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UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

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NUMBEIR SIXTEEN

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BoonesborDugh

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ITS SOUNDING, PIONEER

STRUGGl^S,INDI^ EXPEDIENCES, TRAN^YLyANlA0AYS,

AND REVOLUTIONARY ANNALS

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George W". Ranck

, Member, of iije Ftlsoh Clvb ;

GEORGE W. RANCK
Lexington, Kentucky
Member of The Filson Club

FILSON CLUB PUBLICATIONS No, 16

BOONESBOROUGH ITS FOUNDING,
PIONEER STRUGGLES, INDIAN EXPERIENCES, TRANSYLVANIA
DAYS, AND REVOLUTIONARY ANNALS

With Full Historical Notes and Appendix

GEORGE W. RANCK
Member of The Filson Club
Author of
'The Bivouac of the Dead and Its Author," "The Travelling Church,"
"History of Lexington, Kentucky," "The Story of Bryan's
Station," "Girty, the White Indian," etc.
iriluflttateJ)

Louisville, Kentucky
JOHN P. MORTON & COMPANY
f rintBirs tn Tte Filsan (!IIm1j
1901

OOPTHIGHTED BY
THE FILSON CLUB
1901

PREFACE.

BOONESBOROUGH, like a mist of the morning, has
vanished, and the place which knew it once will
know it no more forever. Not a cabin of the thirty
that formed the parallelogram of the fort ; not a picket
of the bullet-battered lines that encompassed the station,
and not a pale of the stockades between the cabins is left.
Not even a chimney, the last of a human habitation to
perish, is left standing or shows the little mound of debris
at its base as survivor of its fall. Its former site is an
unromantic cornfield, where is seen the cultivated soil and
the gathered crop, instead of preparations for aggressive,
war or stolid defense. So thoroughly has the station
disappeared that it affords no perch for the owl and no
hiding-place for the fox. Neither fire nor flood, nor earth
quake nor ruthless time has ever more completely swept
a town from the face of the earth. Other towns in
Kentucky, Hke Lystra and Franklinville and Ohiopiomingo,
have vanished, but they never had any except a paper
existence, while Boonesborough was a reahty.

tv Preface
The sites of some of the greatest cities of the world
were occupied by accident and yet succeeded, while intel
ligent design selected others that utterly failed. It is
easy enough to choose a site and lay off a town, but it
requires inhabitants and manufactures and trade and per
severance to make it a success. When General George
Rogers Clark, in 1776, led the opposition against the
Transylvania Colony, and Virginia asserted her old law
forbidding private citizens to purchase lands from the
Indians, Transylvania was doomed, and with it Boones
borough. It was then only a question of time when the
town and the fort would transfer their prestige to Har
rodsburg and become things of the past. Boone could
roam through the untrodden forests in search of game, and
could fight the Indian behind the trees of his native woods
or on the open plain, but he lacked the municipal tact and
persistence which builds up towns and turns them into
cities, and most of his companions were like unto him.
But gone forever, as it is, Boonesborough yet holds a
place in the memory and the heart of the living. Im
perishable recollections hover over its desolate site and
bind it with chains of steel to our memories. It was here
that civilization took its firm stand in the transmontane
wilderness. Men had earlier roamed over the country as
hunters and explorers and traders, but in Boonesborough

Preface v
they had their wives and children with them, and formed
there the family circle, without which any attempts at
civilization are mockeries. The blood that flowed through
the veins of these fearless and hardy pioneers and warmed
their hearts and nerved their strong arms yet courses
through the veins of their descendants and makes the site
of the old vanished station hallowed ground. As the
zealous Mohammedan, when journeying to the Beit Allah
of Mecca, sees in the mirage of the desert the minarets
and domes and spires of the sacred Mosque, so the loyal
descendant of the Boonesborough pioneers sees in the
mists of tradition the fort and stockade and cabins of the
vanished town as they were when occupied by his ances
tors. The classical scholar reveres not more the sites of
departed Troy and Psestum and Thebes than does the
descendant of the first settlers the site of Boonesborough.
Here the Boones, the Hendersons, the Galloways, the
Harts, and Floyd and Kenton and Ballard and Stoner and
Holder and Rawlings and Pogue stood like an impregnable
wall and rolled back the fierce tide of savage warfare until
civilization and Christianity were established in the pri
meval forest. It is the recollection of the hardships endured
and the courage displayed by our ancestors there that
makes Boonesborough dear to us and gives it a sure
place in our memory and heart.

vi Preface
Every Kentuckian has some conception of vanished
Boonesborough, and imagines that he carries an image of
it in his memory like unto it as it once existed. It is
well, however, while we are cherishing conceptions of this
town of the past, that we hold to a conception rightly
formed. It has now been one hundred and twenty-six
years since Boonesborough was founded, and during this
long period no full or adequate history of it has been
written. It has been reserved for a member of The Filson
Club, an hundred years after the town had perished, to
gather the conflicting traditions from their scattered sources,
and, after separating the true from the false, to weave the
facts into an exhaustive narrative. This Mr. George W.
Ranck, the author of the work which follows this preface,
has done, and here presents Boonesborough as it began
and progressed and declined and finally disappeared from
the face of the earth. He who reads Mr. Ranck's nar
rative will learn more about this vanished town than any
one has known since its day in the land. And the
reader will not only learn much that is new about Boones
borough, but he will learn something too important not to
be known about pioneer life in Kentucky, about the
attempt of Henderson and Company to establish a pro
prietary government by the name of Transylvania in Ken
tucky, and about the brave men and women who left

r-

P ref ace vii
comfortable homes on the Atlantic slope of the AUeghanies
and settled in the wilderness of Kentucky, amid wild \ y
animals and wilder savages, with no protection but their
own strong arms. Their own courage and skill and
daring, practically unaided, won the great West from the
British and the Indians and added it to the rich fruits of
the Revolutionary War.
Boonesborough was really the creature of the Transyl
vania Colony, and Mr. Ranck very properly began the
narrative with the treaty of Watauga in the spring of
1775' by which the southern half of Kentucky was pur
chased from the Indians. The building of a protecting
fort on the acquired lands on the Kentucky River near the
mouth of Otter Creek and the gathering of pioneer families
there and the rise of a town around the fort followed in
the natural order of sequence. And so did Indian war
and sieges naturally follow, with all their heart-rending
atrocities and sufferings. The confined life of the fort,
however, in spite of the dangers outside of the pickets,
soon began to drive the inhabitants to extramural cabins
upon lands selected for farms. It was not many years
after this process began before Boonesborough was
deserted and log cabins with women and children in them
on bits of cleared land peeped out here and there from
the dark shadows of the surrounding forest. The steady

viii Preface
decHne and final extinction of the fort and town naturally
followed the exodus of their inhabitants to the near and
distant farms. The whole historic field has been covered,
embracing every fact and tradition that need be known,
and including biographic sketches of some of the leading
characters in those stirring and perilous times. Old and
rare manuscripts and scarce books and forgotten news
papers have been searched, and the whole story told in
the book before us as it has never been told before.
Not the least important and instructive part of Mr.
Ranck's work is its excellent halftone illustrations. These
are not scattered indiscriminately through the book, as
illustrations too often are, but appear at the pages where
they are described and belong. Fine pictures represent
the old fort, the place of meeting of the delegates, the
sulphur well, the salt lick, the fresh water spring, the river,
the ferry, and other views of the landscape, including the
town of Boonesborough itself with its laid-off streets and
numbered lots. There is a striking likeness of Boone,
and a spirited picture of the treaty men making their way
back to the fort after they discovered the treachery of
the Indians. The author has thus covered every prac
ticable scene by a suggestive picture.
Still another merit of the work is the Appendix.
Extracts from scarce books now inaccessible to the gen-

Preface ix
eral reader, transcriptions of manuscripts which exist only
in single originals at distant places, and articles from old
newspapers and pamphlets make up the appendix.
Among the selections is the deed by which the Cherokee
Indians conveyed to Richard Henderson and his asso
ciates for the Transylvania Colony all the southern part
of Kentucky, embracing about 20,000,000 acres ; the Jour
nal kept by Judge Henderson while on his proprietary
land of Transylvania and while going to and returning
therefrom ; the proclamations of the Governors of Vir
ginia and North Carolina denouncing the Transylvania
enterprise; the Journal of the proceedings of the assembly
of Transylvania delegates ; Felix Walker's diary of his
trip to Boonesborough in 1775, and numerous other
papers that are valuable to the student of history.
A book without an index is open to many objections in
this rapid age. No one has time to turn over the leaves
and find what he may want to read. The book under
consideration is open to no such fault. Besides separate
lists of the illustrations in the text and of articles in the
appendix, giving the page of each, it has an ample gen
eral index, giving each subject and name, and the page
on which it is found. It is an index, too, which gives
the initial word with sUch certainty that we are not
disappointed when we turn to the given page.

X Preface
It will be seen at a glance that the author has gone
to the original sources for his material, that he has given
us no rehash of other books and of other writers' opinions,
and that British records play in this field their very
important part. Another element of strength and value
in this volume that no lover of genuine history will fail
to appreciate is its full and free citation of authorities.
A quibbler would have to contend with these authorities
alone — not with the writer of the text.
It seems, therefore, that the book of which this is a
preface is a work of merit in all its parts. The history
of Boonesborough from its beginning in 1775 to its final
extinction in less than half a century afterward is given
by it in fullness and in detail. Indeed, the author has
told all that had need of being told, and it will be long
before any thing new or important can be added to the
story as he has told it. The whole historic field has
been gone over, and from it gleaned every thing that
related t* the vanished town or to its connections, or to
the men and women who imparted to it their own
immortality. This is the sixteenth pubhcation of The Filson Club.
The fifteen volumes which preceded it were issued from
year to year, and have gone forth into the world as pro
moters of history and biography. The club began its

Preface xi
work in 1 884, when it was formed, and it is the intention
of its members to continue in the same line of publications
until all the important matters in Kentucky are the sub
jects of monographs and all of the representative men and
women have biographies. Those of us now living can
form no just estimate of the value of such publications,
but those who come after us in the distant future will
know their worth and bless us for them.
R. T. Durrett,
President of the Filson Club.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

The Author  Frontispiece
Daniel Boone  lo
The Sulphur Well  i7
The Lick Spring,  19
Site of Fort Boonesborough  25
Meeting of Transylvania House of Delegates  30
Plan of Fort Boonesborough,  35
Site of Fort Boonesborough from opposite side of river, . 40
The Hills of Clark County  50
Relics of Daniel Boone,  66
Fort Boonesborough before Siege of 1778,  79
Climax of the Treaty,  89
Sycamore Hollow  104
The Town of Boonesborough,  no
Residence of Judge Henderson,  115
Boonesborough Ferry,  125
The Old Sycamore,  134

BOONESBOROUGH.

THE spring of 1775 had come. The time had
arrived not only for the assertion of American
freedom but for its spread, and "Westward the star of
empire takes its way." The hour had struck for the
permanent settlement of Kentucky,' and in widely sepa
rated regions the hearts of unconscious instruments of
fate had been fired for the work. But in no American
Colony was the interest in that distant forest -land keener
than in North Carolina,' and in no place in North Caro
lina was it so conspicuous as in the scattered little frontier
settlement of Watauga,^ in what is now East Tennessee.
'See Appendix A for "The Name Kentucky."
'^ Which may be accounted for by the fact that Gist, Findlay, Boone,
many of the Long Hunters, and other Kentucky explorers were residents
of North Carolina.
^ The scattered settlement, usually mentioned in a general way as
"Watauga," straggled, in 1775, with its stockades, cabins, and clearings,
for quite a distance along the Watauga River, in the region now known
as Carter County, Tennessee, and then included "The Fort," Sycamore
Shoals, Colonel Charles Robertson's, "The Old Fields," since occupied by
Elizabethton, and other interesting sites. As the name Watauga is con
nected with sundry things and places in Carter County, it may be well to
say that this, the original pioneer Watauga we have described, must not
be confused with the new town of Watauga, on the Southem Railroad,
six or seven mUes from the historic Watauga of which we write.

/2 )

Boonesborough

Ever since the preceding fall a train of circumstances had
kept the minds of its inhabitants on that enticing couhtry.
First, their old friend and pilot, Daniel Boone,' who had
hunted there longer than any one, and who was stopping
temporarily at "Snoddy's on the Clinch,"^ had passed
through their settlement more than once on his way down
the Valley of the Holston to the principal seats of the
Cherokees.^ Everybody knew of the comradeship between
Boone and these Overhill Indians ; that he had killed
deer with them and had slept in their cabins, but they
also knew that the Cherokees claimed the very game
lands on which he had hunted so much and where he
had recently tried to settle with his family, and somehow
the impression was made that something was "going on"
about Kentucky. Later there was quite a buzz in the
clearings over the news that Boone and two strangers
' ' from across the Ridge " ¦* had held powwows with the
head men of the Cherokees, and, in December, curiosity
became still more lively when a wagon train of ' ' Indian
goods" all the way from Fayetteville was stored in
Watauga and carefully inspected by six silent, watchful
'See Appendix B for note on "Boone Before 1775."
^See footnote on page 38, and Appendix C, for "Boone's First Attempt
to Colonize Kentucky.'"
3 Chota, Tellico, and Tellassee.
? The Blue Ridge Mountains, which shut off the infant settlement from
the old communities of North Carolina.

Boonesborough i
chiefs of the Overhill tribes. On Christmas Day the
whole thing came out, as the shrewd frontiersmen had
guessed, when ' ' Richard Henderson, for himself and Com
pany," publicly advertised for "settlers for Kentucky
lands about to be purchased,"' and Indian runners car
ried the order of Ocanostota, the head chief of the
Cherokees, for a spring meeting of his people at the
Watauga settlement to consider, among other things, a
grant, already substantially agreed upon, of those same
far-spreading lands. Settlers said it was plain now why
Boone had kept his big family conveniently near to the
Warrior's Path ever since he had been driven back from
Walden's Ridge ; that he had never once given up his
interrupted plan to plant a colony in Kentucky, but to
decrease the risks he wanted to make his next start with
the full consent of the Cherokees, and so had suggested
and urged the formation of this new Company, and would
accomplish his purpose as its agent.
Judge Henderson,* the ostensible head of the Company,
was one of the leading lawyers of the Colony of North
' Colonial Records of North Carolina.
^ Richard Henderson was a native of Hanover County, Virginia, where
he was bom April zo, 1735, but had been a citizen of North Carolina
since 1756, when his father, Samuel Henderson, settled there. He was a
self-made man. His education had been deferred and his opportunities
came late, but he was gifted with pluck and ability, and when he did start
he made rapid progress, and especially in his chosen profession, the law,

4) Boonesborough
Carolina, and had until recently been one of the Asso
ciate Justices of its Supreme Court. Though rather
showy, he was a man of genuine abihty and culture, was
self-reliant and a worker, and, though noticeable always
for enterprise and ambition, had surprised the Colony by
the magnitude and boldness of his present venture. All
of the nine members of the Company were citizens of
North Carolina and "from over the Ridge." Three of
them were residents of the then very extensive County
of Granville, viz : Henderson, John Williams, his cousin
and a bright lawyer, and Leonard Henley Bullock, ex-
sheriff of the county and a connection also. The others,
who lived in or near the adjoining County of Orange, and
who were mainly in commercial life, were James Hogg,
a Scotchman and talented man of affairs ; Nathaniel
Hart,' one of the first of the Company to "sound" the
Indians ; Thomas and David Hart, his brothers, and John
Luttrell and William Johnstone.
The announcement of so novel an enterprise and at
and in 1768 was appointed one of the Associate Justices of North Carolina.
This position he held until his court was closed in 1770 by the Regulators,
who rose against the corrupt and arbitrary exactions of the royal government
of the province. After this be is said to have sustained pecuniary losses,
and in 1774 he seized upon Boone's suggestion as a means of repairing
and augmenting his fortune. (Wheeler, Ramsey, and Draper.)
'Nathaniel Hart was born in Hanover County, Virginia, in 1734, but
moved to North Carolina in his youth. Like Henderson, he had taken
sides against the Regulators in 1771.

Boonesborough 5
such a disturbed and threatening juncture of public
affairs created a sensation, and at least one officer ' of the
Colony anxiously inquired ' ' If Dick Henderson had lost
his head ? " But ' ' Dick " not only still possessed that con
venience, but had used it. With the aid of Boone he
had carefully investigated Kentucky, and had decided that
now was the very time to strike. The Shawanese and
other Northern Indians had but recently been defeated
at Point Pleasant, and had obligated themselves by treaty i
to hunt no more on the Kentucky side of the Ohio. This '
and prior treaties seemed to leave no other Indian claim
ants to the Louisa' country but the Cherokees, and, as
to Great Britain, her claim seemed destined to utter extin
guishment in the conflict she was so rapidly forcing upon
the Colonies. The importance of the movement was plain
enough to Josiah Martin, the royal Governor of North
Carolina, and on the loth of February, 1775, he issued a
'Archibald Nelson, in Col. Rec. N. C. ^
° Kentucky seems never to have been known by any but Indian names
until a short time before 1775, when "Louisa" came into limited use
among the whites. The generally accurate Bradford helped to perpetuate
the error that the Kentucky River was given the English name ' ' Louisa "
by Doctor Walker twenty-six years before this treaty, but not only does
Marshall declare that Walker did not reach the interior of the country,
but later writers assert that it was a tributary of the Big Sandy — as
given on Jefferson's map — that the explorer of 1750 so named. It was
some time after Walker's tour before the name of this tributary was appUed
to the country itself, and then, fortunately, it quickly subsided before the
original and ancient Indian name — Kentucky.

6 Boonesborough
proclamation' denouncing it as "a lawless undertaking,"
' ' an infraction of the Royal prerogative, " and threatened
the Company, if it persisted in its course, "with the pain
of His Majesty's displeasure and the most rigorous pen
alties of the law." The greatness of the political change
that had already occurred is evidenced by the fact that
this proclamation was completely ignored.
Boone, who had been commissioned by the Company
to open a road to the Kentucky River, never ceased col
lecting woodmen in Powell's Valley for the work, and
concentrated them at Long Island, ^ in the Holston. While
arrangements for the expedition were being made, pro
visions for the entertainment of the Cherokees went on
to the appointed conference ground, and so did the Indians
and the white men, and early in March, 1775, the biggest
crowd that had ever gathered in the Watauga Settlement of
North Carolina was encamped about the stockaded cabins
of Sycamore Shoals. ^ This spot, which took its name
' For text of proclamation see Appendix D.
^ This noted island, which was about twenty-six miles from the appointed
rendezvous, is nearly three miles long, is in main Holston River near the
junction of its north and south forks, and is included in the present Sullivan
County, Tennessee.
3 Boone, in his Filson memoir, merely states that the treaty took place
"at Watauga," without specifying the particular spot in the settle
ment that was used. Felix Walker, in his narrative, says it occurred ¦ ¦ at
Colonel Charles Robertson's," whose home tract in 1775 was about a mile
west of Sycamore Shoals, but which, with Fort Watauga near by, often at that

Boonesborough 7
from the great sycamore trees which adorned it, which
was then the seat of the now famous Watauga Associa
tion, and which is distinguished by its historic memories, '
was- on the southern bank of the Watauga River about
three miles below "The Old Fields," the site of the present
Elizabethton, in what is now Carter County, "Tennessee.
It was a rendezvous, familiar to the Indians, in a valley
that has long been known for its fertility and beauty, and
here, on the spacious stretch of rich bottom lands that
were bordered on one side by the winding river and on
the other by the swelling foothills of Yellow Mountain,
tents and wigwams were pitched and the solemn, cere
monious, and deliberate conference was held. The nego
tiators in behalf of the Company were Henderson and
Boone, Nathaniel Hart and Luttrell. The most prom-
time designated the general Sycamore Shoals neighborhood. In his Annals
of Tennessee, Ramsey, who was personally familiar with the historic spots
included in the Watauga Settlement, and who gave these points especial
attention, definitely locates the treaty ground at Sycamore Shoals, which
seems to be the verdict of both tradition and later investigation, which further
specify that it included the land opposite the late residence of Alfred M. C.
Taylor and present home of E. D. Jobe. The writer is indebted to the
courtesy of Messrs. N. E. Hyder and D. N. Reese, of Carter County, Ten
nessee, for facts about the topography of the Watauga region.
' It was the seat of that famous little republic, the Watauga Associa
tion, which was the beginning of the political history of Tennessee ; the
place where the permanent settlement of Kentucky was assured, and the
rendezvous five years after of the patriot riflemen who rode from thence
to King's Mountain and victory.

8 Boonesborough
inent representatives of the Indians were Ocanostota,
the aged, crippled, and distinguished head of the Chero
kees ; the remarkable AttacuUaculla, withered and even
more aged, but still reputed the ablest of the Indian diplo
matists ; Savanooko, and Dragging Canoe. '
Days were consumed in the consideration of the boun
daries and extent of the territory the Company desired,
the price offered, and the wisdom of making such a sale,
and interpreters were kept busy translating "talks" and
documents and speeches. Earnest protests against the
treaty were made by orators of the Cherokees, and espe
cially by the eloquent and prophetic Dragging Canoe, but
without effect, and on the 1 7th of March ' ' The Great
Grant"'' was signed, and for the merchandise then stored
on the ground and valued at ^10,000 Henderson and
his associates were declared the owners of territory south
of the Kentucky River, comprising more than half of the
present State of Kentucky. ^ The twelve hundred Indians
present assented to the treaty, and, though a few of them
grumbled that they had received only one shirt apiece for
' Virginia Archives.
^So named to distinguish it from the " Path Deed," signed at the same
conference, by which the Cherokees granted Henderson and Company
another great tract which was on the Holston, Clinch, and Powell rivers.
(See United States Register for 1840.)
3 For full description of the boundary of the Kentucky grant, see copy
of the deed in Appendix E.

Boonesborough 9
their share of the territory, the transaction seems to have
been open and fair,' and certainly they all joined at the
close of the meeting in the big feast the Company had
provided. The plans of the Company for taking possession of the
magnificent Kentucky domain had already been arranged.
A spot had been selected for headquarters directly on the
Kentucky River, near the mouth of one of its tributary
streams, which was known even then as Otter Creek,* and,
as a road to it was a matter of immediate necessity, the
Company, assured of success, determined to rush the
making of it in advance, and Boone left Sycamore Shoals
for Long Island before the treaty was concluded, and just
as soon as he could be spared, in order to direct the
work. His quota of woodmen with their hatchets and
axes were all in waiting at the island, and among others
there who had cast in their fortunes with the expedition
were his brother, the tried explorer. Squire Boone, and his
old Yadkin neighbor, Richard Calloway, who was consider
ably older than Boone, ^ was a native of Caroline County,
' See deposition of Charles Robertson in Appendix F.
^ Probably so named by an early hunter from the Peaks of Otter, though
the otter itself was found there.
3 Calloway was born about 1724. Daniel Boone, according to the
records of the monthly meeting of Exeter Township (now Berks County),
Pennsylvania, was born November 2 (new style), 1734, and Doctor Draper
says that date was entered by Boone himself on his family record.

y

IO Boonesborough
Virginia, had been a captain in the French and Indian
War, and was a colonel of the Bedford County militia
when he removed to North Carolina.' The Company
also included Captain William Twetty and seven other
adventurous land hunters from Rutherford County, North
Carolina. On the tenth of March, ajl being ready, this memorable
party of thirty mounted men, armed, but mainly for hunt
ing, as no trouble was expected from Indians, and followed
by negro servants, loaded pack-horses, and hunting dogs,
started out under the command of Captain Daniel Boone
to connect buffalo roads, Indian traces, trails of hunters and
Indian traders, and the great Warrior Path, to cut through
forests and canebrakes that were trackless, blaze the dis
tances on mile-trees, and thus to make the first regular
and continuous road through the wilderness to the Ken
tucky River. Climbing the dreary ridges that loomed up
between them and Cumberland Gap, they threaded that
sublime defile, ' forded rivers that for ages had been name
less and swallowed up in a region vast and solitary, were
heard of no more until they had toiled over that depression
of the since historic Big Hill of the present county of
' Draper.
^ Cumberland Gap is one of the grandest of natural passages. Its
narrow roadway extends for six miles between mountain sides that rise
twelve hundred feet above it.

DANIEL BOONE.
(In his old age.)
From an Oil Painting by Chester Harding, owned by Colonel R. T. Durrett, of Louisville, Kentucky.

Boonesborough ^
Madison, Kentucky, known to this day as ' ' Boone's Gap, "
and had camped by a forest stream five miles south of the
site of the then undreamed-of town of Richmond,' Ken
tucky. Here, on the 25th of March, before daylight, after
an undisturbed journey of two weeks, and while confident
of continued peace, they were suddenly fired on by Indians,
who quickly retired. A negro manservant of Captain
Twetty was instantly kifled. Captain Twetty himself was
mortally wounded and soon died, and a young companion,
Felix Walker, was dangerously wounded.' Only two
nights after this another attack was made, and presum
ably by the same Indians, and this time on a little detach
ment which had camped near a stream some distance from
the main party. With characteristic imprudence the men
had Hghted a fire and were drying their badly-soaked moc
casins when the savages surprised them, killing and scalp
ing Thomas McDowefl and Joseph McPheeters, and stam
peding the balance, who ran barefooted through the snow
and escaped. One of the men, Samuel Tate, of Powell's
Valley, took to the stream to hide his tracks, for it was
a moonlight night, and from that day to this the stream
has been known as Tate's Creek. ^ Boone, who evidently
' Walker's Narrative, Appendix G, and depositions of pioneers.
^Walker's Narrative, Appendix H, and Boone's letter to Henderson.
3 Boone. Nat. Hart, junior, in Frankfort Commonwealth of July 25,
1838. Hart errs in date of this attack, which is correctly given in Boone's
letter, which was written only four days after the affair.

/

12 Boonesborough
thought this was the beginning of a serious effort to drive
all the white people from the country, and who seems to
have been invested by the Company with miHtary powers,
posted off a courier at once, ordering ' ' all of the lower com
panies " of hunters and settlers then in the vicinity of the
present Harrodsburg' to concentrate at the mouth of Otter
Creek, and on the first of April, after the burial of the
dead and careful attention to the wounded man, he started
a messenger to Judge Henderson, urging him to bring or
send aid as soon as possible, and said in his quiet, self-
contained way of the excited people who were sure that
another Indian war had commenced, that they were "very
uneasy," and that he and his men would start that day
for the mouth of Otter Creek, and would erect a fort there.
Boone did not even know for certain that Henderson
was yet on the road, but he was. Prompt and energetic,
^ he had completed his preparations two days after the
treaty was signed, and on the third day, the 20th of
March, ' in spite of a threatened denunciation from another
' Henderson says in his journal: "These men had got possession some
time before we got here."
It is plain from both Boone and Henderson that the site of Harrods
burg had been occupied just before they came, but Boonesborough, organ
ized, garrisoned, and provisioned, was the only substantial settlement in
Kentucky in the spring of 1775, and the only one that insured the per
manent occupancy of the country.
^ Henderson's Journal, Appendix I.

Boonesborough 13
governor, Lord Dunmore, he started from sturdy little
Watauga toward the distant land of his golden dream.
The expedition was a prophecy of permanent occupation,
for it included not only forty mounted riflemen ' and quite ^
a number of negro slaves, but a drove of beeves, forty
pack-horses, and a train of wagons loaded with provis
ions, ammunition, material for making gunpowder, seed
corn, garden seed, and a varied store of articles of prime
necessity at an isolated settlement. Henderson was accom
panied by four other members of the Company, viz : the
Harts and John Luttrell, by his brother, Samuel Hender
son, and by the patriotic WilHam Cocke,' who had recently
declined militia service under the royal Governor of Vir
ginia, whose proclamation 5 was issued the very day after
they started, threatening the Company with fine and
imprisonrrient if it persisted in the occupancy of crown
lands in Virginia "under a pretended purchase from the
Indians." Cocke was from Amelia County, Virginia, and '
had left his young wife at Watauga when he started to
"prospect." Hewas a stranger to Henderson, who little
suspected what material was in this black-eyed, black-
haired rifleman of twenty-seven. Another member of the
party was William Bailey Smith, one of the witnesses of
'Walker and Calk.
^ Appendix, Henderson's Journal.
3 For text of Dunmore's proclamation see Appendix J.

14 Boonesborough
the recent treaty, who was going out as surveyor.' He,
too, was a native of Virginia, where he had served as major
of mflitia, but had lately migrated to North Carolina. He
was a taU, rollicking, unstable bachelor, energetic and
brave, but with quite a turn for embellishing facts.
The expedition, following directly in Boone's tracks,
managed in ten days, after clearing the road stfll more,
to get through with the wagons to the last cabin on the
blazed route leading up to Cumberland Gap. This log
shelter was occupied by Captain Josej)h Martin, the
Company's agent for the Powell's Valley division of its
purchase, who with several men seems to have gone on
in advance of Henderson's party. Martin knew that region
and the savages who frequented it, for he had explored
it as a peltry buyer, and the cabin ' is said to have been
the same one he had used five years before this time
when he had established a little trading -post at this
distant and lonely spot, from which he had subsequently
been driven away by the Indians. Here at Martin's,
' Draper.
^ This cabin or station was in what is now Lee County, Virginia, and
is known as Boone's Path Post.-Qffice. Captain Martin, who at the above-
mentioned time was about thirty-five, was a native of Albemarle County,
Virginia. He was a soldier in the French and Indian War, later on was
a fur trader, and in 1769 settled in Powell's Valley. He served as cap
tain of a company of scouts in Dunmore's War of 1774, and at its close
became interested in the Henderson and Company scheme. (N. Cyclopedia
of American Biography, Volume VII.)

Boonesborough 15
Henderson's party was joined by WilHam Calk and four
other immigrants from Virginia, and here they had to give
up their wagons, hide sulphur, salt, and overplus of other
heavy material, and start out with pack-horses only to
carry their baggage over the freshly marked but very
narrow trace. It was on the 7th of Aprfl,' when they
had just reached the Gap, that Boone's letter about the
Indian attack arrived, striking the camp like a small
bombshell and causing a few of the men to start on the
back track that very night. The next day they met the
first of several companies of panic-stricken adventurers
who had started from Kentucky at the earliest news of
savage troubles, and it became at once vitally important
to notify Boone in advance of the slow-moving pack-train
that aid was approaching in order to encourage his men
to hold their ground. It was the tenth of the month
and they had reached the banks of the Cumberland
River before any thing was done. There, when most of
the force had been further demoralized by the sight of
more fleeing refugees, when Henderson despaired of find
ing a messenger to Boone, and when everybody was
expecting to hear that even Boone's party had turned
back, the gallant Captain Cocke volunteered' to be the
' Henderson's letter. Appendix K.
' Henderson's letter, Appendix L.

V

i6 Boonesborough
courier to the unterrified pioneer. No one offered to go
with him. So, provided with "a good Queen Anne mus
ket, plenty of ammunition, a tomahawk, a large 'cuttoe'-'
knife, a Dutch blanket, and no smafl quantity of jerked
beef," he started out alone on a ride of a hundred and
thirty mfles over a wfld and solitary path which, according
to the stampeded throng, was beset by murderous ambus
cades.' It was one of the most romantic deeds in the
annals of the wfldemess, and the hero of it was destined
to be heard of again.
But the sturdy and determined Boone had not turned
back. He had started, as he said he would, from "the
' battle-ground, '' had cut a way through the cane down the
meandering course of Otter Creek to the southern bank
of the Kentucky River, and had there connected his path
with a great buffalo trace which led broad and clear to
the site, on the same side of the river, which he had
chosen for the official seat of the Company. As the
horsemen moved on there was a sudden sound like the
trampling of many feet, and when with eager interest
they hastened nearer to the selected ground they saw a
' Corruption of the French word ' ' couteau " and redundancy besides.
' According to Mr. William Chenault, the historical writer of Richmond,
Kentucky, Cocke was fortunate enough before he reached Boone's camp to
catch up with another horseman named Page Portwood, and the two then
journeyed together.

THE SULPHUR WELL.
Outgrowth of the Sulphur Spring that Centred the Ancient Lick in Sycamore Hollow, Boonesborough,

Boonesborough ^7
drove of two or three hundred buffalo' making off from
a salt lick in the midst of it and followed by young
calves that played and skipped about as they went,
unconscious of an enemy that was to nearly wipe their
kind from the face of the earth. The ponderous beasts
forded the river and disappeared, and the haunt that v
they had known for unnumbered ages was abandoned
to the white man forever. The woodsmen realized with
relief and some wonder that the project that so many had
shaken their heads at so solemnly was really accomplished.
Here the road ended. How long they seemed to have
labored at it! Day after day they had tofled, chopping down
saplings, cutting away vines and overhanging branches,
blazing the way through woods, marking mile-trees, remov
ing logs and fallen timber, connecting paths, filling sink
holes, burning ways through dead brush, logging streams
for future footmen, cutting swaths through almost endless
canebrakes, and so pushing that rough, thread-like but all-
important trace deeper and deeper into the silent wilder
ness, until home and settlements seemed left behind forever. '
But the work was finished at last. At last in deed and in
truth they stood by that river Kentucky which so often had
seemed but a fable and a dream. The settlement site,
where the long road and historic march terminated, included
' Walker's Narrative.
4

i8 Boonesborough
a beautiful level in a sheltered hollow, where Boone gave
the order to halt. It was an ideal place for a camp."
The rich sofl, thanks to generations of animals that had
haunted the lick, was open, firm, and almost free from
undergrowth, and, except about the trampled lick and in
the broad buffalo path, was adorned, early as it was,' with
great patches of fine white clover and thickly carpeted
with a natural grass incomparable for richness and beauty,
now so widely known as "Kentucky Bluegrass."' The
spot was blessed with two bold springs, a feature whose
importance no one but a pioneer could appreciate, and
which, more than any thing else, caused Boone to select it.
' Boone, Walker, and Henderson.
'According to the journals of early settlers and to Filson and Imlay,
spring began much earlier in the days of the pioneers than now. The
destruction of the once all-pervading forests worked a great change in the
climate of Kentucky.
3 The famiUar tradition that blue grass was growing at Boonesborough
in 1775 is fully accepted by the writer, but not the story that "it grew
from seeds planted by an English woman who settled there when Boone
came." There was not only no white woman of any nationaUty at the fort
until September, 1775, but the evidence is incontestable that blue grass
was known as a native Kentucky product long before that time. James
Nourse in his journal says, under date of May 30, 1775, that the growth
of blue grass in central Kentucky was • ' amazing, " while Gist in his journal
¦of 1751 mentions blue grass as a product of the almost unknown country
of the Miami Indians nearly a quarter of a century before the white man
settled permanently in the western wilderness. The term ¦ < blue grass " is
misleading, for, like all other grasses, it is green, and its apparently contra
dictory name can only be accounted for as an abbreviation of "blue
Umestone grass," for it reaches its highest state of perfection on the
blue hmestone soil of Kentucky.

THE LICK SPRING.
(Of fresh water.) As it appeared in the Fall of 1900.

Boonesborough 19

,j

The Spring that was nearest the river was a sulphur'
one, which soon accounted to the experienced woodsmen
for the existence of the lick around it, for they found that
the soil had been impregnated for ages with salt' which
the sulphur water contained. The other spring, which
was still further from the river, furnished an abundant
supply of fresh water, but, curiously enough, it eventually
became known as "The Lick Spring," a name that the
sulphur one was naturally entitled to. Not far from them
both were grouped some of the grandest trees that ever
delighted the human eye. Four of them were especially
noticeable. Of these, three were immense sycamores, '
whose white trunks had been polished by the incessant
touch of the salt-hunting elk and buffalo and deer, and
one was an elm so magnificent in size and so exceptional
in its proportions and in the spread of its far-reaching
branches that one who saw it in all its glory, and had a
'The terms "salt spring" and "salt lick" are not synonymous, as
some authorities on Kentueky seem to have supposed. Filson mentions a
salt "spring" at Boonesborough, meamng, probably, a lick, for none of
the actual settlers of the place record the existence of a spring of that
kind in the locality, and so far as now known the lick was the result of
the salt precipitated from the water of the sulphur spring, and not from
a common salt one. Felix Walker, writing in his old age, speaks of both
springs as sulphur ones, an error which the waters themselves make plain.
° Chloride of sodium, or common salt.
3 The occidental plane tree, called in some American localities the
buttonwood tree.

20 Boonesborough
soul to appreciate it, caUed it ' ' divine. " ' Near by the
ancient river ran solemn and beautiful, deep down between
the rugged steepness of its southern side and the wooded
heights and everlasting hflls that shut in the other shore.
The natural charms of the distant treaty ground of Syca
more Shoals were strangely duplicated in the camping-
ground of "Sycamore Hollow." And here, on the ist of
April,' 1775, about a mile and a quarter below the mouth
of Otter Creek, Boone and his harassed and tired woods
men unloaded their horses, cooked a simple meal, and,
after a good long rest, began the erection of several log
huts for temporary shelter and defense. ' They were
located "about sixty yards from the river,"'' something
over two hundred yards southwest of the lick, ' and con
stituted what was immediately named ' ' Fort Boone. " ^
This so-cafled "fort" was neglected from, the start. The
road-makers were so much engrossed with securing land and
in the wholesale destruction of animals for their skins that
\
' Henderson.
' Boone.
3 " Daniel Boone had prevailed upon fifteen men to assist him in
erecting some small huts for defense," says an extract from a manuscript
fragment of William Cocke. (Copy in Wis. H. Library.)
* Boone's own words.
5 Compare distances given by Henderson, W. B. Smith, and Bowman.
It seems to have received that name as soon as erected, and is so
called familiarly in both Henderson's and Calk's journals, under date of
April 30, 1775. The "borough" termination was added later on.

Boonesborough 21
even the kilHng of one of their comrades by the Indians
on the 4th of Aprfl' did not move them to complete it.
It is plain, though, that only the coolness and intrepidity of
Boone prevented the country from being entirely aban
doned, as it was the year before. Henderson afterward
declared "it was owing to Boone's confidence in us and
the people's in him that a stand was ever attempted."'
The whole panic subsided as quickly as it had started
when it was found that the attacks came from a ridicu
lously small number of adventurous Indians. Fortunately
for the settlers, all such violent acts of bad faith were
strongly condemned by the chivalric and influential Corn
stalk.' The treaty of Point Pleasant was, for a time at
least, observed, and for more than a year from the date
of this last murder no regular party of Indians visited
Kentucky, and no skulker did mischief at Boone's settle
ment, except in one solitary instance. ^ It was a blessed
season of peace, and so when Captain Cocke arrived the
savages were almost forgotten, and he, greatly to his
surprise, found that his plucky adventure and the letters
he brought excited as much interest as the news of
reinforcements which he had risked his life to bring.
' Boone's Nar.
° Henderson's letter of July 12, 1775, Appendix. The Company, at its
September meeting, granted Boone two thousand acres of land for his
services. 3 Williams' letter, Appendix.

22 Boonesborough
Judge Henderson and party, which now included Robert
and Samuel McAfee,' reached the unfinished and only
half-watched Httle fort on the 20th of Aprfl, the Judge's
fortieth birthday. They were welcomed with a discharge
\jpf rifles and with much rejoicing, and were all seated
down forthwith to a dinner of cold water and lean buffalo
beef, which the Judge declared was the most joyful ban
quet he ever saw. Of that there could not be the shadow
of a doubt, for with it ended the most intense and pro
tracted strain of care and anxiety he had ever experienced.
The immense region of incalculable value for which he
and his Company had risked so much, and which day
after day for many days seemed about to slip from their
grasp, was still safe, and a journey of a solid month,
which, to one used to inns, offices, and court -rooms,
seemed a solid year of hardships, aggravations, and mis
eries, was over. To such a man, worn out and disgusted,
the lifting of such a burden changed the poorest hunter's
meal into a banquet fit for the gods. And to the negroes,
who saw an ' ' Ingin, " bloody - handed and awful, behind
every rock and tree on the route, the sight of the little
log huts was as a sight of heaven itself, and their loud
laughter, merry songs, and exclamations of delight echoed
' Henderson's journal. Henderson met them returning to Virginia and
persuaded them to go back.

Boonesborough 23
along the river and among the very hiU-tops. But with
eighty persons in the united companies, including boys
and negroes, the food question was a serious one, and
especially since the improvident woodsmen had quickly
driven away the but lately abounding multitudes of big
game. Even this early in the action squads of hunters,
detailed from the sixty-five riflemen,' had to range fifteen,
twenty, and even thirty miles away for the wfld meat
that was almost the sole dependence of the settlers, for
bread was already becoming a rarity and promised to give
out altogether long before the corn crop' could mature.
Fortunately some of Boone's men had planted corn a few
days after they arrived. More was now planted, and com
panies were organized to work it in common — the mem
bers signing an agreement to appear every morning at
the blast of a horn or sound of a drum and labor in the
fields or stand guard while others worked, as the "cap
tain " required.'
Henderson saw as soon as he came that his men,
stores, and especially his gunpowder, would require much
more commodious and substantial shelter than either his
tents or Boone's little cabins could afford. It is also
' Cocke.
' Of course we refer here only to maize or Indian corn, the accepted
meaning of the word in America.
3 United States Register.

J

24 Boonesborough
intimated that Boone's position was exposed to rifle fire
from the over-topping hills on the other side of the river,
which is doubtful, considering the distance, but especially
the fact that the forests on both sides were then so
dense as to completely shut off observation. But it might
be that danger from very probable overflow of the river
was considered. Be that as it may, Henderson decided
at once to erect a fort that would be large enough and
strong enough to accommodate and protect the stores and
present settlers, and be capable of easy future extension.
He selected a site for it on the opposite side of the lick
from Boone's quarters and about three hundred yards from
them,' but staked off the line of its front wall within
less than a hundred yards of the lick itself, from which
it was reached by a hflly ascent. The chosen spot, there
fore, was much higher than the camp-ground it overlooked,
which soon became known as "The Hollow" — the "Syca
more Hollow" of to-day — which was much deeper in
pioneer times than it is now. The fort site was on a
plateau, and was probably as close to the river as the
log ' ' huts, " but though it was many feet above the water,
it could hardly be said to have extended along a cHff, as
it has sometimes been represented. At any rate, as far
back as the memory of the oldest residents of the neigh-
' Henderson and Cocke.

SITE OF FORT BOONESBOROUGH.
(A Cornfield.)
As it appeared in Noveinber, igoo, looking toward the River.

Boonesborough 25
borhood goes, the southern bank of the river has always
fallen away from the spot, as it does now, in a succession
of little ridges, and the sjte does not appear nearly as
elevated as it really is, and especially when viewed from
the river itself or from the opposite shore. The selected"!
ground was occupied by Henderson and most of the last |
comers on Saturday, April 2 2d, the third day after they
reached the settlement.' Nearly a week was consumed
in making a "clearing," felling trees, shaping and notch
ing logs, and splitting clapboards, but on the 29th the
fort was begun, under the supervision of Daniel Boone,'j
with the building of a small log magazine, which seems to
have been half under ground, with a shed roof covered
with clay to protect it from sparks that would surely come
from chimneys and snapping flints, from ' ' live chunks "
that settlers were always borrowing from each other to
start fires with, and from possible torches that attacking
Indians might use. One of the earliest cabins, one story
high, erected after this was made especially commodious to
accommodate the Company's supplies, which were thrown
open to an eager crowd of rangers, hunters, and road-
makers, to whom the Company was indebted for services.'
' Henderson's Manuscript Journal, Appendix.
"In one item of the Company's ledger Michael Stoner is charged with
" ;f 7 3s 6d for powder, lead, and osnaburgs," and credited with ";fio los
for work making roads to Cantucke." (Nat. Hart, junior, in Frankfort
Commonwealth. ) 5

26 Boonesborough
,>'¦"¦''''' "
This was the first store ever opened in Kentucky. Judge
Henderson took up his quarters in a block-house erected
at this time. It formed an angle of the defense — the
angle nearest the river. A number of other cabins had
also been built, when it was discovered that Indian signs
had ceased, and forthwith the workmen relaxed their exer-
tions, and, much to the disgust of the leading spirits, the
completion of the fort was postponed. The error has
been carelessly perpetuated that Boonesborough Station
was entirely finished at this time, and it is even pictured
with the stars and stripes flying over the front gate in
1775, in spite of the fact that the flag was not adopted
by Congress until 1777. It is gratifying to know that
the shape and general outline of this famous wooden
stronghold are not matters of mere conjecture. A plan
of the fort, designed at this very time and in the hand
writing of Judge Henderson himself, was long preserved,'
and a copy of it is herewith given. The buflding of the
station, as far as it was prosecuted in the spring of 1775,
was done in accordance with this plan, which was fully
carried out later on. B'ortunately the clearing was exten
sive and ultimately cut no small figure as a defensive
feature of the place. A few trees were left standing inside
'Itwas in the possession of James Hall, the historical author, as late
as 1835, and was copied by him.

Boonesborough 27
the stockade, and the tops of several others that grew
down on the rugged slope to the river projected above
the bank back of the fort, but, though stumps were plen- v
tiful, the long rifles of the pioneers had a pretty clear
sweep of the ground in the rear of the defense, along the
descent to the springs in "the hollow," and for a con
siderable stretch toward a long ridge that extended at
quite a distance off in front of the fort. This continuous y
hfll soon received the name of ' ' Hackberry Ridge. "
On the 26th of this month, while the woodsmen on.
the banks of the Kentucky were busy at their clearing, ',
the representatives of the Company in distant North Caro- !
lina sought, through a skillful letter ' that reflects the uncer
tain condition of the times, to secure for their enterprise the
influence and support of two already conspicuous lights 1
of the opening Revolution — Patrick Henry and Thomas
Jefferson. Shortly after this Judge Henderson formulated
"a plan of government by popular representation" for
the Company's wilderness domain, and on the Sth of May,
in behalf of the proprietors, ordered an election of mem- I
bers of a " House of Delegates of the Colony of Transyl- \
vania" to meet on the 23d of that month at Boones- )
borough.' In this call of the Sth of May the Colony and
its "capital" are formally and for the first time given the'
'For letter, see Appendix M.
' See Journal of the House, Appendix N.

28 Boonesborough
names respectively of ' ' Transylvania " and • ' Boonesbor
ough," which they bore from that date. Elections were
duly held at the four little settlements ' south of the Ken
tucky River, and on Tuesday, the 23d of May, 1775, the
chosen representatives of the Colony, rifles in hand, rode
up to the log quarters of the Chief Proprietor, Judge Hen
derson. But while a few absolutely necessary cabins had
been built, the fort was so incomplete and encumbered that
the "divine elm" in the hollow was selected as the tem
porary forum of the capital. Here the delegates did their
preliminary work, and the next day, the 24th, under the
spreading dome that the Immortal Architect himself had
fashioned, and which overshadowed what an eye-witness
called "a heavenly green" of fine white native clover, was
attempted for the first time in the vast region west of
the AUeghanies the founding of an independent State whicii
proclaimed that subHme axiom that "all power is orig
inally in the people"' — a proprietary government buflt
largely on the Hnes of a republic. A House of Delegates
for the Colony was there and then organized, and was
formally opened by Judge Henderson in behalf of. the
Proprietors with a carefully written and statesmanlike
,. speech,' in which the independence of "the newborn
'Boonesborough, Harrodsburg, Boiling Spring, six miles southeast of
Harrodsburg, and St. Asaph's, a mile west of the present Stanford.
' House Journal, Appendix.

Boonesborough 29
country " is asserted in the declaration, ' ' We ' have the
right to make laws for the regulation of our conduct with
out giving offense to Great Britain or any of the Ameri -_^
can Colonies." The House was in session three days,
during which nine bills were passed, and its business, con
ducted though it was in the open air, was transacted with
all the dignity, regularity, and ability that marked the
Colonial legislatures of the time. The laborers employed
by Boone to cut the first regular road to Kentucky were
of the usual woodchopping type, but the men who par
ticipated in the effort to establish the Transylvania gov
ernment distinguished it with a moral and intellectual force
that utterly refuted the published assertions of Martin and [
Dunmore. 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 of
Seisin,"' the final act in the transfer of the immense
portion of the territory sold by the Cherokees to Hender
son 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, whfle they both
held it, Farrar declared his delivery of seisin and possession
of the land, according to the terms of the title deed which
' House Journal, Appendix ; Butler in Western Journal.

