University of Kentucky UKnowledge United States History History 2004 Westward into Kentucky: The Narrative of Daniel Trabue Chester Raymond Young Cumberland College Click here to let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Thanks to the University of Kentucky Libraries and the University Press of Kentucky, this book is freely available to current faculty, students, and staff at the University of Kentucky. Find other University of Kentucky Books at uknowledge.uky.edu/upk. For more information, please contact UKnowledge at [email protected]. Recommended Citation Young, Chester Raymond, "Westward into Kentucky: The Narrative of Daniel Trabue" (2004). United States History. 19. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_united_states_history/19 Westward into Kentucky This page intentionally left blank · Westward into Kentucky The Narrative of DANIEL TRABUE Edited by Chester Raymond Young With a New Foreword by Daniel Blake Smith 1HE UNIVERSITY PRESS Of KJENTUCKY Publication of this volume was made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Copyright © 1981 by Th e University Press of Kentucky Paperback edition 2004 Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth, serving Bellarmine University, Berea College, Centre College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, Th e Filson Historical Society, Georgetown College, Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Western Kentucky University. All rights reserved. Editorial and Sales Offi ces: Th e University Press of Kentucky 663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40508-4008 www.kentuckypress.com Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Trabue, Daniel, 1760-1840. Westward into Kentucky : the narrative of Daniel Trabue / edited by Chester Raymond Young ; with a new foreword by Daniel Blake Smith. p. cm. Originally published: 1981. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8131-9119-X (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Trabue, Daniel, 1760-1840. 2. Pioneers—Kentucky—Biography. 3. Pioneers —Virginia—Biography. 4. Frontier and pioneer life—Kentucky. 5. Frontier and pioneer life—Virginia. 6. Kentucky—Description and travel. 7. Virginia—Descrip- tion and travel. 8. Virginia—History—Revolution, 1775-1783. 9. Kentucky—Bio- graphy. 10. Virginia—Biography. I. Young, Chester Raymond, 1920- . II. Title. F454.T728 2004 976.9’02’092 —dc22 [B] 2004014888 ISBN-13: 978-0-8131-9119-5 (pbk. : alk. paper) Th is book is printed on acid-free paper meeting the requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials. Manufactured in the United States of America. Member of the Association of American University Presses Contents Foreword Vlt Preface xi Introduction 1 THE NARRATIVE OF DANIEL TRABUE 1. The Huguenot Heritage 37 2. A Martial Introduction to the Kentucky Wilderness 44 3. Disruptive Indian Incursions 51 4. The "Big Siege" of Boones borough 57 5. The "Hard Winter" of1779-1780 69 6. The Captivity and Escape ofTwo Trabue Brothers 79 7. Militia Service in Old Virginia 95 8. Wartime Stress on Civilian Life 106 9. Yorktown and War's End 114 10. The Separate Baptists of Revolutionary Virginia 128 11. Postwar Conditions in Trans-Appalachia 134 12. Violence on the Kentucky Frontier 146 Notes 155 Bibliographical Essay 200 Index 209 To Tossie with love Foreword Daniel Blake Smith Kentucky began as a dream. For some, it promised an edenic paradise across the mountains; for others, it was hope for a second chance, a place to start over. One of the many virtues of Daniel Trabue's colorful Westward into Kentucky lies in the evocative way that it captures the seductive sense of wonder and hope that beckoned borderers. Just as memorably, it suggests the gritty and bitter reality of dashed dreams in early Kentucky. As a young adolescent in revolutionary Virginia, Daniel Trabue's interest in Kentucky was stimulated initially with the stories told by his older brother James. James Trabue, a lieutenant serving under Governor Dunsmore, regaled Daniel with tales about Kentucky, the promised land, "a new Decovered wonderfull country" (42). But Kentucky was more than just a story to the Trabue family; it was a "great calculation." Four years later, when Trabue was eighteen, he joined his brother James in a venture into the wilds of Kentucky. "We entered the wilderness in high spirits," Trabue noted. "I was truly Delighted in seeing the mountains, Rivers, hills, etc .... Every thing looked new to me" (44). Later, while tracking Indians past the Cumberland Gap and down the mountain, he observed how bewildering and disorienting this new land was to him, "It looked like I was going out of the world" (45). And upon encountering Indian