BY
\Y I L L l A l\,J S 1~ E \V A R 1.. L E S . r E R. Ph. D.
P R O F E S S O R. 0 F H I 5 T O R Y A N ll S O C I A L ·s l" I F. S t· F. K~~TUCKY WESL~YAN COLLEGE WINCHESTER., KENTUCKY
S A M U E L R. G U .A R D & C O . SPENCER INDIANA 1 9 3 5 COPYRIGHT 1935 THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO MY WIFE, SALLIE LOU EASON LESTER, IN SINCERE APPRECIATION OF THE MANY SACRIFICES SHE HAS l\1ADE TO \V ARD MAKING THE BOOK POSSIBLE.
PREF.lCE
The Transylvania _ colonization scheme was one among several that were formulated for the exploita tion of the hinterlands of the English colonies in North .'\merica during the three decades preceding the open ing of the American Revolution. None of these pro posed colonies ever reached fruition. The Transylvania Company was indeed, the only one of this group that actually planted a colony. Although its period of pro prietary control was brief, its contribution to the settlement of the West, whatever it may have been, is worthy of careful investigation and accurate ap praisement. This study seeks not only to give the narrative his tory of the Transylvania Colony, pains being taken to sift carefully and critically the available evidence for all the historical facts pertinent to the colony and to evaluate the significance of each incident in the course of the story, but proposes also to make a critical study and evaluation of those phases of its history of a legal and political nature that have for some time been more or less the subjects of controversy. Thus this study undertakes to prove that, since the Transylvania Com-_ pany was not a royally chartered con1pany, but merely a company ,:vhose objectives were illegal and unap proved, and actually disapproved, and since its eco nomic status rested solely on a commercial agreement entered into by nine men for the purpose of exploiting certain western lands, primarily for their own benefit, it had no legal or authorized right to make a treaty of any kind, since said making of treaties is the right of sovereigns only, and therefore the so-called Sycamore Shoals Treaty was not a treaty at all, but merely a deed by which the land company sought to acquire seventeen million acres of land, more or less, in the viii PREFACE western country. In the second place an attempt is made to sho,v that this deed did not in fact give the Transylvania Company clear and undisputed title to the land, for the Cherokee Indians, who made the deed, had only shadowy and hazy hunting-ground rights to the land; that moreover there were other claimants, such as the Iroquois Indians, Great Britain and Vir ginia, that held valid vested interests in the lands in dispute; that the Transylvania Company in its effort to colonize was violating the laws of Great Britain, especially certain prohibitions of the Proclamation of 1763, as well as statutes of the Provinces of Virginia and Nor~h Carolina forbidding unauthorized dealings with the Indians. The Transylvania Company in setting up a govern ment and claiming to give valid land deeds was ex ceeding its authority. There was absolutely nothing in the constitution of this company which gave it any· sovereign rights, and its attempt to exercise such rights was usurpation pure and simple. Relative to the contest between Henderson and c·om pany (the legal title used by the Company_ in the con duct" of its business) and Virginia on the one hand and North Carolina on the other concerning the title in the lands in question, and the sovereignty -over them, it is held that, since Henderson and Company were without charter, possessed no power of sovereignty, and had merely obtained a deed to lands in which, in fact, the vendor had only vague hunting-ground claims, which it held jointly with other vested claimants, the two States were entirely within their legal and ethical rights in declaring null and void the asserted claims of Henderson and Company to hol~ title to the land or to institute a government. However, the compensations of some 400,000 acres of land granted to the incorpora tors of Henderson and Cornpany by Virginia and North PR·EFACE ix
Carolina were both justified and adequate: justified, because by the agreement made between the proprie tors of the Transylvania Colony and the Cherokee In dians, whatever claims the latter had were quieted and these two States were the beneficiaries thereby; ade quate, because the value of these lands gave full com pensation for all the expense and trouble which the proprietors had undergone. The contribution made to western history by the planting· of a Transylvania Colony at Boonesborough can be easily overestimated. While it is true that Boonesborough Fort successfully resisted all the at tacks from the savages ~uring the period of the Revo lutionary War, it would be rather difficult to prove that the settlers at Harrodsburg and Logan's Fort, neither of which was ever taken by the Indians, would not have held the western country for the pale faces even if there had been no Boonesborough and rio Transylvania Company. In the second place the Indians made no severe attacks upon the station5; in the Transylvania region until after the Transylvania Com pany had practically ceased to be a vital factor in the development and defense of the area, though it was still contesting for its pretended rights, and it was not the proprietors of Transylvania, but Virginia, that provided troops, ammunition and other materials of warfare·, so that it is Virginia which merits the credit of holding the country for the pioneers. In th~ collection of data for this study I have dili gently sought to get every bit of source material perti nent to the topic and have tried with utmost care and fairness to select the true from the false and the rele vant from the irrelevant. I have endeavored- to be logi cal in all my interpretations. In many instances my efforts to gather pertinent material have been keenly disappointing. Many exceedingly valuable records X PREFACE seem to be hopelessly lost. Much correspondence of Richard Henderson and his associates has been iost, we know not how in many cases. Homes containing old records, almost invaluable for our purposes, have been burned, notably Spring Hill, the home of Nathaniel Hart Jr., near Versailles, Kentucky, and a home near Nashville, Tennessee, in which there were probably many papers of James Robertson relating to his trans actions with the Transylvania Company. Papers and documents, whose historical value cannot be estimated until they shall have been made public, have been ac cumulated, by one means or another, i'n the hands of manuscript hoarders, and are not available. Sooner or later, material may come to light to fill in many a hiatus and to confirm the chief statements made in this study or to correct errors of fact or conclusion in it. I have attempted to give a full bibliography. In order to simplify foot-note references, I have made them brief. The critical reader is referred to the bibliography for full information. In the preparation of this study the writer has be come indebted to a number of persons for aid in col lecting material, in helpful criticism and in courteous treatment. His especial appreciation is due and is here by expressed to Dr. Charles M. Knapp of the Univer sity of Kentucky upon whose suggestion the study was begun and under whose direction it was carried on, for innumerable and invaluable suggestions and criticisms; to Dr. J. T. Dorris of Eastern Kentucky State Teachers' College, Mr. D. M. Hutton of Harrods burg, Kentucky, Mr. James French and Dr. George F. Doyle of Winchester, Kentucky, for many helpful aids and suggestions; and to Mrs. Jouett Taylor Cannon of the Kentucky State Historical Society, and Miss Ludie J. Kinkead of the Filson Club Library, for their pain staking service and unfailing courtesy. CONTEN'fS
CHAPTER I. ORGA?~IZATION O.b., THE TFtANSYL- VANIA COMP.A.NY ------1 Early career of Richard Henderson, i. He organizes a land company, 4. Plans retarded by the Regulator Moven1ent, 5. Conflict of Henderson's plans \Vith the Royal Proclan1a tion of 1763, 10. Contrast with conten1- porary colonization schemes, 13. Boone's ill-fated attempt to settle Kentucky, 15. Henderson organizes Louisa Company, 17. Preliminary negotiations with the Chero kees, 19. Transylvania Company organized, 21. The invalidity of Henderson's scheme, 24.
ll. THE SYCAMORE SHOALS TREATY 29 Governors Du1nmore and Martin aroused, 29. \Vhites and Indians gather at Sycamore Shoals, 31. The land deal consun1mated, 33. An analysis of the terms of sale, 36. The Path Deed, 38. Dunmore's Proclamation, 39. The illegality of the Cherokee Purchase, 42. Virginians interested in Kentucky lands, 44.
III. EARLY PIONEER KE!~TUCKY ______48 Explorations about 1750, 48. Later ex plorations, 50. Boone's early travels in Ken tucky, 50. Other explorers and surveyors, 52. Advent of Harrod's Company, 54. Har rod and the McAfees return to Kentucky, 57. CONTENTS xlli
CHAPTER IV. THE COMING OF BOONE AND HENDER- SON ------58 Boone blazes a trail for Henderson, 58. Boone's party attacked by Indians, 62. · Jo seph Martin in Powell's Valley, 66. Calk and other Virginians join Henderson, 68. Henderson sends Cocke to re-assure Boone, 71. Incidents and hardships of Hender son's journey, 73. Whitley family comes to Kentucky, 77. Henderson plans a fort at Boonesborough, 79. Drawing for lots, 80. Misunderstanding between Henderson and Nathaniel Hart, 81.
V. TRANSYLVANIA INSTITUTES A GOV- ERNMENT ------83 Henderson's difficulties concerning valid- ity of land titles, 83. Henderson plans a convention, 88. Transylvania constitution and by-laws, 93. Analysis of its plan of government, 96.
VI. ADMINISTRATION OF TRANSYL- VANIA ------99 Civil and military commissions issued, 99. Problems of food supply, 101. Pioneer land hunger, 102. The roving, restless ad venturer, 105. The Oxford meeting of the proprietors, 107. Transylvania affairs in autumn 1775, 109. Williams administers · colonial affairs, 113.
VII. "THE FOURTEENTH COLONY" ______120 Transylvania men1orial to the Continental xiv CONTENTS
CHAPTER VII. Congress, 120. Hogg's unsuccessful mission, 122.
VIII. REVOLUTION IN TRANSYLVANIA ...... 127 Growing dissatisfaction roundabout Har rodsburg, 127. Clark assumes leadership of Revolutionists, 134. Henderson's defense be fore -the Virginia Convention, 138. Clark and Jones represent the Revolutionists, 142. Creation of Kentucky County, 146. Analy sis of the Transylvania-Virginia contro versy, 149.
IX. INDIAN CONFLICTS, 1776-1777 ...... 162 Kiduaping o:f Boone and Callaway girls, 162. Perilous conditions in autumn of 1776, 170. Clark brings powder to Kentucky, 171. Kentucky County organized, 17 4. c·onstruc tion of forts, 175. Indian attacks in spring of 1777, 178. Perils and' privations endured by pioneers, 189. Virginia aids with troops, 191.
X. THE SIEGE OF BOONESBOROUGH ...... 197 Capture of Boone's party at Blue Licks, 197. Boone adopted by Blackfish and taken to Detroit, 201. Skirmishes in Kentucky in spring of 1778, 203. Boone's escape from Chillicothe, 205. Boone prepa1·es for the defense of Boonesborough, 207. Indians open the siege with parleys, 210. Indians make a treacherous peace, 213. The nine day siege, 217. Boone court-martialed for treason, 223. CONTENTS xv
CHAPTER XI. HENDERSON AND COMPANY VERSUS VIRGINIA ...... 226 Henderson's preparations for contest, 226. The contest in the Virginia Assembly, 229. The Company's claim denied, 230. Company granted land compensation, 231. Justice of the Assembly's action, 234. XII. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC LIFE IN TRAN- SYLVANIA ...... 237 The primeval background, 237. Building homes and clearing land, 239. Furniture and cooking utensils, 241. Clothing, 242. Food, 244. Slavery, 248. Richard Callaway Estate inventory, 248. Merchandising, 249. Marriages and births, 250. Personality char acteristics, 252. Religion, 253. Professions, 254. XIII. TRANSYLVANIA IN NORTH CAROLINA ··············································································255 Henderson plans settlement in Cumber- land Valley, 255. Settlement of French Lick, 257. Donelson brings settlers to Cum berland, 262. The Cumberland Compact, 265. Transylvania's contribution to the set tlement 9f Cumberland, 268. Henderson and Company versus North Carolina, 269. The Powell's Valley land grant, 271. XIV. SETTLEMENT OF HENDERSON ...... 275 The Green River grant, 1778-1797, 275. The Company prepares for its settlement, 277. Settlement at Red Banks, 279. The settlement of Henderson, 280. BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 282 CHAPTER I
ORGANIZATION OF THE TRANSYLVANIA COMPANY HE pre-revolutionary period of American colonial history was prolific in the promotion of coloniza Ttion enterprises which had for their obj eetives the settlement of portions of the Trans-Alleghany West and the enrichment of the promoters. The history of the Transylvania Colony differs from that of its con temporaries in more than one respect. In the first place it was an attempt to plant an independent, pro prietary colony without first securing the consent and approval of Great Britain; and in the second place a settlement was actually made and a government for the colony was temporarily instituted. The history of the attempt and of the settlement is for the most part the story of the effort of a group of land speculators and exploiters to found a colony in the fertile and beau tiful Blue-Grass region of Kentucky and of the initial impact of this colonial nucleus on the development of the western country. · The development of the original concepts and em bryonic plans for the establishment of this colony is difficult to trace. That these ideas and plans had their origin and growth in the fertile brai11: of Richard Hen derson is, however, sufficiently clear. Henderson was born in Hanover County, Virginia, April 20, 1735. His father, Samuel Henderson, was of Scotch ancestry; his mother, Elizabeth Williams Henderson, was of 1 2 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY
Welsh stock. When Richard was ten years old, the Henderson family moved to Granville County, North Carolina.1 This pioneer country provided few opportu nities for any formal education of the Henderson children, except in the most rudimentary way. Con troversy has arisen as to the extent and the manner of the early scholastic training of Richard Henderson. Smyth, the English traveler and author, who met Hen derson in 177 4, wrote that the latter "was grown up to maturity before he was taught to read and write, and he acquired these rudiments of education, and arith metic also, by his own indefatigable industry." 2 More reliable sources indicate that the boy's education, al though limited, was given him by his mother, whose instruction was supplemented by a private tutor.3 But he possessed unusual mental capacity, was ambitious, and availed himself of every opportunity to improve
IDraper MSS2CC44; Ashe, Biographical History of North Caro lina, 297. :?Smyth, I. 77. Smyth came to America about 1769 and settled near Williamsburg, Virginia, as a physician. During the years 1774 and 1775 he made extensive travels in the southern colonies and the back country. It has been generally believed that he was a spy of the British Government. During the Revolutionary War he was active on the British side, and later drew a pension of 300 pounds a year from the British Government for these services.-Travels in Virginia in Revolutionary Times, 16. The truthfulness of many of his statements has been often questioned, as the follow ing evidence: "Lyman C. Draper of Baltimore, who has tested Dr. Smyth's work by original documents in his possession, pro nounced it full of entire falsehoods; not in mere exaggeration, but in shameless lies."-Perkins,
1Lossing, 585; Cotterlll, 73. 2Nash, The History of Orange County, 96. SLetter of John D. Williams, Swain MSS. 4Jbid. 5Draper MSS2CC44. 6Ibid. 7\Vhceler. Hist.oricttl Sketches o/ North Carolina, 102. ~i..\'orlh Ca.ro~ina Colonial Records. VII. 132. 4 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY and living in Hillsboro, where he is highly esteemed." 1 While Henderson was yet a young attorney, he be gan to take a vital interest in the lands beyond the Cumberland Mountains, and to dream of their acquisi tion for the purpose of colonial exploitation. Such early ,vell-known writers of western history as Ramsey, Haywood, Hall and Lossing are authorities for the statement that Daniel Boone, Samuel Callaway and Henry Skaggs were employed by Richard Henderson at various times, Boone as early as 1764, to explore for him the hinterlands of Carolina and Virginia. Con cerning Boone Lossing wrote: "It is the opinion of those best informed that he had been a secret agent in the scheme for several years." 2 There can be little doubt that Henderson became interested in the western lands from the alluring descriptions given him by Boone and other explorers and hunters who were trav ersing them constantly. Not long after he became enamored of his dream of western colonization he or ganized a land company entitled Richard Henderson and Company. vVith him were associated Thomas Hart and John Williams. 3 Hart also was born in Hanover County, Virginia. About the year 1756 he moved to Orange County, North Carolina,' where he served as sheriff in 1762-1763. He was a "sturdy, honest and brave man." 5 He was in the North c·arolina Assembly
IAshe, Biographical History of North Carolina, 297. :!Ramsey, 69; John Haywood, 48; Hall, The Romance of Western History, 158; Lossing, 583; Henderson, "The Creative Forces in Westward Expansion", 101. The connection of Boone, Callaway and Skaggs with Henderson and his plans, whatever that con nection may have been, was secretive to a remarkable degree. The historians mentioned evidently rely on tradition and give no references to contemporary documentary sources, and there seem now to be no such sources in existence. However, tradition is strong in this instance, and the conjecture is quite plausible and worthy, broadly speaking, of acceptance. 3Henderson. "The Creative Forces in Westward Expansion", 99. -tDraper MSS2CC25. aNash, Hillsboro, Colonial and Revolutionaru. 8; North Carolina Colonial Records, VIII. 233. ORGANIZATION OF THE TRANSYLVANIA COMPANY 5 in 1773, in the Provincial Convention of 1774, and later served in the State Senate.1 John vVilliams practiced law, in partnership with Henderson, in Hillsborough, the county seat of Granville County, North Carolina. He was also a large landholder in that vicinity. He becan1e pron1inent in the political affairs of his State; served in the North Carolina House of Commons in 1777, of which he was speaker; represented his State in Continental Congress in 1778 ; was a judge in the state courts in 1779; and was later nominated for gov ernor and for the United States Senate in the North Carolina Assembly. 2 There were no tangible results for many years fro1n the reports brought to Henderson by Boone and oth ers, or from the organization of Richard Henderson and Company. There were many reasons, no doubt, for this long delay. During the several years that Judge Henderson was a me1nber of the Superior Court he must have been a busy man, finding in the duties of this office an outlet for his restless energies and satis faction for his fervid ambitions. During his tenu1·e of office there occurred the trouble with the Regula tors in North Carolina. In his earnest effort to enforce the law and maintain order Judge Henderson becan1e considerably involved in the incidents of this move ment. The Regulators, who were dissatisfied with the unfair apportionment of the representatives in the Colonial Assembly from the frontier counties and the equally unjust tax system, which discriminated like \Vise against the frontier settlers, undertook to take the law in their own hands and secure political and economic justice by methods decidedly revolutionary in character. Their movement had its center in Hills borough, the county seat of Orange County. By Sep-
1North Carolina Colonial and State Records, IX, X, XI and XII. 21bid. X. 165, XII. 265, v, XII. vii, XVI. 35, 37, XXI. 253. 614. 6 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY te1nber, 1770, the situation had beco1ne tense. ,vhen Judge Henderson, sitting alone, opened court in the little court house at 1-Iillsborough on Saturday, Septen1- ber 22, he ,vas handed a petition by a representative group of the Regulators, ,vhich contained a statement of their grievances and expressed their firm intention to secure satisfactory redress at all hazards. Judge Henderson agreed to take their petition under carefu 1 consideration until the following l\tlonday morning. Early l\iionday morning Hillsboroug·h wa.s filled ,vith a shouting, tumultuous throng of men. \Vhen the court ,vas convened at eleven o'clock, the Regulators cro\vded into the court-room "as close as one man could stand by another", armed almost to a man with switches. cowskin whips and clubs. In a letter ,vritten a few days later to Governor Tryon Judge Henderson tl1tL: described the scene: . . . When the House had become so crowded that no more could well get in, one of them (whose name I think is called Fields) came forward and told me he had something to say be fore I proceeded to business. . • . He proceeded to let me know that he spoke for the whole body of Regulators. That they understood I would not try their causes, and their determina tion was to have them tryed, for they had come down to see Jt1stice done and justice they wd have, and if I would proceed to try these causes it might prevent much mischief. They also charged the Court with injustice at the preceding term and objected to the Jurors appointed by the Inferior Court and said they would have them altered and others appointed in their room .•..1 After some parley the judge yielded to their de mands. But the crowd had become a mob, and when the session of the court had been resumed but a short time, several of the men fell on John Williams, wh1J was just entering the court-room, and would have beaten him badly if he had not taken refuge in a near by store-house. They next threatened to strike Judge I-Ienderson, "while he endeavoured from the bench win-
1North Carolina Colon-ial Records, VIII. 241. ORGANIZATION OF THE TRANSYLVANIA COMPANY 7 dow to moderate their fury." They then turned upon Edmund Fanning, ,vho had particularly incurred their hatred. Fanning at first sought refuge on the bench, but was dragged out by the heels and beaten until he succeeded in breaking away and fleeing to the store of Johnston and Thackston, against which the mob threw dirt, brickbats and stones. This resulted in breaking the windows of the house, but not in bring ing Fanning out. The mob next proceeded to whip a number of other men, among whom were Thomas Hart and John Luttrell, both of whom later were members of the Transylvania Company. The threat to whip Judge Henderson was not carried out because he prom ised to hold court until the end of the term, which, ac cording to his own statement, he had no intention of doing. His letter to Tryon continues: .... In about four or five hours their rage seemed to subside a little and they permitted me to adjourn Court and conducted me with great parade to my lodgings. Colo Fanning whom they had made a prisoner of was in the evening permitted to return to his own House on his word of honor to surrender himself the next day. At about ten o'clock that evening I took opportunity of making my escape by a back way, and left poor Col. Fanning and the little Borough in a wretched situation.1 The Regulators, of whom there were several hun dred, patrolled the streets throughout the night, broke many windows and otherwise did much damage. The following day they threatened Colonel Fanning with immediate death, but permitted him to run out of town as fast as he could go. They then destroyed his house~ furniture and practically all his personal belongings. These insurgents remained in the town until W ednes day, during which time they broke most of the ,vin dows and entered the court-house and made entries of comment on the records that were ludicrous, sneering and profane.2
I Accounts of the Hillsborough episode are found in North Caro lina Colonial Records, VIII. 235-245. See also Bassett. 2No,th Carolina Colonial Records, VIII. 235-245. 8 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY
The enmity of the Regulators continued to follow Judge Henderson. At a meeting of the Governor's Council November 19, 1770, Thomas Henderson gave the following information: That on the night of Monday the 12th Instant the barn and stables belonging to his brother, Richard Henderson, Esquire, in Granville County were set fire to and consumed together with several horses and a quantity of corn. And also that on the Wednesday following, being the 14th Instant, a hou3e which was lately the dwelling house of said Richard Henderson, was set fire to and consumed. And the said Richard Henderson and Thomas Henderson both further acquainted the Board that they had reason to suspect that the said deeds were committed maliciously and clandestine ly by some evil minded persons unknown.1 Governor Tryon offered one hundred pounds reward for the arrest of the perpetrators, and in a letter to Hillsborough, President of the British Board of Trade, the following March had this to say : · ... Mr. Henderson, my Lord, is a man of probity and a firm friend to government as well from principle as from the duty of his office and who from his spirited endeavours to preserve the last Hillsborough Superior Court against the insults of the insurgents, by the malice of his enemies and those of govern ment, has had his house, stables, four horses and many other effects burnt last winter, sufferings which pleaded for more humanity than he received from the representatives of his coun trymen.2 The Regulators said the March term of court at Hillsborough should not be held. The three justices of the Superior Court, Howard, Moore and Henderson, presented a petition to the Governor's Council stating that they feared to hold court there, and were relieved from this duty.3 The insurrection continued until May 6, 1771, when the Regulators were defeated at the Battle of Alamance, after which the three judges held
INorth Carolina Colonial Records, VIII. 259. 2Ibid. VII. 525. 3/bid. VII. 519, 538-539. ORGANIZATION OF THE TRANSYLVANIA COMPANY 9 court at Hillsborough. As a result of trials held six Regulators were executed and many others sentenced to imprisonment.1 Undoubtedly the financial losses which Judge Hen derson suffered at the hands of the Regulators were great and must have embarrassed him in the under taking of his land speculation scheme. Smyth wrote of him, in 1775: "But having made several large pur chases, and having fallen into a train of expense that his circumstances could not support, his extensive genius struck out on a bolder track to fortune and fame, than any one had ever attempted before." 2 Theodore Roosevelt makes a some,vhat similar com ment. In fact the similarity is so striking that, since he does not give his source, we may conclude that he is following Smyth. \Ve find him saying this: . . . Henderson was a prominent citizen of North Carolina, a speculative man of great ambition and energy. He stood high in the colony, was extravagant and fond of display, and his fortune being jeopardized he hoped to more than retrieve it by going into speculations in western lands on an unheard of scale; for he intended to try to establish on his own account a great proprietary colony beyond the mountains.3 Archibald Henderson replies to Smyth's derogatory statements thus: "It was not his great ambition and his ostentatious mode ·of life which embarrassed him in his pecuniary relations and cramped his resource~. but his losses occasioned by the Regula tors." 4 Whether or not Smyth and Roosevelt or Archibald Henderson is correct in assigning the causes of the straitened financial situation of Judge Henderson, the latter was at least relieved in 1773 of one of the hin drances in the pursuit of his western plans, for in that
INorth Carolina Colonial Records, VII. 650; Ashe, Biographical History of North Carolina, 298. 2Smyth, I. 78. 3Roosevelt, I. 178. 4Henderson, "Richard Henderson and the Occupation of Ken tucky, 1775", 344. 10 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY year the act of 1766 creating the Superior Court of Justice expired by limitation, and the Assembly passed a new act quite similar to the previous one.1 But the Assembly and Governor Martin, who had succeeded Tryon, became deadlocked over the reorganization of the courts, and no judges were provided for. The Gov vernor then issued commissions of Oyer and Terminer, and appointed Maurice 1\1:oore and Richard Caswell Commissioners, ,vho with Chief Justice Howard held court. Judge Henderson was not appointed to sit on this temporary court, although his two former asso ciates on the bench were chosen.2 Thus relieved of the exacting, and sometimes perilous, duties of judicial of f ice, Henderson now found time to devote to maturing his plans for the exploitation of some Trans-Alleghany lands. As he continued to contemplate the fulfillment of his dreams, however, angther obstacle confronted him: the coveted lands lay in the region reserved for the Indians by the Proclamation of 1763 issued by Great Britain. The- policy of Great Britain in the colonial period relative to the treatment of the Indians had differed f ro1n that of France, the policy of the latter being more acceptable to the Indians than was that of the former. So when by the Treaty of Paris of 1763 all the Indians in Canada and east of the Mississippi River, formerly under the sovereignty of France, or in dispute, came under the sovereignty of Great Britain, the Indians became exceedingly restive, as was quite manifest in the Conspiracy of Pontiac, and it was im perative that the Crown allay the uneasiness and un rest among them. So to quiet the Indians, as well as to hold the whites near the seacoast for the· benefit of
tNorth Carolina State Records, XXIII. 688-703, 872-892. 2Ashe, History of North Carolina, I. 409; North Carolina Colonial Records, IX. 607; Clark, 5. ORGANIZATION OF THE TRANSYLVANIA Co~1PANY 11
British traders,1 the King issued a Proclamation, which made some very specific restrictions regarding the use of lands west of the Alleghany watershed. Portions of this Royal Proclamation deserve close attention : • . . that no Governor or Commander in Chief . . . do presume for the present, and until our further Pleasure be known, to grant Warrants of Survey, pass Patents for any Lands beyond the Heads or Sources of any Rivers which fall into the Atlantic Ocean from West and North West, or upon any Lands what ever, which, not having been ceded to or purchased by Us afo1·e said, are reserved to said Indians, or any of them ...... And We do, hereby strictly fo·rbid, on Pain of our Displeasure, all our loving Subjects from making any Purchases or Settle ments whatever, or taking Possession of any Lands above re served, without our special leave and Licence for that Purpose first obtained...... " ..... We do, with Advice of our Privy Council strictly enjoin and require, that no private Person do presume to make any Pur chase from the said Indians of any Lands reserved to the said Indians, within these parts of our Colonies where, We have thought proper to allow Settlement; but that, if at any Time any of the said Indians should be inclined to dispose of the said Lands, the same shall be Purchased only for Us in our Nnme, at some public Meeting or Assembly of the said Indians, to be held for that Purpose by the Governor or Commander in Chief of our Colony respectively within which they shall lie.... Viewed in connection ,vith the plans of Henderson this Proclamation ..vields the inevitable conclusion thr=.t he was legally restrained from acquiring lands from the Indian claimants in the Alleghany hinterlands or making any settlements there unless and until Great Britain should remove the restrictions contained in the Proclamation or make the permissible adaptations. Even then he could proceed only according to the regu lations imposed by the British Board of Trade. He had the one alternative of violating all the restriction~, anfl this be seemed I>repared to do. This legul obstacle~ ho\vever, n1ust have given him some concern, and he probably pondered it for a long time, for l\'!ann Butler
1Sparks, IV. 305-306. 12 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY is authority for the statement that Henderson secured from Lord Mansfield, an English la,vyer of great repu tation, approval of the validity of his conte1nplated purchase of lands from the Indians.1 In spite of this opinion, ,vhich was neither professional nor official, in the face of the inescapable meaning of the Procla1na tion, Henderson's undertaking was hazardous from a legal and a political point of view. He may have been ,vaiting for the time when Great Britain would modify the rather severe restraints of the Proclamation to the extent that would permit him to proceed in his chosen way, for the Proclamation clearly implied that the settlement of the West was not permanently pro hibited to the whites.:! In fact from the issuance of thP Proclamation to the American Revolution there was a gradual change of policy by the British authorities leading toward the ultimate settlement of the western lands. Lord Shelbourne, President of the .Board of Trade, planned a number of remedies leading toward the solution of this problem, two of which, as ·sum marized by Alvord, were : First, permission ·should be granted the Indians to sell their lands, situated within the settled area, directly to the Crown acting through the governor. . . . The second remedy was to run the boundary line of the Indian reservation far enough to the westward to include the upper Ohio valley so that an ex tension of settlements might be made in this direction.3 Hillsborough, the successor of Shelbourne, in article IButler, LXVII (1836 edition). Butler bases his statement on a document in the Granvil!e papers then in the hands of John Seawell Jones. This document, along with many others of much import to the history of Transylvania, has been unfortunately and hopelessly lost. 2Alvord, ''Genesis of the Proclamation of 1763", 39. In 1767 George Washington wrote Colonel Crawford, his land agent in the West: "I can never look upon that proclamation in any other light (but this I say between ourselves) than a temporary ex pedient to quiet the minds of the Indians. It must fall, of course, in a few years, especially when those Indians consent to our occupying the lands."-Hinsdale, I. 210-211. 3Alvord, "Genesis of the Proclamation of 1763", 32-33. ORGANIZATION OF THE TRANSYLVANIA COMPANY 13 forty-two of the plan which he drew up for the man agement of Indian affairs, wrote in 1764 "that proper measures be taken with the Consent and Concurrence of the Indians, to ascertain and define the exact and precise boundary and limits of the lands which may be proper to reserve to them, and where no Settlement whatever should be allowed." 1 What was conceived in thought in common by Brit ish ministers and American landseekers presently be gan to translate itself into reality. By several treaties with the Indians, the most important of which were the treaties of Hard Labour, Fort Stanwix· and Locha ber, the line of division between the whites and the In dians was pushed to the westward, and in consequence sooner or later more lands would be open for settle ment. By the Treaty of Hard Labour, negotiated by John Stuart, Indian Commissioner for the Southern Division, with the Cherokees, the latter yielded their claims east of the Great Kanawha River, October 14, 1768.2 This was soon followed by the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, November 5, 1768, with the Iroquois Indians, in which Sir William Johnson represented the British Government. By this agreement the Iroquois relin quished their claims to all lands south and east of the Ohio River.3 By the Treaty of Lochaber, October 18, 1770, made with the Cherokee Indians by Stuart at the instigation of Governor Botetourt of Virginia, the Cherokees gave title to a large triangular region, whose western line began at a point where the thirty-fifth degree of latitude crossed the line established by the Treaty of Hard Labour, ran 76 miles west, and from this terminal it ran almost due north to the Great Kanawha.4 INew York Colonial Documents, VII. 840. 2North Carolina Colonial Recoras, vn, 854. SBodley, History of Kentucky, I. 569-575. 4Draper MSSlCC 147-154. 14 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY
When this line was being run by Colonel John Donel son in 1771, one of the Cherokee chiefs, Little Car penter, . . . observed that his nation delighted in having their land~ marked 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 (Kentucky River), and run thence- to the mouth thereof, and thence up the Ohio to the mouth of the Great Kanawha. . . . That leave being granted, by the king of Great Britain, to treat with the Cherokees for a more extensive boundary than that which had been established at the Treaty of Hard Labour, provided the Virginians would be at the expense of purchasing the same, the general assem bly voted 2500 pounds for that purpose, which sum was ac cordingly paid to the Cherokees.1 By this extension of the line to the Kentucky River, and the inclusion of the land between the Great Kanawha and the Kentucky Rivers the area of the tract purchased from the Cherokees was more than double the original tract agreed on by the Lochaber Treaty. Dunmore, Governor of Virginia, approved this change of boundary lines, for he wrote the Ministry : "They have established a natural boundary that can never be mistaken and must forever banish all dispute and contention about it." 2 It was an error, probably an intentional one by interested land speculators, ,vhich confused the Louisa River with the Kentucky. The former, the one actually chosen by the surveyors, is a small river which flows into the West Fork of the Big Sandy. This change of identity was confirmed by Stuart and allowed to stand. 3 These three treaties cleared of Indian claims all lands east and south of the Ohio for the Iroquois, and north of the Kentucky and east of the newly-run Lochaber line for the Cherokees. The latter still held Indian· title to a large area of hunting grounds lying
1Affldavit of John Donelson in Hall, Sketches of the West, I. 248. 2Alvord, Mississippi Valley in British Politics, II. 85. SJbid, II. 84-86. ORGANIZATION OF THE TRANSYLVANIA COMPANY 15 south of the Kentucky River and extending more or less indefinitely to the south. Of these lands doubtless Boone, Callaway and Skaggs brought alluring reports. Henderson looked toward this virgin country with longing eyes, and inspired his associates with some what the same desire for great possessions. Then too this was a hey-day for the organization of land companies, all of whom wanted grants in the newly-acquired, or hoped-for Indian purchases. Alvord well describes the situation: When the famous western pioneer, George Croghan, was in England, he found his associates "land crazy." Most of the public men of the eastern colonies, such as Washington, Henry, Franklin, at one time or another entered into some "get-rich quick" scheme for exploiting and colonizing the West; and the shares of every company for promoting settlement west of the mountains found a ready market. There were at that time in London agents representing the old Ohio Company, formed by the Virginians in 1747; a group of merchants claiming an indemnity in land for losses suffered at the outbreak of Pontiac's Conspiracy; Virginia soldiers claim ing payments in western lands for their services in war; officers and soldiers of Connecticut petitioning for land in a colony to be situated on the Mississippi; a company of officers who served in Pontiac's war who wished to found a colony at De troit; a company of Philadelphia merchants and others peti tioning for the establishment of a colony in the Illinois coun try; and the great Mississippi Company, composed of the most prominent Virginians, asking for an extensive grant on the Mississippi.1 It would be surprising, indeed, if Henderson, Hart and Williams had not been stricken with the contagion of land speculation in the western country and deter mined to make their company, so long dormant and in active, a live institution. In the meantime, while one and another obstacle hindered Henderson from embarking on his enterprise, Boone, who had been in Kentucky in 1769-1771, had, according to his own statement, "returned to my f am- 1Alvord, "Virginia and the West'', 21-22. 16 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY ily, being determined to bring them as soon as possible, at the risk of my life and fortune, to reside in Ken tucky, which I esteemed a second paradise." 1 He came to Central Kentucky again early in 1773, when he became further enamored of the beautiful country and still more determined to hasten his plans for settle ment, all the king's laws to the contrary notwithstand ing. So no longer waiting for the lagging Henderson to complete his plans, and having sold his farm on the Yadkin, Boone, his brother, Squire Boone, a number of the Bryans, who were his . wife's relatives, and others, twenty men in all, besides women and children, on September 25, 1773, started for the Kentucky River region. Boone purposed to reach Kentucky by way of Cumberland Gap. In Powell's Valley, some twenty miles east of the Gap, the party was joined by five ad ditional families. It now numbered eighty persons, half of whom were men. While encamped there, Boone sent his eldest son, James, age sixteen, and two other young men to the home of William Russell to procure needed provisions and some cattle. On their return trip, Oc tober 10, they were accompanied by probably five addi tional men. About daybreak of that morning while driving their cattle, they were waylaid by a small group of Sha,vnee and Cherokee Indians, who, after torturing them, killed young Boone, c·oionel Russell's son and four others. When Boone and his party heard the noise of the attack, which was made only three miles away, they rushed to the aid of the little group, defeated the Indians and drove them off. Although forty others from the Valley of Virginia soon joined the original party, and although Boone himself was anxious to con tinue the journey, so many were disheartened by this disaster that all were compelled to turn back. Boone and his family secured the use of an empty cabin near the
lBoone's Autobiography. ORGANIZATION OF THE TRANSYLVANIA COMPANY 17
Clinch River, where they lived for some thne. There is no evidence that Richard Henderson or any of his associates were involved in Boone's fateful under- taking.1 It is a plausible surmise that, following his failure to settle Kentucky independently Boone turned to Henderson, whose interest in western lands he well knew, and implored him to hasten the planting of a colony on the banks of the Kentucky River.2 Be that as it may, in the following August (1774) Richard Henderson, Thomas Hart and John Williams organized a new company, associating with themselves three others, William Johnston, John Luttrell and Nathaniel Hart, a brother of Thomas. The articles of agreement of the company were as fallows: LOUISA COMPANY The undernamed Persons entered into an Agreement on the 27th August 1774 for the purchase of a large Territory or Tract of Land on the Western waters from the Indian Tribes as fol lows- We Richard Henderson, John Williams, Thos. Hart, Nathaniel Hart, John Luttrell, & William Johnston Agree for ourselves & our heirs for ever, to rent or purchase a certain Territory or Tract of Land lying on the west side of the Mountains on the waters of the Mississippi River, from the Indian Tribes now in possession thereof, and do bind & ob1ige ourselves & our heirs each to furnish his Quota of Expences necessary towards procuring a grant & settling the Country:-that we shall be equal sharers of the property, support each other with our lives & fortunes, and when Requisite will from time to time make & sign such 1·ules and regulations as may be expedient for the security, safety & advantage of ourselves and posterity. In Testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands at Hills borough this 27th day of August 1774- Witness Jonathan Parker Jun- Rich'd Henderson Alex Rexburgh Jno Williams 1Draper MSSllCCll-15, 120051-53; Henderson, Star of E·mpire. 51; Boone's Aubiography,· Summers, History of Southwest Vir ginia, 143; 'Ihwaites, 102--103. 2Draper MSS2CC25. 18 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY
Lancelot Johnston Thos Hart R. Harrison (present at Colo Natl Hart John Bacon ( Hart's signing J. Luttrell Wm. Johnston 1 Thomas Hart was not present at the meeting for the new organization, being in attendance at the North Carolina Provincial Convention. vVilliam Johnston was born in Scotland and came to North Carolina about 1767 or 1768. He was a man of considerable means, and entered the mercantile business in Hillsborough in partnership with James Th~ckston. He was the leading merchant of the little pioneer town, and owned a farm, mill and large estates in Orange and other counties. He was a member of the Provincial Convention of 177 4. He was treasurer of the Transylvania Company, and through long years of service in this capacity showed himself to be highly efficient and faithful.2 John Lutt rell was from Chatham County. He married Susanna, daughter of John Hart, who was a brother of Thomas and Nathaniel Hart. He was killed by the Tories in the Revolution near his home in 1782. 3 "Lt. Col. Luttrell was a man of fiery courage, active, enterpris ing, and firmly attached to the cause of his country." 4 Nathaniel Hart was captain of a company under Gov ernor Tryon at the Battle of Alamance,5 and for his service here was highly complimented by the Governor. He lived at Red House in Caswell County, where. he had established an estate of admirable proportions. Smyth gives an effusive description of Hart:
lDraper MSS1CC2. 2Drar,er MSS2CC33; Nash, Hillsboro, Colonial and Revoluttonary, 8; North Carolina Colonial Records, X. 501. acollins, 512. 4North Carolina State .Records, XXII. 416. S[bid. ORGANIZATION OF THE TRANSYLVANIA COMPANY l!J
The house and plantation to which the Negro slave conducted me, belonged to a Mr. Hart his master, who received and en tertained me with the greatest hospitality and kindness; but what added to my astonishment and great surprise was, to find the proprietor, not only a polished member of society, but almost an accomplished and complete gentleman.... The re freshn1ents, comforts, and consolation he bestowed upon me with a liberal hand, appeared to afford even a superior degree nf :mti~faction and felicity to hin1, than to n1e: and he pressed 1ne to remain there the day following.1 The plans of the ne,vly-organized land company be gan now to mature rapidly. The first item of the pro gram was to get from the Cherokee Indians title to all their claims to the hunting grounds south of the Ohio River to which the British Crown had not already ac quired full title. The methods by which this could be accomplished were hi part perhaps suggested by Boone to the n1embers of the Louisa Company. Boone had become ,,,ell acquainted with James Robertson, one of the leaders of the ,vatauga Settlement, from whom he no doubt learned of the transaction by which the vVatauga settlers had leased from the Cherokees for a term of eight years the lands of the Watauga Valley in exchange for blankets, paint, muskets and other commodities to the total value of six thousand dollars.:? In view of the ·manner in which the members of the Louisa Company proceeded to secure- title to the coveted lands there can be little doubt that they were considerably influenced by the "'ataug·a transaction. In the autu1nn of 1774 Richard Henderson and Nathaniel Hart spent some time in the Cherokee coun try holding interviews with the chiefs of the Cherokees for the purpose of buying from the1n an immense acreage west of the Cumberland Mountions. On No- 1smyth, I. 80. 2Henderson, ''Richard Henderson and the Authorship of the Cumberland Co1npact and the Founding of Nashville", 158; "The Creative Forces in Westward Expansion; Henderson and Boone", 86; Roosevelt, I. 236-237. 20 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY vernber 21 of this year, Major Arthur Campbell, who was stationed at Royal Oak in Fincastle County in western Virginia, wrote to Colonel William Preston, County Lieutenant of Fincastle: "Col. Henderson an~ Capt. Hartt was here also last week on their return fro~ the Cherokees." 2 The following January 3, John Stuart, Commissioner of Indian Affairs for the South ern District, wrote Lord Dartmouth, who had suc ceeded Hillsborough as head of the Board of Trade : "I submit to··your Lordship an extract of a letter from Mr. Cameron by which it appeared that a number of persons from North Carolina were in the Cherokee Nation negotiating some purchase when the said letter was written." 3 About three weeks later Colonel Pres ton wrote Governor Dunmore of Virginia thus: One Colo Henderson and some others from North Carolina have lately been at the Cherokee Nation and made proposals of purchasing all that fine Country between the mouth of the Cherokee River and the mouth of the Great Kanawha; the terms were accepted by all the chiefs then present, and the Little Carpenter went with Henderson to make choice of the goods which had been agreed upon for the consideration. A few days ago they returned through this country, the Little Carpenter on his way to his Nation and Henderson (with Six waggons loaded with goods) to the \Vataga, where he is to be met with all the chiefs of the Cherokees; and proposes hold ing a treaty some time in February or early in March to con firm the agreement, receive a Deed and deliver then1 the goods, which are to be several thousand pounds worth.4 Nathaniel Hart Jr. tells us that his father "returned to his residence in Cas,vell County, N. Carolina, ,vith six or eight of the principal men of the Nation who remained with him until the latter part of the year, when the Company set out to ,~latauga with a large Rupp Iy of goo d s. . . . "5 1campbell's Italics. 2nraper MSS3QQ134. 3North Carolina Colonial Records, IX. 1107. -inartmouth, 5: 1353: 127; Draper MSS4QQ1. ~The Commonwealth, February 25, 1840. ORGANIZATION OF THE TRANSYLVANIA COMPANY 21
On December 25, 177 4, there appeared an advertise n1ent issued by Richard Henderson and Company en titled "Proposals for the Encouragement of settleing the Lands purchased by Rich'd Henderson & Co. on the branches of the Mississippi River from the Cherokee Tribe of Ind_ians." This was almost three months be fore the so-called treaty ,vas made with the Cherokees in which actual purchase took place. This advertise ment contained a number of inducements, promises, stipulations and regulations for all who wished to avail themselves of the opportunity of settling in the coun try about to be bought, viz. : First, fifty soldiers were to be raised for the "pro tection of the Settlers of the Country", and each wa~ to be re,varded by 500 acres of land and three pound~ sterling, or its equivalent. Secondly, every settler vvho ... shall employ himself and those under hin1 in cultivating and raising a crop of Corn and other employment for the good of the Community and to continue until the first day of Septem ber next always ready with their Lives and Fortunes to de fend, protect and support each other in their mutual inter ests and advantages against the Savages, shall have the privilege of taking up Lands upon the following Terms to wit, 500 acres for himself and two hundred and fifty Acres for each tithable person whom he shall take with him and continue as aforesaid · on payment of Twenty shillings ster ling per hundred or the value thereof in other currency, and also an annual Quit Rent of Two shillings sterling per hundred clear of all encumbrance. Thirdly, grants of land were offered to those who would set up iron works, 5000 acres; salt manufactury, tooo acres; a "Great Mill", 500 acres; a saw mill, 500 acres. Five hundred acres were also offered to the set tler who would produce the largest crop of corn, "in proportion to the number of hands he may have under him the ensuing season", and also to the settler who would take the largest number of sheep to the colony. On February 22, 1775, an additional advertisement, 22 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY
apparently attached to the foregoing, was issued by Henderson, "For himself & Co." It read: Whereas the Subscribers are about and have the greatest reason to believe will shortly compleat the purchase of a large Tract of Country lying on the Kentucky, Cumberland and other waters of the Ohio and Tenisee Rivers with a view of setling that most desirable Territory with a large number of honest farmers, artificers, etc., and being credibly inf-0rmed that a number of persons disposed to go and become adventurers there in, are some on their way, others preparing. for their journey.•.. Since prudence and compactness of settlement were necessary for common safety, the proprietors, the ad vertisement continues, . . . most earnestly entreat all persons minded to go and settle that Country this ensuing Season to conform to the Rules laid down by ourselves as well as for their benefit as ours, that is to say that all the Emigrants or Adventurers of this Spring would settle in a Town or Township for this year at least on some convenient part of the land to be chosen for that purpose, that during the year every man may be looking out for such land as he may choose to settle on when safe to disperse. For an infringement of those rules ''we think it en cumbent on us to declare that no person that shall wil fully and obstinately refuse to comply with these terms so necessary to our well being must expect to come within any of the Indulgences heretofore published by ourselves in case we should become purchasers of that Country." 1 By the beginning of 1775 the enterprise had out grown the articles of agreement of the Louisa Com pany. On January 6 there was .a reorganization. The new company was called the Transylvania Company, and there were three new members, making nine in all. The introduction to the articles of reorganization reads : "Some Time thereafter three other copartners being admitted viz. James Hegg, David Hart, & Lend lNorth Carolina Colonial Records, IX. 1129-1131. ORGANIZATION OF THE TRANSYLVANIA COMPANY 23
Henly Bullock they assumed Name, Stile, or Title, of the Transylvania Company, .and entered in a new agree ment or Covenant." This covenant is a lengthy document, quite verbose, characteristically legal, covering seven large pages. The members were "copartners & Tenants in Common by the Laws of England." Each should possess one-eighth interest in "a certain TeITitory pr Tract of Land lying on the Ohio River & waters thereof, including the Rivers Cumberland, Louisa & c.... That is to say each mans particular part to their and each of their respective use & uses.... ", except David Hart and Bullock, who owned one-sixteenth each. The purpose is thus stated: The proprietors ''have purchased the same with an intent and Design to sell and dispose thereof, to such persons as are willing and chuse to become purchasers & to hold from under them. . . . " The covenant provides for the interests of heirs, as signs, donees, and devisees of the original purchasers, but protects the latter from disadvantages and inj us tices that might arise from the control of the property by minors or an excessive increase of votes. The latter contingency is taken care of in the following clause: "always having regard to the Quantity as well as the Quality of the Proprietors who shall have votes in making and entering into such Rules and regulations for the pu11>0se aforesaid, that is to say, the votes to be given on all such occasions shall be only Eight." The reason for covenanting about the property before the actual rights of possession were gotten are thus stated: [The proprietors] have bargained & purchased of the Said Cherokee Indians the aforesaid Lands lying on the Ohio river and the waters thereof, still we have not obtained a Grant for the same of the Chiefs of the Said tribe of Indians, but only bargained for the Same and placing full confidence in the Said Indian Chiefs, that they will make to us the Said purchasers 24 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY - a sufficient Grant persuant to the Said agreen1ent, we the Said partners have bound ourselves our heirs & c. to be at equal expences agreeable to the proportionable part of each single individual, as aforesaid in purchasing the Said lands-Where f ore we the Said purchasers bind ourselves our heirs & c. each to' the other, to pay & discharge his Quota as aforesaid, and when such Grant obtained that this Covenant or article of agreement shall have Respect & Reference thereto, and that we & each of us shall & will be bound by the Same as firmly as if the Said Grant was now made. . . .1 James Hogg was a Scotchman, who came to North Carolina in 177 4 and settled at Hillsborough. He was a planter and large landholder, was prominent in the Transylvania Colony and in his State.2 "James Hogg was no politician .... He was~ however, one of the most influential men of his day." 3 David Hart was a brother of Thomas and Nathaniel Hart, all three of whom served as captains in the Regulator vVar. 4 Bul lock was a brother-in-law of John Williams, and was a member of the .Loyal Regulators Association in Orange County.5 All members of the Transylvania Company were men of intelligence, honesty, and strength of character. None of then reached national prominence, but each was a man of influence in the affairs of his community, county, or state, and several of them in all three of these. There seems to be no source which reveals that Henderson and his associates made any attempt what ever to secure the approval of the C:rown for their plans for planting a colony in the West. Alden says: "It seems probable that the company which set up this new government intended originally to petition for a royal charter, as the Wal pole Company had done." ,;
lDraper MSS1CC3-9. 2nraper M 8S2CC33; Gaston M. Alves, 5-6. asprunt, 13. 4North Carolina Colonial Records. IX. 486. aJbid, VII. 233-234. ti Alden, 49. ORGANIZATION OF THE TRANSYLVANIA COMPANY 25
He bases this conclusion on a sentence in the memorial which the Transylvania Company sent to the Conti nental Congress in September, 1775, which reads: .... They flatter themselves that the addition of a new colony, in so fair and equitable way, and without any expense to the cro'Wn, ,viii be acceptable to his most gracious majesty, and that Transylvania will soon be worthy of his royal regard and protection.1 Alden's conclusion hangs on a slender thread. There is no intimation here that Henderson ever contem plated- getting a charter for his company "originally." There is not only no scintilla of evidence to show that he planned to get the approval of the Crown before hand, but there are records to the contrary,2 which re veal an arrogance and a defiance to tne king that would be unpardonable in so honorable a man as Richard Henderson did we not take into consideration that he was a country lawyer in a back-woods town and un skilled in the art of dealing with kings' councils and great governments. For example, Preston wrote to Dunmore·, January 23, 1775: . . . Henderson . . . does not propose paying Quitrents unless his majesty will recognize his Title and in that case will only give up the sovereignty and pay the usual Quitrents; but will reserve the granting the land to the Company. He declares that no Land shall be surveyed with [in] his bounds but such as shall be purchased from him; nor will be suffer those to be Settled which have been Surveyed for the Officers and Soldiers unless the owners compound with him and behave themselves well. I did not see Henderson myself, but the above information I had from Major Campbell and Several other Gentlemen of undoubted veracity who were in Company with him. 8
lNorth Caroli11,a, Colonial Records, X. 258. 2Preston wrote George Washington, January 31, 1775: "Hender son ... sets the Government at Defiance & says if he once had five hundred good Fellows settled in that country, he would not value Virginia; that the Officers & Soldiers who have Lands sur veyed there must hold under him, otherwise they shall not enjoy an Inch there"-Wilson, 223-224; Draper MSS15S100. 3Dartmouth, 5: 1353, 127; Dra,,,er MSS4CC1. 26 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY
Archibald Henderson attempts to justify the attempt of the Transylvania Company to deal with the Indians and to make a settlement in Kentucky in the face of clear and precise prohibitions of such action in the Proclamation of 1763. "The opinion,'' he states, "cited by Lord Mansfield to Judge Henderson, as stated was, it can not be doubted, the famous Camden-Yorke opinion." 1 In the first place the Mansfield opinion is not far removed from things mythical. About all we know of its existence and its contents is based on a footnote in Butler's Htstory of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, which states that "Lord Mansfield is said to have given the sanction of his great authority in favor. of the purchase: of course not professionally." 2 Also James Alves, a descendant of James Hogg, said in 1846: "Lord Ellenborough (I think was his name) gave his opinion favorable to the validity of the purchase.'' 3 Although there were copies of the Camden-Yorke opinion in the colonies for some time before 1775, evi dently Richard Henderson had not heard of it either from Mansfield or otherwise until he received a letter from James Hogg late in 1775. When the latter was in Philadelphia in the fall of that year, many months after the Transylvania Company had made its bargain with the Indians and had begun the colony at Boones borough, he wrote quoting the opinion, "of which I was so fortunate as to secure a copy." 4 It is almost incon ceivable that Hogg would have been so elated over finding an opinion substantiating the validity of the Transylvania scheme or so careful to send a copy of it to his chief if either one of them had been previously aware of its existence and its nature.
