FiLSON CLUB PUBLICATIONS NO. 12. BRYANTS STATION AND THE MEMORIAL PROCEEDINGS HELD ON ITS SITE UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE LEXINGTON CHAPTER, D. A. R., AUGUST THE I8TH, i8g6 IN HONOR OP ITS HEROIC MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS PREPARED FOR PUBLICATION BT REUBEN T. DURRETT, LL. D. PRESIDENT OF THE FILSON CLUB 4-OUISVlLLE, KENTUCKY JOHN P. MORTON AND COMPANY ^InUte to f§.e Jiteon €tuB 1897 R. T. DURRETT, PRESIDENT. THOMAS SPEED, SCORCTARY. J. STODDARD JOHNSTON, VICE-PRESIDENT. ATTILLA COX, TREASURER. Tf)e Pil'^on Clab. (INCORPORATED) lyoai^sville, Fj^. .?!:«.lt?-.w..9r.Y 8V.. iS^ 7. Dr. ElTiott none8, Wsshinrton, I). 0, I hav9 dirpctioci ^nhn P- Morton ft CnrniiVny to ^i^nd von a copy of tho I'Ath. publication of Th9 Filson Club.4 I hoi^e yon will ^'eceivR it in pood prdar and in dni? Bsason, anrl that yon ivill acc^^pt it wi'th try oorapliments. Truly, yg 7^//^?^ •0 a s -g .5 a ^o 13 It fii0) < 1^3 Q a M C/l £ •B a.•5 b -ngl oe- M' s o s V r897 PREFACE. T^HIS twelfth number of The Filson Club publications is *• the first of the series to partake of a miscellaneous character. All the others, The Life and Writings of John Filson, The Wilderness Road, The Pioneer Press of Ken­ tucky, The Life and Times-of Judge Caleb Wallace, The Historical Sketch of St. Paul's Church, The political Beginnings of Kentucky, The Centenary of Kentucky, The Centenary of Louisville, The Political Club, The Life and Writings of Constantine Samuel Rafinesque, and The History of Transylvania University, are monographs. While, however, the present number has the appearance of a miscellany, it is hardly any thing but a inOnograph when Bryant's or Bryan's Station is Considered the subject. It was the siege of this station which gave its female inhabitants the opportunity to immortalize them­ selves by going to the spring for water, and it was this act of the women and girls which. led to the monument over the spring they had made famous. When the monu­ ment had been finished, its unveiling by those who had originated it naturally followed, and hence the commem­ orative ceremonies on the 18th, which make up the prin- iv Preface. cipal matter of this publication. In this sense, therefore, the seemingly separate articles are parts of one whole, and really make but a monograph on the subject of Bryant's or Bryan's Station and the memorial services there. There has been no attempt in this pubHcation to recon­ cile differences of opinion as to the name of the famous station on the Elkhorn, nor as to the date at which it was besieged by the Indians. This difference of opinion is of modern origin and harmless in character. For ninety yearis out historians uniformly called the station Bryant's, and for a period yet longer gave the date of the begin­ ning of its sie^e as the 15th of August, 1782. When the Canadian Archives were opened to the public in 1881, and the Virginia Calendar began to be published in 1875; contemporary accounts of the siege were made accessible, which induced some writers to change the date from the 15th to the i6th, and the name from Bryant's to Bryan's. In making these changes, however, they seem to have lost sight of the fact that their newly discovered authorities. were not uniform. Some of them gave one date and name and some another, which made them pre­ sent a difficulty to be gotten over only by a guess as to which might be right. They enabled no one to be more certain of the right date or name than he was before he Preface. v saw them. Nor is it likely that reasomng persons will ever be able to satisfy themselves beyond a doubt whether the right name of the Station was Bryan or Bryant, nor whether the siege began on the 15th or i6th. Fortunately both names and both dates are good enough, and rest upon ample authority for their use. In this publication, therefore, the different articles/ are given as the authors prepared them, with their own choice of the name of the station and date of the siege. / The editor of this volume, however, with the same liberty accorded to others, adheres to the name and date witl/ which he has been familiar all of his life. An historic sketch of the Lexington Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution occupies a place in this publication, as it should. The patriotic ladies of this organization, many of whom are members of The Filson Club, were the first to conceive the thought of honoring the memory of the brave women of Bryant's Station. These heroines had been neglected while one hundred and fourteen years glided