xt73tx351m26 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt73tx351m26/data/mets.xml Purcell, Martha C. Grassham, 1867- 1915  books b92-136-29327326 English American Book Co., : New York ; Cincinnati : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Kentucky History. Stories of Old Kentucky  / by Martha Grassham Purcell. text Stories of Old Kentucky  / by Martha Grassham Purcell. 1915 2002 true xt73tx351m26 section xt73tx351m26 





























      TO MY CHILDREN

EWART, LA VERNE, AND LOIS
    WHO HAVE EVER BEEN MY
       INSPIRING AUDIENCE



 































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STORIES OF



OLD



KENTUCKY



              BY
   MARTHA CRASSHAM PURGELL
   AUTHOR OF SETTEMENT AND caIONS Or LUSIANA "
      MEMBEK OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION
           PADUCANH KENTUCKY

















  AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY
NEW YORK    CINCINNATI  CHICAGO

 











































       COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY

MARTHA GRASSHANI PURCELL.

COPYRIGHT, 1915, IN GREAT BRITAIN,


    STORIES OF OLD KENTUCKY.

             E. P. I

 










PREFACE



  To be easily assimilated, our mental food, like our
physical food, should be carefully chosen and attrac-
tively served.
  The history of the "Dark and Bloody Ground"
teems with adventure and patriotism. Its pages are
filled with the great achievements, the heroic deeds,
and the inspiring examples of the explorers, the set-
tlers, and the founders of our state. In the belief that
a knowledge of their struggles and conquests is food
that is both instructive and inspiring, and with a
knowledge that a text on history does not always
attract, the author sets before the youth of Kentucky
these stories of some of her great men.
  This book is intended as both a supplementary
reader and a text, for, though in story form, the chap-
ters are arranged chronologically, and every fact re-
corded has been verified.
  Thanks are due to the many friends who have
granted access to papers of historical value, to many
others who have assisted in making this book a real-
ity, and especially to my husband, Dr. Clyde Edison
Purcell, for his valuable suggestions, careful criticisms,
and untiring cooperation.
                       MARTHA GRASSHAM PURCELL.
                          5



 
















CONTENTS



                                                PAGE
WHEN THE OCEAN COVERED KENTUCKY   .   .   .   .   9
THE ABORIGINES OF KENTUCKY.   .   .   .   .   .  10
SOME PREHISTORIC REMAINS. .   .   .   .   .   .  i6
THE DISCOVERY OF KENTUCKY  .  .   .   .   .   .  i8
INDIAN CLAIMS IN KENTUCKY .   .   .   .   .   . 22
SCOUWA     .   .   .  .   .   .   .       .   .  23
THE GRAVEYARD OF THE MAMMOTHS   .   .   .     . 27
THE DRUID OF KENTUCKY    .  .   .     .   .   .  28
A PIONEER NOBLEMAN     .  .   .     .   .   .    33
EARLY KENTUCKY CUSTOMS.   .   .   .   .   .   . 37
BOONE'S ILLUSTRIOUS PEER.   .   .   .   .        41
BOONE'S TRACE     .   .   .   .   .   .       . 49
BOONE IN CAPTIVITY        .   .   .       .   .  52
BOONESBOROUGH'S BRAVE DEFENSE     .   .
THE LOST BABY  .  .   .   .   .   .   .   .   . 6i
THE FIRST ROMANCE IN KENTUCKY .   .   .   .   .  64
A WEDDING IN THE WILDERNESS.  .   .   .   .   .  67
PIONEER CHILDREN  .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .  70
HOW THE PIONEERS MADE CHANGE  .   .   .   .   . 72
A WOMAN'S WILL .   .  .   .   .   .   .          73
WHEN THE WOMEN BROUGHT THE WATER    .   .     . 76
THE RESULT OF ONE RASH ACT.   .   .   .   .   .  83
Two KENTUCKY HEROES             .   .   .     .  86
THE BATTLE OF THE BOARDS  .   .   .   .   .   .  89
THE FAITHFUL SLAVE AND HIS REWARD .   .          91
THE DOUBLE SHOT       .   .   .   .   .   .      94
A MAN OF STRATEGY AND SAGACITY.   .   .   .   .  96
                         6