30 Boonesborough
Henderson displayed, and the immediate reading of which
completed a legal requirement now long since obsolete and
almost forgotten. The session closed with the execu
tion of its most important feature, the signing of a com
pact between the Proprietors and the People,' which, crude
as it is, takes historical precedence as the constitution of
the first representative government ever attempted west
of the Alleghany Mountains.
The House adjourned, but the delegates met once more
before they dispersed, for, the next day being Sunday,
the entire settlement assembled under the grand old elm,
where ' ' divine service for the first time " in Kentucky was
performed by Reverend John Lythe,' of the Church of
England, a minister from Virginia and a member of the
delegation from Harrodsburg. It was a religious event
absolutely unique. Most of the usual accessories of the
service were wanting, from echoing church bell and "long
drawn aisle" to pealing organ. No woman was there to
join in litany or hymn, no child to lisp "amen." Only
men were present — Dissenters as well as EpiscopaHans —
for common dangers had drawn them together, and this
one chance for public worship was eagerly seized by
' House Journal, Appendix.
' Henderson, who spelt proper names to suit himself, gives this one in
his journal as "Lyth," but in the proceedings of the Convention it is
spelt as above.

S

M

M

>

H

to

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o0

O

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O

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n

a
H
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ffi
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'n
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t—t
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Boonesborough 31
pioneers who were as strong in simple faith as stout in
heart, for there were others in the Colony of Transylvania
besides the reckless few among the woodmen from Pow
ell's Valley. And so, cut off from the whole civilized
world, the forerunners of a mighty West of many States
knelt together in the sweet white clover, under that
magnificent tree, the sole cathedral in a wilderness as vast
and as solitary as the illimitable ocean. This was the first
and last time that prayers were ever publicly recited on
Kentucky soil for the King and royal family of England.'
In less than a week the news, so long on the road, of the
battle of Lexington' threw the settlements into a fever of
excitement, and minister and people not only sided at once
with ' ' the rebels, " but the pastor, like some he had preached
to under the elm, ultimately sealed his devotion to liberty
with his blood.' The Transylvanians would have been
even more excited if they had known that Governor
Martin, who had proclaimed them outlaws, had fled from
'The very next spring the Virginia Convention expunged from the
liturgy the words relating to the royal family.
'The news was a little more than six weeks getting to Boonesborough,
and did not reach the site of Lexington (Kentucky) until the 5th of June.
(See page 19, History of Lexington, Kentucky.)
5 John Lythe was with the Virginia Militia, presumably as Chaplain,
in the campaign of the next year against the Cherokees, and certainly v/
served in that capacity with the Virginia troops in 1777. (See Payments
of Militia in Virginia Records. ) According to Morehead, Lythe was killed
by the Indians.

32 Boonesborough
his "palace"' while their legislature was in session, and
that, whfle they were responding to the slogan of the
Revolution, Lord Dunmore also was preparing to fly to a
, British vessel. '
On the Sth of June, a few days after the arrival of
the great news, the notorious Dr, John F. D. Smythe
rode into Boonesborough. He said he was touring the
Colonies for material for a book of travels, which he did
pubHsh after the Revolution,' but the wfly Scotchman
kept religiously to himself the rather dangerous fact that
he was also a spying emissary of Lord Dunmore to aid in
uniting the Indians and frontier Tories in a scheme to
sweep Virginia and her Kentucky territory clean of
' ' rebels. " It was skimpy times at the executive cabin
just then, for bread was not to be had, and the salt was
expected every day to give out. Even ' ' big " meat was
none too easy to get, but Judge Henderson's black Dan
managed to keep a supply, and with some vegetables
from the fort garden, "cats" from the river, and milk
punches — for "the capital" was not without cows — the
plotting guest was entertained. Smythe had his own
reasons for enduring pioneer fare for several weeks, for
' Volume X, Colonial Records of North Carolina.
'He escaped to the Fowey June 8, 1775.
¦^ ^In London in 1784.

Boonesborough 33
during this time he openly and very innocently visited the
Shawanese and other Ohio Indians, all then at peace
with the whites. He doubtless made a diagram of "the
works " at Boonesborough. In his notes, which the unsus
pecting settlers did not get a chance to see, he mentions
Henderson as "a man of vast and enterprising genius,
but void of military talents," and says, in the disgust of
his loyal soul at the outrageous independence of the
Transylvanians, ' ' such is the insolence, folly, and ridiculous
pride of these ignorant backwoodsmen that they would
conceive it an indelible disgrace and infamy to be styled
servants even of His Majesty." The doctor was still
more disgusted before he left the country, for shortly
after this he barely escaped being tarred and feathered
in a Virginia town, and later on was arrested, imprisoned,
and the plan nipped in the bud.
Early in this same month of June, while the American
troops were girding themselves for the approaching con
test at Bunker Hill, every thing was quiet enough in the
Kentucky wilderness, and Boone, who wanted to bring
out his wife and children to Boonesborough, was con
cerned to have them safely lodged, and again urged his
men, as he had often done before, to complete their little
log shelter in the hollow. This time he was successful,
and the cabins which, though they required no great
6

34 Boonesborough
attention, had been so long neglected, were easily finished. '
They seem never to have been used except for residence
and domestic purposes.
It was about this time, too, that reports of Dunmore's
efforts to inflame the Indians began to reach and arouse
Boonesborough, and it is probable that Henderson and
Boone seized the chance to impel the self-confident
woodsmen to further defensive exertions, for the "big
fort" on the rise overlooking the Lick was then almost
but not entirely completed, much to the satisfaction
of the resident proprietors, who had been exceedingly
uneasy over their unprotected condition.' This was the
'It is the usual thing for writers of Westem history to confuse these
little defensive cabins commenced in "the hollow" on the ist of April
with the fort begun by Henderson on the the 22d of the same month,
though they were so different in location and importance. Even so late
a writer as Roosevelt makes the two defenses identical, as Marshall did.
The mistake dates from 1784, when Filson wrote his valuable but high-
flown account of Boone, in which he fails to distinguish between the two,
and makes the plain old hunter speak of the cabins begun April ist as
"works," and has him "busily employed" on them until the X4th of June.
Filson wrote nine years after the event. Henderson,- in his journal and
in his letters written on the ground, says the log affair in the hollow was
" a small fort," and that it was persistently neglected in spite of repeated
efforts of both himself and Boone to get the men to finish it. The large
fort completed later on was the only one that could aspire to such a title
as "works," or that men would be "busily employed" on for weeks.
Writers followed Filson without investigation, and hence the perpetuation
of the error. (See Boone's Narrative, Henderson's letter of June la,
1775, WilUam Cocke, etc.)
'Henderson's letter of June 12, 1775, Appendix X, and letter of July
18, 1775, to the Company. (See Frankfort Commonwealth, May 26, 1840.)

REAR

^IVER

9

^ • -vc.

^^^Ji^UfO

''-^

2

2 2
~\9

FRONT
PLAN OF FORT BOONESBOROUGH.
From the Original in the Handwriting of Richard Henderson. Copied by James Hall.
Henderson's Autograph from Original in possession of Wisconsin Historical Library.
I — Henderson's Cabin. 2— Stockades. 3 — Henderson's Kitchen. 4 — Luttrell's Cabin. 5 — His Kitchen. 9— Gates.
14 — Cabins for Hart and Williams. Unnumbered Spaces — Cabins.

Boonesborough 35
only real fortification Boonesborough ever had, and the
only one that figured in the Revolution. Fortunately, a
plan of this celebrated station, drawn by Judge Henderson
himself, was preserved,' and other information about it
from some of. its actual defenders is stifl extant. In the
summer of 1775 it consisted of twenty-six one-story log
cabins and four block-houses, arranged after the usual
pioneer style, in a hollow square estimated as two hundred
and sixty feet long and one hundred and eighty feet broad.'
The block-houses, with their projecting second stories,
formed the angles or bastions of the fort, and the roofs of the
cabins, which were shed-shaped, sloped inwardly. Spaces
between the block-houses and the cabins nearest them were
intended to be stockaded, but as pickets were the least
needed features of the fort in time of peace, it is probable
that these were the parts neglected at this time, which
afterward had to be supplied to ' ' finish the fort. " ' Both
cabins and stockades were provided with little portholes
for the rifles. The back of the station, so to speak, or
back row of cabins comprising one of its longest sides, was
substantially parallel with the river,* though one of the
angles on the river was nearer the bank than the other,
'Copied by James Hall in 1835.
'Estimated by Hall from original documents. TC l/i'*"^*-
3John Floyd's letter of July 21, 1776.
¦• Henderson and Draper manuscripts.

36 Boonesborough
while the front commanded the open space in the hollow
below the fort, in which were the lick and the two springs.
There were two gates — generally forgotten except in time
of danger — one in the front and the other in the back wall
facing the river. At Boonesborough, as at nearly afl
the pioneer stations in Kentucky, no provision whatever
was made to insure a supply of drinking-water inside the
stockade, plain as was the danger of the garrison being
cut off from the springs in case of siege. All the cabins
of the fort were not continuously occupied, for some of the
settlers lived on their variously-located lands nearby, and
some even had farms across the river ; but the cabins were
often filled by newly - arrived immigrants, and all were
crowded to overflowing whenever an Indian alarm was
given. Then all the settlers in the neighborhood rushed
in. It is certain, however, that in 1775 Judge Hen
derson lived in the block-house in the angle nearest
the river ; that he used for his kitchen the nearest cabin
to him in the back row, and that old Dan, his
negro cook, presided over it.' Colonel Nat. Hart's quar
ters were nominally in the other angle near the river, but
really with Colonel Callaway, it is believed, in one of the
cabins in the hollow,' when not at his White Oak clear-
' Diagram of the fort and Draper manuscripts.
'Diagram of the fort and Nat. Hart, junior's, notes.

Boonesborough 37
ing, which he had already made about a mfle above the
fort. Luttrell's house was in the corner to the right of
the front gate, and the angle that overlooked the lick
was subsequently inhabited by John Williams, the Com
pany's Agent. The cabins of Floyd and others have not
been located, but ' ' the store " is supposed to have formed
part of the end of the station adjoining ' ' the block-house, "
as Judge Henderson's rough residence was curiously called,
considering that there were three other block-houses.
Toward the middle of June Captain Cocke left Boones
borough for Black's Fort ( Abingdon ), to which his wife
had returned, under the impression from his long absence
that he was dead. On the way — following a gentle habit
that had been observed in most of the colonies — he
scalped an Indian' who had been killed and overlooked
by some immigrants after the savage and his party had
attacked them in Powell's Valley. It was not long after
this that he commenced a career that became distin
guished.' On the 13th of June, after superintending the work
on the fort, Boone set out for his family, which was still
' Henderson and Luttrell. (See Frankfort Commonwealth, May 26,
1840.) 'He figured gallantly the very next summer as an officer in the victory
over the Cherokees at Long Island of the Holston, and ultimately became
one of the first United States Senators from Tennessee. He died August
22, 1S28, at Columbus, Mississippi, and was there buried.

38 Boonesborough
at Snoddy's Station, ' the stockaded home of his comrade,
John Snoddy, located on the margin of the Clinch River,
on the site of the present town of Castlewood, Russell
County, Virginia. His old neighbor, Richard Callaway,
went along with him for a like purpose, his family, too,
being in a frontier fort of Virginia at this time.' They
had the company, as far as Powell's Valley, of Thomas
Hart, who was en route to North Carolina.- With Boone
was a detail of men engaged to bring back the salt '
which had been left behind at Martin's cabin by Hender
son when the wagons were abandoned there. When the
party set out Boonesborough was on the eve of a salt
famine, which was in full force by the middle of the
succeeding month, increasing the scarcity of provisions
through the extreme difficulty of preserving wfld meat,
and especially big game, which now had to be brought
'The exact location of Boone's family "on CUnch" at this period is
now given for the first time, thanks to Judge W. B. Wood, of Bristol,
Virginia, who obtained the information from T. W. Carter, of Scott
County, Virginia, a descendant of Samuel Porter, who was with Boone
in 1773 when driven back by the Indians from WaUen's Gap. (See
Appendix.) Castlewood has a population of about five hundred, and the
CUnch Valley Division of the Norfolk & Western Railroad runs through
the place.
' Callaway evidently moved from Virginia to the Yadkin region of
North CaroUna after the French and Indian War, but returned to Virginia
just before the Revolution.
'The salt had, doubtless, been originally secured from the primitive
works then existing on the North Fork of the Holston, at the place now
known as Saltville, Smyth County, Virginia.

Boonesborough 39
in from quite a distance through the heat. The men,
after securing the salt, evidently waited in Powell's Valley
for Boone to arrive there on his return from Snoddy's,
for Henderson dolefully says, in his letter of July i8th :
' ' Our salt is exhausted, and the men who went with
Colonel Boone for that article have not returned, and
until he comes the devfl could not drive the others this
way." Tradition says that before the party got back the
distressed settlers exerted themselves to the utmost to
make salt from the sulphur water in the hollow, but the
results were too small to encourage any repetition of the
experiment. Henderson and Luttrefl were both anxious
to make a visit to North Carolina, where pressing bus
iness demanded their presence, but delayed their start
until assured that Boone was well advanced on his return
trip and would soon be back. They seem to have left
about the latter part of August. Henderson hardly
dreamed when he set out from the proprietary capital
that fateful circumstances would make his absence from
it one of years, nor did Luttrell imagine that he would
see it no more forever.' When Boone started back to
' He was ultimately swept into the Revolution, was active against the
Tories, and met death at their hands. He was shot through the body at
Cane Creek, North Carolina, September 14, 1781, in an engagement with
the notorious David Fanning, the Tory partisan leader, and died the fol
lowing day. (Draper.) Colonel Luttrell was a native of Westmoreland
County, Virginia. He left a widow, but no children.

40 Boonesborough
Kentucky he was joined, not only by the salt men, but
by quite a number of immigrants, including several fam
flies from North Carolina, that of the reckless Hugh
McGary being one, who were bound for Harrod's Sta
tion. When these famihes left the company at "the
hazel patch,"' in the present Laurel County, Kentucky,
for their new home, about thirty persons were stifl left
in Boone's party, which, with its cattle and dogs, its pack-
horses loaded with the precious salt, provisions, and house
hold "traps," arrived on the Sth of September at delighted
and excited Boonesborough, which turned out en masse
to welcome it. Boone's was the only family ' in the party,
and his wife and grown daughter, Jemima, were not
only the first white women to set foot upon the mar
gin of the picturesque Kentucky, ' but they remained
for nearly three weeks the only women there. The
Boones immediately occupied a cabin in the hollow, but
soon exchanged it for better quarters in ' ' the big fort, "
and the influence of sunbonnets, though there was but a
solitary couple of them, was soon seen. The men, and
' Hazel Patch is eight miles north of London, Kentucky.
' This party is said to have consisted of Boone, his wife and children,
and twenty-one men, and as — according to Peck — Boone had eight chil
dren, not including the son killed two years before at WaUen's Gap, the
above estimate is substantially correct.
3 Boone to Filson. The other families mentioned reached their desti
nation the same day the Boones arrived at theirs, but Harrodsburg is on
Salt River, which runs within a mile of the town.

SITE OF FORT BOONESBOROUGH.

(Marked by Corn Stacks.) As seen from the opposite side of the River in igoo.

Boonesborough 41
especially the younger ones, immediately improved in
appearance, for there was a sudden craze for shaving and
hair-cutting. An ash-hopper, soap kettle, and clothes
line were set up. Hickory brooms and home-made wash
boards multiplied. The sound of the spinning-wheel was
heard in the land, and an occasional sight could be had
of a little looking-glass, a patch-work quilt, knitting-
needles, and a turkey-tail fan. Cut off entirely from the
companionship of females of their own race, great was the
relief of Mrs. Boone and Miss Jemima when on the 26th
of the month ( September ) Colonel Callaway returned with
his family and a party which included William Pogue and
Barney Stagner and their famihes, adding three matrons
and several young women to the social life of the station.
Pogue, being "an ingenius contriver," blessed the settle
ment by making piggins and noggins, washtubs and churns,
and provisions were more plentiful now that there was
salt to preserve the game, and the fields for the first
time brought forth their increase. Times were better at
Boonesborough. The Transylvania Legislature did not convene at
Boonesborough this September according to adjournment.
The spread of revolutionary sentiments was not confined
to the seaboard, and before the summer of 1775 had
ended the idea of a proprietary government had become
7

42 Boonesborough
obnoxious to the Kentucky settlers. But a meeting of a
majority of the Company's members was held on the
twenty-fifth of the month' at the little town of Oxford,
Granville County, North Carolina, about which several of
them resided, and immediately steps were taken to secure
the recognijiion of Transylvania as the fourteenth member
of the United Colonies by the adoption of a memorial to
the Continental Congress, then in session at Phfladelphia,
and the election of James Hogg as a delegate to that
body. Mr, Hogg reached Phfladelphia on the 2 2d of
October, and, though not received as a delegate, he
labored faithfully among the great spirits of that great
assembly, and one of them, Silas Deane, thought so
seriously of the new colony as to draw up a paper (which
is herewith appended) ' to aid in the proper shaping of its
economy and government, but advised him to sound the
Virginia delegates, "as they would not chuse to do any
thing in it without their consent." Other Connecticut
men besides Mr. Deane were thinking of Transylvania at
this time, but in a different way. The prospect of secur
ing generous slices of its rich domain at a trifling cost
was so enticing to his constituents that two thousand of
them, it is said, were considering the matter of settHng
'See Proceedings of Meeting, Appendix O.
'Appendix P.

Boonesborough 43
there.' Of the Virginia members of the Congress, Thomas
Jefferson said it was his wish to see a free government
established back of theirs, ' ' but would consent to no
congressional acknowledgment of the colony until it was
approved by the Virginia Convention " ; so to that conven
tion the matter went. It is plain that none of the Con
gressmen that Hogg consulted countenanced a proprietary
government. In what Hogg styles ' ' an account of my
embassy,"' he says, "You would be amazed to see how
much in earnest all these speculative gentlemen are about
the plan to be adopted by the Transylvanians. They
entreat, they pray that we may make it a free govern
ment, 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 shall not be established
in Transylvania. They even threaten us with their oppo
sition if we do not act upon liberal principles." In this
same report to Judge Henderson, Mr. Hogg significantly
adds, "Enclosed I send you a copy of a sketch by John
Adams, 3 which I had from Richard Henry Lee." In this
' Letter of Governor Martin, of North Carolina, November 12, 1775, to
Lord Dorchester, in Canadian Archives for 1890, pages 103-156.
'' Appendix Q.
3 This sketch was in the shape of a letter to George Wythe, of Virginia,
and was entitled, ' ' Thoughts on Government Applicable to the Present
State of the American Colonies." At this time " there "was much discus
sion," says Mr. Adams, "concerning the necessity of independence, and the

44 Boonesborough
document Mr. Adams, like Jefferson and Deane, urged
the adoption of full and complete republican constitutions
by all the colonies. It must have been plain to Hender
son and Company, even six or eight months before the
Declaration of Independence, that the prospects of an
American colony with a proprietary form of government
i^were not encouraging.
At the before - mentioned September meeting of the
Proprietors they advanced the price of land in Transyl
vania from twenty shiflings to fifty shillings per hundred
acres, which had much to do with raising a storm that
was already threatened.
On the first of December John Wilhams, uncle of
Judge Henderson and recently elected general agent of the
colony, arrived at Boonesborough, accompanied by some
immigrants, and opened a land oflfice. John Floyd, who
had returned from a trip made in the summer, was
appointed surveyor, Nathaniel Henderson entry officer,
and Richard Harrison secretary. Wflliams soon found
several States were advised to institute governments for themselves under
the immediate authority and original power of the people." But the con
templated transition from a royal to a republican form of government
presented difficulties. The important question was how to overcome these
difficulties, and Mr. Wythe, in seeking more light upon it, requested Mr.
Adams "to advise a plan for a colony to pursue in order to get out of
the old government and into the new. " This essay was in answer to that
request. It can be fouud on page 189 of Volume IV of Life and Works
of John Adams, by Charles Francis Adams.

Boonesborough 45
that the rise in the price of the land was causing great
dissatisfaction to the Transylvanians, which some of them
at Harrodsburg soon exhibited in a formal remonstrance
delivered to him by a special committee. His reply' was
not satisfactory, and the trouble grew.
On the 23d of this month Boonesborough was
amazed as well as exasperated by an Indian outrage,' for
the Western savages were still neutral in the Revolutionary
struggle. On that day two boys, McQuinney and San
ders, left the place without their rifles — a common thing
with the long undisturbed settlers — crossed the river,
climbed the hills opposite the fort, and fell into the
hands of some lurking Shawanese, who fired on another
member of the garrison who was also on that side. At
first it was feared that quite a body of Indians had arrived,
and, as the boys did not return, great anxiety was added
to alarm, but on the 27th McQuinney, kifled and
scalped, was discovered in a cornfield about three miles
north of the river, and it was evident that his slayers
had decamped. A party of rangers under Jesse Benton,'
father of the afterward famous Thomas H. Benton,
scoured the woods with an offer of the Colony before
their eyes of ;^5 for the scalp of each of the fleeing
" Appendix R.
^WilUams' Report of January 3, 1776, Appendix S.
3 Transylvania Company's books,

46 Boonesborough
murderers, but no such gruesome trophy was secured, and
Sanders, kflled or a prisoner, never returned. It was
soon learned that there were only about a half-dozen of
the Shawanese, and that they were the unauthorized
marauders alluded to by Cornstalk at the October con
ference at Fort Pitt between the American commissioners
and the chiefs of the Western tribes. That noble Indian'
gentleman informed the commissioners that such a party
had left for Kentucky just before the conference ; that he
could not be responsible for them, and that if any of
them got killed he would take no notice of it whatever.'
The settlers were relieved to know that the outrage was
not yet the beginning of Indian hostilities, but all the
same the first Christmas at Boonesborough was one of
grief, anxiety, and tears.
The New Year, 1776, opened peacefully enough at the
station, business at the "land office" went on,' and the
spring was uneventful, but immigration was checked by
the tragedy just related, unauthorized though it was, and
by fears for the future. The English and the Americans
were both working for an Indian alliance, but it was evident
already that the' savages, as usual, would side with the
strongest, and the outlook was gloomy for the pioneers.
'Williams' letter.
' See Appendix T for specimen of the Company's land survey warrant.

Boonesborough 47
In May a petition' embodying the substance of the
December remonstrance was received by the Virginia
Convention from ' ' the inhabitants and some of settlers
of that part of North America now denominated Tran
sylvania." It was the last time that Transylvania was^
formally recognized as the name of the colony. Hen
derson, who was at Williamsburg watching the interests
of the Company, filed an answering petition,' and feeling
waxed hotter in the Kentucky wilderness. The rise in
* the price of its land, the uncertainty of its title, and its
feudal features were not the only objections to the Pro
prietary government. It was not countenanced by any
of the old colonies, and had no organized militia, and
these deficiencies grew suddenly momentous when a warn
ing came to the settlers from friendly Indians that some
of the Western tribes were leaguing against the Long
Knives. The people realized at once the importance or
an open and decided recognition of their territory as a_
part of Virginia ; steps were taken to effect this, and an
eight-day election held at Harrodsburg, and commencing
June 6th, resulted in the choice of two representatives, [
George Rogers Clark and John Gabriel Jones, from "West
Fincastle," as the colony was newly called, to the Con-
' Appendix U. This petition to the Convention (not to the Assembly,
as some authors have it) was received May i8, 1776.
'Filed June 15th. See Journal Virginia Convention.

48 Boonesborough
vention of Virginia, and of an Executive Committee to
voice the wishes of the people, which was done on the
20th of the month by the adoption of a petition' to
the Convention, which in its own unique way prays for
the incorporation of West Fincastle as a county of Vir
ginia. This was not what the high-spirited and adven
turous Clark was after, but the people had settled' the
matter and he acquiesced. He declares in his Memoirs : '
"I wanted deputies elected at Harrodsburg to treat with
the Virginia Assembly. If valuable considerations were
procured we would declare ourselves citizens of the State,
otherwise we would establish an independent government. "
The Convention adjourned before these proceedings could
be submitted to it, but not before it had made provision
to accurately determine Virginia's chartered interests in
the Kentucky territory, and for an inquiry into alleged
illegal purchases from the Indians,' both of which were
ominous for the Transylvania Company, and brought from
it a warning proclamation as to settlement on disputed
lands." ' Appendix V.
'Dillon's Indiana, Volume I, page 128.
3 See journal of Virginia Convention, pages 63 and 83, for resolution
adopted June 24, 1776, against purchase of land from the Indians without
authority from the State, and for act of July 3, 1776, appointing Com
missioners to examine into such illegal purchases.
* See Appendix W.

Boonesborough 49
The summary action at Harrodsburg against the Pro
prietary govemment made but little stir in a region that
was by this time constantly exercised about threatened
Indian hostilities, and from which many an apprehensive
soul had already departed. The tribes still claimed to be
friends of the "Long Knives," but all the same Indian
' ' signs " and alarming rumors increased, and early in July
the significant fact was noted that several of the men who
had left the settlement on hunting trips had never returned.
Boonesborough was anxious, but more than six quiet
months had elapsed since the murder of McQuinney, and
no enemy had threatened the station yet.
It was as quiet as ever on the afternoon of Sunday,
July 14th, and the customary Bible reading was over,
when Elizabeth and Frances Callaway, daughters of Rich
ard Callaway, and Jemima Boone,' daughter of Daniel
Boone, started in one of the rough canoes of the settle
ment to visit a family located on the other side of the
river, and only a short distance from Boonesborough.
They had crossed and were only a few yards from a land
ing when the canoe struck a Httle sandbar nearly opposite
a spot on the shore which tradition says is the same now
known as ' ' The Four Sycamores, " from the four trees
'Boone's Narrative and W. B. Smith. Floyd's letter of July 21, 1776.
See extract, Appendix X.

50 Boonesborough
of that kind which afterward grew there, and which stfll
designate the place. And here, when neither the faintest
sight nor sound had intimated the presence of an enemy,
the Httle boat was suddenly seized by five Indians — four
Shawanese and one Cherokee — who darted from the thick
cane that bordered the river. The eldest of the girls,
' ' Miss Betsey, " though startled and terrified, instinct
ively dealt one of the savages a blow on the head with
a paddle, whfle her younger companions, paralyzed with
fear, covered their blanched faces with their hands. In
a moment, whfle too breathless and bewildered to give
an alarm, they were rushed through the shallow water to
shore and then up a densely wooded ravine to the summit
of the high and lonely hills that stretched along that side
of the river. From there, made dumb by a threat of the
tomahawk, they were marched in silence through streams
and canebrakes and woods toward the ancient ' ' Warriors'
Trace " that led to the Ohio. So cleverly had the savages
managed that it was hours before the girls were missed —
for it was not untfl mflking time that the alarm was sounded
by a hunter who had gone out to meet them. In the
midst of the grief and excitement that ensued, and after
exasperating delays, one band of riflemen under Daniel
Boone and another under Colonel Callaway, comprising
about twenty men in all, started in pursuit. This force

the HILLS OF CLARK, ON THE KENTUCKY RIVER OPPOSITE BOONESBOROUGH,
Showing cn the extreme right the traditional locality, now designated by "The Four Sycamores," where the three girls were captured by the Indians July 14, 1776.

Boonesborough 5^
included,' besides the leaders, John Holder, Samuel Hen
derson, Flanders Callaway, Wifliam Bailey Smith, John
Floyd, Nathaniel Hart, David Hart, Nathan Reid, John
Gess, David Gess, and others, from Boonesborough ;
and John Martin, John McMfllan, and Wflliam Bush, who
had recently built improvers' cabins across the river in
easy distance from the fort. The outcome of this romantic
incident is familiar to every reader of early Western his
tory. The savages were surprised, routed, and two of
them killed as they halted three miles south of the Upper
Blue Licks, the tattered, torn, and despairing girls were
rescued unharmed, and, after a torrent of happy tears and
exclamations, were caught' up on horseback and brought
back worn out but safe to the rejoicing settlement.
But the event was a prophecy of evil. It was the
beginning of days and years of trouble, and the rescuing
party did not return a whit too soon. In fact, some mis
chief was done before they did return, for Indian stragglers
went to Nathaniel Hart's clearing,' burned his cabin, and
ruined his young apple trees, while the force left behind
was too small to punish them. The news brought in by
scouts and messengers was plain enough. Small parties
of hostile Shawanese were haunting all the stations. The
Indians had dug up the hatchet. Such of the neighbor-
' Names from John Floyd, John Bradford, and Draper manuscripts.
'United States Historical Register,

52 Boonesborough (
ing settlers, including those across the river, as had
famihes brought them into the fort, which was now pro
vided with cumbersome but substantial gates, and all the
open gaps in the walls were filled in either with more
cabins or with sharpened posts that stood ten feet above
the ground. ' ' The works " were finished at last ' accord
ing to the original plans, and now another panic set in.
Numbers left the country. On the 20th the discouraged
settlers of Hinkston's Station ' camped inside the stockade
whfle en route to Virginia, and ten of the Boonesborough
people went with them when they departed, leaving less
than thirty riflemen to defend the place.'
Fortunately the Indians made no formidable move
ment this year, and though murders and depredations by
skulkers and petty bands were incessant, all was not dark
among the undaunted holders of the wilderness forts. On
the 7th of August, three weeks after the capture of the
girls, there was a wedding in one of the cabins at Boones
borough, when Squire Boone, Baptist Elder as wefl as
Indian fighter, oflficiated, and Ehzabeth Callaway, the
oldest of the heroines of that adventure, and Samuel
Henderson, a brother of Judge Henderson, were made
' Floyd's letter.
'One of the earliest settlements in Central Kentucky, located in the
present Harrison County, and afterward called "Ruddles."
3 Floyd's letter.

Boonesborough 53
husband and wife.' At this, the first marriage that took
place in Kentucky, there was dancing to fiddle-music by
the light of tallow "dips," and legend says the guests
were treated to home-grown watermelons, of which the
whole station was proud. A few days later a returning
settler brought in the first news of the Declaration of
Independence and a copy of the Virginia Gazette con
taining the text of it. The immortal document was
read out to the assembled garrison, was concluded amidst
cheers and war-whoops, and was given the endorsement
of a big bonfire that night. There were Sons of Liberty
in the Kentucky wilderness as well as on the Seaboard,
and some of them were right in Boonesborough at this
time. In September the station lost two more ofificers of the '
Proprietary government, John Wflliams and John Floyd,
who left for the old settlements in the interest of the
jeopardized Company. Their plans were soon changed
by the action of Virginia in the Transylvania matter.
Williams returned to North Carolina, became one of her
leading citizens,' and saw the backwoods capital no more.
Floyd, who was not destitute of love of adventure,
'Alfred Henderson to R. H. Collins.
'Williams was elected judge the next year, 1777, and was afterward a
member of Congress. He died in October, 1799, on his farm a mile west
of Williamsboro, in what is now Vance County, North CaroUna, and was
buried on the place.

54 Boonesborough
embarked in the Revolution as a privateersman.' Isaac
Shelby acted as surveyor for a short time at Boones
borough in his place, but the uncertain fare with its lack
of salt injured his health, and he, too, departed.'
During the first session of the newly created State
Legislature of Virginia, which began at Williamsburg in
October, Henderson and his colleagues fought hard and
long for the recognition of the claims of their Company,'
but the battle ended in the assumption by the Common
wealth itself of jurisdiction over the disputed territory. On
the 7th of December an act was passed creating the county
of Kentucky out of the domain which; was destined to be
rechristened the State of Kentucky, and the new county
included the Henderson purchase. The Proprietary
government of Transylvania now ceased to exist, and
Boonesborough suddenly found herself figuring unequivo-
I cally as a wilderness settlement of the extremest western
i county of the'~^ate of Virginia. ~The splendid and prom-
1 ising scheme of the Transylvania Company to possess an
empire of territory and garner the magnificent revenues
' Floyd was captured by the British, and after an imprisonment of
about a year retumed to Kentucky.
'Wheeler's History of North Carolina.
3 See Appendix T for deposition of Charles Robertson, a sample of the
evidence taken by the Commissioners appointed by the Convention to
investigate the purchase from the Cherokees. (Volume II, Cal. Virginia
State papers.

Boonesborough 55
it was to yield ended in a struggle for mere compensa
tion for the expenses, labor, and trouble incurred in the
enterprise. Much of the documentary history of that
struggle is herewith appended.' Certain features of the
Company's plan of government deserved the condemna
tion they received, but for the great work it did in open
ing up a continuous path to the banks of the Kentucky,
in planting the strongest early barrier against the Indi- ^
ans, inspiring the desperate people with hope, and
insuring the permanent occupation of the soil, it fully
merited all the compensation it received, and wfll ever
hold a prominent place in the history of the Common
wealth. And such a place wfll certainly be held by the
master spirit of the Company, Richard Henderson, one
of the ablest and boldest of the American colonizers of
his day. The name of Transylvania was stricken from
the map of "the country on the western waters," but his
own name is justly perpetuated by one of the most fertile
counties' of the Commonwealth he unwittingly but power
fully helped to plant. Henderson's brilliant hopes were
' See sundry documents in Appendix, including above deposition.
^It was mainly through Henderson's exertion that Virginia, in Decem
ber, 1778, granted the Company by way of compensation two hundred
thousand acres of land in Kentucky below the mouth of Green River.
The present city and county of Henderson are on this tract, where Will
iam Bailey Smith and heirs of Luttrell, Hogg, and other associates of
Henderson finally settled.

56 Boonesborough
blasted, but the future proved him undaunted. He was
to visit Boonesborough once more.'
On the ist of January, 1777, about half a dozen
refugees from McClelland's fort (Georgetown) reached
Boonesborough, which meant that the Indians, contrary to
their usual custom, had been active in the winter, and
that the last station north of the Kentucky River had
been abandoned. Early in March, just after Boone had
been regularly appointed to the command of the fort,
and before the feeble militia of Kentucky County had
been organized a week, a number of Shawanese were
lurking unseen about Boonesborough. They were under
the distinguished Black Fish, who was to be heard of in
this locality again. Some one else was hiding near the
fort at this time. It was Simon Kenton, known then by
his assumed name of "Simon Butler," who was waiting
for a chance to warn its inmates of their danger. But the
stalwart adventurer, then only twenty-one but six feet
tall, already understood Indians too well to attempt to
enter the station in the daytime. He got safely in at
nightfall, but not in time to avert a tragedy, for two of
the garrison who had not waited for the darkness, as he
had, were waylaid and killed as they openly went toward
the stockade.' Incursions of small parties of the enemy
' See infra.
' Collins.

Boonesborough 57
now constantly occurred, and Kenton and Thomas Brooks,
who were appointed by Boone as special scouts, had a
perilous task, and a bigger one than two men could
always perform.
The first time ' ' the big fort " was actually attacked
was about sunrise on the 24th of April,' while the scouts
were in. The Indians, numbering from fifty to a hun
dred,' arrived without their advance being either sus
pected or announced, and the station, with its poor Httle
force of twenty-two riflemen,* barely escaped capture.
During a Successful maneuver to draw out the garrison an
Indian tomahawked and scalped Daniel Goodman, when
Kenton, who was at the fort gate with his loaded gun,
killed the exulting savage. The garrison, in pursuing the
apparently retreating enemy, was cut off from the fort and
only regained it after a desperate fight, in which Boone,
Isaac Hite, John Todd, and Michael Stoner ¦* were wounded
and a number of Indians killed — three of them, it is said,
by Kenton alone. It was on this occasion that Kenton
saved the life of Boone, carried him into the fort, and
was knighted in backwoods fashion when his leader, of
' Boone says April 15th in his Narrative, dictated seven years after
the event. We accept the date given in Clark's journal, as it was written
at the time.
'Boone says "above a hundred;" Clark says "from forty to fifty."
3 Boone.
¦? Clark's journal. 9

58 Boonesborough
ievf words and fewer compliments, called Kenton ' ' a fine
fellow." After the faflure of their famfliar stratagem the
Indians, who were never prepared for a protracted siege,
retreated, carrying their dead off with them. Threatened
as Boonesborough now continually was, her defenders, true
to the pioneer trait that more than once brought disaster,
would risk much to gratify their love of adventure. One
day in June Captain William Bafley Smith started after
some retiring marauders with a force that left the station
almost unprotected. The riflemen ventured clear to the
Ohio River, killed one of the Indians, and in returning
had the gratification of surprising and scattering another
party. Fortunately the fort was not attacked in their
absence, and they got back uninjured except John Martin,
a scout, who was wounded.'
About two weeks after this the Indians made another
» and more serious attempt than the April one to capture
Boonesborough. After a swift descent to the Kentucky
they sent detachments to threaten the other stations and
prevent the march of reinforcements, and early on the
morning of the Fourth of July they suddenly encompassed
the fort with two hundred warriors,' who swarmed up from
the river bank and hid themselves in the now deserted
hollow, and behind trees and stumps, and in such patches
' Bradford.
' Boone's Narrative.

Boonesborough 59
of corn as their predecessors had spared. But this
time the scouts had warned the garrison, and there was
not only no surprise, but no rushing out after retreating
decoy parties. For two days and two nights the savages,
by their persistent firing and repeated attempts to burn
the fort, ' kept the handful of men in the station incessantly
employed while the weary and anxious women loaded the
extra rifles, passed the precious water from the rain-
barrels, distributed food, and attended to the horses, cows,
and other live-stock that had been hastily gathered in.
Failing in surprise and stratagem, the Indians left before
sunrise on the 6th, carrying off — to hide away — seven
dead comrades whose bodies had been seen and counted
from the portholes by the garrison, which had one man
killed and two wounded. As soon as the scouts reported
the enemy as certainly gone the cumbersome gates of the
fort were dragged open with a will, when the live-stock
delightedly rushed out to the green grass and to the river,
whfle the settlers as eagerly sought the cool, fresh water
of the lick spring. A small party immediately set out to
scour the country for wfld meat, a mounted messenger
was soon hurrying over Boone's Trace on his way to the
old settlements to implore aid for the sorely tried and
diminishing people, the wounded now were given full
' Clark's journal and Marshall.

v/

6o Boonesborough
attention, and there was a mournful burial in the grave
yard adjoining the station.
Boonesborough was not besieged again this year, but
life was made almost a burden to its inmates all the
same, for Indians either as skulkers or in small bands
haunted the locahty untfl freezing weather. Pent up,
stagnant, half-starved, exposed to sudden death whenever
they ventured from the station, the settlers wearily waited
for the rehef they had sent for. It came at last on the
25th of July,' when forty-five riflemen from North Caro
lina rode in among the wornout but rejoicing people. A
week after these men were succeeded by a detachment
from a force of a hundred Virginia militia, which Colonel
John Bowman' brought to the aid of the county, and
these in turn were replaced by a smaller body commanded
by the adventurous pioneer. Captain John Montgomery.'
While each of these militia reliefs, being under short
enlistment, soon returned home, they were nevertheless
such a strength and encouragement that the settlers were
often enabled to take the offensive, whfle hunters were at
least given a chance to seek big game, for ammunition
was too scarce to use, except in cases of extreme neces
sity, on squirrels, rabbits, and birds. Often the danger
' Boone.
* Clark's Memoirs.
3 From Botetourt County, Virginia.

Boonesborough 6i
was such that no game of any kind could be sought, and
the sole dependence was such corn, potatoes, and turnips
as could be raised so close to the station as to be almost
under the rifle barrels of its defenders. Late in the fall
pawpaws and wild grapes were a blessing, and big stores
of walnuts and hickory nuts were laid in. Once the
gunpowder was entirely exhausted, and the whole garrison
got heartsick, when a little hoarded store was remembered
of the brimstone and saltpetre that Henderson brought
in. Some charcoal was made, and Boone and a couple
of frontiersmen, who, like himself, had taken lessons from
dire necessity, soon manufactured enough powder,' scant
as that was, to tide the settlement over the emergency.
But salt, almost as great a need as ammunition and to
secure which the pioneers often risked captivity and
death, was again distressingly low. The dwellers in the
log cabins of Boonesborough always remembered the year
1777 for its varied and long-continued trials. It was a
year of sieges, minor engagements, and single combats, of
tragedies, romantic adventures, and great suffering, but
the men and women of Boonesborough were too busy
' Gunpowder was manufactured several times at Boonesborough. A
few months after this when Boone was a prisoner at Detroit he surprised
Hamilton by making his own powder, and the fact did not encourage the
govemor as to the capabilities and resources of the Kentucky settlers.
(Howe's Ohio, page 191.)

62 Boonesborough
struggling for existence to make more than a casual
record of the events that crowded it, and what should
have been one of the richest pages of pioneer history is
a blank. But through it all the settlers listened with the
keenest interest for every echo of the Revolution that
might penetrate the wfldemess. About the middle of
November they heard with exultation and renewed hope
of the surrender of Burgoyne. That night a bonfire of dry
cane was made in the center of the spacious stockade,
where a crowd of rejoicing men, women, and children,
singing negroes, and capering dogs was gathered. Every
cabin door was open, and from each came the feeble Hght
of a tallow dip or rude bear's ofl lamp, or the brightness of
blazing logs in a yawning fireplace. It was all that the
patriotic but hard-pressed settlers could do in the way of
celebrating, and they did that with the fort gates securely
barred, with their horses and cattle all penned inside the
pickets, and with scouts continually on the watch.
Among the pioneer conveniences and features that had
gradually accumulated at Boonesborough by this time
were sheds for corn and fodder and for the storing of
peltry, rough but indispensable hand-mifls or mortars,
stock troughs made from hollow logs, skins of wild ani
mals pegged to the palisades to be cured, huUed walnuts
and hickory nuts spread out to dry, a bare but all-impor-

Boonesborough 63
tant blacksmith shop, the usual assortment of pack-
saddles, ploughs made up with irons ' ' brought through
the wilderness " and of wood fashioned in the fort, and
the home-made rain barrels fed by bark gutters from the
cabin roofs, for neither well nor cistern had yet been
made inside the log walls by the strangely negligent gar
rison, and the springs and the river were stfll the main
dependence for water. Most of the cabins were provided
with a slab table, either a feather bed or a buffalo one,
hickory chairs with deerskin seats, iron pots, ovens, and
skillets, and gourds, big and Httle, that were used for every
thing, from dippers to egg baskets, and to hold every thing,
from cornmeal and soft soap to maple sugar. Bucks'
antlers and wooden pegs held rifles, powder-horns, and
fishing-poles, sun-bonnets and saddle-bags, bundles of
dried herbs, strings of red pepper, and "hands" of
tobacco. A shelf over the fireplace was reserved for
medicine, the whisky jug, tinder box, ink bottle, and qufll
pens, the Bible, almanac, and a few other books, which,
in some cabins, included The Pilgrim's Progress and
Shakespeare. Before December ended the stock of ^It was exhausted
at Boonesborough and the other stations also, and the
sHm rations of cornbread, turnips, and venison were not
only insipid, but sickness was threatened. The long trip

64 Boonesborough
to the North Holston wells was not to be thought of, and,
as the Indians seldom went on the warpath in midwinter,
the pioneers determined to make their own salt at the
ancient springs now known as^the Blue Licks, to which
the buffaloes, ages before, had guided the red men as
they afterward guided their pale-faced foes.' A Captain
Watkins arrived at Boonesborough about this time from
Virginia with a few mflitia to aid in the defense of the
county, and it was arranged for his force to alternate
with another under Daniel Boone in making the desired
salt,' and on the ist of January, 1778, Boone, with a
party of thirty men made up from the three forts, started
on a long, cold ride for the "Lower Salt Spring," with
a few pack-horses carrying the crudest of manufacturing
outfits in the shape of the largest iron kettles then in
domestic use in the settlements, together with meal, fod
der, and axes. As for meat, they relied solely on their
rifles for that. The work at the salt camp, which was
slow and difficult ' enough, was made more so by the cold
'One of the principal buffalo traces of the Kentucky wilds led to the
Blue Licks, in what is now Nicholas County.
^ McDonald's Kenton.
3 As from five hundred to eight hundred gaUons of this water was
required for a bushel of salt, one can fancy the time consumed in making
even a moderate supply of it with such a makeshift as cooking kettles.
One bushel of salt at this time was worth a cow and calf in barter, and
no telling how much in depreciated Continental currency. It was sold by
measure — a half -bushel measure being used. Two bushels, with a few hght

Boonesborough 65
weather and the constant efforts to secure game, so that
many days elapsed before any salt was sent back to the
settlements, but it went at last on pack-horses and in
charge of three of the men, who got through safely. The
work had dragged on for five weeks, when, on the 7th of
February, it was suddenly ended by a band of a little
over a hundred Indians,' which included the Shawanese
Chiefs Black Fish and Munseka, and two of Governor
Hamilton's French employes, Lorimer and Charles Baubin.
The weather was very severe, and Boone, who was several
miles from camp hunting game for the men, and who
was helpless from cold, was easily secured. He soon dis
covered that the object of the expedition was the capture
of Boonesborough. To save the fort, which he was con
vinced could, under the circumstances, be taken, he pre
tended great loyalty to the Crown, offered to prove it by
the surrender of his men already surrounded, expressed
deep regret that Boonesborough was too strongly gar
risoned for so small a body to expect any thing but defeat,
and suggested its capture a little later by a larger force.
The stratagem was a desperate one, but it succeeded.'
articles, was the usual load of a led pack-horse. For years after peace
was declared there were extensive salt-works at both ' ' the Upper and the
Lower Spring " on the Licking.
' Haldimand manuscripts, April, 1778 ; Boone and Marshall.
'Hamilton says in Haldimand manuscript: "The savages could not
be prevailed upon to attempt the fort, which, by means of their prisoners,
might have been easily done with success."

66 Boonesborough
Boone obtained good terms for his men, whose surrender
the next day so convinced the Indians of his friendship and
sincerity that the attempt on Boonesborough was aban
doned, and the greatly elated savages retired with their
prisoners across the Ohio. Later on some of the captives
were ransomed and some escaped,' but a few were heard
of no more. Boone was adopted as a son by Black Fish,
who gave him the name of ' ' Big Turtle, " ' and he seems
to have been kept with the Shawanese during his entire
captivity. The disaster was almost immediately discovered
by Brooks' and another scout in advance of the Watkins
force that had started to relieve the salt-makers. They
found a deserted camp and so many significant Indian
signs that they hastily gave warning to the advancing
men, and all turned back with heavy hearts. This loss
of twenty-seven men, including such a leader, out of so
small a fighting force was by far the greatest calamity
that had yet befallen the pioneers, and caused consterna
tion, grief, and discouragement at all the stations, and
especially at Boonesborough. As days went by without
bringing news from the ill-fated men the discouragement
increased, and when spring had fairly opened and stifl no
'One of them at least, Joseph Jackson, it is known was still a pris
oner in the spring of 1780.
'Lossing, and Thwaits in Withers' Chronicles.
3 McDonald's Kenton.

RELICS OF DANIEL BOONE.
Rifle, Hunting Shirt, Powder Horn, Tomahawk, and Hunting Knife. (From the Originals, owned by Colonel R. T. Durrett,
President Filson Club, Louisville, Kentucky.)

Boonesborough 67
tidings came they were given up for dead, and Mrs.
Boone and all of her immediate family except Jemima,
who remained with the famfly of her uncle. Squire Boone,
together with some of the relatives of the other missing
settlers, loaded up their pack-horses and made their weary
and dangerous way back to North Carolina.
The veteran Indian fighter, Richard Calloway, was now
the leading spirit at Boonesborough, and did his best to
cheer up its inmates, but it was no easy task, for not
only was Boone, their tower of strength, gone, but W. B.
Smith was absent doing imaginary recruiting for Clark in
Holston, the rollicking and adventurous ' ' Butler " ' was
scouting for the same leader, and many old friends
had gone back across the mountains. In addition to the
pent-up and isolated life of the fort, which was hard
enough of itself, skulking savages waylaid the hunters so
persistently when they went for game that the people
were at times reduced almost to starvation, and it was
well indeed for the Kentucky settlements that an Indian ^
army did not swoop down upon them during the gloomy
spring of 1778.
Summer commenced dolefully enough, enlivened only
by the preparations of Clark at the Fafls of the Ohio for
the expedition to Kaskaskia. It was the first summer
'He did not resume his real name — Kenton — until 1782.

