The History of Louisville, from the Earliest Settlement till the Year 1852 Part 1

The History of Louisville, from the Earliest Settlement till the Year 1852.

by Ben Ca.s.seday.

PREFACE.

Very little need be said by way of Preface to the present volume. Cities, like individuals, have ever found the utility of giving publicity to the advantages they possess. The respective claims to public consideration of almost all the larger American cities have already been set forth, and no inconsiderable sagacity has been displayed in the preparation and issue of these advertis.e.m.e.nts. It cannot be denied that Louisville has equal claim upon the community for a fair hearing with many of these cities, and this may serve as the apology which custom seems to render necessary for the publication of this volume.

Louisville has attained her present rank and position without having resorted to any of the fact.i.tious means so generally employed to promote the progress of cities. A singular apathy in this regard has always pervaded this community, and the present prosperity of the city is the result only of fortuitous circ.u.mstances, of individual and unorganized effort, or of local causes. The following extract from one of a series of very able articles, published several years ago in the Louisville Journal, conveys a very caustic and severe, but, at the same time, a very just and merited rebuke of this apathetic indifference to political progress which has been characteristic of this city. The author says: "In the recent book of Judge Hall ent.i.tled "_The West--its commerce and navigation_," it is stated that "Louisville keeps no account of its business." Such is really the fact; we have no business organization--no chamber of commerce, no mercantile clubs--no Exchange, no place "where merchants most do congregate." Our city Fathers keep no record of our increase or doings, and it is doubted whether the Mayor or Council, with the a.s.sessors and Collectors to advise with, can either guess or reckon our present population within 4,000, or the number of respectable tenements erected last year within 200 of the truth. There is not a series of our newspapers or price currents to which a stranger has the right of access; if, indeed, there be an entire series of either to be found in our city. Occasionally a Directory is got up and contains a few statistics gathered without system or concert, and necessarily imperfect, and these even are rarely set before the public eye. Other cities have had for years the most skillful trumpeters and gazetteers; their men of influence and wealth have contributed largely of money and time (more important than money) not only to make their city attractive but to show off those attractions. Does anything agitate the public mind, whether religious, political, or financial--whether it relates to the commerce of the lakes, famine in Ireland, or an armory or hospital on the western rivers, they seek to be the first to write and the first to speak; they raise one committee to gather and another to publish every fact and argument which will make the excitement enure to their benefit. All this is un.o.bjectionable. Other cities have great attractions, and there is no reason why these should not be known; the gospel itself requires publication; but in this _democratic_ country are we to allow any other city to take a higher position than that to which she is ent.i.tled by her skill, strength and capacity? Is it not high time to advertise the cheapness and goodness of our wares? If Cincinnati send a special agent to Germany with the cards of her lot-holders and a map of this country, represented as a narrow strip with New York at one terminus and Cincinnati at the other, can we not extend the survey to Louisville, and add the name of this city to the catalogue published in Europe."

These remarks are hardly less merited now than at the time when they were published. The last two years, it is true, have awakened new energies and brought about a greater disposition to prompt and efficient action in promoting a useful business organization and in setting forth the claims of Louisville in a properly attractive light. Much time, however, has been wasted and much valuable material has been lost by the long delay in this matter. To endeavor to restore this lost time and to replace a part at least of this valuable material, is one of the prominent objects had in view in the preparation of this history.

The want of interest which is generally felt in mere statistical details, even if ever so carefully compiled, coupled with the fact that there is really much in the history of Louisville which is capable of interesting the general reader, have induced me to prefer offering to the public a historical detail of the rise, progress and present position of the city, instead of following the course which has been pursued by most writers of local history. It is no part of the design of this volume to eulogize Louisville beyond its deserts. The greatest care has been taken to prevent any tendency to exaggeration in all the statistical parts of the work, and the object constantly had in view has been to present both to citizens and strangers an authentic and reliable statement of all that is useful or interesting in the past and present history of the city. It is due to myself to state, that, as may readily be supposed from what has been said above, I have found great difficulty in procuring the necessary data for even this unpretending volume. And if the town reader should find any errors or omissions in these pages I cannot help but hope for some leniency at his hands in view of the fact that this is the history of a city which has never possessed an official record of any kind, and that even the material which has been procured at divers times and in distant places has cost no inconsiderable amount both of time and trouble in the search.

The present statistics of the city were carefully collected by personal application and investigation; and I desire to express my profoundest acknowledgments for the kindness and interest with which my wishes were met and forwarded. With but one single exception, every information which I could have desired was freely furnished, and many valuable suggestions were offered which I have since found extremely useful. I also desire to express my acknowledgments to Mr. R. Harlan, of Frankfort, for his kind a.s.sistance in the tedious and laborious work of examining the census reports.

