Historic Highways of America Volume VI Part 5

On my return to Hanover I set off from John Craigs' Monday, 23d September, 1782; left English's Tuesday, 1 o'clock, arrived at the Block-house the Monday evening following, and kept on the same route downward chiefly that I traveled out. Nothing material occurred to me.

Got to Hanover sometime about the last of October the same year."

Thomas Speed's grandfather gives the following itinerary from "Charlotte Court-House to Kentucky" under date of 1790:

Miles "From Charlotte Court-House to Campbell Court-House, 41 To New London, 13 To Colonel James Callaway's, 3 To Liberty, 13 To Colonel Flemming's, 28 To Big Lick, 2 To Mrs. Kent's, 20 To English's Ferry, 20 To Carter's, 13 To Fort Chissel, 12 To the Stone-mill, 11 To Adkins', 16 To Russell Place, 16 To Greenaway's, 14 To Washington Court-House, 6 To the Block-house, 35 To Farriss's, 5 To Clinch River, 12 To Scott's Station, 12 To c.o.x's at Powell River, 10 To Martin's Station, 2 To--[ma.n.u.script defaced]

To c.u.mberland Mountain 3 To c.u.mberland River, 15 To Flat Lick, 9 To Stinking Creek, 2 To Richland Creek, 7 To Racc.o.o.n Spring, 14 To Laurel River, 2 To Hazel Patch, 15 To Rockcastle, 10 To--[ma.n.u.script defaced]."

The foregoing itineraries afford us some conception of the settlements and "improvements" that sprang up along the winding thoroughfare from Virginia to Kentucky. The writer has sought with some care to know more of these--of the modes of travel, the entertainment which was afforded along the road to men and beasts, and the social relation of the greater settlements in Virginia and Kentucky to this thin line of human lives across the continent. Very little information has been secured. It is plain that the great immigration to Kentucky would have been out of the question had there been no means of succor and a.s.sistance along the road. There were many who gained their livelihood as pioneer innkeepers and provisioned along Boone's Road. Among the very few of these of whom any record is left, Captain Joseph Martin is perhaps the most prominent and most worthy of remembrance. Martin's "cabin" or "station," as it is variously termed, occupied a strategic point in far-famed Powell's Valley, one hundred and eighty miles west of Inglis Ferry, twenty miles east of c.u.mberland Gap and about one hundred and thirty miles southeast of Crab Orchard and Boonesborough. Captain Martin was Virginia Agent for Indian affairs, and was the most prominent man in the scattered settlements in Powell's Valley, where he was living at the time of the founding of Boonesborough. Later he made his headquarters at Long Island in North Carolina. It is plain from Colonel Henderson's journal that wagons could proceed along Boone's Road in 1775 no further than Martin's cabin. Here everything was transferred to the packhorses. Several letters from Colonel Henderson to Captain Martin, preserved by the Wisconsin Historical Society, give us a glimpse of silent Powell's Valley. One of them reads:

"Boonesborough 12^{th} June 1775

Dear Sir:

M^r Ralph Williams, David Burnay, and William Mellar will apply to you for salt and other things which we left with you and was sent for us since we came away--Please to deliver to them, or those they may employ what they ask for, and take a receipt--Also write me a few lines informing me, what you have sent &c by hem & by whom--I long much to hear from you, pray write me at Large, how the matter goes with you in the valey, as well as what pa.s.ses in Virginia--If the pack-hors.e.m.e.n should want any thing towards securing my books from Damage pack-saddles, provisions, or any thing which you see is necessary; please to let them have it on our acc^t.--All things goes well hitherto with us, I hope the[y] do with you would have sent your Mares but am afraid they are not done horsing They will be safely brought by my brother in a few weeks

I am D^r Sir your Hble Serv^t Rich^d. Henderson M^r Joseph Martin in the Valley"[10]

On July 20 he wrote again:

"Am sorry to hear that the People in the valey are distressed for provisions and ammunition have given some directions to my brother to a.s.sist you a little with Powder.

Standly, I suppose has before now delivered your Inglish mare, and the other you'l receive by my brother--when we meet will render an acc^t.

for my behaviour in Keeping them so long--We did not forget you at the time of making Laws, your part of the Country is too remote from ours to attend our Convention you must have Laws made by an a.s.sembly of your own, I have prepared a plan which I hope you'l approve but more of that when we meet which I hope will be soon, tho 'til Col. Boone comes cant say when--Am extreamly sorry for the affair with the Indians on the 23^d of last month. I wish it may not have a bad effect, but will use my endeavors to find out who they were & have the matter settled--your spirited conduct gives me great Pleasure--Keep your men in heart if possible, now is our time, the Indians must not drive us--depend upon it that the Chief men and warriors of the Cherokees will not countenance what there men attempted and will punish them--Pray my Dear Sir dont let any person settle Lower down the valey I am affraid they are now too low & must come away I did not want any person to settle yet below c.u.mberland gap--My Brother will [tell] you of the news of these parts--in haste D^r Sir...."

