanced the theory of the supremacy of the people 
 over the courts through the General Assembly. The debate was stubborn, because a 
 few able Anti-Relief men occupied seats in the body, and tension was exceedingly high 
 when, on December 20, the vote to remove was taken. A two-thirds majority again 
 could not be mustered in the Senate against the courageous judges. The "minority was 
 jubilant but the anger of the relief or judge-breaking party knew no bounds."' 4 The 
 reader can well visualize the excessive and violent wrath of these legislators thwarted 
 in their determined attempt to wreck the judges for executing the duty which they 
 were bound to discharge under the constitution. The charges, threats, swearing and 
 towering rage must have been earthquaking in its power and intensity. 
 
 Fairly frothing at the mouth the frustrated legislators boldly swore to abolish the 
 Court of Appeals and establish a new one. Now the storm really burst in earnest; 
 nothing like it for wildness, rage, fury, threats, imprecation, colossal abuse had before 
 been known by the people of Kentucky. The Legislature did have the legal power 
 to cut the salaries of the judges to nothing, which it finally did. Had this been done 
 earlier, the fierce battle might have been avoided, but this is a supposition. A bill to 
 reorganize the Court of Appeals, that is to establish a new court, was quickly brought 
 in. Debate languished in the Senate, but the measure invoked "one of the longest, 
 ablest, and yet most acrimonious debates ever known in an American state legisla- 
 ture." 55 
 
 The bill, which soon passed the Senate, was skillfully drawn, said to have been 
 framed by the able George M. Bibb, who was not a member of the Legislature. It 
 forbade the Court of Appeals to declare an act of the Legislature null unless by the 
 concurrence of all the judges; otherwise it declared such action was obviously and 
 
348 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 palpably unconstitutional. It repealed every act, or part of an act, that concerned 
 the organization of the Court of Appeals or had any relation to the salary of the 
 judges, and it then provided for a new court of appeals, with a chief justice and three 
 associates (instead of two as in the old Court) . The New Court leaders made the 
 mistake of providing for four judges at a time when the business of the Court was 
 very light; more especially a glaring blunder when consideration is given to the fact 
 that the Relief party "spell-binders" had howled to the people about economy in 
 government. Another blunder from which the Anti-Relief or Old Court Party made 
 political capital was the provision for salaries of $2,000 or $8,000; while the combined 
 salaries of the Old Court judges was $4,500 annually. 
 
 The debate continued hotly for three days and three night sessions. Party spirit 
 waxed warmer and warmer, hotter and hotter, and the excitement extended beyond the 
 hall. Writes one visitor, "All who breathed the atmosphere of Frankfort, who lived 
 in the neighborhood, or who visited the scene felt its exciting influence." 51 Swank 
 and aristocratic ladies, most of whom sided with the Old Court Party, were eye-witnesses 
 to the whole scene and heard themselves roundly denounced by one side as tyrants and 
 usurpers and fulsomely praised and defended by the other. The leaders on both sides 
 showed "remarkable ingenuity, eloquence, profound knowledge of political science and 
 of law, and possessed scholarship and erudition which was much beyond that found 
 in the average state legislature at the present time." The real debate centered around 
 the proposition of the constitutionality of the court reorganization measure. John 
 Rowan was the decided leader of the New Court side. One enemy spoke of his "stern, 
 gloomy, rugged iron features which chilled one with a look"; accused him of having. 
 Cataline-like ambitions, and as reckless as that Roman's. 57 
 
 Writes Judge McClung: "Wickliffe [Robert], denounced the party [New Court], 
 with fierce and passionate invective, as trampling upon the constitution, deliberately, 
 knowingly and wickedly. [Wickliffe was ably supported by Ben Hardin, George 
 Robertson, John Green and Joseph Cabell Breckinridge, all men of remarkable ability.] 
 Rowan replied with cold and stately subtlety, perplexing when he could not convince, 
 and sedulously confounding the present act, with the repeal of the district court and 
 with the action of Congress, in repealing the federal circuit court system, and dis- 
 placing its judges by a bare majority. On the last night, the debate was protracted 
 until past midnight. The galleries were crowded with spectators as strongly excited 
 as the members. The Governor and Lieutenant Governor [M'Afee] were present upon 
 the floor, and mingled with the members. Both displayed intense excitement, and the 
 former was heard to urge the calling of the previous question. Great disorder pre- 
 vailed, and an occasional clap and hiss, was heard in the galleries. The bill was passed 
 by a large majority in the house of representatives, and by a nearly equal majority in 
 the senate."' 8 
 
 The New Court was quickly organized. The Governor appointed William T. Barry, 
 chief justice, with John Trimble, James Haggin and Rezin H. Davidge, associates. 
 Francis P. Blair, son of James Blair (Attorney General from 1796 to 1816, was ap- 
 pointed clerk; he took possession of the records forcibly from Achilles Sneed, the old 
 clerk. The Old Court, however, denied the constitutionality of the reorganization act 
 and continued to sit, thus two courts of appeals. A great majority of the bar of the 
 state recognized these, the Old Court, as the true tribunal and took their cases to 
 them, while the Relief lawyers took their cases to the New Court. 
 
 This judicial anarchy could not long endure. Determined some: The people must 
 be appealed to with sound reason. Concerning the canvass Professor McElroy writes: 
 "The leaders of the Old Court party wisely decided to make the campaign of 1825 a 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 349 
 
 campaign of education. Their orators and writers spared no pains to set forth the 
 dangers incident to the policy of subjecting the courts to the domination of the State 
 Legislature, and the result was a sweeping victory. Most of the seats in contest were 
 captured by Old Court candidates, and they secured complete control of the House. 
 The Senate, however, remained equally divided, as only one-third of its seats had been 
 involved in the election; but the vote of the presiding officer, Lieutenant Governor Robert 
 B. M'Afee, placed it under the control of the New Court party. Every effort, there- 
 fore, to repeal the reorganizing act was in vain; and the Old Court party again applied 
 itself to the task of educating the people, that the Senate also might be regenerated in 
 the election of 1826." " This election was preceeded by a campaign of intense bitter- 
 ness, a war to the death. The Old Court Party was victorious. Both the Senate and 
 House were now under its control. The heroic judges of the Old Court were paid 
 their back salaries in full; the reorganization legislation was repealed — "the opinion of 
 the governor to the contrary notwithstanding — and the three old judges re-established, 
 defacto as well as dejure" a Thus came to an end one of the bitterest, most dangerous 
 political and governmental struggles ever known in this or any other state. Bitterness, 
 however, was soon pushed aside by the growing interest in national political affairs. 
 The Old Court Party men supported Clay and his Whig policies; while the New Court 
 men labored for Jackson and his Western Democracy ideas. 
 
 THE ELECTIONS OF 1828 
 
 In the national election of 1824, Mr. Clay had played the role of king-maker. 
 Four candidates had emerged for the presidency: Jackson, Adams, Clay and William 
 H. Crawford, former Federal treasurer, astute machine politician and inheritor of the 
 old Southern presidential succession, as well as perhaps Monroe succession mantle. 
 Mr. Crawford during the canvass was striken with apoplexy and, following that tragedy, 
 was not regarded as a serious contender for the high office. Of the three candidates 
 remaining in the field, Mr. Adams laid claim to the vote of manufacturing New Eng- 
 land, which favored a protective tariff and the United States Bank; Jackson and Clay 
 fought it out for the support of the West, the former claiming to be the true leader 
 of that section, while the latter, friend of protection and of the Bank, laid claim to 
 Kentucky, Missouri and the Old Northwest. Jackson had received 99 electoral votes; 
 Adams 84; Crawford 41; while Clay had gained only 37. No candidate having re- 
 ceived a majority, the contest was taken to the House, where Clay, having been dropped, 
 threw his support to Mr. Adams, thereby causing that New Englander's election. 
 
 Great was the wrath of fiery-tempered "Old Hickory" and his followers, who claimed 
 that the will of the people had been defeated. But greater was their wrath when they 
 learned that Adams had chosen Clay to be his Secretary of State. The cry of "corrupt 
 bargain" arose in mighty din. In fact, this was the principal national cry of the Jack- 
 sonians for four years. There was no corrupt bargain. That Clay, who disliked Jack- 
 son and who did not believe that rugged Tennessean possessed the qualification for the 
 presidency, would throw his support to Adams, whom he had known for many years, 
 who believed in the same principles of government, and who was preeminently qualified 
 to fill the office of president successfully, was perfectly logical. That Adams would ap- 
 point Clay Secretary of State was also quite logical, because Clay was perhaps the best 
 qualified available man for the post. The charges hurled at Clay and Adams by the 
 Jacksonians were dastardly, calumnious and malignant. One man, John Randolph, 
 was obliged to meet Mr. Clay, who, if anything at all, was superbly brave, on the field 
 of honor — and Mr. Clay's bullets soon satisfied his eccentric opponent's sense of honor. 
 
 Nowhere was vituperation and abuse more violent against Adams and Clay than in 
 
350 A SESQUI -CENTENNIAL 
 
 the ranks of the New Court Party in Kentucky. Somehow the erstwhile despised 
 Jackson had become their idol. Perhaps it should be pointed out that Jackson's hatred 
 of Clay (and it was life-long practically) was more violent, bitter and dangerous than 
 vice versa. It had developed from these circumstances: In 1818 when Jackson had 
 driven the Seminole Indians into Spanish Florida and had invaded and laid waste that 
 Spanish territory, John C. Calhoun, the Secretary of War, had rebuked that high- 
 handed Tennessean. Mr. Clay, a part of the Monroe administration, and interested in 
 preserving the niceties of foreign relations had impulsively headed the movement to 
 censure Jackson, who although having waged a gloriously victorious campaign, had 
 nevertheless deliberately disobeyed the orders of the Secretary of War. After having 
 learned at least of the actions of Calhoun and Clay, "Old Hickory" was beside himself 
 with rage, and his wrath never cooled toward those able men, which fact probably 
 prevented each from ever becoming president of the United States. It is said that 
 toward the end of life Jackson expressed deep regret at not having hanged John C. 
 Calhoun and shot Henry Clay. 
 
 With Kentuckians' interest swinging toward national affairs and, with Jackson's star 
 rising while Clay's was seemingly waning, the Old Court Party, which supported Clay, 
 was hard put to find a candidate strong enough to win the gubernatorial contest in 
 1828. By skillful maneuvering however, they brought forward General Thomas Met- 
 calf, "who had commenced life as a stone mason, and by the energy of his character, 
 had risen to honor and distinction. He had been a representative in Congress for 
 nearly ten years, and was possessed of great personal popularity."" During the Revo- 
 lution, his mother, in attempting to escape the ravages of the traitor, Benedict Arnold,- 
 had been shot from her horse in the Elk Run neighborhood of Virginia by a British 
 sentinel. Having migrated to Kentucky, his father had soon died, and upon the boy 
 Thomas fell the grim task of family support. The lad learned the trade of stone mason 
 and became a good one. During spare time he studied diligently, read everything he 
 could find, developed a great love for knowledge. From his trade and his deep earnest- 
 ness as a public speaker, he gained the sobriquet of Old Stone Hammer. He served 
 with conspicuous gallantry under Harrison during the war of 1812'' He was known 
 to be absolutely brave, honest and sincere, with an abiding love for his state. Perhaps 
 no other man could have been elected governor on the Old Court Party ticket that year. 
 
 The New Court Party had put forward the well-known William T. Barry, the late 
 chief justice of the New Court. Barry, an able little man weighing perhaps less than 
 100 pounds — with disease-racked body — was popular with the people. His late ac- 
 tivities in the court battle had not enhanced his popularity. The campaign was spirited, 
 with national characters and incidents freely brought into the contest. The strength 
 and popularity of the doughty old Metcalf pulled him through to win by a narrow 
 margin. However, the New Court or "Democratic Republican" candidate for lieutenant 
 governor, John Breathitt, won over his Old Court opponent, Joseph R. Underwood, 
 37,541 to 36,454. The gubernatorial vote was, Metcalfe 38,940, Barry 38,231, which 
 was very close/ 4 Metcalf appointed the able George Robertson as Secretary of State. 
 
 Indicating the furor which the Jackson men had created in the state against Clay 
 and Adams, by means of false propaganda, was the vote for president in the state that 
 year, 1828. Jackson received 39,394; Adams 31,460, a majority of 7,934— and a 
 seeming repudiation of Mr. Clay. 
 
 EVENTS 
 
 During the decade between 1820 and 1830 many important events had transpired. 
 Many new counties were formed, including Grant, Monroe, Perry and Trigg (1820), 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 351 
 
 Hickman, Lawrence and Pike (1821), Morgan and Calloway (1822), Graves, Meade 
 and Oldham (1823), Spencer (1824), Edmonson, Russell and Laurel (1825), Ander- 
 son (1827), Hancock (1829). The new State House was completed in 1820 at a 
 cost of $40,032.00, toward which Frankfort citizens paid more than half. President 
 Monroe and General Jackson attended a Masonic banquet held in Louisville, June 24, 
 1820. Daniel Boone died on September 26 of that year. The first appropriation made 
 by the Legislature for education was made in 1821. The first Kentucky abolition news- 
 paper, Abdition Intelligencer , was established in Shelby ville during the same year. The 
 same year imprisonment for debt was abolished. In 1822 the School for the Deaf and 
 Dumb was established at Danville; while a Lunatic Asylum was erected at Lexington. 
 The year 1823 brought many Kentuckians into added prominence. Among these were 
 Henry Clay, Speaker of the National House of Representatives; John McLean of 
 Mason County, Postmaster General (1823-1829); James Brown, brother of John, Mini- 
 ster to France (1823-1833); Richard Clough Anderson, Jr., Minister to Columbia. 
 That year saw $60,000 bequeathed by Col. James Morrison to Transylvania University; 
 also William Homes McGuffey teaching in Paris, Kentucky. The year 1824 saw the 
 great denominational debates at Washington, Mason County, between Elder Alexander 
 Campbell and Rev. William L. McCalla; that same year the State House, started in 
 1815, was destroyed by fire. For the year 1825, perhaps worth noting is the fact that 
 John Rowan, in part as a reward for his strenuous efforts against the "old judges" and 
 for the New Court, was elected by the General Assembly to the United States Senate, 
 serving from 1825-1831. That year the Louisville and Portland Canal was incorporated. 
 Two events which stirred the populace tremendously were the visit of the venerable 
 General La Fayette during the month of May, and the assassination of the Attorney 
 General Solomon P. Sharp by Jeroboam O. Beauchamp, representative from Wash- 
 ington County. The year 1826 saw Robert Trimble of Paris appointed U. S. Supreme 
 Court justice and Richard C. Johnson, Jr., Minister to the Panama Congress. The 
 first daily newspaper in the West, The Advertiser, was started in Louisville by Shadrach 
 Perm. In 1827 the new Capitol, designed by Gideon Shryock, was completed. Remark- 
 able in 1828 was the discovery of oil in Cumberland County where a well for salt was 
 being drilled. Important in the year 1830 was the census, which found Kentucky had 
 a population of 687,917, a 22% increase over 1820; that year the Lexington and Ohio 
 Railroad became the L. & N., C. & O., which leased a right-of-way between Lexington 
 and Christiansburg and Anchorage and Louisville; worth noting also is the fact that 
 during that year Prentice and Buxton established the Louisville Daily Journal*"' 
 
 THE ELECTIONS OF 1832 
 
 With an upsurge of business and a return of prosperity during the early thirties, 
 the people of Kentucky turned once more in force to the conservatives, sometimes 
 called the Old Court Party, often the National Republicans and frequently simply the 
 "Clay Party" for leadership. This party was really not particularly conservative in 
 policy, because it stood for internal improvements (at expense of Federal Government) , 
 the United States Bank, sound currency, public education, vigorous government and 
 vigorous business; however, as leading commercialists, manufacturers, planters, pro- 
 fessional men and so-called aristocrats followed its standards, the term conservative 
 was sometimes applied. Numbered among its leaders were the Clays, Robert Wick- 
 liffe, Robert J. Breckinridge, Thomas Metcalf, Ben Hardin, John Green, John Boyle, 
 William Owsley, John J. Crittenden, George Robertson, Orlando Brown, and many 
 others little less able and prominent. The people were beginning to realize the follies 
 committed by the Relief Replevin and New Court parties and looked for leadership 
 
352 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 more economically sound. Other factors in the swing of the people away from relief ism 
 were the return of prosperity and the personality of Henry Clay. As Judge McClung 
 declares, "With Clay directly before the people, the National Republican' party in 
 Kentucky, felt confident of regaining their ascendency in the State. His brilliant elo- 
 quence, his courage, his energy of character, his indomitable spirit made him a fit com- 
 petitor for Jackson, who possessed some of the same qualities in an equal degree." 
 
 Jackson, however, remained quite strong in the state. His able supporters, Bibb, 
 Barry, Kendall and Blair, left little undone in the way of speaking and writing for 
 him and his doctrines which appealed so forcibly to the "plain people." The con- 
 gressional and legislative elections of 1829 and 1830 left the Jackson party preponderant; 
 however, 1831 brought a majority to the Clay standard, and Clay was returned to the 
 United States Senate during that year. 
 
 Another stupendous Clay-Jackson contest was waged during the year 1832, both in 
 the state and in the nation. In the state, the Jackson or Democrat Party selected as 
 gubernatorial candidate, Lieutenant Governor John Breathitt; while the "Nationals" 
 chose Judge Richard A. Buckner. The Clay party waged a strong fight. Two things 
 worked against it however: The unpopularity of Buckner, caused in part by religious 
 beliefs, which, it was charged, impelled him to oppose Sunday mails; in many places 
 he fell short of his ticket, and "in others no doubt caused it to drag heavily"; even 
 two Clay papers supported Breathitt. 6 ' The other reason was the immense popularity 
 of John Breathitt, who won 40,715 to 39,473 — more than a thousand majority. The 
 "National" candidate for lieutenant governor, James T. Morehead, beat his Democratic 
 opponent, Benjamin Taylor 40,073 to 37,491— a majority of 2,582.° 8 The Clay party, 
 which was deeply chagrined, was likely therefore beaten because of Judge Buckner's 
 unpopularity. 
 
 The Clay men, though beaten, were in no way despondent. Clay had never lost in 
 Kentucky when "on his own." He had been obliged to try to "carry" the unpopular 
 Adams in the state in 1824 and Buckner in the summer of 1832, but in the fall of 
 that year he himself was running for the presidency against his old enemy Jackson. 
 Long before the canvass, meetings of Clay supporters — many of whom had formerly 
 supported Jackson — were held at Louisville and elsewhere and resolutions were drawn 
 denouncing Jackson for breaking his pledge not to seek another term, deprecating his 
 one-man government at Washington and bitterly taking him to task for destroying the 
 Bank, vetoing the Maysville Road Bill and many other acts deemed despotic, dictatorial 
 and unwise. A serious defalcation from the Democratic ranks set in. Erstwhile Jack- 
 son men were denouncing "Old Hickory" in the bitterest of terms and sweetly lauding 
 "Our distinguished fellow citizen HENRY CLAY, who had ever been the undeviating 
 friend of the Union, its liberties and its rights, and who has contributed by his talents 
 and honest zeal to exact our beloved country to her present rank and prosperity, is en- 
 titled to our confidence and will receive our support at the next election for president 
 of the United States."" 
 
 The Jackson men, in spite of their success in August, soon realized that they had a 
 hard fight on their hand and accordingly accelerated the efforts to their full ability. 
 Particularly was it difficult for them to defend Jackson's stand against internal im- 
 provements at government expense. They could not admit that "Old Hickory's" veto 
 of the Maysville-Lexington road bill was perhaps caused by his bitter personal hatred 
 of Henry Clay. What could be more stupid and illogical for a man who claimed to 
 be the chief leader of the West to favor that specie-less section's building its own roads, 
 canals and bridges at its own expense, when the Government could do it better at no 
 cost, except ordinary taxes, to the West at all. Though the dreaded cholera was raging 
 
GOVERNORS OF KENTUCKY 
 
 Gabriel Slaughter 
 
 1816-1820 
 Courtesy, Filson Club. 
 
 ;***S** 
 
 Isaac Shelby 
 
 First and Sixth Governor of Kentucky. 
 Courtesy, Filson Club. 
 
 Thomas Metcalfe 
 
 1828-1832 
 Courtesy, Filson Club. 
 
 Simox Bolivar Buckxer 
 
 1887-1891 
 Courtesy, Filson Club. 
 
 Edwix P. Morrow 
 
 1919-1923 
 Courtesy, Filson Club. 
 
354 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 in Louisville, Lexington, Frankfort, Maysville and other towns, the people got out to 
 vote on November 7. It was a signal victory for Clay and Sargeant (candidate for 
 vice-president) in the state — 43,449 to Jackson's and Van Buren's 36,290.'° Elsewhere 
 a dismal failure faced Mr. Clay. Jackson had swept the nation. It should be remarked 
 that Clay's triumph was all the more brilliant in Kentucky. The Democrats had won 
 only twice in the state, 1824 and 1832. They would win no more during Mr. Clay's 
 lifetime, or until the Civil War began threatening. 
 
 As has been pointed out, the decisive swing in the state to the Old Court or National 
 Party marked the end of the replevin laws and of the Commonwealth Bank. The 
 former was repealed, while the latter was gradually extinguished by successive acts of 
 the Legislature, which directed that its paper be gradually burned, instead of being 
 reissued. Its paper soon went out of existence and was replaced by that of the two 
 branch banks of the Bank of the United States. However, the policy of the Jackson 
 administration being to destroy this institution, the circulation of the paper of the 
 "BUS," as it was called, was not of long duration, because soon after Old Hickory's 
 veto of the bill, in 1832, to recharter the Bank in 1836, that institution, particularly 
 after withdrawal of Government funds, began dying.' Jackson favored State banks 
 and those which he liked well enough to receive U. S. Government deposits were soon 
 known as "pet banks." 
 
 The Legislature of Kentucky in the 1833-34 session established the Bank of Ken- 
 tucky, the Northern Bank of Kentucky, and the Bank of Louisville, with capitals 
 respectively of $5,000,000, of $3,000,000 and of $2,000,000. 
 
 The result of the destruction of the Bank of the United States and of the estab- 
 lishment of a multiplicity of state banks, with multitudinous issues of paper money of 
 various denominations and differing values and backings, if any, was just as the friends 
 of the B.U.S. and the sound business men had predicted: Vast issuances, with little of 
 no good backing, inflation and enormous speculation. Kentucky had the cycle to 
 suffer through once more. The wildest speculation began, commodity prices soared to 
 dizzy heights. All sorts of land schemes, enterprises for internal improvements, trans- 
 portation development, city improvement, individual get-rich-quick nostrums fell upon 
 the nation during 1835 and 1836. Thousands rushed into the money marts to borrow 
 money for enterprises in "railroads, canals, slack-water navigation and turnpike roads, 
 far beyond the demands of commerce, and in general without making any solid pro- 
 vision for the payment of the accruing interest, or reimbursement of the principal." 72 
 
 Panic, of course, soon followed. In 1836 Jackson issued his celebrated Specie Pay- 
 ment edict, which declared that payments for land purchased from the Government 
 would have to be made in specie — gold or silver. Creditors then became suspicious of 
 state banks' paper, then jittery, and finally refused paper which had no good negotiable 
 backing or collateral. Payments could not be made in good money, foreclosures began, 
 and the Panic of 1837 was on. In the spring of 1837 "all the banks of Kentucky and 
 of the Union suspended specie payments." Kentucky at that time was in the midst of 
 state enterprises for internal improvement, upon which she was spending $1,000,000 
 annually. These included the construction of turnpikes and the improvement of river 
 navigation. She was also "eagerly discussing railroad projects upon a princely scale." 
 Thousands of her citizens once more were embarked upon speculative ventures, which 
 they felt, as usual, were bound to make them vast fortunes. They felt, as usual, that 
 the great prosperity would be permanent, "and both public and private credit had been 
 strained to the utmost."" 
 
 Once more the Legislature undertook the role of relief. The session of 1837 legalized 
 the suspension of the banks, refusing to compel them to resume specie payments, and 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 355 
 
 refusing to exact the forfeiture of their charters. Writes Judge McClung concerning 
 the crisis: "A general effort was made by banks, government and individuals, to relax 
 the pressure of the crisis, as much as possible, and great forbearance and moderation 
 was exercised by all parties. The effect was to mitigate the present pressure, to delay 
 the day of reckoning, but not to remove the evil. Specie disappeared from circulation 
 entirely, and the smaller coin was replaced by paper tickets, issued by cities, towns and 
 individuals, having a local currency, but worthless beyond the range of their immediate 
 neighborhood. The banks in the meantime were conducted with prudence and ability. 
 They forbore to press their debtors severely, but cautiously and gradually lessened their 
 circulation and increased their specie, until after a suspension of rather more than one 
 year, they ventured to resume specie payment. This resumption was general throughout 
 the United States, and business and speculation again became buoyant. The latter 
 part of 1838 and nearly the whole of 1839, witnessed an activity in business, and a 
 fleeting prosperity, which somewhat resembled the feverish, though abortive surge, of 
 1835 and 1836. But the fatal disease still lurked in the system, and it was the hectic 
 flush of an uncured malady, not the ruddy glow of health, which deluded the eye of 
 the observer."' 4 
 
 Even leniency and cooperation achieved little more than temporary forebearance. 
 It soon became obvious that benign extenuation could not for long cause debt, which 
 was real, to be forgotten. By 1840 the creditors were clamoring for payment, and debt 
 continued to multiply. A multiplicity of bankruptcies burst over the harassed common- 
 wealth. Public improvements were at a standstill, causing greater loss of money. Many 
 states were unable to pay interest, and Kentucky was obliged to boost her direct tax 
 fifty percent. The latter part of 1841 and the year 1842 witnessed a general financial 
 crash in the state. "The dockets of her courts," declares McClung, "groaned under 
 the enormous load of lawsuits, and the most frightful sacrifices of property were in- 
 curred by forced sales under execution." Again the cry for relief arose from the throats 
 of the hard-pressed debtors; even a new banking scheme similar to the old Bank of the 
 Commonwealth was agitated, "with a blind and fierce ardor, which mocked at the 
 lessons of experience and sought present relief at any expense." 
 
 In the elections of 1842, the revived relief party wielded formidable strength. How- 
 ever, a majority of the General Assembly, remembering the old fiasco and being level- 
 headed in economic matters, refused to be deluded by the siren-like voice of paper money 
 inflation and relief. That body did make liberal concessions along rational lines — 
 principally by means controlled inflation, by advising extension of jobs, increased circu- 
 lation and spending and encouraging stoical suffering. The middle term of the circuit 
 courts was abolished; the magistrates were compelled to hold four terms annually, and 
 forbidden to give judgments except at their regular terms; the banks were required to 
 issue more paper money, and "give certain accommodations for a longer time and a 
 regular apportionment." The mild concessions, though vast suffering occurred during 
 1843 and 1844, prevented violence and radicalism and stemmed the tide until prosperity 
 gradually returned in 1843 and 1844. 7 ' 
 
 THE ELECTIONS OF 1836 
 
 The year 1836 being presidential election year, the leaders and voters of the state 
 seemed to wage the gubernatorial race as a weathervane to indicate the probable direction 
 the majority vote would take in the presidential election. The ever idolized Clay was 
 not a candidate for Whig nomination that year; however, the state's Whig leaders were 
 desirous of a strong state organization, so that Martin Van Buren, believed to be 
 Jackson's favorite for the Democratic nomination, would be beaten in the state. More- 
 
 24— Vol. I 
 
356 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 over, the Whigs were all the more zealous in their work when they realized that the 
 powerful and popular Colonel Richard M. Johnson, of Thames fame, would likely 
 receive the Democratic nomination for vice president. As no one of the Whig candidates 
 for the presidency — Daniel Webster, William Henry Harrison, Senator Hugh L. White, 
 of Tennessee, Judge John McLean, of Ohio — commanded any great amount of en- 
 thusiasm in Kentucky at the time, the state's Whig leaders were very careful to pick a 
 strong man for candidate for governor. They brought out the talented, highly respected 
 and popular Judge James Clarke, of Clark County, the first circuit judge to declare the 
 replevin laws unconstitutional. Aside from a brilliant career on the bench, Judge Clark 
 had been in Congress, speaker of the Kentucky Senate (following the death of Governor 
 Breathitt) , an able, popular and busy lawyer, as well as a man of pleasing, popular and 
 attractive personality. Perhaps no better choice for the time could have been made. 
 He won his race rather handsomely, receiving 38,587 votes to 30,491 for Matthew 
 Flournoy, the Van Buren candidate — a majority of 8,096; while the Whig candidate 
 for lieutenant governor, Charles A. Wickliffe beat out Elijah Hise, the Democratic 
 candidate, 35,524 to 32,186. The Whigs managed to return 24 to the Democrats' 14 
 to the Senate, and 59 to 41 in the Lower House.' 6 
 
 Although successful in the August gubernatorial election, the Whigs, "sparked" by 
 the gifted and fascinating Clay, continued to regard the November presidential race 
 as their most important political endeavor of the year, and they put forth every effort 
 to carry the state for "Old Tippecanoe." They were accused of searching the militia 
 rolls for names of those who needed special persuasion and of having in secret re- 
 solved, "That they procure horses, carriages or other conveyances for the sick, lame, 
 blind, and all others who have no conveyance of their own, to enable them to get to 
 the polls."' They got out the vote and were rewarded with victory. The Whig candi- 
 dates, William Henry Harrison and Francis Granger, won in the state by 36,955 to 
 33,435 for Van Buren and Richard M. Johnson, the Democratic candidates — a majority 
 of 3,520. 7 The Whig candidate however, fell short of the vote for Clay in 1832 by 
 10,000 votes. All the efforts were in vain, because in the nation Van Buren received 
 170 to 124 for all his opponents of the electoral votes. Had the nation-wide depression, 
 which was brewing, struck a bit sooner, the Jackson candidate probably would have 
 been defeated. In December, the Legislature returned Henry Clay to the United States 
 Senate for six years, by a vote of 76 to 54 for the able James Guthrie of Louisville. 
 
 By 1837, the panic was in full and devastating swing. The Democrats had to take 
 the stigma of having produced this depression; it was a load, which their cleverest 
 editors and spellbinders were unable to shake off. The Whigs could point to Jackson's 
 destruction of the sound U. S. Bank and his favoring of "pet" banks, his encouraging 
 of unstable state banks, which confused the circulating medium and issued enormous 
 amounts of uncertain paper money; they charged that he had encouraged inflation, 
 invited over-spending by his acts, and then, to make panic certain, had issued the specie 
 circular. The suffering people, of course, as is always the case, sought some one on 
 whom to place the blame. The Whig leaders pointed to Jackson, Van Buren and the 
 Democrats, which seemed pleasing to the voters. The Democrats countered that the 
 Whigs, in power in the state, were responsible for panic in Kentucky. They wished to 
 divorce state from national politics therefore, feeling that they would have a better 
 chance to win in the commonwealth. The Democratic Kentucky Gazette took up this 
 cry. But the Whigs, now having a "break," were riding the crest of success. In the 
 Kentucky congressional elections of August, 1837, the people rose up and defeated every 
 Democratic candidate save one." They also sent a majority to the General Assembly: 
 In the Senate 24 to 14; in the House 71 to 29. 8 ° The Democrats now began to casti- 
 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 357 
 
 gate the state Whigs for running the government badly in debt by grandiose schemes for 
 internal improvement just to help a favored few. But the people were not convinced 
 even by strong pleas by the popular orators. The Whigs, having control of the Legis- 
 lature, pressed through a set of resolutions declaring that "Jackson and Van Buren 
 had produced the financial ruin that was staring the people in the face and that the 
 specie circular and the removal of the deposits were conspicuous items in the list of 
 
 d„81 
 emocratic crimes. 
 
 Again the Whig managers were able to keep the minds of the people centered upon 
 national affairs; actually it would have been difficult to have kept their minds away 
 from national affairs, as the Democrats realized hopelessly. With their pride and 
 glory, Clay, one of the brightest stars in the national firmament, with Crittenden, 
 Johnson and many of the others figuring in national affairs, Kentuckians could not be 
 other than absorbed in the Washington hub. The Whigs, feeling fairly certain of 
 national victory in 1840, spent a good part of 1838 and 1839 in strengthening their 
 organization. 
 
 Unfortunately Governor Clarke died on September 27, 1839, in his sixtieth year 
 Charles A. Wickliffe became governor. Of the deceased chief executive, Judge Collins 
 wrote: "Governor Clark was endowed by nature with great strength of mind, and a 
 fine vein of original wit. His literary attainments were respectable, ranking in that 
 respect with most of his contemporaries of the legal profession at that day A fine 
 person, a cheerful and social disposition, and easy address, and fascinating manners, 
 made him the life of every circle in which he mingled. He was full of fun, fond of 
 anecdotes, and could tell a story with inimitable grace. To these qualities, so well cal- 
 culated to display the amiable traits of his character in their most attractive light, he 
 added all those stern and manly virtues which inspire confidence and command respect. 
 His death made a vacancy in the political and social circles of Kentucky, which was 
 very sensibly felt and universally deplored." 82 
 
 THE ELECTIONS OF 1840 
 
 The gubernatorial election in August of 1840 spelled the doom of the national 
 aspirations of the Democrats in August. The Whigs nominated that year for governor 
 the very strong, well-known, able and popular Robert P. Letcher, of Garrard County, 
 for governor. Letcher, known affectionately as "Black Bob," popular both in the 
 Legislature and in Congress, was known to be a master campaigner. Running with 
 him for lieutenant governor was Manlius V. Thompson. The Democrats put forward 
 Judge Richard French, of Clark County, with John B. Helm as running-mate. The 
 Letcher ticket swept the state by an overwhelming majority — the largest vote Ken- 
 tucky had polled up to that time. His vote was 55,370 to 39,650 for French; Thomp- 
 son, 52,952 to Helm's 36,199: A majority of 16,000. 8 " Certainly "luck" had changed 
 for the Democrats since 1820 and 1824; actually they were reaping the reward for 
 having stamped upon them the blame for the depression — not the last time for a political 
 party in either the state's or the nation's history. 
 
 As mentioned, the Whigs of the state were primarily interested in the national race 
 and used the gubernatorial contest as a preliminary bout to whet the appetites of the 
 voters until the main attraction could be staged. The Whig leaders of the nation, 
 realizing the restiveness throughout the country caused by the hard times and by the 
 fact that one party had been in power for twelve years, confidently believed that their 
 party would win the presidency, and the astute Thurlow Weed, national Whig "boss" 
 of New York set about to find a candidate who would appeal to the entire nation, 
 every section— particularly the West. Henry Clay, the father of the party, was yet 
 
358 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 the idol of the rank and file of Whiggery. However, he had run twice and been 
 beaten twice. With victory in the air, consideration of his services might have caused 
 the leaders to hand him the nomination without question. But the able New York 
 manager, none too keen in regard for Clay, augued that the Kentuckian might not 
 stand as good a chance of carrying the party to victory as one not as well known in 
 politics; moreover, all was not as clear as desired relative to Mr. Clay's stand upon 
 slavery. Mr. Weed reasoned that the national hero, William Henry Harrison ("Old 
 Tippecanoe") , should make a winning candidate — one not so well-known in politics, 
 but highly respected as a military leader. Weed, in spite of Mr. Clay's availability, 
 popularity, party services and friends, as well as the "Great Commoner's" wishes, was 
 able to carry the day. In order to attract Southern Democrats who had turned against 
 Jackson and Van Buren, the Whig "bosses" picked the Virginian states' righter, John 
 Tyler, to run for vice president. It was Harrison and Tyler — strange political bed- 
 fellows indeed, but party expediency often effects strange hydra-headed combinations 
 in order to attract votes. Even the loyal Crittenden was thought not to have pushed 
 Clay's claims in more than a perfunctory manner; he climbed the Harrison bandwagon 
 without great difficulty. Politicians train themselves to swallow a great deal for the 
 sake of winning. Be it said, however, that Crittenden and Harrison were good friends. 
 There are scores of forgotten names of men who dared to have the courage to fight 
 for a right cause when the majority was against it — names so detested and soon for- 
 gotten that most histories do not carry them. Be that as it may, however, General 
 Harrison was a good man and quite deserving — certainly strong enough for the poli- 
 ticians to feel safe with him. 
 
 Much to the disgust of many of the Democratic leaders, Van Buren and Johnson 
 were re-nominated. The astute leaders realized that both Van Buren and his adminis- 
 tration were unpopular — carried the stigma and odium of depression, which of course, 
 Mr. Van Buren did not cause. The shrewd party politician, of course, realized that 
 the best thing to do was to shelve "Little Van" (whose ability to flatter and please 
 Jackson had gone far toward making him, the little New Yorker, or the "Red Fox." 
 as he was often called, president) and select some one who might be enough of a 
 national hero to carry the party to success again. But, of course, the Van Buren 
 office-holders had control of the party machinery; these owed their jobs to "Little Van." 
 Their benefactor wished to be re-nominated; therefore, they arranged to have his wishes 
 granted. Party politics does not change a great deal — certainly becomes no more 
 idealistic. 
 
 With the Democrats at a tremendous disadvantage, the Whigs, who could smell the 
 sweet aroma of victory and jobs from afar, set the stage to give the people a real show 
 in the campaign. They saw a good opportunity to get the vote of Westerners, small 
 farmers and laborers, most of whom had been following the Jackson bandwagon and 
 shouting his slogan of champion of the "plain people." A Democratic "spell-binder" 
 early in the canvass had desparingly spoken of Harrison as living in a log cabin, wear- 
 ing a coon-skin cap and drinking hard cider. This was just as the Whigs (usually 
 accused of catering to the aristocrats, big business and the money bags) wished. They 
 quickly charged that the Democrats had lived on the peoples's money so long that they 
 had grown "stuck-up" and despised the common people. They gladly admitted the 
 charge that Harrison (really scion of the aristocratic, powerful and influential Harrisons 
 of Virginia) lived in a log cabin and wore a coon-skin cap, and some clever campaign 
 poet made a song of the "hard cider" accusation. Pictures of log cabins and cider 
 barrels were quickly sent all over the country. Many songs and slogans appeared to 
 delight the public. The Whig managers had plenty of money, and spent it freely. 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 359 
 
 Even in small localities vast rallies were staged, preceded by torch-light parades headed 
 by brass bands. Banners and placards were freely and joyously displayed. "Tippecanoe 
 and Tyler too' was shouted and sung, and "Van, Van a used-up man" was marched by. 
 "Spell-binders" depicted the "awful" conditions into which the Democrats had got the 
 country, pictured them with the deep sonorous, soul-moving tones of Sophocles, and 
 then scarcely without changing position, they would have the crowd roaring in glee 
 by relating some rough tale applicable to the "demoniacal" Van Buren crowd. Hard 
 cider was served freely out of barrels, as well as whiskey and other beverages. The 
 people were given the grandest campaign show to that time known in the nation, and 
 they liked it. 
 
 The same excitement and enthusiasm which prevailed in other states also charac- 
 terized Kentucky. "Tippecanoe Clubs" sprang up all over the state, teaching the young 
 voters "their first duty to their country." The silver-tongued orators stumped the 
 entire state, rousing the people from the mountains to the Jackson Purchase. "Demo- 
 cratic Associations" were set up, trying to convince the people that Harrison was an 
 abolitionist (and he really was), but little head-way was made; the people were not 
 interested. It was just a question of how much Harrison's majority would be in Ken- 
 tucky. Actually it was 25,000 — the largest majority given him by any state. His vote 
 was practically as decisive throughout the nation, however. He received 234 electoral 
 votes to Van Buren's 60 — certainly the people must have considered Little Van "a used- 
 up man." Shortly after the election "Old Tippecanoe" visited Kentucky, passing 
 through Louisville, Shelbyville, Frankfort and Lexington, at which places enthusiastic 
 welcomes were accorded. 85 
 
 Scarcely were the Whigs in office before disaster fell to nullify their brilliant victory. 
 Harrison, the old campaigner whose robust frame had withstood the exegencies of many 
 trying military movements, was unable physically to withstand the devastating clamor 
 of the myriads of office-seekers. Within a few weeks after inauguration he was dead. 
 Tyler, a states' rights Democrat, quickly showed himself to be completely out of tune 
 with the Whig program. 
 
 THE AMERICAN SYSTEM 
 
 This program which had been partly championed by Alexander Hamilton, formu- 
 lated by Clay was known as the American System. Its central theme was American 
 self-sufficiency. Its provisions were a strong U. S. bank, a protective tariff, internal 
 improvement at Government expense: the farmers, foresters, miners to supply all the 
 raw materials; the manufacturers to furnish all the manufactured goods, a planned 
 system of transportation to carry all the goods, money from the sale of public lands to 
 aid in supplying funds for internal improvements and for fostering public education; 
 foreign competition to be kept out; wages and prices to be maintained at high levels, 
 and full employment to be assured. Mr. Clay not only thought that this system would 
 make America self-sufficient, but was confident that it would dispel the depression. 
 The Whigs were strongly committed to this program. But Mr. Tyler refused even 
 to agree to the rechartering of the Bank, which was to be the first step. Mr. Clay, 
 quite arrogant and high-handed in spite of his great charm and talent, quarreled with 
 and broke with Tyler, and the Whigs generally were enraged at what they considered 
 Tyler's perfidy and betrayal. They felt that they had been robbed of their victory. 
 Ironical enough, they could have won without Tyler anyway. 
 
 Almost immediately depression bore down on a larger scale than ever, and the people 
 suffered greatly. Business was at a stand-still, and prices and wages dropped to a low 
 ebb. Clay wrote to Crittenden that suffering in Kentucky was wide-spread. "Most 
 
360 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 of our Hempen manufacturers," he stated, "are ruined, or menanced with ruin. Bag- 
 ging and rope were never known at any time heretofore to be so low as they now 
 are." 80 And he saw no immediate possibility of relief. Governor Letcher blamed the 
 absence of a strong U. S. bank to stabilize currency, and Mr. Clay deplored the ab- 
 sence of a protective tariff, the absence of which enabled cheap foreign goods to come 
 in and undersell American goods. Tyler was soundly and viciously berated. 
 
 Through it all, however, Kentucky remained amazingly solvent, and her financial 
 integrity was highly respected among the states. While other states were talking and 
 practicing repudiation, both of her houses of the Legislature passed this resolution in 
 January, 1842: "[Resolved, That repudiation] is abhorrent, both to the government and 
 people of this Commonwealth, and can never, directly or indirectly, receive the coun- 
 tenance of either; that such conduct would be unworthy the enlightened age in which 
 we live, shocking to the sense of Christendom, a lasting reproach to republican govern- 
 ment, and a stain on the American name." 8 ' As Professor Coulter points out, "The 
 state had apparently grown ages in experience during the past twenty years." The 
 Legislature, as pointed out, passed what sensible remedial legislation to relieve that it 
 could, but it was not enough. Governor Letcher feared that the proponents of relief 
 at any price would capture the Legislature of 1842-1843. However, the leaders of 
 both parties set themselves sternly against the old relief idea, 88 and it did not repeat. 
 This General Assembly was sane and sensible, the banks were sound and their heads 
 generally honest and able, and Governor Letcher was an able executive. This was the 
 Governor's ideal for Kentucky: "Let her be so upright in all her actions, and so dis- 
 creet in the management of her public affairs, that the humblest citizen she may have, 
 when he crosses the border of the state, shall feel proud to acknowledge himself a 
 Kentuckian. May the day never come when he shall be ashamed to own his own 
 country." 8J Kentucky suffered through honorably. 
 
 SIDE LIGHTS 
 
 Many Kentuckians figured prominently in national affairs during the "Roaring 
 Forties." Mr. Clay, leader of the Whig Party, was in the Senate, where he exerted 
 greater influence than perhaps any other leader. Mr. Crittenden was sent to the 
 Senate in 1840, and in 1841 was made U. S. Attorney General; he gained high respect 
 for his statesmanship and was generally beloved in Washington. In 1841, the able 
 James T. Morehead was elected to the United States Senate, and the same year Charles 
 A. Wickliffe became Postmaster General. Charles S. Todd, that year, was appointed 
 Minister to Russia. In 1844, George M. Bibb became Secretary of the Treasury. 
 
 The Filson Club has recently acquired some letters, written by U. S. Senator J. F. 
 Simmons, of Rhode Island, to his wife, Sarah S. Simmons, which present some inter- 
 esting pictures of the Crittenden and Clay families. A few excerpts from these letters 
 are here quoted: 
 
 (1) "Washington, June 6, 1841. 
 My Dear Wife: ... 
 
 I have got quite acquainted with Gov. Morehead of Kentucky and he is a true 
 Kentuckian— he is about 6 ft. 4 inches high and quite slender quite as much so as 
 Thos. M. Burgess the Mayor with a peculiarly loose gait— one of our boarders says 
 that at home they call him limber Jim— from that circumstance. I was quite interested 
 with the account he gave me of Mr. Clay's family, while walking out one day last week. 
 After describing Mr. Clay's estate, which is near Lexington, a mile or two out— saying 
 it was the most beautiful he had ever seen— a farm of about seven hundred acres under 
 fine cultivation, all under fence, and stock'd with the very best kind of English cows 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 361 
 
 horses sheep and hogs — each kind of which he raised for sale — and sold at higher prices 
 than any one else could get — He spoke of Mr. Clay's course of life. 
 
 "One equally commendable with that of her highly distinguished husband. He 
 said she rose every morning by, or about day break, took the entire charge of the dairy- 
 ing and milk business and managed every department of the indoor part of husbandry 
 with the strickest care and economy — why said he she maintains the family — speaking 
 of it with the true Kentucky earnestness — the sales he added which she makes of milk 
 butter & cheese in the Lexington market amount to 1500 dollars a year. I remarked 
 that she set a highly valuable example to her neighbors that she does — he answered — 
 & they and all who know her respect it and her for it. Now I venture to say I shall 
 not hear a more gratifying account of any Lady while here — not one more praiseworthy 
 — and yet this is one which every Lady may follow in substance if not in precisely 
 the same line — it interested me because I indulged a hope that at some day we might 
 have a pleasant farm, well stocked — and that it might be said of my wife that she 
 set as exalted a pattern for her neighbors. So I thought I could, pay no better tribute 
 to your sex than to give this account & no better compliment to you, than to say I 
 expect you may deserve a similar name. That you may forget that quis, in a letter of 
 mine last spring about bad taste — I have now set an example for you to follow — re- 
 ferring to my first letter about piping. 
 
 I am yours, 
 
 Jas. F. Simmons." 
 (2) "Washington August 14, 1841. 
 My Dear Wife: . . . 
 
 I called with Gov. Morehead one evening or two since at Mr. Crittenden's the At- 
 torney General who has a very pleasant family — his wife is a very fine looking lady 
 and one whom manners adds much to her other personal attractions. She is as frank 
 and friendly in her remarks as would be expected from the most intimate acquaintance 
 not the least appearance of the diplomacy which might be expected at the House of a 
 Cabinet Minister. She has some very pretty daughters who sing and play finely — we 
 were entertained with a very fine song — I could not but admire one observation of the 
 Governor as we were walking over. As usual we met very many fine looking ladies 
 — having passed several — he turned to me and said, "by jupiter I don't see any Wash- 
 ington ladies that will compare with my wife in personal appearance." I replied to 
 him, that I saw by his eye he was going to make some such observation or that such a 
 comparison was passing in his mind — for a similar one was in my own — and said "I 
 have a pretty snug looking one for a wife" — when he rejoined we will have them here 
 some time Simmons. You would be delighted with his enthusiasm and yet his is a 
 second wife. 
 
 How do you account for all this — upon your theory of such marriages — the truth 
 is you will have to give up that theory unless forced to stick to it, by experience rather 
 than reason — which I hope may never be the case. I do not believe he would have 
 said to his wife, what he did to me. I respect him for it. 
 
 Your affectionate 
 Husband 
 
 J. F. Simmons." 
 (3) "Washington, August 29, 1841. 
 My Dear Wife: . . . 
 
 I was at Mr. Crittenden's last evening to a party (a gander party) but although 
 composed of the same men the Whigs of Congress & the Prest. & cabinet, it was not 
 
362 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 as noisy as Mr. Websters, of which I think I wrote you — the difference I attributed to 
 the fact that Mrs. Crittenden was most of the time, in the front parlor — the two 
 opening into each other by a very wide slide door. She is a most noble looking woman 
 as I wrote you once — her daughters were absent and it seemed rather singular that 
 she should be present, standing in the front room to receive or rather be introduced to 
 the company by him as they came in — and then to receive attention and entertain the 
 guests such as perfer'd her company to the drink and eatables in the rear parlor — but 
 she seemed to enjoy it, stood up constantly for as much as two hours, & look'd as 
 perfectly composed and easy as if half her company had been ladies — no outlandish 
 talk or noise was heard which is seldom the case when a hundred Gentlemen are to- 
 gether — without such a check. The President came about 10. I suppose he had de- 
 clined coming as it is not very frequently that the Chief Magistrate mingles in such 
 crowds — but a committee was sent for him — and he came as he said for a frolich. 
 You must have seen by the papers — if not by his course that he is a doubtful Whig 
 — and this is attributed by his friends to Mr. Clays being too dictatorial in his course 
 — but Clay is above all such feeling and after exchanging customary salutations said 
 to him in the most familiar way laughing Veil Mr. Prest. what will you drink whiskey 
 or wine lets go & take a glass' — when they got to the side board he said again — 'come 
 Mr. Prest. what do you take show your hand' — and langh'd heartily. The Prest. looked 
 rather shy — and as father tells a story, as if he did not know whether he was at home 
 or abroad. 
 
 I have just been to tea — and talked half an hour with Gov. Woolbridge who always 
 compliments me by listening very attentively — the grand secret of pleasing — you may 
 have heard why young lovers never get tired of each others company — it is because they 
 always talk about themselves — old men have about the same weakness — we have a very 
 pleasant family here — considering there are no ladies but it don't work so well. Men 
 get to be careless. Gov. Morehead talked of bringing his wife next winter but from 
 what he said to me last night I think he will not. I guess he has heard that she won't 
 be as portable in Novr. as he thought she might be when he left home — he remarked 
 'such things could not be help'd.' I don't know what else he could mean — almost 
 anything else can be got over when ladies want to go abroad. Well Ma I think this 
 letter will be long enough — and will convince you that I was right in saying such were 
 in bad taste. I w;ould write another & try to get as much in, in less words if I had 
 time. 
 
 Your Husband, 
 
 J. F. Simmons. ""* 
 
 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT 
 
 A notable change in the trend of the State's economic development during the Middle 
 Period was the marked recession in the manufacturing industry. Shortly before and 
 during the War of 1812, the tendency was toward rapid development of factories. The 
 descent was about as rapid as the ascent. The principal reasons were: decline in need 
 for manufactured goods on an unpredecented scale, the importation of foreign manu- 
 factured goods (which were cheaper in price), the depression (which wiped out most 
 of the mushroom-growthed plants, and the development of agriculture on a profitable 
 scale. Slavery figured in the economic development also. The blacks were not 
 profitable in factories, but they were in farming on a commercial scale. It is pointed 
 out that in 1842, there were 197,217 people engaged in farming as compared with 
 23,217 in manufacturing and the trades. On the other hand, in 1820, the number of 
 110,799 were listed as engaged in manufacturing as against 132,060 in agriculture. A 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 363 
 
 further advantage to agrarian interest was the development of railways — a greater ad- 
 vantage to agriculture than to manufacturing.' 
 
 The two principal agricultural products were hemp and tobacco, "raised in the 
 greatest perfection." These were the principal money crops, although Kentucky ranked 
 first in the production of wheat and second in maise. Timothy Flint in his History and 
 Geography of the Mississippi Valley (1833) declared: "Her wheat is of the finest 
 kind; and there is no part of the western country where maize is raised with greater 
 ease and abundance."' 2 It is pointed out that Kentucky stood fourth in the production 
 of rye, third in flax, and second in hogs and mules, thus attesting to her high national 
 rank in agriculture and husbandry. She did not retain this powerful position for long, 
 however, because with the opening of the great Northwest, inroads were made upon 
 Kentucky's record. By 1860 she stood ninth in the production of wheat, fifth in rye, 
 fourth in hogs, though still retaining first place in hemp and second place in the pro- 
 duction of tobacco and mules. '" Even at the early date of 1840, tobacco was the most 
 valuable product and was first in the economic and agricultural interest of the people 
 as a whole. A large part of the crop was exported to foreign markets. Foreign tariffs 
 often brought remonstrances from the Legislature. It should not be gathered that 
 Kentucky was altogether dependent upon tobacco, or that the state in any way was a 
 one-crop state. Then as new, Kentucky farmers produced a great variety of stuffs, so 
 that the failure of one would never be a calamity., 
 
 Lexington, in the heart of the fertile and beautiful Bluegrass region, continued as 
 the center of the agricultural industry. The land-owners of this rich region early be- 
 came opulent planters, developing an agricultural aristocracy, grace and charm unsur- 
 passed anywhere in the "Old South. This cultured gentry early developed a taste and 
 love for fine stock, particularly blooded horses. They bred, bought and sold some of 
 the finest animals in the world. Many of them visited England to buy fine cattle. In 
 1839 a Kentuckian purchased there two bulls at $1,000 each "and some (splendid cows 
 that cost in proportion."' At Bluegrass cattle shows, these elegant planters would pay 
 as high as $5,000 for a jack and $1,000 each or more for cattle. A traveler noted that 
 "A handsome horse is the highest pride of a Kentuckian, and common farmers own 
 from ten to fifty."" 5 Captain Marryat, in A Diary (1839) said: "Mr, Clay, who re- 
 sides near Lexington, is one of the best breeders in the State, which is much indebted 
 to him for the fine stock which he has imported from England."'" 
 
 With the full development of the steamboat, Lexington began to lag as the com- 
 mercial metropolis of the state, while the Ohio River towns developed rapidly. In 
 1820 Lexington had more than three times the population of Louisville, but by 1860 
 Louisville could boast a population of more than seven times the size of Lexington. 
 The completion of the Portland Canal around the Falls of the Ohio in 1829 gave 
 Louisville a commanding position in the Ohio Valley trade. This Falls city has re- 
 tained her position as commercial metropolis of the Commonwealth. In 1840, the 
 population of the state was 779,828, which represented a 13 1/3% increase over that 
 of 1830/' The lumber industry of Eastern Kentucky did not develop on a large scale 
 until after the Civil War, nor did the mining of coal. However, it should be pointed 
 out that in 1838 the Legislature provided for the first geological survey by appropriating 
 $1,000. W. W. Mather of the New York Geological Survey was appointed to make 
 the survey. He published his findings in a Report on the Geological Reconnaissance of 
 Kentucky, Made in 1838. It was a sort of preliminary survey; however, Mr. Mather 
 clearly showed that the state abounded in coal, iron ores, salt, saltpetre, limestone, clay, 
 shale, pyrites, petroleum, lead, chalcedony, agate and amethyst — all in quantities suffi- 
 cient for commercial purposes. The first comprehensive geological survey was made by 
 
364 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 the celebrated geologist, David Dale Owen, in 1854, then state geologist. His mag- 
 nificent work is recorded in four large volumes, which the Legislature distributed in 
 large quantities. Kentucky early had iron foundries, the most famous of which were 
 that in Bath County (which made abundant utensils as well as supplied the United 
 States Navy during the War of 1812 with cannon and grape) and that of Aylette 
 Buckner in Muhlenberg County. 
 
 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT 
 
 As the state became more wealthy, settled and cultured, many people became interested 
 in studying and preserving her rich and romantic historical records and in honoring 
 her heroes. In the year 1836, the Kentucky Historical Society was organized at Frank- 
 fort, with John Rowan as president. "One of the main objects of the association shall 
 be to celebrate, in such manner as shall be deemed most expedient, the anniversary of 
 the first settlement of Kentucky on the spot where the settlement was made."' 8 In 
 May, 1840, the celebration of the settlement of Boonesboro was held. Concerning the 
 desirability of and preparation for this celebration, a letter written by Nathanael Hart, 
 Jr., has been found in The Filson Club. This letter is contained in the manuscripts of 
 Orlando Brown, son of John Brown and editor of The Frankfort Commonwealth. 
 It was written to a gentleman in Madison County. It reads: "Springhill [the Hart 
 estate in Woodford County] March 15th, 1840. 
 
 Dear Sir: Some of the descendants of the Pioneers of the West have recently taken 
 much interest in examining all the authentic sources of information connected with the 
 early history of Kentucky, for the purpose if possible of ascertaining and fixing beyond 
 doubt the exact period of the first permanent settlement made by the white man within 
 the borders of our State. The object of such investigation has of course been one of 
 peculiar interest to those of us who felt we were in an especial manner identified with 
 the land of our nativity by the circumstance that our forefather had been among the 
 first to explore, to fortify, and to rescue it from the possession of the savages. Still 
 it is believed that a large proportion of the native population of the State have felt and 
 continue to feel a lively interest in the purpose of these investigations. Under this im- 
 pression and with a conviction too that the subject well merits our loftiest regards, it 
 is suggested that the patriotic pride of Kentuckians would be most laudably exhibited 
 in their holding an anniversary commemorative of the first settlement of the Western 
 Pioneers on the "savage cliffs" of the Kentucky. We have before us the example of 
 our Brethren of New England whose patriotic and religious fervour is annually 
 warmed by such periodical recurrence to the virtues and hardships of their Pilgrim 
 fathers of the Plymouth Rock. 
 
 'The obscurity and doubt which hitherto have existed to some extent in the public 
 mind in relation to the point of such first permanent settlement in Kentucky have been 
 entirely removed by the recent publication of Henderson's Journal and various other 
 private documents which have been brought to light of late years by the public interest 
 felt in reference to this matter; and it can now be safely asserted that public sentiment 
 and impartial history are irrevocably fixed upon Boonsborough to be thus distinguished 
 as the earliest abode of the Pioneers of Kentucky. A point memorable not only for 
 the meeting of a Convention of Delegates who without the shield or protecting arm 
 of any of the colonies but relying solely upon their own individual enterprise in May, 
 1775, organized and established a Republican Government with a constitution and Bill 
 of Rights not discreditable to Republics of the modern day; but memorable too in the 
 early history of our Revolutionary strugale with Great Britain as the Frontier Castle 
 
H I S T O RY O F K E N T U C K Y 365 
 
 which proved impregnable to the furious and repeated assaults of overwhelming armies 
 of Indians disciplined and led on as they were by the common foe of our Union. 
 
 "My motive in communicating with you now is to ascertain what favour the propo- 
 sition will receive from the Citizens of Madison, as we must necessarily rely upon them 
 and the citizens of Clark to give the project its main impulse. The fort at Boons- 
 borough was commenced on the 1st of April, 1775, but was not finished till the 14th 
 of June; the Convention, however, met on an intermediate day the 24th of May, and 
 as a matter of greater convenience and comfort it is now proposed to begin by cele- 
 brating that day as the 65th Anniversary of such settlement. 
 
 "We have thought that we could get up a grand military parade of Uniform com- 
 panies from various quarters of the Country to be received by the Governor of the 
 State, select several popular Orators to speak on the occasion, meet and camp on the 
 ground as Pioneers of old, (with all of the veteran Pioneers of the country who are 
 still alive, as our invited guests) and in this way make a most interesting and delightful 
 fete to be annually repeated no doubt while the names of Daniel Boone and his com- 
 patriots shall be remembered by posterity. 
 
 "What say you to the scheme? Can you not stir up the spirit of the people of old 
 Madison who ought to feel most interested in as well as complimented by it? 
 
 "Gov. Morehead with whom I have conferred upon the subject is enthusastic in 
 favour of the proposed celebration, and offers to cooperate by making an oration on 
 the occasion. So soon as he returns from Ohio where he has taken his wife we will 
 go over to Richmond to consult with you all about the matter; in the meantime be 
 pleased to let me hear from you as you can learn the temper of your people on the 
 subject. 
 
 "You will observe that the 24th of May is a Sunday, which will suit admirably to 
 open the ceremonies, with divine service (after the manner of the Convention of 1775) 
 to be performed by distinguished ministers of the different denominations. 
 
 Most Respectfully, 
 
 Nathl. Hart, Jr." 
 
 The celebration was attended by from 7,000 to 10,000 people, with more than 3,000 
 ladies in attendance. Governor Wickliffe was present and reviewed eleven military 
 companies, "there to add splendor to the occasion." A few venerable men who had 
 been in the fort at the time of the great siege in 1779 were in attendance, along with 
 other pioneers who made the occasion more colorful and vivid. Lewis W. Green 
 (member of the first graduating class of Centre College, teacher at Centre, preacher of 
 renown and distinguished president of Transylvania University) preached the anni- 
 versary sermon, and James T. Morehead delivered the historical address, which has 
 become recognized as the greatest effort of its type yet made in Kentucky, as well as a 
 source of history for state historians since that time. 
 
 The following year the settlement at Harrodsburg was commemorated by an assem- 
 blage equally as large, with the celebrated orator and lawyer, Ben Hardin, delivering 
 the principal address. During this ebulience of interest in things historical, Daniel 
 Boone, who had been so shabbily treated by many Kentuckians before his death, was 
 remembered with great affection. In 1839 a full length portrait of him was presented 
 to the state and given a place on the walls of the House of Representatives. And in 
 1845, in accordance with an act of the Legislature the remains of both Boone and his 
 wife were removed from Missouri and interred on a high bluff overlooking the beauti- 
 ful Kentucky in the State Cemetery at Frankfort. The occasion was colorful and 
 profound, with elaborate ceremonies and a fine oration by John Jordan Crittenden. 100 
 
 Humphrey Marshall, the first to write a systematic history of the state completed 
 
366 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 his first edition, History of Kentucky, in 1812. The celebrated schoolmaster, Mann 
 Butler, completed his History of Kentucky, in 1834. Judge Lewis Collins published 
 by far the most informative History of Kentucky to that time in 1847. In 1840 the 
 Reverend John D. Shane, residing in Bourbon County, was collecting his notes on 
 Western history, and soon thereafter the celebrated collector of historical material 
 dealing with the early West, Dr. Lyman C. Draper, father of the Draper Manuscripts, 
 was riding his pony "Nanny" along the tributaries of the eastern Mississippi Valley, 
 assiduously collecting material for his precious manuscripts. 101 So great was running 
 the interest in the State's history and in the valorious deeds of Kentucky heroes that 
 in the year 1850 (following the Mexican War) a fine shaft honoring Kentucky heroes 
 was erected in the Cemetery at Frankfort by act of the Legislature, and amid a color- 
 ful setting, John C. Breckinridge delivered a masterful oration. Kentucky was be- 
 coming settled; many Kentuckians had become opulent, cultured and appreciative of 
 art and learning. 
 
 THE ELECTIONS OF 1844 
 
 With the progression of the decade interest of Kentuckians intensified in national 
 affairs. Gradually they became more concerned in the question of slavery than in the 
 Bank, or even in internal improvements. Movements continued to crop up to keep 
 the peoples' interest focused upon the "peculiar institution." The Texas question early 
 absorbed the attention of Kentuckians. Not only had they been romantically interested 
 in its settlement, but its fight for independence had attracted their deepest concern. 
 Many of the state's towns had sent volunteers and free will contributions. General 
 Felix Houston, Kentuckian sojourning in Texas, wrote from Natchez in the spring of* 
 1836 that "There is no difficulty in getting as many as I want from there (Kentucky), 
 but more difficulty in rejecting those I do not want."" Though having gained their 
 independence in 1836, Texas had not been annexed by the United States. Texans were 
 Americans, and they meant for their state to become a part of the United States, 
 and most Kentuckians seemed to be thoroughly in sympathy with them. In January 
 of 1837, the Legislature memorialized the United States Government to annex the Lone 
 Star State. Hundreds of Kentuckians living in Texas probably kept their relatives in 
 Kentucky well informed, and such men as Felix Houston and Albert Sidney Johnston 
 were from very prominent families. Naturally most Kentuckians were disgusted with 
 the abolition-conjured cry that the Texan Revolution, together with the cry for inde- 
 pendence, was a scheme of the Southern slavocracy to extend the "peculiar institution" 
 and to gain seats in the Congress. Expansion ("manifest destiny") was far more im- 
 portant to the people of the West than slavery. 
 
 In the North and New England, however, prevention of extension and final extinc- 
 tion of slavery enlisted the principal political interest of ever-growing multitudes. The 
 abolitionists had succeeded in making a moral issue of slavery which was gripping at 
 the hearts of the North as expansion never had. 
 
 The main strength of the Whig Party, although a purely national party in origin, 
 being in New England and the North Central states, many of its leaders gradually 
 showed more interest in preventing the spread of slavery than in national questions; 
 these early were therefore opposed to the annexation of Texas. This stand hurt the 
 part in Kentucky and weakened Mr. Clay, a slave-owner, who again aspired to a presi- 
 dential nomination. However, the Whig managers once again were unable to resist 
 that magnetic charm and the argument that Mr. Clay deserved the nomination once 
 more. No doubt many Whigs had been ashamed of themselves for deserting the "Great 
 Commoner" in 1840. 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 367 
 
 Mr. Clay, good party man, and supposedly astute politician, found himself in accord 
 with his party against the annexation of Texas, which was a sectional stand — good to 
 aid in gaining the nomination but not good in winning the presidency, because the 
 people as late as 1844 — were actually more national than sectional. Be it said of Mr. 
 Clay that he abhored the institution of slavery, actually favoring gradual emancipation, 
 but he did not proclaim this doctrine in the South. Martin Van Buren again hoped to 
 gain the Democratic nomination. He announced his opposition to the annexation of 
 Texas — to gain the support of his section. On the same day, as though by procon- 
 ceived arrangement, Mr. Clay, in the "Raleigh Letter," announced his opposition to 
 the annexation. Had Mr. Van Buren received the Democratic nomination, Mr. Clay 
 most likely would have won the presidency easily. But the Southerners, really in con- 
 trol of the Democratic Party, had had enough of "Little Van." They pushed forward 
 James K. Polk upon a purely nationalistic, expansionistic and patriotic platform — an- 
 nexation of Texas, annexation of Oregon. They claimed Oregon to the southern 
 boundary of Alaska, "Fifty-four forty or fight." — thus executing a master stroke in 
 gaining votes in the Northwest, as well as gaining the votes of those who despised 
 England. 1 " The Democrat Party clearly had the popular side. That the Democrat 
 platform pleased Kentuckians, there can be no doubt. That Mr. Clay's position, which 
 developed into a straddle to try to please both sections was not liked was equally clear. 
 Kentucky would support the beloved "Sage of Ashland," who was nominated in the 
 national convention by acclamation, but have some difficulty in stomaching his plat- 
 form in regard to Texas. It was soon clear that Polk, not Clay, represented the popular 
 side. Though mostly loyal, Kentucky showed some signs of backsliding. "Bob" 
 Letcher in writing to Crittenden, in Frankfort, declared: "We have our troubles here, 
 and they are now few. The Whig party is in the greatest peril and distraction — no 
 mistake. I am no alarmist, but a close observer of the times. There is a restless state 
 of things in the Whig ranks which amounts almost to delirium. D — has behaved 
 outrageously, he has offered a resolution in the Senate nominating General Taylor for 
 the Presidency." 104 
 
 The more Mr. Clay tried to extenuate and explain his "Raleigh Letter" (done by 
 means of other letters, including the "Alabama Letter") the more equivocal and seem- 
 ingly duplicative his stand appeared to be — and he was freely accused of double-dealing, 
 causing the loss of many Whig and most Abolition votes (and the Liberty Party, dis- 
 trusting Clay, had nominated James Gillespie Birney — a Kentuckian who despised Mr. 
 Clay as a traitor to the anti-slavery cause) . Even Mr. Clay's rapacious virile, forth- 
 right, brave kinsman and anti-slavery man, Cassius Marcellus Clay, speaking for the 
 "Great Commoner" in other states, felt some doubt as to the actual position of the 
 candidate and wrote of his uneasiness. Writes Professor McElroy: "Henry Clay's re- 
 sponse, which was intercepted and published, gave his enemies additional opportunity 
 to declare him a double dealer. In it, he requested his kinsman to continue his canvass: 
 but urged, 'that you should avoid committing me. ... At the North I am represented 
 as an ultra supporter of the institution of slavery, while at the South I am described 
 as an abolitionist; when I am neither the one nor the other. As we have the same 
 surname, and are, moreover, related', great use is made at the South against me of 
 whatever falls from you. There you are even represented as being my son; hence the 
 necessity of the greatest circumspection. . . . You are watched wherever you go; and 
 every word you publicly express will be tortured and perverted as my own are. . . .' " 105 
 
 The Whig managers set the stage in Kentucky for success by shrewdly picking a 
 strong candidate for governor and lieutenant governor, Judge William Owsley and 
 Archibald Dixon, while the Democrats were scarcely less astute in selecting a popular 
 
368 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 warrior, General William O. Butler and William S. Pilcher. The Whigs, however, 
 were able to "get over" the idea to the people that General Butler had acquiesced at 
 New Orleans in Jackson's censure of the Kentucky troops. This charge undoubtedly 
 injured Butler. 100 Judge Owsley needed little help, however. On the otherhand, the 
 national Whig stand hurt Owsley, and his margin of victory was less than 5,000 
 majority as compared with the Whig's 15,000 majority four years previous. 
 
 With so much against him, particularly so much calumny, vilification and perjury, 
 the showing made by Mr. Clay was surprisingly good. Had he carried New York 
 state which he lost by 5,104 votes, 10 ' Mr. Clay would have won. Had he gained Mr. 
 Birney's New York vote, he would have won — had he got on better with Mr. Birney, 
 he might have been elected president. As matters stood Mr. Clay received 105 to Mr. 
 Polk's 170 electoral votes. Mr. Polk even lost North Carolina, state of his birth and 
 Tennessee, state of his residence. 108 In Kentucky the "Great Commoner's" margin was 
 almost 10,000— far under Harrison's 25,000 in 1840! 
 
 This was Mr. Clay's last chance for the presidency, an office which he had coveted 
 during most of his political career. The realization saddened the aging statesman, who 
 was never without sentiment and emotion. Yet his friends were, if anything, even more 
 loyal than ever. Owsley, Metcalfe, Letcher and the many others were at Ashland to 
 show their love and loyalty. U. S. Senator Joseph R. Underwood made a fine address 
 in behalf of the thousands. The loyalty of friends was absolutely amazing. How the 
 man was loved. Professor McElroy writes: "The enthusiasm for Henry Clay was not 
 abated by this new defeat. His Ashland home was the Mecca toward which delegations 
 from the Whigs of every section repaired, to present resolutions of unaltered devotion^ 
 and undiminished confidence. It was more like worship than political adherence that 
 was showered upon the defeated statesman. Tt is from the pushing out and fullness 
 of our hearts that we say to you that you have been our political idol,' said one dele- 
 gation, 'and that we esteem you as highly, and love you as dearly as we ever have done 
 — in defeat more than in victory — we can not say more, how can we say less.' Nor did 
 his admirers confine themselves to words of affection. Clay's home was heavily mort- 
 gaged, and he was sadly considering the question of parting with it, when, upon calling 
 at the Lexington bank to make a payment, he was informed that money had arrived 
 from different parts of the country, from unknown donors, sufficient to cancel the 
 mortgage and all his outstanding notes. The gift had been so skillfully arranged that 
 it could not be easily declined, and Mr. Clay, after some hesitation, accepted it." 109 
 
 THE WAR AGAINST MEXICO, 1846-1848 
 
 Meanwhile, President Tyler, realizing by the peoples' vote that the nation, regardless 
 of slavery, desired the annexation of Texas, proceeded to press for incorporation. 
 Realizing that enough anti-slavery Whigs dominated the Senate to prevent annexation 
 by treaty, the pro-Texas Congress proceeded to annex by joint-agreement of the two 
 Houses. This was indeed a popular move. The temper of the people was clearly pro- 
 expansion. 
 
 The time came for James Knox Polk to make good his glittering campaign promises. 
 The first was the troublesome Oregon question. The people of the Northwest, capti- 
 vated by the militant, imperialistic slogan, "Fifty- four forty or fight!" which promised 
 a vast stretch of northern land (to which Britain probably had a better claim than the 
 United States), had voted Democratic; now they expected the pledges to be redeemed. 
 The United States Government had given Britain the necessary year-in-advance notice 
 of desire to terminate the Joint Occupation Agreement (entered into first in 1818) 
 and negotiations were moving forward between the able Secretary of State, John C. 
 
Monument of Zachary Taylor on his estate, ''Springfield," near Louisville. 
 
370 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 Calhoun and the sane British Minister, Mr. Paclcenham, both of whom wished to avoid 
 war, although the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Aberdeen, alternated between ebuli- 
 encies of wrath and rationalism, and what the incoming President, Mr. Polk, might do 
 was rather disturbing to Mr. Calhoun. The President-elect, after meditating over the 
 situation for a time, decided that the United States could not well afford to be at 
 war with England and Mexico at the same time. Negotiations concerning the boundary 
 therefore continued under the New Secretary of State, James Buchanan, and during 
 1846 the line was fixed as the 49 N. Latitude — or simply an extension of the existing 
 line from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, which was rather sensible. However, 
 a vast difference exists between the bellicose, confident "Fifty-four forty or fight" and 
 the meek, resigned "Forty-nine degrees and be thankful." 
 
 The people of the Northwest felt that they had been deceived and cheated, that the 
 Democratic managers merely used the expansion cry to obtain votes, that actually the 
 administration had no desire of obtaining more Oregon territory, because such would 
 be free territory. Mr. Polk was accused of being under the domination of the slavocracy 
 and of desiring expansion only in territory into which slavery could be extended — 
 in the Southwest. 
 
 Returning to the Texas question, the Mexican Government had virtually announced 
 that annexation would mean war." Mr. Polk did not desire war, 3 " yet he not only de- 
 sired Texas with the Rio Grande as the Mexican border (instead of the Nueces River, 
 the boundary before Texas gained her independence) but California as well. " Mr. Polk 
 was a real expansionist, with the old dreams of western empire. Causing him to be 
 more eager was the fixed belief that England wanted both Texas and California. He 
 dispatched John Slidell, able Southerner, to Mexico for the purpose of negotiation, 
 which failed. All the while the aged John Quincy Adams had been screaming that a 
 Southern conspiracy existed to take land from Mexico for the purpose of extension of 
 slavery; other abolitionists took up the cry." 4 At last the President felt that the nation 
 could not fulfill her destiny without war with Mexico. Certainly, considering the many 
 incidents of a war-provoking nature which had occurred between the two nations during 
 the past decade, the surprising thing is that hostilities had not developed earlier. Be- 
 cause of the slavery issue, however, the country was not united upon a war. Mr. Polk 
 sought some means of uniting the nation. He dispatched in 1846 an army under the 
 rugged Kentuckian, Zachary Taylor, to the Rio Grande, being committed to the belief 
 that this stream and not the Nueces was the actual border. The Mexican Government 
 felt that this was an unblushing act of aggression and undertook to expell the American 
 troops. A skirmish took place, April 24, on the east bank of the Rio Grande and a 
 few American troops were killed. This was more to Mr. Polk's liking. Immediately 
 upon receipt of the news, the President prepared a war message to Congress, prepared 
 it on Sunday, May 10. "American blood spilled on American soil!" The news was 
 electrifying! The Congress immediately declared that a state of war existed, and the 
 nation was brought to its feet in a surge of patriotic feeling. 
 
 The President's call for volunteers was received with enthusiasm in every section 
 except New England. In no other state was it more warmly applauded and responded 
 to than in Kentucky. "The knowledge that military operations were to be entrusted 
 to General Zachary Taylor," writes Professor McElroy, . . . "and that William O. 
 Butler and Thomas Marshall [of Lewis County], both prominent citizens of the State, 
 were to be respectively commissioned Major General, and Brigadier General of Volun- 
 teers, added greatly to the enthusiasm to for the cause. Upon the announcement that 
 war had been actually declared, therefore, a wave of excitement swept over the State."" 
 
 Collins in his Annals for May 26, 1846, carries these items: "The governor an- 
 
H I S T O RY O F K E N T U C KY 371 
 
 nounced, by proclamation, that the requisition upon Ky. for troops is full. The 1st 
 regiment of infantry, the Louisville Legion, has embarked. The 2d regiment of in- 
 fantry, Col. Wm. R. McKee, of Lancaster, Lieut. Col. Henry Clay, Jr., of Lexington, 
 Maj. Cary H. Fry, of Danville, is composed of the following companies: 
 
 First, Green County, Capt. Wm. H. Maxcy. Second, Franklin County, Capt. Frank- 
 lin Chambers. Third, Mercer County, Capt. Phil. B. Thompson. Fourth, Boyle Coun- 
 ty, Capt. Speed Smith Fry. Fifth, Kenton County, Capt. Geo. W. Cutter. Sixth, Jessa- 
 mine County, Capt. Wm. T. Willis. Seventh, Lincoln County, Capt. Wm. Dougherty. 
 Eighth, Kenton County, Capt Wm. M. Joyner. Ninth, Montgomery County, Capt. 
 Wilkerson Turpin. Tenth, Anderson County, Capt. Geo. W. Kavanaugh. 
 
 "The 1st regiment of cavalry, Col. Humphrey Marshall, of Louisville, Lieut. Col. 
 Ezekiel H. Field, of Woodford County, Maj. John P. Gaines, of Boone County, em- 
 braces the following companies: 
 
 First, Jefferson County, Capt. W. J. Heady. Second, Jefferson County, Capt. A. 
 Pennington. Third, Fayette County, Capt. Cassius M. Clay. Fourth, Woodford Coun- 
 ty, Capt. Thos. F. Marshall. Fifth, Madison County, Capt. J. C. Stone. Sixth, Gar- 
 rard County, Capt. J. Price. Seventh, Fayette County, Capt. G. L. Postlethwaite. 
 Eighth, Gallatin County, Capt. J. S. Lillard. Ninth, Harrison County, Capt. John 
 Shawhan. Tenth, Franklin County, Capt. B. C. Milam. 
 
 "In addition to these, the company of John W. Williams, of Clark County, having 
 been excluded from the above quota by a mistake, was specially accepted by order of 
 the War Department. 105 companies in all, being 75 more than were called for, were 
 organized, and tendered to the governor. 12,000 men could have been raised, if re- 
 quired."" 
 
 The President had called upon the states to furnish 43,500 soldiers for service in 
 Mexico. Kentucky's quota was 2,400, which was filled in less than a week's time 
 75 companies were offered beyond the number called for by the President. The 
 difficulty had been not in raising men but in rejecting them, as Professor McElroy 
 points out. 12,000 men stood ready and eager to enlist, and the disappointment 
 was poignant when it became known that most of them must be excluded. In- 
 domitable spirits like Frank L. Wolford, of Casey County, who had raised a company 
 and was captain, when learning that their troops would not be needed volunteered as 
 privates in order to go with companies selected. A course of training was undergone 
 and the route from Shipping Port to Memphis by boats and then overland through 
 Arkansas was slow and tedious, so that most of the Kentucky volunteers did not reach 
 the front until after the capture of Monterey." 8 
 
 Meanwhile General Taylor, or "Old Rough and Ready," as he was affectionately 
 called by his men, began moving southward. He battered the Mexican soldiers, under 
 Arista, rather savagely on May 8, causing them to retire to a new position five miles 
 nearer the Rio Grande. They encamped along a ravine not far from Resaca de la 
 Palma. Professor Stephenson thus describes the engagement which followed: "Taylor 
 followed deliberately, and not until late afternoon was fighting resumed. This time the 
 Americans really won the battle. Arista, who did not expect an attack that day, had 
 made no preparations. As the sun began to sink, he was in his tent writing. His men, 
 greatly depressed by their experience at Palo Alto, were cooking their suppers. The 
 horses were unsaddled. Into this dismal but unsuspecting army there dropped the 
 sudden fire of the advancing American infantry, followed by sharp fighting sustained 
 by the Mexican outposts and then a staggering cavalry charge led by Captain May of 
 the American regulars. A panic, a stampede — and the Mexicans had abandoned the 
 field. Arista retreated into Mexico, since, with his demoralized army, he found it im- 
 possible to hold Matamoras, and Taylor took possession of the place.""" 
 
 25— Vol. I 
 
372 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 Meanwhile Colonel Stephen W. Kearny set out from Fort Leavenworth with a small 
 expedition overland through vast stretches of arid and desert land to take New Mexico. 
 Professor Stephenson thinks that this expedition would have been one of the follies of 
 history had it not been inspired by accurate knowledge of Mexico and the Mexicans. 
 Accomplishing his spectacular mission, the gallant Kearny rode blithely into California 
 to participate in the little side-war being waged there by Commodores Stockton and 
 Sloat and by the romantic Captain John C. Fremont. Another amazing march was 
 being made by General J. E. Wool, in the autumn and early winter (1846), "starting 
 from San Antonio, marching three hundred miles to the Mexican town of Parras, 
 whence he made a wide sweep eastward and eventually joined Taylor's army without 
 encountering serious opposition at any point." 1 " 
 
 Now returning to "Old Rough and Ready" who was having his troubles. Declares 
 Professor Stephenson: "For nearly four months Taylor was making ready for a further 
 advance into Mexico. Though his enemies did not molest him, he had great difficulties. 
 In everything but fighting the American army was inefficient. Sickness, inadequate 
 transport, and congestion at every possible point made a dreary record for the summer 
 of 1846. Meanwhile volunteers poured into Taylor's camp faster than he could pro- 
 vide for them. Too often the newcomers went directly to the hospital — or what passed 
 muster for a hospital. *The mortality in our camp,' wrote an eye-witness, 'was appaling. 
 The death march was ever wailing in our ears and even at this distant period, I can 
 scarcely look back to our stay there without a shudder. . . . Large hospital tents were 
 constantly full — the dead being removed at sunrise and sunset but to make room for the 
 living. The groans and lamentations of the poor sufferers during those sickly sultry 
 nights were heart-rending.' ' : The death-rate per 1,000 was shockingly high, and most 
 of it was caused by lack of acclimation, improper foods and lack of sanitation. Diar- 
 rhea accounted perhaps for far more victims than did bullets. To make matters worse, 
 Washington officials were constantly harassing Taylor, who was not known as one who 
 obeyed swivel chair generals and politicians. Moreover, Taylor was becoming famous. 
 He was probably a Whig! And he might have political ambitions. Were Polk's ad- 
 visors deliberately sabotaging his efforts? 
 
 THE BATTLE OF MONTEREY 
 
 Nevertheless, "Old Rough and Ready" determined to capture Monterey, a strongly 
 protected and heavily garrisoned city. The place was entered by an open plain from 
 the north, but the other three sides were protected by rugged mountains. He was on 
 the march early in September with 6,000 effectives. At the approaches to the city 
 Taylor divided his army, sending a part under General William J. Worth on a wide 
 detour from the north to strike from the west, cutting the road from Monterey to 
 Saltillo. Each general fought his battle from opposite sides of the town, with little 
 knowledge of the movements of the other. Writes Professor Stephenson: "The con- 
 duct of the men was above praise. Danger seemed a meaningless word to them. Death 
 they had forgotten. During the 21st, 22d, and 23d of September the Americans fought 
 their way into the city, from both sides, in the most gallant fashion, foot by foot. 
 On the morning of the twenty-fourth General Ampudia, with his surviving troops 
 cooped up in the center of the town, asked for terms. Taylor did not insist on an 
 unconditional surrender but accepted an agreement to evacuate with a temporary ces- 
 sation of hostilities. Thus Ampudia withdrew, leaving the Americans in possession of 
 Monterey." 1 " 
 
 News of the brilliant victory at Monterey was flashed over the country, and the 
 people began to regard Taylor as a great conquering hero. Yet Polk did not see him 
 
H I S T O RY O F KE N T U C K Y 37^ 
 
 in that light. The President appeared to be greatly irked because Taylor had given 
 Ampudia an armistice and permitted his withdrawal. Polk felt that Taylor should 
 have captured the entire Mexican army. Polk, now having been tricked by the scoun- 
 drel Santa Anna, whom he had brought from exile in Cuba to effect peaceful negotia- 
 tions for Mexican land, realized that the war would continue and that more troops 
 would have to be sent to Mexico. On the other hand, Taylor, often exasperated, sent 
 querulous, sharp notes to the War Department, which were often unduly harsh and 
 critical. 
 
 Polk apparently lost faith in "Old Rough and Ready" (or could it have been 
 jealousy?), and prepared to send an expedition under General Winfield Scott by way 
 of Vera Cruz to capture Mexico City. This expedition would require most of Taylor's 
 troops (with whom were such able officers as Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, William 
 Tecumseh Sherman, Braxton Bragg, Jefferson Davis and many others). If there was 
 envy and fear of Taylor politically, this move was calculated, as the saying is, "to put 
 him on ice." Meanwhile Taylor slowly moved southward, paying not a great deal of 
 attention to the Washington orders, though not exactly disobeying the War Depart- 
 ment. It might be pointed out that he had been winning brilliant victories and steadily 
 bringing the enemy to despair, which is rather important in war, in spite of Taylor's 
 many critics. 
 
 In December, (letter written November 25, 1846, N. Y.) , Taylor received this 
 message from Scott, who was acting upon the orders of the War Department. "I 
 shall be obliged to take from you most of the gallant officers and men (regulars and 
 volunteers) whom you have so long and nobly commanded. I am afraid that I shall 
 . . . reduce you, for the time, to stand on the defensive." " Taylor gave up a good 
 part of his army. However, he did just the opposite, in regards Scott's advice; he 
 moved southward. 
 
 "Old Rough and Ready's" depleted army now numbered about 7,500: his own forces 
 (regulars left) , with the Kentucky mounted volunteers of Colonel Humphrey Marshall's 
 regiment, and Colonel McKee's Second Kentucky Regiment of Infantry, together with 
 some Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi and Arkansas Volunteers. Of these, a considerable 
 part must be left to garrison Saltillo and Monterey. Taylor's chief dependence was 
 upon General Wool's command, 500 of whom were regulars; however, he was to learn 
 that in the direst crisis the Kentucky volunteers were fully equal to the regulars. 
 The tough combative quality of the Kentucky militia after long years of desuetude 
 had not deteriorated. 
 
 The shrewd Mexican General Santa Anna, realizing that Taylor had left an effective 
 force of less than 5,000 men, gleefully resolved to rush in with an overwhelming force 
 and make the "kill" (that is destroy Taylor) before Scott could take the field, then 
 swing round and cut Scott to pieces before getting effectively under way. 
 
