But this appropriation of nearly a million acres to the Henderson Company cannot be viewed at this day as other than a payment for great value received. From any standpoint Richard Henderson's brave advance into Kentucky, in April, 1775, must be considered one of the most heroic displays of that typical American spirit of comprehensive aggrandizement of which so much is heard to-day. Its great value may be guessed from the moral effect of the founding of Fort Boone at the critical hour when the Revolutionary flames, so long burning in secret, burst forth to enlighten the world. It meant much to the East that Henderson and Boone should prove that a settlement on the lower Ohio Basin could be made and maintained; it meant everything to the infant West that Kentucky should so soon begin to fill with men, women, and children. The debt of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois to Kentucky can never be paid and probably never will be appropriately recognized. The lands north of the Ohio were freed from savage dominion largely by the raiding Kentuckians. It is certain that the most spectacular campaign in Western history, Clark's conquest of Illinois, would never have taken place in 1778 if Henderson and Boone had not placed the possibility of successful Kentucky immigration beyond a reasonable doubt in 1775. Judge Henderson returned to North Carolina upon the failure of the Transylvania Company, no doubt depressed and disappointed. The later allotment of land to the Transylvania Company by Virginia and North Carolina in part annulled the severe early defamatory charges of the Virginia governor. He lived to a peaceful old age, and lies buried near his old colonial mansion near Williamstown, North Carolina. Boonesborough is well remembered as Boone's Fort; but it is unjust to forget that Boone was acting in the employ of Richard Henderson, the founder of Transylvania. CHAPTER IV _A Movement among the Colonies to seize the Unoccupied Land Northwest of the Ohio.--Putnam's Hardy Training in Boyhood.--His Training in the Old French War.--His Achievements in the Revolutionary War.--He and Many Soldiers petition Congress for Western Land, as promised at the Beginning of the War.--The Ohio Company of Associates, by its Agent, Mr. Cutler, persuades Congress to pass the Ordinance of 1787.--March of the Founders of Ohio from Ipswich, Mass., to the Site of West Newton, Pa.--Putnam prepares to descend the Youghiogheny, Monongahela, and Ohio to Fort Harmar.--Fears of the Travellers that the Indians driven from Kentucky would attack them.--The Party found Marietta at the Mouth of the Muskingum.--Inauguration of the Governor of the Territory.--Contrast between Conditions, North of the Ohio and South of it.--Other Settlements on the Ohio in the Eighteenth Century.--Putnam's Beautiful Character.--Washington's Opinion of him._ RUFUS PUTNAM: THE FATHER OF OHIO [Illustration]