68 Boonesborough
(that hadj opened yet at Boonesborough without Daniel
I Boone. But the great woodsman, though missed and
duly mourned, was far from dead. For four months he
had been forced to lead the wild and uncertain life of his
self-constituted Shawanese kinsmen, who, in their varied
wanderings, had carried him along to Detroit, headquarters
of the British for the Northwest, on one of their trips to
get rewards for scalps and to dispose of some of their
prisoners. There he won the friendship of Governor
Hamflton,' who tried to ransom him, and who treated
,him with a kindness and consideration that Boone, stead
fast and grateful, never forgot. But, unfortunately for
Boone, the Indians were too much charmed with him to
let him go at any price, and when they turned their faces
again toward the Ohio country he knew his only hope was
in the desperate chance of escape. But the chance did
not come, and the beginning of summer found him appar
ently contented but exceedingly watchful and patiently
bofling salt for the Black Fish family at a secret spring"
a few miles from the favorite old Indian haunt, Chflli-
cothe.' It was to this familiar region that the fighting
force of the Shawanese returned on the 15th of June,
exasperated over an unsuccessful foray against Donelly's
' Boone's Nar. Peck et al.
"SsxA to be located in the present Fayette County, Ohio.
3 Old Chillicothe.

Boonesborough 69
Fort,' on the Greenbrier River, and determined to avenge
its insulted dignity by an immediate surprise and capture
of Boonesborough. Keenly observant as he was, and
familiar with the Indian tongue, Boone quickly scented
the impending danger, determined to escape at once
at all hazards and warn his friends, and before another
sunrise he had left the salt spring far in the rear. On a
horse that Hamilton had given him he moved swiftly
down the silent channel of track-obliterating streams,
forced his way through dense reaches of encompassing
cane, and, with face turned toward the Ohio River, entered
a leafy wilderness as vast as the ocean itself. On the
20th of the month, after an almost incredible journey,
which left him emaciated and starving, he arrived at
Boonesborough, which greeted him as one just risen from
the dead. The whole population rushed up to him with
astonishment and delight. There was an eager minis
tering to his wants, a thousand questions asked, sympathy
in his bitter disappointment at the absence of his family,
and no little alarm and consternation at his news. For
about ten days there was great anxiety and activity.
The posterns and bastions were strengthened, badly needed
repairs were made, and the garrison actually began to dig
I Campbell's Virginia, and Volume I, American Pioneer. This fort was
about ten miles north of Lewisburg, in what is now West Virginia.

70 Boonesborough
a well,' but when the scouts reported no signs of an
advance of the enemy the pioneers, with their usual
strange but characteristic carelessness, abandoned the effort
to secure a regular supply of water inside the stockade. In
the meanwhfle Clark's little force had left Kentucky for the
Ilhnois country, and Boone, anxious as he was about his
family, would not abandon the settlements, now weaker
than ever in riflemen and threatened with an invasion
which he was sure would sooner or later occur.
Early in July a party of riflemen made a venturesome
march to that camp-ground on the Licking that seemed
ever to be a fatal spot to the pioneers, and recovered the
kettles that were so sadly needed. Later on "Simon
Butler" returned with the inspiring news of the capture
of Kaskaskia, to which was soon added the tidings of the
arrival of the French fleet, causing the rejoicing garrison
to almost forget its danger, when another prisoner of
Black Fish — Stephen Hancock — reached the fort, after
six months of privations, bringing the depressing informa
tion that the savage movement against Boonesborough
was liable to occur at any time, and had only been tem
porarily delayed by the flight and warning of Boone.
' Western Review, Volume I. This stupidity in failing to provide wells
inside of stations was not monopolized by the Kentucky pioneers. It was
a common omission. Even Vincennes had no well within its walls at this
time. See Haldimand manuscripts.

Boonesborough 71
After this, in August, the scouts reported that the war
parties of the Shawanese were again concentrating at
Chiflicothe, and the settlers were on the lookout for the
invasion, but for some reason it did not occur, and about
the middle of the month hearts were made lighter by
intefligence of the capture of Vincennes and of the friendly
feeling so plainly exhibited to Americans, since the French
alliance, by the unstable French residents of the North
west, who were especially noted for their intimacy with
the Indians.
But the fall of Vincennes was the very thing that pre
cipitated the long-deferred invasion, for Hamilton, terribly
mortified and exasperated by Clark's success, energetically
urged on the lagging Ohio savages to action against the
"rebels of Kentuck."
Boone, who had already sent a messenger to the Hol
ston settlements' announcing the threatened danger and
asking for aid, determined, though no reinforcements had
yet arrived, to acquaint himself clearly with the move
ments of the enemy. Heading a party, which subsisted
on parched corn and such provisions as were secured on
the way, he crossed the Ohio, scouted about the familiar
spring and town of his captivity, and after a skirmish, in
' Colonel Arthur Campbell, Washington County, Virginia, was the mili- f
tary commandant.

72 Boonesborough
which one savage was killed, discovered that the Indians
had not only concentrated but had actually begun their
march. He at once ordered a rapid retreat, evaded the
advancing enemy, and, with all his men except Butler and
Alexander Montgomery, who expected to catch up after
one more adventure, reached Boonesborough in safety.
The invading expedition, which was the largest that
had yet threatened the Kentucky settlements, consisted,
according to the conservative Boone, of four hundred
and forty -four Indians and twelve Frenchmen.' The
savages, with a few exceptions, were Shawanese, and
the whole force was under the command of one of the
ablest and most eloquent chiefs of that tribe, the veteran
Black Fish,' son of Puckashinwa, who fell at Kanawha in
' Several imaginative writers make the force number six hundred, and
two aged, pioneers, many years after the event, ran the figures up to a
thousand. We give Boone's estimate because he was personally familiar,
from recent captivity, with the fighting strength of the Shawanese, and
because his statement is substantially confirmed by contemporary evidence,
viz : Hamilton's own letter of September 5, 1778, in Haldimand manuscripts.
'See Nathaniel Hart, in Shane's Collection; Captain John Carr, in
"Indian Battles;" John Bradford's "Notes," and Lossing. Boone's Nar
rative only says, in a vague and general way, that ' < the Indian army was
commanded by Captain DuQuesne(?), eleven other Frenchmen, and some
of their chiefs," but J. M. Peck, who subsequently wrote an accurate and
valuable life of Boone from data given him by the old pioneer himself,
makes Black Fish the commander. Doctor L. C. Draper, who was backed
by much manuscript contemporary information on this point, says posi
tively in his manuscript on Boone that the French and Indians were ' ' all
under the command of Black Fish."

Boonesborough 73
1774. As already related. Black Fish had participated
in Kentucky expeditions twice, if not oftener, before this.
His principal aide and adviser was Lieutenant Antoine
Dagnieau DeQuindre, a French Canadian of the Detroit
Militia, and the leader of the above-mentioned squad of
his countrymen, which Hamilton had detailed to carry a
stock of ammunition to the Indians and to otherwise
assist them in this expedition.' DeQuindre was thirty-five
years of age, and, though a resident of Detroit, was a
native of Montreal. He is the same person who, through
some error, was mentioned in Boone's Narrative as
' ' DuQuesne, " a misspelling of the name and a confusion
of the identity of DeChaine (Isadore), who was a mem
ber of the squad, but who was conspicuous only in his
usual capacity of interpreter.' The mistake was perpetu
ated for more than a century. Peter Douiller, a trader
well known at Detroit, was also connected with the French
contingent. Each of the principal Indian cofleagues of
Black Fish was, like himself, a veteran. One was Black
Bird, ' called by Governor Patrick Henry ' ' the great Chip-
' Haldimand manuscripts.
°The mythical name, "DuQuesne," used for the first time in Filson's
Boone of 1784, was accepted for more than a hundred years as the cor
rect name of the leader of the French squad. The real name, DeQuindre,
was established beyond a doubt by the publication, only a few years ago,
by the Canadian Government of the exceedingly interesting and valuable
Haldimand manuscripts.
3 This chief's name is correctly given as above in Clark's Diary.
II

74 Boonesborough
pewa Chief," and who very shortly after this changed to
the American side. Another was Moluntha, a leader of
the Shawanese in all the serious movements against the
Kentucky posts, and still another was the sagacious and
distinguished Catahecassa, or Black Hoof, who was already
a mature warrior when he participated in Braddock's
defeat of 1755, and who was probably the only Indian
who could claim to be a native of Kentucky,' as he was
born on the margin of what was afterward known as
Lulbegrud Creek, in Clark County, where his Shawanese
parents had a temporary hunting-camp. One negro was
along, a man named Pompey, captured, doubtless, from
some settlement, but none the less a slave, and mainly
useful to the Indians because he could speak English.'
As usual, the savages were scantily equipped, with a view
only to a short campaign. No warrior carried any things
heavier than a flint-lock rifle and a buckskin wallet of
parched corn,^ for wfld game was depended on for meat,
I Harvey's History of the Shawanese. History of the Indian Tribes.
Black Hoof revisited his birthplace in 1816. He died in 1831, after attaining
a wonderful age, estimated at one hundred and twelve to one hundred
and twenty years.
° Some of the Indians kept negro slaves, and frequently sold them. Of
the population of Detroit at this time, one hundred and twenty-seven were
slaves worth each from ;fi8o to ^260 in New York currency, says Hal
dimand's manuscripts.
3 They did not expect to secure corn in Kentucky, where they had made
it almost impossible for the settlers to cultivate it that season.

Boonesborough 75
but a train of pack-horses was along devoted mainly to
the carriage of extra ammunition and of such provisions
and conveniences as were absolutely necessary to the
simple-habited but less seasoned militia. But, as will be
seen later on, the pack-horses were expected to do stfll
more important service.
And so, with scalp-locks befeathered and their more
than half-naked bodies streaked with the war-paint they
so delighted in,' the savages moved swiftly to the Ohio,
crossed it near the mouth of Cabin Creek,' from whence
they followed the ancient war road of their race to a
point beyond the Upper Blue Licks, where they entered
a great buffalo trace which extended toward and far
beyond the stockaded posts of their enemies. The Indians
made a rapid march, and Boone and his scouting party
made a narrow escape. The hunters galloped into the
fort some time before sunset on the afternoon of the 6th
of September, and that night the savages camped on the
north bank of the Kentucky.
Early on the morning of the next day, Monday, Sep
tember 7, 1778, the dusky crowd crossed the river about
' The savages used immense quantities of paint in the decoration of
their persons. Hamilton, in a report for this very month (September) of
goods on hand at Detroit for the Indian department, mentions ' ' eighty
pounds of rose pink and five hundred pounds of vermilion."
' Near the present Maysville, Kentucky.

\/

/

7\

76 Boonesborough
half a mfle below the present ferry, ' at a point stifl known
as "Blackfish Ford," cHmbed the steep southern bank,
passed to the rear of ' ' Hackberry Ridge, " marched along
its base untfl nearly opposite Boonesborough, and then
crossing it, came down to a cover of trees and under
growth within rifle shot of the fort. The position was
gained without the firing of a gun. The settlers were too
utterly weak for any contest outside of their wooden
I We give September 7th> as the date of the commencement of this
siege, because it is the only date supported by contemporary evidence, that
is, documents written at the time. Colonel John Bowman, in his letter
(see Appendix Y) of October 14, 1778, less than a month after the siege,
forwarded from Harrodsburg to Colonel George Rogers Clark, says that
the Indians and French appeared at Boonesborough September 7th. The
British contemporary account points the same way, for before ^Bowman
wrote. Governor Hamilton, in a letter of Septeinber 16, jTTS, reports to
Sir Frederick Haldimand that the Shawanese, with DeQuindre, had gone
to attack the forts on the " Kentucke," and on September 26th, before
he could have heard of the outcome of the expedition, says "the Shawa
nese have not yet broke up their little siege." (See Haldimand manu
scripts.) Two, at least, of the leading participants in the siege afterward
stated the time of its commencement, viz : Daniel Boone, who gave it as
the 8th of August in his Narrative, dictated six years after the event, and
William Bailey Smith, who (in Volume III of Western Review), after a
still longer interval, gave the same date as Bowman. Boone may be said
[ to have substantially corrected his date when, some years after the publi-
' cation of his Narrative, he and another eye-witness of the siege, Flanders
I Calloway, furnished Reverend Mr. Peck^ the facts for his Life of Boone,
i which gives the time as September 7th, but Marshall, Bradford, and other
; historians, who did not have the benefit of the Bowman, Hamilton, and
I Peck data, adopted and long perpetuated the date as given in the first
life of Boone. The evidence quoted fixes the date as September 7th, the
-f' date also given by the late Lyman C. Draper, after a fuU and careful
' investigation.

Boonesborough n
stronghold, for, according to one of its defenders,' its
whole fighting force then amounted to but thirty men
and twenty boys.' One may well beHeve it after the loss
of the salt-makers, the return home of the militia and
discouraged immigrants, and the absence of a few of the
riflemen with Clark. The women, ^ though, should have
been reckoned in — they certainly deserved to be — for in
courage and marksmanship they were not to be despised.
Neither concealment nor surprise was attempted by the
Indians, not only because they knew that the garrison
was already warned, but for other reasons. They were
hopeful of capturing the place without a fight. They
were greatly attached to Boone,'' who understood them
so well, and who certainly was not a vindictive enemy,
and in spite of his desertion they were confident that he
was equally attached to them and could be persuaded to
return to his adopted home. They evidently believed
that the garrison was so favorably impressed with their
' William Bailey Smith.
' In addition to the boys who lived in the fort were several who were
there temporarily, having come in as pack-horse drivers.
3 Jemima Boone and the wives and daughters of the few families still
remaining in the fort, including Richard Calloway's and Squire Boone's,
comprised almost the entire white female population during the siege.
?There is nothing more plainly expressed in Boone's Narrative than
this. He declares that he had the "entire friendship" of the Shawanese
King ; that he ' ' had a great share in the affections of his new parents,
brothers, sisters, and friends," and that the Indians refused a ransom of
five hundred dollars for him.

78 Boonesborough
good faith at the Blue Licks surrender, and their really
humane treatment' of the captured salt-makers, and that
the settlers had suffered such long and terrible privations
that afl that was needed to insure a capitulation was the
appearance of an overwhelming* force, an assurance of
honorable terms, of a safe conduct to the tempting flesh-
pots of Detroit, and of a comfortable refuge there from the
certain miseries of the approaching winter. It is a mat
ter of record that Hamflton himself labored for a whfle
under the same delusion,' and this belief of the savages,
strange as it may sound to civiHzed ears, cut no small
figure in this event, partly accounts for their remarkable
forbearance at the beginning of the siege, and resulted in
great advantage to the garrison. There is no contem
porary evidence to support the time-honored but fanciful
assertion that the enemy marched up to Boonesborough
"brandishing their rifles and with fearful yells." The
truth is that they made no hostfle demonstrations what
ever when they first appeared, but, on the contrary, they
immediately sent forward an unarmed English-speaking
messenger with a flag of truce, and as he passed over
' It is only fair to the much-abused Hamilton to say that the conduct
of the Ohio Indians at this time tallied with the declaration in his report
of July 6, 1781, that he then, at least, tried to carry out the orders of
Lord George Germain to restrain the Indians from barbarities. (See Hal
dimand manuscripts.)
' See Hamilton to Carleton in Haldimand manuscripts.

'."tA

FORT BOONESBOROUGH

Just before the Celebrated Siege of September, 1778. (Design, from the Henderson Plan and Historical Data, by the Author.;

Boonesborough 79
the cleared ground that intervened between the sheltered
Indians and -the fort there were no more alarming tokens
of a martial host than the neighing and stamping of a
multitude of pack-horses and ponies.
In its shape and outlines, at least, Boonesborough at
this tirhe was substantially what it had always been, but
instead of but one double bastion, as formerly, another
story had been added to each of the three single ones,
so that now all four of the corners were provided with
regular block-houses, and cabins-^tfcupied some of the
spaces gua"r3id bisfore dniyby the pickets of the stockade.
The lonely station never looked more peaceful than it
did in the cool of this early summer-like morning, for it
was determined before the Indians arrived to conceal as
much as possible the feebleness of its force by keeping
close within the stockade and out of sight of the enemy.
The lumbering gates were closed, and the sounds of Hfe
were so faint and few that but for the smoke that
ascended from the rude kitchen chimneys the inex
perienced might have imagined that the garrison slept.
But all the same every soul within the station was keen
ly ahve to the magnitude and the imminence of the
danger, and hearts were beating painfully, eyes were
glued to port-holes, and ears were strained to catch the
slightest sound as the messenger of the savages advanced.

8o Boonesborough
Mounting a stump within easy calling distance of the fort,
and keeping his white flag conspicuously displayed, he
gave notice of his presence by the usual prolonged and
peculiar "hello" of the woodsman. There was no reply
and no sign that he was even seen. The leaders of
Boonesborough understood Indian nature too well to betray
their weakness by either hurry or excitement, and it was
only after the call was repeated that an answering ' ' hello "
came from the block-house nearest to him. He then
announced himself as a messenger from a British force,
with instructions to say that its commander was the
bearer of letters from Governor Hamflton' to Captain
Boone, and desired a meeting of the opposing chiefs to
consider their contents. The garrison, secretly delighted
with this chance to open negotiations with the hope of
gaining time for the arrival of the Holston men, con
sented, after a deliberate silence and apparent reluctance,
to receive the letters, but only under the guns of the
fort and at the hands of three unarmed leaders of the
enemy. These conditions were agreed to, and the bearer
of the flag of truce not only quickly announced the
presence of Black Fish, DeQuindre, and Moluntha, but,
as a token of their good faith, brought from them a
present of seven roasted buffalo tongues,' which had a
'Bradford and McAfee.
' Bradford.

Boonesborough 8i
welcome from the half-starved settlers that the enemy
little dreamed of. The two chiefs and the Canadian
were met by Captain Boone, Colonel Cafloway, and Major
W. B. Smith,' carrying only a pipe and a white handker
chief tied to a ramrod, and the messenger acted as
interpreter^ This meeting with his adopted father was
embarrassing enough to the runaway Boone, for Black Fish
had in fruth made him a member of his family, but even
more was he troubled at rneeting, Moluntha, "the Shaw
anese King," who had been particularly kind to him,' for
that chief sorrowfully reproached him for killing his son
"the other day over the Ohio," but Boone assured him
that that act was not his. Hamilton's letters, which were
delivered by Black Fish, evidently contained a demand
for the surrender of the post on terms that both the
Governor and the Indians thought too seductive to be
resisted, for the old chief, with neighborly consideration,
assured the Boonesborough delegation that ' ' he had come
to take the people away easily; that he had brought
along forty horses for the old folks, the women, and the
chfldren to ride."' The pioneers, apparently pleased, but
intent on delay, proposed a truce of two days to enable
' Some writers on this subject hopelessly confuse the actions of the
messenger and the proceedings of this meeting with the subsequent treaty
conference, observing neither order nor the sequence of the events.
' Boone's Narrative.
3 Bradford. -^

82 Boonesborough
all the garrison to consider the Governor's terms. To
this the complacent savages, blinded by the bloodless
capitulation at the Blue Licks, immediately consented,
and the meeting closed. After an astonishingly free and
friendly stroll together about the exterior of the still
silent fort, the parties separated, and each retired in high
good humor to its own camp, from which nefther side
was to make a hostfle movement until the .expiration of
the truce.
Great as were the odds against them, and desperate
as the situation seemed, the men and women of Boones
borough made short work of Hamilton's proposition.
Convinced by this time that the enemy had no artiflery,
confident from the statement about the "forty horses"
that the savages were ignorant of the weakness of the
garrison, protected by walls that laughed at rifles — walls
which the benumbed salt-ma/kers had so fatally lacked —
and hoping still for the Virginia militia who had made
no sign, they unanimously decided against a surrender
and proceeded at once/o make every arrangement that
the emergency permitted to withstand a siege. For
tunately the fort had already been repaired, and the horses
of the scouting party at least were within the stockade,
but, alas, the wefl had been neglected until every soul
was needed for the work of defense alone, and all sud-

Boonesborough 83
denly realized that they were to be cut off from their
regular water-supply when the weather was hottest and
when the very fate of the garrison might depend upon
it. But, to the surprise and delight of the settlers, there
were no hostfle movements whatever from the Indians
when trips were made to and from the fort to the Lick
Spring, and all the water was secured that could possibly ,
be obtained without exciting their suspicions. There was
a general cleaning of rifles and picking of flints, powder
was distributed, an extra stock of bullets moulded, and
the women and children, as well as the men, though
intensely excited, resolutely pushed on the preparations.
Toward sunset there was another striking exhibition of
the forbearance of the singularly friendly savages, for the
cows and other live stock were unmolested by them and
came up to the back of the fort as usual, and they were
not only brought in and penned, but as soon as darkness
permitted the garden that had been possible only under
the very guns of the fort was gleaned of such of its
scant store of vegetables as could be used by man or
beast. That night a sentinel was on the lookout in every
block-house, and every man in the station, whether watch
ing or dozing, held on to his rifle, but no shot was fired
either then or the next day, for the painted warriors hon
orably observed the truce to its close, and then in the

84 Boonesborough
cool of the second evening the white flag was seen again,
and Black Fish and his little party soon arrived in front
of the fort and confidently awaited the announcement of
its surrender. The answer from Boone himself that the
garrison had ' ' determined to defend the fort while a man
was living, " and the sudden realization that their favorite
and enforced kinsman had no intention of returning to
his adopted tribe, astonished, disappointed, and exasper-
/ated the Indians, who, in this matter, seem to have
indeed been "children of the forest." But they were as
grave and impassive as ever when they heard the news,
when they stepped aside to deliberate, and when, after
the speedy adoption of a new plan of action, they returned
to the meeting-place. They were convinced that there
was no chance for either a complete surprise or a peace
ful surrender of the place. To attempt to storm it with
no appliances whatever for that purpose was not to be
thought of and would be not only directly contrary to
their usual wily and cautious course, but especially dan
gerous and unadvisable in view of the recent report of
reinforcements,' which the conduct of the garrison seemed
'Before they started on this expedition the Shawanese had captured
a Kentucky prisoner who, for his own purposes, no doubt, gave out the
news that the forts there "had lately been reinforced with three com
panies each of seventy men." (See Hamilton to Haldimand about Sep
tember I, 1778, in Haldimand manuscripts.)

Boonesborough 85
to confirm. The decision was for stratagem, and the
settlers, who expected an immediate opening of hostflities,
were in turn astonished /when conciliatory overtures were
made by DeQuindre through the interpreter, DeChaine.
The Canadian said they had come to talk of peace, not of
war ; that they had not contemplated war even if a sur
render was declined/; if they had, they never would have
allowed the cattle/to enter the stockade ; that Governor
Hamflton's ordecs were to avoid bloodshed, and that,
therefore, he suggested that a meeting be held to frame
a treaty of p4ace, and that if nine representative men
from the garrison would sign such a treaty, the Indians
would witlraraw.' Ordinarily such a proposition from such
a greatly superior force would have been regarded at once
as simster and absurd, but the circumstances were far
from being ordinary. The pioneers had the same strong
reason as ever for wanting to gain time. They hoped a
little from the genuine friendship of Hamilton for Boxuier-
more from the affection of the Shawanese for their adopted
' speaking of this proposition of DeQuindre, Colonel Bowman says in
his letter to Clark of October 14, 1778 (see Appendix) : " Hearing that
the Indians gladly treated with you at the Illinois gave them (the Boones
borough men) reason to think that the Indians were sincere." In a letter
of September 5, 1778, Hamilton says: "For the French inhabitants at
all the outposts, I firmly believe, there is not one in twenty whose oath
of allegiance would have force enough to bind him to his duty ; added to
this, that the greatest part of the traders among them, who are called
English, are rebels in their hearts." (Haldimand manuscripts.)

86 Boonesborough
kinsman, but above all they were encouraged to treat by
the wonderful transformation that Clark had brought
about in "the Illinois;" They knew that there the
French Canadians had not only become enthusiastic
adherents of the American cause, but had strongly influ
enced the savages the same way. The settlers had
heard of the gratifying change of front of the Indians at
Cahokia, and rumors were rife that even the British
traders and interpreters were secretly working against the
King, and that he had enemies inside the very walls of
Detroit itself. These rumors were subsequently verified,
and, with the light we now have from British sources, one
can imagine without much effort the possibflity of a repe
tition of the Cahokia transaction at Boonesborough at this
time if another Clark had then confronted the Indians and
Canadians.' Hopeful, but especiafly intent on gaining
time, the Kentuckians consented to the conference to be
held the next morning ; but, suspicious ever of the savages,
they took care to do so only on condition that it be held
'The united influence of the French Alliance and Clark's success on
the Indians and Canadians of the West was great. One of the most
important leaders of the Boonesborough expedition, Black Bird, went over
to the Americans immediately after this siege, as did, later on, one of the
officers, Baubin, who had aided in the capture of the salt-makers at the
Blue Licks. Some of LaMothe's company of Detroit miUtia deserted Ham
ilton, and so many others — Indians, officers, and men — proved false, that
Hamilton afterward declared that "the secret treason" of such had ruined
him. (See Haldimand manuscripts.)

Boonesborough 87
in the hollow at the Lick Spring,' which could be easfly
swept by riflemen from the bastion nearest to it. Black
Fish and his cofleagues retired to their camp, and the
garrison selected its peace commissioners. As far as
known, they were Daniel Boone, Richard Calloway, Will
iam Bailey Smith, and William Buchanan, with their
"subalterns," Squire Boone, Flanders Calloway, Stephen
Hancock, and Wifliam Hancock.' Instructions were given
for every woman and child, white and black, in the fort
to make a showing at the .pickets the next morning, as
men, to impress the enemy with the strength of the gar
rison, and for that purpose every old hat and hunting-
shirt in the station was gathered up, and some new ones
even were hastily manufactured.'
The next morning, Wednesday, the 9th, when Black
Fish, DeQuindre, the older chiefs, interpreters, and attend
ants filed down to the meeting-place they did not fail
to note the large number of hatted heads that bobbed
up at the top of the stockade to see them pass, and
were doubtless disgusted at the apparent confirmation of
the report as to the strength of the garrison. What they
'John Bowman and R. B. McAfee manuscripts.
'John Bowman, Peck, and records Circuit Court Clerk's ofiice, Madi
son County, Kentucky. Boone is indefinite and gives no names. Accord
ing to Judge William Chenault, Buchanan was from Virginia, where he
had been a captain of militia.
3 Daniel Trabue.

88 Boonesborough
did not see when Boone and his companions joined them
was the little band of sharpshooters that moved at once
to the block-house that commanded the rendezvous. Both
parties, unarmed, sought the shade of the great sycamores
near the Lick Spring, where the pioneers were invited to
seat themselves on deerskins and panther-skins spread
on the ground by their hospitable enemies, who passed
around the pipe and the whisky. The day was spent in
pow-wows, which the settlers protracted, and in feasting —
the besiegers seeking, witp suspicious generosity, to begufle
the half-starved "rebe/s" with eatables and drinkables
from the British comi|iissary department at Detroit, such
as most of them had not seen, much less tasted, in many
a long month. By sunset a compact, inscrutable to this
day, was agreed to, which was to be signed the next
morning. The settlers seemed completely hoodwinked,
hilarity reigned, and DeQuindre was confident that the
royal standard of England would quickly float over the
wooden walls of Boonesborough. Neither party was sin-
]_]cere. That night, unseen, a strong detachment of the
Indian army, detafled to assist in a surprise, hid itself in
the weeds and underbrush that skirted the hollow. The
next morning when Black Fish led the way toward a
rude table under the great elm, the watchful settlers were
struck by the fact that stalwart young bucks had taken

^c/yt^uK /K

Treachery of the British and Indians. (Designed from Historical
Data by the Author, with copies of Autographs of
Boone and DeQuindre, referred to
on pages 103 and 168.)

(J^^l^OL^^-c

Boonesborough 89
the place of most of the old Indians who had figured as
attendants the day before,' and they mentioned it, but
Black Fish coolly and unblushingly declared that his party
was unchanged. Be that ^s it may, every rifleman in the
fort was ordered to keep /his eye on the hollow and to
fire on the redskins at tne waving of a hat. The sham
treaty was signed, and Black Fish then declared that it
must be confirmed by what he said was the Indian cus
tom — a hand-shake alj around, two braves to each white
brother.' It was the/ signal for treachery. The young
Indians, in apparently high good-humor, seized the hands
of the pioneers, but/ in the very act they betrayed their
purpose by too tigl^rt a grasp and by a sudden movement
toward the underbtush. Suspicious, alert, and quick, with
the quickness of desperation the hunters freed themselves
almost as soon as touched, and in the same thrilling
moment, as they sprang aside and waved their hats, came
the deadly crack of the ready rifles from the block-house,
and the unarmed savages vanished in the surrounding
thickets. 3 Then up the steep hill dashed the fleeing
pioneers, bounding from tree to tree and from stump to
stump to protect themselves from the hafl of bullets sent
after them by the enraged ambuscaders, whose carefully
' Bradford.
' Bowman.
3 Bowman, Smith, Boone, and Trabue. 13

90 Boonesborough
planned rush on the fort was summarily defeated, as they
were far too wise to expose themselves in the open to
the fire of such a force as they beheved defended the
rough but formidable stockade. At least two hundred
guns were fired by the invisible combatants, but the leaden
storm was mainly spent on the logs of the block-house
and on the sycamores at the lick, for all the "rebels"
but one gained the fort at last unhurt. Squire Boone
was wounded in the left shoulder, and another ' ' com
missioner," caught within range of the Indian rifles,
remained for many weary hours flat on his face behind a
stump, and only reached the fort when night came down
and hid him from savage view. But the firing, the swift-
running, and the "treeing" that followed the treachery
at the elm were succeeded with surprising suddenness
by totally different sounds and movements in the camp
of the enemy. All during the afternoon there was a bustle
that indicated the gathering up and gearing of ponies
and the loading of pack-horses, and many orders that
were given with suspicious loudness were understood by
members of the garrison famihar with the Indian tongue.
The Shawanese evidently meant it to be known that they
were disgusted with tieir luck and were preparing to
leave. That night — Thbrsday — a heavy detafl of Indians
was again concealed as fclose to the fort as possible, and

Boonesborough 91
the next morning just before day, when it was stfll too
dark for the watching settlers to distinguish any thing
clearly, what seemed the whole force of the enemy noisily
retreated.' Their horses were heard splashing and clat
tering as they crossed the river. The calls of DeQuindre's
bugle resounded through the neighboring hills, and then
grew fainter and fainter, and died away at last in the
i
dark and wooded distance. / Then the marching Indians
quickly and noiselessly retraced their steps and posted
themselves in ambush near the buffalo road and close to
the north bank of the-^river. And so another trap was
set for the pioneers, but it was set in vain. When the
sun rose that Friday morning it was on a quiet and
peaceful scene. There was neither sight nor sound of
the enemy, nor the faintest hint of an ambuscade. The
savages seemed of a certainty to have left the station
far behind them, but all the same no settler stepped
foot outside its walls. How the pioneers detected their
danger is not now known, but detect it they did, and the
gates of the fort remained as securely barred as ever.
This convinced the impatient Indians that their trick had
failed, and inside of an hour they were as thick about
Boonesborough as before. Afl that day, protected by
trees and stumps and prostrate behind logs and hiflocks,
' R. B. McAfee.

92 Boonesborough
the savages directed their rifle balls at every crack and
port-hole of the station that might possibly have life
behind it. The deep gorge of the Kentucky echoed and
re-echoed with the shots of the contending forces, and at
night the surrounding forests, the solemn cliffs, and the
everlasting hifls were doubly sublime in the red glow of
a multitude of savage camp-fires. The siege was now
prosecuted in earnest, and every effort short of direct
assault was made to reduce the wooden stronghold. Such
an assault up and over no small area of cleared and open
ground, that could be swept by such a force of sharp
shooters as the Indians believed the fort contained, was
not a part of the cautious savage programme. This was
made still more evident the very day the enemy returned
from the pretended retreat. Between the spells of firing
new sounds like those of woodchoppers at work were
heard coming up from the river bank back of the fort,
and shortly after a broad muddy streak was noticed to
commence in the water at the same locality and extend
further and further down the stream. The curiosity these
suspicious signs awakened inside the station grew at once
into lively alarm, when, after no little exposure and risk,
one of the garrison reported that he had caught a gHmpse
over the cliff of a pole moving as if it was being used to
loosen' dirt. All jumped to the conclusion that DeQuindre,
'Trabue, McAfee, and Draper.

Boonesborough 93
concealed and protected by the cliff, was trying to push
a mine from the river bank up to or under the back wall
of the fort, and that the incessant firing of the Indians
was mainly intended to hide his design by drowning the
sounds of the work and diverting attention from its loca
tion. As it was important to determine as quickly as
possible whether this surmise was correct, the settlers
erected of thick lumber a rough but bullet-proof attempt
at a watch-tower.' It was built on top of the cabin
which three years before had served Henderson as a
kitchen, and which was evidently nearest to the scene of
the suspected mischief. The fears of the garrison were
now confirmed, for the watchers saw the fresh earth as it
was thrown from the excavation into the river. It was a
thrilling discovery. Great and unexpected dangers threat
ened them. Thk allies certainly designed either to blow
up the fort or to \ suddenly capture it by throwing their
force into it througn this underground passage. But the
garrison faced these new perils as resolutely as it had
confronted the others. The tower was made still stronger
to serve as a sort of "battery," and day and night it
was occupied by scant details of riflemen, who wearily
watched with ready guns for any suspicious thing that
might spring up outside the wall from the now danger-
charged earth. Inside the fort little relays of its defenders
' Draper.

94 Boonesborough
were set to work on a countermine' or trench which
would expose and cut off the tunnel of the enemy, and
which would require only a few men to balk a whole
subterranean force. This countermine, which was about
three feet wide and. of considerable depth, and which cost
days of excessive labor, was commenced inside of Hen
derson's kitchen, and extended up the river through several
other cabins that helped to form the back wall of the
station. A spell of cloudy, drizzly weather which set in
about this time and reduced the fierce September heat
was especially grateful to the weary diggers, while the
whole garrison rejoiced that it lessened the demands on
the fast-diminishing supply of water.
Every morning at daybreak both sides resumed their
efforts to pick off the unwary. In this petty warfare
the pioneers took by far the most careful part in the
effort to save precious ammunition ; ^ but desultory as the
firing was, and at long range, no day went by without
one side or the other adding its little quota to the list
of either kflled or wounded. A notable shot, attributed
of course to Daniel Boone, and fired probably from the
"battery," killed Pompey, ' the only negro man, as afore-
' Trabue, McAfee, and W. B. Smith.
'The Indians, according to Boone, wasted one hundred and twenty-five
pounds of bullets, which were afterward picked up about the fort.
3 Peck.

Boonesborough 95
said, known to have been with the savages. He was
sheltered by a tree, from which he was trying to pick
off imprudent settlers, when he exposed himself for an
instant, and that instant was a fatal one to him. Once,
indeed, the pioneers ambitiously ventured beyond the use
of the rifle, and prompted, it is said, by Colonel Callaway,
emulated the artillery of another era by making a wooden
cannon,' which was banded with such strap iron as the
station afforded, and loaded with musket balls. Its first
shot was directed against a knot of Indians who, thinking
they were fully protected, both by distance and location,
amused themselves by yelling taunts and curses at the
garrison. With one quick yell the savages vanished, but
whether they sustained any loss is now unknown. The
gun was a terror to them while it lasted, but unfortunately
the next time it was used it went to pieces, and the
Indians, suspecting what had happened, repeatedly dared
the disgusted artillerymen, from a safe distance, to "shoot
the big gun again. "
On the night of Sunday, the thirteenth of the month,
the seventh night after the arrival of the enemy, the
settlers had the most frightful experience of the siege,
for suddenly, when such a movement was entirely unsus
pected, the Indians succeeded in hurhng lighted torches
' Trabue.

y

96 Boonesborough
against a side of the stockade, and in lodging blazing
arrows on the roofs of the cabins in that quarter,' and
then to prevent the extinguishment of the fiery implements,
swept the locality with bullets. As both torches and
arrows were wrapped with flax- stolen from an outside
cabin, and with the inner oily fiber of the shell-bark
hickory, they burned rapidly and fiercely. The garrison
was terrorized, for the water-supply was about exhausted.
The arrows could be battled with, but only with inflamma
ble brooms and whfle exposed to savage rifles, but the
torches blazed on. The fort seemed doomed, and for a
few terrible moments all was black despair within it, when
directly the whole watching, heart-sick settlement saw
with unspeakable relief that the arrows and torches were
dying out, that the cabins were too damp after the recent
drizzles to be ignited by them, and that the danger of a
conflagration was over. Little was said, but the thanks
giving was deep and fervent. Boonesborough had escaped
by the skin of its teeth.
In the meanwhile the rriining and countermining con
tinued, and as the siege dragged on the suffering of
the settlers and the live stock from thirst was great and
would have been unbearable but for timely showers that
enabled the garrison to gather supplies of water from the
' McAfee and Bradford.

Boonesborough 97
cabin roofs.' Strange to say, the well, fof some reason,
seems never to have been completed. While digging his
trench, Boone, to discourage the enemy by plain evidence
of a countermine, contrived to have much of the excavated
dirt hoisted up and thrown over the stockade,' but the
Indians, with a persistency in manual labor that was
remarkable if not unexampled in their history, continued
their underground approach. It was a curious siege, and
not less curious from some of the courtesies that each
side indulged in. ' ' What are you red rascals doing down
there ? " an old hunter would yefl in Shawanese from
the "battery" to the unseen Indians on the river bank
below. "Digging!" would be the return yefl. "Blow
you all to devil soon ; what you do ? " " Oh ! " would
be the cheerful reply, "we are digging to meet you, and
intend to bury five hundred of you. " ^ The banter was
rough, but seems not to have been at all hostfle ; at the
same time the beleaguered riflemen conscientiously fired
at every Indian who exposed himself in going to and
from the tunnel and the camp. In fact, it was in this
way that the besiegers suffered the most.
By the fifteenth of the month the savages had pushed
their mine so close to the fort that the guards in the
> McAfee.
' Kenton to James.
3 Trabue's Memoir.

98 Boonesborough
station trench could hear the sound of their implements,'
and the settlers felt that the crisis was at hand. The
outlook was black indeed. It was raining, and the pent-up
people could slake their thirst, but they were worn out by
labor, the heat, and incessant watching and by privations,
for the long-drawn-out provisions were about exhausted, and
though some of the miserably reduced live stock remained,
the pioneers had already reached the starvation point.
There were dissensions among the principal officers of the
garrison, ' possibly over conflicting claims to the leadership.
Colonel Caflaway was the ranking officer ; Major W. B.
Smith, however, according to what is apparently his own
statement,' had been appointed commandant of the fort
by Clark after the capture of Boone at the Blue Licks,
while the actual leadership during the siege seems, by
common consent of the settlers, to have fallen to Captain
Daniel Boone froin his special gifts and experience in
Indian ways and warfare. The methods of Boone at this
time were strongly disapproved by the venerable Callaway,
but all were united in the face of the enemy, and especially
now when the fate of Boonesborough was trembhng -in
the balance. All day long the rain poured down in tor
rents upon ground already deeply soaked, and all day
' Trabue.
' Hunt's Review, Volume III.

Boonesborough 99
long the harassed and weary little garrison waited to meet,
as best they could, the unknown event which they feared
would herald the sudden onrush of the enemy. But the
long and gloomy day was uneventful, ending in a night
that wrought the apprehensions of all up to the highest
pitch, for the darkness was so thick that the keenest
watchers had no chance, except the poor one the flashes
of lightning gave, to detect an advance of the enemy
above the ground, whfle the tumult of the pouring rain
and wind-swept forests drowned all other sounds and
favored every movement of the mining force. Would
the enemy blow up the postern gate and seek to capture
the fort by a rush from the outside, or would they pen
etrate to the countermine and try that way to flood the
interior of the station with warriors, or was all the mining
a mere trick to cover a deeper and more deadly plan ?
Miserably uncertain and terribly anxious, and only hoping
now for the Holston mihtia, with that ' ' hope deferred "
which "maketh the heart sick," the men, women, and
boys of Boonesborough watched and waited, with many a
prayer, through the long, lagging hours for the quick and
bloody incident that would signalize the attack. Even in
this, the season of their greatest extremity, there was no
thought of surrender. Encompassed overwhelmingly by
the savage power of England, cut off from the world in

IOC Boonesborough
the depths of a solitude vast and obscure, forgotten by
the overburdened Continental Congress, unaided by hard-
prised Virginia, worn out by privations and sorely
tempted, the feeble little handful of "rebels" at Boones
borough were true to the last to the principles of the
Revolution, and battled as valiantly and suffered as nobly
for freedom and for country as did the men of Bunker
Hill on the shivering heroes of Vafley Forge.
The' weary night dragged to an end at last, the rain
ceased, and the vigilant settlers were surprised to discover
that no sounds whatever came from the mysterious mine,
that no dreaded disaster of any kind had happened, and the
bright and beautiful Wednesday of September' the i6th,
1778, found all Boonesborough hopeful again and devoutly
thankful but immeasurably bewildered. Why was the
big tunnel so strangely silent, and why all that commo
tion on the river trace? Directly the blessed truth dawned
upon them that the whole savage army was in full but
leisurely retreat, but not tfll high noon, wheu wary scouts
returned with the glad tidings that the enemy was cer
tainly gone and no new trick was being practiced, did
they throw open the gates, release the starving, half-mad
cattle, give way to rejoicing, and indulge in the luxury of
a rest. The wet weather had done more to balk the
Indians than rifles or wooden walls. The rain had not
' See note on page 76 and Bowman's letter, which gives length of siege.

Boonesborough loi
only strengthened the thirsty garrison and saved the fort
from destruction by fire, but, as the settlers soon dis
covered, it had caused such quantities of the saturated
earth to cave in ai^ obstruct the mine as to effectually
ruin it, and the fickle savages, who never willingly engaged
at all at any manual labor, had abandoned the siege in
inexpressible disgust.' It is probable from the collection
of huge torches and other inflammable articles that the
Indians had prepared and abandoned, that they intended
to emerge from the mine just outside the back wall of
the station and burn a passage through it for the entrance
of their army.' It goes without saying that no pursuit
of the savages was possible by a garrison so feeble, so
much exhausted, and whose necessities were so great.
Though closely invested for nine days and nights, such
was the protection afforded by the simple but effective
defenses of Boonesborough that its garrison had only two
kifled and four wounded, whfle the enemy had "thirty-
seven killed and a great many wounded. "^ The dead
' Boone was under the impression that it was the discovery of the
countermine that caused the Indians to raise the siege. That certainly
discouraged them, but it is plain from the statement of "Drewyer"
(Douiller) to Kenton at Detroit that the caving in of the tunnel was the
crushing blow to the Indians.
'Pioneer statements in Draper manuscript. (See Judge James' Notes.) 1
3 We give the figures of Boone himself, who was singularly calm and
unprejudiced. Another "eye-witness" of the siege says that two hundred
Indians were killed, and no telling how many more were wounded. Not
a few of the statements of the pioneers are fanciful, conflicting, and

I02 Boonesborough
settlers were, of necessity, buried inside the stockade. The
Indians, as usual, hid away their slain and obliterated
every sign that might betray their resting-places. It is
said that the only body they did not remove was that
of the negro already alluded to.' They had no use for
negroes except as slaves, and always regarded them
with lofty and contemptuous indifference. The most
serious damage inflicted outside of the station was in the
loss of cattle which the settlers failed to secure during
the truce, and which furnished the fresh meat supply of
the savages.
And so ended the last investment that Boonesborough
was to experience, one which Boone characterized as
' ' a dreadful siege which threatened death in every form, "
one of the longest that the unstable and impatient
Indians ever attempted, and one of the most curious
of the miHtary episodes of the American Revolution. If
DeQuindre wa.a, in .earnest, -why was no attempt made
by such a force to scale the stockade ? Why was the
work of many days devoted to a mine, when scaling-
ladders for a ten-foot wafl could have been made of
exaggerated, especially those made in old age, and must be estimated
accordingly. The British story that the besiegers, exposed as they fre
quently were, had only two kiUed and three wounded (see Haldimand
manuscript) sounds like some of the above-mentioned mflated statements.
' Peck.

n

Boonesborough 103
young saplings and deer or cattle thongs in one after
noon? How much were the French- Canadian colleagues
of the Indians influenced in the conduct of this siege by
that sympathy for the Americans which was then so^ strong
in Hamilton's department ? The records of the, time
afford no answer. Neither of the principal leaders of the
Indians long survived this famous siege. Black Fish,
as we will see, closed his career the following May.
DeQuindre barely survived the Revolutionary struggle,
dying in the spring of 1784, at the age df forty-one.
He was a trusted adherent of the British to the end of
the war.'
The backs of the besieging Indians were hardly turned
on Boonesborough before Montgomery and the young
dare-devfl "Butler" (Kenton) popped into it, their horse
stealing expedition almost forgotten after their long wait
ing spell in the rear of the savage army. But Kenton
I Dagniaux DeQuindre, as he signed himself, was a son of Colonel
Louis C. DeQuindre, and was bom in Montreal, Canada, in 1743. He
was married, and his son Antoine and other descendants lived in Detroit.
He was a Lieutenant in the Indian Department at Detroit, and was
employed mainly among the Lake tribes. He died April 18, 1784, and
was buried in the graveyard of the parish of Saint Anne. See Tanguay,
records of Saint Anne, and Haldimand manuscript. We are indebted to
the accomplished investigator, C. M. Burton, Esquire, of Detroit, for data
and for the copy of DeQuindre's autograph used in this publication, and
which was taken from an original written only a few months before the
Boonesborough siege.

I04 Boonesborough
was gone again in a few days — gone to get captured —
and did not see the fort again untfl the next summer.
He was fortunate enough to be purchased from the
Indians by Peter Douiller, who did not let bad luck at
Boonesborough keep him from being kind to the prisoner
from "Kentuck."
A few days after the siege the news came to Boones
borough that the Holston company of eighty men, which
had been looked for with such intense anxiety, was at
last approaching, and a runner met it at Rockcastle
River and conducted it to the station.' The cause of its
heart-sickening delay is not of record. The men
remained in Kentucky several weeks, and doubtless had
something to do with hastening the final departure of the
Indian force, which did not leave the country until its
scattered detachments had ravaged and pfllaged about
the other stations.'
A sad echo of the siege shows that poor human
nature is about the same in the rough log fort as in the
luxurious palace. Captain Boone just had time to get
fairly rested from his exhaustive service when he had a
'Carr's Narrative in " Indian Battles," and Colonel John Bowman.
'Bowman's letter to Clark. It seems probable that Black Fish's war
riors did not recross the Ohio until about the last of September, 1778, as
Hamilton does not mention DeQuindre's return until October 14th of that
year. (See Haldimand manuscript.)

PRESENT APPEARANCE OF SYCAMORE HOLLOW, BOONESBOROUGH,

Where the Springs, the Lick, and the Famous Trees were located. Here the First Huts were erected, the Transylvania Legislature met, the First Sermon in Kentucky
was delivered, and the Treaty made with the Indians and British.

