Stories of Old Kentucky Part 13

HOW REELFOOT LAKE WAS FORMED

About two o'clock in the morning of December 16, 1811, the inhabitants of southwestern Kentucky, especially those in Fulton County, were aroused and alarmed by a most destructive earthquake shock that shook the Mississippi Valley throughout. It extended all along the Ohio beyond Pittsburgh, pa.s.sed the Alleghenies, and died on the far-away coast of the Atlantic Ocean.

The first sign of the catastrophe was distant, rumbling sounds, succeeded by continued discharges as of unnumbered pieces of artillery.

Then the earth rocked, chasms yawned, columns of coal, sand, and water shot up, while electric flashes, shooting through the otherwise impenetrable darkness, added horror to the scene. Twenty-seven distinct shocks were experienced before dawn. Then shock followed shock, the land was overshadowed by a dense, black cloud of vapor to which the light imparted a purplish tinge, but no sunbeam penetrated the pall that overhung all.

Lakes appeared where hills had been; elevations of land were found instead of lakes; the land in many places, miles in extent, was sunk below the level of the surrounding country. The current of the Mississippi was driven upstream for several hours, on account of an elevation in its bed; the waters boiled up in huge swells and violently tossed the boats thereon; sandbars gave way; huge trees crashed and disappeared in the maddening billows; the sh.o.r.es opened in wide fissures, closed, and threw huge jets of water, sand, and mud high above the treetops. The water of the river was changed to a reddish hue, thick with mud thrown up from its bottom, while the trembling surface was covered with huge ma.s.ses of foam.

From this temporary barrier, made by the upheaval of the bottom and the sinking of the sandbars and banks, the river rose five or six feet in a few minutes; then the booming waters with redoubled fury rushed forward with resistless power and carried everything before them. Boats, with horror-struck crews, shot down the declivity "like arrows from the bow,"

and were overwhelmed or wrecked on snags, that had been thrown up from the bottom of the river, or were carried down in the vortexes. These shocks continued every day until December 21, and occasionally until February of the succeeding year.

It was during this extensive and exciting convulsion that Reelfoot Lake, in Fulton County, made its first appearance. This great and singular body of water was formed by sand, blown out of a chasm opened by the earthquake, damming the waters of a creek, which spread over the territory and formed a lake twenty feet deep, from three fourths to two and a half miles wide, and seventeen miles long. For many years the tops of immense trees could be seen in the water by boatmen as they hunted the waterfowls or cast line for the fish with which it abounds.

KENTUCKY VALOR IN 1812-1815

The young republic of the United States tried to follow the warning of Washington, "Friendship to all, entangling alliances with none."

Although France had aided us in our struggle for independence, we remained neutral when war was carried on between her and England.

Although it was said of our President, that he "could not be kicked into a fight," yet, when our commerce was well-nigh destroyed, our sailors taken from our vessels and forced to serve in the British navy, and our vessels fired upon by England's, we followed the policy of two of our most gifted Southern sons, Clay and Calhoun, and on June 18, 1812, again declared war against Great Britain.

When the call came for volunteers to aid the regular army, although Kentucky's quota was only five thousand five hundred men, from mountains and glens, from field and farm, from bench and bar, from every walk of life, came her best blood, seven thousand strong, volunteering their services to their country's cause.

When one thousand five hundred men were required to join General Hull in his expedition against the savages, in the Northwest, two thousand answered the call, only to learn, after crossing the Ohio, that Hull had cowardly surrendered his army and the whole of Michigan territory to the British, although his army numbered nearly double the enemy.

For several months, at various times and places, the Kentucky troops did special and efficient service. In January of the succeeding year, Colonel Lewis with from seven hundred to one thousand Kentuckians, marched against a combined force of British and Indians at Frenchtown on the river Raisin, and drove them from the village. Three days later, General Winchester was told that a large force of the enemy was on its way to attack the victors. As the night was bitter cold, the precaution of stationing pickets was neglected, and early the next morning, two thousand British and Indians under General Proctor suddenly attacked the camp. The Kentucky riflemen fought stubbornly for hours. Their ammunition ran low, but still they fought. Even when summoned to surrender they, Spartanlike, preferred death. But, being promised that their wounded would be safely guarded and humanely treated, they laid down their arms. History records how this promise on the part of Proctor was not kept, how the drunken Indians burned and tomahawked the helpless men and officers, until long afterward the rallying cry of the Kentuckians was, "Remember the river Raisin--Raisin and Revenge."

At Fort Stephenson, one hundred and sixty men under Colonel Croghan of Kentucky repulsed Proctor with nearly four thousand. When the idolized General Isaac Shelby went at the head of the Kentuckians, all felt that he would lead them to victory.