lHenderson, "Pre-Revolutionary Revolt in the Old Southwest", 204. 2Butler, !xvii (1836 edition>. SDraper MSS2CC34. 4American Archives. 543. ORGANIZATION OF THE TRANSYLVANIA COMPANY 27
An analysis of the Ca1nden-Yorke opinion and its history shows that the refusa~ of Henderson to obtain a charter from the King or to get his approval was not justified by it, even though the former had known of its existence, for the opinion did not at all apply to af fairs in America. Samuel \Vharton, one of the mem bers of the Vandalia Company, gives a brief history of the Camden-Yorke opinion: In 1757, the East India Company of London petitioned the King, that in a new charter which it was then soliciting, a clause might be inserted, for enabling them to hold and enjoy, subject to the King's right of sovereignty, all such districts and territories as they had acquired, or might hereafter acquire, (in Asia) from any nation, state or people, by treaty, grant or con quest, upon which these respectable lawyers [ Camden and Yorke] (being then the King of England's Attorney and Solici tor General) officially advised him, "that in respect to such territories as have been, or shall be acquired by treaty or grant from the Great Mogul, or any of the Indian princes or govern ments, your Majesty's letters patent are not necessary; the property of the soil vesting in the Company by the Indian grant subject only to your Majesty's right of sovereignty over the settlements, as English settlements, and over the inhabit ants, as English subjects, who carry with them your Majesty's laws wherever they form colonies, and receive your Majesty's protection by virtue of your royal charters. . . . " 1 Copies of the opinion were brought to America by the promoters of some of the western colonial schemes and were copied by all others in an attempt to bolster their designs. "Trent secured from Henry Dagge and John Glynn, two of the r.aost en1inent lawyers of Lon don, written opinions which stated in essence that the Camden-Yorke opinion was applicable to the Indian grants." :! 'l'hese promoters eagerly seized on this opinion in the hope that they \vould be able to persuade the British authorities that it applied to .lunerica as
1Wharton 9. /1,_ co~JY of the <:'!~tmr!en -Yo!·k~ opi11l,"l~1 of ::lightly 1 Wharton, 9. CHAPTER II THE SYCAlVIORE SHOALS TREATY U!v10RS of the plans of the Transylvania Con1- pany spread quickly through the backwoods of R North Carolina and Virginia, and soon reached the ears of the Governors of these Provinces. They produced fear and consternation in the hearts of the King's officials. In a letter to Dunmore, January 23, 1775, to which reference has been made, Preston fur ther expressed himself :. This great and fine country Henderson proposes to Settle early in the Spring, by selling it to the Adventurers at the moderate price of twenty Shillings Sterling per hundred Acres, which, with some further encouragement he offers, ,vill, I am app1·ehensive, induce a great n1any families to Settle there whc will not look upon themselves as Subjects of his l\.Iajesty, and therefore when they get possession, it n1ay be almost impossible to 1·emove or reduce them to obedience. Henderson undertakes to make deeds in his own and Company's names to the pur chasers as Sole proprietors of the Land; and may easily per suade those ignorant People to believe his Title good ....1 Not many weeks after the foregoing letter was written, Governor Josiah Martin of North Carolina, be ing greatly stirred by the news about prospects of the Transylvania Company, issued on February 10, a proc lamation which was published in the North Carolina Gazette of February 24, 1775. It was issued against "Richard Henderson and His Confederates". Martin quoted somewhat at length from that portion of the Royal Proclamation of 1763 relating to the purchas- 1Dartmouth. 5: 1353, 185-188. 29 30 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY ing of lands by private persons in the do111ain re"'erved for the Indians, then from an act of the North Carolina ·Provincial General Assembly "That no white lVIan shall, for any consideration whatsoever, purchase or buy any Tract or Parcel of Land claimed or actually in possession of any Indian ,vi thou t Liberty for so do ing from the Governor and Council first had and ob tained unde1· the Penalty of Twenty pounds for every hundred acres of Land so bargained for and purchased ...." Martin's Proclamation further stated: And Whereas I have information that a certain Richard Hen derson, late of the County of Granville of this Province, con federating with divers other Persons, hath, in open violation of his Majesty's said Royal Proclamation and of the said act of the General Assembly of this Province entered into treaty with certain Indians of the Cherokee Nation for the Purchase and Cession o-fl a very large Tract of Country. . . . And whereas, this daring, unjust and unwarrantable Proceeding is of a most alarming and dangerous Tendency to the Peace and Welfare of this and the neighboring Colony inasmuch as it is represented to me that the said Richard Henderson and his confederates h~ve conditioned to pay the Indians for the cession of Land before mentioned a considerable quantity of Gunpowder, where by they will be furnished with the means of annoying his Maj esty's subjects in this and neighboring Colonies; and that he also hath invited many Debtors, and other persons in desperate circumstances, to desert this Province and become Settlers on the said Lands, to the great injury of creditors. And whereas, it is to be apprehended that if the said Hender son. is suffered to proceed in his unwarrantable and lawless undertaking, a settlement may be formed that will become an Asylum to the most abandoned Fugitives from the several Colonies, to the great Molestation and Injury of his Majesty's subjects.... I have thought proper to: issue this Proclamation . . . strictly to forbid the said Richard Henderson and his Con federates, on pain of his Majesty's highest displeasure, and of suffering the most rigorous Penalties of the Law, to pros ecute so unlawful an Undertaking, as also to enjoin all his Majesty's liege subjects to use all lawful means in their power to obstruct, hinder and prevent the Execution of his Design of settlement, so contrary to Law and Justice and so pregnant with evil consequences. And I do hereby forewarn all ... having any concern or dealings with the said Richard Hender son, touching the said Lands for which he is said to have en tered into treaty with the Indians as aforesaid or with any THE SYCAMORE SHOALS TREATY 31 other Person or Persons who have engaged or may engage in Projects of the like Nature, contrary to the Tenor of his Maj esty's Royal Proclamation aforesaid, as every Treaty, Bargain and Agreement with Indians repugnant thereto is illegal, null and void, to all Intents and Purposes, and that all partakers therein will expose themselves to the severest Penalties. . . .1 In a letter of March 10, 1775, Martin wrote to the Earl of Dartmouth : A certain Mr. Henderson, an attorney of some eminence in this Province, has lately executed a most extraordinary project for the particulars of which that I have heard I beg leave to refer your Lordship to the Copy of the Proclamation herewith enclosed. It is an enterprise which threatens the worst conse quences in my opinion and the more as Henderson is industrious ly persuading the people that purchases from the Indians are good in law against the Crown as well as any other Claimant and I shall be glad to receive his Majesty's commands upon this point.2 In spite of proclamations and threats the plans for the final ratification of the purchase by the Cherokee Indians and the beginning of the settlement of Tran sylvania, as the new colony was to be called, went on apace. The goods with which the Indians were to be paid for their lands were bought at Cross Creek (Fay etteville, N. C-.) during December, 1774.3 Archibald Henderson informs us : "Through his extensive busi ness operations, of barter and sale, with the Scotch merchants at Cross Creek, Johnston was very largely instrumental in securing the vast quantity of goods needed to effect the purchase from the Cherokees. The bonds of the various bills of supplies were underwritten by the partners of the land company." 4 These goods were being stored, after an overland journey of some distance, at Sycamore Shoals on the southern bank of 1North Carolina Gaaette, February 24, 1775; North Carolina. Colonial Records, IX, 1122-1125. 2North Caroltna Colonial Records, IX. 1159. 3Henderson, Star of Empire, 53; Clore MSS. 4Henderson, ''Richard Henderson and the Occupation of Ken tucky, 1775", 348. 32 THE. TRANSYLVANIA COLONY the Watauga River, a tributary of the Holston, near the place where the town of Elizabethton, Tennessee is now located. There the Indians began to gather dur ing January,1 and by the latter part of February their nun1ber had increased into hundreds, for by that time the preliminaries of the meeting had begun. Felix Walker, in his "Narrative" tells us: "'Ve continued at Watauga during the Treaty, which lasted about twenty days." 2 Preston in another letter to Dunmore, written March 10, informed him: ... that between five hundred and a Thousand Cherokees came in & that the whole Business was to· be concluded this week as the Indians had no objections to the Sale. That a great Number of Hands are employed in cutting a Waggon Road through Mockeson & Cumberland Gaps to the Kentucky which they expect to compleat before planting time; & that at least 500 people are preparing to go out this Spring from Carolina be side great Numbers from Virga. to Settle there & that the Com pany intends to have a Treaty with the Wobash Indians & give them a considerable present to Permit the Settlement on those Lands.... It is generally believed that had the Commissioners been there from this Government, & met the Indians before they Saw the Goods that the Sale might have been prevented; How ever that be the matter is now become Serious & demands the Attention of the Government otherwise it is too likely that valuable & extensive Territory will be forever lost to Virginia.8 There were about a thousand or twelve hundred Cherokees at Sycamore Shoals, about half of whom were men. 4 The leading chiefs were Atta-Kulla-Kulla the Little Carpenter, Oconostota-Dragging Canoe, and Savonooka-the Raven. Walker gives an interesting description of Little Carpenter. His name was du~ to ... his deep, artful, and ingenuous diplomatic abilities, ably demonstrated in negotiating treaties with the white people, 1wnson, 223. 2Felix Walker's Narrative. 3Virginia Calendar of State Papers, I. 165; Draper MSS4QQ7. 4Deposltlon of Charles Robertson, Virginia Calendar of State Papers, I. 292; Letter of Preston to George Washington April 9, 1775, Papers of Washington, XVI. THE SYCAMORE SHOALS TREATY 33 and influence in their national council; like as a white carpen ter could make every notch and joint fit in wood, so he could bring all his views to fill and fit their places in the political machinery of his nation. He was the most celebrated and in fluential Indian among all the tribes then known, . • . He was said to be about ninety years of age, a very small man, and so lean and light habited, that I scarcely believe he would have exceeded more in wehrht than a pound for each year of his life.... In one of his public talks; delivered to the whites, he spoke to this effect: he was an old man, had presided as chief in their council, and was president of his nation for more than half a century, had formerly been appointed agent and envoy extraordinary to the king of England on business of the first importance to· his nation; he crossed the big river, arrived at his designation,. was received with great distinction, had the honor of dining with his majesty and the nobility; had the ut most respect paid him by the great men among the white peo ple; had accomplished his mission with success; and from the long-standing in the highest dignities in his nation, he claimed the confidence and good faith in all and everything he would advance in support of the rightful claims of his people to the Bloody Ground, then in treaty to be sold to the white people.1 At the Watauga meeting the Transylvania Company was represented by Richard Henderson, John Williams, Thomas Hart an_d Nathaniel Hart. Quite a number of pioneers were present; notable among them were James Robertson, John Sevier, Isaac Shelby and William Bailey Smith. The business dealings lasted four days, March 14-17. On the first day· Henderson questioned the Indians concerning their ownership of the lands wbich were being bargained for. After a conference among themselves, they replied that the lands were theirs. 2 They offered to sell him land for which they claimed _C'olonel Donelson had promised to pay them five hundred pounds, and hadnot done so; but Hender son was not interested in small areas, "as he had a house full of goods for them." 3 1Felix Walker's Narrative. 2Deposition of James Robertson, Virginia Calendar of State Pa pers, I. 285. 8Deposition of Charles Robertson, Virginia Calendar o/ State Papers, I. 293. 34 THE TRANSY~VANIA COLONY On the second day the Indians offered to sell land above the Kentucky River, or between the Kentucky and the New River, but Henderson refused to buy these because, he said, Virginia had already bought them. Henderson then threatened that if he could not get the lands he desired, he would keep his goods. "The Dragging Canoe went out displeased on hearing the Proposals of the said Henderson as to what Lands he wanted to purchase, because (as the Indian said) the white people wanted too much of their Hunting Grounds." The other Indians followed him and the meeting was adjourned for that day.1 The next day the Indians returned to the parley and an agreement was made by which the Transylvania Company ac quired the territory from the Kentucky to the "waters of the Cumberland River", though the Cherokees mur mured that they were selling lands that would be needed by their children for hunting-grounds. On the fourth day (March 17) the deed was signed.2 During the negotiations Oconostota made a speech that was both pathetic and prophetic. As paraphrased by Haywood, it is as follows: He began with the very flourishing state in which his na tion once was, and spoke of the encroachments of the white people . . . upon the . . . nations of· Indians who left their homes and seats of their ancestors to gratify the insatiable desire of the white people for more land. . . . It was once hoped that they would not be willing to· travel beyond the mountains.••. But now that fallacious hope had vanished; they had passed the mountains and settled upon the Cherokee lands, and wished to have their usurpations sanctioned by the confirmations of a treaty. When that should be obtained the same encroaching spirit would lead them upon other lands of the Cherokees. New cessions would be applied for, and finally the country which the Cherokees and their forefathers had so long occupied would 1oepositions of Charles Robertson, James Robertson, Samuel Wilson and John Lowry, VfTginu,, Ca.Zendar of State Pa,pers, I. 284- 292. 2neposition of James Robertson. Virginia Calend,a,r of State Papers, I. 286. THE SYCAMORE SHOALS TREATY 35 be called for; and a small remnant which may then exist of this nation, once so great and formidable, will be compelled to seek a retreat in some far distant wilderness, there to dwell but a short space of time before they would again behold the ad vancing banners of the same greedy host; who, not being able to point out any further retreat for the miserable Cherokees, would then p1·oclaim the extinction of the whole race. He ended with a strong exhortation to run all risks and to incur all conse quences, rather than to submit to any further delacerations of their territory. But this did not prevail, and the cession was made.I There is convincing evidence that all the transac tions between the Company and the Indians were fair ly made. A number of deponents, who were present at the making of the so-called treaty, testified to the fair ness of Henderson. The Indians had their own inter preters, who translated the deed to them sentence by sentence as it was read aloud. In addition to the offi cial interpreters for each party, there were men in each group who understood both languages, who served as checks upon the chief interpreters. John Ried, who was interested as a prospective purchaser of lands from the Indians, asked that the deeds be 1"'ead before they were signed, ,vhich was done.:! vVhen the confer ence had been broken up on the second day by the disaffection of Dragging Canoe, son1e of the ,vhites proposed to John Williams that a private or secret deed be made with the chiefs, but \Villiams ref used to make any transaction except an open one with the whole tribe.3 Lpng and well-established tradition has it that the sum of ten thousand pounds was paid by the Transyl vania Company for the goods exchanged with the In dians for their lands. There are in existence only tJohn Haywood, 58-59. :~:..:cpositicns of Jan1es Robertson, Isaac Shelby, John Ried, Samuel Wilson. Natha.niel HenderRon, Charles Robertson and Wil liam Farrar, Virginia Calendar of State Papers, I. 272-307. 3Deposition of James Robertson. Virgl,nia Calendar of State Pa- pers. I. 286. 36 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY partial inventories of these goods.1 Their real value is a matter of speculation. Smyth says there were "only ten waggons loaded with cheap goods, such as coarse woolens, trinkets, and spiritous liquors." 2 Again Smyth is likely in considerable error. Other source8 are more specific, and list corn, flour, guns, amn1uni tion, bears, bullocks, hogs, rum and "other necessaty's to a g·reat amount." 3 Also there were such articles as shirt metal brooches, wrist bands, gaugets, salt, bearskins, duffle, booting, green durante, Dutch blankets, silver housing, ribbons, etc. 1 The run1 ,vas not given to the Indians until after the conference was over.5 The so-called treaty of Sycamore Shoals, or Wa tauga, ,vhieh was not a treaty at all, but a deed from the Cherokees to the members of Henderson and Com pany, when stripped of its unnecessary legal verbiage and its excessive verbosity, contains these items: First, Oconostota, Atta-Kulla-Kulla and Savanooka are empowered to act for the Cherokees, who claim to be the "aboriginees and sole owners by occupancy from the beginning of time of the lands" they are about to convey. Secondly, ... for and in consideration of two thousand pounds of lawful money of Great Britain [No mention is made of eight thou- sand pounds worth of goods, which sum is necessary to account for the traditional price of ten thousand pounds] . . . the re ceipt whereof the said Oconostota and his said whole nation, do and for themselves and their whole tribe of people have granted, bargained and sold, aliened, enfeoffed, released and confirmed . . . unto them the said Richard Henderson, Thomas lClore MSS. !:Smyth_. I. 78. aneposition of William Farrar, Virginia Calendar of State Papers, I. 272-273; The Commonwealth, February 25, 1840. 4Clore MSS. snepositions of Samuel Wilson and John Ried, Virginia Calendar of State Papers, I. 282, 284. THE SYCAMORE SHOALS TREATY 37 Hart, Nathaniel Ha1·t, John Williams, John Luttrell, William Johnston, David Hart, James Hogg, and Leonard Henley Bul lock their heirs and assigns forever all that tract, territory or parcel of land, situate lying and being in North America on the Ohio River, one of the eastern branches of the Mississippi beginning on the said Ohio River at the n1outh of the Kentucky, Chenoca, or what by the English is called the Louisa River, from thence running up the said River and the most northerly branch of the same to the head spring thereof, thence a south east course to the top ridge of Powel's Mountain, thence west wardly along the ridge of 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 said river including all its waters to the Ohio River, thence up said River as it n1eanders to the beginning, & c. Thirdly, the land was not deeded to Richard Hender son and Company or to the Transylvania Company, but to the nine members thereof "in several and tenants in common; and not as joint tenants". Each of the fol lowing seven was to hold one-eighth part, Henderson, Thomas Hart, Nathaniel Hart, Williams, Luttrell, Johnston and Hogg; David Hart and Bullock was each to hold one-sixteenth part. Fourthly, Joseph Martin and John Farrar were con stituted and appointed by the Cherokees as their true and lawful attorneys to represent them in the convey ance of the lands. Fifthly, it was signed by the three authorized chiefs and eight witnesses, as should be properly and legally done in making a deed to land. None of the purchasers signed. This latter fact is sufficient proof that this document and all it stands for was not a treaty in any true sense of the word. If a mere group of men were to purchase a parcel of land from the United States Government severally or jointly, it would be ridiculous to call the transaction a treaty. The right to make a treaty is a right of sovereignty possessed only by na tional governments, or by a· group to whom the power of treaty-making has been legally and specifica1ly granted. Richard Henderson and Company, the Tran- 38 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY sylvania Company, or the nine copartners severally had no charter, possessed no power of sovereignty, and could therefore make no treaty of any kind whatsoever.- Near the close of the conference Henderson secured the consent of the Indiaris to the making of a second deed known as the Path Deed. Between the land al ready possessed by the whites and that just being sold to Henderson and his associates lay a strip of land still belonging to- the Cherokees. So Colonel Henderson told them that "He did not love to walk on their land. That he had some Goods, Guns and Ammunition which they had not yet seen." 1 "And therefore proposed to make a further purchase of all the lands lying down Holston, and between the Wataugah purchase, Col: Donelson's Line and Powel's mountain, or the line of the Land they had just agreed to sell." 2 There was on the prem ises at this tin1e John Carter to whom the Indians were indebted to the sum of some six or seven hundred pounds without much prospect of payment. Carter of fered to buy from them a tract for whose compensation he would cancel the indebtedness and pay un additional aniount of goods. This offer the Indians refused. But Henderson promised them to destroy the Carter ac counts or "books", give them the goods Carter had, and perhaps additional goods, in return for a deed to the to the pathway. To this offer the Indians gave consent._ It was said that afterwards Henderson made Carter a deed to a portion of the land secured by the Path Deed. 8 This deed - ..• Conveys all that tract, territory or parcel of land beginning at the Holston River, where the course of Powel's Mountain lDeposition of Charles Robertson, Virginia. Calendar of State Papers, I. 293. 2Deposition of Nathaniel Henderson, Virginia Calendar of State Papers_. I. 3j5. Virginia Calendar o/ State THE SYCAMORE SHOALS TREATY 39 strikes the same, thence up the said river as it meanders to where the Virginia line run by Donelson, to about six English miles eastward of the long island in the said river; thence a direct course toward the Great Canaway until it reaches the top of Powell's Mountain, thence westward along the same ridge to the beginning. Dunmore, stirred by Preston's letter of March 10, and doubtless by other information, issued a proclama tion "In hopes of tempting the followers of Henderson by offering them the means of acquiring Safe and legal titles to the Lands which they have drawn upon, the greatest part of which are within the limits of this Colony ... and inspiring some degree of apprehension of the Power of this Government in these People, I have issued the Proclamation herewith enclosed." 1 The Proclamation fallows: Whereas his Majesty did, at the request of the Assembly of the Colony, permit the western boundary thereof to be extended as the same has been run and ascertained by Colonel Donelson, and other surveyors, deputed for the purpose; and whereas his Majesty hath, for the greater Convenience of, and the prevent ing of Litigation and Disputes among, such persons as shall be inclined ta settle upon any of the vacant Lands, ordered that all that Tract of Land included in the aforesaid Boundary, and all other vacant Lands in this Colony, be surveyed in Districts, and laid out in Lots of one Hundred to one Thousand Acres, and as fast as said Surveys shall be compleated by the Surveyors, duly authorized, and the Surveys thereof returned, and that the Lands, so surveyed and allotted, be put up to public Sale, at such time and place as shall be appointed by public Notice; and that the highest Bidder of such Lots and Parcels of Land, at such Sales, be the Purchaser thereof, and be entitled to a Grant in Fee Simple of the Land so purchased as aforesaid, by Letters Patent under the great Seal of the Colony, subject to no Con ditions and Reservations whatever, other than the Payment of the annual Quit Rent of one half Penny Sterling per Acre, and aliso of all Mines of Gold, Silver, and precious Stones: And whereas Advice has been received, that one Richard Henderson, and other disorderly Persons, his Associates, under Pretence of a Purchase made from the Indians, contrary to the afore said Orders and Regulations of his Majesty, do set up a Claim to the Lands of the Crown in the Limits of this Colony; I have lLetter of Dunmore to Dartmouth, March 14, 1775, Dartmouth, 5, 1353, 213-217. 40 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY thought fit, therefore, to issue this my Proclamation, strictly charging all Justices of the Peace, Sheriffs, and other Officers, civil and military, to use their utmost Endeavours to prevent the unwarrantable and illegal Designs of the said Henderson and his Abettors; and if the said Henderson or others con cerned with him, shall take possession of, or occupy any Lands in the Limits of his Majesty's Government of Virginia, merely under any purchase, or pretended purchase, made from Indians, without any other Title, that he or they may be required, in his Majesty's Name, forthwith to depart, and relinquish the Possessions so unjustly obtained; and in Case of Refusal and of violent detaining of such Possession, that he or they n1ay be immediately fined & imprisoned in the Manner the Laws in such Cases direct.1 Dunmore, who was himself deeply interested in west- ern lands,2 was making strenuous efforts to forestall the scheme of the North Carolina land-seekers. He wrote Lord Dartmouth that he would try to defeat the scheme by creating fear among the Indians by writing them a letter. This he did in the following language : I am informed that the Cherokees have inconside1·ately (not to say worse) listened to the dangerous proposals of a Certain evill disposed and disorderly Person named Henderson, and, allured by little present gain, have entered into a bargain for Lands, which they either have Sold or intend to sell to the said Henderson.s He further stated in his letter to the Indians that the King would not permit them to give titles to land to private persons. He desired them not to sell their lands to Henderson and his associates, and if they had al ready done so to rescind their bargain.4 On March 21, he wrote a long letter to Colonel Preston in which he gave minute and detailed instructions ~ow lands should be surveyed, sold and deeded. He seemed anxious that these instructions be carried out with diligence, but directed that no lands be surveyed which had been pe- inartmouth, 5: 1353, 257; Ranck, 181-182. 2Alvord, "Virginia and the West", 26. aoartmouth, 5: 1353, 259. 4Dartmouth, 5: 1353, 260-262. THE SYCAMORE SHOALS TREATY 41 titioned for by the "\Val pole Company or that lay be yond the Donelson line. He enclosed his Proclamation "and," he went on to say, "beg you will disperse copies of it throughout the Back Country as much as you can; It may probably have the effect of disposing Hender son's followers to abandon him and his Project." He also enclosed his letter to the Cherokees for forward ing .1 Preston did not find opportunity to forward this letter until June.2 At that time he also wrote a letter to the chiefs, in which he told them that the people of the nearby Provinces were alarmed at their sale of land to Henderson, and proceeded to show them that they had no claims to the land they had sold, for the title had been acquired by the king at the treaties of Lancaster, Logstown, and Fort Stanwix. 3 George Washington, who was greatly interested in western lands, was alarmed by the Sycamore Shoals purchas~. He ,vrote to Preston : "There is something in that affair which I neither understand, nor like, and wish I may not have cause to dislike it worse as the mystery unfolds." 4 Two days after Dunmore sent his Proclamation to Preston for distribution, Governor Martin wrote to Lord Dartmouth as follows: There prevails an opinion, I find, which is industriously cul tivated by Henderson, the famous invader I mentioned in my last letter to your Lordship, that people may take up lands of the Indians by lease although they can not purchase of them without n1ilitating against the King's Proclamation of 7th of October, 1763, and accordingly I understand his bargain with the Cherokee Indians that at first I understood to be a pur chase is now reported to' be a Lease of 999 years of a tract of Country four hundred miles square to which I am informed many of the wretched and desperate people of this Province talk of resorting upon the invitation given out by Henderson who·se doctrine is clearly in my opinion contrary to the express I Draper Jtl SS4QQ9. 2Draper M SS4QQ18. 3Draper MSS4QQ17. ·1Writings of George Washington, Fitzpatrick, III. 279. 42 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY words as well as the meaning and design of the Royal Proc lamation referred to.1 On March 28, John Stuart, Indian agent, wrote Dart mouth a letter in which he stated that Cameron had issued a proclamation for the arrest of Henderson and his associates and pointed out the danger that would arise unless their enterprise were stopped. 2 Dunmore and Martin were perfectly justified in issu ing proclamations forbidding Richard Henderson and Company from taking possession of the so-called Tran sylvania region. While the members of the company did not individually deserve the epithets hurled against them by the two governors, their collective action was presumptuous in the extreme in the light of the Proclamation of 1763, which they had violated both in letter and in spirit. And although at the time that Henderson launched his enterprise, the colonists were dissatisfied with the manner of the rule of the Mother Country in many of its phases, and justly so, and soon came to open rebellion, there was no j usti fication for a group of nine persons, \Vithout chartered rights and for personal profit and aggrandizement, to take possession of British lands. The laws and regula tions by which Great Britain exercised her control over the region west of the Alleghanies we11 e not arbitrary and unjust. Her motives were beyond reasonable ques tion. In this matter she was far more sinned against than sinning. The legal method of procedure in the acquisition of Indian lands by the ·whites, which had been followed before and after the issuance of the Proclamation of 1763, was that the governor or other agent of the Brit ish Government first obtained the cession of the de sired land area by means of a treaty with the Indians INorth Carolina, Colonial Records, IX. 11'75-1176. 2Jbtd. IX. 1173. THE SYCAMORE SHOALS TREATY 43 as required by the Proclamation, or other\vise accord ing to law, then the land \Vas disposed of to individuals and land companies by officials authorized to do s0. 1 Between the time of the acquisition of the land from the Indians and its disposal to the whites, the British Government not only had political possession, but also actual title to the land. Thus the Ohio, Loyal, Missis sippi, Vandalia, Illinois and \Vabash Companies~ though some of their ways may have been devious and ques tionable, sought only to get title to the lands they de sired after the Indian title had been quieted through legal channels by authorized agents of the Crown. 2 It is true that individuals often violated His Majesty's injunctions by settling in the forbidden region, and thereby became law-breakers.3 His Majesty's Govern ment ,vas certainly squarely ,vithin its prerogatives in condemning such infractions, and in punishing those ,vho committed them. Ho,v, then, could the t,vo Gov ernors fail to make open and avowed opposition to an attempt, that was heralded far and wide, by a more or less well-known group of men to take possession of lands which had not been acquired by them by due process of law? It is only logical conjecture to con clude that if the Revolutionary War had not intervened, the British Government would have easily and success fully maintained its rights against the attempts of the Transylvania Company. Martin seems to have had no personal interest in interfering with the plans of Henderson, but Dun more was interested in owning and developing lands in the West for his own benefit. 4 Says Alvord: IFarrand, 789; Alvord, The Mississippi Valley in British Politics, I. 126, 222; Alvord, "Virginia and the West", 23. :!Alvord, The .1.Vississippi Valley in British Politics, I. 87, 89, 126, II. 93, 94, 203, 204. :1Letter of Dun1no~·e to Dartmouth, Virginia Calendar of State Papers, I. 162. 1Alvo~·c1. ''Virginia and the Wesr·. 26. 44 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY .... Individual Virginians of m~ans were ... staking out their clain1s in the far west. All these speculators found a patron and protector against the British ministry in their new governor, Lord Dunmore, who became the head of what may be called an inclusive holding company, the exact purpose of which is ob scure; but it was Dunmore and his associates who precipitated, in pursuit of their ends, the Indian War of 1774, called by the governor's name. The trouble between the colonies and the Mother Country occurring just at the crucial moment brought to naught what was probably the most cleverly conceived, care fully planned, politically strongest, and most extensively specu lative enterprise in the annals of the colonies.1 George Washington's desire for Kentucky lands is evidenced by two letters written by him to C-rawf ord:! and Preston3 concerning the acquisition of same lands near the Falls, which place was south of the Donelson line in a region not yet released by the Indians. In his letter to Preston of March 27, 177 4, he says: "Capt. Bullett has offered me a Tract Surveyed by him about 20 odd miles from the falls of the Ohio, and off from it upon Salt River Including a Salt Pond." Patrick Henry came nearer being entangled in the threads of the history of Transylvania than any other of the Virginia land-speculators. He had been one of the close advisers of Dunmore in his opposition to the ministerial plans of land control. -1 He was acquainted with the Camden-Yorke opinion, and "was convinced ... that a purchase from the natives was as full and ample as a title could be obtained." 5 John Floyd in his deposition said: . . . in March 1775, he . . . asked Colo Christian his opinion relative to- Colo Henderson's purchase, who answered, that it i:;eemed to be Mr. Henry's opinion, that the purchase would stand good, & at the same time advised him the deponent to make a purchase of Land from Colo Henderson & Company. 6 1Alvord. "The Daniel Boone Myth''. 27. 2The Writings of George Washington, Ford. II. 389-391. ~Writings of George Washington, Fitzpatrick, III. 192. 4Alvord, "Virginia and the West", 29. ~,Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, XXIII. 445. ,;Deposition of John Floyd, Virginia Calendar of State Papers, I. 310. THE SYCAMORE SHOALS TREATY 45 In the spring of 177 4, Henry and other Virginia gentlemen, including William Byrd, John Page, Ralph \iVormly, William Christian and Samuel Overton, made tentative plans to purchase from the Cherokee Indians "some of their Land on the Waters of their own River in Virginia, to convey the same to them & not to the State." Henry and Christian each wrote letters to Major Arthur Campbell recommending that ~ 7illiam Kennedy be sent among the Cherokees "in order to know the mind of the Indians on that head." Kennedy reported that the Indians were in want of goods and he thought they would sell if enough goods were dis played before them. These promoters did not make application to the Virginia Assembly or to the Crown for a charter of any sort. Before the deal could be con ~ummated, Henry came to the conclusion that his membership in the Virginia Convention and in the Continental Congress made it unethical for him to be party to the proposed transaction, and the matter was dropped.1 Henry and the promoters of the Transylvania Com pany dickered with each other regarding the taking of the former as a partner into the company. Colonel Christian intimated to Campell that Henry woulrl like to become a partner, and Campbell broached the sub ject to some of its members. The testimony of Camp bell, to this effect. is all the more convincing, since he ,vas a reluctant witness and Henderson had to secure the pressure of the Virginia Legislature to compel him to make his deposition. 2 Relative to this matter Henry deposed: 1Depositions of Patrick Henry, Otficial Letters of Governors of Virginia, Letters of Patrick Henry. I. 157-158; Deposition of Ar thur Campbell, Virginia Calendar of State Papers, I. 303-304; Deposition of William Christian, Virginia Calendar of State Papers, I. 281. ~Journal of Virginia House of Delega~es, November 25, 1777. 46 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY .•. Mr. Henderson & his Partners very soon after their Sup posed Purchase joined in a Letter to this Deponent; in which was Contained as this Deponent thinks, a Distant though plain Hint, that he the Deponent might be a Partner with them. The Deponent also says he recd a Great Number of Messages from Messrs Henderson & c. inviting him to be a Partner; That Mr. Henderson in his own Person & Mr. Allen Jones ( a Partner in the Purchase) both apply'd to the Deponent to join them in their Schen1c but the Deponent uniformly refused & plainly Declared his Strongest Disapprobation of their whole proceed ings, giving as his Reason that the People of Virginia had a right to· the back Country, derived from their Charter & the Blood & Treasure they Expended on that account. . . . Evidently Mr. Henry's mind had quickly somersaulted if c·oionel Christian quoted him correctly as to the legality of Henderson's purchase.1 The question of the Transylvania transaction came up in the Virginia Convention. · Thomas Lewis in a letter to Preston makes reference to it thus: "the mat ter was new & sudain the Convention was not let into the whole secret. It appeared to me Henderson had his abettors there prepared for the part they were to take. It was only in the course of the Debate that I Discovered the Intrigue." 2 A letter written from Hills borough, North Carolina, on April 26, 1775 to Henry and signed by all the proprietors of Transylvania con tains this high-flown reference to the Convention and Henry's participation in their behalf: . . . . The copartners in the purchase of lands, on Louisa, from the Indians, neither intending by their distant and hazardous enterprize, to revolt from their allegiance to their sovereign, nor yet to desert the grand and common cause of their American brethren and fellow subjects, in their manly and glorious struggle for the full enjoyment of the natural rights of mankind, and the inestimable liberties and priviledges of our happy constitution, were anxious to know the results of the wise and mature delib erations of the Convention, and particular in their enquiries concerning the several matters which became the subject of consideration in that august assembly. It was not long before tDepositions of Patrick Henry and Arthur Campbell, Virginia Calendar of State Papers. I. 289-290. 303-304. 2Draper MSS4QQ20. THE SYCAMORE SHOALS TREATY 47 we learnt the particulars from some of the n1embers, and that the minute circumstances of our contract with the Cherokee In dians had occasionally been moved and debated. The true point of view in which, we are told, you, with several other gentle men, conceived the nature of the contract, and the eloquence and good sense with which you defended, and the liberal prin ciples on which you supported our claim to· the benefit of our engagement with the Indians, in addition to the universal ap plause of the whole continent, for your noble and patriotick exertions, give you an especial claim to our particular acknowl edgements, of which we take this earliest opportunity of begging your acceptance. It would, Sir, have afforded us the most singu lar satisfaction to have had it in our power to give you a more substantial evidence of our gratitude.1 This letter is very suggestive that the proprietors of Transylvania were anxious to have one of the most popular and influential men of America as an addition al partner, and is evidently the letter which Henry thought contained a "plain Hint", especially the clos ing sentence of the quotation. Ja1nes Alves, the grandson of James Hogg, told Lyman C. Draper in 1846 that: . . . it is a tradition that Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson desired to become partners in the company; but Col. Henderson preferred not to have them admitted-as Mr. Alves supposes lest they should supplant the Colonel in the guiding spirit of the company. Had they been admitted, the validity of the pur chase might never have been questioned.2 IHall, Sketches of the West, II. 234-236. :!Draper M SS2CC34. CHAPTER III EARLY PIONEER KENTUCKY N order to get a background for the setting of the Transylvania Colony, it is needful to survey brief I ly the history of the Kentucky region during the three decades preceding the settlement of Boones borough. "Kentuckee" was an uninhabited region at the time of the coming of the whites, that is to say from the Ohio River to the Cumberland-Tennessee water shed there lived no people in permanent abode. It was a vast common hunting-ground for the Indians who lived in scattered areas for some distance north of the Ohio and south of the Cumberland. It was a wilderness where men hunted wild animals, and one another, with the avowed purpose of killing, for the several tribes that sought game there were jealous of one another. The name "Dark and Bloody Ground", whatever may have been its origin, had enough of truth in it to hold as a highly descriptive expression. The first English explorers and hunters of conse quence began to come to Kentucky with the forming of the Ohio and Loyal Land Companies in 17 48-17 49, both incorporated by Virginians to deal in the western lands. The Loyal Land Company was organized in Lon don, and secured a royal charter with a grant of 800,- 000 acres to be located north of the extension due west of the Virginia-North Carolina boundary line, in the Kentucky area at the discretion of the grantees.1 Dr. tJohnston, XV. 48 EARLY PIONEER KENTUCKY 49 Thomas Walker, of Albemarle County, Virginia, was chosen by the Company to inspect the country and select the location of the grant. In the spring of 1750 Dr. Walker, accompanied by Ambrose Powell, William Tomlinson, Colby Chew, Henry Lawless and John Hughes, reached Cumberland Gap, crossed over it and followed Yellow and Clear Creeks along the great In dian Warriors' Path to the Cumberland River. Some days after reaching the river Lawless and Hughes built a small cabin, eight by twelve feet, about four miles below the present town of Barbourville. This was the first cabin built by English speaking people in Kentucky. The party then turned in a northerly direction, passed Laurel River,- and in about three weeks came to the Kentucky River near where the town of Irvine now is, thence it went to the Licking, the Big Sandy and the New Rivers. It found game plentiful, for the members killed thirteen buffaloes, eight elks, fifty-three bears, twenty deer, four wild geese, and 150 wild turkeys in the few weeks they were out. The Company never took up any of its grant in Kentucky.1 The Ohio Company received a grant of 200,000 acres in what is now West Virginia between the Monongahela and the Kanawha Rivers, and later 500,000 acres fur ther down on either side of the Ohio River at its dis cretion. It agreed to s~ttle 300 families, erect a fort near the present city of Pittsburg and another fort near the mouth of the Kanawha. The Company em ployed Christopher Gist, who lived on the Yadkin River near the home of Daniel Boone, to make its ex plorations. Gist had instructions to seek good level land and survey it roughly, and to extend his explorations as far as the Falls of the Ohio, where Louisville is now 1Walker's Journal, Johnston, 48-75; Summers, Annals of Sooth west Virginia, 8-26: Henderson, "Dr. Thomas Walker and the Loyal Company of Virginia", 17. 50 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY situated. He came down the Ohio in the spring of 1751, landed on the Kentucky side, came to Big Bone Lick, purposed to obey instructions and go to the Falls, but became frightened by some Indians, who were in that vicinity, and turned southward. He crossed the Lick ing, Kentucky and Red Rivers, and probably got into the Salt River Basin. He went up the Kentucky River Valley, crossed Walker's route, went out through Pound Gap, and returned to North Carolina.1 During the next fifteen years a number of hunters, adventurers and traders came to the Kentucky region, from the pioneer settlements of Virginia and the Caro linas. Among these were John Findlay, Henry Skaggs, James Knox, James McBride, Daniel Boone, Samuel Calla,vay, James Smith and Isaac Lindsey, with many companions, who hunted and scouted over much of the area. Later hunters became more numerous. In the winter of 1769-1770, a party of twenty came though Cumberland Gap and hunted down the Cumberland River. The following autumn some forty hunters as sociated themselves together for the purpose of hunt ing and trapping. While going through present Laurel County they were told by a Cherokee Indian, Captain Dick, of a good hunting ground son1e distance to the northwest. Here they hunted, and named the stream which flo,ved through the region D·ick's River, no\v called Dix River. They were successful in their hunt ing, but their pelts ,vere stolen and destroyed. 2 In 1767 James Harrod and Michael Stoner were in the state, as was also John Findlay.a Findlay spent the winter of 1768-1769 with Boone, with whom he had served in the Braddock campaign, and told him about Kentucky, for Boone had been only in the Cumberland region. 1Gist's Journal, Johnston, 101-164; Summers, Annals of South west Virgtnia, 27-57. 2Draper MSS3B47-84. =~Pusey, The Wilderness Road to Kentucky, 14. EARLY PIONEER KENTUCKY 51 These two with Squire Boone, Daniel's brother, and the latter's brother-in-law, John Stewart, formed an exploring company, and, employing others to accom pany them, set out in May, 1769.1 In the language of Filson, which purports to be the words of Boone, we are told that: On the 7th of June . . . we found ourselves on Red River . . . and from the top of an eminence saw with pleasure the beautiful level of Kentucky.... ,ve found an abundance of wild beasts in this vast forest. The buffaloes were more numer ous than cattle on their settlements .... We saw hundreds in a drove and the numbers about the salt springs were amazing. . . . Near the Kentucky River, as we ascended the brow of a small hill, a number of Indians rushed out of a cane brake and made us prisoners. The Indians plundered us and kept us in confinement seven days. During this time we discovered no uneasiness or desire to escape, which made them less suspicious: but in the dead of night as we lay by a large fire in a thick cane brake, when sleep bad locked their senses, my situation not disposing me to rest, I gently awoke my companion. We seized the opportunity and departed.2 When these two returned to the camp, they found that the four others had left . ...L\. little later they were joined by Squire Boone and another man. Still later Stewart was killed by the Indians and Squire's com panion was eaten by the wolves. The two brothers ,vere left alone . . . . . We were in a dangerous and helpless situation, exposed to daily perils and deaths, among savages and wild beasts, not a white man in the country but ourselves. Although many hun dreds of miles from our families, in the howling wilderness, we did not continue in a state of indolence, but hunted every day, and prepared a little cottage to defend us from the winter. On the first day of May my brother returned home for a new recruit of horses and ammunition, leaving me alone, without bread, salt or sugar, or even a horse or a dog ... until the 27th of July in an uninterrupted scene of sylvan pleasure, when my brother, to my great felicity, met me according to appointment, at our old camp.... 3 1Beckner, "John Findley'', 119. -.!Boone·s Autobiography. ::/bid. 52 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY In the summer of 1773, the McAfee Company, which consisted of James, George and Robert McAfee, James McCoun Jr., and Samuel Adams, came down the Ohio River with Captain Thomas Bullitt, a surveyor, as far as the Kentucky River. They camped where the city of Frankfort now is, and crossing the river above the1·e, made a number of surveys about the headwaters of Salt River. They "deadened trees and made brush heaps on the most conspicious places on the several surveys." 1 There were with the McAfees in 1773 Mathew Bracken, Peter Shoemaker, Hancock Taylor and John Cowan. Surveys, which were made in lots of 400 acres, were staked out for absent members and friends, among whom were John McGee, David Adams, and perhaps other members of the McCoun f amily~2 There were other surveyors in Kentucky in 1773. Captain Thomas Bullitt made surveys in the vicinity of the Falls of the Ohio in August. James Douglas, who ,vas his deputy surveyor, deposed, "that they made sundry & large surveys, including the country from ten miles above the Falls to twenty miles below." 3 These surveys, though below the Donelson line, and their validity questioned,4 were ostensibly made to reward veterans of the French and Indian War, pursuant to the proclamation of Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia in 1754, in which he promised: ... that over and above their pay 200,000 acres of his Majesty, the King of Great Britain's, lands on the east side of the Ohio River shall be laid off and granted to such persons who by their voluntary engagements & good behavior in the said service shall deserve the same. 5 George Washington's hankering for some of these IMcAfee, 20-23. 2Williams Versus McAfee, Mercer County Circuit Court, 1820. svtrginia Calenaa.r of State Papers, I. 308. 4lbitl. snartmouth, 5: 330, 322-330. EARLY PIONEER KENTUCKY 53 lands is shown by a letter written by him to William Cra,vford in September, 1773, in which he says: As I have understood . . . that Dr. Connolly has a promise from our Governor of two thousand acres at the Falls, I have desired Captain Bullitt by no means to involve me in dispute with any person, who has an equal right to the land with my self.... An exceedingly valuable one [salt spring] upon the River Kentucky, is in some kind of dispute. I wish I could es tablish one of my surveys there; I would immediately turn it into an extensive public benefit, as well as private advantage. However as four are already discovered, it is more than prob able there are many others, and if you could come into the knowledge of them by means of the Indians or otherwise, I would join you in taking them up in the name or names of some persons, who have a right under the proclamation, and whose right we can be sure of buying, as it seems there is no other method of having the lands granted; but this should be done with a good deal of circumspection and caution, till patents are obtained.1 Thomas Hanson with John Floyd, James Douglas, Hite, Dandridge, James Knox, Roderick McCra and Mordecai Batson left Fincastle County for the Ohio in the spring of 177 4. The company soon had 37 men, and several surveys_ were made as far down as the Falls, where John Floyd made surveys, "which were after ward admitted to record, altho' the Kentucky ,vas really found to be the Line." 2 Lands were also sur veyed here for Dr. Conno1ly and Colonel Christian. Eleven of the party went one hundred miles up the Kentucky to where Captain Harrod ,vas "building a kind of Town." The company surveyed several thou ~and acres on Elkhorn Creek, "and found l\'Ir. Taylor~:;; last year's line of 20,000 acres." After surveying her~·· for some time, they returned to Virginia by way of the Kentucky River basin.3 Hancock Taylor was killed by 1Writings of George Washington, Ford. II. 389-391. :!Deposition of John Floyd, Virginia Calendar of State Papers, I. 310. 3Ayres, 139-150; Draper MSS14J58-84. 54 THE 'l'RANSYLVANIA COLONY the Indians and ,vas buried in ,vhat is no,v l\ladison County.1 James Harrod ·with his company of thirty-one men, who were recruited from the western parts of Pennsyl vanin and Virginia, came down the Ohio in 1774, then up the Kentucky, crossed over to the headwaters of Salt River, and began to make surveys in about the same area as the McAfees had done the year before.2 Harrod's thirty-one men were James Davis, \Villiam Venable, Arthur Campbell, \i\1illiam Campbell, John Cowan, John Crow, Abraham Chapline, David \Vil Iiams, James l{err, Silas Harlan, Azariah Davis, Joseph Blackford, Patrick Dolan, James Saunders, David Glenn, James Cowan, Elijah Harlan, ,v. Cro,v, ,villia.m l\{yers, William Fields, William Montgomery, John Brown, Henry Dugan, John Smith, James Bro,1rn, Azariah Reese, Martin Stull, Vvilliam Garrett, John Clarke, John Wiley and John Shelp.3 This company was soon followed by Isaac Hite's company of about a dozen men . . . . . Col. Ha1·rod's company also discovered the Big town spring of Harrodsbourgh which they made their Headquarters & on the 16th day of June 1774 laid off a town on the south Side of the Town branch below the spring and built some five or six cabbins & called it 'Harrods Town'. From this point they made their excursions to make improvements by deadening trees and making brush heaps.4 The cabins were probably improvised pens of small logs affording no protection to the o,vners, but were designed to meet tl1e technical requirement of the Vir• ginia law concerning land claims of settlers.;; Before building the cabins the members made an agree1ncnt: 1Draper ll-1SS48J10. :!Jillison, Tales of the Darlc and Bloody Ground, 32. :: Harrodsburg Dem,ocrat. ·1McAfee, 23. · 5Beckner, "Captain Harrod's Company", 280. EARLY PIONEER KENTUCKY 55 ... That a Cabbin should be built each person contiguous to each other, or as much so as the situation of the country would admit. That after the cabbins were built, they should be num bered and each person to draw his Iott and to possess that cabbin on which the number stood, and that the dividing line should be half way between each cabbin where they were in one neighbor hood. That a number of these cabbins were built adjacent to and around the spring.1 In addition to the distribution of lots at Harrod's To,vn, the men1bers of the company ,vere establishing claims to desirable lands in the vicinity, and making such "improvements" as they thought would satisfy a very liberal interpretation of the Virginia settlement law. James Harrod was later able to make good his claim to 1400 acres at the Boiling Spring by proving that he made improven1ents in 1774, and later raised corn and lived thereon, while John Wilson ,vas granted 1000 al:re~ '"lh· virtue of building a cabin on it in 1774".:! .A.t Harrod's To,vn the in-lots had one-half acre and the out-lots one acre. Each man was entitled to have an in ... Jot and an out-lot. 3 \Vith the approach of Dunmore's \Var in 1774, Dun more concluded that all the surveyors and prospective settlers in the Kentucky region were in imminent dan ger from the Indians and determined to send then1 ,varning. Accordingly Captain vVillia1n Russell selected "two of the best Hands I could think of Danl.. Boone and Michael Stoner" io travel as far as the Falls and Gasper's Lick, and return through Cumberland Gap, to warn all that were in the back country. Starting fron1 the C-linch R-iver in the latter part of June, Boone and Stoner made the circuit of eight hundred miles in sixty-two days.4 1Deposition of James Brown. 2Beckner, ''Captain Harrod's Company", 280. 3Bowman Versus Thomas, Mercer County, Kentucky, Court Rec ords, 1813. 4Dra,per M883QQ46, 3QQ64, 3QQ60, 6CC105; Fayette Count11 Court Records., Complete Record Book A, 621; Boone's Autobi• ography ,· Ayres, 153. 56 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY On his way to the F'alls, Boone stopped long enough at Harrod's settlement to build a cabin with a man named Hinton, which cabin afterward went by the name of Boone and Hinton.1 On the ·eighth of July, the Indians fired upon five men at Fontaine Blue, some three miles from Harrod's Town. James Cowan was instantly killed as he was drying some papers in the sun. Jacob Sandusky and two other men, fearing all the company had been killed, made their way to the Cumberland River and reached New Orleans by means of a canoe. The fifth man, George Poague, was chased by the Indians so closely that he did not have time to use his gun. At length he threw it to one side, and while the pursuers stopped to· get it he gained on them. He was fired on, but reached Harrod's Town safely, where he notified Chapline and Harrod, who, with the aid of their as sociates, buried Cowan. This tragedy, in addition to the warning of Boone and Stoner, was sufficient to cause all the remaining members of the company to return to the older settlements by way of Cumberland Gap.2 Then for several months the West was all astir with Dunmore's War, which reached its climax with the Battle of Point Pleasant in October. There the Shaw nees were compelled to give way, and soon Dunmore had made a treaty of peace with them. During the war there was much talk among the soldiers about Kentucky, and the publication in the Virginia Ga2ette of January 28, 1775 by Governor Dun more of a proclamation stating that "the Shawanese have agreed not to hunt on this Side of the Ohio, and have solemnly promised not to molest any passengers on the River, but, on the contrary, to give them every Assistance and Protection ..." gave an impetus to IMcAfee, 24·, :!McAfee, 24; Collins, 518; Draper MSS2CC26-29. EARLY PIONEER KENTUCKY 57 I{entucky immigration.1 The preparations being made in North Carolina by the Transylvania Company were scarcely more feverish, though more heralded, than those of the Virginians "to come the ensuing Spring and take possession, not doubting but they would be deemed proprietors by occupancy of at least some valuable lands." 2 . The McAfees had not returned to Kentucky in 1774. But on February 20, 1775, the three brothers, James, Robert and George, all of whom had· fought in Dun more's War, left Virginia, accompanied -by David Adams, William McAfee and John Higgins. They came by way of Cumberland Gap, and reached James Mc Afee's Spring on the headwaters of Salt River by March 11. Here they "cut down the small timber in about two acres of ground, piled & burnt the Brush, and made a fence of brush around it, planted some corn, peach stones and apple seed.... " 3 Harrod also returned with forty-two men down the Ohio, and arrived on March 14 at the settlements which he had· begun during the previous year. During the f oi lowing months some explorations were made, addi tional lands were surveyed under military warrants, and a number of deadenings accomplished and cabins built about the springs.4 After staying at their -settlement about ·a month the McAfee company decided to return to Virginia, anrl leaving John Higgins and Lucien Paulson "To plant more corn and warn other companies off their land.... The ballance of the company then continued their journey toward their homes and on April 21 met Henderson and his company of settlers, who were on their way to Kentucky." 5 1Draper MSS48J10. 2Jbfd.. SMcAfee, 24. 4lbid.; Draper MSS48J10; The Commonwealth, June 9, 1840. 71 McAfee, 24-25. · · CHAPTER IV THE COMING OF BOONE AND HENDERSON HEN Boone returned with Stoner from the eight hundred mile tramp through the wilder Wness of Kentucky to warn the adventurers of the impending danger from the Shawnees, he was put in charge of Fort l\'loores and two other forts in Fin castle County. Because of his diligence and the ade quate protection he rendered at these posts he was commissioned Captain by Governor Dµnmore. He did not go to the Ohio or take part in the Battle of Point Pleasant.1 Boone was not a soldier by instinct, and perhaps despised military duty and had no ambition for official rank, so by January, 1775 his love for the woods and for solitude had lured him back to Kentucky on a lone hunt.2 But by March or earlier he was back in North Carolina, for he informs us in his Autobiog raphy: In March 1775, at the solicitation of a number of gentlemen of North Carolina, I attended their treaty at Watage, with the Cherokee Indians, to purchase the lands on the south side of the Kentucky River. After this, I undertook to mark out a road in the best passage from the settlements through the wilderness to Kentucky. Having collected a number of men well ·armed, I soon began this work. Daniel Boone wa~ the niost suitable man that Hen- derson and his copartners could have selected to do the 1oraper MSS3QQ119; Summers, History of Southwest Virginia, 156-157. 2Ayres, 108. 5S THE COMING OF BOONE AND HENDERSON 59 work he \\Fas employed to do. He ,vas much traveled in the region into which he was going. The route wa~ not new to him; he had passed over the most of it more than once. "Boone had probably been to Kentucky oftener and stayed there longer than any other man." 1 Yet the contemplated route was nothing but a trail, and in one long stretch not even that. It ,vas a difficult road to make, even though it was intended only for men and horses to travel. The country was more or less broken throughout the whole distance. There were many thickets of bush and cane to cut through, many streams to cross, mountain passes to climb, and there were Indians to look out for. But nothing was new to Boone except cutting the roadway. The location of the road . . . is a monument to the skill of Boone as a practical engineer and surveyor.... It required a mind of far more than ordinary caliber to locate through more than two hundred miles of mountain wilderness a way of travel which, for a hundred years, has remained practically unchanged. 2 Boone did not stay at Sycamore Shoals until the signing of the treaty. He left Long Island, on March 10, one week before the completion of the treaty.3 In his orig·inal party were Colonel Richard Callaway, Squire Boone, John Kennedy, William Bush~ Michael Stoner and sixteen others. Vlhile they were at Long Island they we1·e joined by Captain William Twetty and seven companions, Samuel Coburn, James Bridges, Thomas Johnson, John Hart, William Hicks, James Peeke and Felix Walker, who had set out from Rutherford Coun ty, North Carolina, for the fertile lands of Kentucky. Walker in 1824 wrote his "Narrative", which was pub lished in 1854, and it provides one of the most reliable and interesting of all the sources of information con- IPusey, The Wilderness Road to Kentucky, 17. !Speed, 29. 3Hall, Sketches of the West, II. 262; Felix Walker's Na"ative. 60 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY cerning the journey of Boone and his followers across the country. He gives this account of the setting out of the group : .... Our company, when united, amounted to ·thirty persons. We then, by general consent, put ourselves unde1· the n1anagen1ent and control of Col. Boon, who was to be our pilot and conduc tor through the wilderness, to the promised land; perhaps no adventurers since the days of Don Quixote, or befo1·e, ever felt so cheerful and elated in prospect; every heart abounded with joy and excitement in anticipating the new things we would see and the romantic scenes through which we would pas~; and, exclusive of the novelty of the journey, the advantages and accumulations ensuing on the settlement of a new counti·y was a dazzling object with many of our company. Under the in fluence of those impressions we went our way rejoicing with transporting views of our success, taking leave of the civilized world for a season.1 The Boone party had Negroes, pack-horses and hunt ing dogs. There was a well defined path from Watauga to Cumberland Gap, a distance of about one hundred miles. From \,Vatauga, whese location was only five miles south of the Virginia-North Carolina line, Boone went north to Moccasin Gap, a journey of some ten miles. He now took a westerly direction, never getting many miles from the Virginia-North Carolina bound,. ary line, crossed the Clinch River, Powell's Mountain, and about eight miles farther, Powell's River. A few miles west of the last he struck Dr. Walker's route, known as the Hunters' Path. Following this. Path he passed over Martin's Creek and soon came to Cumber land Gap.2 Fairly rapid progress had been made thus far, as there . was necessity only of blazing the way more clearly with their hatchets.3 After leaving the Gap they found the way more difficult, but not ex tremely so, for they followed the Warriors' Path for fifty miles. This path was a passage between the lFelix Walker's Narrative. 2summers, Annals of Southwest Virginia. :iJ?elix tValker's Narrative. THE COMING OF BOONE AND HENDERSON 61 northern and the southern Indians, and from Cumber land Gap ran almost directly north through Kentucky to the mouth of the Scioto River.1 A part of the ,vay after leaving the Vvarriors' Path lay along a \Vc11--,vorn buffalo trace, where the buffaloes had made a course in their annual treks. The party probably crossed the Cumberland River near where the city of Pineville now is and there left the Path and entered the trace. The long-hunters had used both the Path and the trace in coming to Kentucky. Boone's direction was north westerly, crossing the Laurel and Little Rockcastle Rivers. After reaching Hazel Patch, he left the hunters' trail, but since he was still following the trace, his direction was almost due north. A few miles north of Hazel Patch he crossed Rockcastle River. Thence for thirty miles his way was most difficult. Here he came in contact with dead brush, cane, thickets of undergrowth and dense forests. 2 For the fir~t time the task of the party had become laborious and its prog ress slow. From Rockcastle River it followed Round stone Creek, which it crossed about fifty times, through Boone's Gap, about two miles below the site of Berea. At last it was on the edge of the Blue Grass country. Of the appearance of the country Walker wrote in his pleasing, though somewhat extravagant, style: .... And as the cane ceased we began to discover the pleasing and rapturous plains of Kentucky. A new sky and a strange earth seemed to be presented to our view. So 1·ich 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 that they appeared but one flock. uni versally scattered in the woods. It appeared that nature, in_ the profusion of her bounty, had spread a feast for all that hves, both for the animal and the rational world. A sight so delight ful to our view and grateful to ou1· feelin~~~ a1mo~.t ~nc1ir.ed us, 1Speed, 2~. :!J'elix Wall.... "'r's Narrative. 62 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY in imitation of Colun1bus, in transport to kiss the soil of Ken tucky, as he hailed and saluted the sand on his first setting his feet on the 2hores of A1uerica. The appearance of the coun try corning up to the full meastue of our expectations, and seemed to exceed the fruitful source of our in1aginary p1·0s pects. We felt ourselves passengers through a wilderness just arrived at the fields of Ely8imn, or at the garden where was no forbidden fruit ....1 In fifteen days Boone had brought his followers t,vu hundred n1iles over a rough country little frequented by men, and for fifty miles he had been a pa thfind er through the brush and cane. ,:vith the true sense of topography of the modern engineer, he had selected the most accessible route. He had follo,ved the Cl'eek~ and rivers, found the lowest n1ountain passes and the best fords with unerring accuracy. Today the railroads surveyed by the most skillful engineers lie for the 1nost part along the route he esta.bHshed. Along this ,vay a little later ran the lVilderness Road for nearly t,vo hundred miles. Of this road Pusey is fulsome in h L:) praises: . . . In very fact the Wilderness Road for twenty years after the settlement of Kentucky was its only practicable line of com munication with civilization. Kentucky was settled over it. A hundred thousand pioneers travelled it before it became a wagon road. • . . They brought their household goods, their domestic animals, their books and even their printing press. . . . All this was done over a bridle path, two hundred miles long, ex tending from the Holston settlen1ent in Virginia to the plateau of central Kentucky.2 Until it reached a spot some five miles south of where Richmond, Kentucky, is now situated, on the site on which Estill's Fort was later built, Boone's party had found no evidence of Indians. This, coupled ,vith the fact that its 1nembers felt protected from th~ Cherokee Indians by Henderson's recent agree1nent with them and from the Sha'\\7nees and their as8ociates tFelix Walkerl's Narrative. :?Pusey, The Wilderness Road to Kentucky, 16. THE COMING OF BOONE AND HENDERSON 63 by the treaty with them following Dunmore's '\Var in which they agreed not to molest the whites south of the Ohio River gave them great assurance-so great assurance that they became negligent, and apparently slept without any guard. While encamped at this place they were attacked one morning before day by some Indians. Captain Twetty, an excellent woodsman and a man of fine personality, ,vas shot through both knees, from which wounds he died three days later, his Negro slave was killed outright, Felix Walker was severely wounded, and the camp was thrown into confusion. However, Boone and a few others showed firmness and courage. Boone wrote Henderson: "We stood the ground and guarded the baggage till day, and lost nothing." 