Boonesborough 105
summons served on him to attend a court-martial' at
Logan's Station,^t__ whiche Colonel Caflaway and, appar-
-en1iy7^Captain_Ben Logan charged him with treasonable
attempts to aid the British — in surrendering the salt-
makers, in undertaking the Paint Lick expedition, and in
favoring the peace negotiations at Boonesborough.
Boone showed to the entire satisfaction of the court that
all the acts mentioned were patriotic, and that his con
duct at both the salt-camp and the treaty conference
were deceptions and stratagems necessitated by the
emergencies of war, and practiced solely for the advan
tage of the settlers and in defense of the fort. He was
not only completely exonerated by the court, but his \
conduct was further endorsed, for shortly after he was j
commissioned a Major. A competent authority,' who
thoroughly investigated this matter, attributes the charges ^
to "some unfounded prejudice." Boone now seized the
opportunity, while no unusual danger threatened the set
tlements and whfle the weather was fine, to start back
to North Carohna for his family. He left Boonesbor-
' Manuscript Narrative of Daniel Trabue, who was present at the trial,
and who is the only authority for the statement. Trabue was a native of
Virginia, and a man of intelligence and character. He came to Kentucky
in the spring of 1778, and first settled at Logan's Station, but afterward
was a well-known resident of Adair County, Kentucky, where he died in
1840 at the age of eighty. His Narrative was written in 1827.
'The late Lyman C. Draper. 15

io6 Boonesborough
ough early in October, expecting soon to return, but the
train of sorrows and misfortunes that had already begun
to sadden his life greatly delayed him. He seems to
have made a short business trip to Kentucky the next
year, but it is certain that he did not come back to stay
untfl the second summer after the siege.
Late this fall there came to the settlement a reminder
of its so-called Colonial days in the shape of news that
the General Assembly had again, and this time formally
and definitely, declared void the Henderson purchases
from the Cherokees,' and also in compensation for its
efforts and expense in the settlement of the same had
granted to the Company an extensive tract of land on
the waters of the Ohio and Green rivers in the County
of Kentucky.' But to the settlers, so tried and troubled,
the formal announcement of the dissolution of even so
grand a scheme as that of Transylvania, long practically
accomplished anyhow, caused no sensation.
After this last siege Boonesborough but slowly recu
perated. Never in any one season yet had the Indians
inflicted so much damage on the Kentucky settlements'
as in 1778. It was the hardest year Boonesborough had
experienced. ' See Resolutions, Appendix Z.
'See Act, Appendix I.
3 Bowman's letter.

Boonesborough 107
But the battle-scarred station was now to be a little
shielded from the savage storm. Clark's wonderful
march, which resulted, on the 24th of February, 1779, in
the surrender of the| astonished Hamilton and the
recapture of Vincennep, inspired immigration anew, and
before the spring of I that year was over settlers had
planted themselves once more on the north side of the
Kentucky River, and! block-houses and stockaded cabins
had arisen between Boonesborough and the Indian coun
try beyond the Ohio. Patterson and his men, who estab
lished Lexington, went from Harrodsburg, but the found
ers of Bryan's Station, the company under John Grant
and Wflliam Ellis, who settled Grant's Station, and the
bands for Strode's, Martin's, and Ruddle's afl seem to have
gone by way of Boonesborough. It was about this time,
too, that Squire Boone, who had recovered from the
wound in his shoulder, set out with a little company and
established his station on Clear Creek, near the present
town of Shelbyville. Urged by their necessities and
encouraged by a prospect of at least temporary immu
nity from invasion, the settlers about Boonesborough
made unusual efforts to clear and cultivate the land,
devoting by far the greatest part of it to corn. The
crops, as often before, were in many cases made in com
mon by companies organized for the purpose. A con-

V

io8 Boonesborough
tract was signed, i directors elected, and the members
appeared every moming at the sound of a conch or beat
of a drum, some t® work in the field and others to
guard those who did work. A member failing to comply
with the contract forfeited his claim to the crop. A list
of the members of onej of these companies is preserved. '
If Boonesborough had a regular commandant at this
time it was probably Captain John Holder, who had been
one of its leading spirits since early in 1776, when he
came in from Stafford County, Virginia. He certainly
commanded the company which constituted Boones-
borough's quota this year (1779) to the unfortunate
expedition of Colonel John Bowman against the Shawa
nese. Fortunately the roll of his company is still extant.'
Holder's men left Boonesborough about the middle of
May 3 and camped en route at Lexington, then only a
block-house six weeks old.'' They were destined to feel
again the quality of their persistent foeman. Black Fish,
'The list includes Benjamin White, Jesse Peake, James Anthony,
Nathaniel Hart, John Cartwright, Robert Cartwright, George Maddem,
Nicholas Anderson, John Harper, Peter Harper, WilUam Johnson, Whitson
George, Edward Hall, WilUam Hall, John Kelley, Edward WiUiams, and
Jesse Oldham. (U. S. Hist. Register.)
' See Appendix II.
3 That Marshall and other early historians plainly err in giving the
month as July is shown by Captain Henry Bird's letter of June 9, 1779,
in Haldimand manuscript, and by depositions of members of the expedition.
? Located on southwest corner of Main and Mill streets. Butler, note,
page 1 01, and statements of its founders to WiUiam Leavy.

Boonesborough 109
who smote the outnumbered Kentuckians hip and thigh.
But it was the old chief's last campaign. He was badly
wounded, and, though successful, surrendered to get the
benefit of a white surgeon, which, owing to the confusion
and exigencies of the retreat, he failed to receive, causing
the wound to prove fatal.' After the manner of his
people, he gloried that he was aflowed to yield up his
soul to the Great Spirit in a time of victory.
Education was not forgotten even in these perilous
days, and while the pioneers were fighting the Shawanese,
pioneer children were at their lessons in a log cabin of
Boonesborough fort, where one of the earliest schools of
the troubled wilderness was conducted by Joseph Doni
phan.' The young teacher had come out only a few
months before from Stafford County, Virginia, from whence
other Boonesborough settlers had migrated, so that he
felt at home. He had an average attendance of seven
teen pupils during this summer. One of the McAfees,
who had now returned to Kentucky, seems also to have
taught in Boonesborough a while this season before the
erection of their permanent station. '
' Bradford.
'This pioneer teacher died in 1813. He was the father of Colonel
A. W. Doniphan, who made the famous march to Chihuahua during the
Mexican War.
3 McAfee's Station was established in November, 1779.

IIO Boonesborough
The stream of immigrants that began to pour into
the country in the spring of 1779 steadfly increased, and
Boonesborough became, for a while at least, the busiest
post in Virginia's remotest county. It was a stopping-
place not only of constantly arriving companies of settlers,
traders, and land speculators, who came in with their
long trains of loaded pack-horses over the Wfldemess
Road, but of many such as returned after coming by
water, going back from necessity by the land route, as a
struggle against the current of the Ohio in the "dug
outs " and other rude floating craft of the day was not to
be thought of. The old fort was too small to accommo
date the newcomers, a municipal government was needed,
\^ immigrants clamored for a better way of crossing the
uriver than the risky and uncertain one of fording, which
often occasioned long and expensive delays, and the
inhabitants, strengthened and encouraged, proceeded to
enlarge their borders, to lay off additional lots, to name
contemplated streets, and to petition the Virginia Assem
bly to duly incorporate the place and grant it a ferry.
The petition was compHed with in October, when the
Assembly passed "Ar| Act for estabhshing the town of
Boonsborough in the County of Kentuckey,"' and one is
' Henning's Statutes at Large, Volume X, page r34. See Appendix III.
Several of the names in the Act are doubtless improperly spelt  "Boons
borough " certainly is.

THE TOWN OF BOONESBOROUGH IN 1787.
Showing Plan Adopted During the Revolution. (From the Collins Drawing.)

Boonesborough m
reminded of the great increase of immigration to the
new country by the statement in the bfll that the town
is established "for the reception of traders." In addition
to the land included in the town site, six hundred and
forty acres adjoining it were allowed for "a cominon."
The trustees appointed were "Richard Caflaway, Charles
Mims Thrustofi, Levin Powell, Edmund Taylor, James
Estre, Edward Bradley, John Kennedy, David Gist,
Pemberton Roflins, and Daniel Boon."' The keeping of
the ferry, from the newly incorporated town across ' ' Ken
tucky" River to the land opposite, now in Clark County,
was granted with its emoluments to Richard Callaway,
and the toll was set at "three shillings each for man or
horse." Quite a number of log cabins were erected out
side the stockade at Boonesborough this year, but the
fort itself was unchanged and kept up as usual.
Thanks partly to the inactivity of the Indians, by far
the largest crop of corn yet raised in the region about
the station was made this season, fortunately for the
immigrants who continued to push into the country
untfl winter weather blockaded the routes. One of the
^ Boone's name is incorrectly given in this charter, just as it was after
ward by a strange oversight by Filson. The signature to Boone's letter of
April r, 1775, to Henderson, which was long in the possession of James
Hall, the historical author, gives his name plainly as " Boone," and all the
original autographs of the famous woodsman or fac-similes of them that
the writer has ever seen show the name with the final "e."

112 Boonesborough
late trains was headed by Colonel Caflaway, who had
been serving as a representative of Kentucky County
in the General Assembly of Virginia. He brought in
a good supply of lead and plenty of gun-flints for the
garrison, but only a small quantity of powder, as that
material was badly needed just then by the Continental
troops of the seaboard. His company consisted of forty
mounted men, with as many pack-horses. Since the
passage the preceding May of the famous land law there
had been no trouble, in getting an escort through the
wfldemess for immigrants or stores, as the fever was
raging in the old communities, in spite of the war, to
secure some of the fertile acres of Kentucky, and every
opportunity, including escort duty, was seized to get to
them. After a short rest at Boonesborough the home-
hunters scattered out on the lonely trails and were swal
lowed up in the vast expanse of leafless woods. But some
of them were back at the station by the i8th of Decem
ber, increasing the crowd of settlers and speculators
who had eagerly gathered to attend the land court which
opened there on that day.' The crowd that "cabined"
or camped by the river while the court was in session
included many a veteran of the French and Indian War,
and claims on military bounties were frequent among the
' Marshall.

Boonesborough 113
numerous ones for settlement and pre-emption rights.
Boone, who seems to have hurried back to attend this
court, probably reached the settlement the last of Decem
ber, after the court had adjourned, for he is quoted as
entering land on the Commissioners' books a few days
after, whfle the court was being held at Bryan's Station.'
He left for Richmond ' to buy land warrants just as soon
as he could raise some money on his little property.
The gunpowder that Colonel Callaway had brought
in was spun out as long and as carefully as possible, but
it was nearly exhausted before the spring of 1 780 opened,
and there was no Daniel Boone present to make more. 1
The garrison was getting nervous when ' ' Uncle " Monk,
an intelligent negro slave who belonged at Estfll's Station,
a few miles away, came over to Boonesborough to visit
his wife, whose owner lived there. Monk not only volun
teered to make a supply of powder, but to the relief of
everybody he did it,^ and was highly regarded and favored
for it. Monk had learned the art at an exposed settlement
in the valley of Virginia. He exercised it several times
after this at the stations south of the Kentucky.
The unusual amount of corn that had been raised about
Boonesborough not only prevented much suffering and
' Depositions.
'The capital of Virginia had been removed from Williamsburg to Rich
mond the preceding October.
3 N. Hart, junior. 16

114 Boonesborough
anxiety during the winter, but was a source of no little
profit to the inhabitants in the spring of 1780, for the
demand for grain was then urgent. It was partly to secure
a supply of this indispensable staple that, about the
first of March, ' brought back to the station once more its
former official head and de facto Governor of Transylvania,
Judge Richard Henderson. The affairs of the Company
had energetically engaged him ever since he had left
Boonesborough, and it was mainly through his efforts that
the Virginia Assembly had granted to the Company the
great tract of Kentucky land below the mouth of Green
River. He was now by recent appointment a commissioner
on the part of North Carolina to run the boundary line
between that State and Virginia, and was promoting the
settlement of the Company's lands on the Lower Cum
berland, which were within the supposed boundary of
North Carolina. Just now breadstuff was badly needed
at half-starving French Lick,' the future Nashvflle — the
stockaded nucleus of Henderson's second colony. His
stay at Boonesborough lasted but five days, and his trip
through Kentucky was necessarily a hurried one ; but he
saw enough of settlements and population to convince
him that he had not overestimated the future value of
' Haywood.
'James Robertson seems to have made this settlement in the interest
of the Transylvania Company.

OLD REVOLUTIONARY RESIDENCE OF RICHARD HENDERSON

At Williamsboro, North Carolina. (See foot note, page 115.)

Boonesborough us
the great prize that had slipped from the Company's grasp.
The corn he bought cost two hundred dollars per bushel '
in Continental currency, and was shipped the entire dis
tance by water in log perogues,' which made their long
and crooked way down the Indian-haunted Kentucky and
the Ohio and up the Cumberland to French Lick Station.
The unique little fleet was in charge of Major W. B.
Smith, whose connection with Boonesborough now ceased.'
This visit of Henderson's was the last he ever made to
his famous log "capital." His years thereafter were few,^
' Nat. Hart, junior.
'After his arrival at French Lick, Smith assisted Henderson in the
interstate survey. He finally settled about sixteen miles from the site
of the present city of Henderson, Kentucky, on a tract of land which
he received from John Luttrell, of the Transylvania Company, in payment
for services. His residence was near what was afterward known as "Smith's
Ferry," mouth of Green River, and there he died in October, 1818, at
the age of eighty. He never married. (Draper.)
3 Soon after this visit to Boonesborough Henderson opened an office at
French Lick for the sale of the Company's lands. In 1781 he was a
member of tiie North Carolina House of Commons, and in 1783 his
Company received from that State two hundred thousand acres of land
in Powell's Valley in compensation for settlement and expenses of 1775.
About that time (1783) he retired to his farm, located in the fork of
Anderson Swamp and Big Nut Bush Creeks, about seven miles north
east of Williamsboro, in Granville (now Vance) County, North Carolina.
Much of the farm is now owned by a connection, W. G. B. Snead, Esquire.
Here Judge Henderson died January 30, 1785, in his fiftieth year, and
here he was buried in the family lot about a quarter of a mile southeast
of his residence, and only a few steps from the burial-place of the adjoining
(Stamper) farm. No stone or memorial of any kind marks the grave of
one of the most enlightened and enterprising characters of colonial North
Carolina and pioneer Kentucky, and no portrait of him exists. Fortunately

ii6 Boonesborough
and they were saddened by the failure of his great plans.
Even as late as ten years after his death the Transylvania
Company made an ineffectual appeal to Congress for
redress of alleged wrongs.'
In this spring of 1780 the Indians made up for lost
time. Their scouts and man-hunters were in Kentucky
before the snow was fairly gone, and tragedies commenced
again. Early in March Colonel Callaway began prepara
tions to estabhsh his ferry, and on the 8th of the month
whfle he, Pemberton Rawlings (or Rollins), and three
negro men were building a ferryboat on Canoe Ridge,
about a mfle above Boonesborough, a volley of rifle shots
was heard, and shortly after one of the negroes rushed,
panting and terrified, into the settlement with the news
that the boat-builders had been attacked by Indians. A
party of riflemen, headed by Captain Holder, and including
young Bland Ballard, then just commencing his career as
a scout and spy,' galloped to the rescue, but were too
late. Colonel Caflaway had been instantly killed, ^ scalped,
and robbed of most of his clothing. Rawlings had been
his residence is preserved. Some years after his death it was removed to
Williamsboro, and now, though modernized, stands as a historic personal
reminder of the head of the most unique of the Colonial Governments of
America. ' See Appendix IV for the Company's Memorial to Congress in 1795.
^BaUard was then about nineteen, and had been in Kentucky but a
few months.
^N. Hart, junior, and Draper.

Boonesborough 117
shot down, tomahawked in the back of the neck, and
scalped, but, though mortally wounded, was stfll alive,
and the two negroes were prisoners, destined for savage
slavery. They were heard of no more. The Indians
who, almost as a matter of course,^ were Shawanese, and
who successfully eluded pursuit, had evidently watched
the movements of the boat-buflders, and fired with impunity
from a nearby place of concealment. There was sudden,
crushing grief in two homes, and sorrow throughout the
settlement as the stricken forms were tenderly brought
in, and there was even deeper gloom soon after, for the
terribly wounded Rawlings died before the setting of the
sun. The gallant old leader and his brave lieutenant
were buried in one grave back of the fort they had
helped to defend, and where the soil they loved overlooks
the beautiful river that is consecrated to the memory of
the pioneers. Colonel Callaway's hair was noticeable
both for its length and for its peculiar shade of gray,
and when the scalp was carried by the exulting savages
to their town across the Ohio it was recognized with
horror and sadness by Joseph Jackson, one of Boone's
unfortunate party of salt-boflers of the Blue Licks, who
was still a captive.
Anxieties were added to griefs as the days went by
at Boonesborough, but the greatest of them all was occa-

ii8 Boonesborough
sioned by the news brought by Abraham Chaplain and
one Hendricks, who had escaped from Wyandot captivity
about the middle of May, and tattered and famished had
been welcomed by the pitying settlers. They reported
that the Indians and Canadians were assembling in unusual
force to attack Boonesborough ; that they would certainly
move in about four weeks, and that this time they would
come with cannon, against which the wooden forts would
be utterly helpless. The inlormation," f eliable as it was
startling, was dispatched at once to Colonel John Bowman
in a letter signed by E. Worthington, Ben Roberts, James
Patton, and Edward Bulger,' who, in earnestly request
ing more militia to repel the invasion, declared, with
patriotic fervor, that such was "the humble prayer of
this garrison and of every other son of liberty." Heavy
as this news was, there is no data now extant to show
that any steps were taken to meet this the greatest
danger that had yet threatened the Kentucky settlements.
In the absence of suclr data it looks' KKeTfiere^ was the
same remarkable failure on the part of the authorities as
to scout service and ordinary military precautions that in
another invasion, two years after this, brought such scath
ing rebukes and stinging sarcasms from George Rogers
' The original letter was in the possession of the late John B. Bowman,
of Kentucky University. The fact that this warning was given is strangely
omitted in all accounts of this invasion by Kentucky historians.

Boonesborough 119
Clark.' One little colony — that under Grant and Eflis
at Grant's Station — did make a wise and timely with
drawal,' but it was the only one to do so. In spite of
the warning a month in advance, the invading force under
Captain Bird^ was aflowed to reach the heart of Ken
tucky not only unresisted but undiscovered, and, on the
2 2d of June, Ruddle's and Martin's Stations succumbed to
the enemy's artfllery. The swift tidings of the actual pres
ence of cannon, even more than the report of the disaster
itself, was almost a forecast of doom to Boonesborough.
The once redoubtable fort looked suddenly weak to the
settlers, but in spite of that there was a quick and instinct
ive rush for it by all outsiders near it. Only once — when
the blazing arrows of Black Fish struck the station —
had the pioneers felt so hopeless, and the panic reached
its height when marauders from the Indian army sur
rounded Strode's Station, "t across the river and only a few
'The Girty and Caldwell expedition of August, 1782. (See Virginia
State Papers, Volume III, page 385.)
'Grant and Ellis both retumed home by way of Boonesborough and
re-entered the Continental Army, but both located permanently in Ken
tucky in the winter of 178 1. (See The Traveling Church.)
3 McBride says (page 190) that Bird was from Virginia originally;
that his father retumed to England when the Revolution broke out and
obtained a commission for his son in the British army. Captain Bird's
retreat seems to have been due to his humanity. Kentuckians of that
day could thank their stars that his American training had given him a
horror of savage barbarity.
* Strode's Station was about two miles from what is now Winchester,
Clark County, Kentucky.

I20 Boonesborough
mfles away. But they came without field faeces, mainly
to steal horses, and soon disappeared, and /the relief at
Boonesborough was inexpressible when it was discovered
that the entire invading force had strangely retreated
without striking another blow, when the iRrhole interior of
the country was at its mercy. /
It was about this time that the simple-hearted and
uncomplaining Boone returned to Boonesborough' from
^- North Carolina with his wife and family, bereft of his
I- little fortune' and saddened by domestic troubles. The
population of the station had greatly changed during his
absence, most of his old friends were missing, and the
settlement was becoming entirely too crowded for the
inveterate hunter and lover of the free and lonely woods.
But he made his home at Boonesborough untfl shortly
after another misfortune overtook him, , the kilHng of his
brother Edward by the Indians in October at fateful Blue
Licks, when he moved out with his family, a few loaded
pack-horses, and his dogs, crossed the river and located in
what is now Fayette County, at a spot about five miles
' He had been in Kentucky probably less than two weeks when he was
summoned to serve on the Jury of Escheat at Lexington Station (July i,
1780 ), when lands of certain British subjects were confiscated.
' He had been robbed of his own money and of funds entrusted to him
the preceding February whUe en route to Richmond to purchase land war
rants. See Morehead's Address for Thomas Hart's letter exonerating him,
and page 136 of Marshall, Volume I.

Boonesborough 121
northwest of Boonesborough, near where several buffalo
traces conveniently crossed each other, and on a stream
that has ever since been known as Boone's Creek. Boone
inherited the tract on which he now settled from his
eldest brother, Israel Boone,' then recently deceased, and
who seems to have briefly "adventured" to that neigh
borhood about 1776, shortly after the estabHshment of
Boonesborough. Boone's Station,' as the new log and
stockaded home of Daniel Boone was immediately known,
stood, it is claimed, on the land at the junction of Boone's
Creek and Boffman's Creek, still called on that account
"the station pasture," and from this little wooden fort he
sallied forth on many a hunting and surveying trip, to
many an adventure with the Indians, and to the disas
trous conflict in which he lost another son.
Thanks to the confidence restored by Clark's Piqua
expedition, the number of settlers so increased that in
'Deed Book "D," page 143, Fayette Circuit Court and History of
Fayette County, Kentucky.
'The site of Boone's Station is now included in the Garrett Watts
farm. Boffman's Creek was named after Captain John Boffman, who raised
com in that locality in 1776. The company of immigrants he came out
with was defeated by the Indians on Skaggs' trace. We use the name as
given by one of his descendants (see 1810 edition of Hardin's Reports,
page 348), but it is also spelt "Baughman" in Fayette County records.
Boone's Station was succeeded, so to speak, by a Uttle settlement that
sprang up near it at the crossing of the buffalo traces, which fact gave it
the name of " Cross Plains," but it lost its identity shortly after 1826, when
the present town of Athens was started about half a mUe away.
17

122 Boonesborough
November of this year (1780) Kentucky County was
divided by the Virginia Legislature into three counties,
which were given the names of shining lights of the
heroic struggle then in progress — Jefferson, Fayette, and
Lincoln. Boonesborough now found itself in the most
populous of the new counties, Lincoln, and Daniel Boone
became the Heutenant-colonel of the county in which he
then resided, Fayette.'
The Indians now gave the people a rest, but the
winter that followed was as terrible as the savages. It
commenced unusually soon with a succession of snow
storms, foflowed by the coldest weather the settlers had
ever experienced. The snow that banked the ground
was locked in ice, the trees seemed made of marble and
glass. The streams were solid. The Kentucky River
was lost in snow, and the transformed hills opposite the
fort were as white, as desolate, and as beautiful as the
towering ice-packs of the Polar Sea. The very firewood
had to be chopped out of encircling ice, and every thing
that wild animals could eat was hidden in snow and shut
in by ice. And this desperate and apparently intermin
able weather continued without a thaw untfl the spring
of 1 78 1, and with all the suffering that such an experi
ence comprehends. Not only did forest animals freeze
'Calendar Virginia State Papers.

Boonesborough 123
to death, but cattle and hogs about the station, and many
that did not die in that way perished of starvation. ¦ The
settlers did manage with great exertions and misery to
keep from freezing, but food was so scarce that they
barely succeeded in keeping life in their bodies, for the
corn gave out, and for weeks they had to exist on wild
game, as in 1776, except that now it was so wretchedly
poor as to be almost useless. The name given this
unprecedented season, "The Hard Winter,"' but mildly
expresses the terrors of it.
Miserable, however, as were the cooped -up settlers
during this memorable time, they did not forget to sympa
thize with the distant Continentals, and they especially
exulted in the signal success at King's Mountain of their
old friends and neighbors of Watauga and the Holston.
Time and again at night, as they huddled close to their
cabin fires, did the subject come up, and it was only
supplanted at last by the news of the Battle of the
Cowpens, which did not reach them until nearly a month
after that British defeat.
'Authors differ as to the date of "The Hard Winter," some, with
apparent correctness, placing it the season before this. We follow Boone
mainly because he seems to have been the only authority actually in Ken
tucky at the time who gave any thing like contemporary testimony about
it. If The Hard Winter occurred the preceding season, one is puzzled
to account for the evident abundance of corn, at Boonesborough at least,
in March, 1780.

124 Boonesborough
The patriots of the backwoods were now more hope
ful of their country, and they were encouraged both by
the auspicious opening of the spring of 178 1 and the
influx of immigrants that distinguished it ; but the gloom
of Indian prospect brightened not at all, for savage war
bands, generally small, but occasionally important, were
striking somewhere in Kentucky in 1781 from the time
they attacked McAfee's Station in May until winter came
again. Boonesborough barely escaped a visit about the
middle of September from probably the strongest and
certainly the most successful of these parties, comprising
Hurons and Miamis, who, under the noted Brant, had
just defeated Floyd .at Long Run.' The Indians were
urged by Alexander McKee, who accompanied them, to
march against the hated fort "on the Kentuck," but the
fickle and elated savages were so anxious to celebrate
their victories that they scattered at once to their vil
lages. Boonesborough was unassafled this time in force,
but few indeed were the weeks that followed when minor
tragedies did not bring sorrow to some dweller within
her gates or to some family within sound of her rifles.
All through this fall, and especially at the gathering in
of the crops, the avenging or marauding Indian was at
' Haldimand manuscripts. Letters of McKee and Thompson of Sep
tember, 1781.

BOONESBOROUGH FERRY, ESTABLISHED IN 1779.
(As it now appears.)
Fort Site, hidden by foliage, on the left; Roadway leading toward it; and Ridge in the background that faced the Fort.

Boonesborough 125
his deadly work, and the very Christmas-tide was ush
ered in with mortal combats and savage murders, for it
was in December that some of the Pennsylvanians, who
had located so close to Boonesborough,' were ambus
caded, and that the heroic Mrs. Duree took the place of
her fallen husband and defended both the living and the
dead of her desolated cabin. Absorbed utterly in the
desperate struggle for the possession of a home and for
life itself, the Kentucky pioneer had but little time to
give to the preservation of the deeds of daring and of
blood that were almost commonplace in their perpetual
occurrence, and this is especially true of the year 1781.
There is no record extant that conveys any adequate
idea of the trials and the tragedies of that eventful sea
son. Even the surrender of Cornwallis, which made the
whole Atlantic seaboard exult in the certainty of peace,
seemed only to incite the British and the savages of the
Northwest to still greater exertions to sweep the
"rebels" of the frontier from the face of the earth, and
the spring of 1782 found the Kentucky settlers penned
up as closely as ever in their cramped, crowded, and
monotonous forts.
On the 19th of March of this year all Boonesborough
was stirred up at the sight of two or three logs, united
¦At White Oak Station, about a mile away.

126 Boonesborough
in the crudest way, drifting down the Kentucky and past
the station. To the inexperienced the incident was too
trifling for a second thought, but to the veteran woods
man the little raft betrayed the presence of Indians, from
whom it had accidentally slipped away as they were cross
ing the river. It was, in fact, the first announcement of
that incursion of Wyandots which resulted in ^Estill's,
defeat, --«^iGli--A\^i«'--p*efe9Hb4y~1;lTe'Tnost equal, the most
stubbornly contested, and the most desperate of the
minor engagements of pioneer Kentucky.' And there
was more grief at Boonesborough and at every station in
the region about it.
The season of 1782 had opened, as it was to close, in
blood. Afl during the planting-time the fields were
haunted by straggling Indians, and such crops as were
raised were made while contending both with them and
with a drouth that extended from the last of April untfl
late in July. But none of these things kept back the
land-hungry immigrants, who came on in rapidly increas
ing numbers. The savages were now not only more
seriously alarmed than ever, but they were incited with
redoubled energy by the despairing British, who sought
at once to regain their lost advantages and thus, if not
/already too late, to prevent the vast and magnificent
' Marshall's Reports, page 304, and Cists' MisceUany for 1845.

Boonesborough 127
domain of the West from passing, by a pending treaty, i*
forever from the British Crown. Once more a formidaf
ble force of Indians and Canadians was called together
and in August, under the leadership of Girty and Cald
well, they swarmed across tne Ohio in a last, supreme
effort to destroy the Kentucky forts.' Aiming first at
the capture of the two principal ones on the ' ' frontier, "
Bryan's Station and Lexington, by strategy they sought
to draw away their garrisons to the south side of the
Kentucky River through demonstrations of decoy parties
sent in advance of the main body to the neighborhood
of Boonesborough. It was at this time that Hoy's Station, ^ only a few
miles south of Boonesborough, was threatened, and the
Indians, both in coming and going, left bloody tracks.
Two at least of their victims were identified with Boones
borough. One was Captain Wflliam Buchanan,* killed
whfle with Holder's men in pursuit of one of the decoy
bands, and the other was Colonel Nathaniel Hart, way-
' The Treaty of Paris. England would have welcomed any pretext
during the consideration of this much-delayed instrument to prevent the
absolute cession to the United States of the territory conquered by Clark.
Influences were at work in Paris at this very time to that end.
' The writer has given an account of this invasion in his ' ' Story of
Bryan's Station."
3 Located close to the present village of Foxtown, Madison County,
Kentucky. ¦* Judge William Chenault.

128 Boonesborough
laid in the vicinity of White Oak Station while out
hunting for his horse, unconscious of the presence of an
enemy. The savages in an attempt to take him prisoner
broke his thigh, and finding that it would be impossible
on that account to take him along with them they shot
the helpless sufferer through the heart with a rifle that
was placed so close to his breast that the powder burned
his skin. In addition to this he was tomahawked and
scalped, and in the turmoil of the incursion it was two
days before his poor mutilated body was found.'
Holder was defeated, and another and an apparently
serious demonstration was made against Hoy's Station.
Boone hurried across the river to Boonesborough to assume
command of the riflemen ordered to the relief of the
threatened post ; William Eflis' was just about to join him
with mounted men that had assembled at Boone's Station ;
the Lexington garrison was well on its way to the Ken
tucky River, and the ruse of the Indian leaders was almost
a success when their real object was discovered, and soon
the entire fighting force of all the settlements was on the
march to the relief of Bryan's Station. Boone led off a
company that had gathered at Boonesborough. It was
'Jesse Benton's letter of December 4, 1782, to Thomas Hart.
' Ellis' Station was convenient to Boone's, being located near the present
Pine Grove. A few hours after this. Captain Ellis led the cavalry charge at
Bryan's Station.

Boonesborough 129
the last time that "the knight errant of the wood" sal
lied forth with men at arms from the pioneer castle he
had done so much to render famous. During the next
few days the only defenders of Boonesborough were one
or two of its oldest men, the women and the chfldren, and,
with the exception of a little cooking, domestic employ
ments ceased. Details of women, rifle in hand, did
guard duty day and night, and during that memorable
period none of the inmates of the stockade ever slept
except as they had watched, fully clothed and ready for
any emergency. The anxious days only ended in dark
ness, for then came the crowning disaster of that year
of pioneer defeats, the Battle of the Blue Licks, the last
battle of the American Revolution, ' when Boonesborough, |
with all Kentucky, was overwhelmed with grief. And
the consternation was as great as the grief, for it was
feared that the savages "vk)uld bring another campaign
into the country, " and that, \said Boone in an appealing
letter to the Governor of Virginia, written at Boone's Sta-
' Collins, by a singular error, places Loughry's defeat after the Battle
of the Blue Licks ; but it has been plainly shown to have occurred on the
24th of August, 1 78 1 (see Anderson's Diary in Indiana H. S., Pamphlet
No. 4), and the fight at Combabee Ferry, South Carolina, which took
place August 27, 1782, General Greene himself caUed "a paltry little
skirmish." Whatever may be said as to " the last blood shed in the field,"
the fact is evident that the engagement at the Blue Licks on the igth of
August, 1782, was the last battle of the Revolution.
r8

I30 Boonesborough
tion a few days after the defeat, "would break up these
settlements." Never since the spring of 1775 had the
pioneers come so near to abandoning Kentucky. They
were in the depths of despair until electrified by a bugle-
call from the indomitable Clark to invade the enemy's
country. Two months were devoted to careful prepara
tions and to the march, and when at last, on the loth
of November, they descended upon the haunts of the
Miamis, the astonished savages fled without a fight ; their
towns were burned to ashes, all their corn and winter
stores were utterly destroyed, and the pioneers became
their confident and defiant selves again.
This blow and the progress of negotiations at Paris
brought a quiet winter to the harassed frontier. But
early in the spring of 1783, in spite of the assurances
of peace, minor Indian outrages began again and contin
ued, and among them, and of especial interest to Boones
borough, were the killing of its former resident, John
Floyd,' and the attempted capture of Boone, but no
' Colonel Floyd had acted as Surveyor for the Transylvania Company.
Hewas killed on "the 12th of April, 1783, a short distance from his station
on Beargrass. The settlements were not without their own superstitions
at that time, for, according to Shanej pioneer notes, Floyd's wife did not
want him to leave home, because the day before he started " a bird flew
round his head seven times and flew off in the very direction he had to go,
and that night a chunk of fire popped out and went by Samuel Aikin's
gate." She said that if a personal enemy did not kiU him the Indians
would.

Boonesborough 131
serious expedition of the savages into Kentucky was ever
again attempted. Boone's adventure was long recounted
at his old stamping-ground. It seems the Shawanese
stfll sighed for the companionship of their adopted brother,
and four of them undertook to bring him back to his
former Indian home. They haunted Boone's Station and
caught him at last outside of it at work, says Peck, in
his log tobacco barn. Boone submitted so good-naturedly
that his delighted red kinfolks allowed him to go up into
the loft of the barn, as he requested, "to get some fine
tobacco to carry along." In a twinkling he sprang down
upon them with an armful of dry tobacco that he scat
tered as he fell, and before the blinded and sputtering
savages could recover themselves he was safe within his
stockade. '
The preliminaix. articl£S..fl£_tbfi„ Tre&ty of Paris had
been signed at the beginning of the year,* but it took two
months for the news to creep to America, and then nearly
another month for it to penetrate the Western wilderness.
In the meanwhfle Virginia's three terribly tried frontier
counties had been erected into a separate district, per-
' Boone's Station, near what is now Athens, was stilL the home of
Boone in 1784, when he related the story of his life to Filson, and con- "
tinued to be his home until he left the State, ten or twelve^ years thereafter.
'The preliminary treaty was signed January 20, 1783; a cessation of
hostiUties was formally declared by Congress the 19th of the following
April, and the final, definitive treaty was signed the 3d of the succeeding
September.

t

132 Boonesborough
petuating the ancient Indian name Kentucky, and an
unprecedented flood of hopeful settlers was pouring into
the country. In April the long-looked-for tidings of the
signing of the treaty reached Kentucky, and when at
Boonesborough a mounted messenger rode into the stockade
with the word "Peace" displayed upon his coonskin cap
e welkin rang with the sounds of rejoicing, with hurrahs
or "Washington and the Continental Congress," and
with the songs of the Sons of Liberty, and far into the
night a great bonfire blazed and volley after volley rang
out from horse-pistols and flint-lock rifles. But the peace
so ardently celebrated was far from coming at once in
its fulness to the District of Kentucky as it came to the
seaboard States, for the British posts located in the great
Northwest, and whose surrender had been guaranteed,
were long withheld and as long exerted a baleful influence
upon the former savage allies of the Crown. But in spite
of every obstacle the "wilderness blossomed as the rose,"
and henceforth from that day of rejoicing in April, 1783,
the ponderous gates' of the battle - scarred fort of Boones-
\borough were closed no more. Soon the great pickets
between the cabins gave way to progress ; streets were
opened, log houses increased, and the one-time stockaded
little capital of the C^loPv-e£-Jran .sylvania J3^>ral^f> an
open town.

Boonesborough 133
The War of the Revolution was over, and with it
ended the tragic and romantic part of the story of Boones
borough that wfll be forever identified with the history of
that struggle, and is of itself almost a history of the
permanent settlement of Kentucky.

In 1792, when Kentucky was admitted into the Union,
Boonesborough was one of the largest towns in the State, '
was conspicuous for its shipments of the great tobacco y
crops' that were produced in the region surrounding it,
and contested for the location there of the capital of the
new Commonwealth. But it was soon left behind in the
march of population and events. By 28jo,JtJ*ad-^eclined
to an obscure hamlet ; a little later on even its decreasing
cabins had disappeared, the town site had become only
a lonely part of a river farm, and Boonesborough was
'Even in 1789, according to a report on "The Colony of Kentucky,"
made to Lord Dorchester at Quebec, a report slightly mixed in its topog
raphy, the statement was made that ' ' Boonsburg, upon Red River, com
prehends upwards of a hundred and twenty houses." (See volume Canadian
Archives published in r890.)
'The cultivation of tobacco, which began almost with the permanent v
settlement of Kentucky, was wonderfully increased when the Revolution
ended, and had much to do with the close and wholesale clearing away of
the timber in certain sections of the State. One flood in the Kentucky,
that of 1 817, carried off more than three hundred thousand doUars' worth
of the tobacco of the counties of Madison, Clark, and Jessamine that
was warehoused on the river banks.

134 Boonesborough
reckoned among the towns of Kentucky that once had
been.' One and only one institution survives that was estab
lished by the settlers of the place, and that figured
famfliarly in their Hves. It is the picturesque old ferry,
the oldest in Kentucky, and consecrated by the blood of
its founders. The ferryboat is fashioned stfll exactly
like its quaint and simple predecessors of the Revolution,
and is polled across the river yet in the same primitive
style as in the fighting days of Boone. No remnant of
the battle-scared old fort remains. For nearly a century
the plow has been busy where it stood, and year after
year the tall corn has rustled and ripened above its site.
Elevated as the fort ground is, it has not always, it is
said, escaped the obHterating effects of great overflows of
the Kentucky River,' and now the graves of such of the
founders and defenders of the old stronghold as were
buried within or near its wooden walls have long been
leveled and lost to sight. The famous ' ' Hollow, " owing
' Among the extinct or projected towns of Kentucky may be mentioned
Leestown, a mile below Frankfort ; Saltsburg, at Bullitt's Lick ; Transyl
vania, at the mouth of Harrod's Creek ; Port William, merged into Carrollton;
Granville, named for the North Carolina county, and Lystra. Another was
"Ohiopiomingo," whose title was to honor a beautiful river and a noble
Indian ; but the name, though musical, ingenious, and magnificent, was
about all there ever was of the town.
'There was a great overflow of the river in the spring of 1894, and
the water then is said to have risen twenty-five feet in Sycamore Hollow.

THE FAMOUS OLD SYCAMORE.

The only Surviving Witness of the Rise and Fall of Boonesborough.
{As it appeared in the Autumn of 1900.)

Boonesborough 135
to successive deposits from river floods,' is not nearly so
deep as it was in the days of the pioneers, and, long
undisturbed, it is thick with sycamores that have sprung
up since the settlement died out, and once again the
ancient haunt of the buffalo and the elk is a romantic
and luxuriant wfld. The mighty elm, whose majestic
dome sheltered the first legislature and the first worship
ing assembly of a wfldemess empire, and which witnessed
one of the strangest episodes of the American Revolution,
fell under the axe in 1828, and fell in all its stateHness
and splendor. It was the most unique and precious his
torical monument in the whole domain of Kentucky, and
was invested with a charm that the loftiest sculptured
column could not possess. But hedged about and obscured
as it has been by deposits from river floods, the sulphur
water' is there around which the wfld animals of the
wfldemess gathered for unnumbered generations ; the Lick
'The descriptions here given were written in November, 1900, when
the writer made his last visit to Boonesborough, at which time also most
of the views of its scenery and historic sites included in this volume were
secured. ' Owing to the partial filling of the hollow, as already mentioned, the
sulphur spring had to be surrounded by a wall, and, in time, it virtually
became a well, in which shape it still exists. Many years ago an old
musket barrel, unearthed on the place and a relic of the days of Indian
investments, was fitted into this spring as a drinking tube, says Mr. H. S.
Halley, whose boyhood was spent at Boonesborough, and to whom the
writer is indebted for facts and courtesies.

136 Boonesborough
Spring still exists which refreshed alike the Indian and
the pioneer, and near it stands the last of the great
sycamores' that were there when the white men first
invaded the vast solitude in which they grew. Its hoary
old trunk, hollowed by time, decay, and the leaden storm
of a Revolutionary conflict, is now a mere shell, within
which four or five men could stand. It is the one soli
tary living thing still at Boonesborough that has felt the
famfliar touch of Boone and Henderson and Kenton ; that
stood while the vanished fort was standing ; that partici
pated in the remarkable siege of 1778, and that has sur
vived the throngs of sturdy pioneers and painted savages
that have gone the way of all the earth. An age has passed
since Boonesborough echoed with the appalling war-cry of
the Indian and the crack of the settlers' flintlock, and few
sounds disturb it now but the dying clatter of railway
trains that pass it by in the distance, the sighing of the
wind as it bends the tall tops of a thousand sycamores,
and the noises of a crossing at the ferry which come up
indistinctly from the deep-down beautiful river, which
once knew no other traveler but the red man and no
other craft but his bark canoe. The whole place, upland
' Of the three great sycamores that graced this spot a century and a
quarter ago, one feh in 1873 and another in 1885. Both might have
been preserved by timely efforts of the Commonwealth.

Boonesborough 137
and hoflow, has all the sadness of a deserted vfllage,'
the melancholy charm of lonely nature, and the elo
quence of an historic past. It thrflls the soul with a sug
gestion of that untouched wilderness that was as sublime
as the ocean, of a hunting-ground that has never been
surpassed, of that quickly shattered dream of Colonial
wealth and feudal power, and of the heroic men and the
heroic women who, unaided and forgotten, laid the foun
dation of a free and independent State. Boonesborough
clusters thick with memories of that sohtary log fort that
was pelted with lead, blackened by fire, and stained with
blood. It is rich with the romance of the Revolution
and the romance of Indian warfare. It is hallowed by
the sufferings of her settlers. It is consecrated by the
ashes of her dead. It is ground immortalized that
' Boonesborough, or, strictly speaking, the site of it, would now be
described as being in Madison County, Kentucky, and located immediately
on the south bank of the Kentucky River and between it and the close-
by Richmond and Winchester turnpike. It is about two miles from the
town of Ford, which is on the opposite side of the river in Clark County
and on the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, and the site of the fort is
reached from that place by a picturesque country road which leads to the
historic river, which is crossed at a ferry so close to the old settlement
that it may itself be called a part of it. Ford is only a short ride by
rail from Richmond, Winchester, and Lexington, Ky. Boonesborough is
by turnpike twelve miles from Richmond, nine miles from Winchester,
and about twenty miles from Lexington. It is about sixty miles by land
from the mouth of the Kentucky River, and about one hundred and thirty
miles from it by water.

138 Boonesborough
should be owned, honored, and eternally cherished by the
Commonwealth' it cradled.
'The writer would respectfully suggest that Boonesborough could be
strikingly and most appropriately marked if the work were done in accord
ance with the eternal fitness of things. A log fort, stockade and all,
could be built almost exactly similar to that of Boone and Henderson, as
the plan of their station still exists. Such a realistic reminder of the
life, the times, and the heroism of the Kentucky pioneers would, if suit
ably cared for, last for generations. In the center of this enclosure,
suitably inscribed, could be a giant boulder from the bed of the Ken
tucky or from the Rockcastle River, an object which the settlers them
selves no doubt often saw, which was personally associated with them,
and which would be virtually indestructible. A like great rock could
mark the site of the famous elm in the famous hollow, and it would be
about the only thing that could withstand the river floods. It strikes the
writer that memorials of this kind would require but little attention, could
be but little injured by relic hunters, and would be in harmony with the
rugged virtues of the settlers and defenders of Boonesborough and with
the solitude, the natural features, and the historic associations of the spot
they immortalized. Of course these suggestions are based on the assump
tion that the ground would be the property either of the State or of some
patriotic or memorial association.

AUTHOR'S

APPENDIX NOTES, DATA,
AND
HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS

RELATING TO THE

SUBJECT OF THIS VOLUME

CONTENTS OF APPENDIX.

PAGE

A — The Name " Kentucky "  143
B — Boone Before 1775  145
C — Boone's First Attempt to Colonize Kentucky  146
D — Proclamation of Governor Martin of North Carolina  147
E — The Cherokee Deed to Henderson and Company  151
F — Deposition of Charles Robertson  158
G — Felix Walker's Narrative  161
H — Boone's Letter of April i, 1775  168
I — Henderson's Joumal  169
J — Proclamation of Lord Dunmore  181
K — Extract from Henderson's Letter written en route to Kentucky.. 183
L — Henderson's Letter from Boonesborough, June r2, 1775  184
M — Letter to Patrick Henry from Henderson and Company  194
N — Journal of House of Delegates of Transylvania Colony  196
O — Proceedings of the Transylvania Proprietors  212
P — SUas Deane's Letter to James Hogg  219
Q — Hogg's Report of His Embassy to the Continental Congress ... 224
R — Reply of John Williams, Agent, to the Harrodsburg Remonstrance 230
S — Williams' Report of January, 1776, on Transylvania Affairs .... 232
T — Survey Warrant of Henderson and Company  240
U — Petition of Transylvanians to Virginia Convention  241
V — Petition of Committee of West Fincastle  244
W — Proclamation of Transylvania Company, June, r776  248
X — Capture of the Girls in July, 1776 — Extract from Floyd's Letter 249
Y — The Bowman Letter on the Last Siege of Boonesborough  251
Z — The Transylvania Purchase Declared Void  253
I — Virginia's Land Grant to Henderson and Company  254
II — RoU of Holder's Company for June, 1779  255
III — Act EstabUshing Town of Boonesborough  •  256
IV — Memorial of the Transylvania Company to Congress in 1795 •• • 257

AUTHOR'S APPENDIX.

THE NAME "KENTUCKY."
Both the country and the river that now bear the beautiful
name "Kentucky" were called so by the Indians ages before the
coming of their white destroyers. The Indians also called the
river "Chenoca," a word which still distinguishes a mountain
spur in Bell County, Kentucky, but the name they used by far
the most was Kentucky. In coming into use among the whites
early in the eighteenth century the word varied as to form and
pronunciation according to the user's knowledge of the Indian
tongue. John Sailing, who was a prisoner among the Cherokees
for some years before 1736, and who must have been somewhat
familiar with their language, gives the name as we now have it,
when he says they took him "to the salt licks of Kentucky."'
Alexander Maginty, who had also been held by the Indians,
deposed in 1753 that they captured him "on the south bank of
the Cantucky,'" and Colonel George Croghan (not the Major
Croghan of Fort Stephenson ), who was for so many years British
Agent among the Six Nations and an authority in savage matters,
speaks in his journal' of 1765 of "the River Kentucky." Doctor
Thomas Walker (1749) ignores the Indian name, if he knew it.
' Withers' Border Warfare.
' Made in Philadelphia. Howe.
' Published in The American Joumal of Geology and N. S. for Decem
ber, 183 1.

144 Boonesborough
Christopher Gist (1751) gives it in a corrupted form as "Cutta-
way," and Lewis Evans (i7S5), who only caught the name from
traders, put it down on his map as "Cuttawa." Later on, after
many vicissitudes among the whites as to spelling and pronuncia
tion, the name came into permanent use as the Indians themselves
pronounced it, "Kentucky."
Authors differ as to the meaning of the name. According to
Darlington, in Archives Americana, it is a Mohawk word signify
ing "among the meadows." Johnson, in "Indian Tribes of
Ohio," claims it is Shawanese, meaning " at the head of a river,"
and others give it still different definitions. Probably the earliest
writer to give its meaning as "The Dark and Bloody Ground " was
Filson (1784), who says the country was so denominated bythe
Indians when Findlay traveled through it about 1767. This state
ment was adopted by succeeding historians and came into use,
though Filson gave no authority for it, and there is nothing extant
that this writer knows of to sustain it — certainly nothing from the
Indians themselves. There is a popular impression that this
phrase, "The Dark and Bloody Ground," was used as the mean
ing of the word Kentucky by the Cherokees at the treaty of
Watauga in 1775, but that is a mistake. On that occasion Drag
ging Canoe, who was strongly opposed to the treaty, said in that
metaphorical style which distinguished his race, that there was a
"dark cloud" over Kentucky,' meaning by that expression, as he
himself explained, the hostility of the northern tribes to its occu
pancy by the whites. On the same occasion an Indian opposer
of the treaty, hoping to arouse the superstitious fears of the whites,
said that the land desired by Henderson and Company was a
" bloody country, "' but in neither case was a reference made to
I Deposition of Charles Robertson. See Appendix F.
'Deposition of James Robertson, Volume I, Virgima State Papers.