devastations and abandoned cabins, Trabue "began to feel strange" (44). Trabue's narrative offers up more than a "wonderfull country''; it show­ cases a powerful, transforming experience that both required and revealed an odd mixture of bravado and fear, individual determination and family devotion. Life on the borderlands tested Trabue's manhood and militia training, and like other long hunters and settlers who left behind memoirs, Trabue was eager to focus on acts of courage-especially his own. At one point, a small company of young men traveling with Trabue confided to him that they were afraid of pushing on not only because of the danger of Indian attacks but also because of the fear of getting lost in the wilderness and running short of food. Trabue clearly enjoyed contrasting his own confidence and courage against their fears: ''As to finding the way I was not uneasy about that as I knew about steering in the woods. I could find the way as I had been their" (71). Having considerable skills in the woods gave Trabue viii FOREWORD confidence that many others lacked. Trabue relished the story of his timid friends out in the Kentucky woods who, while feasting on a "large fat Rackoon," began to whine and worry about their fate: "We are in a wilder­ ness without any path, nothing to eat but a koon for 6 or 7 Men without Bread or Salt, liable every moment to be Masscreed by the Indians." They were all ready to scamper back to the safety of the fort. "One of them," Trabue recalled, "said he would return to Old Virginia as quick as he could and them that liked Kentucky might enjoy it but he would not stay in such a country'' (71). If competence in the woods was helpful to settlers, courage was down­ right necessary. And for young men like Trabue cowardice was simply unacceptable. A young man in the militia who tried to parlay his sickness into an excuse to avoid combat received universal disdain. His commanding officer swore "he would cut of[f] his head as he was a Coward." Trabue's opinion was no less harsh: "I make no Doubt but this young man was sick, but it was fear that was the cause of it and Major Boyse cured him" (102). And yet despite all the bravado that pervades Trabue's account, even a cursory reading of this memoir reveals the fear that lurked beneath every Indian attack, every harsh winter, and every moment spent lost in the woods. From Trabue's perspective, Indians were clearly dangerous and "cuning" enemies-oftentimes "waching the roads, killing Men, or steeling our horses, or killing our cattle" (51). Trabue confessed that his "heart would go piti pat," any time he sensed the presence oflndians. Early on, in a truly remarkable passage, he gave voice to his deep-seated fears about being "defeeted," which could come not only at the hands of angry Indians but also from within, by simply giving in to weakness: "I for my part began to feel chikinhearted. I was afraid I should be killed in this Drary howling Wilderness but I never mentioned it to any one. I thought if we come in contact with the indians I would keep behind or in the reare, but I thought that would not Do as I might be called a coward" (45). Maintaining one's dignity was nearly as important as simply staying alive. And according to Trabue and other early pioneers, that was no easy task. Much of Trabue's account consists of descriptions of numerous hunting expeditions to find food. There was a massive amount ofbuffalo and turkey killed in the wilds of Kentucky that thinned out the meat supply all too quickly. In the especially hard winter of 1779-80, Trabue reported that nearly all of the game and livestock were gone, with very little corn in the fields. Trabue's observations are terse but evocative: "The people was in great Distress. Many in the wilderness frosbit. Some Dead. Some eat of the dead cattle and horses" (75). Sometimes hunters found themselves caught be- FOREWORD ix tween hunger and fear--as when Trabue remembers wanting to retrieve some meat that his company of hunters had left hanging up only to realize that their meat supply was now being watched by Indians as well. Such moments of frustration must have been frequent and painful--and they sometimes prompted both regret for having ever entered Kentucky and fantasies about the lives they had left behind. Trabue and his friend Jeffrey Davis headed for the deer licks one day looking to hunt, but they could find nothing to kill. "When we was lying and waching the lick," Trabue remem­ bered, "Mr. Davis said, 'If we was only now in Old Virginia. At this very time their is preaching at Dupuy's Meeting house. So many prerty Girles their. Ifl was their I could go with some of them and eat a good Dinur, have something good to Drink.