In closing a task which has occupied such moments of leisure as I could reclaim from the more serious pursuits of life for about eighteen months, I cannot but hope that the result of this tedious labor may really compa.s.s the end for which it was intended. I can claim nothing for the book on the score of literary merit; the style is one entirely different from anything which I have heretofore attempted, and the volume does not seek to claim rank as a literary production. If, however, it will serve to contribute a moiety to the prosperity of my native city; if it will serve to add one industrious and enterprising man to the number of her citizens, I shall be satisfied that this labor has not been in vain, nor this exertion spent for naught.

BEN. Ca.s.sEDAY.

CHAPTER I.

The utility and profit of the local history of cities is no longer a matter of doubt. Whether considered solely as objects of interest or amus.e.m.e.nt, or as having the still wider utility of making known abroad the individuality of the places they describe, these records are worthy of high consideration. And although in a country like ours this department of history can claim to chronicle no great events, nor to relate any of those local traditions that make many of the cities of the Old World so famous in story and song, yet they can fulfil the equal use of directing the attention of those abroad to the rise, progress and present standing of places which may fairly claim, in the future, what has made others great in the past. And in an age when every energy of the whole brotherhood of man is directed to the future, and when mere utilitarianism has taken the place of romance, or of deeds of high renown, it is a matter of more than ordinary interest and value to all, to note the practical advancement, and so to calculate upon the basis of the past, the probable results of the future of those cities in the New World, which seem to present advantages, either social or pecuniary, to that large cla.s.s of foreigners and others, who are constantly seeking for homes or means of occupation among us. Nor is it to these alone, that such local history is of value. The country is beginning already to possess much unemployed capital seeking for investment; while many, having already procured the means of living well, are seeking for homes more congenial to their tastes than the places where they have lived but for pecuniary profit. To both of these, the history of individual cities is an invaluable aid in helping the one to discover a means of advantageously employing his surplus money, and in aiding the other to find a home possessing those social advantages which will render him comfortable and happy.

But it is to the emigrant foreigner that local history is of the greatest benefit. Leaving a country with whose resources, social, moral, and political, he is intimately acquainted for one of which he knows almost nothing, such works, carefully and authentically written, are to him what the guide-books of the Old World are to the wonder-seeking traveler; they present him at once with a daguerreotype view of the land of his adoption and point out to him every advantage and disadvantage, every chance of profit or of pleasure, every means of gain, every hope of gratification that is anywhere to be afforded.

Impressed with these opinions, it is proposed to present the reader with an authentic and impartial history of Louisville; one which may be implicitly relied on in its calculations and statistical details and which shall present as accurate and faithful a historical survey as can be obtained from any data known to the writer or attainable by him.

Louisville lies on the Southern bank of the Ohio river at the falls or rapids of that stream, in longitude 85 30' west of Greenwich, and lat.i.tude 38 3' north. Its position is one of peculiar excellence, situated at a point where the navigation of the stream is naturally obstructed by the rapids, and where, for six miles above the site of the city, the river stretches out into a broad, smooth sheet of water a mile in width, almost without a current, and presents a safe and beautiful harbor for a great distance along the Kentucky sh.o.r.e; embracing too within its limits the debouchure of Beargra.s.s Creek, which also affords a convenient and accessible resting place for barges, keel, and flatboats, sheltering them from all the dangers to which an open harbor would render them liable, it presents advantages which at once mark it to the sagacious eye as a proper location for a town of the greatest importance. Aside from all these advantages, the immense surface of level country which spreads out on either side of the rapids for so great a distance, is of itself worthy of consideration. The term "falls" which has been and is so commonly applied to the obstruction in the river at this point, is apt to produce an incorrect idea in the mind of one who does not know exactly how to apply the term. The falls are not a precipitous descent of water, but simply "an obstruction in the course of the river caused by a ledge of limestone rock running obliquely across its bed, with channels or chutes through the mound, produced or modified by the force of the water." This however is so serious an obstacle to the navigation of the stream as to create the necessity, which always exists, except at the highest stage of the water, for the debarkation and re-s.h.i.+pment of goods above and below this point, thus affording great commercial advantages to the city situated beside these rapids.