Appendix 145
the meaning of the word " Kentucky." What this last expression
did mean is not clear. Certain writers assume that it referred to
the supposed bloody extermination of the Mound Builders, but
on that theory the phrase would apply with even more force to
Ohio and other States of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys. One
has as much authority, apparently, for calling it ' ' The Meadow
Land" as "The Dark and Bloody Ground."

B
DANIEL BOONE BEFORE 1775.
Some of the Watauga settlers had known Boone before this
spring of 1775, for they had come themselves from the Yadkin
Valley, to which his father had emigrated from Pennsylvania in
i7S3^ when Daniel was nineteen- and already an adventurous
hunter. As early as 1760 he had crossed the AUeghanies and
begun to explore the Watauga region, and in 1769 he had
passed the Cumberland barrier and was hunting up and down
the Kentucky River. He had long been familiar with the lonely
country west of the Blue Ridge when the Regulators of North
Carolina were defeated, and had guided some of those victims of
royal oppression over the mountains when they fled to the
obscurity and freedom of the Watauga wilderness. In 1773 he
had been frustrated in his attempt to plant in Kentucky a
colony of which his family was a part (see Appendix C), and the
next year, while waiting for another chance to settle there, had
been called into service in Dunmore's War, from which he had
returned but a few months before this spring of 1775 more
determined than ever to carry out his Kentucky project.

146 Boonesborough

BOONE'S FIRST ATTEMPT TO COLONIZE KENTUCKY
(1773) BARRED AT WALLEN'S GAP.
(Statement of M. B. Wood.' See Footnote on page 38.)
About the first of March, 1773, Daniel Boone started from
North Carolina with his first colony for Kentucky. He crossed
Clinch River at the old Neil ford, and went up the DevU's Race
Path and crossed Powell Mountain near the head of Wallen
Creek. On this trip there were with Boone eighteen rnen,
besides women and children. They went down Wallen Creek
to "the gap," where it breaks through Wallen Ridge. Just as
the immigrants were entering the gap they were attacked by
twenty-seven Indians, and at their first fire Boone's oldest son
was killed, and there they buried him. Boone fired and killed
an Indian, and before the savages could carry their comrade
away Boone had reloaded his gun and wounded another. The
Indians then fell back. Boone had intended to go through the
gap and camp in the level country beyond, but it was late in
the evening and he selected his camping-ground in the gap.
There was a dry hollow which led up into a gorge of the ridge,
and in the wet season the water running down this hollow had
washed the dirt from under the roots of a beech tree, forming a
fair shelter from the winds. Here Boone put the women and
children, and posted sentinels all around his camp. These dispo
sitions being made, with a few of his men he followed the
Indians some distance in their retreat down the creek, but night
coming on they returned to their camp.
About midnight it was discovered that the Indians were
stealthily approaching the camp, and the riflemen were soon ready
' The^initial " M " of this name is incorrectly given as " W " on page 38.

Appendix 147
for them. They waited till the Indians got in range, when they
suddenly fired on them. The Indians were not expecting this,
and hastily fell back. The next morning Boone and his men
followed their trail down the creek. They saw traces of blood,
and it was evident that some of the Indians had been killed or
wounded. The pioneers advanced cautiously until they came to
the mouth of the creek, where it empties into Powell River.
On a bluff or spur on the opposite side of the river they saw
the Indians hovering over a fire. Boone's party shot at them
with no apparent result, but the savages scampered away. The
pioneers, believing that the Indians had collected a large force in
their front to oppose their further advance, fell back to Snoddy's
Fort. After resting there a few days, the entire party except
Boone and his family returned to North Carolina.

PROCLAMATION OF GOVERNOR MARTIN OF NORTH
CAROLINA (FEBRUARY lo, 1775) AGAINST "RICHARD
HENDERSON AND HIS CONFEDERATES."
(From Volume IX, Colonial Records of North Carolina. )
Whereas his Majesty by his Royal Proclamation bearing Date
at St. James's the seventh day of October 1763, did among other
Regulations thereby made, declare his Royal Will and Pleasure
with respect to his Territory claimed by the Indian Nations in
North America in the following words : ' ' And Whereas great
Frauds and Abuses have been committed in the purchasing of
Lands of the Indians to the great Prejudice of our Interests and
to the great Dissatisfaction of the said Indians. In order to
prevent such Irregularities for the future and to the end that the

148 Boonesborough
Indians may be convinced of our justice and determined Resolu
tion to remove all reasonable cause of Discontent, we do with
the advice of our Privy Council strictly enjoin and require that
no private person do presume to make any purchase from the
said Indians of any Lands reserved to the said Indians within
those parts of our Colonies where we have thought proper to
aUow 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 name at some public Meeting
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 be : And in case they shall be within
the limits of any Proprietary Government they shall be pur
chased only for the Use and in the Name of such Proprietaries
conformable to such Directions or Instructions as we or they
shall think proper to give for that Purpose."
And Whereas in and by an Act of the General Assembly of
this Province entitled ' ' An Act for restraining the Indians from
molesting or injuring the Inhabitants of this Government and for
securing to the Indians the Right and Property of their own
Lands;" it is, among other things, "Enacted, That no white
Man shall, for any consideration whatsoever, purchase or buy
any Tract or Parcel of Land claimed or actually in possession of
any Indian without Liberty for so doing from the Governor and
Council first had and obtained under the Penalty of Twenty
pounds for every hundred Acres of Land so bargained for and
purchased ; one half to the Informer, and the other Half to him
or them that shafl sue for the same."
And Whereas I have information that a certain Richard Hen
derson, late of the County of Granville in this Province, con
federating with divers other Persons, hath, in open violation of
his Majesty's said Royal Proclamation and of the said"acrof the

Appendix 149
General Assembly of this Province, entered into Treaty with
certain Indians of the Cherokee Nation for the Purchase and
Cession of a very large Tract of Country, by some reported to
be Two Hundred Miles Square, by others Three Hundred Miles
Square, and said to be part of the hunting Grounds of the
Cherokee Nation, and actually comprized within the limits of
the Colony of Virginia and the Royal Grant to the Right
Honorable the Earl Granville.
And whereas, this daring, unjust and unwarrantable Proceed
ing 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 have conditioned to pay the Indians for the Ces
sion of Land before mentioned a considerable quantity of Gun
powder, whereby they vnll be fumished with the means of
annoying his Majesty's subjects in this and the neighboring
Colonies ; and that he hath also 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 Richard
Henderson is suffered to proceed in this 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 in this Province in particular and to the
manifest^TJetriment of the Interest of Earl Granville, within
whose proprietary District the Lands treated for as aforesaid by
the said Richard Henderson with the Cherokee Indians are
deemed and reported to be in part comprehended : I have
thought proper to issue this Proclamation hereby in his Majesty's
Name and also in Behalf of the Earl Granville, as his Agent
and Attomey strictly to forbid the said Richard Henderson and

I50 Boonesborough
his Confederates, on pain of his Majesty's highest displeasure,
and of suffering the most rigorous Penalties of the Law, to
prosecute so unlawful an Undertaking, as also to enjoin all his
Majesty's liege subjects to use all lawful means in their Ppwer
to obstruct, hinder and prevent the Execution of his Design of
settlement, so contrary to Law and Justice and so pregnant with
ill consequences. And I do hereby forewarn all, and all manner of
persons against taking any part or having any concern or deal
ings with the said Richard Henderson, touching the Lands for
which he is said to have entered into Treaty with the Indians
as aforesaid or with any other Person or Persons who have
engaged or may engage in Projects of the like Nature, contrary
to the Tenor of his Majesty's Royal Proclamation aforesaid, as
every Treaty, Bargain and Agreement with the Indians repug
nant thereto is illegal, null and void, to all Intents and Purposes,
and that all partakers therein will expose themselves to the
severest Penalties. And as it is necessary for the more effectual
Prevention of such illicit and fraudulent dealings with the Indians,
to advertise them of the Rules and Regulations established by his
Majesty's Proclamation ; it is hereby required of his Majesty's
subjects having intercourse with the Indians and particularly of
the Officers appointed to superintend Indian Affairs, that they
do fully explain to them the beneficial Nature and Design of the
said Royal Proclamation to themselves and that they do make
the Indians sensible of the High Offence they commit against his
Majesty in doing any thing contrary to the directions thereof.
Given under my Hand, and the Great Seal of the said Prov
ince, at Newbern, the loth day of February, Anno Dom 1775,
and in the isth year of his Majesty's Reign.
God save the King. Jo, Martin.
By His Excellency's command.
James Parratt, D. Sec.

Appendix 151

E
TREATY OF WATAUGA.
Copy of the Deed from the Cherokees to Henderson & Co.
March 17, 1775.
(Furnished by James Alves for Butler's History of Kentucky, 2d Edition.)
This indenture made this seventeenth day of March in the
year of our Lord Christ one thousand seven hundred and seventy-
five between Oconistoto chief warrior and first representative
of the Cherokee Nation or tribe of Indians and Attacullacullah
and Savanooko otherwise Coronoh for themselves and in behalf
of the whole nation. Being the aborigines and sole owners by
occupancy from the beginning of time of the lands on the waters
of Ohio River from the mouth of the Tennessee River up the
said Ohio to the mouth or emptying of the Great Canaway or
New River and so across by a Southward line to the Virginia
line by a direction that shall strike or hit the Holston River six
English miles above or Eastward of the Long Island therein and
other lands and territories thereunto adjoining, of the one part
and Richard Henderson, Thomas Hart, Nathaniel Hart, John
Williams, John Luttrell, William Johnston, James Hogg, David
Hart and Leonard Hendley Bullock of the province of North
Carolina of the other part ; witnesseth that the said Oconistoto
for himself and the rest of the said nation of Indians, for
and in consideration of the sum of two thousand pounds of lawful
money of Great Britain, to them in hand paid by the said
Richard Henderson, Thomas Hart, Nathaniel Hart, John Williams,
John Luttrell, William Johnston, James Hogg, David Hart and
Leonard Hendley Bullock, the receipt whereof the said Oconistoto

152 Boonesborough
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, by these presents do grant,
bargain, sell, alien, enfeoff, release and confirm unto them the
said Richard Henderson, Thomas Hart, Nathaniel Hart, John
Williams, John Luttrell, William Johnston, David Hart, James
Hogg, and Leonard Hendley Bullock 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 mouth of Kentucky, Chenoca, or what by the English is called
Louisa River, from thence running up the said River and the most
northwardly branch of the same to the head spring thereof,
thence a southeast course to the top ridge of Powel's Mountain,
thence westwardly 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 the said River including all its waters to the Ohio River,
thence up the said River as it meanders to the beginning, &c.
And also the reversion and reversions, remainder and
remainders, rents and services thereof, and all the estate, right,
title, interest, claim and demand whatsoever of them the said
Oconistoto and the aforesaid whole band or tribe of people
of, in and to the same premises and of, in and to, every part
thereof. To have and to hold the said messuage and territory,
and all and singular the premises above mentioned, with the
appurtenances unto the said Richard Henderson, Thomas Hart,
Nathaniel Hart, John Williams, John Luttrell, William Johnston,
James Hogg, David Hart, and Leonard Hendley Bullock their
heirs and assigns, in several and tenants in common, and not
as joint tenants ; that is to say, one eighth part to Richard

Appendix 153
Henderson his heirs and assigns forever ; one eight part to
Thomas Hart his heirs and assigns forever ; one eighth part
to Nathaniel Hart his heirs and assigns forever ; one eighth part
to John Williams his heirs and assigns forever ; one eighth part
to John Luttrell his heirs and assigns forever ; one eighth
part to William Johnston his heirs and assigns forever ; one eighth
part to James Hogg his heirs and assigns forever; one sixteenth
part to David Hart his heirs and assigns forever ; and one six
teenth part to Leonard Hendley Bullock his heirs and assigns
forever ; to the only proper use and behoof of them the said
Richard Henderson, Thomas Hart, Nathaniel Hart, John Williams,
John Luttrell, William Johnston, James Hogg, David Hart, and
Leonard Hendley Bullock their heirs and assigns that, under the
yearly rent of four pence or to be holden of the chief, lord or lords
of the fee of the premises by the rent and services therefore due
and of right accustomed ; and the said Oconistoto and the said
nation for themselves do covenant and grant to and with the said
Richard Henderson, Thomas Hart, Nathaniel Hart, John Will
iams, John Luttrell, William Johnston, James Hogg, David
Hart and Leonard Hendley Bullock their heirs and assigns that
they the said Oconistoto and the rest of the said nation of
people now are lawfully and rightfully siezed in their own right
of a good, sure, perfect, absolute and indefeasible estate of
inheritance in fee simple of and in all and singular the said
messuage, territory and premises above mentioned and of all and
every part and parcel thereof with the appurtenances, without
any manner or condition mortgage, limitation, of use or uses, or
other matter, cause or thing to alter, change, charge or determine
the same and also that the said Oconistoto and the aforesaid
nation now have good right, full power, and lawful authority in
their own right to grant bargain or sell and convey the said

154 Boonesborough
messuage territory and premises above-mentioned with the
appurtenances to the said Richard Henderson, Thomas Hart,
Nathaniel Hart, John Williams, John Luttrell, William Johnston,
James Hogg, David Hart and Leonard Hendley Bullock their
heirs and assigns to the only proper use and behoof of the said
Richard Henderson, Thomas Hart, Nathaniel Hart, John Will
iams, John Luttrell, William Johnston, James Hogg, David
Hart and Leonard Hendley Bullock their heirs and assigns
according to the true intent and meaning of these presents and
also that they the said Richard Henderson, Thomas Hart,
Nathaniel Hart, John Williams, John Luttrell, William Johnston,
James Hogg, David Hart and Leonard Hendley Bullock their
heirs and assigns shall and may from time to time and at all
times hereafter peaceably and quietly have, hold, occupy possess
and enjoy all and singular the said premises above mentioned to
be hereby granted with the appurtenances without the let, trouble
hindrance, molestation, interruption and denial of them the said
Oconistoto and the rest or any of the said nation their heirs or
assigns and of all and every other person and persons whatsoever,
claiming or to claim by, from or under them or any of them and
further that they the said Oconistoto, Attacullacullah, and Sava
nooko, otherwise Coronoh for themselves and in behalf of their
whole nation and their heirs and all and every other person and
persons and his and their heirs anything having and claiming
in the said messuage territory and premises above mentioned or
any part thereof by, from or under them shall and will at all
times hereafter at the request and costs of the said Richard
Henderson, Thomas Hart, Nathaniel Hart, John Williams, John
Luttrell, Willian Johnston, James Hogg, David Hart, and Leon
ard Hendley Bullock their heirs and assigns, make, do and
execute or cause or procure to be made, done and executed all

Appendix ^55

and every further and other lawful and reasonable grants, acts
and assurances in the law whatsoever for the further, better and
more perfect granting, conveying and assuring of the said premises
hereby granted with the appurtenances unto the said Richard
Henderson, Thomas Hart, Nathaniel Hart, John Williams, John
Luttrell, William Johnston, James Hogg, David Hart, and
Leonard Hendley Bullock their heirs and assigns to the only
proper use and behoof of the said Richard Henderson, Thomas
Hart, Nathaniel Hart, John Williams, John Luttrell, William
Johnston, James Hogg, David Hart and Leonard Hendley
Bullock their heirs and assigns according to the true intent and
meaning of these presents and to and for none other use, intent
or purpose whatsoever, and lastly the said Oconistoto, Attaculla
cullah and Savanooko otherwise Coronoh for themselves and in
behalf of their whole nation have made, ordained, constituted
and appointed and by these presents do make, ordain, constitute /
and appoint Joseph Martin and John Farrow their true and
lawful attornies jointly and either of them severally, for them
and in their names into the said messuage, territory and premises
with the appurtenances hereby granted and conveyed or men
tioned to be granted and conveyed or into some part thereof in
the name of the whole, to enter and full and peaceable posses
sion and seizure thereof for them and in their names to take
and to have and after such possession and seizure so thereof
taken and had the like full and peaceable possession and seizure
thereof or of some part thereof in the name of the whole, unto
the said Richard Henderson, Thomas Hart, Nathaniel Hart,
John Williams, John Luttrell, William Johnston, James Hogg,
David Hart and Leonard Hendley Bullock as their certain
attorney or attornies in their behalf to give and deliver, to hold
to them the said Richard Henderson, Thomas Hart, Nathaniel

156 Boonesborough
Hart, John Williams, John Luttrell, William Johnston, James
Hogg, David Hart and Leonard Hendley Bullock their heirs and
assigns forever according to the purpose and intent and meaning
of these presents, ratifying, confirming, and allowing all and
whatsoever their attornies or either of them shall do in the
premises. In witness whereof the said Oconistoto, Attaculla
cullah and Savanooko otherwise Coronoh, the three chiefs
appointed by the warriors and other head men to sign for and
in behalf of the whole nation hath hereunto set their hands and
seals this the day and year first above written.
Oconistoto, X his mark.
Attacullacullah, X his mark.
Savanooko, otherwise Coronoh,
X his mark.
Signed, sealed and delivered in presence of
William Bailey Smith, George Lumkin,
Thomas Houghton, Castleton Brooks,
J. P. Bacon, Tilman Dixon,
Valentine Turey, Thomas Price, Linguist.

Appendix 157

DEPOSITION OF CHARLES ROBERTSON,
OCTOBER 3, 1777.
From Evidence Before the Commissioners Appointed by the
Virginia Assembly, July 3, 1776, to Investigate
Land Claim of Henderson and Company.
(Cal. Va. State Papers, Volume I, page 292.)
He the said Chas. Robertson, deposeth, and saith. That he
was at the Treaty held at Watauga, between the said Richd.
Henderson and Company and the Cherokee Indians, in March
1775, and believes he heard every Public Talk, that was delivered
by the parties — That as to the Treaty Conferences being held
fairly and openly the Deponent frequently took notice that both
Col. Henderson and the Indians would always cause to be present
the white men and Indian Half Breeds who understood both Lan
guages as a check upon the Chief Interpreter, lest he should mis
translate, or leave out, through Forgetfulness any Part of what
either Party should speak and saith that he believes the Treaty
was held fairly and openly, but does not remember the whole
of the Boundary altho' he believes the Indians understood all that
was said by the said Henderson — That he does not remember the
Bounds of the Lands proposed to be bought, only that it joined
the Ohio, and in them was mentioned something about the Head
Springs of Kentuckie, and he believes of Cumberland, and that
tis his opinion it was to keep the dividing Ridge between Cum
berland and Tenase. That there was eight or nine different pieces
of writing signed by the Indians, who were told that the reason
of their being so many, was that there was so many different

158 Boonesborough
Partners in the Company, and that each must have one for fear
one should be destroyed, and that every one might know where
his Land was — That none but one of them was read to the Indians.
Col. Henderson told the Indians, these writings were all alike word
for word (and no one hindered from reading them but does not
know that any person did read them ) and that they might have
them all read if they chose it : to which they said they did not
want them read.
He does not know how many Indians signed these Papers, but
he understood it was done by consent of the whole, as he did not
hear any Particular one make an objection.
The deponent frequently tried to count the number of Indians
which he could not do exactly but from his best observations,
there was about one thousand in all counting big and little, and
about half of them were men — He did not understand there was
any more than one principal man behind called Judges Friend,
who he understood had sent word that what the other Chiefs
agreed to he would abide by — On the second day of the Treaty,
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 said Indian said) the white people wanted too
much of their Hunting Grounds.
On the first Day of the Treaty the Indians offered to give up
some Lands which they said Col. Donelson had agreed to give
them five hundred Pounds for, and had not paid them, but Col.
Henderson said it would not be worth his while to talk about
buying that only, as he had a house full of Goods for them, and
should be at yet greater Expence for Beares and Rum to enter
tain them upon.
That towards the close of the Treaty, when the Indians seemed
like Complying with Col. Henderson's Proposals, the said Hen-

Appendix 159
derson told the Indians there was Land between them and his
Country — He did not love to walk upon their land. That he had
more Goods, Guns and Ammunition which they had not yet seen.
— After this something was said concerning Carter's Books being
destroyed. The Dragging Canoe in some part of the Treaty said there
was bad People both of his Nation and the Whites — that there
was a dark cloud over that Country — He could vouch that his
own Countrymen would not hurt him, but was afraid the Northern
Indians wouldn- that it was good to have the path clear and
clean, but on hearing what Col. Henderson said about the Land
between them and his, the said Hendersons Country he (the
Dragging Canoe) said stamping his foot on the ground, we give
you from this place, pointing towards the Kentuckie — at which
the deponent was displeased, because he was acting as a trustee
to purchase the Lands on Watauga, (in conjunction with the said
Henderson as to the Expense of the Treaty ) of the said Indians
as he thought the said Company were then getting the Watauga
Lands, which he then had a promise of from the Indians, and had
the Goods ready to pay for it.
The Deponent saith he in no ways interfered in the said Hen
dersons Purchase — His Business at the Treaty was a Trustee
from the Watauga People to buy the Country of them Indians.
When the Dragging Canoe stampt his foot on the Ground,
and said he gave up all the Land from that Place, the Deponent
understood that not only the Lands at Watauga which he was
about purchasing, but the Lands in Carters Valley which borders
on Clinch Mountain, quite to the Ohio, was then given up, and
that if he ever obtained them, it must be of the said Henderson,
which was the cause of his being displeased — He knew nothing
of any Deed being signed for these last mentioned Lands, tho'

i6o Boonesborough
he has understood since, that the said Henderson did take a Deed
for the Land from Watauga quite to Ohio — The Deponent heard
no discourse about a boundary for the Lands Northward of Hol
ston, and on this side Cumberland Mountain, except only what
the Dragging Canoe said, when he stampt on the Ground, as he
was then speaking of the Nation — The Deponent never heard
Col. Henderson promise them any more goods — The Indians
appeared to be satisfied with what he had given them, and that
previously he told them, if they did not choose to take them they
would still be friends.
The Deponent saith he saw these last mentioned Goods as
well as all the others delivered and divided and saw Papers
destroyed, said to be Carters Book of accounts against the Indians
which he was informed by Col. Carter amounted to more than
600 — The Deponent never heard there was any other bounds
read to the Indians, than what was in the Deed — The Deponent
heard there had been some claim to his Country, by the North
ward Indians, but that these Indians said it was their Land and
what they would so sell it.
And further saith not.
Sworn to before us &C.
Arthur Campbell.
Dan Smith.

Appendix i6i
G
FELIX WALKER'S NARRATIVE OF HIS TRIP WITH
BOONE FROM LONG ISLAND TO BOONES
BOROUGH IN MARCH, 1775.
(Written about 1824. Published in DeBow's Review of February, 1854.)
In the month of February in that year ( 1775 ), Captain Will
iam Twetty, Samuel Coburn, James Bridges, Thomas Johnson,
John Hart, William Hicks, James Peeke, and myself, set out from
Rutherford County, North Carolina, to explore a country by the
name of Leowvisay, greatly renowned and highly spoken of as the
best quality of land, abounding in game, now the State of Kentucky.
We placed ourselves under the care and direction of Captain
Twetty, an active and enterprising woodsman, of good original
mind and great benevolence, and although a light habited man,
in strength and agility of bodily powers was not surpassed by any
of his day and time, well calculated for the enterprise.
We proceeded to Watawgo river, a tributary stream of Hol-
steen, to the residence of Colonel Charles Robertson, now in the
State of Tennessee, where a treaty was held by Colonel Richard
Henderson and his associates, with the Cherokee tribe of Indians,
for the purchase of that section of country we were going to visit,
then called the Bloody Ground, so named from the continual
wars and quarrels of the hunting parties of Indians of different
tribes who all claimed the ground as their own, and the privilege
of hunting the game ; who murdered and plundered each other,
as opportunity offered.
We continued at Watawgo during the treaty, which lasted
about twenty days. Among others, there was a distinguished
chief called Atticulaculla, the Indian name, known to the white

i62 Boonesborough
people by the name of the Little Carpenter — in allusion, say the
Indians, to his deep, artful, and ingenious diplomatic abilities,
ably demonstrated in negotiating treaties with the white people,
and influence in their national councils ; like as a white carpenter
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 influential Indian
among all the tribes then known ; considered as the Solon of his
day. 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 weight than a pound for each year
of his life. He was marked with two large scores or scars on each
cheek, his ears cut and banded with silver, hanging nearly down
on each shoulder, the ancient Indian mode of distinction in some
tribes and fashion in others. 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 as 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 destination, was received with great distinction, had the
honor of dining with his majesty and the nobility ; had the utmost
respect paid him by the great men among the white people ; had
accomplished his mission with success ; and from the long stand
ing in the highest dignities of his nation, he claimed the confi
dence 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. His name is men
tioned in the life of General Marion, at a treaty held with the
Cherokees at Kewee, in South Carolina, in the year 1762 or '63.
The treaty being concluded and the purchase made, we proceeded

Appendix 163
on our journey to meet Col. Daniel Boon, with other adventurers,
bound to the same country ; accordingly we met and rendezvoused
at the Long Island on Holsteen river, united our small force with
Colonel Boon and his associates, his brother. Squire Boon, and
Col. Richard Callaway, of Virginia. Our company, when united,
amounted to 30 persons. We then, by general consent, put our
selves under the management and control of Col. Boon, who was
to be our pilot and conductor through the wilderness, to the
promised land ; perhaps no adventurers since the days of Don
Quixote, or before, 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 must pass ; and, exclusive of the novelty of the journey, the
advantages and accumulations ensuing on the settlement of a new
country was a dazzling object with many of our company. Under
the influence of these impressions we went our way rejoicing with
transporting views of our success, taking our leave of the civilized
world for a season.
About the loth of March we put off from the Long Island,
marked out our track with our hatchets, crossed Clinch and
Powell's river, over Cumberland mountain, and crossed Cum
berland river — came to a watercourse called by Col. 
Rockcastle river ; killed a fine bear on our way, camped all night
and had an excellent supper.
On leaving that river, we had to encounter and cut our way
through a country of about twenty miles, entirely covered with
dead brush, which we found a difficult and laborious task. At
the end of which we arrived at the commencement of a cane
country, traveled about thirty miles through thick cane and reed,
and as the cane ceased, ws began to discover the pleasing and
rapturous appearance of the plains of Kentucky. A new sky and

i64 Boonesborough
strange earth seemed to be presented to our view. So rich 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 they appeared but one flock, universally
scattered in the woods. It appeared that nature, in the profu
sion of her bounty, had spread a feast for all that lives, both
for the animal and rational world. A sight so delightful to our
view and grateful to our feelings, almost inclined us, in imitation
of Columbus, in transport to kiss the soil of Kentucky, as he
hailed and saluted the sand on his first setting his foot on the
shores of America. The appearance of the country coming up
to the full measure of our expectations, and seemed to exceed the
fruitful source of our imaginary prospects.
We felt ourselves as passengers through a wilderness just
arrived at the fields of Elysium, or at the garden where was no
forbidden fruit. Nothing can furnish the contemplative mind
with more sublime reflections, than nature unbroken by art ; we
can there trace the wisdom of the Great Architect in the con
struction of his work in nature's simplicity, which, when he had
finished, he pronounced all good. But, alas ! the vision of a
moment made dream of a dream, and the shadow of a shade !
Man may appoint, but One greater than men can disappoint.
A sad reverse overtook us two days after, on our way to Ken
tucky river. On the 2Sth of March, 1775, we were fired on by
the Indians, in our camp asleep, about an hour before day.
Capt. Twetty was shot in both knees, and died the third day
after. A black man, his body servant, killed dead ; myself badly
wounded ; our company dispersed. 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 prostrated ; hope vanished from the most of us, and

Appendix 165
left us suspended in the tumult of uncertainty and conjecture.
Col. Boon, and a few others, appeared to possess firmness and
fortitude. In our calamitous situation, a circumstance occurred
one moming after our misfortunes, that proved the courage and
stability of our few remaining men (for some had gone back).
One of our men, who had run off at the fire of the Indians on our
camp, was discovered peeping from behind a tree, by a black
woman belonging to Colonel Callaway, while gathering some
wood. She ran in and gave the alarm of Indians. Colonel Boon
instantly caught his rifle, ordered the men to form, take trees,
and give battle, and not to run till they saw him fall. They
formed agreeably to his directions, and I believe they would have
fought with equal bravery to any Spartan band ever brought to
the field of action, when the man behind the tree announced his
name and came in. My situation was critical and dangerous,
being then a youth, three hundred miles from white inhabitants.
My friend and guardian. Captain Twetty, taken dead from my
side, my wounds pronounced by some to be mortal, produced very
serious reflections. Yet withal I retained firmness to support me
under the presure of distress, and did not suffer me to languish in
depression of mind.
But where shall I begin, or where can I end, in thanks and
grateful acknowledgment to that benign and merciful Protector
who spared and preserved me in the blaze of danger and in the
midst of death ! I trust I shall remember that singular and pro
tecting event, with filial sensations of gratitude, while I retain my
recollections. We remained in the same place twelve days ; I
could not be removed sooner without the danger of instant death.
At length I was carried in a litter between two horses, twelve
miles, to Kentucky river, where we made a station, and called it
Boonsborough, situated in a plain on the south side of the river.

i66 Boonesborough
wherein was a lick with two sulphur springs strongly impregnated.
On entering the plain we were permitted to view a very inter
esting 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, skipping
and bounding through the plain. Such a sight some of us never
saw before, nor perhaps may never again. But to proceed.
Colonel Richard Henderson, Colonel Luttrell, from North Car
olina ; Captain William Cock, since the Honorable Judge Cock,
of Tennessee, and Colonel Thomas Slaughter, of Virginia, arrived
in the month of April with a company of about thirty men. Our
military forces, when united, numbered about sixty or sixty-
five men, expert riflemen. We lived plentifully on wild meat,
buffalo, bear, deer, and turkey, without bread or salt, generally
in good health, until the month of July, when I left the country.
Colonel Richard Henderson, being the chief proprietor in the
purchase of the bloody ground (indeed so to us), acted as Gov
ernor, called an assembly, by election of members, out of our
small numbers ; organized a government, convened the assembly
in May, 1775, consisting of eighteen members, exclusive of the
speaker, passed several laws for the regulation of our little com
munity, well adapted to the policy of an infant govemment.
This assembly was held under two shade trees, in the plains
of Boonsborough. This was the first feature of civilization ever
attempted in what is now called the Westem Country.
This small beginning, that httle germ of policy, by a few
adventurers from North Carolina, has given birth to the now
flourishing State of Kentucky. From that period the population
increased with such rapidity, that in less than twenty years it
became a State.

Appendix 167
In justice to Colonel Henderson, it may be said, that his
message or address to the assembly alluded to was considered
equal to any of like kind ever delivered to any deliberate body in
that day and time.
In the sequel and conclusion of my narrative I must not neglect
to give honor to whom honor is due. Colonel Boone conducted
the company under his care through the wilderness, with great
propriety, intrepidity and courage ; and was I to enter an excep
tion to any part of his conduct, it would be on the ground that he
appeared void of fear and of consequence — too little caution for
the enterprise. But let me, with feeling recollection and lasting
gratitude, ever remember the unremitting kindness, sympathy, and
attention paid to me by Col. Boone in my distress. He was my
father, my physician, and friend ; he attended me as his child,
cured my wounds by the use of medicines from the woods, nursed
me with paternal affection until I recovered, without the expec
tation of reward. Gratitude is the only tribute I can pay to his
memory. He is now beyond the praise or the blame of mortals^
in that world unknown from whose bourne no traveler retums.
I also was kindly treated by all my companions, particularly John
Kennedy. From Captain Cock I received kind and friendly
attentions. We continued in our station ; our men were out viewing and
exploring the country choosing such tracts of land as suited them,
plenty for all, and thought all was our own.
Colonel James Herod, my old acquaintance in North Carolina,
come up to see me tarried a few days. Being a little recovered,
I went home with him to his station, since called Herodsbough,
where he had a few men. I tarried there two weeks, and returned
to Boonsborough. These two stations contained the whole popu
lation of that country, which did not exceed in number one hun
dred men.

i68 Boonesborough
The company in our station continued to traverse the country
through woods and wilds, choosing their lots of future inheritance,
until the month of July, when I returned home to my father's
residence in North Carolina, and have not seen Kentucky since,
which I have often regretted.
I have been often solicited to make a publication of this
adventure, but still declined. Until late, there appears some
thing like it in the newspapers, which is not correct.
I, therefore thought it incumbent on me, as one of the com
pany, and in possession of all the facts, to make this statement,
and give it publicity, which I know to be truth by hard experience ;
and perhaps I may be the last solitary individual of that number
left to give a correct relation of that adventure.

H
BOONE'S LETTER OF APRIL i, 1775.
Addressed to "Colonel Richard Henderson — These
With Care."
(From the Original, copied by Judge James Hall in 1835.)
April the First, 1775.
Dear Colonel :
After my compliments to you I shall acquaint you of our mis
fortune. On March the 25 a party of Indians fired on my Company
about half an hour before day and killed Mr. Twetty and his negro
and wounded Mr. Walker very deeply, but I hope he will recover.
On March the 28 as we were hunting for provisions 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.

Appendix 169
I have sent a man down to all the lower companies in order to
gather them all to the mouth of Otter Creek. My advise 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 fluster-
ate their intentions 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 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 most obedient
Daniel Boone.'
N. B. — ^We stood on the ground and guarded our baggage till
day, and lost nothing. We have about fifteen miles to Cantuck
at Otter Creek.

JUDGE RICHARD HENDERSON'S JOURNAL OF A TRIP
TO " CANTUCKE Y" AND OF EVENTS AT
BOONESBOROUGH IN 1775.
(From the Original in the Library of the Wis. S. Historical Society.')
Monday March 20th 1775 Having finished my treaty with the
Indians at Wataugah set out for Louisa.
Tuesday 21st. Went to Mr. John Seviers.
'Boone's signature, opposite page 89, is a fac-simile from the original
of this letter.
'The original of the journal here given in part, comprising eighty
pages of a memorandum book used by Judge Henderson, was loaned by
Pleasant Henderson to Mann Butler when that writer was preparing his
History of Kentucky. Mr. Butler seems to have deposited the little book
23

I70 Boonesborough
Thursday 33d Still at Mr. Seviers because our horses were lost
though not uneasy as Messrs. Hart and Luttrell made a poor hand
of traveling.Friday 24th. Set off in pursuit of Hart and Luttrell, overtook
them both, and lodged at Capt. Bledsoes.
Saturday 25th Came to Mrs. Callaways.
Monday 27th Employed in storing away goods.
Wednesday 29th Continued our journey.
Thursday 30th Arrived at Capt Martins in Powells Valley.
Friday 31st — Employed in making house to secure the wagons
as we could not possibly clear the road any further My wagon
& Saml. Henderson came up,— also Mr. Luttrell in the evening.
Saturday April ist. — Employed in making ready for packing.
Mr Hart came up.
Tuesday 4th — Waiting for the wagon — the same evening the
wagon arrived though so late we could not proceed.
Wednesday 5th Started off with our pack horses ab't 3-0'Clock.
Traveled about 5 miles to a large spring — the same evening Mr
Luttrell went out hunting and has not yet returned. Nathl
Henderson & Jas Durring went in pursuit of him — The same
evening Saml Hendersons & John Farrars horses took a scare
with their packs and ran away with same.
Next morning Saml. Henderson & Farrar went in pursuit of
their horses.
Thursday 6th Traveled about six miles to the last settlement
in Powells Valley, where we were obliged to stop and kill a beef
with the Kentucky Historical Society about the year 1839, after which it
came into the hands of the late Lyman C. Draper of the Wis. His. Society.
It is one of the very few souvenirs extant of the Transylvania Company and
of the founding of Boonesborough. The copy we present was made directly
from the original, and, while not entire, is the most complete ever published
in historical form, including, as it does, every thing of real value and
relevancy in the original that pertains to our subject.

Appendix 171
wait for Saml Henderson &c. Saml Henderson & John Farrar
returned to us with their horses packs and everything safe — we
having waited at our camp lo miles below Martins for them.
Friday 7th About break of day begun to snow. About 11
o'clock received a letter from Mr Luttrells camp that five persons
were killed on the road to the Cantuckee, by Indians. Capt Hart,
upon the receipt of this news retreated back with his company
and determin'd to settle in the Valley to make corn for the
Cantuckey people.
The same day received a letter from Daniel Boone that his
company was fired upon by Indians who killed two of his men
though he kept the ground and saved the baggage &c.
Saturday Sth. Started about 10 o'clock. Crossed Cumberland
Gap. about 4 miles away met about 40 persons returning from
the Cantuckey on account of the late murders by the Indians.
Could prevail on one only to return. Several Virginians who
were with us returned home.
Sunday 9th Arrived at Cumberland River where we met Robt
Wills & his son returning.
Monday loth Dispatched Capt Cocke to the Cantuckey to
inform Capt Boone that we were on the road. Continued at
camp that day on account of the badness of the weather.
Tuesday nth Started from Cumberl'd. made a very good
days travel of near 20 miles, kill'd beef &c.
Wednesday 12th Traveled about 5 miles — prevented going
any further by the rains and high water at Richland Creek.
Thursday 13th Last night arrived near our camp Stewart and
ten other men who camped within half mile of us on their return
from Lousia. Camped that night at Sorrel River — they had well
nigh turned three or four of our Virginians back.
Saturday 15th Travel'd about 18 miles and camped on the

172 Boonesborough
North side of Rock Castle River — this river a fork of Cumber
land. Lost an ax this morning at camp.
Sunday i6th About 12 oclock met James McAfee with 18 other
persons returning from Cantuckey. Travel'd about 22 miles and
camped on the head of Dicks River where Luna from McAfees
camp came to us resolved to go to the Louisa.
Monday 17th. Started. About 3 o'clock prevented by rain.
Travel'd 7 Miles. Tuesday i8th Travel'd about 16 miles. Met
Michael 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. Wednesday 19th Travel'd about 16 miles and camped on Otter
Creek — a good mill place.
Thursday 20th Arrived at Fort Boone on the mouth of Otter
Creek, Cantukey River where we were saluted by a running fire of
about 25 Guns, all that was then at Fort — The men appeared in
high spirits and much rejoiced on our arrival.
Friday 21st On Viewing the Fort, and finding the plan not suf
ficient to admit of building for the reception of our company and
a scarcity of ground suitable for clearing at such an advanced sea
son, was at some loss how to proceed, Mr Boone's company having
laid off most of the adjacent good lands into lots of two acres
each and taking as it fell to each individual by lot was in actual
possession and occupying them. After some perplexity resolved
to erect a fort on the opposite side of a large lick near the river
bank which would place us at the distance of about 300 yards
from the other fort the only commodious place near or where
we could be of any service to Boone's men or vice versa. On
communicating my thoughts to Mr Luttrell on this subject with
my reasons for preferring this place to a large spring over a hill
about three quarters of a mile from Fort Boone, he readily gave

Appendix 173
his assent and seemed pleased with the choice. Mr. Hart said
in a very cold indifferent manner ' ' he thought it might do well
enough." Accordingly 'twas resolved, that a fort should be built
at said place and we moved our tents to the ground — i. e. Mr
Luttrell and myself and our particular company lodged there
Saturday night 22d.
Sunday 23d Passed the day without public worship as no place
provided for that purpose. Monday proceeded with the assistance
of Capt. Boone & Col. Callaway in laying off lots, finished 19
besides one reserved round a fine spring. Tuesday finished the
lots in all 54 i e new ones.
Saturday 22d finished running off all the lots we could con
veniently get, to-wit 54 & gave notice of our intention of having
them drawn for in the evening but as Mr Robt 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 improve
ments and left them on the late alarm. Informed by myself in
hearing of all attending, that such settlements should not entitle
them to lands from us. Appeared much concerned and at a loss
what to do. On which the lottery was deferred til next morning
at sun rise ; thereby giving them time to come to a resolution.
Sunday 23 Drew lots.
Tuesday 25. Had a second lottery at the end of which every
body seemed well satisfied. I had been able by one way or other
to obtain 4 lots for the fort garden &c.
Wednesday 26 Other people coming, employed in showing lots
for their use. Sowed small seed, planted cucumbers &c.
Thursday 27 Employed in clearing Fort lot &c. Mr Luttrell,
Nat Henderson & Saml Henderson all that assisted me. Mr Hart
having made choice of a piece of ground for his own & people's

174 Boonesborough
cultivation adjacent to the town lands said, Mr Luttrell reported,
that he would have nothing to say to the Fort, things were
managed in such a manner, tho' cannot guess the reason of his
discontent. Friday 28th Mr Luttrell chose a piece of ground about ^ of
a mile from the fort and set three of his people to work. Two
remained with me to assist in clearing about where the fort is to
stand. Saturday 29 — Built or rather begun a little house for magazine
but did not finish it.
Wednesday May 3d Finished the magazine. Capt John Floyd
arrived here conducted by one Jo. Drake from a camp on Dicks
River where he had left about 30 men in his company from Vir
ginia, and said he was sent by them to know on what terms they
might settle our lands — That if terms were reasonable they
would pitch on some place on which to make corn, or otherwise
go on the north side of the River. Was much at a loss on account
of his message as he was Surveyor of Fincastle under Col Preston
who had exerted himself against us. We thought it most advisable
to secure them to our interest if possable. Accordingly though the
season was too far advanced to make much corn, yet promised
them land.
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 adven
turers 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
& his men who were settled some where about 50 miles west of
us on the head of Salt River of whom we could form no con
jecture, but thought it best to prevent any interuption to him or
his men 'til we should know, what he intended with respect to us

Appendix 175
and our titles. The day before this one Capt Collomes and Mr
Berry with five other men arrived here from Virginia, and gladly
treated with us for lands and other indulgences which we granted.
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.
Friday Sth — Nothing material — let Mr Wm Cocke have five
yards & a half oznaburgs off my old tent for wbich I charge him
5 s 6d Va. money.
Sunday 7th Went into the woods with my brother's Nat, Saml.
and Capt Boone after a horse left out on Saturday night. Stayed
till night & on our return found Capt Harrod & Col Thomas
Slaughter from Harrods Town on Dicks River.
Monday 8th Rainey. Was much embarrassed with a dispute
between the above mentioned. Capt Harrod with about 40 men
settled on Salt River last yeEir, was driven off and joined the army
with 30 of his men and being determined to live in this country
had come down this spring from Monongahala accompanied by
about 50 men, most of them young persons without families.
They came on Harrods invitation. These men had got possession
some time before we got here. The reception our plan of legis
lation met with from these gentlemen as well as Capt Floyd gave
us great pleasure and we therefore immediately set about the
business and appointed a meeting for Tuesday the 23d Instant
at Boonesborough and according made out writings for the differ
ent towns to sign and wrote to Capt Floyd appointing an elec
tion. Harrodsburgh & the Boiling Spring settlement received
their summons verbally by the gentlemen aforesaid.
Tuesday 9th Col Slaughter & Capt Harrod took their departure

176 Boonesborough
in great good humor. Our plantation business went on as usual,
some people planting others preparing &c — We found it very
difficult at first to stop great waste in killing meat. Some would
kill three, four, five or J^ a dozen buffaloes and not take half
a horse load from them all. For 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 buffaloe was killed within 5 or six miles. It was some
pleasure to find wonton 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 nor
did we care about them. —
Wednesday loth Nothing remarkable.
Thursday nth — Common occurrences.
Friday 12th — Old story.
Saturday 1 3, No scouring of floors, sweeping of yards or scald
ing bedsteads here.
Sunday 14 — No Divine service, our church not being finished —
that is to say, about 50 yards from the place where I am writing
and right before me to the south (the River about 50 yards
behind my camp and a fine spring a little to the west) stands
one of the finest elms, that perhaps nature ever produced in any
region. — This tree is placed in a beautiful plain surrounded by a
turf of fine white clover forming a green to its very stock to
which there is scarcely anything to be likened. The trunk is
about 4 feet through to the first branches which are about 9 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

Appendix 177
every fair day it describes a semicircle on the heavenly green
around it, of upward of 400 feet and any time between the hours
of 10 & 2 100 persons may commodiously seat them selves under
its branches.
This divine tree or rather one of the many proofs of the
existance from all eternity of its Divine Author, is to be our
church, state-house, — council chamber &c and having many things
on our hands have not had time to erect a pulpit, seats &c but
hope by Sunday, Sennight, to perform divine service for the first
time — in a public manner and that to a set of scoundrels who
scarcely believe in God or fear a devil if we were to judge from
most of their looks, words and actions.
Monday 15th. Express arrived, ten men, including Maj. Bow
man, Capt. Bowman and one Capt. Moore.
Tuesday i6th continue, eating meat without bread, and Should
be very contented were it not for the absence of four men who
went down the River by land on Fryday.
Wednesday 17th Hunters not returned. No meat but fat bear.
Almost starved. Drank a little coffee & trust to luck for dinner.
— Am just going to our little plant patches in hopes the greens
will bear cropping, if so a sumptuous dinner indeed. Mr Calloways
men got a little spoild buffaloe and elk, which we made out with
pretty well depending on amendment tomorrow.
Thursday i8th. 'Tis now 12 o'clock and no news of the hunt
ers or the absentees. 3 o'clock. Hunters came in but no news
of the lost men.
Friday 19th. Sent off Mr. Stoner with Capt. Calloway and
some of his men in search of persons above mentioned.
Saturday 20th The election for Boonesborough was held this
aftemoon with great regularity when Squire Boone, Daniel Boone,
William Cocke, Samuel Henderson, William Moore, and Richard
Callaway were elected. 24

178 Boonesborough
Sunday 21st. Capt. Callomees men returned — had been lost.
Gave great pleasure.
Monday 22d One Capt. Thos. Guess arrived from above Pitts
burg with six or seven men.
Tuesday 23d Delegates met from every town. Pleased with
their stations and in great good humor.
Wednesday 24th The Convention met. Sent a message ac
quainting me that they had chosen Col. Thos Slaughter Chair
man, and Mr Matt Jouett Clerk of which I approved. Open'd
the business by a short speech &c.
Thursday 25th — Three of the members of the committee waited
on the proprietors with a very sensible address — which asked
leave to read ; read it and dehvered in return an answer &c —
business went on &c. This day four bills were fabricated & read
— I for establishing tribunals of justice & recovery of debts — 2d
for establishing a militia, — 3d for preventing the distruction of
game &c fourth a law, concerning fees. The delegates very good
men and much disposed to serve their country.
Saturday 27th — Finished convent'n in good order — Every
body pleas'd.
Sunday 28th Divine service for the first time by the Rev. John
Lyth, minister of the Gospel, of England. Most of the Dele
gates returnd home.
Monday 29 — No letters from our friends. — Letter with an
account of the battle at Boston.
Friday 2d June. Hunters returned, very good meal.
Sunday 4th Divine service by Mr. Lyth.
Monday 5 Made out commissions for Harrodsburg, Boiling
Spring and St. Asaph, both military and civil.
Tuesday 6 Abundance of people going away — Selling their lots &c.
Tuesday 13th Col. Boone set off for his family and the young
men went with him for salt.