 This Santa Anna was a rare character, a peg-legged Cassanova, with a taste for 
 art, music and the classics. He was inordinately fond of narcotics, women and game 
 cocks. He had been captured by old Sam Houston at San Jacinto, but had lied so 
 glibly that the "Raven" had let him off. He had lied so effectively to Polk that he 
 was brought from exile in Cuba and put at the head of the Mexican Government. 
 He was pompous, vain, cruel, and a scoundrel of the highest order. Cassius M. Clay, 
 who had been captured, had occasion to study somewhat the "Napoleon of the West," 
 as that eccentric Mexican styled himself. Writes Clay in his Memoirs: "Before many 
 days, we met Santa Anna's army on the plains. . . . When we came to Santa Anna 
 (himself) who was riding with his suite in a carriage drawn by six horses, with postil- 
 lions, and outriders, in great style, I could but think of Taylor and his tin cups . . ." 
 
374 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 Later on the road to San Luis Potosi, Clay had a good opportunity to observe the 
 habits and tastes of the Mexican general. "He was very fond of cock-fighting, . . . 
 and . . . had qoops . . . suspended on donkeys and mules. . . . These were full of 
 cocks . . . which he fought and ate when wanted So passed on the general to his 
 defeat at Buena Vista . . ." and, "so we passed on to Mexico." • 
 
 THE BATTLE OF BUENA VISTA, FEBRUARY, 1847 
 
 It should be fully impressed upon the reader that Taylor's phase of the war was no 
 field day for the American troops. As Professor Shaler points out: "The Mexicans 
 were hardy, brave and patient; they were well trained in the simpler part of the art of 
 war, their frequent internal struggles having given them recent and extensive experience 
 in military affairs." 1 " In addition the Mexicans were wizardous cavalrymen possessing 
 superb horseflesh. 
 
 Suspicious that Santa Anna was preparing to attack him, Taylor dispatched a recon- 
 naissance under the celebrated Ben McCullough, afterwards a famous Confederate 
 general. McCullough brought in the news that the enemy was in great force, and not 
 far away. At that time, near the 20th of February, the American army was encamped 
 at a place called Aqua Nueva, south of Saltillo, on a road or narrow pass between the 
 Sierra Nevada Mountains. The road lay in a valley two* or three miles wide, in which 
 stands the Hacienda of Buena Vista. Writes Professor Shaler: "At a place called 
 Angostura, or straightened pass, which is two or three miles yet further south, the space 
 between the mountains is narrowed to a width of about a mile." Observing the ad- 
 vantages of this excellent position, Taylor pushed his force a few miles further on, 
 where he could have a camping ground and good water supply. He also shrewdly 
 remarked, that if he should fall back to his chosen position at Buena Vista, the im- 
 petuosity of the Mexicans in following up his retreat would be more likely to lead 
 them to attack him there than if they found him in that position. This acumen was 
 characteristic of that admirable soldier. On the evening of February 21, Taylor 
 decamped and made ready to take up his position in the defile of Angostura, "on 
 ground that had been carefully prepared by proper study for his action." 1 " When the 
 position had been taken, Taylor dispatched a cavalry detachment to reconnoitre for 
 the enemy southward. This company was scarcely out of camp on the morning of the 
 22nd, when they ran into the advance of Santa Anna's troops, already within a mile 
 of the more advanced posts of the Federal camp. Santa Anna was pushing rapidly, 
 apparently expecting to attack Taylor at Angua Nueva. Finding that "Old Rough 
 and Ready" had retreated, he pressed on "driving before him the mule teams and other 
 laggards of the army." These fleeing trains should have been timely warning to Gen- 
 eral Wool, who commanded the outlying posts of the army, that the enemy was pressing 
 close; but the stampede, if noticed at all, was not acted upon, and the army was placed 
 in extreme jeopardy of being attacked before all necessary preparations were completed 
 for combat. The Mexicans, however, finding the Americans in a strong position and 
 not realizing how they had surprised their enemy, halted, "and gave them time to form." 
 Moreover, Santa Anna, having expected Taylor to fall back to Saltillo to fortifications, 
 had not calculated upon battle at Angostura, and as the terrain was of such nature as 
 to require some time for peculiar disposition of troops, he decided to delay action." 1 ' 
 Santa Anna's host was approximately 20,000 strong. 1 !1 
 
 As it played a significant part in the battle, the terrain will be brieflly considered. 
 Taylor looking down from the north saw that in general he was in a narrow pass be- 
 tween two lofty mountain ranges. The pass was at its narrowest point, Angostura, 
 less than a mile wide, the mountains sloping rather preciptously to the plain. To the 
 right hovering close to the mountains was a stream, which had cut a miniature canyon, 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 375 
 
 the walls being very steep. Mountain creeks running rapidly down the escarpment had 
 cut deep crevasses through the land to the stream. Many feet above the stream to the 
 left, but close to it, was the straight road running north and south. To the left of the 
 road was the level plain extending to the foot of the mountain slope on the left. Down 
 the escarpment of the mountain on the left, creeks had cut deep crevasses, their walls 
 perpendicular and perhaps seventy feet high, which could not be scaled except by scaling 
 ladders. Taylor's idea was to throw massed artillery across the road and plain at the 
 narrowest point and to slaughter the fiery and impetuous Mexicans as they rushed up. 
 Near the stream therefore, he posted eight guns under Captain Washington. "The 
 bulk of the American army was drawn up to the left of Washington and in his rear. 
 The troops to the left were mainly on the plain, high above Washington's head. . . . 
 In their rear were two light batteries commanded by Captain William T. Sherman and 
 Captain Braxton Bragg. Neither to the right nor to the left did the American line 
 extend the whole way to the mountains that formed the parallel walls of the pass, though 
 far to the left near the base of the mountains was an outpost of cavalry (Colonel Hum- 
 phrey Marshall's First Kentucky) and four companies of foot (probably of Colonel 
 Wm. R. McKee's Second Kentucky Infantry) ." The bulk of the Second Kentucky 
 was posted behind Marshall's cavalry and to the rear of this in reserve was Colonel 
 Jefferson Davis and his Mississippi rifles. 10 ' 
 
 Santa Anna was too foxy to be caught in Taylor's trap. Looking up from the 
 south, he perceived the dangers of the new Thermopylae which "Old Rough and Ready" 
 had set up. He looked to the left, saw that the deep crevasses extended far up the 
 slopes of the mountain, that they became more shallow the farther they extended until 
 they were level with the ground far up to the east. What could be simpler than to 
 move his cavalry up these crevasses, so deep as to conceal movements perfectly, and, 
 high above, come out, swing round and completely outflank Taylor's left wing? This 
 move Taylor had not calculated upon. The diabolical Santa Anna must have laughed 
 out loud. 
 
 The "Napoleon of the West," feeling that he had the (situation well in hand, at 
 eleven o'clock on the morning of February 22, sent a summons to Taylor to surrender 
 at discretion. The message stated: "You are surrounded by twenty thousand men and 
 cannot . . . avoid suffering a rout. ... I wish to save you from a castrophe, and for 
 that purpose give you this notice. . . ." ' General Taylor's answering messenger was 
 a young Kentuckian, Thomas L. Crittenden, son of John J. Crittenden, who was ad- 
 mitted blindfolded into Santa Anna's presence and asked whether General Taylor was 
 preparing to surrender. The reply was, "General Taylor never surrenders." 1 ' Taylor's 
 own message was: "... I beg leave to ,say that I decline acceding to your request. . . ." 
 
 While Santa Anna was preparing to move up the crevasses of the east slope, he sent 
 a frontal attack up the road, which was instantly checked by the Second Kentucky, 
 which had been moved, and Washington's artillery. Taylor, quick to perceive Santa 
 Anna's intentions, withdrew three of Washington's guns from the road, hurried them 
 up the plain, and sent them eastward to the region where the advancing Mexicans, now 
 established on the mountains, threatened to accomplish their flanking designs." 1 '' To 
 meet this attack against the American extreme left lay Colonel Marshall and the First 
 Kentucky cavalry, together with the Arkansas cavalry, all dismounted. 
 
 "At three in the afternoon, a shell from a howitzer of Santa Anna, announced what 
 was supposed to be the beginning of a serious assault. It was followed by a terrific 
 fire from thirty-two large Mexican cannon, but General Taylor, observing the in- 
 accuracy of the aim, directed his own batteries to remain silent." 11 ' This incident is 
 related by Professor McElroy: "Then a Mexican messenger approached, bearing a flag 
 of truce. He was conducted into the presence of the American commander, who 'was 
 sitting quietly on his white charger, with his legs over the pummel of the saddle, watch- 
 
376 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 ing the movements of the enemy . . .' The messenger courteously declared, says Major 
 Coffee, that, *he had been sent by his excellency ... to inquire in the most respectful 
 manner, what he was waiting for,' to which he adds, with evident relish, ? old Rough 
 and Ready gave the very Pertinent reply that he was only waiting for General Santa 
 Anna to surrender.' ' : After the messenger retired to his own lines, it became evident 
 as to the reason for the visit. The fire from the entire Mexican battery was directed 
 toward the point where the "old chief" sat, "utterly indifferent to the perils of his 
 situation ... on his conspicuous white horse, peering through his spy-glass . . ." The 
 anxious officers earnestly requested that he at least give up his white horse. To this he 
 replied that "the old fellow had missed the fun at Monterey, on account of a sore foot, 
 and he was determined he should have his share this time." 139 
 
 Convinced that no serious attack would be made before morning, Taylor retired to 
 make certain of the safety of his men and stores at Saltillo. 14 Darkness came down 
 quickly over the mountains (6,000 feet and more in altitude) . The Americans could 
 hear noise in the Mexican camp; Santa Anna used his gift of eloquence to hearten his 
 men for the morrow's grim task. "Then there was stillness; and then the soft notes 
 of Mexican music floated by through the narrows. Finally all was quiet, American and 
 Mexican alike slumbering on their arms and dreaming of victory." 141 
 
 Before nightfall Taylor had closed the gaps both to the east and west, where Bragg's 
 artillery with a supporting force had crossed the stream and taken position in the gap 
 left open at the far edge of the strip of fields along the foot of the ridge on the west. 
 It was rather clear, however, that the principal attack would be at the heads of the 
 crevasses on the slopes to the east. The Mexicans were on the slopes still farther to 
 the east than the Americans, in an admirable position to strike down and around the 
 American left. 
 
 The battle opened in earnest at dawn of the 23rd. Just enough attack on the road, 
 where the American position was known to be impregnable, to keep the defenders at 
 their post. While the affair at the heads of the crevasses on the slopes to the east 
 developed into a grim seesaw struggle, ebb and flow — "backwards by the Americans 
 from the heads of the crevasses to the hacienda and forward again to their original 
 skirmishing on the mountains, followed by a great rush of Mexicans along the lower 
 slopes and through the open strip at their feet. Writes Professor Stephenson: "The 
 most exposed American troops at that moment were the gunners of the three cannon 
 sent thither the night before and some Indiana volunteers supporting them. In a furious 
 combat these checked the Mexicans for a few moments but were soon driven back with 
 the loss of one of the guns. Every man and horse belonging to it had been killed or 
 disabled. As these exposed Americans fell back while the bulk of the Mexican army 
 continued its circling movement along the base of the mountains, there could no longer 
 be any doubt where the battle was going to be lost or won. The thin American line 
 which the night before had been thrown so hastily across from the crevasse heads to 
 the mountains, as an obstacle to the Mexican advance, must be saved at all cost. 
 Sherman accordingly pushed all his guns forward. Bragg and his Kentucky volunteers, 
 who had been sent across to the western mountain slopes at nightfall, were now hastily 
 recalled and hurried off to the extreme east." 14 " 
 
 In spite of all that could be done the Mexicans were gaining, attempting to get be- 
 tween the American lines and the town of Saltillo. The defenders were slowly swinging 
 back, like a giant gate, from the left wing. A large column of Mexican infantry was 
 advancing through the gate's opening. At this critical point General Taylor came on 
 the field, saw the situation to be desperate. He turned to Jefferson Davis, nearby, and 
 gave the order, "Check that column!" Writes Professor McElroy: "It was an order 
 which Zachary Taylor would have given to but few men, an order to sustain the rush 
 of a small army already in motion and feeling victory in the air, and that with a few 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 377 
 
 hundred volunteer troops. But it was promptly executed, with the assistance of Colonel 
 McKee's Second Kentucky Infantry, which "had previously been ordered from the right 
 to reinforce our left.' " Davis had married General Taylor's daughter, whom he had 
 taken to Mississippi, where she had died of "Yellow Jack." "Old Rough and Ready" 
 had not taken kindly to his daughter's marriage and seems to have been somewhat bitter 
 against Davis. 4 
 
 The impact of the Mexican drive had not only opened the gate wide but had caused 
 much confusion in the American disorganized ranks, some even having withdrawn in 
 precipitous flight, some "stragglers" having even raced past the hacienda and indeed 
 not pausing until they had reached Saltillo, "where they reported the destruction of 
 the American army." 
 
 Professor Stephenson describes the situation thus: "It was in this desperate moment 
 when the battle appeared to be lost that Taylor returned to the field after his night at 
 the base of supplies. The grim old Indian fighter found now just the situation in which 
 he appeared at his best. Arriving at the hacienda, he saw the vicinity occupied by 
 slowly retreating in confusion. But close at hand fortunately was the regiment of 
 Mississippi Rifles commanded by Jefferson Davis. With these and with the reserves 
 which had hitherto supported Washington's battle but which were now brought up 
 to save the other engagement, the Mexican advance was checked. A quick reorganiza- 
 tion of the confused troops surrounding the hacienda and a swift counterstroke con- 
 verted the check into a retirement. The Mexicans drew back." 
 
 The pause of the enemy enabled Taylor to reform and complete the reorganization 
 of the eastward lines — to prepare to swing shut the gate against the Mexicans. Santa 
 Anna did not make the supreme stroke here, missing his opportunity. He satisfied 
 himself with cavalry charges, one brilliant charge sweeping through the hacienda, reach- 
 ing the stream, crossing it, riding completely around the American army, and then 
 making its way along the western mountains to join the Mexicans before Washington's 
 artillery."' 
 
 Scarcely had Colonel Davis completed his first task when another downpour of 
 Mexican horsemen created, as Stephenson writes, "the military reputation of Jefferson 
 Davis." Across their pass was drawn Davis' command and the Third Indiana regiment. 
 Major Herod writes, "he (Davis) awaited their approach, having issued orders 'to 
 fire when the head of their column was not over fifty yards from our line.' . . . We 
 had but two shots at them before they got out of our range.""* 
 
 Too late, Santa Anna threw all his reserves into the eastward battle, "which became 
 a furious fight in the contracted area between the crevasse heads and the mountains." 
 Here the superior mettle of the Americans asserted itself overwhelmingly. Davis, 
 wounded, but refusing to leave his saddle, sat calmly awaiting the impact of a desperate 
 charge of Mexican lancers from the northeast. They galloped down "in columns or 
 regiments, the front regiment mounted upon gray and white ponies, ... to near seventy 
 yards of us," " writes Major Herod. From the opposite direction, meanwhile, rein- 
 forcements were advancing to Davis' relief. "Their fire caused the Mexicans to swerve 
 sharply to the right, exposing their flanks to the Mississippi riflemen, who now opened 
 upon them. A chain-shot, from the reinforcing column of Americans completed the 
 process, and the lancers withdrew." 1 "" 
 
 During the terrific, breathless moments, when the Americans were laboring hard for 
 breath in the high altitude, "Old Rough and Ready" sat calm and alert upon his white 
 horse, sweeping the field with his long binoculars, marking the points of danger and 
 dispatching reinforcements. Observing that still another large body of the enemy were 
 forming for an apparent descent upon the hacienda of Buena Vista, where his train 
 and baggage were deposited, he ordered a reinforcement of cavalry to aid in defending 
 this important point. Before it could arrive, however, the enemy attack had been made 
 
378 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 and had been savagely met by the Kentucky and Arkansas cavalry under Colonels 
 Marshall and Yell and scattered pellmell over the field. 
 
 Soon thereafter came the final scene of that glorious battle. And, incidentally, the 
 historian is amazed at the superhuman performance of Taylor's small force, out- 
 numbered four to one, yet covering the field at every threatened point with the most 
 brilliant dexterity, skill, daring and efficienty. The last scene concerns the Second 
 Kentucky under Colonel Wm. R. McKee and Lieutenant Colonel Henry Clay, Jr., 
 both of whom died heroically. Concerning this scene McElroy writes: "The firing had 
 almost ceased, and General Taylor had left his position for a moment, when he was 
 recalled by a terrific burst of musketry. Santa Anna had thrown forward his reserve 
 for a last effort. The Illinois and Second Kentucky Infantry, who were in advance, 
 had been suddenly confronted with an overwhelming force, and compelled to retire 
 toward their lines. The Mexicans pressed forward in pursuit, until they came within 
 range of Captain Washington's Battery, whose destructive fire soon forced them to 
 recoil. Hope now deserted them and they rushed from the field, the loss of which had 
 cost them almost two thousand men in killed and wounded. 1 5 
 
 General Taylor was left in possession of the bloody field, "and his army bivouacked 
 under the cold sky, awaiting the renewal of the conflict upon the morrow." The 
 Mexicans however, had lost all stomach for further battle. Santa Anna was in full 
 retreat. He, by the time of reaching San Luis, on March 9, had lost from desertion 
 and death about 10,000 men. With those remaining, Santa Anna rushed to meet the 
 magnificent army of General Winfield Scott, slowly moving over the tortuous terrain 
 toward Mexico City. He was to meet further disaster at Cerro Gordo (where Captain 
 John S. ("Cerro Gordo") Williams and his company from Clark County, Kentucky, 
 distinguished themselves), Churubusco and Chapultepec. With Scott was Louisville's 
 later celebrated Major Robert Anderson, of Fort Sumpter fame; also Robert E. Lee, 
 Ulysses S. Grant and many other officers later famous in the Civil War. 
 
 News of the brilliant victory at Buena Vista thrilled the American people as have 
 few other events. "Old Rough and Ready" was the popular idol. The victory probably 
 made him president of the United States. The Mexican War was a complete success 
 for the United States. But for the slavery question, we might have annexed the whole 
 of Mexico, which in the long run probably would have been the best course both for 
 Americans and Mexicans, as the Secretary of State James Buchanan thought. By the 
 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, however, the United States took the Rio Grande as 
 southern border, New Mexico, Arizona and California. And then came the bitter 
 sectional and slavery dispute in connection with the Omnibus Bill or Compromise of 
 1850, which was pressed through Congress by the aged Mr. Clay, supported by the 
 aging giant, Mr. Webster, in order to save the union, a compromise the workings of 
 which helped to kill the Whig Party. 
 
 THE ELECTIONS OF 1848 
 
 Whigs of Kentucky had fought as enthusiastically in the Mexican War as had 
 Democrats, and the Whig Party continued to be strong in the state. It continued also 
 to nominate strong candidates. John J. Crittenden had resigned his seat in the United 
 States Senate to run for governor; his place was filled by appointment cf Thomas 
 Metcalfe. Running with Crittenden was John L. Helm. The Democrats nominated 
 Lazarus W. Powell and John P. Martin. Crittenden won over Powell by 66,466 to 
 57,945; while Helm won over Martin by 64,271 to 56,549. The Whigs beat the Demo- 
 crats in the senatorial elections, returning 27 to 11; while in the House, 64 to 36. 1>! 
 Worthy of note also is the fact the people had become so interested in amending the 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 379 
 
 constitution that 101,828 votes out of a total of 141,620 were cast in favor of a con- 
 stitutional convention. 
 
 That year, 1848, Kentucky more than any other state, was absorbed in the question 
 of the Whig nomination for President. The Democrats, dissatisfied with Polk's ad- 
 ministration — though truthfully Polk had been perhaps the most industrious, and one 
 of the most conscientious presidents who had served the nation — had in May nominated 
 General Lewis Cass, of Michigan and General William O. Butler, of Kentucky. The 
 Whigs had the choice to make between the faithful Clay and the lionized hero Zachary 
 Taylor, both Kentuckians, though at the time Taylor was residing in Louisiana. 
 
 The recognized counselor and leader of the Whig Party in Kentucky was John 
 Jordan Crittenden. As the year 1847 wore on, Crittenden received many letters and 
 callers concerning the Party's possible choice for the presidency in 1848. Mr. Clay 
 was apparently the first thought in the minds of most of the Kentucky Whigs, and 
 it was known that he wished another chance; yet most were doubtful of his ability to 
 win were the nomination accorded him. Even while the campaign was in progress in 
 northern Mexico, Crittenden had written to Taylor concerning his availability to run 
 for the presidency on the Whig ticket, possibly wrote "to gain an estimate of the man 
 as a candidate." 1 ' Many of the state's leading Whigs, although they preferred the 
 charming and lovable Clay to all other men, felt that the "Great Commoner" could 
 not win; they wished above all else a winner for 1848. These felt "heartburns" when 
 they were forced to make a decision, because they loved Mr. Clay. However, they 
 made their decision — turned down their great friend for political expedience. On the 
 other hand, Taylor with becoming humility waited for a boom to start for Clay. He 
 wrote Clay that he was "ready to stand aside, if you or any other whig were the choice 
 of the party, . . . and I sincerely hoped that such might be their decision." But the 
 Clay bandwagon did not get under way. Sentiment for Taylor steadily mounted with 
 the people. As though trying to make a clearance between conscience and political 
 expediency, Mr. Crittenden stated: "I prefer Mr. Clay to all men for the Presidency, 
 but my conviction, my involuntary conviction, is that he cannot be elected." 1 Ken- 
 tuckians, particularly Crittenden led the boom in the Whig National Convention at 
 Philadelphia in June, 1848, for Taylor. Most of the Kentucky delegation deserted 
 Clay for Taylor. The "Sage of Ashland" felt very bitterly the desertion of his own 
 fellow Kentuckians. "What is it," he wrote a friend, "after the long period of time 
 during which I have had the happiness to enjoy the friendship and confidence of that 
 State, what have I done ... to lose it?" 1 * The blow, coming as it did soon after the 
 heroic death of perhaps his favorite son, was severe indeed. He never again wrote to 
 his friend of many years, John J. Crittenden. Taylor carried the state over Cass in 
 the November election by 17,000 votes — much better than Crittenden had done against 
 Powell, even with a split Democratic Party. The Democrats looked to the next state 
 election, feeling that the long period of Whig supremacy was nearing its close. Taylor 
 beat Cass in the nation by 163 to 127 electoral votes. 
 
 THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION OF 1849 
 
 The people having indicated their desire for a new constitution by their vote in 1847 
 and again in 1848 (according to constitutional provision) , the Legislature early in 1849 
 called for an election of delegates to be held in August. On the whole, the conserva- 
 tives opposed changing the old instrument (most of them being Whigs) ; however, they 
 made little effort to block the calling of a convention, feeling that such a campaign 
 would not please the rank and file of voters. The old fear, which had been felt by the 
 conservative property holders preceding the second convention, cropt up again, the fear 
 that the radicals might gain control of the convention and endanger property. 
 
380 A SESQUI- CENTENNIAL 
 
 The general concensus of opinion, however, was that many amendments were sadly 
 needed and that a convention should have been called long ago. The most patent cry 
 was for a broader election of officers by the people, especially the popular election of 
 judges, who were appointed by the governor. Many saw a virtual tyranny in the 
 thousands of judges, justices of the peace, sheriffs and various other officers whom the 
 people had no power over in election. 
 
 The editor of the Kentucky Yeoman (October 8, 1846) declared that the state was 
 sorely beset by these appointees, "in all four or five thousand officers, who visit every 
 house, insinuate themselves in every man's business and their hands into every man's 
 pockets — who are arbiters of our lives, liberties and property, and are totally irrespon- 
 sible to the great appointing power — the people." It was charged also that the practice 
 of selling offices had become one vast system of corruption and nepotism. 
 
 Many other lesser reforms were demanded: The evil of extending elections over 
 three days should be abolished, and elctions completed in one day. A sound system 
 of popular education should be established and the school fund restored and made safe 
 for educational use solely. A homestead exemption should be incorporated in the new 
 instrument, so that people caught in the clutches of debt and poverty would not have 
 their homesteads put up and sold. Biennial legislative elections, it was argued, would 
 serve the people just as well as annual elections, and save the state a vast amount of 
 money. Each county had one senator regardless of population. It was argued that 
 this system should be reformed, so that populous counties such as Jefferson (with 
 Louisville) would be more adequately represented according to population. The vague- 
 ness of the old constitution, especially concerning the succession of the lieutenant gov- 
 ernor to the governorship, should be clarified. There was also general discontent with 
 the Legislature, especially with the myriads of senseless and special bills turned out. 
 The Legislature of 1848 was cited as a shining example — 600 bills milled out and not 
 more than half a dozen of value to the state. The Kentucky Yeoman charged that the 
 Legislators were engaged sixty days in turning out every species of legislation it is 
 possible to think of — individual divorces, changing names, etc. — and that the state 
 would have been better off and $100,000 richer had the Legislature not convened at 
 
 U158 
 
 Party lines were broken during the canvass for delegates, and great confusion pre- 
 vailed. Actually, the question of emancipation, which the leaders had tacitly agreed 
 would be avoided, became the leading question in the minds of both the leaders and 
 the voters. The state was rapidly going over a pro-slavery party, who were not even in 
 favor of gradual emancipation, and the Democratic party was gradually gaining con- 
 trol of the state's political machinery. Strangely enough, the ablest men of the state 
 were not elected to the convention. Henry Clay and John J. Crittenden refused to run; 
 Cassius M. Clay, the abolitionist had no chance of election; while Thomas Marshall 
 and Robert J. Breckinridge were defeated, as were also George Robertson and James T. 
 Morehead. George D. Prentice's Louisville Daily Journal saw in the convention a 
 strange mixture of talents: "It contained men remarkable for their information, and 
 others remarkable for their want of it." 1 "'' 
 
 The canvass brought to the fore once more two remarkable men, Cassius M. Clay 
 and Robert J. Breckinridge, perhaps in many respects the ablest man Kentucky has 
 produced. The author here produces a paper, read before The Filson Club, May 2, 
 1938, entitled "Robert J. Breckinridge and The Year 1849." This will throw con- 
 siderable light upon the contest for delegates and the new constitution. 
 
 Dr. Breckinridge in the year 1849 had reached the age of forty-nine. He was tall 
 and slender; his hair was long, dark, and graying, and sideburns extended practically 
 to his chin. The chin and mouth were firm and delicately carved; his eyes were keen 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 381 
 
 and gray and intelligent; his nose was long and handsome. Clad in long dark, minis- 
 terial coat, high collar, and wide, twice-wrapped black cravat, his appearance was dis- 
 tinguished. Dignity of carriage, grace of gesture, mellowness of voice, and charm of 
 manner — all these blended harmoniously to make his general personality attractive and 
 impressive. But these external characteristics were but secondary to the brilliant 
 intellect, which was at once the dynamo, the keystone, and the bright jewel of the man. 
 
 By that year, though not old, he had lived practically a full life. Well born, well 
 reared, highly intelligent, highly educated; widely traveled, widely acquainted; a suc- 
 cessful lawyer, planter and minister; a scholar, orator, controversialist, and a writer of 
 international reputation, he enjoyed a national prominence that has been bestowed upon 
 few Kentuckians. Although his temper was fiery and his disposition at times iras- 
 cible, " which caused him to be disliked by some, nevertheless, he was universally re- 
 spected. He had been for years and still was one of the most distinguished ministers of 
 the Presbyterian denomination; he had engaged in controversy with some of the most 
 eminent philosophers of Europe and America; he had debated with the celebrated Bishop 
 Hughes of the Catholic Church; he had been president of Jefferson College in Cannons- 
 burg, Pennsylvania; 6 " he had been moderator of the General Assembly of the Presby- 
 terian Church, '"' he had been leader in the Negro colonization movement and in the 
 gradual emancipation cause; he had been pastor many years of the First Presbyterian 
 Church at Baltimore and was at that time, 1849, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church 
 at Lexington, the place of his birth. 1 ' 4 Moreover, he had already proven to be the 
 Horace Mann of Kentucky because of his herculean endeavors in the interest of the 
 public school system of his State. "" Furthermore, he was freely consulted by prominent 
 men of the nation on many phases of social, religious, philanthropic, and educational 
 endeavor. Even in that early time Dr. Breckinridge was encountered by autograph 
 seekers. '" Now approaching the height of his career, he was called upon to take the 
 lead in Kentucky in a struggle for reform, the participation in which was destined to 
 give him an outstanding place in the pages of Kentucky history. 
 
 Lexington in 1849 was still the Athens of the West. Transylvania University, though 
 she had been starved financially for years through the neglect of the State legislatures, 
 yet glowed brilliantly as the brightest star in the Western firmament in education and 
 still cast cultural luster about the entire community. The bar, the ministry, the medical 
 profession of Lexington at that time was not out-rivaled by that of any city west of the 
 Appalachian Mountains. The people were cultured, genteel, and attractive. The 
 planters, who controlled the community, were intelligent and wealthy, enjoying an 
 abundance of leisure; they owned hundreds of slaves, who made life for them like that 
 of feudal barons. Lexington's society was brilliant and scintillating, and in its highest 
 circles gracefully moved the Breckinridges."" 
 
 For years a social and political storm had been gathering slowly, a storm which, if 
 its full momentum was reached, threatened to burst forth in a revolution that would 
 likely rend the foundations of this feudal society, give a larger measure of democracy 
 to the common people, break the chains of human bondage, and sweep away a pictur- 
 esque old order which had ruled Kentucky for generations. 1 '' 
 
 It so happened that the leaders of the two sides in this approaching struggle in Ken- 
 tucky lived in Lexington, because, loosely speaking, the leadership may be said to have 
 centered in two men. At the head of the forces of the old order was the aristocratic 
 Robert Wickliffe, called "Old Duke." He was tall, commanding, striking in appearance, 
 with noble bearing and courtly manners, but with strong prejudices and hatreds. Robert 
 Wickliffe was in every respect a leader. The owner of hundreds of acres of land, scores 
 of slaves, a distinguished lawyer, the wealthiest man in the Bluegrass, intelligent, re- 
 sourceful, and daring, he loved the old order with a passion. 1 "' For a score of years he 
 
382 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 had hated his rival Robert J. Breckinridge and hated all of Breckinridge's policies, hated 
 them with an implacable passion. And it so happened that Robert J. Breckinridge, 
 though patrician himself, born to the old order, and the master of many slaves, was 
 the leader of the forces which sought social and political change; yet he was more 
 conservative than radical. 
 
 For many years dissatisfaction with the State constitution of 1799 had been voiced. 
 It was argued that the governor's appointive power should be curtailed; that the judges, 
 especially, should not be appointed. It was contended, too, that the system of public 
 education could not survive without constitutional protection, and, not least of all, 
 there was an ever-increasing agitation for the gradual emancipation of the two hundred 
 thousand Negro slaves living in the State. 10 It was this gradual emancipation move- 
 ment that Robert J. Breckinridge championed above all else, and which same movement 
 Robert Wickliffe determined to use all his powers to prevent. 
 
 In a short time the public lost its interest in such things as placing a provision in the 
 new constitution for the election of judges. The interest turned to the slavery question 
 and remained there more or less until after the War between the States. Perhaps it will 
 be helpful to review briefly the history of slavery in Kentucky since 1799, when a new 
 constitution was made. 
 
 The constitution of 1799 contained a provision relative to slavery, declaring that the 
 General Assembly should have no power to pass laws for the emancipation of slaves, 
 without the consent of their owners, or without compensation to their owners. Although 
 this provision acted as a bulwark for the slave owners and restricted the Legislature, 
 it did not prohibit colonization, that is, the sending of freed Negroes to Liberia, where 
 a colony had been founded by the American friends of emancipation early in the nine- 
 teenth century; nor did it deter, obviously, emancipation discussion, nor the belief on 
 the part of many that slavery in Kentucky was an economic loss to the State. 
 
 The colonization movement attracted considerable favor in Kentucky. " It enlisted 
 to its support Henry Clay, John J. Crittenden, Dr. Breckinridge, and many other 
 prominent men. Little was done toward emancipation in Kentucky, however, until the 
 late twenties. In 1830 Dr. Breckinridge published an essay on Negro rights and im- 
 mediately thereafter Robert Wickliffe attacked him savagely. The result was that for 
 his "gratuity" the Doctor was forced to resign his seat in the State Legislature, 1 " follow- 
 ing which he turned to the ministry. 
 
 In 1832 Breckinridge undertook to have passed by the Presbyterian Synod of Ken- 
 tucky a set of resolutions which favored the gradual emancipation and the non-importa- 
 tion of slaves into the State. The Synod tabled the resolutions. The following year 
 these resolutions were introduced again, and again tabled, this time indefinitely; where- 
 upon Dr. Breckinridge in great heat took his hat and papers and rapidly strode toward 
 the door. When he reached this exit, he wheeled and snapped out angrily: "God has 
 left you, and I also will now leave you, and have no more correspondence with you." 1 ' 
 
 The Legislature of 1833 passed a law prohibiting the further importation of slaves 
 into the State. The pro-slavery men, understanding this law to be an entering wedge 
 of the abolitionists, determined to fight for its repeal. 1 '" 
 
 In each successive Legislature from 1833 to 1850 a bill was introduced for its repeal. 
 In 1840 a violent newspaper and pamphlet controversy on the subject of non-importa- 
 tion, and slavery in general, developed between Dr. Breckinridge and his perennial 
 enemy the "Old Duke." This time the controversy was characterized by vituperation 
 and personal abuse, expressed with a fluency of language and variety of synonyms that 
 amazes a present-day reader. Dr. Breckinridge, in the Court House on a court day in 
 Lexington in 1840, publicly declared Robert Wickliffe a man lacking in integrity, a 
 poltroon, and a law-breaker. 1 '' The "Old Duke" a few days later responded: ? I know 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 383 
 
 many have advised me to silence, and to leave the wretched hypocrite [Breckinridge] to 
 sink under the weight of his own vileness and the castigations his impudence and false- 
 hoods have brought upon him from other and more able pens than mine. ... I know, 
 full well, that he that wrestles with a skunk must receive some of its odor. ... I know 
 that ... I do myself no good; but in again nailing him to the post as a counterfeit and 
 a hypocrite, not only a disgrace to his church but to his species, I hope to do some good 
 to others on whom he audaciously pours his venom." 1 ' These broadsides, although fre- 
 quently not very instructive as to Negro slavery, were masterpieces of vituperation and 
 venom. In the year 1841 others entered that agitation, and it soon developed into a 
 leading public question. 1 ' 8 
 
 During the forties the slavery question became violent nationally. A torrent of 
 abolitionist literature flooded the country. The radical William Lloyd Garrison, whose 
 name had for years been anathema to the influential classes of New England, was fast 
 being looked upon by the North as the national crusader for justice and freedom. 
 The agitation became noisy and more general in Kentucky. The abolitionists realized 
 that Kentucky, a slave state and a border state, would be the logical place for the first 
 test; while on the other hand, the Southern people, believing that abolition in Kentucky 
 would be the death knell of slavery, determined to throw reenforcements to their pro- 
 slavery colleagues here. 1 '' The attempted flight into Ohio of several scores of slaves 
 during the late summer of 1848, through the aid of an abolitionist, brought on a pitched 
 battle and loss of life. M This incident served to convince the protagonists of slavery 
 that the hour for action had finally struck. 
 
 The gods of the elements set the stage in Kentucky for storm, strife, and tragedy. 
 In January, 1849, the heavens opened, the rains descended, and the floods came, swelling 
 some streams higher than any previously known records. Much soil, property, and 
 livestock were swept away in his debacle. That same month Hickman and other western 
 Kentucky communities were shaken by an earthquake. In February, central Kentucky 
 was swept by a violent hurricane. Many churches, public buildings, and private dwell- 
 ings were lifted from their moorings and demolished. The elements, not contented with 
 this great damage, continued in their destructive mood. Late spring frost nipped a 
 large part of the fruit and froze a great portion of the tobacco plants. The season was 
 cold and damp, so that the cutworms began to work on the young grain and vegetables. 
 The damage started by the cutworms was completed by a plague of the army worms, 
 which then swarmed through central Kentucky. 
 
 Nature having established her angry mood, the passions of men soon rose to compete 
 with her. The Legislature of 1849 repealed the 1833 law providing for the non-importa- 
 tion of slaves, thereby opening the state once more to the introduction of slavery from 
 other states; it then passed a resolution to the effect that it was "opposed to the aboli- 
 tion, or emancipation, of slavery in any form or shape whatever." This Legislature 
 also issued a call for a constitutional convention to meet that year — 1849 — at Frankfort, 
 beginning October 1. 
 
 Immediately the slavery question assumed larger proportions; it became the all- 
 absorbing topic of the day. Soon party lines — Whig, Democrat, Locofoco — began to 
 disappear, and men became pro-emancipation or anti-emancipation; pro-importation or 
 anti-importation of slaves. The agitation caused the slaves to become restive, some grew 
 incorrigle, some committed crimes, and some fled across the Ohio. The complex agita- 
 tion, together with the meddling of Northern abolitionists, was blamed for all this 
 condition and, consequently, the emancipationists were blamed for all the ills. Free 
 Negroes, suspected of inciting slaves to revolt, were left helpless and subject to injury 
 because they were considered an undesirable element and therefore unwelcome as resi- 
 dents of the State. 
 
384 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 In February, 1849, Henry Clay wrote a letter to Richard Pindell, of Lexington, which 
 gave impetus to the cause of the emancipationists. Mr. Clay expressed in this letter the 
 hope that the State might in a few years be rid of slavery. He believed that the work 
 should be effected gradually, that the slave-holders should be compensated for their 
 property, and that the freed Negroes should be sent to Liberia as colonists. 1 " 4 
 
 The following month Judge Samuel Smith Nicholas, prominent and highly respected 
 citizen of Louisville, and son of the celebrated Colonel George Nicholas, wrote an 
 article favoring emancipation. His views were widely published by the press and 
 freely quoted by orators throughout the State. He believed that emancipation legisla- 
 tion would cause the slaveholders to sell their slaves — 200,000 in a white population of 
 2,000,000 — and that slavery would soon disappear from the State. He declared that 
 four-fifths of the population did not own slaves and that most of the soil of the State 
 was not, and never would be, conducive to slavery. Judge Nicholas was of the opinion 
 that four-fifths of the population, the laboring masses of whites, suffered from Negro 
 slavery. He stated also that manufacturing in Kentucky had not increased during the 
 ten years from 1840 to 1850 and that white laborers and mechanics and foreigners were 
 kept from the State because of slavery. Furthermore, the candid judge charged that 
 slavery was rapidly plunging the State into a condition of decay. "Roads, bridges, and 
 public edifices," he wrote, "all speak in most intelligible and unmistakable language. 
 The most casual observer and inattentive traveler cannot cross the line from a slave 
 state into a free state without being struck with the contrast in all the elements of 
 visible prosperity. It is the contrast between sloth and premature decay and all the 
 active bustle of thriving industry and rapid improvement in all the elements of a state's 
 well-being and prosperity." 18 " 
 
 Judge Nicholas' article went not without effect. The pro-slavery men, becoming 
 deeply alarmed, determined to make a desperate effort to gain control of the approaching 
 constitutional convention and in the new constitution to provide measures which would, 
 for all time, as far as human foresight could determine, render the possession of slave 
 property absolutely and utterly impregnable. * At the same time to counteract Judge 
 Nicholas' arguments, pro-slavery articles appeared in the newspapers. Judge Nicholas 
 was charged with lack of accurate information — that Kentucky was more prosperous 
 than the free state of Ohio — and with a lack of state patriotism. s ' 
 
 Early in April, through the influence of Henry Clay, Dr. Breckinridge, and others, 
 a meeting to consist of those persons opposed to the perpetuation of Negro slavery was 
 called at Lexington for the 14th of that month. At this meeting, Dr. Breckinridge 
 proposed a set of resolutions. These resolutions, which were adopted, involved the 
 following provisions: Slavery as it exists in Kentucky is contrary to the natural rights 
 of mankind; is inconsistent with a sound state of morality; is hostile to the prosperity 
 of the commonwealth; and that therefore it ought not to be perpetual, and that the 
 constitutional convention about to meet affords a proper place for ameliorating the 
 condition of slavery in such a way as to be fair to the slaveholders and beneficial to 
 the slaves. These resolutions further called a meeting at Frankfort, for April 25, to 
 be composed of delegates from the various counties, the purpose of which was to adopt 
 a common platform against perpetual slavery. To go as delegates to Frankfort, the 
 Lexington convention appointed a prominent group of men, among whom were Edward 
 Oldham, Samuel Shy, M. C. Johnson, Richard Pindell, William Rodes, George P. 
 Jouett, and Dr. Breckinridge. Upon returning from the Frankfort convention another 
 meeting was to be called in Lexington, at which a report of the Frankfort convention 
 was to be made, and candidates of Fayette County for the constitutional convention 
 were to be named. s ' At Louisville, also early in April, a meeting was called, to be 
 composed likewise of those persons who opposed the perpetuation of Negro slavery. 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 385 
 
 This Louisville assembly followed approximately the same procedure as did that at 
 Lexington. There, too, a prominent delegation was selected to attend the Frankfort 
 convention, among whom were Rev. William L. Breckinridge (brother of Robert J.) , 
 Rev. Edward P. Humphrey, Rev. John H. Haywood, James Speed, Bland Ballard, 
 and Judge Samuel S. Nicholas. s '' 
 
 On the appointed day for the state convention at Frankfort, about five hundred 
 emancipationists, more than one-half of whom were slave-owners and about one-seventh 
 of whom were ministers, gathered at the Capitol, where the sessions were held. ' Henry 
 Clay, of Bourbon County, was elected president and Bland Ballard, Secretary. Dr. 
 Robert J. Breckinridge delivered an address of some length. According to the Louis- 
 ville Weekly Courier, "it was the most eloquent, impressive and forcible address ever 
 heard by those who were fortunate enough to be present." Dr. Breckinridge, following 
 his address, introduced a set of resolutions similar to those adopted by the Lexington 
 convention. These resolutions, with two additions, were adopted. These additions were 
 very important. They specified that the new constitution should provide for the in- 
 corporation of a non-importation law, and for a scheme of gradual emancipation. Aside 
 from a running debate between Dr. Breckinridge and Judge Nicholas upon purely 
 technical matters, the convention was altogether harmonious. 1 ' 1 Even the celebrated 
 Cassius M. Clay, handsome, hot-tempered, and dangerous, although believing the reso- 
 lutions too mild, was willing to accept them. He showed some militancy, however, when 
 his thoughts turned to the approaching campaign. He burst forth upon this topic: 
 "For myself, I am in favor of agitating this question . . . We must convince the people 
 ... of its importance . . . How can we get at the non-slaveholders but by agitation? 
 The newspapers, as a general thing, do not reach the non-slaveholders. We must seek 
 them cut at the crossroads and places of public resort in their neighborhoods. . . . 
 We want men on the stump. We want to get at the ear of the people." 1 
 
 The delegates went home with a strong determination to fight. 1 '' Although there were 
 other important issues to be considered in the constitutional convention, they chose to 
 talk the slavery issue, and practically nothing else. ' 4 They held meetings in many 
 counties, adopted the Frankfort resolutions, and nominated emancipationist candidates. 
 
 At the Lexington meeting of May 12, Henry Clay was proposed as a candidate for 
 the convention, but declined because he was a member of the U. S. Senate, and was 
 in delicate health; whereupon, Dr. Breckinridge and Colonel William Rodes were 
 nominated. The latter withdrew later and Samuel Shy was nominated. 1 ' At Louisville 
 an enthusiastic meeting was held May 3, at which Dr. John C. Young, president of 
 Centre College, delivered an able address, and in it attempted to prove by the Bible 
 that slavery was a moral evil. '"' At this Louisville meeting the Frankfort platform was 
 adopted, but candidates were not selected until June 22, when Chapman Coleman, 
 David L. Beatty, and James Speed were nominated. 
 
 The non-importation-gradual emancipation campaign at Louisville was launched 
 enthusiastically in an editorial by Walter N. Haldeman, editor and proprietor of the 
 Louisville Weekly Courier. He wrote: "Friends of truth, of justice, of eternal rights, 
 of that golden rule by which all men are to have their actions, in this probationary life, 
 tried and squared, and which teaches each man to do unto others as he would wish 
 others to do to him, now is the day, now is the hour of your labor. . . . The paths 
 of hope, of joy, of light and truth are before us, beckoning us onward." Also aiding 
 the cause was the official emancipation organ, The Examiner, successor at Louisville to 
 the ill-fated True American which had been owned by Cassius M. Clay, and the presses 
 of which had been dismantled and harried out of Lexington some time previous. 
 
 The pro-slavery leaders during this time had been wide awake and active. Early in 
 April they too had begun holding meetings and nominating candidates. A fact which 
 
386 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 was of inestimable value to them was that they had control of the party machinery 
 in all the slave-holding counties, and their political position was made stronger by the 
 union of the pro-slavery Whigs and Democrats. This united pro-slavery party selected 
 as candidates for the convention an equal number of Democrats and Whigs. Further- 
 more, it nominated the "ablest, wisest, and most virtuous citizens."' This party, too, 
 had the active support of the Louisville Democrat and the Lexington Observer and 
 Reporter, both powerful and influential organs. In addition to this support certain 
 prominent men of Louisville launched, early in April, a pro-slavery paper called Ken- 
 tucky.' 
 
 The Jefferson County pro-slavery meeting was held at Jeffersontown, April 7, 1849. 
 There two candidates were nominated to run in the county: William C. Bullitt, a 
 Democrat, and David Meriwether, a Whig." " The Louisville convention of the pro- 
 slavery party was held April 19. At this meeting the candidates named were William 
 Preston, James Rudd, and James Guthrie. The last named, Mr. Guthrie, stated that 
 he would not vote to re-establish slavery if it did not already exist; yet that he opposed 
 
 emancipation and would not vote to incorporate the law of 1833 in the new constitu- 
 tor 
 tion. 
 
 As Fayette County was the largest slaveholding county in the State, it became the 
 chief center of political attraction and activity during the campaign. Early in April 
 Robert Wickliffe, the "Old Duke," bestirred himself to bring about a fusion of the 
 Fayette County Democrats and Whigs, but under Democratic auspices. The "Old 
 Duke" (erstwhile Whig) probably realized that, if a split could be brought about in 
 the dominant Whig party, then the Democratic party under his leadership would con- 
 trol Fayette County. This was his hope, and he set to work to achieve his objective 
 with characteristic astuteness and energy. When all was in readiness, so that no chance 
 of a "slip-up" would be hazarded, a meeting was called at the Lexington Court House 
 for April 29. At this assembly the "Old Duke's" two kinsmen, Robert N. Wickliffe 
 and Judge Aaron R. Wooley, were nominated as candidates for the convention. Both 
 of these men bore eminent reputations and both were able lawyers." * They — although 
 not as widely known as Dr. Breckinridge, nor as Judge George Robertson, who, after 
 the parties nominated, had decided to enter the race independently — could be counted 
 upon, nevertheless, to make a creditable showing before the public. Moreover, soon 
 the fortunes of these two pro-slavery candidates were bolstered at every turn by the 
 eloquent John C. Breckinridge, nephew of Doctor Breckinridge and running on the 
 Democratic ticket for the legislature, and by the fiery Colonel Oliver Anderson, who 
 sought election to the State senate against the Whig, Robert S. Todd, father-in-law 
 of Abraham Lincoln/ " 
 
 An article appeared in the Louisville Weekly Courier, under the authorship of "X," 
 which derided the Lexington union meeting with scorn. "It was," complained "X," 
 "called a pro-slavery meeting; it was a pro-slavery-democratic meeting; or rather it was 
 a Robert N. Wickliffe-Locofoco meeting." The article charged that the business of the 
 meeting was cut and dried long before it was called; that "All was and is false; all was 
 stratagem; all was disguise." "X" thought the gathering ridiculous. "A shy punch 
 from the elbow of one Democrat into the side of another, and a laugh of pleasure in 
 their sleeves at the taking in of the zealous but foolish Whigs," characterized the per- 
 formance. He charged, furthermore, that the committee to nominate had been agreed 
 upon by the Democratic leaders three or four days before the convention, in a grocery 
 store on the corner of Water Street; he stated that at the formal convention this hand- 
 picked committee had retired to name candidates for the constitutional convention, 
 remaining out half an hour "for decency's sake" before returning to report that "upon 
 mature reflection" they had nominated Robert N. Wickliffe, who, wrote Mr. "X," 
 "will be better known to you by his becoming cognomen of 'Greasv Bob.' " 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 387 
 
 At Bardstown, the pro-slavery men nominated the celebrated Ben Hardin, that com- 
 manding, eagle-eyed individualist, than whom the state has produced no superior in 
 mastery of sarcasm, ridicule, and native wit on the stump. To run with him the well- 
 known and able Charles A. Wickliffe, brother of the "Old Duke," was selected. Mr. 
 Hardin sharpened his teeth to have them in good condition for "eating alive that great 
 Presbyterian wrangler, Robert J. Breckinridge," when they should meet in debate; for 
 the irrepressible Ben had determined to invite Dr. Breckinridge to Bardstown." ' 
 
 At Richmond the pro-slavery men nominated Squire Turner, Mr. Willis, and Mr. 
 Chenault, while the emancipationists nominated Major Curtis Burnam, a gentleman 
 highly respected in all parts of Madison County. Managing Major Burnam's cam- 
 paign, and doing most of the speaking, was the lion-hearted "Cash" Clay, ready for 
 trouble at any time and against any odds/ 08 
 
 The campaign for the constitutional convention got under way in late April and 
 early May, 1849. It was a battle of the giants. During the latter part of April, Dr. 
 Breckinridge received a letter from Evan Stevenson, Georgetown, asking that his in- 
 fluence be used toward getting a convention of ministers to draw up resolutions favor- 
 ing emancipation. "We look to you as our leader in the great cause," Mr. Stevenson 
 wrote." On the same day a letter was received by Dr. Breckinridge, signed by a group 
 of leading citizens of Scott County, inviting him to address the people at Georgetown 
 upon the question of emancipation/ 10 Following these letters, a stream of invitations 
 came in from various places — Shelbyville, Frankfort, Louisville, Bardstown, Maysville, 
 and Danville. 
 
 Perhaps no State has ever had as many eminent orators as Kentucky possessed at that 
 time. On the side of the pro-slavery cause were the Wickliffes, Ben Hardin, James 
 Guthrie, Archibald Dixon, William Preston, John C. Breckinridge, Garrett Davis, and 
 many other able and prominent orators; while arrayed in the ranks of the emancipa- 
 tionists were both United States Senators Henry Clay and John R. Underwood, also 
 Dr. Breckinridge, "Cash" Clay, John C. Young, James Speed, Bland Ballard, Judge 
 S. S. Nicholas, and others. 
 
 The pro-slavery men were usually the aggressors in the campaign; the emancipa- 
 tionists, however, generally accepted any public challenge offered." The slavery issue 
 became so all-absorbing that the people practically forgot everything else. The question 
 of a more democratic constitution, that of a provision in the constitution for protecting 
 the public school system — these were thrust aside by the other issue. Not even did 
 reports of an approaching epidemic of cholera deter the public's interest from this 
 question of what was to be done concerning slavery in the new constitution. 
 
 It is perhaps safe to make the assertion that the emancipationists looked to Dr. Breck- 
 inridge, above all others, for advice and for arguments, and he supplied abundant 
 material. His completed paper upon the subject, parts of which he had been using in 
 speeches, appeared in the Lexington Observer and Reporter, issues of June 30 and 
 July 4. As this treatise was perhaps the outstanding discourse on the subject of slavery 
 published during the year 1849, we shall pause brieflly to review it. 
 
 Although the Doctor began his discourse by stating: "I propose to lay before my 
 countrymen, briefly . . . my views on the subject of Negro slavery," nevertheless, brevity 
 was forgotten altogether, for it requires eighty pages in long hand. The effort, how- 
 ever, was nothing short of a masterpiece. Keen thinking, master logic, and moving 
 eloquence permeate the paper throughout. He defended two propositions: (1) slavery 
 ought not to be increased; (2) it should not be perpetuated in the commonwealth by 
 means of the convention about to meet to amend the constitution. He contended that 
 instead the constitutional convention should incorporate the non-importation act of 1833 
 into the new constitution and provide for amendments to the new instrument through 
 
 26— Vol. I 
 
388 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 which the people might vote their beliefs as to gradual emancipation of slavery. Dr. 
 Breckinridge charged the Legislature of 1849, which had repealed the non-importation 
 law of 1833, with passing this legislation solely as "a part of a system designed to terrify 
 and crush the emancipation party in this State." His principal arguments for non- 
 importation were: the State had already as many slaves as she could handle economically; 
 more slaves would decrease the value; and, as the cotton states would always demand the 
 best slaves, those imported to Kentucky would be the dregs of the black race. He 
 argued further on this point that Kentucky, which already produced an over supply 
 of farm goods, would produce a larger over supply if more slaves were imported, and 
 that consequently prices would fall. 
 
 Dr. Breckinridge also used the argument that the larger the number of slaves intro- 
 duced into the State the more difficult would it be for free white labor, and, conse- 
 quently, the larger would be the number of whites driven from the State. " He con- 
 tended that the slaveholding voters amounted only to 20,000 in a voting population 
 of 140,000 and that many of these slaveholders, too, were emancipationists. Dr. Breck- 
 inridge stated that many of the owners of the largest numbers of slaves were leaders in 
 the emancipation movement. He asserted, furthermore, that the land owners would be 
 as much benefited by the emancipation of the slaves as any other class, because progres- 
 sive white labor would increase the value of land. 
 
 One of Dr. Breckinridge's strong contentions was that, inasmuch as the slave was a 
 human being, he should be given some consideration because of this fact. "Every one 
 of these human beings," he pled, "is, like us, created in the image of God; has, like 
 us, an immortal soul, is, like us, capable of joy and sorrow; will, like us, lie down in 
 the grave; and, at the great day, stand with us before the throne of God." 
 
 Perhaps the most ably presented, certainly the most elegantly expressed, phrase of 
 the entire discourse was the discussion of the proposition that an irrepressible law of 
 progress works in all society, a law, the working of which would wipe out, he believed, 
 the last vestige of Negro slavery. This quotation from the Lexington Observer and 
 Reporter, July 4, 1849, is as follows: 
 
 "There is in the bosom of all human societies, a desire and a power of ceaseless 
 progress. It has struggled always, it is struggling now, it will struggle to the end. 
 Many failures have passed — many are still to come. Not until men clearly see the 
 real and the only security for their great development, will those failures cease. . . . 
 What is just, what is right, what is good — let them do these, and they will fail no 
 more. What is wrong, what is unjust, what is evil — let them do these, under whatever 
 pretext of political necessity, and they cannot but suffer and fail — renew the struggle, 
 and suffer and fail again. It is this great lesson which an open Bible and free institu- 
 tions are teaching the human race. It is not lost on us. Perhaps not today, but soon, 
 Kentucky will take, must take another step in this great school of wisdom. The light 
 that is covering the earth, cannot turn to darkness upon her pleasant hill 'sides and 
 along her smiling plains. — The loud cry that goes up from the awakened earth, and the 
 universal voice of nations shouting in hope, will not fall unheeded upon the ears of 
 her generous people. When the day has come for mankind to break their chains and 
 burst open their prisons, she will not select that day to consecrate her soil to eternal 
 slavery, and dedicate her children to eternal wrong." 
 
 The great dissertation was hailed with joy by friends of Dr. Breckinridge and by 
 friends of emancipation, not only in Kentucky but in many other parts of the nation. 
 Delighted admirers hailed him as the bright light, the guiding star, of emancipation in 
 the South. The pro-slavery party had produced no paper which could rival this, 
 neither in ability nor effectiveness. 
 
 Another flood of invitations to speak at various county seats on the emancipation 
 question began to pour in upon the already overworked divine. Dr. Breckinridge, how- 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 389 
 
 ever, believing that his activities should be confined to Fayette — the county holding the 
 largest number of slaves — declined most of these invitations/ 14 However, he did agree 
 to speak in a few nearby towns, such as Paris and Winchester. 
 
 During June and July, as the campaign progressed, the political temperature rose to 
 blood heat. There was scarcely a village at which was not delivered a speech or held a 
 debate. Many persons who had no personal political connection with the campaign 
 espoused the issue on one side or another and took the stump. 
 
 Various and sundry were these orators, ranging from the finest to the meanest. In 
 the staid town of Danville, yea in the staid First Presbyterian Church there, a three- 
 day debate was held between President John C. Young, of Centre College, and Captain 
 George B. Kincaid, a pro-slavery orator/ 1 ' Eagle-eyed, caustic old Ben Hardin was in 
 his glory; so expansive was his mood in behalf of slavery that he publicly reviewed the 
 record of practically every prominent Kentuckian, for years back, who had had or had 
 the slightest tinge of emancipation, sentiment in his makeup. One hostile reporter 
 wrote that Mr. Hardin ridiculed and denounced the emancipationists, cast sneers at 
 Yankees, Germans, and Irishmen; while another stated that "rare Ben" had branded all 
 of Kentucky's governors, clerks, sheriffs, and judges as selfish, incompetent scoundrels; 
 that he had charged Henry Clay with being a traitor, and Judge Nicholas with being 
 an emancipationist only to prevent the formation of a new constitution in order to save 
 his job as judge." 1 " 
 
 As the campaign progressed, tempers got out of control. At a meeting in Trimble 
 County, held by the pro-slavery party, a resolution was introduced by one John Robert 
 calling upon Henry Clay to resign his seat in the United States Senate because of his 
 views on emancipation, and the resolution received some votes/ In the courthouse at 
 Paducah, following a debate between two candidates for the convention, Judge James 
 Campbell and Hon. Benedict Austin, an argument developed which resulted in Judge 
 Campbell's pulling his pistol and shooting Austin dead/ 1 ' 
 
 One of the most sensational encounters occurred at Foxtown in Madison County. 
 This incident is related in another chapter. 
 
 While the campaign raged, the epidemic of cholera, which had begun in the late 
 spring, reached such tragic proportions in many parts of the State that the year 1849 
 is remembered as the great cholera year. This plague reached its zenith during July. 
 At Louisville, although from four to fourteen new cases were reported daily for many 
 days, the disease seems to have been kept fairly well under control, but wild rumors were 
 rife, and every case of illness, no matter how slight, was regarded by the frightened 
 populace as cholera. The strain upon the doctors was terrific. During the excitement 
 a duel was prevented, between Dr. David W. Yandell and Mr. Dudley Haydon, only 
 by the timely intervention of Mr. George W. Weissinger, Mr. George D. Prentice, and 
 others/* By the middle of July, the epidemic in Louisville had abated." 1 
 
 The scourge seems to have raged more disastrously at Lexington than at any other 
 city in the State. There the disease broke out in the insane asylum and spread rapidly 
 to all parts of the city. It was no respector of persons, this gaunt reaper; high and low 
 were stricken, and the death rate was appalling. Many, becoming panic-stricken, fled 
 from the city, which was in wild confusion. At intervals cannon were fired, because it 
 was thought that the concussion would jar the atmosphere and dispel the death-laden 
 air. Difficulty was had in finding persons bold enough to bury the dead. At night, 
 carts, carrying the bodies to a burying place, jostled over the cobble-stoned streets, 
 while scared, ghastly figures darted through the heavy, smoke-laden atmosphere in 
 despair/" 
 
 In spite of the deadly scourge, however, the campaign moved on." 3 Many speaking 
 engagements were canceled, because most of the people were afraid to attend public 
 meetings. Although other candidates were stricken by the plague — Samuel Shy, Robert 
 
390 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 N. Wickliffe, and Judge Aaron K. Wooley, the latter dying" 4 — Dr. Breckinridge man- 
 aged, though never well, to keep going." In a letter to his friend Richard Martin, 
 dated July 14, he reveals somewhat his activities during this trying time: "I would go 
 down [to Gilead to speak] if it were proper for me to leave the city," he said. "My 
 friends and neighbors are sick and dying around me — and my services needed by many 
 of them; so that, it is improper for me to be away a whole day, unless under very urgent 
 circumstances. The cholera continues to prevail very severely; and from eight to twelve 
 persons die every twenty-four hours. There are perhaps ten persons sick for every one 
 that dies; and a great many of the people are gone off from fright. So that such of 
 us as are well, and disposed to do anything, cannot be spared very well." 
 
 Mrs. Breckinridge, who by early July was scarcely able to walk because of illness, 
 went to the Hart estate, Spring Hill, in Woodford County, in order to be out of the 
 city during the epidemic and during her illness. She wrote July 14 from near Ver- 
 sailles: "Dearest Husband, I know you feel anxious about me and worried that I 
 should have left you and at any other season of the year, not taking the cholera into 
 consideration at all, I would not have thought of it — but I have been so helpless and 
 so much more poorly than I ever was before that I dreaded a tedious confinement to- 
 gether with the heat and noise in town./'" 
 
 In spite of the frantic efforts of his wife to persuade him to leave Lexington, at least 
 at night," Dr. Breckinridge stuck to his post of duty. Mrs. Breckinridge, realizing her 
 inability to move him, implored that he use moderation: "My precious Husband," she 
 wrote, "don't allow yourself to be excited in the election — oh, how I shudder to think 
 of it — so much violence and so little reason — or religion — to regulate the conduct of 
 a large mass of men."" Two days later she wrote: "Anxiously, most anxiously shall I 
 await the result of this strange election and earnestly do I hope that my Husband may 
 be elected." 2 ' 
 
 The following day, August 7, Mrs. Breckinridge reported: "We heard by telegraph 
 the progress of the election up to 1 o'clock yesterday — discouraging truly my precious 
 Husband to the good and great cause that you have been laboring for." 2 ' The election 
 was truly discouraging; Dr. Breckinridge was beaten by 165 votes/' But perhaps the 
 tired minister was not altogether dejected, because on July 21 his daughter Sally had 
 written to him telling about the fine boy, Johnny, who had been born to his wife. "He 
 is something to be proud of," she assured him, "for a nobler, finer boy I have never 
 seen — Uncle Nat [Nathaniel Hart] and indeed all, stand and look at the little fellow 
 with admiration and astonishment. He is the beginning, I suppose, of a new race of 
 Blue-Stockings and Abolitionists." 2 ' 3 
 
 There were, however, no extenuating circumstances for the abolitionist cause through- 
 out the State. No emancipation candidate, not one, was elected to the constitutional 
 convention. Many reasons can be attributed to this overwhelming defeat of the emanci- 
 pationists. Perhaps the reason suggested previous to the election, by the Louisville 
 Daily Journal, was an accurate one: too much agitation and too much interference in 
 Kentucky by abolitionists who resided in the North. 234 
 
 The constitutional convention, beginning as it did in October, soon held the interest 
 of the State's people. Even today the people of Kentucky have a marked interest in 
 political affairs, but the interest of today is merely an echo, an emaciated shadow, of 
 the enthusiasm of 1849. 
 
 The body of the convention was composed as a whole of able and distinguished men, 
 among whom were James Guthrie, the Wickliffes, Archibald Dixon, Ben Hardin — 
 men who would have been prominent perhaps in any political or constitutional assem- 
 blage. There were as many delegates as representatives in the Legislature. All the 
 sessions were held in the chamber of the lower house in the building known today as 
 the "Old Capitol." 2 " 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 391 
 
 Slavery was the first subject to be introduced following the organization of the con- 
 vention. As a matter of fact, about one-fourth of all the debating in the convention 
 was concerning slavery."' This circumstance, in view of the fact that the entire personnel 
 was practically unanimous against emancipation, seems strange. However, this may 
 be explained by stating that considerable difference of opinion manifested itself on the 
 question of how the constitution might be drawn so as best to protect the slaveholders 
 in their property: Should the people be permitted under the new constitution to vote 
 amendments, or should the constitution be constructed so strongly in the protection of 
 slave property that, for all time to come, in as far as human foresight could determine, 
 the possession of this property would be utterly impregnable/'' Then, too, a few of 
 the members, staunch proponents of slavery, feared that the radical pro-slavery men 
 would have their way, go to extremes, and, thereby, in the long run, injure their cause 
 more than benefit it. Martin P. Marshall, of Fleming County, sensing this danger, 
 expressed the opinion that the provisions concerning slavery contained in the constitu- 
 tion of 1799 would afford as much protection to the slaveholders as they needed, and 
 at the same time the new instrument would not then flaunt property rights as being more 
 sacred than human rights. Mr. Marshall, however, appealed to deaf ears." 
 
 The debating which had to do with the technical, legal and constitutional phases of 
 slavery, and there was much of it, has no bearing upon this discourse. There was, how- 
 ever, copious discussion in defense of slavery in the abstract which has some bearing 
 upon this paper. As all the members of the constitutional convention were pro-slavery 
 men, it is perhaps safe to assume that these speeches were delivered for public con- 
 sumption. These addresses may be considered as "the pro-slavery argument," the answers 
 to questions raised by Dr. Breckinridge and his emancipation friends, and, incidentally, 
 Kentucky's answer to the nation. These speeches, the defense of slavery in the abstract, 
 were marked by ability in oratory and in logic. 
 
 Incidentally, various interesting facts, some revealing undesirable traits in the slavery 
 situation in Kentucky, slipped from the tongues of these pro-slavery advocates. For 
 instance, Squire Turner, pro-slavery in conviction and an owner of slaves, declared that 
 slavery in Kentucky was economically unsound, and a financial drain on the master. 
 John D. Taylor, of Mason County, charged that the Legislature had been inclined to 
 wink at the non-importation law of 1833 since its passage. "There was," he stated, 
 "a most catholic feeling, on the part of the Legislature, for granting a dispensation to 
 every man who came before them [the Legislature] in a lachrymose manner and asked 
 for it."" There was manifested, too, a tendency on the part of many to cast insinu- 
 ations and aspersions against the North. For instance, Ben Hardin stated: "I have 
 no doubt that the last gun for liberty would be fired in a slaveholding state." And, 
 further along in the speech, he charged that passing a law which would drive out the 
 slaveholders would bring in "a people in their stead not very agreeable to our taste." 
 Furthermore, "We should have, as they do in the North, the outpouring of Europe, 
 and all the vagabonds, repscallions and miserable beings of the world let loose upon 
 
 >j240 
 US. 
 
 Among the most definitely pro-slavery men were Mr. Philip Triplett, of Daviess 
 County; Mr. Albert G. Talbott, of Boyle County; Mr. William C. Bullitt, of Jefferson 
 County, and Mr. Hardin. As the speeches of these men were representative, they will 
 be quoted not only in order to indicate the positions on slavery taken by the various 
 members of the convention, but to indicate the ideas of the pro-slavery people of Ken- 
 tucky in general. 
 
 Mr. Triplett — and there were many members of the convention who believed as he — 
 left no one in doubt as to his position upon the question. He stood before the assem- 
 blage and boldly proclaimed: "I am a pro-slavery man — meaning just what I say. I 
 am for slavery for the sake of slavery, and I will here avow that if there were no slaves 
 
392 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 in Kentucky, and they were in other states as slaves, I for one would say bring them 
 
 h„241 
 ere. 
 
 Convinced that slavery was a part of the plan of God, Mr. Talbott undertook to 
 prove this proposition by the Bible. This gentleman rose to his feet and began a review 
 of the Bible, starting with Genesis. He read the passage which tells of the incident 
 where Noah, who had become drunk with wine, disrobed himself in an unseemly 
 manner, to the amusement and jollification of his son Ham, and shortly thereafter fell 
 asleep; that, when the patriarch awakened, remembering vaguely what had happened, 
 he was angry with his son Ham. According to the Scriptures, Noah pronounced a 
 terrible curse upon Ham for his indiscretion, making the luckless fellow and his off- 
 spring a servant for all time to come. 
 
 Mr. Talbott then proceeded to explain that Ham and his descendants had lived under 
 that curse, as Noah had predicted. After tracing the history of the world to show that 
 the Negro had been the slave of the white man, Mr. Talbott solemnly proclaimed: 
 "In vain may we talk about slavery; if God has decreed it, it will be so. What is man 
 that he can resist the decrees of Jehovah?" 2 At this point Mr. Talbott, becoming ill, 
 was forced to sit down. Ben Hardin, talking upon the matter in a speech a few days 
 later, sarcastically remarked: "I know the gentleman from Boyle broke down this side 
 the flood." 244 
 
 Before Ben Hardin could get under way in his slavery argument, he was constrained 
 to display a bit of his favorite style of oratory, namely, ridicule, this time making Dr. 
 Breckinridge the butt of it. Dr. Breckinridge had few friends and no champions in 
 this constitutional convention. Mr. Hardin characterized him as a man, "who, instead 
 of attending to the duties for which he was elected, and paid by the people [Superin- 
 tendent of Public Instruction] is going about making speeches, the tendency of which 
 is to incite our Negroes to cut our throats, and to burn our houses and villages. That 
 is the tendency of the doctrine preached by the superintendent of education during the 
 last year. 
 
 After this weight had been loosed from his chest, Mr. Hardin proceeded to talk 
 about the condition of the slaves. He declared: "I pity their condition as much as 
 any man in the country, and I shall do all I can, as a master, to make their situation 
 a happy one . . . They fare better than I do . . . Turn them loose, and I would not 
 live a month in the country . . . Turn loose the 200,000 Negroes free among us, and 
 what will become of them? Will you hunt them away to another state? No, they 
 would not move ten miles from home; and in that they act sensibly, for if they did they 
 would be caught up and sold. They would have no encouragement to work, none at 
 all, and would at most work out one day as a matter of appearance, and then steal 
 during the other six." 246 
 
 Mr. William C. Bullitt, stern and reserved, made perhaps the most able defense of 
 the institution of slavery. He took a realistic view of the situation. In one of his short 
 speeches he declared: "I am firmly persuaded that the Negro slave of Kentucky is in 
 a more happy condition than he ever has been, or can be placed in, in any part of the 
 world. We all know that he is far better off than he was when he came. He is in a 
 much better condition than the free Negro now in this country, in a far better condi- 
 tion than the emancipated Negro in Jamaica and St. Domingo. Then, being satisfied 
 it is doing no injustice to the slave, I say it is neither a moral nor a social evil, but a 
 decided political blessing." Then Mr. Bullitt introduced the fact, a fact which was 
 seldom pointed out, that the Northern "hirelings," or laborers, were in a worse position 
 than the Negro slaves, in that the slaves had far more economic security than these 
 Northerners. And he asserted further that: "In a slave country the coward and the 
 worthless cannot find employment. Those foreigners or abolitionists from the North, 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 393 
 
 who are so worthless and degraded that they will be willing to black my boots, or wait 
 on me, cannot find employment here. They are compelled to go to the free states, 
 while only those whom we desire to have among us find any inducement to come . . . 
 If foreign nations are disposed to send their paupers to us, slavery necessarily keeps 
 them out of our State." 24 ' 
 
 Scores of speeches were delivered on slavery in one connection or another. Un- 
 doubtedly all of them were not necessary, because there was much repetition, but this 
 excessive discussion, however, is an indication that the slavery question was uppermost 
 in the political mind of Kentucky. In the end, the most radical of the pro-slavery 
 advocates won out, and the new constitution provided the strongest protection to the 
 owners of slave property that is possible in a constitution. Article 10, which was the 
 part of the constitution of 1849 devoted to the subject of slavery, provided that the 
 General Assembly should have no power to pass laws for the emancipation of slaves 
 without the consent of their owners, without full compensation to the owner, and with- 
 out deportation from the state. All free Negroes who entered the State and refused 
 to leave, and all emancipated slaves who refused to leave the State, were to be guilty 
 of felony and punished accordingly." 
 
 Thus it seems that the tireless efforts of Dr. Breckinridge to establish a system of 
 gradual emancipation, with compensation, in Kentucky in 1849, were a total failure; 
 they were at that time. But, as the wise Doctor had foretold, "Perhaps not today, 
 but soon, Kentucky will take another step in this great school of wisdom." The time 
 did come; the step was not, however, a step but a mad leap; slavery was violently swept 
 away by blood and iron, with not one penny for compensation. It is a sorrowful re- 
 trospection that the people of Kentucky could not see, as Dr. Breckinridge saw, in 
 1849. How much of sadness, how much of money, how much of blood might have 
 been saved had he prevailed that year. 
 
 THE CONSTITUTION OF 1849 
 
 The new constitution carried many innovations: (1) The house in its entirety was 
 elected every two years, while one-half of the senate was elected biennially. Districts 
 were provided for electing both senators and representatives, with no county being 
 divided. (2) The Legislature would no longer grant divorces, nor change the names of 
 persons, nor engage in certain other special legislation. (3) The sinking fund was pro- 
 tected, and the right of the Legislature to incur indebtedness in excess of $500,000, 
 except to repel invasion, suppress insurrection, etc., was repealed, and all bills had to 
 relate to one subject only, which should be stated in the title. (4) The governor was 
 to be elected for a term of four years and could not succeed himself. In case of a 
 vacancy in the office before two years of the term should have expired, a new election 
 was to be held. (5) All judges were to be elected by the people for a fixed term of 
 years. In addition, a great number of offices were made elective — county attorney, 
 clerk, surveyor, coroner — and any other new office that the Legislature might see fit 
 to make elective. As Professor Coulter points out, the wisdom of this change has been 
 and was doubted by many. Certainly, it had no benign effect upon the judiciary. (6) 
 Duelling was fairly well "knocked out." (7) The period of election was reduced to 
 one day, and the ballot was discarded for the viva voce method, the latter of which 
 was not beneficial. (8) The educational fund was made safe. 
 
 The new constitution did not please the conservatives, who felt somewhat thus: "The 
 fundamental principle of the new constitution is to throw everything pell-mell into the 
 ballot box, even down to the election of militia officers, constables, and jailers." 2 ' 
 Strong opposition developed against its adoption by the people, who were to vote upon 
 ratification in May 1850. Such able Whigs as George Robertson (known affectionately 
 
394 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 as "Old Buster") , Garret Davis, Lieutenant Governor John L. Helm and Thomas F. 
 Marshall contended that the new instrument did not carry out the wishes of the people, 
 in that the new constitution was no easier to amend than the old. Moreover, they felt 
 that the independence of the judiciary had been destroyed. Furthermore, they believed 
 that the new instrument deprived the people of control of their money. And Judge 
 Robertson contended that stripping the governor of his appointive power was a grave 
 mistake. These leaders strove to organize opposition to ratification in every county. 
 However, the Democrats, who had made the new instrument, were not inactive. They 
 seemed to be more in spirit with the wishes of the people. The new constitution was 
 ratified by a majority of 51,351 votes out of a total of 91,955. 2 °° 
 
 LAST DAYS OF THE GREAT COMMONER 
 
 Soon Kentucky was engrossed in the national controversy which arose over whether 
 California would enter the Union as a free or slave state. There was strong talk of 
 secession in the South if California should enter the Union as a free state. Though 
 Kentucky had strong ties of commerce, kinship and love with the South, her love of 
 the Union was paramount. Crittenden became her chief spokesman for the Union at 
 that time, and leading newspapers took up the momentous discussion. Characteristic 
 was the expression of the Lexington Observer and Reporter, which on January 2, 1850, 
 in part declared: "The views of the Governor upon this subject are so just in them- 
 selves, so expressive of the feelings and sentiments of every patriotic heart, and withal 
 so beautifully and eloquently expressed, that they cannot fail to find a ready response 
 in the breast of every Kentuckian. Gov. Crittenden is right; there is no mistaking the 
 position of Kentucky in reference to this deeply interesting and momentous question, 
 and we trust the Legislature will without delay respond to the patriotic sentiments of 
 the Message." The same pervading love for the Union was carved into the Washing- 
 ton monument, then in the process of being erected, when Kentucky in 1850 presented 
 a block of her native marble bearing this inscription, "Under the auspices of Heaven 
 and the precepts of Washington, Kentucky will be the last to give up the Union."" 
 At the same time, the venerable Clay, sad and in ill health, had been virtually forced 
 into the Senate to work once more some sort of compromise which would curb the 
 forces North and South seeking to break up the Union. So feverish was his desire to 
 save the beloved! Union, which he had done so much to make great, that he labored 
 with the old fire of years gone by, and with a flawlessness, mastery, charm and eloquence 
 little short of wizardry. And his old friend of the Union, the majestic Webster — also 
 nearing the end — daring to brave the terrible criticism of the New England abolitionists 
 (and even Whittier's poem "Icabod") threw in his last for the Union. The great 
 Compromise of 1850 was finally passed, and the "Great Commoner" deemed it the 
 crowning glory of his long years of patriotic service to his country. He was spared the 
 realization of its inadequacy. He came home to rest for a time and, somewhat stronger 
 started his last trip to Washington in the late autumn of 1851. Benjamin F. Penniman 
 saw him along the way and described the trip in a set of "Reminiscences." An ex- 
 cerpt is here carried: "On a beautiful Sabbath morning, the 16th day of November, 
 1851, there arrived at the Goddard House in the city of Maysville, Ky., a plain car- 
 riage, containing two persons, with a coachman. One of these persons was the feeble 
 and much emaciated Henry Clay, the statesman and Senator of Kentucky. The other 
 was his faithful boy, Charles, his only attendant. . . . The writer was invited to Mr. 
 Clay's room, where . . . we . . . found him lying upon his bed, much prostrated, but 
 very cheerful. The conversation drifted gradually into serious fields, Mr. Clay re- 
 marking, *There are persons in our country who talk about dissolving the Union of 
 the States because it is not exactly suited to their ideas of what they call free govern- 
 
Courtesy, Lexington Board of Commerce. 
 
 "ASHLAND" THE HOME OF HENRY CLAY 
 
396 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 ment, or in other words, the independent sovereignty of the States. . . . To prevent 
 this, and to hold every State in its place in the Union, is worth fighting for, should it 
 ever be necessary, which may God forbid. The Union of these States is worth more 
 than ail the blood that may be shed to preserve them, for here, in America, the first 
 principles of civil and religious liberty were established by our fathers. ... I shall 
 be gone myself, but I will not doubt that those who come after me will maintain the 
 true principles of civil and religious liberty for all time to come. . . ." 
 
 Kentuckians, Whigs and Democrats alike hailed the Compromise as the salvation 
 of the Union. This thought was ably expressed by the Democratic Governor Lazarus 
 Powell, when he declared, in part: "The dark and lowering clouds that recently 
 threatened the existence of the union of the states of this glorious confederacy are 
 happily passed away." The "Great Commoner," acclaimed and loved by all in Ken- 
 tucky, was happy. And he died in Washington in 1852, as he wished, still "in harness." 
 "His body was brought back to Lexington through an almost continuous throng of 
 mourning Americans, and buried in the Lexington Cemetery, where 30,000 people par- 
 ticipated in the impressive ceremonies. Five years later the cornerstone of the monument 
 that now marks his tomb, was laid in the presence of 40,000 people from many parts 
 of the country — he was not a Kentuckian, he was an American."" 5 * 
 
 THE ELECTION OF 1851 
 
 Governor Crittenden had resigned in 1850 to take a cabinet post and was succeeded 
 by John L. Helm. By the new constitution a new election was to be held in 1851. 
 The Democrats, young and growing rapidly (while the Whigs were becoming infirm) 
 took credit for the new constitution, which was pleasing in the sight of the people: 
 Even the Whig cry of responsibility for the Compromise did not save them. The 
 Democratic candidate in the August 4 election, Lazarus W. Powell, won over the Whig 
 Archibald Dixon by 54,613 to 53,763; while the Democrat candidate for lieutenant 
 governor, Robert N. Wickliffe lost to the Whig candidate, John B. Thompson, 47,454 
 to 53,599. Cassius M. Clay, running on an emancipationist ticket received 3,621 
 (which probably accounts for Powell's victory) . For Congress five Whigs and five 
 Democrats were elected; while for the Legislature, to the house, fifty-five Whigs and 
 forty-five Democrats; to the senate, twenty Whigs and eighteen Democrats. Only 
 111,997 votes out of 153,095 were cast.* 04 The most surprising success was that of John 
 C. Breckinridge who won for Congress over General Leslie Combs in the Ashland 
 district (Clay's own, which had been going Whig by a majority of 1500) by a majority 
 of 500 votes. This was a personal triumph apparently attesting to the personal mag- 
 netism and genius of Breckinridge who possessed a charm and ability to win an affec- 
 tionate following hardly surpassed by Clay's. """ These were unmistakable signs that the 
 days of Whig supremacy were numbered. The Whig had been a great national party; 
 slavery, the tariff, economic differences were rapidly plunging the nation toward a 
 dangerous sectionalism in the nation. The Whig Party could not be made into a sec- 
 tional party; it must die. 
 
 PASSING OF THE WHIG PARTY 
 
 Though the growing sectionalism and the Compromise of 1850 injected the mortal 
 tocsin into the aging, though noble body of Whiggery, the slowly weakening giant 
 continued to keep vitality, even showing some marvelous strength long after the deadly 
 virus had begun to eat at the vital organs which had kept the body alive. The grand 
 old institution, whose life depended upon nationalism, by 1851 was gradually though 
 gracefully dying; and dying with a broken heart — all its finest principles were crumb- 
 ling around it. 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 397 
 
 In Kentucky the Whig Party showed a stubborn determination to last just a while 
 longer. In December, 1851, John B. Thompson, a Whig, was elected to the U. S. 
 Senate over James Guthrie, 71 to 58, Even in the presidential election of 1852, 
 the old party was able to surmount the failure of the Compromise of 1852 and 
 carry Kentucky. That year the Democrat Party had nominated Franklin Pierce, of 
 New Hampshire, and William R. King, of Alabama, (trying to evade the abolition 
 question) and the Whigs had named General Winfield Scott, of New York, and Wil- 
 liam A. Graham, of North Carolina, (perhaps trying to evade the slavery issue) . The 
 vote was 57,068 to 53,806. 257 
 
 In the August elections of 1853 in Kentucky, the Whig Party still clung to life 
 with remarkable tenacity. Its candidates were able to hold five of the ten Congress- 
 ional seats. Whigs elected: Benjamin Edwards Grey, Presley Ewing, Clement S. Hill, 
 William Preston and Leander M. Cox. Democrats elected: Linn Boyd, James S. 
 Christman, John M. Elliott, John C. Breckinridge (by 526 votes over ex-Gov. Robert 
 P. Letcher) and Richard H. Stanton. The Whigs returned twenty- two to the State 
 Senate, while the Democrats took sixteen seats. In the House, the Whigs returned 
 fifty-five to the Democrats' forty-five." The party was weakening but slowly. 
 
 The most significant contest in the campaign of 1853 had been that between John 
 C. Breckinridge and Robert Letcher in the Ashland (Lexington) district for Congress. 
 Breckinridge had shown strong leaning toward the Southern attitude on the slavery 
 question, and Letcher had been fiercely accused of abolition propensities. The people 
 had voted their feelings upon this controversial issue and had elected Breckinridge by 
 a small majority. ° Thus was the "Great Commoner's" old home district now safely 
 in the Democratic column. The Democracy was jubilant and prepared to march upon 
 that other stronghold of Whiggery, Franklin County. The Whig Party was not geared 
 to sectionalism. Could this party have maintained its national strength, the Civil War 
 might not have come. 
 
 The coup de grace of the Whig Party was the passage and working of the Kansas- 
 Nebraska Bill. This bill, projected by the clever Stephan A. Douglas, provided for the 
 organization of the territories of Kansas and Nebraska upon the basis of popular or 
 "squatter" sovereignty, ie., the people of the territories deciding whether or not slavery 
 be permitted. The newly elected Kentucky Senator Archibald Dixon introduced the 
 other provision of the bill providing for the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. How 
 the able Douglas, the "Little Giant" was able to press the bill through the Senate and 
 steer it through the House was little short of miraculous. He probably could not have 
 achieved it had he not convinced Southern Congressmen that the repeal of the Missouri 
 Compromise would enable the slavery men to introduce their peculiar institution into 
 territory north of 36 30 west of Missouri. He was certain that "squatter" sovereignty 
 would appeal to the supremacy-of-local-government inclined Westerners. The bill, 
 whatsoever the "Little Giant's" motives had been, produced chaos — civil war in Kansas. 
 And the North began to look for a sectional party; while the South began flocking to 
 the Democratic Party as the best hope for political sectional expression in that section. 
 The Whigs of the Border States, with Kentucky as leader, talked more of the Consti- 
 tution and the Union, while seeking some convenient party for a temporary harbor. 
 
 KNOW-NOTHINGISM 
 
 At the time a secret movement aimed against foreigners and Catholics was gaining 
 considerable strength in the East. Soon it grew to the proportions of a party and was 
 called the American or Native American Party. It provided a pleasant relief from the 
 burning slavery question, which many leaders, particularly Whigs, were frantically 
 attempting to suppress and circumvent. The movement was popularly denominated 
 
398 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 "Know Nothing," because when asked what its tenets were its members would answer, 
 "I don't know." The movement contained somewhat of patriotism in that it sought 
 to maintain American unity. Even many slavery men, realizing the dangers of agitated 
 sectionalism, espoused the new party. At the time, in no state were sectional contro- 
 versies more vigorously deprecated than Kentucky. And too this state, having been 
 preponderately Whig, numerous powerful leaders welcomed the Know Nothing move- 
 ment not only as a relief from sectionalism but a means of salvaging the machinery of 
 the moribund Whig Party intact. True there were practically no foreigners in the 
 state, and the Catholics were among the best citizens; nevertheless Kentuckians as a 
 whole placed preservation of the Union far above slavery and other sectional issues. 
 
 The strange new party gained rapidly in the state. In the summer of 1854 rumors 
 were whispered abroad that a Know Nothing organization had been completed in 
 Frankfort, while in Louisville and a few other cities the organizations actually suc- 
 ceeded in electing a few local officers." 
 
 On February 22, 1855, the Know Nothings held a convention in Louisville to nomi- 
 nate for the state offices. William V. Loving (Whig, of Bowling Green) was selected 
 to run for governor, while James G. Hardy (Democrat, of Glasgow) was nominated 
 for lieutenant governor. Because of ill health, Loving later withdrew from the race; 
 whereupon, the Know Nothings held another convention and nominated the popular 
 and able Charles S. Morehead, of Frankfort. Soon it was quite evident that the Whig 
 Party in the state had transferred bodily to the new standard, and that many non- 
 sectional Democrats had joined. The Kentucky Yeoman, of January 12, 1855, recorded 
 the death of the Whig Party and presented the cause thus: "Abolitionism and Know- 
 Nothingism have taken it to their foul embrace and hugged it unto death. With their 
 hideous kisses they have stifled its breath until it is as dead as death itself, and can 
 never be resuscitated." 2 ' The Democrats assumed the role of sarcasm and ridicule, 
 thinking such rhetorical flourishes to be the most effective weapon for bringing the 
 new movement into disrepute. 
 