1 When the Indians had shot Twetty, they rushed to ,vard the camp to scalp him, but his bull-dog locked his jaws about the throat of one of them and threw hin1 to the ground. A second Indian killed the dog with his tomahawk,. but the unexpected attack caused the red men to retreat without ceremony.2 One of Boone's party, who had run from camp at the first firing of the Indians, returned a few days later, and was seen by a Negro woman, the slave of Colonel Callaway, peeP ing from behind the trees. She gave the alarm. "Colonel Boone instantly caught his rifle, ordered his men to form, take trees, and give battle, and not to run till they saw him fall. They formed agreeably to his di rections . . . when the man behind the tree announced his name and came in." 3 As a matter of protection for Twetty and Walker, Boone and his men improvised a fort called "Little Fort" or "Twetty's Fort". It was not a fortification lDra.per M881'1CC166-16'7. 2Bradford's Notes, 22. 3Felix Walker's Narrative. 64 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY in any true sense. In a deposition made in 1808 by Thomas Warren, who had seen the fort in 1780, in an s,ver to queries this slatement appears: "It was a few logs put into the likeness of a square cabbin, there was no roof on it when I saw it. I should not have thought it to have been intended for a cabbin for anybody to live in. Did you think it was not built in as good a way as a cabbin generally is? No, I did not." 1 It is highly probable that this fort never again served· any useful purpose save as the possible stopping place of some hunter or adventurer. Walker in his narrative again gives us an insight into the romance and psychology of the situation thus: . . . But, alas! the vision of a moment made the dream of a dream, and the shadow of a shade! ... A sad reverse over took us ... on our way to the Kentucky river .... So fatal and tragical an event cast a deep gloom of melancholy over all our prospects, and high calculations of long life and happy days in our newly-discovered country were frustrated. . . . My situation was critical and dangerous, being then a youth, three hundred miles from white inhabitants. . . . We remained in the same place twelve days; I could not be removed sooner without danger of instant death. At length I was carried on a litter between two horses, twelve miles, to Kentucky river. . . .2 Walker received the best care that Boone could pro vide. No father could have been more tender and con cerned ; the wounds were healed by means of medicines made from herbs obtained from the woods.3 A week after this fateful incident Boone wrote a letter. to Colonel Henderson, and in his matter-of-fact way de scribed it : - April the first, 1775. Dear Colonel: After my compliments to you I shall acquaint you with our misfortune. On March the 25 a party of Indians fired on my Company about a half an hour before day and killed Mr. Twetty lFayette County Ctrcutt Court Records, Complete Record Book A, 269. . · 2Feltx Walker's Narrattve. 3/bid. THE COMING OF BOONE AND HENDERSON 65 and his negro and wounded Mr. Walker very deeply, but I hope he will recover. On March the 28 as we were hunting for pro visions we found Samuel Tate's son, who gave us an account that the Indians fired on their camp on the 27 day. My brother and I went down and found two men killed and sculped, Thomas McDowell and Jeremiah McPeters. I have sent a man down to all the lower companies in order to gather them all to the mouth of Otter Creek. 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 flusterate their in tentions 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 battle ground, for the mouth of the 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. I am sir your obedient servant, Daniel Boone. t On the day that he wrote this letter Boone proceeded to the mouth of Otter Creek and "began to erect the fort of Boonesborough [Boone's Fort] at a salt lick, sixty yards from the river on the south side." 2 Wal ker, always with an eye for the romantic and beauti ful, wrote concerning his entry to the embryo Boones borough: ••.. On entering the plain we were permitted to view a very interesting and romantic sight. A number of buffaloes of all sizes, supposed to be between two and three hundred, made off from the lick in every direction; some running, some walking, others loping slowly and carelessly, with young calves playing, skippjng and bounding through the plain. . . .3 In the meantime- Richard Henderson and a -number of settlers had set out on their way to Kentucky. Dr. Morgan Brown records in the diary he kept in his f am ily Bible thit at Hillsboro, North Carolina, he "saw the first party of emigrant families that moved to Kentucky under the auspices of Judge Henderson. They 1Draper MSSl 700186-167. 2Boone's Autobiography. SFelix Walkers Narrative. 66 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY marched out of town with considerable solemnity; and to many their destination seemed as remote as if it had been to the South Sea Islands." 1 Colonel Hender son kept a fairly comprehensive diary of his journey to Kentucky. On Monday, March 20 he recorded: "Hav ing finished my treaty with the Indians at Watauga set out for Louisa." 2 He was accompanied as far as the home of John Sevier by John Williams and Thomas Hart. Here the two latter turned back, while Nathaniel Hart and John Luttrell remained with the party. Prog ress was slow because of the difficult passage of the wagons along the rough roadways. Henderson had em ployed William Cocke, a Virginian, and Samuel Hen derson, his brother, with a number of laborers, to make the roadway passable for wagons from the Blockhouse to Martin's Station. Not until March 30 did Hender son .reach Martin's Station in Powell's Valley. Here he remained until April 5. There was much to do. The wagons could go no farther. The goods were unloaded, as much as possible was transferred to pack-horses, and the remainder stored. 3 Then there was business to transact with Captain Joseph Martin, the Powell's Val ley agent of Henderson and c·ompany. Joseph Martin had first established his station in Powell's Valley, a very fertile section of southwest Vir ginia, in 1769. He was driven away by the Indians, and did not return until after Dunmore's War had intimi dated them. In January, 1775, with sixteen or eighteen men, he re-established his station, a very strategic point in the beautiful valley. With brush and rails the settlers fenced an old field, which they planted to corn and vegetables. They built five or six cabins and con nected them with stockades, which were equipped with tMorgan Brown's Diary, 365. 2Dra,per M881CC21-102. JDra,per MSS2CC1. THE COMING OF BOONE AND HENDERSON 67 portholes. This n1ade a rather formidable fort, \vhich ,vas a parallelogram in shape and occupied about h~d: an acre of ground. This vvas the outermost settlement of that part of the \Vegt ·with the exception of t,vo cabins between it and Cu1nberland Gap. 1"Iartin ,vas a Virginia agent of Indian affairs, a daring and resource ful man-the most influential in the little valley.1 This area fell within the Transylvania purchase, and Richard Henderson, enterprising and aggressive, ,va~ not slo\\· in securing the services of l\'Iartin to look after the affairs of his company in Po,vell's Valley. On January 20, scarcely t\\"O ,veeks after the or ganization of the Transylvania Company and like\\·ise of l\'!artin's re-establishment of his station, Henderson signed an agreement in ~?hich he promised to guaran tee Martin preferential rights to all his land claims in Po;vell's Valley, as sho,vn by the following rlocurnent: In the name of Richard Henderson and Companr I hereby promise that Captain Joseph l\'lartin Shall have all the Lands he has already marked off in Powell's Valley or h;1~ this day g·iven in a memorandu1n of and that ~II his party gh::d1 have th~ preference to Other pergon or persons in the choice of Lc1.ndi:; in the said Valley without disturbance or molesb1tfon of any person whatsoever. In witness whereof I have he1·eunto put m.,~ hand this 20th day of January 1775. Richard Henderson.2 John Sevier. On the next day after reaching Martin's Station Henderson appointed Martin his lawful attorney, and gave him the po,ver of settling and peopling Powell' g Valley, but under the restrictions that he should sell land only.. to those who should make corn there in the year 1775 and should be industriously inclined. Some weeks prior Henderson had advertised that he would sell to each settler moving to Powell's Valley 500 acres, 1~'eeks. 414-.t,8: Hulbert. 132-133; Ayres, 176; Summers, History of Southwest Virr1in-ia. 3,1, ':.frra;-Jer 1~1ss2cr;5_ 68 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY with an additional 250 acres for each tithable person brought with him "and that the said Richard Hender son and Company would make to such settlers good and sufficient title for the same by making to them a grant or conveyance for such quantity as each of them should be respectively entitled to according to the foregoing proposals." 1 The first entry of land made by Hender ~on was to Bryce Martin, Captain Martin's brother. It was recorded on the back of the first page of Colonel Henderson's Journal thus: April 3, 1775. Mr. Bryce Martin enters with me. 500 acres of land Lying on the first creek after crossing Cumberland Gap northwards from powel's valey going towards Cantucky river. Richard Henderson.2 On April 4, ,vhile Henderson was still at Mar tin's waiting for all of his wagons to come up and storing there the goods which he could not carry on his pack-horses, he was joined by William Calk and four companions-Abraham Hanks, Philip Drake, Enoch Smith and Robert Whitledge. Calk kept a jour nal and recorded their arrival at l\!Iartin's thus: tuesday 4thRaney we Start about 10 oclock and git dow11 to Capt Martins in the valey where we overtake coin hender ~on & his companey Bound for caintuck & there we camp this Night there they were Broiling & Eating Beef with out Bread.3 Calk's Journal is unique. For this reason and also because it reveals vividly the existing methods of travel and the hardships endured by the earliest pioneers a few quotations from it will be of interest. I ts wholesomeness and unrestrained expression give an air of romance to the commonplace. William Calk his Journal 1775 March 13 monday I set out from prince Wm to travel to IDraper MSS2C05. 2Ayrcs, 18. 3William Calk's Journal. THE COMING OF BOONE AND HENDERSON 69 Caintuck on tuesday Night our company all got together at W prises on Rapadan which was ABraham hanks Philip Drake Eanoch Smith Robert Whitledge & my Self there abrams Dogs leg got Broke By Drakes Dog. . . . thurs 23 we Start early and travel till a good while in the Night and git to Major Camwels on holston River; fryday ye 24th we Start early and turn out of the wagon Road to go across the n1ountains to g·o to Dani! Smiths we loose Driver come to a turabel mountian that tired us all almost to death to git over it & we lodge this night on the Laurel fork of holston under ag1·ait mountain & Roast afine fat turkey for our suppers & Eat it without aney Bread thursd 30th we set out again and went down to Elk gardin and there suplid our Selves with Seed Corn & irish taters then we went on alittel way I turned my hors to drive afore me & he got Seard Ran away threw Down the Saddel Bags & Broke three of our pouder gourds & Abrams flask Burst open a walet of corn and lost a good Deal & made aturrabel flustration amongst the Reast of the horses Drakes mair Ran against asapling & noct it down we cacht them all agin & went on & lodged at John Duncans Henderson and Calk both give us an account of the first day out of Martin's Station. Henderson's diary contains the following: Wednesday 5th Started off with our pack horses ab't 3- o'clock. Traveled about 6 miles to a large spring-the san1e evening Mr. Luttrell went out hunting and has not returned. Nathl Henderson and John Durring went in pursuit of hin1- The san1e evening Sam! Henderson & john Farrars horses took a scare with their packs and ran away with same. Calk wrote: Wednesday ye 6th Breaks away fair & we go on down the valey & camp on indian Creek we had this Creek to cross maney times & very Bad Banks Abrams Saddel turned & the load all fell in we got out this Eavening and kill two Deer. The entries for April 7 in the journals of Henderson and Calk are respectively: Friday 7th About break of day began to snow. About 11 o'clock received a letter from Mr. Luttrells camp that five per sons were killed on the road to Cantuckey by Indians. Capt. Hart, upon the receipt of this news· retreated back with his com pany and determin'd to settle in the valley to make corn for the Cantuckey people. The same day received a letter from Daniel 70 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY Boone that his con1pany was fired upon by Indians who killed two of his n1en though he kept the ground and saved the bag gage &c. fryday ye 7th this n101·ning is avery hard snowey morning & we Still continue at camp Being. in number about 40 men & Some Neagros this Eavening comes alette1· from Capt Boon at Caintuck of the indians doing mischief and Some turns Back. The day following the receipt of Boone's letter Hen derson wrote to his copartners who remained in North Carolina: Few enterprises of great consequence continue at all tin1e8 to wear a favorable aspect; ours has met with the common fate, from the incautious proceedings of a few headstrong and un thinking people. [Here he gives the contents of Boone's letter.] You scarcely need information that these accidents have a bad effect with respect to us. • . . We are in high/ spirits and on thorns to fly to Boone's assistance, and join him in defense of so fine and valuable country. . . . For want of workmen ou1· wagons were laid aside at Captain Martin's in the valley; the chief of our salt and all our saltpeter and brimstone are left behind.1 The effect of this letter was to cause the North Caro lina associates to send powder, lead and salt to Transyl vania as quickly as possible, although their money hud already run short.2 On the same day that Henderson forwarded his letter to North Carolina, he recorded in his journal: ". . . . Crossed Cumberland Gap. a bout 4 1niles away met 40 persons returning from Cantuckey on account.of the late murders of the Indians. Could prevail on only one to return Several Virginians who were with us re turned home." T,vo days later Calk's journal contains some perti nent details: monday 10th this is aloury morning & very like for Rain & we keep at camp this day and Some goes out ahunting I & two more goes up a very large mountain Near the top we Saw the 1Hall, The Romance of Western History, 169-170. :!Letter of William Johnston to Colonel Williams, Duke Unfver s-itu Archives. THE COMING OF BOONE AND HENDERSON 71 track of two indians & whear they had lain unter Some Rocks Some of the companey went over the River abofelo hunting But found None at night Capt. hart comes up with his packs & there they hide Some of thier lead to lighten thier packs that they may travel faster. Colonel Henderson, being uneasy about the situation in Boone's camp, which uneasiness was increased by the fleeing adventurers from the Indians, whom he was meeting almost daily, and in order to encourage Boone's men, decided to send one messenger or ·more to Boone's camp on Kentucky River. William Cocke agreed to go, and left alone on his perilous journey on April 10. In a letter written the following June from Boonesborough by Henderson to the proprietors in North Carolina he gave an account of the agreement between himself and Cocke concerning the trip: The slow progress we made with our packs, rendered it ab solutely necessary for some person to go and give assurance of our coming, especially as they had no certainty of our being on the road at all; or had even heard whether the Indians had sold to us or not. It was owing to Boone's confidence in us, and the people's in him, that a stand was ever attempted in order to wait for our coming. The case was exceedingly distressing: we had not a fellow that we could send on a forlorn hope in our whole camp; all our young men had sufficient employ with the pack-horses; and, the tru_th is, very few would have gone, if they had been totally idle .... Mr. William Cocke, (with whom some of you are acquainted) observing our anxiety on that account, generously offered to undertake the journey himself, and deliver a letter to Captain Boone, with all the expedition in his power. This offer, extraordinary as it was, we could by no means re fuse-it was not a time for much delecacy; a little compliment and a few very sincere thanks, instantly given, preceded a solemn enJ.agement to set off next morning; and if he escaped with his life, to perform the trust. The day proved dark and rainy; and I own., Mr. Cocke's undertaking appeared a little more dangerous than the evening before-in spite of affectation, it was plain he thought so-whether it was from the gloominess of the weather, or the time of setting out being actually come, or what, I cannot tell; but perhaps a little of both. . . . No time was lost; we struck while the iron was hot, fixed Mr. Cocke off with a good Quenn Ann's musket, plenty of ammunition, a tomahawk, a large cuttoe knife, a Dutch blanket, and no small quantity of jerked beef. Thus equipped, and mounted on a 72 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY tolerably good horse, on the tenth day of April started from Cumberland river.1 Cocke had been a captain of militia in southwestern Virginia in the fall of 177 4, and had raised a company of men in Carolina during those months to be used against the Indians. He seems to have been a restless, impetuous fellow; he had refused further service under Dunmore, and had come into the employ of Hen derson. 2 In 1796, Cocke, who had become United States Senator from Tennessee, brought suit against the original proprietors of Transylvania to secure fif teen thousand acres of land or its equivalent in value. He claimed first, that Henderson had employed him in the clearing of a wagon road from the Block House to Martin's Station, which Cocke did, as stated above, and in addition he had furnished provisions for the men en gaged ; secondly, he had sold Henderson cattle, a negro slave and had hired him two others for nine months,3 and thirdly, that he had made the expedition to carry mental relief and assurance to Boone and his men. Cocke made the following plea : ..• Henderson ... made your orator an offer of Twenty Thou• sand acres of Land to be taken by your orator in any of said Companies purchase that he might choose provided that your orator would go forward from Cumberland river to Kentucky river and prevail on Boon and the men that was with him to make a stand until the said Richard Henderson and the men that was with him Join the men that was with the wounded that was on the Kentucky river. Your Orator consented to go for Ten Thousand Acres of Choice Land provided he the said Hen• derson could get any person to go in company with your orator and the said Henderson made offers through out his camp then being on Cumberland river of ten Thousand Acres of Land to any person -who would go with your orator to Boons camp on Kentuck River since called Boons Borough about a hundred miles distance whare the wounded men lay but no person would lHall, Sketches of the West, II. 262-263. 2Draper MSS3QQ87, 4QQ4, 3QQ126. :iDraper MSS6XX109. THE COMING OF BOONE AND HENDERSON 73 consent to go but your orator who was pa1·tly induced as well by the tears of the said Henderson as the reward he offered of ten Thousand Acres of Land which he pron1ised to give unto your orator the said Henderson then sheading tears in the presence of your orator and saying that himself and Company was ruined if they did not Succeed in making a Settlement in the Kentuck country.... Cocke further claimed that when Henderson arrived in Boonesborough, the latter said that he would fulfill his agreement to g·rant the ten thousand acres and that he would also give the plaintiff five thousand acres in payment for the services that had been rendered in cutting the road and furnishing the provisions, and "that entries was made in a Book kept by said Richard Henderson & Company called their Book of Entries." 1 James Hogg and Walter Alves in their answer to Cocke's suit based their defense on the pleas that the Company was not responsible for the act of one of its members, who had not been authorized by the com pany to perform this specific act, and that the later declaration of the titles of the company as null and void rendered the claims of Cocke without n1eans of adjustment. 2 As Cocke hurried on alone through the wilderness, the main company, hampered in their movements by their packs and equippage, making slower progress than Boone-, came on with many haltings and delays. Their rate of travel varied from five to twenty-two miles per day.3 The incidents and hardships of the trek from the Cumberland River to Boonesborough are well set forth in Calk's journal: tuesday 11th this is a very loury morning & like ·for Rain But we all agree to Start Early we Cross Cumberland River & travel Down it about 10 miles through Some turrabel Cain brakes as we went down abrams mair Ran into the River with Her load & Swam over he folowd her & got on her & made tDraper MSS2CC1; Williams, 5-27. :!.Draper MSS2CC2, 2CC4. 3He'liderson's Journal, Draper MSS1CC21-102. 74 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY her Swim Back agin it is avery Raney Eavening we take up camp near Richland creek they kill a Beef Wm Drake Bakes Bread with out Washing his hands we Keep Sentry this Night for fear of the indians- Wednesday 12th this is a Raney morning But we pack up & go on we come to Richland creek it is high we toat our packs over on atree & Swim our horses over & there We meet another Companey going Back they tell such News Abram & Drake is afraid to go on aney further there we camp this night-- Thursday 18th this morning the weather Seems to Breake & Be fair Abram & Drake tum Back we go on & git to loral River we come to a creek Before wheare we are obliged to un load & to toate our packs over alog this day we meet about 20 more turning Back we are oblidged to toat our packs over loral River & Swim our Horses one hors Ran in with his pack & lost it in the River & they got it in-. fryday 14th this is a clear morning with a Smart frost we go on & have avery mirey Road and camp this night on a creek of loral River & we are Surprised at camp By awolf Satterday 15th clear with a Small frost we Start Early we n1eet Some men that turns & goes with us we travel this Day through the plais Caled the Bressh & Cross Rockcast (le) River & camp ther this Night & have fine food for our horses Sunday 16th cloudy & warm we Start Early & go on about 2 mile down the River and then turn up a creek that we crost about 50 times Some very Bad foards with a great Deal of very good land on it in the Eavening we git over to the waters of Caintuck & go alittel Down the creek & there we camp keep Sentry the fore part of the night it Rains very har all night- monday 17th this is avery Rany morning But Breaks about 11 oclock & we go on and Camp this Night in Several Con1- paneys on Some of the creeks of caintuck tuesday 13th fair & cool and we go on about 11 oclock we meet 4 men from Boons camp that came to cunduck us on we camp this night Just on the Begining of the good land near the Blue lick they kill 2 bofelos this Eavening- W ednesd 19th Smart frost this morning they kill 3 bofelos about 11 oclock we come to wher(e) the indians fired on Boons companey & killed 2 men and a dog & wounded one man in the thigh we campt this night on oter creek- thursday 20th this morning is Clear & cool We Start Early & git Down to caintuck to Boons foart about 12 oclock whea1·e we Stop they come out to meet us & welcom us in with a voley of guns The journals of Calk and Henderson agree to an un usual degree concerning the matters which they treat in common. Knowledge of Henderson's passage fron1 THE COMING OF BOONE AND HENDERSON 71 North Carolina to Kentucky gained from his diary is supplemented by a letter written by him on June 12 to his fellow proprietors ,vho were in North Carolina. The items of most absorbing interest touched on by Colonel Henderson therein are those relating to the meeting of the men fleeing from Kentucky and the consequent fear and uneasiness produced in his o,vn camp. The very afternoon on which he wrote his let ter to the proprietors in Powell's Valley after receiv ing his letter from Boone, he met forty men on their way back to the old settlements. The total number of fleeing men in four days was almost a hundred.1 These men had gone out to Kentucky at the beginning of spring and had made small beginnings of clearing land and building cabins. Some were returning for their families, but the most of them were running f ron1 the Indians, largely Shawnees, who, in spite of their agree ment with Dunmore not to 1nolest adventurers, were already murdering men. Of these activities the at tack on Boone's camp was a fair sample. The most of the men Henderson met were gripped by fear. The ut most that his arguments and persuasion could do was to prevail on some eight or ten to turn and go with him to Boonesborough. This addition was offset by the turning back of Hanks, Drake and others, for the com pany continued about forty in number. Henderson wrote: .... Every person, ahnost, that we met, seemed to be at pains to aggravate the danger of proceding; and had we given the111 all a fair hearing, I believe they would, in return for the favor, have gotten all our men.... The general panic that had se;:,;ecl the men we were continually meeting, was contagious; it ran like wildfire; and, notwithstanding every effo1·t against its µrog;• ress, it was presently discovered in our camp; some hesitatHl and stole back, privately; others saw the necessity of returning to convince their friends that they were still alive, in too sti·ong ILetter of Henderson to the Proprietors, Hall, Sketches of the West, II. 260-265. 76 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY a light to be resisted; whilst many, in truth, who have nothing to thank but the fear of shame, for the credit of intrepidity, came on; though their hearts, for hours, made part of the de serting company. 1 One of the larger groups which Henderson met con sisted of the McAfees, already mentioned as returning to Virginia from their settlement at McAfee Station. He met this group as he was crossing Skagg's Creek on April 16. Besides the McAfee brothers, Samuel, Robert, William and James, there were fourteen oth ers. Colonel Henderson sought to persuade them to join him in his colonization scheme . . . . . Here a hasty council was held & Henderson laid his plans before the McAfee Company and urged them to return with him and he would grant them lands and allow them to make entries. James McAfee resisted his proposition and told his brothers that Henderson's claim could not be valid, as he had made his purchase without the sanction of the Government and if they sought protection under him they would be deceived. Notwithstanding this wholesome and correct advice, such were the allurements held out by Henderson, that his three brothers, Robert, George and ""'illiam turned back with him to Boones borough.2 Henderson was not so successful in his attempt to secure the enterprising Benjamin Logan to come under his banner. Logan, who was a Virginian, had, with \Villiam Gillespie and a nu1nber of slaves, joined the Transylvania party in Powell's Valley. He, like James McAfee, did not believe that Henderson's titles would be good.3 So he and Gillespie separated from the party just before it crossed the Rockcastle, turned west wardly, and followed the path taken by Boone and Stoner the year before on their way to the Falls. This route soon developed into a more important branch of the Wilderness Road than that which led from Hazel Patch to Boo~esborough. 4 Logan's father dying intes- IHall, Sketches of the West. II. 260-265. 2McAf ee, 25. ssummers, History of Southwest Vtrginia, 279. 48peed, 28. THE COMING OF BOONE AND HENDERSON 77 tate, by the law of primogeniture Logan fell heir to the estate. When he became of age he sold the lands and distributed the money among the other members of his family. 1 He was a man of fine personality, noted for his unflinching courage and high sense of justice, and was one of the heroic figures of early I{entucky history.2 He established Asaph's Station, more usu ally called Logan's Fort, near the present site of Stan ford in Lincoln County, where he and Gillespie raised a crop of corn in 1775.3 There were no women or children in Boone's or Henderson's party, but as these were on their way, Colonel William Whitley, who later took an active part in pioneer Kentucky, and Captain George Clark, with their families, were on their way out from Virginia, as the following excerpt from Whitley's Narrative shows: .... We came to Waldens C. where I had left my cattle. Then I had tie [sic] the Eldest child behind my wife & she carried the Other in her lap. Clark's children were partly Grown which gave him the advantage of me. As we came On at Yellow C. there Henderson· passed us, coming on with about 40 Men some small time after he pass there were several guns fired at a bear which gave us some alarm thi_nking they were attacked by the Indians but Henderson sent back a runner to let us Know the Cause & also some of the Meat. Many times in Our travels we had to Unpack & leave the familys to find Out way to get on. At times my wife would fall Horse and all, and at Other times, She & her children all in a pile tied together for When One went all must go in that situation. we were 33 days in the wilderness in this Unkind Season of the year had rain Hail & Snow with the disadvantage of large Cainbrakes to wade through We then landed at (now) Whitley Old Sta- tKYn ••• •4 This terse account of their travels gives a glimpse of the obstacles that had to be overcome by the first families who came to Kentucky. 1Green, 120. 2cotterill, 91, 97. 3Bradford's Notes, 23. 4Draper MSS9CC17. 78 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY After crossing the Rockcastle Henderson made bet ter speed, except on l\ilonday, April 17, when rain caused him to make only seven miles. On the f ollo,ving day he went sixteen and was "met by lVIichael Stoner with pack-horses to assist us. Camp't that night in the eye of the rich land. Stoner brought us excellent beef in plenty." 1 On the second day after Stoner met it, Henderson's party arrived about noon at Boone's improvised, but incomplete, fort, where they "were sa luted by a running fire of about 20 guns, all that was then at the fort-The men appeared in high spirits and much rejoiced at our arrival." 2 The spot selected by Boone3 for the making of the first Transylvania settlement, and a spot with \vhich he was very familiar by previous explorations, was nearly a mile down the Kentucky River fron1 w·here Otter Creek flows into it. The Kentucky valley is nar row here as elsewhere. On the northern side, opposite the site of the settlement, the hills rise precipitously. A few hundred yards south of the river the hills rise again. There were two springs in the settlement, one fresh, the other containing sulphur and salt. The val ley was well-wooded with large treesf but the under growth had been kept down by the buffaloes and other wild animals, ,vhich came there to the lick. Immediate ly about the nucleus of the settlement \Vere some large sycamores, which gave it the title "Sycamore Hollo,v." Boone has been severely criticized for his selection of the location for the building of a town, first, because the valley here is too narrow ; and, secondly because the high hills surrounding the town, especially on the north, permitted "from their summits a riflen1an [to] command any point in the valley across the river." 4 1Henderson's Journal, Draper MSS1CC21-102. :!Jbid. 3Robertson, 49. 1cott·erill, 89. THE COMING OF BOONE AND HENDERSON 79 The first criticism seems well taken, since Boonesbor ough ,vas never a town of any commercial importance, and soon disappeared. But Boone, though not primarily a soldier, had good sense for strategic defense, and very well knew that there was no rifle in the West at that time whose range could effectively reach fron1 the hills to the town. Although it is recorded that the Indians attempted to fire from the hills into the fort, there were no serious results. The fact that Boones borough ,vas never captured by the enemy is sufficient answer as to its strategic location for defense. The fort which Boone began to build on the first day of April was in all probability nothing more than a stockade for the protection of the cabins which were being built by his company. 1 When Henderson took notice of it on the morning after his arrival at Boones borough, he quickly came to the conclusion that it was not large enough for the use of his company, or in a suitable location. He selected the site for an adequate fort across the lick near the bank of the river about three hundred yards from Boone's fort, with one corner about 60 feet from the river bank, still near enough to the former fort that each could render aid to the other. Accordingly Henderson, Luttrell and others moved their tents to the place selected, and about a week later three or four men set to work to clear the ground for the construction of the new fort. In the meantime, be cause the powder was kept in tents and the weather was rainy, Henderson had a magazine built, which was begun on April 29 and completed on May 3. 2 The fur ther construction of either fort now apparently came to a halt. The preparations for the planting of corn, the building of cabins, the hunting of wild animals for lD,■a.per M SS4B103. 2Henderson's J01J,mal, Draper MSS1CC21-102. 80 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY meat, and for sport, the institution of a government, and numerous other activities crowded the building of forts to the back-ground. In his letter of June 12, Hen derson stated: . . . we are in no posture of defense or security at this time; and, for my own part, do not much expect it will ever be ef fected, unless the Indians should do us the favor of annoying us, and regularly scalping a man every week until it is performed; if the intervals should be longer, the same spirit of indolence and self-security, which hath hitherto prevailed, would not only continue, but increase.... When we arrived at this place, we found Captain Boone's men as inattentive on the score of fear, (to all appearances) as if they had been in Hillsborough. A small fort only wanted two or three days work to make it toler ably safe, was totally neglected on Mr. Cocke's arrival; and unto this day remains unfinished, notwithstanding the repeated applications of Captain Boone, and every representation of dan ger from ourselves.1 Boone, about whom Walker could make only one criti cism, "that he appeared void of fear and of consequence -too little caution for the enterprise," 2 tells us in hi~ Autobiography that he· completed his fort on June 14- just two days after the writing of Henderson's letter. Immediately on Henderson's arrival at Boonesbor ough the problem which gave him more immediate con cern than the construction of a fort was the laying off and the drawing of lots. Boone's company had already laid off and assigned lots of two acres to each of it$ men. This action, in so small a valley, made Hender son's problem more perplexing. On the second day after his coming, Henderson ran off fifty-four lots, . . • & gave notice of our intention of having them drawn for in the evening but as mr Robert McAfee, his brother Saml & some more were not well satisfied whether they 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. Informed by myself in hearing of all attending, that such settlements would not entitle them to lands from us. Appeared much concerned and at a loss what lHall, Sketches of the West, II. 265. 2Feltx Walker's Narrative. THE COMING OF BOONE AND HENDERSON 81 to do. On which the lottery was deferred til next morning at sunrise; thereby giving them time to con1e to a resolution.1 Henderson does not tell us the size of these lots. How ever in a petition from some of the Boonesborough set tlers, October 16, 1779, we note the following: ... in con1ing to the place the company agreed to lay it off into two acre tending lotts which was to be given up, the next year for the use of a Town and Town Commons tho at the same time this would entitle every man to draw a free Iott in Town and also entitle him to his Bounty Land.... :? · The following day was Sunday, but the lots were drawn. It seems probable that the running off of lots on the preceding day was on paper with some indica tion of the actual whereabouts of the lots, for Hender son's diary informs us that he with the aid of Captain Boone and Colonel Callaway laid off 19 lots on l\ionday and the remainder of the 54 on Tuesday. A part of the time on Monday was ''imployed in viewing the respec tive lots and endeavoring to satisfie the drawers ·by exchanging my own and those over whom, of our com pany I had influence, to give satisfaction." On Tues day, ... as there were 54 Lots and not so many drawers by 13, son1e of the best Lots were Left, therefore had a second Lottery at the end of which every body seemed well Satisfied. I had been able by one way or another to Obtain 4 lots for the fort Garden & c.s Henderson was also perplexed by the indifference of Nathaniel Hart. In the solution of the puzzling prob lems of making a settlement in the wilderness, Hart ,vould render no co-operation. Probably the schism be t,veen the two men began while they were still in Powell's Valey, when Hart turned back to settle in the valley and raise corn. In three days he was back ,vith 1Henclerson's Journ~l, Draper MSS1CC21-102. :!Robertson, 49. 3Henderson's Journal, Draper .MSS1CC21-102. 82 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY the caravan. But Henderspn does not mention this fact in his diary, and we are dependent on Calk for this in formation. "\Vhen Hart was con·sulted about locating the fort near the river, he was indifferent and thought "it might do well enough." Hart chose . a piece of ground just outside the town lots "for his own & pep pies cultivation", and would n·ot render any assistance in the preparation of the fort site or the construction of the magazine, although he promised one morning to aid in the latter undertaking. Hart continued to refuse to take any part in the affairs of the company, and Henderson continued to wonder why he did so.1 Un fortunately we have only Henderson's version of their differences. Their dissension was due, undoubtedly, to the inherent differences of personality of the two men. Henderson was a dreamer, an idealist, inordinately am bitious, introvertive, an arch-egotist, and inclined to be pompous; Hart was the practical business man, an ex travert, inclined to see things as they are, and was not willing to gamble the things in his hand against the possibilities of a future whose only support was a fab rication of extravagant dreams. The settlers were busy for some time, clearing their land for small patches of corn and garden truck, and the building of cabins. These buildings were con structed quickly. Calk tells us that on April 25 "in the Eavening we git us a plaise at the mouth of the creek & Begin clearing.... Wednesday 26th We Begin Build ing us ahouse & aplaise of Defense to keep the indians off.... Satterday 29th We git our house kivered with Bark & move our things into it at Night and Begin housekeeping." 2 In all probability the men co-operated in building cabins for each other in turn, which, w~ know, was the later custom in the western country. tHenderson,s Journal, Draper MSS1CC21-102. 2William Calk's Journal. CHAPTER V TRANS.YL ·v ANIA INSTITUTES A GOVERNMENT AVING faced with more or less success the prob lems of locating the fort and of the distribution H of the lots, Colonel Henderson had yet to contend ,vith the problems of Transylvania's ability to provide valid land titles and to set up a proprietary government to ,vhich the settlers of Transylvania would give al legiance. If he had had to deal only with the men who came with him, these problems would not have been so difficult. But settlers were already in Transylvania, and others were coming, who were not of his fold. Most of these were Virginians and believed that the Ken tucky region belonged to Virginia. They owed allegi ance to Virginia and were staking their claims to land in her name. Henderson was soon compelled to meet this puzzling situation. On May 3 Captain John Floyd came to Boonesborough to see him to obtain the right for himself and about thirty men to settle in Dick's River Valley. Floyd represented that his compauy ,vould treat for lands, if the terms were reasonable, but1 if these were not satisfactory, its members would go north of the Kentucky (where Henderson claimed no land) and settle there. Henderson noted in his journal: . . . . Was at a loss on account of his message as he was a Surveyor of Fincastle under Col. Preston who had exerted him self against us, and said and did everything in his power and invention, as I am informed, to defeat our enterprise and bring it into contempt. 'Tis said that he not only had our case repre sented, or rather misrepresented, to Lord Dunmore, but actually 83 84 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY wrote to Governor Martin on the subject. . . . Floyd had come through Powell's Valley only two weeks behind Henderson.1 On April 21, while stiH in the valley, the former wrote to Preston: The people in general seem not to approve of the Governor's instructions with regard to the settling of the land; nor will any that I have seen purchase of Henderson: they rather choose to settle as they have done on Holston. When they apply to Hen derson to purchase, he offers them deeds made from those the Cherokees gave him, and demands their bonds for the money. He says his title is already sufficient to make conveyances, and talks of having an office of his own to keep records & e. When I get to the country, I shall be better able to judge whether we can do business with so large a company.2 So Floyd, after he had been in Kentucky a few days, no doubt recalling the advice given him by Colonel Christian, based on the opinion of Henry, to buy lands of Henderson, 3 determined to seek for terms. He was a young man of only twenty-five and attractive in man ner. His appearance ·instantly appealed to Henderson, for he recorded in his Journal : .... This man appeared to have a great share of modesty, an honest, open countenance, and no small share of good sense . . . pleading in behalf of himself and. his whole company.... We thought it most advisable to secure them to our interest if possible and not to show the least distrust of the intentions of Captain Floyd, on whom we intend to keep a very strict watch. Accordingly . . . though the season was too far advanced to make much corn, yet promised them land and 1000 acres to the principal gents . . . . this we would not have done but for scarcity of men and the doubt with respect to the Virginians coming into our measure, acknowledging title, &c. 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 government 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. Harrod and his men who were settled some where about 50 miles west •Draper M SSl 700165-166. '.!.Draper MSSl 700167-169. 3Deposition of John Floyd, Virginia Calendar of State Papers, I. 310. TRANSYLVANIA INSTITUTES A GOVERNMENT 85 of us on the head of Salt River of whom we could forn1 no con jecture, but thought it best· to prevent any interruption to hin1 or his men 'til we should know what he intended with respect to our titles. The day before this one Capt Collomas and Mr. Berry with five other men arrived here from ... Virginia. They had heard nothing of our purchase when they left home. . . . Hearing of us and our pretensions they thought proper to come, tho they seemed not very conversible & I thought I could dis cover in our first intercourse a kind of sullen dissatisfaction and reserve which plainly indicated a selfish opinion to our disad vantage. This after some time wore off and they gladly treated with us for lands and other indulgences which we granted &c. 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 Convention &c. Colonel Henderson does not record the conversation between himself and Floyd concerning the institution of a government by calling a convention, but only in timates that this was the plan agreed on. A perusal of the contents of his diary above quoted indicates clearly that he was being driven by the logic of events to pro vide ways and means of meeting the embarrassing sit uation created by having to deal unexpectedly and immediately ,vi"th the Virginians who were settling, or desiring to settle, lands over which he claimed undis puted rights for his Company. Something must be done now to s·ecure the allegiance of these men to the Tran sylvania c·olony. ·Henderson, who had evidently done much extravagant talking during the three months prior to the time of his coming to Kentucky, had de clared he ,vould establish an independent government, 1 but any record of the nature of this prospective govern ment is now lacking. Whatever may have been the preconceived ideas of Henderson as to the constitution of his proprietary government, the one he did establish seems to have grown out of the exigencies of a critical situation. 1Dunmore to Dartmouth, Dartmouth. 5: 1353, 215-217, 86 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY Compelling events now began to move apace. On May 3, Henderson was wondering what attitude Harrod would take toward being forced to accept Transylvania Company's titles to the lands he and his men had staked out. He did not have long to wait; four days later Cap tain Harrod and Colonel Slaughter came to Boonesbor ough. Slaughter with Valentine Harmon of North Carolina and thirty men had only recently come to Kentucky. They had come from Fort Pitt to the mouth of the Big Sandy by water, thence by land to the Ken tucky River, striking it one mile above Boonesborough, just about the same time that Henderson had arrived there from Powell's Valley.1 From here they had gone to the Harrod's Town region. In a short time there had arisen a controversy between Harrod's men and the other would-be-settlers of that section over land claims. Slaughter had become the leading advocate of the anti Harrod group, and the two men had come to Hender son for the purpose in part of settling this dispute. Henderson stated the schism thus: .... Harrod's men being the first on the spot claimed a priority of choice and had they have stopped there the dispute would scarcely ever existed, for the others seem'd willing to give in to such a preference, but the Complaint Laid before us by Colo Slaughter in behalf of the other men on which we were to de cide was that Harrods men had not contented themselves with the choice of one tract of land apiece, but had made it their business to ride through the country, mark every piece of land they thought proper, built cabbins, or rather hog pens to make their claim notorious . . . and by such means had secured every good spring in a country of 20 odd miles in length and almost as broad . . . though in these parts one entire good tract of land and ... no advantage in choice, except as to water. Slaugh ter's men had ... from their first assembling at Harrodsburg, in. obedience to our written declaration respecting encouraging settlers in our country, industriously imployed themselves in clearing land and making ready for as large a crop of corn as possible, depending on a punctual performance on our part. Capt. Harrods had totally neglected to do any thing that way, there being at this time in Harrod's settlement at the Boiling IDraper MSS6C105. TRANSYLVANIA INSTITUTES A 00VERN:MENT 87 Spring, six miles from Harrodsburg, not more than three acres cleared and ready to be planted, and that for the Capt. only, whilst in the less time the same number of hands of Slaugh ter's had somewhere between 60 and 80. Fair and clear as this case was in favor of Slaughters men, upon every principle of justice ... we were affraid to determine in favor of the right side and not being capable, if we could have wished it, to give a Decree agt them, our embarrassment was exceeding great. Much depended on accommodating the matter which we dare not offer. ...1 But Henderson was not only non-plussed by the lack of power of the proprietary government, whatever that was, to adjudicate properly a case in justice in which, to his judicial mind, justice was all on one side, and this too in his own domain, where he had expected his rule to be supreme, but he had begun to fear the utter break-down of his colonization scheme because of his lack of ability to enforce law and order, to get his titles recognized, and secure allegiance. Referring to Har.. rod's men he noted: .... These men had got possession some time before we got here and- I could not certainly learn on what terms or pretense they meant to hold land, and was doubtful that so large a body of Lawless people from habit and Education [they were raised on Mononga (hela) where no law had ever existed] would give us great trouble and require the utmost exertion of our abilities to manage them and not without considerable anxiety and some fear wished to see Capt. Harrod.2 Realizing his inability to enforce any decision he might make in the dispute between Harrod and Slaugh ter, he dodged the issue, and by tactfully leading the conversation along such topics as the existing lawless ness, the need of a government to guarantee land titles and to adjust differences in land acquisition, and the proposed plan of government which he had already suggested to Captain Floyd, he won the two men to his plan. On the following day they took their depart- 1HencLerson's Journal, Draper MSS1CC21-102. 2Ibid. 88 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY ure "in great good humor and apparently well sati~ f ied." Concerning his plan he wrote in his diary : .... Our plans of legislation, the evils pointed out, the 1·emedies to be applied, etc., were acceded to without hesitation. The plan was plain and simple. We were in four distinct settlements. Members or delegates from every place, by free choice of indi viduals, they having first ente1·ed into writing solemnly binding themselves to obey and carry into execution such laws as repre sentatives should from time to time make, concurred with a ma jority of the proprietors present in the country. The reception of our plan of legislation met from these gentlemen as well as Capt Floyd gave us great pleasure and we therefore imn1ediate ly set about the business and appointed a meeting Tuesday the 23d Instant at Boonesborough and according made out writings for the different towns to sign and ,vrote to Capt Floyd and appointed an election. Harrodsburgh & the Boiling Spring set tlement received their summons verbally by the gentlemen afore said. 1/Ve have but little information concerning the meth od by which the delegates to this convention were se lected. This election at Boonesborough was evidently conducted by some form of balloting, as Henderson's journal reads: Saturday 20th. Election for Boonesborough had this afte1· noon with great regularity when Squire Boone, Daniel Boone, William Cocke, Samuel Henderson, Wm. Moore and Richard Callaway were Elected. Number of votes follow ... ·. He left the space as here indicated, but never filled it. Fortunately we have what seems to be a full and ac curate account of the main business of the convention in the "Journal of the Proceedings of the House of Delegates or Representatives of the Colony of Transyl vania." 1 On the other hand there is little other infor mation concerning it. The apportionment of delegates to the four towns was as follows: Boones borough six, Harrodsburg four, Boiling Spring four, and St. Asaph four. Those representing Harrodsburg were Thomas 1American Archives, VI, 546; North Carolina Colonial Records, IX, 1267-1279; Draper MSS1CC202-206. TRANSYLVANIA INSTITUTES A GOVERNMENT 89 Slaughter, John Lythe, Valentine Harmon, and James Douglas. Those from Boiling Spring were James Har rod, Nathan Hammond, Isaac Hite, and Azariah Davis. From St. Asaph came John Todd, Alexander Spotts wood Dandridge, John Floyd, and Samuel Wood. The lively interest taken in the convention is indicated by the fact that. all the delegates were present. This hearty response was a compliment to Henderson and his plan, and is evidence likewise that the settlers felt the need of some form of governmental co-operation, and took things seriously. Colonel Thomas Slaughter was unanimously chosen Chairman and Matthew Jouett-not a member-Clerk. When Henderson was informed of the organization of the convention, he, "in behalf of himself and the rest of the proprietors", opened .the meeting with a speech, doubtless already prepared, which was not delivered, ·but read, presum ably by the Clerk. Though containing much good sense, the speech was bombastic and grandiloquent-charac teristic both of Henderson and of his period. In part it ran as follows: You are called and assembled at this time for a noble and honorable purpose-a purpose, however ridiculous or idle it may appear at first view, to superficial minds, yet it is of most solid consequence; and if prudence and wisdom are permitted to in fluence 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 in- seperably connected. . . . . You, perhaps, 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 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.... If any doubt remain amongst you with respect to the force or efficacy of whatever laws you now, or hereafter, make, be pleased to consider that all power is origi nally in the people; therefore make it their interest, by im- 90 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY partial and beneficial laws, and you may be sure of their in clination to see them enforced. . . . As it is indispensably necessary that laws should be com posed for the regulation of our conduct, as we have the right to make such laws without giving offense to Great Britain, or any of the American colonies, without disturbing the repose of any society or community under heaven; as it is probable, nay, cer tain, that the laws may derive force and efficacy from our mutual consent, and that consent resulting from our own virtue, interest, and convenience, nothing remains but to set about the business immediately, and let the event determine the wisdom of our undertaking. . . . The first in order, must, from its im portance, be that of the establishment of courts of justice, or tribunals for the punishment of such as may offend against the laws you are about to make. As this law will be the chief corner-stone in the ground-work of our constitution, let us in a particular manner recommend the most dispassionate atten tion.... Next to the establishment of courts or tribunals, as well for the punishment of public offenders as the recovering of just debts, that of establishing and regulating a militia, seems of the greatest importance; it is apparent, that without some wise institution, respecting our mutual defense, the different towns and settlements are every day exposed to the most imminent danger, and liable to be destroyed at the mere will of the savage Indians. In the course of his speech, Henderson could not re frain from "paying his respects" to Governor Martin, who in his proclamation had cast disrepute on and hurled invectives against the members of the Transyl vania Company: Many things, no doubt, crowd upon your minds, and seem equally to demand your attention; but next to that of restrain ing vice and immorality, surely nothing can be of more impor tance than establishing some plain and easy method for the re covery of debts, and determining matters of dispute with respect to property, contracts, torts, injuries, etc. These things are so essential, that if not strictly attended to, our name will become odious abroad, and of short and precarious duration. It would give honest and disinterested persons cause to suspect that there was some colorable reason, at least, for 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 TRANSYLVANIA INSTITUTES A GOVERNl\llENT 91 in the garb of authority, has uttered invectives of the most malignant kind, and endeavors to wound the 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 forn1ing an asylum for debtors and other persons of desperate circumstances"; placing the proprietors of the soil at the head of a lawless band of trained 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. An answer to Henderson's speech was drafted by a committee and approved by the Convention, then or dered to be conveyed to him by Mr. Todd, Mr. Cocke and ;Mr. Harrod. The Convention confessed the confu sion and anarchy which might easily follo,v from exist ing conditions, and expressed the earnest desire of the members to meet their task "with vigor." One state ment of the reply is worthy of note : That we have absolute right, as a political body, without giv ing umbrage to Great Britain, or any of the colonies, can noi be doubted by any sensible, unbiased n1ind-and being without the jurisdiction of, and not answerable to any of his majesty's courts, the constituting tribunals of justice will be a matter of our first contemplation. . . . On motions committees were appointed to draft bills establishing courts of law, regulating militia, preserv ing game, and establishing writs of attachment. These committees made their reports, and their bills were duly passed. In the same manner bills were enacted fixing clerk's and sheriff's fees. to prevent profane sv.rearing nud S:1.bbath breaking, for the punishment of criminals, for in1proving the breed of horses, and for preserving the range. On the q~:eRtion of the tern1s of land settlernent the co~1vention ordered delegates Harrod, Boone 8n 1 1 4 l[i/·1ru o~ll t1~ n --,-, •"•t·,i;:~ll i· t;:, ~•,:"I'·' ll -,, J .~. th p V C(\l 1•""l"'t111v ,,_,--j-i· l1 f·}'\ fl .1 s J. J.-.1.-• r"'L .. ._.,,,._"' '°'"l. •.. ,l •·• '-'"''.,•,.,! ...,.,. • ....,J I -t- J •••"'• .., l-,, fo1·me1· p· ,_,·,,·., --.~-· ,-,;· --..:~l-!~'. , . .- il·.-~ r.,--:·•ri·1··\·' ·:i ',. n1..,l--·--- .1 ' • ~ .. , . • ••. ' ·-· . • .... l - & '. • ~ d '--· '-- \, ~ I .1 .. •· ~ t ·- ( . 1 C 92 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY proprietors sent the following reply: To give every possible satisfaction to the g-ood people, your constituents, we desire to exhibit our title deed from the abo riginees and first owners of the soil in Transylvania, and hope that you will cause an entry to be made of the exhibition in your journals, including the corners and abutments of the lands of the country contained therein, so that the boundaries of our colony may be known and kept on record. Richard Hende1·son. Transylvania, 27th May, 1775. To Henderson's request the Convention acquiesced in the f ollo,ving language: Ordered, that Mr. Todd, Mr. Douglas, Mr. Hite, inform th~ proprietors that their request will be complied with; in conse quence of which Colonel Henderson personally attended the con vention with Mr. John Farrar, attorney in fact for the head warriors or chiefs of the Cherokee Indians, who, in presence of the convention, made livery and seisin of all the lands, in a deed of feofment then produced, bea1·ing the date of 17th of Ma1·ch, 1775. Thus it is seen how cleverly Henderson turned the petition of the· convention to protect the bona fide holders of land against the wiles of tricky land-grab bers into an opportunity to display his Indian title deed and have its exhibition recorded in the Journal of the Convention. Ranck graphically describes the cere mony which took place on this occasion: A striking incident of Saturday, the last day of the session, was the formal and public observance before the House of the ancient feudal ceremony, "Livery and Seisin", the final act in the transfer of the immense portion of the territory sold by the Cherokees to Henderson and Company. Standing under the great elm, the attorney employed by the Indians, John Farrar, handed to Judge Henderson a piece of the luxuriant turf cut from the soil that extended beneath them, and, while they both held it, Farrar declared his delivery of seisin and possession of the land, according to the terms of the title deed, which Hen derson displayed, and the immediate reading of which completed a legal requirement now long since obsolete and almost for gotten.1 IRanck, 29-30. TRANSYLVANIA INSTITUTES A GOVERNMENT 93 This was probably the proudest moment in the life of Richard Henderson, ,vho was exceedingly fond of display and ostentation, especially \\There he was the chief actor in the pageant. Although the Virginia set tlers acquiesced in the calling of the Convention be cause of the fear of controversies over the settlement of land, the Convention never succeeded in securing any satisfaction for its constituents in respect to the claims of Henderson and Company to some eighteen million acres of land, and the proprietors ,vere as se cure in their claims as before the calling of the Con vention. During the session Todd, Lythe, Douglas and Hite were constituted a committee to draw up a contract between the proprietors and the people. The Journal of the Convention does not intimate it, but there can be little doubt that Judge Henderson had the chief part in writing the constitution, for constitution it was, for the Colony of Transylvania. The report of the com- 1nittee follows: Whereas it is highly necessary, for the peace of the proprie tors and the security of the people of this colony, that the power of the one and the liberty of the other be ascertained; We. Richard Henderson, Nathaniel Hart, and J. Luttrell, on behalf of ourselves, as well as the other proprieto1·s 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 selection of delegates in this colony be annual. 2. That the convention may adjourn to meet again on their own agreement; Provided, that in cases of great emergency, the proprietors may call together the delegates before the. time ajoumed to; and, if a majority do not attend, they may dis- solve them and call a new one. · 3. That to prevent dissension and delay of business, one proprietor may 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 tolera tion; Provided, that the propagators of any doctrine or tenets, evidently tending to the subversion of our laws, shall, for such conduct, be amenable, and punishable by the civil courts. 94 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY 5. That the judges of the superior or supreme courts be ap pointed 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 one hundred acres. 7. That the proprieto1·s appoint a she1·iff, who shall be one of three persons recommended by the court. 8. The judges of the superior courts have, without f ~e or re ward, the appointment of the clerks of this colony. 9. That the clerks of the inferior courts be recommended by the people, and approved by the p1·oprietors, and by them com missioned. 10. That all other civil and military officers be within the appointment of the proprietors. 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 will permit, consist of three branches, to wit: the dele gates 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 settlement shall hereafter be drawn in prece dent, but that the number of representatives shall be ascertained by law, when the state of the colony will admit of the amend ment. 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 moneys, and electing their treasurer. 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 be tween the proprietors and the convention. 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, Chair'n. (Seal) In the Convention the introduction of a bill by Daniel Boone, and its passage, for the preservation of garne TRANSYLVANIA INSTITUTES A GoVERNMENT 95 was very opportune. Not many days before the meet ing of the Convention we find that Henderson recorded in his journal the following comment on the prevalent slaughter and waste of game: . . . . \Ve found it very difficult at first to stop the great waste in killing meat. Some would kill three, four, five or 1h dozen buffaloes and not take half a horse load from; them all. For the 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 buffalo was killed within 5 or six miles. It was some pleasure to find wanton 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. That the men of the convention took their task seri ously is proved by the fact that they met each morn ing at six o'clock. Their sessions were held under the shade of an immense elm, of which Henderson has left us a glowing description : .... This tree is placed in a beautiful plain surrounded by a turf of white clover forming a green to its very stock to which there is scarcely anything to be likened. The trunk is four feet through to the first branches which are about nine feet high from the ground. From 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 semicircle on the heavenly green around it, of upward of 100 feet, and any time between the hours of 10 & 2 100 persons may commodiously seat themselves under its branches. It must have been a picturesque scene; these men in the great out-of-doors, sitting under this magnificent elm, deliberating on the structure of their government and on the laws to regulate the manner of their living together. The Convention ordered that the delegates of Boonesborough be a committee to see that all bills 96 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY that are passed be transcribed, in a fair hand, into a book for that purpose." The contents of that book, if it were extant, would make interesting reading. The Convention adjourned to meet again the first Thurs day in September, 1775. The settlement in Powell's Valley was not repre sented in the convention. On July 20, Henderson wrote Joseph Martin in explanation thus: · . . . . We did not forget you at the time of making laws, your part of the Country is too remote from ours to attend our con vention. You must have laws made by an Assembly of your own. I have prepared a plan which yo~'l approve but more of that when we meet. . . .1 In a letter of more than three thousand words written by Colonel Henderson in less than three weeks after th_e Convention to those proprietors remaining in North Carolina, there is no mention of the Convention what ever, although he wrote at length on many other items, which seem to be of far less importance.2 However, about this time a copy of the Proceedings of the Con vention was sent by Mr. Luttrell to Colonel Thomas Hart.3 Still we are at a loss to account for Henderson's seeming ·indifference. Was there a letter of previous or subsequent date, which has been lost, in ,vhich he discussed the matter of the Convention with his co partners, or did he treat lightly the Convention, the compact, the laws, and the people? An analysis of the plan of government instituted for Transylvania by the compact drawn up between the convention and the proprietors s:tiows no gains in democracy over the governments existing in the older English colonies. In fact the Transylvania constitution suffers in _comparison with the constitutions of the original colonies. lDraper MSS1CC216-217. _ 2Hall, S1cetches of the West. II. 260-271. SLetter of Hogg to Williams, Duke Universtiy Archives. TRANSYLVANIA INSTITUTES A GOVERNMENT 97 In the typical government of the older colonies there ,vas a governor appointed by the king, or by the pro prietors, or elected by the people. In some of these colonies the governor had the right to veto laws passed by the council and assembly: in others he did not have this power. He customarily had the right of appoint ing judges, sheriffs and other officers. There was a council, which had executive, judicial and legislative powers. The councilors received their offices in various ways: they were appointed by the king, by the propri etors, by the governor, elected by the assembly, or even by the freemen. Then there was the assembly, whose membership was chosen by the qualified voters. Its powers· were chiefly legislative. In the Transylvania compact no provision was made for a governor, but the executive power rested in the proprietors, who might select one of their own number or some one else, who must reside in the colony, to rep resent them. The proprietors had the right to appoint judges, sheriffs, and all other civil and military offi cers. The clause relating to the legislative power of the government is exceedingly vague : "That the leg islative authority, after the strength and maturity wHl permit, consist of three branches to wit: the delegates or representatives of the people; a council not exceed ing twelve men, possessed of landed estate, who shall reside in the colony; and the proprietors." We note that the manner of the selection of the councilors or the extent of their powers is not stated. Presumably they were to be selected by the proprietors and have such powers as the latter should determine. The power of the third branch of the legislature-the proprietors -\\"as equally indefinite. Undoubtedly they contem plated having absolute veto power over all acts passed by the council and the assembly except that relating to revenue and appropriations. Nathaniel Henderson, 98 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY a brother of Richard, later deposed that "the Com pany's principal reason for insisting to have a Nega tive on the Laws of the settlers, was because, if they gave up that right, the Delegates of any Convention, that might thereafter be held, would have it in their power to destroy the claim of the proprietors." 