— “ F I L S O N C L U B P U B L I C AT I O N S N o . 2 3 In T RADITIO N S O F THE N O R T H AM E R I C A Th e F ir st Form e d a nd F irst I nh a b it e d o f t h e Continents BY R E U B E N T . D U R R E T T A . B . , LL . B A . M . , L L . D . President of Th e F ilson Club alhwtrateh LO U L LE KE UCK ISVI , NT Y JOH N P . MORTON COMPAN Y (Incorporated) PRINTE RS T O T m: Pu o n CL U B 1 908 908 CO PY R IG H T , 1 , TH E F I L S O N C L U B All R igh ts R es e rved I N T R O D U C T I O N T the beginning of our Civil War there lived in Louisville an elderly gentleman by the name of ffi Gri n , who , though belonging to neither of the learned professions , had read many books and stored ' s H e his excellent memory with much u eful information . was of Welsh descent , and proud of the long line of Cam I brians he numbered among his ancestors . knew him i a well , and was fond of talking w th him bout the many interesting things that occurred while Louisville was pro gressing from a straggling row of log cabins and ponds n along u paved Main Street , between First and Twelfth , to the mansions of brick and stone along the many paved streets now occupied by wealth and fashion . Knowing that he prided himself upon being of Welsh I descent , asked him one day What he thought of the tradition that Madoc , a Welsh prince , had planted a col ony of his countrymen in America in the Twelfth cen r tu y . He answered that he had become interested in the subject when he was young in years ; that he had read all he could secure of what had been printed about it ; that he had also learned some things from tradition which had not gotten into print , and that this country in early iv Introducfion times had many traditions on the subject which came originally from the Indians . He added that he considered the Madoc tradition as plausible and as worthy of belief as any of the stories of the pre -Columbian discoveries of a Americ . I then asked him if any of the traditions he had heard were connected with the Falls of the Ohio , and if they were so related would he much oblige by giving them to me ? He a nswered that he was not at the Falls of the Ohio when Louisville was founded , but that he knew some such - - ~ Cla rk S u ire & B o e of the pioneers , as General fi q o n , ~ James Patte n a nd _others c w hose lives had been prolonged m w to his ti es . These pioneers had intercourse ith friend l y Indians , who frequently visited the Falls for the pur pose of trade , and from them the following traditions con nected with the Falls were obtained . efiersonville On the north side of the river , where J now stands , some skeletons were exhumed in early times with armor on which had brass plate s bearing the Mer -of— maid and Harp , which belong to the Welsh coat arms . o On the same side of the river , further d wn , a piece of stonesupposed to be part of a tombstone was found with the date 1 1 86 and what seemed to be a name or the ini t ials efia ced l of a name so by time as to be il egible . If that piece of stone was ever a tombstone over a grave , the party laid beneath it must have been of the Welsh . di colony of Madoc , for we have no tra tion of any one 1 1 86 but the Welsh at the Falls so early as . In early times the forest along the river on bo th sides of the Falls for s ome miles presented two kinds of growth . Along the margin of the river the giant syca mores and other trees of the primeval forest stood as if they had never been b e distur ed , but beyond th m was a broad belt of trees of ff n the e s a di erent growth , u til b lt was pas ed , when the original forest growth again appeared . This indicated “ that the belt had been deprived of its original forest for ul new agric tural or other purposes , and that a forest had o grown up in its stead . He said , however , it was p ssible that the most important of these traditions learned from the Indians concerned a great battle fought at the Falls of the Ohio between the Red Indians and the Wh ite In di dians , as the Welsh In ans were called . It has been a long time ago since this battle was fought , but it was u fin fo g ht here and won by the Red Indians . In the al struggle the White Indians sought sa fety on an island since known as Sandy Island , but nearly all who sought . refuge there were slaughtered . The remnant who escaped death made their way to the Missouri River , where by different movements at different times they went up that river a great distance . They were known to exist there ' iv Introd ucfzon times had many traditions on the subject which came originally from the Indians . He added that he considered the Madoc tradition as plausible and as worthy of belief as any of the stories of the pre-Columbian discoveries of America . I then asked him if any of the traditions he had heard were connected with the Falls of the Ohio , and if they were so related woul d he much oblige by giving them to me ? He a nswered that he was not at the Falls of the ui Ohio when Lo sville was founded , but that he knew some “ h as - l — Cla rk uire Boone of the pioneers , suc Genera q , - ~ Ja mes Pa tten . a nd others w h ose lives had been prolonged i to his times . These pioneers had intercourse w th friend i l y Indians , who frequently visited the Falls for the pur pose of trade , and from them the following traditions con nected with the Falls were obtained . efiersonville On the north side of the river , where J now stands , some skeletons were exhumed in early times . with armor on which had brass plates bearing the Mer -of- a rrns maid and Harp , which belong to the Welsh coat . o On the same side of the river , further d wn , a piece of . stone suppose d to be part of a tombstone was fou nd with the date 1 1 86 and what seemed to be a name or the ini tials f of a name so e faced by time as to be illegible . If that piece of stone was ever a tombstone over a grave , the party laid beneath it must have been of the Welsh . f colony o Madoc , for we have no tradition of any one 1 1 but the Welsh at the Falls so early as 86 . In early times the forest along the river on both sides of the Falls for s ome miles presented two kinds of growth . Along the margin of the river the giant sycamores and other trees of the primeval forest stood as if they had never been e disturbed , but beyond th m was a broad belt of trees of iff the a d erent growth , until belt was passed , when the original forest growth again appeared . This indicated that the belt had been deprived of its original forest for ul new agric tural or other purposes , and that a forest had its o grown up in stead . He said , however , it was p ssible that the most important of these traditions learned from the Indians concerned a great battle fought at the Falls of the Ohio between the Red Indians and the White In di d e dians , as the Welsh In ans were calle . It has b en a long time ago since this battle was fought , but it was i fi fought here and won by the Red Ind ans . In the nal struggle the White Indians sought sa fety on an island n a ll since know as Sandy Island , but nearly who sought refuge there were slaughtered . The remnant who escaped death made their way to the Missouri River , where by different movements at different times they went up that c river a great distan e . They were known to exist there Introduction by different parties who came from there and talked Welsh with the pioneers . Some Welshmen living at the Falls of the Ohio in pioneer times ta lked with these White f Indians , and although there was a considerable di ference between the Welsh they spoke and the Welsh spoken by diffi ul the Indians , yet they had no great c ty in under standing one another . He further said , concerning this a ' tradition of great battle , that there was a tradition that many skeletons were found on Sandy Island min gled promiscuously together as if left there unburied after e a great battl , but that he had examined the island a um m n ber of times without finding a single hu an bone , and that if skeletons were ever abundant there they had disappeared before his time .