 At their state convention, the Democrats nominated Beverly L. Clarke for governor 
 and Beriah Magoffin for lieutenant governor. 2 ' 2 They started a campaign of ridicule 
 against "the exotic and colorless principles of their opponents." County meetings held 
 prior to the state convention took occasion to launch forceful attacks against "the 
 dangerous and secret plottings of the Know Nothings." The Democrats posed as the 
 best friends of the Union and called upon the Whigs to support them against secret, 
 unAmerican organizations. They deplored attempts of political parties to evade vital 
 issues. They also charged, however, that all the abolitionists in the state were sup- 
 porting the Know Nothing ticket. The state convention praised the Kansas-Nebraska 
 bill and reaffirmed its faith in the principles of the national Democracy. 
 
 The Know Nothing candidate for lieutenant governor, James G. Hardy, was also 
 candidate for lieutenant governor on the temperance ticket, whose gubernatorial candi- 
 date was George W. Williams. The fight for temperance therefore was espoused by 
 many Know Nothing leaders, among whom were such powerful ministers as Robert J. 
 Breckinridge — who raised his eloquent voice against the Catholics and against whiskey. 
 The vast amount of leadership mustered by the Know Nothings, together with the 
 fact that they generally opposed agitating the slavery question, which of course the 
 Kansas-Nebraska question projected, were too much for the Democrats to stem. The 
 Know Nothing Party was successful, winning all the state offices, six of the ten Con- 
 gressional seats, a majority of the seats in the state Senate, as well as in the House. 
 Judge Collins lists the races thus: "Vote for governor, Chas. S. Morehead (American 
 or Know Nothing) 69,816. Beverly L. Clarke (democrat) 65,413 — maj. 4,403; for 
 lieutenant governor, Jas. G. Hardy (Am.) 68,104, Beriah Magoffin (dem.) 64,430 — 
 maj. 3,674; for attorney general, Jas. Harlan (Am.) 67,639, Robert W. Wooley (dem.) 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 399 
 
 63,601 — maj. 4,038; for auditor, Thos. S. Page (Am.) 68,171, Jas. A. Grinstead (dem.) 
 62,478 — maj. 5,693; for treasurer, Richard C. Wintersmith (Am.) 67,494, Jas. H. 
 Garrard (dem.) 63,136 — maj. 4,358; for register of the land office, Andrew McKinley 
 (Am.) 66,976, Thos. J. Frazer (dem.) 63,132 — maj. 3,844; for superintendent of pub- 
 lic instruction, Rev. John D. Matthews, D.D., (Am.) 64,049, Grant Green (dem.) 
 62,787 — maj. 4,262; for president of the board of internal improvement, Dr. David R.' 
 Haggard (Am.) 67,289, Jas. M. Nesbitt (dem.) 62,780— maj. 4,509. To congress, 6 
 Americans and 4 democrats elected; to the state senate, 13 Americans and 7 democrats, 
 and 18 hold over, who are divided about 12 to 6; to the house of representatives, 
 Americans 61, democrats 39 — maj. 22. In favor of the three-cents additional tax 82,765, 
 against it 25,239 — maj. 57,526."*"' 
 
 The result of the election indicated clearly that a majority of Kentuckians were so 
 conservative in their Union sentiments that they preferred to support candidates who 
 advocated suppression of controversial sectional questions. They probably felt that 
 cessation of discussion would in some miraculous way force the dangerous questions 
 into oblivion, thereby solving them — which was faulty logic indeed. 
 
 The Know Nothing Party, based upon exotic, non-indigenous principles, obviously 
 could not long endure. And an unfortunate occurrence in Louisville on election day 
 hastened to terminate its popularity. This dreadful event was in the form of bloody 
 riots against the Irish Catholics and Germans of that city. 2 ' 4 
 
 The gallant and staid old Whig Party by 1855 was dead. Perhaps no party to the 
 time of its decline had exerted a stronger influence for nationalism and unity. Its 
 eclipse had been caused by the very force (sectionalism) which it had abhorred. This 
 party in Kentucky had commanded greater respect than had any other, with the possible 
 exception of the early Jeffersonian party. It provided for the state abler leadership and 
 served better perhaps than any party Kentucky has known before or since. Its leaders 
 as a whole are the most outstanding politically the state has produced. One need only 
 consider the names of a few of these men for verification. Among them are Henry and 
 Cassius M. Clay, John J. and Thomas L. Crittenden, Joseph Cabell and Robert J. 
 Breckinridge, Robert and Charles A. Wickliffe, George Robertson, M. C. Johnson, John 
 Boyle, William Owsley, Gabriel Slaughter, John Pope, Robert Letcher, Thomas Met- 
 calfe, Humphrey and Thomas F. Marshall, Samuel S. Nicholas, John C. Young, Ben 
 Hardin, and many others. The historian contemplates the passing of such a party with 
 something akin to sorrow. 
 
 THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1856 
 
 As the presidential election of 1856 approached, the political elements were afforded 
 another opportunity for alignment. The Democrats met in Cincinnati and nominated 
 James Buchanan and John C. Breckinridge. The young Republican Party met at 
 Philadelphia and nominated the colorful though erratic, John C. Fremont, of Cali- 
 fornia; it took the old Free Soil Party slogan of 1848, "Free soil, free speech, free 
 labor, and free men," adding "Fremont and victory!" The Republicans contended that 
 Congress had the power and should use it to prevent the spread of slavery into the 
 territories. They entered the campaign with the fevor of crusaders."" Their conven- 
 tion, which had been expected to nominate Supreme Court Justice John McLean, of 
 Ohio, for Vice President, after some maneuvering in which Abraham Lincoln received 
 110 votes on an informal ballot, named William M. Dayton, of New Jersey. The 
 "Know Nothings" nominated Millard Fillmore for President. 
 
 The campaign was spirited throughout. Although the Democrats were in a bad 
 position because of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill and the outrages in Kansas, nevertheless, 
 although they had the temerity to stand up for the Bill and the "squatter" sovereignty 
 
400 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 
 
 principle in the Cincinnati convention, they did not make a great deal of this declaration 
 during the campaign. In fact, they had passed over Pierce mainly because his ad- 
 ministration bore the stigma and odium of this unfortunate legislation. James Ford 
 Rhodes states that the Kansas-Nebraska Bill "in its scope and consequences was the 
 most momentous measure that passed Congress from the day that the Senators and 
 Representatives first met to the outbreak of the Civil War.""' John W. Burgess de- 
 clares that the act was "probably the greatest error which the Congress of the United 
 States ever committed, and the arguments by which it was supported were among the 
 most specious fallacies that have ever misled the minds of men."" The Democratic 
 leaders, realizing that the Republican Party was of necessity sectional, hammered on 
 the idea of preservation of the Union. They contended that the triumph of the "Black 
 Republicans" would mean the immediate dissolution of the Union. ° Even Fillmore 
 sounded the same tocsin, asking the Republicans how they could have "the madness or 
 folly to believe that our Southern brethren would submit to be governed by Fremont."" 
 Writes Professor Muzzey: "Again, as in 1850 and 1852, the business interests and the 
 more conservative men of the North, with whom the preservation of industrial peace 
 and the political status quo counted for more than the support of a moral principle 
 at the risk of certain agitation and possible dissolution of the Union, carried the day 
 for the Democrats." 2 ' 
 
 The race, however, was far closer than the politically wise had dreamed. The new 
 Republican Party had polled a popular vote of 1,314,264 to the Democrats' 1,838,169. 
 The Republicans were more jubilant than discouraged, because they felt that the dying 
 American Party's vote of 874,534 would go to them in the next election. In the words 
 of Whittier's marching-song: 
 
 If months have well-nigh won the field, 
 What may not four years do. 
 
 In Kentucky Buchanan carried the state by a majority of 6,118 over Fillmore. The 
 vote was Buchanan and Breckinridge 69,509; Fillmore and Andrew Jackson Donelson 
 63,391; Fremont and Dayton 314. 2 " This was the first time Kentucky had cast her 
 vote for al Democrat for President since 1828. The following year that party cap- 
 tured both houses of the General Assembly and elected Lazarus W. Powell to the 
 United States Senate; and during the next year John C. Breckinridge, Vice President, 
 was named to the U. S. Senate. 
 
 Though the leading conservatives, who controlled the largest proportionate amount 
 of the wealth and business of the state, continued to hold steadfastly to the American 
 Party, Kentucky became more firmly controlled by the Democratic Party with each 
 succeeding election to I860."'" These conservatives despised the Democratic Party as 
 radical, sectional and dangerous. They hoped prayerfully for maintenance of the 
 status quo. Above all, they abhorred strife and violence. After the American Party 
 was completely dead, they took the name "Opposition" and named the able Joshua F. 
 Bell, of Danville, and Alfred Allen for governor and lieutenant governor in 1859 and 
 fought hard to win. However, the Democrat candidates, Beriah Magoffin and Linn 
 Boyd gained a majority of approximately 9,000. The opposition, however, was able to 
 capture five of the ten Congressional seats. 2 " 
 
 As sectionalism steadily became more bitter and while the nation steadily drifted 
 toward disunion, Kentucky, conservative by nature, began to take inventory, looking 
 for ways of staving off disaster. In doing this, she drifted once more away from the 
 Democrat Party. Her citizens, becoming thoughtful and grave, prepared for the battle 
 for the presidency in 1860, well realizing that the nation would be forced to make a 
 momentous decision that year. They decided in advance, influenced by Crittenden and 
 many of the old-line Whig leaders, to stand by the Union at whatever cost. 
 
Courtesy, Filson Club. 
 
 John Cabell Breckinridge 
 
 1821-1873 
 
 Outstanding Kentucky orator, served in Mexican War, 
 
 Member of Congress, Member of Senate, Vice-President 
 
 of United States, General in Confederate Army. 
 
402 ASESQU1-CENTENNIAL 
 
 FOOTNOTES FOR CHAPTER XIII 
 
 Connelley and Coulter, History of Kentucky, II, 580. 
 
 'Ibid., II, 581. "Ibid., II, 582. 'Ibid., II, 582. 
 
 "Orval W. Baylor, John Pope, Kentuckian, His Life and Times, 1770-1845 (Cyn- 
 thiana: The Hobson Press, 1943) , pp. 124, 125. 
 
 6 Ibid., pp. 129-131; Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., II, 585, 586. 
 
 Baylor, op.cit., p. 130. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 131. 
 
 "Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., II, 586. 
 
 M 7 bid., II, 566 (citing Kentucky Gazette, February 24, 1817) . 
 
 "Ibid., II, 586. ri Ibid., II, 588. "Ibid., II, 589. 
 
 "Ibid., II, 587. "Ibid., II, 584. 
 
 ™Ibid., II, 589 (Quoting Lafayette to the People, 50, 51) . 
 See Appendix for the entire message. 
 
 "Ibid., II, 589. "Ibid., II, 590. 
 
 * Kentucky, as Professor McElroy points out, was the home and burial place of three 
 of the earliest successful experimenters in steam navigation, John Fitch, James Rumsey 
 and Edward West. 
 
 " McElroy, Kentucky in the Nation s History, p. 379. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 381. 
 
 ""Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., II, 593. 
 
 "'Ibid., II, 594. ""Ibid., II, 594 (Quoting Niies' Register, Vol. 28, p. 81) . 
 
 ^"Collins, op.cit., I, 318. 
 
 "Ibid., I, 29. 
 
 "Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., II, 598. 
 
 "'William Graham Sumner, Andrew Jackson (Boston, 1899), pp. 151-152. 
 
 :!0 McElroy, op.cit., p. 383. 
 
 31 McElroy, op.cit., p. 384. 
 
 ''Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., II, 609 (Quoting Niles' Register, Vol. 23, pp. 234, 
 235) . 
 
 "McElroy, op.cit., pp. 384, 385. 
 
 !4 F. J. Turner, Rise of the New West, (New York, 1906) , p. 138. 
 
 "Collins, op.cit., I, 320. 
 
 "'McElroy, op.cit., p. 388. 
 
 "Arndt M. Stickles, The Critical Court Struggle in Kentucky, 1819-1829 (Bloom- 
 ington: Published under the auspices of the Graduate Council, Indiana University, 
 1929), pp. 33, 34. 
 
 "Collins, op.cit., II, 90, 91. 
 
 ""Collins, II, 674. 
 
 "Ibid., II, 675. "Ibid., II, 79, 80. 
 
 "Stickles, Critical Court Struggle, p. 37. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 38. 
 
 ''Stickles, op.cit., p. 45. 
 
 'Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., II, 628. 
 
 ''Ibid., II, 630. "Ibid., II, 630. 
 
 Stickles, op.cit., p. 41. 
 
 "Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., II, 630. Stickles, op.cit., p. 43. 
 
 "Collins, op.cit., I, 31. 
 
 "'Stickles, op.cit., p. 45 (citing Philip Lindsley on "A Kentucky Judicial Episode," in 
 Green Bag, 1904, XVI, 521) . 
 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 403 
 
 "Ibid., p. 45. "Ibid., p. 47. W, p. 50. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 46. 55 Z&J V p. 48. m lbML, p. 51. 
 
 "Collins, op.cit., I, 321, 322. 
 
 '"McElroy, op.cit., p. 395. 
 
 ""Collins, op.cit., p. 322. 
 
 '"McElroy, op.«>., p. 390. 
 
 "Collins, I, 323. 
 
 "Ibid., I, 35. "7W., II, 628, 629. 
 
 '"'Kentucky in Retrospect, pp. 65-73. 
 
 ""Collins, op.cit., I, 324. 
 
 "'Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., II, 702. 
 
 ""Collins, op.cit., I, 37. 
 
 "Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., II, 703, Quoting Niles' Weekly Register, Hezekiah 
 Niles, editor (Baltimore: 77?e Franklin Press) Vol. 42, pp. 407,408. 
 
 '"Collins, op.cit., I, 37. 
 
 'Collins, op.cit., I. 325. 
 
 "ZW., I. 325. "ZW V I, 325. "/&</., I, 326. 7W., I, 327. "Ibid., I, 41. 
 
 "Connelley and Coulter, History of Kentucky, II, 714. 
 Collins, op.cit., I, 41. 
 
 ''Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., II, 716. 
 
 s Collins, op.cit., I, 42. 
 
 "'Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., II, 717. 
 
 "History of Kentucky, II, 133. 
 
 "Collins, op.cit., I, 45. 
 
 4 Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., II, 718. 
 
 s Tbid., 11,718. "Z&J., II, 718. 7W., II, 719. 
 
 ^Frankfort Commonwealth, August 16, 1842. 
 
 y 7y. May 17, 1842. 
 
 '"Letters from U. S. Senator J. F. Simmons to his wife Sarah S. (in Library of 
 The Filson Club) . 
 
 "Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., II, 739. 
 
 "Vol. I, p. 354. 
 
 'Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., II, 739. 
 
 "Ibid., II, 740. 
 
 "Ibid., II, 740, quoting Flint, History and Georgraphy of the Mississippi Valley, I, 
 355. 
 
 "'Vol. II, 17-20. 
 
 ''Kentucky in Retrospect, p. 79. 
 
 '"Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., II, 745 et passim. 
 
 "Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., II, 771. 
 Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., II, 771. 
 
 {n Kentucky in Retrospect, p. 81. 
 
 " 2 Ibid., II, 822. 
 
 10 John Spencer Bassett, A Short History of the United States (New York: The 
 Macmillan Company, 1925) pp. 441-443. 
 
 '"McElroy, op.cit., pp. 417, 418. 
 
 ™Ibid., pp. 420, 421. 
 "Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., II, 824. 
 
 '"'Bassett, op.cit., p. 443. 
 
 m Ibid., p. 443. 
 
 ^"Kentucky in the Nation s History, pp. 423, 424. 
 
 27— Vol. I 
 
404 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 ™The Chronicles of America, Vol. 24, ed. Allen Johnson (New Haven: Yale Uni- 
 versity Press, 1921), Nathaniel Stephenson, Texas and The Mexican War, 152 et passim. 
 
 m Stephenson, Texas and The Mexican War, p. 178. 
 
 ™Ibid., p. 181 et seq. ™lbid., p. 134 et passim. n *Ibid., p. 145. 
 
 ^Kentucky in The Nation s History, p. 429. 
 
 ""Collins, History of Kentucky, Vol. I, p. 53. 
 
 '"'Kentucky in The Nations History, p. 430. 
 
 lls Ibid.,p. 431. 
 
 Ui> Texas and The Mexican War, p. 196. 
 
 ^Stephenson, op.cit., p. 197. 
 
 121 Ibid., pp. 197, 198. "Ibid., p. 200. ™Ibid., p. 199. 
 
 124 McElroy, op.cit., p. 432. 
 
 12 Tbid., p. 434. ™Ibid., p. 433. 
 
 '"Nathaniel Southgate Shaler, Kentucky A Pioneer Commonwealth (Boston: Hough- 
 ton Mifflin and Company, 1885) , p. 202. 
 
 ™Ibid., p. 205. ™Ibid., p. 206. "Ibid., p. 207. 
 
 1:il McElroy, op.cit., p. 435. 
 "Stephenson, op.cit., p. 207. 
 
 " 3 McElroy, op.cit.. d. 436. 
 
 ™Ibid., p. 436. lh lbid., p. 437. 
 Stephenson, op.cit., p. 209. 
 
 137 McElroy, op.cit., pp. 437, 438. 
 
 16 Kentucky in The Nation s History, p. 438. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 438. 
 
 14 McElroy refers to Taylor's Official Report. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 439. 
 
 4 Texas and The Mexican War, p. 211. 
 
 4 Kentucky in The Nation s History, p. 440. 
 
 144 See Holman Hamilton, Zachary Taylor (Indianapolis: Bobbs Merrill Company, 
 1941) p. 100 et passim. (Perhaps the ablest life of Taylor) . 
 "Stephenson, op.cit., pp. 212, 213. 
 
 ™Jbid., p. 213. "Ibid., 214. 
 
 148 McElroy, op.cit., p. 440. 
 
 149 McElroy, op.cit., p. 441. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 441. 151 Ibid., p. 442. ^Tbid., p. 442. 
 
 11 Collins, op.cit., I, 57. 
 
 154 Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., II, 828 (citing Crittenden MSS., Vol. 10, Nos. 1989, 
 1990; also Coleman, Life of John J. Crittenden, I, 220) . 
 
 m lbii., II, 829, (citing Crittenden MSS., Vol. 10, Nos. 2015, 2016) . 
 "Ibid., II, 829, quoting Col ton, Private Correspondence of Henry Clay, 554. 
 
 m Ibid., II, 833. 
 
 158 March 10, 1848. 
 
 "Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., II, 835. 
 
 ™°The Filson Club History Quarterly, Vol. II, No. 2, p. 121, footnote 3. 
 ' Breckinridge Family Papers — Breckinridge Manuscripts — in the Manuscript Divi- 
 sion of the Library of Congress. Letter from R. W. Robb, Frankfort, Kentucky, Jan- 
 uary 28, 1847, to Dr. Breckinridge, Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania. 
 
 "While Dr. Breckinridge was president of Jefferson College at Cannonsburg, Penn- 
 sylvania, a lively-minded cousin, Mrs. Sarah P. Bibb, of Russellville, Kentucky, in a 
 letter to him said: "While I admit that it is highly complimentary to yourself, relatives, 
 and native State, that other parts of the Union should make such demands upon your 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 405 
 
 labor, yet with me the feeling of pride has been mingled with regret, that there was not 
 a prospect of equal usefulness in Ky." Breckinridge MSS., January 25, 1847. 
 
 "Lewis and Richard H. Collins, History of Kentucky, 2 vol, 683 and 801 pages, 
 Covington, Kentucky, 1874, and subsequent reprints. The reference is to Vol, 1, p. 479. 
 
 '""The Filson Club History Quarterly, Vol. II, No. 2, p. 122, footnote 4. 
 
 "Barksdale Hamlett, History of Education in Kentucky, 333 pages, published by the 
 Kentucky Department of Education, 1914. The reference is to p. 41 et seq. 
 
 "Breckinridge MSS., Letter from Frederick Powell, April 18, 1847, to Dr. Breckin- 
 ridge, Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania. 
 
 "Collins, Vol. II, p. 169 et seq. Also, Alvin F. Lewis, History of Higher Education 
 in Kentucky, p. 59, et seq. 
 
 "Thomas D. Clark, A History of Kentucky. This volume of 702 pages was pub- 
 lished by the Prentice-Hall Company, in 1937. It is one of the most scholarly contribu- 
 tions to Kentucky history in recent years. The reference is to p. 293. 
 
 "Collins, Vol. II, p. 200. 
 
 " Clark, Kentucky, p. 297. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 300. 
 
 '"Earl Martin, The Anti-Slavery Movement in Kentucky Prior to 1850. This one 
 volume work is The Filson Club Publication No. 29, printed in 1918. The reference 
 is to p. 96. 
 
 ™lbid., p. 92. "Ibid., p. 84. 
 
 ll5 The Anti-Slavery Movement in Kentucky, p. 96. 
 
 '''Speech of Robert Wickliffe in Reply to Rev. Robert J. Breckinridge. The speech 
 was privately printed in Lexington in 1841. Copies of this pamphlet are very rare; 
 one is in the possession of Mr. J. Winston Coleman. Jr., of Lexington, who very gen- 
 erously lent it to me. The reference is to p. 5. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 1. 
 
 '"Martin, Anti-Slavery Movement in Kentucky, p. 96. 
 
 "Tbid., p. 90, et seq. 
 
 "Collins, Vol. I, p. 57. 
 
 ™Jbid., p. 58. 
 
 "Martin, p. 100, et seq. 
 Bennett H. Young, Constitutions of Kentucky and Their History. This volume of 
 129 pages was published by the Courier- Journal Job Printing Company, in 1890. The 
 reference is to p. 49. 
 
 "Martin, p. 129. 
 
 "Louisville Daily Journal, March 7, 1849. 
 Young, Constitutions of Kentucky, p. 54. 
 
 181 See Louisville Daily Journal, issues of March and April, 1849. 
 
 "Lexington Observer and Reporter, June 30, 1849. 
 
 "Louisville Weekly Courier, April 21, 1849. This paper, published by Walter N. 
 Haldeman, was decidedly in favor of emancipation. 
 
 "Martin, p. 130. 
 See Louisville Weekly Courier, May 5, 1849, for an account of the Frankfort con- 
 vention. 
 
 "Martin, p. 35. 
 
 ' The Louisville Weekly Courier, May 5, 1849, relative to the personnel of the dele- 
 gates to the Frankfort convention, stated: "A cause that was able to command such an 
 amount of ability, worth, intelligence, and talent as congregated at Frankfort on this 
 occasion, has vitality in it that will not soon die out." 
 
 See: Louisville Daily Journal, the Louisville Weekly Courier, the Lexington Ob- 
 server and Reporter, issues of May, June, July, 1849. 
 
406 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 "Lexington Observer and Reporter, June 30, 1849. 
 
 "Louisville Weekly Courier, May 5, 1849. 
 
 ""Ibid., June 23, 1849. ™Ibid., May 5, 1849. 
 
 "Martin, p. 118. 
 
 *"lbid., p. 132. 
 
 ""Louisville Weekly Courier, April 7, 1849. 
 
 202 Ibid., April 14, 1849. ™Ibid., April 21, 1849. 
 
 204 Collins, Vol. II, p. 205. 
 
 ""Lexington Observer and Reporter, June 13, 1849. 
 
 20G Louisville Weekly Courier, May 5, 1849. 
 
 " Louisville Weekly Courier, June 2, 1849. 
 
 ™Ibid., June 30, 1849. 
 
 208 Breckinridge MSS., April 28, 1849. 
 
 21 °See Breckinridge MSS., April and May, 1849. 
 
 211 Martin, p. 54. 
 
 " "Dr. Breckinridge expressed amazement that pro-slavery men could maintain, with 
 equanimity, that slavery was a blessing, good in itself, and the state's duty to foster it. 
 "I am aware," he declared, "that unless some collector of essays, circulars, hand bills, 
 speeches, pamphlets and newspaper articles, to which our present discussions have given 
 birth, shall transmit to posterity a fair sample of the political literature of your present 
 day, our children will hardly believe that such things are possible." — Lexington Observer 
 and Reporter, June 30, 1849. 
 
 A New York friend wrote to Dr. Breckinridge on July 24 to express admiration of 
 the Doctor's work in Kentucky. One part of this letter presents fairly well the tenor 
 of many letters received from various sections of the nation. This part is here quoted: 
 "Returning home [New York] last Saturday after an absence of a few days, I found 
 on my table your pamphlet [on} Slavery and the New Constitution. I read it right 
 off, and blessed God and the writer for it. The Spirit of Wisdom and Might be with 
 you and your associates in this great and solemn enterprise. God knows that for years 
 it has been the silent prayer and hope of my heart to see you and your family and 
 openly and steadfastly embarked in [this enterprise]. And now, my friend, my hope 
 is, and my prayer shall be, that for you may be reserved the honor and joy of planting 
 on the brow of your beloved Kentucky the crown of a spotless freedom." — Breckin- 
 ridge MSS., Letter from John Lillie to Dr. Breckinridge. 
 
 Of his position at that time Dr. Breckinridge wrote: "No man had less personal 
 inducement to occupy the particular position assigned to me than I had; no man had 
 greater sacrifices to make, in order to do so; no man had less to hope for personally, 
 in making any sacrifice at all." — Louisville Weekly Courier, July 4, 1849. 
 
 215 Louisville Weekly Courier, May 26, 1849. 
 
 ™Ibid., June 23, 1849. '"Ibid., June 9, 1849. 
 
 "'"Lexington Observer and Reporter, July 18, 1849. 
 
 " 'This account of the Clay-Turner fight was taken from the Louisville Weekly 
 Courier, issues of June 30 and July 14, 1849. It should be remembered that the 
 Courier was emancipationist in sentiment and inclined to be friendly to Cassius M. 
 Clay. For accounts which are more favorable to the Turners see the issues of the 
 Louisville Daily Journal, latter part of June and early part of July. 
 
 ""Louisville Weekly Journal, June 16, 1849. 
 
 "'See Louisville Daily Journal, July issues, 1849. 
 
 "'William H. Townsend, Lincoln and His Wife's Home Town, 402 pages, published 
 by the Bobbs-Merrili Company, Indianapolis, 1929. The reference is to p. 199 et seq. 
 
 "See July and August issues of the Lexington Observer and Reporter. 
 
H I S T O RY O F K E N T U C K Y 407 
 
 224 Townsend, pp. 200-204. 
 
 "Robert S. Todd, father-in-law of Abraham Lincoln, and Judge Samuel R. Bullock 
 both died July 18, 1849. — Lexington Observer and Reporter, July 18, 1849. 
 
 2 "'Breckinridge MSS. 
 
 "Ibid., Mrs. Breckinridge to Dr. Breckinridge, July 14, 1849. 
 
 " s Ibid., Mrs. Breckinridge to Dr. Breckinridge, July 31, 1849. 
 
 "'Ibid., Mrs. Breckinridge to Dr. Breckinridge, August 4, 1849. 
 
 "Ibid., Mrs. Breckinridge to Dr. Breckinridge, August 6, 1849. 
 
 "Ibid., Mrs. Breckinridge to Dr. Breckinridge August 7, 1849. 
 
 "'"Lexington Observer and Reporter, August 11, 1849. 
 
 " 3 Breckinridge MSS. Letter from Sally Breckinridge to her father, Dr. Breckinridge, 
 July 21, 1849. Sally was staying at Spring Hill, the Hart estate in Woodford County, 
 with her stepmother. 
 
 ""Louisville Daily Journal, June 1, 1849. 
 
 ""'Martin, p. 132. 
 
 "'Young, p. 56. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 54. ™Ibid., p. 56. 
 
 '"'Report of The Debates and Proceedings of The Convention for the Revision of 
 The Constitution of The State of Kentucky, 1849. Printed by A. G. Hodges and 
 Company, Frankfort, Kentucky, 1849. The complete report is in one volume of 1186 
 pages. This reference is to p. 87. 
 
 " 4 Report of The Debates and Proceedings of The Convention for the Revision of 
 The Constitution of The State of Kentucky, 1849, p. 120. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 116. "Ibid., p. 110. "Ibid., p. 884. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 109. "Ibid., p. 119. "Ibid., p. 120. 
 
 '^'Report of The Debates and Proceedings of The Convention for the Revision of 
 The Constitution of The State of Kentucky, 1849, p. 118. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 1139. 
 
 " 'Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., II, 837. 
 
 ™lbid., II, 838. "Ibid., II, 839. 
 
 '"McElroy, op.cit., pp. 478, 479. 
 
 m Itnd., II, 841. 
 
 ""'Collins, op.cit., I, 62. 
 'Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., II, 843. 
 
 ""Collins, op.cit., I, 63. 
 
 257 Ibid., I, 66. "Ibid., I, 67. 
 
 ""'Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., II, 844. 
 
 ™Ibid., II, 845. "Ibid., II, 846. 
 
 """Collins, op.cit., I, 75. 
 
 "'' Collins, op.cit., I, 75. 
 
 "Collins thus describes that "Bloody Monday." "Aug. 6 — Terrible riot in Louisville, 
 on election day; then designated, and still most painfully remembered, as 'Bloody 
 Monday.' Fighting and disturbances between individuals or squads, in various parts 
 of the city. The most fearful and deplorable scenes of violence, bloodshed, and house- 
 burning, principally in the first and eighth wards. Between 7 and 1 o'clock at night, 
 12 houses were set fire to and burned, on the north side of Main, east of Eleventh, two 
 adjoining on Eleventh, and two on south side Main opposite. Patrick Quinn, the owner 
 of most of them, was shot, and his body partially consumed in the flames. Numerous 
 shots were fired by foreigners from windows in some of those buildings, which killed 
 or wounded Americans in the streets; this fact, with the exaggerated report that arms 
 and powder were concealed there, excited to phrenzy a mob of Americans (Know Noth- 
 
408 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 ings) already crazed with similar excitement, shooting and bloodshed on both sides, at 
 other points; several persons who were concealed in the buildings, or fled to them for 
 refuge from the mob, were burned to death; several were shot as they attempted to 
 escape from the flames; Ambruster's large brick brewery and his dwelling, at the head 
 of Jefferson, were burned; also, two Irish cooper-shops on Main above Woodland 
 garden; frame grocery, corner Madison and Shelby; many houses were riddled or gutted. 
 The mob which ranged through the streets and setfire to the houses was composed of 
 Americans, part of them with a cannon at their head; the foreigners fought from their 
 houses, and lost life and property together. About 22 were killed or died of wounds, 
 about three-fourths of them foreigners, one-fourth Americans; many more were wounded 
 but recovered. Mayor Barbee, Marshall Kidd, and a portion of the police, and the 
 personal efforts of. Hon. Wm. P. Thomasson, Capt. L. H. Rousseau, Geo. D. Prentice, 
 Col. Wm. Preston (the anti-Know-Nothing candidate for congress) , Joseph Burton, 
 and others, at different times and places, stopped the effusion of blood, and saved the 
 new Shelby street Catholic church and other valuable property from the rapacity and 
 violence of the mob. Bad blood on both sides, aggravated and intensified for several 
 days previous by distorted representations of preparations for serious work, culminated 
 in a most terrible and disgraceful riot. For several days after, fears of a renewal of 
 the desperate conflict and work of destruction hung like a funeral pall over the city. 
 A card from Rt. Rev. Bishop Martin J. Spalding, and the steady efforts of many good 
 citizens, gradually restored a feeling of quiet and security." (History of Kentucky, 
 1,75.) 
 
 ""David Saville Muzzey, The American Adventure (New York: Harper & Brothers, 
 1927), Vol. I, p. 499. 
 
 ^History of The United States, Vol. I, p. 490. 
 
 26 The Middle Period, p. 405. 
 
 2G8 Muzzey, op.cit., I, 500. 
 
 26 7W., I, 500. 
 
 "Ibid., I, 500. 
 
 "'Collins, op.cit., I, 77. 
 
 ""Connelley and Coulter, op.cit., II, 852. 
 
 " 3 Collins, op.cit., I, 81. 
 
 
X 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 NEGRO SLAVERY 
 
 THE PIONEER PERIOD 
 
 By Mrs. Roy Bridwell, Louisville, Ky. 
 
 he enslavement of Negroes to men and women of the seventeenth 
 and early eighteenth centuries, was a natural phenomenon. People, for the most parts 
 did not think it unjust, but, on the contrary, an excellent means of bringing a backward 
 group to civilization and Christianity. It was not until the period of the Revolution 
 that the institution, in this nation, began to be seriously questioned. Its continued 
 existence, lamented by such men as Washington, Jefferson, Monroe, Franklin, Jay 
 and Adams, brought about a feeling that the "peculiar institution" was not perhaps 
 in accord with the principles of liberty and civilization. 
 
 There were Negro slaves in all the colonies. Rhode Island became the slave trading 
 center of America. Roger Williams and the humanitarian William Penn were slave- 
 holders, and the Massachusetts Puritans, protesting that they did not believe in slavery, 
 passed an instrument in 1641 called the "Body of Liberties" which assuaged their 
 consciences but at the same time allowed them to have slaves. It read: "There shall 
 never be any bond slaverie, villinage or captivitie amongst us unless it be lawfull cap- 
 tives taken in just warres, and such strangers as willingly selle themselves or are sold 
 to us." In 1715 there were 435,000 people in all the colonies of which 59,000 were 
 Negroes. 
 
 However, climatic conditions were unfavorable to the economic success of Negro 
 slavery in the North. The agricultural pursuits of the South were better suited to 
 his talents. Quick to realize this and take advantage of a ready market in the South 
 the New Englanders soon found it was more profitable to sell slaves than to buy them. 
 As early as 1700 the Southern colonies possessed most of the slaves. 
 
 The peculiar institution spread naturally from Virginia into Kentucky. The eager- 
 ness of settlers to acquire land, build homesteads and cultivate fertile fields led them 
 to bring with them, over the Wilderness Trail, their human chattels along with their 
 livestock and household goods. This source of cheap labor was a valuable asset. 
 
 It is not known exactly when the first slave came into Kentucky, but on March 25, 
 1775, at or near the site of Twetty's Fort in what is now Madison County, Kentucky, 
 "a Negro man in Daniel Boone's company, together with Captain Twetty was fired 
 upon by Indians and killed." 3 Later the same year Benjamin Logan brought his 
 "slaves & cattle out to Caintucky." 4 
 
 Captain John Cowan recorded in his Journal, in 1777, a complete list of the in- 
 habitants of Harrod's Fort, the first permanent settlement in Kentucky: 
 
 Men in service 81 
 
 Do, not in service 4 
 
 Women ..-__ 24 
 
 Children above ten years old 12 
 
 Children under ten years 58 
 
 Slaves over ten years old 12 
 
 Negro children under ten years 7 
 
 Total, .. -T98 5 
 
 By 1790 Kentucky's black population numbered twelve thousands out of a total 
 population of seventy five thousand.' Ten years later there were about two hundred 
 

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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 411 
 
 and twenty thousand inhabitants of Kentucky, of which forty thousand were slaves. 
 
 In Kentucky the patriarchal type of slavery prevailed. Master and slave were 
 bound together by ties welded in the fire of wresting a livelihood from the Wilderness. 
 Together the white man and the black felled the trees, erected cabins, plowed the 
 ground and hoed the gardens. Side by side they fought their common enemy, the 
 Indian. Tireless black hands helped to ply the looms and spinning wheels, nurse 
 the sick, cook the meals and in countless other ways contributed to the comfort, 
 happiness and well being of the pioneer. Side by side master and slave sleep in 
 many family cemeteries. 
 
 The codicil to the will of Samuel Oldham, Jefferson County, Kentucky, Deed 
 Book 2, page 214, dated January 28, 1823, provided: "Four old Negroes shall not 
 be required to do any involuntary service; they may elect which children they will 
 live with, and if necessary be maintained out of estate; Negro woman Phebe shall 
 serve daughter Sally Merriwether for three years, then maintained. Two acres of 
 land to be kept for place of interment for family and the blacks." 
 
 That slavery in its mildest and most benevolent form existed in Kentucky is brought 
 out by many early travellers in the State in journals and diaries. John Irwin, Jr., 
 a Quaker ironmaster, wrote his family in Pennsylvania: "I prefer a free State by 
 far, and wish to end my days where all men are free and equal — Slavery as practiced 
 in Ky. I will only say, feels none of the galling chain or physical debasement usually 
 associated with the idea of bondage in the South, a more happy and well provided 
 for set of people in the aggregate I dont suppose inhabits the globe." A week later 
 he wrote: "The whites are supported by the blacks, the mass of them scarcely do 
 any labor. ... I board at a public House, one of the largest in town, where about 
 100 men fill the tables, and black waiters plenty — I cant complain of my work being 
 hard, never had such easy times in my life, we have a black man does all the labour, 
 weighs Iron, etc. etc., I am beginning to think Slavery quite applicable indeed; I 
 dont wonder others are so fond of it, comes quite natural." s 
 
 Existing records abound with proof that Kentucky's slaves were for the most part, 
 well fed, well housed and clothed and were as happy and contented as any people 
 in bondage could be. Many of them had kind and considerate masters. However, 
 human bondage, phychologically demoralizing to both master and slave, had its darker 
 side, even in Kentucky. The hospitable Kentucky planter, kind and generous, with 
 humanitarian feelings and personal attachment for his slaves is a picture painted by 
 man and loved by all Kentuckians, and in many cases was true. But a fair picture 
 of slavery in the State could not be drawn without a reference to the records, also 
 to be found, setting out many cases of cruel and inhuman treatment. Frequent 
 whippings and other punishments, separation of husbands, wives and children through 
 sales to different masters, long hard working hours and the constant dread, threat 
 and fear of being f sold south' to be worked to death in the cotton fields, made slave 
 life hard to bear, even in Kentucky. Lexington, Springfield and other towns had 
 public whipping posts where, according to one traveller, the cries and screams of 
 tortured slaves were characterized as the death knell of Kentucky slavery."' 
 
 SLAVERY IN THE CONSTITUTIONS OF 1792 AND 1799 
 
 Rumblings against slavery began while Kentucky was still an integral part of 
 Virginia. Although there was little opportunity for organized sentiment, these anti- 
 slavery rumblings began as a small murmur in 1788 when, at a meeting of the Dan- 
 ville Political Club, the new Federal Constitution, which had recently been submitted 
 to the States for ratification, was discussed. The clause in the Constitution relating 
 to the importation of slaves before 1808 was unanimously disapproved by the Club 
 
412 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 members, because it deprived Congress of the power to prohibit the foreign slave 
 trade. 1 These views were also expressed by the representatives of the West in the 
 Virginia Convention of 1788." 
 
 That the rumblings remained small murmurs was due to the fact that the majority 
 of the people in Kentucky were immigrants from Virginia. Many of them were 
 slaveholders themselves, and property rights in Kentucky's fifteen thousand slaves had 
 to be protected. 
 
 However, religious sentiment was against slavery and early preachers were practically 
 unanimously against the institution. On October 3, 1789, the Baptist Church at 
 Rolling Fork, Nelson County, Kentucky, propounded the Salem Association, of which 
 it was a member, "Is it lawful in the sight of God for a member of Christ's Church 
 to keep his fellow creatures in perpetual slavery?" 1 ' This attitude was taken by al- 
 most every religious group. 
 
 David Rice, member of the Constitutional Convention of 1792, father of Presby- 
 terianism in the West, made the first outspoken attack upon slavery. His pamphlet 
 entitled "Slavery, Inconsistent with Justice and Good Policy", prepared on the eve 
 of the meeting of the Convention of 1792 to draft a constitution for Kentucky as a 
 State in the Union, setting out the anti-slavery doctrines he had long preached, was 
 prophetic. In setting forth the evils of slavery he spoke of "the infringement on 
 personal rights; the want of protection for females; the deprivation of religious and 
 moral instruction; the violent separation of families; the growing danger of servile 
 insurrection; the tendency to sap the foundations of moral and political virtue; the 
 indulging in habits of idleness and vice, especially among the young men; the com- 
 parative unproductiveness of slave property; the discouraging of valuable immigration 
 from the eastward and the probable deterioration of the country." He undertook to 
 answer objections that were commonly raised to emancipation, especially those drawn 
 from the Scriptures, which were being used to justify slavery, and he proposed that 
 the coming convention should "resolve unconditionally to put an end to slavery in 
 Kentucky." 1 He further said that "The slavery of the Negroes began in iniquity; 
 a curse has attended it, and a curse will follow it. National vices will be punished 
 with national calamities. Let us avoid these vices, that we may avoid the punishment 
 which they deserve . . . holding men in slavery is the national vice of Virginia; and 
 while a part of that state, we were partakers of the guilt. As a separate state, we 
 are just now come to the birth; and it depends upon our free choice whether we shall 
 be born in this sin, or innocent of it. We now have it in our power to adopt it as 
 our national crime; or to bear a national testimony against it. I hope the latter will 
 be our choice; that we shall wash our hands of this guilt; and not leave it in the 
 power of a future legislature, evermore to stain our reputation or our conscience 
 with it." 14 
 
 In accord with these views of David Rice were the other six minister members of 
 the Convention, three Baptists, two Presbyterians and one Methodist. 
 
 The slavery question was brought directly before the Convention by Article IX 
 of the Constitution which forbade the emancipation of slaves without consent of 
 owners, or prepayment for the slave; forbade prohibiting emigrants bringing slaves 
 into the State; gave power to prohibit bringing them as merchandise and gave power 
 to prevent slaves from being brought into the State from a foreign country, or that 
 had so come from a foreign country since January 1, 1789. It also gave power to 
 pass all needed laws for the humane treatment of slaves and the power to sell ill- 
 treated slaves for the benefit of their owners. 1 " 
 
 David Rice resigned his seat in the Convention before the close of the session but 
 the other six minister members voted to expung the Article recognizing slavery. How- 
 ever, the valiant efforts of these wise clergymen and their associates were of no avail, 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 413 
 
 for the pro-slavery element, under the predominating influence of Colonel George 
 Nicholas, adopted the provision which recognized and protected slavery. The measure 
 to put an end to slavery in the State was defeated by a vote of twenty-six to sixteen. 
 
 The Constitution of 1792 was not submitted to the people for ratification, but the 
 twenty-six pro-slavery advocates of Article IX represented the attitude of the majority 
 of the population. Thus, slavery, softened somewhat by a few mitigating provisions, 
 was made perpetual in Kentucky. 
 
 This first victory of the slaveholding forces did not cool the ardor of the anti- 
 slavery group. Since the framers of the Constitution and the State laws were slave- 
 holders, it still remained for the religious groups, supported by the non-slaveholders, 
 to keep up the agitation. 
 
 The Baptists, Presbyterian and Methodist churches were the most vigorous of the 
 denominational anti-slavery groups, while the Catholic, Episcopal and Christian churches 
 followed a more or less neutral course. 
 
 Regarding this religious opposition one writer says: "For several years the question 
 of slavery continued to agitate individual churches in Kentucky, although the general 
 associations assumed an attitude of non-interference and took no action in the matter. 
 Emancipating parties were formed in some of the churches, whose adherents pro- 
 claimed slavery contrary to God's sacred laws and refused to commune with those 
 who practiced it. Because the Salem Association of Kentucky Baptists refused to 
 pronounce slavery an evil, Mill Creek Church in Jefferson County withdrew in 1794. 
 Under the leadership of Josiah Dodge and Joshua Carmen, the dissatisfied members 
 of Cox's Creek, Lick Creek and Cedar Creek churches formed an independent church 
 in Nelson County, six miles northwest of Bardstown, whose members refused to 
 commune with slaveholders. 
 
 "Many ministers openly preached emancipation from their pulpits sometimes even 
 in the presence of slaves. For this conduct they were bitterly assailed, since it was 
 believed that the promulgation of such sentiments would create insubordination and 
 unrest among the slaves. 
 
 "Many slaveholders were brought before the associations, conferences and church 
 sessions for questioning in regard to their slavery views and activities. Many more 
 were called before the pulpits of their respective churches to be rebuked for their 
 "iniquitous practices." These 'martyred' individuals soon left the churches which 
 opposed their holding slaves and established churches of their own, often of the same 
 denomination. Hence there grew up a marked degree of tolerance in the churches as 
 a whole, so that the denominations and ministers became more and more lenient with 
 the 'hardened sinners' who persisted in owning slaves." 16 
 
 During the early part of 1795 David Rice and other anti-slavery leaders, in an 
 effort to gather their forces into a permanent organization, followed the plan of 
 Eastern abolitionists and formed several Kentucky abolition societies. Very little is 
 known about the Kentucky societies, but since they doubtless were organized for 
 the purpose of gradual emancipation, their early disappearance may be due to the 
 failure of the emancipation movement in the Convention of 1799. 1 ' 
 
 The friends and opponents of slavery waxed eloquent before the Convention of 
 1799. Slaveholders were alarmed by the fear of immediate emancipation. John 
 Breckinridge, under the name of Algernon Sidney, published a pamphlet in 1798 
 entitled "No Convention" in which he declared, "The emancipation of our slaves 
 is said to be one of the objects for which the people wish to call a Convention; and 
 the better organization or total destruction of the Senate, the other." 
 
 It soon became evident that as contests over the Convention progressed the emanci- 
 pation issue became more and more important. Lively exchanges of hand bills and 
 newspaper articles ensued. One of them signed "Junius" and addressed to "The 
 
414 A S E S QUI -CENTENNIAL 
 
 Electors of Franklin County" advocating the calling of the Convention, professed 
 no desire for the abolition of slavery, but admitted the subject was attracting more and 
 more attention. He claimed that he could see no occasion for alarm on the emanci- 
 pation question because of the fact that any constitutional convention in Kentucky 
 would be composed largely of slaveholders, who, in case they should decide upon 
 some plan of emancipation, could be depended upon to protect the slaveholders from 
 monetary losses. 
 
 John Breckinridge, however, in a letter to Governor Shelby on March 11, 1798, 
 displayed the slaveowner's uneasiness as a result of the widespread discussion of 
 "speedy emancipation of slaves upon some principle." He wrote: "If they can by 
 one experiment emancipate our slaves, the same principle pursued, will enable them 
 at a second experiment to extinguish our land titles; both are held by rights equally 
 
 In 1798 Henry Clay, at the age of twenty-one, published a series of articles signed 
 "Scaevola" discussing the importance of the slavery issue in the coming Convention 
 and setting forth the reasonableness and advantages of gradual emancipation. He 
 closed his article with a scathing denouncement of slavery: "All America acknowledges 
 the existence of slavery to be an evil which, while it deprives the slave of the best 
 gifts of Heaven, in the end injures the master, too, by laying waste his lands, en- 
 abling him to live indolently, and thus contracting all the vices generated by a state 
 of idleness. If it be this enormous evil the sooner we attempt its destruction the better. 
 It is a subject which has been so generally canvassed by the public that it is un- 
 necessary to repeat all the reasons which urge to a conventional interference."^ 
 
 Fayette County, the political center of the State and one of the largest slaveholding 
 counties, called a meeting to be held at Bryant's Station on January 26, 1799, to 
 nominate candidates to the Convention. Among attendants of the meeting were John 
 Breckinridge, Daniel Logan and George Nicholas. In the election of delegates to 
 the Convention several weeks later the Bryant Station candidates, one of whom was 
 John Breckinridge, were successful. 
 
 The passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts in June and July, 1798, aroused great 
 opposition in Kentucky to the Federal administration, and resulted in the passage of 
 the famous "Kentucky Resolutions." The importance of and general interest in these 
 measures affected the choice of delegates to the Kentucky Convention by bringing 
 forward trusted leaders who had been temporarily set aside because of pro-slavery 
 leanings. When the elections for delegates were held the conservative pro-slavery 
 element was in the majority." 1 
 
 The question of emancipation was raised during the early days of the Convention 
 which assembled July 22, 1799. The emancipation question took considerable time 
 and plans providing for a slow and gradual emancipation were discussed, but the 
 proposal to insert in the Constitution a clause providing for gradual emancipation 
 was decided in the negative, as was the proposal to place the power of providing for 
 general emancipation in the hands of the Legislature." 
 
 Again the pro-slavery element triumphed and the language of Article VII of the 
 1799 Constitution is virtually the same as Article IX of the Constitution of 1892. 
 
 THE ECONOMICS OF SLAVERY 
 
 The colonial economic system grew into a regime based strictly on wealth and land, 
 and with the ownership of large tracts of land came the urgent demand for cheap 
 labor. 
 
 England, with the idea that "Men possessed of no property, and capable of nothing 
 but labor, are entitled to nothing but the means of daily subsistence," solved the 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 415 
 
 cheap labor problem for themselves in the form of indentured servants. These servants, 
 costing nothing but their keep, could be turned loose on the parish when they be- 
 came too old to work." 
 
 America, where there was little source of cheap, hired labor, turned naturally to 
 slavery. Slaves received no wages and could be held to their jobs. One writer says: 
 "Money invested in the purchase of a man or woman brought the solution of the 
 owner's labor problem; it obviated re-hire; as possession extended over the life of 
 the slave and it brought natural increment as it vested the owner with title to all the 
 slave's offspring. Once a man had a force of slaves equal to the needs of his planta- 
 tion, his labor problem seemed not only to be solved temporarily, it seemed solved 
 for all time, for the supply, which involved only a moderate investment, was self- 
 perpetuating." 24 
 
 The Northern colonies soon found slavery unprofitable and turned the full force 
 of their slave trade on Virginia and the Southern colonies. Virginia, in turn, found 
 that Kentucky was an excellent outlet for slaves which had become unprofitable there. 
 Many Virginia planters bought large tracts of land in Kentucky and sent their 
 slaves and overseers ahead to clear the land and build the homesteads."' Immigrants 
 with large land holdings brought their slaves with them into the State. Thus were 
 slaves valuable to the pioneer who was rich enough to afford them. But, the majority 
 of the earliest pioneers were very poor and consequently non-slaveholders, and it was 
 not until after the Revolution that there was any great influx of prosperous slave- 
 holding settlers. 
 
 Although the slave was a valuable asset to the pioneer economic and social con- 
 ditions of the frontier, tending to produce a sense of equality, self reliance and inde- 
 pendence, were not conducive in the end to slavery. However, as Indian danger de- 
 creased in Kentucky, and pioneer conditions improved, commercial activity and plant- 
 ing for profit commenced, and the black population began to increase. 
 
 Many farmers from the tobacco growing districts of Virginia and Maryland brought 
 their slaves to Kentucky and resumed the growing of tobacco on a large scale." 
 However, it soon became apparent that the growing of tobacco left much to be de- 
 sired. Not only was its cultivation ruinous to the soil, but its setting, cultivating, 
 cutting and curing by slave labor required careful supervision, which proved ex- 
 pensive. Transporting tobacco by water to New Orleans, the only available market, 
 where it was sold for only a few cents a pound, was not very profitable. The culti- 
 vation of cereal crops such as Indian corn, wheat, oats, rye and barley presented 
 practically the same difficulties. Although none of Kentucky's field crops were as 
 admirably suited to slave labor as sugar cane, rice or cotton as cultivated in the 
 South, hemp was believed to afford the Kentucky planter the greatest renumeration 
 for his slave labor. It was estimated that three slaves could cultivate fifty-one acres 
 of hemp, producing 35,700 pounds of fibre at an average of 700 pounds per acre. ' 
 
 Because of the suitability of Kentucky soil to the cultivation of grain and because 
 of abundant acreage for pasture, Kentucky planters turned to the raising of livestock. 
 Here, too, slave labor proved disappointing, for losses from careless inefficient hand- 
 ling absorbed much of the profit. 
 
 Domestic slavery was profitable economically because due to slave labor the ante- 
 bellum plantation in Kentucky was practically self sustaining. On it was grown its 
 own supply of cereals, meats, fruits and dairy products. Slaves trained as carpenters, 
 blacksmiths, cobblers, weavers, nurses, cooks and field hands made the plantation a 
 community in itself. 
 
 Many slaves were taught specialized occupations listed as "an experienced weaver 
 and chair spinner," "a good post and railer," "a skilled rope spinner," an "excellent 
 carpenter," "a good hand for a rope walk," a "first-rate blacksmith," etc./* and were 
 
416 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 hired out by their masters at considerable profit. Notice in early newspapers show 
 that slaves were employed as laborers in the ironworks in Bath County, the iron and 
 lead mines in Caldwell and Crittenden counties and the salt works of Clay County." 
 Prices of slaves varied in Kentucky according to physical condition, age, sex, color 
 and qualifications. Appraisals of slaves in the settlements of estates in Fayette 
 County, Kentucky, from 1845 to 1847 show the price of male slaves from 3 to 60 
 years old to range from $150 to $750, and of female slaves from 3 to 60 from $100 
 to $600. Light-skinned girls often sold for from $1200 to $2000 and sometimes even 
 more, but a light skin was a detriment to slave men and boys for they could more 
 easily pass for white persons and escape without detection. Just before the Civil 
 War the demand for Kentucky born slaves by cotton and sugar planters of the South 
 became so great that prices rose higher than at any other time, often bringing in- 
 dividual prices of from $1000 to $1500 a person. 30 
 
 From 1790 until 1830 white immigration into Kentucky increased at an astonishing 
 rate. Slavery was vitally affected because the increase in population greatly affected 
 the large land holdings. Kentucky's lack of a primogeniture system of land tenure 
 caused the large estates or plantations to be divided into smaller farms by the death of 
 the original owner, or large tracts were cut into smaller plots and sold by land specu- 
 lators to an ever increasing number of immigrants/ 1 Slavery, which paid big dividends 
 on large plantations, did not work on small farms where the owner did the work 
 himself. 
 
 Statistics for 1850 show that about 13,000 of Kentucky's 38,456 slaveholders owned 
 more than one and less than five slaves. Only 53 of the total number owned from 
 50 to 100 slaves and only 5 owned more than 100. 2 More than 25,000 owned from 
 5 to 50 slaves 
 
 So, that while slave labor performed most of the menial labor in the State, it was 
 soon found that the climate of Kentucky together with its agricultural conditions made 
 year round employment of slave labor unprofitable. After giving agricultural slave 
 labor a fair trial, one Kentucky slaveholder wrote: "I may as well, here as else- 
 where, record the fact that never have my slaves been a source of profit to me. That 
 it has taken all that the profitable ones could produce to support the old, the young 
 and the unproductive, so that I have supported my Negroes and not they me." * 
 
 Kentucky slaveholders, being legally and morally bound to look after their bondsmen, 
 had to provide shelter, food, clothing and medicine from birth until death. The year 
 round, the sick and the very old had to be taken care of as well as the working 
 slave, and they all had to be provided for in slack seasons and hard times as well as 
 during the working seasons and flush times. 
 
 Once convinced that slavery in the Bluegrass had outlived its usefulness Kentucky 
 slaveowners found themselves faced with the problem of disposing of their slaves 
 without financial loss. The answer seemed to be the demand for slave labor which 
 had arisen in the rapidly expanding cotton and sugar cane belt. With the intense 
 cultivation of these two crops, especially in Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana, after 
 the War of 1812, came a steady decline in the price of tobacco and a rapid increase 
 in the prices of cotton and sugar cane. Cultivation of cotton increased from 2,000,000 
 pounds in 1791 to 457,000,000 pounds in 1834 34 Many Kentucky planters moved to 
 the cotton belt, taking their slaves with them, in order to make fortunes in the cotton 
 and sugar cane industry. 
 
 The gradual shifting of unprofitable slaves from Kentucky to the South began as 
 early as 1816 when Edward Stone, of Bourbon County, Kentucky, commenced the 
 buying of young, able-bodied slaves from all over the Bluegrass for transportation to 
 the Southern markets. In 1818 the English traveler, Henry Bradshaw Fearon, told 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 417 
 
 of having seen fourteen flatboats loaded with slaves on their way from Kentucky down 
 the Mississippi River to the South. 
 
 Strongly opposed and commencing on a moderate scale the slave trading business 
 grew by leaps and bounds in Kentucky. The great profits to be reaped from the 
 traffic overcame the scruples of many men who were willing to endure the contempt, 
 felt by the better class of slave owner for the Negro trader. Buying and selling 
 human beings for profit was extremely objectionable to most Kentuckians and the 
 first "nigger traders" were obliged to be secretive. 
 
 Although the better elements of Kentucky society frowned upon what they called 
 this "nefarious traffic" in slaves, the great demand of Southern cotton growers for 
 them caused certain slaveowners to turn to the breeding of slaves for Southern markets. 
 
 "It is believed that nowhere in the farming portion of the United States would slave 
 labor be generally employed, if the proprietor were not tempted to raise slaves by the 
 high price of the southern market . . .", said Henry Clay in 1829, predicting that 
 slave trading would prosper in Kentucky. 
 
 This breeding of slaves was intensified in the State after 1833 when a Non-Importa- 
 tion Act, prohibiting slaves from being brought into Kentucky for purposes of sale, 
 was passed. Slave dealers had to depend upon the natural increase of slaves in the 
 State to satisfy the insatiable Southern demand. 
 
 The dealer in slaves was necessarily brutal and usually ruthless and unscrupulous. 
 Upon him fell the task of separating families, enforcing discipline, covering up de- 
 fects in old, sick or worn-out slaves, and driving hard bargains. Few men of principle 
 would engage in such practices and the slave dealer was practically an outcast of 
 society. 
 
 Two Lexington slave traders, Pierce Griffin and Michael Hughes, were doing business 
 at Natchez, Mississippi's chief slave market, in 1833. Tax returns show that Griffin 
 sold over six thousand dollars worth of slaves, and Hughes' sales amounted to fifty- 
 four hundred and ninety two dollars. 3 ' 
 
 The firm of Hughes and Downing, established in Lexington in 1843, cleared al- 
 most $3,000 on their first shipment of slaves to the South. 3 At the same time another 
 Lexington firm, Griffin & Pullum, were actively engaged in selling slaves to the Natchez 
 market. 
 
 By 1840 there were numerous slave dealers in Kentucky, and although the "down 
 the river" traffic was conducted quietly, with little or no public notice, it was a thriving 
 business. So thriving that in many cases it was secretly financed by some of the 
 State's most prominent men. 
 
 After 1849 when the Kentucky Legislature repealed the Non-Importation Act of 
 1833, Kentucky became an active slave mart. New traders were attracted to the 
 business and advertised openly in local papers. 
 
 Perhaps the most active as well as the most colorful and unscrupulous of all of 
 the State's slave dealers was Lewis C. Robards, who from 1848 to 1855 held the 
 position of Lexington's leading "nigger trader." John Mattingly; James G. Mathers; 
 J. M. Heady; Bolton, Dickens & Company; A. B. Blackwell; G. M. Murphy; George 
 F. Ferguson; W. F. White; Robert H. Thompson; A. B. Colwell; P. N. Brent; R. 
 W. Lucas; Northcutt, Marshall & Co.; Neal McCann; J. & T. Arteburn; Robert H. 
 Elam and William F. Talbott were among the dealers who, braving social ostracism 
 and church disapproval, made the most of an opportunity and bought and sold human 
 beings for considerable profit in Kentucky. Through the efforts of these men and 
 others "coops" and slavepens were crowded, the ring of the auctioneer's hammer and 
 the cries of poor, distracted slaves were familiar sounds in Kentucky towns, and long 
 coffles of slaves bound for the Southern markets marched endlessly through the State. 
 
418 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 The slave trade reached such proportions that by 1850 it is estimated that from 2500 
 to 5000 slaves were transported annually from Kentucky to the South. J 
 
 There were many Kentucky slaveholders who never sold their slaves, but there were 
 also many who, although they did not wish to do so, were forced because of financial 
 reasons to part with them. Other unfortunate circumstances, among them the death 
 of the owner, caused many slaves to find themselves on the auction block. 
 
 Although the slave dealer's profits came often out of the planter's necessity, it is 
 probably true that, economically speaking, more dollars found themselves in the 
 pockets of Kentucky planters through the selling of their slaves than were ever made 
 by any agricultural venture using slave labor. 
 
 THE COLONIZATION MOVEMENT 
 
 In an effort to free the State of slavery and at the same time rid it of "free" 
 Negroes, both slaveholders and non-slaveholders formed colonization societies in 
 Kentucky. These societies proposed to ship the Negroes from Kentucky to distant 
 regions and there reinstate them on native soil and in native climate. 
 
 By 1810 there were fully 1700 free Negroes in Kentucky. These free "people of 
 color" were misfits in slaveholding communities. Without social caste, unable to 
 associate with either white or black, they exerted a bad influence upon their enslaved 
 brothers. One of the main objections to emancipation was the belief that the freeing 
 of an excessive number of blacks would bring on a state of social and political chaos. 
 The free Negro could harbor runaways, receive stolen goods, circulate abolition litera- 
 ture and make the bonded Negro so discontented with his lot that he might revolt. 
 Since practically all the work in Kentucky was done by slaves there was no place for 
 the free Negro in industry, and unless provided for by previous owners, he was sure 
 to become a public charge. 40 
 
 "Of all the descriptions of our population, and of either portion of the African 
 race," said Henry Clay in 1826, "the free people of color, by far, as a class, the most 
 corrupt, depraved and abandoned. . . . They are not slaves, and yet they are not 
 free. The laws, it is true, proclaim them free, but prejudices, more powerful than 
 any law, deny them the privileges of free men. They occupy a middle station between 
 the free white population and the slaves of the United States and the tendency of 
 their habits is to corrupt both."" 
 
 The Anti-Slavery Societies had special departments or committees to look after the 
 interest of the free Negroes, to see that their rights were respected and to raise their 
 moral standards/" 
 
 The primary purpose of the American Colonization Society, formally organized in 
 Washington, D. C, January 1, 1817, was "to ameliorate the condition of the Free 
 People of Colour now in the United States, by providing a colonial retreat either on 
 this continent or that of Africa." 4 Through the efforts of this Society expeditions 
 of colored emigrants set out, from time to time, for Liberia, on the west coast of 
 Africa, which had been selected as a suitable site for the colony. 
 
 In 1829 the Kentucky Colonization Society, an auxiliary of the parent body at 
 Washington, was organized. It was composed of five local societies. 44 This coloniza- 
 tion project found favor with many Kentuckians who heretofore had no interest in 
 outright abolition or emancipation. Many benevolent Kentuckians were willing to 
 liberate their blacks, provided suitable disposal could be made of them. 
 
 Money had to be raised to finance the expeditions and Robert S. Finley, agent for 
 the Kentucky Colonization Society, made an appeal to Kentuckians to "make dona- 
 tions, either in money or the following articles: bacon, beef, pork, flour, corn-meal, 
 leaf tobacco, salt, nails, hinges, pots, skillets, and all kinds of hard-ware, home-ware, 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 419 
 
 earthen-ware, pound-beans, coarse cotton & calicoes; hemp, linen, etc." needed in the 
 new colony in Libera. 
 
 By 1833 the Society had raised over $1100 for the transportation of free Negroes 
 to Liberia, and the time had come for the first expedition from Kentucky. Rev. Richard 
 Bibb, of Logan County, liberated 51 of his slaves and gave the 32 who were willing 
 to go to Liberia $444 for their comforts on the voyage. By April 20, 1833 the vessel 
 Ajax with 150 emigrants, 107 of them from Kentucky, left New Orleans for Liberia. 
 Tragedy overtook the Ajax in the form of cholera, and between 30 and 40 of the 
 passengers and crew died of the disease. Among the emigrants was "a female slave 
 (Milly) brought up by Mrs. (Robert) Wickliffe, who possessed a superior education 
 and gifted mind, and was intended for a teacher in Liberia. With her was her son 
 Alfred who was to become a minister. Milly died of cholera but Alfred reached the 
 shores of Africa and became one of Liberia's leading citizens." 4 Another Ajax pas- 
 senger was David Richardson, who, after a year's residence in Liberia wrote his friends 
 in Lexington, "I am very well pleased with this country and I believe we can make a 
 good living here if we are industrious. We have settled on a ten-acre farm and are 
 carrying on after the manners of the place — raising corn, potatoes, cassada, plantains 
 and bananas which is very good food. I would advise anyone coming to this place 
 to bring everything necessary, such as money, clothing, and cheap cloth — knowing 
 that in every new country these things are scarce and very dear." 40 
 
 Despite their good intentions the Kentucky Colonization Societies were never able 
 to accomplish a great deal toward ridding the State of free Negroes or of lessening 
 the number of slaves. The reasons for their failure were numerous. Many Ken- 
 tuckians were willing to help remove the free Negro from the State but were opposed 
 to the anti-slavery tendencies of the Society. Others felt that due to the demand in 
 the far South for cotton hands the money value of Negroes was too high to make 
 manumission popular. Many free Negroes did not wish to leave Kentucky for this 
 unsettled country from which they had been removed for a generation or two and 
 special inducements were often offered to attract them. The more fortunate slaves, 
 owned by kind and humane masters, were adverse to accepting freedom with the stipu- 
 lation that they be deported to Liberia, where conditions were sure to be hard and 
 life primitive. Since the cost of transportation for each individual Negro to Liberia 
 was estimated at from twenty to thirty-five dollars the lack of funds seriously hampered 
 the colonization movement. From 1833 to 1844 the colonization scheme lagged and 
 less than one hundred Negroes were transported from Kentucky to Liberia. 4 ' 
 
 In 1844 the Kentucky Colonization Society renewed its efforts and an agitation was 
 started to establish a separate colony in Africa. Through the efforts of the Rev. 
 Alexander M. Cowan, five thousand dollars was raised in 1845 towards this purpose. 
 For that amount a tract of land forty acres square was purchased in Liberia from the 
 American Colonization Society. This new colony on the north bank of the St. Paul 
 River, was named "Kentucky in Liberia" and its capital called "Clay Ashland" in 
 honor of Henry Clay and his home in Fayette County, Kentucky. 4S 
 
 Late in November, 1845, the Kentucky Society chartered the Rothschild to trans- 
 port about two hundred prospective emigrants to Kentucky in Liberia, but when the 
 boat left New Orleans in January, 1846, it carried only thirty-five freed slaves from 
 Kentucky. 4 ' 
 
 The early wills of Kentucky show that many slaveowners provided that at the death 
 of their respective masters they be sent to Liberia. Outstanding among these wills 
 is that of Major Richard Bibb, who liberated all of his 51 slaves, valued at $25,000, 
 and willed that all of them who did not have wives or husbands in bondage be sent to 
 Liberia. In addition he gave to his emancipated slaves $5000 to be divided among 
 them.' 
 
 28— Vol. I 
 
420 A S E S Q U I- CENTENNIAL 
 
 Samuel Shaw, of Jefferson County, Kentucky, willed that "Slave Frank to be sent 
 to Liberia whenever his mother or any of his brothers and sisters, now owned by M. 
 D. Averill, may be sent, or when he is twenty-one, if he is willing to go, expenses paid 
 and $50 and if he will not go, is to be hired out for benefit of American Colonization 
 Society to which testator left money." 01 
 
 To give impetus to the colonization movement the Kentucky Legislature on March 
 24, 1851, passed an act requiring all slaves, upon being emancipated, to leave the State 
 and forbade free Negroes from other states from entering Kentucky. On March 3, 
 1856, the Legislature passed an act appropriating $5,000 annually to the Kentucky 
 Colonization Society." 2 
 
 By 1858 only twenty liberated blacks could be found in Kentucky who were willing 
 to go to Liberia, and the adherents to the colonization scheme lost faith steadily in 
 the cause. None of the settlements in Liberia was flourishing — the free blacks un- 
 accustomed to responsibilities were incapable of maintaining any economic, social or 
 governmental system of their own, numbers of them died of disease and tropical fevers, 
 some of the dissatisfied ones returned to the United States and many of them lapsed 
 into a state of idleness and reverted to the savagry from which they were not many 
 generations removed. The last expedition of any consequence to leave Kentucky for 
 Kentucky in Liberia consisting of 52 former slaves embarked on the brig Cora on May 
 8, 1855. 53 
 
 During thirty struggling years the Kentucky Colonization Society sent only 658 
 emigrants to Liberia, a little less than 22 a year. 5 
 
 Although the shipment of 20 liberated slaves to Liberia in 1858 marked the end of 
 the Kentucky Colonization Society, African colonization continued to be discussed 
 until the end of the Civil War, and the plan was still considered the most feasible 
 for both master and slave. The main accomplishment of the colonization movement 
 was the valuable service it rendered by keeping emancipation constantly before the 
 people. 
 
 EMANCIPATION AND ABOLITION; THE CONSTITUTION OF 1849 
 
 According to one historian, "There were virtually as many abolition and emanci- 
 pation plans on foot in Kentucky as there were individuals opposed to slavery." " 
 The emancipationists by no means accepted their defeat in the Constitutional Con- 
 vention of 1799 as final. Bills were introduced nearly every year in the Legislature 
 to encourage voluntary emancipation, ameliorate the condition of the slave and to 
 secure the enactment of more rigid importation laws.'" Emancipation was preached 
 openly from pulpits and rigid rules prohibited preachers from holding slaves. Peter 
 Cartwright, presiding elder for fifty years in Kentucky testified: "In Kentucky our 
 rules of discipline on slavery were pretty generally enforced and especially on our 
 preachers, traveling and local. Whenever a traveling preacher became the owner of 
 a slave or slaves, he was required to record a bill of emancipation, or pledge himself 
 to do so; otherwise he would forfeit his ministerial office. And under no circumstances 
 could a local preacher be ordained a deacon or an elder if he was a slaveholder, unless 
 he gave the church satisfactory assurances that he would emancipate at the proper 
 time." 57 
 
 The emancipating Baptists, or Friends of Humanity, formed a society in 1807, 
 known as the "Emancipators" which remained in existence until 1813." In 1808 under 
 the guidance of Rev. David Barrow the Kentucky Abolition Society was formed, 
 composed of the Friends of Humanity, the Baptist Licking-Locust Association, and 
 other anti-slavery advocates from other religious bodies throughout the State. 
 
 Although severely criticized, the Society prospered and by 1815 a number of auxiliary 
 branches had been established in various parts of Kentucky. As a rule the columns of 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY All 
 
 regular newspapers in the South were closed to all anti-slavery discussions, and the 
 Society decided to establish at Shelbyville a semi-monthly anti-slavery paper. The first 
 issue appeared in May, 1822, as a monthly instead of a semi-monthly, called the 
 Abolition Intelligencer and Missionary Magazine, edited by the Reverend John Fin- 
 ley Crowe, a Presbyterian minister." Sentiment against the paper, avowing the aboli- 
 tion of slavery its object, was so great that after only twelve issues its publication 
 was ceased in April, 1823. 
 
 By 1827 the Kentucky Abolition Society, along with other local societies, had gone 
 out of existence, after having rendered the anti-slavery cause a valuable service by 
 keeping up a continued agitation of the subject. Members of these societies were 
 soon absorbed by the colonization societies advocating gradual emancipation and trans- 
 portation of freed slaves to Africa. This gradual emancipation movement had more 
 of an appeal to slaveholding Kentuckians than had the efforts of the societies en- 
 deavoring to force complete abolition upon them. 
 
 The spirit of reform which swept the United States during the second quarter of 
 the Nineteenth Century, made itself evident in Kentucky by an increased interest in 
 emancipation. As emancipation gained ground, newspapers began to throw open their 
 columns to discussions of the subject. From 1828 to 1833 ninety-one colonization 
 and anti-slavery articles appeared in the columns of the first religious newspapers 
 published in the Southwest, the Western Luminary, edited by Thomas T. Skillman.' 
 
 However, since the movement in Kentucky against slavery was due to economic as 
 well as humanitarian reasons, arguments based on the fact that the system of slave 
 labor was not adapted to the real economic needs of the State were as influential in 
 furthering the emancipation cause as were the arguments upon ethical and religious 
 grounds. 
 
 One of the main objections to the emancipationists and abolitionists was the effect 
 of their doctrines upon the slaves. Slaveholders throughout the entire South lived 
 under a constant fear of a possible slave insurrection. Their fears were not entirely 
 without foundation. 
 
 In 1822 Denmark Vesey, a free Negro in South Carolina, together with five slaves, 
 planned to rise, massacre the white population, seize the shipping in the harbor and sail 
 away to the West Indies. One of the slaves gave the plot away and Vesey and 
 twenty-six others were tried and publicly hanged. 61 Nat Turner, a slave preacher in 
 Southhampton County, Virginia, made plans over several years to ravage the country 
 and take the slaves with him into the great Dismal Swamp. On the night of August 
 21, 1831, he and six companions rose and killed all the white people on the planta- 
 tions they visited. His force quickly grew to sixty men, but on account of poor 
 leadership on Nat's part the uprising was checked, but not before sixty white people, 
 mostly women and children, lost their lives. Within forty-eight hours after the alarm 
 was given the militia was mobilized and the United States troops called out. On the 
 first day of resistance over a hundred Negroes were killed. Fifty-three Negroes were 
 put on trial, of whom twenty-one were acquitted, twelve convicted and sold out of 
 the State, and Nat Turner and twenty-one others hanged.' 2 
 
 As news of these disasters spread to Kentucky rumors of slave plots and uprisings 
 spread like wildfire. Blame was put upon the abolitionists and free Negroes. For 
 years this state of uneasiness gripped the slaveholding counties in Kentucky. Senator 
 George W. Johnston, of Shelby County, before the Kentucky legislature in 1841 
 told of the increasing number of slaves and warned the slaveowners of the danger of 
 insurrection: "Every man must guard his own hearth and fireside." Newspapers 
 warned the people "to be on their guard — to keep a sharp look-out, and closely ob- 
 serve the movements of Negroes."'' 
 
 In Fayette County, Kentucky, on August 5, 1848, about seventy-five slaves escaped. 
 
422 ASESQUl-CENTENNIAL 
 
 Armed and desperate, they were thought to be headed for the Ohio River. It was 
 soon learned that a Centre College student, Patrick Doyle, was the ringleader of the 
 insurrection. Five thousand dollars was offered for the capture of the slaves. The 
 Lexington Observer and Reporter declared that "There are abolitionists in our midst 
 — emissaries from this piratical crew — whose business it is to tamper with and run 
 off our slaves, there is not the shadow of doubt.'* Hundreds of possemen, recruited 
 from around the countryside, surrounded the fugitives and after a brisk engagement 
 the whole band surrendered. Several of the Negroes were hanged and Patrick Doyle 
 was sentenced on October 9, 1848, to "the jail and penitentiary house of this Common- 
 wealth at hard labor for the term of twenty years?*" 
 
 Although there were several other instances of slave rebellion in Kentucky, every 
 slaveholding community was subject to nervousness and fear out of proportion to 
 actual conditions. So intense did this alarm become that at the September term, 
 1848, of the Fayette County Court a number of ' respectable citizens' were appointed 
 to lay off the county into suitable districts for the establishment of an organized 
 county patrol. The appointed patrols operated in many counties of Kentucky. They 
 visited Negro quarters; reported and dispersed all suspected assemblies of Negroes and 
 arested all slaves found on the roads and highways without written passes. Punish- 
 ments were severe for any slave found committing any of these offenses. '" The slaves 
 had a great antipathy for the patrollers, who were recruited usually from the ranks 
 of what the Negroes called 'pore white trash'. Most of them owned no slaves and 
 backed by all the power necessary were often over zealous in making their whips crack 
 with dreaded authority. ' 
 
 Colloquialisms bestowed upon them were numerous. They were called the "patrble," 
 "paderoe," "paderole," and "patter-role," but the sobriquet which seemed to stick 
 was "patteroller." The song of the patterollers, "Run, nigger, run; run a little 
 faster; run, nigger, run, er de patterol 'il cotch yer," with its numerous variations, was 
 a literal admonition to the slaves.*" 8 
 
 Despite the vigorous action of the "patterollers," incidents of slave insurrection 
 cropped up here and there throughout the State. John Brown's seizure of the United 
 States arsenal in 1859 as a start towards a slave uprising which would spread all over 
 the slaveholding states, although a failure, caused much uneasiness and excitement in 
 Kentucky. Distrust of abolitionists who aided and abetted the slave uprisings in- 
 creased, as did dislikes and fear of the free Negro. 
 
 Many slaves reacted to the abolitionist agitation by running away. As Negroes 
 began to disappear leaving no trace, their bewildered masters blamed it on "an under- 
 ground railroad somewhere." This expression became the general name for the highly 
 developed and thoroughly organized system by which hundreds of slaves were spirited 
 to the North. It was composed of "hundreds of men and women who were willing 
 to fight slavery with their lives and property, and, despite the drastic laws which made 
 the road illegal, it grew from an obscure trickle of private humanitarianism into 
 a powerful interstate organization."' 5 Slaveholders scornfully called the agents of 
 the much despised underground railroad "nigger stealers." 
 
 Perhaps the most well-known of these so-called "nigger stealers" were Delia A. 
 Webster, a native of Vermont and principal of the Lexington Female Academy, and 
 the Rev. Calvin Fairbanks, a Methodist minister. Miss Webster's anti-slavery activities 
 caused her to serve time in the state prison, forced her to lose her farm on the Ohio 
 River, and finally resulted in her being run out of Kentucky by irate slaveholders. For 
 his abolition activities Calvin Fairbanks served, in all, seventeen years and four months 
 of imprisonment." 
 
 By the late eighteen-forties the Underground Railroad had become an established 
 institution and hundreds of slaves were aided in their attempts to flee North. 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 423 
 
 Tragic encounters between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions occurred in Lex- 
 ington, the center of Kentucky's largest slaveholding section. The aristocratic Robert 
 Wickliffe, called the "Old Duke," senator for many years from Fayette County, was 
 the leader of the pro-slavery faction and Robert J. Breckinridge and Cassius M. Clay 
 were leaders of the group who favored gradual emancipation. 
 
 On March 9, 1829, Robert Wickliffe's son, Charles, shot and killed Thomas R. 
 Benning, editor of The Kentucky Gazette, for publishing a derogatory article concern- 
 ing the pro-slavery activities of his father, and several months later was killed in a duel 
 by George J. Trotter, the new editor of the Gazette.' 
 
 A series of caustic, anti-slavery articles by Robert J. Breckinridge appeared in the 
 Kentucky Reporter in 1830 and excited such violent discussion that he was forced to 
 resign his seat in the State Legislature, following which he turned to the ministry. 
 
 In 1833 James G. Birney settled on a farm near Danville and organized The Ken- 
 tucky Society for the Relief of the State of Kentucky from Slavery, with nine charter 
 members. Following the failure of this Society Birney organized the Ashmun Asso- 
 ciation and finally the Kentucky Anti-Slavery Society in March, 1835. By this time he 
 had attracted the attention of national abolitionists and secured the cooperation of 
 such men as Benjamin Lundy and William Lloyd Garrison, publisher of the abolitionist 
 paper, The Liberator. Birney soon succeeded in getting Garrison to include the 
 Kentucky Society within the scope of his American Anti-Slavery Society, and planned 
 to establish at Danville an abolitionist paper, The Philanthropist, the first issue to appear 
 August 1, 1835. No sooner had the principles of the paper become known than 
 opposition was expressed in all parts of the state. Mass meetings were held and the 
 citizens pledged themselves to prevent the publication of the paper "peaceably if we 
 can, forcibly if we must." Amos Kendall, postmaster at Danville, declared his intention 
 of excluding the paper from the mails. A committee of thirty-three were appointed to 
 remove from Kentucky both Birney and his paper. Birney refused to leave town or 
 desist from publishing his paper, so the committee bought out the printer who owned 
 the press and finally Birney moved to Cincinnati, where he again entered anti-slavery 
 work." 
 
 The activities of Birney and other abolitionists during the 1830's made the spread of 
 the doctrine a real issue. The reaction of the state as a whole against immediate 
 abolition stopped the progress of gradual emancipation which, heretofore, had appealed 
 to a large number of slaveholding Kentuckians. Radical abolition propaganda devel- 
 oped among the slaveholders a feeling of wrong and indignation, and many men who 
 desired gradual emancipation were unwillingly driven to the ranks of the pro-slavery 
 element. 
 
 By 1840, however, this pro-slavery, anti-abolitionist feeling died down and emancipa- 
 tion advocates again came to the fore. Cassius M. Clay, a prominent Kentuckian, 
 favoring emancipation but condemning abolitionists, planned with other Kentuckians, 
 to publish a paper, The True American, devoted to the free discussion of gradual 
 emancipation. The first number of the paper appeared in Lexington, June 3, 1845. 
 By the end of two months time its subscription list numbered seven hundred in Ken- 
 tucky and twenty-seven hundred in other states." 
 
 On August 14, 1845, a committee of infuriated citizens of Lexington met at the 
 Courthouse and resolved to request Clay "to cease the publication of The True 
 American because it endangered the peace of the Commonwealth and the safety of 
 their families." Clay, ill with typhoid fever, got out of bed and went to the Court- 
 house to defend himself, but several hours later the Committee came to his home and 
 delivered an ultimatum ordering him to discontinue his paper. Clay refused, and the 
 enraged pro-slavery crowd prevailed upon Judge Trotter of the Lexington Police Court 
 to issue an injunction against the paper and all its appurtenances. The city marshal 
 
424 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 presented the writ to Clay, who, with tears in his eyes, handed over the keys to his 
 office. James B. Clay, William B. Kinkead, and George W. Johnson led a committee 
 of sixty men to the printing office door and demanded the keys of the mayor. They 
 proceeded in an orderly manner to pack up Clay's private papers and send them to 
 him. The printing equipment was shipped across the Ohio River to free territory. 
 After the Mexican War, Cassius M. Clay secured $2,500 damages through the courts 
 for losses suffered by the action of this committee.' 4 
 
 Clay remained in Lexington and continued the publication of The True American 
 printed in Cincinnati, but written and dated in Lexington. 
 
 Since the law prohibiting the further importation of slaves into Kentucky was passed 
 in 1833, the pro-slavery men introduced a bill for its repeal in each successive Legisla- 
 ture until 1849 when they were successful in getting the law repealed. ° This Legisla- 
 ture also issued a call for a constitutional convention to meet that year at Frankfort, 
 beginning October 1. 
 
 Immediately the slavery question assumed larger proportions; it became the all- 
 absorbing topic of the day. Soon party lines — Whig, Democrat, Locofoco — began to 
 disappear, and men became pro-emancipation or anti-emancipation; pro-importation or 
 anti-importation of slaves. The agitation caused the slaves to become restive, some 
 grew incorrigible, some committed crimes, and some fled across the Ohio. The com- 
 plex agitation, together with the meddling of Northern abolitionists, was blamed for 
 all this condition and, consequently, the emancipationists were blamed for all the ills. 
 
 In February, 1849, Henry Clay wrote a letter to Richard Pindell, of Lexington, 
 which gave impetus to the cause of the emancipationists. Mr. Clay expressed in this 
 letter the hope that the state might in a few years be rid of slavery. He believed that 
 the work should be effected gradually, that the slaveholders should be compensated for 
 their property, and that the freed Negroes should be sent to Liberia as colonists.' 
 
 Judge Samuel Smith Nicholas, prominent citizen of Louisville and son of the cele- 
 brated Colonel George Nicholas, wrote an article the following month favoring emanci- 
 pation. He believed that emancipation legislation would cause the slaveholders to sell 
 their slaves — 200,000 in a white population of 2,000,000 — and that slavery would soon 
 disappear from the state. He stated that four-fifths of the population were not slave- 
 holders and that most of the soil of Kentucky was not, and never would be, conducive 
 to slavery. Judge Nicholas was of the opinion that four-fifths of the population, the 
 laboring masses of whites, suffered from Negro slavery. He declared that manu- 
 facturing in Kentucky had not increased during the ten years from 1840 to 1850 and 
 that white laborers and mechanics and foreigners were kept from the state because of 
 slavery. Furthermore he charged that slavery was rapidly plunging the state into 
 a condition of decay. "Roads, bridges, and public edifices," he wrote, "all speak in most 
 intelligible and unmistakable language. The most casual observer and inattentive 
 traveler cannot cross the line from a slave state into a free state without being struck 
 with the contrast in all the elements of visible prosperity. It is the contrast between 
 sloth and premature decay and all the active bustle of thriving industry and rapid 
 improvement in all the elements of a state's well-being and prosperity."' 7 
 
 These views, widely published by the press and freely quoted by orators throughout 
 the state, went not without effect. The pro-slavery men, becoming deeply alarmed, 
 determined to make a desperate effort to gain control of the approaching constitutional 
 convention and in the new constitution to provide measures which would, for all time, 
 as far as human foresight could determine, render the possession of slave property 
 absolutely and utterly impregnable.' s To counteract Judge Nicholas' arguments, pro- 
 slavery articles appeared in the newspapers. 
 
 Early in April, through the influence of Henry Clay, Dr. Robert J. Breckinridge and 
 others, a meeting to consist of those persons opposed to the perpetuation of Negro 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 425 
 
 slavery was called at Lexington for the 14th of that month. At this meeting, Dr. 
 Breckinridge proposed a set of resolutions, which were adopted, involving the following 
 provisions: Slavery as it exists in Kentucky is contrary to the natural rights of man- 
 kind; is inconsistent with a sound state of morality; is hostile to the prosperity of the 
 commonwealth; and that therefore it ought not to be perpetual, and that the constitu- 
 tional convention about to meet affords a proper place for ameliorating the condition 
 of slavery in such a way as to be fair to the slaveholders and beneficial to the slaves. 
 These resolutions further called a meeting at Frankfort, for April 25, to be composed 
 of delegates from the various counties, the purpose of which was to adopt a common 
 platform against perpetual slavery. Edward Oldham, Samuel Shy, M. C. Johnson, 
 Richard Pindell, William Rodes, George P. Jouett and Dr. Robert J. Breckinridge were 
 appointed by the Lexington convention to go as delegates to Frankfort. Upon return- 
 ing from the Frankfort convention another meeting was to be called in Lexington, at 
 which a report of the Frankfort convention was to be made, and candidates of Fayette 
 County for the constitutional convention were to be named. At Louisville, also early 
 in April, a meeting was called, to be composed likewise of those persons who opposed 
 the perpetuation of Negro slavery. This Louisville assembly followed approximately 
 the same procedure as did that at Lexington. There, too, a prominent delegation was 
 selected to attend the Frankfort convention, among whom were Rev. William L. 
 Breckinridge (brother of Robert J.) , Rev. Edward P. Humphrey, Rev. John H. Hay- 
 wood, James Speed, Bland Ballard, and Judge Samuel S. Nicholas. 
 