1 The proprietors got into the compact an acknowledgement of their right to collect quit-rents, although this right had many times been a cause of serious dissension be tween the governments and the people in the othet colonies. There is no justification in calling Richard Henderson "The Political Father of Kentucky", since his plan of government for Transylvania made no worthy contribution to democracy and had no effect on the future government of Kentucky, which had its origin in that of Virginia. tCalendar of Virginia State Papers, I. 302. CHAPTER \'I 1-\.DlvIINIST11.ATION OF TRANSYLV .A.NI.A. nI~i\IPORARILY, at least, the Convention had the effect of quieting the minds of n1ost of the settlers 1·· concerning the validity of their land titles a:r:d the probability of lawlessness and insecurity. On the clos ing day of the convention Henderson wrote in his j oul.. _ nal: "finished the convention in good order-Every body pleased." And three days later John Floyd writ ing to Preston said: "All the settlers have received Col. Henderson as proprietor of that side of the Ken tucky \Vhich is called Transylvan-Ia Colony."1 Some two weeks later Henderson wrote the proprietors re maining in North Carolina: "'"fhe grand affair on our part, is to manage matters so as to have our rights acknowledged, and continue lords of the soil. Every thing has succeeded to my wish ,vith respect to title." 2 Later he was undisturbed by a letter from Joseph l\'Iar tin, which reported the sending of the letters of Dun n1ore and Preston to the Cherokee Chiefs, to which reference has already been made,3 and added that Col onel Byrd was interested with Dunmore in prejudicing the Cherokees against Henderson, and that two other letters had been sent, .... One to get the Cherokees to meet the Six Nations of In dians, and hold a treaty concerning the boundary-They make no doubt that the Cherokees will give up all the land north of 1Draper MSS17CC180; Floyd's Italics. ~Hall. Sketches of the West. II. 270-271. 3Supra, 59-60. 99 100 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY the Cun1bel'land-the other to get the Cherokees to be otf the bargain with you, at any rate; and they will get properly author ized frou.1 his Majesty, and purchase the sa1ne of the111, and give more, running at the san1e time the risk of displeasing his Majesty.I Henderson, not realizing the utter insecurity of his claim, made a spirited reply, writing Martin: "\Vheth er Lord Dunmore & Col Byrd have interfered with the Indians or not, Richard Henderson is equally ignorant & indifferent. The utmost result of their efforts can only serve to convince them of the futility of their scheme, and,,,1 possibly frighten some faint-hearted per- sons.... - On the other hand Captain William Russell, who was :;;tationed at Fort Blair, seemed favorably disposed to ,vard Henderson, for he wrote the latter two letters, contents unknown, but he stated to Preston that he had calmed the minds of several companies con1ing down the Ohio with the hope that the country ,vould be settled quickly.3 When Johnstone and Nourse were at Boonesborough, on their journey through Ken tucky, Henderson found that their minds had been fa. vorably tempered by Russell, and that they were in clined to buy lands and become settlers in Transy l vania. 4 One of Colonel Henderson's first official acts after the adjournment of the Convention ,vas the issuance of civil and military commissions to his appointees in Harrodsburg, Boiling Spring and St. Asaph, which he had been empowered to do by the Convention.5 The names of the appointees and the number of officials appointed are apparently unkno,vn except in one in- 1FrankJort Commonwealth, May 26, 1840. :.!Jbid. 1 = Draper MSS4QQ19. 4Henderson's Journal, Draper MSS1CC21-102. 5fbid. ADMINISTRATION OF TRANSYLVANIA 101 stance. There remains a copy of the conunission of magistrates for Boiling Spring, ,vhich serves as a san1- ple: Richard Henderson, Thomas Hart, Nathaniel Hart, John ,vil liams, John Luttrell, William Johnston, James Hogg, David Hart & Len Henley Bullock, true & absolute Proprietors1 of the Colony of Transylvania, to Abraham Bowman, John Moore, John Cowen, Isaac Hite, Azariah Davis, and Silas Harland Esqrs. Greeting. On the recommendation of the Delegates for the Boiling Spring Settlement and by the Virtue of the Power and Author ity with which we are Invested we do ordain, constitute and appoint you upon the said Abraham Bow1nan, John Moore, John Cowen, Isaac Hite, Azariah Davis & Silas Harland Esquires, to be conservators of the Peace and Judges of the Inferior Court of Record within the Boiling Spring Settlen1ent and the District thereunto belonging-and hereby invest you with the full power of exercising the said authority according to the direc tions of an act of the Convention of the Colony of Transylvania passed at Boonesborough the twenty third of May Last you the said Abraham Bowman, John Moore, John Cowen, Isaac Hite, Azariah Davis & Silas Harland first taking the oath for the qualifications of Justices or conservators of the Peace and Judges of the Inferior Courts of Record, prescribed by the afo1·esaid act. Given Under our Hands and Seals at Boones borough this fifth day of June in the year of our Lord & Christ fine thousand seven Hundred & seventy-five- R H NH J.L2 One of the problems of vital concern for the ne,v colony was the maintenance of the food supply. Some hundreds of miles from any trading post, with no highway but Boone's Wilderness Trace, which was not passable for vehicles until nearly a quarter century later, the settlers had little food save the meat of ,vild animals, and, as the summer came on, corn, and gar den vegetables, for those few who had forethought enough to plant them. From Henderson's Journal we glean statements like these: 1Author,s Italics. ~Archives Virginia State Library. 102 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY Continue eating meat without bread.... No meat but fat bear. Almost starved. Drank a little coffee and trust to luck for dinner. Am just going out to our little plant patches in hopes the greens will bear cropping, if so sumptuous a dinner indeed. Mr. Callaways men got a little spoiled buffalo and elk, which we made out with pretty well depending on amendment to morrow. . . . Hunters returned, very good meal. . . . Sunday 18th [June] Had a mess of snap beans. Peas ripe. No meat. Two men from Virginia. Found bacon on which with beans we had an excellent dinner. . . . 28th Scarcity of meat. . . . 30th Meat plentiful and many joyful countenances .... Wednes day July 12 Horses being almost worn out my brothers Na thaniel and Samuel with some others went up the river in a canoe to get meat if possible. Our salt quite out except a quart which I brought from Harrodsburg.... Times a little melan choly, provisions very scare, no salt, to enable us to save our meat at any distance from home. . . . Tuesday 25 Weather dry & still in great want. Two of Calk's records are: "Tuesday 25th [April] ... this day we began to live without bread. 1\1esday 2nd [May] I ,vent out this n1orning & kild aturkey and came in & got Some for my Breakfast & then v1ent & sot in to clearing for corn." Felix \Valker wrote: "We lived plentifully on wild meat, buffalo, bear, deer, turkey, without bread or salt, generally in good health, until the month of July, when I left the country."1 J. F. D. Smyth, who rode into Boones borough on June 8, in order to see- at first hand the ,vonderful country his acquaintance, Richard Hender son, had bought for a song from the Cherokees, found a general scarcity of food, "but Henderson's Black Dan managed to keep a supply." But, after all, food was not of primary concern, its lack in quantity or quality, and all similar privations, were secondary, for land was the chief objective, the summum bonum, of every man who turned his face and his footsteps toward the western country. He thought of land by day, he dreamed of land by night. In all his writi!'"i~.r~ it was the one word that almost invari- IFelix Walker's Narratii,e. ADMINISTRATION OF TRANSYLVANIA 103 ably began with a capital letter. Apparently he had a habit of capitalizing words that to him were the most significant, and to him land was far and beyond the most significant thing about which he wrote. Richard Henderson was the king of the land-dreamers of early western history, but his dream companions were le gion. The desire to get land, fertile, abounding in springs, the more acreage the better, to hold it against all comers, to be secure in the validity of. the title, was a passion among the western settlers. The disputes about land formed the major contention between the Transylvania Company and the adventurers. They could have come to terms, perhaps, on all else. Hen derson, in order to maintain possession for the pro prietors, offered the inhabitants at least the semblance of democracy, but they would have none of it so long as the titles to their lands were in question. The theme of Transylvania history is land acquisition. Probably the first land survey made after the set tlement of Boonesborough was for Daniel Boone, and was described as follows : Transylvania Surveyed for Daniel Boone the fifth day of May one thousand acres of land lying on Tates Creek and bounded as followeth to wit. Beginning at a small Sugar Tree on the E' Side of creek at the letter A------Running thence No. 360 poles To a Hickory & buckeye-- Thence 450 poles to too walnuts growing together at the roots on a small ridge thence S 860 poles-to a ash on a ridge thence Et 450 poles--crossing the Creek to the first Station--- Surveyed by ----- Flanders Callaway & William Hancock Sworn Chain Wm. Bailey Smith D. p. s. carriers 17751 This crude means of locating the tract was the best that could be done at the time. But this, added to the IDra.per MSS25013. 104 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY wiles of land-hungry settlers, who desired springs, especially salt springs, and who staked out their claims willy-nilly to gratify their own interests, early led to overlapping claims,1 and ultimately to innumer able land feuds and suits-at-law, to the shedding of much blood and the fattening of the purses of many lawyers. . Not long after Boone's entry of his one thousand acres, Henderson entered for himself a thousand acres at the mouth of Salt Lick Creek, which included a salt spring. Nathaniel Hart was much disturbed over this private coup and entered for himself one thousand acres on Salt River, which also included salt springs. Whereupon Mr. Luttrell entered another one thousand acres adjoining Hart's entry on Salt River. John stone, the companion of Nourse, wanted 10,000 acres, but Henderson would not let him have it. Even the Reverend Charles Mynn Thruston wrote for a ''large purchase" in partnership with Johnstone and Edmund Taylor.2 The largest tentative land deal was that with Colonel Thomas Slaughter, who through the month of June was on the waters of Salt River trying to locate a suitable tract of one hundred thousand acres. About the first week of July Henderson and Luttrell went to Harrodsburg to meet Slaughter and close the deal. The contract called for the settling by Slaughter of a certain number of families on the· tract within a year. While he thought the Salt River basin contained much good land, he could not find a satisfactory place for his colony, and the deal fell through. 3 The problem of land tenure was an ever-present, a 1Letter of Nathaniel Henderson to John Williams, October 5, 1775, Duke University Archtves. 2Hencterson's Journal, Draper MSS1CC21-102. :;[bid.; Deposition of James Douglas, Virginia Calendar of State Papers, I. 308. ADMINISTRATION OF TRANSYLVANIA 105 plaguing, tantalizing one to Henderson. Those men v.rho had come out of their own initiative, without his knowledge or approval, who before Boonesborough was settled had begun to stake out claims, make surveys, build crude cabins, make tiny clearings, and plant corn, had to be reckoned with from the beginning to the end. They were individualistic to the core, and having come for the most part from the frontiers of Virginia, Pennsylvania and North Carolina, where they had al ready developed a spirit of independence, democracy, and. rough and ready practices, were not in any mood to accept restrictions imposed by a small group of men whose claims to the land and to sovereignty were shadowy and who had been outlawed by the governors of· North c·arolina and Virginia. Henderson could main tain their allegiance only so long as there was no test ; but the instability of his tenure was so marked that he had no ultimate recourse. Again it was a roving, care-free, restless group. Now they were here, now they were yonder. There was a continuous stream of men coming to Kentucky, and another stream of men going back to the old set tlements.· The approximately one hundred men Hen derson met on his way out had been in Kentucky but a few weeks; yet there must have been fully two hun dred who came out in the next f e,v ,veeks. Take a few records from Henderson's journal: "April 26, Other people coming, employed in showing lots for their use." By May 3, John Floyd had come with thirty men, and on the preceding day Captain Collomas had come with five. May 15, l\ilajor John Bowman, Cap tain Joseph Bowman and Captain Moore came with seven others. On the 22nd., Captain Thomas Guess arrived with six or seven more. "Wednesday 31st.... Joined by Jno Colson and a number of other Scoun drels .... Tuesday 6th [June] offered several young 106 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY men to admit them to enter Lands as if they working corn &c rather than they should go-they seemed de termined on going-and accordingly went in the Eve ning." Data, if available from other settlements, would doubtless show the same results. Before the influx had ceased the exodus had begun. On two days in June and one in July Henderson wrote, "people going away." In his letter of June 12 he wrote: Our men, under various pretenses, are every day leaving us. It is needless to say anything against it; many of them are so much determined, that they sell their rights for saving land on our present terms, to others who remain in their stead, for little or nothing.... Our company has dwindled from about eighty in number to about fifty odd, and I believe in a few days will be considerably less.... To the west,, about fifty miles from us, are two settlements, within six or seven miles one of the other. There were, some time ago, about 100 at the two places; though now, perhaps, not more than 60 or 70 ..•.1 Some three weeks later, while he and Luttrell were returning from Harrodsburg after their interview with Slaughter, he noted in his journal: .... Set off in company with Mr. Slaughter and about 12 others who were going to bring out their families and stock. Har rodsburg seemed quite abandoned; only five men left on the spot to guard the crop &c. . . . Sundry people gone since we left home & more going. The three McAfee brothers remained with Henderson about two months, then went to Virginia, and were back in Harrodsburg by September.2 This exodus was having its effect on the morale of Colonel Henderson. In a letter to the other proprie tors on July 18, he and Luttrell had this to say: . . . . \Ve are heartily sorry that it is not in our power to give you a more favorable account; but you must take it as it is and make the best of it.... Our enterprise has now come to a crisis, and a few \veeks will determine the matter. Ha1·rodsburg and the Boiling· Spring settlements, which, some time ago, could have tHall, Sketches oJ the West, n. 266-267. 2McAfee, 25. ADMINISTRATION OF TRANSYLVANIA 107 raised and turned out seventy or eighty men, at a short warn ing, are almost abandoned--on the most emergent occasion, they could not rally twenty men-the better half of them in the woods on the north side of the Kentucky, and perhaps could not be summoned to our assistance, in less than a fortnight.1 About a week later he was informed that Captain Bul litt had sent a few men to the Falls with orders that they pay no attention to the Henderson titles and set tle the country whether or no, and that Major Con nolly was going to pursue the same policy. Henderson made up his mind to return home, and soon he and Luttrell started for North Carolina. Nathaniel Hart had gone there with Boone in June. The last entry in Henderson's journal was made July 25. It was: "The Oceurences of tomorrow & so on you'l find in another stitched book covered with brown paper & begins \Vednesday 26th July 1775." 2 This book has never been found. What was, perhaps, the most important meeting held by the proprietors of Transylvania in all its his tory was held at Oxford, North Carolina, September 25, 1775. All of the members of the company were present except Nathaniel and David Hart. Colonel John Williams was appointed the Company's colonial agent with full power to transact their business until April 12, 1776 at a salary of one hundred and fifty pounds. Many changes were made relative to the terms for the disposal of lands to settlers, speculators and the proprietors. Settlers could now each obtain 640 acres~ with 320 acres for each taxable person with him in stead of 500 and 250 acres respectively under the old terms. The price per hundred acres was changed from t,venty shillings to two pounds ten shillings sterling. ~ro quit-rer!h,; ,vere to be p~id before 1780. The pur- 1Dra.per MSS1CC195-197. ::;;cndirso:i's Jou1-nal, Draper .n,1ss1cc21-102. 108 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY chaser must pay tw·o dollars for entry and ,,~arrant of stirvey; four do1lars for surveying and a plot ; t,vo dollars for a deed. These terms were to hold only until the first of June, 1776. Colonel Henderson ,vas authorized to select and have surveyed, "in such places and in such quantities as he shall think proper, not less than two hundred thousand acres, hereafter to be equally divided amongst the copartners, or their rep resentatives, according to their rateable part." In ad dition each copartner was permitted to secure for him self, under certain conditions, not more than two thou sand acres. Large purchasers were permitted to buy as much as five thousand acres, but at a price of three pounds and ten shillings per hundred acres. The agent was instructed not to sell knowingly any lands adjoining salt springs, gold, silver, copper, lead, or sulphur mines; and that in the granting of deeds he should reserve for the proprietors one half interest in all such mines. Daniel Boone was granted two thousand acres for his "signal services", and to Colonel Richard Callaway were awarded the thanks of the Company "for his spirited and manly behaviour in behalf of the Said Colony", and to his youngest son was made a grant of 640 acres. The proprietors desired their new colony to be ad mitted to the United Colonies. They drew up a memo rial to the Continental Congress to this effect, and appointed James Hogg as delegate, who should present their memorial and seek admission to that body for himself.1 Early in the summer, when many men of "consider able fortune" were coming to Henderson to buy land in large tracts, he was not able to accommodate them 1North Carolina Colonial Records, X. 256-261; Hall, Sketches of the West, II. 221-228. ADMINISTRATION OF TRANSYLVANIA 100 under the terms of land sale then in use, so he asked then1 to wait until new terms had been made by the proprietors, and he promised them that advertise ments would be found in the Williamsburg, Virginia, papers.1 Henderson did not wait for the new terms to be agreed on at the Oxford meeting, but had a long advertisement put in the Virginia Gazette on Septem ber 30. This advertisement stated the amount of acreage for one settler at 500 acres, but gave the new price of fifty shillings per hundred acres. The state ments were not extravagant, as advertisements go. The possible exceptions were that salt had been made with great success, that there was an abundance of iron ore, and "vast crowds of people are daily flocking to it, and many Gentlemen of first R.ank and Charac ter have bargained for Lands in it.":? For some weeks after Henderson and Luttrell left Boonesborough, it was practically ,vithout leadership. Boone and Callaway did not return until September, and John Williams did not arrive till November. Boone remained on the Clinch all summer getting his family ready to come to I{entucky. On his return he was accompanied by Hugh McGary, Thomas Denton, Richard Hogan and their families in addition to a con siderable number of men. ,vhen they 1 c,,<.:i~'-:'"i lh.izel Patch, Boone brought his family on to Boonesborough, ,vhile the other families went on to Harrodsburg, each group arriving at its respective destinations on Sep tember 8. These were the first white families in Ken tucky, with the exception of the Whitley and Clark families. . Boone says in his Autobiography: "My wife and daughter were supposed to be the first white women that ever stood on the banks of the Kentucky river." Boone's family consisted of ten members. In lHall. Sketches of the West, II. 271. 2virginia Gazette, September 30, 1775. 110 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY addition to his family Boone was accompanied by twenty adventurers. They brought with the1n cattle, dogs, and pack-horses carrying salt, provisions and household articles of many kinds.1 A little later (Sep tember 26), Colonel Richard Callaway reached Boones borough bringing his own family and the families of Vlilliam Poague and Barney Stagner. On the way out these were passed by Hugh Wilson and his wife, who settled at Harrodsburg. They became the parents of the first white child born on Kentucky soil-HarrQd Wilson. Callaway had left his son, Caleb, and his nephew, Flanders, at Boonesborough, who during his absence were constrnctin.g for his family a more com modious house than any other at Boonesborough at that time. These two met the party a day's journey out on the trai]. 2 '\Villiam Poague's clAughter, Eliza beth, afterward Mrs. Thomas, was eleven years old when she came to Boonesborough. In old age she made statements that on their arrival at Boonesborough not more than a half dozen cabins were built on the river bank, "perhaps a quarter below the Lick; other cabins were building.... Nat Hart had a cabin above a small branch which headed up near the river hill in a Buf f aloe lick, some two or three hundred yards distant. And this was its condition when we arrived."3 Thus there was progress in the settlement of Tran sylvania c·oiony in spite of the lack of leadership and governmental control. If the government set up by the Convention or attempted to be exercised by Hen derson ever functioned effectively, there is now little or no evidence of it. The need for it was not highly imperative. The pioneer society of Transylvania was individualistic and self-reliant. Social control was lRanck, 41-42. 2nraper MSS12026-29. snraper MSS4CC85. ADMINISTRATION OF TRANSYLVANIA 111 scarcely needed in this widely scattered rural commu nity, and certainly not much ,vanted. Smyth, who spent several ,veeks in the Colony during the summer of 1775, made the following comment: I have observed that throughout all the back country . . . 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 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.1 But economic progress was being made by each indi vidual according to his own way and in a manner that seemed good to him. Explorations were continued, and some surveys were made under land warrants. John Floyd, writing on May 30, estimated that 230 acres had been planted to corn in the entire country.2 Prob ably enough corn was raised to supply the needs of the settlers until the harvest season of 1776. After these crops had been cultivated, the men began to make deadenings about the springs. Floyd, ,vriting again from Boonesborough September 1, said that he and John Todd were each having la1·ge plantations cleared; and about two months later he wrote: " .... I am almost distracted about staying out so long and almost fatigued to death serving as a butcher-my hands cut to pieces with bones, my eyes almost scratched out, and as shabby as a turkey buzzard in May."3 \Vhen the McAf ees returned to Harrodsbu1·g in Sep tember, they were accompanied by David and John lVIcCoun, John McGee and John Higg·ins. They brought with them about forty head of cattle, which they left to live through the ,vinter on the thick cane, which generally abounded, and to which they gave little at- tSmyth, I. 217. 2Draper MSS1'1CC180. 3Draper MSS33S289. 112 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY tention except to salt them; These cattle were in good condition at the beginning of the following spring.1 The McAfee company cleared ground and built cabins, probably much more substantial than the earlier ''pens" built for the purpose of complying with the Virginia settlers' land Ia,v, and "John McCoun with a part of this co1npany remained during this winter and cleared about fifteen acres of ground in the platt ad joining James McCoun's spring & Planted it in corn in April 1776."2 However, most of the men returned to the older settlements during the fall for their families, farming utensils, or their military commissions, "and a great many to spread the name of the American Ca naan, but all to get fresh rigged with clothing."3 All things did not get on so well at Boones borough during the absence of the proprietors, as ex cerpts from the letter of Nathaniel Henderson to John ,vnliams, written October 5, 1775, will show: .... Things as yet have gone very well, though I have observed with a gread deal of difficulty at times-Surveying the lands already entered which ought to be done by this fall, will re quire your or my Brother's particular aid.... I acknowledge the task is hard, but hard as it is, if you or my brother dont personally attend at this place this fall there will be reason to fear that matters will not go on so sn1oothly as you may imagine, ... upon the whole Sir, you or 1ny Brother ought to be here particularly at this time for reasons innumerable.... 4 In spite of this urgent letter John Williams did not leave for Transylvania before about the middle of No vember. On his way out he stopped in Powell's Valley for a few days. Events in this sector had been fairly quiet. In June the Indians had ·made an attack, in which two white men were wounded, one Indian killed, and possibly others wounded. The result of this was 1McAfee, 25. 2Jbid. anraper MSS48J10. tLetter in A1·chives of Duke University. ADMINISTRATION OF TRANSYLVANIA 113 the strengthening of the fort at Martin's Station and the settlers working more in companies. Otherwise the colony was doing well, as there were seventy-two tithables making corn. However, there was a general scarcity of powder and provisions, which had to be secured from the older settlements.1 On November 18, Williams issued an advertisement asking that all set tlers entitled to land by having complied with the con ditions promulgated the previous spring prove their claims in order that entries and surveys might be properly made and deeds issued. At the same time he officially notified Martin of the terms for the sale of land fixed at the Oxford meeting.2 Williams reached Boonesborough the latter pa.rt of November, and on December 1, issued an advertise ment to the settlers similar to the one he ha.d issued in Powell's Valley. It also stated the terms lately made by the proprietors for acquiring lands. He warned all those who sh()uld neglect to fulfill all requirements by March 1 that they would forfeit their rights. At the same time he issued in the name of "true and absolute Proprietors of the Colony of Transylvania" a call "to the Settlers & Inhabitants of that part of Transylvania known by the name of Harrodsburg" to attend a con vention at Boonesborough on the twenty-first of that month "for the purpose of making and ordering such Laws Rules and Regulations as may be thought Ex pedient and applicable to our present circumstances." An election was to be held at Harrodsburg on Decem ber 15 for the selection of four delegates to the con vention.3 Doubtless a similar call was made to the set tlements at Boiling Spring and St. Asaph, for Joseph Martin was asked to attend the convention.4 The con- lFrank/ort Commonwealth, May 26, 1840. 2Dra,per MSS2CC5. 8Archives o/ Virginia State Ltbrary. tDraper MSS1CC18-19. 114 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY vention, which should have been held on the first Thursday in September had never convened because of lack of a quorum. On account of bad weather only a few came to the December convention. But Colonel Williams, realizing the necessity of doing something, canvassed the opinions of those who did attend. Th~y unanimously recommended that John Floyd be made surveyor of the Colony. He was accordingly com missioned. Nathaniel Henderson was put in charge of the entering office, and Richard Harrison ,vas made secretary. 1 Although there had been much fear of Indians dur ing the year 1775, from early spring until about Christmas the whites had not suffered much harm.2 At the latter time, however, two men were killed near Boonesborough. Williams, writing to the proprietors a few days thereafter, gave a very detailed account of the affair: On Saturday, about noon, being the 23d, a Colonel Campbell, with -a couple of lads, ( Saunders and McQuinney) went across the river. On the opposite bank they parted. Campbell went up the river, about two hundreds yards, and took up a bottom. The two lads, without a gun, went straight up a hill. About ten minutes after they parted, a gun and a cry of distress was heard, and the alarm given that the Indians had shot Colonel Campbell. We made to his assistance. He came running to the landing, with one shoe off', and said he was fired on by a couple of Indians. A party of men was immediately dispatched, under the command of Colonel Boone, who went out, but could make no other discovery than two Moccasin tracks, whether Indians or not could not be determined. We had at that time, over the river, hunting, &c., ten or a dozen men, in different parties-part, or all of whom, we expected to be killed, if what Colonel Campbell said was true; but that by many was doubt ed. Night came on; several of the hunters returned, but had neither seen nor heard of Indians nor yet of the two lads. We continued in this state of suspence till Wednesday, when a party ·of men sent out to make search for them, found Me- l Letter of Williams to the Proprietors, January 3, 1776. North Carolina Colonial Records, X. 382; Depositions of John Floyd and Nathaniel Henderson, Virginia Calender of State Papers, I. 309. :!Bradford's Notes, 23; Draper MSS48J10. ADMINISTRATION OF TRANSYLVANIA 115 Quinney, killed and scalped, in a corn-field, at about three miles distance from the town, on the north side of the river. Saund ers has not been found, nor has yet been heard of. On Thursday, a ranging party of fifteen men, under the command of Jesse Benton, was dispatched to scour the woods, twenty or thirty miles around, and see if any further discovery could be made. To those men we gave two shillings per day, and five pounds for every scalp they should produce. After they ,vent out, our hunters returned, one at a time, till they all came in safe, Saunders excepted, who no doubt has shared M:cQuinney's fate. On Sunday the 31st day of the month, our rangers returned, without doing anything more than convinc ing themselves that the Indians had, immediately on doing the murder, run off far northward, as they discovered their tracks thirty or forty miles towards the Ohio making that way.1 The Transylvania Company did a very good land business during the year 1775. Williams reported about nine hundred land entries on the Company's books. The most of these had been made when they could be made "without money and without price." A charge of two dollars for an entry lessened the num ber of sales. Surveying began in earnest ,vith the ap pointment of John Floyd, but the making of deeds was retarded by the scarcity of money, and Williams doubted the ability of the purchasers to get their deeds before the following June or fall. 2 The granting of large tracts of land near the Falls of the Ohio aroused some of the leading settlers to make a complaint. The complaint was well taken. ,villiams wrote in January, 1776: .... Many applications have been made for large grants, at and about this place, and refused. Since which, twenty thou sand acres, and upwards, have been entered there for the Com pany; forty thousand or fifty thousand more, in large tracts, by a few other gentlemen; a partiaJity was complained of; a general murmuring ensued. Upon considering the matter, I thought it unjust; I thought it a disadvantage to the partners 1Letter of Williams to the Proprietors, January 3, 1776, North Carolina Colonial Records. X. 385-387; see also Draper MSSJ2C26- 29 and Hall. Sketches of the West, II. 241-248. 2Letter of Williams to the Proprietors, January 3, 1776. North Carolina Colonial Records. X. 385-387. 116 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY in general, and that some steps ought to be taken to pacify the people. I, therefore entered into a resolution that I would grant to no one man, living within a certain distance of the Falls, more than one thousand acres of land, and that to be settled and improved in a certain space of time, under the pen alty of forfeiture; that every person who had more entered than one thousand acres, might retain his one thousand out of which spot he pleased; that the several officers, who have claims there, may each, on application and complying with our terms, be entitled to one thousand within his survey.... These proposals seem to have given general satisfaction, and every one who had entered large quantities within these limits, gives it up with greatest alacrity; and I am in hopes it will meet the general approbation of the Company . . • .1 Williams, as well as many others, seems to have sensed the strategic value of the land near the Falls, for he says: "The Falls of Ohio is a place, of all others, with in the Colony will admit of a town, which, from i-ts particular situation, will immediately become populous and flourishing .... Must be the most considerable mart in this part of the world. "2 He planned to lay off a town there, reserving a lot for each proprietor. The first settlers would have first choice of lots, but must forfeit them unless they improved them within a given time. He planned to go there about the first of l\'Iarch to lay out the town. 3 Nathaniel Hart returned to Boonesborough in No vember or December, 1775.4 The whereabouts of Colonel Henderson during the fall, winter and spring of 1775-1776 are somewhat problematical. Mrs. Thomas says she found him at Boones borough when she ar rived there on September 26_. 1775, and left him there in February, 1776, when she moved to Harrodsburg.5 The first part of this statement cannot be true; the latter part of it probably is. Colonel Johnston, writing lNorth Carolina Colonial Records, X. 384-385. 2Jbid. SLetter of Williams to the Proprietors, January 3, 1778, North Ca.rolina Cokmia.l Records# X. 385-387. 4Draper MSS1CC218-2-19. 5Draper MSS12C26-29. ADMINISTRATION OF TRANSYLVANIA 117 a letter to ,vnlian1s from Hillsborough, January 16, 1776, enclosed a letter to Henderson with instructions, "if the Colonel should not be at Boonesborough when the letter comes to hand, it will be necessary to open lVIr. Jones' epistle, as it relates to the Companies busi ness:"1 \Vith the coming of spring many who had gone back to the old settlements in the. preceding summer and fall began to return to Kentucky, and many others rep resenting several states came with them. Many ne,v settlements were made.2 Benjamin Logan, who, the preceding fall, had brought out his slaves and cattle, came out again bringing his young wife and other members of his family. He returned to his former settlement at St. Asaph. 3 Boonesborough and Harrodsburg were the two chief settlements of this period. Each served as a general rendezvous for all the other settlements in Kentucky, for these two places were the safest.4 This safety at this time was due to the fact that the two settlements contained the largest number of inhabitants and were partially protected by palisades about the cabins, not to the existence of the strong rectangular forts that were built later. Mrs. Thomas asserted that there was no "forting" at Boonesborough when her family, the Poagues, removed from there to Harrodsburg in February, 1776.5 When John Gass (Guess) came to Boonesborough on the first of the Rame month, he "found Henderson and his particular friends living in a few cabins." 6 Draper states in his life of Boone: "Up to this period [July, 1776] not one of the Kentucky IArchives Duke University. See Draper MSS4B102. 2Draper MSS48J10. soreen, 126; Draper MSS12C26-29. 4Bradford/s Notes, 23; Draper MSS48J10. 5Draper MSS12O26-29. so,.aper MSS4B102. 118 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY stations was fortified, or even partially protected."1 When Henderson and \iVilliams left Boonesborough in May, 1776, to go to Virginia/ they left no one, so far as available records show, as chief official in the Colony of Transylvania. If Smyth was correct in his characterization of the prevalence of pioneer individ ualism and political anarchy, and quite likely he wa~, no chief was imperative. ,vhatever administration there was through the succeeding months must have been small in amount and sporadic in its exercise. Richard Henderson and John Williams were consist ently fair in their personal dealings with the settlers. Their insistence upon the compliance with the stipu lated terms of land purchase by the settlers was never so rigid that injustices were done. They were liberal in their interpretation of the terms.. Nathaniel Hen derson deposed that probably fifty persons received entries that strict enforcement of terms wou]d not have permitted.3 John Floyd, who had access to the entry book~~ and who was also surveyor for some time, testified that "he was required to consult the ,vishes & interest of the settlers & that Henderson's conduct appeared fair and open." 4 There seems to have been some question as to the giving of an oath of fealty to the settlers. In regard to th.is Jam.es Doug las deposed: This deponent being asked whether there was not an oath of Fealty tendered to hint, which tended to acknowledge the said Henderson & Company Sovereigns of the Country? as well as Lords of the Soil? Answered, that there was an oath tendered to him, the words he does not recollect, but he thought it was wrong & refused to take it until permitted to alter it-and being asked by whom the oath was tendered? Answered, that it was by a certain Mr. Grissum, who informed this deponent lDraper M884B102. 2Jbid. 33S294-295. 3Calendar of Virginia State Papers, I. 306. *Ibid. 309. ADMINISTRATION OF TRANSYLVANIA 119 that he was a magistrate-"Being questioned", further deposeth that he lived considerable distance from Colo Henderson, and that neither he or any of his Company had ever tendered him an oath.1 While there is no doubt that Henderson claimed "true and absolute" proprietorship, sufficient evidence is lacking to support the accusation that he administered an oath of fealty. icalenclar of Virginia State Papers, I. 306. CHAPTER VII "THE FOURTEENTH COLONY" HE memorial which the proprietors of Tran sylvania drafted to the Continental Congress at Ttheir Oxford meeting in September, 1775, con tained a rather lengthy introduction. After reciting the Company's purchase from the Cherokee Indians, it enumerated the difficulties and dangers incurred in the settlement of its lands: . . . . They will not trouble the honourable Congress with a de tail of the risks and dangers to which they have been exposed, arising from the nature of the enterprise itself, as well as from the wicked attempts of certain governors and their emissaries; they beg leave, only, to acquaint them that, through the diffi culties and dangers, at a great expense, and with the blood of several of their followers, they have laid the foundations of a Colony, which, however mean in its origin, will, if one may guess from present appearances, be one day considerable in America. The memorialists claimed that the acquisition of Transylvania had been without violation of any British or American laws, and that they were "determined to give it up only with their lives." Then they made the following flourish: . . . . And though their country be far removed from the reach of Ministerial usurpation, yet they cannot look with indiffer ence on the late arbitary proceedings of the British Parliament. If the united Colonies are reduced, or tamely submit to be slaves, Transylvania will have reason to fear. In spite of the most manifest, flagrant and boasted violation of the laws of Great Britain in setting up a 120 "THE FOtrRTEENTH COLONY" 121 colony and a government without the consent of the Mother Country, they state, . . . . The Memorialists by no means forget their allegiance to their Sovereign, whose constitutional rights and preeminences they will support at the risk of their lives .... This is almost immediately followed by the grandest flourish of all : At the same time, having their hearts warmed with the same noble spirit that animates the united Colonies, and moved with indignation at the late Ministerial and Parliamentary usurpations, it is the earnest wish of the proprietors of Tran sylvania to be considered by the Colonies as brethren, engaged in the same great cause of liberty and mankind. And, as by reason of several circumstances, needless to be here mentioned, it was impossible for the proprietors to call a convention of the settlers in such time to have their concurrence laid before this Congress, they here pledge themselves for them, that they will concur in the measures now adopted by the proprietors. From the generous plan of liberty adopted by the Congress, and that noble love of mankind which appears in all their pro ceedings, the memorialists please themselves that the united Colonies will take the infant Colony of Transylvania into their protection; and they, in return, will do every thing in their power, and give such assistance in the general cause of America as the Congress shall judge to be suitable to their abilities. Therefore the Memorialists hope and earnestly request, that Transylvania may be added to the number of the United Colo nies, and that James Hogg Esq. be received as their delegate, and admitted to a seat in the honourable the Continental Con gress.1 If Henderson's "stitched brown book" were available, or if we had some equally reliable record of the hap penings, transactions _and sundry relevant comments during the two-month period between the day of the last entry in Henderson's journal and the Oxford meeting, we might be more certain of the reasons why the proprietors of Transylvania sought to h~ve their Colony incorporated with the thirteen United Colonies. ---As it is we are left to surmise and to draw more or 1North Caroltna Colonial Records, X. 256-262; Hall, Sketches o/ the West, II. 223-225. 122 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY less ,varranted conclusions. Many of the entries of Henderson's journal in its last days give a rather gloomy outlook for the future of the Colony because of the dissatisfaction of the settlers over land titles, the rambling disposition of the adventurers, and the pos sible opposition of Virginia. It is not far-fetched to reach a conclusion that Henderson and his associates, face to face with the facts as they were, took second sober thought for the safety of their "New Independ ent Colony," came down from their lofty perch of de fiance to Great Britain and indifference to the Colo nies, and sought allegiance to the former and associa tion with the latter. Hogg seems to have been only a temporary would be-delegate to the Congress. Probably it was feared by the proprietors in the first place that Congress would look askance on a delegate selected by a set of pro prietors, and in the second place that the settlers would prefer a selection of their own. Arrangements for the election of delegates by the representatives of the colonists had evidently been inaugurated before the Oxford meeting, for only ten days. thereafter (October 5) Nathaniel Henderson wrote to John Wil liams: . . . you will receive a pacquet with the proceedings of our con vention with respect to sending delegates to the Continental Congress at Philadelphia, among which you and my Brother are chosen .•.• Mr. Benton informs me that one of you are to attend the Congress, but rather, I imagine, it will be Hender- son•... 1 Hogg hastened to Philadelphia, where he arrived October 22, 1775, to make application. for the entrance of Transylvania into the sisterhood of Colonies and to secure for himself a seat in the Continental Congress. For information about Hogg's experience in Philadel- tArchives of Duke University. See also Petition of John Craig, Journ,a,l of Virginia, Convention., May 30, 1776. "THE FOURTEENTH COLONY" 123 phia ,ve rely for the mo8t part on his letter to Hen derson after the concluson of his mission.1 He soon got himself introduced to Samuel Adams and John Adams, to whom he broached the subject of the ''Four teenth Colony." These men gave him courteous con sideration, but pointed out a serious obstacle to the admission of a ne,v colony in these words : .... We have petitioned and addressed the king, and have entreated him to point out some mode of accommodation. There seems to be an impropriety in embarrassing our reconciliation with anything new, and the taking under our protection a body of people who have acted in defiance of the king's proclama tions, will be looked upon as a confirmation of that independ ent spirit with which we are daily reproached. Hogg then used his memorial to assure them that the Transylvania Colony was intending to acknowledge the sovereignty of the king. It is interesting to read in the Diary of John Adams on the day following the interview his comments on it: Last evening, Mr. Hewes, of North Carolina, introduced to my namesake and me a Mr. Hogg, from that Colony, one of the proprietors of Transylvania, a late purchase from the Cherokees upon the Ohio. He is an associate with Henderson, who was lately one of the associate judges of North Carolina, who is President of the Convention in Transylvania. These proprietors have no grant from the Crown, nor from any Colony; are within the limits of Virginia and North Carolina~ by their char ters, which bound these Colonies to the South Sea. They are charged with republican notions and Utopian schemes.2 So Adams, with true political acumen and insight had detected the flaws in the bold attempt of the Transylvania Company. The claims of Virginia over that part of Transylvania above thirty-six thirty were to prove the most serious obstacle in the way of Hen derson's dream. When this phase of the matter was introduced into Hogg's interview with the two Adams, 1American. Archives, VI. 543; North Carolina Colonial Records, X. 3'73-3'18; Ranck, 224-229; Hall, Sketches of the West, 248-254. 2Letters of the Members of the Continental Congress, I. 306. 124 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY who observed from the 1nap of Transylvania displayed by Hogg that its claims lay partly in Virginia, the latter ... told them of the fixing of their boundaries, what had passed in Richmond in March last, and that I had reason to be lieve the Virginians would not oppose us; however, they ad vised me to sound the Virginians, as they would not chuse to do anything in it without their consent.I Hogg was unable to meet the Virginia delegates for some days. In the 1neantime he heard that they would not be willing for the Colony to be admitted until its admission "should be approved by their constituents." He had conversations with Jefferson and Wythe, and later with Richard Henry Lee. To the former two men he expressed the friendly · attitude of the proprietors toward the cause of liberty, etc., but refrained from mentioning their memorial or his desire to obtain a seat in the Congress. They, too, were reticent, but asked many questions, and after closely examining Hogg's map, "observed that our purchase was within their charter, and gently hinted, that by virtue of it, they might claim the whole." Hogg then reminded them that in buying the lands from the Cherokee In dians at the Treaty of Lochaber both Great Britain and Virginia had recognized the rightful claims of the Cherokees to the land. Hogg here overlooked the fact that the Virginia Assembly was acting legally and authoritatively, and that the fundamental question of legality in the Transylvania purchase was not the right of the Cherokees to the land, though that was questionable, but the right of the Transylvania Com pany to acquire it. Jeffer&on and Wythe treated this phase of Hogg's contentions lightly, but another argu ment brought by Hogg, that the new colony would serve Virginia by being a barrier against the Indians, lHall, Sketches .of the West. II. 249. "THE FOURTEENTH COLONY'' 125 elicited more expression from Mr. Jefferson, who . . . acknowledged, that, in his opinion, our Colony could be no loss to the Virginians, if properly united to them; and said, that if his advice was followed, all the use they would n1ake of their charter would be, to prevent any arbitrary or oppressive government to be established within the boundaiies of it; and that it was his wish to see a free government established at the back of theirs, properly united with them; and that it should extend westward to the Mississippi, and on each side of the Ohio to the charter line. But he would not consent that we should be acknowledged by the Congress, until it had the appro bation of their constituents in Convention, which he thought might be obtained; and that, for that purpose, we should send one of our company to their next Convention. Against this proposal, several objections occurred to me, but I made none.1 Hogg did not press the matter further, and for the re mainder of his stay in Philadelphia assumed an atti tude of quiescence. In his association with the various delegates Hogg found "the wise ones of them," he wrote Henderson, favorable to the Transylvania enterpr.ise and \Vere con vinced of the validity of the Indian grant. One of these gave him a copy of the Camden-Yorke Opinion. Hogg marvelled that . . . . After an opinion so favourable for them ... this company [the Ohio] never attempted to form a settlement, unless they could have ·procured a charter, with the hopes of which, it seems, they were flattered, from time to time. However our example has aroused them, I am told, and they are now setting up for our rivals.2 \Vhile he was in Philadelphia, Hogg became ac quainted with Silas Deane, who became more or less enamored of the Utopian element in the Transylvania. plan of libe1·al government, furnished Hogg with a dis sertation on the ideal government in Connecticut, and held out hopes to hin1 that Deane himself would lead a party of Connecticut adventurerR to Transylvani3._. lHall, Sketches of the West, II. 251. :!.Jbid., II, 252. 126 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY but insisted on a most liberal form of government. Deane's conditional pro1nises soon ca1ne to the ear of Governor l\1artin of North Carolina to the effect that two thousand Connecticut people were coming to Transylvania to settle.1 Hogg's discourses, though they got no action frou1 Congress, found fertile soil in the minds of many of the lovers of liberty assembled at Philadelphia. He says of these: .... You would be amazed to see how much in earnest all the~e speculative gentlemen are about the plan to be adopted by the Transylvanians. They entreat, they pray that we may make it a free government, and beg that no mercenary or ambitious views in the proprietors may prevent it. Quit-rents they say is a mark of vassalage, and hope they will not be established in Transylvania. Hogg's letter concerning his lack of success in Phila delphia discouraged some at least of the proprietors. Johnston wrote Willian1s and rather emphatically in sisted that he grant no mo1·e deeds of general warranty and limit his granting to deeds _of special warranty.!! tNorth Carolina Coloni.al Records, IX. ~25. 2Letter of Johnston to Williams, January 16, 1776, Duke Uni versity Archives. CHAPTER VIII REVOLUTION IN TRANSYLVANIA HE dissatisfaction which was giving Colonel Hen derson concern during several weeks preceding his Treturn to North Carolina in the latter part of the summer of 1775, and which may have been the chief reason for his return, continued to increase through out the remainder of the year.1 The center of agitation was in and around Harrodsburg. Doubtless, this disaf fection had been given an impetus by the advertise ment issued by John Williams on December 1, 1775,2 which stated the new terms for the granting of lands, including the costs of surveys, entries, plots, as well as the increase of the price per hundred acres from twenty to fifty shillings. 3 During the latter part of December the disgruntled Harrodsburg settlers sent to Williams by the hands of Abraham Hite, Joseph Bowman, John Wharton and William McAfee a petition· "For the Relief of Griev ances Subsisting in the Colony of Transylvania." A copy of the remonstrance does not seem to exist, and we are dependent on the letters of Williams for a sur mise as to its contents. Williams, in his reply to the remonstrance, plead that the Company was selling the lands as cheaply and on as good terms as it could afford considering the large price it paid for them and the tPetition of John Craig, Journal of Virginia Convention, May 30. 1776; Letter of Nathaniel Henderson to John Williams, Oc tober 5, 1'1'15, Archives Dulce University. 2Archives Virginia State Library. 3Collins, 512; Illinois Historical Collections, VIII. 209. 127 128 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY heavy expense it had had in settling the country. He then defended the integrity of the proprietors and the validity of their title. He closed by calling attention to the fine country in which the lands were being offered and made an appeal for the elimination of dissension and for a united front against the savages.1 In his letter to the proprietors, January 3, 1776, two days after his reply to the petitioners, Williams was more explicit concerning the letter of complaint, for he wrote: .... Among other things, one of the great complaints was, that the Proprietors, and a few gentlemen, had engrossed all the lands at and near the Falls of the Ohio, which circumstance I found aroused the attention of a number of people of note; I, therefore, found myself under the necessity of putting a stop to all clamours of that kind, by declaring that I would grant no large bodies of land to any person whatever, which lay con tiguous to the· Falls; which I have done in a solemn manner.2 About the same time3 that this remonstrance was sent to vVilliams, there originated among the settlers of the Harrodsburg sector a petition "To the Honour able Convention of Virginia" signed by eighty-eight men. This document leaves no· doubt as to the griev ances of the settlers. The petition follows: The petition of the inhabitants, and some of the intended settlers, of that part of North America now denominated Tran sylvania, 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 show of the easy terms on which the land was to be purchased from those who style themselves proprietors, have, at great expense and many hardships, settled there, under the faith of holding the lands by indefeasable title, which those gentlemen assured them they were capable of making. But your petitioners have been greatly alarmed at the late conduct of these gentlemen, in advancing the price of the purchase money from twenty shil lings to fifty shillings sterling per hundred acres, and at the 1Virginia Calendar of State Papers, I; Ranck, 230-232. 2North Carolina Colonta,l Records, X. 384. scollins, 511. REVOLUTION IN TRANSYLVANIA 129 same time have increased. the fees of entry and surveying to a most exorbitant rate; and, by the short period fixed for the taking up of 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. The petitioners were "justly alarmed", they further asserted, because they had become aware that the lands which Henderson and Company were offering to sell them at "such exhorbitant sums" had by the Treaty of Fort Stanwix been granted to the Crown in 1768 as far as_ the Tennessee River, which was sufficient cause for them to doubt the validity of the purchase made by the proprietors from the Cherokees, and they feared they had but poor security for the money they were paying for their grants. The petition continues verbatim: . . . . And, as we have the greatest reason to presume that his majesty, to whom the lands were deeded by the Six Nations, for a valuable consideration, will vindicate his title, and think hims.elf at liberty t.o grant them to such persons, and on such terms as he pleases, your petitioners would, in consequence thereof, be turned out of possession, or obliged to purchase their lands and improvements on such terms as the .new grantee or proprietor might think fit to impose; so that we cannot help regarding the demand of Mr. Henderson and his company as highly unjust and impolitick, in the infant state of the settle ment, as well as greatly injurious to your petitioners, who would cheerfully have paid the consideration at first stipulated by the company, whenever their grant had been confirmed by the crown, or otherwise authenticated by the supreme legislature. The petitioners had sensed the crux of the whole mat ter. The plain men of the backwoods saw the logic of the situation with far deeper insight than the legally trained ex-judge of the Superior Court of North Caro lina, blinded as he was by his desire to become the greatest real estate dealer of all the Americas. The stand they took was absolutely tenable. Then the peti tioners seek to make themselves secure by being taken under the jurisdiction .and protection of Virginia : 130 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY And, as we are anxious to concur in every respect with our brethren of the United Colonies, for our just rights and privi ledges, as far as our infant settlement and remote situation will admit of, we humbly expect and implore to be taken under the protection of the honourable Convention of the Colony of Virginia, of which we cannot help thinking ourselves still a part, and request your kind interposition in our behalf, that we may not suffer under the rigorous demands and impositions of the gentlemen stiling themselves proprietors, who, the better to effect their oppressive designs, have given them the colour of a law, enacted by a score of men, artfully picked from the few adventurers who went to see the country last summer, overawed by the presence of Mr. Henderson. And that you would take such measures as your honours in your wisdom shall judge most expedient for the restoring peace and harmony to our divided settlement; or, if your honours apprehend that our case comes more properly before the honourable the General Congress, that you would in your good ness recommend the same to your worthy delegates, to espouse it as the cause of the Colony .1 . James Harrod, whose name appears first on the list of the signatures of the petition, was a member of the Boonesborough Convention of the preceding May. Yet he was the only petitioner from among the eight dele gates there from Boiling Spring and Harrodsburg. The signature of Abraham Hite is secon4 in the list. Since Williams accuses Hite of being the head of the conspiracy about Harr9dsburg,2 we are justified in con cluding that Harrod and Hite were the initiators in the promotion of the petition.3 This was drafted by Peter Hogg, a "skilled lawyer", from Augusta County, Virginia.• The pioneer psychology involved in the revolt of the settlers against the Transylvania proprietors is suc cinctly analyzed by Collins: . . • . Wherever the pioneer went his hands obtained him all tAmerican Archives, VI. 1528-1529; Hall, Sketches of the West, II, 236-240. 2North CaroliM Colonial Records, X, 384. anraper MSS4B63. 4Deposition of Abraham Hite, Virginia Calencla,r of State Pa,pers, I. 304; John Mason Brown, The Polttical Beginnings of Kentucky, 32, note. REVOLUTION IN TRANSYLVANIA 131 that was necessary for his existence. The forest furnished him n1ore than he could eat; he had but to put forth his hand anti call it his own. The skins that enwrapped his food becan1e hi:; clothing. The canopy of heaven was his roof; the ground, that brought forth so abundantly, if he chose to till it, was his bed. Wherever it pleased him to ren1ove, his house was ready for him. If the land was not his own, he made it so by clearing a spot, and carving his name upon a tree as the record of hi~ ownership; he planted a few seed, and went away; he returned and gathered his crops. His life was one of constant dange1·, scarcely one of toil; one of an ever fresh excitement, that he loved despite the danger. It would be strange, then-when for two years he had taken up land and laid it down at pleasure had surveyed where and as many acres as he chose, and none gainsaid his right of ownership-if now the new-made clain1 of Hender~on & Co. to be proprietor~ of all the land should be promptly or at all conceded. Those who can1e with Col. Hender son, or before at his instance, were tempted and employed by the promise of lands purchased of the Indians-whose owner ship the pioneers had felt was much like their own, attaching to them personally where they went and while they staid. They who were already in the land, who had spied it out and were 1·eveling in its luxuries, would be "hail fellow, well met," with the lordly Transylvanians; but so far as acknowledge their su perior rights as pay them tribute, NEVER! They would help them open the country, combine with them for defense, counsel with them for the common safety and comn1on good, meet the1n for any purpose upon equal tern1s; but submit to then1 as lords <1.I: the soil, entitled to an annual quit-rent, NEVER! ! They found Kentucky freesoil~ and with their blood would help to keep it free. A con1mon gove1·nment, an equal representative government, they would help to establish and maintain; the air they breathed was too free and too pure, and the surroundings of their hon1es too inspiriting and grand, to teach them the virtue of a proprietary government.1 If Williams' reply to the remonstrance of the Har rodsburg group quieted them, it did not do so very long. Levi Todd says that during the spring of 1776 the complaints against Henderson doubled, and even some were rejecting his claims altogether.2 This was particularly true of James Harrod, John Todd and James Douglas. And John Floyd received word from Colonel Preston that Virginia would assert and en- 1Collins. 509-510. ~Draper MSS48J10. 132 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY force her claims. 1 While Williams was in Harrodsburg in the winter of 1776, attending to the affairs of the land office there, and doubtless other administrative affairs, he sensed the growing dissension, and, in order to allay it, issued, about the latter part of February, writs of election for delegates to a colonial convention to be held at Harrodsburg on April 10 following. The matter is best told in Williams' own words. A letter from him to Joseph Martin follows : Harrodsburg 3d March, 1776. Dear Sir- Some few days ago I wrote you, and lnelosed you a writ for the Election of Delegates to Sit in Convention at this place the tenth of April next.2 In that letter I mentioned nothing respect ing some Disturbances and Dissatisfactions then Subsisting among the people. They were trifling and hardly worth men tionini-though reflecting that such reports generally magnify as it Lsic] get more distant from the place it Subsists. I now take occasion to inform you that whatever you may have heard of the matter, it is now Entirely done away, & perfect unanimity & concord settled between the proprietors & the people, and I believe most of them Sorry for what had happened; and Such as were not Sorry, were ashamed of what they had attempted. Notwithstanding this consideration, there seems to be in some few of them a kind of jealousy that the Proprietors would wish to establish some laws which might operate to their Disadvan tage:--therefore have solicited that the Convention might be put off until they Shall have Some few men of better abilitys come Among them to assist in making Such laws-which we have assented to, on their promising most faithfully to observe and abide by those heretofore made in Convention at Boones borough last year, which they have consented to, and promise to do. Therefore you may not only desist from coming down at the time mentioned, but also omit to hold an Election at the ap- pointed time. . • . · Jno Willia1ns.s Some idea of the nature of the settlement made by Williams is given in a letter written by John Floyd to Colonel Preston on May 19: tJohn Mason Brown, The Political Beginnings of Kentucky., 34. 21talics are those of Williams. anraper MSS16J54. REVOLUTION IN TRANSYLVANIA 133 . The uneasiness the most of the settlers on this side of the river were under some time ago, was settled nearly in the following manner: That the proprietors would not ask any money for lands already sold till September next, in order to give them time to Enquire into the validity of their title, but in the meantime should go on with surveying &c in order that the bounds of each person's claim might be ascertained, to give ihose who wanted to settle an oppo1·tunity of knowing where the vacant land was. l met Col, Henderson & Willia1ns1 as I came out at Cumberland on their return; they intend going immediately to the Virginia Convention, & from thence to the Congress, in order to see what encouragement they meet with respecting their land. Since they have been gone, I an1 told most of the men about Harrodsb-urg1 have resumed their for mer resolution of not complying with any of the office rule::; whatever. Jack Jones,1 it is said, is at the head of the party & flourishes away prodigiously. All of the people out of that neighborhood go on with Entering and surveying as usua~.2 On the same day F'loyd wrote l\Iartin : "All the ne\\·s I have amounts to nothing more than the Harrodsburg men .have made a second revolt and Harrod and Jack .Jones at the head of the Banditti-God knows how it may end but things at this time bear but a dull as pect-they utterly refuse to have any Land Surveyed or comply with one of the office rules ...." 3 There seems to have been some dissath;faction, at least in embryo, at Boonesborough in regard to cer tain actions of Henderson. In a petition rnade by the residents some time later this complaint ,vas regis tered: ... sd Colo. Richard Henderson had the fence that was made by the people broke and took the rails and fenced in betwixt twenty and thirty acres of the most convenient ground next to the fort which has been held under sd Henderson ever since except the value of one or two acres was taken for gardians for people in sd fort, we your petitioners think it a grand Im position that sd Henderson should hold such a quantity of Ground whilst some of your petitioners have been under the necessity of clearing ground at the risk of our lives and tending our crops around sd Hendersons slaves. In the second place 1 Floyd's Italics. 2Draper MSS33S294-295. 3Draper MSS1XX10. 134 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY John Luttrell one of the Gent. proprietors entered on S. \·V. side of sd 1.,ownship and in1proved on the Land fi1·st allowed by sd proprietors for a Town. In the third place Nathaniel Heart another of the sd proprietors entered the upper half of the Town Land which was cleared and fenced by the people who tended corn the first year. . . . 