 









CONTENTS



THE KIND-HEARTED INDIAN .
SAVED BY THE HUG OF A BEAR
A KENTUCKIAN DEFEATED THE BRITISH
A FAMOUS MARCH
THE FIRST CHRISTMAS PARTY
FORT JEFFERSON
"THE HARD WINTER"
WILDCAT MCKINNEY
How KENTUCKY WAS FORMED
KENTUCKY IN THE REVOLUTION
KENTUCKY'S PIONEER HISTORIAN.
SPANISH CONSPIRACY
A KENTUCKY INVENTOR
OTHER KENTUCKY INVENTIONS
THE MAN WHO KNEW ABOUT BIRDS
A HERO OF HONOR
THE "PRIDE OF THE PENNYRILE
LUCY JEFFERSON LEWIS
NATURAL CURIOSITIES IN KENTUCKY
THE WORLD'S GREATEST NATURAL WONDER
How REELFOOT LAKE WAS FORMED
KENTUCKY VALOR IN i812-i815
A TRIUMVIRATE OF ELOQUENCE
KENTUCKIANS IN TEXAS AND MEXICO.
CLAY, THE GREAT COMMONER
KENTUCKY IN THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES
WHY SOME CITIES WERE SO NAMED
KENTUCKY IN THE FIELD OF SCIENCE .
"BESSEMER STEEL" IN KENTUCKY
KENTUCKY ARTISTS
KENTUCKY IN THE FIELD OF LETTERS.
KENTUCKIANS IN HISTORY



7



          PAGR
        100


          105
   .   .  O110
        "13
          II3


       . "98

        . 122
        . 123
        . 125
          128
          '35
          138
        . 140
         ' 143
          I50
          '53
          '55
          I59
          i6i
          I 63
          i66
        . I67
      . I69
          '7'
         '75
          I'79
        . i82
          i84
          i87
        : I90



 














A LIST OF BOOKS ABOUT KENTUCKY



AUDUBON, Lucy: "Life and Journals of John James Audubon."
    Putnam.
COLLINS, R. H.: " History of Kentucky." Collins  Co.
EGGLESTON, E.: " Stories of American Life and Adventure."
    " Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans." Ameri-
    can Book Co.
HULBERT, A. B.: "Boone's Wilderness Road." Arthur H. Clark Co.
JOHNSON, E. P.: " History of Kentucky and Kentuckians." Lewis
    Publishing Co.
KINKEAD, E. S.: " History of Kentucky." American Book Co.
MARSHALL, H.: " History of Kentucky." Frankfort.
Orns, JAMES: " Hannah of Kentucky." American Book Co.
PRICE, S. W.: "Old Masters of the Blue Grass." Morton  Co.
SHALER, N. S.: " Kentucky." Houghton Mifflin Co.
SMITH, H. I.: " Prehistoric Ethnology of a Kentucky Site." Amer.
    Museum of Nat. Hist.
SMITH, Z. F.: " History of Kentucky." Courier-Journal Co.
STOCKTON, F. R.: " Stories of New Jersey." American Book Co.
THOMPSON, E. P.: "A Young People's History of Kentucky."
   A. R. Fleming Publishing Co.
TOWNSEND, J. W.: "Kentuckians in History and Literature."
   Neale Publishing Co. "Kentucky in American Letters."
   Torch Press.
YOUNG, B. H.: " Prehistoric Men of Kentucky." Filson Club.
                            8


 