 On the appointed day for the state convention at Frankfort, about five hundred 
 emancipationists, more than one-half of whom were slave owners and about one-seventh 
 of whom were ministers, gathered at the Capitol, where the sessions were held. Henry 
 Clay, of Bourbon County, was elected president and Bland Ballard, Secretary. Dr. 
 Robert J. Breckinridge delivered an address of some length, which, according to the 
 Louisville Weekly Courier was the "most eloquent, impressive and forcible address ever 
 heard by those who were fortunate enough to be present." 
 
 Meetings were held in many counties, the Frankfort resolutions adopted and emanci- 
 pationist candidates nominated. 
 
 At the Lexington meeting of May 12, Henry Clay was proposed as a candidate for 
 the convention, but declined because he was a member of the U. S. Senate, and was 
 in delicate health; whereupon, Dr. Breckinridge was nominated together with Colonel 
 William Rodes. Colonel Rodes withdrew and Samuel Shy was nominated. At Louisville 
 an enthusiastic meeting was held May 3, at which Dr. John C. Young, President of 
 Centre College, delivered an address, and in it attempted to prove by the Bible that 
 slavery was a moral evil. At this Louisville meeting the Frankfort platform was 
 adopted, but candidates were not selected until June 22, when Chapman Coleman, David 
 L. Beatty and James Speed were nominated. 
 
 The pro-slavery leaders during this time had been wide awake and active. Early 
 in April they too had begun holding meetings and nominating candidates. A fact 
 which was of inestimable value to them was that they had control of the party ma- 
 chinery in all the slaveholding counties, and their political position was made stronger 
 by the union of the pro-slavery Whigs and Democrats. This united pro-slavery party 
 selected as candidates for the convention an equal number of Democrats and Whigs. 
 This party, too, had the active support of the Louisville Democrat and the Lexington 
 Observer and Reporter, both powerful and influential organs. In addition to this sup- 
 port certain influential men of Louisville launched, early in April, a pro-slavery paper 
 called Kentucky. ' 
 
 The Jefferson County pro-slavery meeting was held at Jeffersontown, April 7, 1849, 
 at which William C. Bullitt, a Democrat and David Meriwether, a Whig, were nomi- 
 nated to run in the county. The Louisville convention of the pro-salvery party was 
 
426 A S E S Q U I- CENTENNIAL 
 
 held April 19. At this meeting William Preston, James Rudd and James Guthrie were 
 named as candidates. 
 
 Early in April, Robert Wickliffe, the "Old Duke," bestirred himself to bring about 
 a fusion of the Fayette County Democrats and Whigs, under Democratic auspices. 
 He probably realized that, if a split could be brought about in the dominant Whig 
 party, then the Democratic party under his leadership would control Fayette County, 
 the largest slaveholding county in the State. A meeting was called at the Lexington 
 Court House for April 29 at which assembly the "Old Duke's" two kinsmen, Robert 
 N. Wickliffe and Judge Aaron R. Wooley, were nominated as candidates for the 
 convention. 
 
 An article appeared in the Louisville Weekly Courier, under the authorship of "X," 
 which derided the Lexington union meeting. "It was," complained "X," "called a pro- 
 slavery meeting; it was a pro-slavery-democratic meeting; or rather it was a Robert N. 
 Wickliffe-Locofoco meeting." The article charged that the business of the meeting 
 was cut and dried long before it was called; that "All was and is false; all was stratagem; 
 all was disguise." He charged that the committee to nominate had been agreed upon 
 by the Democratic leaders three or four days before the convention, in a grocery store 
 on the corner of Water Street; he stated that at the formal convention this hand-picked 
 committee had returned to name candidates for the constitutional convention, remaining 
 out half an hour "for decency's sake" before returning to report that "upon mature re- 
 flection" they had nominated Robert N. Wickliffe. 84 
 
 At Bardstown, the pro-slavery men nominated the celebrated Ben Hardin, and to 
 run with him the well-known and able Charles A. Wickliffe, brother of the "Old Duke." 
 
 At Richmond the pro-slavery men nominated Squire Turner, Mr. Willis and -Mr. 
 Chenault, while the anti-slavery group nominated Major Curtis Burnam of Madison 
 County. Managing Major Burnam's campaign and doing most of the speaking, was 
 Cassius M. Clay, ready for trouble at any time and against any odds.'' 
 
 The campaign for the constitutional convention got under way in late April and 
 early May, 1849. Perhaps no State has ever had as many eminent orators as Kentucky 
 possessed at that time. On the pro-slavery side were the Wickliffes, Ben Hardin, James 
 Guthrie, Archibald Dixon, William Preston, John C. Breckinridge, Garrett Davis and 
 others, while on the side of the emancipation were both United States Senators Henry 
 Clay and John R. Underwood, also Dr. Robert J. Breckinridge, Cassius M. Clay, John 
 C. Young, James Speed, Bland Ballard, Judge S. S. Nicholas and many others. 
 
 The pro-slavery men were usually the aggressors in the campaign; the emancipationists, 
 however, generally accepted any public challenge offered. The slavery issue became so 
 all-absorbing that the people practically forgot everything else. It is perhaps safe to 
 make the assertion that the emancipationists looked to Dr. Breckinridge above all others, 
 for advice and for arguments, and he supplied abundant material. His completed paper 
 upon the subject, parts of which he had been using in speeches, appeared in the Lex- 
 ington Observer and Reporter issues of June 30 and July 4. This treatise was perhaps 
 the outstanding discourse on the subject of slavery published during the year 1849. ' 
 In this treatise Dr. Breckinridge defended two propositions: (1) slavery ought not to 
 be increased; (2) it should not be perpetuated in the commonwealth by means of the 
 convention about to meet to amend the constitution. He contended that instead the 
 constitutional convention should incorporate the non-importation act of 1833 into the 
 new constitution and provide for amendments to the new instrument through which 
 the people might vote their beliefs as to gradual emancipation of slavery. His principal 
 arguments for non-importation were: the State had already as many slaves as she could 
 handle economically; more slaves would decrease the value; and, as the cotton states 
 would always demand the best slaves, those imported to Kentucky would be the dregs 
 of the black race. He argued further that Kentucky, which already produced an over- 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 427 
 
 supply of farm goods, would produce a larger oversupply if more slaves were imported, 
 and that consequently prices would fall. He also used the argument that the larger 
 the number of slaves introduced into the State the more difficult would it be for free 
 white labor, and, consequently, the larger would be the number of whites driven from 
 the State. He asserted further that the land owners would be as much benefited by the 
 emancipation of the slaves as any other class, because progressive white labor would 
 increase the value of the land. One of his strong contentions was that, inasmuch as 
 the slave was a human being, he should be given some consideration because of this 
 fact. "Every one of these human beings," he plead, "is, like us, created in the image of 
 God; has, like us, an immortal soul; is, like us, capable of joy and sorrow; will, like 
 us, lie down in the grave; and, at the great day, stand with us before the throne of 
 God." 87 
 
 The great dissertation was hailed with joy by friends of emancipation, not only in 
 Kentucky but in many other parts of the nation. The pro-slavery party had produced 
 no paper which could rival this, neither in ability or effectiveness. 
 
 During June and July, as the campaign progressed, the political temperature rose 
 to blood heat. There was scarcely a village at which was not delivered a speech or 
 held a debate. Many persons who had no personal political connection with the cam- 
 paign espoused the issue on one side or another and took the stump. 
 
 At a meeting in Trimble County, held by the pro-slavery party, a resolution was 
 introduced by one John Robert calling upon Henry Clay to resign his seat in the United 
 States Senate because of his views on emancipation, and the resolution received some 
 votes. s In the courthouse at Paducah, following a debate between two candidates for 
 the convention, Judge James Campbell and Hon. Benedict Austin, an argument developed 
 which resulted in Judge Campbell's pulling his pistol and shooting Austin dead. 
 
 At Foxtown, in Madison County, a campaign tragedy was enacted on Friday, June 
 22. The four candidates of Madison County for the convention — Turner, Chenault, 
 Willis and Burnam — had come to Foxtown to speak at a regimental muster. Cassius 
 Clay, who was promoting Major Burnam's candidacy with his accustomed vigor, had 
 had a slight altercation with Squire Turner the day before at Walden, in Madison 
 County. At Foxtown, after Squire Turner had spoken for an hour, Mr. Clay called 
 upon him to give Major Burnam an opportunity to defend the emancipationists and 
 their views, but Turner, refusing, spoke a half-hour longer. During this time Turner 
 read from the True American a portion of the article that had caused a group of pro- 
 slavery men at Lexington to suppress it. Clay appealed to the crowd, charging that 
 this was unfair, but Turner continued until his speech was finished. Then Clay took 
 the stand for the purpose, it was said, of apologizing to the crowd for the interruptions. 
 He again stated that in his belief it was only fair that both sides be heard. Clay was 
 leaving the stand when Major Runyon, a lawyer of Richmond, began plying him with 
 questions. A statement made by Clay concerning the disposition of the school fund 
 by the Legislature was branded by Runyon as false and untrue. Clay referred to a law 
 in support of his contention and charged Runyon with being a tool of Turner, who 
 remarked that Runyon was not his tool. Clay repeated the charge, saying it was true 
 whether Turner knew it or not. Cyrus Turner, son of Squire, then stepped up to Clay 
 and branded the charge a "damned lie" and struck him in the face. Clay was stabbed 
 in the chest by someone coming up from behind, beat over the head with a stick by 
 Alfred Turner, another son of Squire, and a revolving pistol was held by Thomas 
 Turner to Clay's head and snapped four times, bursting a cap each time, but failed to 
 fire. During this excitement "Cash" Clay was defending himself as best he could. 
 His young son, Warfield, a boy of fourteen, came up to him crying and offered to 
 run to the saddle pockets for a pistol. Someone in the fight snatched Clay's bowie 
 knife, and Clay, to prevent being stabbed again, grabbed the blade with his naked right 
 
428 A S E S Q U I- CENTENNIAL 
 
 hand, almost severing the fingers, and succeeded in gaining possession of it again. With 
 a final desperate effort the lion-hearted Clay shook off the hold of those who hung to 
 him, sprang upon Cyrus Turner, and quickly plunged the knife into Turner's body 
 up to the hilt. Turner died within a few hours, and Clay was carried away so seriously 
 wounded that he was not expected to live. 
 
 While the campaign raged, the epidemic of cholera, which had begun in the late 
 spring, reached such tragic proportions in many parts of the State that the year 1839 
 is remembered as the great cholera year. In spite of the deadly scourge, however, the 
 campaign moved on. Many speaking engagements were canceled, because most of the 
 people were afraid to attend public meetings. 
 
 The abolitionist cause was doomed to disappointment for not one emancipation candi- 
 date was elected to the constitutional convention. 
 
 Many reasons can be attributed to this overwhelming defeat of the emancipationists. 
 Perhaps the reason suggested previous to the election, by the Louisville Daily Journal, 
 was an accurate one: too much agitation and too much interference in Kentucky by 
 abolitionists who resided in the North. 91 
 
 The constitutional convention, beginning as it did in October, soon held the interest 
 of the State's people. Even today the people of Kentucky have a marked interest in 
 political affairs, but the interest of today is merely an echo, an emaciated shadow, of 
 the enthusiasm of 1849. 
 
 The body of the convention was composed as a whole of able and distinguished men, 
 among whom were James Guthrie, the Wickliffes, Archibald Dixon, and Ben Hardin. 
 There were as many delegates as representatives in the Legislature. All the sessions 
 were held in the chamber of the Lower House in the building known today as the "Old 
 Capitol." 92 
 
 Slavery was the first subject to be introduced following the organization of the con- 
 vention. As a matter of fact, about one-fourth of all the debating in the convention 
 was concerning slavery. This circumstance, in view of the fact that the entire per- 
 sonnel was practically unanimous against emancipation, seems strange. However, this 
 may be explained by stating that considerable differences of opinion manifested itself 
 on the question of how the Constitution might be drawn so as to best protect the slave- 
 holders in their property: Should the people be permitted under the new Constitution 
 to vote amendments, or should the Constitution be constructed so strongly in the pro- 
 tection of slave property that, for all time to come, in as far as human foresight could 
 determine, the possession of this property would be utterly impregnable? Then, too, 
 a few of the members, staunch proponents of slavery, feared that the radical pro-slavery 
 men would have their way, go to extremes, and thereby, in the long run, injure their 
 cause more than benefit it. Martin P. Marshall, of Fleming County, sensing this danger, 
 expressed the opinion that the provisions concerning slavery contained in the Constitu- 
 tion of 1799 would afford as much protection to the slaveholders as they needed, and 
 at the same time the new instrument would not then flaunt property rights as being 
 more sacred than human rights. Mr. Marshall, however, appealed to deaf ears. 
 
 Incidentally, various interesting facts, some revealing undesirable traits in the slavery 
 situation in Kentucky, slipped from the tongues of these pro-slavery advocates. For 
 instance, Squire Turner, pro-slavery in conviction and an owner of slaves, declared that 
 slavery in Kentucky was economically unsound, and a financial drain on the master. 
 John D. Taylor, of Mason County, charged that the Legislature had been inclined to 
 wink at the Non-Importation Law of 1833 since its passage. "There was," he stated, 
 "a most catholic feeling, on the part of the Legislature, for granting a dispensation to 
 every man who came before them in a lachrymose manner and asked for it."' There 
 was manifested, too, a tendency on the part of many to cast insinuations and aspersions 
 against the North. For instance, Ben Hardin stated: "I have no doubt that the last gun 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 429 
 
 for liberty would be fired in a slaveholding state." And, further along in the speech, 
 he charged that passing a law which would drive out the slaveholders would bring in 
 "a people in their stead not very agreeable to our taste." 
 
 Scores of speeches were delivered on slavery in one connection or another. Un- 
 doubtedly all of them were not necessary, because there was much repetition, but this 
 excessive discussion, however, is an indication that the slavery question was uppermost 
 in the political mind of Kentucky. In the end, the most radical of the pro-slavery 
 advocates won out, and the new Constitution provided the strongest protection to the 
 owners of slave property that is possible in a constitution. Article X, which was the 
 part of the Constitution of 1849 devoted to the subject of slavery, provided that the 
 General Assembly should have no power to pass laws for the emancipation of slaves 
 without the consent of their owners, without full compensation to the owner, and with- 
 out deportation from the State. All free Negroes who entered the State and refused 
 to leave, and all emancipated slaves who refused to leave the State, were to be guilty 
 of felony and punished accordingly.'' 
 
 Thus, the Constitution of 1849 made emancipation more difficult than before and 
 so firmly established the institution of slavery in the State that the possibility of the 
 abolition of the system for many years practically vanished. However, from this date 
 the abolition of slavery in Kentucky by the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution 
 of the United States in 1865, the free discussion of slavery both in the press and in 
 public discussions prevailed to a greater extent than in any other slave state and this, 
 one of the most important of the accomplishments of the anti-slavery workers of 
 Kentucky, was in some measure responsible for the loyalty of the State to the Union 
 and the North during the Civil War." d 
 
 FOOTNOTES FOR CHAPTER XI 
 
 "A New American History, by W. E. Woodward (New York), 1938, pp. 77-79. 
 
 'Ibid, p. 79. 
 
 "The Wilderness Road, by Thomas Speed, Filson Club Publications No. 2, 1886, 
 pp. 31, 32. 
 
 Slavery Times in Kentucky, by J. Winston Coleman, Jr., (North Carolina) , 1940, 
 p. 4. 
 
 "Ibid, p. 3. "Ibid, p. 15. ''Ibid, p. 17. 
 
 Letter from John Irwin, Jr., dated at Nelson Furnace, Kentucky, January 31, 1840, 
 to his parents in Pennsylvania; and same to his brother, Ellis Irwin, dated August 23, 
 1832. Both letters in The Filson Club Archives, Louisville, Kentucky. 
 
 Slavery Times in Kentucky, pp. 247, 248. 
 
 ™The Anti-Slavery Movement in Kentucky Prior to 1850, by Asa Earl Martin, Filson 
 Club Publications No. 29 (Louisville), 1918, p. 12. 
 
 11 A History of Kentucky, by Thomas D. Clark (New York) , 1937, p. 288. 
 
 'Political Beginnings of Kentucky, by John Mason Brown, Filson Club Publications, 
 No. 6, 1889, p. 225. 
 
 "Anti-Slavery Movement, p. 13. 
 
 "Ibid, p. 15. 
 
 "History and Texts of the Three Constitutions of Kentucky, by Bennett H. Young 
 (Louisville), 1890, p. 34. 
 
 "Slavery Times in Kentucky, pp. 292, 293. 
 Anti-Slavery Movement, p. 25. 
 
 "Ibid, p. 26. "Ibid, p. 27. "Ibid, p. 28. "Ibid, p. 30. 22 Ibid, p. 31. 
 A New American History, p. 78. 
 
 'Slavery Times in Kentucky, p. 41. 
 
430 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 '"A History of Kentucky, p. 275. 
 
 ''Slavery Times in Kentucky, p. 42. 
 
 "Ibid, p. 44. "Ibid, p. 65. "Ibid, p. 64. 
 
 "/&</, pp. 121, 122, 152. 
 A History of Kentucky, pp. 275, 276. 
 'Slavery Times in Kentucky, p. 45. 
 
 "Ibid, pp. 65, 66. 
 History of Kentucky, p. 277. 
 
 °° Sketches of America, by Henry B. Fearon, p. 286. 
 Slavery Times in Kentucky, p. 147. 
 
 31 1 bid, p. 150. 
 
 "Ibid, p. 153. 
 
 ''Ibid, p. 194; History of Kentucky, by Samuel M. Wilson and Temple Bodley, Vol. 
 II, p. 211. 
 
 40 Slavery Times in Kentucky, pp. 271, 272. 
 
 4 Anti-Slavery Movement, p. 49. 
 
 "Ibid, p. 50. 
 
 4 National Intelligencer, January 4, 1817; Slavery Times in Kentucky, p. 272. 
 
 "Slavery Times in Kentucky, p. 274. 
 Anti-Slavery Movement, p. 277. 
 
 "Ibid, p. 278. "JW, p. 279. "Ibid, p. 279. "Ibid, p. 280. M 7fo/, p. 285. 
 
 " Jefferson County, Kentucky, Will Book 2, page 474. 
 
 °" Anti-Slavery Movement, pp. 287, 288. 
 
 "Ibid, p. 288. 
 
 "Ibid, p. 289. 
 
 "History of Kentucky, p. 292. 
 
 'Anti-Slavery Movement, p. 33. 
 
 "'Ibid, pp. 35, 36. 
 
 "Slavery Times in Kentucky, p. 293. 
 
 50 1 bid, pp. 293, 294; Anti-Slavery Movement, pp. 45, 46. 
 
 ''" Anti-Slavery Movement, p. 64. 
 
 °7foV/, p. 85. "Ibid, p. 88. °7W, p. 92. "Ibid, p. 97. 
 
 "Ibid, p. 86. M /W, p. 90. "Ibid, p. 90. G 7W, p. 97. 
 
 '"'"Delia Webster and Calvin Fairbank — Underground Railroad Agents," by J. Wins- 
 ton Coleman, Jr., The Filson Club History Quarterly, July, 1943, Vol. 17, p. 129. 
 
 '"Ibid, pp. 139, 140. 
 
 ' Slavery Times in Kentucky, pp. 295, 296. 
 
 '"Ibid, pp. 298, 299, 300; History of Kentucky, pp. 294, 295; Anti-Slavery Movement, 
 pp., 74, 75. 
 
 "Anti-Slavery Movement, p. 115. 
 
 H Ibid, pp. 116, 117; History of Kentucky, pp. 298, 299; Slavery Times in Kentucky, 
 pp. 310, 311. 
 
 '""Robert J. Breckinridge and the Year 1849," by Hambleton Tapp, The Filson Club 
 History Quarterly, July, 1938, Vol. 12, pp. 130, 131. 
 
 'Anti-Slavery Movement, p. 129. 
 
 ^'Louisville Daily Journal, March 7, 1849. 
 
 'Constitutions of Kentucky, p. 54. 
 
 "'Louisville Weekly Courier, April 21, 1849. This paper, published by Walter N. 
 Haldeman, was decidedly in favor of emancipation. 
 
 "' Anti-Slavery Movement, p. 130. 
 
 * Lexington Observer and Reporter, June 30, 1849; Louisville Weekly Courier, May 
 5, 1849; and same, June 23, 1849. 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 431 
 
 82 Anti-Slavery Movement, p. 132; Louisville Weekly Courier, April 7, 1849. 
 
 83 Louisville Weekly Courier, April 14, 1849; "Robert J. Breckinridge and the Year 
 1849," p. 136. 
 
 ^Louisville Weekly Courier, May 5, 1849; "Robert J. Breckinridge and the Year 
 1849," p. 137. 
 
 'Louisville Weekly Courier, June 30, 1849. 
 
 "'"Robert J. Breckinridge and the Year 1849," p. 139. 
 
 "Ibid, p. 140. 
 Louisville Weekly Courier, June 9, 1849. 
 Lexington Observer and Reporter, July 18, 1849. 
 
 ""This account of the Clay-Turner fight was taken from the Louisville Weekly Courier, 
 issues of June 30 and July 14, 1849. It should be remembered that the Courier was 
 emancipationist in sentiment and inclined to be friendly to Cassius M. Clay. For ac- 
 counts which are more favorable to the Turners see the issues of the Louisville Daily 
 Journal, latter part of June and early part of July. 
 
 '' Louisville Daily Journal, June 1, 1849. 
 
 J " Anti-Slavery Movement, p. 132. 
 
 ' Report of The Debates and Proceedings of The Convention for the Revision of The 
 Constitution of The State of Kentucky, 1849. Printed by A. G. Hodges and Company, 
 Frankfort, 1849, page 87. The complete report is in one volume of 1186 pages. 
 
 "Ibid, p. 1139. 
 
 J Anti-Slavery Movement, p. 138. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 THE CIVIL WAR 
 THE ELECTION OF 1860 
 
 A he growing seriousness about the state of the Union reflected in 
 Kentucky was by no means exaggerated. The Union was rapidly approaching disso- 
 lution, precipitated by radical pro-slavery men and by radical anti-slavery men. Perhaps 
 the condition of the Democrat Party hastened the schismatic events. The year 1860 
 brought a split in that party. 
 
 The Northern Democrats were content to stand on the principles of "squatter" 
 sovereignty and to follow the leadership of Stephen A. Douglas, who, deeply coveting 
 the presidency, was determined to gain the nomination of his party that year. The 
 Southern Democracy, however, having received the Supreme Court decision in the 
 Dred Scott case in 1858 to bolster their claim that the Constitution protected slave 
 property everywhere in the United States, stood upon Calhoun's old tenets of the uni- 
 versal sanctity of slave property and would have no more of "squatter" sovereignty, 
 which at best was only a pseudo slavery prop. Though four years before they had 
 vociferously affirmed their belief in Douglas' principle, now the Southern Democrats 
 were violent against it, charging everywhere that the "Little Giant" was an apostate and 
 traitor. They had come to despise the little magician who had aided so remarkably in 
 getting the Missouri Compromise repealed for them. 
 
 The Democrat National convention convened in Charleston. The Northern Demo- 
 crats nominated the "Little Giant" and declared for "squatter" sovereignty, and, though 
 they, the Douglas men, were in the majority, the Southern delegates under the leader- 
 ship of William L. Yancey bolted the convention. Later the Northern wing met in 
 Baltimore and nominated Douglas and Herschel V. Johnson, of Georgia. A short time 
 later, the Southern Democrats, meeting in the same city nominated John C. Breckin- 
 ridge and Joseph Lane, of Oregon, derided Douglas' "Freeport Doctrine" and espoused 
 the Dred Scott Decision. Thus their wrath at the Northern Democrats and Douglas 
 in particular caused them to split their party, kill all chance of success in the election 
 and make certain the success of the party which they most abhorred. They could have 
 lived with Douglas and have saved the Union; even could have postponed and perhaps 
 prevented the Civil War. 
 
 The Know Nothings met in Baltimore on May 9, as the Constitutional Union Party, 
 and nominated John Bell, of Tennessee, (which state they had little possibility of carry- 
 ing) and Edward Everett, of Massachusetts. They probably would have done far 
 better with John J. Crittenden as standard-bearer. They stood upon the platform of 
 saving the Constitution and the Union, regardless of slavery or anything else. Their 
 doctrine appealed strongly to the border states. 
 
 The Republicans had met at Chicago in a huge structure called the "Wigwam," on 
 May 16. Ten thousand people crowded into the hall. By force of circumstances, and 
 noise, the favorite William H. Seward was not nominated. Instead the vociferous — 
 particularly those of Illinois — Republicans named "Honest Abe" Lincoln and Hannibal 
 Hamlin on a platform of Congressional control of slavery in the territories. The out- 
 come was a foregone conclusion. Lincoln, though having gained a decisive majority of the 
 electoral votes, received only 40 percent of the popular vote. Douglas, while gaining 
 only the electoral vote of one state and a part of another, rolled up huge minorities in 
 all the states of the North, his popular vote being around 1,300,000 to Lincoln's 1,- 
 800,000 and Breckinridge's less than 1,000,000. Breckinridge had carried only 44.7 
 
434 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 percent of the vote of the Southern states, while Bell gained the border states, including 
 Kentucky. A vast majority of Kentuckians had determined to stand by the Union 
 even prior to the election. 
 
 When the terrifying news of Lincoln's election was announced, the radicals of the 
 deep South made preparations for carrying their states out of the Union. South 
 Carolina led off in December, 1860, with Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, 
 Louisiana and Texas passing ordinances of secession between January 1 and February 
 1, 1861. 1 
 
 NEUTRALITY AND THE UNION 
 
 Kentucky voted the way she felt in 1860 — for preservation of the Constitution and 
 the Union. She had not even been carried away by her popular son, John C. Breckin- 
 ridge, to whom she had given 52,836 votes to Bell's 66,016 and Douglas' 40,372. So 
 greatly did she despise radicalism that she gave the "Black Republican" Party (Lincoln) 
 only 1,366 votes." She was extremely grieved that the Constitutional Union Party had 
 not won. She did not despair of the Union, however, thinking that compromise again 
 might prevail as it had so often before through Clay's influence. She could depend 
 upon the venerable Crittenden to take the "Great Commoner's" place as peace-maker. 
 This statesman offered in the Congress what was known as the Crittenden Compromise 
 — that is a plan to extend the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific and make it 
 forever inviolable. But the move failed. Kentucky commissioners attended peace con- 
 ference after peace conference; all in vain — the radicals were truly in the saddle; com- 
 promise time had passed. She saw her fondest hopes evaporate into thin air. 
 
 As Kentucky saw all hope of peace fail, she determined to have no part of the con- 
 flict. The Legislature represented the true feeling of the people when it determined to 
 remain in the Union, to furnish aid neither to North nor South, and to defend her 
 borders against either or both, were invasion attempted. In other words, Kentucky 
 determined upon a course of neutrality. 3 Though on the face of it, this course appears 
 ridiculous — being in the Union, refusing to defend the Union, and threatening to expel 
 Union armies which might dare attempt to cross the state's borders to save the Union; 
 nevertheless, situated as she was — with her people naturally conservative, situated be- 
 tween North and South, trading with both, having friends in both sections, containing 
 thousands of citizens partisan for or against the one or the other section — she could 
 take no other course immediately. Perennially conservative, she must have time to 
 reflect. Many of her ablest leaders, including Crittenden and Robert J. Breckinridge 
 advised neutrality. Breckinridge's great speech delivered in Lexington, on January 4, 
 1861, advising neutrality had a marked effect toward quieting and reassuring the popu- 
 lace, who knew that the war once entered would be fratricidal for Kentucky. 
 
 Of course, a state of neutrality could not long endure, as both sections realized. 
 Which section would show the most sagacious statesmanship and pluck the great plum? 
 North or South? Lincoln, astute leader, realized the great importance of Kentucky 
 when he wrote: "I think to lose Kentucky is nearly the same as to lose the whole game. 
 Kentucky gone, we cannot hold Missouri, nor, as I think, Maryland."' Regardless of 
 all the clamor, he determined to play a waiting game, humor Kentucky, take no harsh 
 measures, make no blunders, lest the South blunder, and the people, who were inclined 
 to love the Southern people more than the Northern people, make up their minds. 
 The South, a bit more hasty and hot-headed than the North, felt that Kentucky was 
 "letting down" her Southern brethern, began criticising and ridiculing Kentucky, thus 
 throwing the state closer yet to the Union government. 
 
 Throughout this time, Governor Magoffin, though attached to the Union, was in- 
 clined to sympathize privately with the South, although his conduct was fairly circum- 
 spect. He did reply to Lincoln's call for volunteers by stating: "I say emphatically 
 

 Courtesy, Filson Club. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln 
 
 Born near Hodgenville, 1809. 
 
 Courtesy, Filson Club. 
 
 Jefferson Davis 
 
 Born at Fairview. 
 
 -20— Vol. I 
 
436 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 Kentucky will furnish no troops for the wicked purpose of subduing her sister Southern 
 States."" But he declined to furnish one regiment of infantry requested by the Con- 
 federate government. 
 
 In matters of trade relations also, Lincoln, with the ultimate objective always upper- 
 most, showed marked leniency with Kentucky; even when knowing that goods were 
 being permitted to cross the Ohio River only to be trans-shipped to the Confederacy, 
 he managed to "turn his head," avert his gaze, until the public began to proclaim the 
 leniency an open scandal. 
 
 The less patient South closed trade with Kentucky long before the North took action. 
 This had a marked effect upon the Kentucky public mind. During all this time, a 
 Southern Rights party had been striving to have called a sovereign convention to de- 
 termine Kentucky's course in the conflict, perhaps feeling that such a convention would 
 declare for secession. However, the conservative party in the Legislature had been able 
 to forestall such a call. With the passing of each month, the prospects of such a con- 
 vention steadily dimmed; as the South became more aggressive, although "Lincoln guns" 
 had been shipped into the state and Camp Dick Robinson for Union men had been 
 established. With the seizure of Columbus in western Kentucky by Confederate troops 
 under General Leonidas Polk, and the invasion of Eastern Kentucky by General Felix 
 Zollicoffer and an army from Tennessee in the fall of 1861, all hope of the calling of 
 a sovereign convention and of achieving secession were dead. The conservative majority 
 leaned more definitely toward the Union; even the radical Union party became stronger.' 
 Neutrality was dead. 
 
 THE RESORT TO ARMS 
 
 During the period of neutrality, a tug of war had existed between strong Union and 
 strong Southern sympathizers, the prize of which was military control of the state. 
 The State Guards with 62 companies were under control of the able pro-Southern 
 General Simon Bolivar Buckner. The Home Guards were under control of such strong 
 Union leaders as Colonel Frank L. Wolford and General William Nelson. The latter 
 organization, though not as compact, had by June 1, 1861, received 5,000 Union muskets 
 and had established Camp Dick Robinson in Garrard County. 8 The Confederate sym- 
 pathizers set up Camp Boone immediately across the border in Tennessee. On Sep- 
 tember 3, 1861, the Confederates under Polk occupied Columbus and Hickman; while 
 on the 5th, Federals under General Ulysses S. Grant occupied Paducah. Simultaneously 
 John Hunt Morgan and Buckner led their companies southward to join Albert Sidney 
 Johnston at Bowling Green, while in October, General Felix Zollicoffer led his Ten- 
 nesseans into Eastern Kentucky, being halted by a small engagement at Wild Cat 
 Mountain near London on October 21. 
 
 During this period, a provisional government was set up in Kentucky by Confederate 
 sympathizers at Russellville, with George W. Johnson as governor. It declared the 
 state independent of the United States and asserted the right to set up any form of 
 government desirable.' This government was admitted to the Confederate councils at 
 Richmond. As Professor Coulter points out, "As ludicrous as this so-called government 
 appeared, it was scarcely less substantial than the Federal governments set up in Vir- 
 ginia and other Southern states. 10 
 
 Meanwhile the Federals were acting vigorously. On September 25, the loyal govern- 
 ment called for 40,000 volunteers with which to expel the invaders from the state. The 
 Military Board of five was given an appropriation of $2,000,000, in addition to an equal 
 amount previously granted. Grant began pushing up the Tennessee and Cumberland 
 rivers causing Polk's Confederates to withdraw from Columbus and Hickman, later 
 winning victories at Forts Henry (on the Tennessee) and Donelson (on the Cumber- 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 437 
 
 land) . General George H. Thomas, with Schoepf, Wolford and Fry, began pushing 
 Zollicoffer and General George B. Crittenden southward through Eastern Kentucky, 
 defeating them signally at Mill Springs in Wayne and Pulaski counties, January 19, 
 1862, and forcing them back across the Cumberland River. General William Tecumseh 
 Sherman and General Lovell H. Rousseau moved out of Louisville and forced Buckner 
 southward on Johnston, in Bowling Green. With both the eastern and western ends 
 of his line pushed southward, Bowling Green became untenable, causing Johnston to 
 retreat into Central Tennessee. By early Spring, Kentucky was entirely cleared of 
 Confederate armies. 
 
 Now began an orgy of arrests by state commanders, provost marshals and Home 
 Guards. Thousands of Confederate sympathizers resided in the state, most of whom 
 were in one way or another interested in communication with the South. The Federal 
 authorities, zealous in demonstrating their power, had little difficulty in finding charges 
 against thousands of actual or supposed sympathizers, who were required to take an 
 oath of allegiance to the Union. Arrests became so common that the newspapers spoke 
 of them quite humorously. Even such prominent men as Reuben T. Durrett, Charles 
 S. Morehead and James B. Clay were arrested and spirited away to Northern prisons. 
 The orgy had been inaugurated in earnest by General Jeremiah T. Boyle upon his be- 
 coming commander of Kentucky on June 1, 1862. Hundreds of complaints flowed in 
 to Washington. In a short time thousands of loyal Kentuckians began chaffing under 
 the iron rule, so that the Lincoln government supporters were soon generally despised. 
 
 The great mass of the people remained loyal to the Union, but they grew to despise 
 and abhor what they termed the "radical" Federal rule. By the end of the war, the 
 South had perhaps more friends in the state than did the North, although it should 
 be said to Lincoln's, Grant's, Sherman's even Stanton's credit that they did not support 
 the excesses of the provost marshals and petty officials of the Union Military govern- 
 ment in the state. 
 
 The continued opposition of Governor Magoffin to measures passed by the Legislature 
 to aid in prosecuting the war caused that body at length to become indignant. How- 
 ever, the Governor was as satiated with his distasteful job as was the Legislature with 
 the Governor, because he had never been greatly infatuated with the position, he 
 strongly disapproved the course taken by the Legislature, and his power had been pretty 
 largely taken away from him. 1 In July, he called a special session of the General 
 Assembly to consider the state of the commonwealth. At that time he proposed re- 
 signing his office, if he could name his successor. The speaker of the Senate, under the 
 Constitution, should succeed the governor. However, the present speaker, John F. 
 Fisk, was not acceptable to Magoffin. Fisk therefore resigned, and James F. Robinson, 
 acceptable to the Governor, was elected in his stead. Magoffin then resigned and 
 Robinson automatically became governor. 12 
 
 A feature of the Confederate war in Kentucky was a series of raids led by the intrepid 
 John Hunt Morgan. He would steal into the state with a thousand or more superb 
 cavalrymen, disrupt Federal communications, destroy military stores, carry away horses, 
 occupy thousands of Federal troops trying to catch him, wreck havoc in general and 
 then dart back into Tennessee, having generally sustained little loss. Of his July (1862) 
 raid, Morgan reports: "I left Knoxville, July 4th, with about 900 men, and returned 
 to Livingston, Tenn., on the 28th, with nearly 1,200 men; having been absent just 24 
 days — during which I traveled over 1,000 miles, captured 17 towns, destroyed all the 
 government supplies and arms in them, captured 300 government horses at Cynthiana, 
 dispersed about 1,500 home guards, and paroled nearly 1,200 regular troops. I lost, 
 in killed, wounded and missing, of the number that I carried into Ky., about 90." 
 
 Morgan's most dangerous and highly respected adversary was Colonel Frank L. Wol- 
 
438 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 ford, commander of the First Kentucky (Union) Cavalry. The two commanders met 
 in battle seriously for the first time at Lebanon, Tennessee, May 5, 1862. This battle, 
 as it was fought for the most part between Kentuckians — Morgan's grey cavaliers of 
 the Bluegrass and Wolford's blue knights of the Green River country — is here reported. 
 
 General Morgan and his men, who slept in Lebanon on the night of the fourth, were 
 taken almost completely by surprise at 4 o'clock in the morning of May 5 by Wolford's 
 swift-moving cavalry column." Through a driving rain Lieutenant Silas Adams led 
 the Federal advance, entering Lebanon from the south by way of the Murfreesboro 
 Pike. He and his company galloped by General Morgan's pickets and plunged through 
 a few sleepy Confederate companies, hastily forming on the north side of the town 
 square. Colonel Wolford leading the main Union column entered the town also by the 
 Murfreesboro Pike, but before reaching the town square his right flank was struck by 
 an irritating fire from a college building situated on an eminence to his right. Placing 
 himself at the head of one or two hundred men he charged the college grounds, sur- 
 rounded the building, and captured a number of prisoners. 10 
 
 The rain had ceased, but the atmosphere was heavy, and the smoke from the guns 
 hovered low, and, after a short time of firing, little could be seen except flashes from 
 the muzzles of guns. The din was terrible. Amid the crack of rifles, the report of 
 pistols, and the clatter of hoofs on the hard wet streets, could be heard the hoarse shouts 
 of fighting men and at times, the shrill shrieks of frightened women and children in 
 the houses. ° Colonel Wolford, after taking the college building, rode with the main 
 column into the public square and faced a withering fire from the main body of Gen- 
 eral Morgan's men who, by this time, were ready for battle. From the buildings about 
 the square, an irregular though rapid cross-fire was poured into the First Kentucky's 
 column. Near the hotel, Wolford was heard giving orders, and while bullets rained 
 about him as if he had been singled out for slaughter, he was struck in the left side 
 just above the hip, the bullet inflicting a dangerous wound. 1 ' Seeming scarcely conscious 
 of the rapid flow of blood, he ordered his men back to reload and reform, and im- 
 mediately again charged the square. 
 
 Reeling from the dash, Colonel Wolford saw a line formed a short distance to the 
 north and rode to give orders. That line, although partly blue-clad, was Confederate. 
 He rode into the arms of Captain Frank Leathers, who immediately claimed him as his 
 prisoner. Upon learning the identity of his captive, the joyous Leathers shouted: "This 
 is glory enough for one day." 1 * General Morgan appeared upon the scene and offered 
 Colonel Wolford a parole, but Wolford refused, saying that he preferred to take 
 chances on being rescued by his own men. 
 
 By this time the Federal troopers had cut off all the exits from Lebanon, excepting 
 the road leading to Carthage on the Cumberland River. Morgan, with a small remnant 
 of his badly beaten squadron, galloped into this road, closely followed by Wolford's 
 "Wild Riders." The badly wounded and almost exhausted Colonel Wolford was 
 pressed into the fleeing column near General Morgan, and a desperate fight and chase 
 was begun. One of the prisoners, W. H. Honnell, chaplain to Wolford's Cavalry, 
 later commented: "We were on the wildest race a soldier ever experienced. Sometimes 
 we would jump clear over a fallen horse, and horses would sometimes shy around a 
 man on hands and knees struggling to escape from the road." Colonel Wolford, 
 steadily becoming weaker from the loss of blood, fell behind Morgan's fleeing troops 
 and was soon overtaken by two of his own officers. Mr. Honnell describes the scene 
 when Wolford was overtaken: "He sat on his horse urging Captains Carter and Fish- 
 back to leave him and press to the capture of Morgan, whom he pointed out in the 
 distance, before he could cross the river. The blood was dripping from his wound into 
 the road as he offered to take care of himself till they could make the dash . . ."" 
 
Courtesy, Louisville Free Public Library. 
 
 General Buell's Army entering Louisville, September, 1862. 
 
 Courtesy, Filson Club. 
 
 I 862— General Don Carlos Buell and his headquarters in Louisville. 
 
440 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 General Morgan with twenty of his men seized a skiff at the Cumberland's edge, and 
 crossed the river to safety. Colonel Wolford, too weak to sit a horse longer, was 
 placed in a buggy and taken back to Lebanon. That night his men celebrated a vic- 
 tory. That same night Morgan and the remnant of his squadron sat in defeat at Rome, 
 Tennessee; the great Raider shed tears; it was his first defeat. 21 
 
 Astride Kentucky steeds, Morgan and Wolford, through the summer and fall of 
 1862, played the glamorous game of war over the fertile fields of Kentucky and Ten- 
 nessee — played it as romantically and as chivalrously as did ever Coeur de Lion and 
 Saladin in the days of the Crusades." They met for the last time, face to face, north 
 of the Ohio in the summer of 1863, at the end of the boldest raid and perhaps the 
 grimmest pursuit in the history of cavalry warfare. The great raid began about the 
 first of July. By the time General Morgan and his squadron reached Lebanon, Ken- 
 tucky, Colonel Wolford and the First Kentucky, having been stationed at Jamestown 
 and Columbia, took up the chase." Day after day, under a scorching mid-summer sun, 
 through Southern Indiana, through Southern Ohio, the indomitable Old Warrior 
 galloped, twenty-one hours a day, always at the head of his dust-covered column. 
 
 The daring grey raiders paused before bewildered Cincinnati; some of them counciled 
 that the city be captured and burned unless safe passage across the Ohio be vouched, 
 but Morgan refused, saying that Wolford was too close in pursuit, and continued the 
 flight." 4 On both sides, horses fell from sheer exhaustion, and men, addled from weari- 
 ness, dropped from their saddles and slept in the dust by the road. Morgan galloped 
 on. Wolford — his saddle soaked with blood from the unhealed wound in his side — 
 pressed on."" At last when endurance seemed no longer possible, Federal volunteers were 
 called for. Doughty Old Wolford continued to lead his thin but gallant column in 
 pursuit of the gallant foe. 
 
 The day came when General Morgan realized that further flight and resistance were 
 humanly impossible. He stopped and sought Colonel Wolford, whom he considered 
 the most magnamimous of the Union officers, to surrender to him as he was most likely 
 to give the most generous terms."" The "Old Meat-axe," as Wolford was called, could 
 not be found. He did appear later, however, in the full flower of knightliness. He 
 prevented his superior officer from inflicting insults on the captured Raider, and in 
 gratitude Morgan presented Wolford with the beautiful silver spurs which had been 
 given him by Lexington admirers." Later, after escorting General Morgan and his 
 officers from Salinville back to Wellsville, Ohio, Colonel Wolford left them at the hotel 
 to rest. Before leaving them he said: "Gentlemen, you are my guests. This hotel, to- 
 gether with its bar, cigar stand, and other accessories, is at your service and at my 
 expense. Do not go off the square in front of the hotel."" 
 
 The most imposing Confederate invasion of Kentucky came in the late summer of 
 1862. Because of the importance of this invasion, or invasions, the author is impelled 
 to explain and describe it somewhat in detail. 
 
 CAMPAIGNS DURING THE YEAR 1862 
 
 The military authorities of the Southern States, during the middle and late summer 
 of 1862, planned a joint offensive movement toward the North. This advance was to 
 be staged along three fronts: General Robert E. Lee was to move into Maryland, Gen- 
 eral Braxton Bragg into Kentucky, and General Earl Van Dorn up the Mississippi to 
 join General Bragg at some point on the Ohio River."' 
 
 General Lee's advance was stopped by General George B. McClellan near Sharps- 
 burg, Maryland, in September, 1862, after which a retro-grade movement was begun 
 by the Army of Northern Virginia. Because of a misunderstanding with General 
 Sterling Price, largely due to poor communication in the Confederacy, General Van 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 441 
 
 Dorn failed to push northward, but remained near Iuka and Corinth, Mississippi, at 
 which places he suffered reverses. Bragg's invasion of Kentucky, as will be shown, 
 fell far short of signal success. 
 
 A number of reasons for an advance into Kentucky presented themselves. Such a 
 movement, in the first place, it was thought, would relieve Tennessee, which was then 
 practically under control of the Union armies. General Don Carlos Buell, Commander 
 of the Army of the Ohio, held central Tennessee, and a Union government, headed by 
 Andrew Johnson had been established at Nashville. Another reason was that thousands 
 of Kentuckians were dissatisfied with Northern military rule and were clamoring for 
 Confederate armies to deliver them from under what they regarded as a tyrannical 
 yoke. 1 It was freely predicted that upon the entrance of Southern armies into the 
 State thousands of Kentuckians would rush to the Confederate standard, suppress the 
 Union government, expel the Northern soldiers, and set up a Confederate rule of 
 freedom." Moreover, it was known throughout the South that Kentucky was rich in 
 supplies needed by Confederate soldiers, particularly in food for both men and horses. 
 
 Preliminary to the Confederate invasion of Kentucky was the famous July raid of 
 General John H. Morgan and his mounted squadron of about 900 troopers/ This dash 
 proved to be one of the romantic episodes of the War. The entire State was excited, 
 perhaps as never before: women were thrilled, Union detachments were baffled, town 
 after town captured, communication lines cut, and a million dollars worth of Federal 
 property destroyed. The Confederate loss was slight; the entire escapade must have 
 seemed to the audacious young cavaliers like a great holiday. In characteristic manner, 
 according to Howard Swigett's The Rebel Raider, Morgan shortly before leaving Ken- 
 tucky at the end of his whirlwind campaign, sent a telegram of farewell to the Union 
 commander of Kentucky, General Jeremiah Boyle: "Good morning, Jerry. This tele- 
 graph is a great institution. You should destroy it as it keeps me too well posted." 
 The squadron of raiders crossed into Tennessee about July 22, 1862, bringing this short 
 campaign to a close. 
 
 Less picturesque and romantic than the Morgan escapade was the invasion of Ken- 
 tucky by General E. Kirby Smith's army of 12,000 veterans. 4 Moving through a 
 rocky, barren, desolate section of southeastern Kentucky, Smith's lean, bearded, shoeless 
 army marched nearly ninety miles in three days, sustained by parched corn. On August 
 29 it annihilated the raw army collected at Richmond by General William Nelson. On 
 September 2 the ragged Greys proudly paraded through Main Street of Lexington to the 
 wild acclaim of thousands of the sons and daughters of the Bluegrass. Kentucky was 
 at the feet of Smith's army. Louisville and Cincinnati were thrown into a panic." 
 The time was apparently propitious for the Confederacy. Deepening gloom settled 
 upon the North, with little hope in the outcome. Bragg's army was moving toward 
 Kentucky to the support of Smith. 
 
 Bragg, until August 28, had been stationed in the vicinity of Chattanooga awaiting 
 developments." He concluded that a successful blow against General Don Carlos Buell 
 who was then holding Nashville would be likely to relieve Tennessee of Union pressure. 
 Bragg further believed that a movement into Kentucky would accomplish the same 
 result, perhaps without a blow, and, moreover, that almost unlimited supplies would be 
 available there.'' The Confederate army, superb regardless of its rags and whiskers, 
 needed action, and the South was clamoring for victory. It was at that time, in 
 August, divided into two wings. The right wing, consisting of Benjamin F. Cheatham's 
 and James M. Whithers' divisions of infantry and Lay's brigade of cavalry, was under 
 the command of Major-General Leonidas Polk, the warrior-bishop of Tennessee. The 
 left wing, composed of Simon Bolivar Buckner's and J. Patton Anderson's divisions of 
 infantry and Joseph Wheeler's brigade of cavalry, was commanded by Major-General 
 
442 A S E S Q U I -CENTENNIAL 
 
 William J. Hardee. The entire force of this army, the Army of Mississippi, on August 
 27 numbered 27,876 officers and men for duty.' 
 
 News of General Smith's complete victory at Richmond, Kentucky, influenced Gen- 
 eral Bragg to determine upon the Kentucky venture.'*' He, therefore, after making a 
 feint toward Nashville, to bewilder General Buell, swung his army to the right and 
 boldly struck for Glasgow, Kentucky. Little opposition was expected because the 
 crushing defeat suffered by General William Nelson had left Kentucky pretty well 
 under Confederate control. 
 
 General Buell, 40 finding himself isolated and Kentucky in danger of being detached 
 from the Union, determined upon a race with General Bragg, in spite of the protests 
 of Andrew Johnson, Union Governor of Tennessee. Although the exact objective of 
 Bragg was not definitely known Buell had no doubts as to his own proper course, which 
 was to reach Louisville, the great supply base. He set out from Nashville at a slight 
 disadvantage, because his adversary had a three days' earlier start and had approximately 
 a thirty miles' lead. The Union army, however, was thoroughly alert to its perilous 
 situation, realizing that its leanly supplied knapsacks would be replenished only scarcely 
 until Louisville was reached. The soldiers, therefore, lengthened their strides according- 
 ly, and executed an unusual feat of marching. 41 
 
 It is not certain that Bragg intended to race Buell to Louisville. If, however, a race 
 was his intention, speed was a paramount necessity, and speed was one element with 
 which he appeared little concerned. 4 " During twelve days — precious days when human 
 endurance, it seems, should have been strained to the utmost in marching — Bragg 
 moved only seventy miles, less than an average of six miles a day. 43 Two days had been 
 spent in resting at Glasgow, and some time lost in taking Munfordville, at which place 
 four more days were consumed in vainly waiting for Buell to attack. On September 19 
 the Union army successfully marched by Munfordville; whereupon, the Confederate 
 army turned to the right and leisurely moved to Bardstown, there to contact the army 
 of General Kirby Smith, then at Lexington. 44 From Bardstown Bragg issued a procla- 
 mation to the people of Kentucky, a proclamation which indicated that the purpose of 
 invading the State was to have the Confederate army act "more as a nucleus around 
 which the true men of Kentucky could rally than as an invading force against the 
 Northwest." 45 In spite of enticing appeals to shoulder arms for the confederacy, few 
 recruits came in; and that fact greatly surprised and disappointed Bragg. To his aide 
 he observed: "The people here have too many fat cattle and are too well-off to fight." 
 Smith in similar vein said that "Their hearts are evidently with us but their blue-grass 
 and fat-grass are against us." 4 " 
 
 General Bragg, having let his great opportunity pass to crush Buell at Munfordville 
 and having learned that the people would not rise to the Confederate standard, moved, 
 throughout the remainder of this campaign, like a man in a trance. He spent much 
 time attempting to establish a Confederate government at Frankfort, not seeming to 
 realize that his army was actually in danger of being captured. 4 ' Why he failed to 
 join forces with General Smith after reaching Kentucky, where the two could have 
 struck the Union forces in detail, is a mystery which has never been solved. 4S Had 
 Braxton Bragg been a Stonewall Jackson, the results might have been otherwise. ' 
 
 General Buell, after reaching Louisville on September 29, resupplied his army and 
 was ready on October 1 to take the offensive. His plan of campaign was indeed a 
 sound one, the main object being to cut off Bragg's retreat. General Smith and his 
 army were in the vicinity of Lexington and Frankfort; the Army of Mississippi still was 
 stationed at Bardstown, for the time being, under command of General Polk, Bragg 
 having ridden on September 29 to Lexington to confer with Smith. A part of Buell's 
 plan was to deceive Bragg into believing that the Federal attack would fall on Smith 
 
Ma j. Gen. Don Carlos Bue 
 
 ll 
 
 if 
 
 
 Lt. Gen. Braxton Bragg 
 
444 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 near Frankfort. To accomplish this ruse Buell dispatched General Joshua W. Sill's 
 division of McCook's corps from Louisville toward Frankfort by way of Shelbyville 
 and ordered the independent division of General Ebenezer Dumont to follow. If the 
 ruse was successful, the Union commander expected that a Confederate division would 
 be withdrawn from Bardstown to the support of Smith. With a powerful array Buell 
 himself, on October 1, set out from Louisville toward Bardstown. His army consisted 
 of three corps: the first under command of Major-General Alexander McDowell Mc- 
 Cook, marched by way of Taylorsville; the second, commanded by Major-General 
 Thomas L. Crittenden, accompanied by General George H. Thomas, BuelPs second in 
 command, moved by way of Mt. Washington; and the third, General Charles C. 
 Gilbert's corps took the Shephersville-Bardstown Pike/ 
 
 General BuelPs strategy was effective. Generals Smith and Bragg, as late as October 
 3, labored under the delusion that the strongest Union force would strike near Ver- 
 ailles. Accordingly Bragg, at Frankfort, directed Polk to move across from Bardstown, 
 via Bloomfield, 01 and to strike Buell on the flank. 52 On that day, however, Confederate 
 pickets stationed on the Bardstown road toward Louisville announced the approach 
 of a large Federal army. This caused Polk to insist upon a retreat in order to con- 
 centrate with Smith's forces at Harrodsburg. 53 General William J. Hardee, who was 
 with Polk at Bardstown, advised the same, even more vehemently. 54 Bragg agreed." 
 
 The withdrawal of the Southern army from Bardstown began on the night of Oc- 
 tober 3rd. The route was by way of Springfield and Perryville. During the late after- 
 noon of the 4th General Thomas, after a "sharp skirmish" with Wharton's cavalry 
 left to guard the rear of Hardee's corps, entered Bardstown/ 6 Both Wheeler's and 
 Wharton's cavalries contested and delayed the Union advance. 
 
 Beyond Springfield skirmishing between Confederate cavalry and the van of Gil- 
 bert's corps was continuous, 5 ' becoming more spirited as the pursuing Blue columns 
 gained/ So spirited had it become by the 6th That General Hardee, whose wing was 
 moving toward Perryville, concluded that a halt to give battle was necessary. He, 
 therefore, dispatched a message, requesting re-enforcements, to Polk who had reached 
 Harrodsburg that day. General Bragg, having ridden from Frankfort, also arrived 
 at Harrodsburg on that date and was handed the communication. He was not appre- 
 hensive of Hardee's situation, however, having been led by Kirby Smith's reports to 
 believe that the real danger lay in the vicinity of Versailles. Acting on that assump- 
 tion, Bragg sent Withers' division to Smith's support, and ordered Polk, late in the 
 evening of the 7th, to form the cavalry and the divisions of Cheatham, Buckner, and 
 Anderson, and to march back to Perryville, and there to attack vigorously/ Bragg 
 stood in front of Morgan Row at Harrodsburg and gravely reviewed his splendid 
 columns as they swung into the Perryville Road, perhaps never dreaming that they 
 would face more than a minor engagement the next day/ 
 
 Both the Union and the Confederate armies, on the night of the 7th, were con- 
 centrating in the vicinity of Perryville. That night both Bragg and Buell expected a 
 battle the following day. A serious skirmish had occurred on the Springfield Pike early 
 in the afternoon of the 7th. According to the account of Union General Gilbert, 
 the head of his column, under Brigadier-General R. B. Mitchell, reached the crest of 
 a ridge overlooking Doctor's Creek, a tributary of Chaplin Fork of Salt River, at 
 2 P. M. of the 7th. The Springfield Pike on which Gilbert moved crosses Doctor's 
 Creek two and a half miles west of Perryville. From the crest of the ridge the thirsty 
 Union troops — they had shaken empty canteens since early morning — looked down and 
 beheld a few pools of water in the otherwise dry bed of the little stream. But Con- 
 federate troopers, near the banks, were guarding these pools. General Mitchell de- 
 ployed his men in line of battle, and, after some firing, the Confederates were dislodged 
 
H I S T O RY O F K E N T U C K Y 445 
 
 and driven back toward Perryville. During the night Brigadier-General Philip H. 
 Sheridan, also of Gilbert's corps, moved to a position in front of Mitchell, and by 
 dawn Federal soldiers were not only in possession of the stagnant water but also the 
 high ground immediately to the east.*" 
 
 The stiff resistance encountered on the afternoon of October 7th led Buell, who was 
 still accompanying Gilbert's corps, to expect a general engagement on the following 
 morning. He, therefore, during the night, dispatched couriers to McCook and to 
 Thomas, who was with Crittenden's corps, with orders to move at 3 A. M. and be 
 prepared in every respect for battle. Buell knew that McCook was encamped near the 
 village of Mackville, ten miles away, and he believed that Thomas was in the vicinity 
 of Haysville, some seven miles distant on the Perryville-Lebanon Pike. However, the 
 necessity of finding water had caused Thomas to leave his course to reach Rolling Fork, 
 which occasioned some delay on the part of BuelPs messenger in finding him. In fact, 
 Thomas did not arrive on the field until late in the afternoon of the 8th, too late to 
 aid effectively. Another provision of Bueli's orders was for McCook and Thomas, 
 on reaching the field, to form on the left and right of Gilbert respectively. 
 
 Returning now to a consideration of the Confederate army about Perryville, the 
 selecting of positions and forming of lines will be traced. General Hardee, perhaps 
 during the afternoon of the 7th, selected and marked positions between the Harrods- 
 burg Pike and Chaplin Fork, immediately north of Perryville. At the suggestion of 
 General Bragg, who came on the field shortly after 10 A. M. of the 8th, the Con- 
 federate line was moved forward to the west of Perryville between Chaplin Fork and 
 Doctor's Creek. ° That alteration in position caused the extreme Confederate left to 
 rest somewhat to the left of the Springfield Road and toward the Lebanon Pike. 
 Wheeler's cavalry was guarding these roads, with Cheatham's division of three brigades 
 immediately to the right. Farther to the right Anderson's division extended toward the 
 Old Mackville Road and joined Buckner whose division ranged along the ridges east 
 of Doctor's Creek. 60 
 
 Chaplin Fork flows through the west side of Perryville, its course being northward. 
 The country west of this stream is somewhat barren and rough, being serrated by 
 ridges which zig-zag and slope sharply to twisting ravines. Hardee described it as 
 "boldly undulating and varied with farm houses, corn fields, and plantations, bordered 
 by native forests."" 
 
 Shortly before ten o'clock on the 8th Brigadier-General St. John Liddell of Buckner's 
 division was ordered forward for observation between the Springfield and Old Mack- 
 ville Roads. But, becoming hotly engaged with Gilbert's reconnaissance parties, he was 
 soon recalled. At that time, near eleven o'clock, movements of troops were seen on the 
 Old Mackville Road, indicating to Bragg that an operation to flank his right was being 
 attempted. Bragg, therefore, ordered Cheatham's entire division to rush to the right 
 of Buckner's position and to form in line of battle behind Wharton's cavalry. A part 
 of the distance — more than two miles — was executed by Cheatham's soldiers in double- 
 quick time, and as a result they suffered greatly from exhaustion, the dust and the 
 heat of the sun contributing to their discomfort.'"' 
 
 At 1:30 in the afternoon the Confederate line of battle extended a distance of ap- 
 proximately three miles and a half, from near the Lebanon Pike to what is now the 
 New Mackville Pike. Wheeler guarded the Springfield, Lebanon, and Danville roads. 
 To his right stood two brigades of General J. Patton Anderson's division (Samuel 
 Powell's and Daniel W. Adam's) , and to Anderson's right were posted two brigades 
 of General Buckner's division (Bushrod R. Johnson's and Patrick R. Cleburne's) . 
 These two brigades — Cleburne's behind Johnson's — formed the Confederate center. 
 Daniel S. Donelson's, Alexander P. Stewart's, and George Maney's brigades of Cheat- 
 
446 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 ham's division held the right, with John A. Wharton's cavalry standing on the extreme 
 right flank, immediately to the right of the New Mackville Pike. To fill a gap, which 
 intervened between General Buckner's right and General Cheatham's left, the brigades 
 of John C. Brown and Thomas Jones of Anderson's division and the brigade of S. A. 
 M. Wood of Buckner's division were detached and moved in. 
 
 The Official Records of the War of the Rebellion record in minute detail the move- 
 ments of both the Union and the Confederate forces, especially at this stage of the 
 battle.' While the Confederate brigades were moving into position, General Gilbert, 
 under the supervision of General Buell, was busily forming his corps in line of battle. 
 
 At noon Sheridan's left rested on the Springfield Pike, perhaps a mile and a half 
 west of Perryville. The right wing of Sheridan's division connected with the left of 
 the division of Mitchell, whose own right extended toward the Lebanon Pike. Gilbert's 
 other division, that of Brigadier-General Albion Schoepf, was in reserve behind 
 Sheridan." 
 
 General McCook, arriving in the vicinity of Doctor's Creek shortly after 10 A. M., 
 deployed his columns to the right of the Old Mackville Road as they came up, forming 
 the Federal left. He hoped by this movement to make contact with the Union center. 
 After marking positions, McCook, in obedience to instructions, rode to report to Gen- 
 eral Buell whose headquarters were near the Springfield Pike two and a half miles to 
 the southwest. During a brief interview verbal instructions were given McCook to 
 return to his command and have his front toward Chaplin Fork reconnoitered.' Hastily 
 retracing his course, McCook discovered, on reaching his position, that the commander 
 of his leading division,' 4 Brigadier-General Lovell H. Rousseau, had moved his line 
 forward, the change of position causing McCook's line to rest in front of and to the 
 left of the Russell house. Rousseau had ordered his troops forward in order to occupy 
 a commanding ridge. 
 
 The movement of the Federal line attracted the attention of the Confederate across 
 the valley of Doctor's Creek, and they, therefore, opened fire with three batteries. 
 General Lovell H. Rousseau answered their fire with the batteries of Captains Cyrus 
 O. Loomis and Peter Simonson, which had been unlimbered near the Russell home. 
 After the exchange of a few rounds, general McCook commanded Loomis and Simon- 
 son to cease in order to conserve ammunition. The Confederate firing gradually sub- 
 sided, and soon comparative quiet prevailed. 75 
 
 Sometime before one o'clock McCook ascertained that by moving some distance to 
 the left the most commanding ground in the neighborhood could be secured for the 
 division of Brigadier-General James S. Jackson, who was then coming up. McCook 
 led Jackson to the new position and saw the division posted on a high ridge overlooking 
 Chaplin Fork and in front of the Benton Road between the old and the new Mackville 
 pikes. Brigadier-General William R. Terrill, a brigade commander of Jackson's division, 
 was stationed on the left flank. TerrilPs brigade, in order to follow the ridge, moved 
 forward, and because of the lay of the land a crooked line was formed. This position 
 was doubly dangerous for McCook in view of the fact that TerrilPs brigade was made 
 up of raw troops who had never seen battle. Immediately above Terrill's troops the 
 eight guns of Parsons' battery were brought into position. Terrill, soon after occupying 
 his position, was ordered forward by McCook toward Chaplin Fork for observation 
 and for water. 
 
 McCook, as he rode back toward his right wing, found his front to be comparatively 
 quiet with not an enemy in sight. It was so quiet that he dismissed all thoughts of an 
 attack. He found Rousseau well posted, with his right across the Old Mackville Road 
 and his left resting in a strip of woods near Jackson's right. There was, however, little 
 reason for McCooks's being optimistic. He knew little about his troops, a large part 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 447 
 
 of whom were raw; his lines were far from straight; his baggage train cluttered up the 
 narrow Old Mackville Road and was dangerously exposed.' 
 
 Along the entire Union front reconnaissance were in progress by 1:30. At that time, 
 however, the whole countryside was calm. The Confederate batteries were silent. 
 Quietness prevailed; it was pronounced. General Buell, who had believed that an 
 attack by the Confederates would be made before 10 A. M., if made that day, was 
 now under no great apprehensions.' 7 Little did he dream of the feverish activity across 
 the valley of Doctor's Creek. The hill's the woods, and the wind, all nature, it seems, 
 conspired to prevent sounds from reaching the Union lines. The day, which had 
 broken clear and calm and hot, was troubled toward noon by a rising wind from the 
 west. By 1 o'clock a mild gale was sweeping the ridges, scattering dust and dry leaves 
 everywhere.' The wind cooled the hot, swarthy cheeks of the Confederate soldiers, 
 who, across the valley, grimly gripped their long rifles and silently awaited the order 
 to rush forward. 
 
 The battle opened at 2 o'clock with a fierce charge, from the Confederates' extreme 
 right wing by Wharton's cavalry. Terrill's reconnaissance party of Federals was taken 
 completely by surprise and driven back to its former ill-formed position. The Grey 
 cavalrymen having opened the way, Cheatham's division plunged forward and soon the 
 Confederates' attack became general along the entire line. 
 
 Screening their movements by following dry creek beds, deep ravines, and tangled 
 woods, the attacking soldiers flashed before the Union lines as if they had risen from 
 beneath the earth's surface. In coming into action Cheatham's brigades climbed the 
 steep bluffs on the west banks of Doctor's Creek and Chaplin Fork, raced over the 
 undulating space immediately to the east — the ground on which the Confederate Monu- 
 ment now stands — and plunged into a wooded strip to form for the immediate assault. 
 This wooded strip was bounded on the west by a rail fence, and only about 120 yards 
 intervened between it and Jackson's Federal line. The space was smooth and barren of 
 trees. Parsons' battery, as the Confederates were plunging into the wooded strip, was 
 playing havoc. "Large boughs were torn from the trees, the trees themselves shattered 
 as if torn by lightening, and the ground plowed in deep furrows."' 6 Near the fence, 
 when the Confederate line was in full view, a rain of shell, grape, canister, was turned 
 loose such as troops, it is said, scarcely ever before encountered.™ It was at the fence, 
 when a pause was made, that Cheatham suffered perhaps his greatest loss. Men were 
 dropping by the scores; there was nervousness and uncertainty. During that trying 
 time General George Maney rode along the lines. His gallant bearing and encouraging 
 words steadied the faltering men. At his orders they leaped the fence, dressed their 
 lines, yelling like demons and impetuously charged over the bullet-swept open space. 51 
 
 The charging Confederate lines withheld small fire until within a few yards of the 
 Union positions, and then a death-dealing volley, appalling in its effect, was poured 
 forth on Terrill's raw troops holding the exposed flank. These Federal troops could not 
 withstand the desperate assault. They reeled and gave way, rushing to the rear in head- 
 long panic."" Jackson, standing near Terrill, immediately to the right of Parsons' bat- 
 tery, was struck in the chest by two bullets at the first fire and expired immediately. 
 Terrill made valiant efforts to reform the broken line, but to no avail. Everyone of 
 his men deserted Lieutenant Charles C. Parsons at the battery, and all the battery's 
 horses were killed or wounded. Finally that brave lieutenant, who steadily refused to 
 leave his guns, was carried back by force, just as his battery fell into the hands of the 
 Confederates. 4 Terrill in a last desperate effort to rally the remnant of his command, 
 a mile to the rear in a cornfield, was struck by part of a shell and his entire left lung 
 shot away. The attack on his part of the field was effectively checked late in the after- 
 noon by Colonel John Starkweather whose brigade was so well posted behind the corn- 
 
448 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 field that the advancing Confederates were taken both in front and in flank by his 
 murderous fire. Jackson's division at the time of Starkweather's action had been pushed 
 back about a mile and a half. 
 
 At 2:30 P. M. General McCook, believing himself to be hopelessly out-numbered, 
 dispatched his Aide-de-Camp, Lieutenant L. M. Hosea, to General Sheridan requesting 
 him to give attention to McCook's right flank in order to prevent its being turned. 
 But Sheridan, being hard-pressed on his right wing, soon after the opening of the con- 
 flict, was unable to meet the request. At 3 o'clock another member of the staff, Captain 
 Horace Fisher, was sent out with orders to request assistance of the nearest commander 
 of troops. General Albion Schoepf was met at the head of his column and the message 
 transmitted to him. That general, however, refused to change his line of march without 
 the sanction of his superior, General Gilbert. 
 
 General Gilbert had dined on that day with General Buell at the latter's headquarters, 
 and, at the time of Captain Fisher's search for assistance, the two generals were engaged 
 in conversation. Owing to the peculiar conformation of the ground and to the direction 
 of the wind no sound of the battle reached their ears until after mid-afternoon. It was 
 about 4 o'clock when the sound of rapid artillery firing, coming up the valley of Doctor's 
 Creek, caused Buell to take serious notice. Listening intently for a few moments, he 
 remarked to General Gilbert: "That is something more than shelling the woods; it 
 sounds like a fight." 81 Mounting his horse, Gilbert rode rapidly in the direction of the 
 firing, and about a mile down the road he encountered Captain Fisher galloping at full 
 speed, bearing the message of General McCook. The luckless captain was directed by 
 General Gilbert to General Buell. Before aid was dispatched General Gilbert en- 
 countered another messenger, Captain W. T. Hoblitzell, who bore the intelligence that, 
 unless assistance was rushed to McCook, the left wing would soon be driven from the 
 field. Walker's brigade of Schoepf's division was ordered to McCook, but Gilbert to 
 his chagrin discovered that Walker's brigade was not sufficiently acquainted "with the 
 tactics to make the simplest movements with promptness." 8 Then it was that Colonel 
 Michael Gooding, under the guidance of Captain Hoblitzell, was sent to the left at 
 double-quick time. 
 
 General Rousseau had been fighting desperately before 3 P. M. The right of his 
 line, near where the Old Mackville Road crosses Doctor's Creek, formed an obtruse 
 angle of about 30 degrees, the tip resting near the crossing. General Hardee, early 
 perceiving this to be a key position, had ordered the brigades of Johnson and Cleburne 
 massed in front of it. Immediately following Cheatham's forward movement these two 
 brigades began an attack. A portion of Rousseau's troops at the foot of the hill had 
 taken position behind a rock fence immediately below the R. P. Bottom house and were 
 pouring a deadly fire until a headlong assault, aided by enfilading battery fire, enabled 
 the Confederates to dislodge and drive them up the hill beyond the Bottom house. 
 
 The fighting along the hill was particularly sanguinary. Both Johnson and Cleburne 
 were wounded, Cleburne being borne from the field. The fire from Loomis' Union 
 battery before the Russell house was murderous, but the desperate Grey charge con- 
 tinued, although at times halted momentarily. The Federal troops were driven to their 
 original position near the Russell house, in front of which was an open field. The 
 Confederates gaining a foothold in this open space quickly moved forward and un- 
 limbered a battery in plain view of, and only a short distance from, their adversaries. 
 From this position a stream of canister was poured into the faces of Rousseau's troops. 
 Colonel Curran Pope's Kentucky regiment was replying with a withering fire from near 
 a hay-filled barn, until a bursting shell from the newly-placed Confederate battery set 
 fire to the barn, the heat from which became so intense that his Union troops were 
 forced to retire. The fire from Johnson's regiment now became more destructive, visibly 
 
Courtesy, Louisville Public Library. 
 
 The inhabitants of Louisville, principally women and children, driven from the city by order of 
 
 the late General Nelson, camping on the banks of the Ohio, during the night of the 23d of 
 
 September. — From a sketch by our special artist, Mr. Henri Lovie. 
 
 BATTLE FLAG, SIXTH REGIMENT. KENTUCKY VOLUNTEERS 
 
450 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 thinning Rousseau's ranks at every volley. Not only were his blue ranks becoming 
 decimated, but his troops, in repeated counter-charges and stubborn defense, had fought 
 to exhaustion. He could not hold his position. On his left, Jackson's division had 
 been driven back, and his own right, not being in contact with Sheridan, had been 
 flanked. The remnant of Rousseau's division retired in good order behind the Russell 
 house, a distance of nearly a mile. The Confederates continued to press desperately 
 on his front until nightfall. 10 
 
 General Sheridan, on the Union right, found himself hard-pressed soon after the 
 opening of the battle and of his predicament gave General Gilbert warning. Sheridan's 
 Troops were about to be dislodged at the point of the bayonet when aid arrived and 
 saved them. To accomplish this Gilbert had ordered two movements executed: General 
 Schoepf marched to Sheridan's left and was able to strengthen it enough to cause the 
 repulse of the Confederate brigades which were about to turn it. General Mitchell, 
 having been ordered to relieve Sheridan's right, dispatched Colonel William P. Carlin 
 and his brigade. Carlin rushed his troops to the top of a hill immediately to the 
 right of Sheridan's position, and to the right of the Springfield Pike. It was discovered 
 on reaching the summit that a Confederate brigade was moving to attack both Sheridan's 
 front and flank. Quickly forming his lines, Carlin charged impetuously down the hill, 
 driving the Confederates before him. The assault continued through the west end of 
 the town of Perryville to the bluffs beyond. The impetuous Union Colonel realized 
 that his advanced position was untenable and, during the momentary confusion, with- 
 drew his men to the northwest side of Perryville. There he remained, his artillery 
 exchanging shots across the town with the Confederate batteries until darkness closed 
 the sanguinary conflict. 91 This brief diversion not only took Sheridan out of the severest 
 fighting but so thoroughly relieved him from danger that he was enabled to help Rous- 
 seau's crippled right flank. This he did by promptly swinging his batteries to the left 
 and pouring a terrific fire across the valley of Doctor's Creek into the flank of the 
 Confederate troops who were moving rapidly in an effort to envelop Rousseau. The 
 enfilading fire from Sheridan's guns perhaps saved McCook's corps from being hope- 
 lessly driven from the field. 9 " 
 
 It was late in the afternoon when Colonel Michael Gooding and his 59th Illinois 
 Brigade, accompanied by Captain Oscar F. Pinney's 5th Wisconsin Battery of Mitchell's 
 division, marched at double-quick time from behind Sheridan's line to the support of 
 General McCook. It was toward dusk that Gooding took position behind the Russell 
 house and across the Old Mackville Road near the intersection of the Benton Road. 
 The Union brigade to Gooding's left, having been hard-pressed for some time, broke 
 and ran in confusion immediately following his arrival, leaving him unsupported except 
 for Pinney's battery posted just above and to the left of the road intersection, one of 
 the highest points in that locality. The beginning of Gooding's action marked the 
 beginning of the bloodiest contest of the day. "One after one," runs Gooding's report, 
 "my men were cut down. . . . Almost hand-to-hand they fought five times their number, 
 often charging upon them with such fearlessness and impetuosity as would force them 
 to reel and give way, but as fast as they were cut down their ranks were filled with 
 fresh ones." 
 
 The Confederates of General S. A. M. Wood, who was wounded, made every effort 
 to take Pinney's guns. Wood's dead and wounded, during repeated charges, were 
 literally stacked in front of the battery. Gooding's horse was shot from under him, 
 and before he could escape through the darkness he was taken prisoner. At last the 
 heroic Union brigade, on the point of being surrounded, was forced to withdraw, but 
 Pinney's battery was saved. Gooding sustained a loss of 499 men, almost a third of 
 his brigade.' 4 As darkness gathered General Steedman, of Schoepf's division, moved 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 451 
 
 to the support of McCook's right, but was greeted by a vicious fusilade from the Con- 
 federate guns, to which only a poor reply could be made/*' 
 
 As twilight deepened it was difficult to distinguish friend from foe in the melee. 
 General Polk found himself in the midst of Union troops, but managed to extricate 
 himself by ordering the enemy troops to cease firing, the darkness and his coat, which 
 happened to be blue, concealing his identity. The last charge of the day was made by 
 the Confederate General St. John R. Liddell, who moved forward and, from behind 
 the left of Cheatham's position, attacked the broken Union line. In the confusion 
 following the twilight charge many Federal soldiers — with their arms, colors, and bag- 
 gage, even the papers and baggage of General McCook — were captured." At last, 
 due to intense darkness, firing gradually ceased. Confederate sentries were posted fifty 
 yards from the Union lines, fires were lighted at intervals, and everything indicated 
 that the Confederate attack would be resumed at daybreak. 
 
 But Bragg, realizing that Thomas and Crittenden had arrived and taken position 
 between the Lebanon and Springfield roads and that Buell would be on hand with a 
 fresh and powerful array at daybreak, decided to march his army to Harrodsburg to 
 unite with Kirby Smith. The movement from Perryville began at midnight. From 
 Harrodsburg the armies of Bragg and Smith, accompanied by a huge wagon train filled 
 with supplies, retreated leisurely southward into Tennessee."" Bragg's withdrawal from 
 Kentucky was a keen disappointment to the South, which had hoped that his campaign 
 into Kentucky would result in that State's joining the Confederacy. 98 
 
 In comparison to the number of men engaged and the proportionate number of losses, 
 the advantage at the close of the battle was in favor of the Confederates. The number 
 of Confederates engaged was 16,000, and they sustained a loss of 3,396." The Federals 
 had used only 22,000 of their 58,000 and had sustained a lost of 4,24 1 10 ° The com- 
 parison of casualties is significant when it is remembered that the Confederates were 
 the aggressors, it being true that the attacking army almost invariably loses the greater 
 number of men. Bragg had the selection of the ground and had made the most of it, 
 although his troops were obliged for the most part to charge up steep hills. The ra- 
 vines, with the possibilities of flanking movements which they afforded, were helpful 
 to him. The Confederate divisions, at the close of the battle, were neither disorganized 
 nor demoralized. 
 
 The Union divisions forming the left wing, under McCook, were badly cut up and 
 not fit for immediate service, a condition which delayed the moving of the Federal 
 army for five days — until the 13th of October. According to Buell's account of the 
 battle, all the Union force engaged had "a good number of new regiments."" 
 
 Although the leaders of the two armies in their reports agree as to the ferocity of 
 the battle, they differed radically as to the outcome. Buell in his report states that the 
 "enemy was everywhere repulsed, but not without some momentary advantage in the 
 left." 102 
 
 Bragg in his report says that "For the time engaged it was the severest and most 
 desperately contested engagement with my knowledge. Fearfully out-numbered, our 
 troops did not hesitate to engage at any odds, and though checked at times, they 
 eventualy carried every position and drove the enemy about two miles. But for the 
 intervention of night we should have completed the work." 103 
 
 The report of McCook expresses the opinion that the engagement was "the bloodiest 
 battle of modern times, for the number of troops engaged on our side, ... if there 
 ever were better soldiers than the old troops (Rousseau's) engaged, I have never seen 
 nor read of them." 104 
 
 Polk speaks of Cheatham's troops — those who had so badly crippled McCook — in 
 the most commendatory language, expressing the belief that the charge of Donelson's, 
 
 30— Vol. I 
 
452 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 Stewart's, and Maney's brigades was one of the most heroic and brilliant movements 0! 
 the War. "Considering the disparity of numbers of the troops engaged," he states in 
 his report, "the strength of the enemy position, the murderous character of the fire under 
 which they had to advance, the steadiness with which they endured the havoc which was 
 being made in their ranks, their knowledge that they were without any supporting force, 
 the firmness with which they moved upon the enemy's masses of infantry and artillery, 
 it will compare favorably with the most brilliant achievements of historic valor." 
 
 Bragg was bitterly assailed in the South for his failure to hold Kentucky. Buell not 
 only was the recipient of wholesale abuse in the North but was so far held responsible 
 for the Confederate armies' safe exit from Kentucky and he was relieved of his com- 
 mand. It was thought! by many in the South that Bragg did not wish to fight Buell; 
 many in the North believed that Buell did not desire to fight Bragg. Many strange 
 traditions have come of their beliefs. One story of long standing and accepted as true 
 by many is to the effect that the two generals were brothers-in-law; and another, widely 
 accepted in certain sections of Kentucky, is that Buell and Bragg, on the night pre- 
 ceding the battle, slept together at Harrodsburg. Otto A. Rothert, who has made a 
 study of the post-military life of Buell assures us in his History of Muhlenberg County 
 that the two generals were not related by marriage nor by blood and that they did not 
 sleep in the same bed the night before the Battle of Perryville. 
 
 On the day following the battle the frightened rural folk of Perryville and the Chap- 
 lin Hills country beheld a ghastly spectacle. At the beginning of the engagement they 
 had fled from its expected horrors, frantically taking refuge wheresoever safety seemed 
 likely. Returning after the battle most of them found their houses had been torn to 
 pieces, and that practically every house left standing was crowded with dead .and 
 wounded. They heard groans of pain and anguish rise from the throats of the 
 wounded. " They saw the physicians and surgeons who had been summoned from all 
 the surrounding towns wearily rendering aid and plying their work of amputating legs 
 and arms. ' A spectator who was at Perryville on that day thus recently recalled the 
 scene: "I can remember seeing Dr. J. P. Hughes of Springfield at the old Jordon 
 Peters home, in the yard under large trees, at a large table assisting in amputating 
 limbs, and my, what a pile of arms and legs."" But the most gruesome sight was seen 
 west of the town on the hills and in the ravines. A fallen army, the bodies twisted, 
 blood-stained and mangled, dotted the surface of that country-side. 
 
 The day following the battle most of the Union slain were buried along the Spring- 
 field Pike. Shortly thereafter they were disinterred and reburied, in the United States 
 Military Cemetery at Camp Nelson and some in the one at Lebanon. 
 
 The Confederate dead were left on the battle field. Three days after the conflict 
 a traveler passing through the field was shocked at seeing their bodies lying around 
 everywhere, twisted and blackened, "in pens from 8 to 19 in each. 110 Squire Henry P. 
 Bottom, owner of the Bottom house, who had searched the woods and ravines for Con- 
 federate dead placed them in piles. Those found, he examined for identifying marks 
 — names, mementoes, insignia, and the like — and carefully made notes of such findings 
 that might be of help to relatives in the identification of bodies. Squire Bottom dis- 
 covered that the largest number of Confederates had fallen near the fence here men- 
 tioned in connection with the charge of Cheatham's brigades. To this place Squire 
 Bottom, assisted by a few farm hands, brought all the other corpses which were found 
 and there dug two rows of pits, four pits on each side — the lines running east and 
 west — and provided for two lanes, one extending east and west between the rows and 
 the other north and south. In these pits more than three hundred Confederate dead 
 were buried. ' Later a rock wall was built around this burying ground and today the 
 small cemetery is further marked by a Confederate Monument, erected by the state of 
 Kentucky. 
 
Courtesy, Filson Club. 
 
 The Wharf at Louisville, r86 2 . General Wm. Nelson ordered women and children to leave the 
 
 city.— From a sketch by Mr. H. Mosler. 
 
454 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 The battle of Perryville was the largest battle ever fought in Kentucky, and from the 
 standpoint of the number engaged it was one of the bloodiest of the Civil War. Al- 
 though Bragg may be accorded a technical victory on his right wing, he was obliged 
 to retreat and withdraw from Kentucky after the close of the day's engagement. On 
 the other hand, although BuelPs left wing was badly cut up his men were ready and 
 expected to renew the fight the next morning. Bragg had withdrawn and Buell was 
 left holding the field. Neither side won, neither side was defeated. 
 
 ELECTIONS OF 1863 AND 1864 
 
 After Bragg retreated from the state, the Confederate armies were never again in 
 position to make a serious threat to wrest Kentucky from the Union. However, irrita- 
 tion with Federal authorities constantly mounted, causing loss of support to the Lincoln 
 administration of many loyal Union men. The citizens were angered by Lincoln's 
 Emancipation Proclamation, which went into effect January 1, 1863, although the 
 Proclamation freed no Kentucky slaves. They realized that it meant the beginning of 
 the end of the "peculiar institution." Arbitrary arrests continued, causing mounting 
 disgust upon the part of most good citizens. Trade restrictions and seizures became 
 more galling. Elections free from Federal interference were fast disappearing. Gue- 
 rilla bands composed of the dregs of human society roved over the state stealing, pill- 
 aging, killing almost at will, and Confederate sympathizers were blamed and punished 
 as the aiders and abettors of these derelicts. It would seem under these circumstances 
 that the generality would have swung toward joining the Confederacy. This idea, how- 
 ever, did not develop. The people never lost their attachment to the Union. But they 
 became more and more enraged against Federal authorities with the passing of each 
 month. By 1863, the state was in a sad plight indeed. The Republicans or "Radicals" 
 were so unpopular by mid-summer of that year that they stood not the slightest chance 
 of election to state offices. The gubernatorial campaign of that year was waged be- 
 tween the two wings of the Democrat Party — the Union Democrats and the "Peace" 
 Democrats. The gallant Union officer, Colonel Thomas E. Bramlette, defeated the 
 "Peace" Democrat candidate, Charles Wickliffe— 68,306 to 17,389 in the August 
 election of 1863. 
 
 Soon after his election, Bramlette came to an open break with Lincoln because of the 
 excesses of Federal Officials in the state. On September 3 he wrote the President: 
 "Extreme measures, by which they [the Military] sought to break the just pride and 
 subdue the free spirit of the people, and which would only have fitted them for enslave- 
 ment, have aroused the determined opposition to your re-election of at least three-fourths 
 of the people of Kentucky."" The most classic dispute of the day was between Lincoln 
 and Colonel Wolford, gallant old soldier who had been relieved of command and 
 arrested for criticising the Federal administration, arrested repeatedly — depending upon 
 the caprice of Federal authorities — or the influence Wolford was exerting upon the 
 people to vote the Democrat tickets. His eloquent voice and persuasive power were 
 everywhere in demand, and crowds listened for hours without tiring, drowning almost 
 his every sentence with thunderous applause. 1 ' 3 The Radical Federal military leaders of 
 the state, realizing with dismay his powerful effect on the hustings, determined to 
 silence him by means of arrests, and to base their charges on criticisms of the Federal 
 administration which would be made in the course of his speeches." 4 On Monday, June 
 27, following a speaking campaign in the Green River counties, he was arrested at 
 Lebanon, by order of General Stephen T. Burbridge, Military Head of Kentucky, and 
 sent under guard to Washington, D. C, for trial before the Judge Advocate. '" Soon 
 after reaching the Capital, however, he was ordered back to Louisville for trial, being 
 given a parole by President Lincoln before leaving Washington — a parole that merely 
 
H I S T O RY O F K E N T U C K Y 455 
 
 relieved him from being jailed. While waiting trial at Louisville Colonel Wolford re- 
 ceived from President Lincoln, through his Attorney General James Speed, another 
 parole under which all charges would be dismissed if he expressed no further opposition 
 to Negro enlistments. The old champion of Liberty under the Constitution, now real- 
 izing that the authorities had no intention of giving him a trial, refused to accept the 
 new parole upon such basis. His letter of refusal to President Lincoln contains, among 
 other things, a powerful defense of the Individual's Liberty under the Constitution. 
 A few lines from that letter as printed in some of the newspapers, are quoted here: 
 
 "I have frankly to say that I cannot bargain for my liberty and the exercise of my 
 rights as a freeman on any such terms. I have committed no crime. I have broken 
 no law of my country or of my State. I have not violated any military order or any 
 of the usages of war. . . . You, Mr. President, if you will excuse the bluntness of a 
 soldier, by an excess of arbitrary power, have caused me to be arrested and held in 
 confinement contrary to law — not for the good of our common country but to increase 
 the chances of your election to the Presidency. . . . You ask me to stultify myself by 
 signing a pledge whereby I shall virtually admit your right to arrest me, and virtually 
 support you in deterring other men from criticizing the policy of your administration. 
 . . . No, Sir, much as I love liberty, I shall fester in a prison or die on a gibbet, before 
 I will agree to any terms that will not abandon all charges against me and fully ac- 
 knowledge my innocence." 110 
 
 Receiving no reply to his animated letter, Wolford, after waiting in Louisville a few 
 days, decided that he was under no further obligation to Mr. Lincoln and again took 
 the stump in the interest of General McClellan's candidacy for the presidency. The 
 final arrest of Wolford was made at his home in Liberty a few days after the fact was 
 known that the Democrats had carried Kentucky over whelmingly. This final arrest 
 again was ordered by General Burbridge u and made by a squad of soldiers, who, with 
 great secrecy, spirited Wolford away to Covington, where he was incarcerated in a 
 filthy dungeon. 1 His friends could not learn where he was confined; nor was he per- 
 mitted to send his old friend, Josua F. Bell, a letter requesting legal aid. Finally, 
 United States Senator, Lazarus W. Powell, of Kentucky, introduced a resolution in 
 the Senate, calling upon the President to disclose the place of imprisonment, and to 
 give the reason for detention. w The result was that Colonel Wolford was released by 
 order of President Lincoln, who had not been aware that General Burbridge had or- 
 dered the arrest. 1 " And thus this controversy, caused by the violent passions engendered 
 by the War, came to a close. 
 