1 Among those who returned to Kentucky in the spring of 1776 and who also doubted the validity of the claims of Henderson was George Rogers Clark. He was the most enterprising and energetic of all the early pioneers of Kentucky. As a very young man he had spent some time in the Monongahela region, and in the summer of 1775 at the age of twenty-three had come to Kentucky. While there he wrote his brother Jonathan : "Col. Henderson is here and claims all ye country below Kentucky. If his claims should be good, land may be got reasonable enough and as good as any in the world." 2 At a later date Clark wrote: .... The proprietors at first took pains to ingratiate themselves in the favour of the people, but, too soon for their interest began to raise on their lands, which caused many to complain. A few gentlemen made attempt to persuade to pay no attention to them. I plainly saw that they would work their own 1·uin . . . . . I left the country in the fall, 1775, and returned the spring following. While in Virginia I found there was various opinions respecting Henderson's claim. Many thought it good, others doubted whether o:r not Virginia could, with propriety, have any pretentions to the country. This was what I wanted to know. I immediately fixed my plan,-that of assembling the people, get them to elect deputies, and send them to the assembly of Vir ginia, and treat with them respecting the country.3 With characteristic energy Clark proceeded to call a meeting at Harrodsburg for June 6. He did not dis close the specific purpose of the meeting, but let it be known that it very much concerned the settlers' in terest. His object in pursuing this course was to se cure a good attendance on the score of curiosity and tVirginia State Library Archives; Robertson, 49-50. -1Draper MSSIL20. 3Jllinois Historical Collections, VIII, 209-210. REVOLUTION IN TRANSYLVANIA 135 to prevent the people from dividing into factions. Clark was late in arriving at Harrodsburg on the day of the meeting. The assembled people had already de cided upon sending delegates to the Virginia Assembly with a petition to admit them and to create a new county out of the western country.1 After a week's voting Clark and John Gabriel Jones, a lawyer, were elected delegates to the Assembly. Two papers were prepared for Clark and Jones to carry with them to Williamsburg. One was a petition from the inhabit ants round about Harrodsburg and the other a peti tion from "the Committee of West Fincastle of the Colony of Virginia," selected by the Harrodsburg as sembly. Both petitions were addressed to the Virginia Convention. The first follows: To the Honourable the Convention of Virginia. The humble petition of the inhabitants of Kentucke (or Louisa) River, on the western parts of Fincastle County. Humbly sheweth, that many of your petitioners became adventurers in this part of the Colony in the year 177 4, in order to provide a subsistence for themselves and their posterity, but were soon obliged by our savage enemy to abandon their enterprise. And in the year following, after the country had been discovered and ex plored, many more became adventurers, some of whom claimed land by virtue of warrants, granted by Lord Dunmore, agree able to the Royal Proclamation in the year 1763, and others by preoccupancy, agreeably to the entry laws of Virginia. And in the meantime a company of men from North Caro lina purchased, or pretended to purchase, from the Cherokee Indians, all that tract of land from the southernmost waters of Cumberland River to the Banks of Louisa or Kentucke River, including also' the lands on which inhabitants live in Powell~s Valley. By virtue of which purchase they stile themselves the true and absolute proprietors of the New Independent Province (as they call Transylvania) they are endeavoring to erect, and in consequence of their usurped authority, officers both civil and military are appointed, writs of election issued, Assemblies con vened, a land office opened, conveyances made, lands sold at an exhorbitant price, and a system of policy introduced which does not at all harmonize with that lately adopted by the United Colonies; but on the contrary, for aught yet appears, this fer tile country will afford a safe asylum to those whose principles 11llinois Historical Collections, VIII. 209-210. 136 THE TRANSYI,VANIA COLONY are inimical to American freedom. The petitioners further stated that they doubted the validity of the purchase, since the Cherokees had never claimed north of the Cumberland River, and since these same lands had been ceded to the Crown by the Six Nations. They were not willing to acknowl edge the authority of the proprietors, but sought al legiance to Virginia, which held the country both by charter and by conquest. They doubted the ability of these men to institute successfully and defend against the Indians a colony so remote from the other colonies, had great assurance that Virginia had the power to give them protection and to nourish the infant colony until it should come into a flourishing condition in trade, navigation, population and wealth. The action at Harrodsburg was concurred in by people on both sides of the Kentucky River, who prayed that the Con vention would seat their two delegates. They were in hearty sympathy with the measures being adopted by the Continental Congress and the Virginia Convention, and were willing to support the common cause of lib erty with men and money. · The closing paragraphs of the petition stated: And that good order may be observed, we proceeded to elect a Committee consisting of twenty-one members, as is already done in West Augusta, and which precedent we rely upon to justify our proceedings to the world; forwithout law or author ity, vice here could take its full scope, having no laws to re.. strain, or power to control. Upon the whole we cheerfully submit. to the authority and jurisdiction of this House, not doubting but you will take us under your protection, and give us such directions by our repre sentatives as you, in your great wisdom, may think best. And your petitioners, as in duty bound, &c. Signed by order of the inhabitants, Abraham Hite Jr., Clerk. Harrodsburg, June ye 15th, 1776.1 The opening wo1·ds of the second paragraph above 1Archives of Virginia State Library; Robertson, 36-38. REVOLUTION IN TRANSYLVANIA 137 indicate that the Committee of Twenty-one was in tended to become the ruling authority, a kind of pro visional government, over the settlements until Vir ginia should constitute adequate government for them, and also indicate that the Transylvania government was not functioning. A history of this provisional government would undoubtedly prove interesting. This Committee of Twenty-one on June 20, 1776, drew up a petition to the Virginia Convention. Only fourteen took part in the draft : John Gabriel Jones, Chairman, John Bowman, John Cowan, William Ben nett, Joseph Bowman, John Crittenden, Isaac Hite, George Rogers Clark, Silas Harland, Hugh l\'IcGary, Andrew Mcconnel, John Maxwell, James Harrod, and \Villiam Mcconnel. In behalf of the inhabitants of the newly-settled country the Committee expressed to the Convention their desire to support the effort being made for American freedom and their contempt for the British Ministry, particularly 011 account of the policies forbidding the settling of the western lands and the creation of new western counties. They com plained that Fincastle County was so large, three hun dred miles in length, that it was impossible for t\vo delegates to represent properly so wide an area, the western part of which was not actually represented at all. They implored that the two delegates which they had chosen in an eight-day election, after five weeks of notice, be accepted as their properly accredited rep resentatives. They held it "impolitical" for Virginia not to make use of the prime riflemen in Kentucky in their time of need. The petition made practically th~ same statements concerning the North Carolina Pro prietors as those contained in the general petition, and added that the action of the proprietors, was "tending to disturb the minds of those, who are well disposed to the wholesome Government of Virginia, and creat ing Factions and Divisions among ourselves." The 138 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY Committee laid stress on the danger ·of ·an Indian at tack on the settlers in their unprepared condition. It had received a message from the Delawares that a treaty was soon to be formed between the English and the Kickapoos. The Delawares had agreed to secure knowledge of the nature of the treaty and would im part the same to representatives of the whites sent to them. James Harrod and Garret Pendergras were to be sent to the Delawares on this mission. The Com mittee had selected a number of desirable men to act as civil magistrates of their colony, a list of whon1 ,vas enclosed. The petition closed with an earnest plea that the settlements be taken under the jurisdiction of Vir ginia, and was signed by J. G. Jones, Chairman, and Abraham Hite "Jun.", Clerk.1 Thus we note that the Committee had commissioned a set of magistrates, in addition to the civil officers appointed by the Transylvania proprietors and in op position to them. The revolt against the Henderson regime had passed its initial stages, and a provisional government had begun to function. In the meantime the contest had been shifted to the Capital of Virginia. On May 18 the petition made at Harrodsburg the preceding December was presented to the Convention.2 Henderson, as we have noted, see ing the insecurity of his New Independent Province rapidly increasing, went to Williamsburg in the late spring, and there began a fight that lasted two and one-half years to save his dream from annihilation. 3 He presented to the Convention on June 15 a memo rial from the nine in corporators of the Transylvania c·ompany. Among other things the memorialists claimed: 1Archives of Virginia State Library; Robertson, 89-41. 2American Archives, VI. 1528-1529. SDraper MSS2CC12. REVOLUTION IN TRANSYLVANIA 139 .... That, ever apprehending the right of disposal to be inci dent to property, and no particular law then in existence pro hibiting such sale or purchase, they considered themselves sole owners & proprietors of the soil so bought at their own dis posal as private property, without incurring any penalty or forfeiture whatsoever; that as it was the original design of your Memorialists to open that part of the country for the immediate settlement of every well-disposed person minded to remove thereto, and become benefitted thereby, at very great peril, and at a considerable expense, with the blood and loss of several of their friends and followers, they proceeded to take possession of the same, and, under many hardships, difficulties and dangers, have continued the actual possessors, and, as they conceive, rightful claimants thereof, not doubting the equity or legality of their title, or in any manner apprehending such, their private property subject to the absolute will or disposal of any other person or persons whomsoever..•. 1 In the very beginning of the above citation Hender son fell into error of false assumption and specious argument. There probably never ,vas a time in the history of English la,v when the right of disposal of property ,vas absolutely incident to its possession. And the further statement that there existed no hnvs which prohibited the purchase from the Cherokee In dians is easily controverted. We have already seen that it violated the Proclamation of 1763 and a law of the Colony of North Carolina. If Henderson had exam ined the statutes of Virginia, he would have found specific laws forbidding his purchase. In the 1661- 1662 session of the Assembly this law was passed: That for the future noe Indian King, or other, shall upon any pretence alien and sell, nor noe English, for any cause or con sideration whatsoever, purchase or buy any tract or parcell of land now justly clayrned or actually possest by any Indian or Indians whatsoever; all such bargaines and sales hereafter made or pretended to be made being hereby declared to be in valid, voyd and null, any acknowledgement, surrender, law or custom formerly used to the contrary notwithstanding.2 A hnv having practically the same import ,vas paRsed 1American Archives, VI. 15'13. :!.Hen~ng•s Statutes at Large, II. 139. 140 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY in 1705.1 The emotional appeal that some of the friends and followers of the proprietors, but not the proprietors2 had lost blood and their lives must have fall en on deaf ears in the Convention. The memorialists further claimed that the numer ous adventurers who had come to settle in Tran sylvania . . . continued thereon perfectly satisfied with the terms and title, until some interested, artful and designing persons, by cunning, specious and false suggestions, with intent to injure and oppress them, have raised doubts in the minds of ~ol'n" few with respect to the justice and validity of the title, and conse quently of the propriety of making payment, according to their original contract and agreement, until some objections be re moved, or themselves better satisfied. With great deference they humbly conceive that matters or disputes relative to private property do not properly come within the consideration or determination of this Convention, or any other Convention or Congress on the continent. . . . Follo,ving this illiberal and defiant statement, the 1nemorialists denied any arbitrary, exorbitant or un just measures against the settlers and stated that, . . . well aware of the impropriety and danger of erecting or suffering a separate government within the limit or verge of another, they do declare they never entertained the thoughts of such absurdity, and that their doings, together with the Delegates chosen by the inhabitants of Transylvania for the purpose of legislation were intended as mere temporary by-laws for the good ~f their little community, and which the necessi ties of the case, too obvious to need explanation, they hope will sufficiently justify; and that, from the beginning, their con stant attention and tenour of conduct has been to make the benefit of their lands as diffusive as possible, and that they are now, and at all times have been ready to submit to such gov ernment as should be placed by authority over them.... 8 The reference in the closing paragraph relative to the erecting of a separate government and the pur pose of the Boonesborough Convention does not square 1 H ('ning•.~ Statutes at Large, III. 465. 2Author's Italics. SAmerlcan Archives, VI. 1573-1575. REVOLUTION IN TRANSYLVANIA 141 with several statements made previously by Hender son or with the course of action followed in the forma tion of a constitution for Transylvania and its adminis tration. Henderson had said in his speech opening the Boonesborough Convention, referring to laws about to be made: "we have the right to make such laws with out giving offense to Great Britain, or any of the American colonies, without disturbing the repose of any society or community under heaven." He had boasted of the sovereignty of the New Independent Province; he had denied recognition to surveys made by officials of Virginia, acting under authority of Great Britain ; he had spoken of himself and his asso ciates as the "sole," the "true and absolute proprie tors ;" he had set up elections, called legislatures, ap pointed officers, and made treaties; he had denied the jurisdiction of Virginia by seeking to become one of the United Colonies. He had never before this inti mated that his legislative program in Transylvania was intended to be merely a set of temporary by-laws. Not many days later, June 24, the Convention took action on the petitions that had reached it from Ken tucky, although the two petitions Clark had brought about at Harrodsburg had not yet arrived. A resolu tion was passed stating: Whereas divers petitions from the inhabitants of Western frontiers have been presented to this Convention, complaining exhorbitant demands made on them for Lands claimed by per sons pretending to derive titles from Indian deeds & purchases: Resolved, That all persons actually settled on any of the said Lands ought to hold the same without paying any pecu niary or other consideration whatever to any private person or persons, until the said petitions, as well as the validity of the titles under such Indian deeds and . purchases shall have been considered & determined on by the Legislature of this country; and that all persons who are now actually settled on any un located or unappropriated Lands in Virginia, to which there is no other just claim shall have the pre-emption or preference in the grants of such Lands. Resolved, That no purchase of Lands within the chartered 142 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY limits of Virginia shall be n1ade, under any pretence whatever, fro111 any Indian tribe or nation, without the app1·obation of the Virginia Legislature.I In order to make more secure the law preventing- the purchasing of lands from the Indians by private in dividuals, as the statutes of 1661-1662, and 1705 had done, the Virginia Constitution, which was adopted on June 29, 1776, contained a clause which expressly de clared "that no purchase of lands should be made of the Indian natives but in behalf of the public by authority of the General Assembly." About this time the nine incorporators of Transyl vania issued a statement at Williamsburg requesting that no person take possession of any lands in Tran sylvania during the time of the controversy with Vir- gin1a;• • ... and as the proprietors have hitherto reserved the lands -be low Green River and as high up Cumberland, on both sides, as Mansher's Lick, for themselves, until they could lay off a small quantity therein for their separate use, they hope that no per son will make improvement within the said bounds before such surveys shall be made, as such improvement may possibly in terfere with the choice of some of the copartners, and conse quently not be granted. . . . 2 In order that the Assembly might act fairly and wisely in the contest between Transylvania and Vir ginia, the Convention, on July 4, 1776, appointed six teen commissioners to secure evidence "on behalf of this government against the several persons pretend ing to claim lands within the territory and limits of Virginia under deeds and purchases from the In- d1ans. ...."3 A few days after their election Clark and Jones started from Harrodsburg to Williamsburg. They hoped to reach the latter town before the Convention 1Journal of the Virginia Co,wention. June 24. 1776, 63. ivirginia Calender of State Papers, I. 271-272. 3Journal of the Virginia Convention, 73-74. REVOLUTION IN TRANSYLVANIA 143 adjourned, but the \Vay was difficult and hazardous, and they were much delayed. Jones' horse gave out, and they suffered from "Scald Feet, a most shocking complaint." Their hope of getting relief at a station ten or twelve miles east of Cumberland Gap was de feated when they found the place abandoned and part ly burned. They pushed on to Martin's Station only to find that too abandoned. Not being able to proceed further, and fearing Indians, the two men decided to wait at the fort until the arrival of another party due to come from Kentucky some ten or twelve days later. But some whites by chance came from the Clinch River Settlement and they were able to proceed.1 The Convention having adjourned before their ar rival, Clark and Jones decided to remain in Virginia until the meeting of the Assembly in October. They now separated; Jones went to Holston and Clark to Williamsburg. The latter found Governor Henry sick, but much in sympathy with the revolutionists. He sent Clark to his Council with a letter. To it Clark made application for five hundred pounds of gunpow der to be sent to Kentucky for the defense against the Indians. However, he did this as much as a stroke of diplomacy as of defense in order to have Virginia com mit herself to a recognition of the Kentucky region as a part of her domain. The Council, after some hesita tion through fear of lack of power, granted Clark's request and gave him an order for the powder. There arose a discussion between Clark and the Council as to who should pay the cost of transporting the powder to Kentucky. The expense would be heavy on account of the guards necessary to protect the ammunition, and Clark did not have the money to pay this. The Coun cil, believing it had already stretched its power, 11llinois Historical Collections, VIII, 211-212. 144 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY thought it could· go no further without the consent of the Assembly. For a year Clark had been trying to think through the problem of the destiny of the Kentucky settlers. Before calling the Harrodsburg meeting in June he had reflected : . . . If valuable conditions was procured, to declare ourselves citizens· of the state--otherwise establish an independent gov ernment, and, by giving away a great part of the lands and dis posing of the remainder otherwise, we could not only gain great numbers of inhabitants, but in good measure protect them.1 After leaving the Council Clark reflected still further on this plan, and, doubtless also having seen an evi dent desire on the part of the Council members to keep Kentucky if possible, reached a conclusion best told in his own words: .... I decided to return the order that I had received and im mediately repair to Kentucky, knowing that the people would readily fall into my first plan, as what had passed had already reduced it to a certainty of success. I wrote to the Council and enclosed the order, informing them that I had weighed the mat ter and found it was out of my power to convey these stores, at my own expense, such a distance through an enemy's country; that I was sorry that we would have to seek protection else where, which I did not doubt of getting; that if a country was not worth protecting, it was not worth claiming, &c. What passed on the reception of this letter I cannot tell. . . . I was sent for .... Being prejudiced in favor of my mother country I was willing to meet them half way. Orders was immediately issued, dated Augt 23d, 1776, for the conveying these stores to Pittsburgh and there to wait further orders from me.2 Clark's success in getting a tentative and veiled recognition of Virginia's jurisdiction over the Ken tucky country was not final, for ultimately, if Clark's aims were to be fully realized, definite action creating a county in the area must be taken by the Assembly. tJllinois Historical Collections, VIII. 209. ~Ibid., VIII. 213-214. REVOLUTION IN TRANSYLVANIA 145 In accon1plishing this Clark and Jones met with deter mined opposition from several sources for two months. On the first day of the session, October 8, 1776, they presented the two petitions of the anti-Henderson set tlers to the House of Delegates, and likewise presented then1selves as delegc1tes from the "Western Part of Finc:1stle County". To have passed favorably on the latter request, the House. would have acted illegally, and they were not given seats.1 The same day on ,vhich Clark presented his petitions, the Indiana Com pany filed a memorial, in which it defended. strongly its rights to the territory it was seeking, and denied that Virginia extended beyond the Alleghanies. 2 Clark stated in his Memoirs: .... Col. Henderson, one of the purchasers of the Cherokees, be ing present, 1·etarded our business much. Colonel Arthur Camp bell, one of the members, being also opposed to our having a new county, wished us to be annexed to the county on the frontiers of which we lay and which he represented. This caused it to be late in the session before we got a compleat Establishment of a new county by the name of Kentucky.3 No doubt the cause of Clark and his constituents ,vas aided on October 11 by the presentation to the House of a petition of "Thomas Slaughter on behalf of himself & the other inhabitants situate ne,1r Ken tuckke humbly she,vethH: ..• That the said Inhabitants are exposed to the incursions & depredations of the Indians & from the small nun1ber are in capable of protecting themselves, & this inconvenience is great ly increased on Account of the militia's not being in1bodyed. The Petitioner therefore humbly prays that son1e method may be fixed to protect & defend the said inhabitants, & if in the meantime military commissions were issued for training militia of the place a smaller number of men to act in conjunction with the said militia would answer the end desired. Your Petitioner humbly submlts the Premises to the consideration of 1Journal o/ Virginia, Hoo,se of Delegates. :lVirginia CalentLar o/ State Papers, I. 273-274. 31llinois Historical Collections, VIII. 214. 146 THE .. TRANSYLVANIA COLONY the honourable house & hopes such relief will be affoarded as the exigence of the case requires.1 Smyth characterized Henderson as a man "void of military talents."2 Although he had provided in the statutes of Transylvania for military laws and had appointed military officers, he had really made no prog ress toward any systematic program of training and organization for defense against the Indians. This tended to create further uneasiness among the people. The same day in which Slaughter's petition was filed, the House resolved itself into a committee of the whole to consider the petitions of Clark and Jones, which resulted in bringing in a report that, "the com mittee are of the opinion, that the said inhabitants ought to be formed into a distinct county, in order to entitle them to such representation, and other bene fits of government."3 The bill for dividing Fincastle County into two distinct counties made fair progress for several days. Thomas Jefferson became its able sponsor, and on October 16, after its second reading, it was ordered to be committed to him and the members from Augusta and Botetourt Counties. On the f oi lowing day, Mr. Jefferson for the committee reported that the bill had been thoroughly studied and a num ber of amendments were proposed, which, after being read the second time, were agreed to by the House, and the bill with the amendments was ordered to be engrossed and read the third time. The enemies of the bill, stir1·ed to Herculean efforts, were evidently busy over night, for on the next day, they succeeded in having further consideration of the measure post poned for a week, which action was almost equivalent to its ultimate defeat. The two Kentuckians would not tArchives of Virginia State Ltbrary. 2aanck, 33. sJoumal of Virginia House o/ Delegates, October 11. 1776. REVOLUTION IN TRANSYLVANIA 147 concede defeat, however, and were able to have them gelves presented to the House on the next day, Octo ber 19, in defense of the interests they represented. They had prepared an additional petition, "setting forth the distressed and defenseless situation of the inhab itants of Kentucky, and praying that some forces may be sent to their relief· and protection." The petition was read and referred to the Committee upon the State of the Country. It was as follows: To the Honourable the Speaker & Gentlemen of the House of Delegates. The petition of John Gabriel Jones and George Rogers Clark on behalf of the Inhabitants of the County of Kentuck humbly ~heweth that the last Service that lies in their power to the return of your Petitioners to their Constituents which will be tomorrow, is to acquaint this Honourable House of their De fenceless State, and in1ploreing their immediate Protection by sending such Forces as they think necessary. And they cannot but Observe how much it is to the Interest of Virginia to prevent the Inhabitants from abandoning that settlement and how necessary and advantageous it will be to the publick in Case of an Indian War, an event much to be feared, with the Kiccapoos, Picts, and other Nations of Indians lying West of the River Ohio, as their Situation is so contigious to these Na tions that the Seat of War may be carried thither, and thus Secure the Frontiers Effectually at once. Add to this that in this Service they can save the Public at least one-half of what an Army must Cost to be levyed any where else on tl,e Frontier Counti('~, or any part of A1nerica. Perfectly satysfied they have done all that laid in their Power, and happy therefore Submit ting their Case to this Honourable House no ways doubting but they in their great Wisdom and goodness will ilnmcdiately send Aid to their Relief, and your Petitioners &c. Friday Octr 1776.1 \Vhen the day set for consideration of the bill ar- rived, it was taken from the Committee of Proposi tions and Grievances and referred to the Committee upon the State of the Country. The next day it ,va~ taken from its place on the calendar and "directed to be read in the usual course of proceedings." These 1Journal of Virginia House of Delegates. 148 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY maneuvers are indicative of the desperate fight being put up by the several enemies of the bill, who for rea sons of their own did not ,vant Virginia to create an area of political influence ,vest of the i\.lleghanies. Not having any record of the happenings behind the scenes, we are dependent upon reading bet,veen the lines of the Journal of the House. "\Ve can rest assured that Colonel Henderson was using every legitimate means to save Transylvania for the proprietors. The very next day Jefferson rescued the bill from possible oblivion, and four days later it was referred to a spe cial committee consisting of Jefferson, Campbell and four others. After nearly four weeks, in which time there must have been much pulling and hauling, Mr. Jefferson reported that the bill had again been much considered, and many amendments made thereto. The bill again reached the stage of being ordered, ,vith amendments, to be engrossed, and was read a third time. Finally on November 25, the bill was passed, and read thus: An engrossed bill, For dividing the county of Fincastl~ into two distinct counties, was read a third time. · Resolved, That the sa!d bill do pass, and that the title be An act for dividing the county of Fincastle into three distinct counties, and the parish of Botetourt in~o four distinct parishf's. Ordered, that Mr. Can1pbell do carry the sam~ to the Senate for their concurrence.1 The Senate began consideration of the bill rather quickly and passed it ,vith three an1endments. The House concurred in only one of these. Then followed a deadlock lasting for several. days, which ended by the Senate agreeing to withdraw the controversial amendments, and the bill was passed as it came from the House, December 7, 1776.2 The boundaries of Ken tucky County, as fixed December 31, 1776, were: 1Journal of Virginia House of Delegates. 2Jbicl. REVOLUTION IN TRANSYLVANIA 149 All that part thereof which lies to the south and westward of a line beginning on the Ohio at the mouth of the Great Sand:i-: Creek and running up the same and the main or northeasterly branch thereof to the Great Laurel Ridge or Cumberland Moun tain, then southwesterly along the said mountain to the line of North Carolina shall be one distinct county and called and known by the name of Kentucky.1 So the revolt against the proprietors of Transyl vania, first under the leadership of James Harrod and Abraham Hite, then under that of George Rogers Clark and Gabriel Jones, was successful. The creation of Kentucky County and its organization as a political unit banished forever any happy culmination of Hen derson's fantastic dream of "true and absolute Pro prietors" and the "New Independent Province." He was to continue for two years his contest for the pri vate o"'.. nership by Henderson and Company of the lands deeded them by the Indians. Not long after the Virginia Assembly had decided against him and his copartners, it passed, undoubtedly at his insistence, a resolution appointing "persons to take depositions re lating to the claims of Richard Henderson and Com pany". 2 We have no record of the arguments used in the Assembly, on the floor and off, by the opponents of Henderson to assert successfully their claims in behalf of Virginia and against the proprietors. That the Transylvania Company had no valid claims can be successfully established. The question of the sovereignty and ownership of the Kentucky lands at the time of the Transylvania purchase is a complex one. At that time there were no Jjermanent dwellers in this region. There had been, and still were, many claimants. The oldest of these were the several tribes of Indians, the most outstand- 1Robertson, 41. 2Journal of the Virginia House of Delegates, December 20, 1776. 150 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY ing of which were the Iroquois, the Cherokees and the Shawnees. Each of these then used Kentucky merely as a hunting-ground. Certainly, for this reason, their claims were not as valid here as their claims to land on which they actually resided. The problem of the valid ity of each of the several asserted Indian titles to the region called Transylvania is one that is difficult to answer in a satisfactory way. The wide difference be tween the policy of community ownership of land prac... ticed by the Indians and the private ownership of the same that prevailed among the whites was a discrep ancy that made constant difficulty of mutual adjust ment relative to land deals between the two peoples. Hall's remarks on this topic are pertinent: The Indian title has never been clearly defined, nor held much in esteem. Not having themselves very cl~ar ideas of property, the savages could hardly impress others with distinct notions of the rights which they held by a tenure so vague-which they bartered away with careless prodigality, and claimed to resume on slightest pretext. Among them the soil had never been re duced to individual property; there was no title by allodium, or simple fee, and nothing that could be transferred to indi viduals. Their right was that of sovereignty, their possession that of the whole tribe, and the only ce~sion they could make was such as by common usage is allowable alone between sov ereigns, or established governments. Such was the decision of Virginia first, and Congress afterwards, upon the purchase of Henderson and Company; and such seems the common-sense opinion formed by the adventurers who settled within the boundaries claimed by those gentlemen, in disregard of the treaty of the latter with the Cherokees.1 If Hall is right when he says "the only cession they could make was such as by common usage is allowable between sovereigns or established governments," then a valid acquisition of Transylvania from the Cherokees by Henderson and Company at the so-called Treaty of Sycamore- Shoals was impossible, for the company was neither a sovereign nor an established government. tHall, Sketches o/ the West, I. 261-262. REVOLUTION IN TRANSYLVANIA 151 Judge John Haywood pf Tennessee, eminent jurist, historian, and a great admirer of Judge Henderson,1 in 1806, gave the following opinion of Henderson's pur chase: I am of the opinion that a purchase from the Indians by pri vate persons is no more than the acquisition of an agreement on their part not to molest those who may settle on the land they abandon,-in other words, an extinguishment of their claim, but not the acquisition of property or dominion in the soil.2 Governor William Blount of Tennessee, in 1792, wrote to Henry Knox, Secretary of War: Richard Henderson purchased from them [Cherokees] their claim to the lands lying on the Cumberland as well as all those, or nearly All those, included within what is now the limits of Kentucky. And they told Henderson, pointedly, that they did not sell him any right, for they had none; they only sold them their claim.3 The Cherokee claim that they were "the aboriginees and sole owners by occupancy from the beginning of time" of the lands they sold Henderson was a gross falsehood. There is no evidence that they ever occu pied Kentucky lands, and their hunting-rights were shared, though not without bloody disputes, with other Indian nations. It is probable that any claims made by them in·this region and in adjacent lands did not antedate the pretended cession to Henderson more than fifteen years. 4 Cotterill makes an ingenuously absurd argument in favor of the title of the Chero kees: . . . that since the Shawnee had yielded to Iroquois, and Iro quois to English, and English had confirmed to Cherokee, the Kentucky lands were Cherokee possessions with the English government holding the right of eminent doman. 5 IJohn BayWood, 138. 2Draper MSS2CC34:. SAmerican State Papers, IV. 325-326. 4Reply of Benjamin Franklin to Board of Trade. Sparks, IV. 325, 334; Letter of Preston to Dunmore, Dartmouth, 5: 1353, 185-188. 5Cotterlll, 84. 152 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY The confirmation in this case was done by the treatie~ of Hard Labour and Lochaber. Cotterill thus maintains that since English recognition of Cherokee ownership of lands acquired by the two treaties was inherent in the act of purchase, therefore England recognized any and all residual land claims made by the Cherokees. In answer ,ve need to note that in the purchase of land the vendee simply recognizes the validity of the title of the vendor to the land purchased, not to any and all lands that the vendor may claim to possess. In a dis cussion of the issuance of the Proclamation of 1763, the British Board of Trade questioned whether the purchase of land from the Indians would not be a rec ognition of their legal ownership, and thus invalidate the royal claim in the west. The members came to the conclusion that such recognition would not invalidate the king's claim.1 Thus the conclusion is incontestable that the Cherokee Indians had no valid title to convey to the proprietors of the Transylvania Company by which they could become the "true and absolute" pro prietors of Transylvania with all the powers and at tributes of sovereignty. The claimants among the whites numbered five Spain, Great Britain, France, Virginia, and Henderson and Company. Spain, because of her increasing weak ness among the world powers, did not play a signifi cant role in the contest over the region under consid eration. Great Britain's claim dates back to the fif teenth century by right of discovery, that is to say one Henry Cabot under the British flag sailed on the At lantic near the coast of North America, of which Tran sylvania later sought to become a political unit, and claimed it in the name of his Sovereign, King Henry VII of England. According to international law of that time Britain's claim was good, provided she could I Alvord. The Mississippi Valley in British Politics, I. 223-224. REVOLUTION IN TRANSYLVANIA 153 maintain it, for, in such matters, might made right. France staked her claim upon the fact that in the seventeenth century her explorers Joliet, Marquette and La Salle had floated down the mighty Mississippi, into which the waters of the region under controversy "'ere drained. Her claim ,vas good, too, in interna tional law, provided she could maintain it. But Great Britain was stronger than France in war, and the lat ter was dispossessed of all her North American conti nental claims at the close of the French and Indian War by the Treaty of Paris of 1763. Great Britain's rights were now greatly strengthened, for she had driven her strongest competitor from the field, and her claim had the desirable status of being acknowledged in a treaty. Almost immediately following the signing of this treatv., Great Britain made her Proclamation of 1763 setting aside, temporarily at least, all her lands west of the Appalachian Divide for the use of the Indians only, th us recognizing to an extent and for a time the ownership rights of the latter. In setting aside the country between the Divide and the Mississippi River as an Indian reservation, the British never conceived that they surrendered, in fact they did· not surrender to the Indians, clear title to the lands. From the Brit ish point of view the Indians were permitted to con tinue to use the reservation as they had used it in the past. Great Britain kept more than mere eminent do main. The Indians had the right of usufruct only, at the sufferance of the white nation. Regarding the rights of the Indians to the lands in question, Temple Bodley presents the matter with exceeding clarity, thus: • .. they were regarded as having no rights except as the dom inant white nation claiming their country chose to concede them. Under the Law of Nations, recognized by all the great 154 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY powers of Europe, uncivilized aboriginees, such as American Indians, became subjects of that Christian nation which first discovered and claimed their country; their lands became the property of that civilized nation. It was a hard rule for the Indians; but it was made by the lions for the lambs. After a time, however, this injustice was so far modified under British law as to concede to the Indians the right to live on and use the lands where they lived and hunted; but this was the full extent of an "Indian title"-a mere right of occupancy and use. The land itself was not co·nsidered as belonging to them, but to the sovereign power (whether king or commonwealth) of the white nation, which could legally deprive them of their occu pancy.1 By the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, 1768, the Iroquois Indians, whose claims were based on conquest of the region, and "the most important Indian claim to Ken tucky ,''2 ceded to "King George the Third" their "In dian rights" to all lands between the Ohio and the Ten nessee River. This cession included all the area after wards in the bounds of Transylvania. Following the Battle of Point Pleasant in the fall of 1774, the Shaw nees and their allies north of the Ohio signed a treaty with Lord Dunmore, .. in which they virtually surren dered all their pretensions south of the Ohio, for they promised not to hunt there, and hunting rights were practically the only rights they had ever exercised there. 3 A few. months later Henderson and his asso ciates bought from the Cherokees th·eir rights in Tran sylvania. Thus by March, 1775, all the Indian claim ants of the area in dispute had ceded, legally or ille gally, their claims, however shadowy or valid each claim may have been. So, the undefeated members of the land tournament for the prize of Transylvania were Great Britain, Virginia and the Transylvania Company. Virginia found herself pitted against both her adversaries at the same time; she was party to the lBodley, I. 29. 2Alvord, "Virginia and the West", 25. avirgtnia, Gazette, January 8, 17'75. REVOLUTION IN TRANSYLVANIA 155 Revolution against the Mother Country, and also was petitioned to come to the rescue of her citizens who were engaged in a revoluton against the usurpation of Kentucky lands by Richard Henderson and Company. Of all those who now presumed, or had ever at any tin1e presumed, to possess sovereign title to the Tran sylvania country, Henderson and c·ompany had the least valid claim. Its proprietors had severally bought, in violation of specific laws of North Carolina, Virginia and Great Britain against transactions of that sort, the vested interest of the Cherokee Indians in the lands in question, which interest was nothing more than "Indian title" to unoccupied hunting-grounds. It was this interest, no more and no less, which Great Britain and Virginia recognized in the treaties of Hard Labour and Lochaber, when they purchased from the Cherokees certain lands in which the Indians had iden tical rights as in the Transylvania lands. In its at tempt to institute a colony with sovereign power the Transylvania Company had but one chance: If by force, or threat of force, it could set up a sovereign government and maintain it against each and every competitor, Richard Henderson's dream could have be come a reality. Having little organization, much do mestic dissatisfaction, no army, no political status, no trained statesmanship, no aggressive leadership, his colony was doomed from the start. Henderson's at tempt to plant a proprietary colony in a reg·ion claimed by so powerful a nation as Great Britain without the consent and approval of the latter was the height of folly. On the other hand the interests that Britain had acquired in the Transylvania country had become con siderable. She had secured for herself the forn1er vested interest of France, and this possession ,vaH rec- d . '-'!.r, • ,, •• t··n I(! .-.l.t .. -1·. oCan1·z e 1n Li.: (Ou1 ;--. ,)l E·-,-'...;~!! (1;_,t·,,,.... sk.ne h a d g\;L e.! -' l on1 156 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY the Iroquois whatever title they once claimed, and had forced the Shawnees and their allies to agree not to hunt south of the Ohio. Since the contest for the sovereignty and title in that portion of the Transylvania lands lying north of bttitude thirty-six thirty ,vas in fact between Hender son and Company and Virginia, the rights of Virginia in the lands in question must be considered. This in vestigation takes us back to an interpretation of the Virginia Charters of 1609 and 1624. The Charter of 1609 fixed the metes and bounds of Virginia thus: ... from the point of land, called Cape or Point Con1fort, al! along the sea coast, to the Northward two hundred 111iles, and from the said point of Cape Comfort, all along the sea coast to the Southward two hundred miles, and all along that space and circuit of land, lying fron1 the sea coast of the precinct aforesaid, up into the land, throughout frmn sea to sea, west and north west. . . . 1 The interpretation of the terms, "throughout from sea to sea, west and northwest," has long remained a mat ter of controversy. However, even the most critical student of history must admit that logical presump tion favors Virginia's claim to the western territory indicated by the above phraseology. The opponents of Virginia's expansion in the V\7est reverted to the royal Charter of 1624 with the effort to establish their con tention. A fair sample of their argument is contained in a statement of Thomas Paine: The charter [1609] was a contract between the Crown of England and those adventurers (incorporators) for their own emolument, and not between the Crown and the people of Vir ginia. [When the charter was sun-endered the contract was void.] 2 'fhis interpretation, advanced in favor of those who wanted to exploit portions of Virginia's claims for 1Alexander Brown, I. 229. 2patne, 19. REVOLUTION IN TRANSYLVANIA 157 their own benefit, does not seem to have been held by the administrators of British colonial affairs n1ore than a century after the granting of the charter, wheu the West had become a field for expansion. While dur ing the three decades preceding the Revolution the British administrative colonial policy was somewhat inconsistent and fitful, there is manifest in it a gen eral trend in official statements and administrative action that recognized Virginia's colonial interest in the transmontane region. The evidence of this inter pretation by the British Government is cumulative and presumptive rather than specific and definite, but thoroughly convincing in the end. Before citing a number of instances in which Vir ginia's charter rights were recognized in the West, we should analyze briefly the political relationship be tween imperial Britain and colonial Virginia. Certain ly Virginia did not have unrestricted sovereignty, and in theory all sovereignty ultimately rested in the king; but in fact Virginia, with the consent or the ac quiescence of the Mother Country, in a multiplicity of activities exercised the powers of sovereignty. While there was no specific con tract bet,veen the two as to where the sovereign powers of the one ended, and those of the other began, a give and take practice, in which expediency played the prominent role, thirty years of history reveal that Virginia struggled hard to maintain and Great Britain more often granted than denied in s11ecific instances the colony's land rights beyond the .Alleghanies. In ahnost every instance where G1·eat Britain dealt in any way concerning the lands in the territory claimed by Virginia under its charter, Vir ginia had some part. The first of the land companies organized for de velopment of the western country was the Ohio Com pany, organized in 17 47. The Governor of Virginia, 158 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY Dinwiddie, with nineteen others from both \1irginia and England, petitioned for a gran~ of 500,000 acreH on the waters of the Upper Ohio. The request wa~ granted, and Lieutenant Governor Gooch of Virginia ,vas authorized to make the grant. But Virginia had, in 1745, made a grant on Green Brier River, ·which ,vas followed in the next fe,v years by many other similar grants. The largest of these grants, 800,000 acres in 1749, was given to the Loyal Compauy. As a corollary to the enforcement of the ne,v policy as outlined in the Proclamation of 1763, for temporary reservation of the western lands to the use of the Indians, the Ohio Company was estopped, and the Governor and Council of Vh·ginia had to ref use the renewal of the cession to the Loyal Company. Yet no denial was made by the Imperial Government of Vir ginia's rights to these lands when they should ulti mately be opened for settlement, and the prohibition of ,vhite settlement was understood to be tentative.1 Two other instances of the recognition by Great Britain of Virginia's 1·ights in the West occurred in 1754. With the approach of the French and Indian \Var Governor Dinwiddie in order to increase enlist-- 1nents, acting under instructions from the King, issued a proclamation, "that, over and above their pay, 200,000 acres of his Majesty the King of Great Britain's lands on the east side of the River Ohio shall be laid off and granted to such persons ,vho by their voluntary agreements and good behavior in the said service shall deserve the same."2 During the same year the Virginia government was instructed by the King to grant to veterans trans-Alleghany lands in lots of 1000 acres, free from payment of quit-rents for ten years. In three years Virginia had granted under this instruction nearly three million acres. lAlvord, The Mi8sissippi V,alley in British Polftfcs, I. 87-127. 2oartmouth, 5: 1330, 323-330. REVOLUTION IN TRANSYLVANIA 159 The most important project for colonization of any part of the western lands contained within the area claimed by Virginia was that proposed by the Grand Ohio Company. This was at first called the Walpole Company. Later it was merged with the old Ohio Company and called the Grand Ohio Company, while to the area it proposed to colonize the name of Van dalia was given. The latter included most of the lands east of the Kentucky River ceded by the Iroquois at the Treaty of Fort Stanwix. It had among its stock- holders men prominent both in America and England, such as Samuel Wharton, Benjamin Franklin, Sir Wil liam Franklin, Thomas Walpole, Thomas Pownall, Lord Hertford, George Grenville, Earl of Rochford and Lord Gower. This array of influential men presented a powerful lobby at the court of the King. Since the region which this company sought to induce the King to grant it was within the area claimed by Virginia under her charter, it is pertinent to note what attitude was taken by the British Board of Trade in the con flict of claims. The Board never took any definite action on this vital issue, but in the course of the ef forts made by the Company to have its grant made, we find certain statements coming from the Board of Trade that tend to confirm a recognition of Virginia's rights in her charter. Early in.the attempt, some years before the merging of the companies, it was· the opinion of the Board of Trade that this area belonged to Virginia.1 In ·1772, the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, Lord Hillsborough, President, made an elaborate re port to the Privy Council pn the Walpole petition. They recommended that the grant be rejected. One of the grounds for rejection, the first given, was that "it ap- 1Alvord, "The British Ministry and the Treaty of Fort Stan wtx," 182. 160 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY pears to us to contain a part of the dominion of Vir ginia to the south of the River Ohio."1 But a Com mittee of the Privy Council, which had been conduct ing hearings in which Wharton was very prominent, took the view that an inland colony would be advan tageous to the kingdom, and in August, 1772, the Privy Council accepted the recommendations of the Com mittee, and ordered that plans be prepared for the organization of the government of the prospective col ony.2 This \\"as a result of long and insidious lobbying in London by Wharton, Walpole, Benjamin Franklin and others. The scheme became deadlocked because of the wire-pulling over the plan of government, and when the Revolution began the final grant had not been made.3 How much of the downfall of the Vandalia scheme was due to the -opposition of Virginia and the Virginia speculators may never be known. In July, 1770, Hillsborough announced that Virginia should be notified concerning the Walpole petition, and help up the Board of Trade report until Virginia could be heard from. In October 1770, George Washington had writ ten to Governor Botetourt protesting that the Wal pole_ grant . . . will comprehend at least four fifths of the land for which this colony hath lately voted £2500 sterling to the purchase and survey of, and must destroy the well grounded hopes of those who have bad the strongest assurances which the gov• ernment could give them, of enjoying some of those lands, the securing of which hath cost this country much blood and treasure. 4 · Nelson, who ·was then· Acting Governor of Virginia, made a weak reply to Hillsborough's request, and 1sparks, IV. 304. 2Alvord, Mts&tssif)f)i Valley in British Politics, II. 136; Volwller, 272. BAlvord, .Mi$sfsstppi Valley in British Politics, II. 101; Badley, I. 81. JThe Writings of George Washington, Ford, II. 273 .. 276. REVOLUTION IN TRANSYLVANIA 161 Wharton promised to reimburse Virginia for the 2500 pounds paid for the Lochaber purchase.1 On the whole Virginia felt that she had a very strong claim to the country west of the Alleghanies: there were her charter rights; there were numerous, though fitful, recognitions of her claims from the Imperial Government through many years; she had paid for the Cherokee purchase as far as the Donelson Line; she had spent 100,000·pounds upon the defense of the country/ and had sent many troops to protect it from the French and the Indians ; many of her citizens, both plain men and men of quality, had secured grants of land there, which Virginia felt in honor bound to protect. '\iVhen the contest with Henderson and Company came in the fali of 1776, Virginia had declared herself a free and independent commonwealth, both alone and in conj unction with the other Colonies: she had made a constitution and had established a government en tirely independent of Great Britain. She had become completely sovereign, and had right to assume full ownership as a commonwealth of all lands that she had held and claimed as a dependent colony with partial sovereign powers over them. There was nothing in her original charter that stopped her at the Alle ghanies, nor anything in the· spirit of the Proclamation of 1763 that prohibited her from the western lands. She had had colonial rights there; she would have commonwealth rights there. Her priority of claims over the Transylvania Company was absolutely clear~ and she so asserted. 1Alvord, Mississippi Valley in British Politics, II. 117. 2Papers of George Washtngton, XV. George Mason to George Washington, March 9, 1775. CHAPTER IX INDIAN CONFLICTS, 1776-1777 N adequate conception of the Transylvania Company's attempt to plant a colony in Ken A tucky or of the contribution of its colonial enter prise to Western history can only be had by a knowl edge of the contests 9f this period between the settlers and the Indians. These struggles must also be taken into consideration if one is to make any true estimate of the Company's participation in· holding Kentucky against the Indians. Trouble with the Indians began with the early ex plorations and settlement of Kentucky. Several of the earlier conflicts between the whites and the Indians have already been narrated. At this period the Chero kees were giving little or no trouble. Mrs. Elizabeth Poague Thomas stated that on her way out to Ken tucky in the fall of 1775 with Colonel Callaway's group they met with ten Cherokee warriors and a squaw who were friendly and who shared with them a young buffalo.1 But the Indians north of the Ohio were keep ing only intermittently their pledge to Dunmore to stay on their side of the Ohio. Their incursions into the Transylvania area increased as the American Revolution progressed, and they were certainly par tially instigated, encouraged and rewarded by the British. In June 1776 they were lurking about Har rodsburg, 2 and in July they were troubling the settle- tDraper MSS12CC26-29. 2McAfee, 25. 162 INDIAN CONFLICTS, 1776-1777 163 n1ents north of the Kentucky a11d at Boonesborough. John Floyd in a letter to Colonel William Preston, July 21, portrays the conditions thus: The situation of our country is much altered since I wrote you last. The Indians seem determined to break up our settle ments; and I really doubt, unless it is possible to give us some assistance, that a greater part of the people may fall a prey to them. They have, I am satisfied, killed sevei·al whon1, at this time I know not how to mention. Many are missing who some tin1e ago went out about their business of whom we can hear nothing. Fresh sign of Indians is seen almost every day. I think I mentioned to you before some damage they had done at Lee's town. On the seventh of this month they killed one Cooper on Licking Creek and on the Fourteenth a man whose name I know not at your Salt Spring on the same creek.1 The most romantic event of. early pioneer Kentucky took place near the Boonesborough settlement about the middle of July, 1776. Late Sunday afternoon, the fourteenth, Elizabeth and Frances, the daughters of Colonel Richard Callaway, and J ernima, the daughter of Captain Daniel Boone, ,vere canoeing on the Ken tucky River just below the to,vn. Elizabeth was a little less than sixteen years old, ,vhile the other two girls were not more than fourteen. Leaving· s01ne smaller girls, crying to go with them, on the south bank, the three girls steered their canoe toward the north side to gather flowers. On this side the cliffs ,vere high, the forest thick, and the cane dense down to the water's edge. vVhile the <;anoe was near the shore, an Indian came suddenly out of the canebrake and began to push it toward the land. At first the girls thought he was a Negro slave, who had recently run away from the settlement. One of the Callaway girls tried to jump into the water, but was prevented; while her sister f oug-ht the captor unsuccessfully with her paddle. Four other Indians now quickly appeared, and the girls were immediately taken ashore and the 1Draper MSS17CC171-175. 164 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY boat set adrift. 1.,he cries and shrieks of the girls were hushed by threats of flourished knives and toma hawks. J emin1a, ,vho had a injured foot, refused to proceed with her savage kidnapers until she was threatened with death and she was provided with moc casins. The clothing of the three ,vas cut off at their knees to facilitate their ,valking through the woods.1 The cliff-lilce hill was climbed with difficulty, but the party made s,vifter progress when it reached the more even ground beyond. As they went along the young captives made shrewd use of every available means to n1ark their trail for the benefit of theh· rescuers, who ,vere sure to follow. One of them had a pen-knife, ,vith which she cut twigs to strew along the way. The other two broke them with their hands until blisters ,vere made. . They also tore up bits of clothing and a ,vhite handkerchief and scattered the shreds. In order to delay progress Jemima tumbled down as often as possible. When the captors observed these maneuvers, they shook their tomahawks over the heads of the g·irls, caught them by their hair, drew a knife around their throats, and threatened to scalp them if they continued their efforts.2 On the other hand the Indians, who consisted of three Shawnees and two Cherokees, took every pre caution to deceive their pursuers and prevent rapid following. They followed the ridges, where foot-prints would be dim, and walked far apart through the thick est canebrakes they could find. Whenever they passed over soft ground, -Betsy Callaway, whose shoes had high wooden heels, made deep imprints in the soil until her captors, observing her strategy, cut off the heels. l3y night-fall they had gone six or eight miles, when lDraper MS812CC201-210, llCCll-15, 17CC171-176, 238199-216, 12CC64-78, 4B'l8-80. '.!Draper MSSllCCll-15, 11CC51-53, 12CC201-210, 7067, 23S199- 216, 14CC191, 4B80-81. INDIAN CONFLICTS, 1776-1777 165 they made their camp within three miles of the pres ent town of '1Vinchester.1 Through the night ... the captives were pinioned at their elbows, so that their hands could not touch each other; each of the captives placed beyond the others' reach, with one end of the tug with which they were tied, made fast to a tree, while the other was lain upon one or more of the Indians, who sprawled then1selves upon the ground in a circle around their prisoners. Thus, without sleep, the girls sat with their backs against a tree, weary and anxious during the tedious vigils of the night-the dull monotony of chirping insects occasionally relieved by the howl ing of wolves or the hooting of owls. Jemima Boone, ren1en1- bering that she had a pen-knife in her pocket, made an effort to reach it, that she might cut herself and companions loose and make their escape, for the Indians appeared to sleep soundly; but so closely was she pinioned, that she could not effect her object.:! Early lVIonday forenoon they came upon a pony, ,vhich the Indians had left tied or was a stray. The captors ,vanted the girls to ride, particularly Jemima on account of her injured foot. The former thus hoped to secure more speed, but their captives vvere equally cunning. When the girls ,vere placed on the back of the pony, they tickled him in the flanks with their feet. This caused him to rear, then the riders would tumbl~ off, which meant a loss of time. The pony became spiteful, and when the riders were forced to ren1ount, he would bite at them. Betsy was bitten deep]y enough on the arm to leave a life-long scar. One of the Indians got astride the pony to demonstrate ho,v easily and safely it could be done, only to be badly bitten, which brought hilarious laughter from the others. Whenever they would climb a steep hill, the young, but resourceful, girls would slide off the back of the pony. The kidnapers soon realiz.ed that the 1Draper MSSllCCll-15, 17CC171-175, 12CC201-210, 23S199-216, 4B80-83. -.!.Draper MSS4B81-82. 166 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY pony ridden in this manner ,vas a hindrance to prog ress and abandoned him.1 Whether the screams of the captured girls ,vere heard in the town or the story of the capture was to]d by the little girls left on the south river bank is not definitely kuo,vn. But not long after the capture Cal laway and Boone got together a party of men for pur suit. Among this number were Samuel Henderson, who was engaged to be married to Elizabeth Callaway within a short time, John Holder and Flanders Calla way, who ,vere lovers respectively of Fannie Callaway and Jemima Boone.2 Only one canoe was available-the one the Indians had sent adrift-and the rescue party had to wait until ~John Guess could swim over the river and bring it back. This was a courageous act, for no one knew but that the enemy were concealed near the river and might easily .kill the swimmer. By this time the sun was only half an hour high. Daniel Boone with five others John Guess, Samuel Henderson, John Floyd, John Reid and \Villiam Bailey Smith-now crossed the river, ·while Colonel Callaway, Captain Nathaniel Hart, Cap tain David Guess, Flanders Callaway, and five or six others, rode a mile down the riverside and forded the river. In a little while the two parties were joined and the trail of the Indians found. On Boone's advice it ,vas decided that his footmen should follow the trail, ,vhile Callaway and his horsemen should go by path to the Lower Blue Licks to cut off the retreat of the kid napers. The first group followed the trail for about five miles before being forced by darkness to strike camp. They camped at an unfinished cabin, which was being built by nine men.3 lDraper MSSllCCll-15, 238199-218, 120064-78, 4B83-84. 2Jbfd,. MSS12CC201-210, 4B86-87. 3Jbid. MSS17CC171-175, 4B87-89. INDIAN CONFLICTS, 1776-1777 167 Early Monday morning they resumed their pursuit. They were joined by three of the cabin-builders-John McMillen, William Bush and John Martin. Soon they came upon the spot where the Indians and girls had camped the night before. In spite of the useful signs of broken twigs, tom clothing, and shoe prints left by the girls, the pursuers had great difficulty in detecting the trail. Following up each of the several diverse trails purposely made by the Indians caused delay. Boone's superior knowledge of Indian habits and trick ery served his party well. He soon discovered that the pursued group was making better progress than his own and advised that the latter leave the trail and pursue a straight course toward the Scioto River for two reasons : first, their passage would be more speedy; and, secondly, he feared if they continued to foil ow the trail, they would be seen by the rear guard of the captors first, and the captives be put to death rather than permitted to be retaken. Boone's pro posal was adopted. The pursuing party frequently crossed the trail. Its progress was now more rapid; it made about thirty miles that day, passing close to the present towns of Winchester, North Middletown and Carlisle. At dawn Tuesday morning it resumed its course. By ten o'clock it came to Hinkson's Fork of Licking. When it crossed this the members of the party observed that the tracks of the pursued were fresh and the stream still muddy where these had crossed. Boone now counselled that the kidnapers had by this ~ime become less cautious and that the whites might again follow the trail, which they did.1· In the meantime the girls were experiencing alter nately hope and despair. Jemima and Fannie were crying most of the time, but Betsy was more coura geous and tried to cheer them with the certainty of tDraper MSS4B91·92. 168 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY rescue. Throughout Monday the Indians did not halt to cook any food, for fear that a fire might reveal them to the whites, but gave the girls dried venison and smoked buffalo tongue. Each of these meats, being both hard and unsalted, was unpalatable and little was eaten by them. As far as the exigencies of the situa tion would permit, the captives were treated with kind ness, and even a show of affection. As also was the almost universal custom of the Indian race, the captors attempted no improprieties with their female captives. Just as Boone had predicted the savages became more careless on Tuesday morning, and grew bold enough to kill a buffalo, from which they cut a choice portion. When they reached a spot protected -by thick cane, they stopped to cook the meat, and, having stationed a guard in the rear, became more careless than ever. They quickly built a fire, and soon were roasting their meat and eating at the same time, with their weap<>ns laid aside. The girls were sitting tied, the two younger ones with their heads in the lap of Betsy, who was try ing to console them by telling them that their lovers would rescue them. Soon after they had crossed Hink son the members of Boone's party entered the Great Warriors' Path, which they pursued intermittently, just as the Indians had followed now the Path, now a buffalo trace, to elude the whites. Having gone eight or nine miles they came upon the slaughtered buffalo. A little later as the party came to a small stream the trail d_isappeared, and again Boone rightly conjectured that the Indians and their captives had waded in the water for some distance to deceive their followers, and that they were now preparing their meal. As they rapidly approached the vicinity where the Indians were secluded, the whites divided into two groups and pro ceeded cautiously. The Indian sentinel had left his post to light his pipe at the fire. In the thick cane INDIAN CONFLICTS, 1776-1777 169 the pursuers got within thirty yards, or less, of the enemy and saw them first. Although forbidden to do so, the foremost white fired at the Indians without waiting for his companions to come up. His aim was poor, but Boone and Floyd came up almost instantly and fired, each mortally wounding an Indian. Fannie and Jemima were watching a large Indian called "Big Jimmy" spitting meat. \Vhen Jemima saw the blood spurt from his breast and heard the gun-fire, she cried "That Daddy's gun." "Big Jimmy" grasped his side and ran away half bent. His companions followed, leaving practically everything except one gun. One of them, as he ran, flung his tomahawk at Betsy's head, which it barely missed. The whites rushed in quickly with a low ·yell. .Betsy, who was a decided brunette and whose color ,vas still further enhanced by fatigue· and exposure, was mistaken by one of the men for an Indian. He raised his gun and was about to strike her with the butt of it, when his arm was ar rested by Boone.1 In the elation which followed the whites did not im mediately pursue the kidnapers, in fact, did not follo\\r them at all, concluding that pursuit was useless with out horses. The party gathered the plunder left Ly the savages and returned joyfully toward Boonesbor ough. Just before reaching the Kentucky River it was joined by Colonel Callaway's group of horsemen, who had crossed the trail of the retreating Indians, and, concluding that the girls had been rescued, returned to Boonesborough. During the month of August Samut:.l Henderson and Elizabeth Callaway ,vere married, and in the following year marriages also took place be tween Frances Callaway and Colonel Holder, and 1Draper MSS23S199-216, llCCll-15, 7C67, 11CC51-53, 17CC1'71- 175, 120064-78, 8J180-181, 4B84-99; Boone's Autobiography. 