In December, John Williams wrote Captain Martin from Boonesborough and his letter gives us a closer insight into affairs along Boone's Road:

"... With respect to the complaints of the inhabitants of Powells Valley with regard to cattle being lodged there, I should think it altogether unjust than [that] non-inhabitants should bring in cattle to destroy and eat up the range of the inhabitants' stock; Yet, Sir, I cannot conceive that Col. Hart's stopping his stock there, when on their way here, to recruit them for their journey, can be the least infringement. Col. Hart is a proprietor, & [has] as great a right in the country as any one man.

In the Valley are many lands yet unentered; and certainly if there be a right in letting stock into the range, he has a right equal to any man alive. I therefore hope you will endeavor to convince the inhabitants thereof, and that it is no indulgence to Col. Hart, but a right he claims, and what I think him justly ent.i.tled to.

I hope to have the pleasure of seeing you at Boonesborough the 21^{st} instant--in the meantime making not the least doubt but that you will use every justifiable Method in Keeping up peace and harmony in the Valley"[11]

As indicated in the former letter, the emigrants from the colonies were encroaching upon the Cherokee lands beyond the Henderson purchase.

Joseph Martin was under the necessity of protesting to the a.s.sembly of North Carolina against settlers from that state pressing beyond the Henderson lands and settling in the Cherokee country.[12] It is seen by Colonel Henderson's letter that Boone's Road marked the most westerly limit to which pioneers could go with safety. Irresponsible Cherokees invaded the Henderson purchase, and equally irresponsible (or ignorant) whites invaded the Cherokee country. The difficulty probably lay in not having a definite, plain boundary line that he who ran might recognize.

The settlement here in Powell's Valley meant everything to the pioneers of Kentucky. This is made additionally plain by the attempt of interested parties to have Captain Martin's Indian Agency removed from Long Island to a point on Boone's Road near c.u.mberland Gap. In December 1782 William Christian wrote Governor Harrison from "Great [Long]

Island," explaining the dependence of the inhabitants (undoubtedly both red and white) upon Martin in time of need. "I find," he wrote, "that the party here, consisting of fifty odd, are living on Col. Martin's corn. Whenever a family begins to be in a starving condition, it is very probable they will push for this place & throw themselves upon him for bread."[13]

Fourteen days later he wrote from Mahanaim to "Hon. Col. Sampson Matthews" of Richmond; protesting against Virginia's Indian Agency being kept at Long Island, North Carolina; and urging that it be removed to near c.u.mberland Gap:

"The Gap is near half way betwixt our settlements on Holston and Kentucky, and a post there would be a resting place for our poor citizens going back and forward, and would be a great means of saving the lives of hundreds of them. For it seldom happens that Indians will kill people near where they trade; & it is thereabouts the most of the mischief on the road has been done.... I view the change I propose as of great importance to the frontier of Washington, [County] to our people journeying to & from Kentucky, particularly the poor families moving out...."[14]

It was, throughout the eighteenth century, exceedingly dangerous to travel Boone's Road; and those who journeyed either way joined together and traveled in "companies." Indeed there was risk enough for the most daring, in any case; but a well-armed "company" of tried pioneers on Boone's Road was a dangerous game upon which to prey. It was customary to advertise the departure of a company either from Virginia or Kentucky, in local papers; in order that any desiring to make the journey might know of the intended departure. The princ.i.p.al rendezvous in Kentucky was the frontier settlement of Crab Orchard. Certain of these advertis.e.m.e.nts are extremely interesting; the verbal changes are significant if closely read:

Notice

is hereby given, that a company will meet at the Crab Orchard, on Sunday the 4^{th} day of May, to go through the wilderness, and to set out on the 5^{th}. at which time most of the Delegates to the state convention will go[15]

A large company will meet at the Crab orchard on sunday the 25^{th} of May, in order to make an early start on Monday the 26^{th} through the wilderness for the old settlement[16]

A large company will meet at the Crab Orchard on the 15^{th}. day of May, in readiness to start on the 16^{th}. through the Wilderness for Richmond[17]

Notice

Is hereby given that several gentlemen propose meeting at the Crab-orchard on the 4^{th}. of June in perfect readiness to move early the next morning through the Wilderness[18]

Notice

A large company will meet at the Crab-Orchard the 19^{th}. of November in order to start the next day through the Wilderness. As it is very dangerous on account of the Indians, it is hoped each person will go well armed[19]

