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.