Historic Highways of America Volume VI Part 4

thursd 30th--We set out again & went down to Elk gardin and there suplid our Selves With Seed Corn & irish tators then we went on a littel way I turnd my hors to drive afore me & he got scard ran away threw Down the Saddel Bags and broke three of our powder goards & Abrams beast Burst open a walet of corn & lost a good Deal & made a turrabel fl.u.s.tration amongst the Reast of the Horses Drakes mair run against a sapling & noct it down we cacht them all agin & went on & lodgd at John Duncans.

fryd 31st--We Suployd our Selves at Dunkans with a 108 pounds of Bacon & went on again to Brileys mill & suployd our Selves with meal & lodged this night on Clinch By a large cainbraike & cuckt our Suppers.

April Satrd first--this morning there is ice at our camp half inch thick we start early & travel this Day along a verey Bad hilley way cross one creek whear the horses almost got mired some fell in & all wet their loads we cross Clinch River & travell till late in the Night & camp on Cove creek having two men with us that wair pilates.

Sund 2d--this morning is a very hard frost we Start early travel over powels mountain and camp in the head of Powels valey whear there is verey good food.

mond 3d We Start early travel down the valey cross powels River go some throu the woods without aney track cross some Bad hils git into hendersons Road camp on a creek in powels valey.

Tuesday 4th Raney, we Start about 10 oclock and git down to Capt.

martins in the valey where we over take Coln henderson & his Companey Bound for Caintuck & there we camp this Night there they were Broiling & Eating Beef without Bread.

Wednesday 5th Breaks away fair & we go on down the valey & camp on indian Creek we had this creek to cross maney times & very Bad Banks Abrams saddel turnd & the load all fell in we go out this Eavening & kill two Deer.

thurs 6th this morning is ahard frost & we wait at Camp for Coln henderson & companey to come up they come up about 12 o'clock & we join with them and camp there Still this night waiting for some part of the companey that had thier horses ran away with their packs.

fryday 7th this morning is a very hard snowey morning we still continue at Camp Being in number about 40 men & Some neagros this Eaven--Comes a letter from Capt. Boone at caintuck of the indians doing mischief and some turns back.

1775

Satrd April 8th--We all pact up and started crost c.u.mberland gap about one oclock this Day We Met a great maney peopel turned Back for fear of the indians but our Companey goes on Still with good courage we come to a very ugly Creek with steep Banks & have it to cross several times on this Creek we camp this night.

Sunday 9th--this morning we wait at camp for the cattle to Be drove up to kill a Beef tis late Before they come & peopel makes out alittel snack & agree to go on till Night we git to c.u.mberland River & there we camp meet 2 more men turn Back.

Monday 10th--this is alowry morning & very like for Rain & we keep at Camp this day and some goes out ahunting. I & two more goes up avery large mountain Near the tops we saw the track of two indians & whear they had lain unter some Rocks some of the companey went over the River a bofelo hunting but found None at night Capt. hart comes up with his packs & there they hide some of thier lead to lighten thier packs that they may travel faster.

tuesday 11th--this is a very loury morning & like for Rain But we all agree to start Early we cross c.u.mberland River & travel Down it about 10 miles through Some turrabel cainbrakes as we went down abrams mair ran into the River with Her load & Swam over he folowd her & got on her & made her Swim Back agin it is a very raney Eavening we take up Camp near Richland Creek they kill a beef Mr. Drake Bakes Bread without was.h.i.+ng his hands we Keep Sentry this Night for fear of the indians.

Wednesday 12th this is a Raney morning But we pack up & go on we come to Richland Creek it is high we toat our packs over on a tree & swim our horses over & there we meet another Companey going Back they tell such News Abram & Drake is afraid to go aney further there we camp this night.

thursday 13th this morning the weather Seems to breake & Be fair Abram & Drake turn Back we go on & git to loral River we come to a creek Before wheare we are able to unload & toate our packs over on a log this day we meet about 20 more turning Back we are obligd to toat our packs over loral river & swim our horses one hors Ran in with his pack & lost it in the River & they got it agin.

fryday 14th--this is a clear morning with a smart frost we go on & have a very mire Road and camp this Night on a creek of loral River and are surprisd at camp By a wolf.