It appears that unarmed persons sometimes attached themselves to companies and relied on others to protect them in times of danger. One advertis.e.m.e.nt urged that everyone should go armed and "not to depend on others to defend them."[20]

The frequency of the departure of such companies suggests the great amount of travel on Boone's Road. As early as 1788 parties were advertised to leave Crab Orchard May 5, May 15, May 26, June 4, and June 16. Nor does it seem that there was much abatement during the more inclement (safer?) months; in the fall of the same year companies were advertised to depart November 19, December 9, and December 19. Yet at this season the Indians were often out waylaying travelers--driven no doubt by hunger to deeds of desperation. The sufferings of such redskinned marauders have found little place in history; but they are, nevertheless, particularly suggestive. One story, which has not perhaps been told _ad nauseam_, is to the point; and would be amusing if it were not so fatally conclusive. In the winter of 1787-88 a party on Boone's Road was attacked by Indians not far from the Kentucky border. Their horses were plundered of goods, but the travelers escaped. Hurrying "in"

to the settlements a company was raised to make a pursuit. By their tracks in the snow the Indians were accurately followed. They were overtaken at a camp, where they were drying their blankets, &c., before a great fire. At the first charge the savages, completely surprised, took to their heels--stark naked. Not satisfied with recovering the stolen goods the Kentuckians pursued the fugitives into the mountains.

Along the course they found trees stripped of pieces of bark, with which the Indians had attempted to cover their bodies. They were not overtaken, though some of their well protected pursuers had their own feet frost-bitten. The awful fate of the savages is unquestionable.

Before Richard Henderson arrived in Kentucky Daniel Boone wrote him: "My advice to you, sir, is 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 fl.u.s.trate 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 letter shows plainly how the best informed man in Kentucky regarded Henderson's settlement at Boonesborough. Henderson's purchase was repudiated by both Virginia and North Carolina; but the Virginia Legislature confirmed Henderson's sales of land, in so far as they were made to actual settlers, and not to speculators, Henderson and his a.s.sociates were granted land in lieu of that taken from them. The Transylvania Company, while looked upon askance by many who preferred to risk their tomahawk claim rights to those the Company granted, exerted as great a moral influence in the first settlement of Kentucky as Daniel Boone affirmed it would--a greater influence than any other company before the Revolutionary War.

What it meant to the American colonies to have a brave band of pioneers in Kentucky at that crucial epoch, is an important chapter in the history of Boone's Road.

CHAPTER IV

KENTUCKY IN THE REVOLUTION

History was fast being made in Kentucky when the Revolutionary struggle reached the crisis in 1775 at Concord and Lexington. South of the Ohio River Virginia's new empire was filling with the conquerors of the West.

The Mississippi Valley counted a population of thirteen thousand, three thousand being the population of New Orleans. St. Louis, in Spanish possession, was carrying on a brisk trade with the Indians on the Missouri. Vincennes, the British port on the Wabash, had a population of four hundred whites. Detroit, the metropolis of the West, numbered fifteen hundred inhabitants, more than double the number in the dashing days of Gladwin only a decade before. The British flag also waved at Kaskaskia on the Mississippi, and at Sandusky. This fringe of British forts on the north was separated from the American metropolis of the West, Pittsburg, and from the first fortresses built in Kentucky, by leagues of forests, dark as when Bouquet pierced them; and filled with sullen Indian nations, awed for the time being by Dunmore's invasion, but silently biding their time to avenge themselves for the loss of the meadow lands of Ken-ta-kee.

Such was the condition of affairs when, in April 1775, the open struggle for independence of the American colonies was roughly precipitated at Lexington. It might seem to the casual observer that the colonists, who were now hastening by way of Boone's Wilderness Road into the Virginian Kentucky, could not feel the intense jealousy for American interests which was felt by the patriots in the East. On the contrary, there is evidence that these first pioneers into the West had a profound knowledge of the situation; and a sympathy for the struggling patriots, which was enhanced even by the distance which separated them, and the hardships they had endured. Not a few of them, too, had known personally of the plundering British officials and the obnoxious taxes. It is the proud boast of Kentuckians that in the center of their beautiful Blue Gra.s.s country was erected the first monument to the first dead of the Revolution. A party of pioneers heard the news of the Battle of Lexington while sitting about their camp fire. Long into the night the rough men told and retold the news, and before morning named the new settlement they were to make, Lexington, in honor of New England's dead.

It was not at all evident at first what the war was going to amount to in the West. Scarcely more was known in the West of the Revolutionary War than had been known two decades before of the French and Indian War.