 The presidential election of 1864 approached with mounting bitterness in Kentucky 
 against the Lincoln administration. Wolford, Colcnel Richard Jacob, who was the 
 Lieutenant Governor, and Governor Bramlette became leaders of the opposition to the 
 Administration, and it was clear long before November that the Democrat candidate, 
 General George B. McClellan would carry the state against Lincoln. 
 
 The recognized head of the pro-Lincoln party was the brilliant Dr. Robert J. Breck- 
 inridge, to whom the President delegated much power in Kentucky. Some discussion 
 will here be devoted to his actions following his great and popular speeches made 
 during the early part of the war. 
 
 Dr. Breckinridge's popularity soon began to wane in Kentucky, mostly as a result 
 of the passage of harsh decrees and injuries committed by the Federal and state authori- 
 ties. Pictured as a dark, sinister figure of the cloth who, at midnight, with cut-throats 
 and brigands, hatched plots of fiendish cruelty against law-abiding citizens. Dr. Breck- 
 inridge was blamed by his enemies — and the people readily believed — for practically 
 every mistake which the Union men made, and he was accused of intrigues and cruel- 
 ties more diabolical than the wildest dreams of Cardinal Richelieu or of Catherine 
 de Medici. 
 
456 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 Undoubtedly the Union leaders committed numerous blunders, but most of their 
 actions seemed to them necessary for the cause. It is possible that their zeal clouded 
 their judgment. Early in 1862 they began supressing Southern sympathizers by means 
 of arrests, and, in fact, soon "jailed" any person who was in the least suspected of 
 having the slightest interest in the South. ~ Dr. Breckinridge was blamed for this. 
 Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation which went into effect, January 1, 1863, was 
 bitterly opposed by the majority of the people of Kentucky. Dr. Breckinridge in 
 supporting it was characterized as a traitor to his own people. 1 " Martial law became 
 more rigorous as the War progressed: freedom of speech and of the press, the right of 
 assembly and the right to the writ of habeas corpus were in many cases denied; soldiers 
 stood at the polls to prevent those of Southern sympathies from voting; prices of hogs 
 were fixed to the disadvantage of Kentucky stockraisers and to the advantage of un- 
 scrupulous profiteers; and the last straw, Negro slaves were enlisted in the Union 
 armies. 12 Dr. Breckinridge was blamed for all these ills, was characterized as a traitor 
 to Kentucky. " 4 Even his erstwhile friend, The Louisville Journal, became bitter in its 
 attacks upon him. In one of his pithy epigrams, George Prentice, the editor said: 
 "The abolitionists talk about r the venerable Dr. Breckinridge.' What makes him ven- 
 erable? His age? What's that compared with the Devil's?" 125 
 
 Although the harassed minister realized that mistakes had been made, he was re- 
 lentless and insatiable. He said that "when he heard men making a terrible fuss about 
 . . . acts* which were deemed necessary for the public good in the great day of our 
 country's trial, the conviction was forced upon his mind that the complaints were uttered 
 by rebels and rebel sympathizers." He counselled the officers about him never to relax 
 their efforts until the rebellion was crushed utterly. " 
 
 Dissatisfaction and unsettled conditions in the state led to changes in party allegiances. 
 The conservatives who comprised the vast majority of the people, began pulling away 
 from the Lincoln party of the state, which party was soon dubbed "Radicals." The 
 Southern Rights party, sensing the possibilities, wooed the dissatisfied conservatives with 
 great tact and skill, until the entire Democratic party of Kentucky was under its con- 
 trol. 127 Included in the conservative Democratic party was the largest number of out- 
 standing men of the state. Among its leaders were United States Senators, Garret 
 Davis and James Guthrie; the popular governor and erstwhile colonel of the Union army, 
 Thomas E. Bramlett; the two best known editors of the state. George D. Prentice 
 and D. C. Wickliffe; and the popular and persecuted former Colonels of the Union 
 army, Frank Wolford and Lieutenant Governor Richard T. Jacob. 
 
 Dr. Breckinridge realized that a shift in party allegiances was being effected, but he 
 was powerless to prevent it — Federal military rule in Kentucky had ridden too high a 
 horse. He and his associates, the "Radicals," therefore, formed in May, 1864, at a 
 convention held in Louisville, the Unconditional Union party, the chief tenets of which 
 were to crush the rebellion at whatever cost and to free the slaves. This party was 
 small in numbers, but it was composed of many prominent men, among whom were: 
 Generals Lovell H. Rousseau and Benjamin H. Bristow, the Ballards and the Speeds 
 of Louisville, the Goodloes, Burnams, and Smiths of Lexington and Richmond, the 
 Frys of Danville, the Morrows of Somerset, and the Hayses and the Whartons of 
 Springfield. At this convention Dr. Breckinridge was appointed a delegate to the 
 National Union Convention, to be held at Baltimore, in June, to renominate President 
 Lincoln. 
 
 The fame of the venerable "plumed knight of the cloth" had become so universal 
 in the North that he was selected temporary chairman of the Convention, a plan of 
 which he seems not to have known until he reached Baltimore. It appears certain that 
 President Lincoln personally wished Dr. Breckinridge as his running mate, instead of 
 Andrew Johnson. '" If such had developed — an interesting speculation — the Doctor 
 
458 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 would have become President. This Convention marked the flood-tide of his national 
 political popularity and power. Having fought a grim and losing battle in his own 
 state, where he had been abused, villified, maligned, slandered and despised for months, 
 this battle-scarred old hero must have felt a sense of exhilaration upon finding himself 
 the object of all eyes. Pleasant contrast. In Baltimore he was a magnet of admira- 
 tion, an attrahent of approbation, the Union's crusader nonpareil. 
 
 The leadership of the North was assembled; the convention hall was packed, even 
 the balconies overflowing. The announcement of Doctor Breckinridge's selection as 
 temporary chairman was made, and spontaneously vociferous applause broke forth, 
 becoming more pronounced as the Doctor quietly emerged from one of the wings 
 leading to the stage. He walked to the front and stood quietly waiting for the ovation 
 to subside. "Then in low, melodious tones with *every word dropping from his lips 
 like coins of gold' ... he began the delivery of probably the most remarkable ex- 
 temporaneous speech that ever fell upon the ears of a political gathering." 1 ' 
 
 Dr. Breckinridge spoke of the certainty of Lincoln's renomination, of the grandeur 
 of the occasion, and the necessity of giving the people a clear-cut, honest platform of 
 principles to which the party would adhere/ 52 The first and most distinct principle to 
 his mind was the saving of the Union and the vindication of the principle that no state 
 has the constitutional right to secede. Then straightening to his full height, fully con- 
 scious of the magnitude of what he was about to proclaim, he made these startling 
 statements: 
 
 "Dreadful as they are, this fearful truth runs through the whole history of mankind, 
 that whatever else may be done to give stability to authority, whatever else may be 
 done to perpetuate its institutions, however wise, however glorious, practical, and just 
 may be the philosophy of it, it has been found that the only enduring, only im- 
 perishable cement of all free institutions has been the blood of traitors. No Govern- 
 ment has ever been built upon imperishable foundations which foundations were net 
 laid in the blood of traitors. It is a fearful truth, but we had as well avow it at 
 once, and every blow you strike, and every rebel you kill, every battle you win, dread- 
 ful as it is to do it, you are adding, it may be a year, it may be ten years, it may be 
 a century, it may be ten centuries, to the life of the Government and freedom of your 
 children." 
 
 The audience was electrified and fascinated by this tall, extraordinary Southerner. 
 
 The peroration of the speech, considering the man and the occasion, was supremely 
 dramatic. His thoughts were turned to the situation in Kentucky: "We know very 
 well," spoke he in gripping tones, "that, in our present unhappy condition, it is by 
 no means certain that we are here today representing the party that will cast the 
 majority of votes in that unhappy State. I know very well that the sentiments I am 
 uttering will cause me great odium in the State in which I was born, which I love; 
 where the bones of two generations of my ancestors and some of my children are, 
 and where very soon I shall lay my own; I know very well that my colleagues will 
 incur odium if they endorse what I say, and they, too, know it. But we have to put 
 our faces toward the way in which we intend to go, and we will go it to the end. 
 If we are to perish . . . believe in your hearts that we have died like men." 
 
 After returning home, Dr. Breckinridge plunged into the campaign in an attempt 
 to carry Kentucky for President Lincoln, but the odds against which he fought were 
 overwhelming. During this campaign he was more viciously assailed than at any 
 time in his bitterly fought career. Lieutenant Governor Richard T. Jacob said of 
 him in an open letter: "Kentuckians well know the demoniac temper of this apostate 
 servant of the Almighty. ... By their fruit you shall know them: What is the fruit 
 of such men as Robert J. Breckinridge? A country desolated, and dripping with the 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 459 
 
 blood of her sons, universal and increasing discord, and all the fiery passions of an 
 infuriated people whipped and lashed into madness; yet, still insatiate, such men cry 
 for more, more blood." Dr. Breckinridge referred to Lieutenant Governor Jacob's 
 letter as "two or three columns of malignant and incoherent vulgarity." 
 
 In the month of October, 1864, the venerable minister was thrown from his horse 
 and seriously injured, and for a time his life was despaired of. This was not the 
 only misfortune; a storm of troubles beset his course during this critical fall; the in- 
 carceration of Dr. Steele and Robert J., Jr. by the Federals; the capture of Joseph by 
 the Confederates; Johnny's escapade. But it was the darkness before the dawn. 
 
 The old warrior managed to survive all these tragedies and near-tragedies. In a 
 short time he was propped on a pillow in his bedroom at Bradalbane, directing the state 
 campaign for the Unconditional Union party."' A small group of men met in his 
 room at Bradalbane frequently and clandestinely during this fall. These men were 
 dubbed "conspirators." Their meetings were usually at night; and one tradition has 
 it that they were shadowy, sinister figures — most of whom were not lower in rank than 
 judges and generals — who slipped in and out under the cloak of darkness. It was 
 whispered that these men, concealed by darkness, drunk with power, and emboldened 
 by the wildness of the times, assumed a Frankenstein thirst for horror and blood; that 
 guided by the pale, intelligent minister propped on the pillow, they conspired in forming 
 wicked plots, then vanished into the darkness, gave secret orders to obedient brigands 
 and then, safely ensconced in respectable homes, smugly waited to read the newspaper 
 accounts of arrests, threats, arsons, rapine, executions — all for the good of the Union 
 cause. '' Such was the belief of many of the citizens of Lexington during the fall of 
 1864. The campaign was a bitter one: Charge and counter-charge, percussion and 
 repercussion, crimination and recrimination; it was sustained frenzy to the bitter end. 
 But the people liked it; they would stand in the rain for hours listening to the bombast 
 and abuse. Yes, the people liked it! They revelled in it! 
 
 On election morning the old Doctor was carried from his bed to the polls. Lexington 
 was carried by Lincoln, but Kentucky voted overwhelmingly for McClellan. However, 
 the big fight was won — Lincoln was re-elected. 
 
 THE END OF THE WAR 
 
 The years 1864 and 1865 were terrible years in Kentucky. Perhaps no better short 
 description of conditions can be found than that in Smith's History of Kentucky, 
 pp. 652, 653. A paragraph is here quoted: 
 
 "In the earliest days of 1864, the natural fruitage of protracted civil war became 
 more cruelly and distressingly manifest than at any previous time. So intensely and 
 fiercely were the passions of men inflamed by constant criminations and recriminations, 
 by daily injuries and retaliations, and by tyrannous exactions and annoyances, that 
 even men in authority of good intentions and of ordinary humane impulses were be- 
 trayed into measures of injustice and wrong which themselves would not seek to justi- 
 fy on the return of sober reason. But far worse than all for the peace and safety and 
 good order of the people, there began to appear actively in the field organized bands 
 of armed, mounted "guerrillas," infesting and raiding the State in many directions. 
 The members of these bands of raiders were mainly men who had formerly given their 
 allegiance to the Confederate service; but under different pretext and from different 
 causes, had abandoned that service and defied the authority of the Government, and 
 lent themselves to the lives of marauders and freebooters. Apparently reckless of all 
 responsibility to the laws of Gcd or man, they gave themselves to an unrestrained 
 license of revengeful murder, of bold and daring robbery, and of deeds of violence 
 and outrage, which were without the pale of the laws of civilized warfare. Men in 
 
460 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 Federal uniforms, whether paroled and unarmed prisoners, sick and wounded in hos- 
 pitals, or with or without means of defense, were massacred in cold blood wherever 
 opportunity offered. Banks, railroad trains, public depositories and stores were robbed, 
 and outrages marked everywhere the frequent paths of these flying troopers, who 
 scudded from one retreat to another like phantom scourges. These bands were made 
 up of a strange medley of characters. Here, one had become a desperado, devoting 
 his life to revenge for an outrage by some military enemy upon mother or wife or 
 sister. Another, in fierce wrath, had declared undying war for the wanton murder, by 
 armed violence, of a father or brother. Yet another, because his house and property 
 had vanished in smoke and ashes in the destroying track of an opposing army, had 
 sworn to reimburse or revenge himself on guilty or innocent. These cruel wrongs are 
 but the incidents of war, which even the best men in authority are unable to avert; 
 so this outgrowth of desperate character is the exceptional result of war, which good 
 men and good government can not repress or be responsible for." 
 
 The end of the war found Kentucky desolate, divided, confused, pauperized and 
 unhappy. Armies had marched and counter-marched over her territory, until little 
 moveable property of value in many sections remained. Foodstuffs and livestock were 
 particularly scarce. Much immovable property had been destroyed. Crops and fields 
 had been neglected. Business had been ruined and abandoned. Money was unequally 
 distributed, many war profiteers having become immensely wealthy and therefore promi- 
 nent, many thousands having been ruined by the war. Many homes and farms had 
 been abandoned altogether. The state had furnished approximately 120,000 men to 
 the Federal armies and 60,000 to the Confederate armies; thousands of these did not 
 return. The country was flooded with scoundrels, who, claiming to be loyal Union 
 men, caused the punishment and confiscation of property of those whom they despised 
 or whose property they coveted. Guerrillas, the vilest most despicable set of vultures 
 our society has produced, galloped at will over the countrysides, robbing banks, stores, 
 stables, pillaging, raping, murdering — and the wretched, unhappy Confederate sympa- 
 thizers were accused of encouraging these. Hungry, fatigued, miserable ex-Confederate 
 soldiers trudging home to be with their loved ones, were pounced upon whenever caught. 
 So glaring were the excesses that the generality grew to sympathize with the ex-Con- 
 federates and to despise Union officials and Republicans in general. Two things were 
 certain: A generation or more would be required to rehabilitate the state economically 
 and emotionally. The Democrat Party would rule the state for many years to come. 
 One ameliorative influence was the repeal of the expatriation laws. Much of the credit 
 for repeal of this despised legislation was due to the noble work of Wolford, whose 
 part in the affair is here described at length. 
 
 "The Legislature convened at Frankfort early in December, 1865, and the Repre- 
 sentatives immediately turned their attention to the question of amnesty. During the 
 War an excited and punitive Legislature had passed a series of measures known as 
 Expatriation Laws, which deprived Kentucky soldiers in the Confederate army and 
 navy of their State citizenship. These Kentuckians had returned to their native state 
 during the summer of 1865 to find that they, politically, were outcasts. Amnesty in 
 Kentucky, therefore, would mean repealing the Expatriation Laws. 
 
 "Perhaps the most colorful description of the occasion of the voting to repeal these 
 measures in the State Legislature is found in a speech by the Honorable Thomas B. 
 Hill in January, 1882. That address, because it deals principally with the activities of 
 Colonel Wolford, is here freely paraphrased and quoted: 
 
 "Robert Davis, Representative from Bourbon County, the young son of United 
 States Senator Garret Davis, had brought forward the bill to repeal the Expatriation 
 Laws. This bill was opposed in a powerful address by the leader of the House, who 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 461 
 
 was justly regarded as one of the finest orators of his day. It was thought that a 
 majority in the Legislature was opposed to repeal, and trepidation and fear hung like 
 a cloud over the proudest homes of Kentucky. It was known, however, that Wolford 
 favored Davis' bill and that he would make the closing argument; it was known that 
 the most splendid soldier that Kentucky had furnished to the Union cause would speak 
 for the men whom he had so often faced in the 'perilous edge of battle.' and at whose 
 hands he had received the honorable and unhealed wounds he still bore on his person. 
 
 "The day came; it was bitter cold. The Representative chamber was filled from base 
 to dome. It was a notable audience, the equal of which Kentucky has seldom known. 
 The proudest homes of the Commonwealth were there represented. The proudest of 
 her matrons, whose sons were outcasts, the most beautiful of her maidens, whose 
 brothers and sweethearts were under the ban of that law, were there in the full radiance 
 of that beauty which not even the rigors of that day could diminish. Sons of Clay, of 
 Crittenden, of Marshall, of Breckinridge — names that had carried the fame of Ken- 
 tucky around the world as the home of eloquence, of courage, of genius — were there, 
 all anxious, silent, foreboding. In the midst of that audience sat the rugged form of 
 Wolford. All eyes were turned on him. He arose in his place, and supporting himself 
 by his desk, he began his oration. His theme was somewhat as follows: 
 
 "The Southern soldiers were the children of Kentucky — the common mother of us 
 all — they were his brothers; they were entitled, not by grace, but by heritage and by 
 right, to every privilege which he enjoyed. 
 
 "For hours he dwelt upon this grand theme. For hours he thrilled and swayed the 
 bosoms of that audience as the storm-king sways the bosom of the ocean. It was in- 
 deed a storm in which the Speaker's gavel and threats of clearing the hall were un- 
 noticed and unheard. It was, in truth, a whirlwind of eloquence and patriotism, which 
 again and again swept to their feet that vast audience in a tempest of plaudits and 
 tears, and which swept forever from the statute books every vestige of the laws which 
 had restricted the rights or stigmatized the honor of the Southern Kentucky Soldier. 
 . . . From that day to this there has been no bad blood between the Federal and the 
 Southern Soldier of Kentucky."" 1 ' 
 
 This is perhaps an appropriate place to bring down the curtain upon the tragic drama 
 of the War Between the States. 
 
 FOOTNOTES FOR CHAPTER XV 
 
 Muzzey, The American Adventure, I, 527. 
 
 "Connelley and Coulter, History of Kentucky, II, 852. 
 
 'Ibid., II, 855. Ibid., II, 856. 'Ibid., II, 858. Tbid., II, 887. "Ibid., II, 891. 
 
 "Ibid., II, 856. "Ibid., II, 854. "Ibid., II, 886. "Ibid., II, 888. V1 lbid., II, 891. 
 
 "Collins, op.cit., I, 104. 
 
 "Tarrant, page 83. The Union force which attacked General Morgan at Lebanon, 
 Tennessee, consisted of detachments of three regiments under the command of Briga- 
 dier General Ebenezer Dumont. These detachments were from the First Kentucky 
 under Colonel Frank Wolford; the Seventh Pennsylvania under Major John Wynkoop, 
 and the Fourth Kentucky under Colonel Green Clay Smith. 
 
 'Duke, Morgan s Cavalry, p. 160. Tarrant, First Kentucky Cavalry, p. 84. 
 
 "The Louisville Daily Journal, May 14, 1862, an article by Kirkwood. 
 
 'Tarrant, First Kentucky Cavalry, p. 85. 
 
 "Ibid., p. 87. 
 Duke, Morgan's Cavalry, p. 161. 
 
 " Tarrant, First Kentucky Cavalry, p. 88. 
 
462 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 21 Howard Swiggett, The Rebel Raider — a life of General John H. Morgan (The 
 Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis, Indiana, 341 pages, 1934), p. 56. 
 
 "Judge Herschel C. Baker, in the Adair County News, issue of September 25, 1918, 
 tells this story relative to the friendliness between Morgan and Wolford: The two 
 cavalry leaders were raiding and scouting in Southern Kentucky, along the Cumberland 
 River. A number of Colonel Wolford's men had been captured by General Morgan's 
 troopers. It so happened that Morgan did not wish to be encumbered by the prisoners, 
 but was in dire need of salt. Wolford needed all of his soldiers, but had an abundance 
 of salt. A trade was agreed upon, salt for soldiers. 
 
 2 Tarrant, First Kentucky Cavalry, p. 174. 
 
 " Lexington Observer and Reporter, April 6, 1864. In this issue is quoted an article 
 from The Louisville Daily Journal, written by Kirkwood. It describes a council of 
 war held by General Morgan and his officers as they approached Cincinnati in July, 
 1863. Kirkwood states: "A pause follows the daring proposition [to set fire to Cin- 
 cinnati if safe passage is not guaranteed across the Ohio River}. General Morgan 
 breaks the stillness by saying: T)-n me, it won't do! I know Wolford too well. We 
 halted at Lebanon, Tennessee, and he charged into our columns at day break and 
 killed, wounded, and captured nearly all my men. He will be on us again before we 
 can burn the city or cross the Ohio, and we must push forward at once and avoid all 
 obstruction in front.' ' : Kirkwood states that General Morgan's squadron feared 
 Colonel Wolford more than any other of its pursuers. 
 
 "Tarrant, First Kentucky Cavalry, pp. 181-188. Duke, Morgans Cavalry, pp. 252- 
 254. 
 
 " Duke, Morgan s Cavalry, p. 457. 
 
 "Tarrant, First Kentucky Cavalry, pp. 187, 188. When General Morgan surrendered 
 his horse and sword, he, by request, handed them over to Colonel Wolford. 
 
 " Swiggett, Rebel Raider, p. 152. 
 
 "Don Carlos Seitz: Braxton Bragg, General of the Confederacy. 544 pp. Columbia, 
 S.C., 1924, p. 160. 
 
 30 Seitz, Braxton Bragg, pp. 179, 190. 
 
 'Ellis M. Coulter, The Civil War and Readjustment of Kentucky. 468 pp. Chapel 
 Hill, N. C, 1926. p. 146 et seq. 
 
 Miss Lizzie Hardin, a young lady of Harrodsburg, Kentucky, kept a diary, during 
 the Civil War. That she and her friends were disgusted with Federal control of Ken- 
 tucky in 1862, one who reads her spirited comments can have little doubt. Previous to 
 Bragg's invasion of Kentucky she wrote: "Tell the Southern soldiers, for Heaven's 
 sake to come and deliver the women and children of Kentucky." Miss Hardin's diary 
 is preserved at The Mansion Museum, in Pioneer Memorial State Park, Harrodsburg. 
 
 Ai Bat ties and Leaders of the Civil War. 4 Vols. The Century Co., New York, 1884- 
 1888. Pp. 1-61 of Vol. 3 are devoted to the Battle of Perryville; five papers by Joseph 
 Wheeler, Basil W. Duke, Don Carlos Buell, Charles C. Gilbert, and J. Montgomery 
 Wright. See p. 46. See also Seitz Braxton Bragg, p. 166. 
 
 "Basil W. Duke, History of Morgans Cavalry, 478 pp. Cincinnati, 1867, p. 190 
 et seq. See also Collins, History of Kentucky, Vol. 1, p. 104. 
 
 ""Battles and Leaders, Vol 3, pp. 17, 18. 
 
 "Richard H. Collins, History of Kentucky, 2 Vols. Covington, also Louisville, 1874, 
 and later reprints. Vol. 1, p. 111. 
 
 "''Battles and Leaders, Vol. 3, p. 19. 
 
 "Bragg, on September 19, in discussing his plans with his aide Colonel David Urqua- 
 hart made the statement that the "campaign must be won by marching, not by fighting." 
 Seitz, Braxton Bragg, p. 178. 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 463 
 
 3S Battles and Leaders, Vol. 3, p. 7. 
 
 "Battles and Leaders, Vol. 3, p. 8. 
 "Buell was an excellent organizer and disciplinarian. He utterly disregarded poli- 
 ics. A friend of McClelland to whom he owed his first important assignment, he was 
 charged with being opposed to the administration. His reserve and studious character 
 emphasized this belief, and led to the difficulties of the Kentucky campaigns not being 
 rightly estimated. His campaigns showed no military genius, but they were as good 
 as those of other generals in the West. The early departure of Buell from military life 
 prevented the development of what might have been a general. Grant evidently thought 
 so, and he was probably correct. Buell was of medium stature, wore a full beard, and 
 had a stern, determined appearance. His wife [widow of Richard Barns Mason] was 
 Margaret (Hunter) Mason of Mobile." Dictionary of American Biography, Vol. 3, 
 p. 242, based on Courier-Journal, Louisville, September 4 and November 20, 1898. 
 
 ^Battles and Leaders, Vol. 3, p. 42. 
 
 "Seitz, Braxton Bragg, p. 179. 
 
 "Battles and Leaders, Vol. 3, pp. 8-10. 
 
 44 John Camden Ropes, The Story of the Civil War. 2 Vols., 749 pp. New York, 
 1894. Vol. 2, p. 403. 
 
 4 "The War of the Rebellion. A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union 
 and Confederate Armies. 128 Vols. Published by the United States Government, 
 1880-1901. The only book cited in the course of this paper is Part 2, of Vol. 11, 
 Series 1. Footnote 17 cites p. 367. 
 
 'Seitz, Braxton Bragg, p. 174. 
 Seitz, Braxton Bragg, p. 190. 
 
 4& It seems that Bragg could have called Smith from Lexington and the two Confed- 
 erate armies could have struck Buell near Munfordville before the arrival of General 
 George H. Thomas, who was marching from Nashville far in BuelPs rear with a Union 
 corps, a third of BuelPs army. Buell was vulnerable until he reached Louisville. In 
 fact the Union army after leaving Louisville on its march toward Perryville was vul- 
 lerable, because it was scattered along three roads. A rapid-moving Confederate army, 
 with a leader of the caliber of "Stonewall" Jackson, probably could have taken Buell's 
 forces in detail. 
 
 4 'From a biographical sketch of General Bragg this concise description of the man 
 is quoted: "Tall, bearded, and ungainly, he was intelligent and energetic and had a 
 stern sense of duty. Irritable and quarrelsome, he made many enemies. This prevented 
 him from securing that loyalty from subordinates which military commanders need. 
 Confederates had in the West no organizer to equal him. Bragg's greatest military 
 fault was in not following up his successes. His victories were fruitless." Dictionary 
 of American Biography, edited by Allen Johnson, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 
 1929. Vol. II, p. 587. 
 
 J General Charles C. Gilbert had been assigned to this corps immediately before 
 Buell's army set out from Louisville. It was the old corps of General William Nelson, 
 who on September 20 had been fatally shot by General Jefferson C. Davis during an 
 altercation in the lobby of The Gait House, Louisville. See Buell's account, Battles 
 and Leaders, Vol. 3, p. 43. 
 
 "James B. Fry, Operations of The Army Under Buell, From June 10 to October 30, 
 1862, Under the Buell Commission. 201 pp. New York, 1884, p. 57. 
 
 "Bragg wrote to Polk: "With Smith in front and our gallant army on the flank, I 
 see no hope for Buell, if he is rash enough to come out. I only fear it is not true." 
 Fry, The Army Under Buell, p. 57. 
 
 "'On October 4, Bragg wrote to Polk: "Keep the men in heart by assuring them it 
 
464 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 is not a retreat but a concentration for a fight. We can and must defeat them." Fry, 
 The Army Under Buell, p. 58. 
 
 o4 Hardee wrote to Bragg: "Permit me, from the friendly relations so long existing 
 between us, to write plainly. Do not scatter your forces. There is one rule in our 
 profession which should never be forgotten; it is to throw the masses of your troops on 
 the fractions of the enemy. The move last proposed will divide your army and each 
 may be defeated, whereas by keeping them united success is certain. . . . Strike with 
 your whole strength first to the right, then to the left. I could not sleep quietly to-night 
 without giving expression to these views." Seitz, Braxton Bragg, pp. 192, 193. 
 
 ""Battles and Leaders, Vol. 3, p. 14. 
 
 ° Seitz, Braxton Bragg, p. 191. 
 
 "General McCook had moved by way of Bloomfield toward Mackville, which route 
 is north of Bardstown and Springfield; Crittenden and Thomas marched by way of 
 Lebanon. Gilbert, who moved over the shortest route to Perryville from Bardstown, 
 was far in advance of the other two corps commanders. Polk's army, with the ex- 
 ception of a detachment of cavalry, moved directly over the Springfield Road to Perry- 
 ville, that pike being better than either the Lebanon-Springfield or the Springfield- 
 Mackville roads. 
 
 ° Weather conditions impeded the march of both armies. It was hot and the entire 
 State was in the throes of an almost unprecedented drought. Dust lay on the roads 
 two inches deep; there was no grass; and water in quantities great enough to supply 
 armies was very difficult to find. In fact, army movements throughout the campaign 
 had been determined by availability of water supply. The soldiers of both armies, re- 
 gardless of color of uniform, were gray with dust, and their fatigue, because of long 
 marching and intense heat, was quite over-powering. There is a tradition to the effect 
 that at Springfield Federal soldiers, after having drunk all the water left in the wells 
 by the Confederate troops, drank tubs of water, which, at one home, was colored by 
 bluing and dirty from the washing of soiled clothes. 
 
 "Battles and Leaders, Vol. 3, p. 14. 
 
 '"Lexington Observer and Reporter, in its issue of Saturday, October 25, 1862, printed 
 an article from the Cincinnati Gazette, which analyzes the probable motives of Bragg 
 in ordering battle at Perryville. A part of that exposition is here quoted: "His 
 (Bragg's) motive was simply to destroy the advance divisions of our (the Union) 
 army, without suffering much loss himself, and then, availing himself of the confusion 
 and delay which must necessarily ensue, leisurely continue retreat, which would have 
 inflicted severe loss on us and given great moral strength to his army." 
 
 "Battles and Leaders, Vol. 3, p. 52. 
 
 '"Early in the morning of the 8th the Confederates attempted to retake the lost ground 
 but were repulsed. Following this encounter, desultory cannonading continued from 
 both lines until it merged into the battle. BuelPs account in Battles and Leaders, 
 Vol. 3, p. 47. 
 
 General Crittenden, with whose corps General Thomas was traveling, testified before 
 the Buell Commission that his leading division was in line of battle between 11 A. M. 
 and 12 of October 8th. His line, however, was formed on the Lebanon Pike about 
 three miles from the battlefield. Soon after Bragg's invasion of Kentucky a com- 
 mission was appointed by the Federal military authorities to investigate why Bragg was 
 able to escape from Kentucky with his army and huge supply train without a decisive 
 engagement. A complete record of the hearings before the Commission appears in 
 Fry's Operations of The Army Under Buell. 
 
 "'General Bragg used for his headquarters the famous old Crawford home, on the 
 Harrodsburg Pike, on the crest of a low hill about two miles from Perryville. Near 
 
H I S T O RY O F K E N T U C K Y 465 
 
 this house is the equally famous Crawford Spring, which supplied a large portion of 
 the Confederate army during its stay near Perryville. Contrary to traditions in that 
 locality there was no fighting near that spring. See also Official Records, pp. 580, 581. 
 At a meeting of the Confederate generals, at daybreak of the 8th, a defensive- 
 offensive plan of battle was adopted. That plan was changed, however, by Bragg when 
 he came on the field. 
 
 Seitz, Braxton Bragg, p. 196. 
 
 "Official Records, Hardee's report, p. 1120. 
 The moving troops seen by Bragg were those of McCook's, arriving and taking 
 positions to the left of Gilbert. 
 
 ""Official Records,?. 1110. 
 Official Records, Hardee's report, p. 1121. 
 
 'Official Records. For full title of this work see footnote 45. This footnote 71 
 cites p. 1072 et seq. 
 
 "Had Bragg's orders to attack, presumably early in the morning, been carried out, 
 Buell would have been caught with only one corps on hand, and that one, for the most 
 part, poorly posted. There is a possibility that the single Union corps under Gilbert, 
 had the Confederate assault been made during the early morning hours, would have 
 been cut to> pieces. 
 
 'This reconnaissance was not only for purposes of observation but also for water. 
 McCook's soldiers had marched rapidly through the dust and heat without water, and 
 long before noon they were almost desperate. 
 
 ' 4 Only two of McCook's three divisions were present: those of General James S. 
 Jackson, former Kentucky Congressman, and of General Lovell H. Rousseau, also a 
 prominent Kentuckian; the third, that of Brigadier-General J. W. Sill, had been de- 
 tached at Louisville to move toward Frankfort. Sill rejoined his corps near Perryville 
 three days later after the Battle. His own men had been engaged, during the day of 
 the battle at Perryville, in a sharp skirmish with a portion of Kirby Smith's troops at 
 Lawrenceburg. 
 
 ^Official Records, p. 1039. 
 
 '''Battles and Leaders, Vol. 3, p. 47. Also Louisville Journal, October 11, 1862. 
 
 "Battles and Leaders, Vol. 3, p. 47. 
 
 'Manuscript notes of Squire Sam D. Button in possession of his daughter, Mrs. J. 
 O. Van Arsdale, Perryville, Kentucky. 
 
 "Official Records, George C. Porter's report, p. 1115. 
 Official Records, George C. Porter's report, p. 1115. 
 
 An interesting account of Cheatham's charge as seen from the Union position is 
 carried in the Louisville Journal, October 11, 1862, part of which is here quoted: "As 
 the whole line came simultaneously into view it was a most magnificent sight. The 
 troops moved in magnificent style, and when the order came the skirmishers deployed 
 as if on dress parade. They rushed forward from the line, spreading as beautifully 
 as a fan in the hand of a practised coquette. As from the nest a covey of quails flies 
 spreading over the field, so did the beautifully drilled troops of the rebels deploy from 
 the lines as skirmishers. With desperate fury the front fell upon Terrill and drove him 
 from the field." 
 
 ^'Louisville Journal, October 11, 1862. 
 
 'Shortly after the death of General James S. Jackson orders were issued by General 
 McCook to Colonel George Webster, of Jackson's division, to move to strengthen 
 Jackson's right and Rousseau's left flank. While enroute Colonel George Webster was 
 mortally wounded. On the night before the battle, Jackson, Terrill, and Webster in 
 chatting around the camp-fire discussed the possibility of being struck in battle. "Their 
 
466 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 opinion was that men would never be frightened if they considered the doctrine of 
 probabilities and how slight the chance was of any particular person being killed. 
 Theory failed, as it has often done before: all three were killed in the next day's 
 fight." Battles and Leaders, Vol. 3, p. 57. 
 
 ^Battles and Leaders, Vol. 3, p. 61. 
 
 "Official Records. William P. Anderson's report, p. 1063. 
 
 'The Rebellion Record, A Diary of American Events, with Documents, etc. Edited 
 by Frank Moore. 12 Vols. New York, 1862-1868. Vol. 5, p. 508. 
 
 'Battles and Leaders, Charles C. Gilbert's account, Vol. 3, p. 57. 
 Battles and Leaders, Vol. 3, p. 58. 
 
 ""Official Records, p. 1126. 
 
 & °Major J. Montgomery Wright, Assistant Adjutant-General, U.S.V., who came 
 upon this part of the field as Rousseau's men were moving back, has given us an 
 interesting picture. He wrote: "Waiting for news to carry back, I saw and heard 
 some of the unhappy occurrences of Perryville. I saw young Forman, with the rem- 
 nant of his company of the 15th Kentucky regiment, withdrawn to make way for the 
 reenforcements, and as they silently passed me they seemed to stagger and reel like 
 men who had been beating against a great storm. Forman had the colors in his hand, 
 and he and several of his little group of men had their hands upon their chests and 
 their lips apart as though they had difficulty in breathing. They filed into a field, and 
 without thought of shot or shell they lay on the ground apparently in a state of ex- 
 haustion." Colonel Curran Pope, commander of the 15th Kentucky, earlier in the 
 struggle had received a mortal wound and Major George B. Jouett was killed. The 
 flag, rescued by the brave Forman, was a gift from the ladies of Louisville. Battles 
 and Leaders, p. 61. 
 
 The 15th Kentucky had been fighting near the barn which was burned. The soldiers 
 of this regiment were entirely exposed to the murderous fire from the Confederate bat- 
 tery, and shortly after the barn began to burn Colonel Pope was struck by a piece of 
 shell, the wound from which resulted in his death a few days later. Some of the fiercest 
 fighting along this hill was between Kentuckians. Louisville Evening Post, July 14, 
 1896 
 
 "Official Records, p. 1077. 
 
 "'Official Records, p. 1082. 
 
 '"Official Records, p. 1080. 
 
 "Rebellion Record, A. McD. McCook's report, Vol. 5. p. 508. 
 
 "Official Records, p. 1075. 
 
 "Official Records, Leonidas Polk's report, p. 1109. 
 
 "Seitz, Braxton Bragg, p. 199. 
 
 'Lexington Observer and Reporter, October 25, 1862. 
 
 ""Official Records, p. 1112. 
 
 "'Official Records, p. 1036. 
 
 ""Battles and Leaders, Vol. 3, p. 48. 
 
 '"Official Records, p. 1023. 
 
 ""Official Records, p. 1087. 
 
 '"Rebellion Record, Vol. 5, p. 509. 
 
 "'Official Records, p. 1111. 
 
 '"'The scene at Perryville following the battle was described to the writer by the late 
 Mr. Wallace Greene. We had a delightful conversation at Perryville during the summer 
 of 1930. Mr. Greene operated a small apothecary's shop during the Civil War, and 
 in 1930, quaint, quick-minded Mr. Greene still operated the quaint little shop in 
 Perryville. 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 467 
 
 The people of Harrodsburg during the day of the battle had sent every means of 
 conveyance possible for ambulance use to the scene of the conflict, and most of the 
 Confederate wounded, at least those who were in condition to be moved, were taken 
 to Harrodsburg. There the homes, churches, and hotels were converted into hospitals; 
 sympathetic matrons and girls of the neighborhood served as nurses. Operations on a 
 large scale were necessary, many of which were performed on the second floor in the 
 ball-room of the Graham Springs or old Harrodsburg Springs Hotel. According to 
 one authority, long before the morning of the 9th dawned, a huge heap of arms and 
 legs pyramided from the ground to a level with the balcony leading from the ball-room. 
 Maria T. Daveiss, History of Mercer and Boyle Counties, 1924, p. 106. 
 
 '""Letter of Mr. Dabney C. Hughes to the Springfield Sun, Springfield, Kentucky, 
 January 17, 1935. 
 
 1 A Union soldier has left a description of the scene about the Bottom house: "The 
 yard was full of wounded men, lying in rows covered up with blankets, shrieking with 
 pain, and some lying there were dead. Close to the house was the body of a rebel 
 major, in a corner of the fence. His face was covered. He was neatly dressed in gray 
 cloth. At a short distance to the left was another house used for the same purpose, 
 the yard of which was filled with dead laid in rows. Close to the fence were piles of 
 arms and legs. It was a ghastly sight to look upon. Most of the dead were black in 
 the face, which caused them to look more frightful." George W. Morris, History of 
 The Eighty-First Regiment of Indiana Volunteer Infantry, 200 pp. The Franklin 
 Printing Company, Louisville, Kentucky, 1901, p. 17. 
 Daveiss, op.cit., p. 107. 
 
 Collins, History of Kentucky, Vol. 1, p. 114. 
 
 Among the papers left by Squire R. B. Bottom, the writer found an old-fashioned 
 brown leather-backed note-book, pocket size, which had been kept by Squire Henry 
 P. Bottom and later preserved by his son R. B. Bottom. In it Squire H. P. Bottom 
 noted the number of Confederate soldiers he found, the places where their corpses 
 were located, and the descriptions of the items found on their bodies. The note-book 
 contains a list of numbers, one of which was assigned to each corpse. It also presents 
 a chart of the burying ground and lists the numbers representing the corpses assigned 
 to each pit. 
 
 Many interesting stories having to do with the battle and the burial were related to 
 the writer by Mr. and Mrs. J. O. Van Arsdale, son-in-law and daughter of Squire R. 
 B. Bottom. The Van Arsdales reside (February, 1935) on the battle field, a few rods 
 above and to the right of the Bottom house. 
 
 1 "Connelley and Coulter, History of Kentucky, II, 898. 
 
 lu Lexington Observer and Reporter, April 6, 1864; also April 13 and 23, 1864. 
 Also, The Louisville Daily Journal, October 3 and 7, 1864. In an interview with 
 Mr. George Stone, at Danville, August 22, 1864, this venerable and interesting gentle- 
 man related a rare anecdote relative to Colonel Wolford's "long-windedness." The 
 gist of the story is to this effect: When a young man, in 1864, Mr. Stone attended a 
 "Wolford speaking" at Somerset, Kentucky. The occasion was an all-day combination 
 politics-picnic affair. The ladies of the neighborhood brought baskets filled with coun- 
 try provisions to satisfy the hunger of the throng, and the gentlemen brought bottles 
 and jugs of beverages to quench any thirst which might arise. Colonel Wolford 
 mounted the platform about ten o'clock in the morning and began his speech. At 
 noon he halted the address that the people might appease their appetites. Toward two 
 in the afternoon, the loquacious and eloquent Wolford continued his speech, amid 
 rapturous applause. Mr. Stone said that when the sun was dipping to meet the western 
 horizon he, although facinated by the masterly address, was obliged to leave the en- 
 
 31— Vol. I 
 
468 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 rapt throng, who did not appear, in the least, to have grown weary during the hours 
 of spellbinding oratory. 
 
 n4 The Louisville Daily Journal, October 1, 1864. Colonel Wolford, exasperated 
 by the actions of the Union leaders of the State, wrote in this issue: "If they do 
 not intend to give me a trial, I hope, for the sake of common decency, if not for the 
 sake of justice, that they will let me alone." 
 
 "Tbid., Friday, September 16, 1864. 
 Ibid., Friday, September 16, and October 1, 1864. Also Lexington Observer and 
 Reporter, September 21, 1864. 
 
 It appears likely that Woiford's Lincoln correspondence is among the Lincoln papers 
 presented to The Library of Congress by Robert Lincoln. These manuscripts, as re- 
 quested by the donor, are not to be open for public perusal until about 1945 and 
 therefore I am unable to quote from the original documents. 
 
 In an open letter written by Lieutenant Governor Richard T. Jacob to the Reverend 
 Dr. Robert J. Breckinridge and published in The Louisville Daily Journal, November 
 3, 1864, Lieutenant Governor Jacob accuses Dr. Breckinridge of inspiring the arrests 
 of Colonel Wolford. The following is an excerpt from that letter: "You (Dr. Breck- 
 inridge) in common with a few other blood-thirsty but cowardly Jacobins, hounded 
 on the military to arrest Colonel Wolford and myself. No, Sir, it was not your fault 
 that arrests were delayed. Colonel Wolford was arrested! The noble old patriot who 
 is worth ten times ten million such men as you!" Lieutenant Governor Jacob's pen does 
 not become less vitriolic as the letter continues. 
 
 u *The War of The Rebellion, A Compilation of The Official Records of The Union 
 and Confederate Armies, published by the Government Printing Office, Washington, 
 1898. The reference here is to Series I, Vol. 39, Part 3, p. 726. 
 
 1Vi Adair County News, June 20, 1906. 
 
 ^Official Records, Series I, Vol. 45, Part 1, p. 994. 
 
 "Coulter, pp. 148-156. 
 'Louisville Daily Journal, August 4, 1864. 
 
 "'Coulter, pp. 197-156. 
 
 " Dr. Breckinridge, although he may not have changed his conviction, altered his 
 position on slavery sharply during the War. In March, 1861, he held that there should 
 be no argument relative to slavery except as it applied to the territories, because the 
 states have complete jurisdiction within their domains over slavery. He stated that 
 the Constitution recognizes slavery, and that the Federal laws concerning it should be 
 obeyed. Dr. Breckinridge contended that slavery was a part of nature's law, that it 
 is in God's plan, that all history records it. It was his belief that the "solution of 
 the sad problem ... is not revolution . . . but the wise and temperate amelioration of 
 existing institutions, under the influence of the love of God." — Louisville Journal, 
 March 6, 1861. 
 
 In a speech delivered at Louisville in May, 1864, Dr. Breckinridge declared that he 
 had been an emancipationist all his life, favoring gradual emancipation and the estab- 
 lishment of a free state in Africa by the colonization of Negroes from the United 
 States. He further stated that the whole power of the Government should be used 
 "to extinguish the institution of slavery, root and branch," but that it should be done 
 by Constitutional amendment and that public lands should be used to compensate the 
 owners of the slaves — The Tri-Weekly Commonwealth, June 1, 1864. 
 
 A few weeks later, speaking at the Baltimore Convention, Dr. Breckinridge said 
 concerning slavery: "I join myself with those who say *away with it forever,' and I 
 fervently pray God that the day may come when throughout the whole land every man 
 may be as free as you are, and as capable of enjoying regulated liberty." — The Tri- 
 Weekly Commonwealth, June 24, 1864. 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 469 
 
 The editor of the Louisville Daily Journal in commenting upon Dr. Breckinridge's 
 position on slavery, said: "A correspondent asks whether it is possible that Dr. Breckin- 
 ridge goes all lengths upon the radical questions. All lengths? Yes, and he probably 
 weeps like ^Macedonia's Madman,' that there are no other lengths for him to go. 
 He never willingly let himself be outdone in anything he undertook, and it isn't likely 
 he is going at this time of the day to let himself be out-niggered." 
 
 12> Louisville Daily Journal, October 26, 1864. 
 
 ™'The Tri-Weekly Commonwealth, June 1, 1864. Also: 
 
 In a speech at Lexington, September 12, 1864, Dr. Breckinridge said: "When Simon 
 de Montfort was slaughtering the Protestants in the South of France, he was appealed 
 to by certain persons, declaring that his men were mistaken, that they were killing 
 many who were good Catholics. To which he replied: 'Kill them all; God knows his 
 own.' And this is the way we should deal with these fellows; treat them all alike, 
 and if there are any among them who are not rebels at heart God will take care of 
 them and save them at last." — Cincinnati Daily Gazette, September 15, 1864. 
 
 "'Coulter, pp. 182-188. 
 
 ™Ibid., p. 181. 
 
 ^The Tri-Weekly Commonwealth, June 24, 1864. 
 
 '^Statement made by Dr. William E. Dodd to a class at the University of Chicago, 
 in which the writer was a student, 1932. 
 
 1 "William H. Townsend, p. 351. 
 
 "The Tri-Weekly Commonwealth, June 24, 1864. 
 AH the quotations here given from this speech are taken from The Tri-Weekly 
 Commonwealth, June 24, 1864. 
 
 1 ^Louisville Daily Journal, November 3, 1864. 
 
 "The tenacious Doctor wrote Johnny, who was in Danville, October 16, telling in 
 his terse and vigorous manner of his gradual recovery from the accident: "I am getting 
 better slowly; can't put my shoe on, nor walk without crutches — My ankle is better — 
 My foot is healing up, and my leg that was cut to the bone begins to heal up. My 
 back is about well and my head proves not to be broken. So — by God's mercy, I 
 am better after nearly two weeks of confinement." — Breckinridge Manuscripts. 
 
 '"Coulter, p. 181. 
 See Coulter's discussion in his Civil War and Readjustment in Kentucky, pp. 
 332-338. 
 
 Although a few reputable historians express the belief that Dr. Breckinridge during 
 that fall (1864) conducted a "Court of Star Chamber," the purpose of which was 
 to terrorize, intimidate, and break the resistance to the military and unconditional 
 Union leaders of Kentucky, sufficient evidence has not been found to prove that such 
 a charge is true. 
 
 ls The Courier-Journal, January 12, 1882. See also Daily Kentucky Yeoman, Decem- 
 ber 13, 1865. Also Journal of the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth 
 of Kentucky, 1865, pp. 75-77. 
 
o. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 SOCIAL UNREST, 1865-1899 
 
 By Dr. Lucien V. Rule 
 
 'n September 29, 1944, Mr. Hambleton Tapp, the editor, asked me 
 to write another important chapter in this history. In a letter of October 7, he says: 
 "The chapter desired is that concerning the political history of Kentucky between 
 1867-1899 . . . The Governors of that period were: 
 
 John L. Helm, 1867; John Stevenson, 1868-1871; Preston H. Leslie, 1871-1875; 
 James B. McCreary, 1875-1879; Luke Blackburn, 1879-1883; J. Proctor Knott, 1883- 
 1887; Simon Boliver Buckner, 1887-1891; John Young Brown, 1891-1895; William 
 O. Bradley, 1895-1899. 
 
 "It seems to me that the easiest and clearest way of handling the material is by means 
 of topics. Take Governor Bradley's administration, for instance. These topics may 
 be listed: 
 
 The Free Silver Issue. (Under each topic the discussion, explanation, or narrative 
 may be listed.) Deadlock in the Election of United States Senator. (Then the dis- 
 cussion) . The Toll-Gate War. The Goebel Election Law. Railway Legislation. The 
 Music Hall Convention; The Republican Convention. The Election of 1899. 
 
 "Using the topic method, as you see, makes both for clarity, conciseness and ease 
 in writing. . . . Very little good work has been done in treating that period of bitter 
 political strife; it should be done properly for once." 
 
 Mr. Tapp's suggestions of historic sources and authorities were very suggestive and 
 helpful. 
 
 GOVERNORS WHO UPHELD SLAVERY AND THE SOUTH 
 
 Beriah Magoffin, Governor of Kentucky when President Lincoln sent out his call for 
 troops when Civil War was inevitable, thus answered: "I will send not a man nor a 
 dollar for the wicked purpose of subduing my sister Southern States." Magoffin was 
 intensely pro-slavery. His message to the Legislature on the verge of war was an 
 earnest defense of chattel slavery. He insisted that it was a divinely sanctioned insti- 
 tution. He justified it as exactly like slavery under Abraham and the patriarchs. He 
 was sure that the slaves were as well cared for as any labor in the world. He insisted 
 that they were "content with their lot," as "the sum of the ten commandments" en- 
 joined upon them in the old church catechisms. He denounced in no uncertain terms 
 the abhorrent Abolition propaganda and Lincoln and John Brown as its logical and 
 incendiary disturbers of the existing compact of our fathers, which never in the world 
 contemplated the Declaration of Independence including the Negro in its vision. That 
 was white man liberty alone. 
 
 Magoffin was anxious to step down and out. When Kentucky decided to remain in 
 the Union and tens of thousands of her sons did take up arms under the Old Stars 
 and Stripes, Magoffin vacated his office August 18, 1862, being allowed to name his 
 successor, James F. Robinson. Magoffin undoubtedly represented the large majority 
 of the people of Kentucky in his belief in slavery and his partiality to the South in 
 arms as against answering Lincoln's call for troops to put down the rebellion after 
 Fort Sumpter was fired upon. Cassius M. Clay and Abraham Lincoln, sons of Ken- 
 tucky and unfaltering defenders of freedom, had a mighty slim political following. 
 Magoffin was typical of the wealthy slave-holding land-lord class. He made a fortune 
 in northern real-estate after chattel slavery was gone. He was a typical politician of 
 
472 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 the "status quo." He could assure the world that the Negro had no unrest of mind, 
 heart or soul but was as satisfied with his condition in bondage as the horse or mule, 
 or the cow munching her cud in the summer pasture. 
 
 GENERAL BURBRIDGE DEFENDS NEGRO FREEDOM 
 
 It was such an attitude of mind toward the newly liberated slaves that so embittered 
 the people of Kentucky against General Burbridge. He used the tactics of Secretary 
 Edwin M. Stanton in upholding emancipation, and in furthering the inevitable en- 
 franchisement of the Negro people. He gave not an inch when they were enlisting 
 to fight for their own freedom in the Union armies, and he was undoubtedly ruthless 
 and iron-handed the way he dealt with Union slave-holders fighting in the Federal 
 service. But a lot of Kentucky history of that troubled and tragic era will have to 
 be rewritten. The Negro was "The Downmost Man" of that titanic struggle. Gen. 
 Burbridge (1831 — 1894) was a native of Scott county, Ky., and was descended from 
 most worthy men who had fought in all our wars with honor. He was educated at 
 Georgetown College and the K.M.I. He was a farmer when the Civil War opened, 
 though he had studied law. He was a man of positive convictions against slavery 
 and secession and entered the service with the 26th Kentucky Infantry, which he had 
 raised, and of which he was colonel. He won distinction and promotion at Shiloh 
 and in the Vicksburg campaign, being made brigadier general; and in February, 1864 
 was assigned to command the District of Kentucky, with much civil and military au- 
 thority. He was a power in the Union cause and in the final defeat of John Morgan's 
 troopers. This probably intensified feeling adverse to him; but even General Grant 
 advised that General Palmer take over in Kentucky. General Burbridge and his 
 family were ostracised by Kentucky people for his record against rebels and guer- 
 rillas; but the verdict of history may be juster to him when we know that he was pre- 
 sented a beautiful sword by Negro soldiers for befriending their cause. He assumed 
 responsibility for opposing Col. Richard T. Jacob and Col. Frank L. Wolford. 
 
 BITTERNESS OF THE RECONSTRUCTION PERIOD IN KENTUCKY 
 
 As an example of the exceeding bitter spirit of this reconstruction period in Ken- 
 tucky history, Shaler's history cites the case of Col. Richard T. Jacob: "The Lieu- 
 tenant-Governor and President of the Senate, Colonel Richard T. Jacob, a gallant 
 soldier in the Federal army, had been arrested and sent into the Confederacy by Gen- 
 eral Burbridge, because he dared to criticize in a public manner the conduct of the 
 Federal authorities in their management of affairs in Kentucky. There is no sort of 
 question that this gallant officer and devoted Union man was absolutely loyal to the 
 national government; to it he had given all that a devoted soldier can give, save his 
 life. At the same time Colonel Wolford, a partisan commander, who had done ex- 
 cellent service with his regiment of irregular cavalry, was subjected to the same treat- 
 ment. Even in his criticisms of the government he made it always clear that his 
 resistance was to the illegal action of the Federal authorities and not to the govern- 
 ment which they disgraced. 
 
 "Early in February (1865) Lieutenant-Governor Jacob escaped from the Confederate 
 lines and returned to his place in the Senate. This banishment of Jacob and Wolford 
 was followed by an order from General Burbridge to his subordinates to resist the 
 State Government, which was at that time trying to raise a sufficient force of State 
 troops to hunt down and crush out the guerrilla bands. Burbridge not only sought 
 to nullify this action of the Commonwealth in raising new troops, but ordered the 
 muster out of all the State troops now in service." 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 473 
 
 Colonel Jacob was a gifted and distinguished man. He was a son-in-law of Senator 
 Thomas H. Benton of Missouri, who fought to forestall Secession and Disunion in 
 that State at the cost of his life. Colonel Jacob was a brother-in-law of General John 
 C. Fremont, "Path-Finder, Lover of Human Freedom," upon whom the Free-Soil 
 Party centered in 1856 over the issue of slavery underlying this whole historic struggle. 
 Colonel Jacob was a loyal Union man and had threatened to tear the hinges of the 
 legislative doors out of socket if the attempt was made to force Kentucky out of the 
 Union. This attitude at the beginning of the political struggle made him the most 
 powerful Union leader in the Legislature and caused his choice afterward as Lieu- 
 tenant-Governor. But Colonel Jacob was a pro-slavery man in the sense that, while 
 an exceedingly humane master, pledges had been given that the slave property of 
 loyal Union people in Kentucky would not be disturbed; and Colonel Jacob felt justi- 
 fied in expecting compensation even after liberation. He and Colonel Wolford bit- 
 terly fought the enlistment of Negro troops in the Union ranks, although the Con- 
 federacy had availed itself of their labor and service. Enlistment in the Federal serv- 
 ice, however, meant emancipation and ultimate enfranchisement. Lincoln in fighting 
 the Civil War for the preservation of the Union had avoided as long as possible 
 these underlying social issues; and when he finally gave forth the Emancipation Procla- 
 mation, as a war measure to strike the South a body blow, and Colonel Jacob's men 
 protested that they were not fighting to free the Negro, Colonel Jacob told them that 
 was the act of the Chief Executive and did not at all commit them. Thus the funda- 
 mentals and ultimates of freedom must often be side-stepped, hidden, denied and 
 postponed under armed conflict and its aftermath. All Kentucky historians have said 
 that the bitter partisan, General Burbridge, was no nearer to a true conception of 
 what the Civil War meant than Colonels Jacob and Wolford. Far-seeing men believe 
 even to this day that had the South but accepted Lincoln's proposition of compensa- 
 tion with emancipation the war itself and the bloody partisan conflict of "Reconstruc- 
 tion" with the Klu-Klux terrorism might have been avoided. Even so gifted a his- 
 torian as Theodore Roosevelt charges the Abolitionist Crusade with what he regarded 
 as the crime of kindling fratricidal war, whereas it was a failure to recognize the 
 fact of class struggles at the basis of all history and progress. The Negro was still 
 a chattel, not a human. Yet Joseph S. Cotter feels, as we do, that Dr. Robert J. 
 Breckinridge and his son, Col. W. C. P. Breckinridge were powerful friends of Negro 
 advance and progress. Henry Watterson blazed the way to racial realization. 
 
 MEANING OF "JOHN BROWN'S BODY" AND LINCOLN'S MARTYRDOM 
 
 The assassin's bullet, like the noose about John Brown's neck after Harper's Ferry, 
 carried an electric shock that flashed the meaning of events to men like Ralph Waldo 
 Emerson of New England and Victor Hugo of France. Kentuckians in 1865 little 
 realized the greatness of Lincoln in the deliverance of a race from bondage and its 
 inevitable rise to all the privileges of human beings and American citizens. But few 
 Kentuckians saw in "Uncle Tom's Cabin" the "Les Miserables" of black bondage in 
 America. Yet at the most critical period of the Civil War Karl Marx and Frederick 
 Engles in England, leading the cotton factory workers who protested and prevented 
 recognition of the Confederacy planned by Gladstone and the British capitalist class, 
 hailed Lincoln as "that true son of the soil" and the Civil War he was leading as the 
 tocsin for the Emancipation of Toil throughout the world. 
 
 It was the same with the songs and melodies of Stephen Collins Foster. They struck 
 a universal responsive chord as they appeared, but few supposed that they were en- 
 during. Yet the beautiful mixed blood slave nurse girl who took little Steve to those 
 
474 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 religious meeting of the colored people in Pittsburg when he was a child kindled some- 
 thing in his heart and imagination and soul that entered into his eternal creations. 
 M. Taine was right when he said, "Beyond this universal sympathy that gathers man- 
 kind about the oppressed there is the working of the religious sentiment." Indeed, as 
 Mr. Tapp says, the mere repetition here of political figure-heads and the personal ani- 
 mosities of an Old Bourbonism and "Bloody Shirt" struggle for "the spoils of office" 
 will not avail. Mr. Tapp himself in his searching historic studies of Dr. Robert J. 
 Breckinridge from the time Lincoln first heard and met him in Lexington back in 
 1848, has shown us the essential characters of destiny in this titanic struggle between 
 Freedom and Slavery. 
 
 We are now ready to take the first Governor assigned us, John W. Stevenson, and 
 to contemplate him in the period and among the seething events surrounding. There 
 is an epic in the Reconstruction Era here in Kentucky. Joseph S. Cotter, great Negro 
 poet and teacher, born of a beautiful young serving girl at the Old Kentucky Home 
 and an Irish pugilist scholar by the name of Cotter, incarnates this epoch superbly. 
 One of Louisville's greatest teachers, he experienced every slow and painful step of 
 progress his people made and in a life of eighty-four years has won enduring love and 
 renown as a leader and enlightener of the race. He is a mediator of sublime spirit; a 
 powerful embodiment of the song and legend that immortalized Foster. 
 
 GOVERNOR JOHN W. STEVENSON 
 
 This Governor was born May 4, 1812, in Richmond, Va. He came of cultured and 
 privileged parentage. His father served with distinction in the Virginia Legislature 
 and was speaker of the house. Then in Congress he was Speaker and was sent as 
 minister to England. The son was educated and trained for the law and came to 
 Kentucky in 1841, locating in Covington. He was sent to the Kentucky Legislature, 
 and the Constitutional Convention of 1849. He held places in Democratic national 
 conventions, served in Congress 1857-'61, and was elected Lieutenant-Governor with 
 John L. Helm, 1867-71. Governor Helm died five days after his inauguration and 
 Stevenson became his successor September 13, 1867. He was an Episcopalian and a 
 man of such marked ability that he was elected to the U. S. Senate when his work 
 as Governor was done. 
 
 BEGINNING OF THE GRANGER MOVEMENT 
 
 In the year 1866 President Andrew Johnson had the Commissioner of Agriculture 
 in Washington send a competent observer on a tour of the South to bring back a re- 
 port of actual conditions after the tragedy and destruction of war. The purpose was 
 to see what could be done to lift the farmers and planters and the dependent working 
 people from just such disaster as now lies upon every war-swept nation in Europe. The 
 man sent on this mission was Oliver Hudson Kelley. He was a New Englander by 
 birth, about forty years of age, a keen observer, with a mind to see what sorely called 
 for relief and remedy. He was filled with social compassion at prostrate agriculture; 
 the backwardness of tools and methods of cultivation, and the pall of despair hanging 
 over the people. In attacking this problem he hit upon the plan of organizing a secret 
 order on the line of Freemasonry that would assemble into one fraternity, free from 
 the old dead issues and animosities, the cultivators of the soil in every community. 
 He had a niece, Miss Carrie Hall, of Boston, with whom he counseled. She at once 
 urged that women be admitted to the new fraternity on an equality with men. This 
 idea he accepted readily. Every great movement like this has to pass through a period 
 of travail, and is slow in gaining members and momentum; and the group around Mr. 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 475 
 
 Kelley at Washington lost faith after the first fever of enthusiasm had subsided. But 
 he and his niece held steadily to their ideal and purpose. 
 
 The period from 1870 to '73 is described in history as a great boom of prosperity, 
 which it was to Wall Street, and to the manufacturing and commercial interests, es- 
 pecially to the railroads, which received immense land grants from the government. 
 But agriculture was exploited, crushed and driven to the wall. The story of the 
 Granger Movement truly says: "In the fall of 1873 came the greatest panic in the 
 history of the nation, and a period of financial depression began which lasted through- 
 out the decade, restricting industry, commerce and even immigration. On the farmers 
 the blow fell with special severity." Thus it was that the Granger Movement that 
 started out to reform by education and a beautiful fraternal ritual, suddenly leaped 
 into the first powerful political agricultural movements in American history. Nearly 
 every rural community in America had its Granger lodge. The old social life of mutual 
 interest was restored. Speculation and corruption, as after every great war, met here 
 its most courageous challenge, which had the ground-swell of an earthquake. 
 
 "TALES OF A LANDLORD CAPITALIST" 
 
 Under the economic order that succeeded chattel slavery in America, panics, like 
 world wars, ensued every fifteen or twenty years. The Granger Movement reached a 
 high tide when William Jennings Bryan ran for the Presidency in 1896 as the spokes- 
 man of the farmers and working people. 
 
 The politicians of this whole era since the panic of 1873 were just as blind to facts 
 as were the old slave-time public men who "lived on the system." Governor Luke P. 
 Blackburn, 1879-1883, was the one Governor who stood head and shoulders above 
 the rest for his courageous reform of the prison system. Proctor Knott was a brilliant 
 wit and orator, who had became celebrated for his Congressional speech on "Duluth, 
 the Zenith City of the Unsalted Seas." He was born in Marion county, Kentucky, 
 August 29, 1830, and in boyhood removed to Missouri with his father's family. He 
 studied law, rose in the profession and in political life; but was debarred from practice 
 by the Federal authorities for disloyalty. Returning to Kentucky, he located in Lebanon, 
 his future home. He was elected to Congress, where he was a close and discerning 
 observer of the struggle between President Andrew Johnson and the Congress that at- 
 tempted his impeachment. At Centre College, where Proctor Knott became dean of 
 the Law School, he entertained his students with historical expositions covering every 
 phase of the side and stand of President Johnson. The students having written one 
 of Knotts lectures, sold it to the New York Evening Post. It revealed Proctor Knott's 
 keen insight into the course of political issues and conflicts, and his masterly summaries 
 of human character. Col. Lucien Beckner says that whenever the law students could 
 get him to reminisce instead of discussing the abstractions of Blackstone, they were de- 
 lighted and illumined. For Proctor Knott was wonderful in conversation or narrative, 
 as well as in oratory. 
 
 "A SPOIL OF OFFICE" 
 
 The above title used by Hamlin Garland in one of his strongest stories against 
 corporations and monopolies, which were crushing the farmer and the working man, 
 expresses a condition and struggle in Kentucky politics for generations. In the elec- 
 tion of 1871 Preston H. Leslie was elected Governor over John M. Harlan. How- 
 ever, Clark's History of Kentucky defines Leslie very unfavorably in this class struggle 
 between the Grangers and the corporations when the Kentucky Assembly met in 1876: 
 "Its membership was composed largely of the Agrarian Democrats. Captain W. J. 
 
476 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 Stone of Lyon County was elected speaker of the house, and James B. Beck of Lex- 
 ington was elected to the United States Senate. Beck's election was the first legislative 
 victory of the Agrarians, for they defeated a 'special interest' man in Ex-Governor Pres- 
 ton H. Leslie. Leslie had the reputation of being a powerful lobbyist, or 'third house 
 member,' in behalf of the railroads. Unfortunately for agrarian interests legislators 
 whom the Grangers sent to Frankfort, although sincere enough of purpose, were in- 
 experienced in law making. Proof is lacking, but it is highly probable that a few 
 'special interests' and experienced members kept the farmer legislators so badly con- 
 fused that they were unable to accomplish anything. It is likely also that inexperienced 
 and apprehensive legislators watched every move made by the General Assembly, with 
 the result that they did nothing themselves." 
 
 But Clark's History declares that under Governor Buckner many of the reforms ad- 
 vocated by the Grangers and the Farmers Alliance were enacted into law. William O. 
 Bradley was the Republican candidate against General Buckner for Governor in 1887 
 and was defeated. But in the turmoil over free silver in 1895 Bradley was elected 
 Governor over P. Watt Hardin, the Democratic nominee. The split in Democratic 
 ranks over the free silver issue resulted in a deadlock when it came to electing a U. S. 
 Senator. The Republicans finally elected Wm. J. DeBoe. Clark's History states that 
 the election of McKinley as President over Bryan in 1896 "set the stage" for William 
 Goebel's appearance and rise to power in Kentucky politics. Goebel had his powerful 
 partisan following and he was perhaps the most astute and determined aspirant for 
 Governor in the history of Kentucky. Opinions differ radically, but the account given 
 by Irvin Cobb in his Autobiography is a character analysis and historic interpretation 
 unsurpassed. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 KENTUCKY'S CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT 
 
 By Mrs. Roy Bridwell 
 
 a he seeds of Kentucky's culture came over the Wilderness Road 
 in the stout hearts of its pioneers. Seeds that blossomed rapidly in the establishment of 
 homes, churches and schools and bore fruit in Kentucky becoming in an amazingly short 
 time the pioneer cultural center of the West. 
 
 The first folk movement into Kentucky brought people lured into the wilderness 
 by accounts of rich timber, fertile fields, abundant game, free unexploited land and 
 the promise of political and economic freedom. Irish, Scotch, German, French and 
 English trappers, hunters and adventurers, farmers, mechanics, artisans, landgrabbers, 
 and the sons of aristocracy struggled together amid dangers and hardships for possession 
 of the veritable paradise open to them. 
 
 Many of them were hardy, tough backwoodsmen to whose fearlessness Kentucky 
 owes much credit for the settlement of the wilderness. Boisterous, quick-witted and 
 humorous they fought, fiddled and sang their way through the hardships of frontier 
 life, lending color, life and pattern to the otherwise drab existence of the pioneer. 
 
 The more genteel among them, unused to the hardships and horrors of frontier life, 
 found the struggle for existence much more difficult than did their backwoodsmen 
 neighbors. However, their resourcefulness, ingenuity and courage are the explanation 
 of the early development of cultural homes in the West. Typical of the refined type 
 of pioneer was Ann Biddle Wilkinson who came to Kentucky in 1784, the daughter 
 of John Biddle, a prominent Philadelphia merchant, and wife of General James Wil- 
 kinson. Excerpts from her letters to her father in 1788 and 1789 show her "torture" 
 of mind induced by the loneliness of the frontier and the absence of the niceties of 
 life to which she had always been accustomed." 
 
 Kentucky, February 14 (1788). 
 
 "I have look'd for my Wilkinson this several Months with the utmost impatience, 
 & now know not where he is, it is impossible for me to describe the torture my mind 
 endures, not been blessed with the Sight of a relation this ten months, & Surrounded by 
 People that have been brought up so differently from myself . . . O what would I not 
 give to be blessed with a sensible agreeable woman for a Neighbor that had been 
 brought up tenderly as I have myself. I have many thanks to give thee my dear Father 
 for the things sent by Mr. Parker, the Blankets were most acceptable indeed, but the 
 Sugar much more so, for not an Ounce has there been to sell in Kentucky for a long 
 time . . . will thank (you) to send a ten Gallon Keg of Molasses & some Shoes ... & 
 some Sweeping & Scrubbing Brushes." 
 
 Spring (1788). 
 
 "I shall take it as a favor if thee Can make it Convenient my dear Father to send 
 the Boys eight pr. of Shoes as it is impossible to get tolerable ones here & they do 
 tread them out very fast . . . the three Summer Months I intend they shall wear 
 Moccasins which will save there Shoes for the Winter Season, & make them Hearty 
 Boys ... I am afraid thee will think me extravagant if I ask for a Dozen Blue & 
 White China Cups & Saucers, if 'tis possible to pack them up Securely, we have been 
 so very unfortunate as to break every one of ours, & I do not like Queensware to drink 
 Tea out of, Provided I can get any others, necessity Compels me to use them now 
 & I could sooner drink it out of a Gourd than go without — I am surprised the Store 
 keepers does not bring China to this Country in Prefference to delph . . . they ask at 
 Lexington 12/6 the half dozen for Common delph Cups & Saucers." 
 
478 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 Lexington, May 18 (1789). 
 
 "The things thee was so kind as to send me has not yet arriv'd from Limestone, every 
 Farmer is so Busily employ 'd putting in Corn that it is difficult to find waggoners to 
 go for goods just now ... I like living in Lexington much better than in the Country, 
 the Society is far better ... I put John and James to School about three weeks ago, 
 the man is a Poor Simple looking Simon but he told me he was taught by Anthony 
 Benezet of Philad. which Prejudic'd me in his favor." 
 
 Lexington, Sept. 25th (1789). 
 
 "I shall take it as a favor if my Belov'd Father will send me some thread or Cotton 
 Stockings for the Children for 'tis impossible to Purchase any in this Town, a few 
 Pair of Short Color'd Gloves for myself, & must request Sister Becky to send me a 
 Pattern of a Black Sattin Cloak as I must make me one & wish to have it fashionable 
 & let me know how they trim them ... it is astonishing how fast this Town improves 
 it is by far the largest in the District & it is expected the Emigration this fall will be 
 greater than ever, report says there are Seventy familys in the Wilderness now on there 
 way to Kentucky." 
 
 The early settler cleared the ground, built his cabin, made his household furniture, 
 including a spinning wheel and loom, cultivated his land and hunted game for food. 
 His wife and daughters cooked, milked the cow, nursed the sick, prepared and spun 
 the flax, and wove material for the clothes and linens for the family. 
 
 Clothing for the men consisted of a hunting shirt or loose tunic made of linsey 
 woolsey or deerskin. It slipped on over the head and was held at the waist by a broad 
 leather belt. Sometimes it was decorated at the seams and sleeve ends with leather 
 fringe. Breeches were deerskins with fur on the inside for warmth. Men and boys 
 wore coonskin headgear and both men and women wore moccasins of deerskin. Women 
 wore dresses of homespun or coarse linsey woolsey for every day with sometimes a 
 cherished frayed and faded silk brought from the colonies as Sunday "best." 
 
 Weaving was an everyday affair. All the steps in the process of producing the raw 
 material, making the thread and weaving it into cloth consumed more than a year's 
 time. 4 The native butternut, beech, plum, black walnut and chestnut bark, sassafras 
 root and madder produced the lovely colors sometimes seen in old coverlets today. The 
 patterns, or drafts, from which coverlets were woven were often inherited. The urge 
 for self-expression is shown by changes in the drafts of succeeding generations of 
 Kentucky weavers. Some of the early Kentucky drafts bear such appropriate names 
 as "Indian Trouble" or "Indian Wars," "Green River Beauty," "Hickory Leaf" and 
 "Kaintuck Beauty."' The loom rooms of Lou Tate in Louisville, Berea College, the 
 Irvine Handweavers, Pine Mountain and Hindman Settlement Schools are handweaving 
 centers where strict attention is given today to the preservation and continuation of 
 Kentucky's first creative art. 
 
 The chief forms of frontier social life were dancing to the tune of a fiddle, singing, 
 cardplaying, weddings, log rollings, housewarmings, corn shuckings, barbecues, burgoos, 
 quilting bees that developed into dances, shivarees and serenades. Courtships were 
 short and weddings were accompanied by much pomp and ceremony. Proud of their 
 ability to shoot, early Kentuckians took great delight in shooting-matches, and such 
 sports as wrestling, fighting, and foot-racing were popular with the men. Horseracing, 
 which, as an organized sport, has become one of the symbols of Kentucky, begun during 
 the early pioneer period. The Transylvania Convention at Boonesboro on May 27, 
 1775, discussed means of "improving the breed of horses" in the state, and in 1787 the 
 first Jockey Club was organized in Lexington.' 
 
 Kentucky became the custodian of a priceless musical heritage through such English 
 narrative ballads as Barbara Allen, Greenswoodsdale, Lord Randal, King Henry or 
 Queen Jane, and Bangum and the Boar, which were played and sung by memory and 
 
Courtesy, Danville Chamber of Commerce. 
 
 A typical Colonial home found in Danville, Ky. 
 
480 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 by ear around the campfires, in the fortresses and cabins of the western frontier. Sing- 
 ing and dancing to the tune of the fiddle, banjo or dulcimer were perhaps the most 
 popular frontier amusements and many old world collections of British and other 
 European folk songs found expression in the music of the English, Scotch, French and 
 German pioneers. Some of the folk songs, changed by local adaptation, reflect periods 
 of state and local history. The Little Mohea, reviving Colonial times, The Dying 
 Cowboy, suggesting the era of westward travel, and The Rebel, springing from the 
 War Between the States, are but a few of them. In the Kentucky mountains many 
 ballads are still sung with remarkably few deviations from the original transatlantic 
 folk tunes. 8 Many of them have been collected and thus preserved through the efforts 
 of Josephine McGill, Jean Thomas, Cecil Sharp, Olive D. Campbell, Lorraine Brock, 
 Howard Brockway, Elmer Griffith Sulzer, Jack Lyles, Reuben (Booky) Taylor and 
 John Jacob Niles. 
 
 By 1794 the beginning of a more complex society became evident in the Blue Grass. 
 Lexington was well established as a commercial center and its stores were well stocked 
 with most of the commodities needed by the pioneer. Buckskin and linsey woolsey 
 began to be replaced by "superfine deep and light blue broadcloth, velverets, Irish linen, 
 silk for gowns, chintzes, silk and gauze handkerchiefs" and such finery. Amusements 
 such as traveling theatrical companies, carnivals, lotteries, and wax works made their 
 appearance. 
 
 On August 9, 1803, John Kennedy announced in The Kentucky Gazette the estab- 
 lishment of a stagecoach line from Lexington by Winchester and Mt. Sterling to 
 Olympian Springs. Inns and taverns to accommodate the travelers were opened over 
 the state and as civic centers played an important part in the political and socialjife 
 of the people. Here the traveler imparted outside news, local gossip was exchanged, 
 lotteries were held, shows and exhibitions of skill were given, concerts, balls and dances 
 took place, and famous guests were entertained." 
 
 As business expanded and prosperity increased throughout the state people had more 
 time for relaxation and pleasure. In answer to the demand for places to "mix and 
 mingle socially with the best society of the state" Colonel Thomas Hart opened a 
 health resort or watering place, modeled after Europe's famous spas, in Montgomery 
 County, forty-seven miles east of Lexington, which he called Olympian Springs. Fash- 
 ionable society gathered from all parts of the nation during the season to revel "in the 
 enjoyments of ease, mirth and engaging society" at Olympian Springs. 10 Fortescue 
 Cuming in his Sketches of a Tour to the Western Country, said that Olympian Springs 
 was more given to "cards, billiards, horse-jockeying, &c, than to the use of the waters 
 for medicinal purposes." By the middle of the nineteenth century, the pioneer period 
 over and macadam roads making travel by stagecoach comparatively easy, there were 
 several fashionable watering places in Kentucky. Some of the the most popular were 
 Dr. C. C. Graham's Graham Springs, the Saratoga of the South; Crab Orchard Springs; 
 Paroquet Springs; Drennon Springs; Estill Springs and White Sulphur Springs. During 
 and after the Civil War the popularity of the watering places waned, to recover again 
 in the middle seventies or eighties and reach another high peak in the nineties. By 
 the beginning of the twentieth century all expense railroad tours, patent medicines to 
 take the place of mineral waters, and other things which came into vogue sealed the 
 doom of Kentucky's famous resorts and by the beginning of the first World War 
 practically the last one closed its doors. 
 
 As early as 1820 Lexington was beginning to relinquish part of its title as the cultural 
 and commercial center of the West to Louisville, which city's big advantage was its 
 location at the Falls of the Ohio. The Duke of Saxe- Weimar, Charles Dickens, Lady 
 Wortley and other travelers in Kentucky left vivid pen pictures of Louisville's early 
 grandeur. James H. Atherton who visited Louisville in 1831 wrote: "I have passed 
 
Caufield and Shook. 
 
 LINCOLN MEMORIAL 
 On Lincoln Farm near Hodgenville. 
 
482 A SESQUI -CENTENNIAL 
 
 a week here as pleasantly as I ever did in my life. I have had an opportunity to see 
 all the beauty and fashion of the place. The fashions are carried to more ridiculous 
 extremes than in the Atlantic cities. The ladies dress extravagantly & give the most 
 splendid balls. They are passionately fond of music & dancing. There is not a lady 
 in the City who does not play on the piano. A lady whom I visited told me she had 
 lost a ball at the horse race — that is, she engaged to give a ball if such a horse won 
 & another lady if that horse lost. They sometimes bet very largely. If they bet a 
 hdkf. nothing less than a 12 or 15 doll, one is expected. I have more invitations than 
 I can attend to . . ."" 
 
 The Louisville Hotel, built in 1832-33, modeled after Boston's famous Tremont 
 House, and the Gait House, erected in 1835, were among the finest in the United 
 States. From 1817 until after the turn of the century Drake's Theatre, built in 1817 
 by Samuel Drake, an English actor, Mozart's Hall, the Masonic Hall, the Grand Opera 
 House, the Avenue Theatre, the Amphitheatre Auditorium and Macauley's Theatre 
 where Louisville's celebrated actress, Mary Anderson, made her first appearance, played 
 host to talent from all over the world." 
 
 During the first years of Kentucky's development its culture was, naturally, provincial 
 with the home as the center. As ways and means of communication and travel improved 
 Lexington and Louisville became the shining centers from which most of the cultural 
 activities of the state sprung. Since the advent of the automobile, moving pictures and 
 the radio Kentucky's culture has become general, following the popular trends of the 
 nation. 
 
 ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 On the 25th of April, 1750, the first house built by white men in Kentucky was 
 finished. 14 It was a twelve by eight foot log cabin near the present town of Barbourville 
 and was built by Dr. Thomas Walker of Virginia and his party of explorers. 
 
 This first house, built in several days, was typical of the temporary cabins built by 
 the early explorers, hunters, trappers, and adventurers in the state. Built in a square 
 or parallelogram, from the trunks of trees cut from the surrounding forests, these 
 cabins were from eight to ten feet high. They had one small vent for a window, a 
 larger opening for a door and a crude chimney made from a combination of stone, 
 sticks, straw and mud. A similar house was erected by Daniel Boone on Red River 
 in 1769 and by Thomas Bullitt at the mouth of Beargrass Creek in 1773. 
 
 When permanent settlers came into the state the cabins were built in rows forming 
 the walls of a parallelogram with a blockhouse at each corner and a court or open 
 space in the center. These forts or stockades were necessary for protection against the 
 Indian. 
 
 Due to the constant danger of these hostile Indian raids it was not until about 1779 
 that the pioneers dared to settle on estates beyond the shadow of the forts. The 
 Kentucky log house built by these settlers were thoughtfully planned and built for 
 permanent occupancy. The simpler of these cabins had one or two rooms, often two 
 portions of the house were separated by an open passage way or "dog-trot." This 
 passageway served as a storage space for wood or as a wash room. These cabins were 
 built of logs flattened on two sides, halved into each other at the corners. The massive 
 fireplace was of stone with a chimney of sticks or logs carefully chinked with clay 
 or lime mortar. Clay also chinked the spaces between the logs of the walls. Some 
 of the better cabins had two stories and a porch across the front. Often the floors were 
 dirt. Later split logs or "puncheons" were used. The windows were holes covered 
 with paper oiled with bear grease, protected by a skin or wooden slats. Clothing hung 
 on wooden pegs driven into the walls. A long-barreled flint-lock rifle huns near or 
 
Courtesy, Danville Chamber of Commerce. 
 
 BOYLE COUNTY COURTHOUSE 
 Located in Danville. This structure is of the Sir Chris- 
 topher Wrenn architecture and has been admired for that 
 reason bv main. 
 
 32— Vol. 1 
 
484 ASESQUI-CENTENN1AL 
 
 above the door ready for instant use. Roofs were covered with split shakes held in 
 place by long poles. 1 " 
 
 Gradually a more refined type of log house appeared. Cabins were weather-boarded 
 and covered with plank siding. Stone foundations and stone or brick chimneys came 
 into vogue. The houses themselves were well proportioned along Colonial lines. They 
 were usually of two stories with the stairway ascending from a central hall. The 
 addition of classic porticoes added dignity and beauty. Rough stone houses made their 
 appearance and smoke houses, barns, ice houses and other structures made of brick 
 or stone were built. Native trees such as hickory, oak, ash, walnut, cherry, beech, 
 poplar and maple provided the settler with lumber with which to build his house, 
 make his furniture and dishes, his tools and implements and his rail fences. Kentucky 
 limestone was used for foundations and chimneys and later for houses as were bricks 
 baked of native soil. Stone was favored by the Shakers of Pleasant Hill for many of 
 their severely plain and functional structures. A noticeable feature of Shaker archi- 
 tecture was the twin entrances and stairways in the "family" houses, one for the 
 "brothers" and one for the "sisters." 
 
 In 1786 William Whitley built the reputed first brick house in Kentucky. The brick 
 is laid in Flemish bond with dark headers, and the initials W. W. are worked out in 
 dark headers over the principal portal." 
 
 Rexford Newcomb in the Architecture of Old Kentucky says that the Whitley house 
 was in reality the first of the Georgian types in Kentucky and was followed by a "long 
 succession of noble houses the plans of which, following the Georgian models of Vir- 
 ginia, provided a broad central hall with stairway up to a landing from which it returned 
 to the second floor. Ceilings were high and windows double-hung with twelve or 
 sixteen paned sashes. Often Palladian windows were used either over the principal 
 entrance, as at Liberty Hall in Frankfort, or for the regular opening as at the old 
 Muldrow farm near Tyrone or the Cleveland house in Versailles. Each important 
 room had a beautiful mantel while an arch spanning the central hall and supported 
 upon delicately fluted columns often divided the hall into 'front' and f back.' The houses 
 of this era are the choicest that have been erected upon Kentucky soil." 
 
 Fine examples of this Georgian and Federal period are Federal Hill near Bardstown, 
 better known as "My Old Kentucky Home"; Clay Hill at Harrodsburg; Hopemont, 
 and the Benjamin Gratz house in Lexington; The Grange near Paris and Ridgeway, the 
 Churchill Humphrey house at St. Matthews. 
 
 Benjamin Henry Latrobe, an English architect, arrived in Philadelphia about 1798. 
 Recent rediscovery of ancient treasure in Greece had inspired a revival of interest in 
 classic culture and Latrobe, together with his pupils, William Strickland and Robert 
 Mills, launched a Greek revival in architecture in America. * Tardy in reaching Ken- 
 tucky, Greek details did not make their appearance in the state until about 1825, but 
 by 1830 the classic style was fully established. Gideon Shryock, born in Lexington 
 November 14, 1802, the son of Matthias Shryock, is credited with the establishment of 
 Greek revival architecture in Kentucky. Trained by William Strickland of Philadelphia 
 Shryock's Greek Revival taste greatly influenced the pattern of public buildings in 
 Lexington and Louisville. He designed few private homes. The Old Statehouse at 
 Frankfort, now the Kentucky State Historical Society, with its graceful double circular 
 staircase, is probably Shryock's crowning achievement. The Bank of Louisville; Morri- 
 son College, Lexington; the Jefferson County Courthouse in Louisville, completed in 
 1859 by Albert Fink; and the Board of Education at Louisville were some of the 
 important public buildings designed by Shryock. 
 