    STORIES OF OLD KENTUCKY

 WHEN THE OCEAN COVERED KENTUCKY
 FACTS are stranger than fiction; and when we read
 the great volume of Nature, we find it more intensely
 interesting, instructive, and exciting than any "tale"
 told by our master minds.
 It is difficult enough for the youth of to-day to
 realize there was ever a time when Kentucky did not
 have a place on the map and in the march of events.
 Still more difficult is it for them to realize that there
 was a time when the ocean covered our state. Geo-
 logical annals show that the surface of Kentucky was
 once the bed of the sea. This primitive ocean is
 supposed io have covered a large part of North America
 to the depth of several thousand feet. As we read
 the record in the soil and as we study the strata, we
 find evidence of a gradual retreat of the briny waters
 without proofs of any very violent or sudden disrup-
 tions of the ocean. The creation or appearance of
 sea animals, fishes, polyps, and the formation of lime-
 stone, sandstone, slate, grit, and pebble, are parts of
the story here recorded.
                        9



 






1o    THE ABORIGINES OF KENTUCKY



  The retreat of the briny waters continued and con-
tinued for ages, until finally the Cumberland or Wasioto
Mountains emerged, followed by the Black, Laurel,
Pine, Long, and Galico Mountains; other lower eleva-
tions then rose until only an inland sea, surrounded
by sandy hills, remained. Then the grasses, reeds,
and mosses left their impress; land animals, insects,
birds, and reptiles appeared; vegetation increased,
and trees and shrubs grew.
  Still the waters receded; marshes, muddy swamps,
licks, small lakes, ponds, clay and marl deposits were
left; sinks and caves were formed; and land plants
and animals increased.
  As the waters still slowly but surely receded, creeks,
rivers, and valleys received their present shape, the
ocean reached its actual level, and the American conti-
nent assumed its shape. The huge animals - the big
bears, buffaloes, jaguars, elephants, and mastodons -
roamed over what is now Kentucky, and left their
impress at Big Bone Lick, Drennon's Lick, and other
points where the savage, the settler, and the man of
science have successively meditated and marveled over
their prehistoric remains.


     THE ABORIGINES OF KENTUCKY
  WHEN but a little girl one of my greatest delights
was to sit at the feet of my maternal grandfather
and listen to the tales of the olden times. Grand-



 





THE ABORIGINES OF KENTUCKY



fathers and grandmothers always love to tell stories,
and boys and girls love to hear them. Our grand-
parents were not the only ones that enjoyed telling
stories of the great past; Indians also related many
things to their children of what had happened in the



The Indians loved to tell stories to their children.



long ago. But as the red men had no books in which
to record these happenings, some of their stories may
be of real incidents and a great deal may be purely
imaginary, for we know the Indian was always very
superstitious.
  There is a story told by the Lenni-Lenape Indians,
who lived in eastern United States, that their ancestors



I I

 






THE ABORIGINES OF KENTUCKY



in the very earliest times were mere animals living
underground. One of them accidentally found a hole
by which he came to the surface of the ground, and
soon the whole tribe followed. These Indians believed
that they gradually became human beings; so in re-
membrance of their ancestors, they chose such names
as "Black Bear," "Black Hawk," "Red Horse," and
"Sitting Bull." Some of the tribes believing in this
tradition would not eat any underground animals
like the rabbit, ground hog, and ground squirrel, for
fear they would be eating their kinsmen.
  Another verv interesting tradition told by these
Lenni-Lenape, or Delawares, is that these ancestors
came from west of the Mississippi and that when
they tried to cross this stream the right of passage
was disputed by a powerful force called the Alligewi,
from whose name we get the word Allegheny. Being
determined to cross this mighty stream and move
eastward, the Lenni-Lenape joined with the Mengwe
(Iroquois) in a war upon the Alligewi, overcame them,
and almost exterminating them, drove the remnant
of their tribe entirely from the country.
  General G. R. Clark, Colonel McKee, and Colonel
James Moore at different times and places were told
by Indians, among them the noted chiefs "Cornstalk"
and "'Tobacco," that before the red men came to
Kentucky - named from Ken-tuck-ee, meaning in
Indian language, "the river of Blood"-a white
race, superior in many arts and crafts unknown to