silently over their unknown graves. Their act in going outside of the protecting walls of the fort to secure water from a spring surrounded by savages ranked them among the bravest celebrities of the world, and yet no one thought of honoring their memory with a monument until the Lexington Chapter of the vi Preface, Daughters of the America5~Revolution undertook it. Now that the work has been done, and a monument so simple and yet so appropriate is seen at the fanions spring, the wonder is that some one had not thought of it before. H If any one, however, did think of it before it was only a thought, and the honor of conception and execution belongs to the Lexington Chapter of the Daughters of the Ameri­ can Revolution., The undertaking originally derived en­ couragement from some excellent articles in the Lexington Transcript, written by the'Honorable James H. Mulligan and his accomplished wife, both members of The Filson Club, nevertheless it is not too much to say that the Chapter singly and alone began the work and prosecuted it to completion. The addresses delivered by the speakers at the memorial celebration on the i8th present the story of Bryant's Sta­ tion more elaborately and more authentically than it has ever been presented before. It is the new historic matter contained in these addresses which entitles the proceed­ ings at Bryant's Station to recognition as a Filson Club publication. The Filson Club was organized for the pur­ pose of collecting, preserving, and publishing original his­ toric matter, and this kind of matter is abundantly found in these addresses. They really make up a new chapter in Kentucky history, and their authors are all members of The Filson Club. Preface. vii There was nevertheless something beyond these ad­ dresses that was wanted to complete the story of Bryant's Station. This was an account of the Battle of the Blue Licks which followed the siege and which was really thie closing scene in the bloody, drama. This want was sup­ plied by the paper prepared by Colonel Bennett H. Young and read before Thie Filson Club. It is embraced in this publication, and completes the history of the most remark­ able siege and the moSt disastrous battle with the Indians that ever occurred in Kentucky. R. T. DURRETT, President. CONTENTS. I. The Lexington Chapter, D. A. R., with a list of its officers and members, and the memorial proceedings at the un­ veiling of the monument erected to the memory of the heroic mothers and daughters of Bryan's or Bryant's Station. By Mrs. Elizabeth Slaughter Bassett Scott, i 2. The first act in the Siege of Bryant's Station, embracing the memorial proceedmgs there on the i8th, a list of the inhabitants of the Station when the siege began, and a list of the brave mothers and daughters who went to the spring for water. By Reuben T. Durrett, LL. D., 15 3. The Women of Bryant's Station—an original poem. By Major Henry T. Stanton, 62 4. The story of Bryan's or Bryant's Station, embracing its full history from its beginning to its end. By Professor George W. Ranck, 69 5. The Battle of the Blue Licks, embracing its full history, with an appendix containing a list of Kentuckians en­ gaged, By Colonel Bennett H. Young, 131 6. An historic sketch of The Filson Club, with a list of its officers and members, alphabetically arranged. By Reuben T. Durrett,. LL. D,, 233 7. Index, 259 > -y'j/'^') Officers of the Lexington Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution; all members of The Filson Club. The Siege of Bryan's Station. THE LEXINGTON CHAPTER OF THE DAUGHTERS OF TME AMERICAN REVOLUTION AND THEIR COM­ MEMORATIVE PROCEEDINGS. BY MRS. ELIZABETH SLAUGHTER BASSETT SCOTT, Sterttary of tht Lexington Chapter D. A. R. and MemUr of tht Fileon Club. IN response to a call from Miss EUzabeth Shelby Kln- kead, a number oi ladies met with her, in Lexington, Kentucky, on the affiemoon of September 19, 189^1, for the purpose of organizing a society, the aim and object of which should belthe promotion of patriotism, and the preserving and upholding of American liberty. The result of this meeting was the foundation of the Lexington Chap­ ter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The first officers were: Regent, Miss Elizabeth Shelby Kinkead. Registrar, Miss Eleanor Talbott Kinkead. Secretary, Mrs. Isabella Milligan*'Col€man. Treasurer, Mrs. Mary Lovell Sayfe. The charter members were: Miss Bessie Damall. Miss Elizabeth Shelby Kinkead. Miss Mary Carty Ranck. Miss Eleanor Talbott Kinkead. Miss Mary McClellan. Miss Lizzie Agnes Lyle. 2 The Lexington Chapter D.