 Wealthy farmers and owners of large estates in central Kentucky found this classic 
 style, with its wide porticoes and Corinthian columns particularly well suited to their 
 rolling countrysides and their growing and expansive tastes. The popularity of Greek 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 485 
 
 architecture continued almost to the Civil War. Besides the broad porticoes and 
 Corinthian columns these classical structures are distinguished by walls pierced by 
 large windows and equally divided by wide central doors flanked and topped with fan 
 sashes. They have floors of native cherry, walnut and maple and beautiful mantels, 
 window facings, copings, baseboards and panelings. A prominent interior feature was 
 the elaborate decorative plaster work embodying the Greek acanthus and other motifs 
 in the form of cornices and central medallions in the ceilings. Woodcarvers came from 
 Philadelphia and other Eastern cities to execute the fine carvings and reedings on mantels 
 and doorways." Good examples of this period are Mansfield in Lexington; the Car- 
 rothers and Browne houses, Bardstown; Aspen Hall, Harrodsburg; the Kentucky School 
 for the Blind, Louisville; and the McClure, Barbee and Chestnut houses and old 
 Centre College in Danville. 
 
 Latrobe, father of the Greek Revival in America, also introduced at about the same 
 time the Gothic Revival, which, although intended primarily for ecclesiastical structures, 
 became popular to some extent for residences. In Kentucky Joseph Bruen of Lexington 
 conceived the idea of a medieval estate in the Blue Grass and took with him to Europe, 
 John McMurtry, a promising young architect. In England McMurtry found inspira- 
 tion for the English houses he later built in Kentucky. Ingleside and Loudoun in 
 Lexington are splendid examples of the Tudor Gothic houses built in the state by 
 McMurtry. 
 
 In spite of several notable Gothic residences and many Gothic details on houses, the 
 Gothic Revival in Kentucky was predominantly an ecclesiastical style. In Louisville the 
 First Presbyterian Church and old St. Paul's Church, both built by John Stirewalt 
 (1811-1871), were examples of Kentucky Gothic. The Abbey of Our Lady of Geth- 
 semane in Nelson County, the old First Presbyterian Church in Danville, and many 
 country churches throughout the state are interesting examples of this style." 
 
 Inspired by Romanesque villas an Italian Renaissance style, first evidenced by the 
 additions of porte-cocheres, towers and domes on Greek Revival and Georgian houses, 
 became popular in the middle nineteenth century. 
 
 Henry Whitestone (1819-1893) was Kentucky's master of the Italian Renaissance. 
 Born in County Clare, Ireland, Whitestone came to America in 1853. The old Gait 
 House in Louisville, completed in 1869, was a fine example of Whitestone's Italian 
 Renaissance style. Many of the handsome residences in the fashionable sections of 
 Louisville in the latter part of the Nineteenth century were evidences of Whitestone's 
 careful and competent designing."" 
 
 Since the beginning of the Georgian period Kentucky's architecture has reflected the 
 modes and movements of the Atlantic seaboard in the building of its finer homes. The 
 hundreds of smaller homes, built by the less wealthy Kentuckians, have been and still 
 are the products of no particular school of architecture, but are plan book houses 
 designed for utilitarian purposes. In the older cities of the state many of the smaller 
 homes were built in rows adjoining each other, close to the sidewalk. Today many of 
 the less pretentious homes are built on a mass production scale by contractors who 
 use only four or five plans with slight variations for scores of houses. 
 
 Modern architecture, already well launched in the North, South, East and West, is, 
 like its predecessors, late in reaching Kentucky. With the exception of the Greyhound 
 Bus Station at Louisville, and several small shops and homes there are few products 
 of the modern school in the state. 
 
 CABINETMAKERS AND SILVERSMITHS. 
 In order to exist practically the only activities of the first pioneers in Kentucky were 
 driving the Indian beyond the Ohio and planting corn. The furnishings of their cabins 
 were strictly utilitarian in purpose and hastily and clumsily constructed — built-in pole 
 
486 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 beds with buffalo skin mattresses and bear skin covering, three-legged stools or block 
 seats, dining tables made of broad puncheons set on four legs made of sticks inserted 
 in auger holes at the corners, and forked stick hangers for clothing. One resourceful 
 settler in Jefferson County built his cabin around a huge tree stump which he used for 
 a dining table. Table furnishings consisted of wooden plates, trays, noggins, bowls 
 and trenchers, usually made of buckeye. 2 Two-pronged iron forks and pewter spoons 
 were supplied and mended by the blacksmith and gunsmith. Spoons were sometimes 
 made of buffalo horn." An occasional silver spoon or piece of delft was a luxury 
 brought from the colonies. 
 
 However, as conditions improved the amenities of social life became important and 
 the desire for the refinements of more cultural living became evident. Quick to 
 realize the business opportunities offered by these needs, the itinerant cabinetmaker and 
 silversmith appeared. 
 
 Unlimited stores of native walnut, cherry, pine, maple and other woods furnished 
 material for the cabinetmaker and coin silver and Spanish dollars brought to Ken- 
 tucky by New Orleans traders became the medium for the silversmith. 
 
 On March 6, 1790, Daniel Weible, cabinetmaker at Strode's Station, advertised in 
 The Kentucky Gazette. In 1793 Daniel Spenser and William Reed were making 
 furniture in Lexington. James Hardwick and Robert Holmes, chairmakers, and John 
 Spangler, cabinetmaker, advertised in the Gazette in 1794."° On September 13th of 
 that year the Rev. Jesse Head, who married Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks, 
 advertised for apprentices to the cabinetmaking business. Jesse Head had a profitable 
 cabinetmaking shop in Springfield and trained many apprentices, one of the best of 
 whom was David Rodman. 
 
 Another early minister who made fine furniture was Joseph Putman who was in 
 Lexington in 1795. John Goodman, Archibald Mclllvane and John Spangler adver- 
 tised in the Gazette in 1799. The 1806 Charless Directory of Lexington lists Benjamin 
 
 Parish, Thomas Whitney, Porter Clay, brother of Henry Clay, Wilson, Isaac 
 
 Holmes, William Reid and Robert Holmes as makers of beds, tables, chests and chairs, 
 also "such ornamental pieces as drinking boards, sideboards and sugar chests." 
 
 The names of the first few cabinetmakers in Louisville are not known. In 1815 there 
 were four cabinetmakers in Louisville but by 1819 their number had increased to ten 
 and there were three chair factories. The Ward & Stokes factory advertised in the 
 1832 Louisville City Directory as "Cabinet Manufactory and Furniture Warerooms, 
 ss Mkt. betw. 3rd and 4th, opp. Post Office." Curtis & Newton advertised in the same 
 issue as "Looking Glass and Picture Frame Manufacturers," and B. W. Jenks and 
 Company made "Mahogany, fancy and Windsor chairs; Cabinet Furniture, and Look- 
 ing Glasses in Great Variety." The first Directory lists eighteen cabinetmakers and 
 several chairmakers. 
 
 Furniture made at Louisville was sold not only to local householders, but to steam- 
 boat companies, inns and hotels, and was shipped down the Ohio by steamboat to towns 
 between Louisville and New Orleans. 
 
 Though the Duncan Phyfe, Hepplewhite and Sheraton influences were seen in many 
 pieces of the Kentucky furniture of this period, careful attention to detail, well chosen 
 and beautifully finished wood, and lines of sturdy simplicity combining both strength 
 and beauty are characteristics of the workmanship of the Kentucky cabinetmaker. 
 
 Many of the state's first silversmiths, like its cabinetmakers, were itinerant, moving 
 from one town to another as business warranted. They appear to have done much 
 banking business, not only by converting coin silver into plate, but by advancing loans 
 on pieces they had made. The demand for silverplate being limited for some time 
 after the first silversmith came into Kentucky the early craftsman was, of necessity, 
 versatile and usually combined some practical work to the art of silversmithing. 
 
CENTRE'S FOOTBALL TEAM, 1894 
 
 1 — VanWinkle, left end; 2 — Cubbins, left tackle; 3 — Boyer, left guard; 4 — Bedford, center 
 rush; 5 — Hudgeons, right guard; 6 — Dicson, right tackle; 7 — Douglas, right end; 8 — Captain 
 Berry, quarterback ; 9 — Hardin, left halfback; 10 — Cook, right halfback; n — McDonald, full- 
 back; 12 — Cralle, right end; 13 — Hudson, right tackle; 14 — Merrill, right halfback; 15 — Colvin, 
 quarterback; subs and second team: 16 — Nicholas; 17 — Yeager; 18 — Mattox; 19 — Starling; 
 'urner; 21 — Kinnaird ; 22 — Dickerson ; 23 — Smith; 24 — H. E. Woolfok, mgr. ; 25 — Curry; 
 \G — Dudley; 27 — Kendall; 28 — Waller; 29 — Allen; 30 — Chinn ; 31 — Kelly; 32 — Goodloe. 
 
488 ASESQUI-CENTENNiAL 
 
 The first silversmith to come to Kentucky was the versatile Edward West (1757- 
 1827), the son of Edward and Eliza (Mills) West of Stafford County, Virginia. He 
 advertised in The Kentucky Gazette of August 9, 1788, the opening of his watch and 
 clock shop on High Street in Lexington. Two years later he advertised for an 
 apprentice to the gun and silversmith's business. Of an inventive turn of mind he 
 experimented on a steamboat which he successfully tried out on the Town Fork of the 
 Elkhorn and for which he received a patent in 1802. At the same time he received 
 patents for a gunlock, a nail-cutting machine and a nail-cutting and heading machine. 
 Other inventions credited to him are a pistol, a wire-bound cannon, a hemp breaking 
 machine and a machine for cutting or pressing molding on tin gutter pipe. Fayette 
 County Order Book "A" shows that Edward West was allowed one pound ten shillings 
 for making the first Fayette County seal." 
 
 Of the many silversmiths to follow West in Lexington two of the most outstanding 
 were Samuel Ayres and Asa Blanchard. Ayres, a Virginian, came to Lexington before 
 1791 and until 1823, when he moved to Danville, made large quantities of silverplate 
 and trained a number of apprentices. Asa Blanchard, who arrived in Lexington in 
 1808 and died there in 1838, became the state's best-known early maker of silver- 
 plate. Many pieces of beautifully executed silverware can still be found in Kentucky 
 bearing his name and mark, mute evidences of his skill as an artisan." 
 
 Among the many other prominent early craftsmen in Lexington were David Humphrey, 
 who was awarded twelve pounds sterling for making the first seal and press for the 
 Commonwealth of Kentucky. " and Robert and Alexander Frazer. 
 
 Louisville's first craftsmen were John G. Schwing, who advertised in 1803; J. C. 
 Reilly & Co., 1816; E. Ayres & Co. the same year, and Evans C. Beard. Outstanding 
 silversmiths in Louisville between 1827 and 1850 were Evans C. Beard, James I. Lemon, 
 Richard E. Smith, William and Archibald Cooper, John Kitts, Joseph Werne, Henry 
 Hudson, George Griffin, Stephen D. Choate, A. G. Medley and S. W. Warriner. 
 Large quantities of silverplate were manufactured by the firms of Lemon and Kendrick 
 and Fletcher & Bennett. 
 
 From 1790 to 1850 many silversmiths plied their trade throughout Kentucky. Spoon 
 making was the limit of the ability of some of them while others were truly master 
 craftsmen. Prominent among them were James S. Sharrard, Warren Ewing, Thomas 
 Jefferson Shepard, William Savage, J. & J. Eubank, Thomas Phillips, B. B. and T. 
 K. Marsh, William Akin, David M. Spurgeon, John Hickman and David H. Spears. 
 
 By 1830 the silversmith who made silver by hand was beginning to disappear. By 
 1850 because of eastern competition and the invention of machinery for the manu- 
 facture of silverplate practically all of them had vanished. However, though their day 
 was comparatively short, the early silversmiths made valuable contributions to the aesthetic 
 and cultural growth of Kentucky. 
 
 ARTISTS. 
 
 The dawn of Kentucky's cultural awakening shedding its first misty beams on 
 Lexington drew artisans of all types from the East. Since the adornment of the home 
 was one of the early marks of economic well-being, fine furniture, beautiful silver and 
 portraits of members of the family were in demand. In answer to the need, artists, 
 most of them itinerant, came to try their luck in the new West and many of them 
 
 1 30 
 
 stayed. 
 
 Perhaps the first painter to find his way to Kentucky was William West, student of 
 Benjamin West, who came to Lexington in 1788. He painted few pictures of merit and 
 little is known of him. 
 
 Asa Park, friend of William West, was the first painter of the birds and flowers of 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 489 
 
 the Blue Grass region. He also attempted portraiture, but his best productions were 
 those of still life. 
 
 George Beck (1749-1812), having served a time as scout in Wayne's campaign, 
 arrived in Lexington in 1800. Classicist, translator, mathematician, astronomer as well 
 as artist, Beck was sadly unappreciated by the Lexington of his day. He painted a 
 few portraits and landscapes in oils of the Kentucky River scenery. George Beck and 
 his wife, who was also an artist of ability, conducted a female seminary in Lexington 
 for many years in which painting was a prominent feature. 
 
 William Edward West, born December 10, 1788, in Lexington, the son of Edward 
 West, Kentucky's first silversmith and inventor, became famous for his painting of Lord 
 Byron of Leghorn. West studied under Thomas Sully and his pictures were exhibited 
 at the Royal Academy in London and in other London exhibits from 1826 to 1837. 
 He returned to America in 1840 and died in Nashville, Tennessee, November 2, 1857. 3 ' 
 
 Chester Harding, born in Conway, Massachusetts, September 1, 1792, came to Ken- 
 tucky about 1819 and for several years painted many excellent portraits in Lexington 
 and Paris. Harding began his career as a house painter in Pittsburgh where a chance 
 acquaintance with a traveling portrait painter influenced him to turn his talents toward 
 portraiture. Probably his best known work is his portrait of Daniel Boone painted 
 in Missouri. Chester Harding died in Boston, Massachusetts, April 1, 1866. 32 
 
 Matthew Harris Jouett, born in Mercer County, Kentucky, April 22, 1788, is Ken- 
 tucky's favorite artist son. Educated for law, but more devoted to the pencil and the 
 brush, he taught himself portrait and miniature painting. In 1816 he studied four 
 months under the celebrated Gilbert Stuart, returned in October of that year to Lex- 
 ington where in less than five years he became known as the best portrait painter in 
 the West. In the words of General Samuel Woodson Price, "Jouett painted nature 
 as he saw it. The eye of genius comprehended form in its appropriate lines and 
 symmetry, and in color its positive, transparent, and complimentary shadows. This 
 ocular impression on the retina was duplicated on the canvas with simplicity and 
 directness, consequently his heads have roundness, and preserve throughout a consistent 
 harmony. He had a technique of his own, and, with a full and vigorous brush, applied 
 the color to the canvas." A Catalogue of Paintings by Mrs. William H. Martin, 
 published by the J. B. Speed Memorial Museum in 1939, lists 529 portraits attributed 
 to Jouett from 1816 to 1827, the year of his death in Lexington. Jouett's portraits 
 were unsigned and it is possible that, in spite of his rapid execution, he did not paint 
 all of the portraits attributed to him. Kentucky's early notables and belles are well 
 represented in his work. Such prominent citizens as Isaac Shelby, Henry Clay, Horace 
 Holley, Thomas Marshall and Joseph Hamilton Daviess sat for him. During Lafayette's 
 visit to Kentucky, he granted Jouett a one-hour sitting to retouch a full-length painting 
 of the beloved Frenchman which Jouett had previously painted from a portrait by Ary 
 Scheffer. For this painting of Lafayette Jouett received $1,400. 
 
 Joseph H. Bush, born in Frankfort, Kentucky, in 1794, showed such marked artistic 
 ability at an early age that Henry Clay, backed by Matthew H. Jouett's artistic judg- 
 ment, prevailed on his father to send him to Philadelphia to study under Sully. At 
 nineteen Bush opened his first studio in Frankfort. From there he went to Lexington 
 and finally located permanently in Louisville, where he painted the portraits of the 
 notables of Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana. Joseph H. Bush died in 
 Lexington on January 11, 1865. 
 
 John Grimes, whose "Country Boy" and "The Suicide" are excellent evidences of 
 his ability, and John Neagle from Philadelphia, are two other early painters to come 
 to Lexington. 
 
 John James Audubon is one of the artists of whom Kentucky is proudest. He 
 failed as a portrait painter in Louisville in 1819, but his paintings of birds of America 
 
490 A SESQUI -CENTENNIAL 
 
 have won him international fame and honor. Besides portraits, Audubon painted views 
 of many American scenes and he constantly drew birds, plants, snakes, and quadrupeds 
 which he used later to illustrate his book on natural history. His famous three-volume 
 edition of Birds of America was published in London in 1836 with over three hundred 
 plates of bird pictures and a delightfully well-written text. The Audubon Memorial at 
 Henderson, Kentucky, where the artist lived for many years, does homage to the genius 
 of this man who has been called the "Father of American Ornithology." 34 
 
 Oliver Frazer, born in Fayette County, Kentucky, February 4, 1808, at an early 
 age became a student of Jouett. Later he studied under Sully in Philadelphia and 
 finally under George P. Heal) in Paris. He located permanently in Lexington in 1838 
 and upon his shoulders fell the mantle of Jouett. He painted portraits of Henry 
 Clay, Joel T. Hart, Chief Justice George Robertson and other notables of his day. 
 He died February 9, 1864, in Lexington. 30 
 
 Louis Morgan of Pittsburgh settled in Lexington in 1830 and remained there for 
 many years. His portrait of Simon Kenton is his best known work. Morgan painted 
 portraits for a year in Louisville and for several months in Frankfort. 
 
 Samuel W. Price, student of Oliver Frazer, born in Jessamine County, Kentucky, 
 August 5, 1828, was another successful ante-bellum painter. His portrait of "King 
 Solomon of Kentucky" has been often reproduced. 
 
 In 1843 there came to Kentucky Augustin Edouart, a French artist, who, with a pair 
 of scissors and a folded piece of black paper, cut the profiles of many of the state's well- 
 known citizens. Edouart's silhouettes are eagerly sought, not only by Kentuckians, but 
 by collectors all over the country. 
 
 William Henry Brown, another silhouette artist, on his travels throughout the United 
 States, visited Kentucky before 1845 cutting the likenesses of prominent beaux and belles 
 of the period. 7 
 
 Frank Duveneck, born in 1848 in Covington, Kentucky, became Kentucky's greatest 
 artist of the nineteenth century. He studied at the Munich Academy where his rise 
 in 1870 and 1871 was meteoric. His famous paintings, "Lady With the Fan" and 
 "The Whistling Boy," were painted during his Munich days. In Venice in 1878 
 Duveneck did a fine series of etchings which were exhibited in London and were mistaken 
 for Whistler's own. About 1887 Duveneck returned to America and he painted and 
 taught art in Cincinnati until his death in 1918. Though not primarily a sculptor, 
 Deveneck, with the aid of Clement Barnhorn, executed a recumbent statue of his wife. 
 The greatest honor paid to Duveneck in America came to him in 1915 at the San 
 Francisco Fair. A whole gallery was filled with his paintings and he was awarded a 
 gold medal for his great influence and accomplishment in American art. 
 
 Nicola Marschall, A. O. Ravenaugh and B. F. Rhinehart were popular artists of the 
 nineteenth century. 
 
 The first Louisville landscape painter of note was Karl Brenner (1838-1888) whose 
 paintings of the beech trees of Kentucky have made him famous. 
 
 Alexander, Corwine, Neville Cain, G. P. A. Healy and Thomas Noble were artists 
 of note who figured in the life of the Bluegrass region after the Civil War. 
 
 Paul Sawyier (1865-1917), to whom the Kentucky River, Elkhorn Creek and the 
 woods and bypaths of Franklin, Scott, Woodford, Jessamine, Anderson, Mercer and 
 Garrard Counties were home, painted hundreds of lovely landscapes of that region in 
 watercolors and pastels. In later years he painted in oils the land and seascapes of 
 New York Bay, the Hudson River and the Catskills. An exhibition of SaWyier's 
 paintings assembled by the J. B. Speed Memorial Museum in May, 1940, included many 
 landscapes, seven miniatures, nine portraits and seven etchings. 
 
 Robert Burns Wilson, poet-artist of Frankfort; Charles E. Hooven, portrait painter; 
 
Courtesy, Filson Club. 
 
 Sally Ward, the Louisville belle and beauty of the i84o's 
 and i85o's. 
 
492 A S E S Q U I- CENTENNIAL 
 
 Sidney Gorham, whose paintings, "The Man Who Would Be King" and "Morning," 
 hang in the Louisville Free Public Library; Clarence Boyd, painter of the well-known 
 "Pilgrims Attacked by Indians While at Church"; Patty Thum (1853-1926), Louis- 
 ville's beloved painter of roses; Ferdinand Walker; Frederick Weygold; Harvey Peake; 
 Harvey Joiner, painter of lovely Kentucky and Colorado landscapes; J. Bernard Alberts 
 (1886-1931), portrait painter and designer of many of the stained glass windows in 
 Louisville's churches; Ainsley Hewett; Charles Sneed Williams; Grover Page; Fontaine 
 Fox; John T. Bauscher; Robert Wathen; Paul Plaschke, better known as a cartoonist 
 but whose paintings are of exceptional merit; Harland Hubbard, painter of steamboats; 
 C. C. Curran; Dean CornweU, illustrator and muralist whose series of oil paintings 
 depicting scenes in the lives of great American physicians and surgeons are constantly 
 being exhibited under the auspices of medical societies and universities throughout the 
 United States and Canada; Paul Sample; Mrs. Morris Gifford; Eleanor Beckham; 
 Robert York, cartoonist; Robert Purdy; Mary Spencer Nay and Henry Strater are all 
 Kentucky artists of renown. 
 
 Walter H. Kiser, Indiana born, with his pen and ink sketches of Kentucky homes, 
 doorways and historical landmarks of the state, has won a place for himself among 
 Kentucky artists. For the past eight years Mr. Kiser's "Neighborhood Sketches" have 
 appeared in the Tuesday issue of The Louisville Times. 
 
 Two present-day well-known portrait painters of the country are claimed by Ken- 
 tucky. Bethuel Moore of Barbourville and Sudduth Goff of Eminence. Examples of 
 Mr. Moore's work may be found in private homes and public collections in many 
 Eastern, Southern and Mid- Western states, and his work has been exhibited in two 
 New York galleries. Mr. Goif, one-time director-instructor of the Louisville School 
 of Painting and Drawing, has held one-man exhibits in many galleries and has studios 
 in both Chicago and New York. 
 
 Louisville-born Samuel McDowell, student of Duveneck, is painting the portraits 
 of the city's notables in his studio in the Francis Building. 
 
 The chief collections of paintings in Louisville are to be found in the J. B. Speed 
 Memorial Museum. The Filson Club, The Louisville Free Public Library and the 
 Cathedral on Fifth Street. The Art Center, where Louisville's younger artists are 
 making names for themselves, The River Road Gallery and the Speed Museum have 
 temporary exhibits from time to time of loan collections. 
 
 SCULPTORS. 
 
 Kentucky has produced but two sculptors of note, Joel T. Hart and Enid Yandell. 
 Hart was born in Clark County, Kentucky, February 10, 1810. At the age of twenty- 
 one he secured employment in a marble yard chiseling ornamental heads for monuments. 
 A young sculptor, S. V. Clevenger, influenced him to try modeling. His first work 
 was a bust of General Cassius M. Clay. He studied in Florence and other artistic centers 
 in Italy and in London. He executed busts of Henry Clay, John J. Crittenden, Andrew 
 Jackson, Alexander Campbell and other prominent Kentuckians. His finest creation, 
 "Woman Triumphant," was destroyed by fire in Lexington. Joel T. Hart died on March 
 2, 1877. 40 
 
 Enid Yandell, Kentucky's greatest plastic artist, was born in Louisville in 1871. She 
 was graduated from the Cincinnati Art Academy and studied in Paris, France. One 
 of her instructors was the famous Augustin Rodin. Her most impressive work is her 
 "Athena," forty feet high, designed for the Tennessee Centennial Exhibition in Nash- 
 ville in 1897. The statue of Daniel Boone in Cherokee Park, Louisville, is one of 
 Yandell's splendid works. She was the first woman to be elected a member of the 
 National Sculpture Society. 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 493 
 
 LITERATURE. 
 
 Much writing has been done by Kentuckians beginning with the journals of the first 
 ventures into the state and Kentucky has no need to hang its head for lack of literary 
 laurels. However, most of what is termed literature has been written since 1884 when 
 James Lane Allen laid aside his teacher's robe and devoted himself to following the 
 literary Muse. 
 
 But, to write of Kentucky's literature and not begin with John Filson's The Discovery, 
 Settlement, and Present State of Kentucke, would be sacrilege. Filson, who came to 
 Kentucky in 1782, conducted a school in Lexington for a year and collected data for 
 a history of the state. In 1784 he went to Wilmington, Delaware, where his manuscript 
 was issued. In Philadelphia his famous map of Kentucky's three original counties, 
 Jefferson, Fayette and Lincoln, was printed. The first part of Filson's Wilmington 
 edition was devoted to the history of Kentucky, the second part to the first biography 
 of Daniel Boone ever published, followed by thirty pages devoted to the Indians, their 
 customs, manners, etc. The Discovery, Settlement, and Present State of Kentucke 
 containing 118 pages, is the most famous history of Kentucky, although when it was 
 written the first permanent white settlement in Kentucky was less than ten years old/" 
 
 John Bradford's Notes on Kentucky, based on accounts of leading pioneers, and 
 Gilbert Imlay's A Topographical Description of the Western Territory of North 
 America, an account of Kentucky and the Northwest, presented in a series of letters, 
 are worthy contributions to Kentucky's historical literature. 
 
 The next chronicler of Kentucky history was Humphrey Marshall (1760-1841), who 
 came to Kentucky in 1782. The first edition of his History of Kentucky was published 
 at Frankfort in 1812. A second augmented and revised edition was published in 1824. 
 Though full of prejudice towards his enemies, Marshall's history is considered re- 
 markably keen concerning the Spanish and Burr conspiracies. 
 
 Constantine S. Rafinesque (1783-1840) made a contribution to the history of Ken- 
 tucky with his Ancient Annals of Kentucky and Ichthyologia Ohiensis, or Natural 
 History of the Fishes Inhabiting the River Ohio and Its Tributary Streams, though these 
 books are read as curiosities rather than authoritative histories. 
 
 Avoiding Marshall's prejudiced attitude, Mann Butler (1784-1852) published in 1834 
 his History of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, a straightforward chronicle of Kentucky's 
 development. It is said that this history was, "after Filson's florid sentences, Rafinesque's 
 imagination, and Marshall's prejudices and castigations, most welcome and timely." 
 
 The first illustrated history of Kentucky was Lewis Collin's Historical Sketches of 
 Kentucky published in 1847, which though unreadable as a continuous narrative is a 
 mine of historic lore. Richard H. Collins published in 1874 a revised and enlarged 
 edition in two volumes of his father's history of Kentucky. Elaborately compiled, this 
 history is described as the most magnificent state history ever written. 
 
 Other Kentucky state histories are History of Kentucky, William Belknap Allen, 
 1872; Kentucky, A Pioneer Commonwealth, Nathaniel Shaler, 1885; History of Ken- 
 tucky, Zachariah Frederick Smith, 1885; History of Kentucky, W. H. Perrin, J. H. 
 Battle, and G. C. Kniffin, 1888; History of Kentucky and Kentuckians, E. Polk John- 
 son, 1912; History of Kentucky, Charles Kerr, editor, 1922; the four-volume edition 
 of the History of Kentucky, Temple Bodley and Samuel L. Wilson, 1929; and A 
 History of Kentucky, 1937, Thomas D. Clark. Clark's modern 624-page volume is 
 a readable, modern interpretation of the development of Kentucky with emphasis upon 
 its social, economic and cultural history. 
 
 Holding a place of high honor among the historical writers of the state is Col. Reuben 
 T. Durrett. In 1871 he founded The Filson Club to increase interest in historical 
 subjects in Kentucky. The first of the thirty-six publications whirh have been issued 
 
494 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 by The Filson Club since its organization was Colonel Durrett's The Life and Writings 
 of John Filson, the first historian of Kentucky. Other Filson Club publications by 
 Colonel Durrett were An Historical Sketch of St. Paul's Church, Louisville; The 
 Centenary of Kentucky; The Centenary of Louisville; Bryant's Station; and Traditions 
 of the Earliest Visits of Foreigners to North America. 
 
 Many excellent county and city histories, monographs and special articles dealing with 
 the various phases and personalities of Kentucky history have been written, such as 
 J. Stoddard Johnston's The Memorial History of Louisville, The First Explorations 
 of Kentucky; and The Confederate History of Kentucky; Thomas M. Green's His- 
 toric Families of Kentucky, The Political Beginnings of Kentucky and The Spanish 
 Conspiracy; Bennett H. Young's The Prehistoric Men of Kentucky; Dr. William 
 Allen Pusey's The Wilderness Road to Kentucky; W. S. Webb and W. D. Funk- 
 houser's Ancient Life in Kentucky; Temple Bodley's George Rogers Clark, His Life 
 and Public Services, and Our First Great West; Otto A. Rothert's Outlaws of Cave-in- 
 Rock, History of Muhlenberg County, and The Story of a Poet — Madison Cawein; 
 Miss Mary Verhoeff's Kentucky Mountains and Kentucky River Navigation; Sister Mary 
 Ramona Mattingly's The Catholic Church on the Kentucky Frontier; Charles R. 
 Staples' History of Pioneer Lexington; and Thomas D. Clark's Exploring Kentucky, 
 The Rampaging Frontier and The Kentucky. 
 
 The most productive Kentucky historian is Willard Rouse Jillson, author of more 
 than fifty books and many pamphlets on Kentucky geology, history and literature. 
 
 R. C. Ballard Thruston, president of The Filson Club, who has gathered together and 
 made available to the public more Kentucky history and genealogy than any other 
 Kentuckian has written several meticulously prepared and authoritative historical papers. 
 
 Capt. Alfred Pirtle, Col. Lucien Beckner, Maude S. Lafferty, Julia S. Ardery, J. 
 Winston Coleman, Jr., Huntley Dupre, Lucien Rule, Bayliss Hardin, Orville Baylor, 
 C. Glenn Clift, and R. Gerald McMurtry are a few more of Kentucky's many writers 
 of historical literature. 
 
 A vast amount of valuable material pertaining to the history of the state is made 
 available to the general public in The Register of the Kentucky State Historical Society, 
 the quarterly publication of the Kentucky State Historical Society and in The Filson 
 Club History Quarterly. 
 
 It has long been said that Kentucky's early poetry was more creditable than its 
 fiction, although The Kentucky Miscellany , the first book of poetry published in 
 Kentucky, written by Danville's drunken poet Tom Johnson, is a collection of slightly 
 ribald doggerel. 
 
 George Beck, the Lexington Horace, whose poetry often appeared in The Kentucky 
 Gazette; the Rev. Stephen Theodore Badin, the cultured Roman Catholic priest, whose 
 "Epicedium," an elegy on the death of Joseph Hamilton Daviess, is perhaps his best 
 known poem; John Milton Harney, author of the exquisite "Echo and the Lover"; 
 Hew Ainslee, the Scottish-Kentucky poet, loved by Kentuckians for his "The Haughs 
 O' Auld Kentuck"; and Gen. William Orlando Butler, author of The Boatman's Horn 
 and Other Poems, were some of the poets to whom credit is due for the excellence of 
 early Kentucky verse. 
 
 The poetry of George D. Prentice, editor of The Louisville Journal, was collected 
 and published in 1878 by John J. Piatt under the title The Poems of George D. Prentice. 
 Prentice's really fine poetic works were somewhat overshadowed by his rugged journalism. 
 Sympathetic to the cause of struggling young poets, he opened the columns of his 
 paper to all Western and Southern followers of the Muse. Two of his proteges were 
 Amelia B. Welby, author of Poems by Amelia, and Sarah Morgan Bryan Piatt, who 
 wrote many volumes of poetry. 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 495 
 
 About the middle of the nineteenth century Danville produced another poet, William 
 F. Marvin. Like his predecessor, Tom Johnson, he, too, was addicted to strong drink. 
 In 1847 a third son of Danville, Theodore O'Hara, wrote America's great martial elegy, 
 "The Bivouac of the Dead," commemorating the death of soldiers in the Mexican War. 
 
 Many Kentucky editors were inspired by the poetic muse in the nineteenth century, 
 among them Thomas H. Shreve, Will Wallace Harney, Forceythe Wilson, author of 
 "The Old Sergeant," Langdon Smith, whose clever "Evolution" won him fame, and 
 Henry T. Stanton, who wrote "The Moneyless Man." 
 
 Among Kentucky's many representative poets are George Washington Cutter, whose 
 Buena Vista and Other Poems contained his masterpiece, "The Song of Steam"; Rob 
 Morris, author of many books on Masonry including History of Freemasonry in 
 Kentucky, several religious songs, and his most celebrated poem, "The Level and the 
 Square"; Mary E. W. Betts, "A Kentuckian Kneels to None but God"; Robert Burns 
 Wilson; John L. Spalding; Young E. Allison, poet and prose writer, celebrated for 
 his "On Board the Derelict," a completion of the four famous lines in Robert Louis 
 Stevenson's Treasure Island: Charles J. O'Malley; Ingram Crockett, Kentucky's exquisite 
 nature poet; James H. Mulligan, author of "In Kentucky"; Nathaniel S. Shaler; George 
 M. Davie; Nelly M. McAfee; Mary F. Childs; Daniel Henry Holmes, one of Ken- 
 tucky^ foremost lyric poets, author of the delightfully unique Under a Fool's Cap: 
 Songs and A Peddlars Pack; Joseph S. Cotter, Kentucky's negro poet; Margaret S. 
 Anderson; Hortense Flexner; Jacqueline Embry; R. Alexander Bate; Lucien V. Rule; 
 Olive Tilford Dargan; George Dillon; Marie Beckner; Charles Hanson Towne; David 
 Morton; Cale Young Rice; Kalfus Kurtz Gusling; Virgil L. Sturgill; Don West; James 
 Still; Robert Browning Hamilton; and Jesse Stuart, author of The Man With the Bull 
 Tongue Plow and other poems. 
 
 Kentucky's famous master of lyric poetry was Madison Cawein, born in Louisville, 
 March 23, 1865. His first poems were published in 1887 in a small booklet entitled 
 Blooms of the Berry. One of America's great nature poets, Cawein rarely went beyond 
 the bounds of Kentucky for inspiration. His best known works are Days and Dreams, 
 Lyrics and Idylls, Undertones, Kentucky Poems, The Vale of Temper, The Poet, The 
 Fool and the Faeries, and The Cup of Comas. Otto A. Rothert's The Story of a 
 Poet — Madison Cawein is an exhaustive biography of the famous lyric. 
 
 The romantic traditions and natural beauty of Kentucky have proved to be rich 
 background for stories of fact and fiction and have been used to good effect by the 
 writers of both poetry and prose. 4 ' However, except for the journals of various ex- 
 plorers and travelers, the first literary efforts in the state were confined principally to 
 the works of early ministers, doctors and scientists. Essay on Baptism, by David Rice, 
 published in Baltimore in 1789; A Process in the Transylvania Presbytery, etc., by 
 Adam Rankin; Stephen Theodore Badin's Principles of Catholics, the first Roman 
 Catholic book printed in the West; the works of Henry B. Bascom, Constantine S. 
 Rafinesque and John J. Audubon; Dr. Thomas W. Ruble's The American Medical 
 Guide for the Use of Families, the first medical book printed in Kentucky, and Dr. 
 Daniel Drake's many medical treatise and his Pioneer Life in Kentucky dxt some of 
 the earliest evidences of the literary skill of these pioneer professional men. " Other 
 literary doctors and ministers were Archbishop Martin J. Spalding, Sketches of the 
 Early Catholic Missions in Kentucky; Dr. Charles Caldwell, prolific writer of subjects 
 related to the science of medicine, but whose Discourse on the Genius and Character 
 of Rev. Horace Holley, LL.D., late President of Transylvania University, established 
 his fame; Dr. Elisha Bartlett; Dr. Lewis J. Frazee and Dr. Samuel D. Gross. 
 
 Although very few of the writings of Dr. Horace Holley, one-time Boston minister 
 and president of Transylvania University from 1817 to 1827, have been preserved his 
 cultural influence over the Kentucky of his day had a far-reaching effect. 
 
496 A S E S Q U I- CENTENNIAL 
 
 Another early work of non-fiction was the first school book printed in the state, 
 The Kentucky English Grammar by Samuel Wilson, a schoolmaster, printed by John 
 Bradford in 1797. Samuel Wilson also wrote a Rational Spelling Book and a pamphlet 
 of poems in Latin entitled Chelys Hesperia. 
 
 Kentucky's first native born novelist was Jessee L. Holman whose novel, Prisoners 
 of Niagara or Errors of Education, was published in Frankfort in 1810. 
 
 Gilbert Imlay's The Emigrants, or the History of an Expatriated Family, being a 
 Delineation of English Manners drawn from Real Characters. Written in America by 
 G. Imlay, Esq., published in London in 1793, was the first novel of which the scenes 
 are laid in Kentucky. Imlay, who came to Louisville in 1784 and only remained a 
 short time can scarcely be classed as a Kentucky writer. 
 
 Another non-Kentuckian, Robert Montgomery Bird, using the Kentucky of 1782 as 
 a background for his Nick of the Woods, or the Jibbenainosay, a Tale of Kentucky, 
 and by writing the first adequate description of Mammoth Cave in his Peter Pilgrim, 
 or a Rambler's Recollections, together with other novels, essays and plays, has won 
 himself an enviable place in Kentucky letters. 
 
 Julia Ann Tevis, of Clark County, the wife of John Tevis, a Kentucky Methodist 
 preacher, wrote one of the state's best autobiographies, Sixty Years in a School Room, 
 setting forth the details of her splendid services at Science Hill Academy in Shelby- 
 ville which she opened in March, 1825. 
 
 About the middle of the nineteenth century many historical novels made their ap- 
 pearance, one of the finest being William Courtney Watts The Chronicles of a Ken- 
 tucky Settlement. James Weir, Sr., with scenes laid in Western Kentucky, wrote 
 Lonz Powers, or the Regulators; Francis H. Underwood produced vivid pen pictures 
 of life in Bowling Green about 1844 entitled Lord of Himself; John A. McClung and 
 James Hall blended romance and history in imaginative historical novels; Mrs. Mary 
 J. Holmes, author of many popular novels of the period, wrote Tempest and Sunshine, 
 or Life in Kentucky and Lena Rivers, and John Uri Lloyd, novelist and scientist, made 
 himself famous by his four "Stringtown" stories, the best being the well-loved String- 
 town on the Pike. 
 
 James Lane Allen, born December 21, 1849, near Lexington, was Kentucky's foremost 
 master of English prose. Highly imaginative, yet based on historic, economic and social 
 facts, Allen's novels are accurate accounts of the minds and hearts of the Blue Grass. 
 His first short story, "Too Much Momentum," appeared in the April, 1885, edition of 
 Harper's Magazine. In 1888 Century Magazine published "The Tale of Two Gentle- 
 men from Kentucky." His best known works are King Solomon of Kentucky; A Ken- 
 tucky Cardinal, the great American classic; The Choir Invisible; Flute and Violin; 
 The Blue Grass Region of Kentucky and The Reign of Law.*' 
 
 As James Lane Allen was chronicler of the Blue Grass so was John Fox, Jr., of the 
 Kentucky mountains. Born in Bourbon County, December 16, 1863, Fox went to the 
 mountains in 1890 and became so interested in the mountaineers and their customs that 
 in 1892 he published his first work concerning them, a full length novel, A Mountain 
 Europa. "Hell Fer Sartain," a short story published in Harper's Magazine, gained him 
 recognition, after which he wrote The Kentuckians, A Cumberland Vendetta, The 
 Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come, Christmas Eve on Lonesome, The Trail of the Lone- 
 some Pine and Heart of the Hills. Master maker of mountain stories, John Fox, Jr., 
 has given to the world a true picture of the culture and philosophies of the Kentucky 
 mountaineer. 
 
 The ranks of Kentucky authors was becoming rapidly swelled. Some of them were 
 John P. Fruit, the distinguished Poe scholar; Eliza Calvert Obenchain, Aunt Jane of 
 Kentucky; Mary S. R. Andrews and W. E. Barton, short-story writers; Elizabeth Robins; 
 Ellen Churchill Semple, whose Anglo-Saxons of the Kentucky Mountains was issued 
 
Courtesy, Lexington Board of Commer 
 
 MAIN STREET, LEXINGTON 
 
498 A S E S QUI -CENTENNIAL 
 
 in 1910 as a bulletin of the American Geographical Society; Annie Fellows Johnston, 
 creator of the "Little Colonel" series; George Madden Martin, Emmy Lou; Henry 
 Watterson, Marse Henry; Cordia Greer Petrie, "Angeline" series; James Tandy Ellis; 
 Cale Young Rice, poet and prose writer, whose autobiography is entitled Bridging 
 the Years; his wife, Alice Hegan Rice, Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch, Mr. Opp, 
 A Romance of Billy Goat Hill, Lovey Mary and The Inky Way; Eleanor Mercein 
 Kelly, Kildares of Storm; Cleves Kinkead, Common Clay; Credo Harris; Edwin Carlisle 
 Litsey and Isaac F. Marcosson, The Autobiography of a Clown and Turbulent Years. 
 
 Among Kentucky's few but successful dramatists are Edwin Carty Ranck, Thompson 
 Buchanan, Charles Turner Dazey, Parker Hord, Anne Crawford Flexner, Maurine 
 Watkins, Cleves Kinkead, Jo Milward and Stuart Walker. 
 
 Ranking with James Lane Allen as one of Kentucky's foremost novelists is Elizabeth 
 Madox Roberts, author of Under The Tree, a small book of poems; The Time of Man, 
 her first and finest novel; The Great Meadow, probably her best known work; My 
 Heart and My Flesh; Jingling in the Wind: A Buried Treasure; Black Is My Truelove's 
 Hair; and Not By Strange Gods. 
 
 Irvin S. Cobb, one of the state's most fluent and prolific writers; John Wilson Town- 
 send, author of James Lane Allen and Kentucky in American Letters; John Mason 
 Brown; Burton Rascoe, An American Reader; Ben Lucien Burnam, Steamboat Round 
 the Bend and Blow For a Landing; Lucy Furman; William Henry Townsend; Bernard 
 Mayo; Willie Snow Ethridge; Herbert Agar, The People's Choice and Pursuit of 
 Happiness; Leane Zugsmith; Juliet Alves; Marian Flexner; Dorothy Park Clark and 
 Isabel McLennan McMeekin are more of Kentucky's men and women of letters. 
 
 FOOTNOTES FOR CHAPTER XVII 
 
 The Rampaging Frontier, by Thomas D. Clark (1939) . 
 
 "Letters of Mrs. Ann Biddle Wilkinson From Kentucky, 1788-1789, With An Intro- 
 duction and Notes by Thomas Robson Hays, reprinted from The Pennsylvania Maga- 
 zine of History and Biography, Vol. LVI, No. 1, January, 1932. Copy in The Filson 
 Club. 
 
 "The History of Pioneer Lexington (Ky.) 1779-1806, by Charles R. Staples (1939), 
 P- 4 3. 
 
 "Early Kentucky Handweaving," by Lou Tate, Kentucky Progress Magazine, Spring, 
 1935. 
 
 [Ibid. 
 
 'The Rampaging Frontier, by Thomas D. Clark (1939) . 
 
 "Thoroughbreds Owe It All to Old Lexington," by Carl Bernhardt, The Courier 
 Journal, Story of Kentucky, January, 1942. 
 
 ""Custodians of Nation's Folk Songs," by John Jacob Niles, The Courier Journal, 
 Story of Kentucky, January, 1942; "On the Trail of Song Ballads," by Anna Blanche 
 McGill, Kentucky Progress Magazine, Winter, 1934. 
 
 ''Stage Coach Days in the Blue Grass, by J. Winston Coleman (1935) . 
 
 '""Old Kentucky Watering Places," by J. Winston Coleman, The Filson Club History 
 Quarterly, January, 1942. 
 
 "Ibid. 
 
 ^"Letters of 1831-32 About Kentucky," by Samuel M. Wilson, The Filson Club 
 History Quarterly, October, 1942. 
 
 '"Memorial History of Louisville, by J. Stoddard Johnston (1896), Vol. 1, pp. 73, 
 89, 104; A Few Memories, by Mary Anderson deNavarro (1896). 
 
 "The early French explorers in Kentucky may have built some sort of temporary 
 shelters in the state earlier in the century. 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 499 
 
 The Centenary of Kentucky, by Reuben T. Durrett, Filson Club Publications, No. 7. 
 Ibid; The History of Pioneer Lexington, by Charles R. Staples, p. 2; Architecture 
 of Old Kentucky, by Rexford Newcomb (1940) . 
 
 'Architecture of Old Kentucky, by Rexford Newcomb. 
 
 ■n*L 
 
 "Some Early Engineers and Architects in Kentucky," by Alfred Pirtle, The Register, 
 of the Kentucky State Historical Society, Vol. 12, No. 36, p. 37; "Gideon Shryock, 
 His Life and His Work," by Elizabeth Shryock Field, pamphlet in The Filson Club; 
 "Gideon Shryock, Pioneer Greek Revivalist of the Middle West," by Rexford Newcomb, 
 The Register of the Kentucky State Historical Society, Vol. 26, September, 1928, pp. 
 229, etc. 
 
 ' "Some Old Kentucky Homes," by Josephine Farrell McDonald, Kentucky Progress 
 Magazine, Fall, 1933. 
 
 'Architecture of Old Kentucky, by Rexford Newcomb. 
 
 """Henry Whitestone, Architect," The Courier Journal, June 29, 1924; "Some Early 
 Engineers and Architects in Kentucky," by Alfred Pirtle, The Register of the Kentucky 
 State Historical Society, Vol. 12, No. 36. 
 
 " The Centenary of Kentucky, by Reuben T. Durrett, Filson Club Publications, No. 7; 
 "Other Times and Other Manners Are Kept Alive in the Cabins in Harrod's Fort," by 
 Maud Ward Lafferty, Kentucky Progress Magazine, Fall, 1934. 
 
 "Interview with Jane Stevenson, Draper Mss., 13CC138. 
 
 ""Early Kentucky Cabinetmakers," by Mary Willis Shuey, The Magazine Antiques, 
 June, 1941. 
 
 ''Early Times in Washington County, Kentucky, by Orville Baylor (1942). 
 
 '"Kentucky Silversmiths Before 1850," by Margaret M. Bridwell, The Filson Club 
 History Quarterly, April, 1942. 
 
 " s "Asa Blanchard, Early Kentucky Silversmiths," by Margaret M. Bridwell, The 
 Magazine Antiques, March, 1940. 
 
 ''The Register of the Kentucky State Historical Society, Vol. 22, January, 1924, p. 94. 
 
 30 History of Kentucky, by Samuel M. Wilson, Vol. II, pp. 501-515; The Old Masters 
 of the Bluegrass, by General Samuel Woodson Price, Filson Club Publications, No. 17 
 (1902). 
 
 "Dictionary of American Biography, Vol. XX, p. 12. 
 
 3 ""Doris Dix and Her Kinfolks," pamphlet in The Filson Club, Louisville. 
 
 ''Matthew Harris Jouett, Kentucky Portrait Painter, by E. A. Jonas (1938); "Addi- 
 tional Notes on Matthew H. Jouett, Kentucky Portrait Painter," by Samuel M. Wilson, 
 The Filson Club History Quarterly, January and April, 1940; Old Masters of the 
 Bluegrass, by General Samuel Woodson Price. 
 
 "The Birds of America, by John James Audubon, with an introduction and descriptive 
 text by William Vogt (1937) ; History of Kentucky, by Lewis Collins (1882), Vol. II, 
 p. 336; The Life of John J. Audubon, edited by his widow, Lucy Green (Blakewell) 
 Audubon (1870). 
 
 ""History of Kentucky, by Samuel M. Wilson, Vol. II, pp. 501-515. 
 
 "Shades of Our Ancestors, by Alice Van Leer Carrick (1928), pp. 138-149; "Sil- 
 houettes by Edouart," by Sanford A. Moss, Ph.D., The Magazine Antiques, October, 
 1941, p. 227; "Great-Grandfather's Shadow Lives," by Mary James Leach, The Courier 
 Journal. 
 
 3T "A Ne'er-Do-Well Among the Well-To-Do," by Lucille McWane Watson, The 
 Magazine Antiques, October, 1942, p. 182. 
 
 3s "Duveneck, Kentucky Exile," by F. E. Wylie, The Herald-Post, Louisville, August 
 29, 1936; Dictionary of American Biography, p. 558; Frank Duveneck, by Norbert 
 Heermann. 
 
 3 3— Vol. I 
 
500 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 A Bibliography of Paul Sawyier, American Artist, 1865-1917, by Willard Rouse 
 Jillson (1939). 
 
 The Old Masters of the Blue grass, by General Samuel Woodson Price; History of 
 Kentucky, by Lewis Collins, Vol. I, pp. 52, 68, 587, 619, 624. 
 
 "This Girl Sculptor Was of Uncommon Clay," by Marion Porter, The Courier 
 Journal, February 9, 1941. 
 
 4J "Filson's History and Map of Kentucky," by R. C. Ballard Thurston, The Filson 
 Club History Quarterly, Vol. VIII, January, 1934, pp. 1-38; Kentucky in American 
 Letters, by John Wilson Townsend (1913), Vol. I, pp. 1-4; The Life and Writings 
 of John Filson, by R. T. Durrett, Filson Club Publications No. 1 (1884) . 
 
 43 "John Bradford, Kentucky's First Printer," by Samuel M. Wilson, The Filson Club 
 History Quarterly, October, 1937. 
 
 44 Kentucky in American Letters, by John Wilson Townsend, Vol. I, p. 59. 
 
 4 'See Kentucky in American Letters, by John Wilson Townsend, Vols. I and II; 
 History of Kentucky, by Samuel M. Wilson, Vol. II; "Local History in Kentucky 
 Literature," by Otto A. Rothert, pamphlet in The Filson Club, Louisville. 
 
 4 "Five Rare Kentucky Books," thesis written by Grace Winstandley, copy in The 
 Filson Club, Louisville. 
 
 41 James Lane Allen, by John Wilson Townsend (1927) . 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 THE CHURCHES* 
 
 HISTORIC SKETCH OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH 
 
 IN KENTUCKY 
 
 Wh 
 
 hen the editor, Mr. Tapp, asked us to write these historic sketches 
 of the various religious bodies in the state, he expressed the opinion that the Roman 
 Catholic Church was first definitely represented amongst the pioneers. The sketch of 
 that Church in Collins's History of Kentucky verifies that opinion. The account is so 
 accurate, concise and vivid that we have taken from it very essential data: 
 
 "Maryland shared abundantly in the enthusiasm which had already set one-fourth 
 of the adjacent populations in motion towards the West. The Catholics who settled 
 in Kentucky came principally from this state which had been founded by Lord Baltimore, 
 and a band of colonists professing the Roman Catholic religion. Bold, hardy, adven- 
 turous and strongly attached to their faith, but tolerant towards those of other denomi- 
 nations, the Catholic emigrants to Kentucky proved not unworthy of their ancestors, 
 who had been the first to unfurl on this Western continent the broad banner of universal 
 freedom, both civil and religious. They cheerfully underwent the labors, privations and 
 dangers to which all the early emigrants were exposed; and they made common cause 
 with their brethren in providing for the security of their new homes in the wilderness, 
 and in repelling Indian invasions. Several of their number were killed or dragged into 
 captivity on their way to Kentucky; others passed through stirring adventures and 
 made hair-breadth escapes." (Collins, I, 385.) 
 
 We wish to verify fully the spirit of Christian tolerance in the Catholics from Mary- 
 land who settled in our own home community above Louisville, on the Ohio River. 
 Francis Snowden was the outstanding man amongst them. Those sturdy pioneers, 
 Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Catholic, Methodist, wanted a pastor and teacher amongst 
 them upon whom all might agree. They chose Rev. Dr. Gideon Blackburn, of Maryville, 
 Tenn., a great pulpit orator and a magnanimous man of God. He preached the Gospel 
 with such acceptance to each and every faith, though a very loyal "New School" Presby- 
 terian, that he established his community church and academy. A priest in St. Louis 
 said to one of his parishoners, "Why do you go to hear Dr. Blackburn more than you 
 do to hear me?" "Father," she answered, "if you will preach Jesus to take hold of the 
 heart as he does, I will always come to hear you." Dr. Blackburn did not proselyte, 
 but when Francis Snowden and Miss Winchester were married, they agreed to com- 
 promise on the Presbyterian Church; and Francis Snowden was elected its first ruling 
 elder at Goshen. Young girls reared in that community were often sent to Nazareth 
 Academy at Bardstown for higher education. 
 
 "The first Catholic emigrants to Kentucky, with whose history we are acquainted, 
 were Dr. Hart and William Coomes. These came out in the spring of 1775, and 
 settled at Harrod's station. Here Dr. Hart engaged in the practice of medicine; and 
 the wife of William Coomes opened a school for children. Thus in all probability the 
 first practicing physician and the first school teacher of our infant commonwealth were 
 both Roman Catholics. A few years later they removed with their families to Bards- 
 town, in the vicinity of which most of the Catholic emigrants subsequently located 
 themselves. Previously to their removal, however, they were both actively employed 
 in the defense of Harrod's Station during its memorable siege by the Indians in 1778. 
 
 *This sketch was written by the Reverend Lucien V. Rule, of Goshen, Kentucky. 
 
502 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 William Coomes was with the party which first discovered the approach of the savages; 
 one of his companions was shot dead at his side; and he made a narrow escape with his 
 life. 
 
 Bishop Spalding's "Sketches of Kentucky" verify the priority of Mrs. William 
 Coomes as the first Kentucky school-teacher. Harrod's Station was but a row or two 
 of log cabins, the hunters wearing skins and leggins and moccasins to keep warm; and 
 a woman wielded the rod of authority over their youngsters in learning "The Three 
 R's." There was yet no court or church in the settlement. Smith's History of Ken- 
 tucky states that many had started back to Virginia or Maryland out of fear of the 
 Indians. But the second school, kept at McAfee Station, near Harrodsburg, in 1777, 
 by John May, a Presbyterian, had a history, and that first teacher, like John Filson, 
 who taught at Lexington in 1780 and wrote the Life of Daniel Boone, fell a victim 
 to the red men along the Ohio River. Filson was a Presbyterian, as was the equally 
 famous John McKinney at Lexington, who fought the wild-cat in 1783. Joseph Doni- 
 phan came to Boonesboro in 1778 and opened a school, being a young man of twenty- 
 two, and he taught the children of Daniel Boone, Nathaniel Hart, Jesse Oldham and 
 Richard Calloway. The first academy teacher was James Kemper, another Presbyterian, 
 near Danville, in 1783-84; then came the father of Theodore O'Hara, a great teacher, 
 a Catholic exile, who taught Zachary Taylor and other noted Kentuckians. 
 
 "In the year 1785," says our Collins chronicle, "a large colony of Catholics emigrated 
 to Kentucky from Maryland, with the Haydens and Lancasters, and settled chiefly on 
 Pottinger's Creek, at a distance of from ten to fifteen miles from Bardstown. They 
 were followed in the spring of the next year by another colony led out by Captain 
 James Rapier, who located himself in the same neighborhood. In 1787. Thomas Hill 
 and Philip Miles brought out another band of Catholics, and they were followed in 
 1788 by Robert Abell and his friends; and in 1790-91 by Benedict Spalding and Leonard 
 Hamilton, with their families and connections. The last named colonists settled on the 
 Rolling Fork, a branch of Salt River, in the present county of Marion. 
 
 "In the spring of the year 1787 there were already about fifty Catholic families in 
 Kentucky. They had as yet no Catholic clergyman to administer to their spiritual wants; 
 and they felt the privation most keenly. Upon application to the Very Reverend John 
 Carroll of Baltimore, then the ecclesiastical superior of all the Catholics in the United 
 States, they had the happiness to receive as their first pastor the Rev. Mr. Whelan, 
 a zealous and talented Irish priest, who had served as chaplain in the French Navy, 
 which had come to our assistance in the struggle for independence. He remained with 
 his new charge till the spring of 1790, when he returned to Maryland by the way of 
 New Orleans." (Collins, I, 486.) 
 
 We had as well state at the outset of these sketches our aversion to the controversial 
 type of preacher and preaching. Great and gifted a man as was Dr. Robert J. Breck- 
 inridge in the Presbyterian Church, when he was a pastor in Baltimore, from 1832 for 
 about thirteen years, "he made a national reputation as a controversialist of the highest 
 ability. His controversy with the Roman Catholics was so violent and heated that great 
 fears were entertained of personal violence: but that did not moderate his earnestness or 
 vehemence." (Collins, I, 477.) The Presbyterian Church at this period was as near 
 a truly national body as any denomination, united as it was with the Congregational 
 Church of New England; but Dr. Breckinridge, who had figured in law and politics 
 before entering the gospel ministry, carried into the Church that zeal to argue and 
 dominate. Dr. Nathan L. Rice, another famous Presbyterian debater and contender 
 of those times, settled at Bardstown in 1832. He was greatly exercised that so many 
 Protestants were educating their children in the Catholic schools. He himself opened 
 a seminary for girls and young women, which was a success; but he made great sen- 
 sation by his attacks upon Catholics. 
 
Caufield and Shook. 
 
 ST. JOSEPH CATHEDRAL, BARDSTOWN 
 
 This Church, aside from being an outstanding architectural achievement of 
 an early day, contains a priceless collection of historical religious paintings. 
 
504 A S E S Q U I -CENTENNIAL 
 
 After the departure of Father Whelan from Kentucky in the spring of 1790, the 
 Catholic pioneers were left pastorless for three years. The new priest sent out by the 
 Bishop of Baltimore was Rev. Stephen Theodore Badin, in 1793. He was a truly 
 historic figure. The Collins sketch describes him vividly and worthily: "This excellent, 
 learned, zealous and indefatigable religious pioneer of our state labored with unremitting 
 zeal among the Catholics of our state for more than thirty years, and even after this 
 long term of service, though worn down with previous exertion, and induced to travel 
 and take some relaxation for his health, he still continued to work at intervals in the 
 vineyard which he had so dearly loved and so long cultivated. 
 
 "His adventures and hardships would fill a volume; and the varied incidents of his 
 remarkable life cannot even be alluded to in this brief sketch. Wherever there was 
 sickness or spiritual destitution; wherever error or vice was to be eradicated, and virtue 
 inculcated; wherever youth was to be instructed and trained to religious observances; 
 wherever, in a word, his spiritual ministrations were most needed, there he was sure 
 to be found laboring with all his native energy, for the good of his neighbor. Diffi- 
 culties and dangers, which would have appalled a heart less stout and resolute, were 
 set at naught by this untiring man. He traversed Kentucky on horseback hundreds 
 of times on missionary duty; and he spent nearly half his time in the saddle. 
 
 "Through rain and storm, through hail and snow; along the beaten path and through 
 the trackless wilderness, by day and by night, he might be seen going on his errand 
 of mercy; often for years together, alone in the field, and always among the foremost 
 to labor, even when subsequently joined by other zealous Catholic missionaries. He 
 was intimate with the most distinguished men of Kentucky in the early times; and his 
 politeness, learning, affability and wit made him always a welcome guest at their tables." 
 (Collins, I, 486, 487.) 
 
 When Father Badin first came to Kentucky in 1793 there were about three hundred 
 Catholics in the whole commonwealth. He lived to see six thousand of his faith. When 
 he first came there was not a house of worship for his people in the pioneer borders; and 
 if there were any schools, they were few and feeble. By 1846 the Catholics maintained 
 more than forty churches, besides many missionary stations. There were forty priests, 
 one religious institution for men, two colleges for young men, four religious institutions 
 for young women, eleven academies for girls, and at least five or six charitable institu- 
 tions. There was also an ecclesiastical seminary, and some minor schools. The number 
 of Catholics in Kentucky at that period, 1846, was about thirty thousand. There was 
 a Father Fournier who came out to Kentucky in 1797 to assist Father Badin. These 
 two were natives of France. In February, 1799, another French priest arrived, Rev. 
 M. Salmon. Father Salmon was killed by a fall from his horse near Bardstown, being 
 at the time in a serious condition due to exposure. This was on November 9, 1799. 
 Father Fournier died soon afterward on Rolling Fork from a ruptured blood vessel. A 
 New England priest, Father Thayer, was sent to fill these vacancies for the time. 
 
 The next notable arrival to assist Father Badin was the Belgian priest, Rev. Charles 
 Nerincx, who left Europe under the storm cloud of the French Revolution. He was 
 a suitable partner in the gospel with Father Badin: "Strong, healthy, robust, and full 
 of faith and religious zeal, he was admirably suited to endure the hardships necessary 
 with our early missions. He shrank from no labor and was disheartened by no diffi- 
 culties. He labored without cessation, both bodily and mentally, for nearly twenty 
 years, and he died on a missionary excursion to Missouri in 1824. He erected in 
 Kentucky no less than ten Catholic churches, in the building of which he often worked 
 with his own hands. Two of these were of brick, and the rest of hewed logs." He 
 pastored six large congregations, and minor stations, all over Kentucky. He was 
 truly "A Horseman of the Lord." His horse was named "Printer." He often made 
 sixty miles in one day. He would often set out before sundown to hasten his journey, 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 505 
 
 fording creeks and sleeping in the woods. In Grayson County he was once surrounded 
 by wolves and saved his life by staying on his horse and hellooing all night at the top 
 of his voice. 
 
 He founded "The Sisterhood of Loretto" in 1812, which received young girls who 
 dedicated themselves to God and good works and helped rear orphan girls. The story 
 of those great institutions about Bardstown and Springfield deserve space which we 
 are not oermitted here; but they are the classic centers of Catholicism in Kentucky. 
 The Cathedral at Bardstown is a magnificent house of worship. James Lane Alien 
 wrote some of his most beautiful stories in "Flute and Violin" under the spell and 
 tradition of these famous institutions. Lexington, Louisville, and other places have no 
 less fascinating histories." (Collins, I, 487, 488.) 
 
 SPENCER'S History of Kentucky Baptists 
 
 This great work, in two volumes, is a vivid and remarkable source book of 
 Kentucky history itself. The author, a cultured and eloquent minister, had a 
 genius for local and religious history. Previous efforts of his own to prepare such an 
 account of Kentucky Baptists had come to naught, and Mr. Spencer mounted a horse, 
 clad in a long linen duster, with changes of raiment and adequate wrting material in 
 his saddle-bags, and traversed Kentucky for hundreds and thousands of miles collecting 
 the stories of the churches and pastors of pioneer times and after. He endured hard- 
 ships and misunderstanding and even malicious slander from ignorant and bigoted 
 enemies of his work: but he persisted until, when he was done, his hands were gnarled 
 with rheumatism and his body stiffened with infirmity and disease. But two precious, 
 priceless volumes went to press and were published; but his old eyes never saw them. 
 His accursed critics and accusers that he was mercenary and was making money out 
 of this hallowed undertaking, are, like him, long since dead and dust; and let the 
 Almighty God weigh them both in the balance. But Spencer's great work proved and 
 convinced that the story of religion is not a mere footnote to the history of any state 
 or nation, but a vital headstone of the corner. 
 
 William Hickman, in 1776, was the first Baptist preacher in Kentucky. Squire 
 Boone, brother of Daniel, was another. He was a gunsmith and stone-mason. He 
 trusted in God and kept his powder dry. When the land sharks fleeced him and his 
 brother Daniel of their heritages, Daniel went away to Missouri and died there. Squire 
 Boone went to Indiana in the hunting region west of Corydon and there one day, about 
 1808, the red men pursued him with hunting dogs. He ran like a deer, even though 
 past sixty; and when they gained on him, he suddenly sank down in a hollow, through 
 the autumn leaves, holding tightly to his rifle. His feet struck ground and he kept 
 still as a mouse, praying silently, until the Indians and dogs finally withdrew above. 
 He found himself in a cave, on "Lost River," "Boone's Cave," where he always took 
 shelter and where he was buried in 1815. He had an agreement with his sons to come 
 one night to the cave and see if their father could communicate across the Great Divide 
 of Death. They did so, but all in vain. He made his own oak casket: and for fifty 
 years or more pilgrims visited that cave until today it is utterly forgotten. Yet "Old 
 Goshen Baptist Church" near by is a Boone family cemetery. William Hickman, like 
 Squire Boone, braved much Indian peril. It was in 1779 that a number of Baptist 
 preachers, among them John Taylor, Joseph Reding, Lewis Lunsford, came over into 
 the new country on a tour of observation, for a few months. They found numbers of 
 Baptists, but the chance to plant churches and to organize associations was not yet 
 at hand. They preached at the stations and settlements here and there. Grass for 
 their horses and wild game in the woods, and a determined Indian purpose to keep 
 Kentucky free from the whites, faced them with promise and privation. They feas'red 
 
506 ASESQU1-CENTENNIAL 
 
 their eyes on the tempting landscape and the streams full of fish. Yet Reding was the 
 only one who remained. 
 
 In 1780, however, and in 1781, the Baptist migration began. Lewis Craig and his 
 organized congregation left Spottsylvania County, Virginia, and settled on Gilbert's 
 Creek, a few miles east of Lancaster, in Garrard County, Kentucky. Lewis Craig began 
 organizing Baptist groups as the way opened. At the close of the American Revolution 
 the tide of Baptist migration to Kentucky increased, despite Indian perils. The Baptists 
 had been persecuted and imprisoned in Virginia by the Established Church. Lewis 
 Craig was locked up, after being arrested with several others and taken to court: 
 "Your Honor," said the prosecutor, "These fellows cannot meet a man on the road 
 but they must ram a text of scripture down his throat." They were sentenced and 
 passed down the street to the lockup singing: "Broad is the road that leads to death." 
 They were held for a month, while Lewis Craig preached to assembled crowds outside 
 the cell window. Later Craig was locked up for three months. He was a man of 
 medium height, rather stoop-shouldered, hair thick, black and curly, a winning counte- 
 nance, full of kindness and forbearance. He was not a man of books or learning. 
 He was even but a moderate success as an expositor of texts and scripture. He did not 
 over-emphasize doctrine. But he knew the hearts of men, and in the experience of 
 saving grace was a master. You could never forget that voice, once you heard it. You 
 could not resist that gospel appeal; and the magnetism of his personality, the sincerity 
 and greatness of his character placed him at the head of those devout men that Spencer's 
 History so vividly portrays. Their name was legion; their devotion and work unsur- 
 passed. 
 
 The Great Revival of 1800 centered around Rev. James McGready, an amazing gospel 
 evangel of the Presbyterian Church. That revival spread like a orairie-fire. It drew 
 countless thousands. It set hearts ablaze with emotional fervor that agonized through 
 the travail of the New Birth. Even so level-headed a young man as Thomas Cleland, 
 of the Presbyterian Church, drew near with deep trepidation. He dreaded what it 
 would do to him. But it seized hold of his heart and made a new man of him. There 
 was excess of emotion. People did literally go wild with the strange intoxication, "the 
 joy of salvation." Old School Presbyterian preachers, and devout Baptist ministers 
 and members, stood afar off at first, unable to comprehend or to approve of the ex- 
 cesses they witnessed. But it was such a release to the human spirit that history has 
 not even yet given it adequate interpretation. It must be admitted that the more 
 emotional Methodists backed up McGready and Stone and other impassioned gospel 
 preachers who snapped asunder the hampering spiritual ropes of the "Anti-Revivalists" 
 as Samson did when the Philistines were upon him. Multitudes were added unto all 
 the churches out of that Revival. Yet the Baptists were ever a deeply evangelical body. 
 It might be said here with truth that among the meetings of the colored people alone 
 today, with the pathos of the spirituals, and the same deep release of soul in shout and 
 song, good will and good humor — in marked contrast to the rasping, censorious and 
 holier-than-thou attitude of so many white "holy-roller" groups — do we find a true 
 comparison to the Great Revival of 1800. 
 
 We wish to say here also that the old-time Baptist congregations where masters and 
 slaves, white and colored, attended on the ministrations of the gospel together make 
 one sigh nowadays for such a true and sincere religious and racial contact. "The Great 
 Crossing Church," in Scott County, where Richard M. Johnson, his father and mother, 
 and his kinsmen lived, was a memorable example. The Cox's Creek Church in Nelson 
 County was another. There were, however, separate congregations of colored people 
 in Lexington in slave times, whose pastors were great men of Gcd. One of these was 
 honored with the largest funeral ever seen in Lexington except that of Henry Clay. 
 Another was a veritable "King Solomon of Kentucky," who nursed white folks in the 
 
H I S T O RY O F K E N T U C K Y 507 
 
 cholera epidemic of 1832-33, and buried their dead with his own hands. The Negro 
 Baptist Church in Kentucky was organized as soon as freedom came. This was inevitable 
 and for gospel progress. The Baptist Church did not divide over slavery as did the 
 Presbyterian and Methodist. 
 
 A Baptist historian admits that the Great Revival of 1800 "had the happy effect 
 to bring about a union between the Regular and Separate Baptists. These distinctive 
 names were imported from Virginia, and mean the same as those of Particular and 
 General Baptists in England — the former meaning those who hold to Calvinistic, and 
 the latter those holding Arminian sentiments. Several unsuccessful efforts had been made 
 to effect a union between the Regular and Separate Baptists in Kentucky; but the Great 
 Revival removed all obstacles. Melted into love by its influences, these kindred parties 
 then mingled into one." 
 
 The importance of this historic statement is that the very same doctrinal distinctions 
 underlay the "Revival" and "Anti-Revival" parties in the Presbyterian Church in Ken- 
 tucky at this time. It has been said by even conservative historians that young com- 
 municants were not wanted at the sacrament because their elders did not believe in their 
 emotional stability. Even a great hymn like "Jesus, Lover of My Soul" was regarded 
 by the "Old School" ministers and members as too highly erotic, just as many con- 
 servatives today deem "In the Garden" the same way. But the flood-tide of the Great 
 Revival swept away such nonsense and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Arminian 
 in belief, was born; and Barton W. Stone, who was pastor at Cane Bidge, in Bourbon 
 County, a minister of power like McGready in the Presbyterian Church, led out into 
 greater liberty of soul. He was a convert of McGready's impassioned preaching in his 
 student days some years after the American Revolution closed. The spell of McGready's 
 great sincerity and searching utterance seized upon young Stone, who aspired to law 
 and political life. McGready's voice had that haunting, irresistible something in it 
 that accomplished miracles of grace, whether preaching the fear of perdition or the 
 hope of eternal bliss. With this sort of appeal the Baptists had no dissent whatever; 
 for Spencer's History shows that their ministers were imbued with the very same deep 
 love of souls and untiring zeal for the Kingdom of God. The Baptists had groups 
 opposed to slavery, men of profound and sincere conviction. Barton W. Stone had 
 the same deep social vision as we call it nowadays. The split precipitated by Alexander 
 Campbell's "Reformation" wrought some havoc in congregations and communities all 
 over Kentucky; but the Baptist body was able to allow this exodus without permanent 
 disaster. It was, however, the most serious breach in Baptist ranks that has ever 
 occurred. It was a time of incredible denominational prejudice and bigotry. 
 
 It well may be that had the Presbyterians and Baptists been more liberal and elastic 
 these changes would have occurred without division and the formation of new de- 
 nominations. Being congregational in their form of government, it was not so easy to 
 "get at" a man suspected of liberal convictions. Hence the Baptist Church was not 
 torn up in these crises with heresy trials as in the Presbyterian body. Pittsburgh was 
 the center of Scotch Presbyterianism, and Thomas Campbell started trouble for himself 
 and his son Alexander by inviting to the Lord's Table all believers in the Lord Jesus, 
 just what Presbyterians do today the world over; but then it meant expulsion from 
 the Presbytery. Alexander Campbell broke the back of the "Blue Laws" prevalent in 
 Pennsylvania. He was credited with introducing a much fresher and truer handling 
 of Christian teaching in the pulpit and S. S. Dr. Young of Centre College and Dr. 
 Robert J. Breckinridge both said, when sought to debate with Alexander Campbell on 
 baptism, that they had no dispute with a man who had done so much to enlighten 
 Christian exegesis. Nathan L. Rice raised a sand-storm in the desert of futility over 
 that non-essential. We have always said that Thomas Campbell's refusal to remain 
 in Burlington, Kentucky, as head of a promising academy just because he was warned 
 
508 AS ES QUI -CENTENNIAL 
 
 ■ 
 
 that an S. S. and song school he had started for slave children was illegal and might 
 get him into trouble, speaks volumes in comparison with all his son's ecclesiastical scalps 
 in debate. 
 
 Another great social issue that has a history in the Baptist denomination is that of 
 temperance. It is well known how the pioneer people and many of their preachers were 
 not prohibitionists. Yet Dr. Spencer, who always knew and wrote fact and truth, shows 
 how few ministers abused this practice. The man who preached Nancy Hanks Lincoln's 
 funeral was one of them. Transylvania Presbytery was very severe on some of its 
 ministers accused of this indulgence. It deposed Rev. Robert W. Findley, a great pioneer 
 educator and pastor, upon whom no previous shadow had ever fallen. Cincinnati 
 Presbytery, in 1825, at Vevay, Indiana, deposed Rev. James Welch, former Lexington 
 pastor and teacher in Transylvania, whose services at Dayton, Ohio, and elsewhere, 
 were splendid. Rev. Joshua L. Wilson "ran him down." The case was not proven. 
 Mr. Welch's daughter was on her death-bed of typhoid while the trial was under way. 
 After her burial the prosecution was renewed, and in three months after suspension and 
 exclusion from the sacrament, Mr. Welch died of a broken heart and was buried beside 
 his daughter. Because he practiced medicine and had a drug store to supplement his 
 meager salary at Vevay, Dr. Wilson accused him of "worldly avocations" and neglect 
 of pastoral duty. The Presbytery in after years was so mortified over this cruel 
 injustice that record of it was omitted from the recopied minutes. The Baptist Church in 
 Kentucky has no instances on record of such drastic action. 
 
 We come now to a climax contribution to this very limited and wholly inadequate 
 survey of Baptist church history in Kentucky: 
 
 THE SOUTHERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
 By Edward A. McDowell 
 
 Associate Professor 
 
 New Testament Interpretation 
 
 Our Seminary came into being just before the outbreak of the War Between the 
 States. The first session was held in an abandoned church building in Greenville, S. C, 
 in the year 1859, with four young professors and twenty-six students to help send the 
 young institution on its historic mission. Since that opening almost nine thousand men 
 have attended the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. They have gone to all 
 parts of the world to preach the Gospel of Christ and to teach and to heal. 
 
 The institution was born of the necessity of a trained gospel ministry in the days 
 when Baptists were weak and when there was a prejudice against an educated ministry 
 among many of our people. This Seminary has always been essentially conservative 
 in its theological position, but it has never been reactionary. It has placed great 
 emphasis on scholarship. You no doubt have heard the names of some of the great 
 men who have served on our faculty, like Broadus, Mullins, Robertson. The Seminary 
 has also placed great stress on missions and evangelism. It has been the aim of the 
 faculty to send out men who were well-grounded in the Scriptures, with a passion for 
 souls, appreciative of scholarship and culture, and an awareness of the demands of the 
 world in which they live. 
 
 And now as we face a new and challenging day, it is more and more the desire of 
 cur faculty that our students shall be alert to the challenges of the world and generation 
 to which they belong. There are approximately five million Southern Baptists who are 
 our constituency. We are particularly anxious that our men shall understand the South- 
 ern scene and appreciate the traditions, the culture and the challenges of the South. 
 We are interested in the race problem and we want our men to concern themselves 
 about it because it impinges so closely on religion and the Southern churches. There 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 509 
 
 are approximately three million Negroes who are Baptists. They are our particular 
 concern, but we are also concerned about all our colored people and the relations 
 between the white and the colored in the South. We try through courses in Christian 
 ethics and sociology and through the influence of our professors, and by means of 
 practical work in the city of Louisville, to bring our men into contact with this great 
 problem. 
 
 We also are interested in the rural church problem; for thousands of our churches 
 are rural churches. The faculty is anxious that our men shall go out deeply concerned 
 about all of the social, economic and cultural problems which are related to Christianity. 
 We feel that this institution by reason of its large Southern constituency has a peculiar 
 opportunity to contribute to the spiritual and cultural advancement of the South. We 
 hope and pray that we are making some progress in that direction. 
 
 THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN KENTUCKY 
 
 The History of Kentucky by Judge Lewis Collins and his son, Richard H. Collins, 
 of Maysville, was conceived and executed by Presbyterian supervision. The "Out- 
 line History" was contributed by John A. McClung, of Maysville, a lawyer and 
 Presbyterian minister of distinction. The standard History of the Presbyterian Church 
 in Kentucky was written by Dr. Robert Davidson, a Presbyterian minister and classical 
 scholar from the East, who, when a professor in Transylvania University at Lexington a 
 century ago, saw and utilized the wealth of historic material at hand. This was a 
 brilliant and fascinating account of pioneer Presbyterians, but it was so surcharged 
 with the bitter, bigoted and censorious sectarianism and doctrinal narrowness of that 
 age that the author was himself blind to the amazing opportunity and the tragic defeat 
 of all the cultural and religious forces that converged to establish a great university 
 at Transylvania. It was right at the time when Thomas Jefferson was fathering the 
 system of education in Virginia that was intended to enlighten the masses and preserve 
 democracy amongst us. But the Transylvania Presbytery was not constituted of men 
 like Rev. Samuel Daviess and Rev. John Todd, in Hanover Presbytery, who had fought 
 for religious freedom and disestablishment side by side with the Baptists and Thomas 
 Jefferson. Over the mountains in Kentucky the issue of psalmody, under Rev. Adam 
 Rankin, the first Presbyterian minister in Lexington, started a perfect furore in some 
 of the pioneer churches and split them wide open. Then the strictures on Rev. James 
 Moore, hero of James Lane Allen's "Flute and Violin," who left our own church and 
 founded Christ's Church, Episcopalian, at Lexington. Dr. Davidson's history is based 
 on these old controversies that to us are as dead as door-nails. There was Rev. John 
 Todd, of Virginia, who gave the nucleus of a library and scientific apparatus to 
 Transylvania Seminary, and yet his son and namesake, Rev. John Todd, was hounded 
 and unfrocked by Transylvania Presbytery because he was "New School." He went 
 to the backwoods of the Hoosier Territory and became one of its earliest educators 
 and saints — held in reverential regard today by that great Synod. Rev. Joshua L. 
 Wilson, of Cincinnati, and Dr. Robert J. Breckinridge, of Lexington, got together in 
 pre-assembly conferences on the "Old School" side and split the Presbyterian Church 
 wide open in 1837. 
 
 The really fundamental issue of that time was whether or not African slavery should 
 be sanctioned and written into the constitution of the new commonwealth of Kentucky. 
 This was in 1792. Johnt Mason Brown says: "The ablest among the preachers who 
 opposed the incorporation of slavery into the polity of Kentucky was David Rice, the 
 father of Presbyterianism in the West. He had come from Virginia in 1783; had 
 established in his house in Lincoln County, in 1784, the first grammar school in the 
 West; and the influence of his piety and talents was very great. In the political crisis 
 
510 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 of 1792, when the constitution of the state was to be formed, he put in print the 
 doctrine he had long preached, and the sentiments of a life-time, issuing a pamphlet 
 entitled, ^Slavery Inconsistent with Justice and Good Policy.' " 
 
 Arrayed against Rev. David Rice was one man, a shrewd attorney and pro-slavery 
 politician, George Nicholas, who, like Father Rice, was from Virginia. There were six 
 votes of ministers — three Baptist, two Presbyterian and one Methodist — all against in- 
 corporating slavery in our first constitution. But George Nicholas outwitted them, and 
 Mr. Brown says: "It required a Civil War to correct the error made in 1792. The 
 humble preacher delegates were wiser than their ablest opponents." So it must be 
 confessed that these preachers, who seemed hard and bigoted and sectarian to an 
 extreme; who had not an atom of what we today call tolerance and liberalism, under 
 which men live and move and have their being in a free world, were yet fundamentally 
 right on the most basic of all human issues — Was it right to own and buy and sell 
 human beings as stock and property? Even Dr. Davidson's Presbyterian History 
 reveals that this great Church was right from its beginning on that issue. 
 
 Filson Club masters of Kentucky history like Otto Rothert and Col. Lucien Beckner 
 insist that John Filson's biography of Daniel Boone and Rev. John D. Shane's inter- 
 views with the surviving pioneers, which he wrote down as they unfolded their story so 
 self-revealingly to him one hundred years ago, constitute infinitely more precious and 
 imperishable material for this and succeeding generations than the dry-rot debate between 
 Alexander Campbell and Nathan L. Rice over forms of baptism, or the fierce and fatal 
 struggle between "Old School and New." John Filson was a young Presbyterian school- 
 teacher at Lexington, interested in land values out here in the new country. It occurred 
 to him to get together from responsible pioneers reliable data about the region, with 
 maps, if possible. He heard Daniel Boone relate his adventures with Indians, and, 
 like an electric shock, Filson said to himself: "That's the stuff people will read." Its 
 entire content was but about a page in a modern paper. It was chronicled quaintly, but, 
 like one of Matthew Jouett's portraits, Daniel Boone stood before you in a realistic 
 charm that carried his name and Filson's over the world and made Boone the typical 
 buckskin scout and hero. Rev. John D. Shane wanted to write a history of the Presby- 
 terian Church in Kentucky, but while assembling data from place to place as he served 
 the Kentucky rural churches, he met and marveled over these old settlers and im- 
 mortalized himself and them for future generations as Filson's interviews with Boone 
 had done. Just one type of story Shane preserved was full data about the Presbyterian 
 school-teacher McKinney at Lexington, who had the famous battle with a wild-cat in 
 his school-room one morning before the arrival of his pupils. 
 
 What all this indicated was imagination, the dramatic sense, the perception of essential 
 personality and action in crisis and the very rare genius to depict it all. Shane had a 
 consummate mastery there. But to recur for a moment to the Campbell-Rice debate 
 over baptism and the struggle between Old School and New — it must be pointed out 
 that Campbell and Rice were both pro-slavery and their scholastic sparrings diverted 
 the religious galleries from the main issue of the time — was it right and consistent 
 with a democracy to own, buy and sell human beings? Rice was a very smooth church 
 politician here, like George Nicholas had been with Rev. David Rice in the first 
 constitutional convention. Upon the theory that no political or social issue like slavery 
 had any business before a religious body, Rev. Nathan L. Rice engineered the Old 
 School Presbyterians into absolute silence on that fundamental human issue, scared 
 the ultra-orthodox into believing that Abolitionist preachers like Lyman Beecher and his 
 sons, Charles G. Finney, and others were heretical in doctrine and would continually 
 upset the peace and unity of the Church by bringing this slavery issue to the fore, and 
 induced the Old School Church to bury its head in the sand so far as this irrepressible 
 conflict was concerned. This Nathan L. Rice turned his back on the teaching and vision 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY Ml 
 
 of David Rice on this subject. So did Archibald Cameron, of Shelby County, who was 
 educated at Bardstown in a pro-slavery atmosphere with some very gifted legal students, 
 under George Nicholas. Cameron suppressed and saw exiled to Indiana young John 
 Finley Crowe, founder of Hanover College, who was a pastor and teacher at Shelbyville 
 prior to 1823 and attempted a monthly missionary publication advocating Abolition 
 and education of the Negro. For this he was threatened and forced to get out of town. 
 Cameron and others of his ultra-conservative type, to hide their pro-slavery views, likewise 
 pursued and persecuted Rev. John Todd, who was anti-slavery, until a more liberal 
 group organized Louisville Presbytery, then Salem Presbytery in Indiana, in 1824. 
 The momentous and dramatic importance of a social issue like human bondage over 
 theological dry-rot as a dodge is proven by the fact that Harriett Beecher Stowe wrote 
 "Uncle Tom's Cabin" from human life right here in Kentucky during that period; 
 just as James Lane Allen's "Flute and Violin" and "Choir Invisible" availed for 
 portraitures from Presbyterian types that have become eternal in our literature. It 
 remained for James Lane Allen, too, to write a novel, "The Reign of Law," that forever 
 pilloried that unpardonable religious bigotry that ruined Transylvania as a great uni- 
 versity in the West. It is a fact, however, that the Presbyterian Church, even in the 
 frontier academies that would not dissolve into a university of secular education and 
 state control, laid the foundation of culture and enlightenment, and even of the best- 
 trained men for political office, in the New West. Let us not forget that Dr. Ephraim 
 McDowell, and even his patient, Mrs. Jane Todd Crawford, in that famous first ab- 
 dominal surgery of the world, were Presbyterians. Nor let us forget that at Presbyterian 
 Danville, James G. Birney, Liberty candidate, was David Rice's pupil. 
 