But at the outset it was plain that there was to be a tremendous struggle on both sides to gain the allegiance, as the British desired, of the Indian nations which lay between the Ohio River and the Great Lakes. For two years the struggle in the East went on, engrossing the entire attention of both parties. During 1776 and 1777 the history of the West is merely the continuation of the b.l.o.o.d.y story of the years which led up to Dunmore's campaign, like the savage attack on Wheeling, in September, 1777. Slowly the Indians forgot Lewis's crushing victory at Point Pleasant, and their solemn pledges at Camp Charlotte; and were raiding the feeble Kentucky posts with undiminished relish, or giving the Long Knives plenty of provocation for the barbarities of which the latter are known to have been guilty.

The opening scene of the Revolutionary War in the West was the most important phase of the war in the history of Boone's Wilderness Road; for at the very outset the question was decided once for all whether or not that thin, long, priceless path to Kentucky through the Watauga settlement was to be held or lost. If it could not be held, there was no hope left for the brave men who had gone to found that western empire beyond the c.u.mberland Mountains. With their line of retreat cut in two by the southern Indians, they were left without hope of succor or success: for the success of their enterprise depended upon the inspiration their advance gave to those behind them. None would come if the Wautauga settlement did not survive.

The British agents among the Southern Indians--the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws and Chickasaws--precipitated a quick and early struggle along this historic pathway by goading the Indians into a murderous attack upon the Watauga settlement. The Cherokees who had sold the Transylvania Company its lands, were the most easily incited to war, and fifty packhorse loads of ammunition scattered through their towns in those deep mountain valleys where the two Carolinas and Georgia meet, determined an outburst in July, 1776. Straight north from them lay the rude beginnings of civilization on the headwaters of the Tennessee, and further "in" was the frontier line of Virginia. The headquarters of the Watauga settlement may be said to have been Fort Watauga, commanded by the heroes Robertson and Sevier; here Boone had made the treaty with the Cherokees for Richard Henderson, a trifle over a year ago. Eaton's, Evan Shelby's, John Shelby's, Campbell's, and the Wommack forts were the important way stations on this path from Virginia to Kentucky. Two Indian parties larger than the others made for Fort Watauga and Eaton's Station, and the defenders of the latter post, learning from their scouts that a formidable array under the notorious Dragging Canoe was coming, resolved to give them a hot, unexpected welcome. Accordingly, on the morning of July twentieth nearly two hundred brown forms could have been seen stealing away from the fort in two thin lines half lost in the fog toward the open land known as "the Flats" near the "Long Island" of the Holston. In the march an advance party of a score of savages was met and put to flight. No other signs of the enemy could be discovered and the men started back to their fort at the end of the day.

Dragging Canoe, not less audacious than his foes, awaited his time, and when the whites were marching homeward, came down upon them, his savages forming a wedge-shaped line of battle. Instantly the borderers fell back to the right and left, and with a desperate quietness awaited the onslaught. The Indian plan of rushing the whites off their feet by an overwhelming charge failed; the borderers settled deeper into the ground and met the rush and dashed the savage line into fragments. One charge--and all was over. There was no recovering from this form of attack for untrained soldiery, and the a.s.saulting band instantly broke and fled. This battle of Long Island Flats was the first of the series of victories for the Watauga pioneers; its importance can hardly be measured today.

Its best fruit was that it brought other victories to the encouraged Wataugans. On the same day the other Indian horde invested and a.s.sailed Fort Watauga at dawn. Only about two score men were at home to defend a large number of women and children, but they were fully equal to the emergency and with a frightful burst of fire drove back the line of savages which could just be seen advancing at that hour when Indians invariably made their attacks--the early dawn. Robertson was senior officer in command, and Sevier his brave a.s.sistant. The latter, having learned of the Indian uprising, characteristically wrote a message to the people far away on the Virginia border to look well to their homes--never even asking that a.s.sistance be sent to the much more feeble and vastly more endangered Watauga settlement on the Kentucky road.

Elsewhere the border warfare was being waged with varying fortune; a small band of Georgian frontiersmen invaded the Cherokee country[20*] in the hope of capturing a notorious British agent, Cameron; it suffered heavily through the faithlessness of the Cherokees. The whole southern frontier was aroused, and plans for dashes into the Cherokee country were made but could not be forwarded simultaneously. Yet Cameron and his Tories and Indians acted in unison and brought sudden desolation into South Carolina. The force of the blow was broken by the brave Colonel Andrew Williamson, who, gathering over a thousand volunteers near the end of July began the first important invasion of the Cherokee country.

Near Eseneka, the Cherokee town, the Carolinians found Cameron and won a costly victory. After some internal dissensions the little army got on its mettle and went steadily forward to wipe out the lower Cherokee towns, which was completely accomplished by the middle of August.

Scarcity of ammunition, only, kept Williamson from attacking the middle towns.