Appendix 179
Saturday 17 Muster of men at the fort by Capt. Moore. Thirty
two appeared under arms.
Sunday 18 Corn planted 26 or 27 of April was tasseled or shot.
Had a mess of snap beans. Peas ripe. No meat. Two men
from Va. Found bacon on which with the beans we had an excel
lent dinner.
Wednesday 21 Returned home late at night from hunting with
a load of buffalo.
Friday 23d Bro. Samuel and two others set off down the river
in a canoe to hunt elk, our horses being too much fatigued with
constant riding.
28th Scarcity of meat.
30th Meat plenty and many joyful countenances.
Saturday July i — 1775 Dry weather. People going away.
Mr. Luttrell and myself set off for Harrodsburg. Were four days
bogning in the woods seeking the way. Went too near the river
and much plagued with the hills, cane and bad ways.
Wednesday July 5 Arrived at Capt. Harrods and found all well.
Friday 7th set off back in company with Mr Slaughter and
about 12 others who were going in to bring out their families or
stock. Harrodsburg seemed quite abandoned ; only five men left
on the spot to guard the crop &c. We suffered in this journey
a little for want of provisions. — The weather very dry and the
springs being scarce, water was rarely to be gotten. — Buffaloe
had abandond their range & were gone into other parts. — When
we got to this place we found all well, but a scarcity of meat.
Sundry people gone since we left home & more going.
Wednesday 12th — Horses being almost worn out my Broth
ers Nathaniel and Samuel with some others went up the river in
a canoe to get meat if possable. Our salt quite out except about
a quart which I brought from Harrodsburg. The men sent for
salt not yet returnd, nor any news from the East — Times a httle

i8o Boonesborough
melancholy, provisions very scarce, no salt, to enable us to save
meat at any distance from home, no accou't or arrival from within ;
Weather very dry — and we not able to raise above fourteen or
fifteen fighting men at any one time unless they were all sum-
mond, which could not easily be done without long notice they
being much dispersed. Hunting &c
Thursday 1 3th July. Things as usual. Meat a little difiicult to get.
Thursday 20th Capt. Linn & his company set off down the
river to Lee's settlement with whom I sent two men for a little
salt, our men being not yet return'd.
Sunday 23 d Nothing uncommon more than a fellow calld
Grampus belonging to Mr Luttrel ran away on Thursday which
was thought nothing of at first — supposing he would return, but
on Saturday it was discovered that he had stolen Mr Luttrels mare
(his only riding beast) and was totally gone.
Monday 24th Mr Luttrel took a resolution of following his man,
and immediately set off. I have intentions of going home as soon
as a sufficient number of people come to defend the fort.
Tuesday 25th — Weather dry & are still in great want. — By
Capt Linn we are informd that 5 or six men were gone down the
Ohio to the Falls by order of Capt Bullet. Mr Bullets orders &
his mens resolutions were to pay no regard to our title but settle
the land nolens volens. They also inform me that Major Con-
elly is resolved on the same conduct.
********
The Occurrences of tomorrow & so on you'l find in another
stitched book cover'd with brown paper & begins with Wednesday
26th July 1775.'
'This note concludes all that is known to be extant of this journal. The
" stitched book " referred to, which would probably complete the journal, has
never been discovered.

Appendix i8i

PROCLAMATION OF LORD DUNMORE (MARCH 21, 1775)
AGAINST "RICHARD HENDERSON AND
HIS ABETTORS."
(From the Virginia Gazette in the Library of Congress.)
By his Excellency the Right Hon. John, Earl of Dunmore,
his Majesty's Lieutenant and Governor General of the Colony
and dominion of Virginia, and Vice Admiral of the same :
A Proclamation.
Virginia, to vsrit.
Whereas his Majesty did, at the request of the Assembly
of this colony, permit the Western boundary thereof to be
extended, as the same has been run and ascertained by Col.
Donelson, and other surveyors deputed for the purpose ; and
whereas his Majesty, both for the greater convenience of, & the
prevention of litigation and disputes, among such persons as
shall be inclined to settle upon any of his vacant lands, ordered
that all that tract of land, included within the aforesaid bound
ary, and all other vacant lands within this colony, be surveyed
in districts, and laid out in lots of from one hundered to one
thousand acres, and as far as the said surveys shall be com
pleted, by the surveyors duly authorized, and the surveys thereof
returned, 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 for 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 afore-

i82 Boonesborough
said, by letters patent under the great seal of the Colony, sub
ject to no conditions or reservations whatever, other than the
payment of the annual quitrent of one half penny sterling per
acre, and also of all mines of gold, silver, & precious stones ; and
whereas advice has been received that one Richard Henderson,
and other disorderly persons, his associates, under pretense of a
purchase made from the Indians, contrary to the aforesaid orders
and regulations of his Majesty, do set up a claim to the lands of
the Crown within the limits of this Colony ; I have thought fit,
therefore, to issue this my proclamation, strictly charging all
justices of 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 concerned with him, shall take
possession of, or occupy any lands within the limits of his Maj
esty's government of Va. merely under any purchase, or pre
tended purchase, made from Indians, without any other title,
that he or they be required, in his Majesty's name forthwith to
depart, and relinquish the possession so unjustly obtained ; and in
case of refusal, and of violent detaining such possession, that he
or they be immediately fined & imprisoned in the manner the
laws in such cases direct.
Given under my hand, and the seal of the Colony, this 21st
day of March, in the 15th year of his Majesty's reign. (1775)
God save the King.
Dunmore.

Appendix 183
K
JUDGE HENDERSON TO HIS PARTNERS IN
NORTH CAROLINA.
Extracts from Letter while En Route to Kentucky.
(From Hall's Romance of Western History.)
Gentlemen : Powell's Valley, April 8, 1775.
Few enterprises of great consequence continue at all times
to wear a favorable aspect ; ours has met with the common fate,
from the incautious proceedings of a few headstrong and unthink
ing people. On the twenty-fifth of March last, the Indians fired
upon a small party of men, in camp, near the Louisa, killed two
and put four others to the route ; and on the 27th, did likewise on
Daniel Boone's camp, and killed a white man and a negro on the
spot, but the survivors maintained their ground and saved their
baggage. But for a more particular account I refer you to Mr.
Boone's original letter on that occasion, which came to hand
last night. You scarcely need information that these accidents
have a bad effect with respect to us. * * * You
observe from Mr. Boone's letter the absolute necessity of our not
losing one moment, therefore don't be surprised at not receiving
a particular account of our journey with the several little mis
fortunes and cross accidents, which have caused us to be delayed
so that we are still one hundred and thirty or one hundred and
forty miles from our journey's end. We are all in high spirits,
and on thorns to fly to Boone's assistance, and join him in
defense of so fine and valuable a country. My only motives
for stopping, are, first, that you should receive a just repre
sentation of the affair, and secondly, to request your immedi
ate assistance ; for want of workmen our wagons are laid aside
at Captain Martin's in this valley ; the chief of our salt and all
our saltpetre and brimstone are left behind.

i84 Boonesborough

LETTER OF JUDGE HENDERSON (JUNE 12, 1775) TO
PROPRIETORS REMAINING IN NORTH CAROLINA.
(From the Original, Loaned by James Alves to James HaU.)
Gentlemen, Boonsborough, June 12, 1775.
It would be needless in me to enter into a detail of every little
occurrence and cross accident which has befallen us since we left
Wattauga ; they can afford no instruction, and are too trifling for
your amusement. No doubt but you have felt great anxiety since
the receipt of my letter from Powell's Valley. At that time, things
wore a gloomy aspect ; indeed it was a serious matter, and became
a little more so, after the date of the letter than before. That
afternoon I wrote the letter in Powell's Valley, in our march this
way, we met about 40 people returning, and in about four days
the number was little short of 100. Arguments and persuasions
were needless ; they seemed resolved on returning, and traveled
with a precipitation that truly bespoke their fears. Eight or ten
were all that we could prevail on to proceed with us, or to follow
after ; and thus, what we before had, counting every boy and lad,
amounted to about 40, with which number we pursued our
journey, with the utmost diligence, for my own part never under
more real anxiety. Every person almost that we met, seemed to
be at pains to aggravate the danger of proceeding ; and had we
given them all a fair hearing, I believe they would, in return for
the favor, have gotten all our men. Many seemed to be of opinion
(who had been with Boone) that the men assembled at the mouth
of Otter creek would get impatient and leave him before we could
possibly get there, if no other accident befell them ; and with me.

Appendix 185
it was beyond a doubt, that our right, in effect, depended on
Boone's maintaining his ground — at least until we could get to
him. Here, gentlemen, your imagination must take the burden
off my hands, and paint what I am unable to describe. You need
not be afraid of giving scope to your fancy ; it is impossible to
make the picture worse than the original. Every group of trav
elers we saw, or strange bells which were heard in front, was
a fresh alarm ; afraid to look or inquire, lest Captain Boone
or his company was amongst them, or some disastrous account of
their defeat. The slow progress we made with our packs, rendered
it absolutely necessary for some person to go on and give assur
ance 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 truth is, very few would have gone, if they had
been totally idle. Distress generally has something in store when
it is least expected ; it was actually the case with us. Mr. Will
iam 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 refuse — it was not a time for much delicacy ;
a little compliment and a few very sincere thanks, instantly given,
preceded a solemn engagement 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,
25

i86 Boonesborough
it was plain he thought so — whether it was from the gloominess of
the weather, or the time of setting off being actually come, or
what, I cannot teU ; but perhaps a little of both. Indeed, I rather
suspect there is some little secondary mischievous passion per
sonating courage, hankering about the heart of man, that very
often plays him a double game, by causing him to view dangers
at a little distance through the wrong end of the glass ; and as
soon as cool deliberation, by the help of caution, has shifted the
telescope, and brought the object home to a nearer view, and
perhaps the dangerous features a little magnified, this monkey
passion most shamefully deserts and leaves the affair to be man
aged as it can. Be that as it may, in these cases we are not
always without a friend. Pride will, if possible, take up the
cudgels ; and let the world say what it will of her, she answers
the end of genuine innate courage, (if there be such a thing,) and
for aught I know, it is the thing itself. But to return to our sub
ject : no time was lost ; we struck whilst the iron was hot, fixed
Mr. Cocke off with a good Queen Ann's musket, plenty of ammu
nition, a tomahawk, a large cuttoe knife, a Dutch blanket, and no
small quantity of jerked beef. Thus equipped, and mounted on a
tolerably good horse, on the day of April, Mr. Cocke started
from Cumberland river, about 130 miles from this place, and
carried with him, besides his own enormous load of fearful appre
hensions, a considerable burden of my own uneasiness. The
probability of giving Mr. Boone and his men word of our being
near them, administered great pleasure, and we made the best use
of our time, following on.
The general panic that had seized the men we were continually
meeting, was contagious ; it ran like wild fire ; and, notwithstand
ing every effort against its progress, it was presently discovered
in our own camp ; some hesitated and stole back, privately ;

Appendix 187
others saw the necessity of returning to convince their friends
that they were still alive, in too strong 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 some hours, made part of the deserting company. In this
situation of affairs, some few, of genuine courage and undaunted
resolution, served to inspire the rest ; by help of whose example,
assisted by a little pride and some ostentation, we made a shift
to march on with all the appearance of gallantry, and, cavalier
like, treated every insinuation of danger with the utmost con
tempt. It soon became hibitual ; and those who started in the
morning, with pale faces and apparent trepidation, could lie
down and sleep at night in great quiet, not even possessed of
fear enough to get the better of indolence. There is a mistaken
notion amongst the vulgar, with respect to courage, which cannot
be eradicated but by dint of experiment ; all watching, when it
comes to be put in practice, has to them the appearance of
cowardice ; and that it is beneath a soldier to be afraid of any
thing, especially when a little fatigued. They would all agree
in the morning,' that it would be highly prudent and necessary
to keep sentinels around our camp at night ; but a hearty meal
or supper (when we could get it) and good fires, never failed
putting off the danger for at least 24 hours ; at which time it
was universally agreed, on all hands, that a watch at night
would be indispensably necessary. Human nature is eternally
the same ; a death-bed repentance and a surprised camp are so
nearly assimilated, that you may safely swear they arise from
the same cause. Without further speculation, we have been so
fortunate, hitherto, as to escape both. I wish from my soul,
that they may not be in league to come together. Never was
fairer opportunity, as to the one, and you may form a tolerable

i88 Boonesborough
judgment as to the other; the western waters having, as yet,
produced no visible alteration with respect to morals or Christian
charity amongst us. It will no doubt surprise you, but it is
nevertheless true, that we are in no posture of defence or
security at this time ; and, for my own part, do not much
expect it will ever be effected, 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. To give you
a small specimen of the disposition of the people, it may be
sufficient to assure you, that 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 wanting two or three days' work to make it tol
erably safe, was totally neglected on Mr. Cockes arrival ; and
unto this day remains unfinished, notwithstanding the repeated
applications of Captain Boone, and every representation of
danger from ourselves. The death of poor Tivitty and the rest,
who at the time you were informed, became sacrifices to indis
cretion, had no more effect than to produce one night's watching
after they got to Otter creek ; not more than ten days after the
massacre. Our plantations extend near two miles in length, on
the river and up a creek. Here people work in their different
lots ; some without their guns, and others without care or
caution. It is in vain for us to say any thing more about the
matter ; it cannot be done by words. We have a militia law,
on which I have some dependence ; if that has no good effect,
we must remain for some time much at the mercy of the
Indians. Should any successful attempt be made on us. Captain
Hart, I suppose, will be able to render sufficient reasons to the

Appendix 189
surviving company, for withdrawing from our camp, and refusing
to join in building a fort for our mutual defence. This repre
sentation of our unguarded and defenceless situation is not all
that seems to make against us. Our men, under various pre
tences, are every day leaving us. It is needless to say any thing
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 ; nay, some of them
are resolved to go, and some are already gone, and given up
all pretensions for this season, and depend on getting land on
the next fall's terms. Our company has dwindled from about
eighty in number to about fifty odd, and I believe in a few days
will be considerably less. Amongst these I have not heard one
person dissatisfied with the country or terms ; but go, as they
say, merely because their business will not admit of longer delay.
The fact is, that many of them are single, worthless fellows, and
want to get on the other side of the mountains, for the sake of
saying they have been out and returned safe, together with the
probability of getting a mouthful of bread in exchange for their news.
Having given you a slight view of one side of the question,
it may not be amiss to turn the subject over and see what may
be said on the other hand. Notwithstanding all our neghgence,
self-security, scarcity of men, and whatever else may be added
against us, I cannot think but we shall carry the matter
through, and be crowned with success. My reasons for this
opinion, calls for in you, a kind of knowledge of the geography
of our country. Those who have no just idea of this matter
may be aided by Captain Hart. We are seated at the mouth
of Otter creek, on the Kentucky, about 150 miles from the Ohio.
To the west, about 50 miles from us, are two settlements,
within six or seven miles one of the other. There were, some

I90 Boonesborough
time ago, about lOO at the two places ; though now, per
haps, not more than 60 or 70, as many of them are gone up
the Ohio for their families, &c. ; and some returned by the way
we came, to Virginia and elsewhere. These men, in the course
of hunting provisions, lands, &c., are some of them constantly
out, and scour the woods from the banks of the river near forty
or fifty miles southward. On the opposite side of the river, and
north from us, about 40 miles, is a settlement on the crown
lands, of about 19 persons ; and lower down, towards the Ohio,
on the same side, there are some other settlers, how many, or
at what place, I can't exactly learn. There is also a party of
about 10 or 12, with a surveyor, who is employed in searching
through that country, and laying off officers' lands ; they have
been more than three weeks within ten miles of us, and will be
several weeks longer ranging up and down that country. Now,
taking it for granted, that the Cherokees are our friends, which I
most firmly believe, our situation exempts us from the first
attempt or attack of any other Indians. Colonel Harrod, who
governs the two first mentioned settlements, (and is a very good
man for our purpose). Colonel Floyd, (the surveyor), and myself,
are under solemn engagements to communicate, with the utmost
despatch, every piece of intelligence respecting danger or sign of
Indians, to each other. In case of invasion of Indians, both the
other parties are instantly to march and relieve the distressed, if
possible. Add to this, that our country is so fertile, the growth
of grass and herbage so tender and luxuriant that it is almost
impossible for man or dog to travel, without leaving such sign
that you might, for many days, gallop a horse on the trail. To
be serious, it is impossible for any number of people to pass
through the woods without being tracked, and of course dis
covered, if Indians, for our hunters all go on horseback, and

Appendix 191
could not be deceived if they were to come on the trace of
footmen. From these circumstances, I think myself in a great
measure secure against a formidable attack ; and a few skulkers
could only kill one or two, which would not much affect the
interest of the company.
Thus, gentlemen, you have heard both sides of the question,
and can pretty well judge of the degree of danger we are in.
Let your opinions be as they may on this point, by no means
betray the least symptom of doubt to your most intimate friends.
If help is ever wanting, it will be long before succour can
come from you, and therefore every expense of that kind super-
flous and unnecessary. If we can maintain our ground until
after harvest in Virginia, I will undertake for ever after to defend
the country against every nation of red people in the world,
without calling on the company for even a gun-flint.
Here I must beg the favor of your turning back with me to
Powell's Valley. Our anxiety at that time is now of very little
concern to you ; but the impressions still remain on my mind,
and indeed I would not wish to get clear of them in a little
time. It learnt me to make an estimate of the probable value
of our country ; to see the imminent danger of losing it forever,
and presented me with a full view of the ridiculous figure we
should cut in the world, in case of failure. With respect to the
real consequence of such a disappointment, I could not so well
judge for the company in general, as for myself, but thought it
too serious an affiair with respect to us all, to be tamely given
up without the fire of a single gun, or something hke an attempt
to take possession and defend our rights, so long, at least, as
we should find our posts tenable.
Though the danger Mr. Cocke exposed himself to in render
ing this piece of service to the company, dwelt on me for some

192 Boonesborough
time, yet having despatched a messenger to Captain Boone was
a matter of such consolation, that my burthen from that
time was much lightened. We soon found, by his letters on the
road, that he had a companion, and went on very well (a small
stoppage by waters excepted). On Thursday, the 20th April,
found him with Captain Boone and his men at the place appointed,
where he had related the history of his adventures, and come in
for his share of applause ; here it was that the whole load, as
it were, dropped off my shoulders at once, and I questioned if a
happier creature was to be found under the sun. Why do I
confine it to myself ; it was general ; the people in the fort, as
well as ourselves, down to an old weather-beaten negro, seemed
equally to enjoy it. Indeed it was natural for us, after being
one whole month, without intermission, traveling in a barren
desert country, most of the way our horses packed beyond
their strength ; no part of the road tolerable, most of it either hilly,
stony, slippery, miry, or bushy ; our people jaded out and dis
pirited with fatigue, and what was worse, often pinched for
victuals. To get clear of all this at once, was as much as
we could well bear ; and though we had nothing here to refresh
ourselves with, but cold water and lean buffalo beef, without
bread, it certainly was the most joyous banquet I ever saw.
Joy and festivity was in every countenance, and that vile
strumpet, envy, I believe, had not found her way into the
country. By this time, gentlemen, I make no doubt but you would
be glad that I would change my subject, and enter on some
thing more interesting. You want a description of our country,
soil, air, water, range, quantity of good land, disposition of the
people here, what probability of keeping possession and avail
ing ourselves of the purchase, how much money can be

Appendix 193
immediately raised towards defraying the first purchase, and,
if any, overplus that will remain on hand for the use of the
copartners, &c. &c. &c. These, sirs, are matters of the utmost
importance, and many of them deserve your most serious
attention. With respect to the country, Mr. Hart, who brings
this, will give you ample satisfaction. All that I shall
say about it is, that it far exceeds the idea which I had
formed of it ; and indeed it is not surprising, for it is not in
the power of any person living to do justice to the fertility
of the soil, beauty of the country, or excellence of its range ;
let it suffice, that we have got a country of good land, with
numberless advantages and inducements to a speedy popula
tion ; that this country is large enough, and surely will be
settled immediately on some principles or other : the 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 with respect to title.
The torrent from Virginia appears to be over, and gentle
men of considerable fortune, from thence, are some of
them come, and others coming, with design to purchase
under us, as they cannot come within the indulgences to
adventurers of this season ; and applications are daily making
for the next year's price. Many of them are returned home,
and would have been much dissatisfied, if I had not promised
them, on my word and honor, that the terms should be
immediately published in all the Williamsburg papers.

26

194 Boonesborough

M
LETTER TO PATRICK HENRY FROM HENDERSON & CO.,
APRIL 26, 1775.
( Copied by James Hall from the Original.)
Hillsborough, April 26, 1775.
Sir, — The late meeting of the delegates, from the several
counties, cities, and boroughs, in his majesty's antient Colony
and Dominion of Virginia, at Richmond, was an event which
raised the expectations and attracted the attention of the whole
British America, as well on account of the acknowledged wisdom
and public integrity of the delegates, as the important and inter
esting purposes of that numerous and respectable Convention.
The copartners in the purchase of lands, on Louisa, from the
Indians, neither intending by their distant and hazardous enter
prize, to revolt from their allegiance to their sovereign, nor yet to
(desert the grand and common cause of their American brethren
land fellow subjects, in their manly and glorious struggle for the
jfuU enjoyment of the natural rights of mankind, and the ines-
jtimable liberties and priviledges of our happy constitution, were
lanxious to know the result of the wise and mature deliberations
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 we learnt the
particulars from some of the members, and that the minute cir
cumstances of our contract with the Cherokee Indians had
occasionally been moved and debated. The true point of view
in which, we are told, you, with several other gentlemen, con
ceived the nature of the contract, and the eloquence and good
sense with which you defended, and the liberal principles on
which you supported our claim to the benefit of our engagement
with the Indians, in addition to the universal applause of the
whole continent, for your noble and patriotick exertions, give you

Appendix 195
an especial claim to our particular acknowledgements, of which
we take this earliest opportunity of begging your acceptance. It
would. Sir, have afforded us the most singular satisfaction to
have had it in our power to give you a more substantial evidence
of our gratitude. Yet we conceive the generous disinterestedness
of your principles and publick conduct to be such, that even our
thanks may be more than you expected or wished for. We
hope, however, that our wishes to make known our gratitude to
you, will be considered as a sufficient apology for our having
given you the trouble of this letter.
Convinced that our purchase is neither against the laws of our
country, nor the principles of natural justice and equity, and
conscious to ourselves of the uprightness of our intentions, we
totally disregard the reproaches thrown out against us by ill-
informed or envious and interested persons ; and now encouraged
by the approbation of the respectable Provincial Congress of
Virginia, we shall hereafter pursue with eagerness what we at
first adopted with caution.
We beg that you will pardon the length of this letter, and
that you will do us the honor to believe, that we are, with the
highest sense of gratitude for the part you have taken in favor
of our hazardous enterprise, and with the greatest respect and
esteem for your eminent and distinguished character and reputa
tion, among the vigilant guardians and illustrious patrons of
American liberty.
Sir your most obliged and very mo. devoted h'ble serv'ts,
Richard Henderson. Nath'l Hart.
Thomas Hart. David Hart.
John Williams. Lend. H. Bullock.
James Hogg. John Luttrell.
Wm. Johnston.
To Patrick Henry, Esq., Hanover County, Va.
N. B. — A copy of the above letter sent to Thos. Jefferson,
Esqr., Virginia.

196 Boonesborough

N
JOURNAL OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE HOUSE OF
DELEGATES OR REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
COLONY OF TRANSYLVANIA,
Begun on Tuesday the 230 of May, in the Year of Our Lord
Christ 1775, and in the Fifteenth Year of
the Reign of His Majesty, King
OF Great Britain.
(Copy of the Original. Furnished by James Alves' to Mann
Butler in 1835.)
The proprietors of said colony having called and required an
election of Delegates or Representatives to be made for the pur
pose of legislation, or making and ordaining laws and regulations
for the future conduct of the inhabitants thereof, that is to say,
for the town of Boonesborough six members, for Harrodsburg
three, for the Boiling Spring settlement four, for the town of St.
Asaph four, and appointed their meeting for the purpose aforesaid,
on the aforesaid 23d of May, Anno Domini 1775 : —
It being certified to us here this day, by the secretary, that
the following persons were returned as duly elected for the several
towns and settlements, to-wit :
For Boonesborough, For Harrodsburg,
Squire Boone, Thomas Slaughter,
Daniel Boone, John Lythe,
William Cocke, Valentine Harmon,
Samuel Henderson, James Douglass;
William Moore, and
Richard Callaway ;
'James Alves was a descendant of James Hogg and the legal repre
sentative of Hogg and other members of the Transylvania Company in
the matter of lots in the town of Henderson, Kentucky. Certain papers
of said Company and of Judge Henderson were in Mr. Alves' possession.

Appendix 197
For Boiling Spring, For St. Asaph,
James Harrod, John Todd,
Nathan Hammond, Alexander Spotswood Dan-
Isaac Hite, and dridge,
Azariah Davis ; John Floyd, and
Samuel Wood.
Present — Squire Boone, Daniel Boone, Samuel Henderson,
William Moore, Richard Callaway, Thomas Slaughter, John Lythe,
Valentine Harmon, James Douglass, James Harrod, Nathan Ham
mond, Isaac Hite, Azariah Davis, John Todd, Alexander Spots-
wood Dandridge, John Floyd, and Samuel Wood, who took their
seats at convention.
The House unanimously chose Colonel Thomas Slaughter
Chairman, and Matthew Jouett Clerk, and after divine service
was performed by the Rev. John Lythe, the House waited on
the proprietors and acquainted them that they had chosen Mr.
Thomas Slaughter Chairman, and Matthew Jouett Clerk, of which
they approved ; and Colonel Richard Henderson, in behalf of
himself and the rest of the proprietors, opened the convention
with a speech, a copy of which, to prevent mistakes, the Chair
man procured.
Ordered, that said speech be read — read the same which follows :
Mr. Chairman, and Gentlemen of the Convention :
You are called and assembled at this time for a noble and an
honorable purpose — a purpose, however ridiculous or idle it
may appear at first view, to superficial minds, yet is of the most
solid consequence ; and if prudence, firmness, and wisdom are
suffered to influence 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

198 Boonesborough
the interest and security of each and every individual is insep
arably connected ; for that state is truly sickly, pohtically speak
ing, whose laws or edicts are not careful equally of the different
members, and most distant branches, which constitute the one
united whole.
Nay, it is not only a solecism in politics, but an insult to com
mon sense, to attempt the happiness of any community, or com
posing laws for their benefit, without securing to each individual
his full proportion of advantage arising out of the general mass ;
thereby making his interest (that most powerful incentive to the
actions of mankind) the consequence of obedience : this at once
not only gives force and energy to legislation, but as justice is,
and must be eternally the same, so your laws, founded in wisdom,
will gather strength by time, and find an advocate in every wise
and well-disposed person.
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 only
become great and glorious in proportion to the excellence of its
foundation. These considerations, gentlemen, will, no doubt, ani
mate and inspire you with sentiments worthy the grandeur of
the subject.
Our peculiar circumstances in this remote country, surrounded
on all sides with difficulties, and equally subject to one common
danger, which threatens our common overthrow, must, I think, in
their effects, secure to us an union of interests, and, consequently,
that harmony in opinion, so essential to the forming good, wise,
and wholesome laws. 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 orginally
in the people ; therefore, make it their interest, by impartial and

Appendix 199
beneficial laws, and you may be sure of their inclination to see
them enforced. For it is not to be supposed that a people,
anxious and desirous of having laws made, — who approve of the
method of choosing delegates, or representatives, to meet in gen
eral convention for that purpose, can want the necessary and
concomitant virtue to carry them into execution.
Nay, gentlemen, for argument's sake, let us set virtue for a
moment out of the question, and see how the matter will then
stand. You must admit that it is, and ever will be, the interest
of a large majority that the laws should be esteemed and held
sacred ; if so, surely this large majority can never want inclina
tion or power to give sanction and efficacy to those very laws,
which advance their interest and secure their property. And now,
Mr. Chairman, and gentlemen of the convention, as it is indis
pensably necessary that laws should be composed for the regula
tion of our conduct, as we have a 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 com
munity under heaven ; if it is probable, nay, certain, that the
laws may derive force and efficacy from our mutual consent, and
that consent resulting from our own virtue, interest, and con
venience, nothing remains but to set about the business immedi
ately, and let the event determine the wisdom of the undertaking.
Among the many objects that must present themselves for
your consideration, the first in order, must, from its importance,
be that of establishing 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 or basis of our constitution, let us in a particular
manner recommend the most dispassionate attention, while you
take for your guide as much of the spirit and genius of the laws

200 Boonesborough
of England, as can be interwoven with those of this country.
We are all Englishmen, or, what amounts to the same, ourselves
and our fathers have, for many generations, experienced the
invaluable blessings of that most excellent constitution, and surely
we can not want motives to copy from so noble an original.
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 recovery
of debts, and determining matters of dispute with respect to prop
erty, contracts, torts, injuries, etc. These things are so essential,
that if not strictly attended to, our name will become odious
abroad, and our peace 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 scan
dalous assertions, together with the groundless insinuations con
tained 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 in
the garb of authority, has uttered invectives of the most malignant
kind, and endeavors to wound the good name of persons, whose
moral character would derive httle advantage by being placed in
competition with his, charging them, among other things equally
untrue, with a design "of forming an asylum for debtors and
other persons of desperate circumstances ; " placing the proprie
tors of the soil at the head of a lawless train of abandoned vil
lains, against whom the regal authority ought to be exerted, and
every possible measure taken to put an immediate stop to so
dangerous an enterprise.
I have not the least doubt, gentlemen, but that your conduct

Appendix 201
in this convention will manifest the honest and laudable intentions
of the present adventurers, whilst a conscious blush confounds
the willful calumniators and officious detractors of our infant,
and as yet, little community.
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 or settlements
are every day exposed to the most imminent danger, and liable
to be destroyed at the mere will of the savage Indians. Nothing,
I am persuaded, but their entire ignorance of our weakness and
want of order, has hitherto preserved us from the destructive
and rapacious bands of cruelty, and given us an opportunity at
this time of forming secure defensive plans to be supported and
carried into execution by the authority and sanction of a well-
digested law.
There are sundry other things, highly worthy your considera
tion, and demand redress ; such as the wanton destruction of our
game, the only support of life amongst many of us, and for want
of which the country would be abandoned ere to-morrow, and
scarcely a probability remain of its ever becoming the habitation
of any Christian people. This, together with the practice of
many foreigners, who make a business of hunting in our country,
killing, driving off, and lessening the number of wild cattle and
other game, whilst the value of the skins and furs is appropriated
to the benefit of persons not concerned or interested in our set
tlement : these are evils, I say, that I am convinced can not
escape your notice and attention.
Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the convention, you may
assure yourselves that this new-born country is an object of the
27

202 Boonesborough
most particular attention of the proprietors here on the spot, as
well as those on the other side of the mountains ; and that they
will most cheerfully concur in every measure which can in the
most distant and remote degree promote its happiness or contrib
ute to its grandeur. Richard Henderson.
May 23, 1775.
Ordered, that Colonel Callaway, Mr. Lythe, Mr. Todd, Mr.
Dandridge, and Mr. Samuel Henderson, be a committee to draw
up an answer to the proprietors' speech.
May 25th. Mr. Todd produced to the house an answer (drawn
up by the committee) to the proprietors' speech, and being
approved of by the committee, ordered, that Mr. Todd, Mr.
Cocke, and Mr. Harrod, wait on the proprietors with an answer
to their address which is as follows :
Colonel Richard Henderson and Company — Gentlemen —
We received your speech with minds truly thankful for the
care and attention you express towards the good people of this
infant country, whom we represent. Well aware of the confu
sion which would ensue the want of rules for our conduct in life,
and deeply impressed with a sense of the importance of the trust
our constituents have reposed in us, though laboring under a
thousand disadvantages, which attend prescribing remedies for
disorders, which already call for our assistance, as well as those
that are lodged in the womb of futurity. Yet the task, arduous
as it is, we will attempt with vigor, not doubting but unanimity
will insure us success.
That we have an absolute right, as a political body, without
giving umbrage to Great Britain, or any of the colonies, to frame
rules for the government of our little society, can not be doubted
by any sensible, unbiassed mind — and being without the jurisdic-

Appendix 203
tion of, and not answerable to any of his Majesty's courts, the
constituting tribunals of justice shall be a matter of our first
contemplation ; and as this will be a matter of the greatest
importance, we will still keep in the genius and spirit of the
English laws, which happy pattern it shall be our chief care to
copy after.
Next to the restraint of immorality, our attention shall be
directed towards the relief of the injured as well as the creditor,
nor will we put it in the power of calumny and scurrility to say,
that our country is an asylum for debtors or any disorderly persons.
Nor shall we neglect, by regulating a militia, as well as the
infancy of our country will permit, to guard against the hostilities
and incursions of our savage enemies, and at the same time, to
be cautious to preserve the game of our country, so essentially
necessary for the subsistence of the first adventurers.
Conscious, gentlemen, of your veracity, we can not express the
satisfaction we experience, that the proprietors of this promising
colony are so ready to concur with us in any measure which may
tend to promote its happiness and contribute to its grandeur.
Thomas Slaughter, Chairman.
To which Colonel Henderson returned the following answer :
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Convention —
From the just sense of the nature and importance of the trust
reposed in you by your constituents, and your laudible and truly
patriotic resolution of exerting your abilities in the service of your
country, we derive the most sanguine hopes.
Arduous as the task is, every difficulty must give way to per
severance, whilst your zeal for the public good is tempered with
that moderation and unanimity of opinion, so apparent in your
conduct.

204 Boonesborough
We, gentlemen, look with infinite satisfaction on this happy
presage of the future felicity of our infant country, and hope to
merit a continuation of that confidence you are pleased to express
in our veracity and good intentions.
While our transactions have credit for the integrity of our
desires, we can not fail uniting with the delegates of the good
people of this country, fully persuaded that the proprietors are
zealously inclined to contribute every thing in their power which
may tend to render it easy, prosperous, and flourishing.
Richard Henderson,
May 25th, 1775. Yqx himself and the company.
On motion made, ordered, that Mr. Todd have leave to bring
in a bill for the establishment of Courts of Judicature, and regu
lating the practice therein ; ordered, that Mr. Todd, Mr. Dan
dridge, Mr. Calloway, and Mr. Henderson, do bring in a bill for
that purpose.
On motion of Mr. Douglass, leave is given to bring in a bill for
regulating a militia ; ordered, that Mr. Floyd, Mi:. Harrod, Mr.
Cocke, Mr. Douglass, and Mr. Hite, be a committee for that purpose.
On motion of Mr. Daniel Boone, leave is given to bring in a
bill for preserving game, &c. ; ordered, that Mr. Boone, Mr.
Davis, Mr. Harmon, Mr. Hammond, and Mr. Moore, be a com
mittee for that purpose.
The bill for establishing courts of judicature, and regulating
the practice therein, brought in by the committee, and read by
Mr. Todd — passed the first time — ordered to be referred for a
second reading.
The bill for establishing and regulating a militia, brought in
by the committee, read by Mr. Floyd — ordered to be read by
the clerk — passed the first time — ordered to be referred for a
second reading.

App e n dix 205
The bill for preserving game, brought in by the committee,
ordered to be read by the clerk — read, and passed the first
time — ordered to be referred for a second reading.
Ordered, that the convention be adjourned until to-morrow,
six o'clock.
26th May. Met according to adjournment.
Mr. Robert M'Afee appointed sergeant at arms.
Ordered, that the sergeant at arms bring John Guess before
this convention, to answer for an insult offered Colonel Richard
Calloway. The bill for regulating a militia, read the second time, and
ordered to be engrossed.
The bill for establishing courts of judicature, and regulating
the practice therein, read a second time — ordered to be recom
mitted, and that Mr. Dandridge, Mr. Todd, Mr. Henderson, and
Mr. Calloway, be a committee to take it into consideration.
On motion of Mr. Todd, leave is given to bring in an attach
ment bill — ordered, that Mr. Todd, Mr. Dandridge, and Mr.
Douglass, be a committee for that purpose.
The bill- for establishing writs of attachment, read by the
clerk, and passed the first time — ordered to be referred for a
second reading.
On motion of Mr. Dandridge, leave is given to bring in a
bill to ascertain clerks' and sheriffs' fees.
The said bill was read, and passed the first time — ordered to
be referred for the second reading.
On motion made by Mr. Todd, ordered, that Mr. Todd, Mr.
Lythe, Mr. Douglass, and Mr. Hite, be a committee to draw up a
compact between the proprietors and the people of this colony.
On motion of Mr. Lythe, leave is given to bring in a bill to
prevent profane swearing and Sabbath breaking — The same

2o6 Boonesborough
read by the clerk, ordered, that it be recommitted, and that Mr.
Lythe, Mr. Todd, and Mr. Harrod, be a committee to make
amendments. Mr. Guess was brought before the convention, and reprimanded
by the chairman.
Ordered, that Mr. Todd and Mr. Harrod wait on the proprie
tors, to know what name for this colony would be agreeable.
Mr. Todd and Mr. Harrod reported, that it was their pleasure
that it should be called Transylvania.
The bill for ascertaining clerks' and sheriffs' fees, read a second
time, passed — and ordered to be engrossed.
The attachment bill read a second time, and ordered to be
engrossed. A bill for preserving game, read the second time, and passed —
ordered to be recommitted, and that Mr. Todd, Mr. Boone, and
Mr. Harrod, be a committee to take it into consideration.
The militia bill read a third time, and passed.
On motion of Mr. Todd, leave is given to bring in a bill for
the punishment of criminals — ordered, that Mr. Todd, Mr. Dan
dridge, and Mr. Lythe, be a committee for that purpose.
The bill for establishing courts of judicature, and regulating the
practice therein, read a second time, and ordered to be engrossed.
On motion of Mr. Boone, leave is given to bring in a bill for
improving the breed of horses. Ordered that Mr. Boone, Mr.
Davis, and Mr. Hammond, bring in a bill for that purpose.
The bill for ascertaining clerks' and sheriffs' fees, read a third
time, and psissed.
The bill for establishing writs of attachment, read a third time
and passed.
On motion, ordered that Mr. Todd have leave to absent him
self from this house.

Appendix 207
The bill for the punishment of criminals, brought in by the
committee, read by the clerk, passed the first time, and ordered
to be read a second time.
The bill for establishing courts of judicature, and regulating
the practice therein, read the third time with amendments, and
passed. The bill for improving the breed of horses, brought in by
Capt. Boone, read the first time, passed, and ordered to be for
consideration, etc.
Ordered, that the convention adjourn until to-morrow, six
o'clock. Met according to adjournment.
The bill to prevent profane swearing and Sabbath-breaking,
read the second time, with amendments ; ordered to be engrossed.
The bill for the punishment of criminals, brought in and read ;
passed the second time, and ordered to be engrossed.
The bill for the improvement of the breed of horses was read
a second time, and ordered to be engrossed.
Ordered, that Mr. Harrod, Mr. Boone, and Mr. Cocke, wait on
the proprietors, and beg they will not indulge any person what
ever in granting them lands on the present terms unless they
comply with the former proposals of settling the country, etc.
On motion of Squire Boone, leave is given to bring in a bill
to preserve the range ; ordered, that he have leave to bring in a
bill for that purpose.
The following message was received from the proprietors,
to wit :
To give every possible satisfaction to the good people, your
constituents, we desire to exhibit our title deed from the aborig
ines and first owners of the soil in Transylvania, and hope you
will cause an entry to be made of the exhibition in your journals.

2o8 Boonesborough
including the corners and abutments of the lands or country
contained therein, so that the boundaries of our colony may be
known and kept on record. Richard Henderson.
Transylvania, 27th May, 1775.
Ordered, that Mr. Todd, Mr. Douglass, and Mr. Hite, inform
the proprietors that their request will be complied with ; in
conseqence of which Colonel Henderson personally attended the
convention with Mr. John Farrow, 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
or feofment then produced, bearing date the 7th day of March
last, 1775. [We omit the boundaries which are here set forth
on the record, having already given them to our readers in
another place.]
A bill for preserving the range, brought in by the committee
and read, passed the first time ; ordered to be laid by for second
consideration. The bill to prevent profane swearing and Sabbath-breaking,
read the third time, and passed.
Ordered, that Mr. Calloway and Mr. Cocke wait on the pro
prietors with the laws that have passed, for their perusal and
approbation. The committee, appointed to draw up the compact between
the proprietors and the people, brought in and read it, as fol
lows, viz :
Whereas, it is highly necessary, for the peace of the proprie
tors and the security of the people of this colony, that the powers
of the one and the liberties of the other be ascertained ; We,
Richard Henderson, Nathaniel Hart, and J. Luttrel, on behalf of
ourselves, as well as the other proprietors of the colony of

Appendix 209
Transylvania, of the one part and the representatives of the
people of said colony, in convention assembled, of the other
part — do most solemnly enter into the following contract or
agreement, to wit :
I. That the election of delegates in this colony be annual.
2. That the convention may adjourn, and meet again on their
own adjournment ; Provided, that in cases of great emergency,
the proprietors may call together the delegates before the time
adjourned 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 shall 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 tol
eration ; Provided, that the propagators of any doctrine or tenets,
evidently tending to the subversion of our laws, shall, for such
conduct, be amenable to, and punished by, the civil courts.
5. That the judges of the superior or supreme courts be
appointed 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
hundred acres.
7. That the proprietors appoint a sheriff, who shall be one
of three persons recommended by the court.
8. That the judges of the superior courts have, without fee
or reward, the appointment of the clerks of this colony.
9. That the judges of the inferior courts be recommended
by the people, and approved by the proprietors, and by them
commissioned. 10. That all other civil and military officers be within the
appointment of the proprietors. 28

2IO Boonesborough
II. 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 of the colony will permit, consist of three branches,
to wit : the delegates 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 into
precedent, but that the number of representatives shall be
ascertained by law, when the state of the colony will admit of
amendment. 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 public 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 between
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 here
unto interchangeably set their hands and affixed their seals, the
twenty-seventh day of May, one thousand seven hundred and
seventy-five. Richard Henderson. [5m/.]
Nathaniel Hart. \Seal!\
J. Luttrell. \Seat.'\
T. Slaughter, Chair 'n. \Seal^

App e n dix

21 I

A bin for improving the breed of horses, read the third time
and passed.
The bin for the punishment of criminals, read the third time
and passed.
The bill to preserve the range, read the second time, and
ordered to be engrossed.
Ordered, that Mr. Lythe wait on Colonel Henderson and the
rest of the proprietors, with the bill for establishing courts of
justice and regulating the practice therein.
The bill to preserve the range, read the third time and passed.
Ordered, that Colonel Calloway wait on the proprietors with
the bill for preserving the range.
Ordered, that a fair copy of the several bills, passed into laws,
be transmitted to every settlement in this colony that is repre
sented. Ordered, that the delegates of Boonesboro be a committee
to see that all the bills that are passed be transcribed, in a
fair hand, into a book for that purpose.
Ordered, that the proprietors be waited on by the . chairman,
acquainting them that all the bills are ready for signing.
The following bills this day passed and signed by the pro
prietors, on behalf of themselves and their partners, and the
chairman of the convention, on behalf of himself and the other
delegates :
I. An act for establishing courts of jurisdiction and regulat
ing the practice therein.
2. An act for regulating a militia.
3. An act for the punishment of criminals.
4. An act to prevent profane swearing, and Sabbath breaking.
5. An act for writs of attachment.
6. An act for ascertaining clerks' and sheriffs' fees.

212 Boonesborough
7. An act to preserve the range.
8. An act for improving the breed of horses.
9. An act for preserving game.
All of the above mentioned acts were signed by the chair
man and proprietors, except the act for ascertaining clerks' and
sheriffs' fees, which was omitted by the clerks not giving it in
with the rest.
Ordered, that at the next meeting of delegates, if any mem
ber be absent and doth not attend, that the people choose one
to serve in the room of such absent member.
Ordered, that the convention be adjourned until the first
Thursday in September next, then to meet at Boonesboro.
Matthew Jewitt, Clerk.

O
MEETING OF THE TRANSYLVANIA PROPRIETORS IN
NORTH CAROLINA, SEPTEMBER 25, 1775.
Minutes of Proceedings, Appointments, Regulations, Dona
tions of Land, Election of Delegate to Continental
Congress, Memorial to the Congress, and
Petition for Admission as Four
teenth Colony.
(American Archives, Volume IV.)
At a meeting of the Proprietors of Transylvania held at Ox
ford, in the County of Granville, on Monday the 2 sth day of
September, Anno Domoni, 1775.
Pres : Colonel Richard Henderson, Col. Thos. Hart, Col. John
WiUiams, Capt. John Luttrell, William Johnston, James Hogg
and Leonard H. Bullock.

Appendix 213
Col. Henderson being unanimously chosen president, they
took into their consideration the present state of the said Colony
and made the following resolve, viz :
Resolved, that Col. John Williams be appointed Agent for the
Transylvania Company to transact their business in the said
Colony, and he is accordingly invested with full power by letter
of Attorney. Ordered, That Mr. Williams shall proceed to Boonesborough
in the said Colony as soon as possible, and continue there until
the twelfth day of April next ; and to be allowed for his services,
one hundred and fifty pounds. Proclamation money of North
Carolina, out of the profits arising from the sale of lands, after
discharging the Company's present engagements.
N. B. — In case the Settlement should be broken up by attack
of Indians, or other enemies so as to render it impossible for Mr.
Williams to continue there and execute the trust reposed in him,
it is agreed by the Company, that he shall still be paid the above
salary at the expiration of three years.
Resolved : That Mr. Williams be empowered to appoint one
or more Surveyors, and the other officers of the Land Office,
for the said Colony, as he may find it necessary.
Clerks, Surveyors and Chain-Carriers, to be sworn before they
act. Resolved, In case of the death or removal of Mr. Wilhams,
that Col. Richard Henderson, Capt. Nathaniel Hart, and Capt.
John Luttrell, or any one of them, be and are hereby, declared
Agents -for the said Company with the same powers as are given
to Mr. Williams until a new appointment shall be made by the
Proprietors. Resolved, That the Agent shall not grant any Lands adjoin
ing Salt springs, gold, silver, copper, lead, or sulphur mines,
knowing them to be such.