I 2

 





THE ABORIGINES OF KENTUCKY



the red men, the builders of the many forts, and the
inhabitants of the vast burying grounds, had been
besieged by the early Indians in a great battle near
the Falls of the Ohio. The remnant was driven into
a small island below these rapids, where the entire
race was "cut to pieces."
  In confirmation of this, there was found on Sandy
Island, a vast burying ground and "a multitude
of human bones was discovered." This traditional
testimony has been in many instances confirmed by
unmistakable traces of a terrible conflict throughout
the Ohio Valley. The story of these bloody battles,
handed down for generations, very probably caused
the Indians to name this place the "Dark and Bloody
Ground." Believing it to be filled with ghosts of its
primitive people, it is no small wonder that this race,
full of imagination and superstition, should use it so
little as a permanent home.
  But who was this primitive race Whence did
they come and what did they accomplish The
works they built have lived after them, and from
these silent memorials the people have been called
Mound Builders. Beyond the bounds of memory,
into the land of mystery we go when we strive to learn
of them. They have left their imprint in the valleys
of the Licking, the Kentucky, the Ohio, and the Cum-
berland. Their many mounds vary in size, shape.
structure, location, contents, and use. Some cover
only a small area, while others have a diameter of over



I 3

 






THE ABORIGINES OF KENTUCKY



one hundred feet and one covers fifteen acres. They
display a considerable knowledge of geometry, engineer-
ing, and military skill.
  Because some have supposed these ancient people
to have been sun worshipers, the "high places" for
ceremonial worship are called temple mounds. The
fact that these are more numerous in Kentucky than
elsewhere, may have given rise to the expressions
"'sacred soil" or "God's country."  Within or near
these inclosures are mounds containing altars of stone
or burned clay, known as altar mounds; the burial
places, called mounds of sepulture, are isolated and
contain human remains which shed more light on the
character and achievements of this prehistoric race
than any others. The military mounds, or works of
defense, are usually near a waterway, often on a pre-
cipitous height, in a commanding position, and with
an extension ditch or moat; the skill, the foresight,
and the complete system shown by these would prove
that there were fierce foes to be resisted and a vast
population to be defended.
  It is possible that all agricultural work was done
with "digging sticks." Fishing and hunting were
accomplished by arrows, knives, and spears, chipped
from stone or rubbed out of antlers, by fishhooks of
bone, and by nets. There were also "animal calls"
made from small mammal bones, and the hollow bones
of the birds. The knives were probably chipped stone
points, clamshells, or bear teeth; there were also



14



 





THE ABORIGINES OF KENTUCKY



'5



awls of bones, strainers of pottery, hammerstones,
whetstones, chisels of bone, and needles from bones
of small animals. Modeling, impressing, twisting,
knitting, painting, and sculpture were carried on;
personal ornaments,
rattles, whistles, and
pipes were made.
Moccasins, beads of
pottery, bone, shell,
teeth, and copper, and
pottery  of  various
sizes,  shapes,  and
decoration were and
sometimes   are  still
found all along the  
streams of the state.    ;    ;         l
  We know that they
were an agricultural -  
                           Relics of the Mound Builders.
class because in some
mounds were found remains of Indian corn and beans,
also hickory nuts, butternuts, walnuts, chestnuts, hazel-
nuts, and pawpaw seeds.
  While in some instances the graves were more or less
surrounded by limestone slabs, in other places the
dead were laid on skins or on the bare ground, and
covered with skins and soil heaped above. As this soil
had to be carried in baskets or skins, these immense
mounds stand as mute memorials of their love for one
another.