The peculiar attractions of such a location as this could not long go unheeded, and accordingly as early as 1770 parties came from Fort Pitt, now Pittsburgh, probably sent by Lord Dunmore, then Governor of Virginia, and surveyed the lands adjacent to the falls, with a view of distributing them as bounty lands. The earliest account, however, which we have of anything like a settlement here is that of Capt. Thomas Bullitt, who in 1773, deputed by a special commission from William and Mary College in Virginia, came to survey lands and effect settlements in the then _territory_ of Kentucky. His practiced eye perceived the advantages of this port and he moored his traveling barge in the safe and beautiful harbor of Beargra.s.s, and here established a camp to protect his men from the weather and to shelter his stores. From this point he made surveys of much of the adjacent country as far down as Salt river, to which he gave its present t.i.tle from his having there found the salt lick still known by his name. He estimated the advantages of his new settlement at their full worth, and purposed to return at once to his friends and procure the means of re-visiting and establis.h.i.+ng it. But Death sought him in the midst of his well laid plans, and it was left for another to complete what his sagacity and enterprise had commenced.

To show that Bullitt's plans had been well matured, and also to give some idea of the prudence and intelligence of the man, it is only necessary to cite, from Marshall's History of Kentucky, the following not uninteresting facts:

"On his way to Kentucky," says this historian, "Bullitt made a visit to Chillicothe, a Shawnee town, to hold a friendly talk with those Indians on the subject of his intended settlement; and for the particular purpose of obtaining their a.s.sent to the measure. He knew they claimed the right of hunting in the country--a right to them of the utmost importance, and which they had not relinquished. He also knew they were brave, and indefatigable; and that if they were so disposed, could greatly annoy the inhabitants of the intended settlement. It was, therefore, a primary object in his estimation to obtain their consent to his projected residence, and cultivation of the lands. To accomplish this, he left his party on the Ohio and traveled out to the town unattended, and without announcing his approach by a runner. He was not discovered until he got into the midst of Chillicothe, when he waved his white flag as a token of peace. The Indians saw with astonishment a stranger among them in the character of amba.s.sador, for such he a.s.sumed by the flag, and without any intimation of his intended visit. Some of them collected about him, and asked him, What news? Was he from the Long Knife? and why, if he was an amba.s.sador, he had not sent a runner?"

Bullitt, not in the least intimidated, replied that he had no bad news--he was from the Long Knife--and as the red men and white men were at peace, he had come among his brothers to have a friendly talk with them about living on the other side of the Ohio; that he had no runner swifter than himself, and that he was in haste and could not wait the return of a runner. 'Would you,' said he, 'if you were very hungry and had killed a deer, send your squaw to town to tell the news, and wait her return before you eat?' This put the bystanders in high good humor, and gave them a favorable opinion of their interlocutor. And upon his desiring that the warriors should be called together, they were forthwith convened, and he promptly addressed them in the following speech, extracted from his journal:

"BROTHERS:

"I am sent by my people, whom I left on the Ohio, to settle the country on the other side of that river, as low down as the falls. We come from Virginia. The king of my people has bought from the nations of red men both north and south all the land; and I am instructed to inform you and all the warriors of this great country, that the Virginians and the English are in friends.h.i.+p with you. This friends.h.i.+p is dear to them, and they intend to keep it sacred. The same friends.h.i.+p they expect from you, and from all the nations to the lakes. We know that the Shawnees and the Delawares are to be our nearest neighbors, and we wish them to be our best friends as we will be theirs.

"Brothers, you did not get any of the money or blankets given for the land which I and my people are going to settle. This was hard for you. But it is agreed by the great men who own the land, that they will make a present both to the Delawares and the Shawnees the next year and the year following that shall be as good.

"Brothers, I am appointed to settle the country, to live in it, to raise corn, and to make proper rules and regulations among my people. There will be some princ.i.p.al men from my country very soon, and then much more will be said to you. The Governor desires to see you, and will come out this year or the next. When I come again I will have a belt of wampum. This time I came in haste and had not one ready.

"My people only want the country to settle and cultivate. They will have no objection to your hunting and trapping there. I hope you will live by us as brothers and friends.

"You now know my heart, and as it is single towards you, I expect you will give me a kind talk; for I shall write to my Governor what you say to me and he will believe all I write."

This speech was received with attention, and Bullitt was told that the next day he should be answered.

The Indians are in the habit of proceeding with great deliberation in matters of importance, and all are such to them which concern their hunting.

On the morrow, agreeably to promise, they were a.s.sembled at the same place, and Bullitt being present they returned an answer to his speech as follows:

"OLDEST BROTHER--_The Long Knife_:

"We heard you would be glad to see your brothers, the Shawnees and Delawares, and talk with them. But we are surprised that you sent no runner before you, and that you came quite near us through the trees and gra.s.s a hard journey without letting us know until you appeared among us.