 Dr. Warren H. Wilson, of New York, always insisted to us that a study and under- 
 standing of the Great Revival of 1800 here in Kentucky was a major task and inter- 
 pretation for some trained historian. Even as one approaches that fascinating field 
 he finds himself so entangled in the briars and underbrush of theological controversy 
 that his soul wearies of the attempt. Several years of careful research into the sadly 
 neglected life of Rev. James McGready, that "Thunderbolt of God," who was the 
 storm-center of this great revival, clarified the issues and the men of that time and 
 movement for such a historic story of it all as Dr. Wilson wanted. But we run into 
 Archibald Cameron on the ground again regarded by the mass of the people as "anti- 
 revival," which he no doubt was; and he insisted, almost in the face of threats of mob- 
 violence, on shutting out from ordination in the Presbyterian Church of the frontier 
 thoroughly consecrated and competent young candidates under McGready's leadership, 
 except they had not the Latin, Greek and Hebrew that Cameron thought a man ought 
 to possess before he could preach the Gospel. It is little wonder that the populace was 
 so stirred against him. He conducted the examinations like a trial in court, and the 
 young men finally refused to be quizzed and badgered by him any further. Rev. David 
 Rice was utterly opposed to such Scotch bigotry. He wanted the young men ordained. 
 So, as a result, the Presbyterian Church in Kentucky gave birth to spiritual twins — 
 the Cumberland Presbyterian and the Christian Church. Yet it must be true, as the 
 poet Lowell says: "Daily with souls that cringe and plot, we Sinai climb and know 
 it not." The most popular, tolerant and beloved Presbyterian minister in Kentucky, 
 Rev. Thomas Cleland, passed through all these experiences and not only became New 
 School, but followed the anti-slavery group to Indiana as a first pioneer preacher there, 
 baptizing the infant child of William Henry Harrison in the council chamber at Vin- 
 cennes, in 1805; but at New Providence, his pastorate, in Mercer County, Kentucky, 
 he established the first "school of the prophets," as he called it, where choice young 
 men were educated for the Presbyterian ministry. Rev. Samuel Shannon, beloved 
 "Giant of God" from Upper and Lower Benson churches, in Franklin County, took 
 with him to Indiana as early as 1810-11 Rev. James McGready, his bosom friend, whose 
 
512 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 last great labors in revivals and church organization left enduring results and traditions 
 at Salem and other places. Rev. William W. Martin, of Winchester, succeeded Shannon 
 at Salem, Indiana, in 1817. 
 
 In an account of this limited compass it is impossible even to mention adequately 
 such great pioneer preachers and educators as Gideon Blackburn, another "Tongue of 
 Fire," who founded Blackburn College, the Berea of Illinois, was a New School man 
 and thoroughly anti-slavery. The final split of the Presbyterian Church in Kentucky 
 over the issues of the Civil War, which brought on a battle of giants between Dr. 
 Robert J. Breckinridge and Dr. Samuel R. Wilson, would involve us in a discussion 
 that is momentous but impossible here. We have to take the motives of those men 
 for granted — as when Dr. Breckinridge, during the Civil War, when he was Lincoln's 
 man of iron in Kentucky, granted a military pass to a neighbor to visit sick relatives in 
 Illinois. The order for a pass read, "He is a Rebel and a Campbellite, but he can be 
 trusted." That was Dr. Breckinridge. Doubtless a sense of humor, a word of wit, 
 might have shown them all how utterly stubborn and bull-headed and childish they 
 were, for the Church rescinded its own strictures in the after years. 
 
 The John Little Mission for destitute and unchurched Negro children in Louisville, 
 founded more than forty years ago when he was a student at the Presbyterian Theo- 
 logical Seminary, is an outstanding and historic answer to what the Presbyterian Church, 
 U. S., can do, and has done on this great problem of racial betterment. Though Mr. 
 Little with humor and pity always insists that his task was "Bricks Without Straw," Dr. 
 Hemphill used to say that when Mr. Little and his brethren stood before God at last, 
 God would say: "Gentlemen, this man has outdone you all in the work of My King- 
 dom on earth." Mr. Little blushes scarlet with modesty at such commendation, bearing 
 witness all the more to the worth of his great work; and the late beloved and lamented 
 Rev. William Sheppard, and his wife (still living) , share the honors with Mr. Little. 
 
 It were tempting to even mention such great historic churches as Dr. Stuart Robinson's 
 at Second and Broadway, Louisville, and the Fourth Avenue Presbyterian. Dr. Gouens 
 serves the one and Dr. Welch the other. Their story and tradition in both branches 
 of American Presbyterianism would fascinate and absorb any researcher. Great historic 
 churches of the U. S. and U. S. A. bodies, with mighty men of God as pastors, in 
 other cities and localities throughout the state must be passed over with deep regret. 
 No room here to tell the story of the church colleges adequately; nor to cover the 
 movements of evangelism and social betterment, the great missionary work of Dr. 
 E. O. Guerrant in the Kentucky mountains, as we hasten on. Rev. George O. Barnes 
 first fathered this. 
 
 BEGINNINGS OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN LOUISVILLE 
 
 The first church organization was early in 1817, when the town had about 4,000 
 people. Only 16 members could be mustered. This was the only Presbyterian organ- 
 ization in the city for 14 years. In January, 1816, a group met. They were Cuthbert 
 Bullitt, Archibald Allen, John Gwathmey, Paul Skidmore, Joshua Heddington and 
 Alex Pope, trustees, to prosecute a call for Rev. Daniel C. Banks, a domestic missionary 
 from Connecticut to Kentucky, and also to raise money for a church and to build it. 
 
 Rev. James Vance was appointed to prosecute the call before the Louisville Presby- 
 tery. This call was made out on April 23, 1816, for one sermon a Sabbath at $900 a 
 year. Mr. Banks brought his letter of dismission from the Eastern Association (Con- 
 gregational) of Fairfield, Ct. On the 5th Sabbath of January, 1817, a confession and 
 covenant were adopted, and the signers were "The First Presbyterian Church of Louis- 
 ville: Rosanna McFarland, Daniel C. Banks, Jane Cary, Susannah Fetter, Charles B. 
 King, Lydia Biers, Thomas Hill, Jr., Mary Ann Silliman, Stephen Biers, Danwood, 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 513 
 
 Martha A. Banks, Barnes, Caroline King, Lucy R. Tunstall, Mary Ann McNutt, 
 
 Martha Pope. 
 
 Mary Ann McNutt was the last survivor of this early group. She passed away 
 January 2, 1879. The four elders ordained were Daniel Wurtz, Paul Reinhard, Charles 
 B. King, Elias Ayres. Jacob Reinhard appeared in Louisville Presbytery in September, 
 1819. It was customary to keep a roll of those present or absent at the Sacrament. 
 In January, 1820, 28 were present and 12 absent. Thomas Prather gave a deed for the 
 new lot and church at Fourth and Market in January, 1819. 
 
 Strangers who wished to join in the Sacrament had to give their names to the Session 
 before hand. Some difficulty arose over this, and one group opposed Rev. Daniel C. 
 Banks as not the legal pastor and asked the Rev. James K. Burch to supply the pulpit, 
 and was given a call, but he declined. Rev. Mr. Banks went from Louisville to Hender- 
 son, where he was engaged in preaching and teaching until 1824. 
 
 On August 20, 1821, Rev. Daniel Smith was called as pastor, accepted and was 
 installed March 4, 1822, being very acceptable to the people. "But his labors, though 
 blest," says the church history, "were short, as the year 1822 was one noted for the 
 prevalence of a malignant fever, which carried off numbers of the little congregation and 
 of the communicants of the church. The pastor's health was broken down, and he 
 died in February, 1823, less than one year after his installation. After Mr. Smith began 
 his labors in Louisville the church dispensed with the original 'confessional and cov- 
 enant' in December, 1821, it having been determined that the 'Confession of Faith' 
 of the Presbyterian Church was complete in itself and sufficient." 
 
 A WORD ABOUT REV. DANIEL SMITH 
 
 The Rev. Daniel Smith, who was installed pastor of the Presbyterian Church ir 
 Louisville, which he had served since his arrival with his family, June 17, 1821, was a 
 remarkable man. A graduate of Middlebury College, Vt., he was licensed to preach 
 April 21, 1813, and the next year began an important missionary work in the Valley 
 of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, distributing the Bible in English, French, and 
 Spanish. He organized missionary and Bible societies and preached the gospel in 
 destitute regions of the country. This was more than a year before the American Bible 
 Society was organized. He landed at Louisville from the river steamer with a cargo 
 of Bibles and Testaments, with a devoted young companion, Samuel J. Mills. He left 
 Louisville for Vincennes, then onward to St. Louis, these two being the first Protestant 
 missionaries to visit that place, so it was said. After many adventures in the Wilderness 
 of the West, he came to Louisville with his family, and died there February 22, 1823. 
 He had done great good in the church and city, and especially in uniting and harmoniz- 
 ing a church that was divided when he became its pastor. 
 
 This godly minister was buried in the West Jefferson Street Cemetery, where a me- 
 morial stone rehearses his legend thus: "Sacred to the memory of the Rev. Daniel Smith, 
 Pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Louisville. A native of Vermont. Died Feb- 
 ruary 22, 1822, aged 33 years. Mr. Smith was eminent for his piety and talents. He 
 possessed a mild temper, with persuasive eloquence. 'He walked with God and was not, 
 for God took him.' He studied to show himself approved unto God, a workman who 
 needed not to be ashamed, and his profiting appeared unto all. With the father is 
 entombed the son, Ezekiel Forman Smith. Died November 28, 1822, aged 2 years and 
 5 months. 'Of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.' " 
 
 REV. GEORGE W. ASHBRIDGE AND THE CHOLERA SCOURGE 
 
 In June, 1830, a call was extended to Rev. George W. Ashbridge, of Tuscumbia, 
 Ala., who accepted and began his work October 24, 1830. In the meantime a minute is 
 entered in the record of September, 1830, of a sacramental meeting held on Corn Island, 
 
514 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 then a large island with a beautiful grove opposite the city, now quite washed away, 
 at which meeting four were received into the church. In October, 1831, there were 136 
 members. Rev. George W. Ashbridge died during his pastorate, May 4, 1834. Rev. 
 Robert J. Breckinridge was called as pastor in December, 1834, and declined; but his 
 brother, Rev. Wm. L. Breckinridge, was called and accepted, and began his labors 
 January 8, 1836. 
 
 From May 30 to August 30, 1833, the Asiatic cholera prevailed in Maysville, and 
 other Kentucky cities, spreading rapidly throughout the state. There was consternation 
 and mourning everywhere. In Maysville alone there were 67 deaths, and 60 in the 
 surrounding county of Mason. In Flemingsburg there were 66 deaths, 47 whites and 
 19 colored people. At Elizaville there were 21 deaths. In Fleming County whole 
 families were swept away, ten in one and twelve in another. They were hurried away 
 in 48 hours and were buried in one big grave without winding sheet or casket. In 
 Paris there were 73 deaths, 40 whites and 33 colored. Millersburg, 78; Centreville, 16, 
 and many more in Bourbon County. There were 19 in one family taken. In Lexington 
 from June 1 to August 1, there were 502 deaths, 272 whites and 232 colored. There 
 were 25 deaths at the Insane Hospital. Louisville had its share of this terror and 
 destruction. 
 
 Rev. Mr. Ashbridge was buried at the West Jefferson Street Cemetery and the fol- 
 lowing is his memorial: "Beneath lie the mortal remains of the Rev. George W. Ash- 
 bridge, late pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of this city. Born in Philadelphia, 
 A.D. 1800. Died in Louisville, Ky., May 4, 1834. Approved of God and men, he was 
 a pious, able and zealous minister of the New Testament. Warm, disinterested and 
 kind in all his social intercourse. His mind was stored with useful knowledge, for he 
 had been assiduous in its cultivation. His heart was the depository of the best and 
 purest gifts of God's grace; and his life bore the impress and signature of his conse- 
 cration to Christ. This memorial of a mourning people's love is erected to his worth 
 by the members of the church and congregation over which he presided in the ministry 
 of preaching for three and a half years with great diligence in the high calling, holiness 
 of life and much usefulness." 
 
 DEATH OF REV. DANIEL C. BANKS 
 
 The Louisville Journal of Saturday, July 13, 1844, carried this item: "Died, yesterday, 
 the 12th instant, in this city, Rev. Daniel C. Banks, 62 years. Funeral services tomorrow 
 at 3 o'clock p.m., at the family residence." 
 
 Upon the tombstone in the West Jefferson Street Cemetery, where he was laid to 
 rest, we read: "Daniel Chapman Banks, Minister of the Gospel, and native of Green- 
 held, Ct. Died in Louisville, July 12, 1844, aged 62 years, 8 months and 21 days. 
 He lived for God and mankind, and like the angel whose mission was consummated, 
 could say, 'Let me go, for the day breaketh.' " 
 
 It should be added here that Rev. John Todd was the first resident minister of our 
 Church in Louisville. He preached to a group of worshippers, but no organization was 
 effected. He was a finished classical scholar and taught an academy in Louisville. He 
 married many couples in that early day and was a beloved personality. He founded a 
 church and school at Charlestown, Ind., and was the first Presbyterian minister and 
 teacher at Goshen, Ky., on the Upper River Road. He came to Louisville back in 1790 
 to 1800, to locate land his father left him. He came later in prospect of establishing 
 such an academy as his own father conducted in Virginia. These two John Todds 
 were among the greatest ministers of the Revolutionary period and after. Hence his 
 inclusion here, our own beloved Hoosier "Parson Todd." 
 
H I S T O RY O F K E N T U C K Y 515 
 
 "THEY SLEEP IN DUST" 
 
 They sleep in dust, these early pastors three, 
 Who wrought for Time and God's Eternity. 
 From far New England and the South they came, 
 To kindle in the West the Gospel Flame. 
 Though Indian terrors had subsided then, 
 There was a scourge that slew the sons of men, 
 Dread Cholera, whose fatal dragon breath 
 Spread everywhere contagion, horror, death. 
 Cities and towns in desolation left, 
 And every home of loved ones sore bereft. 
 Only the heroes lingered at their post; 
 And yet such heroes heartened like a host. 
 
 They sleep together now, where through the day 
 
 The city roars around them, and the play 
 
 Of youth and childhood 'mongst these ancient tombs 
 
 A haunting unreality assumes. 
 
 Chiseled in stone, scarce dimmed by storm and sun, 
 
 The wording brief of work that was "well done." 
 
 Culture and character in evidence, 
 
 And faith sustaining at their going hence. 
 
 Two little lambs that lay on Jesus' breast, 
 
 Taken from earth to bloom among the blest. 
 
 They questioned not life's sorrow, shame or loss, 
 
 But found their comfort in the Saviour's Cross. 
 
 The city then was but a growing town, 
 
 Yet many names of valor and renown 
 
 Enriched her records; and devout desire 
 
 Moved some such men to rear the church and spire 
 
 That filled the heart and youth's unfolding fire 
 
 For those ideals that destiny designed 
 
 To mould the valor of the soul and mind. 
 
 Here in the earliest day the saintly Todd 
 
 Opened a school and preached the Word of God; 
 
 He ruled by Love and Truth and not the rod. 
 
 In these Falls Cities in log cabin days 
 His genial presence won respect and praise. 
 He married youthful couples by the score, 
 And lost himself in Greek and Hebrew lore. 
 His was the voice before all others heard; 
 His was the soul to grapple ignorance stirred; 
 Yet to condemn he evermore demurred. 
 In Charlestown, Goshen he established schools, 
 Where summer leaves the sultry vapor cools. 
 His sword of thought for Liberty was drawn; 
 He was the watcher at the reddening dawn 
 That left Love's glory, leading up and on. 
 
 34— Vol. I 
 
516 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 They sleep in dust, these laborers of the Lord, 
 
 With Freedom's Dream their passion and reward; 
 
 This Land of Promise in the Wooded West; 
 
 Pity for all earth's trodden and oppressed; 
 
 The Vision that Christ's Church hath well-nigh lost; 
 
 The Red Sea now before us to be crossed; 
 
 His chart and compass for the tempest-tossed. 
 
 Pillar of Cloud and Fire, his Presence leads; 
 
 And all our jangled cries of churches, creeds 
 
 Avail us not, His Mercy so exceeds 
 
 Earth's proud philosophies and pleads 
 
 With grief and tears o'er man's accursed deeds. 
 
 These stones forgotten 'mongst the wastes and weeds 
 
 May startle him who pauses, thinks and reads; 
 
 Earth's agonies begotten by its greeds; 
 
 Forgiven by the Lamb whose bosom bleeds; 
 
 The only Gospel that the guilty heeds; 
 
 The Bread and Wine the broken-hearted needs. 
 
 SKETCH OF KENTUCKY METHODISM 
 
 The Methodist Church first took deep root in Kentucky during the Great Revival 
 of 1800. James Haw and Benjamin Ogden were sent on a circuit that embraced 
 that entire region of country in May, 1786. It was late summer before they appeared. 
 A local preacher, Francis Clark, already on the ground is credited with being the 
 founder of Methodism in the state. Clark and a class-leader, John Durham, with 
 their families, had come from Virginia in 1783. A class was organized in the 
 settlement about six miles from Danville. The family of Thomas Stevenson near 
 the village of Washington, Mason County, had a church organized in their own house 
 in 1786. In 1787 there were ninety Methodists, white, reported in Kentucky, and the 
 circuit riders had increasing success in the conversion of souls. In 1789 fifty-one 
 colored members were reported. Bishop Asbury passed through Kentucky in 1790 
 and held an annual conference. It was held five miles out of Lexington at a station, 
 where the first log house of worship was erected. Bishop Asbury was guarded from 
 Indians by ten riflemen. He was dead on his feet for sleep. In one camp he saw 
 twenty-four graves of murdered emigrants. He got only one hour of rest one night 
 and two the last night on the journey from Virginia, which required ten days. They 
 had no regular food; the creeks and rivers were swollen with flood, and wild beasts 
 lurked along their path. The conference consisted of six members and lasted two days. 
 But a revival was started, $1,500 pledged toward a school called Bethel, much of it 
 In land values. These early "Horsemen of the Lord" endured dangers and hardships 
 incredible to believe; but they carried with them everywhere "the joy of -salvation." 
 So did Methodism merge into the Great Revival. 
 
 "Commencing in 1799, in Logan County, under the ministry of John and William 
 McGee, two brothers — the former a Methodist and the latter a Presbyterian — it spread 
 all over the state and into Tennessee, and under its influence thousands were awakened 
 and converted to God. . . . Among the preachers at this time in Kentucky William 
 McKendree stood preeminent. He entered upon the work in the West at a most 
 propitious period. The 'Great Revival' in Kentucky and Tennessee had commenced 
 previous to his appointment to the Kentucky district as presiding elder, and at the 
 
H 1 S T O RY O F K E N T U C K Y 517 
 
 time he entered upon his labors, throughout this whole region a religious excitement 
 was spreading and prevailing. In company with Bishops Asbury and Whatcoat he 
 passed through a considerable portion of Kentucky, reviewing thi,s section of his field 
 of labor, preaching with extraordinary fervor, and bringing the wealth of his princely 
 intellect and of his tireless energy, and laying all upon the altar of the church. 
 Traveling his vast district, he had been but a few months on the ground till he under- 
 stood perfectly his field of labor, moving day and night, visiting families, organizing 
 societies, and holding quarterly conferences. It was his constant practice to travel from 
 thirty to fifty miles a day and preach at night. All classes of people flocked to hear 
 him. Statesmen, lawyers, doctors, theologians, of all denominations, clustered around 
 him, saying as they reached home: 'Did you ever hear the like before?' Some were 
 so captivated that they would say: 'Never man spake like this man.' Wherever he 
 went he carried a holy influence, which, like a flame of fire, spread in every direction. 
 True, sometimes he was depressed, for he was mortal; but, nothing daunted, he moved 
 with steady and resistless step, an example of labor and piety among his brethren. 
 Deep streams could not divert him from his course. High mountains presented no 
 barrier. The rains of summer and the snows of winter alike unmoved him. Often 
 he swam the turbid streams to reach the appointments he had made. And many a 
 time, after a long day's travel, he lay out in the woods at night, hungry and cold, 
 with no other covering than his clothes and saddle-blanket, and the blue sky above 
 him." (Collins, I, 452.) 
 
 Such were the missionaries of Methodism in early Kentucky history. Redford's 
 History of Kentucky Methodism was in all probability the model on which Spencer's 
 History of Kentucky Baptists was projected. No secular history of the times compares 
 with these works in planting in the heart and imagination of the reader the vision of 
 men worthy of enrollment on any annals of the Kingdom of God. Redford went much 
 farther than Spencer, for he recorded those fascinating and faithful "women not a 
 few," "Mothers in Israel," "Deborahs of the Border" under the Banner of Love that 
 Methodism bore aloft. The stir, the sensation, the consternation, of women testifying 
 and praying and exhorting in public in the Methodist revivals and camp-meetings, 
 aroused greater hostility amongst Baptists and "Old School" or "Anti-Revival" Presby- 
 terians than did the shouting and swooning at the altar by converts. 
 
 Yet "The Tongue of Fire" in that Great Revival, James McGready, was a Presby- 
 terian minister. He went deliberately into Logan County, Kentucky, then known as 
 "Rogue's Harbor." He was the most powerful evangel of all the Ohio Valley. He 
 labored in fullest fellowship with the Methodists. Indeed, their enthusiasm at the 
 camp-meetings sometimes seemed to the scoffers to "let hell loose." One of the McGee 
 brothers mentioned at the beginning of this article arose one day at such a meeting and 
 incited the congregation to such a pitch of frenzy that people fell over like dead all 
 through the crowd. It was an absolute bedlam. Yet the preachers never wholly lost 
 control of themselves or their auditors. It was indeed an explosion of emotion; but it 
 had a profounder significance than the stiff old ecclesiastics who opposed it ever could 
 understand. James McGready and Barton W. Stone believed that even the extrava- 
 gances were an indication of divine passion. Anyhow, a great deliverance and release 
 of the human spirit was wrought. We once heard Mrs. Edward Eggleston, wife of the 
 novelist who wrote "The Circuit Rider" and "The Hoosier School Master," say that 
 there was something in a Methodist experience and a Quaker moving of the Spirit that 
 she wished every young person in America could have in their hearts. Such we conceive 
 the mission of Methodism to have been, and to have wonderfully accomplished, in 
 Kentucky and throught the West and South in the pioneer day. 
 
518 A S E S Q U I -CENTENNIAL 
 
 THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN KENTUCKY 
 
 The author of the sketch of this historic Church in Collins' History of Kentucky 
 writes that no one can understand the history of that denomination in Colonial 
 Virginia or Pioneer Kentucky without knowing its English background. He said 
 that adventurers and imposters and political job-holders were sent to Virginia, for 
 lack of better ministerial timber, to serve as pastors. As a consequence, and having 
 no spiritual supervision whatsoever, they often disgraced the cloth and calling until 
 sincere religious believers ceased to attend the services of the sanctuary. The "Estab- 
 lished Church" was a state church, with power to prevent "strolling preachers" and 
 Baptist enthusiasts from holding services outside or in the homes of the people. Hence 
 the shameless mistreatment and imprisonment of some very godly Baptist heroes of 
 the cross like Lewis Craig. One day about a hundred years ago there was held in a 
 Virginia community the funeral of an old and revered Baptist preacher. His hands 
 were folded across in the casket and those who observed closely saw long scars on the 
 hands. Meditation upon this fact by one attendant at the funeral recalled that this old 
 minister had been imprisoned for preaching the gospel, but, continuing to exhort 
 through the bars of his cell those assembled outside, he would thrust his hands out 
 earnestly, and certain "sons of Belial" stabbed his hands until the blood spurted. This, 
 however, did not stop his preaching. It brought to mind the song, "The Hands that 
 Were Wounded for Me." 
 
 The Rev. William Meade was the young man raised up of God to reform the 
 Protestant Episcopal Church of Virginia in the generation after the American Revolu- 
 tion and Disestablishment. He was an evangelical preacher of the gospel like the 
 persecuted Baptists and the devout Presbyterians, who could not preach without license 
 from the state. In his great work, Old Churches and Families of Virginia, the story of 
 this truly great "Reformation" is told. The Church had fallen very low. Some of 
 the sanctuaries, desecrated by British cavalry in the Revolution, were now sheep-barns. 
 We are inclined to say here that Rev. William Meade, who went all over Virginia 
 restoring those sanctuaries and congregations, scattered abroad as sheep without a 
 shepherd, did a far greater and more difficult work than Alexander Campbell accom- 
 plished by leading an exodus from already established denominations. The sad ruins 
 of Zion were evident to all. Bishop Meade makes full confession of the sins and 
 shames committed in that period of depravity. Patrick Henry's famous case against 
 the parsons was a warning; and the Revolution left devastation in its wake. It reminds 
 us that two or three years before the outbreak of this present World War, we noticed 
 from a correspondent of "The Christian Century" in some of the central European 
 countries where Catholic, Protestant and Jewish sanctuaries, some of them imposing 
 structures, were practically deserted by the people. "This," said the correspondent, 
 "is because they have betrayed the cause of the people." It was terribly true. The 
 judgment fell much more speedily and terribly than anyone would ever have imagined. 
 It was exactly that with the Established Church in Virginia. 
 
 But we must not forget that this was the communion of Washington and Jefferson 
 and other men who founded our freedom. Let us turn now for a moment to names 
 that shine on the rolls of its ministry. The Rev. James Moore, who gathered and 
 organized Christ's Church in Lexington, Kentucky, is the first. A Presbyterian, dealt 
 with very rudely and unkindly by Transylvania Presbytery, he went into the bosom of 
 the Episcopal Church and became President of Transylvania University. James Lane 
 Allen pictures him truly in "Flute and Violin." Rev. Benjamin Orr Peers, pastor and 
 teacher also, who died in Louisville August 20, 1842, aged forty-two. Rev. William 
 Jackson, of English birth, beloved rector of Christ Church, Louisville. Bishop Benjamin 
 Bosworth Smith, Bishop George D. Cummins, Rev. James Craik, and Rev. John N. 
 
H I S T O RY O F K E N T U C K Y 519 
 
 Norton — for whom that revered hospital in Louisville is named; over whose entrance 
 are the words: "Come unto me all ye that travail, and I will refresh ycu." Some of 
 the greatest names in Kentucky history are on the rolls of these several Episcopal 
 congregations; and their traditions and deeds of generous human service move the 
 hearts of many. We grieve that our limitation of space precludes a worthier and 
 fuller historic recital. 
 
 HISTORIC STORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH 
 
 The Christian Church in Kentucky originated in groups of people who followed 
 Barton W. Stone in an exodus from the Presbyterian Church and of Alexander 
 Campbell in an exodus from the Baptist Church. These spiritual upheavals originated 
 in the Great Revival of 1800 and the impulse of many to dispense with creeds and 
 ecclesiastical authority. None of these men were egotists. When requested by 
 Collins for facts about himself to go into a sketch of the Christian Church, Mr. 
 Campbell answered: "Averse to autobiography; and to giving a man's biography while 
 living. I have left the task for one who may survive me." But they discovered from 
 Mr. Campbell's church paper that he was born in North Ireland; removed to Scotland 
 at the age of fourteen, to complete his preparation for the Presbyterian ministry. He 
 came with his father, Thomas Campbell, to America in 1809. Alexander was a young 
 man who took nothing on authority. He questioned and investigated; and was con- 
 vinced that baptism by immersion instead of by sprinkling was what he wanted, and 
 that on a profession of faith. The Presbyterian Church, however, recognizes immersion 
 as scriptural. He and his father had other convictions that in a later day would have 
 been entirely a matter of personal opinion; but, attempting to persuade the Presbytery 
 to which they adhered, dissension arose and separation from the Presbyterian Church. 
 Barton W. Stone said of Alexander Campbell that he had fewer faults than any man 
 he had ever known; that brotherly love would cover any frailties he had; and that he 
 was the outstanding leader of the so-called "Christian Reformation." 
 
 However, the "Christian Church" of the North and East a century ago was a far 
 more numerous and powerful body than the followers of Stone and Campbell in Ken- 
 tucky. They had a greater center of education at Antioch College, Yellow Springs, 
 Ohio, which is immortal with the name of Horace Mann, father of the American 
 free-school system. (This same institution now has perhaps the most progressive 
 method of "earning and learning" in the whole country.) This branch of the Christian 
 Church was called "New Light" in that period of 1859 and in the United States and 
 Canada had some sixty conferences and two hundred and fifty thousand members. 
 Barton W. Stone was far more of their intellectual type and conviction than Alexander 
 Campbell; for the Antioch group resembled the New England Congregationalists, with 
 whom they later affiliated. 
 
 Although discarding creeds and ecclesiastical authority as unscriptural, this Southern 
 branch of the Christian Church nevertheless adhered to a literalism of faith and practice 
 that was really narrower than the bodies from which they had seceded. James Lane 
 Allen's famous novel, "The Reign of Law," indicated this same sectarianism in the Chris- 
 tian Church of Kentucky that wrecked Transylvania as a great university sixty or seventy 
 years or more ago, as did the determined dogmatism of Transylvania Presbytery far 
 back in 1815 to 1825. Yet a very careful reading of Rogers's History of Cane Ridge 
 Church, where the Great Revival centered under Barton W. Stone, and where the 
 Christian Church in Kentucky was first set on foot, reveals some reassuring and force- 
 ful facts. It was a powerful anti-slavery center. It stood for the elemental rights of 
 the pioneers against the landlords and lawyers, who saw to their own interests in 
 
520 A S E S Q U I- CENTENNIAL 
 
 framing laws and putting on taxes. The Breckinridges were powerful leaders in this 
 class legislation. But from Cane Ridge Church came one man who stood on the floor 
 of the Legislature at Frankfort and with irresistible truth and justice and logic 
 unhorsed the mighty from their saddles. Some eminent lawyer wrote a treatise recently 
 on the early Kentucky land-titles. He showed that this landlord class from the very 
 inception of constitutions and legislation in the new commonwealth saw to it that they 
 had the best and largest holdings. This Blue-Grass aristocracy found in George 
 Nicholas the man to outwit Father David Rice in his heroic struggle to keep black 
 slavery out of the new state constitution. And underneath the deep hostility of 
 Transylvania Presbytery to Transylvania University being controlled by this same 
 Blue-Grass Aristocracy was the instinct of primitive democracy, as in Old Israel, to 
 the "bourgeoisie" or money-minded "free-thinkers." Even Cassius M. Clay clashed with 
 this class over Abolition, and it is known and acknowledged today that the break with 
 his wife was because she and her class had no sympathy with his espousal of the cause 
 of freedom. Dr. Spencer's History of Kentucky Baptists reveals a determined aversion 
 against an education and culture that undermined faith and human fellowship. Of 
 course the freedom and tolerance of our times were only possible at Transylvania in 
 that day under a control by the liberals. But it is known to all men of information 
 that the early religious academies and colleges were the most determined defenders of 
 human rights and freedom on the continent. 
 
 And it is to the eternal honor of the Christian Church in Kentucky to have furnished 
 the man and minister who cast the deciding vote in the Legislature against William 
 Jennings Bryan's so-called "Monkey Bill." Dr. E. L. Powell, pastor of the First 
 Christian Church, Louisville, was one great religious leader who always watched for 
 such sectarian assaults upon academic freedom. But in this crisis the vote was so very 
 close that the issue was in the hands of one man, a Christian minister from Scott 
 County by the name of Wagner. Being a minister, the advocates of the bill were sure 
 that Wagner would vote with them. Some of the scientific and educational leaders, 
 however, approached him. He was alone in his hotel room. To this scientist, who 
 knocked and entered with all due courtesy, Mr. Wagner said: "Please do not approach 
 me on this subject. I will thank you to kindly withdraw without another word." His 
 visitor did so; and when the deciding vote was about to be cast, all eyes were fastened 
 upon Mr. Wagner, who addressed the chair and kept his eyes fixed upon the presiding 
 officer. Said he: "I come of a religious ancestry that suffered persecution for opinion and 
 conviction. Freedom of faith and freedom of thought are American fundamentals. 
 Sir, I cast my vote against this bill which encroaches upon those priceless liberties." 
 
 The hush in those legislative halls was overpowering. The powerful high-pressure 
 backers of the bill were stunned; but after generations will honor the memory of this 
 man Wagner as they honor the memory of David Rice who went down fighting for 
 human freedom. 
 
 THE NEGRO CHURCHES OF KENTUCKY 
 
 It would be an omission of ignorance or prejudice indeed to fail to include in a 
 historical account like this some adequate statement of the numerical and spiritual 
 power of Negro religion throughout the whole of Kentucky history. The Foster 
 folk-songs around "My Old Kentucky Home" constitute a keynote of universal love 
 and attachment for native place. The religion of this race is one of the most definite 
 and powerful factors in the commonwealth. The slave-time congregations and pastors 
 of the Baptist Church alone in the city of Lexington, as described in Spencer's 
 History, would move any heart; and in a great city like Louisville today even the most 
 casual contact with the almost innumerable groups and pastors and worship of this one 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 521 
 
 denomination alone leaves a very deep impression what a dynamic mind, heart and 
 soul religion, like music, is to this race and people. The spiritual piety of white 
 people is often so ossified and frozen by property, respectability, social prestige and 
 pride of place and power, that, like Naaman, the Syrian with a bad case of leprosy, 
 they would grow angry when told to go and dip in the muddy Jordan of Negro 
 religion, its music, its song and its humble-mindedness to be healed. 
 
 We know that the innumerable schools and thousands of racial youth press onward 
 toward a new day; and the Negro Church cannot maintain its influence for good and 
 progress over the rising generation by a sapless pietism, a blind emotionalism, or 
 narrow reaction. The Negro has for generations absorbed and experienced and 
 expressed in our very greatest American music the yearning pity and compassion, the 
 aspiration and hope of ancient Israel in "The House of Bondage," "The Wilderness 
 Wandering" and "The Promised Land." The Bible is still their pillar of cloud by 
 day and pillar of fire by night. The Gospel of Jesus is still to this race the Balm of 
 Gilead and the Bright and Morning Star. "The Souls of Black Folk" must be de- 
 livered from the hell of the slum, the back-alley gambling joints — and drinking holes, 
 whence emerge murder, lust and other demons. Singing and dramatic imagination are 
 factors of immeasurable power over the human spirit, and this race in church and 
 schools in Louisville and all over the state is moving toward an emancipation that will 
 come when this Great War is over. 
 
 Joseph S. Cotter in Louisville and C. W. Merriweather in Hopkinsville, poets, 
 teachers, prophets of their people, arose through struggle and devoted service to their 
 own, enriched and encouraged by the genuine appreciation and friendship of white 
 people. Back in slave times in Louisville and Jefferson County there was a devout 
 Methodist colored woman who was allowed by her master to lead a movement for the 
 help and betterment of cases needing service, sympathy and assistance among colored 
 people. White friends gave her as much as ten thousands dollars in bank at a time 
 to do her work. This mission grew into a great and beautiful fraternity of mutual 
 aid called "Sons and Daughters of the Morning." Every one who claimed that noble 
 insignia of human service was like the stars and songs that herald a faith and freedom 
 that lift and illumine the souls of men and women everywhere. It has been our 
 privilege to write numerous racial life stories of these "Sons and Daughters of the 
 Morning" that came after the dark night of the old slavery was over. Would that 
 we could chronicle in this brief summary of the Negro Churches in Kentucky some 
 epics and psalms of life that have moved us deeply. But it is headed onward and 
 upward; and some of those souls that embody the whole experience from the time 
 Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation until now contain the essence of Marian 
 Anderson's singing and Dorothy Maynor's dream. Out of similar deliverances now 
 will come a new religion and human fellowship. 
 
 The article by Mary Rodgers in the Courier- Journal Sunday Magazine of September 
 15th, several years ago, was widely read and commented on. Unfortunately, the first 
 impression of the article and illustration is that of caricature, representing the Negro 
 as comic in his simple, empty world of escape into mere emotionalism. He seems on 
 the same level in religion as in the old-time minstrel show. A closer reading, however, 
 dispels this first impression and indeed the caption of the article expresses its true 
 psychology: "The world tottered that Sunday, but the simple and sincere faith of the 
 Negro remained with God." Again, "All is peaceful in their world." Yet Miss 
 Rodgers conceived and conveys the idea that this primitive people are oblivious of 
 the tottering world around them. May it not well be that they, like an infinite multitude 
 of others, cultured and privileged, are seeking a time and place of soul rest "Near to 
 the Heart of God"? 
 
 We have heard Booker Washington, C. W. Merriweather and other great race leaders 
 
522 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 deplore an excess of emotionalism in pulpit and pew amongst their people; but this 
 excess is far more marked and extravagant amongst the underprivileged and poorly 
 educated whites, who utterly lack the mellow humor and genial laughter of the Negro. 
 Yet we are compelled to be just and fair to the religion of the Negro and the "poor 
 white." The pathos of their empty, exploited lives is similar. That sort of folk crowded 
 about Jesus when He was here among men. It must be admitted that they experienced, 
 preserved and passed on that early Christian faith in its beauty, truth and human 
 tenderness when the scribes, pharisees and their class utterly contemned "The Down- 
 most Man" that Jesus always championed. One should read absorbingly a book like 
 Spencer's History of Kentucky Baptists to discover in its absolute sincerity and appeal 
 the religion of the frontier whites and the slaves as well. Never forget that those prim- 
 itive social groups preserved the form and faith of the very democracy that became 
 our American Republic; this, too, in face of terrific upper-class scorn and persecution. 
 Some of those slave preachers, as Dr. Spencer shows in his all-too-brief account of them, 
 were saints of God unsurpassed in any age, race or religion. Without any doubt in 
 aie world such "old-time religion" made its converts "love everybody." It eliminated 
 those animal passions, prejudices and racial animosities that Hitler and his brute bar- 
 barians are fostering now to the destruction of all civilization. It is entirely in order 
 here to mention that Mrs. E. T. Woolridge, of Louisville Municipal College for Negroes, 
 is engaged upon a historic study of those outstanding types of Negro preachers, and 
 it will parallel James Weldon Johnson's "God's Trombone" when published. 
 
 It is the song and symbolism and spontaneous poetry of Negro religious experience, 
 prayer and fellowship that moves every witness. After hearing Marian Anderson, Mrs. 
 Miller's girl chorus at John Little Mission, and Geneva Cooper's "Sunbeam Girls" a 
 number of times, we linger on the power of the Negro spirituals to grip any human 
 heart. And perhaps Negro people who struggle are more deeply aware of the world 
 crisis and its significance for them than Miss Rodgers at first believed. Anyhow, her 
 article brought back the story of John Finley Crowe and his lovely young bride who 
 were driven out of Shelbyville and Shelby County in the year 1823 for starting a 
 school, Sunday school and paper to educate the slaves and do away with bondage in 
 Kentucky. Hanover College, now in Indiana, would have been in Shelbyville today 
 but for that persecution. But young Crowe and his bride rode singing through the 
 woods together; and we have imagined him singing to her of Freedom and its Dream: 
 in the Dark. 
 
 Our Love, dear heart, is in the dark; 
 
 Long, long before God's morning lark 
 
 Hath filled the fields with cheer and song, 
 
 Or Right hath conquered Social Wrong. 
 
 Deep in the night of time and tide 
 
 Our souls must love, and still abide 
 
 The day of God's deliverance sweet, 
 
 When Freedom comes with flaming feet; 
 
 The chaff of prejudice consume, 
 
 And all the world with Love illume. 
 
 You've taught me patience, calm and still, 
 
 Like Evening's Star o'er vale and hill. 
 
 Your eyes of solace, tender, sweet, 
 
 Have healed my hurts in "Heart's Retreat." 
 
 The threatened terror hanging o'er 
 
 Cannot forever scare and score. 
 
 Our Love is but an altar lamp 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 523 
 
 That trembles when these terrors tramp; 
 But all the same, it ne'er goes out, 
 'Till Sons of Morning sing and shout, 
 And answering Daughters of the Day 
 Chorus Earth's sorrows all away. 
 
 TEMPLE ADATH ISRAEL AND ITS PASTORS 
 
 'Tor a hundred years, Adath Israel has been a symbol for dignity in the city 
 of Louisville. Organized in the infancy of the Reform Movement, this congregation 
 has never lost its place in the forefront of enlightened and progressive Judaism. 
 Adath Israel's first permanent home was a frame building on Fourth Street near 
 what is now known as Liberty Street. In 1865, the building was destroyed by fire. 
 Two years later, our founding fathers began the construction of the Temple at Sixth 
 and Broadway, which continued to house the congregation until the completion of the 
 present structure in 1906." 
 
 Thus opens the commemorative sketch of this notable congregation and community 
 of Hebrew people in Louisville. Prior to 1842 there were but a half dozen or more 
 Jewish families in the city. But religious services were held in the upper rooms of a 
 boarding house on Market Street between Second and Third. A layman, Mr. A. 
 Gerstle, acted as Chasan or Reader. The details and development of that early 
 religious group into a congregation, under faithful and forward-looking lay leadership, 
 is impressive, especially as these first families in Louisville had a struggle and made 
 sacrifices, yet were deeply imbued with that sentiment of mutual assistance in sickness, 
 need or distress of any kind. The old Jewish laws were then strictly observed: "No 
 one should be allowed to read the prayers or blow the Shofar on holidays if he, on 
 the Sabbath or on holidays, kept open his store, bought or sold merchandise, traveled, 
 or in any way violated these days, or if he ate forbidden food." 
 
 There were internal conflicts at times, and for some years, over differences of view 
 as to the strict observance of requirements long adhered to by the older members. In 
 January, 1849, one member was so opposed to an organ in the synagogue that he threat- 
 ened to burn the sanctuary if such an instrument were installed. They were just as 
 human as Protestants and Catholics; but, as their historian, Mr. Charles Goldsmith, says: 
 "There is, however, I am glad to state, also frequent and impressive evidence of a 
 large and constantly growing progressive element which not only in the above matters 
 ... led the congregation to show its determination to improve its own standard and 
 that of the Jewish community." 
 
 Recurring to the recent centennial story, we read: "In its early days, the congregation 
 had no regular Rabbi. In 1851, Mr. B. H. Gotthelf (whose grandfather and great 
 grandchildren are numbered among our present membership) assumed the duties of 
 Rabbi. After fifteen years of service, Mr. Gotthelf was succeeded by Dr. Leopold 
 Kleeburg, who is still remembered by some of our living members. He was followed 
 by Dr. Emil G. Hirsch who served for two years. When Dr. Hirsch left Louisville 
 for a Chicago pulpit, he was succeeded by Dr. Adolph Moses, whose name will be 
 remembered and revered as long as Adath Israel lives. Scholar, orator and fighting 
 champion of Reform, Dr. Moses yet found time to achieve distinction in non-sectarian 
 and communal activities, thus setting an example which has been followed so notably 
 by his successors. 
 
 "Upon the death of Dr. Moses, in 1902, Dr. Hyman G. Eneiow was chosen to 
 occupy the pulpit to which Dr. Moses had brought so much honor and fame. Living 
 up to the established ideals of ethical Judaism for which Adath Israel had, by then, 
 
524 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 become known throughout America, Dr. Enelow remained in Louisville until 1912, 
 when he was called to Temple Emanuel in New York. Most of our members remember 
 with warm affection and deep esteem his brilliant intellect and his virile and uncom- 
 promising devotion to Tiving Judaism.' 
 
 "In 1912 Dr. Joseph Rauch came to Louisville from Sioux City, Iowa, to occupy a 
 pulpit whose fame had become nation-wide. He was little more than a boy; and he 
 approached his new task with becoming modesty. It was not long, however, before 
 his erudition and his unique capacity for leadership impressed themselves, first upon 
 his congregation, and rapidly upon his community and upon American and European 
 progressive Jewry. Only a man of phenominal energy and capacity could have occu- 
 pied so many important positions, attained so many honors, won so many friends and 
 impressed himself so indelibly upon the pattern of Louisville's communal life. In his 
 thirty years of distinguished service — during nearly a third of the life of this congrega- 
 tion — he has watched over its growth and stimulated the participation of its members 
 in both Jewish and communal endeavor. It is the earnest hope of a grateful community 
 that he may be spared for many, many years to come." 
 
 Dr. Moses was a great and impressive personality in the spiritual life of Louisville. 
 During his pastorate of Temple Adath Israel the Baptist Theological Seminary here 
 in Louisville had one of the very greatest ministers who ever adorned a Christian pulpit 
 or teacher's chair. Saint and scholar, friend of God and man, here is what Dr. Moses 
 said of him in a memorial sermon when he was gone: "The glory of Louisville has 
 departed from her with the departure of John A. Broadus. The splendor, the ornament 
 of this place is gone, since the greatest and saintliest man who had dwelt in it has left 
 it forever, never to return. Our city is like a ring, the precious stone of which has 
 been torn from its setting and become lost. All feel the general loss, but his personal 
 friends mourn over the fact that they have been bereft of a great spiritual force under 
 whose directing and elevating influence they had stood for years. There was a moral 
 magnetism about him, an uplifting power in his personality which no one could help 
 experiencing who was in more or less close contact with him. 
 
 "In his presence you felt like exclaiming: 'Ecce homo — behold a genuine man; behold 
 an ideal man.' It was borne in upon you that you were standing face to face with one 
 of the great and original men of earth, with one who towered high above you in intellect 
 and knowledge, in will-power and nobility of character, in breadth of culture and refine- 
 ment of manners, and in those indefinable powers and spiritual qualities of mercy which 
 mark off a few men as the children of light and immortality. Still, the consciousness 
 of your mental and moral inferiority, as compared with him, did not humiliate and 
 pain you. So lovable and full of grace was that large, sweet soul that you actually 
 rejoiced in knowing and acknowledging that he was a greater, wiser, and better man 
 than you." 
 
 These are the golden words of a spiritual companionship and bosom friendship that 
 will grow more beautiful with each succeeding generation. Here were two supremely 
 great souls, one a Baptist saint and scholar, the other an eminent and noble Jewish 
 rabbi who somehow discovered each other in the contacts of life in Louisville many years 
 ago. Dr. Broadus passed away first, in 1895, and the heart of his Hebrew friend 
 was torn with grief and bowed down with bereavement. The old Temple Adath Israel 
 at Sixth and Broadway was recently torn down and removed forever; yet in the spiritual 
 atmosphere and tradition of that period abides this story of a great friendship between 
 a Christian and a Jew that bridges gloriously what had seemed an impassable gulf 
 of estrangement and prejudice. Dr. Moses preached that memorial sermon on his 
 deceased friend as beautiful as David's lament over Saul and Jonathan. It filled all 
 the Temple courts with as sweet an incense of love and reverence that the city of 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 525 
 
 Louisville had ever witnessed. Mark these sublime utterances of the great Jewish Rabbi 
 in memory of his friend: 
 
 "He was the most intensely and genuinely religious man I ever knew. Religion was 
 not with him some theory of divine government which he professed, no system of theology 
 which he accepted and taught. Religion was life itself with him. Faith in God was the 
 very heart of his moral and spiritual being, and the spring of his power. . . . To him 
 religion was not a spiritual luxury, a personal privilege, a way of securing his own 
 salvation here and hereafter. To him religion meant doing the work of our Heavenly 
 Master with all our heart, with all our soul, and all our might. As the heart pants 
 after the brooks of water, so did John A. Broadus, the inspired servant of God, long 
 to establish the kingdom of God on earth, to save men from the curse of degredation, 
 of sin, and win them back to the higher life. 
 
 "If there ever was a true servant of the Lord who loved and served Him with an 
 undivided heart, it was John A. Broadus. He loved God as Abraham did, striving like 
 him to spread the love of God among men. More than through the charm of his 
 eloquence did he win men from sin and lead them to God through the witchcraft of 
 his example. His conduct was such that men came to love God through him. . . . 
 Consider it well, Israelites and Christians; mark the meaning of this highest tribute 
 paid by a rabbi to the religious power and saintly character of a Christian divine, of 
 a teacher of uncompromising trinitarian Christianity. I have always differed, and as 
 long as there will be breath in me I shall differ, from him as to the characteristic dogmas 
 of Christianity, to which he clung with every fiber of his being. But when I con- 
 template the holy life of this typical Christian, and find it in all its essentials marvelously 
 like the life of Jewish saints and martyrs, I come to realize that behind the different 
 dogmas of Judaism and Christianity there is the indestructible unity of religious 
 essence, of moral ideals, and sanctifying power. Before I became familiar with Dr. 
 Broadus, I knew Christianity only as a creed which seemed absolutely incomprehensible 
 to me. I judged it mainly from the untold, unmerited misery, the agony of ages 
 which Christian rulers and nations had entailed on poor Israel under the impulse given 
 by Christian priests and teachers. But when I learned to know and revere in Broadus 
 a Christian who was truly a man of God, in whom there was the spirit of justice and 
 mercy, the spirit of brotherly love toward all men without distinction of nationality, 
 race, or creed, my conception of Christianity and my attitude toward it underwent a 
 complete change. For the first time in my life Christianity presented itself to me, not 
 as a bundle of unfathomable dogmas, but as a living power for good, as actualized in 
 an ideal man. Broadus was the precious fruit by which I learned to judge of the tree 
 of Christianity. Would there were many Christians like Broadus in the world to bless 
 it, and bring peace and good-will to all men. 
 
 "The strife and bitterness of ages, the mutual misjudgments and historical recrim- 
 inations would soon cease among kindred religions. Jews and Christians would soon 
 recognize that they are, under different standards, doing battle for the same eternal cause, 
 for spirituality and holiness, for the brotherhood of all men in God, their common 
 Father, for the establishment of the kingdom of Heaven on earth. Sinai and Golgotha 
 would no longer be standing for conflicting creeds, but would be the spiritual symbols 
 of the one only true and universal religion, of which Judaism and Christianity represent 
 each a special aspect and carry on each a peculiar mission. Oh, that the mantle of 
 the wise master would fall on many disciples, that they may have a double share in his 
 spirit of broad humanity, and continue the work of uniting the hearts and wills of 
 men in the service of God which the great man has left unfinished. . . . Farewell, wisest 
 and sweetest soul. My love of thee was passing the love of woman. . . . Let men rise 
 and call our city blessed, because Broadus has in her midst done the best part of his 
 
526 ASESQUI-CENTENN1AL 
 
 life work Many sins shall be forgiven Louisville, because she has for years harbored, 
 loved, and revered Broadus, the servant of God." 
 
 This great tribute of love and friendship, from Dr. Moses who was himself every inch 
 and liber a kindred soul to Dr. Broadus, will serve here as a consummation, a Mt. Nebo 
 of wide prospects toward the Promised Land beyond the Jordan of this Great Tragedy 
 of World Conflict. The successors of Dr. Moses have lived up to the sublime spirit 
 and truth of his words; and today the example of Dr. Broadus and Dr. Moses is 
 duplicated increasingly in fellowship and intimacy of soul between Jew and Christian. 
 To that great end the Temple Adath Israel stands. 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 TRANSPORTATION AND COMMERCE 
 
 By Mrs. Roy Bridwell 
 RIVERS 
 
 R, 
 
 iver transportation has played a major role in the exploration, con- 
 quest and development of North America since the Indian hollowed out log canoes 
 with stone hatchets and fire. In colonial times inland travel was generally done on horse- 
 back over roads which were merely buffalo or Indian trails and the transportation of 
 large quantities of goods was impracticable. For this reason the colonial settlers clung to 
 the rivers which could be navigated by small sailing vessels or flatboats which floated 
 with the current or were propelled by poles. 
 
 The economic development of the resources of any area depends upon means whereby 
 these resources may be approached, and their distribution to markets accomplished. 
 Often these factors are of far greater value than the character of the resources them- 
 selves. So that Kentucky, with its fine system of interior and exterior rivers and 
 possessed of many miles of navigable and seminavigable streams, owes much of its 
 early economic development to these natural highways. 1 
 
 The pioneer, conscious of the importance of every opportunity offered by nature, 
 made his settlements and established his stations and forts along the rivers, or beside 
 the many navigable streams and abundant springs in the central portions of the state. 
 
 At first river commerce in Kentucky was local except for merchandise sent from the 
 East and outbound shipments of salt manufactured at various salt licks and of furs 
 which were used as mediums of exchange for salt in neighboring regions." 
 
 Years of exploitation by Indians and hunters from the Eastern colonies had extermi- 
 nated most of the furbearing animals in central Kentucky, and within a decade after 
 the first settlements in the state merchants were buying furs at a distance. 
 
 From the beginning of settlement in 1775 Kentucky pioneers manufactured salt, first 
 to supply an imperative domestic need and later as a lucrative stock in trade. Salt, 
 serving as an agency to preserve meat, gave rise to the cured pork and beef industry 
 which grew by leaps and bounds in Kentucky. 
 
 General James Wilkinson came to Kentucky in 1784 to engage in the mercantile and 
 commission business. In 1787, after virtually achieving a monopoly on salt, he jour- 
 neyed from Lexington to New Orleans and arranged a private trading treaty with 
 Don Stephen Miro the Spanish governor of Louisiana. 4 This agreement granted "free 
 and full permission to the American Brigadier, Don James Wilkinson, settled in 
 Kentucky, to direct or cause to be brought into this country by inhabitants of Kentucky, 
 one or more launches belonging to him with cargoes of the productions of that country."" 
 Thus was southern trade opened and within the next decade Kentucky had become 
 dependent upon the southern river trade as an outlet for its surplus products. 
 
 On May 1, 1801, the Kentucky Gazette contained a list of commodities which were 
 shipped from the Port of Louisville down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Among 
 the commodities listed were 92,300 pounds of pork, 91,300 pounds of bacon, 14,860 
 pounds of dried beef, 2,587 pounds of butter and 8,718 pounds of buscuit (probably a 
 form of hardtack) .' 
 
 A second voyage to New Orleans was made by Wilkinson in 1789 and consisted of 
 "25 large boats, some of which carry three pounders, and all of them swivels, manned 
 by 150 hands, brave and well armed, to fight their way down the Ohio and Mississippi 
 into the Gulf of Mexico. " s 
 
528 A SESQUI- CENTENNIAL 
 
 The center of Wilkinson's operations was the store he opened in Lexington in 1784. 
 His business methods were far in advance of those customary in the western country. 
 Although accused and proven guilty of political intrigues with Spain against the United 
 States Government Wilkinson did much to promote long distance traffic in Kentucky, 
 and he was a notable pioneer in the development of western commerce. His contribu- 
 tion consisted not only in organizing a shipping industry and opening a market, but he 
 also secured specie payments which were a great advantage to a pioneer community 
 where trade was chiefly by barter. 
 
 By 1791 when Wilkinson ceased his operations tobacco had become the chief com- 
 modity shipped from Kentucky. By 1804 flour headed the list of exports from Ken- 
 tucky to New Orleans. From January to July (1802), 85,570 barrels of flour were 
 shipped to the South. 
 
 In 1804 Green Clay advertised that he had on hand 30,000 pounds of tobacco and 
 sufficient quantities of whiskey and bacon to load a 50-foot boat. These were to be 
 sold in New Orleans. 
 
 Warehouses were authorized by an Act of 1783 to be erected at the Falls of the 
 Ohio on the lands of John Campbell, Jefferson County; at Leestown in Fayette County 
 and at the mouth of Hickman Creek in Lee County. In 1784 another was authorized 
 at the mouth of Dix River in Mercer County. These warehouses were intended to 
 provide "some temporary method" for the "reception and inspection of tobacco at or 
 near the heads of rivers and creeks." Most of them were erected by special acts of the 
 Virginia Assembly, and they mark the introduction into Kentucky of state inspection of 
 commodities intended for foreign markets which was continued for several decades after 
 separation from Virginia and were of great importance to river commerce. Tobacco 
 was inspected by county officials appointed for the purpose, who issued warehouse 
 receipts which were legal tender. 
 
 Between 1787 and 1790 warehouses were authorized to be built and opened for 
 business at the mouth of Hickman's Creek, Fayette County; Harrod's Landing; the 
 mouth of Craig's Creek, Fayette County; Boonesborough, Madison County; land of 
 John Collier, Madison County; mouth of Stone Lick at Steel's Landing, Fayette County; 
 and Jack's Creek, Madison County. 
 
 On December 13, 1792, the Kentucky Legislature adopted the Virginia system of 
 inspection. For each inspection of tobacco, hemp, or flour, which included one or more 
 warehouses in a county, three inspectors were to be appointed by the Governor. The 
 owners of boats as well as of cargoes were fined for shipping uninspected or con- 
 demned tobacco until January 30, 1810, when sections of the laws relating to the 
 exportation of tobacco were repealed. The inspection of hemp and flour for export 
 was continued for a longer period and for a short while provision was made for the 
 inspection of salted beef and pork. 13 
 
 John Rhea advertised in the Kentucky Gazette in 1789 that he had opened a store 
 in Scott's warehouse on the Kentucky River and would handle "a very general assort- 
 ment of Dry Goods, Hardware and Groceries, for which cash, Tobacco, Ginseng, furs, 
 viz. Beaver, Raccoon, Foxes, Wild Cats and other skins will be taken in payment." 
 
 Small settlements sprang up around the warehouses and grew into towns of consider- 
 able size. Frankfort, on the lands of James Wilkinson and New Market at the mouth 
 of Dix River were established by special acts of the Virginia Legislature in 1786. 
 Boonesborough, already a town, became of greater importance as a result of river 
 commerce. According to one writer these early river towns "compared unfavorably 
 with highway centers situated on the tributaries, where the transmontane routes inter- 
 sected those from the Ohio. Lexington, the terminal of the "new road to Virginia," 
 and Danville on the Wilderness Road were the principal distributing points for the 
 backwoods settlements. They not only furnished river traffic but were also receiving 
 
Courtesy, Louisville Convention and Publicity League. 
 
 STOCK FARM SCENE IN THE BLUE GRASS 
 
530 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 stations for goods brought overland from a distance and from local communities. The 
 river towns in their isolated situation functioned mainly as shipping ports for outbound 
 freight. Their rise at this time and their subsequent decline after Kentucky had be- 
 come a state, mark the beginning and the end of long distance traffic on the river. 
 Frankfort alone of those established by the Virginia Assembly has survived to the 
 present day." 14 
 
 The treaty signed between the United States and Spain in 1795 greatly influenced 
 the expansion of river commerce. When the port at New Orleans was opened to 
 Kentucky trade farm products were shipped from the state to the West Indies and 
 Europe. ° The farm products frade to Europe, however, did not assume large propor- 
 tions until the latter part of the nineteenth century. Another factor which increased 
 the demand for Kentucky exports was the invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney, 
 which made it possible for the South to turn its energy to the raising of cotton, neglect- 
 ing the raising of farm products. 
 
 The Ohio, called La Belle Riviere by the French, is the greatest of Kentucky's ex- 
 terior rivers. Before the beginning of commerce the Ohio served as a channel into 
 Kentucky for many early settlers came into the state by way of the Ohio and its tribu- 
 taries. As long as commerce was carried on the rivers, the general direction of trans- 
 portation in the Mississippi Valley was north and south. Kentucky settlers bought 
 goods manufactured in the North which came down the Ohio by way of Pittsburgh 
 from Philadelphia and Baltimore. The boatmen who brought this goods from the 
 east to Kentucky unloaded their boats at Louisville and loaded them again with Ken- 
 tucky products which they sold in New Orleans. 
 
 Because of the hardships and expense involved there was little trade from Kentucky 
 to the North. Michaux wrote in 1802: "I must again remark that there is not a single 
 species of colonial product in Kentucky except gensing that will bear the expense of 
 carriage by land from that state to Philadelphia; as it is demonstrated that twenty-five 
 pounds weight would cost more expediting that way, even going up the Ohio, than a 
 thousand by that river without reckoning the passage by sea, although we have repeated 
 examples that the passage from New Orleans to Philadelphia or New York is some- 
 times as long as that from France to the United States." 
 
 It was not long until the promoters of western and southern trade realized that in 
 order to open the Ohio to the free circulation of commerce the obstacle created by the 
 Ohio Falls must be overcome. In December, 1804, the Legislature passed an act 
 incorporating the Ohio Canal Company with the intention of building a canal around 
 the Falls on the Indiana side of the Ohio. The charter was later changed to force 
 the construction of the canal on the Kentucky side. This was to insure the com- 
 merce of the river to the port of Louisville. Interest in the enterprise lagged and an 
 appeal was made to the National Government for aid, the legislature increased the 
 capital of the company and the canal and all its works were exempted from taxation. 
 Still the interest slackened and by 1807 subscriptions had practically ceased. 
 
 On October 28, 1811, Nicholas Roosevelt passed Louisville on his way southward 
 in his steamboat The City of New Orleans. One hundred sixteen feet long, twenty- 
 foot beam, with a single engine attached to paddle wheels on each side amidship, the 
 New Orleans was built along the lines of a sailing vessel, with a deep hull and two 
 masts for sails and two cabins. It was built at Pittsburgh from plans drawn by 
 Robert Fulton. 1 " This trip marked the beginning of the steamboat industry and the 
 day of the broadhorn and keelboat began to wane. When the New Orleans anchored 
 at Louisville the water on the Falls was too shallow to permit the passage down the 
 river, and for two months she operated between Louisville and Cincinnati, until a rise 
 in the river in December permitted her to continue on her way to New Orleans. 
 The first steamboat built at Louisville, the Governor Shelby, was launched in 1815 
 
Courtesy, Louisville Convention and Publicity League. 
 
 CHURCHILL DOWNS ON DERBY DAY 
 
 35— Vol. I 
 
532 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 at the mouth of Beargrass Creek. ' This same year the Enterprise made the first 
 upstream journey to Louisville, reducing the traveling time to less than half the 
 former period, the journey requiring only twelve days as compared with the broadhorn 
 and keelboat twenty-eight days time. 1 * 
 
 In 1817 Captain Henry Shreve of Louisville improved steamboat design when he 
 built the Washington at Wheeling, Virginia, to operate between Louisville and New 
 Orleans. 
 
 The general use of the steamboat made the obstacle created by the Falls more and 
 more serious. The construction of the Portland Canal became imperative. The old 
 project was renewed and the Louisville and Portland Canal Company was chartered 
 by the General Assembly. Capitalized at $600,000 its capital stock four years later 
 was increased to $700,000. On December 5, 1830, the steamer Uncas went through 
 the canal and navigation was unimpeded from Pittsburgh to New Orleans. The canal 
 was nearly two miles long and sixty-four feet wide. It contained three locks, each 
 with a width of fifty feet and a length of two hundred feet and afforded a three-foot 
 depth at extreme low water. Enlargement and extension of the canal was completed 
 in 1872. In 1874 the Federal Government had obtained entire control of the canal 
 and in 1880 abolished all tolls. Since that date improvements of the canal have been 
 numerous. * 
 
 So successful was the canal that in less than a decade from the time of its opening 
 fifteen hundred steamers, five hundred flatboats and keelboats bearing three hundred 
 thousand tons of commerce passed through the locks to the Southern market." 
 
 The construction of the canal made Louisville the chief of the Ohio River ports 
 and one of the great steamboat centers in the entire Mississippi River system. It was 
 the "foot of navigation for the upper river and the head of navigation for the lower 
 river trade. 
 
 River commerce grew with amazing rapidity. On one day in 1833, thirty-five steam- 
 boats were counted at the docks in Louisville "all briskly being laden or unladen." 
 The commercial business of Louisville during 1835 amounted to nearly $25,000,000." 
 
 For twenty-five years after the separation of Kentucky from Virginia the Kentucky 
 River and its tributaries, confined within the limits of the state, and flowing for the 
 most part through the Bluegrass, although obstructed and unimproved, remained an 
 important trade route. It was the major stream of commercial importance in Eastern 
 and Central Kentucky and the main trunk waterway of the Ohio. 
 
 Although improvements were slow on the Kentucky River, Virginia realized its 
 commercial importance as early as 1779. In dry seasons the river could be forded at 
 certain points but during high water ferries were necessary. The Virginia Assembly 
 by an act of October, 1779, authorized the first ferry to operate from Boonesborough." 
 From the beginning of the settlement of Kentucky Virginia passed laws prohibiting 
 artificial obstructions to the passage of fish or boats on the navigable streams, and 
 mill dams furnishing power for grist mills and other works of public utility were 
 allowed." 4 
 
 Soon after Kentucky became a state the problem of opening the Kentucky River 
 was undertaken. December 15, 1792, an "act more effectively to prevent obstructions 
 in watercourses" was passed and the Virginia law was adopted by the Kentucky 
 Legislature to insure that the streams be kept open."' 
 
 The Constitutional Convention of 1799 ordered a survey of the Kentucky River 
 and plans for improvements presented. Martin Hawkins, of Frankfort, presented a 
 survey entitled "Remarks on the Improvement of the Kentucky River" dated November 
 28, 1799, but no action was taken towards accomplishing the improvements suggested." 
 
 In a note attached to his survey Martin Hawkins pointed out that "Lengthy remarks 
 on the advantages that will arise on the improvement of the rivers in this State, are 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 533 
 
 useless. Those which Virginia has experienced are well known in this country. But 
 as those in this country would far exceed them I will state a few of them. The 
 merchant may lay in flour for exportation in the month of November; and by keel 
 boats or batteaux, get his cargo to the Ohio river in the month of December; where 
 he may probably ship it immediately, and arrive on the sea-board in January; where 
 if he sells his cargo, his returns will be made in February; and if not, his cargo being 
 stored in winter, will keep all summer without damage. But on the present plan of 
 shipping, it is almost impossible to get a boat out of any small river till the winter 
 and ice commences — spring follows — and then the necessary delays which take place 
 bring mid-summer before the boat reaches the sea-board, and as the extreme heat 
 of the climate and dampness of the river causes a constant hot moisture to settle on 
 the cargo, a sweat commences, which rots the whole cargo. The last years experience 
 have so fully proved this, it needs no further remarks. Had the flour shipped from 
 Kentucky during last spring, all reached New Orleans by the month of April, I can 
 venture to say the merchants would have sold their cargoes, and have received their 
 money in return six months sooner than they generally have; and the flour, if not 
 used, would have continued to this day sound and in good order; and the planter 
 would now have been able to get 6s. per bushel for his wheat, instead of 3s. and for 
 every other kind of produce in the same proportion." 27 
 
 The Kentucky River Company, a joint-stock concern, with a capital stock of $10,000 
 to be subscribed in shares of fifty dollars by various counties on the river, was chartered 
 by the Legislature in December, 1801. Prominent citizens were appointed to act as 
 commissioners in the different counties and to see that the Kentucky River from its 
 mouth to the mouth of South Fork was cleared of anything which would "impede 
 or obstruct the passage of boats," etc. Fines were to be imposed for any further 
 obstruction of the stream and the Company was granted the right to collect tolls. 
 
 No work was done and losses continued from obstructions. January 10, 1811, an 
 act was passed by the Legislature allowing the company to raise $10,000 with a 
 lottery, but nothing was accomplished. 
 
 An appropriation of $40,000 was made by an act of the Legislature in 1818 fot 
 the improvement of the Cumberland River below the Falls, in Kentucky, and of the 
 Green, Licking, Salt and Kentucky rivers and their navigable tributaries. During the 
 next two years $38,133 was spent for materials but none of the proposed work was 
 accomplished and the tools which had been purchased were sold to prevent entire 
 loss to the state. 
 
 Between 1818 and 1835 a number of laws for the benefit of the Kentucky River 
 and its tributaries was enacted, but very little was actually accomplished, although 
 $8,000 was expended by the Board of Internal Improvements between 1835 and 1845 
 on the upper river to supplement canalization on the lower section. Sixty-five mill 
 and fish dams were removed between Frankfort and South Fork, but the greater 
 portion of the fund was used upon the Three Forks for the benefit of the salt, coal 
 and timber industry. 
 
 The first systematic survey of the Kentucky River was made in 1828. The survey 
 was requested by the state and made under the direction of the War Department of 
 the Federal Government. It covered a distance of about one hundred and seventy- 
 eight miles and its object was to determine the relative merits of canalization and 
 regularization; and to obtain Federal aid in the prosecution of improvements. An 
 experimental dike near Frankfort at a cost of $10,704 was recommended but the 
 recommendation was not adopted. 
 
 The State Board of Internal Improvements created in 1835 succeeded the 1828 
 Board, and its engineers supplemented the survey made by the Board of 1828 and 
 advised a complete system of slack water, extending from the mouth of the main 
 
534 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 river to Middle Fork and up the Three Forks for a considerable distance. The work 
 was begun but stringent state finances caused it to be suspended in 1842. However, 
 the completion of the five lower locks had been accomplished and ninety-five miles 
 of slack water brought into use. Frankfort became the head of continuous steamboat 
 navigation except during high water when a railroad bridge and a highway bridge 
 interfered with the passage of all crafts but keelboats. The project was not a 
 financial success for the locks were constructed at a cost to the state of $901,932 
 and yielded only $478,603 in tolls during the next twenty-four years. Expenditures 
 amounted to $314,498. The net revenue represented an annual return of one per cent 
 per annum. 
 
 Various joint-stock companies attempted to continue the work begun by the state, 
 but were no more successful. After 1876 the works were practically abandoned and 
 regular navigation on the Kentucky River stopped. 
 
 The 1835 Board of Internal Improvements, alive to the pressing need for improved 
 routes of transportation all through the state, ordered a resurvey of the other river 
 systems. The survey began on the Barren and Green Rivers and $1,000,000 was 
 spent on improvements on these rivers. A survey was made of the Licking River 
 from whence produce was sent to Cincinnati markets and $375,000 was spent on this 
 channel. 
 
 The constant pleas of Governors McCreary and Blackburn that the improvements 
 on the Kentucky River be revived, supported by public sentiment in Eastern and 
 Southeastern Kentucky, resulted in the Federal Government, in 1880, resuming the 
 work the state had been forced to abandon. Work was begun in May, 1880, for the 
 canalization of the Kentucky River between its mouth and the junction of the Three 
 Forks near Beattyville. Between 1880 and 1885 restoration of the original locks and 
 dams and been accomplished. By 1899 the number of locks in the original plan had 
 been reduced to fourteen. As soon as each lock was finished it became the head of 
 regular steamboat navigation. 
 
 From March 3, 1879, to July, 1913, the annual appropriation for the work upon 
 the Kentucky River amounted to $4,196,150. Additional sums granted the river for 
 maintenance were expended for the upkeep and operation of the locks and dams and 
 their appurtenances. 3 There are at the present time fourteen locks in operation on 
 the Kentucky River. 
 
 When the Federal Government undertook the canalization of the Kentucky River 
 it expected coal, iron, salt and timber to constitute the bulk of the traffic, but these 
 early expectations have not been realized. The advent of the railroad was soon to 
 upset river commerce on all the rivers in Kentucky, and after the railroad entered 
 the mountains the Kentucky River slack water system seemed of little value. 
 
 HIGHWAYS 
 
 Migratory buffaloes, visiting the interior of Kentucky year after year, to drink the 
 mineral waters and lick the saline earth, were the state's first roadmakers, and it is 
 interesting to note that the present system of highways varies very little from the 
 early system of trails or traces. J. Winston Coleman, Jr., in his Stagecoach Days in 
 the Bluegrass writes that: "Since these animals seldom remained stationary in Ken- 
 tucky, it is easy to see why their trails became the main roads, as distinguished from 
 the Varmint paths' or runways in small local areas, cut out and worn bare by the 
 native fur-bearing animals which dwelt permanently in Kentucky. The buffalo's great 
 weight demanded that the thoroughfares should be stable, and, because of his ability 
 to cover great distances, that they should be practicable. The only course open for 
 passage for the buffalo was the summits of the hills. From the hilltops the water 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 535 
 
 shed most quickly, making the dryest land, and from here the snows of winter were 
 quickest blown, lessening the danger of drifted banks and erosion. Buffalo roads 
 not only traversed the state, but were transcontinental in extent. Nor did they move 
 in haphazard fashion. With marvelous instinct they generally picked out the most 
 direct and favorable routes. 
 
 "These broad trails or 'traces' of the buffalo converged at the Ouasioto or Cum- 
 berland Gap, and through this gap they passed and repassed for generations, just as 
 did the Indians and white men after them. The war roads of the Iroquois, Miami, 
 and Shawnee nations to the North and West, and of the Cherokee, Catawba, and 
 Creeks to the South and Southwest, also merged into a single trace through this 
 famous gap, and it became known as the 'warriors' path. 
 
 "Other 'traces' of more or less importance stretched over the boundless tracts of 
 Kentucky, and possibly the greatest of them all crossed the Ohio River at the present 
 site of Maysville. It led straight up the hill to the high ridge and on to the lower 
 Blue Licks. Here a branch led up Licking River to the upper Blue Licks, and thence 
 on through the country to the Cross Plains, the present site of Athens, Fayette 
 County. From the lower Blue Licks the trail ran southwest, crossing Hingston at 
 the Ruddle's Mill site, and from there it branched out into the rich grazing lands. 
 Another big branch crossed the Ohio River and came by Stamping Ground to North 
 Elkhorn, passing on to Cross Plains, and thence across the Kentucky River near 
 Boonesboro to the lower Cumberland region. From Stamping Ground the trail to 
 Bryan Station passed over the dividing ridge to the waters of Boone's Creek, near 
 Cross Plains, where it united with the trail from upper Blue Licks. Another branch 
 from Stamping Ground passed through Great Crossings and on to the site of Lex 
 ington, and then led down what is now South Broadway and on to the Kentucky 
 River, crossing the latter at the mouth of Dick's River." 
 
 Many of the first white men to come into Kentucky came over these old buffalo trails 
 through Cumberland Gap. The famous Wilderness Trail, from the Gap to Boones- 
 borough, blazed by Daniel Boone and his companions in 1775 was the way by which 
 seventy-five thousand people came into the state before 1796. With axes Boone and 
 his men improved the old buffalo and Indian trail by trimming back limbs, removing 
 logs and selecting suitable places to cross the streams. 
 
 Settlers coming into the state brought with them their household goods, their books 
 and other necessities on pack horses and drove before them their livestock. Thousands 
 of them came into Kentucky from Virginia and North Carolina each year over the 
 Wilderness Road. In 1784 John Filson reported that "It is about 65 miles from 
 Lexington [to Limestone] to which there is a large waggon-road." By 1787 this 
 road had become a thoroughfare over which a line of wagons was plying. * 
 
 By 1793 improvements were being made by private enterprises on main trails into 
 the Bluegrass, making them into wagon roads. These earliest roads were ten or 
 twelve feet wide, with the trees "cut off close to the ground and the stumps well 
 rounded." The surface of the road was natural soil, dusty when dry and full of 
 quagmires in wet weather. 3 " 
 
 As the population of the state increased so its overland trade increased, and traffic 
 on the Wilderness Road almost demanded that some improvements be made. From 
 time to time acts were passed by the General Assembly of Kentucky requiring men 
 who lived close to the Wilderness Road to spend several days a year working on the 
 road, but few improvements were made on it, other than keeping the path clear, for 
 many years. In 1795 the General Assembly passed an act providing that the road 
 from Lexington to Crab Orchard should be opened to vehicular traffic. They appro- 
 priated money for the improvement of the road, stating that "it is essential to the 
 true interest of this Commonwealth that a good waggon-road should be made to 
 
536 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 Virginia." 30 In spite of the fact that 2,000 pounds, or $6,500, was set aside for the 
 improvement of the road it was twenty-three years before any definite steps were 
 taken to widen the highway. 
 
 The wagon roads were built by first cutting and laying logs across the road at 
 right angles. The logs were covered with a thin layer of soil, making a corduroy 
 road which served its purpose fairly well in dry seasons. When the dirt was washed 
 off by rain or snow carts and wagons were shaken to pieces and horses lamed. 7 
 
 The pack horse men, who sometimes employed hundreds of horses and drivers, were 
 very much opposed to the making of "waggon-roads." They considered the "wag- 
 goners" or "teamsters" upstarts with their newer methods of transportation. 
 
 Lexington and Danville were the principal distributing points for the Kentucky back- 
 woods settlements, and the early maps of the state show the leading roads in Kentucky 
 to have converged at these two towns. From Danville "the Wilderness Road extended 
 to the Ohio at Louisville by way of Lebanon, Bardstown and Shepherdsville. It was 
 intersected by a road which led south across the Cumberland River to Nashville, 
 Tennessee, where it connected with the old Natchez Trace, and north across the 
 Kentucky near Boonesborough to Lexington. From Lexington the principal roads 
 led (1) to the Ohio at Limestone, passing through Paris and across the Licking at 
 the lower Blue Lick Springs; (2) to the Ohio at the mouth of the Licking opposite 
 Cincinnati, passing along the Kentucky-Licking Divide; (3) southwestward to the 
 Wilderness Road at Harrodsburg, crossing the Kentucky near the mouth of Dix 
 River; (4) westward to the Wilderness Road near Louisville, crossing the Kentucky 
 at Frankfort." 39 
 
 Before the "waggon-roads" came into being horseback was the accepted means o£ 
 travel. Some few braved the perils of riding in carts and wagons which were slow 
 and rough. With the appearance of the corduroy road, however, soon came stage- 
 coaches and carriages. On August 9, 1803, John Kennedy announced in the Ken- 
 tucky Gazette that he had started a regular stagecoach line in Kentucky, and that it 
 would run from Lexington by Winchester and Mt. Sterling to the Olympian Springs 
 in Montgomery County, a distance of about forty-seven miles. 
 
 Other stagecoach lines were soon established, but due to the bad condition of the 
 roads service often had to be discontinued in the winter. 
 
 Along the roads in Kentucky, with the carts, wagons and stagecoaches, went great 
 droves of hogs, cattle and sheep on their way to Eastern and Southern markets. In 
 1824 toll gate receipts showed that 4,005 horses and mules, 58,011 hogs and 412 "good 
 beef steers" passed the Cumberland Ford on the way to market. Many diiferent 
 kinds of vehicles plied back and forth over the turnpikes, coaches, landaus, coachees, 
 droskies, britskas, chariotees, barouches, sulkies, carbiolets, phaetone, tilburies, gigs, 
 Prince Alberts, trotting wagons, single buggies and York wagons, 41 but perhaps the 
 most colorful of them all was the Conestoga wagon. Kentucky merchants often made 
 one trip a year to the East to replenish their stock of goods. From Lexington the 
 merchant would journey by stagecoach, usually by way of Maysville, Zanesville, 
 Wheeling and on to Pittsburgh. After loading his stock of goods in Pittsburgh on 
 one or more Conestoga wagons he would journey over almost impassable roads back 
 to Lexington, from where the goods was hauled throughout Central Kentucky. The 
 wagons were of Pennsylvania Dutch origin and were named after the Conestoga 
 district in Pennsylvania. The underbody was usually painted blue, the upper woodwork 
 bright red and each wagon had a cover of cotton or linen cloth stretched over big 
 hoops. These large wagons carried from two to three tons each and were drawn by 
 six or eight horses. " The drivers of these wagons were called "waggoners." The 
 "waggoners" and the "drovers" of cattle seldom were accommodated at the same inns 
 and taverns as were the merchants and other travelers. 43 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 537 
 
 The appearance of the stagecoaches and carriages, the difficulties of transporting 
 produce to market, and the rapid rise of Lexington as a cultural and commercial 
 center gave impetus toward the building of better roads. However, due to insufficient 
 funds, an unorganized system of planning and a lack of knowledge of road building 
 nothing was done towards improving road conditions until 1812. That year the state 
 asked Congress for an appropriation to improve the Maysville Road, but probably 
 due to the war this request was not granted. 
 
 The 1817 and 1818 sessions of the Legislature refused to accept the responsibility 
 of improving the highways, and the burden of constructing and maintaining public 
 highways fell on the shoulders of private stock companies. The Lexington and Louis- 
 ville Turnpike Company and the Maysville and Lexington Turnpike Company were 
 chartered on February 4, 1817, with a capital stock of $700,000, to construct the roads 
 of Central Kentucky. Since the highway from Lexington to Maysville connected a 
 national system of highways from Cumberland, Maryland, to New Orleans, by connect- 
 ing the Zanesville and Natchez Traces, it was an important trade route. 
 
 An appropriation of $1,000 by the Legislature in 1821 towards opening the Maysville 
 Road stimulated the chartering of an increasing number of highways in the twenties, 
 but most of them were of only local importance. The Louisville and Nashville, the 
 Louisville, Lexington and Maysville, and the Lexington and Covington were of inter- 
 state importance. 40 
 
 The private stock companies were supported by a toll system, out of which the roads, 
 bridges and ferries were maintained. Tolls were collected from everyone on foot or 
 mounted, with the exception of widows, ministers, funeral processions and occasionally 
 churchgoers on Sunday. 46 
 
 In 1827 the Lexington and Maysville Company was granted the sum of $50,000 with 
 which to construct a highway, and later the project was granted an additional $150,000 
 from public funds. These acts of the Legislature were exceptions rather than the rule, 
 and at the time of the Civil War nearly all of the state's highway system was under the 
 control of private companies. 47 
 
 A bill passed Congress in May, 1830, authorizing the United States Government 
 to subscribe $150,000 to the stock of the Maysville, Lexington Road. The bill was 
 vetoed by President Jackson, but not before the measure had attracted national atten- 
 tion, for liberal amounts were pledged by private subscription and the State Legislature 
 appropriated $213,200 toward the building of the road. 4 ' The first four miles of the 
 road, from Maysville to Washington, was completed November 7, 1830. It was the 
 first macadamized road in Kentucky and the country west of the Alleghanies. The 
 entire road from Maysville to Lexington, sixty-four miles, was completed in 1835 at a 
 cost of $426,400. 49 
 
 The plan of the macadam road, which derived its name from John Louden McAdam, 
 a famous builder of broken stone roads, was setting a limit in size and weight of the 
 stones to be used on the road, the weight itself being six ounces of rocks that would 
 pass through a certain size ring. Roads built upon this plan cost from $5,000 to 
 $7,300 per mile, including bridges and culverts. With a certain road or route in view 
 a number of citizens would meet at some inn or tavern and open the books for a new 
 road company, having first secured a charter from the State Legislature. When enough 
 stock had been sold construction of the road began. Often the state took stock in 
 private turnpike companies upon the condition that the private stockholders would 
 subscribe thrice the amount of the state stock.' 1 When as much as five miles of the 
 new road had been completed the turnpike company was allowed to acquire one-fourth 
 of an acre of land on which to erect a toll house, and was allowed to charge the users 
 of the new road according to the kind of vehicle used and distance traveled."" 
 
 This new era in road building was of immense help to the successful operation of 
 
538 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 the stagecoach, and Lexington soon became the macadamized road center of the state. 
 
 Through state aid many miles of Macadamized turnpikes were built between 1835 
 and 1850. The main ones were Maysville to Lexington, 64 miles; Lexington to Frank- 
 fort, 27 miles; Frankfort to Louisville, 52 miles; Covington to Lexington, 85 miles; 
 Louisville via Frankfort to Crab Orchard, 123 miles; Louisville via Bardstown and 
 Glasgow to the Tennessee line, 144 miles; Louisville via mouth of Salt River, Elizabeth- 
 town, Bowling Green and Franklin to Tennessee line, 145 2/3 miles/ 
 
 The toll schedule was generally specified in the charter granted to the companies and 
 was subject to revision if rates of return were too large or too small. Toll gates, or 
 houses, were usually set up every five miles on privately owned turnpikes. Charges on 
 dirt turnpikes could be only half the regular toll until the road was hard surfaced. 
 Tolls of the Danville, Lancaster and Nicholasville road company for 1847 amounted 
 to $12,772.39. 54 
 
 Although the toll-gate system was in a large way responsible for the excellent roads 
 in the Bluegrass, many thought the rates unfair and by the early eighties the feeling 
 against them grew intense. The people demanded "free roads" and "free markets" 
 to be maintained by public tax. Real agitation began by the people and through the 
 press in 1890. The lives of the presidents and directors of the turnpike companies were 
 threatened, and in Mercer County two toll gate keepers lost their lives in defending 
 their gates. The lawlessness continued until 1897 when Anderson County made the 
 first arrests and indictments against the raiders of the toll gates. Other counties soon 
 followed suit and the disturbances were finally suppressed. To settle the difficulties 
 the counties began to purchase the stockholder's interests in the turnpikes and by 1900 
 practically all the toll gates in Central Kentucky had been abolished and the roads 
 
 r 55 
 
 were tree. 
 
 The day of the stagecoach was also the era of inns and taverns, where the traveler 
 stopped to refresh himself, or spend the night. Probably the first of these in Central 
 Kentucky was kept by James Bray who opened for business about 1785 in Lexington. 
 Often, in the early days of the settlements, the large public rooms of the inns and 
 taverns were the assembly rooms for all public diversions. During the three middle 
 decades of the nineteenth century when the stagecoach was the acme of travel, the 
 inns and taverns in Kentucky became nationally famous for their lavish hospitality. 
 Some of the most famous of these were Postlethwait's Tavern in Lexington; the God- 
 dard House, Hill House and January Tavern in Maysville; Blue Licks Spring Tavern; 
 Forrest Retreat on the Maysville-Lexington Road at the junction of the Carlisle Pike; 
 the Bourbon House in Paris; Johnson's Inn in Bourbon County; Burnt Tavern; Bright's 
 Inn in Lincoln County; Chile's Tavern at Harrodsburg; Stone Tavern in Bardstown, 
 which later became Talbott's Inn; Owing's House, out of Lexington; Bell's Tavern at 
 Glasgow Junction; and Cross-Key's Tavern near Shelbyville. 50 
 
 Prior to the making of the "waggon-road" and for some time afterwards the United 
 States mail was carried to the settlements in Kentucky by post riders, but in the late 
 spring of 1816 the stagecoach became the principal conveyance of the mail, and Lex- 
 ington became the mail center of the West. Until 1852 the stagecoach held the mail 
 carrying contract, but in that year contracts were given to the Lexington and Frankfort 
 and the Louisville and Frankfort Railroads, and the fall of the stagecoach as a mail 
 carrier was only a matter of a few years." 
 
 By state aid many hard-surfaced roads were built in Kentucky between 1850 and 
 the beginning of the War between the States. After the war the counties began 
 building highways, and until the coming of the automobile made the building of inter- 
 state roads a state and national necessity, the state abandoned its road building program. 
 
 About this time the building of railroads had become an obsession in many Kentucky 
 towns and the railroads partially supplied the need for highways as trade routes. 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 539 
 
 In 1912 a Department of Public Roads was organized by the state to direct and 
 advise in the construction of roads and two years later a state road fund was provided 
 by the Legislature to aid in the building of highways connecting county seats. Robert 
 C. Terrell was appointed Road Commissioner, and the United States Department of 
 Public Roads appointed E. H. Barber, of Frankfort, to assist in organizing the depart- 
 ment. Surveys were made and in 1915 and 1916 construction of the roads was began. 
 
 At the present time there are over four hundred state routes and seventeen Federal 
 highways in Kentucky. In general the United States and state routes are maintained 
 as parts of the state highway system. The seventeen United States routes are U. S. 23; 
 U. S. 25; U. S. 27; U. S. 31-E; U. S. 31; U. S. 41; U. S. 42; U. S. 43; U. S. 45; 
 U. S. 51; U. S. 60; U. S. 62; U. S. 68; U. S. 119; U. S. 129; U. S. 150; and 
 U. S. 227. 
 
 Rural routes not on the state highway system are the responsibility of the counties, 
 although the State Highway Department, through its Division of Rural Highways, 
 assists the counties in the construction and maintenance of county roads as agreed upon 
 and designated in annual contracts. 
 