 






SOME PREHISTORIC REMAINS



        SOME PREHISTORIC REMAINS

  THERE are many curious natural formations in
Kentucky; yet the many artificial mounds also have
added interest to the topography, and it is some-
times difficult to distinguish where nature ends and
art begins.
  The noted scientist, C. S. Rafinesque, claimed to
have discovered one hundred and forty-eight ancient
sites and over five hundred monuments in this state.
  The greater number of the mounds were small cone-
like structures from five to ten or sometimes forty
feet in height; in several counties those of pyramid
shape were found, and other counties contained un-
usual structures.
  In Bourbon were found several sites, forty-six mon-
uments, a circus of fourteen hundred and fifty feet,
and a town whose stretch of walls measured four
thousand six hundred and seventy-five feet.
  Hickman County had a teocalli, or temple, ten feet
high, thirty feet wide, and four hundred and fifty feet
long.
  Livingston with several sites and monuments had
also an octagon whose walls measured twenty-eight
hundred and fifty-two feet in length.
  In McCracken was found a teocalli fourteen feet
high and twelve hundred feet long.
  Rockcastle had a stone grave three feet high, five
feet wide, and two hundred feet long.

 





SOME PREHISTORIC REMAINS



  Warren claimed a ditched town, octagonal in shape,
measuring in perimeter one thousand three hundred
and eighty-five feet.
  In Trigg was found a walled town with a circum-
ference of seven thousand five hundred feet.
  A mound more than twenty feet high with a diameter
of over one hundred feet was located in Montgomery.
  In Estill was located one fifteen feet high, one hun-
dred and ninety-two feet in diameter, and surrounded
by a moat ten feet deep and thirty-five feet wide.
  A horseshoe-shaped fort of about ten acres in area
was found in Caldwell. Its curve was bordered by a
perpendicular bluff of sixty feet, and the two points
of the shoe were connected by a stone wall ten feet
high and six hundred feet long, with a gateway eight
feet wide.
  In Hickman, O'Bryan's fort; in Madison, a stone
fort containing four or five hundred acres; and in
Greenup, an effigy mound representing a bear, " leaning
forward, measuring fifty-three feet from the top of
the back to the end of the fore leg and one hundred
five and one half feet from the tip of the nose to the
rear of the hind foot," with those already mentioned,
give a faint idea of the variety of mounds in shape,
size, and structure. Yet these are only a few of the
many ancient remains in Kentucky of the Mound
Builders who have left their imprint throughout our
great central valley and whose -wide range has left
in the same mound "the mica of the Alleghenies, the
       PURCELL'S KENlUCKY-2



17



 





THE DISCOVERY OF KENTUCKY



obsidian of Mexico, the copper of the Great Lakes,
and shells from the Gulf of the Southland."
   Since the location of these remains the plowshare
has leveled many mounds, but several can yet be
traced.


      THE DISCOVERY OF KENTUCKY

  Do you ever feel, when reading of the deeds of the
early European navigators, who braved the perils
of the trackless deep only to find on this shore a tangled
"forest primeval," that our own beloved Kentucky
is in every way far removed historically from them 
  Since it is so interesting and edifying to find our-
selves related to some noted personage, let us see if
we can connect the "Dark and Bloody Ground" with
the discoveries that opened up a new world.
  We must go back many, many years, yes, even to
the Middle Ages, if we would see how and why we are
at least a small link in the great chain of events that
gradually gave to the western world one of its proudest
commonwealths. Some one has said, "Westward the
course of empire takes its way," but for centuries
the people of Europe concerned themselves not with
what lay to the west of them but with the people
and problems of the East. This is easy to understand
when we learn that the copper, lead, tin, and manu-
factures of Europe were carried by traders, partly
by sea and partly by land, to Constantinople or to



18



 





THE DISCOVERY OF KENTUCKY



Egypt, where they were exchanged for the luxuries
that Asia had sent by vessels or camels. India and
the Spice Islands sent cloves, cinnamon, ginger, pepper,
mace, nutmeg, camphor, musk, aloes, and sandalwood,
also diamonds and pearls. Cathay (China) sent silks,
while Cipango, the island of mystery, in the great














               A caravan crossing the desert.