214 Boonesborough
Resolved, That a reservation to the Proprietors, of one-half
of all gold, silver, copper, lead, and sulphur mines, shall be made
by the Agent, at granting deeds.
Resolved, That the Agent shall take a counterpart of all
deeds granted by him, and shall transmit them to the proprietors,
residing in the Province of North Carolina, to be audited, with
his other proceedings, by the Company.
Resolved, that all surveys shall be made by the four Car
dinal points, except where rivers or mountains so intervene as to
render it too inconvenient ; and that in all cases where one sur
vey comes within the distance of eighty poles from another,
their lines shall join without exception; and that every survey
on navigable rivers shall extend two poles out for one pole along
the river ; and that each survey not on navigable rivers shall not
be above one-third longer than its width.
Resolved, That a present of two thousand acres of land
be made to Col. Daniel Boone, with the thanks of the Proprietors,
for the signal services he has rendered to the Company.
Resolved, That the thanks of this Company be presented to
Col. Richard Calloway, for his spirited and manly behavior in
behalf of the said Colony ; and that a present of six hundred
and forty acres of land be made to his younger son.
Resolved, that James Hogg, Esq., be appointed Delegate to
represent the said Colony in the Continental Congress, now sit
ting at Philadelphia ; and that the following Memorial be pre
sented to that august body.
To the Honorable the Continental Congress Now Sitting at Phil
adelphia.The Memorial for Richard Henderson, Thomas Hart, John
Williams, Nathaniel Hart, John Luttrell, William Johnson, James

Appendix 215
Hogg, David Hart and Leonard Heniy Bullock, Proprietors of
Transylvania, sheweth :
That on the seventeenth day of March last, for a large and
valuable consideration. Your Memorialists obtained from the
Cherokee Indians, assembled at Watauga, a grant of a consid
erable territory, now called Transylvania, lying on the South side
of the river Ohio.
They will not trouble the Honorable Congress with a detail
of the risks and dangers to which they have been exposed, aris
ing from the nature of the enterprise itself, as well as from the
wicked attempts of certain Governments and their emissaries ;
they beg leave, only, to acquaint them that, through difficulties
and dangers, at a great expense, and with the blood of several
of their followers, they have laid the foundation 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, having made this purchase from the Abo
rigines and immemorial possessors, the sole and uncontested own
ers of the country in fair and open treaty, and without the viola
tion of any British or American law whatever, are determined
to give it up only with their lives. And though their country be
far removed from the reach of ministerial usurpation, yet they
cannot look with indifference on the late arbitrary proceedings
of the British Parliament. If the United Colonies are reduced,
or will tamely submit to be slaves, Transylvania will have reason
to fear. The Memorialists by no means forget their allegiance to their
Sovereign, whose constitutional rights and pre-eminences they will
support at the risk of their lives. They flatter themselves that the
addition of a new Colony in so fair and equitable way, and with
out any expense to the Crown, will be acceptable to His Most

2i6 Boonesborough
Gracious Majesty, and that Transylvania will soon be worthy of
his Royal regard and protection.
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 usurpation,
it is the earnest wish of the Proprietors of Transylvania to be
considered by the Parliaments as brethren, engaged in the same
great cause of liberty and of 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 as to have their concurrence laid before this Con
gress, they here pledge themselves for them, that they will con
cur in the measure 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 everything 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 Colonies,
and that James Hogg, Esq., be received as their delegate, and
admitted to a seat in the honorable the Continental Congress.
By order of the Proprietors. Richard Henderson, President.
Resolved, That Mr. Hogg be empowered to treat and con
tract with any person or persons who may incline to purchase
Lands from the Company, and that he be allowed his expenses
for transacting the above biisiness,

Appendix 217
Resolved, That the united thanks of this Company be pre
sented to Col. Richard Henderson, Capt. Nathaniel Hart, and
Capt. John Luttrell for their eminent services and public spir
ited conduct in settling the aforesaid Colony.
Resolved, That from this time to the first day of June, one
thousand seven hundred and seventy-six, the lands in the said Col
ony shall be sold on the following terms : No survey of land shall
contain more than six hundred and forty acres, (except in par
ticular cases) ; and the purchaser shall pay for the entry and war
rant of survey two dollars ; for surveying the same and a plot
thereof, four dollars ; and for the deed and plot annexed, two dol
lars. And also shall pay to the said proprietors, their Agent, or
Receiver, for the time being, at the time of receiving a deed,
two pounds, ten shiUings, sterling, for each hundred acres
contained in such deed ; also an annual quit-rent of two shil
lings, like money, for every one hundred acres, commencing in
the year 1780. And that any person who settles on the said
Lands before the first day of June, 1776, shall have the privilege,
on the aforesaid conditions, of taking up for himself any quan
tity not above six hundred and forty acres ; and for each tax
able person he may take with him, and settle there, three hun
dred and twenty acres, and no more.
Resolved, That Colonel Richard Henderson, survey and lay
off, within the said Colony, 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 representatives, according to their rateable part, (as fully
set forth in the Articles of Agreement entered into by the copart
ners) ; and that each copartner be permitted, by himself or his
deputy, to make choice of, and survey in one or more places, any
quantity of vacant Land in the aforesaid Colony, for his or their
29

2i8 Boonesborough
particular use ; but not above two thousand acres, and that
agreeable to the aforesaid rateable proportions, unless on the
same terms, and under the same regulations and restrictions as
laid down for other purchasers.
Resolved, That not more than five thousand acres shall be
sold to any one person who does not immediately settle on the
said Land ; and that at three pounds, ten shillings sterling per
hundred, and not more than one hundred thousand acres in the
whole on these terms.
Resolved, That the Agent deliver what money he may have
received for the sale of lands to Col. Thomas Hart, when he
leaves the said Colony, and that Col. Hart pay what money
may be due from the Company to the people at Watauga on his
return ; and that the remainder be applied to the payment of
the Company's other debts.
Also that the Agent shall take the first safe opportunity of
remitting what further sums he may receive thereafter to Will
iam Johnston, Treasurer, to be by him applied towards paying
off the Company's debts.
Resolved, That WiUiam Johnston be empowered to bargain
and contract with any persons inclining to purchase Lands in
the said Colony.
Ordered, That Mr. Johnston do in behalf of the Proprietors,
accomodate Mr. Peter Hay, merchant, (at Cross Creek, Cum
berland County, North Carohna), with a present of one thousand
acres of Land in the said Colony, for his friendly behavior
towards the Company; or in lieu thereof, that Mr. Hay be per
mitted to purchase ten thousand acres, without being obliged to
settle the same, at two pounds, ten shillings, sterling, per hun
dred acres, subject to office fees and quit-rents.
Resolved, That a present of six hundred and forty acres of

Appendix 219
Land be made to the Reverend Mr. Henry PatiUo, on condition
that he will settle in the said Colony.
Resolved, That the Agent duly attend to the above Resolves,
unless when the interest of the Company makes the contrary
necessary. By order of the Proprietors :
Richard Henderson, President.

LETTER FROM SILAS DEANE TO JAMES HOGG (NOVEM
BER 2, 1775) REGARDING THE GOVERN
MENT OF TRANSYLVANIA.
(From Volume IV of American Archives.)
November 2nd, 1775.
Dear Sir : At the time of granting the New England Charters,
the Crown of Great Britain had no idea of any real interest or
property in the American Lands. The Pope, as Vicar of Christ,
pretended very early to have an absolute right in fee simple, to
the earth and all that was therein, but more particularly to the
Countries and persons of heretics, which he constantly gave away
among his favorites. When the Crown of Great Britain threw
off its submission to the Pope, or, in other words, by setting itself
at the head of the Church, became Pope of Great Britain, this
old, whimsically arrogant nation, was, in degree, restrained ; and
Queen Elizabeth, in the year 1579, most graciously gave to Sir
Walter Raleigh all North America, from the lattitude 34° North
to 48° north ; and extending West to the great Pacific Ocean ; to
which immense territory she had no more right or title than she
had to the empire of China.

220 Boonesborough
On Sir Walter's attainder, this was supposed to revert to the
Crown , and in 1606, James I, in consequence of the same prin
ciple, granted the South part of the above, to a Company then
caUed the London Company ; and in 1620, granted the North
ernmost part to a Company called the Plymouth Company, con
taining within its bounds all the lands from 40° to 45° north
lattitude, and West to the South Seas. This Company granted,
163 1, to certain persons, that tract described in this charter,
which you will see was very liberal, and rendered them (as in
reality they were) independent of the Crown for holding their
lands ; they having, at their own expense, purchased or conquered
them from the natives, the original or sole owners.
The Settlement of Connecticut began in 1634 when they came
into a Voluntary Compact of Government, and governed under it,
until their Charter, in 1662, without any difficulty. They were
never fond of making many laws ; Nor is it good policy in any
State, but the worst of all in a new one. The laws, or similar
ones to those which I have tumed down to, are necessary in a
new Colony, in which the highest wisdom is to increase, as fast
as possible, the inhabitants, and at the same time to regulate
them well.
The first is to secure the general and inalienable rights of man
to the settlers ; without this, no inhabitants, worth having, will
adventure. This, therefore, requires the Closest and earliest
attention. Next to this, is the mode or rule by which civil actions may
be brought, or the surest ways and means by which every indi
vidual may obtain his right.
Then a provision for the safety of the Community against high
handed offenders, house breakers, etc.*
There are two ways of regulating a Community ; one by cor
recting every offender, and the other to prevent the offense itself ;

Appendix 221
to effect the latter, education must be attended to as a matter
of more importance than all the laws which can be framed, as it
is better to be able to prevent, than after to correct a disease.
Peace officers will be necessary, and these ought to be chosen
by the people, for the people are more engaged to support an
officer of their own in the execution of his trust, than they will
ever be in supporting one forced upon them.
Some regulation of civil course ought early to be made the
most simple and least expensive is best ; an honest judge will
support his dignity without a large salary, and a dishonest one
can have no real dignity at any rate.
The General Assembly must be the supreme fountain of power
in such a state, in constituting which, every free man ought to
have his voice. The elections should be frequent, at least annu
ally ; and to this body every officer ought to be amenable for his
conduct. Every impediment in the way of increase of people
should be removed, of course marriage must be made easy.
Overgrown estates are generally the consequence of an unequal
division of interest, left by a subject at his decease. This is pre
vented by an equal, or nearly equal right of inheritance. This has
taken place in all the New England Colonies, and in Pennsylvania
to their great emolument.
All fees of office ought to be stated and known, and they should
be stated as low as possible.
Some crimes are so dangerous in their tendency, that capital
punishments are necessary ; the fewer of these, consistent with
the safety of the State, the better.
There ought to be some terms on which a man becomes free
of the community. They should be easy and simple ; and every
one encouraged to qualify himself in character and interest, to
comply with them ; and these terms should be calculated to bind
the person in the strongest manner, and engage him in its interest.

222 Boonesborough
A new Colony, in the first place, should be divided into small
townships or districts, each of which ought to be empowered to
regulate their own internal affairs ; and to have and enjoy every
hberty and privilege not inconsistent with the whole.
Tenure of lands is a capital object, and so is the mode of taking
out grants for, and laying them out. If individuals are permitted
to engross large tracts, and lay them out as they please, the pop
ulation of the country will be retarded.
Precarious must be the possession of the finest country in the
world, if inhabitants have not the means and skUl of defending it.
A militia regulation must, therefore, in aU prudent policy, be one
of the first.
Though entire liberty of conscience ought everywhere to be
allowed, yet the keeping up among a people a regular and stated
course of Divine worship has such beneficial effects that the
encouragement thereof deserves the particular attention of the
Magistrate. Forms of oath are ever best, as they are concise, and carry
with them a solemn simplicity of appeal to the Divine Being ;
and to preserve their force, care should be had to avoid too fre
quent a repetition of them, and on ordinary occasions.
The preservation of the peace being the capital object of gov
ernment, no man should be permitted on any occasion, to be the
avenger of the wrongs he has, or conceives he has, received ;
but if possible, every one should be brought to submit to the
decision of the law of the country in every private as well as
public injury.
Providing for the poor is an act of humanity, but to prevent
their being numerous and burdensome to society is at once humane
and an act of the highest and soundest policy ; and to effect it,
the education of children, and the manners of the lower orders
are constantly to be attended to.

Appendix 223
As, in a well ordered government, every one's person and
property should be equally secure, so each should pay equally,
or on the same scale, for the expenses in supporting the same.
In a new and wild country it wiU be deemed, perhaps, impos
sible to erect schools ; but the consequences are so great and
lasting that every difficulty ought to be encountered rather than
give up so necessary, so important an institution. A school will
secure the morals and manners, and at the same time tend to
collect people together in society, and promote and preserve
civilization. The throwing a country into towns, and allowing these towns
particular privileges like corporations in England and America,
tends to unite the people, and, as in the least family there is,
generally, the best economy, so these towns will conduct the
internal and domestic crudentials better than larger bodies, and
give strength, soundness and solidity to the basis of the State.
Sir, you have in the foregoing, the outlines of the policy of
the Connecticut Government, in as concise a view as I could ; the
great and leading principles of which will, I conceive, apply to
any new State ; and the sooner they are applied the better it will
be for the health and prosperity of the rising community.
An equal and certain security of life, liberty and property, an
equal share in the rights of legislation, and an equal distribution
of the benefits resulting from society ; with an early attention to
the principles, morals and manners of the whole, are the great
first principles of a good Government, and these well flxed, lesser
matters will easily and advantageously adjust, as I may say, them
selves. I am far from thinking our system is entirely fit for you,
in every point. It has grown up and enlarged itself, as we have
grown. Its principle features are worth your attending to ; and,
if I had leisure, would point out, more particularly which part I

224 Boonesborough
think you might adopt immediately, what additions are necessary,
and why some parts should be rejected. But I will, if possible,
give you after your perusal of this, the general head of what, from
my little reading and observation, I think to be the most simple,
and consequently, the best plan of government. I am. Sir, yours,
Thursday morning, November 2nd, 1775. ^" Deane.
Two laws, I see I have run over without noting upon ; the one
is for punishing vagabonds, by setting them to hard labor. The
other, for the punishment of theft, which you may think too light,
but I think too severe ; or, in other words, I would avoid infamous
punishments, such as cropping, branding, whipping, etc., and sub
stitute hard labor in their stead.

JAMES HOGG TO RICHARD HENDERSON,
JANUARY, 1776.
Report of the Transylvania "Embassy" to the Continental
Congress.
(American Archives, Volume IV.) January, 1776.
Dear Sir : On the 2nd of December I returned hither from
Philadelphia; and I have now set down to give you an account
of my embassy, which you wiU be pleased to communicate to
the other gentlemen, our co-partners, when you have an oppor
tunity. I waited for Messrs. Hooper and Hewes a day and a
half at Richmond, but they were detained by rainy weather
for several days, so that they did not overtake me till I was

Appendix 225
near Philadelphia, where I was kept two days by heavy rain,
though they had it dry where they were. It was the 22nd of
October when we arrived at Philadelphia. In a few days they
introduced me to several of the Congress gentlemen, among the
first of whom were, accidentally, the famous Samuel and John
Adams ; and as I found their opinion friendly to our new Colony,
I showed them our map, explained to them the advantage of
our situation, etc., etc. They entered seriously into the matter,
and seemed to think favorably of the whole ; but the difficulty
that occurred to us soon appeared to them. ' ' We have peti
tioned and addressed the King," said they, "and have entreated
him to point out some mode of accomodation. There seems to
be an impropriety in embarrassing our reconciliation with any
thing new ; and the taking under our protection a body of people
who have acted in defiance of the King's proclamations, will be
looked on as a confirmation of that independent spirit with which
we are daily reproached." I then showed them our memorial,
to convince them that we did not pretend to throw off our
allegiance to the King, but intended to acknowledge his sover
eignty whenever he should think us worthy of his regard. They
were pleased with our memorial, and thought it very proper ;
but another difficulty occurred. By looking at the map they
observed that we were within the Virginia Charter. I then told
them of the fixing of their boundaries, what had passed at
Richmond in March last, and that I had reason to beheve the
Virginians would not oppose us ; however, they advised me to
sound the Virginians, as they would not choose to do anything
in it without their consent. All the Delegates were, at that time,
so much engaged in the Congresses from morning till night that
it was some days before I got introduced to the Virginians ; and
before then I was informed that some of them had said, what-
30

226 Boonesborough
ever was their own opinion of the matter, they would not consent
that Transylvania should be admitted as a Colony, and repre
sented in Congress until it originated in their Convention, and
should be approved by their constituents. Some days after this,
I was told that Messrs. Jefferson, Wythe, and Richard Henry
Lee, were desirous of meeting with me, which was accordingly
brought about ; but, unfortunately, Mr. Lee was, by some business,
prevented from being with us, though I had some conversation
with him afterwards. I told them that the Transylvania Com
pany, suspecting that they might be misrepresented, had sent
me to make known to the gentlemen of the Congress our friendly
intentions towards the cause of liberty, etc., etc., but said noth
ing of our memorial, or my pretentions to a seat in Congress.
They said nothing in return tb me, but seriously examined our
map, and asked many questions. They observed that our pur
chase was within their charter, and gently hinted, that by virtue
of it, they might claim the whole. This led me to take notice,
that a few years ago, I had been informed that their assembly
had petitioned the Crown for leave to purchase from the Cher
okees, and to fix their boundaries with them, which was accord
ingly done, by a line running from six miles east of the Long
Island in Holston, to the mouth of the Great Kanawha, for
which they had actually paid twenty five hundred pounds to the
Cherokees ; by which purchase, both the Crown and their Assembly
had acknowledged the property qf those islands to be in the
Cherokees. Besides, said I, our settlement of Transylvania will
be a great check on the Indians, and consequently be of service
to the Virginians.
They seemed to waive the argument concerning the right of
property; but Mr. Jefferson acknowledged, that in his opinion,
our Colony could be no loss to the Virginians, if properly united

Appendix 227
to them ; and said, that if his advice was followed, aU the use
they should make of their Charter would be, to prevent any
arbitrary or oppressive government to be estabhshed within the
boundaries of it ; and that it was his wish to see a free Govern
ment estabhshed at the back of theirs, properly united with them ;
and that it should be extended westward to the Mississippi, and
on each side of the Ohio, to their Charter line, but he would not
consent that we should be acknowledged by the Congress, until
it had the approbation 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.
This was the substance of our conference, with which I
acquainted our good friends, Messrs. Hooper and Hewes, who
joined me in opinion that I should not push the matter further ;
and they hinted to me, that, considering the present very critical
situation of affairs, they thought it was better for us to be uncon
nected with them. These gentlemen acted a most friendly part
all along, and gave a favorable account of our proceedings.
Indeed I think the Company under great obligations to them,
and I hope they will take it under their consideration. I was
frequently with parties of the Delegates, who in general think
favorably of our enterprise.
All the wise ones of them, with whom I conversed on the
subject, are clear in opinion that the property of these lands are
vested in us by the Indian grant ; but some of them think, that
by the common law of England, and by the common usage in
America, the Sovereignty is in the King, agreeable to a famous
law opinion, of which I was so fortunate as to procure a copy.
The suffering traders, and others, at the- end of last war, obtained

228 Boonesborough
a large tract of land from the Six Nations, and other Indians.
They formed themselves into a Company, (called, I beheve, the
Ohio,) and petitioned the King for a patent, and desired to be
erected into a Government. His Majesty laid their petition before
Lord Chancellor Camden and Mr. Charles York, then Attomey
General, and afterwards Chancellor. Their opinion foUows :
' ' In respect to such places as have been, or shall be acquired
by treaty or grant from any of the Indian Princes or Govern
ments, your Majesty's letters patent are not necessary; the
property of the soil vested in the grantee by the Indian grants,
subject only to your Majesty's rights of Sovereignty over the
settlements, as English settlements, and over the inhabitants as
English subjects, who carry with them your Majesty's law where-
ever they form Colonies, and receive your Majesty's protection
by virtue of your Royal charters."
After an opinion so favorable for them, it is amazing that
this Company never attempted to form a settlement, unless they
have procured a charter ; with the hopes of which, it seems, they
were flattered, from time to time. However, our example has
roused them, I am told, and they are now setting up for our
rivals. Depending on the opinion, another company of gentle
men, a few years ago, purchased a tract between the Mississippi
and Ohio, beginning about a league below Fort Chartres, and
running over towards the mouth of the Wabash ; but whether or
not their boundary line is above or below the mouth of the
Wabash, the gentlemen who showed me their deed could not
tell, as it is not mentioned, but is said to terminate at the old
Shawanese town, supposed to be only thirty-five leagues above
the mouth of the Ohio. And the said Company purchased another
larger tract, lying on the Ilhnois River. It was from one of this
Company that I procured a copy of the above opinion, which he

Appendix 229
assured me was the genuine one, and is the very same which
you have heard was in possession of Lord Dunmore, as it was
their Company that sent it to him, expecting he would join them.
I was several times with Mr. Deane, of Connecticut, the gen
tleman of whom Mr. Hooper told you, when here. He says he
will send some people to see our country ; and if their report be
favorable, he thinks many Connecticut people will join us.
This gentleman is a scholar, and a man of sense and enter
prise, and rich ; and I am apt to believe, has some thoughts of
heading a party of Connecticut adventurers, providing things can
be made agreeable to him. He is reckoned a good man and
much esteemed in Congress; but he is an enthusiast in liberty,
and will have nothing to do with us unless he is pleased with
our form of Government. He is a great admirer of the Con
necticut Constitution, which he recommended to our consideration,
and was so good as to favor me with a long letter on that subject,
a copy of which is enclosed.' You would be amazed to see how
much in earnest all these speculative gentlemen are about the
plan to be adopted by the Transylvanians. They entreat, they
pray, that we 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. They even threaten us with
their opposition, if we do not act upon liberal principles when
we have it so much in our power to render ourselves immortal.
Many of them advised a law against negroes.
Enclosed I send you a copy of a sketch by John Adams,'
which I had from Richard Henry Lee.
'The letter is herewith published in Appendix P.
'See footnote, page 43.

230 Boonesborough R
REPLY OF JOHN WILLIAMS, AGENT OF THE TRANSYL
VANIA PROPRIETORS, TO THE HARRODSBURG
REMONSTRANCE OF DECEMBER, 1775.
(Calendar Virginia State Papers.)
Boonesborough, January i, 1776.
To the Gentlemen Inhabitants in & about Harrodsburg : —
Gentlemen : By the hands of Messrs Col. Abraham Hite Jos
Bowman Jno Wharton & Wm McAfee we received an Instrument
of writeing, purporting to be an address to us directed, for the relief
of Grievances subsisting in the Colony of Transylvania. Respect
ing the letting our Lands within the said Colony. Nothing could
have astonished us more than a Remonstrance of this Kind, at a
time when we were Endeavoring to pursue every practicable meas
ure to prevent any dispute or disquietude in the minds of the
Inhabitants of this Young and yet feeble Colony and for that End
had Established rules for the purpose of granting the Lands within
the same upon as favorable Terms as we can well afford from the
large price which we purchased them at, the numberless Expenses
which have, and still must accrue upon the Occasion and the many
disadvantages we have put Ourselves to, without mentioning the
many dangers resulting from such hazardous Enterprizes. Con
scious to ourselves of the integrity of our Intentions and the
uprightness of our Conduct in purchasing more Lands and fully
satisfied with the Right we have Acquired from the Aborigines
first and Sole Occupants thereof — the Cherokee Indians — From
the Chief's of whom, by and with the Consent of the whole Nation
in fair & open Treaty for a large & valuable Consideration, we
obtained a Deed of Feafment with actual livery and Seasin in due

Appendix 231
form of law with Quiet and Peacable possession which we still
Retain and than which right we know of no better, the premises
acceded to. We flattered ourselves that the modes and Terms
on which we purpose on letting our Lands within said Colony
would have met the approbation of every reasonable honest and
well disposed person who wished to become a purchaser under
us and an Inhabitant of said Colony. And it is with surprise
we find persons now Expecting Lands on the Inferior Terms which
we let them Last Spring to such Persons who ventured out
with us to take Possession of the Country & Defend us against
our Savage Enemies untill we Could build Forts make Corn &c
and thereby give encouragement to others to Emigrate hither
as many since have done & more about to do. To whom we
proposed letting Lands (on what we think reasonable Terms)
To every Person who shall remove here to reside before the year
1777 for himself 640 Acres of Land and for each Taxable Person
he shall bring with him & Employ in cultivating land or other
business within said Colony 320 Acres at 50 S. Sterling pr hundred
exclusive of the office fees & an Annual quit rent of 2.S like
money pr hundred acres, to commence in the year 1780. For
which we make an indefeasible Right in Fee Simple with General
Warranty. This being the lowest price we can take, we conceive
it can never be considered as exorbitant when in fact all who
see the lands and their situation the fertility of the soil, the
Luxuriance of the range the purity of the air and healthiness of
the Climate with every promising prospect of a rapid population
and of course in a very short time a flourishing Country must
know the lands, even at this Time to be of Infinite more Value,
Exclusive of the money advantages needless here to mention,
the above being our Right, which well understood we hope will
give satisfaction to all. Yet if any Doubt we wish them to satisfy

232 Boonesborough
themselves of a right so generally acknowledged and of which
we entertain not the least Scruple before they pretend to become
inhabitants of this Country as it is highly expedient that each
and every Person inhabiting this new and at present weak Country
should unanimously join in one general Cause for the safety and
protection of the whole which I am Convinced Every Gentleman
every honest man and every good citizen would desire to do.
And when-ever any person comes in otherwise disposed they
thereby raise disentions and Animosities by which they loose and
Weaken the bands of Society and of course must render us an
Easy prey to our Savage Enemies whenever they may see cause
to take the advantage of our disunited situation to prevent which
we not only wish to see every person in this Colony lending his
aid but assure you Gentlemen that nothing within our power shall
be wanting to Accomplish so Good an End.
Jno Williams Agt for ye Com'y.
A True Copy.

JOHN WILLIAMS' REPORT (JANUARY 3, 1776) OF
TRANSYLVANIA AFFAIRS TO THE PRO
PRIETORS IN NORTH CAROLINA.
(American Archives, Volume IV.)
Gentlemen: Boonesborough, January 3, 1776.
In my last of the 27th inst., I promised in my next a more
circumstancial account than I was capable then of giving, under
the confused situation of mind I was then in, occasioned by the
unhappy catastrophe of my brother's death, which happened
before that. To comply in some measure with that promise.

Appendix 233
and to discharge a duty encumbered upon me, as well as the
promptitude of mind that I feel to discharge that duty, I cheer
fully enter on the task and endeavor to render some account of
what I have been after since my arrival at this place, now
upwards of a month since ; and as a primative intention of send
ing me to Transylvania was to establish a land office, appoint
the necessary officers to the said office, surveyors, etc. , Upon the
best footing in my power, and to make the sale of the lands
within the said Colony, upon such terms as might be most
advantageous to the Proprietors and satisfactory to the inhabi
tants thereof; my first step was to fall on some method of
appointing a person to the office of surveyor, who shall give
general satisfaction to the people ; I thought none more likely
to do so, than calling a Convention and taking their recom
mendation for the person who I would appoint. From the dis
persed situation of the people, and the extreme badness of the
weather, we failed in convening a majority ; however, I took the
sense of those who appeared, and who unanimously recommended
Col. John Floyd, a gentleman generally esteemed, and I am per
suaded, truly worthy, and him I have commissioned surveyor of
the Colony at present, though, perhaps, it may be advisable at a
future day, to divide the Colony into two districts, and to appoint
another surveyor to one of the Districts. The Entering Office
I have disposed of to Mr. Nathaniel Henderson, and the Secre
taries to Mr. Richard Harrison ; though, upon consideration, I
have thought that the numerous incidental expenses were so
great that some way ought to be fallen upon to defray them
without breaking in upon the moneys arrising from the sale of
the lands, and that the two dollars for entering, etc., and the
other two for filling up the deeds, counterparts, annexing seals
and plots, etc., was more money than services of those offices
31

234 Boonesborough
absolutely required ; I, therefore, have reserved out of each office,
one dollar, to answer the purpose of defraying those extraordinary
expenses ; and the ofiices are left well worth the acceptance of
persons capable of filling them with credit. The number of
entries on our book is now upwards of nine hundred, a great
part of which was made before I came to this place, when
people could make entries without money and without price ;
the country abounded with land-mongers ; since there is two dol
lars exacted on the entry made, people are not quite so keen,
though I make no doubt but all who can comply with the terms
will endeavor to save their lands ; and as many people who have
got entry on the book are now out of the country, and can not
possibly pay up the entry money immediately, I have thought
proper to advertise that every person who has made entry on
the book, and paid no money, that they come in and pay up the
entrance money by the first of April, and take out their war
rants of survey, or their several entries will, after that time, be
considered as vacated, and liable to be entered by any other
person whatever.
The surveyors have now begun to survey and some few people
have been desirous of getting out their deeds immediately ; but
they generally complain of a great scarcity of money, and doubt
their being able to take their deeds before next June, or even
before next fall ; though, in a general way, people seem to be
well reconciled to the terms, and desirous to take up on them,
except some few whom I have been obliged to tamper with, and
a small party about Harodsburg, who, it seems, have been enter
ing into a confederacy not to hold lands on any other terms than
those of the first year. As this party is composed of people in
general, of small consequence, and I have taken some steps to
remove some of their principal objections, I make no doubt but

Appendix 235
to do all that way ; and for that purpose, have formed a design
of removing myself, with the office to Harodsburg, some time
in February next, unless I should flnd, from a trip I purpose
immediately taking there, that I can not do it with safety. The
principal man, I am told, at the head of this confederacy, is one
Hite ; and him I make no doubt but to convince he is in error.
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 Ohio, which circumstance I found roused
the attention of a number of people of note ; I, therefore, found
myself under the necessity of putting a stop to all clamors of
that kind, by declaring that I would grant no large bodies of
land to any person whatever, which lay contiguous to the Falls ;
which I have done in a solemn manner. This I am far from
thinking will be injurious to the Proprietors, but quite the reverse ;
and a circumstance which will render more general satisfaction,
and be of as much utility to the Colony, as any step heretofore
taken. You will observe that I am going on to justify the measure
before I inform you what it is. But to be brief, it is this ; the
Falls, it is certain, is a place which, from its situation, must be
the most considerable mart in this part of the world ; the lands
around are generally rich and fertile, and most agreeably sit
uated ; which had occasioned many people to fix their affections
on that place. Many applications have been made for large
grants at and about that place, and refused. Since which, twenty
thousand acres, and upwards, have been entered there for the
Company ; forty thousand or fifty thousand more, in large tracts,
by a few other gentlemen ; a partially was complained of ; a
general murmuring ensued. Upon considering the matter, I
thought it unjust ; I thought it a disadvantage to the partners
in general, and that some step ought to be taken to pacify the

236 Boonesborough
minds of 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 a one thousand within his survey. That a town be
immediately laid out, and a lot reserved to each proprietor, and
then the first settlers to take the lots which they may choose,
enter and improve ; which improvement must be done in a cer
tain limited time, or the lot forfeited, and again to be sold, etc.
These proposals seem to have given general satisfaction, and
every one who had entered large quantities within these limits,
gives it up with the greatest alacrity ; and I am in hopes will
meet the general approbation of the company ; if so, I shall be
happy ; if not, I shall be very sorry, though the necessity must
justify the measure.
The Falls of the Ohio is a place of all others within the
Colony, will admit of a town, which, from its particular situa
tion, will immediately become popular and flourishing ; the land
contiguous thereto rich and fertile, and where a great number of
gentlemen will most certainly settle, and be the support and
protection of a town at that place ; a place which should meet
with every encouragement, to settle and strengthen in as much
as it will, most certainly be the terror of our savage enemies,
the Kickeboos Indians, who border more nearly on that place
than any other part of the Colony ; and as I think it absolutely
necessary that the afforesaid proposed town at the Falls, be
laid off the ensuing spring, if I find it practicable, to raise a

Appendix 237
party about the first of March, and go down and lay out upon
the future tranquility of our situation between this and then, for
I assure you the little attack made upon us by the Indians the
23rd of last month, has made many people, who are ashamed to
confess themselves afraid, find out that their affairs on your side
the mountains will not dispense with their staying here any
longer at present ; and I am well convinced, once they get there,
that every alarm, instead of precipitating, will procrastinate their
return. When I mention the httle attack made on the 23rd
of last month, in this cursory manner, it is because I have
heretofore sent you a particular account of that massacre, in
a letter of the 27th ult. Though as that letter may fail, and
not get to hand, I will now briefly endeavor to relate the
circumstances. On Saturday about noon, being the 23rd, Col. Campbell, with
a couple of lads, (Saunders and McQuinney) went across the
river. On the opposite bank they parted. CampbeU went up
the river about two hundred yards and took up a bottom. The
two lads, without a gun, went straight up the 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 Col. 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 Col. 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, etc., ten or a dozen, in different parties, part or all of
whom we expected to be killed, if what Col. Campbell said was
true ; but that by many was doubted. Night came on ; several
of the hunters returned, but had neither seen nor heard of the

238 Boonesborough
Indians nor yet of the two lads. We continued in this state of
suspense until Wednesday, when a party of men sent out to
make search for them found McQuinney killed and scalped in a
corn field, at about three miles distance from town on the north
side of the river. Saunders could not be found and has not
yet been heard of.
On Thursday a ranging party of fifteen men, under the com
mand of Jesse Benton, was dispatched to scour the woods,
twenty or thirty miles round 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 went out our hunters returned, one at a time,
till they all came in safe, Saunders excepted, who no doubt had
shared McQuinney's fate.
On Sunday, the 31st day of the month, our rangers returned
without doing any thing more than convincing themselves that
the Indians had, immediately on doing the murder, ran off far
northward, as they discovered their tracts thirty or forty miles
towards the Ohio making that way.
On the above massacre being committed we began to doubt
there was a body of Indians about, who intended committing
outrage on our inhabitants. However, we are perfectly satisfied
since, that their number was only six or seven men, who set off
from Shawanee town before the treaty at Fort Pitt, with an
intent, as they termed it, to take a look at the white people
on Kentucky ; and King Cornstalk at the treaty, informed the
commissioners on this and said, for the conduct of these men,
before they returned, he could not be responsible for that he
did not know, but that they might do some mischief, and that
if any of them should get killed by the whites he should take
no notice at all of it.

Appendix 239
For this, we have undoubted authority, and do not at present
think ourselves in any great danger here, than if the above
massacre had not been committed.
Another circumstance is that our ammunition grows scant.
I do not think there is enough to supply this place till the
last of March ; supposing we should have no occasion of any
to repulse an enemy. If we should, God only knows how long
it will last.
If any powder can possibly be procured it would certainly
be advisable to do it ; if not, some person who can manufacture
the materials we have on the way for the purpose of making
powder. Most part of those are at the block house, or at least
within two or three miles of there — the rest in Powell's Valley.
Those (if we had any person who knew how properly to man
ufacture them into gun-powder) it would be necessary to have
at this place. We have no such person, and of course they
would be of but little service here. Nothwithstanding, I should
have sent for them before now ; but people here expect the
most exorbitant wages for trivial services. Not less than a dollar
a day, which will prevent my sending till I find the necessity
greater, or men to be hired cheaper.

240 Boonesborough

FORM OF HENDERSON & CO.'S SURVEY WARRANT,
1776.
(From an Original held by Robert Pogue, deceased, of
Mason County, Kentucky.')
Transylvania, \ Richard Henderson & Co.,
V SS.
Boonesborough, \ ' Proprietors of the Colony of Transylvania,

•! seal t

To John Floyd, Esquire,
Surveyor of the said Colony.

You are hereby authorized and required to survey and lay off
for Wm. Pogue Six Hundred and forty acres of land lying on
the west branches of Clark Creek known by the name of Gilmer's
Lick abt. three miles west of Wm. Whitleys place where he lives
and marked on a tree with powder, — W. Pogue. And the same
having surveyed persuant to the rules of our office laid down and
our instructions by the Surveyor to be observed ; two fair and
correct plots of the same you make or cause to be made with
your proceedings thereon, into our office within three months
from the date hereof, wherever then held within our said Colony.
Given under our Seal at Boonesborough the fifteenth day of
January 1776.
Jno. Williams, Ag't, &c.
Endorsed — No 676 Wm. Pogues Warn't for 640 acres of land,
Gilmer's lick.
'Collins, page 516, Vol. II.

Appendix 241
u
PETITION OF TRANSYLVANIANS TO THE VIRGINIA
CONVENTION. (RECEIVED MAY, 1776.)
(From Journal Va. Convention.)
To the Honorable the Convention of Virginia :
The petition of the inhabitants, and some of the intended
settlers of that part of North America, now denominated
Transylvania, 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 shew of the
easy terms on which the land was to be purchased from those
who stile themselves proprietors, have, at a great expense, and
many hardships, settled there, under the faith of holding the
lands by an indefeasible title, which those gentlemen assured
them they were capable of making. But your petitioners have
been greatly alarmed at the late conduct of those gentlemen, in
advancing the price of the purchase money from twenty shillings
to fifty shillings sterling, per hundred acres, and at the same
time have increased the fees of entry and surveying to a most
exorbitant rate ; and, by the short period prefixed for taking
up 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. And
your petitioners have been more justly alarmed at such unac
countable and arbitrary, proceedings, as they have lately learned
from a copy of the deed made by the Six Nations with Sir
William Johnson, and the commissioners from this Colony, at
Fort Stanwix, in the year 1768, that the said lands were
32

242 Boonesborough
included in the cession or grant of all that tract which lies
on the south side of the river Ohio, beginning at the mouth of
Cherokee or Hogohege river, and extending up the said river
to Kettaning. And, as in the preamble of the said deed, the
said confederate Indians declare the Cherokee river to be
their true boundary with the southard Indians, your petitioners
may, with great reason, doubt the validity of the purchase that
those proprietors have made of the Cherokees — the only title
they set up to the lands for which they demand such extravagant
sums from your petitioners, without any other assurance for hold
ing them than their own deed and warrantee ; a poor security,
as your petitioners humbly apprehend, for the money that, among
other new and unreasonable regulations, these proprietors insist
should be paid down on the delivery of the deed. 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 consider
ation, will vindicate his title, and think himself at liberty to grant
them to such persons, and on such terms as he pleases, your
petitioners would, in consequence thereof, be turned out of pos
session, 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 can not help regarding the demand of Mr.
Henderson and his company as highly unjust and impolitic, in
the infant state of the settlement, 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. And, as we are anxious to concur in every respect with our
brethren of the united colonies, for our just rights and privileges,
as far as our infant settlement and remote situation will admit of.

App e n dix

243

we humbly expect and implore to be taken under the protection
of the honorable Convention of the Colony of Virginia, of which
we can not help thinking ourselves stfll 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 them
selves proprietors, who, the better to effect their oppressive
designs, have given them the color 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 honors in your
wisdom shall judge most expedient for restoring peace and har
mony to our divided settlement ; or, if your honors apprehend
that our cause comes more properly before the honorable the
General Congress, that you would in your goodness recommend
the same to your worthy delegates, to espouse it as the cause of
the Colony. And your petitioners, &c.

James Harrod,
Abm. Hite, Jun.
Patrick Dorane,
Ralph Nailor,
Robt. Atkinson,
Robt. Nailor,
John Maxfield,
Saml. Pottinger,
Barnerd Walter,
Hugh M'MiUion,
John Kilpatrick,
Robt. Dook,
Edward Brownfield,

John Beesor,
Conrod Woolter,
John Moore,
John Corbie,
Abm. Vanmetre,
Saml. Moore,
Isaac Pritcherd,
Joseph Gwyne,
Geo. Uland,
Michl. Thomas,
Adam Smith,
Saml. Thomas,
Henry Thomas,

Wm. Myars,
Peter Paul,
Henry Simons,
Wm. Gaffata,
James Hugh,
Thos. Bathugh,
John Connway,
Wm. Crow,
Wm. Feals,
Benja. Davis,
Beniah Dun,
Adam Neelson,
Wm. Shepard,

244

Boonesborough

Wm. House,
Jno. Dun,
Jno. Sim, Sen.
John House,
Sime. House,
Chas. Creeraft,
James Willie,
John Camron,
Thos. Kenady,
Jesse Pigman,
Simon Moore,
John Moore,
Thos. Moore,
Herman Consoley,
Silas Harland,
Wm. Harrod,
Levi Harrod,

John MUls,
Elijah Mills,
Jehu Harland,
Leonard Cooper,
Wm. Rice,
Arthur Ingram,
Thos. Wilson,
WUliam Wood,
Joseph Lyons,
Andrew House,
Wm. Hartly,
Thomas Dean,
Richard Owan,
Barnet Neal,
John Severn,
James Hugh,

James Calley,
Joseph Parkison,
Jediah Ashraft,
John Hardin,
Archd. Reves,
Moses Thomas,
J. Zebulon Collins,
Thos. Parkinson,
Wm. Muckleroy,
Meridith Helm, Jun.,
Andw. House,
David Brooks,
John Helm,
Benja. Parkison,
Wm. Parkison,
Wm. Crow.

PETITION OF "THE COMMITTEE OF WEST FIN-
- CASTLE" TOTHE CONVENTION OF VIRGINIA
(HARRODSBURG, JUNE 20, 1776).
(From Joumal of Va. Convention.)
To the Honourable the Convention of Virginia:
The Humble petition of the Committee of West Fincastle
of the Colony of Virginia, Being on the North and South Sides
of the River Kentucke (or Louisa). Present, John Gabriel Jones,
Esqr., chairman, John Bowman, John Cowen, WiUiam Bennet,

Appendix 245
Joseph Bowman, John Crittenden, Isack Hite, George Rodgers
Clark, Andrew McConnel, Hugh McGary, James Harrod, Silas
Harland, WUliam McConnel and John Maxwell, gentlemen.
The Inhabitants of this remote part of Virginia who are equally
desirous of contributing to the utmost of their power to the
Support of the present laudable cause of American Freedom and
wiUing to prove to the World, that tho they live so remote from
the Seat of Government, that they Feel in the most Sensible
manner for the Suffering Brethern, and that they most Ardently
desire to be looked upon as part of the Colony notwith
standing the Base proceedings of a Detestible, Wicked and
Corrupt Ministry to prevent any more County's to be laid off
without the inhabitants would be so Pusilanimous as to give
up the Right of appointing proper Persons to Represent 'em in
Assembly or Convention, and as we further conceive that as
the Proclamation of His Majesty for not settling on the Western
Waters of this Colony is not founded upon Law, it can have
no Force. And if we submit to that Proclamation as well as
to have other Counties laid off without sending any represen
tatives to ye Convention, it's in our Opinion manifesting an
Acquiesence to the Will of an Abandoned Ministry and leaving
an Opening to their Wicked and Diabolical designs as then
this Immense and Fertile Country would afford an Assylum to
those whose Principles are inimical to American Freedom, And
if Counties are not laid off as Fincastle County now Reaches
and already Settled near Three Hundred and Eighty Miles
from East to West it would be impossible that two Delegates
can be Sufficient to Represent such a Respectable body of
People, or that Such a number of Inhabitants should be
Bound to Obey without being heard-, and as those very People
would most cheerfully Co operate in every measure tending

246 Boonesborough
to the PubHck Peace and American Liberty if their Delegates
now chosen by the Free voice of the Inhabitants on the
Western Waters of Fincastle (on Kentucke) and which Election
was held for Eight days at Harrods Town after the Prepara
tory Notice of Five Weeks given to the Inhabitants, and on
the Pole being Closed, Captain John Gabriel Jones and Captain
George Rodgers Clark having the Majority were returned, and
not doubting the acceptance of 'em as our Representatives by
the Honourable ye Convention, to serve in that Capacity, as
we conceive the Precedent Established in West Augusta will
Justify our Proceedings ; And we cannot but observe how impo-
litical it would be to Suffer such a Respectable Body of Prime
Rifle Men to remain in a state of Neutrality, when at this time
a Certain Set of men from North Carolina stiling 'emselves
Proprietors and claiming an Absolute Right to these very
Lands taking upon 'emselves the Legislative Authority, Appoint
ing Offices both Civil and Military, having also opened a Land
Office Surveyors General & Deputys appointed & act, convey
ances made, and Land sold at an Exhorbitant Price, with
many other unconstitutional practices tending to disturb the
Inhabitants, those who are well disposed to the whole some
Government of Virginia, and creating factions and Divisions
amongst them. * as we have not hitherto been Represented
in Convention as well knowing ye Frailty of Human Nature
that Interest will often Predominate, and that the Tyrannick
Ministry would not stop at any means to reduce the loyal
amerieans to their detestable ends that if these pretended
Proprietors have leave to continue to act in their arbitrary
manner out the controul of this Colony the end must be
evident to every well wisher to American Liberty. At this
time of Danger we cannot take too much Precaution against

Appendix 247
the Inroads of ye Savages and to prevent the Effusion of Inno
cent Blood. We the Committee (after receiving a messuage
from the Chiefs of the Delaware's who are now settled near
the Mouth of the Waubash) informing us that a League would
be held at Opost, by the English and ye Kiccapoos Indians
and that they would attend to know the purport of the same,
if their Brothers of the Long Knife would send a man they
could rely on, they would on their Return inform 'em of the
same & they were Apprehensive the Kiccapoos would strike
their Brothers ye Long Knife therefore we thought it most
prudent and shall send immediately a Certain James Harrod
and Garrett Pendergrass, to converse with 'em on ye same.
And as it's the Request of the Inhabitants that we should
point out a Number of Men Capable and most acquainted with
the Laws of this Colony to act as Magistrates, a List of the
same we have inclosed, and For other Matters Relative to
this Country we Conceive that Captain Jones and Captain
Clark our Delegates will be able to inform the Honourable the
Convention, not doubting but they will listen to our Petition
and take us under their Jurisdiction — And your Petitioners as
in Duty Bound &c.
Signed by order of the Committee. Jno. Ga Jones, Chairman,
Abraham Hite, junr. Clerk.
Harrodsburg, June 20, 1776.

248 Boonesborough

w
PROCLAMATION OF TRANSYLVANIA COMPANY AGAINST
SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTED LANDS
(JUNE 26, 1776).
(From Cal. Va. State Papers, Vol. i.)
TRANSYLVANIA OR WEST KENTUCKY.
Whereas disputes have arisen respecting the Title of the
proprietors of Transylvania to the Soil of that Country and as
some short time will elapse before they may be fully and
satisfactorily determined (being anxious to avoid all cause of
complaint) the said proprietors earnestly desire, that no person
may in the mean time take possession of any entered or sur
veyed lands in said Country, with expectation of procuring a title
in consequence thereof, as such lands ought, of right, to be
granted to the respective persons in whose names those entries
were made : and should the absolute title be adjudged in favour
of the Subscribers on the present dispute, (as they have no
doubt will be the case) they hereby declare their intention of
granting such lands, on application to the proper claimants,
according to the rules of their office. And the proprietors have
hitherto reserved the lands below Green river, and as high up
Cumberland on both sides as Manskors' Lick, for themselves,
until they could lay uff a small quantity therein for their
separate use, they hope that no person will make improve
ment within the said bounds before such surveys shall be
made, as such improvement may possibly interfere with choice
of some of the copartners, and consequently, not be granted.
And as it is unsafe at this time to settle the Country in small
detached parties, and the alarming reports with respect to the

Appendix 249
hostile intention of the Cherokee Indians, on the frontiers, will
no doubt prevent emigration for some time, to that Country,
care wiU be taken to cause those lands to be laid off as soon
as conveniently may' be : so that when, from the more pacific
disposition of those people, a removal to that Country may
be thought safe, every person on Application to the books of
the land oflice at Boonsborough, may be informed of the
entered and reserved lands as aforesaid, and direct their choice
gy. j^^^ Luttrell, Thomas Hart,
James Hogg, Nathaniel Hart,
David Hart, John Williams,
Leonard H. Bullock, William Johnston.
Richard Henderson,

X
CAPTURE OF THE GIRLS AT BOONESBOROUGH.
(Extract from a Letter of John Floyd to William Preston of Virgima.)
My Dear Sir: Boonesborough, July 21, 1776.
The situation of our country is much altered since I wrote
you last. The Indians seem determined to break up our
settlements ; and I really doubt, unless it is possible to give
us some assistance, that the greater part of the people may
fall a prey to them. They have, I am satisfied, killed several
whom, at this time I know not how to mention. Many are
missing who some time 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'stown. On the seventh of this
33

250 Boonesborough
month they kiUed one Cooper on Licking Creek and on the
fourteenth a man whose name I know not at your Salt Spring
on the same creek.
On the same day they took out of a canoe within sight
of this place Miss Betsy Callaway, her sister Frances, and a
daughter of Daniel Boone, the two last about thirteen or
fourteen years old and the other grown. The affair happened
late in the afternoon. They left the canoe on the opposite
side of the river from us, which prevented our getting over
for some time to pursue them. We could not that night fol
low more than five miles. Next morning by daylight we were
on their track ; but they had entirely prevented our following
them by walking some distance apart through the thickest
cane they could find. We observed their course and on which
side we had left their sign, and travelled upwards of thirty
miles. We then supposed they would be less cautious in
traveUing, and making a turn in order to cross their track
we had gone but a few miles when we found their tracks in
a buffalo path — pursued and overtook them in going about ten
miles, just as they were kindling a fire to cook. Our study
had been how to get the prisoners without giving the Indians
time to murder them after they discovered us. We saw each
other nearly at the same time. Four of us fired and all
rushed on them by which they were prevented from carrying
anything away except one shot gun without any ammunition.
Mr. Boone and myself had each a pretty fair shot as they
began to move off. I am well convinced I shot one through
the body. The one he shot dropped his gun — mine had none.
The place was covered with thick cane, and being so much
elated on recovering the three poor little heart-broken girls,
we were prevented from making any further search. We sent

Appendix 251
the Indians off almost naked — some without their moccasins
and none of them with so much as a knife or tomahawk.
After the girls came to themselves sufficiently to speak they
told us there were only five Indians — four Shawanese and one
Cherokee. They could speak good English and said they would
then go to the Shawanese towns. The war club we got was
like those I have seen of that nation. Several words of
their language, which the girls retained, were known to be
Shawanese. * * * John Floyd.