170 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY Jemima Boone and Flanders Callaway.1 While this party of rescuers was away, the remain ing defenders of Boones borough, though small in num ber, were able to defend it against a threatened attack of the fourteen Cherokees loitering on the Kentucky. These Indians, however, were able to burn a cabin belonging to Nathaniel and David Hart, located nearly a half mile above the fort, and to destroy a number of small apple trees.1 Following these events the feeling of insecurity throughout the Kentucky settlements became intense. Floyd wrote from Boonesborough, July 21, 1776, . . . . The Settlement on Licking Creek, known by the name of Hinkston's, has been broken up; nineteen of their settlers are now here on their way in. . . . They all seem deaf to any thing we can say to dissuade them. Ten at least, of our own people, are going to join them, which will leave us with less than thirty men at this fort. I think more than three hundred men have left the country since I came out, and not one has arrived, except a few cabiners down the Ohio.3 William \Vhitley and others from his station went to Harrodsburg in September for the better protection offered there. Logan, not being able to persuade Whit ley to stay at St. Asaph and fearing for the safety of his young wife, took her to Harrodsburg, where she remained for some months. The fear of Indian at tacks was so great that all the smaller settlements and scattered cabiners deserted their cabins and the resi dents congregated during August and September into the stronger stations of Boonesborough, Harrodsburg and McClelland's.4 Powder and lead became exceed ingly scarce everywhere. The Transylvania Company had furnished ammunition for the first year of settle- IDraper MSS1700171-175, 120064-78. 120051-53, 23S199-216, 8J180-181, 4B93-99; Boone's Autobwgraphy. 2Draper MSS4B100. Slbfcl. MSS17CC1'11-1'15. ◄Bradford's Notes, 23; Draper MSS48J10, 90018, 4B100-102. INDIAN CONFLICTS, 1776-1777 171 ment, but, because money became scarce with it.1 and because of the revolt of the settlers and the departure of Henderson and Williams, this source failed. During the latter part of- the summer Major Arthur Campbell had furnished the uneasy adventurers with a limited supply, which Daniel Boone had "disposed of to the people, the powder at six shillings per pound, and the lead at ten pence, except one pound of powder and two pounds of lead, which had been delivered to the scouts."2 In order to supplement this amount Captains Harrod and Logan were sent on horseback to Long Island on the Holston, whence they brought a quantity of powder and lead. This trip employed them twenty days and for this service they were paid twenty-two pounds. 3 As the year drew to a close, the settlers be came more calm, for the Indians had not given trouble after the rescue of the girls at Boonesborougb, and the people began to return to their deserted camps and cabins and to resume their former ways of living. Dur ing September John Floyd and several others from Boonesborough had left for Virginia to join Colonel Christian's expedition against the Indians. Later many of the young men returned to the old settle ments to provide themselves with many things they would need in Kentucky in the following spring. In spite of the Indian scare there had been more cabin improvements made in this year in Kentucky than in any previous year. 4 After Clark and Jones had been successful in having Kentucky County created by the Virginia Assembly they found that the powder- which the Council had 1Letter Johnston to Williams, December 21, 1776, Duke Univer sity Archives. 2Draper MSS4Bl05. 3Lucien Beckner, "History of the County Court of Lincoln Coun ty, Kentucky," 182; Draper MSS4Bl05-106. 4Draper MSS4B106-107, 48J10. 172 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY granted them several ,veeks before had been trans ported no farther than Pittsburg. They hastened to that place, secured the powder and started ,vith Reven boatmen down the Ohio River. In spite of the Indians who were lurking up and do,vn the river they were able to get their valuable cargo as far as the mouth of Limestone Creek, near the present town of Mays ville, Kentucky. Here,· shrewdly evading the savages, they landed the powder, concealing it in some four or five different places, while they purposely let the empty boat drift on down the stream. Doubting their ability successfully to bring the powder to the settlements through a country likely to be infested with hostile Indian bands, the small party started overland to Har rodsburg to get help. On the third day they came to Hinkston's deserted settlement on the ,¥est fork of Licking Creek. Here they met four explorers who informed them that Captain John Todd and a party of men were in that vicinity and that the combined groups were strong enough to bring the po,vder from the Ohio. But being uncertain of the whereabouts of Todd, Clark, with Simon Kenton and one other, pro ceeded to Harrodsburg to get aid. Clark had not been gone long when Todd's party came to Hinkston's, and there now being ten men, it was decided _they were strong enough to bring the powder and other stores to Harrodsburg. They had not proceeded far, having reached a point five miles northeast of the Lower Blue Licks, when they ,vere attacked by a party of Indians, who were following Clark's trail. The combat was disastrous to the whites. Jack Jones and William Craden were killed, and Joseph Rogers and Josiah Dixon were taken prisoners. This happened on Christ ina~ day. Clark gathered a ~ufficient force and brought the po,vder to Harrodsburg, ,vhence it was distributed INDIAN CONFLICTS, 1776-1777 173 to the several settlements, ,vhich by this time were in dire need of it.1 On December 29, Captain Pluggy, the leader of the forty or fifty Indians who .had defeated Todd's partr, followed up this recent victory by making an attack on McClelland's. Fortunately the beseiged fort was aided by Clark and his men, who were on their way to Limestone to get the powder. The attackers were repulsed, Pluggy was killed and three other Indians were wounded. The whites lost John McClelland and Charles White by death, while Robert Todd and Ed ward Worthington were wounded.2 The inhabitants of McCielland's and other settle ments north of the Kentucky River felt their inse curity so keenly that on the following January 30 they moved to Harrodsburg and Boonesborough. The ,vhole population of Kentucky County at this time did not amount to more than 500, and the men in the stations, with the twenty or thirty recruited from north of the river, did not exceed 150. Forty of these were at Boonesborough, seventy or eighty at Harrodsburg, and twenty at Logan's Fort, to which Captain Logan and a half dozen other families had returned in mid winter. 3 Clark was in charge at Harrodshur~, ,'(:hile Boone and Cana-,Nay had charge of Boonesborough. The getting of food for the forty families within the sta tions ,vas a task that was at once arduous and danger ous. The Indian~ seemed to be everywhere. They were not able to take the stations, but they lurked about in the forests and made it dangerous for any man to hunt. 4 A petition sent to the Governor an llllinois Historical Collections, VIII. 20-23, 214-215; Bradford's Notes, 28; Draper MSS48Jl2, 48J10, 4B109. 2Bradford's Notes, 25-26; Illinois Historical Collections. VIII. 20-23; Drctper MSS48J10. 48J12, 4B109. :inraper M SS4B115. ·•Bradford's Notes. 23-25; Illinois Historical Collections, VIII. 20-23; Draper M SS48Jl2, 48J10. 174 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY Council of Virginia in the latter part of February by a committee of Harrodsburg people vividly describes the situation among the pioneers. It follo,vs in part: We are surrounded with Enemies on every side; every day increases their numbers. To retreat from the place where our all is centered would be little preferable to death. Our Fort is already filled with widows and orphans; their necessities call upon us daily for supply. Yet all this would be tolerable could we but see the dawn of peace; but a continuance of our woes threatens us: A rueful war presents itself before us. The apprehension of an invasion in the Ensuing. spring fills our minds with a thousand fears. The brave despise danger, Even death, upon their own accounts; it is the state of weak infancy & helpless widowhood that sets heavy on us. . . . Feb. 27th 1777. Signed by order of Committee, Hugh Magary, Chairman.1 About two weeks after the creation of Kentucky County commissions were issued for a number of coun• ty officials. David Robinson was appointed County Lieutenant, John Bowman Colonel, Anthony Bledsoe Lieutenant Colonel, and George Rogers Clark Maj or. Benjamin Logan was made sheriff and John May sur veyor. Robinson, Clark, Logan, Isaac Hite, Robert Todd, and five others who never came to Kentucky were made justices of the peace. Robinson and Bled soe did not accept their appointments and did not come to Kentucky.2 These commissions were iss·ued after Clark and Jones had left Virginia, and apparently there was no means of sending them until the latter part of February. On March 1 William Bush and others arrived from Virginia and brought both military and civil commissions. Clark, in the absence of Robin son, Bledsoe, and Bowman, who had not yet arrived, was the leading military authority, with the rank of Major. Daniel Boone, James Harrod, John Todd and Benjan1in Logan were commissioned Captains. "Prior tDraper MSS4CC30. :!/bid. 4B108. INDIAN CONFLICTS, 1776-1777 175 to this every station and every camp had its own selected chief, with but little order or subordination."1 On March 5 the militia was embodied and organized at Boonesborough, Harrodsburg and Logan's Station.1 Simon Kenton and Thomas Brooks were appointed scouts by Boone,- Samuel Moore and Bates Collier by Harrod, -and John Conrad and John Martin by Logan. These men were required to patrol the area between the Ohio and Kentucky Rivers for ascertaining the presence of Indians.3 "Compulsory. military service was inaugurated, and every man whether a permanent resident or not, was required to join one of the com panies for an allotted time."4 Harrodsburg, which was now the largest settlement in Kentucky, became the county seat. Here was held the Court of Quarter Sessions, which had among its membership such able men as John Todd, John Floyd, Benjamin Logan, John Bowman and Richard Callaway. Levi Todd was Clerk. With the institution of a government in which the people had confidence, the country began to prosper, and if it had not been for the incursions of the In dians, there would have been a very rapid growth. 5 The preparedness of the whites to defend their set tlements was not as adequate as has generally been assumed. It has been believed that the forts at Boonesborough and Harrodsburg were completed in the spring or summer of 1776, and by some even earlier than that. The word fort had for the pioneer a range of significance from a partially palisaded cabin to a ,vell constructed fortification. The words fort and sta tion were used interchangeably. Floyd, in a letter to Preston just after the rescue of the girls at Boones- . 1Draper M SS4Bl 15. 2lbicl. 48J12, 48J10, 4B115; Illinois Historical Collections, VIII. 20-23. 3McDonald, 215: Kenton, 83. 4James, 56. 5John Mason Brown, The Political Beginnings o/ Kentuck11, 41. 176 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY borough, wrote: uw e are about finishing a large fort. . . . They are I understand, doing the same thing at Harrodsburg."1 Yet Dr. Draper, who made a most thorough study of this period of Kentucky his tory, and, fully aware of Floyd's statement, but with numerous additional facts in his possession, wrote concerning events immediately after the rescue of the girls: Seven stations had broken up-but three remained occupied, McClelland's, Harrodsburg, and Boonesborough. The people at these places set themselves immediately about surrounding their cabin groups with palisades. At Boonesborough they commenced erecting a new fort, just above the Lick branch, on the bank of the Kentucky, and three hundred yards above Fort Boone, where Col. Henderson, in April, 1775, had cleared a spot and built a magazine. . . .2 The design of the fort was that of Richard Henderson. J an1es Hall had in his possession early last century the original plan of the fort in Henderson's handwrit ing. This design shows that the fort ,vas a parallelo gram, but gives no dimensions. Hall by allo,ving t,ven ty feet for the length of each cabin estimated the size to have been 260 by 180 feet.3 Hall may, have over estimated its size, for in an interview with Draper~ many years later, Judge Moses Boone said that the fort was enlarged in 1778, and then occupied about an acre of ground:1 Either of these estimates makes the fort smaller than the one at Harrodsburg. The plan of the fort provided for four block-houses, one at each corner. Probably two of these were not constructed until 1778; for Judge Boone said that new bastions were built then at the southeast and southwest cor ners.;; The distance between each block-house and the tDra,per MSS17CC171-175. :!Jbid. 4B102. 3Hall, The Romance of Western History, 164-165. 4Dra,i,er MSS19012. ;-,Jbid. 4B203, 19C12. INDIAN CONFLICTS, 1776-1777 177 adjacent rows of cabins, whose exterior walls served as portions of the walls of the fort, was filled in with stockades. There were eight cabins on each of the longer sides and five on each of the shorter sides twenty-six in all. There were two gates-one midway of each of the longer sides. There is no likelihood that Colonel Henderson directed any of the work in its con struction, since he left Boonesborough in May, 1776. What part Williams, Callaway, Daniel Boone, Nathaniel Hart, Floyd and others had in the· early construction is not evident. · The Fort at Harrodsburg was probably constructed under the supervision of James Harrod and Hugh McGary.1 There was considerable similarity between the designs of the forts at Boonesborough and Har rodsburg. With minor adaptations we can get a fair conception of the Boonesborough fort from a descrip tion we have of the one at Harrodsburg. In 1791 Benjamin Van Cleave visited this fort and made a careful survey and inspection of it. He wrote in his journal a description as it then existed. In most of its main features, it was in all probability as it was originally constructed. In part his description ran thus: Fort Harrod. The outline of the fort is a square of 264 feet. The S. W. and S. E. corners are block houses about 25 by 44 feet each. In the N. W. corner is a spring and on the eastern side is another spring. The south line of the fort or the hill is a solid row of log cabins, each 20 by 20 with a block house at each end. The east, north and west sides are stockades. Gates of stout timber ten feet wide open on the west and on the north sides. These gates, protected so that teams and cattle may be safely brought in, the gates opening some ten feet within the walls and defended by port holes, the doors are secured by heavy bars. The pickets are round logs of oak, grown near by, and all of them more than a foot in diameter. They are set four feet in the ground leaving ten feet clear and the earth ran1med tight. They are held together with stout 1Jillson, Tales of the Dark and Bloody Ground, 60. 178 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY wall pieces pinned in through holes with inch tree nails on the side. The corner buildings are block houses, the upper stories ex tend two feet from the walls on each side providing for gun fire along the walls. Seven story-and-a-half cabins are between the block houses giving a space of ten feet between the buildings. A small single-room cabin of one story is to the right of the east cor ner and is built as a school. It has a dirt floor pounded hard and no chinking in the walls. The fire place is larger than usual, extending along the· east wall with an opening at the south end for sections of logs that are hauled in and fit over the andirons. The windows are of heavy paper greased with bear's fat. Close to the spring, near the center of the fort, is the black smith shop. The hominy block is one of the best I have seen anywhere...• The cabins . . . are built of round logs, a foot in diameter, chinked and pointed with clay in which straw has been mixed as a binder. The doors and window shutters are of oaken puncheons, secured by stout bars on the inside with a latch string of leather hanging out. The buildings are a story-and-a half structures the slope Qf the roof being entirely to the inside. In the attic of each cabin is a puncheon of water, always filled, and to be used in case of fire. The Indians, on several occasions succeeded in firing the roofs with burning arrows and these casks of water was all that saved them...... Nails are scarce at even this day and at the time of the erection of these buildings were unobtainable. What few were used were made by the blacksmith by hammering iron L-shaped at one end and pointed at the other ... .1 The statement made by Hugh McGary's. committee on February 27 that "A rueful war presents itself be fore us. The apprehension of an invasion in the Ensu ing spring fills our minds with a thousand fears," had uncanny accuracy, for on lviarch 6 following was inaug urated the first of a long series of Indian conflicts. On this day William and James Ray, William Coomes and Thomas Shores were at the Shawnee Springs about four or five miles northeast of Harrodsburg. James Ray, Coomes and Shores were clearing some land for Hugh McGary, stepfather of the Ray boys, while Wil- 1Jillson, Tales of the Dark and Bloody Ground, 107-111. INDIAN CONFLICTS, 1776-1777 179 liam Ray '""as making maple sugar nearby. James and Shores left the clearing and went to the sugar camp to slake their thirst. Here the two Rays and Shores ,vere suddenly attacked by a large party of Indians under the leadership of Blackfish, a renowned Shawnee chief. \Villiam Ray was killed and scalped and Shores ,vas taken prisoner. The latter afterward joined the British army at Detroit and never returned to Ken tucky. Jan1es Ray, who was then only fifteen years of age, escaped by great fleetness of feet. Blackfish later said there '"'as a boy at Harrodsburg ,vho outran all of his warriors. Coomes became uneasy and ,vas about to start in search of his two companions, ,,rhen he sa,v about fifteen Indians approaching the clearing. Because of the dense cane and underbrush roundabout the Indians had not seen him, and he hid himself be hind the trunk of a tree which he had just felled. As soon as the Indians had passed on he cautiously made his way toward the sugar camp. Upon noting the ap- 11roach of a party of about forty Indians he concealed himself in the midst of the top branches of a fall en hickory tree. This group of savages was soon joined by other groups till the whole number amounted to about seventy. He could see them while they drank the maple sap, sang their ,var songs and did their ,var dances around the borly of Ray and their captive, Shores.1 James Ray made his way to Harrodsburg, and told the story of ,vhat ha 1Spalding, 35; Illinois Historical Collections, VIII. 20-23; Ken tucky Yoeman, September 18, 1845; Draper MSS48J10. 48,J12, 26- C55, 4CC30, 4B115-116. 180 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY fatal rifles at each other's bosoms. In this conjuncture, the wife of McGary rushed in, and turned aside the rifle of her husband, when Harrod immediately withdrew his, and the diffi culty was temporarily adjusted.1 McGary insisted that thirty men be sent with him to rescue the men at the springs. Harrod and Clark con tended that the fort, which had only sixty men, could not spare thirty men, as it might be attacked at any time. lVIcGary won the argument, and thirty or more mounted men were sent under his command. They soon reached the camp, which the Indians had desert ed, and ... discovered the mangled remains of Wm. Ray, at the sight of which McGary turned pale, and was near falling from his horse, in a fainting fit. As soon as the body was discovered, one of the men shouted out: "See there: They have killed poor Coomes!" Coomes, who had hithertoo lurked in his hiding place, now sallied forth, and ran towards the men, exclaiming: "No, they haven't killed me, by Job! I'm safe!"2 Ray was buried, and the whites returned to Harrods burg about sunset, without falling in with the In dians, who for some reason of their own did not desire to engage in a contest that afternoon.3 The fort at Harrodsburg had never been entirely completed. After the attack on McClelland's, its con struction had been temporarily renewed. But on the night after the killing of Ray all hands spent the whole night strengthening "some of the open places around the fort," and otherwise making it ready for defense. 4 During the night, many, if not all, of the nearby set tlers deserted their cabins and came to the fort. The next morning the savages, with the purpose of decoy ing the whites from the fort, set fire to some cabins, including Ben VanCleve's turner-shop, about a quarter tSpalding, 36. 2Ilrid. 37. 3Draper MSS4B116, 48J10. •Spalding, 37; Draper MSS4Bl18, 12028-29. INDIAN CONFLICTS, 1770-1777 181 of. a n1ile f ro1n the fort, ,vhich had been vacated the night before by the ,vhites. VVhen several men fron1 the fort went out to extinguish the fires, they were at tackerl by the Indians, who had secreted themselves in p.ile8 of brush w·hich lay bet"'reen the cabins and the fort. Four ,vhiteR were wounded: Archibald McNeal, ,vho died t,velve daYR later, Captain McGary, who~e arm ,vas broken, John Gass, and one other. One In dian ,va~ killed by Ben Linn, and several others were wounded. "This dead Indian was brought to the fort for the women and children to look at, and then they dragged hin1 off and hurried him." The Indians then ,vithdrew, bnt carried with them many horses and cattle.1 For the next ten days the inhabitans who had col lected in the fort at Harrodsburg were busy bringing in the corn · stored at the various individual settle ment~, bringing that from the nearest clearings first. In the preceding year a bountiful crop of corn had been produced~ and the most of it cribbed in the fields ,vhere it had been harvested.2 This foresight of pro visioning the fort for an indefinite siege was justified fully by the events that followed, for the Indians lurked about the beleaguered place during the ·rest of the year, not only~ it would seem, to prevent the bring ing of food into the fort, but to prevent the production of corn and other products during that season. Thirty or forty Indians, or more, continually patrolled the region about Harrodsburg, and men ventured out 2t the peril of their liveR. Eternal vigilance was th:' price they paid for their preservation.- Ten sentinel.~ guarded the fort during the day and twenty during the night. On March 18, Hugh Wilson ventured out, and 1Bradford's Notes, 29: Draper MSS12C26-29, 4B116-117. 48J°10. 260055, 40030, 1906-7. 2Draper M8S4B106, 48J10. 182 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY was killed and scalped within a half a mile of the fort. Ten days later some stragglers ,vere attacked within a hundred yards of the fort. Garret Pendergrass was killed and scalped. while his family looked on through the ,,,.indow. Peter Flinn ~"as taken prisoner, and probably later slain, since he never returned.1 Boone and the other leaders at Boonesborough had not been derelict during the fall and winter, but by persistent and hard labor had completed the fort at Boonesborough, and had moved into it by the begin ning of spring, 1777. It was none too soon. On l\farch 7, at the same time Blackfish and his large party of Indians were making their raids about Harrodsburg, there appeared about Boonesborough another party of savages, probably detached from the main body to pre vent aid coming to Harrodsburg. A Negro in the field at work was killed and a white man was wounded. "This induced those who had scattered out in camps in that region, to take refuge in Boonesborough; while Captain Boone was diligent in instructing his men, continually keeping sentinels at the fort. and scouts ranging the country." 2 Simon Kenton, who had been located. at his camp near the Blue Licks by Stoner more than a year before this and brought to Boonesborough, and who had been appointed one of the scouts, was sent by Clark a few days preceding the first attacks on Harrodsburg and Boonesborough to break out some flax and hemp at Hinkston's. John Haggin and four others ,vere with him. Before reaching their deRtination they ran into a party of Indians. Through the rashness of Haggin, they permitted the Indians to out-maneuver them and lost all their hot·ses but one. 3 Kenton then directed lSpalding, 37; Draper MSS4B118, 26CC55, 12C26-29, 48J10. 2.Dra,per MSS4B117. :: Ibid. 12031. INDIAN CONFLICTS, 1776-1777 183 the other men to warn Harrodsburg, while he ,vent to Boonesborough "''ith the same intent. The savages were skulking around the fort and Kenton had enough prudence to hide until dark before trying to enter. As he made his entry he saw the bodies of the two men ,vho had been shot that afternoon by the Indians being carried _in. The men sent to Harrodsburg had arrived too late to save the lives of the men killed at Shawnee Spring·s. On April 15, Boonesborough. Harrodsburg and Logan's Fort ,vere attacked by the Indians ,vith the partial purpose perhaps of creating a fear among the pioneers that ,vould prevent them from rendering each other aid. The savages were unsuccessful in each instance. It ,vas impossible for them to take the well constructed forts '\\'ith the crude equipment at their command. At Boonesborough there was some loss of men, cattle and corn. One man was killed and four wounded. The Indians withd1·ew without revealing their loss.1 Nine days later as Kenton and two companions were standing just without the fort with their guns loaded ready for hunting, they observed two men who had been sent to a nearby field to drive in some horses running rapidly to\vard the fort pursued by four or five Indians. The two ·whites had escaped injury from the first fire of the redskins, but, as they got within about seventy yards of l{enton, Daniel Goodn1an was overtaken and tomahawked. His assailant then de liberately began to scalp him. But Kenton, who was proceeding to the rescue of the men, came near and shot the Indian to death, and with his companions be gan the pursuit of the small party toward the field where the horses were. The whole affair was a clever ruse on the part of the Indians, for now fifty or more 1Collins, 445, 528; McDonald, 214-215; Boone's Autobiography. 184 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY of them came from ambush to attack the three whites. However, Daniel Boone with ten others, who had heard the firing, had come out of the fort. As one of the Indians was about to fire upon the latter group he was killed by Kenton. Just at this time Boone's men heard the sound of rushing footsteps to their left, and turned to see a number of Indians running down the lane to cut them off from a return to the fort. This perilous situation had been the objective of the savages from the beginning. Boone now took charge and gave or ders to fire upon the interceptors, then charge them by striking and beating their own way back to the fort gate, without taking the time to reload their guns. This was a desperate, but imperatively necessary at tempt. Boone, Isaac Hite, John Todd and Michael Stoner were wounded. Boone was stricken down by a ball which shattered a bone in his left ankle, but, just as an enemy raised his tomahawk to scalp him, he was rescued by Kenton, who had taken time to reload his gun and who shot down the would-be-scalper, knocked down with his gun another savage who appeared with knife in hand, and carried Boone into the fort. At least six Indians were killed. When all the men had gotten safely in the fort and the gate was closed, Boone sent for Kenton and said: "Well, Simon, you have behaved yourself like a man to-day-indeed you are a fine f el low." After besieging the· fort for two or three days the Indians retired.1 On April 29 James Ray and Ensign Francis McCon nell were standing about one hundred yards south of the fort at Harrodsburg shooting at a mark. McCon nell was shot down. Ray sensed the direction whence the shot had come and discovered the enemy, but as he was attempting to return the fire, he suddenly icollins, 445-446; Kenton, 86-88; McDonald, 216-217; Draper MSS48Jl0, 260055, 40030, 4B119-123. . · INDIAN CONFLICTS, 1776-1777 185 found himself attacked by a considerable body of In dians, who had crept near him unseen. Ray, as on a previous occasion, resorted to his skill in swift run ning to save his life, but as he approached the gate of the fort, he found that the people within would not open the gate for fear of the entrance of the enemy. He threw himself flat on the ground with a stump be t,veen him and the savages, who did not dare to expose themselves within range of the gun-fire from the fort, but who took chance shots at his prostrate form. For four hours he lay within seven steps of the fort with his ·anxious mother among those who looked on him, but · were unable to rescue him. Finally Ray· called out "for God's sake dig a· hole under the cabin wall, and take me in." This suggestion was adopted and Ray was brought to the safety of the fort. McConnell had also sought refuge behind a log near where he had been shot. He likewise begged for relief by waving his hand, but his rescue was quite hazardous to at tempt.. The men in the fort, realizing that the Indians ,votlld capture or kill him as soon as dark came, re golved to bring him in. Several men climbed upon the roofs of the cabins and fired in the direction of the place where the savages were concealed, while Ray, Silas Harlan and others ran out, -dispersed the Indians, and brought· McConnell in. The latter died soon after being rescued, and was buried in an unoccupied bastion at the southwest corner of the fort.1 Although the Indians did not". again soon attack Harrodsburg, they continued ·their ceaseless prowling about the ·vicinity of the town practically throughout the remainder of the year 1777. The settlers thus penned closely in the fort ·suffered untold privation. The co1·n brought in during the first weeks of March 1Butler, 43-44; Draper MSS48J10, 25CC55, 1906-7, 12C26-29. 4B124-125. 186 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY furnished them bread, but the1·e was a great scarcity of meat. This latter was secured by small parties of hunters, who would steal from the fort before dawn, go stealthily to hunting grounds several miles away, kill their game, and return again with the same cau tious and skilful maneuvers in the darkness of the fol lowing night. James Ray, youth though he was, was one of those most successful in bringing meat to the beleaguered town. Using the only horse remaining of the forty brought to Kentucky by his stepfather, he would go to Salt River, ride do\\1 n the stream as much as possible to deceive the enemy until he had reached a distance where his gun-fire would be out of hearing of the Indians.1 Under the conditions that prevailed the people of the fort, rugged individualists though they were, resorted to a form of communism. The pro visions obtained with such great difficulties and the manif est need of strict economy, as well as the feeling that every one should share in the resources regard less of possession, led to the use of a common store house. Officers were appointed to distribute the ra tions each day to each family in proportion to its num ber. 2 Barney Stagner, an old Dutchman, the _father-in-law of Hugh Wilson, was given the responsibility of watch ing the fort spring at Harrodsburg-to keep it clean and to keep the children away. He had a delusion that the Indians would not kill so old a man as he, and would wander out from the fort at will, in spite of the warnings of others. One day in the latter part of June he took his horse to graze some half a mile from the fort. The Indians killed him, cut off his head, and car ried it away. There arose a superstition among the children that if they went about the spring late in the tButler, 43: Spalding, 37; Dra,per MS84B118. :!Spalding, 37-38. . INDIAN CONFLICTS, 1776-1777 187 afternoons, they would be met with the headless ghost of Barney Stagner.1 On 1.Vlay 23 a large party of Indians, reputed to have been 200, attacked Boonesborough and kept up the fire until eleven o'clock that night.. They returned the next morning and besieged the fort until midnight, at tempting ·several times to set fire to it. None of the ,vhites were killed, but three were wounded. 2 The In dians lost seven men known to have been killed. At that time there were not more than twenty-two meu in the fort, but their inferiority in numbers was over come by the protection provided by the walls of the fort and their own superior skill with the rifle.3 Logan and many of tae f 01·mer dwellers of his sta tion had returned there in the latter part of the winter of 1777. They had put their station in as good defen sive condition as possible. The prevalance of the In dians during the spring months had forced them, as at other towns, to remain rather closely confined to the ~tation, and to take every precaution to prevent any of those who found it necessary to go out of the sta tion fron1 being waylaid by the savages. One of the protective measures was that a guard of four men would ahvays accompany the women while they milked the cows just outside the station. On the morning of l\Iay 30~ as John Kennedy, Burr Harrison, William Hutson and James Craig were guarding the milkers. they were fired on by the enemy concealed in the thick cane nearby. Hutson was killed instantly, Kennedy and Harrison were wounded. Craig and the women- 10raper MSS12C26-29, 260055, 40030. 2Jbid. 26CC55, 40030, 48J12; Illinois Historical Collections, VIII. 20-23. _ 3Bradford's Notes, 281; Collins, 528; Drape, MSS23036, 4B127. 4John Cowan in his Journal gives the date as May 30, while Bradford and Collins give May 20. Since Cowan's account is con temporary, that date has been followed here. See Drar,er MSS- 40030 or 26CC55. · 188 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY Mrs. Benjamin Logan, l\'Irs. Willian1 \Vhitley and a Negro woman-escaped into the station. It seen1s that Kennedy did not live long, but Whitley discovered that Harrison was living by the latter's movements as he lay struggling· where he had fallen after walking a f e,v steps. Harrison's plight appealed to all, but since the garrison had now been reduced to twelve men, wisdom seemed to dictate the policy of conservatism. Logan, even in the face of the ma.nifest danger and wis dom, volunteered to go to the rescue of Harrison, if some one would go with him. ...-'\.t length John Martin agreed to accompany him. The latter only went a fe,v paces from the station, when either his courage failed him or he saw Harrison rise and start toward the sta tion, and he turned back. But Logan protected by a sack of wool, which he held in front of him, ran to the wounded man, placed him on his shoulder, and re turned with him to the station in safety. Although the siege ceased that night, the Indians remained in the vicinity of the station and killed all hogs and cattle they could find.1 Not only was the garrison small compared with the sixty Indians, who lurked about the station, but the chance of the besieged getting aid from the other set tlements in men or in ammunition was almost impos sible. Logan again came to the rescue. Alone, he went to the Holston settlements, 200 miles away, to solicit aid and to secure the needed powder and lead. Logan dared not follow the beaten path, but picked his own path over untrodden ways through the wilderness. Kentucky was promised relief, the powder and lead lCollins, 469; Butler, 91-92; Marshall, I. 49; Draper MSS4B129- 130, 9021-23. Collins and Butler say that Logan rescued Hamson amidst a shower of bullets. But Whitley, an eye-witness, although his account was written many years later from memory, says: "The Indians never discovered Logan until as he entered the fort fired One Oun &· stuck the Bullett in the comer of the house/' Draper M S89O22-23. INDIAN CONFI,ICTS, 1776-1777 189 ,vas gotten, but was left to the care of two men whom Logan had secured to bring the ammunition, while he hurried back alone. The time of his trip was about ten days. While he was gone Harrison had died. Log-an' s Fort was again besieged by about 200 Indians on July 19, when only fifteen men were in the fort, one of ,vhon1 was killed and two of whom were wounded. The sieg·e was raised by the arrival of Colonel John Bow man from Virginia with 100 men.1 Through all these months the inhabitants saw no rest or peace of mind. Nothing could be done nor mally. The crops could not be planted and cultivated except with the greatest peril and inconvenience. The settlers were obliged to move into one of the three forts-Harrodsburg, Boonesborough, or Logan's. Sometimes they ventured out under guard to make crops of corn and vegetables. Boone divided the men at Boonesborough into two comp~n!es; one to net as guards and scouts, the other to plant and cultivate corn. 2 But even though they were fortunate in escap- ing injury or death from the savages, their young r.rops were often destroyed by the enemy. Corn, po t a toes, turnips, and other truck were planted almost under the very walls of the forts where they could be grown under the unceasing watch of armed men. The vigil never relaxed. The Indians, who had already be come enamoured of the horse, stole every one that they had the slightest opportunity to get their h?nd~ 011. About 200 ,vere stolen during the spring. At times horses became !-;O :~carce that the n1eat had to b!: brought fro-m the fores ts into the stations on the backs of the hunters. In May, l\tlcGary and Haggin were sent by l\tlajor Clark to Pittsburg to identify and lCollins. 469; Butler. 92·93; Mar.:~hall !. 32: Draper MSS26CC55. 40030, 90023, 4B131. 2Dra,per MSS4B12'1. 190 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY return to the colony any l{entucky horses that might be found among the number there, which had been re covered from the northern Indians by expeditions sent out by the Government to their towns~ These men ,vere gone two months, but returned from Pittsburgh without any horses.1 To the peril, fear, and uneasiness of the inhabitants of the towns were added depriva tions and inconveniences of every sort. At Boones borough and Logan's they had to follow the same pol icy as at Harrodsburg of slipping out and in the forts by night and going many miles for game. This meat, secured at so much peril, and often with the loss of life among the hunters, was scanty and hard to save in edible condition in the hot months. It was partially dried by the hunters soon after slaughter. Salt was exceedingly scarce. It was impracticable to bring it from the older settlements and almost impossible to spare the men to secure it from the salt springs, for its manufacture required many days under a hazard ous environment. So the people often ate their meat not only without bread but without salt. At Boones borough, at a time of urgent necessity, the gunpowder gave out. At this point of desperation the people re called the existence of a supply of brimstone and salt peter, which Colonel Henderson had brought from North Carolina. A quantity of charcoal was secured, and, Boone and others, experienced in the art of mak ing powder, manufactured enough to tide the settlers over till aid came from Virginia. 2 In the meantime, Virginia, though busy with her defense against the British, was trying to send succor to the beleaguered inhabitants of Kentucky County. tDraper M SS48Jl2, 90025-26; Illinois Historical Collections, VIII. 20-23; Robertson, 42-43; Journal of Virginia House of Dele gates, 50. 2nraper MSS48J10; Kenton, 88; Ranck, 60-62; McDonald, 217- 218; Spalding, 32; Marshall, I. 65. -. · INDIAN CONFLICTS, 1776-1777 191 On June 21, 1777, the following resolution was intro duced in the Virginia House of Delegates: Resolved, That it is of great consequence to this State to se cure the Salt springs in the county of Kentucky, and therefore that the Governor and Council be requested to embody as many of the militia of the counties of Washington, Montgomery, Henry, Pittsylvania, Bedford and Augusta, as will make up the number of three hundred men, including officers, to be com manded by the county lieutenant, or commanding officer, of Kentucky county, and to be by him stationed in such parts of the county as he shall think necessary to prevent the incursions of the enemy.I Colonel Richard Henderson, who was still claiming for his Company the ownership of all the lands in the original Transylvania purchase, was planning to send soldiers from North Carolina to rescue the settlers who lived on his Company's lands. In a letter written by him to Joseph Martin from Fort Patrick Henry on April 13, 1777, he gives us some information regarding both his own plans and those of Virginia at this date regarding the sending of troops to ·Kentucky. He wrote: . . . . Major Bullock and myself have been employed in raising men to go to Kentucky but am afraid without success-We have only Nine men with us, and the promise of upwards of 20 more to follow from the frontiers of North Carolina, but these last accounts seem to frighten some of my· boys already, and fear will Stop those who are to follow.-If I can make up 30 men, think they will undertake the Journey, and I hope go safe Sircumstanced as matters are, it seems as if we should be under a necessity of waiting until the Virginia forces go out, and join my small company with them, unless the Yadkin men keep their word and Should come to the _amount of 20 men, which I much doubt-'Tis with me uncertain when the Virginians will march, but am informed that the Botetourt company is com plete, & Capt. Bohannan from MtGomery informed me he would soon be ready. . . .2 Colonel John Bowman, who had been commissioned County Lieutenant of Kentucky County and who was tJou,ma,l of Virginia House of Delegates, 87. 2Draper MS81CC226. 192 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY making plans to bring ·with him a company of men, was slow in coming. John Cowan tells us in his Diary of June 5 that "Capt. Harrod and Elliott set off to meet Bowman and company." Harrod returned to Harrodsburg on July 11, and stated that Bowman was on his way out, and five days later "with a company set off to meet Bowman and inform him of the state· of the fort." Ten days later, July 26, Harrod returned to Harrodsburg with the statement that he and his com pany had parted with Bowman's company at the forks of the road and Bowman had gone to Boonesborough.1 On August 1 Bowman arrived at this settlement, later going to Logan's Fort, then to Harrodsburg. · He had with him about one hundred men. While at Boones borough, he sent a detachment of six men to Logan's Fort. Some Indians, who were probably waylaying men from the station bringing corn into it, fired on the detachment, killed Ambrose Grayson and wounded two others. On Grayson's body the Indians left a procla mation from Colonel Henry Hamilton, British com mander at Detroit. This proclamation promised all those who would desert the American cause and come with their arms to the defense of the King would be humanely dealt with, fed and lodged; and that those who bore commissions under the Revolutionary stand ard should bear like commissions in His Majesty's army, and at the end of the war should be entitled to 200 acres of land; but that all who refused these terms ,:vould be dealth with severely. 2 The coming of the trained troops from Virginia had a salutary effect. The savages began to be more cau tious, and the settlers fared better and breathed eas ier. However the former did not withdraw above the 1nraper M'SS26CC55, 40030; Kent11,Ck1J Yeoman, September 18, 1845. . 2Marshall, I. 53; Dra.'J)Sf' MSS9CCJ24, 48J12, 4B133. INDIAN CONFLICTS, 1776-1777 193 Ohio, nor give up their purpose to drive the whites from the hereditary hunting grounds of the Indians.1 Not many days after Bowman's arrival in Kentucky the savages were almost under the very eaves of the fort at Harrodsburg. Because of their inability to produce much corn during the summer and to supple ment their scanty food supply, the dwellers in the fort were preparing to plant a turnip patch about two hun dred yards northwest of the station. One morning the cows became excited, an almost inevitable sign of the presence of Indians, and were sniffing the air near a vacant plot overgrown with high weeds. Being sure that Indians were present, one having been fired at the previous day, Clark decided to trap the savages. Leav... ing several men at work clearing the turnip ground, who acted with perfect indifference and manifested no knowledge of the suspected presence of the foe, Clark, MeGary, Ray, and others stole out of the south gate, circled to the rear of the Indians and unexpectedly at tacked them. Out of twelve savages hidden in the weeds, three or four were killed and others wounded. The rest fled, leaving their bundles of plunder, which, according to Clark, were sold "for upwards of £70." The reds were pursued for some four hundred yards down the creek from the fort, where a deserted en campment was found. It was estimated that this en caJllpment could have accommodated five or six hun dred Indian waniors. It consisted of two rows of camps with poles between for suspending kettles. It had been used during the preceding months as a ren dezvous for those savages who foraged on horses, cat tle and growing crops and made attacks on any and all who dared to.leave the fort without the greatest pre caution and adequate protection. The whites burned tBoone's Autobiography; Draper MSS4B13'1-138. 194 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY the place soon after they discovered it.1 Some time after Bowman's arrival at Harrodsburg, September 11, he took thirty-seven men to a corn crib at Cove Creek, about five miles from the fort, to shell corn. While they were engaged in their task, they ,vere fired on by a party of forty Indians, who had been concealed in a nearby canebrake. One man was killed outright and six were wounded, one of whom died the following day. Bowman rallied his men, who protected themselves within a cabin and behind trees. It was characteristic border warfare, neither party fighting in the open. Bowman sent a messenger to Harrodsburg for reinforcements. The passage was dangerous. The messenger was shot at a number of tim.es, and narrowly evaded a large party of Indians ; but soon was at the fort, where he secured the needed aid. Two savages were. killed, and from the amount of blood found on the premises they had occupied several must have been wounded.2 On September 18 Captain William Bailey Smith ar rived at Boonesborough from the Yadkin River section of North Carolina with forty-eight men, while a report was soon brought to Harrodsburg that 150 other men were on their way to Kentucky. Bailey had slipped out of Logan's Fort ·during one of the sieges in May for the pu11>9se of recruiting troops on the Yadkin among Boone's old acquaintances. 3 Bailey's force had the effect of dispelling the Indians to a marked extent. Upon its approach to Boonesborough, some red men fled across the Ohio, spreading the report that 200 men had come from Virginia. 4 · lButler, 44-45; Spalding, 39; Illinois Historical Collections, VIII. 20-23; Draper M SS48J12, 12026-29. . 2Spalding, 37-38; Draper MSS12C26-29, 260055, 40030, 48J12, 4B134-136. 3Dra,per MSS4B128. 4Thwaites, 144. · INDIAN CONFLICTS, 1776-1777 195 Still the situation in Kentucky remained desperate. Colonel Bowman on December 12, writing from Har rodsburg to General Hand, says concerning the Indians and the results of their depredations there in 1777: . . . . They have left us almost without horses sufficient to sup ply the stations, as we are obliged to get all our provisions out of the woods. Our corn the Indians have burned all they could find the past summer, as it was in cribs at the different plantations son1e distance from the garrisons, & no horses to bring it in on. At this time we have not had more than two month's bread. near 200 won1en & children; not able to send them to the in habitants; many of these families are left desolate, widows with small children destitute of necessary clothing. Necessity has obliged many of our young men to go to the Monongohela for clothing (their former place of abode), in tended to join their respective companies as soon as possible, as there will be a sufficient guard, I think proper to order some corn to this place for our support. We intend to keep possession and plant crops the ensuing spring, as we have no other place to expect relief from. If we are denied this request we must do without bread, till we get it from what we intend to plant. I find it difficult to keep the garrison in plenty meat & if we have no bread we must at any rate suifer.1 When Boone ,vas in Detroit the following March he described the situation in Kentucky to Colo!1.el Hamil ton, who wrote Cramake thus: "By Boone's account the people on the frontier have been so inces~antly harassed by parties of Indians they have not been able to make grain and at Kentucky will not have a morsel of bread by the middle of June. . . ."2 Josiah Collins, who reached Boonesborough March 26, 1778, said: "We found a poor distressed, ½ naked, ½ starved, peo ple; daily surrounded by the savage, which made it dangerous, the hunters were afraid to go out to get buffalo meat." 3 Daniel Trabue, who came to Boones borough on Easter Sunday that spring, wrote in his diary: "The people in the fort was remarkably kind to IDraper JfSS3NN192-196. 2Haldimand JJISS, Additional 21,782. ~Draper MSS12CC64-78. 196 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY us with what they had, but I thought it was hard times, no bread, no salt, no vegetables, no fruit of any kinds, no ardent spirits, n<>thing but meat."1 In the defensive warfare in Kentucky during the years 1776-1777, the Transylvania Company rendered practically no assistance. The records are blank rela tive to any service rendered by any members of the Company in behalf of the colony which they had planted.· Henderson wrote of his effort to send a few troopers from North Carolina to aid the distressed Transylvanians, but they never came. A company of fighting men did come from North Carolina, but they ,;vere brought by William Bailey Smith. All the powder and other . ammunition was obtained from Virginia, either being sent by Virginia officers or brought by such n1en as Logan and Harrod. The fort at Boones borough was designed by Henderson, but manifestly the construction was done without any aid from him or his Company. It is quite evident that had the set tlers depended on the Transylvania Company for the defense of their country, they would have been over \vhelmed. ITrabue. C-HAPTER X THE SIEGE OF BOONESBOROUGH HE soldiers who came out to Kentucky dur ing the summer of 1777 were enlisted for short Tterms of service and returned to Virginia aud 1'-.J orth Carolina in the f all.1 But about December Cap t a in Charles G. Watkins came from Virginia with a company of fifty men to aid in guarding the settlers during the winter. Salt continued very scarce in the settlements. In response to an earnest petition by gome of the inhabitants2 and the pleas of Colonel Bo,v n~an, late in 1777 Virginia had sent a number of large ~~alt-boiling kettles for the use of the inhabitants.3 Since Watkins' company was stationed at Boones borough for the winter,· it was agreed that his men d1ould alternate ,vith a party of men drawn from all the towns and under the command of Daniel Boone in going to the Lower Blue Licks to n1anufacture salt for the use of all the colonists. On January 8, 1778, Boone ,vith thirty men and the necessary equipment went to the Licks for this purpose. Their means of manufac ture of salt were crude and their rate of production \Vas slow. Two or three of the men were constantly required to scout for Indians and hunt for food, of which num ber Boone was usually one. On February 7 Boone was 1·eturning to the camp alone, leading his horse, which 1Ranck, 60. 2Robertson, 43. 3Drciper MSS4B146. 197 198 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY was heavily laden vd th the buffalo meat he had se cured. Sno,v \Vas f ~llling and the day was ·growing dark, \V hen, ,vhile still ten miles from the L·icks, he was suddenly accosted by four Indians from behind. He first contemplated defease; but soon realizing the futility of that course, he attempted to escape. This too proved futile, for the savages pursued him, firing as they gained on him, and after running for half-a mile he surrendered.1 He was taken to an Indian encampment nearby, in ,vhich there were 120 warriors, including Munseeka, the successor of Cornstalk as King of the Sha,vnees~ two Frenchmen, the Girty brothers, and Pompey, a Negro who had been adopted by the Shawnees. All the others were Shawnees. He was greeted by the chief8 with many shakings of the hand, slaps on the bac.:k and other mock ·cordialities. He craftily returne~i their greetings in kind. Then Blackfish, Pompey act ing as interpreter, informed Boone that the Indian warriors were on their way to capture Boonesborough. 1.,his infot"'mation was followed by questionings on th(: part of Blackfish concerning the men at Blue Licks. noone gave evasive answers to these inquiries, but since Blackfish was already informed about the white encampment, Boone's evasions achieved nothing. The latter now began to seek a solution of the problem of saving Boonesborough from capture. He was well a,vare that it could o-ff er little defense, since "one side of the fort was not enclosed with palisades," and since the men were not expecting an attack in the dead of ,vinter, they would be taken unawares. Even if the ,vomen and children were spared their lives, he rea soned, to remove them to the Ohio towns in the inclem ent \\reather would result in unspeakable suffering. 1Ranck, 64; Butler, 95; Boone's Autobiography; McDonald, 218; Thwaites, 147; Draper MSS4B147-151. THE SIEGE OF BOO:NESBOROUGH 199 and, perhaps, many deaths. So he told Blackfish that "only the women and children, with some old men and a few warriors, were left in the fort at Boones borough; that the fort was strong and could not be taken," and the women and children would perish if they were moved. As a solution of his problem he of fered to surrender the men at Blue Licks as prisoners of war on condition that they would receive good treat ment and would not be forced to run the gauntlet, anu. suggested that in the spring they would return to Boonesborough and b1·ing the women and children to the Shawnee towns to be adopted into the tribe or taken to Detroit, where Hamilton had promised twenty pounds for each well and sound prisoner.1 On the following morning the Indians marched to the Blue Licks, which place they reached about noon. Before the whites in the camp were aware of their nearness the Indians had su1Tounded the camp. The latter sent Boone ahead, closely followed by a group of Shawnees, to confer with the campers. When the lat ter saw the Indians they seized their arms, but Boone called out: "Don't fire !-if you do all will be massa cred!" He then related to them the account of his capture and told them the agreement he had made with his captors. After hearing Boone's explanation and advice, the twenty-six men them in camp stacked their arms and surrendered.2 Two hunter-scouts were in the woods and two salt-packers had gone to Boones borough with salt.3 tRanck, 64; Ha.ldimand MSS, Additional 21,782; Boone's Auto biography; Thwaites, 147-148; Draper MS84B151-155, 25S124-133, 25S257-261, 23036. . 2Names of twenty of the prisoners follow: Joseph Jackson, Dan iel Boone, William Hancock, George Hendricks, Benjamin Kelley, Nathaniel Bullock, John Holley, James Callaway, Micajah Cal laway, Daniel Asbury, William Tracey, Ansel Goodman, Jesse Cofer, William. Brooks, John Dunn, Bartlett Searcy, Andrew Johnson, Samuel Brooks, John Brown, and Richard Wade. 3Dra,per MSS4B155-156. 200 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY. No sooner had the surrender occurred than some of the younger and more impetuous Indians advocated in a council that all the prisoners be put to death except Boone, who then would be compelled to lead them to Boonesborough and peacefully induce the people to go to the Shawnee towns, or if this could not be done, to accomplish the capture of the fort. The meeting of the council lasted for about two hours, the number of speakers for and against the infliction of death being about equally divided. The Frenchmen and the renegade whites took no part in the discussion. As the debate progressed, it was interpreted to Boone in a low tone by Pompey. Finally Boone was permitted to address the council, Pompey now interpreting to the Indians. His speech, as. paraphrased by one of the hearers, wa~ as follows: Brothers!-What I have promised you, I can much better fulfill in the spring than now. Then the weather will be warm, and the women and children can travel from Boonesborough t-0 the Indian towns, and all live with you as one people. You have got all my young men; to kill them, as has been suggested, would displease the Great Spirit, and you could not then expect future success in hunting nor war. If you spare them, they will make you fine warriors, and excellent hunters to kill g~m,~ for your squaws and children. These young men have· done you no harm, they are engaged in a peaceful occupation, and un resistingly surrendered upon my assurance that such ~ course was the only safe one for them; and I consented to their capit ulation on the express condition that they should be made pris oners of war and treated well. I now appeal both to your honor and your humanity; spare them, and the Great Spirit will smil~ upon you. It was not until the whites heard Boone's speech that they "realized that their lives· were in danger, and it produced great fear among them. Even though Black fish and other chiefs favored leniency, the ,vote s~ood fifty-nine to sixty-one for putting all the prisoners~ except Boone, to death. Perhaps the red men relin quished the best opportunity to capture Boones- THE SIEGE OF BOONESBOROUGH 201 borough they ever had, but it was characteristic In dian policy to return quickly to their towns, when they made such an unusual capture, to celebrate their vic tory and receive their rewards.1 Soon after their decision to spare the lives of the captives, the Shawnees scattered on the snow all the salt in the camp, amounting to a large number of bush els, and gathered all the plunder, which they divided among themselves and the prisoners for conveyance. The combined group now began their ten-day trek to the Indian town of Little Chillicothe on the Little Miami River. The two groups, captors and captives, seemed to have endured the same privations; the sno,v was deep, food was scarce, sometimes only slippery-elm bark. They ,vere unfortunate in not happening upon any game. "It is reported that the Indians killed and ate their dogs." At night the snow was scraped away, the prisoners were fastened to the ground, and bells tied to their feet to warn of any attempt to escape. Nevertheless the journey was made safely. Not a man was killed or died from exposure. 2 Boone ,vas -forced to run the gauntlet on the first afternoon of the journey, which he did in such a way that he gained still further the admiration and good ·will of his savage captors. The other captives were also compelled to run the gauntlet on reaching the to,vn, in spite of- the Indians' promise not to require it. This was fallowed by the Indian war dance. Boone and sixteen others3 were adopted into the tribe. Boone was adopted by Blackfish as his son and received the 1Ranck, 64; Butler, 95; Thwaites, 150-151; Draper MSS4B157- 159, 25~124-133, 258257-261, 23036. 2Halclimand. MSS, Additional 21,782; Draper MSS4B159-1G7. 25S124-133, 258257-261, 23036. 3The names of some of those who were adopted are known: Jo seph Jackson, Micajah Callaway, William Hancock, John Dunn, George Hendricks, Benjamin Kelley, Ansel Goodman, John Holley, Andrew Johnson, John Brown and Richard Wade. 202 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY name of Big 'l"urtle. "Such adoptions were regarded by the Indians with great affection, and no partiality was shown between their natural and adopted children, when the latter had once passed through the process of having had 'all the white blood washed out', by a strong rubbing solution." About three weeks after their arrival at Little Chillicothe the ten prisoners who had not been adopted by the Shawnees1 were taken by their captors to Detroit for the purpose of getting the bounty promised by Hamilton. Blackfish took his adopted son with him. Boone carried with hin1 at all times the commission issued to him by Governor Dun more as Captain in 177 4. It was his custom to sho,v this to the Indians he met as a proof of his allegiance to the British cause, which likely in many instances accounts for his ability quickly to get himself into their ·good graces. He showed this commission to Hamilton and seems to have promised him to aid in the surrender of Boonesborough and the bringing of its people to Detroit. Hamilton unde1took to get son1e in formation from Boone concerning the conditions in Kentucky. The latter answered the questions so adroit ly that he gave as little real information a.s possi ble, but, nevertheless, ,von the confidence of Hamilton. So Hamilton offered Blackfish 100 pounds for the re lease of Boone in order that he might send him home on parole. This offer Blackfish refused, not only be cause he had become attached to his adopted son, but because he wanted to hold him to assist in the capture of Boonesborough the following summer. Boone also gained the affection of some of the Englishmen at Detroit, for he tells us in his autobiography: "Several English .Gentlemen then at Detroit sensible of my ad verse fortune, and touched with sympathy, generously lThe names of eight of those taken to Detroit were Samuel Brooks, William Brooks, Bartlett searcy, James Gofer, Nathaniel Bullock, William Tracey, Daniel Asbury, and James Callaway. THE SIEGE OF BOONESBOROUGH 203 offered to supply my wants which I declined with many thanks, adding that I never eJ\.."J)ected it to be in my power to recompense such unmerited generosity." However, these men gave him a horse, saddle and bridle, which the Indians permitted him to keep and use as long as he remained with them.1 When the salt-makers were captured at the Blue Licks, ,vatkins' men were on their ,vay to relieve them of their task. The discovery of the departure of the whites was made by Thomas Brooks and Flanders Cal laway, the two hunter-scouts who ,vere not at camp when the capture was made~ when they returned to the camp late in the afternoon. They hastened to,,rard Boonesborough and met Watkins and his men encamped on the ,vay. Thus warned this party ,vas able to avoid its o,vn possible capture, which might have proved disastrous to all the Kentucky settlements. Their force ,vas too small to unde1'take the release of- the captives. However, Kenton, Haggin, and others cautiously trailed the Shawnees until the latter crossed the Ohio. Colonel Richard Callaway no,v became the leading spirit of Boonesborough.2 However, William Bailey Smith, who at the time of the capture was in the Holston settle ments recruiting for Clark, ,vas appointed l~ter a~ commander of the fort by Clark.3 At Boonesbor ough the· fate of the captured men was unknown, and the common belief for some time was that they had all been killed by the Shawnees. Boone's wife and chil dren, believing him dead, returned to North CaroHna about the first of May. During the latter part of March a company of eighty men came to Boonesbor ough under the command of Colonels Dillard and Donelson. The1·e arose a dispute among the t,vo 1Boone's Atttobiograp1iy; Haldima,-nd MSS, Additional 21,782; Thwaites, 152-156; Draper MSS23C36, 4B167-173. 2McDonald, 218. 3Ranck, 67, 103. 204 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY colonels as to who had the right to comn1and. Donel son yielded and returned to the settlements about the first of May.. A number of this company, ,vho had en listed for only three months, returned with Donelson, while the others about a month later went to the Falls to join Clark on his expedition to Kaskaskia. Josi I Draper M SS12CC64-78. THE SIEGE OF BOONESBOROUGH 205 with seventy-five Indians, Johnson's party killed twol wounded two, and recovered seven horses.1 A little later, in June, Major William Bailey Smith led a party. consisting of David Gass, John Martin, Ephriam Drake, John Pleak and thirteen others, in pursuit of some Shawnees, who had stolen a number of horses fron, Boones borough. Near the present town of ,v ashington, Kentucky, they came. upon the marauders. A skirn1ish ensued in which Martin was wounded, the Indians were routed, and several horses were recovered. 2 During the month of April Boone was brought frorn Detroit to Little Chillicothe-a long and tiresome jour ney from which that veteran scout became weary. After his return he was no longer tied and .was coin missioned to take care of two little girls, twins, his sisters by adoption, who were in turn commissioned to watch him. He would be sent to bring up the horses and would find the girls bobbing up their heads out of the tall grass. He would pass on unconcerned and whistling, and the girls grew less watchful. He con sistently maintained his good humor and poise, and in every way ingratiated himself into the confidence of the Indians. He went hunting with them and engaged in their shooting matches ; but took pains not to excell them, in order not to arouse their envy. He became quite friendly with Blackfish, who would permit hiln to hunt almost at will, and Boone was careful to make him a present of some of the choicest game he killed. He prudently and skillfully gave his new associate:--; instruction in many of the arts of the white mau. which was highly pleasing to all of them, to Blackfish in particular.3 About the first of June Boone was taken to some 1Draper MSS4B174-1'16, 6CC26-28. 2Jb1,d,. 4B177-179. 3Boone's Autobiography; Draper MSS23O36, 23S199-216. 4Bl80· 183. 206 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY nearby salt springs to help in making salt. ,Yhile at the salt springs he ascertained that the Sha,,·nees ,vere planning to attack Boonesborough ,vith a large nun1- ber of warriors, consisting of \Vyandotts and Mingoe~ as well as Shawnees. The salt-makers began to return to Little Chillicothe to join this expedition. He began now to plan his escape. The opportunity soon came, on June 16. On the way back to Chillicothe Boone, who had become thoroughly trusted by this time, was put in charge of his horse, which carried a load of kettles which had been used in making the salt. As the party drew near Little Chillicothe the men began to leave and advance ahead to kill some wild turkeys, a large flock of which had been scared up. Soon only t'"·o old Indian squaws were left as his companions. Boone would purposely n1anage to get his kettles all a,vrr~ then stop to rig~t them. Several repetitions of these maneuvers enabled him to fall some disbince behi~1d the squaws. He now cut the kettles loose, mounted the horse and rode away as rapidly as the horse could go. He never slackened his speed until the horse had be come exhausted. In the meantime he had circled in the rear to see if he ,vas being followed. I-'ater the Indians, ,vho followed his circUng trail, came to the conclusion that he had gotten lost. \Vhen the horse could go no farther, about ten o'clock the foUo,;vin~ 1norning, Boone abandoned him and commenced his .i ourney on foot in order to warn the Boones borough people of the impending attack. He reached the Ohio the second day and crossed the River on a raft im provised with three pieces of wood and some grape vine. He did not eat anything until he had passed the Blue Licks, when he killed a buffalo and cooked a por tion of it. The distance from Little Chillicothe to Boonesborough ,vas one hundred and sixty miles, THE SIEGE OF BOONESBOROUGH 207 ,vhich Boone covered in four days.1 One can imagine the startling surprise and great ,velcome caused by Boone's arrival at Boonesborough and his own disappointment at finding that his wife and children had gone back to North Carolina. When Boone reached the fort on June 20, he found it still incomplete and certain portions in need of repair. Im provements were begun immediately on his arrival. New stockades were built, the fort was made larger by extending it toward the east, and new gates were built. Only two bastions had been constructed up to this time; two others were now added-at the south east and southwest corners. The second story of these was built up to the height of a man's head, but no roof was added because of lack of time. This recon struction occupied ten days.2 Some time after Boone'~ return, July 17, William Hancock, one of the prisoners taken at the Blue Licks, escaped from the Shawnees and brought the report that on account of Boone's es cape the attack on Boonesborough had been postponed three weeks. Hancock brought information that 400 Indians ,vere coming with four swivels to batter the fort walls down, or failing in this, to starve the people to submission. Boone now wrote to Colonel A1thur Campbell for troops. 