Satterday 15th clear with a Small frost we start early we meet Some men that turns & goes With us we travel this Day through the plais caled the Bressh & crofs Rockca.s.s River & camp ther this Night & have fine food for our horses.

Sunday 16th--cloudy & warm we start early & go on about 2 mile down the River and then turn up a creek that we crost about 50 times Some very bad foards with a great Deal of very good land on it in the Eavening we git over to the waters of Caintuck & go a littel Down the creek & there we camp keep sentry the forepart of the night it Rains very har all night.

monday 17th this is a very rany morning But breaks about a 11 oclock & we go on and camp this Night in several companeys on Some of the creeks of Caintuck.

tuesday 18th fair & cool and we go on about 10 oclock we meet 4 men from Boons camp that caim to cunduck us on we camp this night just on the Begining of the good land near the Blue lick they kill 2 bofelos this Eavening.

Wednesd 19th Smart frost this morning they kill 3 bofelos about 11 oclock we come to where the indians fired on Boons company & kild 2 men & a dog & wounded one man in the thigh we campt this night on oter creek.

thursday 20th this morning is clear and cool. We start early and git Down to caintuck to Boons foart about 12 o'clock wheare we stop they come out to meet us & welcom us in with a voley of guns.

fryday 21st warm this Day they Begin laying off lots in the town and prearing for peopel to go to worck to make corn.

Satterday 22nd they finish laying out lots this Eavening I went a-fis.h.i.+ng and cactht 3 cats they meet in the night to Draw for choise of lots but refer it till morning

1775

Sunday April 23d this morning the peopel meets & Draws for chois of loots this is a very warm day.

monday 24th We all view our loots & Some Dont like them about 12 oclock the Combses come to town & Next morning they make them a bark canew and Set off down the River to meet their Companey.

tuesday 25th in the eavening we git us a plaise at the mouth of the creek & begin clearing.

Wednesday 26th We Begin Building us a house & a plaise of Defense to Keep the indians off this day we Begin to live without Bread.

thursday 27th Raney all Day But We Still keep about our house.

Satterday 29th--We git our house kivered with Bark & move our things into it at Night and Begin houskeeping Eanock Smith Robert Whitledge & my Self.

May, Monday first I go out to look for my mair and saw 4 bufelos the Being the first that I Saw & I shot one of them but did not git him when I caim Home Eanock & Robin had found the mair & was gone out a hunting & did Not come in for--Days and kild only one Deer.

tuesday 2d I went out in the morning & kild a turkey and come in & got some on for my breakfast and then went & Sot in to clearing for Corn."[7]

The personal statement of Mrs. Elizabeth Thomas is of interest in this connection. She was one of Col. Calloway's company that followed Henderson in September 1775. This statement is preserved in the library of the Wisconsin Historical Society and reads:

"I was born in Virginia on the 4^{th} day of Sept 1764 In Rockbridge county near the Natural Bridge my father moved on the North Fork of Holston within 4 or 5 miles of Abbingdon & remained there two or three years and in March 1775 we moved down Holstien near the Big Island, [Long Island] where we remained until Sept 1775 when Col Calloway and his company came along going to Kentucky, when my father William Pogue packed up and came with him with our family, Col Boone and with his wife and family and Col Hugh Mcgary, Thomas Denton and Richard Hogan were on the road before us and when we arrived at Boonesborough the latter part of September There was only fur [four] or six cabbins built along on the Bank of the Kentucky river but not picketted in being open on two sides."[8]

This was the great pathway of early pioneers to Kentucky, and the course of the marvelous floodtide of immigration which swept over the mountains in the last three decades of the eighteenth century.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FILSON'S MAP OF KENTUCKY (1784)]

The itineraries of early travelers describe the Wilderness Road in definite terms. One of the earliest is that given by John Filson, whose history of Kentucky was published as early as 1784. It described the route from Philadelphia to Louisville (eight hundred and twenty-six miles), as follows:

Miles From Philadelphia to Lancaster, 66 To Wright's on the Susquehanna, 10 To Yorktown, 12 To Abbotstown, 15 To Hunterstown, 10 To mountain at Black's Gap, 3 To other side of the mountain, 7 To Stone-house Tavern, 25 To Wadkin's Ferry on Potomac 14 To Martinsburg, 13 To Winchester, 13 To Newtown, 8 To Stoverstown, 10 To Woodstock, 12 To Shenandoah River, 15 To North Branch Shenandoah, 29 To Staunton, 15 To North Fork James River, 37 To Botetourt C. H., 12 To Woods on Catawba River 21 To Paterson.s. on Roanoke, 9 To Alleghany Mountain, 8 To New River, 12 To Forks of Road, 16 To Fort Chissel, 12 To Stone Mill, 11 To Boyds, 8 To Head of Holstein, 5 To Was.h.i.+ngton C. H., 45 To the Block-house, 35 To Powell Mountain, 33 To Walden's Ridge, 3 To Valley Station, 4 To Martin's Cabin, 25 To c.u.mberland Mountain, 20 To c.u.mberland River, 13 To Flat Lick, 9 To Stinking Creek, 2 To Richland Creek, 7 Down Richland Creek, 8 To Rac.o.o.n Spring, 6 To Laurel River, 2 To Hazel Patch, 15 To Rockcastle River, 10 To English Station, 25 To Col. Edward's Crab Orchard, 3 To Whitley's Station, 5 To Logan's Station, 5 To Clark's Station, 7 To Crow's Station, 4 To Harrod's Station, 3 To Harlands', 4 To Harbisons, 10 To Bardstown, 25 To Salt Works, 25 To Falls of the Ohio, 20 --- 826

Mr. Speed preserves for us the itinerary with "observations and occurrences" of William Brown, the father of Judge Alfred M. Brown, of Elizabeth town, Kentucky. "It is contained in a small ma.n.u.script book,"

writes Mr. Speed, "which has been preserved in the family. It is especially interesting from the fact that immediately upon his arrival in Kentucky, by the journey of which he made a complete record, the Battle of Blue Licks occurred. He aided in burying the slain, among whom was his own brother, James Brown." The itinerary and "observations and occurrences" follow:[9]

(1782)

"Hanover to Richmond, Henrico Co., 18 To Widow Simpson's, Chesterford, 14 To Powhatan Co. House, 16 To Joseph Thompson's at the forks of the road, 8 To Long's Ordinary, Buckingham, 9 To Hoolen's on Willis Creek, 8 To Mrs. Sanders, c.u.mberland, 3 To Widow Thompson's pa.s.sing Hood's and Swiney's, 27 To Captain Hunter's, 5 To Thompson's on the Long Mo., Campbell, 5 To Dupriest, 6 To New London, 10 To Liberty Town, 16 To Yearley's, at Goose Creek, Bedford, 12 To M. Loland, at the Blue Ridge Gap, 6 To Big Flat Lick, 10 To Fort Lewis, Botetourt, 12 To Hans' Meadows, 20 To English's Ferry, New River, 12 To Fort Chiswell, 30 To Atkins' Ordinary, 19 To Mid Fork Holstein, -- To Cross White's, Montgomery, 3 To Col. Arthur Campbell's, 3 To 7-mile Ford of Holstein, 6 To Maj. Dysart's Mill, 12 To Was.h.i.+ngton Co. House, 10 To Head of Reedy Creek, Sullivan Co., North Carolina, 20 To Block House, 13 To North Fork Holstein, 2 To Moccasin Gap, 5 To Clinch River, 11 To Ford of Stock Creek, 2 To Little Flat Lick, 5 To North Fork of Clinch, 1 To Powell's Mountain, 1 To Wallan Ridge, 5 To Valley Station, 5 To Powell's River, 2 To Glade Spring, 4 To Martin's Station, 19 To Big Spring, 12 To c.u.mberland Mountain Gap, 8 To Yellow Creek, 2 To c.u.mberland River, 13 To Big Flat Lick, 9 To Little Richland Creek, 10 To Big Richland Creek, 1 To Robinson Creek, 10 To Racc.o.o.n Spring, 1 To Laurel River, 2 To Little Laurel River, 5 To Racc.o.o.n Creek, 8 To Hazel Patch, 4 To Rockcastle Creek, 6 To Rockcastle River, 7 To Scaggs' Creek, 5 To Head of d.i.c.ks River, 15 To English Station, 8 To Crab Orchard, 3 To Logan's Old Fort, 11 To Doehurty's Station, 8 To Harrod's Station, 6 To Harrodsburg, 6 From Hanover to Harrodsburg is 555 miles.