"Brother, we have considered your talk carefully, and we are glad to find nothing bad in it, nor any ill meaning. On the contrary you speak what seems kind and friendly, and it pleased us well. You mentioned to us your intention of settling the country on the other side of the Ohio with your people. And we are particularly pleased that they are not to disturb us in our hunting. For we must hunt to kill meat for our women and children, and to have something to buy our powder and lead with, and to get us blankets and clothing.

"All our young brothers are pleased with what you said. We desire that you will be strong in fulfilling your promises towards us, as we are determined to be very straight in advising our young men to be kind and peaceable to you.

"This spring we saw something wrong on the part of our young men. They took some horses from the white people. But we have advised them not to do so again, and have cleared their hearts of all bad intentions. We expect they will observe our advice as they like what you said."

"This speech, delivered by Girty, was interpreted by Richard Butler, who, during the stay of Captain Bullitt, had made him his guest and otherwise treated him in the most friendly manner. But having executed his mission very much to his own satisfaction, Bullitt took his leave and rejoined his party, who were much rejoiced to see him return.

"He made report of his progress and success, and his comrades with light hearts and high expectations launched their keels on the stream which conveyed them to the sh.o.r.e of Kentucky and the landing before spoken of."

Capt. Bullitt had high testimonials of his eminent fitness for the position he had a.s.sumed. General Was.h.i.+ngton himself, than whom no one was at once a better judge and a more valuable authority in such matters, spoke in the highest terms of his capacity in the exercise of the multifarious duties of surveyor, navigator and trader. Had not a premature death taken him away in the midst of his labors, it is certainly to him that we should have owed the earliest prosperity of the city.

Even previous to the arrival of Capt. Bullitt, however, these lands at the falls had been patented and were owned, most probably as bounty lands, by John Campbell and Dr. John Conally. Of Campbell we know little, if anything; but Conally played a somewhat important part in the early history of the West. He was the nephew of Colonel Croghan and the friend of Lord Dunmore, and was by him dispatched in 1774 to a.s.sert the claims of Virginia upon Fort Pitt, where he was arrested, before he had taken more than the initiatory step in his proceeding, by Arthur St. Clair, the representative of the proprietors of Pennsylvania in the West, and only released on his own recognizance. He did not, however, choose to return into the custody of the law, but, collecting a band of followers, he came again in March of the same year and took possession, in Lord Dunmore's name, of Fort Pitt; rebuilt it and called it Fort Dunmore. It was he who occasioned the b.l.o.o.d.y fights known in the history of border warfare as Logan's or Cresap's war. He afterwards, in 1775, formed a plot against the government, which was discovered, and this notoriously tyrannical and wicked man was thrown into prison and remained an unpitied captive till 1781. After the revolution he became a Tory and thus his lands, at the falls and elsewhere, became forfeit to the State of Virginia. It was, however, for him and Campbell that Bullitt surveyed the lands adjacent to the falls. The extent of their tract was about 4000 acres.

After Bullitt's expedition had received this final check, the falls were visited only by a few hunters and traders; and it was not until 1778 that any new attempt was made toward a permanent settlement on this site. The enterprising and gallant COL. GEORGE ROGERS CLARK, whose name is so well known to all readers of the early history of Kentucky or of the West, comes now to be a.s.sociated with this history. This city is so deeply indebted to him, not only for its earlier prosperity, but for its very existence, that it becomes alike agreeable and useful to inquire something as to the circ.u.mstances of his settlement here. He was born in Albemarle county, Virginia, and, like our great Was.h.i.+ngton, was in early life a land surveyor, and, like him too, a man of unusual talent, discrimination and forethought. He came first to Kentucky in 1772. But his history becomes first a.s.sociated with that of the State in 1774 when he served in Dunmore's war. In the latter part of 1775, having gained the rank of Major, he returned to his native State in order to prepare for his permanent removal to Kentucky, which took place in the Spring following.