ocean east of Cathay that no one had seen, was
believed to be the richest of all.
  In 1453, while this exchange was at its height, the
Turks conquered Constantinople, seized the caravan
routes, and ruined the trade. Gold and pearls, ivory
and diamonds, spices and silks, could no longer be se-
cured unless a waterway could be found to the East.
  Prince Henrv the Navigator, a Portuguese, though
many of his captains thought that in the torrid zone



I9

 






THE DISCOVERY OF KENTUCKY



the ocean was boiling and that flames filled the air,
succeeded in reaching almost to the equator before
his death in 1460. In I487, Diaz continued the work
to the Cape of Good Hope. Christopher Columbus,
believing the earth a sphere, thought that by sailing
due westward only two thousand five hundred miles
he would reach China and India. So in August, 1492,
after seeking aid in vain from Portugal, England,
and his own country, he braved the "Sea of Darkness"
in a Spanish ship. Though some Portuguese sailors
had said, "You might as well expect to find land in
the sky as in that waste of waters," in October of the
same year he made the discovery that gave to the
world a new continent.
  Then the spirit of adventure and aggrandizement
dominated the Spanish race.  Ponce de Le6n, Fer-
nando Cortez, Pizarro, and Fernando de Soto con-
tinued the work until June, I543. Luis de Moscoso,
the successor of de Soto, with a remnant of his once
proud force, now reduced to about three hundred men,
in boats descended the Mississippi River to its mouth;
from the boats thev were the first white men to behold
the land that is now Kentucky.
  England, so far, had been very quiet and con-
servative about discovering, exploring, or settling.
Finally, English fishermen came to Newfoundland.
Sir John Hawkins traded negroes for hides and pearls,
and Sir Francis Drake ravaged the Caribbean coast
and in I577-I58o sailed around the world. Soon Sir



20

 





THE DISCOVERY OF KENTUCKY



Humphrey Gilbert attempted colonization, which was
taken up by his half brother, Sir Walter Raleigh, who
sent two ships under Philip Amadas and Arthur Bar-
lowe, who discovered the coast of North Carolina.
Upon their return, Queen Elizabeth named it Vir-
ginia. Kentucky was included in the charter of
this first colony, which was settled at Jamestown,
I607.
  The first Englishman to view what is now Kentucky
was Colonel Wood, who in i654, for commerce and not
conquest, explored the northern boundary of Kentucky
as far as the Mississippi River, then called the Mes-
chacebe. Captain Bolt (or Batt) of Virginia in i670
came from that state into what is now Kentucky. In
i673 Jacques Marquette, a Jesuit missionary, in
company with Luis Joliet and five other Frenchmen
in two canoes passed down the Mississippi along the
western border of Kentucky and spent several days at
the mouth of the Ohio, where Cairo, then called Oua-
bouskigou, now stands.  Again in February, i682,
Robert de la Salle and his lieutenant, Henri de Tonti,
in company with several other Frenchmen, descended
the Illinois River, and passed down the Mississippi, or
Colbert, to its mouth, claiming the country on both
sides for the French king, Louis the Great, in whose
honor they called this vast tract Louisiana.
  It was as a prisoner among the Indians in 1730 that
the first white native American, John Salling of
Virginia, was taken to Kentucky. In I750 a party of



21



 






INDIAN CLAIMS IN KENTUCKY



Virginians, among them Dr. Thomas Walker, came by
way of Powell's Valley through a gap in Laurel
Mountain, into central Kentucky. He named both
the mountain and the river (formerly the Shawnee)
for England's "Bloody Duke" of Cumberland who
defeated the Scottish forces at Culloden. Some say
that near where they entered what is now the state of
Kentucky these men built a rude cabin.
  But it was left for John Finley and party, 1767, to
learn and love this wonderland of fertile soil, towering
forests, luxuriant vegetation, and boundless supply
of game. When he returned to North Carolina with
such glowing accounts of this wilderness bevond the
mountains, many were ready to leave the comforts of
civilization for the dangers and privations of this land
of promise.