It is said that when Commodore Perry wrote, "We have met the enemy and they are ours," after his memorable victory on Lake Erie, that one hundred sharpshooters from Kentucky had aided in the capture.

At the battle of the Thames nearly all the American troops were Kentuckians, and that gallant soldier, Colonel Richard M. Johnson, did n.o.ble service in the killing of the noted Tec.u.mseh. When Jackson, barricaded behind cotton bales at New Orleans, defeated Pakenham with his veteran forces, more than one fifth of the American soldiers were Kentucky riflemen.

A TRIUMVIRATE OF ELOQUENCE

Kentuckians, past and present, have ever been distinguished for their brilliant, persuasive oratory on the stump, at the bar, or in the forum.

Three of the most eloquent men our state claimed in the nineteenth century were Clay, Marshall, and Menefee.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Thomas F. Marshall.]

Wherever Thomas F. Marshall, a native of Kentucky, lifted up his voice, he entranced all with his profound logic, flight of fancy, stinging satire, and beauty of language. Had his powers of self-control been as great as his genius, learning, and eloquence, no position in the dizzy heights would have been beyond his reach. But his brilliancy, his worth, and his work were all obscured by that dreadful blight, intemperance.

Mr. Marshall's tribute to another orator and statesman, Richard H.

Menefee, is p.r.o.nounced by all to be one of the most graceful and eloquent pa.s.sages in our literature.

Born in obscurity, rising rapidly by his own energy and eloquence, at twenty-three Menefee was the commonwealth's attorney. At the bar his success was phenomenal. In the state legislature and in the United States Congress, where he served one term each, he, from the first, was recognized as a student and a statesman surpa.s.sed by none. His strength of character, his courage of conviction, his surpa.s.sing eloquence, brought praise from all. When at the height of fame, when men eagerly sought his counsel, and throngs hung upon his words, consumption closed his brief but brilliant life in his thirty-second year.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Richard H. Menefee.]

KENTUCKIANS IN TEXAS AND MEXICO

Among the volunteers that flocked to the support of Texas when she threw off the yoke of oppression there were many hundred Kentuckians. However, our state was not aggressive about the annexation of the new republic, which all saw might lead to war with Mexico.

After the annexation, General Zachary Taylor, an adopted Kentuckian, was sent with troops to protect Texas, and soon war began. When Kentucky called for thirty companies, one hundred and five were organized.

At Monterey some of our bravest fell, among them being Major Philip N.

Barbour. General William O. Butler was among the number severely wounded. In honor of their bravery on this battlefield, the Kentucky legislature pa.s.sed complimentary resolutions on the Louisville Legion, and presented swords to General Taylor, General Butler, and the widow of Major Barbour.

At the b.l.o.o.d.y battle of Buena Vista, where General Taylor had nearly five thousand men, one fifth of the troops were from Kentucky. The Mexicans had a force more than five times the number of the Americans, still the victory was ours. As the killed and wounded were eighteen per cent of the enlistment, Kentucky paid dearly for the glory won.

Among the fallen were Colonel William R. McKee, Lieutenant Colonel Henry Clay, oldest son of the great statesman Henry Clay, and Adjutant Vaughn.

When many, who had given their lives for the cause, were reinterred at Frankfort and a fitting monument was erected, on it was inscribed this quotation from the immortal elegy, "The Bivouac of the Dead," by our soldier-poet, Theodore O'Hara:

"The m.u.f.fled drum's sad roll has beat The soldier's last tattoo!

No more on life's parade shall meet That brave and fallen few; On Fame's eternal camping ground Their silent tents are spread, And Glory guards, with solemn round, The bivouac of the dead."

CLAY, THE GREAT COMMONER

In Hanover County, Virginia, April 12, 1777, was born Henry Clay, the "Millboy of the Slashes," who in after years became the idol of our state, and one of the most notable figures in the entire Union.

Left fatherless at the age of five years, his teaching and training devolved upon his mother. So well did she perform her part that much of her ill.u.s.trious son's greatness may rightfully be ascribed to maternal influence.

At the early age of twenty-one Henry Clay became a member of the bar at Lexington, and it was not long before his genius, his eloquence, and his versatile powers made for him a name that will ever endure.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The "Millboy of the Slashes."]

He served the state of his adoption in the lower house of the state legislature for several terms. Part of that time he was speaker of the house, in which position the zeal, energy, dignity, and decision characteristic of him distinguished his every act. Later he was elected representative to the lower house of the United States Congress, was re-elected several times, and during the entire time was Speaker of the House, having received the very high and unusual compliment of being thus chosen on the first day he appeared as a member of that body.

He served as a valuable member of the commission which met at Ghent, Belgium, to arrange the treaty of peace between this country and Great Britain in 1814.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Henry Clay's Home, "Ashland."]