_Observations and Occurrences_: Set Out from Hanover Monday, 27th May, 1782; arrived at the Block-house about the first week in July. The road from Hanover to this place is generally very good; crossing the Blue Ridge is not bad; there is not more than a small hill with some winding to go over. Neither is the Alleghany Mountain by any means difficult at this gap. There are one or two high hills about New River and Fort Chiswell. The ford of New River is rather bad; therefore we thought it advisable to cross in the ferry-boat. This is generally a good-watered road as far as the Block-house. We waited hereabouts near two weeks for company, and then set out for the wilderness with twelve men and ten guns, this being Thursday, 18th July. The road from this until you get over Wallen's Ridge generally is bad, some part very much so, particularly about Stock Creek and Stock Creek Ridge. It is a very mountainous country hereabout, but there is some fine land in the bottoms, near the watercourses, in narrow slips. It will be but a thin settled country whenever it is settled. The fords of Holstein and Clinch are both good in dry weather, but in a rainy season you are often obliged to raft over. From them along down Powell's Valley until you get to c.u.mberland Gap is pretty good; this valley is formed by c.u.mberland Mountain on the northwest, and Powell Mountain on the southeast, and appears to bear from northeast southwestwardly, and is, I suppose, about one hundred miles in length, and from ten to twelve miles in breadth.

The land generally is good, and is an exceeding well-watered country, as well as the country on Holstein River, abounding with fine springs and little brooks. For about fifty miles, as you travel along the valley, c.u.mberland Mountain appears to be a very high ridge of white rocks, inaccessible in most places to either man or beast, and affords a wild, romantic prospect. The way through the gap is not very difficult, but from its situation travelers may be attacked in some places, crossing the mountain, by the enemy to a very great disadvantage. From thence until you pa.s.s Rockcastle River there is very little good road; this tract of country is very mountainous, and badly watered along the trace, especially for springs. There is some good land on the water-courses, and just on this side c.u.mberland River appears to be a good tract, and within a few years I expect to have a settlement on it. Some parts of the road are very miry in rainy weather. The fords of c.u.mberland and Rockcastle are both good unless the waters be too high; after you cross Rockcastle there are a few high hills, and the rest of the way tolerable good; the land appears to be rather weak, chiefly timbered with oak, etc. The first of the Kentucky waters you touch upon is the head of d.i.c.k's River, just eight miles from English's. Here we arrived Thursday, 25th inst., which is just seven days since we started from the Block-house. Monday, 29th inst., I got to Harrodsburg, and saw brother James. The next day we parted, as he was about setting off on a journey to c.u.mberland.

On Monday, August 19th, Colonel John Todd, with a party of one hundred and eighty-two of our men, attacked a body of Indians, supposed to number six or seven hundred, at the Blue Lick, and was defeated, with the loss of sixty-five persons missing and slain.

_Officers lost_: Colonels--John Todd and Stephen Trigg; Majors--Edward Bulger and Silas Harlan; Captains--W. McBride, John Gordon, Jos.

Kincaid, and Clough Overton; Lieutenants--W. Givens, and John Kennedy; Ensign--John McMurtry.

In this action brother James fell. On Sat.u.r.day 24th inst., Colonel Logan, with four hundred and seventy men, went on the battle-ground and buried the slain; found on the field, slain, forty-three men, missing, twenty-two, in all sixty-five.

I traveled but little about the country. From English's to Harrodsburg was the farthest west, and from Logan's Fort to the Blue Lick the farthest north. Thus far the land was generally good--except near and about the Lick it was very poor and badly timbered--generally badly watered, but pretty well timbered. At Richmond Ford, on the Kentucky River, the bank a little below the ford appears to be largely upward of a hundred feet perpendicular of rock.