      INDIAN CLAIMS IN KENTUCKY

  THOUGH the Indians at the time of the coming of
the white men used Kentucky mainly as a hunting
ground instead of a home, various tribes laid claim to
it by prior possession.
  In I768, at Fort Stanwix - now Rome, New York
-the English government purchased the title to all
the lands lying between the Ohio and Tennessee
rivers from the tribes of Indians called the Six Nations.
This tract included the present state of Kentucky.
  Shortly after the battle of Point Pleasant, I774, the



22



 





SCOUWA



Shawnees entered into a treaty with Governor Dun-
more of Virginia whereby they gave up all title to the
lands south of the Ohio River.
  At the Sycamore Shoals, of the Watauga River,
T775, Colonel Richard Henderson, acting for the
Transylvania Company, purchased the title of the
Cherokees to this "hunting ground" for ten thousand
pounds sterling. This purchase was afterwards de-
clared null and void by the states of Virginia and
North Carolina.
  Through the commissioners Isaac Shelby and
Andrew Jackson, the general government in i8i8
purchased from the Chickasaws, for an annuity of
twenty thousand dollars to be paid for fifteen years, all
their land lying in Tennessee and Kentucky between
the Mississippi and Tennessee rivers. The part in
Kentucky has since been called "Jackson's Purchase."
  Thus we see that Indian claims to Kentucky were
relinquished only upon payment of money or blood.


                    SCOUWA
  THERE lived in Pennsylvania in the early part of
the eighteenth century a young man by the name of
James Smith. A short while before General Brad-
dock was defeated by the French and Indians, Smith
was taken prisoner by a band of Indians, and carried
to the French fort where the city of Pittsburgh now
stands. Here he was made to run the gantlet; and so



23



 






SCOUWA



well did the Indians, ranged on either side, use their
clubs and sticks and stones, that Smith was badly
beaten and made ill for a long time.
  The Indians then carried him to their home in Ohio,
where an old chief pulled out the prisoner's hairs one
by one; only a scalp lock was left which was orna-
mented with feathers and silver brooches. His ears



             Scouwa was adorned by the Indians.

and nose were pierced and hung with silver rings, his
face, head, and body were painted, and he was adorned
with a breechcloth, chains of beads, a belt of wampum,
and silver armlets.
  An old chief then made a speech to the other Indians,
while he held Smith by the hand. The prisoner was
then accompanied to the river by three young squaws



24



i
I "



L   1,-1,1117 1I I- II 11I I :E  I
      11 I      :I         : r,   I

 





SCOUWVA



who attempted to "duck" him. Fearful of being
drowned, Smith resisted until one of the women in
broken English cried, "No hurt you, no hurt you."
  After "scrubbing all the white blood out of him,"
they dressed him in a ruffled shirt, leggins, and moc-
casins, presented him with a pipe, tobacco, pouch,
flint, steel, and tomahawk and told him he had been
adopted in place of a brave young chief who had
fallen.
  The Indians called Smith " Scouwa." They finally
gave him a gun to use and trusted him fully, but be-
cause he once lost his way in the woods, his gun was
taken from him and for a long while he was permitted
to use only a bow and arrow.
  Smith had some exciting experiences while living the
life of an Indian. At one time, during a snowstorm,
he took refuge all night in a hollow tree, and when he
tried to move the block by which he had closed up
the opening in the side of the tree, he found the snow
was piled so deep against it he could not move it.
He was badly frightened, but by pushing with all his
strength he finally succeeded in getting out.
  At another time Smith, an old chief, and a little
boy were alone in their hut in midwinter and all came
near starving, but Smith walked many, many miles,
hunting game, and thus saved the lives of all three.
  In 1759 the Indians that had adopted Smith jour-
neyed to Canada; and as Canada then belonged to the
French, and as the French and Indians were fighting



25

 