THE BOWMAN LETTER (TO COLONEL GEORGE
ROGERS CLARK) ON THE LAST SIEGE
OF BOONESBOROUGH.
(From original, held by the late John B. Bowman, )
Dear Sir  Harrodsburgh, October 14, 1778.
This day I received yours by Wm. Miers and with difliculty
I shall furnish him with a horse to ride to the settlement on.
The Indians have pushed us hard this summer. I shall only
begin on the 7th of September when three hundred and thirty
Indians with eight Frenchmen came to Boonesborough, raised a
flag and called for Capt. Boone who had lately come from them
and offered terms of peace to the Boonesborough people. Hear
ing that the Indians gladly treated with you at the Illinois gave
them reason to think that the Indians were sincere ; two days
being taken up in this manner till they became quite familiar
with one another ; but finding the Boonesborough people would
not turn out and having Col. Callaway, Maj. Smith, Capt. Boone,

252 Boonesborough
Capt. Buchanan and their subalterns eight in number, in the
Lick where they had their table, (you know the distance, about
eighty yards) the Indians getting up, Blackfish made a long
speech, then gave the word go, instantly a signal gun fired, the
Indians fastened on the eight men to take them off, the white
people began to dispute the matter though unarmed, and broke
loose from the Indians, though there were two or three Indians
to one white man. In running the above distance upwards of
two hundred guns fired from each side and yet every man escaped
but Squire Boone who was badly wounded though not mortally ;
he got safe to the fort. On this a hot engagement ensued for
nine days and nights, constant fire without any intermission, no
more damage was done however but one killed and two wounded.
The Indians then dispersed to the. different forts where they
still remain in great numbers and waylaying our hunters. Gen
eral Mcintosh who commands the army intended against Detroit
I understand received instructions to strike the Indians and not
meddle with Detroit. For other northern news I refer you to
the Gazettes I herewith send you.
The Indians have done more damage in the interior settle
ments this summer than was ever done in one season before.
Absolute necessity obliges me to send Capt. Harrod for salt
that we may be able to lay up a sufficient quantity of provision
for the next summer. I hope you wiU send us one hundred
bushels for that purpose, send an account of the same and I
will send you the money by Capt. Montgomery in the Spring.
Your compliance in this matter will enable us to keep our ground
if not we shall be obliged to break up for want of provision for
necessity will break through stone walls. I was obliged to
promise six shillings per day to every man that returns with
Capt. Harrod that I sent. I beg this as a favor to let every

Appendix 253
man of them have the value of forty dollars in goods as may
best suit them and I will pay it with the above.
I am, dear sir. your humble servant jj^^ Bowman.
N. B. Pray forward the newspapers to my brother after
your looking over them.
P. S. We have been reinforced from Washington County
with eighty men but their time was near out before they came
this length so they return immediately again.
Col. G. R. Clark.

THE TRANSYLVANIA PURCHASE DECLARED VOID
BY VIRGINIA IN 1778.
(From Journal Virginia House of Delegates.)
In the House of Delegates, Wednesday, the 4th of Novem
ber, 1778.
Resolved, That all purchases of lands, made or to be made, of
the Indians, within the chartered bounds of this commonwealth,
as described by the constitution or form of government, by any
private persons 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 commoUwealth, 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 estab
lishing a barrier against the Indians, it is just and reasonable
to allow the said Richard Henderson and Company a compen
sation for their trouble and expense.
Tuesday, November 17th, 1778 : Agreed to by the Senate.

254 Boonesborough

AN ACT TO VEST CERTAIN LANDS ON THE OHIO AND
GREEN RIVERS, IN FEE-SIMPLE, IN RICHARD HEN
DERSON AND COMPANY AND THEIR HEIRS.
Passed at the Session of the General Assembly of Vir
ginia Begun at Williamsburg October 5, 1778, and in
THE Third Year of the Commonwealth.
(From Henning's Statutes at Large, Vol. IX, p. 571.)
Whereas it has appeared to this Assembly that Richard
Henderson and Company have been at very great expense in
making a purchase of the Cherokee Indians and although the
same has been declared void yet as this Commonwealth is likely
to receive great advantage therefrom by increasing its inhab
itants and establishing a barrier against the Indians it is there
fore just and reasonable the said Richard Henderson and Com
pany be made a compensation for their trouble and expense.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly that all that tract
of land situate, lying and being on the waters of the Ohio and
Green rivers bounded as follows, to wit : Beginning at the
mouth of Green River, thence running up the same twelve and
a half miles when reduced to a straight line, thence running at
right angles with the said reduced lines twelve and a half miles
on each side of the said river, thence running lines from the
termination of the line extended on each side the said Green
River at right angles with the same till the said lines inter
sect the Ohio, which said river Ohio shall be the western
boundary of the said tract, be, and the same is hereby
granted to the said Richard Henderson and Company and
their heirs as tenants in common subject to the payment of
the same taxes as other lands within this Commonwealth are

Appendix

255

but under such limitations of time as to settling the said lands
as shall be hereafter directed by the General Assembly but this
grant shall and is hereby declared to be in full compensation to
the said Richard Henderson and Company and their heirs for
their charge and trouble and for all advantage accruing there
from to this Commonwealth and they are hereby excluded from
any farther claim to lands on account of any settlement or
improvements heretofore made by them or any of them on the
lands so as aforesaid purchased from the Cherokee Indians.

II
CAPTAIN JOHN HOLDER'S COMPANY AT AND NEAR
BOONESBOROUGH IN JUNE, 1779.
(From the John B. Bowman papers.)

Holder, John, Caft.
Ark, Uriel.
Bailey, Thos.
Ballard, Bland.
Baughman, John.
Bedinger, G. M.
Berry, James.
Bryan, James.
Bunten, James.
Butler, John.
Callaway, John.
Collins, Elijah.
Collins, Josiah.
Collins, William.
Constant, John.
Cook, David.
Coombs, William.
Cradlebaugh, Wm.
Dunpard, John.

Estill, James.
Fear, Edmund.
Gass, David.
Hancock, Stephen.
Hancock, Wm.
Hawiston, John.
Hays, WiUiam.
Hodges, Jesse.
Horn, Jeremiah.
Kirkham, Robert.
Kirkham, Samuel.
Lee, John.
Lockhart, Charles.
McCuUum, John.
McGee, Wm.
Morgan, Ralph.
Morris, Wm.
Perry, James.
Pleck, John.

Porter, Samuel.
Proctor, Nicholas.
Proctor, Reuben.
Rollins, Pemberton.
Ross, Hugh.
Searcy, Bartlett.
Searcy, Reuben.
South, John, Sr.
South, John, Jr.
South, John, y'ng'r.
South, Thomas.
Stagner, Barney.
Stearns, Jacob.
Stephenson, John.
Vallandigham, Benoni.
Weber, John.
Wilcoxson, Daniel.
Wilson, Moses.

256 Boonesborough III
AN ACT FOR ESTABLISHING THE TOWN OF BOONS
BOROUGH IN THE COUNTY OF KENTUCKEY.
Passed at the Session of the General Assembly of Virginia
held at Williamsburg, Commencing Oct. 4, 1779,
and in the Fourth Year of the
Commonwealth.
(From Henning's Statutes at Large, Vol. X, p. 134.)
Whereas it hath been represented to this present General
Assembly that the inhabitants of the township called Boons
borough lying on Kentuckey river in the County of Kentuckey
have laid off twenty acres of land into lots and streets and have
petitioned this Assembly that the said lots and streets together
with fifty acres of land adjoining thereto may be laid off into
lots and streets and established a town for the reception of
traders and that Six Hundred and forty acres of land allowed
by law to every township for a common may also be laid off
adjoining thereto. Be it therefore enacted. That the said fifty
acres of land adjoining the said forty lots already laid off
shall be and the same is hereby vested in Richard Callaway,
Charles Mimms Thruston, Levin Powell, Edmund Taylor, James
Estre, Edward Bradley, John Kennedy, David Gist, Pemberton
Rollins, and Daniel Boone, gentlemen, trustees to be by them
or any six of them laid out into lots of half an acre each
with convenient streets which together with the lots and streets
so laid off in the said township shall be and the same is
hereby established a town by the name of Boonsborough.
And be it further enacted. That so soon as the said fifty
acres of land shall be so laid out into lots and streets the
said trustees shall cause a plan thereof together with a plan
of the said township as the same is already laid off to be
returned to the court of the said County of Kentuckey there
to be recorded, &c. &c. * * *

Appendix 257
IV
MEMORIAL TO CONGRESS OF THE TRANSYLVANIA
COMPANY, JANUARY 6, 1795.
(American Archives.)
To the Honorable the Congress of the United States :
The Memorial of Thomas Hart, of the State of Kentucky, John
Williams, Leonard Henley BuUock, and James Hogg, of the
State of North Carohna, sheweth.
That in the faU of the year 1774, your Memorialists, in
company with Richard Henderson, William Johnston, Nathaniel
Hart, John Luttrell, and David Hart, all now deceased, entered
into bargain with the Overhill Cherokee Indians, for a purchase
of some of their lands ; and agreeably to preliminaries then
agreed to, they, m March 1775, met at Watauga with the chiefs
of the said Indians, attended by upwards of twelve hundred of
their people ; and then and there, in fair and open treaty, after
several day's conference, and full discussion of every matter
relating to the purchase, in presence of, and assisted by inter
preters chosen by the said chiefs, and in consideration of a very
large assortment of clothes and other goods, then delivered by
the said Company to the said chiefs, and by them divided among
their people, they the said Company obtained from the said
Indians two several deeds, signed by Okonistoto their king or
chief warrior, AtakuUakuUa and Savonooko or Coronoh, the next
in the nation to Okonistoto in rank and consideration, for them
selves, and on behalf, and with the warm approbation of the
whole nation. These two grants comprehended, besides a great
tract of land on the back of Virginia, a vast territory within the
chartered limits of North Carolina, lying on the rivers of Hol-
34

258 Boonesborough
ston, Clinch, Powell, and Cumberland, and their several branches,
to the amount of many millions of acres.
This purchase from the aborigines and immemorial possessors
of the said lands, being concluded more than a year before the
Declaration of Independence, before the very existence of the
Americans as States, or their claim to such lands, and not con
trary to any then existing law of Great Britain or her Colonies,
your memorialists and their copartners with confidence concluded
that they had obtained a just, clear and indefeasible title to the
said lands ; and being then by the said Indians put into the
actual possession of the said country, they immediately hired
between two and three hundred men, and proceeded across their
territory, to the river Kentucky, which with all its branches was
comprehended in their purchase ; and there about the 20th of
April in the said year of 1775, began a settlement to which they
gave the name of Boonsborough. The raising of necessary accom
modations for their infant Colony, and building forts for their
defence against the Shawanese and other hostile Indians, on the
northwest of the Ohio, added much to the prime cost of their
lands, and was attended with imminent risk and danger, and
even with the massacre of some of the proprietors and several
of their friends and followers.
After thus possessing and defending their property at a vast
expense, trouble and danger, for several years against the sav
ages, the Company were much astonished to find that first the
Assembly of Virginia, and some years afterwards, the Assembly
of North Carolina, began to call in question the rights of the
said Company. It would be to no purpose at this time, to
trouble Congress with any thing relating to the negotiation of
the said Company with the Assembly of Virginia, as the com
pensation in lands, made to them by that state, remains untouched

Appendix 259
and unclaimed by any person or persons whatever against the
Company, as far as has come to their knowledge. But the dif
ferent fate of the lands granted them by the Assembly of North
Carolina, makes some detail necessary.
This Assembly, in their May session of 1782, enacted that a
great part of the lands lying on the river Cumberland and branches
thereof, aU within the said Company's purchase, should be laid
off and reserved for the officers and soldiers of the North Car
olina line, and soon thereafter, opened a land office for the sale
of their whole purchase. However, after repeated remonstrances,
presented to them by the Company, the Assembly, by way of
compensation for their trouble and expense, agreed that the Com
pany should retain 200,000 acres on the waters of Powell and
Clinch rivers, part of the Company's purchase, with the grant or
guarantee of the state for the same. The Company felt them
selves grossly aggrieved by being thus arbitrarily dealt with ; but
they saw no alternative : they had not power to do themselves
justice ; and there was then no tribunal to which they could
appeal. One of the conditions of this grant or guarantee was,
that it should be surveyed within a certain limited time. The
Company, therefore, found it necessary to have the survey made
within the time prescribed ; and though the Indians were then
hostilely disposed, they ventured to depute one of their partners
with a surveyor, chain carriers and guards ; but after incurring
an expense of ;^300 and upwards, the survey and plot were
found defective, owing to the hurry in which the business was
done. This misfortune obliged the Company to apply to the
Assembly for further time to have a new survey. Time was
accordingly given, and agreeably thereto, at the expense of ;£^20o
more and upwards, the survey was completed, and soon there
after conferred by the Assembly.

26o Boonesborough
But while these things were doing, the General Assembly, in
the year 1789, had ceded their western lands to the United States,
and the United States in 1790, accepted this cession, on certain
conditions, one of which was, that all entries made by, and grants
made to, any persons within the limits ceded, should have the
same force and effect as if the cession had not been made.
Within this cession the whole of the Company's grant from the
General Assembly was comprehended ; and though, in the opinion
of the Company, it was a compensation very inadequate to their
trouble and risk and expense, yet being now in possession of a
State right as well as Indian right, they flattered themselves
their title to it was beyond a cavil. They concluded it to be of
considerable value ; and as the Holston settlements were rapidly
advancing around it, they were pursuaded they could venture to
form settlements on it, or at least dispose of it to advantage.
They therefore had a bill of partition filed in the district court
of Washington ; and being now in view of a speedy partition
and of receiving some small compensation for their great expendi
tures and trouble, they could not help being greatly astonished
and extremely mortified, when they learnt that almost the whole
of their grant from the Assembly was ceded to the Cherokee
Indians by the United States at the treaty of Holston, made on
the day of 179
Such a seizure and disposal of the property of citizens without
any previous stipulation with the proprietors, nay without the
least notice given 'them or any crime alleged against them,
appeared to your Memorialists not only improper but unjust ;
but for the honor of the States, your Memorialists hope, that at
the time this cession was made to the Indians, the government
was not aware that such private property was comprehended in
it. At any rate, if for political reasons, and for the interest of

Appendix 261
the States, it was found expedient to make such a sacrifice of
the rights of a private company, it is to be hoped that Congress
will be disposed to make ample compensation.
Twenty years have nearly elapsed since the Company made
their purchase from the Indians. The expenses of this purchase
from first to last have been great, and have been the means of
reducing some of the Company to great difficulties ; for, owing
to the facts and circumstances above set forth, they have not to
this day, been able to receive the smallest recompense.
The injustice and oppression complained of are flagrant, and
the facts and circumstances above set forth are notorious, at
least they are well known to the Senators and Representatives
in Congress from the state of North Carolina, and the deeds and
other vouchers are ready to be produced. And that all difficulty
and dispute may hereafter be done away, your memorialists are
willing, upon receiving proper compensation, to relinquish all
claim to the lands purchased by them from the Indians within
the chartered limits of North Carolina, an extensive territory now
held by the United States in which the Indian claim was extin
guished by fair purchase, at the expense of your Memorialists.
Your Memorialists therefore, without further detail, beg leave to
submit their case to the wisdom and justice of the Congress of
the United States, and from them hope for speedy and ample
redress. Your Memorialists have only further to request, that whatever
compensation Congress may be pleased to "give them, may be
directed to be dealt out to your Memorialists and Company,
and their representatives or assigns, respectively, in proportion
to the share to which each is entitled by the copartnership.
Signed for and in behalf of the Company, by
Jno. Williams, Chairman.
6th January, 1795.

INDEX.

PAGE

Abingdon  2^
Adams, Charles Francis  44
Adams, John  43^ 229
Adventurers  jg, 166
Aikin, Samuel  1 30
AUeghanies  30
Alves, James  151, igg
Ambuscades  16 88
American Pioneer  60
Anderson, Nicholas  108
Anthony, James  108
Appendix  ijg
Ark, Uriel  255
Arrows Blazing  gg
Artillery, Dread of  82, 119
Ash Hopper  ^ i
Athens, Kentucky  121, 131
AttacuUaculla  8, 151, 161
Attempt to Burn Fort  5g, gg, 101
Bacon, J. P  i5g
Bailey, Thomas  255
Ballard, Bland  116, 255
Baubin, Charles  g5, 86
Baughman, John (Boffman)  121, 255
Bear Meat  163, 166, 176
Bedinger, G. M  255
Bennet, WiUiam  244
Benton, Jesse  45, 238
Berry, James  255
Bible Class  49
Big Hill, Kentucky   10
Big Sandy  5
Big Turtle (Boone)  65

264 Index

Bird, Henry  "  108, 119
Black Bird  72, 86
" Black Dan "  32, 36
Black Fish  56, 65, 66, 68, 72, 80, 81, 84, 87, 88, 103, 108, 109
Blackfish Ford  76
Black's Fort   37
Black Hoof  74
Bledsoe, Captain  1 70
Block Houses  35, 79, 88, 107
" Block House, The"  361 37
Blue Grass  1 8
Blue Licks, Battle of  129
Blue Licks, Lower  64
Blue Licks, Upper  51, 75, 8z
Blue Ridge, The  2, 4
Boffman's Creek  121
Boiling Spring  28
Boone, Daniel, and Cherokees  2,3
Boone, Daniel, and the Henderson Scheme  2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9
Boone, Daniel, and Wilderness Road  6, 9, 10, 16, 17, 165
Boone, Daniel, Appointed Lieutenant Colonel  122
Boone, Daniel, at Battle of Blue Licks  129
Boone, Daniel, at Watauga  2, 7, 9
Boonej Daniel, Autograph  89, 1 1 1
Boone, Daniel, Before 1775  145
Boone, Daniel, Brings His Family to Boonesborough  37, 40, 178
Boone, Daniel, Captured at Blue Licks  65, gg
Boone, Daniel, Characteristics of  igy
Boone, Daniel, Coolness  12, 21
Boone, Daniel, Early Life,  o
Boone, Daniel, Escapes Capture at Boone's Station  131
Boone, Daniel, Escapes from the Indians  gg
Boone, Daniel, Exonerated  105
Boone, Daniel, Family at Snoddy's  3S
Boone, Daniel, First Attempt to Colonize Kentucky  3, 146
Boone, Daniel, Helps to Rescue the Girls  go
Boone, Daniel, in Command at Boonesborough  gg, g8
Boone, Daniel, in " The Great Siege "  , 87

Index 265

Boone, Daniel, Leaves Kentucky  131
Boone, Daniel, Letter of April i, 1775  ig8
Boone, Daniel, Letter to Governor of Virginia  129
Boone, Daniel, Name  m
Boone, Daniel, Order to the Lower Companies  12
Boone, Daniel, Portrait of  10
Boone, Daniel, Retums with Family from North Carolina  120
Boone, Daniel, Relics of  gg
Boone, Daniel, Robbed  120
Boone, Daniel, Settles Boone's Station  120
Boone, Edward, Killed  120
Boone, Israel  ,  121
Boone, James, Killed  i^g
Boone, Jemima  40, 41, 4g, 67, 77
Boone, Jemima, Captured  4g
Boone, Mrs  40, 41, 67
Boone, Mrs., Returns to North Carolina  67
Boone, Squire  9. 52) 67, 77, 87, 90, 107
Boone's Creek  121
Boone's Gap  11
Boone's Narrative  34, 49, 57, yj
Boone's Path Post-office  14
Boone's Station  121, 128, 129
Boone's Trace  59, 192
Boonesborough a Deserted Village  137
Boonesborough an Open Town  133
Boonesborough, Burials at  60,117
Boonesborough Ferry  110,134
Boonesborough, Floods at  132, 133
Boonesborough Fort, Aid Asked  71
Boonesborough Fort, Appearance of it in 1778  89
Boonesborough Fort Battery  93
Boonesborough Fort Besieged  57, 75
Boonesborough Fort, Boys in  77, 129
Boonesborough Fort, Books at  63
Boonesborough Fort, Cabin Equipments  62
Boonesborough Fort Commenced  25
Boonesborough Fort Completed.  34, 52, 69
35

266 Index

Boonesborough Fort, Conveniences of  62
Boonesborough Fort, Food at  63
Boonesborough Fort, Friendly Savages at  82, 83
Boonesborough Fort, Garrison of  57, 58, 77
Boonesborough Fort Incomplete  26
Boonesborough Fort Mine  92,99
Boonesborough Fort, No Remnant of Exists  134
Boonesborough Fort, No Well in  36, 69
Boonesborough Fort, Patriots Rejoice  53, 61, 132
Boonesborough Fort, Plan of  26, 35, 79
Boonesborough Fort, Siege Abandoned  100
Boonesborough Fort, Site of  24, 40, 135, 172
Boonesborough Fort, Sufferings at  60, 61, 67, 78, 122, 125
Boonesborough Fort, Surrender Demanded  81
Boonesborough Fort, the Truce  81
Boonesborough Fort, Women of  77, 129
Boonesborough Incorporated  no, 256
Boonesborough in 1792  133
Boonesborough, Land Disposed of by Lot  172
Boonesborough, Location Described  137
Boonesborough, Memorials Proposed  138
Boonesborough Named  28, 165
Boonesborough, Plat of  no
Boonesborough Settled  20
Boonesborough, Site in 1900  25, 135, 136
Boonesborough, Trustees of  1 1 1
Boonesborough, Town Becomes Extinct  134
Boston, Battle at  178
Bowman, Captain  177
Bowman, John  60, 76, 85, 108, 118, 244
Bowman, John, Letter to Clark  yg, 251
Bowman, John, Waming Letter to  118
Bowman, Joseph  230, 245
Bowman, Major  inn
Braddock's Defeat  ^4
Bradford, John  5, 72
Bradley, Edward  ju
Brant, Joseph  ,  ^24

Index 267

Bread, Lack of  32, 177, 192
Bridges, James  jgj
British Commissary  88
British Flag  88
Brooks, Castleton  j c g
Brooms, Hickory  ,q
Brooks, Thomas  57, 66
Brush, Dead  jy jg3
Bryan, James  255
Bryan's or Bryant's Station  107, 113, 127, 128
Buchanan, William  87, 127
Buffaloes  17, ig, 22, 166, 176
Buffalo Meat  22 192
Buffalo Tongues  80
Buffalo Trace  10 ig
Bulger, Edward  118
Bullet, Captain  180
Bullock, Leonard H  4
Bunker Hill  33
Bunten, James  ,  255
Burton, C. M  103
Bush, William  g i
Butler, John  255
Butler, Mann  108, 169
Butler, Simon  56, 67, 72, 103
Cabin Creek  75
Cabins in the Hollow  20, 33, 40
Cahokia  86
Calk, WilUam  15
Callaway, Elizabeth  49. 52
Callaway, Fanny  ... 49
Callaway, Flanders  51, 76, 87
Callaway, John  255
Callaway, Richard-. 9, 36, 38, 41, 49, 50, 67, 77, 81, 87, g8, 105, in, 165
Callaway, Richard, Death of  116
Caldwell, William  127
Canadian Archives  73, 133
CampbeU, Arthur  71, 160

268 Index

Campbell, Colonel  237
Cane  i6, i63
Canebrakes  r7
Cane Creek, North Carolina  3g
Cannon, the Wooden  95
Canoe Ridge  ii6
Capture of the Three Girls  49. 24g
Caroline County, Virginia  9
Carr, John  72
Carter County, Tennessee  r , 7
Carter, T. W  38
Carter's Books  1 59
Carter's Valley  i59
Cartwright, John  108
Cartwright, Robert  108
Castlewood, Virginia  38
Catahecassa  74
Chaplain, Abraham  118
Chenault, William  16, 87, 127
Chenoca  143, 152
Cherokee River  242
Cherokees  2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 29, 50, 161, 190, 242
Cherokees, Deed to Henderson and Company  29, 151, 149
Cherokee Towns  2
Chillicothe  68, 71
Chota  2
Christmas at Boonesborough  46, 125
Clark County  ng, 137
Clark Creek  240
Clark, George Rogers.. .47, 48, 57, 67, 71, 76, 86, 107, 118, 121, 130, 245
Clark, Hills of  50
Clear Creek  107
Climax of the Treaty  89
Clinch Mountain  159
Clinch River  38, 163
Clover, White  18, 28, 31, 176
Coburn, Samuel  igi
Cocke, William  13, 15, 16, 20, 21, 37, 185

Index 269

Collins, Elijah  255
Collins, Josiah  255
Collins, WUliam  255
Collomes, Captain  175
Combahee Ferry, South Carolina  i2g
Commissioner, the Prostrate  go
Commissioners, Attempt to Seize  89
Commissioners, Peace   87
Conelly, Major  180
Conference in the Hollow  87
Connecticut, Transylvania Land Fever in  42
Constant, John  ,  255
Continental Congress and Transylvania  42
Cook, David  • ¦ • 255
Coombs, WUliam  255
Cooper  250
Corn, Indian  23, 71, 74, 107, in, 113, 115, 126, 130, 179
Corn-makers' Company  23, 107
Cornstalk, Chief  46, 338
ComwaUis' Surrender  125
Coronoh  151
Counter Mine, The  g4
Court Martial, the Boone  105
Cowen, John  244
Cowpens, Battle of  123
Cradlebaugh, WUliam  255
Crittenden, John  245
Croghan, George  143
Cross Plains  121
Crow, WilUam  243
Cumberland Gap  10, 14
Cumberland Mountain  163
Cumberland River  15. ii4. 163, 157
Curious Warfare  97
Currency, Continental  "5
Cuttawa  144
Cuttoe-Knife  16, 186
Dandridge, Alex. S  ^97

270 Index

Dark and Bloody Ground  144
Darlington  144
Deane, Silas, Letter of  42, 219, 229
De Chaine, Isadore  73. 85
Declaration of Independence at Boonesborough  53
Deed, Cherokee, to Henderson and Company  151, 230
Deer  2, 19, 166, 176
Deposition of Charles Robertson  157
De Quindre, Dagneaux  72, 80, 85, 87, 88, 102, 104
De Quindre, Death of  103
De Quindre, Autograph of  103
Detroit  61, 68, 72, 74, 78, 86, 88, 91, 103
DevU's Race Path  146
Dick's River  172, 174
Dissension at Boonesborough  98
Dixon, Tilman  156
Donelly's Fort  68
Donelson, Colonel  158, 181
Doniphan, A. W  109
Doniphan, Joseph  109
Dorchester, Lord  43, 133
Douglas, James  196
Douiller, Peter  72, loi, 104
Dragging Canoe  8, 144, 159
Drake, Joe  174
Draper, Lyman C  4, g, 72, 76, 105, 170
Drewyer. See Douiller.
Drinking Tube, Revolutionary  135
Drouth of 1782  126
Dug-out, The  no, 115
Dunmore, Lord  13, 29, 32, 44, 181, 22g
Dunning, James  170
Dunpard, John  255
Du Quesne (see De Chaine)  72, 73
Duree, Mrs  125
Durrett, R. T  10, 66
Durrett, R. T., Preface by  ni
Election at Harrodsburg  47

Index 271

Election of Transylvania Delegates  28
Elizabethtown, Tennessee  ,  i, 7
Elk  ig, i7g
Ellis' Station  128
Ellis, William  107, ng, 128
Elm, the Divine  ig, 28, 88, 135, 176
Elm, the Divine, Cut Down  135
Escheat, the Jury of  130
Estill, James  255
Estill's Defeat  i2g
Estre, James  m
Exeter Township  g
FaUs of Ohio  67, 335, 33g
Fanning, David  3 g
Farrar, John  2g, 155, 308
Fayette County, Kentucky, Created  133
Fayetteville, North Carolina  3
Fear, Edmund  355
Feast in the Hollow  88
Ferryboat Built  1 1 6, 134
Ferry First EstabUshed in Kentucky  no, 116, 135, 134, 137
FUson, John  6, 18, ig, 34, 131, 144
Findlay  '  1 44
First White Woman on Kentucky River  40
Flag, British  88
Flag of Truce  78, 80, 81
Flag of United States  36
Flax  g6
Fleet of Perogues  115
Flint Locks  83, 132, 136
Flints  112, igi
Floyd, John  34, 44, 51, 53, 130, 233
Floyd, John, on Capture of the Girls  249
Floyd's Defeat  1 24
Ford, Town of  137
Forest Food ,  61
Fort and Cabins Confused  34
Fort, Attempts to Bum the  5g. g6

272 Index

Fort Boone  20, 33, 172
Fort Chartres  228
Fort Pitt Conference  46
Fort Stanwix   241
Four Sycamores, The  49
Fowey, The  ,  32
Foxtown, Kentucky  127
Frankfort Commonwealth  11
French Alliance  71, 86
French and Indian War Bounty  112
French Canadians  71, 72, 85, 103, 118, 127
French Lick  114, 115
Game  23, 32, 38, 41, 60, 67, 164, 176
Garden, the Fort  32
Garrison of Boonesborough  23, 77, 87
Gass, David  255
George, Whitson  108
Germain, George  78
Gess, David   51
Gess, John  51
Gilmer's Lick  240
Girty, Simon  127
Gist, Christopher  18, 144
Gist, David  in
Goodman, Daniel, Killed  57
Grampus, Slave  1 80
Grant, John  107, 1 18
Grant's Station  118
Granville County, North Carolina  4, 42, 115, 212
Granville, John, Earl of  149
Granville, Town of  .^  134
Great Grant, the  8, 151, 257
Great Siege, Last Night of  100
Great Siege of Boonesborough  7g
Greenbrier River  gg
Green River  gg, 106, 114
Guess, Thomas  178
Gun Flints  113

Index 273

Gunpowder  33, 112, 113, 149, 239
Gunpowder made at Boonesborough  gi
Hackberry Ridge  27, 76
Haldimand, Frederick  gg, 73
Haldimand MSS  74, 7g
Hall, Edward  1 08
Halley, H. S  135
HaU, James  3g, igs, 183
HaU, William  108
Hamilton's Kindness to Boone  g8
Hamilton, William  gi, 69, 71, 72, 73, 78, 80, 8g, 86
Hammond, Nathan  ig7
Hancock, Stephen  87, 255
Hancock, William  87, 255
Hard Winter, The  122
Harland, Silas  245
Harmon, Valentine  igg
Harper, John  108
Harper, Peter  108
Harrison, Richard  44, 233
Harrod, James  ig7, 175, igo, 243, 245
Harrodsburg  12, 28, 40, 47, 49, 107, 178, 335
Harrodsburg Election in 1776  246
Harrodsburg Remonstrance  45, 47
Harrod's Station  40, 167, 175
Hart, David  4.51
Hart, John  161
Hart, Nathaniel  4, 7, 13, 36, 51, 108, 171, 173, 188
Hart, Nathaniel, Death of  127
Hart, N., Junior  n
Hart, Thomas  4, 38, 120
Harvey's History  74
Hat- Waving Signal  89
Hawiston, John  255
Hay, Peter  218
Hays, WiUiam  255
Haywood's History  114
Hazel Patch  40
36

274 Index

Henderson Company Denounced  182
Henderson Company, Great Work of  ;  55
Henderson Company, Land Grant to. .55, 114, 115, 151, 194, 230, 242, 254
Henderson Company, Letter to Patrick Henry  194
Henderson Company, Meeting  42
Henderson Company, Members of  151, 166
Henderson Company, Memorial to Congress  257
Henderson Company, Second Colony of  114
Henderson Company, The  3, 4, 5, 7, 54
Henderson Company, Virginia Against  48, 54, 106
Henderson, Kentucky  55, 115, 196
Henderson, Nathaniel   44, 233
Henderson, Pleasant  i6g
Henderson, Richard, at Boonesborough  33, 26, 33, 36
Henderson, Richard, at Williamsburg  47, 54
Henderson, Richard, Autograph  35
Henderson, Richard, Death of  115
Henderson, Richard, Early Life of  3, 4, 5
Henderson, Richard, Grave of  115
Henderson, Richard, Journal  i6g, 180
Henderson, Richard, Leaves for North Carolina  39
Henderson, Richard, Letter of, April 8, 1775  183
Henderson, Richard, Letter of, June 12, 1775  184
Henderson, Richard, Master Spirit  55
Henderson, Richard, Plan Fails  54
Henderson, Richard, Residence in North Carolina  115
Henderson, Richard, Speech to House of Delegates  197
Henderson, Richard, Trip to Kentucky  i3
Henderson, Richard, Trip through Kentucky in 1780  1 14
Henderson, Samuel  3, gi, g2
Henderson's Land Scheme  3, 4, g, 7
Hendricks  ii8
Henning's Statutes  no
Henry, Patrick  37, 72
Herod, James (Harrod)  .167
Hewes  224
Hicks, WiUiam  igi
Hinkston's Station  g3

Index 275

Hite, Abram  230, 343
Hite, Isaac  •  57, 235^ 245
Hodges, Jesse  255
Hogg, James  4. 42, 43, 55. ig6
Hogg's Report of His Embassy  43, 224
Hogohege River  242
Holder, John  51, iqB, ng
Holder, John, Company, RoU of  108, 127
Holder's Defeat  j 28
Holston Company, The  80, 104
Holston River, The  6,163
Holston Salt WeUs  '. 38
Holston Settlements  g7, 71, 123
Holston Valley  2
Hooper  224
Hope Deferred at Boonesborough  82, 99, 104
Horn, Jeremiah  255
Houghton, Thomas  igg
House of Delegates, Answer to Speech of Proprietors  202
House of Delegates, Journal of  igg
House of Delegates, Members of  igg
House of Delegates, Transylvania  28, 30
Hoy's Station  127, 128
Hunting Grounds  i4g, ig8
Huts  20, 22
Hyder, N. E  7
Illinois  ,  85
Imlay  18
Immigrants  36, 40, 44, 46, 107, no, in, 121, 124, 126
Independence for Kentucky  48
Indian Alliance  46
Indian Chiefs of the Delawares  247
Indian Forces  57, 58, 65, 72
Indian Hand-shake, The  89
Indian Hostilities Threatened  49, 1 1 8
Indian Language  69, 90
Indian Losses  51, 57, 58, 59, loi
Indian Love for Boone  77, 85

276 Index

Indian Outrages, ii, 21, 37, 45, 49, 51, 56, 104, 117, 119, 125, 130, 237, 249
Indian Paint  75
Indians Attack the Road Builders  1 1
Indian Scalped  37
Indians, Friendly  47, 82, 83
Indians Hide their Dead  58, 5g
Indians, History of  74
Indians, Hurons  124
Indians, Illegal Purchases From  48
Indians in Winter of 1777  56
Indians Kickapoos  236, 247
Indians, Miamis  124, 130
Indians, Neutral  45
Indians, Overhills  2,3
Indians Side with British  51
Interpreters with Indians and British  87
Invasion Threatened, Letter to Bowman  118
Jackson, Joseph  66, 117
Jefferson County, Kentucky, Formed  122
Jefferson, Thomas  27, 43, 195, 226
Jerked Meat  16, 186
Jobe, E. D  7
Johnson's Indian Tribes  144
Johnson, Thomas  161
Johnson, WiUiam  108
Johnstone, William  4, 218
Jones, John Gabriel  47, 244
Jouett, Matthew  178, 197
Judge's Friend  158
Kanawha  72
Kaskaskia  67
Kelley, John  loi
Kenneday, John  in
Kenton, Simon  67
Kenton, Simon, at Boonesborough  56
Kenton, Simon, Captured  104
Kenton, Simon, Kills Three Indians  57
Kenton, Simon, Saves Life of Boone  57

Index 277

Kentucky  i, 3, 5, 8
Kentucky Climate in Pioneer Times  18
Kentucky County Created  54. 56
Kentucky District Formed  131
Kentucky, Extinct Towns of  134
Kentucky, Fertility of  164, igo
Kentucky Forts at Mercy of Artillery  ng
Kentucky Historical Society  170
Kentucky River  5, 6, 8, g, 10, 16, 17, 20, 40, 92, 115, 122, 124, 128
Kentucky River Floods  133, 134
Kentucky, The Name  76, 104, 124, 132, 143, 157, 169, 171, 246
Kentucky, The Name, Account of  143
Kewee, South Carolina  162
Killed at Boonesborough  57, 59, 94, loi, 127
King's Mountain  7, 123
Kirkham, Robert  255
Kirkham, Samuel  255
LaMothe, De Jaine  86
Land Court at Boonesborough  112
Land Entries  234
Land Fever High  112
Land Grants  114. ug. 235, 241
Land, Kentucky Price of  44. 47. 241, 246
Land Law Enacted  112
Land Office at Boonesborough  44, 46, 233
Land of British Subjects Confiscated  120
Last Battle of the Revolution  i2g
Leavy, William  108
Lee, John  255
Lee, Richard Henry  43, 226, 22g
Leestown  24g
Leowvisay (Louisa)  ^^^
Letter to Patrick Henry from Henderson Company  27
Lewisburg  ^9
Lexington, Battle of  31. 178
Lexington, Kentucky  31. 107, 108, 120, 127
Lick  18, ig, go, 166, 172
Licking Creek  250

278 Index

Lick Spring, The  19, 59, 83, 87, 90, 135
Linn  180
Lincoln County, Kentucky, Created  122
Little Carpenter  162
Livery of Seisin  -  29, 207, 230
Live Stock  13, 59, 83, 100, 179, 206
Lockhart, Charles  255
Logan, Benjamin  105
Long Island, Tennessee  6, 9, 37, 163, 226
Long Knife  47, 49, 247
Long Run  124
Lorimer  65
Lossing, Benson J  66
Lost Men, The  177
Loughry's Defeat  129
Louisa, the Name  5, i6g, 152, 172
Lulbegrud Creek  74
Lumkin, George  156
Luna  172
LuttreU, John  4, 7, 13. 37. 3g. 55. ii5
Lythe, John  30, 31. 178. 196
Maddem, George  108
Madison County, Kentucky  n, 87, 137
Magazine, The Boonesborough  174
Maginty, Alex  143
Mansker's Lick  248
Marshall, Humphrey, History  5, 120
Martin, John  gi
Martin, Joseph  14, igg
Martin, Josiah  5.29,31,43,150
Martin's Cabin  14. 38
Martin's Station  107, 119, 170, 183
Maxwell, John  345
Maysville, Kentucky  7g
McAfee, James  172
McAfee, Robert  22,173
McAfee, Samuel  32, 173
McAfee's Station  109, 134

Index 279

McAfee, William  330
McClelland's Fort Abandoned  gg
McConnell, Andrew  245
McConnell, WilUam  245
McCuUum, John  255
McDowell, Thomas  '.   n igg
McGary, Hugh  40, 345
McGee, William  2gg
Mcintosh, General  252
McKee, Alexander  124
McMillan, John  c i
McPheeters, Joseph  11,169
McQuinney  45, 49, 237
Meadow Land, The  144, 145
Meat, Wild  gg, g4, 74
Memorials for Boonesborough  138
Memorial to Congress of Transylvania Company  55, 215, 257
Miers, William  2gi
Mile Trees  10, 17
Militia  47, 5g, go, 64, 77, 84, 86, 99, 118
Mine, The, at Boonesborough  gS, g7
Miseries of the Siege  g6, g8
Moluntha, Chief  74, 80, 81
Monk, Negro Powder-maker  113
Monongahala  175
Montgomery, Alexander  72, 103
Montgomery, Captain  252
Montgomery, John  60
Moore, Captain  177
Moore, William  -  177
Morehead's Address  1 20
Morgan, Ralph  255
Morris, William  ,  255
Mound-Builders  145
Munseka, Chief  65
Negroes Captured by Indians  74, 117
Negro Slaves, Price of  74
Negro Slaves with Settlers  10, 13, 22, 87, 116, 164, 165, ig2

28o Index

Negro with Indians  74, 102
Neil Ford  146
Nelson, Archibald  5
Newspapers  253
News, Slow Progress of, in the Revolution  131
North Carolina  i, 114, 115, 166
North Carolina and Henderson Company Lands  258
North Carolinians Explore Kentucky  i
North Carolina Riflemen  60
Noggins  41
Nourse, James  18
Oconistoto  3, 8, 151
Ohio Company  228
Ohio Indians  33, 78
Ohio River  58,65,69,71,75,81,110,127
Old Fields, The  i, 7
Oldham, Jesse  108
Opost, League at  247
Orange County, North Carolina  4
Osnaburgs  C5, 175
Otter Creek  9, 12, 16, 20, i6g, 172, 188
Overflows at Boonesborough  24
Overhill Indians  3
Oxford, North Carolina  42, 212
Pack-Horses  10, 13, 15. 40. 67, 75, 79, no, 112
Paint Lick Expedition  105
Panics of Settlers  15, 21, 52, 119, 184, 186
Parratt, James  1 50
Path Deed, The  8, 257
PatiUo, Henry   2ig
Patriots at Boonesborough  3g, 53, 100
Patton, James  118
Peace Celebration at Boonesborough  132
Peace Commissioners at Boonesborough  87
Peake, Jesse  108
Peaks of Otter  g
Peck, J. M  40,76
Peeke, James  igi

Index 281

Ps'^T  14. 20, 201
Pendegrass, Garrett  247
Pennsylvania Settlers  i2g
Perry, James  255
Petition of Committee of West Fincastle  245
Petition of Transylvanians  47, 241
Piggins  41
Pioneers, Carelessness of  188
Piqua Expedition  121
Pleck, John  255
Pogue, William  41, 4g, 340
Point Pleasant  g, 31
Pompey, the Negro  74, g4
Porter, Samuel  38, 355
Portwood, Page  ig, igz
Powder Magazine  23, 25
Powell, Levin  in
Powell's Mountain  146, 152
Powell's River  147, 163
Powell's Valley  6, n, 31, 37, 3g, 115, 170, 184
Powwows  ,  3, 8
Powwow, The, at Boonesborough  88
Prayer for Royal Family  31
Price, Thomas  1 56
Proceedings of Transylvania Proprietors  42
Proclamation Money  313
Proclamation of Governor Martin  5, 147
Proclamation of Lord Dunmore  181
Proclamation of Transylvania Company  48, 248
Proctor, Nicholas  255
Proctor, Reuben  255
Proprietary Govemment  44, 4g
Proprietary Government, Opposition to  41, 43, 47, 54
Puckashinwa  72
Queer Conducts of British and Indians  83
Quit Rents  43. 2og, 22g
Raft, The Drifting  126
Rains and the Great Siege  g4. g6. 98. loi
37

282 Index

Ramsay's Annals  4,7
Rawlings, Pemberton, Killed  117
" Rebels of Kentuck "  71, 100
Reese, D.N  7
Regulators, The  4. I45
Reid, Nathan  51
Religious Freedom in Transylvania  209
Reply of John Williams to Harrodsburg Remonstrance  230
Revolution, Spirit of, at Boonesborough  41, 63, 100
Richland Creek  52, 171
Richmond, Kentucky  n
Richmond, Made Capital of Virginia  113
Richmond, Virginia  113
Riflemen  13, 23, 50, 52, 57, 60, 77, 88, 93, 97, 246
Roberts, Benjamin  118
Robertson, Charles, Deposition  54
Robertson's Station  1, 6, 161
Rockcastle River  104, 138, 163
Rollins or Rawlings  in, 116, 117, 255
Roll of Holder's Company  255
Ross, Hugh  255
Ruddle's Station  107, 109
Ruse of Boonesborough People  87
Sailings, John  1 43
Salt  14, 15, 19, 34, 39, 40, 41, 183
Salt Famine  32, 38, 54, 61, 63, 179
Salt Lick  17, 19, 143
Salt-makers Captured  65, 78, 86, 117
Salt River  40, 175
Salt Spring, the Secret  68
Salt, Value of  64
Saltville, Virginia  38, 64
Sanders  45, 337
Savanooko  8,151
Scalping  37, ng, 138
Scalps, Reward for  4g, gs
School at Boonesborough  109
Searcy, Bartlett  •  35 g

Index 283

Searcy, Reuben  2gg
Sennight  177
Sermon, the First in Kentucky  30, 177
Sevier, John  igg
Shane, John D  72 i oq
Shawanese  5. 33. 46. 50, 51. 56. 65, 66, 68, 71, 72,74, 77,
90, 108, 109, 117, 131
Shawanese at Boone's Station  131
Shelby, Isaac  g4
Shelbyville, Kentucky  107
Siege, The Great, of Boonesborough  72, 251
Siege, The Great, of Boonesborough Abandoned  100
Silas Deane's Letter  2ig
Six Nations, The  143, 228, 241
Skaggs' Trace  121
Slaughter, Thomas  i7g, igg
Smith, Dan  igo
Smith's Ferry  ng
Smith, William Bailey  13, 51, 55, 58, 67, 81, 87, g8, 115, 156
Smythe, John F. D  32
Snead, W. B. G;  115
Snoddy, John  38
Snoddy's Fort  2, 38, 147
Sons of Liberty  53, 118, 133
Sorrell River  171
South, John, Junior  355
South, John, Senior  355
South, the Younger  355
South, Thomas  255
Spinning Wheel  40
Springs  18, 68, 157, 170, 172
Stafford County, Virginia  108, log
Stagner, Barney  41, 255
St. Asaph  28
Stearns, Jacob  255
Stephenson, John  255
Stewart  171
Stoner, Michael  25, 57, 172

284 Index

store at Boonesborough, The  25, 37
Story of Bryan's Station  127
Stratagems and Tricks  57, 85, 87, 90, 93, 105, 128
Strode's Station  107, 1 19
Sulphur  15
Sulphur Spring  rg, 39, 135, 166
Sulphur Well  135
Sunbonnets  40
Superstitions of Settlers  130
Surrender of Burgoyne Celebrated  62
Sycamore Hollow  20, 24, 87, 104, 134
Sycamore Shoals  i, 6, 7, 9, 20
Sycamores, The Four  49
Sycamore, The Old  136
Sycamore Trees  19, 49, 88, go, 135, 136
Surveyors  14, 44, 54, 174, 210, 233, 234
Surveys  214, 217
Survey Warrant of Henderson and Company  240
Tanguay, Historian  103
Tate, Samuel  n
Tate's Creek  1 1
Taylor, Alfred  7
Taylor, Edmund  m
Tellassee  3
Tellico  2
Tenase  ig7
Tennessee  ig7
Tennessee River  igi
Tents  173, i7g
Thoughts on Government  43
Thruston, Charles  n i, 256
Thwaits  gg
Tivity. See Twetty.
Tobacco in Kentucky  1 33
Todd, John  e-
Torches, Blazing, Used  95,101
Tories  32
Trabue, Daniel  87 jqj

Index 285

Trails and Traces  10, 16, 17, 75, 121, igo
Transylvania Colony  ,  27, 29
Transylvania Compact  30
Transylvania Company  3. 4. 7. g. 12, 16,27
Transylvania Company, Members of  2g, 151
Transylvania Government Abolished  54
Transylvania House of Delegates  29, 41
Transylvania House of Delegates, Journal of  196
Transylvania Land Prices Raised  44
Transylvania Purchase Declared Void  1 106, 253
Transylvania, The Name  28, 47, 55, 206
Transylvania, Town of  134
Traveling Church  ng
Treaty of Paris  127, 131
Treaty of Point Pleasant  5
Treaty of Watauga  8, 157, 161
Treaty at Boonesborough  85, 88
Turey, Valentine  156
Turkeys  164, 166
Twetty, William  10, n, 161, 164, 168
United State Register  8, 108
Vallandigham, Benoni  255
Vance County, North Carolina  53. ii5
Vegetables  32, 61, 83, 179
Vincennes  70, 7^. 107
Virginia and Indian Lands  48
Virginia Archives  8, 31, 122, 157
Virginia, CampbeU's History  69
Virginia Convention  3 1 . 43. 47
Virginia Convention, Joumal of . .•  47. 48
Virginia Gazette  53
Virginia Land Grant to Henderson Company  55. 254
Virginia Ownership of Kentucky  48
Wages  239, 252
Walden's Ridge  3
Walker, Felix  n, 19. 161. 164, 168
Walker, Felix, Narrative  6, n, 161
Walker, Thomas  5. '43

286 Index

WaUen's Gap  38, 40, 146
Warriors' Path  3, 10, 50
Washington County, Virginia  71, 252
Watauga  i, 2, 3, 6, 7, 123, 161
Watauga Association  7
Watauga River  1,7
Watch Tower, the  93
Water, Lack of, at Boonesborough  36, 59, 63, 70, 82, 97
Watkins, Captain  64
Weber, Jt)hn  255
Wedding, First at Boonesborough  52
West Fincastle  47
Western Review  70
Western Waters of Fincastle  245
Wharton, John  230
Wheeler's History, North Carolina  4. 54
White, Benjamin  108
White Oak Station  36, 128
Wilcoxson, Daniel  255
WUderness Road  6, 9, 10, 16, 17, no, 192
Williamsboro  53, 115, n6
Williamsburg  54, 113, igs
Williams, Edward  108
Williams, John  4, 37, 44, 53, 313, 230
WilUams, John, Report on Transylvania Affairs  232
Wills, Robert  171
Wilson, Moses  3gg
Wisconsin Historical Society  i6g, 170
Women at Boonesborough  40,59
Wooden Cannon, The  gg
Wood, M. B  38
Worthington, E  118
Wyandots  118, 136
Wythe, George  43, 226
Yadkin, The  38, 145
Yellow Mountain  7

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