3 Hancock also told of Boone' t; agreement with the British officers at Detroit that Boone would go with them and secure the surrender of Boonesborough. Boone denied this, saying that he was only "disceiving the British officers and In dians." 4 In vie,v of all that is known of Boone'~ life and character, it is easy to believe that his defen sive reply was true. 1Boone•s Autobiography; Draper MSS23S199-216, 25S124-133. 4Bl87-192; Thwaites, 157-158; Marshall, I. 5'1-58. 2Boone's Autobiography; Draper MSS19012, 110011-15, 4B192, 202-203; Thwaites, 159. SDraper MS84B204. 4lbid. llCOll-15, 1200201-210. 208 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY The Indians seemed in no hurry to take Boonesbor ough. The scouts kept the people fairly well informed concerning the whereabouts of the enemy. Perhaps the enemy scouts kept the Shawnees as well informed co~- cerning the whites, for Boone said that while he was with the Shawnees he heard from Boonesborough every week. Having gotten the fort in good repair and having otherwise made preparations for the best de fense possible, Boone advocated taking the war into the enemy's country, and suggested that he with a band of men make an attack on Paint Creek Town of Sciotha (Scioto), whose inhabitants were possessed of good horses and a large amount of beaver fur. Boone further argued that an attack on the Indians might put them on the defensive and prevent an attack on Boonesborough. "They could go," wrote Trabue, "and make a great speck and get back in good time and op pose the big army of the Indians." Richard Callaway opposed the plan, but Boone started for Paint Creek with thirty men, eleven of whom turned back at Blue Licks. Simon Kenton and John Holder were among those who remained with the party, so Boone pressed on. When they had gotten within four miles of the town, they met about forty Indians, who were on their way to join in the attack on Boonesborough. These they attacked successfully and without loss to them selves. One of the enemy was killed and two wound ed ; three horses and all of the baggage of the Indians ·were captured. Boone then rapidly returned to Boonesborough, passing on the way the large band of Indians coming to attack the town. The enemy had already reached Blue Licks and Boone's party arrived at Boonesborough .only a few hours ahead of them.1 The band of more than 400 Indians and French- lTrabue; Boone's Autobiography; McDonald, 220; Thwaites, 160; Draper MSS4B208-208. THE SIEGE OF BOONESBOROUGH 209 Canadians, 1 the largest ever to attack Boones borough, reached there on the morning of September 7. Al though the most of them were Shawnees, there were ,varrio1·s from the \iVyandotts, Cherokees, Delawares and Mingoes. With them there were perhaps as many as forty French-Canadians. The force was under the command of Blackfish, ,vho was assisted by a number of other chiefs. The leader of the French-Canadians ,vas De Quindre (Duquesne). They crossed the Ken tucky nearly half-a-mile below the present Boonesbor ough bridge and came up the south bank to a place protected by trees and underbrush and within 300 yards of the fort itself. The force was provided with a train of pack-horses for the carrying of extra am munition and provisions, but the besiegers did not bring the four swivels. They '\\'ere befeathered and painted. Hamilton reports the sale of "eighty pounds of rose pink and five hundred pounds of vermillion" to the In dians sho1tly before this date. They carried both French and British flags. At the same time another large band of Indians ,vas ranging up and down the Ohio. When the Indians arrived before the fort they did not begin an attack. They no doubt thought they could persuade Boone to surrender the fort, as he had firmly pron1ised, or that they would be able to take it easily.2 Each party hesitated to begin the fighting. The de f enders were not willing to risk a battle in the open. for there were not more than sixty available fighters in the fort-forty men and twenty boys, some of whom ,vere pack-horse drivers. The fighting force had re cently been increased perhaps fifty per cent, for an appeal had been sent to Logan's. and Harrodsburg for 1The estimates by contemporaries vary from 340 to 1130. The number given here is approximately correct. See Draper MSS4B210. 2Ranck, 75-78; Thwaites, 160-161: Hald.imand MSS21,782; Draper MSSllCCll-15, 4B210-211. 210 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY aid, and the former had sent fifteen men and the latter had sent "some." 1 Soon after their arrival the enemy sought a parley. They sent Pompey, with a white flag, while they re mained about three hundred yards from the fort. He called for Boone, who went out to him and was told that the Indians had letters to him from Colonel Hamil ton demanding the surrender of the fort. Boone asked that the letters be brought to him. This was refused, and Boone was asked to come to the main body of In dians. He was willing to go, but Colonel Callaway thought it unwise and insisted that the enemy's leaders come up nearer the fort for the parley. Callaway's suggestion was at length agreed upon and Boone, Cal laway and William Bailey Smith went out to meet the Indians. About twenty Indians approached to within approximately fifty yards of the fort and laid down their arms. They were represented in the parley by Blackfish, Moluntha and De Quindre. Before going out Colonel Callaway instructed the whites to be ready to fire at any moment in case the enemy attempted to spring a trap, and also that the women of the fort "put on hats and hunting shirts and to appear as men and get upon the top of the walls as they might appear as a great many men, and the women did so and the men in the fort did also get on the walls and cabins and showed to great advantage." The conversation between Boone and Blackfish as related by Josiah Collins is in teresting: .•.. "Well, Boone, How dy":-"How dy: Blackfish." "Well Boone, what made you run away from me?" "Why, because I wanted to see my wife and children." "Well, you needn't have run away, if you had asked me I would have let you come. Well, Boone, I have come to take your fort. If you will surrender, I will take you all up to Chillicothe, and you shall be treated 1Jouma,Z of Virgm.ia House of Delegates, December 15, 1'1'78; Robert-son, 45; Trabue; Ranck, 77. THE SIEGE OF BooNESBOROUGH 211 well. If not, I will put all of the other prisoners to death, & reserve the young squa,vs for my ,vives.n Blackfish now insisted on the fulfillment of Boone's pro1nise to surrender the fort ; but Boone replied that in his absence others had been put in command. Black fish next gave him the two letters from Hamilton, and asked him how he liked the contents. Boone answered that he would consider Hamilton's proposals. \Vhere upon the Indian chief said: "Brother, there is a heavy cloud hanging over this country-This is called the bloody land, you know-We have had much war, and ,vhoever gets the first fire, always beats. Now I an1 come to take you easy." In his letters Hamilton ad vised Boone to fulfill 11 is pledge to surrender Boones borough. Hamilton urged that it ,vould be foolish to attempt to defend the fort against such a large force; and that this course ""ould only result in the massacre of men, \¥omen and children. Hamilton promised that. if the fort ,vere surrendered, the people would be taken to Detroit, treated well, become British subjects, and their officers would maintain their former rank. An other incident of interest in this connection is related by a daughter of Jemima Boone thus: .... Finally Indians asked Boone to sho,v the1n his daughter, about whom he had told then1 when he was their prisoner. Fi nally he said he would take her to the gate & show her-Col. Rhd. Callaway went with her to protect-& severa! Indians can1c running up, & wanted to shake hands with he1·, evidently de~ign ing to snatch her off, & use her in extorting terms, but Col. Callaway cocked his rifle, & told them to stand back, cursin~ them & warning them that he would blow them through if they touched her. Col. Callaway then retired with Mrs. Jemima Cal laway.-Indians had promised if they would come to the gate~ & bring Boone's Daughter, & certain whites unarmed, & Indians unarmed, they would shake hands and make peace. Boone then asked for two days to consider the demand to surrender the fort, and his request was granted 212 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY by the Indian leaders.1 The leaders of the fort gladly received the t'\\·o days of armistice. They hoped that troops might yet come from Virginia in time to save them. They took every conceivable advantage of these two days. Water was brought from the spring, for there w·as unfortunately no spring within the fort. There had been an old well near the center of the fort, but its supply of water was insufficient. Just after Boone's return in June a new one had been begun, but had not been completed.2 They drove in all the cattle and horses that could be col lected; they cleaned their rifles, picked their flints, dis tributed powder, and moulded additional bullets; and they gathered all the vegetables within sight of the fort. Each night sentinels in the block-houses watched keenly for any effort that might be made to attack the fort clandestinely. \Vhen the milk cows came up late in the afternoon, the Indians permitted them to enter the gate and be penned for the night. There seems to have been several parleys between the whites and Indians during the two days of armistice. Boone accompanied by Major Smith would go out and talk with the enemy freely. He ,vould sit down while they gathered around him. Several times during the second day Pompey came bearing the white flag with mes sages from the savages. They ,vanted permission to kill some beeves, which was granted; they wanted to know what decision the besieg·ed had arrived upon as to a surrender of the fort ; and fin ally they wanted to know if Boone was willing to meet the next morning and make a firm treaty of peace. Boone.left the deci sion of the su1-render of the fort to the people therein. Callaway, Gass, Smith, Squire Boone, and Holder em phatic::llly opposed surrender. The final decision was lBoonlfs Autobiography; Draper MSS23S199-216, 12CC64-78; Bradford's Notes, 34; Trabue. 2Drar,er MSS4B203. THE SIEGE OF BOONESBOROUGH 213 in the negative, and it is said that Boone gave the an s\\-·er to the Indians in these words: "We laugh at your formidable preparations; but thank you for giving us notice and time for us to prepare for our defence. Your efforts will not prevail, for our gates will forever deny you admittance." To this De Quindre replied, as para phrased by Ranck, that, . . . they had come to talk peace, not of war; that they had not contemplated War even if a surrender was declined; if they had, they never would have allowed the cattle to enter the stockade; that Governor Hamilton's orders were to avoid blood shed, and that, therefore, he suggested that a meeting be held to frame a treaty of peace, and that if nine representative men from the garrison would sign such a treaty, the Indians would withdraw. Since the whites hoped to gain time they consented to the proposed meeting the following morning. Boone, although he had the appearance of trustfulness and nonchalance, realized that the Indians preferred to take the fort by treachery and cunning rather than by siege.1 Boone and eight others, Richard Callaway, William Bailey Smith, William Buchanan, Squire Boone, Fland ers Callaway, Stephen Hancock, William Hancock, and either John South or Jacob Stearn, went out to meet a similar group of savages the next morning, Wednes day, September 9, at a spot almost due south of the big fort gate near where two springs, one salt and one fresh, came out of the ground. Each party was to come unarmed and of equal number; the Indians came un armed, but eighteen in number. The men brought dow11 by the Indians to ·make the treaty were not only double the proposed number, but they were younger and stronger men than had been with their leaders at 1Ranck, 83-87; Draper MSS12CC201-210, 120064-78, 110011-15; 19012, 4B213-219; Letter of John Bowman to George Rogers Clark, October 14, 1778-Ranck, 251-253; Bradford's Notes, 34; Boone's Autobiography. 214 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY former parleys. Boone called the attention of Blackfish to this, but the latter denied the fact.1 The fore noon was spent by the women in the fort in preparing a dinner for the peace commissioners of both parties to be eaten on the treaty ground. Tables were taken out from the fort and additional crude ones improvised ; chairs, pewter plates, knives and forks were also provided; and choice meats and other eat ables were cooked, while the red skins furnished some choice viands from the British commissary. The dinner was eaten at noon. Before leaving the fort Boone and Callaway gave strict commands for guarding it· and for the protection of the white commissioners. Twenty five men were placed at the port-holes of the bastion nearest the treaty ground. The Indians brought deer skins to sit on. The commissioners were seated with one white between t,vo red men. Pipes and whisky were passed around, and then the treaty-making was begun.2 When Boone asked Blackfish upon what terms he would make peace, the latter proposed that the whites would abandon Boonesborough for the old settlements within six weeks. Boone's group would not consider this proposal. After some further discussion Blackfish made the following proposal, as paraphrased by Draper: . . . that the Indians should return home; that Boone and his friends should remain unmolested, retaining all their property, taking the oath of British allegiance, and submitting to the au- tDraper's version differs somewhat from the one given here. He stated that it was agreed in a common council the preceding eve,;ilng, in which Captain Boone, Squire Boone, Colonel Callaway, Major Smith and a few others represented the whites, that Black fish should be accompanied by eighteen deputies; that the whites remonstrated then against the inequality, but to no avail; and that Boone "relied upon the superior energy of the nine white comlllissloners to extricate themse1ves from any difficulty into which they might be thrown." Draper MSS4B220. 2Boone's Autobtography; Trabue; Ranck, 87-88; Bradford's Notes, 35; Dra,r,er MSS4B220-223. THE SIEGE OF BOONESBOROUGH 215 thority of Governor Hamilton of Detroit; that the Ohio should be the boundary between the Kentuckians and Indians, not to be passed in a hostile manner by either party; that, after the treaty should be rati:fled by the British and Virginia authorities, both parties might peaceably hunt on either side of the Ohio, that the Indians might trade with the whites, that there should be no robbery of ltunting camps or stealing of horses, but all should act like brothers. These articles were put into writing by one of the whites and then the treaty was formally signed.1 Blackfish now said there was only one thing lacking -that he must go a few paces and "give a big talk to his young men, that, they might fully understand that a firm peace had been made.'' He then made a loud and impassioned speech to an audience, for the most part unseen. He returned to the group and told the whites to make the peace binding and as an expression of friendship they must shake hands. Then he said they must all shake hands again. When this was done he further stated that they must shake long hands two Indians embracing one white man, bringing their hearts close together, in order "to make a Double and sure peace." Blackfish and another Indian now quickly caught Boone by both arms, and each pair of Indians grappled with each single white man in the same manner. The strategy of the Indians was now ap parent. It is evident that neither side had taken the treaty seriously ; the Indians were preparing for the springing of their trap and the whites were playing for time in the hope that Colonel Campbell would send aid from Virginia.2 Just as the grappling began, an In dian concealed near by rose and fired a signal gun. The Indians tried to drag the whites down a clay bank away from the protection of the guns of the fort, but were not successful. Just then there was firing from the fort, one of the bullets killing an Indian who had lDraper MSS4B224-225. 2Jbid. 4B229. 216 . THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY hold of Major Smith. This disconcerted the savages to some extent. Boone threw Blackfish to the ground heavily and then released himself from the grasp of the second Indian. The Indians were still further de moralized when they saw their chief fall, thinking he was killed or wounded. However, by this time the firing of the signal gun had brought a large number of savages, who had been concealed during the preced ing night in the high weeds and underbrush along the edge of the hollow, and who appeared in order to pre vent the whites from making their way to the fort and to cut off those in the fort from coming to the rescue of the peace commissioners. But the armed sharp shooters, whom Boone and Gallaway had left in the block-houses with orders to fire if the suspected treach ery did materialize, continued to pour a fire toward the attacking party. This enabled the pioneers, who by heroic efforts had been able to partly clear themselves from the grasp of the Indians, to make their way to ward the fort, which they reached by protecting them selves by bounding from trees and stumps on their ,vay. Daniel Boone was among the last to reach the fort- . . . & as Col. Boone got close to the fort gate an Indian had hung on to a white, who now got loose, & that Indian aiming a tomahawk at Col. Boone, who (unarmed) made a bending at titude to pitch head first at the Indian's legs to throw him, & received the tomahawk blow (tomahawk turned in the fellow's hand) flat sided, between Boone's shoulders, making a bruise, & causing him to spit some blood; and Boone caught the Indian by the legs & gave the fell ow a severe tumble & he fell heavily, & Boone darted into the fort. One of the whites was caught within the range of th~ Indian fire and only saved his life by lying flat on the ground behind a stump until night came, when he escaped into the fort. Squire Boone was badly wounded. but in the end all got back in the fort without loss of life. During the incident there was quite a commotion THE SIEGE OF BOONESBOROUGH 217 in the fo1t; men shouted; women and children cried and screamed; dogs barked; and the cattle ran about in wild confusion. Later in the afternoon the Indians made a grand rush on the fort as if they would scale the pickets, but they were easily driven off by the whites.1 Having failed to capture the leaders of Boones borough, the Indians began the same afternoon to plan and execute another ruse. They made noisy prepara tions for a departure. A large number of savage war riors was again concealed near the fort, and amid the most ostentatious maneuvers the whole army ap parently withdrew with all baggage and equipment. The settlers heard them pass over the river during the night and the noise of their departure died away in the forest north of the Kentucky. It was not long be fore the warriors were back and stationed in hiding just across the river near the buffalo road. But the pioneers had become as cunning and· wary as their red neighbors of the forest, and were not deceived by the new strategy. They kept the gates closed and 1nade no sign of coming out. When the Indians dis covered that their trick ,vas not going to work, they came from their hiding places. 2 Following the futile attempt of the reds to trap the white peace-makers there began a siege which lasted nine days and nights. During this time many events of tragic interest and deeds of valor took place. Col onel Boone was again wounded. As described by his granddaughter: 1BOOM'a Autobt,oara,p_h,y; Trabue; Ranck, 89-90; Bradford•s Notes. 35; Letter o/ Jo'fi.n Bowman to George Rogers Clark-Ranck, 251-253; Draper MSS12CC64-'18; 23S199-216, 110011-15, 19012, 4B225-232. 2Ranck, 90-91. Draper in his description of the siege, although it ls comprehensive, containing fifty-five pages, does not mention this incident. 218 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY In the siege of Boonesborough, Col. Daniel Boone received a ball in the neck, and came to Mrs. Flanders Callaway, his Daughter, & had her to take off his stock & see the extent of it-felt it smart, & thought it a slight flesh wound; but when he loosened and removed the stock, the blood spurted out so as to alarm Mrs. Callaway; but it was bandaged and checked, & Col. Boone was persuaded to remain partially quiet for a while -by lying down on a bed in his cabin. But the constant hitting of the Indian balls on the outside of his cabin, (sic) & he had a porthole made close by, & through which he frequently shot as he lay-Mrs. Callaway loading his gun for him. The Indians at length, not hearing Col. Boone's well known voice, called out with a rough curse-"We know we have killed Captain Boone; for we haven't heard anything from him in a long time." "No you have not-I am here, ready for you red rascals," Boone would respond.1 Negro slaves aided in the defense of the fort. A young Negro belonging to Nathaniel Henderson was stationed outside the fort ,vith a white man in order to prevent the Indians from setting fire to the station, which they were continually threatening to do. He secured the best protection he could under the sill of the fort and fired on the savages from there. The lat ter discovered his whereabouts by the flash from the fire of his gun and succeeded in killing him. 2 Another incident is related thus: A very tall Indian behind a tree-would step out to show himself in bravado, & dodge back before he thought they could shoot him. Finally Col. Boone, Flanders Callaway & several others, by Col. Boone's direction, had their guns elevated-some higher, some lower-& by signal, the next time the tall fellow ventured out, they all fired simultaneously, & he fell to the ground, & lay there all day dead, his body partly behind the tree-in the following night, the Indians moved his body. Couldn't tell which one killed him.3 Some time before tbe siege Squire Boone or Colonel Callaway, or both, had made two swivels. It is prob- lDrar,er MSS238198-216. 2Joumal of Vfrgtnfa HOU8e of Delegates, December 15, 1778: Pe tition of Nathaniel Henderson, Virginia Archives; Draper MSS- 12CC64-78, 4B236; Robertson, 44-45. 3Draper MSS238199-216. THE SIEGE OF BOONESBOROUGH 219 able that Callaway had planned their construction and Boone had made them in his smith-shop in the fort. The swivels were constructed from black gum and wrapped with an old wagon tire. One of them was tested soon after its construction. It fired a shot two hundred yards into a bank, but burst in the operation. The other was kept and fired one morning during the siege. Colonel c·anaway noted that a goodly number of Indians were in a huddle some distance from the fort. He loaded the swivel with twenty or thirty ounce balls and a swivel ball and fired at the Indians. It was thought that several Indians were killed or wounded. The wooden swivel was reloaded and again fired at a group of reds, who scampered "perdidiously." The swivel burst from this explosion. It was not known whether any Indians were hit at this time, but they afterward refrained from forming huddles.1 The besiegers made many attempts to set the fort on fire. They would shoot arro\vs with a little powder in a rag and a little punk on them on the tops of the cabin roofs. The only house to catch on fire was the shingle roofed house of Colonel Henderson on the northwest corner of the fort. The Indians kept up a continual fire toward the burning roof to prevent the inhabitants from putting out the small blaze. The shin gles were knocked loose and the fire extinguished with out any loss of life. The attackers also made fagots about two feet in length out of the oily inner bark from the scaly bark hickory. They bound this bark into bundles by means of some flax which they found on the outside of the fort. These bundles tapered from one to four or five inches in diameter. The binding began at the smaller end and extended about half way the length of the bundle. The loose ends of these were lighted and thrown on the rcofs, but ,vere in every 1Trabue; Draper MSSllCCll-15, 4B240-241. 220 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY instance extingui~hed by the watchful defenders. The hickory bark ,vas also ,,Tapped a1~ound poles and rails ,vith the purpose, it was presumed, of getting near the fort, breaking a hole in the ground, piling them against the bottom of the fort, and setting them on fire ,vith the hope that the contagion ,vould spread throughout the fort. This ,vas never accomplished. One of the shorter fagots ,vas once thro,vn against the door of one of the houses. It blazed as high as the house, but was put out by Captain Holder, who was swearing all the time, with a bucket of water. William Patton, who ,vas cut off from Boonesborough, witnessed one of the nightly attacks from the outside. Patton's description in the words of Trabue is quoted: ... the Indians made in the night a dreadfull attack on the fort. They run up to the fort a large number of them with large firebrands or torches and made the Dreadfullest screams and hollowing that could be in1agined.1 When all other means of taking the fort were un successful, the besiegers resorted to an attempt to un dermine a portion of it by digging a tunnel from the river to it, a distance of about sixty yards. The water in the river was low at that time, and the sappers were concealed from the view of the besieged by the river bank. The strategy was suspected by noting that a cedar pole standing near the middle of the fort was shaking at intervals and by sounds like the blows of a wood-chopper behind the river bank, probably made by the cutting of roots. A watch tower about six feet high was constructed on the top of the cabin formerly used by Colonel Henderson for a kitchen. From this structure observations revealed a muddy streak ex tending down the river made by the coloring of the dirt from the excavation of the mine and likewise re vealed the pile of dirt, which was being thrown from tTrabue; Bradford's Notes, 36; Draper MSSllCCll-15, 4B243-245. THE SIEGE OF BOONESBOROUGH 221 the mouth of the tunnel. Colonel Callaway im1nedi a tely had several men to begin digging a trench op posite or across the path of the Indian tunnel. This counter-mine began in the northwest block-house near the river and tunneled eastwardly under Henderson's kitchen and about four other cabins. It was about four feet deep and three feet wide, and its construction was very laborious. The Indians gave up their under taking when they had gotten ·within possibly ten feet of the fort. Several reasons have been assigned or :.;uggested for their desisting: they discovered the dirt thrown over the wall by those digging the counter inine; they heard the blows of the whites digging and knew their plans had been detected; and that a heavy rain fell, causing the mine to cave in. The Indians themselves afterwards insisted upon the last reason.1 The tower built on the top of Henderson's old kitchen \\'as strengthened by_ heavy timbers, and became a kind of "battery" in which several sharp-shooters were sta tioned for the purpose of patrolling by means of their dfles everything within gun-shot range. After the tunnel had caved in Pompey would stick his head above the opening to see how far they were from the fort. ,villiam Collins, one of the best marksmen of the fort, held his gun cocked and ready, and when Pompey thrust his head up again, Collins fired. Later when inquiries were made concerning Pompey, the Indians gave the answer that he was asleep. At intervals dur ing the siege the men in the tower would yell to the savages under the river bank: "What are you red ras cals doing do,vn there?" An Indian, well hidden, would call back: "Digging, blo,v you all to devil soon; what you do?" "Oh! we are digging to meet you, and intend 1soone1s Autobiography; Trabue; Kenton, 101; Bradford's Notes, 26; Draper MSSllCCll-15, 4B235-240; Ranck, 97, 101. 222 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY to bury five hundred of you," ,vould be the 8harp shooter' s reply .1 With the failure of the attempt to undermine the fort, the Indians made one more desperate effort to take it by storm at night. This proving unsuccessful, they withdrew on the morning of September 18. Thu~ ended the most formidable and persistent siege ever made by the Indians in Kentucky. The unusual length (for them) of this attack was probably due to the presenc.e of the French-Canadians. While the savages ,vithdrew from the immediate vicinity of Boonesbor ough, they remained in Kentucky in marauding bands to waylay and murder any straggling hunters or others ,vho fell within their paths. The deaths and serious injuries to the whites during the siege were compara tively few: two killed, including the Negro slave, and four wounded. The number of fatalities among the savages is unkno,vn. Boone in his autobiography says thirty-seven were killed and many more wounded, while Colonel Ilamilton reported only two killed. The inhabitants of the fort suffered great privations. They were dependent for water for themselves and live stock on the supply that was brought in du1~ing the t,vo-day truce until just before the 1·aising of the siege, when water was caught in vessels during a heavy rain fall. The enemy took advantage of the hills overlook ing Boonesborough to spy on the situation within the fort. Now and then they would drop a ball into the herd of live-stock and cause confusion. At -the time~ of the most violent attacks the women and children would gather in the house occupied by Squire Boone and Colonel Calla,vay in the center of the fort, and while the women would scream, the cattle and horses vv·otlld run from one side of the fort to the other amid utn1ost confusion. During the most of the siege, how- 1Ranck, 93, 97; Draper MSS23S199-216, 4B237-238. THE SIEGE . OF BOONESBOROUGH 223 ever, the women showed unusual courage; moulded bullets, imitated the voices of men and wore men's clothing to convince the enemy that the defenders ,vere numerous.1 Soon after the siege was raised the Logan men returned home, and their coming is thud described by Trabue: .... The fort gate was flung open come in Hadley, John, Dick, Sam, Harry, Tom, Jarrel, Manifee &c some a crying for joy some a laughing for joy as they had been thinking their brother, husband or relative was Killed or prisoner with the Indians was now come home alive "are you all alive are you all hear yes yes yes we heard you was killed." There is some uncertainty as to who was actually in command at Boonesborough during the attack. In rank Colonel Callaway was the highest official, but it seems that Major ,vnuam Bailey Smith had been ap pointed by Clark as commandant of the fort, while Captain Boone, on account of his intimate acquaintance with methods of Indian warfare and that indefiniable something that made men follow him, was apparently by common consent made the actual leader and after ward acclaimed the most heroic figure of the lengthy combat.2 He was soon afterward raised to the rank of Major. . Scarcely had the violent turbulence and intense un easiness subsided at Boo11esborough before Major Boone was accused of treason by Colonel Callaway and a trial on the charges held by a court-martial at Logan's Fort. Four specific accusations were brought against Boone: that he was acting in a cowardly man ner in su1Tendering the twenty.. seven · men at Blue Licks by wantonly betraying them into the hands of the savages without a chance for them to make the tTrabue; Boone's Autobfogra,ph,_y; Bradford's Notes, 36; Hald,i mand MSS. Additional, 21,782; Thwaites, 162·164; Ranck, 98-101; Draper MSS19C12, 1200201-210, 4B241-242. 2Ranck, 98. 224 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY· least resistance; that he bargained at Detroit with the British to surrender all the people at Boonesborough, who should then be taken to Detroit to live under Brit ish jurisdiction ; that the incursion over the Ohio dur ing the preceding summer, when the Indians were about to attack Boonesborough, was a highly impru dent act and tinged with apparent treason ; and that his numerous parleys at the recent siege with the In dian chiefs, to which he took many of the Boones borough leaders, only narrowly averted complete dis aster, and would only have been done by one who had determined to treacherously forsake his ow.n people. Callaway summed up his charges by saying that Boone's conduct on every occasion proved that he was in favor of the British Government. Boone de nied the charges in toto and offered in defense the statements that at Blue Licks he surrendered the men in order to avert an attack on Boonesborough, which in the defenseless condition of the fort would have meant inevitable capture ; that in ~is bickerings with Hamilton and others for the surrender of Boones bor ough he was employing the direst deceit with the cun ning purpose of ultimately saving the town, which he himself had been instrumental in founding, in which dwelt his wife and children, and which bore his name; that his trip over the Ohio was legitimate and at least did no harm ; and that his parleys with the Indians before Boonesborough were done with the hopes of postponing the attack until troops should arrive from Virginia. In spite of the strenuous efforts of Callaway and Logan to convict him, Boone was acquitted and almost immediately given the rank of Major. Perhaps today it is not generally believed, even by those who flout the so-called "Boone Myth," that Boone wa.s guilty of the charges brought against him. Regarding Boone's innocence of these charges Draper wrote: "It is the THE SIEGE OF BOONESBOROUGH 225 pleasing province of the historian, after the lapse of over three-fourths of a century, and after a thorough sifting of the whole matter, to declare that not the least criminality attaches to Boone in all these various transactions. ''1 It is almost impossible to review the struggle of the pioneers in defending Boones borough in the memorab]e siege just narrated without again noting the entire absence of any aid given by the Transylvania Com pany. The major portion, if not all, of its energies were spent in defending its land claims in its contest with the State of Virginia. An honest interpretation of the facts justifies the conclusion that the contribution made by Henderson and his associates in settling and holding Kentucky for the whites has in some instances been.grossly over estimated. The region was already being settled when Henderson and his group arrived ; it would have been almost as rapidly settled if they had never come ; if its defense had depended on the Transylvania Company the Indians would have won; and its conquest by the whites would have been accomplished if there ·had been no Henderson, no Transylvania Company, no Boonesborough. Clark and his Virginia peers, Har rodsburg and Logan's Fort could have withheld the Indians, and actually did withhold them, without any aid from the proprietary company of land exploiters from North Carolina. lTrabue; Ranck, 105; _Thwaites, 165-167; Drar,er MSS4B253-2M. CHAPTER XI HENDERSON AND COMPANY VERSUS VIRGINIA O doubt soon after the Virginia Assembly in December, 1776, passed a resolution to appoint N men to take depositions concerning the claim of Henderson and Company to the lands in Transylvania, Richard Henderson continued to make strenuous ef forts to maintain the claim of his Company to the possession of the lands in question. The correspond ence between Henderson and some of the other mem bers of the Company during these years, though at one time preserved, has been lost, or at least remains unpublished, and our sources of information concerning the movements of Henderson during this period are limited.1 That he was active and enterprising in prose cuting his claim, there can be little doubt. When the claim came finally in 1778 before the Virginia Assembly for decision, almost twenty depositions relating to the rightfulness of the claim were presented. 2 Henderson wrote in his letter to Joseph Martin April 13, 1777: . . . God knows what I shall do; on Tuesday next the examina tion of my witnesses will begin at the Wolfhills and I suppose, will continue three days-Will it not be in your power to attend; . . • • I am so well convinced of your Friendship & Sincere desire to serve the Company, that, I shall add no more on this Subject only that your Testimony will be of infinite Service, and I don't know how I could do without it.3 In the summer of 1777 the states of Virginia, North l])ra~ MSS2C015. 2virginia Calendar o/ State Pa.r,e,-,, I. 282-292, 296 .. 297, 303-309; Draper MS81CC134-137, 160-194, 20034. 3Draper M SS10C226. 226 HENDERSON AND COMPANY VERSUS VIRGINIA 227 Carolina, and South Carolina selected peace con1mis sioners to treat with the Cherokees concerning a bound ary line between the Indians and whites. While the commissioners were at Fort Patrick Henry treating with the Indians, Henderson presented an elaborate memorial in behalf of the Transylvania Company on July 18. In the rr1emorial he recounted the making of the treaty at Syca1nore Shoals, gave a description of the boundaries of his purchase, and asked that the Cherokees be not permitted, for hunting or any other purposes, to reclaim any lands sold to the Transylvania Con1pany. The memorial continues: . . . . Your memorialists acknowledge that some of the good people of Virginia have given out in speeches that the lands so bought of the Cherokees were not the property of your memori alists, but belonged to the state or con1monwealth; that in conse quence of such claim the matter is to be heard on the third Mon day in their next session of Assembly, at which time your me morialists have no doubt but that the Assembly will disclaim all pretensions to the land in dispute, and the title of your me morialists become firmly and indisputably established; as the treaty and purchase are matters of public notoriety, and the depositions respecting that matter are now in the possession of the Virginia Assembly, so that they cannot at this time be laid before the com1nissioners for treating and settling a boundary between the Cherokees and the white people. Your memorialists hope that the con1missioners will not pro ceed to run a line through their purchase, or yield any part of the lands contained therein to the Indians, as it will be a mani fest injury to private property.•.. The commissioners refused to take notice of the me morial on the ground that they were not authorized to consider private purchases from the Indians and that to grant Henderson's request would probably precipi tate disturbances with the Cherokees which might in terfere with the peaceful progress of the treaties in contemplation.1 While Henderson was getting depositions relative to the validity of his land purchase, the Virginia As- 1John Haywood, 514-517. Henderson, "Isaac Shelby,., 131. 228 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY se1nbly \\1 as seeking- to g-et from the Cherokee Chiefs, \\1 ho were in Williamsburg in lVlay, 1777, "the nature, extent and circumstances of their sales to the said Richard Henderson and Company."1 But the test was slow in coming to a head. It was not until November 24, 1777, that a date was set by the Assembly for the hearing of the memorial of Richard Henderson and Company for confirmation of the Cherokee deed to lands in Kentucky, and then the date was fixed for the third Monday in June, 1778. Before this time arrived the date for consideration was again postponed until the second Monday of the October session.2 During these months of delays Colonel Henderson and some of his colleagues continued to use their best efforts to bring to a successful ending their claim· for the Kentucky lands. Henderson must have been de voting considerable time to the furtherance of their claim. In 1778 he was selected a member of the North Carolina Council of State and also a member of the Superior Court of the State. Both of these positions he refused to accept, undoubtedly because he was in volved in the contest with the Virginia Assembly. 3 Naturally the hopes and fears of the various partners of Henderson and Company alternately rose and fell lNorth Carolina Sta,te Records, XI. 50. 2Letter of John Luttrell to Col._ ... , Duke University Archives. 3Henderson Co1tnty. Kentucky, Record Book A. -tClore MSS. 5Journal o/ Virgin;a 11ottse of Delegates, October 12, 1778. 230 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY the consideration proceeded slowly. Further hearings were conducted on October 28 and 29. On the latter day Henderson and Company presented an additional Memorial, . . . setting forth that they do not contend for a jurisdiction independent of Virginia, but have proposed, ever since the establishment of the Commonwealth, to surrender the greatest part of the country purchased by them from the Cherokees to this state, in consideration of the protection they would derive from the same, that they conceive the only question is, whether the title obtained by them from the Cherokees is sufficient to convey the right of property, and they do admit that by the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, the six nations did cede all the lands eastward of the river Ohio, above the mouth of the Cherokee river, to the Crown of Great Britain; but that it is not the intention of the memorialists to be bound by any concession which they now make, or heretofore have made, should this House refer the final decision of the dispute from themselves to a court of judicature.1 It was on this same day that Henderson wrote John Williams: .... At present my spirits are very low, owing to the Situa tion of my affairs. You know this is two years and a half that I have waited on the Assembly of Virginia on the subject of our Transylvania purchase.•.. Many of the members ... find that the house are not by Law or the Constitution Competent .to decide the question. To avoid every kind of disput~ of this kind, we today presented a memorial in which we signified our ,villingness to be concluded by the Assembly.2 On the following day the House again took up the question, heard the exhibits read and the arguments of Henderson's counsel. "Burke made a great speech.... We could not have been better served on, or off, the continent," Henderson wrote Williams. "You must be informed that in order to prepare the minds of our Judges, we found ourselves under a necessity of offer ing a surrender of a greater part of our claim to the Commonwealth in return for protection &e."3 Fur- 1Joornaz of Virginia H011,Se oJ Delegates, October 26, 28, 29, 1'7'78. 2Nort11. Carolina State Records, XIII. 490; Draper MSS2CC12. 3North Carolina State Records, XIII. 491; Draper MSS2CC12. HENDERSON AND COMPANY VERSUS VIRGINIA 231 ther consideration by the House was delayed until November 4, when the Senate came again to hear the counsel for the claimants complete their arguments for the memorial. The House now came to a vote on the following resolution: Resolved, That all purchases of lands, made or to be made, within the chartered bounds of this commonwealth, as described by the constitution or form of government, by any private per sons not authorized by public authority, are void. Resolved, That the purchase heretofore made by Richard Henderson and Company, of that tract of land called Transyl vania, within this commonwealth, of the Cherokee Indians, is void; but as the said Richard Henderson and Company have been at very great_ expense in making the said purchase, and in settling the said lands, by which this commonwealth is likely to receive great advantage, by increasing its inhabitants, and establishing a barrier against the Indians, it is just and reasonable to allow the said Richard Henderson and Company a compensation for their trouble and expense.1 The resolution was adopted by a very decisive vote. Henderson wrote: "There appeared by the Loud voices in the affirmative against the feeble Negative that a Division on the Question was not required, so that I did not know how large the Majority were in favor of this act of power." He readily saw that the Senate would take the same action when his memorial was brought before it for a vote, and thought the me morialists ought to "withdraw their memorial, and everything subsequent, and throw themselves _on a Court of Law, for a decision on a matter of right."2 On ·the same day, a second resolution was passed by the House appointing a committee to consider what compensation was due Henderson and Company for their services to the commonwealth. Both resolutions were sent to the Senate for its concurrence.3 It was November 14 before the Senate took under 1Journal o/ Virginia House of Delegates, October 30, November 4, 1778. 2North Carolina State Records, XIII. 493-494; Draper MSS2CC12. 3Joumal of Virginia HO'U8e of Delegates, November 4, 17'18. 232 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY consideration the two resolutions from the House. On the seventeenth it resolved itself into a committee of the whole. The committee to which the House resolu tions had been referred recommended their adoption without amendment, which was done.1 On the same day the House sent a message to the Senate asking that it appoint a committee to confer with the House committee to arrange for a proper compensation to be made to Richard Henderson and Company. The Senate complied with this request.2 November 23, the House committee on the matter of compensation reported for consideration the following resolutions: Resolved, That it is the opinion of this committee, That the said Richard Henderson and Company, for their .said services ought to be allowed a tract of country, to be subjected to the payment of the same taxes as other lands within the common wealth are, but under such limitation of time, as to the settling of the said lands, as shall be directed by the General Assembly. Resolved, That a tract of country not exceeding 800,000 ac1·es be granted to Richard ·Henderson and Company. . Resolved, That the said tract of land ought to be laid off in the following_ manner, viz: beginning at the mouth of Green River, thence running up the same fifty miles when reduced to a straight line, thence running at right angles with the said reduced line twelve and a half miles on each side of the said River, thence running lines from the termination of the lines extending on each side of the said Green River at right angles with the same, till the said lines intersect the Ohio, which said river shall be the western boundary of the said tract. But this being considered as full compensation to Richard Henderson and Company, for all their charge and trouble, and for advantage accruing therefrom to this commonwealth: it is the opinion of this committee, that the said Richard Henderson and his partners be excluded from any further claim to lands on account of any settlements or improvements heretofore made by them, or any of them, in that country. The first resolution was adopted by the House, but the second and third resolutions were recommitted, and the committee was enlarged by eighteen members.3 tJournal of Virginia. Senate, November 14-17, 1778. 2Jouma.l of Virginia. House of Delegates, November 17-20, 1778. 3Joumal of Virginia House of Delegates, November 23, 1778. HENDERSON AND COMPANY VERSUS VIRGINIA 233 A week later this con1mittee made its report, in which it recommended the awarding of a tract of land of 400,000 acres on Green River extending twenty-five miles instead of fifty miles up the river, the other boundaries remaining as formerly. This modified reso- 1ution was satisfactory to the House and bills were ordered to be drawn up in accordance.1 On December 8 the House went into committee of the whole to con sider the bill "to vest certain lands on the Ohio and Green rivers, in fee simple in Richard Henderson and Company, and their heirs." When the House had re sumed its session the bill as amended by the committee was reported and ordered engrossed. The following day the bill was passed and sent to the Senate.2 The Senate committed the House bill to the consideration of the committee of the whole house, which was post poned until the next day. This committee reported an amended bill, which was agreed to by the Senate and sent to the House for concurrence.3 The bill finally passed by both houses of the As sembly reduced the number of acres granted to Hen derson and Company to 200,000 by extending the line up the Green River only twelve and one-half miles.4 This land at the time of its· granting was some two hundred miles from any settlement, and was useless for any immediate compensation. 5 In fact it brought no income to the members of the company for nearly twenty years, and some time after the death of Hen derson. The expenses incurred by the Company in 1777 and 1778 in securing depositions in the back country, the cost of witnesses, the traveling expenses of Henderson, Williams, Johnston and Willie Jones, a 1Journal of Virginia House of Delegates, November 30~ 1778. 2Ibid. December 8--9, 1778. 3JO'U,n,,al of Virginia. Senate, December 9-10, 17'78. 4Hening, IX. 571. 5Draper MSS1CC155-157. 234 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY member of their counsel, amounted to approximately seven hundred dollars in sound money.1 This in all probability does not include the fees of Burke and Jones, nor accounts for the loss of time by Henderson and several of his associates, which was considerable. This loss of time from his legal practice and his heavy expenses as a partner in the company, which incurred large debts in the purchase of the goods distributed to the Indians at Sycamore Shoals and in the efforts to settle and hold the colony, must have kept Judge Hen derson financially embarrassed the remainder of his life. While, no doubt, Henderson suffered more losses than any other member of the Company, all must have lost heavily on their investments of time and money.2 All that was now left of their extravagant claims of sovereignty and of several million acres of land in Kentucky was title to 200,000 acres of wild land that would not be marketable for half a generation. The creation of Kentucky County in 1776 had deprived them of any claim to sovereignty and the above legis lative action of 1778 had taken away from them the most of their land. The question of sovereignty, the right of t~e Tran sylvania Company to set up "The New Independent Province", involves the fact of the possession of sover eign powers by the company, and its consequent right, or lack of it, to make a treaty and to establish a colony in which it might exercise sovereign pow.. ers. It likewise involves the question of the possession by the Cherokee Indians of independent sovereignty ,vhich they might convey to the Transylvania Com pany. The logic of the situation, as revealed in Chap ter VIII,3 is that the Indians had little or no right of sovereignty over the lands in question to convey, and tDraper MSS1CC155-157; 2CC34. 2lbid. 20034; Clore MSS. 3Supra 127-161. HENDERSON AND COMPANY VERSUS VIRGINIA 235 the Transylvania Company far less right to receive it. The logic of events was that , 7irginia was sovereign in the region. above latitude 36 :30, which sovereignty she asserted in 1776. The issue before the Virginia Assembly in 1778 was that of the validity of the deed obtained by the Transylvania Company from the Cherokee Indians at Sycamore Shoals. Dr. Archibald Henderson maintains that the points in need of de termination then were: . . . . First, whether the deponents were financially interested in the lands under the Transylvania Company; second, whether the treaty was conducted with entire fairness; and third, whether the deeds taken by the Transylvania Company were identical, in regard to the metes and bounds of the territory purchased, with the verbal statement of the negotiators of the treaty, made to the Cherokees.1 The existing records of the depositions offered by Hen derson to the Assembly convincingly establish these three claims in all essential points. But these are all beside the main issue. A survey of the evidence and logic contained in Chapter VIII of this treatise is con vincing that the Cherokee Indians had no right to deed away the lands in question, in which they had but the most slender "Indian title," regardless of the fairness with which the negotiations were conducted or the dis interestedness of the deponents. In a decision of the Appellate Court of Kentucky in 1823 in the case of Holloway versus Doe, it was held that the deed made to Henderson and Company by the Cherokees was null and void. The following is a perti nent excerpt from the decision : The Indian deed certainly conveyed no interest to Henderson and Company. All purchases, by individuals from the Indians, ,vere expressly forbidden by the royal proclamation of 1763, which remained in force until the revolution, by which the then American colonies became independent states; and no sooner had Virginia thrown off the royal government, and as- 1Henderson, "Isaac Shelby," 127. 236 THE TRANSYLVANIA Co~ONY sumed the republican form, than she adopted the san1e prin ciple, and by an ordinance of the Convention of 1776, provided that no purchase should be made of the Indians, but on behalf of the public, and by the authority of the General Assembly; and in May, 1779, the legislature of Virginia expressly declared all sales and deeds, as well as those which had been made, as well as those which should be thereafter made by any Indian or Indian nation, for the separate use of individuals, utterly void and of no effect. The competency of the Virginia legisla ture to make such past sales and deeds void, if even they had not been so in their origin, cannot admit of serious question; for at the same time the legislature was under no constitutional restraint which could have the effect of limiting its power in that respect. But the truth is, that all such sales and deedH were in their origin void, and the Act of 1779 was only declara tory of what the law was. The Indian deed, therefore, being void, ab initio, could have no operation, and of course could pass no interest or title to Henderson and Company. . . . CHAPTER XII SOCIAL AND ECON01\1IC LIFE IN TRANSYLVANIA HE land to which Henderson brought his settler~, and to which many others came without his bid Tding, was a land well endowed ,vith just the nat ural resources needed by the pioneer. The soil was generally fertile, extremely so over quite large areas; the forests were filled with a variety of large and use ful trees, whose wood was readily adapted to the con struction of many primary necessities of life from noggins to forts, and in addition many of these trees bore nuts and fruits in desirable quantity and of high quality; in these forests wild game abounded, ~'"hose meat at all normal times furnished a plentiful supply, and often for weeks at a time was the only available food; rivers and smaller streams, much needed as a means of transportation, were more than usually numerous, and in these, fine fish were f ou!1d in great quantity; springs, fresh and salt, were weli scattered: and the climate was fairly moderate and invigorating. To a hardy, energetic, adventurous, ambitious people, and these traits were admirably imbedded and well proportioned in the personalities of a great nun1- ber of men and women who came ,vest in the ear]y pioneer days, the Transylvania region was a challenge. These people were already inured to a simple. hardy~ rural life in the back country of North Carolina, Vh· ginia and Pennsylvania. This new life in the ,vilds of I{entucky, to ,vhich they came to Jive of their o,v1. 237 238 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY free will and with enthusiasm, ~'as only a little 1nore simple, hardy and rural than the life they had been living in the hinterlands nearer the Tide,vater. But the one element in the great untamed wildernes:J that appealed to the pioneer's spirit of adventure, filled his whole life with tragic romance, and tested his ut most courage and endurance to conquer was the sav age, lurking, cruel, relentless Indian. This invading foe must be driven back across the Ohio, and made to stay there, before the new settlers could give the~r talents and energies unmolested to the ,vresting of a livelihood and the building of a culture out of the manifold resources of their chosen ,vilderness. The contest with this fearsome enemy colored the life of tl1e pioneers in its every phase as long as Transylvania lasted, and longer. They could not hunt the game, clear the forests, till the rich soil, gather the fruits of their labor, nor even rest peacefully at nights, but th~ red men actually or potentially were present with rifle, fire and tomahawk to plunder, destroy, kill, scalp and capture. No thing, no body was safe. But the pioneer lived his life with a will and a zest that wrung happi ness out of his stubborn contest with nature in his effort to fashion products of livelihood and comfort out of the resources of the forest and to drive the Indian from the white man's newly claimed premises. The history of Transylvania, then, is not merely political, legal and narrative, for, if we are to be com prehensive in our knowledge of it, we must acquaint ourselves ,vith the facts of the every-day life of the settlers, which after all form the basis for any liberal and sympathetic understanding of the movements of group life. So, while Henderson and his associates held ostentatious pow-wows with the Cherokees, con tested ,vith legislatures over matters of some moment, made constitutions-soon forgotten-, and while Clark, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC LIFE IN TRANSYLVANIA 239 Boone, Logan and a host of others led in heroic combat against the savage red men, the ,vomen and children, as well as the men, lived daily lives, no less heroic and worthwhile, of social, economic and religious import. One of the first imperative needs of the permanent settler was to provide for himself a cabin. The con struction of a cabin that would fulfill the immediate requisites of pioneer life was not a difficult or lengthy task. The rapidity with which the cabins were erected may be gathered from an item in Calk's Journal: Wednesday 26th We Begin Building us ahouse & aplaise of Defence to keep the indians off Thursday 27th Raney all Day But We Still keep about our house- Satterday 29th We git our house kivered with Bark & move our things into it at Night and Begin housekeeping Eanock Smith Robert Whit ledge & my Self.1 Calk leaves it to our imagination to conjecture the kind of "Defence to keep the Indians off" that they constructed in connection with their cabin. But the presumption is that most early cabins built at Boones borough were protected by palisades of some kind. Building material for the cabins was almost every where easily obtainable. Saplings about one foot in diameter were cut down and cut into suitable dimen sions, then these logs were placed on each other in crib fashion. Before being put into place each log was notched near each end, which process served to strengthen the cabin and to bring the surfaces of the adjacent logs closer together. The latter practice gave less chance for the penetration into the cabins of the bullets of the foe, and also made less daubing neces sary. The daubing, which consisted of small biocks of wood inserted in the interstices and held intact by a mixture of clay and straw, was usually postponed until l William Calk's Journal. 240 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY the approach of winter. The floors of the newly-made cabins were usually of the native earth, but sooner or later floors of roughly hewn puncheons were placed in tne houses. The chimneys, which had large open fire places and occupied the most of one end of the _house, were built outside the cabins, and constructed of stone and crude m9rtar, or sometimes of wooden sticks in crib fashion held together by daubing of clay and straw. There were no glass windows. Instead the small opening which served as a window was covered with heavy paper saturated with bear's grease.1 Along with the building of the cabin went the clear ing of the land. The Kentucky pioneer found a luxuri ous forest. The most of it was heavily timbered with oak, maple, hickory, elm, locust, walnut, ash, and many other kinds of trees, except here and there were open spaces where great quantities of weeds, wild grasses, wild rye and clover grew. These trees were inter spersed almost everywhere with a dense undergrowth set with thick cane, through which it was almost im possible to go except along the traces made by the \Vild animals. It ·was out of this -tangled forest, for the most part, that the settler had to wrest land on which to grow his crops. The clearing for the first season was usually done by cutting away all under growth and cane and deadening the large trees. This latter was done by girdling the trees with a band sev eral inches wide two or three feet above the ground, ,vhich caused the tree to die within a short time. If the settler had undertaken to clear the larger growth off entirely, the time necessarily consumed in this operation would have prevented him from planting his crops the first year with any hope of having them ma ture. Little clearing was done at any of the settle ments during the spring of 1775, the open spaces being 1spalding, 31; The Centenary of Kentucky, 43. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC LIFE IN TRANSYLVANIA 241 used, but in the following fall and winter the sum of the tillable land was considerably increased for the purpose of -planting corn and gardens. In order to protect the growing crops from animals, both wild and domestic, the settlers often piled brush about the clear ing, which was later followed by fences constructed from split rails from the larger trees and made in a worm or zigzag manner from seven to nine feet in heigh~.1 At the beginning of the settlements furniture and cooking utensils were scarce. Practically all furniture, including table articles, was "home made." The din ing tables were made by using a large puncheon to which was attached four wooden legs for support. For chairs the pioneers used stools constructed by insert ing three legs of wood into auger holes bored in a slab of wood. Later chairs were made of hickory frames with deer-skin seats. The skins of animals were use ful in many ways. Sifters were made of deer-skins stretched over a hoop and perforated with a hot wire. Skins made the dirt floors more comfortable, and placed on puncheon floors they aided in covering the cracks that were apt to appear when green puncheons were used and later dried and shrunk. In the latter case they helped in preventing the picking up of splin ters, for going bare-footed was common with adults as well as with children. "The beds were either placed on the floor, or on bedsteads of puncheons supported by forked pieces of timber, driven into the ground, or resting on pins let into auger holes in the sides of the ·cabin. Blankets, and bear and buffalo skins, consti tuted often the principal bed covering."2 The buffalo robes probably also at first formed the chief bedding. Later featherbeds were much in use. Nathaniel Hart lLossing, 585; Smyth, I. 221; Spalding, 31; Draper MSS48J10. 2spalding. 32-33. 242 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY willed one to each of his nine children.1 All metallic utensils were brought to Kentucky by the settlers on packhorses. These included iron pots, ovens, skillets, knives and two-pronged iron forks, pewter dishes. plates and spoons. A tin cup was a luxury. The pi oneers made for themselves wooden trenchers, bowls and noggins for table use. One of the most useful of household utensils was the hominy block, which . . . was made of a large block of wood about three feet long, with an excavation burned in one end, wide at the top, and narrow at the bottom, so that the action was from the sides toward the top of it, from whence it continually fell into the center. • . . The hand mill was better than the mortar, or grater. It was made of two circular stones, the lowest of which was called the bedstone, the upper one the runner. These were placed in a hoop, with a spout for discharging the meal.2 The clothing worn by the pioneers was secured from many sources. At the beginning all clothing was brought by them from the older settlements. Many of the men returned each fall, until local sources of cloth ing were more numerous and reliable, to their old habi tats to replenish their needs.3 The women contrived to bring enough with them to last several seasons, which was supplemented by a limited supply of additional clothing brought from time to time along the '\Vilder ness Road, or down the Ohio. Thus when the McAfee families were making preparations to move to Ken tucky in the spring of 1776--"Their wives and daugh ters had been employed day and night in making a surplus stock of linnen, blankets, Flannel & bed clothes of all kinds including rugs a11d also extra clothing_ enough for several years until they could raise supplies at their own home ...." 4 For the women the custo mary fabric for winter dress was linsey, while for IFa,yette County Circuit Court, Complete Record Book C. 233. 2Doddridge, 33-34. 3Dra,per MSS4B106, 142. •McAfee, 27. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC LIFE IN TRANSYLVANIA 243 summer wear they chose linen. Instead of hats and bonnets they tied handkerchiefs around their heads. Broadcloth, ginghams and calicoes were almost un known. Blankets thrown over the shoulders served in the place of overcoats and cloaks. To supplement the cotton and woolen goods brought from the East for both men and women, the latter began to make yarns and cloth from such native material as could be had. vVilliam Poague's family brought with them in 1775 the first spinning wheel in Kentucky, "from which coarse yarns were made from buffalo '\\1001; and it was not long before a few rude looms were improvised~ that served for weaving a rough cloth suitable for the men's winter ,vear."1 Before the production of flax or wool, and sheep do not seem to have been imported into Kentucky at an early date, cloth was made from fibre gotten from nettles. This fibre was gathered in late winter or early spring after the wet weather had rotted the stalks, which gre,v to a height of four feet in the richer lands. These fibres when spun made a very strong thread. A very satisfactory cloth waR made by combining this thread, which formed the warp, with buffalo wool yarn to make the filling. The buffalo yarn was used alone in making sock~, ,vhich ,vere quite soft and wore fairly well. 2 For hunting, exploring and scouting, the men ,vere quite suitably dressed. The most important and most universal garment ,vas the hunting shirt. Doddridge describes this shirt and the other clothing of th~ woodsman thus: . . . . This was a kind of a loose frock, reaching half ,vay down the thighs, with large sleeves, open before, and so wide as to lap over a foot or more when belted. The cape was large, and sometimes handsomely fringed with a ravelled piece of cloth of a different color from that of the hunting shirt itself. The 1John Mason Brown, ''The Kentucky Pioneers," 54. :?Kenton, 83, note. Draper MSS4B143. 244 THE TRANSYLVAHIA COLONY bosom of this dress served as a wallet to hold a chunk of bread, cakes, jirk, tow for wiping the barrel of the riffe, or any other necessity for the hunter or warrior. The belt, which was al ways tied behind, answered several purposes, besides that of holding the dress together. In cold weather the mittens and sometimes the bullet bag occupied the front part of it. To the right was suspended the tomahawk and to the left the scalping knife in its leathern sheath. The hunting shirt was generally made of linsey, sometimes of coarse linen, and a few dressed with deerskins...