SCOUWA



the English, who then owned Pennsylvania, Smith
slipped away. Joining the prisoners that were to be
sent back to Pennsylvania in exchange for some French
the English held, he soon rejoined his family. He
was a leader of the "Black Boys," served as lieutenant
in General Henry Bouquet's expedition, and witnessed
the Indian cruelties to the unfortunate British captives.
  In July, 1766, he learned that the king's agent,
Sir William Johnson, had purchased from the Indians
all the land west of the Appalachian Mountains, and
between the Ohio and Cherokee (Tennessee) rivers.
Having heard the red men tell of this rich land, Colonel
James Smith, accompanied by Joshua Horton, Uriah
Stone, William Baker, and a mulatto slave of Horton's
named Jamie, passed through Cumberland Gap, ex-
plored the country south of the Kentucky River, and,
striking the Cumberland, passed down its entire length
to its junction with the Ohio. They were the first
white men to explore southern and southwestern
Kentucky, although not the first to visit it, for in
1730 John Salling of Virginia was brought a prisoner
by the Cherokee Indians to the Tennessee. After
reaching the mouth of the Cumberland, the others
separated from Colonel Smith and the mulatto boy.
These two were for a long time alone in the wilderness.
When they again reached civilization they wore noth-
ing that had been woven; and when they told of their
experiences, people could hardly believe that any one
could make that journey and live to return.



:26



 





       THE GRAVEYARD OF THE MAMMOTHS              27

  A short distance below the mouth of the Cumber-
land the town of "Old Smithland " was named in honor
of this first white man to explore that region, and later
the town was built just at the junction of the Cum-
berland and Ohio and is now the capital of Livingston
County.
  Smith spent the latter part of his life in Bourbon
County, where he was as useful in state councils as
he had been in Indian conflicts.


  THE GRAVEYARD OF THE MAMMOTHS

  THERE are many places within the present bounds
of Kentucky where animals used to go to lick the
ground, in order to secure the salt therein, and these
places were therefore called "licks." The most noted
of these is in Boone County, and is called Big Bone
Lick from the many gigantic bones that have been
found there.
  In 1773, while leading a surveying party, a man
by the name of James Douglas, of Virginia, camped
for several days at this point. There he found a sur-
face of ten acres entirely without trees or vegetable
life of any kind, while scattered around were many
bones both of the mastodon and the arctic elephant.
The size of these gigantic, prehistoric animals may be
conjectured from the descriptions given of the remains.
  Tusks were found from seven to eleven feet long,
the latter being at the larger end six or seven inches



 





THE DRUID OF KENTUCKY



in diameter. Thigh bones, five feet in length; teeth
weighing ten pounds with crowns seven by five inches;
skulls, thought to be of young animals, measuring
two feet between the eyes; ribs from three to four
inches broad and so long that James Douglas and his
party used them for tent poles, are some of the won-
ders that have given the name to this historic place.
Scientists have decided from these remains that these
ponderous animals belonged to the elephant family.
Though possessing remarkable strength, they were
so unwieldy that prehistoric man encountered little
danger in combating them.  It is the supposition
that the early inhabitants who occupied this conti-
nent when these marvelous animals roamed the woods,
must have planned to exterminate them on their
periodic visits to the lick. By what means this was
accomplished we can only conjecture, but that there
was a wholesale slaughter is evident, for at no other
place have so many mammoth remains been found.


         THE DRUID OF KENTUCKY

  DANIEL BOONE was born in the almost unbroken
forests of Pennsylvania, on February II, I735. With-
out his energy, caution, and daring, Kentucky would
not have been settled so soon. In both his native
state and in North Carolina, he received in his boy-
hood the training that was to fit him for the great
work that was to be his.



28



 





THE DRUID OF KENTUCKY



  Truly "coming events cast their shadows before,"
for when barely large enough to shoulder the old
family flintlock he found unbounded delight in roam-
ing the woods and returning laden with his spoils,
which at one time was the skin of an immense panthe