Up to this time Kentucky had been held to be a part of Fincastle county, in Virginia; but its inhabitants had no rights or protection as citizens of that State. Upon Clark's removal to Kentucky he readily saw the advantages of the new settlement, but his sagacity at the same time taught him that a State whose very t.i.tle was in dispute, and which was so far beyond the old lines of civilization, and so removed from the protection of the elder commonwealths would not attract settlers with that rapidity to which its immensely superior natural advantages ent.i.tled it. He perceived that the future prosperity of his adopted home depended upon its being under the aid and protection of Virginia, or upon its being made a separate State. The result of this deliberation and of his promulgation of these views was that he was chosen a member of the Virginia a.s.sembly and carried to them a pet.i.tion for admission into their commonwealth. He had the misfortune, however, after having walked the whole distance, to find this body adjourned. This did not, however, deter him from prosecuting his plan for the good of Kentucky. He visited the Governor, Patrick Henry, and laid his case before that wise and patriotic man. The Governor acknowledged the justness of his claim, and gave him a letter to the Executive Council. This body, fearful of exceeding its powers, could or would do little for him. He demanded powder which they promptly offered to lend him on his individual security; an offer which Clark peremptorily refused, and so intimidated them by his dauntless manner and his threats of consequences that finally the order was issued for the powder to be supplied to Clark at Fort Pitt. And, on the re-a.s.sembling of the delegates, after much warm discussion, Kentucky was erected into a county of Virginia. Both these objects accomplished, Clark returned to Pittsburg, procured the powder and with great difficulty and danger succeeded in bringing it down to the present site of Maysville, where he carefully concealed it and then went to the fort at Harrodsburg and sent a convoy for the buried treasure, where it finally arrived in safety. This slight outline sketch shows the first of a series of events which led Col. Clark to the falls of Ohio. The second event which bears upon this point is alike creditable to him. And here we must be indebted to Mr. Perkins'

Annals of the West for a condensed narration of this affair.

"Clark understood," says this excellent compilation, "the whole game of the British. He saw that it was through their possession of Detroit, Vincennes, Kaskaskia and the other western posts--which gave them easy and constant access to the Indian tribes of the north-east--that the British hoped to effect such a union of the wild men as would annihilate the frontier fortresses. He knew that the Delawares were divided in feeling, and the Shawnees but imperfectly united in favor of England, ever since the murder of Comstalk. He was convinced that could the British in the north-west be defeated and expelled, the natives might be easily awed or bribed into neutrality; and by spies sent for the purpose, and who were absent from April 20th to June 22d, he had satisfied himself that an enterprise against the Illinois settlements might easily succeed. Having made up his mind, on the 1st of October he left Harrodsburg for the East, and reached the capital of Virginia November the 5th. Opening his mind to no one he watched with care the state of feeling among those in power, waiting the proper moment to present his scheme. Fortunately, while he was upon his road, on the 17th of October, Burgoyne had surrendered, and hope was again predominant in the American councils. When, therefore, the western soldier, upon the 10th of December, broke the subject of his proposed expedition against the forts on the far distant Mississippi to Patrick Henry, who was still governor, he met with a favorable hearing, and though doubts and fears arose by degrees, yet so well digested were his plans, that he was able to meet each objection and remove every seeming impossibility."

Having thus satisfied the Virginia leaders of the feasibility of his plan, he received on the 22d of January two sets of instructions--the one open, authorizing him to enlist seven companies to go to Kentucky, subject to his orders, and to serve for three months from their arrival in the West; the other set secret, and drawn as follows:

"_Virginia: Sct. In Council, Williamsburg, Jan. 22d, 1778._

"LIEUTENANT COLONEL GEORGE ROGERS CLARK:

"You are to proceed, with all convenient speed, to raise seven companies of soldiers, to consist of fifty men each, officered in the usual manner, and armed most properly for the enterprise; and with this force attack the British post at Kaskaskia.

"It is conjectured that there are many pieces of cannon and military stores to a considerable amount at that place, the taking and preservation of which would be a valuable acquisition to the State. If you are so fortunate therefore, as to succeed in your expedition, you will take every possible measure to secure the artillery and stores and whatever may advantage the State.

"For the transportation of the troops, provisions, &c., down the Ohio, you are to apply to the commanding officer at Fort Pitt for boats; and during the whole transaction you are to take especial care to keep the true destination of your force secret; its success depends upon this. (Orders are therefore given to Capt. Smith to secure the two men from Kaskaskia.) Similar conduct will be proper in similar cases.

"It is earnestly desired that you show humanity to such British subjects and other persons as fall in your hands. If the white inhabitants at that post and the neighborhood, will give undoubted evidence of their attachment to this State, (for it is certain they live within its limits,) by taking the test prescribed by law, and by every other way and means in their power, let them be treated as fellow citizens, and their persons and property duly secured. a.s.sistance and protection against all enemies whatever, shall be afforded them; and the Commonwealth of Virginia is pledged to accomplish it. But if these people will not accede to these reasonable demands, they must feel the miseries of war, under the direction of that humanity that has. .h.i.therto distinguished Americans, and which it is expected you will ever consider as the rule of your conduct, and from which you are in no instance to depart.