• A pair of drawers or breeches and leggins were the dress of the thighs and legs. A pair of moccasins answered for the feet much better than shoes. These were made of dressed deer skin. They were mostly made of a single piece with a gathering seam along the top of the foot, and another from the bottom of the heel, without gathers as high as the ankle joint or a little higher. Flaps were left on each side to reach some dis tance up the leg. These were nicely adapted to the ankles, and lower part of the leg, by thongs of deerskin, so that no dust, gravel, or snow would get within the moccasin. • . . In wet weather it was usually said that wearing them was "a decent way of going barefooted."1 The chief element of diet for the pioneer was meat. Often the hunters had no other kind of food. This at most times, except when the Indians were about, could be obtained quite readily. Smyth, who spent several weeks at Boonesborough and vicinity in the summer of 1775, and who tends towards exaggerated state ments, wrote: Game of all kinds are also excellently plenty; a man mali kill six or eight deer every day, which many do merely for their skins, to the great injury and destruction of their species, and to the prejudice and public loss of the community at large. Wild turkeys, very large and fat, are almost beyond num ber, sometimes five thousand in a flock, of which a man may kill just as many as he pleases. Elks are also very plenty, as well as raccoons, oppossums, foxes and wolves. All these are found in the lofty woods, while in the savannahs or meadows buffaloes abound. And on the rivers multitudes of almost every kind of water fowl.2 Deer were hunted in the fall and early winter, bear lDoddridge, 20-21. 2smyth, I.· 222-223. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC LIFE IN TRANSYLVANIA 245 and fur-skinned animals in the winter and early spring. Hunters found great delight in hunting bear. Trabue wrote in his diary: "I thought the beautifullest sight I ever sa,v was to see a -parcell of dogs in full chase after a bear and they a yelping every jump, they would soon stop him and the hunters would shoot him." In addition to the meat obtained from wild ani mals, the inhabitants obtained it from the domestic animals brought from the older colonies. Cattle and hogs were brought out almost at the beginning of set tlement, and turned loose in the woods to make their living. White clover and many grasses grew luxuriantly in the few open places, and upon these the stock found sufficient food during the warmer seasons. Sheep were hard to raise because of the depredations of wolves.1 Through the winter months the cattle throve on the cane that was found almost everywhere, while the hogs ate nuts and mast, which abounded plentifully. These animals tended to become wild in the unbound ed forest, and the general practice was to bell them. In order to distinguish the individual ownership, each owner had his own way of designating his stock by cropping their ears in various ways or by branding them. The greatest enemy of the livestock was the savage. The marauding Indians killed all the domesti\! animals they could find, not only for their own use, but in order to starve out the whites. The milk CO'\\'s were looked after very ca1·ef ully by the settlers, and in some of the settlements afforded milk and butter more or less plentifully, though the production of milk per cow was far below the present-day production. However, this food was almost a luxury in a country where the variety of food was quite limited. Out in the woods the dwellers of Transylvania ob tained certain nuts and fruits, including wild grapes~ 1uThe Hart Letters", 327. 246 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY pa,vpaws, hickory nuts, and walnuts, which were gathered and stored for winter. These not only formed an additional primary food, but helped to balance the poorly balanced diet, and were likewise very palatabl~ and highly relished. Corn was the basic food crop. Practically all the bona fide settlers who reached Kentucky in the spring of 1775 were able to plant and harvest small crops of corn. The harvest of this cereal for the following year was unusually good.1 Corn became a food as soon as it reached the roasting state, in which state it was a lux ury. When it had matured, it was roasted in the hot ashes, made into hominy, or ground into meal. The latter when made into bread was eaten almost exclu sively with the meats. Com also served as foodstuff for livestock. Each settler had a garden spot in a clearing adjacent to his cabin, and in time of Indian danger vegetables were planted just outside the forts. The garden was generally cultivated by the women, though often they must be guarded by the men for fear of Indians. The chief vegetables were potatoes, turnips, pumpkins, watermelons, muskmelons, peppers. cucumbers, and other common garden plants. There was practically· no canning or preserving, since there was little or no sugar, wild honey being used as a sub stitute where feasible. Maple sugar was manufac tured to some extent. It ,vas sometimes used to sweeten parched corn ,vhich had been ground ·into meal. This mixture was a delicious substitute for cof fee. 2 Only such vegetables were kept for winter use as could be dried, ,vhich made still more limited in va riety the food for winter. Peach stones and apple scions were planted in 1776, but it was some years be fore these began to bear. The first wheat in Tran- lDraper MSS4B106. 2fbict. 4B142. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC LIFE IN TRANSYLVANIA 247 sylvania was planted by Thomas Denton at Harrods burg a little west of the fort, and was reaped the fol lowing July. 1 _ Salt was perhaps the scarcest of all the prilnary foods. It was very bulky for transportation from the East, in sufficient quantities for the needs of the set tlers. It could be secured in small amounts from the salt springs that rather generally abounded. It is be lieved the first salt manufactured in Kentucky was by Mrs. Coomes in 1775 while she and her husband, Wil liam, were encampend at Drennon's Lick with the Hite party.2 Salt was obtained by boiling the spring ,vater in the largest iron kettles obtainable in the Colony. Since from five to eight hund1·ed gallons of water must be boiled to secure a residue of one bushel of salt, its manufacture ,vas a slo,v process. In consequence a bushel of salt weighing eighty-four pounds would bring in ·exchange a good cow and calf.3 By the latter part of the year of 1777 the need for salt had become so dire that a petition was sent from the inhabitant~ of Kenh.1cky County to the Virginia Assembly as fol lows: That your Petitioners are and have for some time past been destitute of the necessary Article Salt. That by reason of the Incursions of the different Nations of Indians this year past we have been prevented from making what Quantities would be necessary for ourselves and Families as we formerly did, .for small parties would be in great Danger of being cut off and large ones could not be spared from the defence of the Fami lies. That as bountiful Nature hath plentifully furnished this Country with Salt Sp1·ings where at small expence Salt might be made in abundance, many of which are claimed by Persons resident in this State who have never been at any Pains or Expence to erect Manufactories at them which if done would be Beneficial to not only adjacent Settler! but also interior In habitants of this Comrnonwealth- 1lbid. 4B106, 260055, 40030. 2Spa,ldfng1 24. 3Doddr1dge, 19: Ranck, 84-65, note. 248. THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY Now our petitioners humbly pray that if the Claimants do not immediately errect Salt Manufactories at the different Springs claimed by them The Honourable House would take it into their consideration and Order that the said Springs should be made Publick Property and be Manufactured by Government by which Means Government would be profited & your Petitioners have speedy relief and your Petitioners in duty bound shall ever pray. ...1 This petition was presented to the House of Delegates November 25, 1777. Evidently the members of the House were not much inclined to yield to the social istic desires of some of the State's pioneer inhabitants and embark into the making of salt as a state enter prise, so the petition was rejected. Slavery was introduced into Transylvania with the beginning 9f its settlement. In Harrodsburg on May 1, 1777, about one-tenth of the population was slaves. Slaves were among the groups with Boone and Hen derson, and are constantly mentioned in the records of the years of first· settlement. They were used and treated evidently as they were in all southern settle ments, and took their humble part in the hardships and pleasures of pioneer life. Perhaps there is no remaining single document of this period more illuminating, to one who reads be.. tween the lines, in revealing the economic life than an inventory of the estate of Richard Callaway in 1780. AN INVENTORY OF THE ESTATE OF RICHARD CALAWAY DECEAST To 1 Negro Frank...... 80 0 0 To 1 Do Stephen...... 70 To aparcel of peuter...... 3 17 To aflax hackel 12/. 1 pr Sheep Shars 3/ ...... 15 To aparcel of Books £1 -3. 1 pr oald Shars 1 / 5...... 1 4 5 To 1 Spice malter 6 /. To 1 looking glass 20 / ...... 1 6 To 1 large chi st 25 / ...... 1 5 To a parcel of feathers ...... ·...... 6 9 To 1 hand Saw 15/. To 1 brass baril pistol 6/ ...... 1 1 To 1 Bedstid 3/. To 1 table 10/ To 1 large pot SO/ 2 S tRobertson, 43-44. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC LIFE IN TRANSYLVANIA 249 To 1 Stone disk 6 /. To 1 Lading Spoon 3 / ...... O 9 To 1 Broken Baker & bucks 12/ ...... O 12 To aparcel of feathers...... 5 18 6 To 1 Neagro boy peter £75 ...... 75 O To 1 Neagro girl Eade £80 ...... 80 0 To 40 cows & calfs ...... 120 0 To 15 steers £30...... 30 0 To aparcel of feather...... ·-········································· 5 10 ~ To 2 oald matocks & 4 oald hoes...... 2 10 To 1 Whip Saw £3. To 1 crosscut Do. 2o/ ...... 4 5 To 8 Steel Traps £3...... 3 To 50 cwt of oald iron at 1 / 6.. ~...... 3 15 To aparcel of pewter 25/. To 1 looking glass 10/ ...... 1 15 To 1 Small Baker 10 /. To 1 foot ads 5 / ...... 0 15 To pair iron wedges 12/. To 1 neagro girl Marge £80 80 12 To 1 Saddle 50 /. To 1 Womans Do 45...... 4 15 To 1 Branding Iron: R C 4/. To 1 frying pan 5/ ...... 0 9 To 1 Stone hammer 10/. To 1 Small claw hammer 5/ 15 To 1 Mair £9. To 1 Neagro woman Haner £65 ...... 74 To 1 Neagro girl Silvey £75. To 1 Do. Boy John £30 .. 1051 Merchandising was certainly not extensive in Tran sylvania. Money was very scarce, fur and peltry passed for money, and there was some barter. Hen derson kept books on the costs of making the road to Kentucky and other expenses for work done for the company. These accounts have been lost. There exist still, however, many receipts for ·money paid out by the Transylvania Coinpany for services rendered on the journey. But probably most of the labor was paid in goods brought from North Carolina. A company commissary was opened at Boonesborough. "Powder was charged at $2.66 per pound, and lead at 16 2/S cents; while labor was credited at 33 cents or fifty cents per day, .for ranging, hunting or working on roads."2 In . the spring of 1778 Trabue bought at Boonesborough two blankets, a powder horn and a "nice warm shirt." He obtained the money with which to buy these articles as his share for the sale of the plunder taken from some Indians and sold to the in- ·tWilliam Calk M4fl.UScripts. 2Butler, 32. 250 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY habitants of Boonesborough from which each member of his party netted fifty shillings.1 But stores having a general assortment of merchandise doubtless did not exist during this period. The first marriage in Kentucky took place at Boones borough on August 7, 1776. Three weeks after she had been rescued by her lover and others, Elizabeth Call away was married to Samuel Henderson. At this time she lacked one week of being sixteen years of age. . • • • The dress of the bride and groom would not, at this day, be thought altogether Suited for Such an Occasion. A plain Irish linen dress adorned the modest bride, while Henderson's hunting-shirt having become quite threadbare by time and rough usage, he borrowed Nathan Reid's, in which he was mar ried. Watermelons, probably, formed the only delecacy of the bridal feast. It may be added, as indicative of the doubts of the Settlers at this period, of the stability of the government founded under the auspices of the Transylvania proprietors, that Col. Callaway, in consenting to the match, required a bond of Henderson that the marriage should be again Solemnized, by authority less doubtful, at the earliest opportunity-which pledge was sacredly fulfilled.2 During the following year marriages also took place between Fanny Callaway and Colonel Holder, and Je.. mima Boone and Flanders Callaway. The two brides in these weddings were only fourteen years of age. It was nothing uncommon for girls in early adolescence to marry in_ the pioneer days. While all the men in the tTrabue. 2Draper MSS4Bl03-104. Brown does not agree with Draper as to the one who performed the ceremony and the obtaining of the license. Draper says that Daniel Boone ofllclated "as a magi&• trate under Transylvania authority. . . • a license had been pre• viously Issued by the clerk or secretal'J'." Draper also states that Sguire Boone had probably settled at Harrod&bqrg in the Spring of 1'1'18-Draper .11881906-7. Brown says that "The formal license from the county court was not waited for, as the courthouse of Fincastle, of which Kentucky was a part, was distant more than six hundred miles. The ceremony consisted of the contract with witnesses, and religious vows administered by Boone's brother, who was an occasional preacher of the persuasion popularly known as Hardshell Baptists." John Mason Brown, "The Ken• tucky Pioneers," 12. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC LIFE IN TRANSYLVANIA 251 above mentioned marriages were matu1·e, it ,vas usual for the young men also to marry comparatively young. Probably the first marriage to take place in Harrods burg was on April 19, 1777, when James Barry was married to the widow of Hugh Wilson.1 Regarding this marriage Bodley makes the following pertinent comment: Wilson, we have seen, was killed and scalped only one month before. The widow's waiting was not long. It must not, how ever, be thought therefore that her remarriage evidenced in difference about the loss of her first husband. The fact was that in the pioneer community, a widow with a number of small children was in very real need of the help and protection of a husband, and a generous sympathy for her, in her helpless con dition, was no doubt the cause of a proposal of marriage and naturally won the affection of the woman. Certain it is that such early remarriages were common amongst them.•.. 2 On July 9 of the same year there occurred another n1arriage at Harrodsburg. Clark records in his journal. "Lieut Linn married great merriment."3 Linn mar ried Hannah Sovereigns and the ceremony was per formed by Hugh McGary, who as magistrate married a number, of couples during this period.4 The first child to be born in Kentucky of parents 1narried in Kentucky was Fanny Henderson, the daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth Henderson, ,vho was born at Boonesborough May 29, 1777. Five children had been born at Harrodsburg previous to this time, Harrod \Vilson, William Logan, Louisa Whitley, Elizabeth Manifee and .A.nn Poague ; while two had been born at Boonesborough-Elizabeth Hays and John Anderson,=> but their parents had been married before they came to Kentucky. A census of the popu]ation of Harrodsburg taken by !Draper MSS48J12; Illinois Historical Collections, VIII. 20-23. 2Bodley, History of Kentucky, I. 141. 3Draper MSS48J12; Illinois Historical Collections, VIII. 20-23. 4Draper MSS12CC26-29. 5Jbid. 4B62. 252 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY Captain John Cowan, May· 1, 1777, is as follows : Men in Service...... - ... ._...... 81 Do. not in service...... :...... 4 Women ...... 24 Children over ten years ...... 12 Children under ten years...... 58 Slaves above ten years...... 12 Do. under ten years...... 7 Total ...... 1981 Here we note that the men outnumber the women n1ore than three to one, indicating that most of the men ,vere unmarried, probably young, since only fou1· were not in service; the young children were dominant over the older at a ratio of approximately five to· one, which would indicate that the married couples ,vere young. A like census of Boonesborough and other set tlements is not available, but it is probable that Cow an's census fo1.. ms a fair cross-secton of the population of the Colony. Smyth ,has given us a contemporary account of the characteristics of the men at Boonesborough in the summer of 1775, how accurate and well-founded his characterizations are is another matter. He wrote: Although the inhabitants are 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 sensi ble, enterprising, hardy, unpolished race, yet open, free and hospitable. Pusillanimousness, cowardice and mean spirit ap pear not there; hitherto they have not reached so far, and as yet are confined to the east of the mountains.2 In this period the inhabitants of the towns did not present an attractive appearance, if we are to judge by a description of Harrodsburg, left us by Willian1 1Draper M8840030. 2smyth, I. 218. SOCIAL AND ECONOKIC LIFE IN TRANSYLVANIA 253 Hickman, a Baptist preacher, who visited there in 1776. He wrote: . . . . We got to Harrodsburg the 1st day of April, and a poor town it was in those days, a row or two of smoky cabins, dirty women, men with their britch clouts, greasy hunting shirts, leggings and moccasins. I there ate some of the first corn raised in the country, but little of it, as they had a very poor way to make it into meal; we learnt to eat wild meat, with out bread or salt. Hickman has given us an account also of what was probably the first preaching done in the colony, except that done by John Lythe at Boonesborough in 1775, when he preached two or more sermons there follow ing the holding of the convention in May. Hickman tells us: .... Myself, brother Thomas Tinsley, my old friend Mr. Morton took our lodgings at Mr. Gordon's four mile from town. Mr. Tinsley was a good old preacher, Mr. Morton a pious Presbyte rian, and love and friendship abounded among us. We went nearly every Sunday to town to hear l\fr. Tinsley preach; I generally concluded his meetings. One Sunday morning, setting at the head of a spring at this place, be laid his Bible on my thigh and said to me, you must preach to day. • . . I took the book and turned to the 23rd chapter of Numbers, 10th verse; "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be as his.''1 Hickman did not remain in the colony very long, but doubtless Tinsley continued to preach every Sunday. There were no church organizations in this early pe riod, and little religious life or activity, although there were occasional visits by clergymen from the older settlements. The first school in Kentucky was begun by Mrs. Wil liam Coomes at Harrodsburg. She used ... crimson and gold illustrated card boards, clapboards with let ters marked thereon with fire coal. These children sat on log seats with their feet hanging in the afr, or kicking their toes tDuwett Collections, William Hickman MS. 254 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY in the d·irt ... and every one of then1 n1urn1uring n1ore than audibly.I There ,vas a school at l\:IcAfee Station in 1777. There seems to have been no- school at Boonesborough until 1779. 2 The training of the young consisted, as largely in all primitive life, in preparing them for efficiency in the immediate, every-day activities of life. The legal profession ,vas well 1·epresented by such men as Richard Henderson, John Williams, John Todd, John Gabriel Jones and Peter Hogg. But the golden days for lawyers in Kentucky had not begun. Dr. Hart, who came to Harrodsburg in 1775 with Willian1 Coomes and who practiced medicine there, was prob ably the only physician in Kentucky during the Tran sylvania years. 3 The ,vounded were treated by fron tiersmen by means of poultices and the settlers were surgeons for each other. Thus when Squire Boone was wounded at the siege of Boones borough, his wife and Daniel were his surg·eons: "He 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 discov ered that the ball had lodged there.... His brother, Daniel Boone, by making an incision, cut out the bul let."4 1wesley, 18. 2Ranek, 109. 3Spalding, 23. 4Draper MSS4B124, 179, 231. CHAPTER XIII. TRANSYLVANIA IN NORTH CAROLINA considerable portion of Henderson's purchase from the Cherokees, called Transylvania, was A in the state of North Carolina, in fact all of that area ·between the degree of latitude 36° 30' and the Cumberland-Tennessee watershed. Following the representations of Boone, undoubtedly, that the Blue Grass region of Transylvania was the most desirable location to begin his colonization, Henderson began his settlement on the banks of the Kentucky, in the region claimed by Virginia. The ill-fated attempt by the Transylvania Company to plant an independent col ony and to maintain the land ownership rights be lieved to have been acquired by the Cherokee deed at Sycamore Shoals, has been told in preceding chapters. When, in the latter part of 1778, the Virginia legisla ture decided adversely to ·all of the claims of Richard Henderson and Company within that State, except the grant on Green River, which was unripe for coloniza tion, Henderson turned his eyes south of 36° 30' to the Cumberland valley, a scarcely less promising region than the scene of his first, but disastrous, effort to realize his extravagant dreams. There is some evi dence that the proprietors had earlier contemplated the exploitation of the Carolina section. On Novem ber 19, 1776, when it seemed almost certain that Vir ginia would deny the claims of Henderson and Com pany by establishing Kentucky County, John Luttrell wrote a letter from Halifax, North Carolina, to one of 255 256 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY the proprietors, probably Henderson or Johnston, which tends to substantiate this presumption. In part the letter follows : . . . . Mr. Wiley Toms has wrote you something respecting Transylvania, the Virginians, we are informed have certainly taken possession of the country at least all within their line etc. You know there is a great Quantity of land which lies within No. Carolina and would we secure it we in all probability should be able to make ourselves whole out of the sales of Danville Val ley, etc. Parsons I believe would gladly be a partner. Mr. Sam Johnston and Colonel Caswell (who will now be our Governor without fail) may be taken into partnership which will make a party so strong in our favor, that we can get our rights estab lished within this province, and no doubt give a great weight to our claims in Virginia. Therefore (if you think it right) send immediately to the copartners at Hillsborough and get a power of attorney from them to you and ·,the rest of the com pany how to take over any members of the copartners they shall think proper. You may depend that it is of the last im portance to us to strengthen our party here by some of the most popular men in the province being interested in our pur chase••.. 1 Not long after the final decision by the Virginia Legislature in 1778, Henderson with his aggressive and energetic spirit began to formulate plans to colo nize Cumberland Valley at French Lick. He exercised great prudence and foresight for his second venture in the choice of James Robertson and John Donelson, two well-known pioneer personalities, to become the lead ers of his colonization enterprise. Both of these were men of marked resourcefulness, stability and proven powers, men whom other men would follow with con fidence. Just what agreement the Transylvania Com pany had_ with Robertson and Donelson is not now known. That there was a contract between the two parties may be reasonably assumed. In view of the ability, ambition and renown of Robertson and Donel- son, it is not conceivable that they were employed by Henderson, acting for the Transylvania Company, to it,etter of John Luttrell, Duke Universtty Archives. TRANSYLVANIA IN NORTH CAROLINA 257 undertake the settlement of the Cumberland region for the Transylvania Company. Robertson had had long and successful experience in the affairs of Watauga, and Donelson had both experience in western affairs and an ambition almost the equal of that of Henderson to possess and develop western lands on a large scale. Then, too, these two men must have known the shaky title possessed by the Transylvania Company, and must have consequently protected their interests by taking the precaution that their efforts would not be lost in case North Carolina would not recognize the Company's Cherokee deed, or in case the settlement should prove to be in the limits of Virginia when the North Carolina-Virginia boundary line should be run. The presumption that the undertaking was mutual and co-operative among the three men is certainly well taken.1 On January 14, 1779, not many weeks after the action of the Virginia Legislature in denying the land claims of Henderson and Company within Virginia, Robertson, who had been Indian agent among the Cherokees at Chota, North Carolina, wrote Governor Caswell of that state: "I am well informed that the first day of March near 200 men, and many families amongst them, are to meet at the Long Island of the Holston in order to go down the river, with a design to ~ettle Cumberland river. . . . "2 This large number of settlers did not make the at tempt to go to the Cumberland at the time specified in Robertson's letter, but it seems that wiser counsel pre vailed and in February, 1779, Robertson with eight men, his brother, Mark Robertson, George Freeland, William Neely, Edward Swanson, James Hanley, Zach ariah White, William Overall, and a Negro, started for 1James, 187; Henderson, "Richard Henderson, The Authorshi1> of the Cumberland Compact and the Founding of Nashvtlle", 158- 160; Williams, 20-21: Putnam, 61-63. 2North Carolina State .Records, XIV, 247. 258 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY the Cumberland region with the purpose of selecting a site for the new settlement and to plant corn in th~ spring1 . . . . They continued their wandering and explorations, often following the buffalo paths, which almost invariably led through dense forests and cane-brakes from water to water, and, more distinctly trodden, from one salt spring to another, until they finally arrived at the present site of Nashville..•• Soon after their arrival, another small party, under the guidance of Gas per Mansker, arrived.2 Mansker claimed "the land_ by right of settlement. "3 This group, having cleared some land, built rude fences about it, planted corn and cultivated it. Leaving three men, Overall, White and Swanson, to protect the growing corn from the depredations of beasts, the others, except Robertson, returned to Watauga.• Rob ertson, believing, however, that the site of the new settlement lay within Virginia, went to Vincennes to see George Rogers Clark, who had "entered in the Vir ginia land office, in his own name, several thousand acres at French Lick. They agreed that if this area should belong to Virginia . . . cabin rights should be secured from Clark. "5 About the middle of the following fall Robertson and his fell ow-settlers began their return to French Lick. They went through Cumberland Gap, followed the Warriors' Path for some distance, then pioneered their own trail. The winter of 1779-1780 was the cold- est in that period of history. The paths soon became covered with deep snow and difficult to see and follow and the cattle and pack-horses delayed passage. So it was Christmas day before the party came to Cumber land. On the way Robertson had f alien in with some tJohn Haywood, 95. :?Putnam, 64. sHamer, I. 100; Putnam, 63-65. 4John Haywood, 95; Putnam, 64. 5James, 187; Illinois Historica.l Collections, VIII. 304. TRANSYLVANIA IN NORTH CAROLINA 259 families on their way to Kentucky, and had persuaded them to follow him to the new settlen1eut. The lo\\. temperatures prevailing had frozen the Cumberland, and, on January 1, 1780, the party crossed over on the ice, even driving over their cattle. ·They now began a settlement, which was named Nashborough in honor of General Francis Nash of North Carolina Revo lutionary fame.1 In the meantime Virginia and North Carolina were making efforts to complete the surveying of their mu tual boundary line as far as the lVlississippi River. This was done by joint-commissioners appointed by the t,vo states. Virginia was represented by Dr. Thomas Walle er and 1"1ajor Daniel Smith, and North Carolina by Richard Henderson, John Williams and William Bailey Smith. The anxiety of Henderson to have the line run, in order to determine if the French Lick settlement lay within the limits of North Carolina, may be reckoned from the fact that by some means or other the Tran sylvania Company succeeded in having appointed as the three commissioners for North Carolina two of its own members and another man, Smith, who had been closely associated with its members since its founda tion. The five commissioners met at Steep Rock Creek, September 1, 1779, and began to survey the line to \vard the west. Soon there arose,-~ disagreement be tween the two groups of commissioners, and upon reaching the Cumberland Mountain on November 18, the North Carolina commissioners withdrew, but Rich ard Henderson and others followed_ the Virginia com mi~sioners, who continued to survey. 2 After following them for some distance, Henderson went to Boones- tRamsey, 195; Gilmore, 4; Putnam, 66; North Carolina State Records, XXIV. 616. 2North Carolina. State Records, XIV, 354-355; Henderson, "Rich ard Henderson: The Authorship of the Cumberland Compact and the Founding of Nashville'', 166. 260 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY borough, which he reached on Christmas Day, 1779. Evidently two of the objectives of Henderson in go ing to Boonesborough, which he had probably not seen since May, 1776, were to confer with Nathaniel Hart and others, who were going to French Lick to join Robertson's party, and to secure com to be sent to French Lick for the use of the settlers. These reasons are indicated in a letter written by Nathaniel Hart to his wife a few days after the ar1~ival of Henderson: Boonsbough 30th Decem 1779 Dear Salley . . . . I had Sot A resolution when Capt Pain left me to return by way of cumberland, but the extream Coldweather, Together with Nakedness of myself And people And the poverty of my horses has Obliged me to decline that Notion And Intrust my affairs to Col. Moore And Col. Henderson who are to go down about the time I set of Inn. • . • My cornfield I found to be in very bad order.... yit I think we Shall Save Enough to Serve us here And Spare Some to go Round to Cumberland which I shall Indeavour to Contrive there by then we get down. • • • N athl. Hart. . To Mrs. Sarah Hart on Holston River favored by Majr. Shelby.1 1"'he matter of the securing of some corn from Hart to be shipped to the Cumberland has long been one of controversy; nor, indeed, are the known facts entirely clear and reconcilable. In the letter quoted above Hart assumes the responsibility of supplying the com. Na thaniel Hart Jr., writing many years later said: "In March, 1780, my father sent from Boonesborough some 300 bushels of corn in perogues . • . to the fort at French Lick."2 On the other hand John Floyd wrote Colonel Preston from Harrodsburg, February 20, 1780: "I have no bread yet, but I expect a Small Supply from my friend Col. Henaerson3 at Boonesborough, who has l 11The Hart Letters", 326-328. 2Prankfort Commonwealth, February 25, 1840. SFJoyd's Italics. TRANSYLVANIA IN NORTH CAROLINA 261 greatly befriended me by sparing that which he may want himself, & only waits for high water to send it 1 down with his own • •••" John Donelson recorded in his Journal March 31, 1780, that on that day his party of Cumberland immigrants met with Colonel Hender son, who "informed us he had purchased a quantity of corn in Kentucky to be shipped at the Falls of the Ohio for the Cumberland settlement." Archibald Hender son says that Richard Henderson paid Hart $60,000 for this corn.2 This statement lacks authenticity. Dr. Henderson apparently bases this figure on a statement made by Nathaniel Hart Jr. about 1840: "This corn had been raised by my father at Boonesborough in 1779, and I have now before me an account against Col. Donaldson for 9 bushels which he says ought to rate high at the French Lick, as it had been worth $200 per bushel at Boonesborough. "3 An approximation of the truth of the whole matter. so far as known evidence reveals, is that Richard Hen derson induced Hart to sell the Transylvania Company some. 300 bushels of corn at a stipulated price. This price may have been in Continental currency or in English currency ; the latter seems to have been the medium in which the Transylvania Company's ac counts were usually kept. There still exist documents which indicate that each of the members of the Com pany paid at will certain expenses of the Company, or otherwise contributed to its financial needs, and for such expenses or contributions received credit on the books of the Company, all of which was taken into ac count and adjusted in more or less periodical settle ments. 4 Hart likely received credit for the agreed value of his corn on the books of the Company in Hills- lAuthor's Italics. 2Henderson, Conquest of the Old Southwest, 231. SFrankfort Commonwealth, February 25, 1840. 4Clore MSS. 262 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY boro, North Carolina. If any financial record of thi~ transaction exists, it has not been published, and th~ actual price of the corn is probably unkno\"\1n. The price of $200 per bushel, while high, was not far above the price paid for corn in Kentucky in Continental cur rency, which at that time stood at a ratio of more than 100 to 1 as compared with sound money. The price in this currency of corn at Louisville was $165 per bushel in January, 1780.1 On account of the extremely cold ,vinter of 1779- 1780 the corn was not shipped f1~om Boonesborough until about the middle of March.2 It was loaded in pi rogues and started down the Kentucky under the di rection of William Bailey Smith. It was floated down the Ohio over the falls to the mouth of the Cumber land, thence to French Lick. While Henderson was buying corn in Kentucky and Robertson was providing for· the welfare of the fe,v settlers at French Lick, Colonel John Donelson ,vas bringing several families down the Tennessee River ,vith the purpose of settling them at French Lick. Donelson kept a diary, portions of which have been preserved. This party left Fort .Patrick Henry on the Holston River in the boat Adventure December· 22, 1779. Other boats with the same destination joine 1z. F. Smith, 149. 2Draper MSS50J18; Illinois Historical Collections, VIII. 396-398. TRANSYLVANIA IN NORTH CAROLINA 263 treacherous. The disastrous events of one day are typical of the very severe and heartrending adventured endured by the Donelson party, and herewith is given a portion of his diary : .... And here we must regret the unfortunate death of young Mr. Payne, on board Captain Blackemore's boat, who was mor tally wounded by reason of the boat running too near the northern shore, opposite the town where some of the enemy lay concealed; and the more tragical misfortune of poor Stuart, his family and friends, to the number of twenty-eight persons. This man had embarked with us for the western country, but his family being diseased with the small-pox, it was agreed upon between him and the company that he should keep at some distance in the rear, for fear of the infection spreading; and he was warned each night when the encampment should take place by the sound of a horn. After we had passed the town, the Indians having now collected to a considerable number, observing his helpless situation, singled oft from the rest of the fleet, intercepted him, killed and took prisoners the whole crew, to the great grief of the whole company, uncertain how soon they might share the same fate: their cries were distinctly heard by those boats in the rear. We still perceived them [the Indians] marching down the river in considerable bodies, keep ing pace with us until the Cumberland Mountain withdrew them from our sight, when we were in hopes we had escaped them. We now arrived at the place called Whirl, or Suck, where the river is compressed within less than half its common width above, by the Cumberland Mountain, which juts in on both sides. In passing . through the upper part of these nar rows, at a place described by Coody [a half... breed voluntary Indian guide], which he termed the "boiling pot", a trivial acci dent had nearly ruined the expedition. One of the company, John Cotton, who was moving down in a large canoe, had at tached it to Robert Cartwright's boat, into which he and his family had gone for safety. The canoe was here overturned, and the little cargo lost. The company, pitying his distress, concluded to halt and assist him in recovering his property. They had landed on the northern shore, at a level spot, and were going up to the place, when the Indians, to our astonish ment, appeared immediately over us on the opposite cliffs, and commenced firing down on us, which occasioned a precipitate retreat to the boats. We immediately moved off. The Indians, lining the bluff's along, continued their fire from the heights on our boats below, without doing any other injury than wounding four slightly. . . . 264 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY By March 12 the party had reached Muscle Shoals, where Robertson had agreed to meet it and inform Donelson if it would be feasible for the group to go to French Lick by land. Robertson did not appear. The leaders thought it prudent to continue by river; so the party ran the shoals that day. As it continued to de scend the Tennessee, the Indians pursued and attacked it at every available opportunity, wounding several of the party. By March 20 it reached the Ohio. Here more difficulties were encountered; the current was swift, food was about exhausted, the crews were hun gry and worn, many of the group were discouraged and departed for Natchez or the Illinois country. But Donelson kept on. After four days of hunger, toil and endurance, his party came to the mouth of the Cum berland. · Its difficulties were now diminished .to some extent; the current was gentler, the men killed some buffaloes and a swan, "which was very delicious," and found some "Shawnee salad." On March 81 they m~t Richard Henderson, ,vho was with the Virginia sur veyors . . . . . At this meeting we were much rejoiced . ... We are now without bread, and are compelled to hunt the buffalo to preserve life. . . . We proceeded up the Cumberland, nothing happening material until the 23d [April], when we reached the first settle ment on the north side of the river, one mile and a half below the Big Salt Lick, and called Eaton's Station, after a man by that name, who with several other families, came through Ken- tucky and settled there. · On the ·next day the party went on to Big Salt Lick, where it found Robertson and obtained shelter in a few log cabins which he and his companions had built on a cedar bluff above the lick.1 Henderson, accompanied by Nathaniel Hart, reached French Lick the latter part of April. There were a number of settlements made at this time on and near IDiary of John Donelson~ Putnam. TRANSYLVANIA IN NORTH CAROLINA 265 the spot where the city of Nashville now stands. Hen derson and Hart did not settle at French Lick, but went to Stone's River, about a half score of miles away, and made a settlement near that of John Donel son.1 Just who were associated with Henderson and Hart in the settlement we cannot be certain, but pos sibly there were several men from Kentucky, as the following Kentuckians in May, 1780 signed the Cum berland Compact: Michael Stoner, James Harrod, John Cowan, Nathaniel Henderson, William Bailey Smith and Silas Harlan. Richard Henderson and Nathaniel Hart seemed by this time to have reconciled their for mer differences, and Hart evidently contemplated be coming a permanent settler on the Cumberland, as he conveyed there not only a number of Negro slaves and cattle of his own but a number of each belonging to Thomas Hart.2 Henderson opened a Transylvania land office and appointed an entry taker. He sold each pur chaser a tract of 1000 acres for ten dollars. With characte1'istic fairness, "when he received the money, he. gave a certificate which entitled the holder at a fu ture time to further proceedings in the ofliice."3 Not _long after Henderson's arrival he drew up a long and involved Compact for the government of the new colony. It is about one-fourth the length of the constitution of the United States and goes into the most minute. detail. The first page has been lost, but an idea ()f the Compact may be. gotten from that which remains. The eight stations of the settlement combined to form a government by electing twelve judges for the adjustment of disputes. Nashborough should elect three of these, Casper's and Eaton's two each, Bledsoe's, Asher's, Stone's River, Freeland's, and Fort Union one each. A majority of the judges could 1John Haywood, 107; Putnam, 103. 2The Hart Letters", 343. 3John Haywood, 107. 266 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY give a binding decision in case of land disputes between individuals concerning entries of land. This decision was to be recorded by the Entry Taker, who was appointed by Henderson, in the records of the Land Office which he set up. Provision ,vas made in the Compact for those who had to return to their former homes and were consequently unable to make a crop during the year, provided they returned to the colony by May 1, 1781, and provided that some one else did not make a crop on the land dul'ing 1780. All land claims depending on marks or improvements would be void unless regis tered with the Entry Taker within twenty days after the formation of the Compact, and all future marked or improved claims in order to be valid must be regis tered within thirty days. Henderson agreed to remove any Entry Taker who was found guilty by the judges of fraud in office. The terms of the sale of the land was stated as follows: That as no consideration-money for the lands on Cun1ber land River, within the claim of said Richard Henderson and Company, and which is the subject of this Association, is de manded or expected by the said Company, until a satisfactory and indisputable title can be made, so we think it reasonable and just that the twenty-six pounds thirteen shillings and four pence, current money, per hundred acres, the price proposed by the said Richard Henderson, shall be paid according to the value of the money on the· first day of January last, being the time when the price was made public ( and) settlement en couraged thereon by said Henderson, and the said Richard Hen derson on his part does hereby agree that in the case of the rise or appreciation of money from that [obscure] an abate ment in the sum according to its raised or appreciated value. Because of the lack of any constituted authority of government, it was agreed that the judges or triers should constitute a "proper court" for the recovery of debt or damage, and three judges should be sufficient when the controversy was not more than one hundred dollars, but in matte1·s involving larger sums there could be an appeal to a court consisting of as many as TRANSYLVANIA IN NORTH CAROLINA 267 nine of the judges, whose decision would be final. And it is further agreed, that a majority of the said Judges, Triers, or General Arbitrators, shall have power to punish in their discretion, having respect to the laws of our country, all offences against the peace, misdemeanors, and those criminal, or of a capital nature, provided such Court does not proceed with execution so far to effect life or member.••• Those accused of crimes dangerous to the state were to be sent to the regular North Carolina courts for trial. It is stated in the Compact that the settlement is "Unknown" to the government, and that "we find our selves1 constrained from necessity to adopt this tem porary method of restraining the licentious, and sup plying, by unanimous consent, the blessings flo,ving from a just and equitable government.... " The Compact was amended on May 13. The Amend ment provided that all young men over sixteen and able to perform military duty could enter lands, which policy naturally tended to increase land sales and to attract youths. It was agreed that the Entry Office should be opened on May 19, at Nashborough, that the Entry Taker should receive twelve dollars for each entry, and that the entry book should at all times be open to the judges. It also provided that no entry would be valid until the maker should subscribe his name to the "Association, Confederacy, and General Government." Provision was made for the regulation of the militia for defense against the Indians. Al though apparently Henderson and those associated with him had made the settlement without the per mission or approval of North Carolina, he, remindful of his disappointments in Virginia, tpok pains to in corporate in the Compact that a petition should be ad dressed to the General Assembly, "giving the fullest 11tallcs In compact. 268 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY assurance of the fidelity and attachment to the inter ests of our country, and obedience to the laws and Con stitution thereof"; and "that we do not desire to ·be exempt from the rateable share of the public expense of the present war, or other contingent charges of. gov ernment." The Compact was signed by approximately 250 men. Henderson began the construction of a fortified sta tion at Stone's River, and remained there for some time selling lands. "They had done little more than erect what was called 'half-faced camps', cut and burned off some cane, before the depredations of the Indians caused their abandonment."1 The settlers then moved to French Lick. It is not certain when Hender son left the Cumberland settlement to ·return to east ern North Carolina. Perhaps his return was hastened by the passage by the state Assembly of a law which seriously threatened the validity of the claims· of the Transylvania Company. In May, 1780, this law, which was enacted to encourage the enlistment of soldiers in the Revolution, provided that practically all the land contained in the Transylvania Cherokee claim "shall be kept and reserved to and for the use of the said State, and that it shall not be lawful for any person or persons to make entry of, or settle on the said lands, until they- shall have permission to do so by the Legis 2 lature of the said state.... " · That the Transylvania Company made some contri bution to the settlement of Nashville is clearly re vealed. Henderson, in conjunction with Nathaniel Hart, Robertson and Donelson promoted it ; Hender son, Hart, and perhaps other members of the Com pany, must have induced settlers to go there, though how many of these remained permanently is proble- tPutnam, 103. 2North Carolina State Records, XXIV. 337-338. TRANSYLVANIA IN NORTH CAROLINA 269 matical; Henderson wrote the Compact, which "'aR used, though it may have been modified, until North Carolina instituted a regular local government. On the other hand, Henderson and Hart remained on the Cum berland only a short time, and after their departure apparently made no contribution toward the develop ment of the region. The credit for this development must go to James Robertson and others, who defended the place against the Indians, kept law and order, and by sacrifice, labor, and sterling leadership gave impetus and success to the undertaking. Not long after Henderson's return to eastern North Carolina, he was elected to the House of Commons as a representative from Granville County.1 This posi tion manifestly enabled him to exercise considerable influence in the Assembly in behalf of the claims of his Company. Doubtless he was as busy and as san guine as ever in prosecuting its claims. But Thomas Hart in a letter to Nathaniel, dated April 23,. 1782, said: "Our Cumberland Claims for Lands lying within the Limits of this state will be presented to the present Session of the Assembly and Mr. Benton will give you the Event my hopes are small,· but Colo Henderson expects a fortune out of them. " 2 Soon after Hart's letter was written a memorial was presented to the House of Commons by the copartners of Transylvania seeking recognition of their claim to that part of their Cherokee cession within North Carolina. On May 13, 1782, the committee of the House to which the me ~orial had been referred reported that it was its opin ion that the Cherokee purchase was illegal, ·but· on ac count of the expense, trouble, and risks which Hender son and Company had undergone, it recommended that the Company be recompensed with lands in Powell's 1~orth Carolina. Sta.te Records, XVII. 8'1'1. 2"The Hart Letters", 354. 270 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY Valley. The House concurred in this recommendation, and sent the subsequent bill to the Senate.1 In the meantime on May 8, the House had sent the memorial to the Senate with the recommendation that it be re f erred to a joint committee. The Senate gave it serious consideration, but apparently did nothing.:! The Senate likewise seems to have put to sleep the House bill to recompense Henderson and Company with lands in Powell's Valley. But the matter was resurrected in the spring of 1783, for there ,vas a memorial presented to the Sen ate, which presented a novel and unique plea in behalf of the rightful possession of the lands in question by Richard Henderson and Company and the invalidity of the claims of North Carolina. The statements made in this memorial were largely without basis in fact, and the reasoning was illogical. The memorialists doubted the rights of North Carolina, since they were based on claims . . • by virtue of the Charter granted to the Lords Proprietors by Charles 2d. . . . · It would be an affront to the Honourable Assembly to sup pose that any argument was necessary to prove that King Charles and his successors had no right to the lands in ques tion. This absurd Doctrine of Kings and Popes having right to claim and dispose of countries at their will and pleasure has been exploded by all wise men . . • . . The Said Indians, by the laws of nature, certainly had the only just right to these lands, and might dispose of them as they thought proper. They were the aborigines, the sole original owners, and immemorial Possessors of the Said Lands.•.. When the· memorialists obtained this Grant from the Cherokees there was no law then in existence prohibiting Sub jects from purchasing from the Indians. . . . As the memorialists then were and still continue free men, they had an undoubted right to make this Purchase. The Purchase being thus made, the memorialists had all just right to consider themselves as sole owners & rightful Pro- tNorth Carolina State Records, XVI. 151-152. 2Jbid. XIX, 89, 164. TRANSYLVANIA IN NORTH CAROLINA 271 prietors of the lands so purchased, and might at their pleasure dispose of them without incurring any penalty or f oreit.u1·e whatsoever. • • • The conduct of the Assembly of Virginia can be no prece dent to this house. The greatest part of the said purchase which lay within the chartered Boundaries of that State were at least a doubtful property being claimed by the Northern or Ohio Indians as "·ell as by the Cherokees, who were wont to call that part of the Country, the middle or Bloody grounds. It was chiefly from this view of the subject that that Assembly declared the purchase from the Cherokees void. . • • . The lands now in question are free from all such cavil. They were immemorially claimed by the Cherokees, and their title to them was never disputed by any other tribe-Another Argument much made use of in that Assembly was that the memorialists were foreigners and intruders from another state and that they had snatched from them advantages that be longed to their citizens alone...... The memorialists will be contented with the quantity voted to them by the Committee. Richard Henderson for himself & compt.1 On the same day that James Hogg read this me morial in the Senate, this body received from the House of Commons a memorial by James Hogg in behalf of Richard Henderson and Company, which had been en dorsed and referred to a joint committee.2 On May 7, the Senate committee reported : That the Memorialists ought to have as a compensation for their expenses, Trouble & Risque in settling the lands in the said Memorial mentioned 400,000 acres to be laid off in Powell's Valley. ...~ On May 8 in the Senate "General Jones moved for leave & presented a bill to vest certain lands in Rich ard Henderson and others, which was read the first time, passed and sent to the Commons."4 On the same day in the House of Commons the report of the joint committee was rejected. Then a resolution was in- 1North Carolina Legislative Papers. 2North Carolina, State Records, XIX. 164. 31bid. XIX. 192. "Ibid. XIX. 19'7. 272 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY troduced to allow the Transylvania proprietors 200,000 acres in Powell's Valley. -The bill was read the first time, passed, and sent to the Senate. Here the follow ing day the bill was read the first time and passed. On the same day the House concurred.1 When the bill was read the· second time in the House on )lay 13, it was amended, passed, and sent to the Senate.2 The next day it was passed by the Senate after the third reading.3 Later the amount of acreage was reduced to 100,000 acres in the Senate by a vote of 52 to 7. The bill as finally passed, however, granted 200,000 acres to Richard Henderson, Thomas Hart, John Williams, William Johnston, James Hogg, David Hart, Leonard Henley Bullock, Landon Carter, the heir of John Car ter, the heirs, assigns or devisees of Nathaniel Hart, John Luttrell and Robert Lucas. Evidently part of the grant fell to Landon Carter and the heirs of Robert Lucas as heirs of John Carter to compensate for the loss incurred by the latter in the non-recognition of lands deeded to him at the time the Sycamore Shoals deed was made. Carter and the Lucas heirs received ten thousand acres. The remaining one hundred and ninety thousand acres were divided among the· original incorporators or their heirs in proportion to the value of their original shares. The boundaries -of the 200,000 acres were as follows: . . . . Beginning at the old Indian town in Powell's valley, and running down Powell's river not less than four miles in width on one or both sides thereof to the junction of Powell's and Clinch river, then down Clinch river on both sides, not less than twelve miles in width, for the aforesaid complement of two hundred thousand acres. The act of grant provided That the aforesaid tract is laid out and surveyed by the grantees lNorth Carolina State Records, XIX. 325-329. 2Jbt4. 342. Slbfd. 351. TRANSYLVANIA IN NORTH CAROLINA 273 before mentioned, on or before the last day of next November, otherwise any person entering and surveying any part or parcel thereof, agreeable to the laws of the State, may and mall ob tain a title to the same, anything herein contained notwithstand ing.1 The grantees were not able to have the grant sur veyed in the time prescribed, and, in April 1784, the proprietors of Transylvania were back before the As sembly with another memorial asking for an extension of time in which to complete the survey and additional acreage of 50,000 acres because the lands of the grant fell "far short of the character given them by Col. Hen derson, they being very mountainous, hilly, broken.''2 On May 18 the committee of the House to which the memorial was referred reported That it appears to your committee that the lands surveyed for the said Richard Henderson and Company, in virtue of the act of the last session of the Assembly, there is a very large proportion of mountainous barren land, altogether unfit for cultivation. In view of this fact the committee recommended that Richard Henderson and Company be granted an addi tional fifty thousand acres, "in any part of the western country ... of lands not already appropriated." This recommendation was defeated by a vote of 27 to 41.3 Later in the session an act was passed by the Assem bly extending the time for survey without penalties for twelve months after the passage of the act. 4 But still the surveying was not done, and in November, 1788, a petition was again before the Assembly for a further extension of time and the non-enforcement of the pen alties. 5 As a result the original act was amended thus: 1North Carolina State Records, XXIV. 530; Draper MSS1OO227- 233. 2Letter of William Johnston to Thomas Hart, 1784, Clare M SS. 3North Carolina State Becard.8, XIX. 613-814; Letter of William Johnston to Thomas Hart, 1'184, Clm-e MSS. 4North CaroUna State .Recorc!B, XXIV. 640. 511nd. XX. 530, XXI. 55. 274 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY Whereas by reason of danger from the Indians, and the un settled state of the country where the said lands lie, the survey of them could not be completed within the time prescribed by the said law: 1. Be it therefore Enacted by the General Assembly of the State of North Carolina, and it is hereby Enacted by the au thority of the same, That the said Richard Henderson and Com pany, shall have full power, right and authority to compleat the said survey, according to the said act of the Assembly; and if compleated within twelve months after a peace shall be settled with the said Indians, it shall be as .full and effectual to all in tents and purposes, as if it had been compleated within the time prescribed by the said Act.1 1North Caroli114 State Records, XXIV. 991. CHAPTER XIV SETTLEMENT OF IIENDERSON N the . nature of existing conditions the Virginia grant of 200,000 acres to the Transylvania Com I pany on the Ohio and Green Rivers was not avail able for settlement for some time after the grant was made in 1778. Its location was 200 miles from any settlement,1 and the Company must await the spread of population westward and a demand by settlers for land before it could hope to realize financial returns from the grant. In 1780 the Company sold to Mr. Purviance one fourth interest in this tract for 50,000 pounds Virginia currency and 28,000 pounds Maryland currency.:? Esti mated in terms of sound money, the price of this pur chase ,vas considerably less than fifty cents an acre. In fact about this time some of this land sold as low as ten cents per acre. But by 1789 it was claimed that the land had become worth one dollar per acre, and there appeared in The Gazette of Charleston, South Carolina, an advertisement calling a meeting of the proprietors of Transylvania, "particularly those who have purchased of Colonel Dry ... to determine such measures as may be deemed necessary for having their lands located and surveyed.... " 3 Nothing tangible came from this meeting. Six years went by and the Green River tract was still undeveloped and unprofitable. For twenty years IDra,per MSS1CC155-157. 2Alves MSS. 3Williams, 17. 275 276 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY now the Transylvania Company had been investing un known, but quite large, sums of money, and the re turns had been pitifully small. In 1784 William Bled soe was engaged to survey the tract, lay off Mr. Pur viance's part, and divide the remainder in twenty-four divisons.1 This was never done. In November, 1795 Colonel Robert Burton, now financially interested in the company, was selected to supervise the surveying of the tract with the purpose of putting it on the mar ket. Not long after that, General Samuel Hopkins was made resident agent for the company. Hopkins em ployed Colonel Thomas Allin of Harrodsburg to survey the grant, which he began to do April 26, 1796; but seemingly did not complete the survey that year. So things still moved slowly. In September, 1796, Hopkins wrote James Hogg a letter from which we may gather some hints concerning the situation of affairs relative to the Green River lands. In declining to purchase from the Company an additional 1200 acres of land in the tract, Hopkins stated the reasons for his refusal: first, there had been so many sales of the property and it had passed through so many hands that an investigation of the many titles would be tedious and troublesome ; second, "the primary owners by having divested their interest therein, & who [illegible] I conceive have right to make divisions, conveyances &c, cannot be convened so as to effectually do the business ...."; third, there was a tangle in the title to the holdings of Mr. Purviance. Hopkins then added: "I found these reasons operating so power erfully with land speculators in Kentucky last spring that I could not have sold to them an acre at any price, I believe, Sir, they will continue to operate till the whole business is finally adjusted & fixed."2 tLetter of Wllllam Johnston to Thomas Ba.rt, 1'784, Clore MSS. 2Archives Kentucky State Historical Libra:J"11. SETTLEMENT OF HENDERSON 277 This letter evidently stirred the members of the Company to action, for a meeting was held at Williams borough, North Carolina, January 25, 1797, when it was unanimously agreed by those present that a di vision should be made "into convenient tracts or parcels for the purpose of making a fair and equitable parti tion." About ten days later, February 6, Williams and Burton by letter instructed Hopkins to carry out the resolution by making a survey of the land into parcels suitable for a division, and to inform the proprietors resident in· Kentucky of the resolution for a division.1 On January 27, John Williams, now chairman of the proprietors, advertised in most or all the papers in the southeastern states the following: Notice is hereby given that the Transylvania Company . . . having employed an agent to repair to Kentucky and lay off the land lying on the Ohio River, at the mouth of Green River, granted by the Assembly of Virginia to the said Company, into lots and surveys, so as to make a partition amongst the original proprietors easy and convenient, who in all probability will have effected the same in all June next: the Company, therefore, gives this public notice, that they have appointed a meeting of the Company to be held at Williamsborough, in Granville County, the State of North Carolina, on the last Mon day in July next, in order to make a full and equal partition of the said lands, amongst the original proprietors, their heirs and devisees, when they, their subpurchasers and all others concerned, may by themselves, or their agents or attorneys, at tend for that purpose, when a partition may be made between the original proprietors and their subpurchase1·s, if convenient.2 Not long after General Hopkins had received Colonel Williams' letter of Feb1·uary 6, informing him of the purpose of the proprietors, he, in company with Colonel Allin and Mr. Purviance, a lawyer of Lexington, ,vent to the mouth of Green River, ,vhere, on the last day of March, Allin began his survey of the tract. His first task was the laying out of a to,vn site. The place selected was some eight miles by straight line do,vn 1CZore MSS. 2"Henderson Memorial Celebration," 273. 278 THE ·TRANSYLVANIA COLONY the Ohio River from the mouth of the Green. Here the country was above the highest possible water. The town plot consisted of 264 lots, each containing one acre of ground, four lots forming a square. Ample provision was made for a park and for streets. The park site, said to be the first municipal park ,vest of the Alleghanies, was situated in the center of the town, extended from the river front to the east limits of the town, and contained approximately twenty-five acres. The street extending along the water front was 200 feet in width, and two and one-fourth miles long. The three streets parallel with it and the twenty-five cross streets were 100 feet wide each. The ,vhole to,\"D was surrounded by a street 100 feet wide, which separated the town proper from the thirty-two adjacent out-lots. These latter contained ten acres each. The laying off of the town was done in about a week. Then Allin proceeded to survey the remainder of the tract into large plots ranging from 400 to 2250 acres each to be utilized for farming purposes. When the whole survey was finished it was found that the total acreage was only 180,6621, and "in order to gain possession of the full amount, the lines. were extended a few poles on three sides . . . ."2 General Hopkins then made his re port to the Company July 1, 1797, in time for it to be considered at the meeting called by Colonel Williams. This meeting was held at Williamsborough July 31- August 9, 1797. By this time six of the original part ners of the Transylvania Company-Henderson, Na thaniel Hart, David Hart, Luttrell, Johnston· and Bul lock-were dead. Williams, Hogg and Thomas Hart only remained. The two former were present, and Williams acted as chairman. The majority of those having an interest in the Green River tract were either 1Clore MSS. 2Starling, 26. SETTLEMENT OF HENDERSON 2'19 present or had representatives. At this meeting lots were drawn by those holding titles or by· their rep resentatives, using the map of the survey sent them by Hopkins. This was for the disposition of the farm lands. The town lots and out-lots were ordered ''sold or otherwise disposed of for the Benefit of the Com pany. "1 While the Company was delaying to open its grant for purchase and settlement, squatters had made a set tlement on the Ohio at Red Banks, where the city pf Henderson now stands. In 1791, or earlier, a group of these stopped at the "Bottoms", a low, swampy place above Henderson, later known as "Hughes Field", but when the spring floods came .they moved to higher ground, where they built stockaded cabins and a row of block-houses. These people were chiefly of German and English extraction. 2 Their settlement became permanent, and they were given generous recognition by the Company, as the following excerpt from an ordinance adopted at the July-August meeting will show: . . . we give to all those male persons and their heirs who may have settled at the red banks on or before the first day of May 1794 who have built and improved and are now residing there on, being then free and of full age, or to such free persons of full age as may occupy such buildings and settlement at the present time under assignment of the first settler, one lot of one acre each, provided such lot be improved in the same man ner and in the same time as shall herein be established for those who purchase under this ordinance.3 On December 15, 1797, General Hopkins advertised the sale of lots to take place on the first Monday of the following April, and to be sold under these regulations: !Clore MSS. 2.lfemorial Celebration and the Founding of Henderson. Pam- phlet. . 3Hend.erscm County Record Book, A. 280 THE TRANSYLVANIA COLONY The purchaser of a town lot is to build a framed, hewed or sawed log-house, sixteen feet square at least, with dh-t, stone or brick chimney, or shall reside on the lot by himself, or his rep resentative, for the space of three years ensuing. The time of residence is to commence within one year after the time of purchase. The purchaser of an outlot is to improve the same, either by building or inhabiting in the manner prescribed for in-lots, or by tending at least one-half of it in some crop for the terms of three years. . . • In the meeting ·of the proprietors during the pre vious summer it had been "provided that each original proprietor or his heirs who shall purchase any number of lotts not exceeding four lotts of one acre each in said town shall not be obliged to improve or reside thereon as other purchasers."1 The new town was named Henderson in honor of Colonel Richard Henderson, the organizer and chief promoter of the Transylvania Company, to whose in terests he had devoted the major portion of the last ten or t.,velve years of his life. Under the direction of wise and liberal minds the to,vn grew and prospered. Sooner or later there were buyers for all the town lots and the farm lands. Hopkins, under the leadership of the remaining proprietors, succeeded in having a new county created in 1798, being the thirty-eighth county of the State, named Henderson also, and composed of the land_s of the Virginia grant. The town was made the county seat, and· the court house was located on a commanding spot, presumably an Indian mound, with in the large park. The establishment of the town of Henderson, with its splendid location, its ample lots, its wide streets, and its commodious park, and likewise the establish ment of the county with its fertile farms, formed the outstanding tangible achievement of the Transylvania Company. The great enterprise had brought one dis appointment after another to its proprietors: Virginia 1Henderson County Record Book, A. SETTLEMENT OF HENDERSON 281 had destroyed the "New Independent Province" and denied the Company's land claims, excepting the Green River grant; The Fourteenth Original American Col ony was never realized ; Boonesborough had disap peared; the Company had gotten neither profit nor glory out of the Cumberland settlement; and North Carolina had whittled an imperial domain in its limits to 200,000 acres in East Tennessee. After more than twenty years of wandering in the wilderness, the pro prietors, ,vho then remained alive, had become weary of following elusive will-o-the-wisps and unprofitable dreams of empire and with superb leadership in skill and planning made a lasting contribution toward the development of the \Vest in the to,vn and the county of Henderson. BIBLIOGRAPHY ADAMS, JOHN. Diary, Letters o/ the Members of the Continental Ccmgress. ALDEN, GEORGE HENRY. "New Governments West of the Alle gbanies Before 1780", Bulletin o/ the Univasity of Wisconsin, 1897 . .ALVES, BaNARD S. 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