 An efficient highway patrol went into effect in March, 1936, with central headquarters 
 at Frankfort and thirty-three offices in various cities over the state. 
 
 Transportation and commerce in Kentucky have been vitally affected by the con- 
 struction of the state routes connecting county seats and other centers of population, 
 and the building of the national arteries further facilitated trade relations with other 
 parts of the country. Bus or coach corporations vie with the railroads as passenger 
 conveyances and trucks, which have the advantage of reaching points inaccessable to 
 the railroad, are keen competitors of the iron horse as carriers of livestock, freight and 
 market produce." 
 
 RAILROADS 
 
 Lexington, located some distance from a navigable stream, and smarting under the 
 sting of finding herself commercially isolated when the steamboat became a practicable 
 carrier of passengers and freight, looked to England's railroads as a means of restoring 
 her commercial status. Formerly the market town of the West, she had been forced 
 by 1830 to surrender the lion's share of her trade to Louisville. 
 
 The fame of the Liverpool and Manchester Railroad in England inspired the pub- 
 lishing of lengthy articles in the Kentucky Gazette and the Observer and Reporter. 
 The town fathers with characteristic initiative discussed the possibility of building a 
 railroad to connect Lexington with the Ohio River. They sent a man to England to 
 obtain all possible information and asked the Kentucky Legislature of 1829-30 for a 
 charter to build the railroad. The charter was approved January 27, 1830, granting 
 the directors permission to select the most favorable route from Lexington to the Ohio 
 River. 
 
 At a meeting assembled March 6, 1830, Elisha I. Winters was elected president 
 and Elisha Warfield, John Brand, Benjamin Gratz, George Boswell, Walter Dunn, 
 Richard Higgins, Henry Clay, Joseph Bruen, Henry C. Payne, Benjamin Dudley and 
 Charlton Hunt were elected directors of the Lexington and Ohio Railroad Company/ 
 Professor Matthews of the mathematics department of Transylvania University was 
 instructed to make a preliminary survey of the proposed route and report on the feasi- 
 bility of building the roadbed. Capitalization was fixed at $1,000,000 with the right 
 of the directors to raise it to $2,000,000. Subscription books were opened early in 
 February, 1830, and before two o'clock on the first day $204,000 was subscribed. 
 
 The plan of the projectors of the railroad was to lay the rails upon limestone sills, 
 twelve inches wide and from twenty to twenty-five feet long. The stone was taken 
 from a quarry a short distance below Lexington. 02 
 
540 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 On October 22, 1831, the first stone sill was laid and a great celebration was held 
 for the laying of the first "stone" and the driving of the first "nail." A long pageant 
 parade marched to Transylvania University. Three military companies, municipal 
 officials, Governor Metcalfe, Col. Leslie Combs, Underwood and Buckner of the Court 
 of Appeals, R. M. Tohnson, R. P. Letcher and T. A. Marshall, members of Congress, 
 personnel of the railroad company, orators, representatives of the University and other 
 distinguished citizens were present. Seven salutes were fired for the seven sections of 
 the road that were to be built immediately. All the church bells of the town were rung, 
 prayers were said, the Governor drove the first nail and the band played "Hail, Colum- 
 bia" and "Yankee Doodle." 63 
 
 By August 15, 1832, one and a half miles of track were ready for operation. On 
 that day the first car left its mooring with Governor Metcalfe and thirty-nine other 
 passengers aboard, and "one horse drew forty passengers on the rails as easily as one 
 horse drew a single passenger in a road cart." 64 
 
 The track was extended six miles by the end of the next year and cars made regular 
 trips with mail and passengers between Lexington and Villa Grove. 
 
 Meanwhile Bowling Green, in 1832, constructed and put into working order a small 
 railroad operated by horse power. This and the Ponchartrain Railroad in Louisiana 
 antedate the Lexington and Ohio, but only by weeks. 60 
 
 Hampered by the cholera epidemic, engineering complications in Frankfort, and 
 financial embarrassments the Lexington and Ohio did not reach Frankfort until 1835. 
 
 After reaching Frankfort horse power was supplemented by a steam locomotive. 
 Thomas H. Barlow and Joseph Bruen devised and constructed several model steam 
 engines intended for use on the new road, but there is no record to show that any of 
 their engines were ever operated. It is known that several locomotives, among them 
 the Nottaway, Logan and Daniel Boone, built by Eastern works, were used on the line. 
 
 By this time the harrassed promoters of the railroad were willing to stop at Frankfort. 
 The Kentucky Gazette reported that the railroad with "a sigh of relief stopped to rest" 
 at Frankfort so long that even the title was changed from the "Lexington and Ohio" 
 to the "Lexington and Frankfort." 67 
 
 The preparations to begin the building of the road at the Louisville end were slow 
 in materializing. Louisville, smug and satisfied with her steamboat trade, had failed to 
 catch the spirit of the times and was opposed to railroads. The city authorities and 
 the railroad company were unable to agree on a route through the city and in 1833 
 a committee of the Legislature was appointed to select the route. It was finally settled 
 that the railroad should enter the city at the intersection of Jefferson and Wenzel 
 Streets, proceed along Jefferson to 6th Street, down 6th to Main Street, along Main 
 to 12th Street, down 12th to Portland Avenue and along the Avenue to Portland. In 
 1838, three years after the Lexington end was in operation, the railroad in Louisville 
 was completed from Portland to 6th Street. 68 
 
 Much local opposition arose, the people of Louisville claimed that the road was a 
 menace to the city, that it endangered life, depreciated property and injured business. 
 An injunction, issued by the chancellor of Louisville stayed operations between Sixth 
 and Seventh Streets. The railroad company appealed to the Court of Appeals and 
 the action of the lower court was reversed. However, no extension of the short line 
 was made, and in 1844 it was transferred to the Louisville and Portland Railroad Com- 
 pany. In 1847 the Louisville and Frankfort Railroad Company began work on the 
 unbuilt line between Louisville and Frankfort. By 1851 the railroad from Lexington 
 to Louisville was complete. In 1867 the Lexington and Frankfort Railroad and the 
 Louisville and Frankfort Railroad combined under the name of the Louisville, Cincinnati 
 and Lexington Railroad. 6 ' 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 541 
 
 The year 1851 was remarkable for railroad progress in the state. It has been said 
 that during the 50's and 60's Kentucky changed from pack train clattering smallness to 
 steam puffing greatness. In 1851 railroads from Lexington to Maysville, Lexington 
 to Danville, Lexington to Covington, and Louisville to Nashville were under construc- 
 tion and under survey were railroads from Lexington to the mouth of the Big Sandy, 
 Frankfort to Harrodsburg, Eminence to Covington and Cynthiana through Georgetown 
 to Lexington.' 
 
 The Legislature of 1839 believing that a railroad from Louisville to Lexington and 
 on to the Big Sandy would give Kentucky a trade route to Eastern markets and connect 
 the railways of the Northwest and the East suggested that a survey of such should 
 be made.' 1 It was thirteen years before the main idea was carried out in the chartering 
 of the Lexington and Big Sandy Railroad. In 1853 work was begun at Catlettsburg. 
 Two years later work was begun at Lexington and pushed towards Mt. Sterling, but 
 before the Civil War the project failed and the road was sold in 1860 for $60,000. 
 After the war the project was revived under the name of the Elizabethtown, Lexington 
 and Big Sandy Railroad. Work on the line started again in 1871 at both ends of the 
 line and finally was completed. Today it bears the name of the Chesapeake and Ohio." 
 
 Lexington in the center of the richest and one of the most progressive parts of the 
 state had begun the railroad movement and it was only good politics for her to carry 
 it forward. She held a strategic position on nearly every important line. 
 
 Much of the Central Kentucky trade was inclined towards Cincinnati, and this Ohio 
 city was eager to have a railroad extending from Lexington to Cincinnati. At the same 
 time Robert Y. Hayne and John C. Calhoun for political and commercial reasons con- 
 cocted a plan to construct canals and railroads from Charleston, South Carolina to the 
 Ohio River. Their efforts resulted in a plan for a Louisville, Cincinnati and Charleston 
 Railroad with Lexington as its strategic center. Lexington was enthusiastic and the 
 Kentucky section was duly chartered, capitalized at $6,000,000 and provided for lines 
 going from Lexington to Louisville, Covington or Newport and Maysville. Louisville's 
 interest in the project died when plans were proposed to establish a branch railway 
 bank at Lexington. Their opposition, the refusal of the Legislature to grant the bank 
 a charter and the panic of 1837 made materialization of the scheme impossible. 
 
 Until the late 1840's the era of state aid to internal improvements held back to some 
 extent wholehearted support of the railroads. But in 1847 the State Internal Improve- 
 ment Board caught the railroad fever and by 1852 the Legislature had passed more 
 than twenty acts granting charters and voting aid to various railroad enterprises in 
 Kentucky.' 3 
 
 The Kentucky Legislature chartered the Licking and Lexington Railroad Company 
 in 1847, and efforts to connect Cincinnati and Lexington were again revived. Although 
 the original project never materialized the Legislature in 1849 renewed the company's 
 charter and changed its name to the Lexington and Covington Railroad Company, but 
 it was not until 1854 that the Lexington and Covington Railroad connected with the 
 Maysville and Lexington at Paris. These lines merged into the Kentucky Central and 
 finally into the Cincinnati Southern and its competitor, the Louisville and Nashville.' 4 
 
 The Maysville and Lexington Railroad was projected from Maysville, and it was 
 over this route that Lexington business men hoped to secure the city's coal supply, but 
 operation of the line was unsuccessful. Maysville tried to bolster this line by attempting 
 to start a line up the Ohio River to the Maysville and Big Sandy, but this project also 
 failed until after the Civil War." 
 
 Louisville, by 1850, realized, as the railroad movement gained impetus, that com- 
 merce and travel by way of the Ohio River would soon be limited. The logical route 
 seemed to be from Louisville to Nashville and on March 5, 1850, a road was chartered 
 to extend from Louisville to the Tennessee line with an authorized capital stock of 
 
542 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 $3,000,000. In 1851 subscription books were opened in James Guthrie's office in 
 Louisville, and the city was induced to subscribe $1,000,000 to encourage the project. 
 The Lebanon community financially backed the Lebanon branch; Logan County sub- 
 scribed $300,000; Bowling Green, $1,000,000 and Glasgow $30,000. Contracts were 
 awarded Morton, Seymour and Company and construction began in 1853. Overcoming 
 such obstacles as having to construct an expensive bridge over the Cumberland River, 
 and withstanding financial difficulties before and during the panic of 1857, the first 
 train ran from Louisville to Nashville in 1859. The 185 miles of trackage were built at 
 a total cost of $7,221,204.91. 76 
 
 Soon many Kentucky villages were maneuvering for position on the Louisville and 
 Nashville. In 1860 a branch was connected with Memphis, thus giving Louisville 
 continuous connections with Mobile and New Orleans. Before the end of 1860 Ken- 
 tucky railway promoters had placed 596.93 miles of railway. By 1868 various extensions 
 were made into the Bluegrass region, and connections had been made with railroads 
 in Mississippi, Louisiana, the South Atlantic States, and car service had been established 
 to New York. At the close of the Civil War the L. & N. was the greatest power in 
 Kentucky. From its first steam locomotive to its present streamlined Diesel engine the 
 Louisville and Nashville has been of predominant importance in the development and 
 progress of Kentucky. 
 
 The Louisville and Nashville was such a success that Louisville after the war com- 
 manded most of the Southern trade and a bitter rivalry sprang up between this city 
 and Cincinnati. There was also much dissatisfaction in Central Kentucky over the 
 inadequate outlets provided by the L & N for the products of that part of the state. 
 Endeavoring to secure Southern railway connections through the L & N system, 
 Cincinnati, in April, 1869, built a 110-mile road south of the Ohio River, directly to 
 Louisville, with a bridge across the river at Covington. Soon, however, they forsook 
 the plan of trying to connect with the L & N and projected their line due south 
 through Kentucky to the Kentucky-Tennessee boundary. In spite of strenuous objec- 
 tions made by the L & N a right-of-way granted by the Kentucky Legislature and 
 the Cincinnati Southern was begun in 1873 and opened to Chattanooga in 1880.' 
 
 The development of railways in the western part of the state commenced with the 
 organization of the Henderson and Nashville railroad in 1852, with Archibald Dixon as 
 president. The same year the Illinois Central was granted land to aid railway con- 
 struction in Kentucky. The Illinois Central considered Kentucky one of its most 
 necessary highways to New Orleans and the Gulf States, and the development of its 
 system has been of great importance to the state. The Mobile and Ohio also received 
 a grant and built a line through the southwestern part of Kentucky to connect with the 
 Missouri Pacific. 
 
 Railroads did not penetrate the coal fields until after 1890 when the Kentucky Union 
 reached the upper Kentucky valley.' 8 
 
 It is interesting to note that because railroad rates were prohibitive before 1905 
 cross-ties made in Eastern Kentucky for the railroads furnished an important river traffic. 
 As late as 1917 about seventy per cent of the ties were made by hand in the woods. 
 The trees were felled, cut into lengths and hewed out with a broadaxe. The hand- 
 hewed ties, despite the greater cost of production, brought a higher price than those 
 made in the mills on account of their superior endurance, due to the selected timber, 
 and their smoother faces which shed water. The best grade of railroad ties were made 
 of young walnut, white and chestnut oak trees. Later ties were manufactured in the 
 portable sawmills operated by lumber companies, which bought the timber on the 
 stump at so much per tie and engaged their own labor. For many years all ties were 
 floated out in the same way as sawlogs because of the prohibitive railroad rates, but 
 in 1905 The Kentucky Railroad Commission reduced the rates on cross-ties, and rail- 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 543 
 
 road shipments steadily increased. Ties were taken to the streams in the summer, 
 branded and piled along the banks to await the winter tides. Transfer from stream to 
 railroad was usually accomplished by steam derricks known as "tie-horses."' 
 
 After 1900 electric railroads or interurbans enjoyed a brief prosperity, but with the 
 exception of electric lines connecting Louisville and New Albany, Indiana, and Cin- 
 cinnati, Ohio, and the Northern Kentucky cities, included in the Greater Cincinnati 
 area, there are no interurbans in Kentucky. 
 
 The dependability of the railroad, the advantage possessed by its ability to handle 
 through traffic at all seasons and its ability to reach points not located on navigable 
 streams have enabled it to hold its own against large power barges, Diesel trucks and 
 streamlined busses. 
 
 AVIATION 
 
 Air travel in Kentucky is still in the embryonic stage of development, but great strides 
 have been made since June 18, 1910, when Glenn Curtiss landed a pusher type plane 
 in the infield at Churchill Downs in Louisville. Behind the pilot stood Harry G. Evans, 
 Secretary of the Park Board, who was probably the first passenger carried locally on 
 a plane. Three years later Ruth Law, the first woman pilot to fly in Louisville, ac- 
 companied by Lincoln Beachey, thrilled large audiences by flying from the State Fair 
 Grounds. 
 
 Louisville's Bowman Field in 1919 was merely a good pasture for a local farmer's 
 stock and several days were spent clearing away rubbish to make room for its first 
 plane to land there. About this time Abram H. Bowman of Louisville, always keenly 
 alive to new developments, became interested in aviation from the boom following the 
 sale of World War I surplus planes. Mr. Bowman purchased a plane which was a 
 model of the Curtiss "Jenney" type. He hired a pilot and together the two made many 
 flights over and about the city of Louisville, making what is now Bowman Field their 
 permanent landing station. 
 
 The pilot hired by Mr. Bowman was the famous Robert Gast who later distinguished 
 himself in many publicized exploits, but who was lost in the China Sea while on a 
 flight around the world. A memorial to Robert Gast may be seen by visitors to the 
 Bowman Field Airport Administration Building. 
 
 In order to interest the public in aviation a commercial company was organized on 
 May 17, 1920, under the name of the Bowman-Gast Company. People were en- 
 couraged to take rides at $15.00 per flight. Seeing the value of keeping aviation 
 before the public the United States Army helped the Bowman-Gast Company by 
 putting on aerial shows to attract the people. Louisville's Mayor Houston Quinn aided 
 the aviation movement by urging the people of the city to support a movement to place 
 Louisville on the airways. 
 
 During the month of January, 1923, the air-minded citizens of Louisville banded 
 together and formed the Aero Club of Kentucky. They were backed by the Jefferson 
 County Fiscal Court which gave them a donation to start their work. Hiring a group 
 of fliers they opened their program by giving Louisville's first aerial circus. The re- 
 sult of their efforts was that the field was dedicated on August 25, 1923, and officially 
 named Bowman Field. 
 
 The first regular Army Reserve Air Corps was established at Bowman Field in 
 1923. It was the 465th Pursuit Squadron. A few years later it was changed to the 
 325th Observation Squadron, and finally to the 52nd Training Corps. Shortly there- 
 after the Fifth Corps Area assigned the 86th and 98th Training Corps to the Base. 
 These two Corps remained in control of the Army section until Lt. Col. George P. 
 Johnson arrived from Langley Field in December, 1940, to set up the 16th Bom- 
 bardment Wing. A deluxe double Air Corps hangar was built in 1931. 
 
544 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 By 1924 Louisville was beginning to see that aviation was becoming a major form 
 of transportation. That year the first passenger service was established by the Yellow- 
 Taxi Air Line Company and the following year, on April 18, the first regular air 
 mail was flown into the City, leaving New Orleans at 5:39 A. M. and arriving at 
 Bowman Field at 1:25 P. M. Late in 1926 the Yellow Taxi Air Line Company joined 
 with the Embry-Riddle Company of Cincinnati to fly passengers on the line from 
 Cleveland to Louisville, and with the inauguration of regular inter-city service the 
 Louisville Gas and Electric Company bought the first plane to be used in the enter- 
 prise. 
 
 Bowman Field became the property of Louisville in 1927 following the issuance 
 of Park bonds totaling #1,500,000. 
 
 In October, 1928, the General Assembly of Kentucky created the Louisville and 
 Jefferson County Air Board, which took over the administration of Bowman Field 
 and the Aero Club. Their first official acts were to take steps to improve the building 
 on the Field, install lights for night flying and marking the boundary of the Field. 
 The Administration Building was completed on August 1, 1929. 
 
 Regular air mail service between Louisville and Cleveland was contracted for by 
 the Continental Air Lines on August 1, 1928 and in June of the following year 
 passenger service was added. Full service was extended to Nashville on March 2, 
 1931. 
 
 The beginning of another chapter on the history of commerce and trade in Ken- 
 tucky was started in July, 1932, when air express was added to the passenger routes. 
 
 Under the direction of Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker, Eastern Airlines made Louis- 
 ville a regular stop on June 1, 1934, for mail service only, between Chicago and 
 Miami, but on December 18th in response to public demand passenger service was 
 added. 
 
 So rapid was the growth of aviation in Kentucky that by 1937 the Administration 
 Building, built only eight years before, was outgrown and on the 19th of June the 
 remodeled and enlarged Administration Building was dedicated. Between April 19 
 and December 5, 1938 concrete runways were constructed. 
 
 The Louisville and Jefferson County Air Board, in 1940, acquired about one hun- 
 dred acres adjoining the Field on the east for a new bombardment base. Since that 
 time army buildings have been erected and occupied and runways have been extended. 
 
 Although passenger service at this time is subject to Army priorities, Bowman 
 Field is an important stop on the American Airlines route from Cleveland to Los 
 Angeles by way of Louisville, Nashville, Dallas and Fort Worth, and on the Eastern 
 Airlines route from Chicago to Miami by way of Indianapolis, Louisville and Jack- 
 sonville. 
 
 Meanwhile, other Kentucky municipalities built airports for local air traffic, and 
 on July 1, 1941, there were in the state ten municipal airports and landing fields, 
 five commercial fields, three C.A.A. intermediate fields and one army field. 
 
 The rapid strides made by aviation in the fields of commerce and transportation 
 in Kentucky during the past two decades give promise to a future so brilliant that 
 already the hopes and ambitions of A. H. Bowman and other far-sighted, air-minded 
 Kentuckians not only have been realized but surpassed. 
 
 FOOTNOTES FOR CHAPTER X 
 
 'Geological Survey of Kentucky, Reports of Progress, by N. S. Shaler (1877) 
 Vol. Ill, New Series, p. 319. 
 
 'The Kentucky River Navigations, by Mary Verhoeff (1917) pp. 46, 47; John Fil- 
 son, The Discovery, Settlement and Present State of Kentucky, Imlay's Topographical 
 Description, p. 314. 
 
H I S T O RY O F K E N T U C K Y 545 
 
 Kentucky River Navigation, p. 47. 
 
 4 "Salt, a Factor in the Settlement of Kentucky" by Thomas D. Clark, The Filson 
 Club History Quarterly, January, 1938, Vol. 12, pp. 44, 45; Kentucky River Naviga- 
 tions, p. 55. 
 
 Kentucky River Navigation, p. 55. 
 
 °"Salt, a Factor in the Settlement of Kentucky," p. 45. 
 
 'Ibid. 
 
 Kentucky River Navigation, p. 58. 
 
 9 Ibid, pp. 65, 66. 
 
 History of Kentucky, by Thomas D. Clark, p. 249. 
 
 Kentucky River Navigation, pp. 70-72. 
 "Ibid, p. 72. n Ibid, p. 75. u Ibid, pp. 77, 78. 
 
 History of Kentucky, Clark, p. 249. 
 
 "Steamboats at Louisville and on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers" by Arthur E. 
 Hopkins, The Filson Club History Quarterly, July, 1943, Vol. 17, p. 144. 
 "Ibid, p. 145. 
 
 Ibid, p. 152; History of Kentucky, Clark, p. 251. 
 '''History of Kentucky, by Samuel M. Wilson, Vol. II, p. 148; History of Kentucky, 
 Clark, pp. 251, 251. 
 
 " History of Kentucky, Clark, p. 252. 
 
 "Steamboats at Louisville, etc", Hopkins, p. 152. 
 "History of Kentucky, by W. E. Connelley and E. M. Coulter, (1922) Vol. II, 
 p. 743. 
 
 " Kentucky River Navigation, p. 49. 
 
 "Ibid, p. 18. "Ibid, pp. 18, 19. "Ibid, pp. 20, 222. "Ibid, p. 223. 
 
 'History of Kentucky, Clark, p. 253; History of Kentucky, Wilson, Vol. II, p. 
 149. 
 ''Kentucky River Navigation, p 25. 
 "Ibid, p. 26. "Ibid, pp. 31-33. 
 
 'History of Kentucky, Clark, pp. 255, 256. 
 
 Kentucky River Navigation, p. 37. 
 
 Stagecoach Days in the Bluegrass, by J. Winston Coleman, Jr. (1935) p. 26. 
 "Ibid, p. 27. 
 
 Acts of the General Assembly of Kentucky, November, 1795. 
 
 Stagecoach Days in the Bluegrass, p. 28. 
 
 "ibid. 
 
 "'Kentucky River Navigation, pp. 77, 78. 
 Stagecoach Days in the Bluegrass, p. 163. 
 
 "Ibid. p. 176. 42 Ibid, p. 169. "Ibid, p. 163. 
 
 ""History of Kentucky, Clark, pp. 258, 259. 
 
 4 Tbid, p. 261. "Ibid, p. 260. 
 Stagecoach Days in the Bluegrass, p. 233. 
 
 "Ibid, p. 234. "Ibid, p. 235. "Ibid, pp. 233, 234. "Ibid, p. 235. 
 
 "'Kentucky River Navigation, p. 108; History of Kentucky, Collins, Voy. I, p. 541. 
 
 ^Stagecoach Days in the Bluegrass, p. 237; Lexington Observer & Reporter, March 
 14, 1848. 
 
 "Stagecoach Days in the Bluegrass, pp. 244-246. 
 
 "Ibid, pp. 53-73; 177-196. "Ibid, pp. 221, 229. 
 
 " s Kentucky, the Pioneer State of the West, by Thomas Crittenden Cherry, (1935) 
 p. 330. 
 
 "See also The Wilderness Road by Thomas Sneed. (1886) ;History of Transporta- 
 
546 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 tion in the Ohio Valley, by C. H. Ambler; The Wilderness Road to Kentucky by 
 William Allen Pusey (1921). 
 
 G °A Pioneer Railroad of the West, pamphlet by Maude Ward Lafferty. 
 " History of Kentucky, Coulter & Connelley, Vol. II, p. 730. 
 62 History of Kentucky, Wilson, Vol. II, p. 159. 
 
 3 History of Kentucky, Coulter 6C Connelley, Vol. II, p. 730; History of Kentucky, 
 Wilson, Vol. II, p. 159; History of Kentucky, Clark, pp. 264, 265. 
 History of Kentucky, Clark, p. 265. 
 
 "History of Kentucky, Coulter & Connelley, Vol. II, p. 731, History of Kentucky, 
 Collins, Vol. II, p. 747. 
 
 History of Kentucky, Wilson, Vol. II, p. 160. 
 History of Kentucky, Clark, p. 266. 
 
 Memorial History of Louisville, by J. Stoddard Johnston, (1896) Vol. I, pp. 
 320-323. 
 
 History of Kentucky, Coulter & Connelley, Vol. II, pp. 731, 732. 
 ' Kentucky in Retrospect, by Mrs. William Preston Drake, Judge Samuel M. Wil- 
 son, Mrs. Wm. Breckenridge Ardery (1942) p. 86. 
 "Acts of Kentucky (1838) pp. 391, 392. 
 "History of Kentucky, Coulter & Connelley, Vol. II, p. 733. 
 ' History of Kentucky, Wilson, Vol. II, p. 161. 
 [*Ibid, pp. 161, 162. 
 '"History of Kentucky, Clark, p. 269. 
 "Ibid, p. 271. 
 
 "History of Kentucky, Wilson, Vol. II, pp. 164, 165. 
 ' Kentucky River Navigation, p. 118. 
 "Ibid, pp. 194, 195. 
 Kentucky, a Guide to the Bluegrass State, compiled and written by the Federal 
 Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration for the use of the State of 
 Kentucky (1939) p. 59. 
 
 81 See also "A Brief Sketch of the L. & N. Railroad Company" by J. J. Elder, 
 L. & N. Employe's Magazine, March, 1925; The Beginning of the L. & N., by 
 Thomas D. Clark, (1933). 
 
 'The above information on aviation was taken from a clipping in the Courier- Journal 
 library, Louisville, from the October, 1942 number of the Bowman Bomber, published 
 at Bowman Field, Louisville, Kentucky; the obituary of A. H. Bowman, The Courier- 
 Journal, July 19, 1943; Kentucky in Retrospect, p. 131; A Guide to the Bluegrass 
 State, p. 59, and information secured from R. E. Schupp of the Louisville and Jeffer- 
 son County Air Board, Bowman Field. 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 MEDICINE 
 
 By Mrs. Roy Bridwell 
 
 JLhe stockades of early Kentucky, crowded as they were with people, 
 cattle, dogs and chickens, and with no facilities for sanitation or privacy, and their 
 counterpart, the small frontier cabins where large families grew up and multiplied, 
 were breeding places of infection, disease and epidemics. Tuberculosis, smallpox, 
 fevers, dysentary, pneumonia and rheumatism were but a few of the ills that beset 
 the early pioneer family. Infant mortality was high and childbed death frequent. 
 
 Women, who acted as doctors as well as nurses and midwives, became accustomed 
 by experience to the treatment of fractures, burns and gunshot wounds. Squire 
 Boone, wounded at the siege of Boonesborough in 1778, "went to his cabin, when 
 his wife, who was his only surgeon in all such cases, examined his wound, and 
 thought it was only a slight one, he returned to his place in the bastion, but the 
 painfulness of his shoulder increasing, he discovered that the ball had lodged there 
 ... his brother, Daniel Boone, by making an incision cut out the bullet." 
 
 There were at first few doctors and no apothecaries. The values of emetics and 
 cathartics, sweat baths and blood letting were well known and medicines were domestic 
 concoctions of sulphur and molasses, rhubarb, sassafras, mustard and white walnut 
 bark; and remedies founded upon superstitions were common. Through contact with 
 various Indian tribes the pioneer gradually learned the medicinal uses of certain 
 native roots and herbs. 
 
 As communities sprang up throughout the state, drugs — usually procured from 
 the East and sometimes many months in transit — were handled by local grocery 
 and dry goods stores. Robert Barr advertised in The Kentucky Gazette of December 
 15, 1787, that he had on hand in his store in Lexington, "Medicines, Glauber salts, 
 best powdered bark, red powdered ditto, camphor, powdered rhubarb, maguicia, 
 tartar emetic, cream of tartar, quicksilver ointment, powdered ippecacuana, flour of 
 sulphur, antimony, British oil, Bateman's drops, Harlem oil, Turlington's balsam, 
 Anderson's pills, Hooper's female pills, essence of peppermint, liquorith balls, etc." 
 
 Dr. Thomas Walker, who made explorations in Kentucky in 1749-50, was probably 
 the first white man of medicine in the state. But, as there were no white people in 
 Kentucky at that time and as his journey was brief and transitory, the history of 
 medicine in Kentucky could not have started with him. About thirty years later 
 the first practicing physicians made their appearance on the new western frontier. 
 
 The practice of medicine in the new West demanded men with strong constitutions 
 and sufficient courage to stand the dangers and hardships of the frontier. Patients, 
 visited on horseback, lived great distances apart. Fees depended upon the length or 
 the ride and were usually paid half in cash and half in such commodities as corn, 
 venison and honey. A few surgical instruments were carried in the doctor's bag along 
 with "Glauber's salt and Dover's powders, strong paregorics, vermifuges, blisters, 
 Peruvian park for fevers, dragon's blood, gamboge and nux vomica."" Treatment 
 was by the trial and error method, tempered with experience, tradition and inherited 
 custom, and Nature and Providence were depended upon to help solve many 
 problems. 
 
 Some of the first physicians in Kentucky had served a regular apprenticeship or 
 had read medicine in an older doctor's office but few of them held medical diplomas. 
 At the time this was not unusual for it is estimated that of the twelve hundred 
 
548 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 physicians in the army of the Revolution not more than one hundred had medical 
 diplomas. Medicine, like law, was considered a gentleman's profession, and al- 
 though not always well versed in their profession, these early practitioners were skilled 
 in the social graces, and the doctor, chivalrous, gallant and honorable, was held 
 in high esteem in his community. 
 
 Probably the first doctor to practice medicine in Kentucky was Dr. George Hart 
 or Hartt, a native of Ireland, who came to Harrodstown from Maryland in 1775. 4 
 He afterwards practiced in Louisville for a short period and was later prominent in 
 the Roman Catholic development of Nelson County/ There is a tradition of a 
 Dr. Stebbins with George Rogers Clark's party (1778, 79), and there were doctors 
 in Louisville from 1780 to 1787, who were "confined to the surgeons of the army 
 attached to the fortifications of the West." No doubt many heroic medical men 
 were practicing during this period at the other early forts and towns in the state. 
 
 THE MEDICAL DEPARTMENT OF TRANSYLVANIA UNIVERSITY 
 
 Towards the end of the century circumstances were favorable to the establishment 
 of a medical college in Lexington, which city was, at that time, the metropolis of 
 the West. Although the country around it was fast becoming settled, there were 
 as yet no good roads or means whereby a student could go, without great incon- 
 venience and danger, to Philadelphia to attend the only medical school in the country.' 
 
 On January 8, 1799, the trustees of the new Transylvania University in Lexington 
 instituted a medical department in the college by the appointment of Dr. Samuel 
 Brown as Professor of Chemistry, Anatomy and Surgery, and Dr. Frederick Ridgely 
 as Professor of Materia Medica, Midwifery and Practice of Physics. At the same 
 time Dr. Brown was "authorized by the Board to import books and other means 
 of instruction for the use of the medical professors to the amount of five hundred 
 dollars." 8 
 
 With the establishment of the Medical Department at Transylvania University 
 medicine in Kentucky began to gain recognition and the death knell tolled for the 
 old apprentice system, but the moribund system produced many eminent men before 
 its complete demise. For more than twenty-five years after its establishment, Transyl- 
 vania's Medical Department was considered the center of medical education in 
 Kentucky and the names of most of Kentucky's foremost pioneer physicians are 
 associated with it. 
 
 In 1837 the Medical Faculty of Transylvania split on the question of transferring 
 the Medical Department to Louisville, which, having a larger population by that 
 date, could supply more and better clinical advantages than Lexington. The transfer 
 of the Medical Department was not made, although some of its faculty became 
 identified with the new Medical Institute in Louisville. 
 
 DR. SAMUEL BROWN 
 
 Dr. Samuel Brown, who became the first instructor of the Medical Depart- 
 ment of Transylvania when he qualified as Professor of Chemistry, Anatomy and 
 Surgery on October 26th, 1799, was born in Rockbridge County, Virginia, January 
 30, 1769, and died in Alabama January 12, 1830.° He studied medicine at Carlisle 
 College, Pennsylvania, and for two years in Edinburgh, Scotland. Although he 
 did not remain long on the University staff, during the two periods he was identified 
 with it, he did not become noted for either his practice or his writings. His real fame 
 came from his pioneer experimentation with vaccination for smallpox with cow virus, 
 his actual use of vaccination as a practice beginning as early as 1802, when physicians 
 in New York and Philadelphia were only in the incipiency of experimentation. He 
 
Courtesy, Danville Chamber of Commerce. 
 
 Original of the home and office of Dr. Ephraim McDowell located in Danville, Kentucky. In 
 
 this building Dr. McDowell performed the first operation for ovariotomy in 1809, -which operation 
 
 was the first surgical abdominal operation known to medical science. This building and 
 
 garden adjacent thereto is now a State Park. 
 
550 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 was a contributor, however, to the medical and scientific periodicals of the day in 
 both America and Europe. 
 
 DR. FREDERICK RIDGELY 
 
 Dr. Frederick Ridgely, who was the second lecturer appointed on the medical staff 
 at Transylvania, was born May 25, 1757, in Maryland. After studying medicine 
 in Delaware and Philadelphia he was appointed, at the age of nineteen, to a position 
 as surgeon to a rifle corps in Virginia and served several positions as surgeon in the 
 Revolutionary War. In 1799-1800 he "delivered to the small class of medical students 
 then in attendance [at Transylvania] a course of public instruction which did him 
 much credit." He was for many years an eminent physician of Lexington. 
 
 Due to incomplete organization and lack of means of instruction, the Medical 
 Department in its earliest years did not attract many students, and from time to 
 time reorganizations were made. An effort was made in 1809 to organize a full 
 medical faculty at Transylvania with the appointment of Dr. Benjamin W. Dudley 
 to the chair of Anatomy and Physiology; Dr. Elisha Warfield to Surgery and Ob- 
 stetrics; Joseph Buchanan to the Institutes of Medicine; and Dr. James Overton to 
 Materia Medica and Botany. Dr. Warneld resigned the same year, as did Dr. 
 Buchanan in 1810, and no systematic medical instruction resulted from this imperfect 
 organization of the Medical School. 
 
 DR. BENJAMIN WINSLOW DUDLEY 
 
 Dr. Benjamin Winslow Dudley, born in Spottsylvania County, Virginia, April 12, 
 1785, was associated with the Medical Department of Transylvania from his ap- 
 pointment to the Chair of Anatomy and Physiology in 1809 until 1850. His father, 
 Ambrose Dudley, a Baptist minister, came to Lexington in 1797. Benjamin was 
 placed, at a tender age, under the medical instruction of Dr. Frederick Ridgely. 
 In 1804 he went to the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania, but 
 returned to Lexington in 1805 to become a partner of Dr. James Fishback. Fired 
 with professional ambition, Dr. Dudley went to Europe in 1810 where he spent four 
 years employing the facilities of the dissecting rooms, hospitals and professors of 
 Paris and London. In 1814 he returned to Lexington, resuming his duties at Transyl- 
 vania in the Chair of Anatomy and Surgery. This work he continued until 1844 
 when he was partly relieved by Dr. J. M. Bush, who was appointed Professor of 
 Anatomy. Doctor Dudley retained the chair of Surgery until 1850. He was a 
 cool and steady surgeon, and, in the practice of lithotomy, his record was notable 
 both for numbers and for success. He was an excellent teacher and "his lectures 
 were distinguished by clarity and terseness of expression, by an exposition of methods 
 unrelieved by literary flowers and carefully avoiding eloquence, not only as out of 
 place but as perhaps a drawback. He was determined to be understood and the 
 governing quality of his instruction was its convincing simplicity." 1 " Doctor Dudley 
 strenuously opposed the transfer of the Medical School of Transylvania to Louisville 
 in 1837 and it was largely due to his influence that the transfer was not made. 
 In spite of his opposition, however, when the first faculty of the Kentucky School of 
 Medicine was organized in Louisville in 1850 his name appeared at the head as 
 Emeritus Professor of Surgery." Doctor Dudley died near Lexington, Kentucky, 
 January 20, 1870. 
 
 The records of the Medical Department's earliest struggles are meagre and un- 
 satisfactory, but from them we learn that although regular courses were not held, 
 lectures were given and such students as did attend were taught to the best abilities 
 of the various professors. Among the prominent early physicians appointed to chairs 
 
H I S T O RY O F K E N T U C K Y 551 
 
 in the Medical Department were Dr. James Overton, "a small black-eyed man, very 
 hypochondrical and sarcastic (notoriously so) , and yet quite chatty, humorous and 
 agreeable; telling his class many funny things," 14 who moved to Nashville in 1818; 
 Dr. Coleman Rogers, who moved to Louisville in 1822 1 "; Dr. William H. Richardson, 
 who held the Chair of Obstetrics from 1815 until his death in 1844; Dr. Joseph 
 Buchanan and Dr. James Blythe. 
 
 DR. DANIEL DRAKE 
 
 Dr. Daniel Drake, appointed to the Chair of Materia Medica and Medical Botany 
 in 1817, was one of the West's most celebrated and talented physicians. Not only 
 medicine but slavery, temperance, religion and education absorbed his versatile interest. 
 Connected but two short periods with Transylvania, his career was divided between 
 Lexington and Cincinnati. While at Transylvania he wrote The Principal Diseases 
 of the Interior Valley of North America, for which he is most widely known. Doctor 
 Drake was born in New Jersey in 1785 and emigrated with his parents to Mason 
 County, Kentucky, at the age of three. At an early age he was apprenticed to Dr. 
 William Goforth, of Cincinnati. Doctor Goforth, prior to moving to Cincinnati 
 in 1800, had practiced medicine in Washington (Mason County) and Maysville, 
 Kentucky. He, like Dr. Samuel Brown, was one of the first doctors in the West 
 to practice vaccination, which he is said first to have administered to his pupil, Daniel 
 Drake, in 1801/° In 1805 Drake received a diploma from his instructor — the first 
 diploma West of the Alleghanies — after which he studied in Philadelphia. Returning 
 to Cincinnati, Doctor Drake soon acquired a comfortable practice. In 1810 he 
 published his first book, Notices of Cincinnati, Its Topography, Climate and Diseases. 
 Other writings for which Doctor Drake has justly achieved fame are his Pioneer Life 
 in Kentucky, a series of nine letters written in Louisville between December 15, 1847, 
 and January 20, 1848; and Discourses, published in Cincinnati in 1852. In 1817 he 
 was appointed to the chair of Materia Medica and Medical Botany, etc., at Transyl- 
 vania, which he held only one year. In 1823 he was again at Transylvania, but 
 returned to Cincinnati in 1825. 1 ' During a period of thirty-five years Doctor Drake 
 had nine professorships in five different medical schools, 18 and had his finger in many 
 public pies in both Kentucky and Cincinnati. Compared with "Benjamin Franklin 
 as the foremost scientist and educator in the West," Daniel Drake held "rational 
 and very definite views of the application of medical experience to American condi- 
 tions." ' He died in Cincinnati, November 6, 1852. 
 
 DR. HORACE HOLLEY 
 
 In the year 1819, the celebrated scholar and orator, Rev. Horace Holley, L.L.D 
 acceded to the Presidency of Transylvania. During his incumbency the classes in the 
 Medical College increased rapidly. In fact, the increase in patronage was "almost 
 unparalleled in the history of medical schools, owing, no doubt, largely to the great 
 increasing demand for medical instruction in this fast improving country, and to the 
 temporary extreme difficulty of the journey to the great medical school of Philadel- 
 phia, but also to the eclat of the University under the administration of Doctor Holley, 
 to the just fame of Doctor Dudley as a surgeon and medical teacher, to the reputation 
 of Doctor Samuel Brown, as a popular and cultivated physician and professor and to 
 the brilliant and popular talents of Doctor Charles Caldwell.""' 
 
 DR. CHARLES CALDWELL 
 
 Dr. Charles Caldwell, appointed to the chair of Institutes of Medicine, Physiology, 
 etc. in 1819, was associated with Transylvania through the era of its most rapid devel- 
 
 36— Vol. I 
 
552 A SESQUI -CENTENNIAL 
 
 opment and greatest prosperity. He was born May 14, 1772, in North Carolina, and 
 died in Louisville, July 9, 1853." 1 A tireless writer on medical subjects and a brilliant 
 lecturer, Dr. Caldwell was also an advocate, student, literateur and teacher of phre- 
 nology. In the early 1830's Lexington began to lose its prestige as the "Metropolis of 
 the West" to the river cities of Louisville, Cincinnati and St. Louis. Quick to realize 
 this, Dr. Caldwell in 1836-7 made, engineered and led the effort to remove the Medical 
 College at Transylvania to Louisville. 2 " As has been pointed out, due to the violent 
 opposition of Dr. Dudley the scheme was a failture. Dr. Caldwell's advocacy led to 
 his dismissal, whereupon he moved to Louisville and became associated with the Louis- 
 ville Medical Institute. Later he was a founder of the Medical Department of the 
 University of Louisville. 
 
 Associated with Dr. Caldwell on the faculty of the Medical College at Transyl- 
 vania at different times between 1819 and 1837 were Drs. John Esten Cooke, Charles 
 Wilkins Short and L. P. Yandell. At the time of Dr. Caldwell's break with Transyl- 
 vania, Drs. Cooke and Yandell joined him in accepting chairs in the Louisville Medical 
 Institute, followed by Dr. Short soon thereafter. 
 
 DR. JOHN ESTEN COOKE 
 
 Dr. John Esten Cooke, born March 2, 1783, in Boston, Massachusetts, and died 
 October 19, 1853 in Kentucky, was called to the chair of Theory and Practice of 
 Medicine at Transylvania in 1827 succeeding Dr. Drake. His widespread reputation 
 as a physician was mainly built on his celebrated theory that disease was caused by 
 cold or malaria, his chief remedy for which was calomel in doses measured by the 
 effect produced. 3 During the epidemic of cholera in Lexington in 1833 Dr. Cooke 
 resorted to tablespoonful doses of calomel, "actually giving about one pound in one 
 day to a young patient, without fatal result." 24 Dr. Cooke held a chair at Transyl- 
 vania until 1837 when he accepted the chair of Theory and Practice of Medicine in 
 the Louisville Medical Institute. He remained with that school and its successor, 
 the Medical Department of the University of Louisville until a few years before his 
 death. 
 
 DR. CHARLES WILKIN SHORT 
 
 Dr. Charles Wilkin Short was born in Greenfield, Woodford County, Kentucky, 
 October 6, 1794. He was graduated from Transylvania in 1810, studied medicine 
 under his uncle, Frederick Ridgely, and later going to Philadelphia to learn more 
 about medicine and its practice. At Hopkinsville (Kentucky) while he was practicing 
 medicine he became interested in botanical research. This study led to his being called, 
 in 1825, to the chair of Material Medica and Medical Botany at Transylvania. In 
 1828 he founded, with Dr. John Esten Cooke, the Transylvania Journal of Medicine 
 and the Associate Sciences. His botanical research caused a wide association with 
 many of the leading scientific men of Europe and America. He gathered a vast col- 
 lection of dried herbs and plants now in the possession of the Academy of Natural 
 Sciences of Philadelphia. His writings were limited and confined chiefly to botanical 
 subjects/' The Filson Club, Louisville, has a collection of letters written Dr. Short 
 by famous scientists, botanists and doctors, also family letters written from 1814 to 1849 
 between Dr. Short and his uncle, William Short, which were presented to the Club 
 by Dr. Short's granddaughter, Mrs. Thomas A. Courtenay. Among these are three 
 letters written to Dr. Short by Dr. Lunsford P. Yandell in 1838 pertaining to the 
 beginning of the Medical Institute of Louisville, urging him to accept the chair of 
 Materia Medica and Botany — a position which Dr. Short did accept in 1838 and held 
 until 1849, when he was elected Emeritus Professor of Materia Medica and Botany. 
 He died near Louisville, March 7, 1863. 2 " 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 553 
 
 DR. LUNSFORD PITTS YANDELL 
 
 The third of the trio to make the break with Transylvania in 1837 was Dr. Luns- 
 ford Pitts Yandell. Born in Tennessee in 1805, he received his preparatory education 
 at the Bradley Academy, Murfreesboro, after which he studied medicine with his 
 father, Dr. Wilson Yandell. Later, he attended lectures at Transylvania, following 
 which he took further work at the University of Maryland, from which he received 
 the M.D. degree. He was called to the chair of Chemistry and Pharmacy at Transyl- 
 vania in 1831. In 1837 Dr. Yandell was given the combined chairs of Chemistry 
 and Materia Medica at the Louisville Medical Institute which he held until 1849 
 when he replaced Dr. Caldwell as Professor of Physiology. In 1859 he accepted a 
 chair in the Medical school at Memphis, Tennessee. In 1862 he was licensed to preach 
 bv the Presbytery of Memphis and was ordained pastor of the Daneyville Presby- 
 terian Church, which pastorate he resigned in 1867 and returned to Louisville to re- 
 sume the practice of medicine. At the time of his death February 4, 1878 Dr. Yan- 
 dell was President of the State Medical Society of Kentucky." 
 
 Among other prominent members of Transylvania's Medical Department after 1837 
 until its dissolution in 1857 were Drs. John Eberle, Robert Peter, Elisha Bartlett, 
 J. M. Bush and H. M. Skillman. 
 
 DR. J. M. BUSH 
 
 Dr. Bush, born in Frankfort, Kentucky, May, 1808, 28 a student of Dr. Dudley, 
 was appointed Professor of Anatomy in 1844 and retained the chair until 1857 when 
 he became one of the teaching staff at the Kentucky School of Medicine in Louis- 
 ville. He died in Lexington, February, 1875/' 
 
 DR. ROBERT PETER 
 
 Dr. Robert Peter (1805-1894) a distinguished analytical chemist, was a member of 
 the Transylvania faculty from 1833 to 1857. His History of the Medical Depart- 
 ment of Transylvania University was finished by his daughter, Miss Johanna Peter, in 
 1905 and was published by The Filson Club as its twentieth publication. 
 
 DR. H. M. SKILLMAN 
 
 Dr. Skillman, born September 4, 1824 at Lexington, was graduated from Transyl- 
 vania in 1847. He was a member of its faculty from 1848 to 1857, after which year 
 he practiced medicine in Lexington until his death in 1902.° 
 
 There were many contributing factors to the decline and demise of Transylvania's 
 Medical Department, but the two outstanding were the retirement of Doctor Dudley 
 in 1850 and the difficulty in establishing railroads throughout the state, which, coupled 
 with Louisville's rapid growth and progress caused the faculty to disband in 1857 and 
 the stately Medical Hall, erected in 1840, to revert to the City of Lexington. 
 
 LOUISVILLE'S MEDICAL SCHOOLS AND DOCTORS 
 
 Among the names of Louisville's earliest doctors we find Dr. Skinner, a native of 
 Maryland, Drs. Ellison and Carmichael, Richard Jones Waters, Elisha Lee Hall, Tate, 
 James O'Fallon, J. Watkins and William Craig Gait, the last named of whom was 
 for forty years an active, useful, honored physician of the city." Dr. Richard Fergu- 
 son, who in 1809 amputated the leg of George Rogers Clark in his office near Fifth 
 and Main Streets was another of Louisville's skillful early surgeons. In 1811 there 
 came to Louisville Drs. James C. Johnson, who practiced in the city until 1835, John 
 Croghan, George B. Smith and John L. Murray." 1 
 
 The summer of 1822 a so-called bilious fever struck Louisville ' which resulted in 
 the appointment of its first Board of Health, and added the names of Drs. Coleman 
 
554 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 Rogers, Benjamin H. Hall, R. P. Gist and Benjamin Tompkins to the medical annals 
 of the city. 
 
 In 1833 the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky passed an act 
 stating "that for the purpose of promoting Medical Science in the City of Louisville, 
 William C. Gait, Coleman Rogers, L. Powell, J. P. Harrison, R. H. Brodnax, R. P. Gist 
 and J. Y. Dashiell, and their associates and successors, shall be, and they are hereby, 
 incorporated and constituted a body politic, with perpetual succession, by the name 
 and style of the Medical Institute of the City of Louisville . . ," 35 This was the begin- 
 ning of the city's real medical history. Difficulty in obtaining outstanding medical 
 teachers and the lack of sufficient financial aid delayed the actual opening of the Insti- 
 tute and it was not until October 31, 1837, that the introductory lecture was deliv- 
 ered by Dr. Charles Caldwell. 38 
 
 Thus, the split which occurred in the Medical Department of Transylvania in 1837 
 made possible the opening of the Louisville Medical Institute the same year, with 
 Drs. Caldwell, Cooke and Yandell composing almost half of its first faculty. Dr. 
 Caldwell was elected Professor of the Institute of Medicine and Clinical Practice 
 and Medical Jurisprudence; Dr. Cooke, Professor of the Theory and Practice of 
 Medicine; Dr. Yandell, Professor of Materia Medica, Lecturer on Chemistry and 
 Dean of the University. The Professorship of Materia Medica and Medical Botany 
 was offered Dr. Charles Wilkins Short, who accepted it in 1838. The other members 
 of the first faculty were Dr. Henry M. Miller, head of the Department of Obstetrics 
 and Diseases of Women and Children; Dr. Joshua Barker Flint, Professor of Surgery; 
 and Dr. Jedediah Cobb, Professor of Anatomy. Dr. William H. Donne was elected 
 Demonstrator of Anatomy. 
 
 The Louisville Medical Institute building, designed by Gideon Shryock, was erected 
 on the southwest corner of Eighth and Chestnut Streets in 1838. This same year 
 the Louisville Marine Hospital, formed in 1817, became affiliated with the Institute. ' 
 
 DR. SAMUEL D. GROSS 
 
 Among the many famous physicians and surgeons connected with the Louisville 
 Medical Institute from time to time were Drs. Samuel D. Gross, Professor of Sur- 
 gery and Henry Miller, Professor of Obstetrics. Dr. Gross (1805-1884) while teach- 
 ing in Louisville wrote his famous treatise on "Pathological Anatomy" and the first 
 edition of A System of Surgery. He was the first surgeon in Louisville to use chloro- 
 form as an anesthetic 8 ; one of the organizers and early presidents of the State Medical 
 Society and the American Medical Institute; and to him goes a great part of the 
 credit for rescuing from obscurity the name and fame of Dr. Ephraim McDowell. 
 
 DR. HENRY MILLER 
 
 Dr. Henry Miller, born in Glasgow, Kentucky, November 1, 1800, became Profes- 
 sor of Obstetrics in 1834. He was an extensive writer on medical subjects and his 
 treatise on The Principles and Practice of Obstetrics, published in 1849, became a 
 standard textbook. 
 
 THE NUMEROUS MEDICAL SCHOOLS OF LOUISVILLE 
 
 On April 23, 1846, the University of Louisville was founded and the Louisville 
 Medical Institute constituted the Medical Department of the University. In 1850 the 
 Kentucky School of Medicine was established by the efforts of several Louisville phy- 
 sicians and the faculty of Transylvania. Other medical schools sprang up and at one 
 time there were eleven of them in Louisville,'" but their several existences were short- 
 lived. In 1869 the Louisville Medical College was founded, and in 1874 the Hospital 
 College of Medicine was opened. The Medical Department of Kentucky University 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 555 
 
 was established in 1898 but was united with the University of Louisville's School of 
 Medicine in 1907. This same year the Hospital College of Medicine joined with the 
 Louisville Medical College. Finally in 1908 the Kentucky School of Medicine, the 
 Louisville Hospital College of Medicine and the University of Louisville united and 
 the three formed the present University of Louisville School of Medicine. 4 " 
 
 Among the eminent men connected with the medical schools of Louisville were: 
 Dr. Austin Flint, a native of Massachusetts, who while teaching in the University of 
 Louisville, laid the foundation of his great textbook on the Science and Practice of 
 Medicine; Dr. Lewis Rogers, for many years Professor Materia Medica; Dr. Tobias 
 G. Richardson, Demonstrator of Anatomy; Dr. Samuel M. Bemiss; Dr. Theodore S. 
 Bell; Dr. David W. Yandell; Dr. John A. Ouchterlony; Dr. J. M. Bodine; Dr. 
 James M. Holloway; Dr. A. M. Cartledge; Dr. Wm. H. Wathen; Dr. W. L 
 Rodman; Dr. Henry H. Grant and Dr. W. O. Roberts. 
 
 OTHER KENTUCKY PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS— 
 DR. EPHRAIM McDOWELL 
 
 Dr. Ehpraim McDowell, who performed the world's first ovariotomy in December, 
 1908 upon Mrs. Jane Todd Crawford at Danville, Kentucky, was for many years the 
 most eminent surgeon west of the Alleghanies. He was born in Rockbridge County, 
 Virginia, November 11, 1771, the son of Samuel McDowell, a member of the Virginia 
 Legislative Assembly. In 1782 Samuel McDowell brought his family to Danville, 
 Kentucky, where he became one of the judges of the newly-established Supreme Court 
 of the District of Kentucky. 41 Young Ephraim McDowell received his early education 
 at the Worley and James Seminary, after which he went to Virginia and entered the 
 office of Dr. Humphreys, of Staunton, as a medical student. (Another of Dr. Hum- 
 phrey's students was Samuel Brown, the first medical lecturer to be connected with 
 Transylvania University.) In 1793-4, at the insistence of Dr. Humphreys, Ephraim 
 McDowell took a course at the University of Edinburgh. 
 
 While attending the University of Edinburgh he "also took a private course undei 
 John Bell, who at that time did not belong to the Faculty, and it seems that the 
 brilliant predilections of this most able and eloquent of the Scotch surgeons of his day 
 impressed him very profoundly. That portion of the course in which he lectured 
 upon the diseases of the ovaries, dwelling upon the hopeless death to which their vic- 
 tims were inevitably fated, and merely suggesting the possibility of success following so 
 shockingly severe an operation as any attempt at their extraction would prove, was 
 never forgotten by his auditor, for undoubtedly it was the principles and suggestions at 
 this time enunciated by the master, which, sixteen years after, determined the pupil 
 to attempt his first ovariotomy. He (McDowell) did not remain long in Edinburgh 
 after finishing his course, but returned to Danville at the expiration of two years, 
 preceding his return home by an extended tour afoot through Scotland, in company 
 with two of his American compatriots, Drs. (Samuel) Brown and ( ) 
 
 Speed. As far as we know, the degree of M. D. was not actually conferred upon him 
 until 1823, when, entirely unsolicited on his part, the University of Maryland honored 
 itself by conferring upon him the honorary degree of M. D. The Medical Society 
 of Philadelphia, at the time the oldest and most distinguished of the kind in this 
 country had sent him its diploma in 1807." 4 " 
 
 Dr. McDowell's professional territory covered a large area and he performed opera- 
 tions of all kinds then known to possibility. He had been practicing for fourteen 
 years when he was called to Green County to see Mrs. Jane Todd Crawford, on whom 
 he performed the ovariotomy for which he has received world acclaim. Though a man 
 of the knife and scalpel and not of the pen, Dr. McDowell fortunately left a record 
 of his operation on Mrs. Crawford, which was published eight years after the opera- 
 
556 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 tion in "The Eclectic Repertory and Analytical Review, Medical and Philosophical" 43 * 
 a medical journal edited by a Philadelphia society of physicians. 
 
 FOOTNOTE 
 
 *"In December, 1809, I was called to see a Mrs. Crawford, who had for several 
 months thought herself pregnant. She was aifected with pain similar to labour pains, 
 for which she could find no relief. So strong was the presumption of her being in 
 the last stage of pregnancy, that two physicians, who were consulted in her case, 
 requested my aid in delivering her. The abdomen was considerably enlarged, and had 
 the appearance of pregnancy, though the inclination of the tumour was to one side, 
 admitting of an easy removal to the other. Upon examination, per vaginam, I found 
 nothing in the uterus; which induced the conclusion that it must be an enlarged 
 ovarium. Having never seen so large a substance extracted, nor heard of an attempt, 
 or success attending any operation, such as this required, I gave to the unhappy woman 
 information of her dangerous situation. She appeared willing to undergo an experi- 
 ment, which I promised to perform if she would come to Danville, (the town where 
 I live) a distance of sixty miles from her place of residence. This appeared almost 
 impracticable by any, even the most favourable conveyance, though she performed the 
 journey in a few days on horseback. With the assistance of my nephew and colleague, 
 James M'Dowell, M. D., I commenced the operation, which was concluded as follows: 
 Having placed her on a table of the ordinary height, on her back, and removed all her 
 dressing which might in any way impede the operation, I made an incision about three 
 inches from the musculus rectus abdominis, on the left side, continuing the same nine 
 inches in length, parallel with the fibres of the above named muscle, extending into the 
 cavity of the abdomen, the parieties of which were a good deal contused, which we 
 ascribed to the resting of the tumour on the horn of the saddle during the journey. The 
 tumour then appeared in full view, but was so large that we could not take it away 
 entire. We put a strong ligature around the fallopian tube near to the uterus; then 
 cut open the tumour, which was the ovarium and fimbrious part of the fallopian tube 
 very much enlarged. We took out fifteen pounds of a dirty, gelatinous looking sub- 
 stance. After which we cut through the fallopian tube and extracted the sack, which 
 weighed seven pounds and one half. As soon as the external opening was made, the 
 intestines rushed out upon the table; and so completely was the abdomen filed by the 
 tumor, that they could not be replaced during the operation, which was terminated in 
 about twenty-five minutes. We then turned her upon her left side, so as to permit the 
 blood to escape; after which, we closed the external opening with the interrupted suture, 
 leaving out, at the lower end of the incision, the ligature which surrounded the fallo- 
 pian tube. Between every two stitches we put a strip of adhesive plaster, which, by 
 keeping the parts in contact, hastened the healing of the incision. We then applied 
 the usual dressings, put her to bed, and prescribed a strict observance of the antipho- 
 logistic regimen. In five days I visited her, and much to my astonishment found her 
 engaged in making up her bed. I gave her particular caution for the future; and in 
 twenty-five days, she returned home as she came, in good health, which she continues 
 to enjoy." 
 
 Kentucky's Jane Todd Crawford Trail, the road traveled by Mrs. Crawford to 
 Danville from her home near Greenville is a memorial to her unusual courage in sub- 
 mitting her body without the use of anesthetics to deaden the pain to an untried experi- 
 ment from which the chances were slight that she would survive. 
 
 Nearly six feet tall, and with a commanding carriage Dr. McDowell was consid- 
 ered very handsome. He had a florid complexion, blackeyes and dark hair. Remark- 
 able for his strength and agility, he was very kind-hearted, cheerful and amiable. 
 
 In 1802 Ephraim McDowell married Sarah Shelby, a daughter of Governor Isaac 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 557 
 
 Shelby, by whom he had two sons and four daughters. He died June 20, 1830, of 
 inflammatory fever and was buried at Traveler's Rest, one of the Shelby family estates. 
 In 1879 his remains and those of his wife were removed to Danville and reinterred 
 beneath the McDowell monument. 44 
 
 In 1879, nearly fifty years after Dr. McDowell's death, the Kentucky State Medical 
 Society erected a shaft bearing his medallion likeness in a grass plot adjoining the 
 First Presbyterian Church at Danville. A monument was later erected on this plot in 
 honor of Jane Todd Crawford. In 1928 the Kentucky committee to decide the state's 
 two most famous men for the Hall of Fame, in the National Capital, selected Dr. 
 McDowell to represent Kentucky, along with Henry Clay. On May 20, 1939 Dr. 
 McDowell's house containing his office, where the famous operation was performed, 
 was given to Kentucky by the Kentucky Medical Association to be administered through 
 the State Park Commission as a memorial to Dr. McDowell and Mrs. Crawford. 
 
 DR. WALTER BRASHEAR 
 
 Another Kentuckian, Dr. Walter Brashear, performed America's first successful 
 amputation at the hip joint, which operation was performed in 1806 on a mulatto 
 slave at St. Joseph's College in Bardstown. ° Dr. Brashear, born in 1776 in Maryland, 
 was brought to Kentucky in 1784. He studied at Transylvania, served two years ap- 
 prenticeship under Dr. Frederick Ridgely, at Lexington, and at the end of that time 
 "rode on horseback to Philadelphia and attended a course of lectures at the University 
 of Pennsylvania." 46 After spending a year in Philadelphia he shipped to China as 
 surgeon of a vessel and upon his return to America settled at Bardstown, Kentucky. In 
 1822 Dr. Brashear moved to Louisiana, where, becoming interested in politics, he was 
 elected to the United States Senate. 4 ' He died in Louisiana on October 23, 1860. 
 
 DR. JOSHUA TAYLOR BRADFORD 
 
 Dr. Joshua Taylor Bradford (1817-1870) of Augusta, Kentucky, was one of the 
 state's most skillful early surgeons. A great admirer of Dr. Ephraim McDowell, he 
 succeeded in establishing ovariotomy as a proper surgical procedure. His complete 
 series of ovariotomies numbered thirty, with a mortality of only ten per cent. 
 
 DR. FRANCIS E. POLIN 
 
 Dr. Francis E. Polin, of Springfield, was the first to perform a Caesarean section in 
 Kentucky. Born in Springfield, September 8, 1827, he practiced medicine with his 
 father, Dr. John Polin. At the time of his famous operation in 1852 he was only 
 twenty-five years old. He died at the age of thirty-three but he "had already estab- 
 lished an enviable reputation for his individuality and courage in professional work." 4 ' 
 
 DR. LUKE P. BLACKBURN 
 
 Dr. Luke P. Blackburn, born in Woodford County, Kentucky, July 16, 1816, was 
 one of Kentucky's most beloved practitioners. He studied medicine at Transylvania 
 and began practice at Lexington. When cholera broke out in Versailles in 1835 he 
 rushed to the aid of the stricken inhabitants and remained with them as the only phy- 
 sician there until the epidemic had passed. Soon afterwards he moved to Versailles 
 and remained there until 1846 when he moved to Natchez, Mississippi, where he was 
 health officer at the time of the outbreak of yellow fever in the South. Instrumental 
 in founding the Marine Hospital at Natchez, Dr. Blackburn was Government surgeon 
 there for several years. In 1854 he protected the Natchez district from cholera and 
 yellow fever by a rigid quarantine. He went abroad in 1857 to study hospital methods 
 in Europe. During the Civil War he was attached as surgeon to the staff of General 
 
558 A S E S Q U I -CENTENNIAL 
 
 Sterling Price, and in 1864 went as hygenic expert to Bermuda at the request of the 
 Governor General of Canada. Later he overcame an outbreak of yellow fever on Long 
 Island, N. Y. In 1873 Dr. Blackburn settled at Louisville. Five years later a yellow 
 fever epidemic again struck the south. When uncounted cases broke out in Hickman, 
 Kentucky, Dr. Blackburn went immediately to the city and fought the epidemic until 
 the appearance of frost, when the epidemic subsided. He was presented with a gold 
 medal by the grateful people of Hickman and became known as the "Hero of Hick- 
 man." By an overwhelming majority of votes the people of Kentucky elected Dr. 
 Blackburn Governor of the State in 1879, which office he filled admirably. Prison 
 reforms and other social improvements were begun during his incumbency. At the end 
 of his term as Governor, still seeking to promote the welfare of his fellowmen, he 
 established a sanitarium in the suburbs of Louisville which he was operating at the 
 time of his death on September 14, 1887. 50 
 
 Among other distinguished men on Kentucky's medical honor roll are: Dr. Wil- 
 liam T. Sutton, one of the leaders in the organization of the State Medical Society in 
 1851 and due to whose influence the first law was passed requiring the registration of 
 births and deaths; Dr. Pinckney Thompson of Henderson, largely instrumental in the 
 creation of the State Board of Health; Dr. Lemuel C. Porter; Dr. Ap Morgan Vance, 
 first in Kentucky to restrict his practice to surgery; Dr. J. N. McCormack (1847-1922) 
 thirty-nine years Secretary of the Board of Health of Kentucky, and instrumental in 
 securing the enactment of many of Kentucky's present public health laws; Dr. Lewis 
 S. McMurtry and Joseph M. Mathews. 
 
 In the words of Dr. Irvin Abell, "When one considers the difficulties under which 
 these men labored, the lack of scientific knowledge as it is understood today, for many 
 of them the absence of aseptic technic and anethesia, their accomplishments and attain- 
 ments in the field of medicine and surgery are to be regarded as almost miraculous 
 and as bearing fruitful evidence of their ability, foresight and vision." 
 
 DR. ARTHUR THOMAS McCORMACK 
 
 Dr. Arthur Thomas McCormack, born August 21, 1872, in Nelson County, Kentucky, 
 succeeded his father, Dr. Joseph N. McCormack, in public health work. A graduate 
 of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, Dr. 
 McCormack established practice in Bowling Green in 1897 and was the first health 
 officer of Warren County. In 1900 he was named assistant State health officer under 
 his father and in 1912 succeeded him as Secretary of the State Board of Health, which 
 post he held until his death. 
 
 During the construction of the Panama Canal Dr. McCormack was sent as chief 
 health officer to Panama. For his outstanding work in controlling an epidemic of 
 cerebro-spinal meningitis on the Japanese steamship Anyo-Maru Dr. McCormack re- 
 ceived a citation from the Mikado. Well known in national medical circles, he held 
 offices as president of the National Health Exposition Association, of the Conference 
 of State and Provincial Health Officers of North America, and the Southern Medical 
 Association. A member of the Gorgas Memorial Institute, the National Health 
 Council and a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, Dr. McCormack was also 
 special consultant for the United States Public Health Service. He was organizer and 
 Dean of the School of Public Health of the University of Louisville, served as secre- 
 tary and president of the Medical Veterans of the World War, president of the 
 Kentucky Conference of Social Work and State Chairman of the Procurement and 
 Assignment Committee responsible for obtaining physicians for the armed forces. 
 
 Dr. McCormack published A Course in Physical Education for the Common Schools 
 of Kentucky and was editor of the Kentucky Medical Journal, which he founded in 
 1901. He was married in December, 1897, to Miss Mary Moore Tyler by whom he 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 559 
 
 had two sons and a daughter. In 1924 he was married to Mrs. Jane Teare Dahlman. 
 Dr. McCormack died August 7, 1943, in Louisville." 2 
 
 ORGANIZATIONS, HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS 
 
 The direct result of the epidemic of bilious fever in Louisville in 1823 was the ap- 
 pointment of the City's first Board of Health. However, after the epidemic was over 
 the Board was content to allow the city to return to its former ways of polluted water, 
 filth and neglect," in which state it remained until after the Civil War, when improved 
 health measures were beginning to engage the attention of leading men in the medical 
 profession. 
 
 A Kentucky Board of Health was established in 1878." 4 Dr. Pinckney Thompson 
 was elected as the Board's first president. In 1919 the State Board headquarters were 
 moved from Bowling Green, where it had been since 1833, to Louisville, where it still 
 remains. 
 
 After the establishment of a State Board of Health, county and city boards began 
 to be established and were required to look to the State Board for assistance and ad- 
 vice. Jefferson County's Health Department, dating back to 1908, was the first full 
 time unit in the United States/" 
 
 HEALTH LEGISLATION 
 
 From time to time various Bureaus of the Board were developed. In 1889 the first 
 pure food law was submitted to the Legislature. The Vital Statistics law, passed in 
 1874, was practically useless until January 1, 1911, when the Bureau of Vital Statistics 
 was established, as well as Bureaus of Sanitary Engineering and Bacteriology, followed 
 in 1915, by the Bureau of Preventable Diseases. Bureaus of Venereal Diseases, Foods 
 and Drugs, Tuberculosis, Public Health Nursing, Hotels and Restaurants were opened 
 in 1918; Trachoma in 1920, Public Health Education in 1921, and Dental Health in 
 1927."° The establishment of these Bureaus represent stages in the development of the 
 State's public health. 
 
 STATE MEDICAL ASSOCIATION 
 
 The first medical society in the State was founded at Louisville, February 24, 1819, 
 and was the forerunner in the development of societies which culminated in the organi- 
 zation of the Kentucky State Medical Society in 1851." A convention of physicians 
 held October 1, 1851, at Frankfort adopted a resolution, offered by Doctor Joshua B. 
 Flint, for the formation of a State Medical Society. Dr. W. S. Chipley, as chairman 
 of a committee formed for the purpose, reported a constitution, which, on the motion 
 of Dr. S. D. Gross was adopted. The convention adjourned and the first annual 
 meeting of the Kentucky State Medical Society was held, began immediately thereafter. 
 Upon motion of Dr. T. G. Richardson the "Code of Ethics" of the American Medical 
 Association was adopted as the code of the society. ' Leading physicians of the state 
 became members and the "organization thus founded soon became a great power in 
 diffusing the knowledge of medical science throughout the State; in elevating and im- 
 proving professional character and conduct, and in advancing the interests and effi- 
 ciency of the medical profession in Kentucky."" 
 
 LOUISVILLE CITY HOSPITAL, THE MARINE HOSPITALS 
 AND OTHER INSTITUTIONS 
 
 The Louisville City Hospital, incorporated by Act of Legislature, approved February 
 5, 1817 actually began life in 1823 as the Marine Hospital on Chestnut Street between 
 Floyd and Preston,"" and was Louisville's first hospital." 1 In 1836 the building was re- 
 modeled, two new wings added and the name changed to the Louisville City Hospital. 
 
560 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 In 1847 a second Marine Hospital was opened which during the Civil War was 
 taken over by the United States Army. 
 
 By this time Lexington had a City Hospital and Workhouse and Smithland, in Liv- 
 ingston County, boasted a Marine Hospital. 
 
 A Lunatic Asylum was opened in Fayette County in 1824 followed in 1854 by a sec- 
 ond Lunatic Asylum at Hopkinsville. 
 
 In 1823 a school for Kentucky's deaf and dumb was opened in Danville, and in 
 1842 a school for the blind opened its doors on Broadway in Louisville, between First 
 and Second Streets. Its growth was so rapid that by 1855 new quarters were needed 
 and a building, designed by Gideon Shryock, was erected on Frankfort Avenue. In 
 1858 the American Printing House for the Blind, which today adjoins the institution, 
 was chartered. This organization has grown into the largest Braille publishing house 
 in the world and is the oldest in the United States. In 1884 a separate building was 
 erected for blind Negro children. 
 
 DENOMINATIONAL HOSPITALS 
 
 The oldest of the hospitals sponsored by religious groups is St. Joseph's Infirmary, 
 now located on Eastern Parkway in Louisville. Its history dates back to 1836 at 
 which time it consisted of two rooms in the St. Vincent Orphanage on Jefferson Street, 
 and was superintended by Mother Catherine Spalding, its founder."' By 1853 it was 
 necessary to enlarge the Infirmary and a building was rented on Fourth Street and its 
 name changed to St. Joseph's Infirmary. 
 
 Louisville's first Protestant Hospital was the J. N. Norton Memorial Infirmary, 
 incorporated in 1881, Episcopal, from where the City's first class of graduate nurses- 
 received diplomas the same year. 
 
 To St. Joseph's and the Norton Infirmary were later added in Louisville, the Bap- 
 tist, Jewish, Deaconess (Methodist) and St. Anthony's and S. S. Mary and Elizabeth 
 (Catholic) Hospitals. 
 
 The Jennie Cassedy Infirmary for Women was organized in 1891, situated at 1912 
 Sixth Street, Louisville, by the Order of King's Daughters and named for Jennie Casse- 
 day, whose labors in behalf of nurses raised that profession to the dignified place it now 
 holds in Kentucky. 
 
 FRONTIER NURSING SERVICE 
 
 A medical venture destined to bring national, if not world, acclaim to Kentucky 
 grew from the successful efforts of Mrs. Mary Breckinridge (1881- ), student, 
 of nursing methods in foreign capitols, to adopt a Scottish experience to Kentucky's 
 mountain areas. Her Frontier Nursing Service, Inc. provides medical service for 
 mothers and children in neglected areas in the mountains, and has, in her own words 
 brought "the good things of modern American life in health, social welfare, and 
 economic independence, to America's oldest civilization." 00 
 
 ASIATIC CHOLERA IN KENTUCKY 
 
 There were two severe outbreaks of Asiatic cholera in Kentucky, the first one occur- 
 ring in 1833. Although the reports were denied by Louisville papers travelers brought 
 news of several cases of cholera in that city. On May 29, 1833 the residents of 
 Maysville became panic stricken and fled the city as cases of the disease broke out. 
 Dr. J. S. Chambers in The Conquest of Cholera, pages 149 and 150 said "Before 
 sunset of the first day people in wagons, carts and carriages which had been hurriedly 
 loaded with the supplies at hand, amounted almost to a procession as they wound up 
 the ravine and over the bin hill toward central Kentucky and the Bluegrass. Nine- 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 561 
 
 tenths of the inhabitants (of Maysville) climbed that hill before the lapse of thirty- 
 six hours." 
 
 Cholera spread with the refugees along the Lexington Road and the villages along 
 the road were infected. Washington, Mayslick, Fairview, and Flemingsburg were 
 severely stricken. Many deaths were caused by the pestilence in Paris, Cynthiana, 
 Claysville and Kentontown in Bourbon County during the month of June. It spread 
 through Scott County during June and July and on June 3 appeared at Lexington. 
 Within a week the death toll in Lexington had reached two hundred and in a letter 
 dated June 23rd Dr. Charles Wilkins Short stated that not less than five hundred 
 deaths had occurred in that city in the three preceding weeks. Editorials in the 
 Lexington papers gave vivid pictures of the terror and panic of the people at the 
 peak of the epidemic. The Lexington Observer and Kentucky Reporter;, June 8, 
 1833 said "We have never witnessed such anxiety, such alarm, such panic as the 
 countenances of the citizens generally evinced on Wednesday and Thursday last. 
 It would be far beyond our powers of description to give to those who did not wit- 
 ness it even a faint idea of the sorrow and gloom visible in every countenance. The 
 stoutest hearts seemed to quail before the relentless destroyer that was stalking 
 amongst us unseen, giving scarcely any intimation to the persons whom it had selected 
 for its victims, before prostrating them upon a dying bed. No one pretended to 
 claim an immunity from its grasp and no one knew at what moment he, or some of 
 his family, would be one of its victims. All seemed to be seized with an awful dread." 
 
 Dr. Daniel Drake asserted that cholera was caused by some poison in the air and 
 advised the panic stricken people at Lexington to remain at home. Low, wet places 
 and accumulations of filth were supposed to emit the deadly aerial poison. Dr. Cooke 
 was one of the most aggressive advocates of the miasmatic theory while Dr. Caldwell 
 supported the malarious origin of the disease. Treatment varied somewhat but gen- 
 erally consisted of large doses of calomel, brandy, emetics and rubbing and poulticing 
 for cramps. 
 
 Refugees from Lexington carried the scourge to most of the Bluegrass towns. 
 Frankfort, Lawrenceburg, Lancaster, Somerset, Richmond, Winchester, Mt. Sterling 
 and Owingsville were all infected. Versailles had a severe epidemic in 1834. In 
 July 1835 Russellville in the western part of the State had a severe outbreak of 
 cholera, after which there were no severe outbreaks until 1873 when the Ohio Valley 
 was again invaded by the dreadful malady. 
 
 According to Dr. Chambers cholera in Kentucky in 1873 probably was more 
 widespread and severe than in any other place in the country. Elizabethtown, Bowling 
 Green, Lancaster, Stanford and Columbia were stricken. Spreading along the Ohio 
 to Paducah with the steamboat, John Kilgore, cholera soon appeared in Henderson, 
 Maysville, Louisville, Henry County and LaGrange were infected severely before the 
 plague died a spasmodic death. There were few serious outbreaks of cholera in the 
 State after 1873, due probably to the fact that the miasmatic theory was beginning 
 at that time to give way gradually to the idea that men, not the wind, were the specific 
 cause of epidemic disease. 
 
 MEDICAL PERIODICALS AND JOURNALS 
 
 In addition to the many excellent books on medicine written by Kentucky physicians 
 and surgeons, which have been set out in the various biographical sketches above, 
 much high-grade medical literature has been published in medical periodicals and 
 journals in the State and throughout the country. 
 
 The first medical paper published by a Kentucky physician was published in June 
 1799 in the American Medical Repository, then the only journal of medicine in the 
 United States, and was written bv Dr. Samuel Brown.' G 
 
562 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 The Transylvania Journal of Medicine and the Associated Sciences was established 
 in 1828 and was the first medical journal published in Kentucky. Its successive editors 
 were Drs. John Esten Cooke, Charles Wilkins Short, Lunsford P. Yandell and Robert 
 Peter. It continued to be the leading journal until 1838. It was revived in 1849 by 
 Dr. Ethelbert Dudley in Lexington, but was soon moved to Louisville where it con- 
 tinued until 1854 as the Kentucky Medical Recorder, edited by Drs. Henry M. Bullitt 
 and Robert J. Breckinridge. 
 
 The Louisville Journal of Medicine and Surgery, edited by Drs. Henry Miller, 
 L. P. Yandell and T. S. Bell, appeared in 1838, followed in 1840 by the Western 
 Journal of Medicine and Surgery, edited first by Drs. Daniel Drake and L. P. Yandell 
 and later by Drs. Yandell and Bell. In 1856 these two were consolidated and con- 
 tinued by Drs. Gross and Richardson as the Louisville Medical Review, which in 1857 
 became the North American Medico-Chirurgical Review, which later was transferred 
 to Philadelphia. 
 
 Dr. James Conquest Cross established the Western and Southern Medical Recorder 
 in 1841 at Lexington. 
 
 Only a brief existence was enjoyed by the Louisville Medical Gazette, edited in 
 1859 by Dr. L. J. Frazee and the Louisville Medical Journal, which appeared in 1860. 
 
 The Sanitary Reporter was published by the United States Sanitary Commission 
 in Louisville in 1863 and 1864. 
 
 The American Medical Weekly appeared from 1874 to 1879 and the Richmond 
 and Louisville Medical Journal also appeared in the 1870's. 
 
 The American Practitioner was established by Dr. David Yandell and T. Parvin 
 and was united in 1886 with the Louisville Medical News, established in 1876 by 
 Drs. Cowling and Gait, to form the American Practitioner and News, which appeared 
 until 1911. 
 
 Progress, a monthly journal established in 1886, continued from 1890 to 1916 as 
 Medical Progress. 
 
 The Louisville Medical Monthly and Mathew's Medical Quarterly began publica- 
 tion in 1894, the latter becoming the Louisville Journal of Surgery and Medicine in 
 1898. It was consolidated in 1899 with the Louisville Medical Monthly, becoming 
 the Louisville Monthly Journal of Medicine and Surgery, which continued until 1916. 
 
 KENTUCKY STATE MEDICAL JOURNAL 
 
 The establishment of the Kentucky State Medical Journal in 1904, published by 
 the Kentucky State Medical Association marked the beginning of the disappearance 
 of private medical journalism in Kentucky, and the Kentucky State Medical Journal 
 is at present the only medical journal published in Kentucky.*" 
 
 The articles, essays, monographs, case histories, etc. which have been and still are 
 being published in the Kentucky State Medical Journal by Kentucky physicians and 
 surgeons, give clear pictures of the heights which medical men in the State have 
 attained. 
 
 FOOTNOTES FOR CHAPTER XX 
 
 ^Medicine and Its Development in Kentucky, Compiled and Written by the Medical 
 Historical Research Project of the Works Project Administration for the Common- 
 wealth of Kentucky, Sponsored by State Department of Health and the Kentucky 
 State Medical Association, (1940), p. 29; The Transylvania Colony, by William 
 Steward Lester, (1935) , p. 254. 
 
 2 "Dr. Daniel Drake, 1785-1852", by J. Christian Bay, The Filson Club History 
 Quarterly, Vol. II, p. 5. 
 
 'Medicine and Its Development in Kentucky, p. 28. r 
 
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 563 
 
 ^Kentucky in Retrospect, Noteworthy Personages and Events in Kentucky History, 
 1792-1942, by Mrs. Wm. Preston Drake, Judge Samuel M. Wilson and Mrs. Wm. 
 Breckenridge Ardery, (1942), p. 169; The Heritage of Kentucky Medicine, by Irvin 
 Abell, M.D. (1926), p. 48. 
 
 ^Medicine and Its Development in Kentucky, p. 28. 
 
 6 Ibid. 
 
 Some of the Medical Pioneers of Kentucky, edited by J. N. McCormack, M.D., 
 L.L.D., (1917), p. 52. 
 
 The History of the Medical Department of Transylvania University, by Dr. Robert 
 Peter, Filson Club Publication, No. 20, (1905), p. 6. 
 
 "Ibid. 
 Ibid, p. 9; Some of the Medical Pioneers of Kentucky, by McCormack, pp. 53, 54. 
 
 "The History of the Medical Department of Transylvania University, Peter, p. 11. 
 
 'Medicine and Its Development in Kentucky, p. 124. 
 
 "History of Kentucky, by Samuel M. Wilson, (1928), Vol. II, p. 433. 
 
 "The History of the Medical Department of Transylvania University, Peter, p. 28. 
 
 "Medicine and Its Development in Kentucky, p. 30. 
 
 1G "Dr. Daniel Drake, 1785-1852", by J. Christian Bay, The Filson Club History 
 Quarterly, Vol. VII, p. 5. 
 
 "Ibid, p. 7. 
 History of Kentucky, Wilson, p. 432. 
 
 "The Filson Club History Quarterly, Vol. VII, pp. 12, 17. 
 
 " The History of the Medical Department of Transylvania University, Peter, p. 46. 
 
 " Ibid, p. 49; Medicine and Its Development in Kentucky, p. 127. 
 
 "The History of the Medical Department of Transylvania University, Peter, pp. 61, 
 62. 
 
 23 Ibid, p. 66. 
 
 24 Ibid. 
 
 "Biography of Charles Wilkins Short, M. D., by S. D. Gross, (1865), p. 24. 
 
 "The History of the Medical Department of Transylvania University, Peter, p. 81. 
 
 "History of Kentucky, Wilson, p. 434. 
 
 * Some of the Medical Pioneers of Kentucky, McCormack, p. 76. 
 
 ''History of Kentucky, Wilson, p. 433. 
 Some of the Medical Pioneers of Kentucky, McCormack, p. 80; History of Kentucky, 
 Wilson, p. 433. 
 
 The History of the Medical Department of Transylvania University, Peter, p. 157. 
 
 'Medicine and Its Development in Kentucky, pp. 29, 30, 62. 
 
 3 Tbid, p. 29. 
 
 ^Memorial History of Louisville, edited by J. Stoddard Johnston, (1896), Vol. I, 
 
 P-75. 
 
 °"A History of the Louisville Medical Institute and of the Establishment of the 
 University of Louisville and Its School of Medicine, 1833-1846," by Emmet Field 
 Horine, M.D., The Filson Club History Quarterly, Vol. VII, pp. 133, 134. 
 
 ""Ibid, p. 138. 
 
 "Ibid, p. 142. 
 Some of the Medical Pioneers of Kentucky, McCormack, p. 129. 
 
 "'Medicine and Its Development in Kentucky, p. 93. 
 
 "The Filson Club History Quarterly, Vol. VII, p. 147. 
 
 "History of Kentucky, Wilson, p. 438. 
 Some of the Medical Pioneers of Kentucky, McCormack, p. 11. 
 
 43 (For first part of this footnote see pp. 18, 19, 20.) "Our Pioneer Heroine of 
 
564 ASESQUI-CENTENNIAL 
 
 Surgery — Mrs. Jane Todd Crawford," by Mrs. Arthur Thomas McCormack, The 
 Filson Club History Quarterly, Vol. VI, pp. 116-117. 
 
 "History of Kentucky, Wilson, p. 440. 
 
 41 Some of the Medical Pioneers of Kentucky, McCormack, p. 139; Medicine and Its 
 Developments in Kentucky, p. 117. 
 
 4G Some of the Medical Pioneers of Kentucky, McCormack, p. 138. 
 
 4 ' Medicine and Its Development in Kentucky, p. 117. 
 
 4S Some of the Medical Pioneers of Kentucky, McCormack, p. 141. 
 
 "Ibid, p. 166. 
 
 "Ibid, pp. 167-169; History of Kentucky, Wilson, pp. 343, 344. 
 
 "'The Heritage of Kentucky Medicine, Abell, p. 51. 
 
 " 2 The Courier- Journal, Louisville, Kentucky, August 8, 1943. 
 
 ^ Medicine and Its Development in Kentucky, pp. 20, 260. 
 
 **The Heritage of Kentucky Medicine, Abell, p. 61. 
 
 60 1 bid, p. 63; Medicine and Its Development in Kentucky, p. 274. 
 
 ""Medicine and Its Development in Kentucky, p. 282. 
 
 "The Heritage of Kentucky Medicine, Abell, p. 59. 
 
 5 Constitution and By-Laws of the Kentucky State Medical Society, together with the 
 Code of Ethics of the American Medical Association, and Historical Sketch of the 
 Society and Roll of Members, (1890) , p. 5. 
 Ibid, pp. 5, 6. 
 
 "Memorial History of Louisville, Johnston, Vol. II, p. 44. 
 Medicine and Its Development in Kentucky, p. 154. 
 
 "Ibid, p. 165. 
 
 "Ibid, pp. 166, 167. 
 
 "Ibid, p. 256. 
 
 "Preface written by Mary Breckenridge to Clever Country, by Caroline Gardner 
 (1931) ; Who's Who in Kentucky (1936). 
 
 ''"The Heritage of Kentucky Medicine, Abell, p. 56; History of Kentucky, Wilson, 
 p. 445. 
 
 "The entire list of medical journals and periodicals was taken from The Heritage 
 of Kentucky Medicine, by Irvin Abell, M.D., pp. 56, 57.