The Conquest of the Old Southwest; the romantic story of the early pioneers into Virginia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, and Kentucky, 1740-1790Henderson, Archibald
History
The Conquest of the Old Southwest; the romantic story of the early pioneers into Virginia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, and Kentucky, 1740-1790
Henderson, Archibald
Frontier and pioneer life -- Southwest, Old; Kentucky -- History -- To 1792; Southwest, Old -- History; Tennessee -- History
Perhaps no Adventureor Since the days of donquicksotte or before ever
felt So Cheerful & Ilated in prospect, every heart abounded with Joy &
excitement ... & exclusive of the Novelties of the Journey the
advantages & accumalations arising on the Settlement of a new Country
was a dazzling object with many of our Company.... As the Cain ceased,
we began to discover the pleasing & Rapturous appearance of the plains
of Kentucky, a New Sky & Strange Earth to be presented to our view....
So Rich a Soil we had never Saw before, Covered with Clover in full
Bloom. the Woods alive abounding in wild Game, turkeys so numerous that
it might be said there appeared but one flock Universally Scattered in
the woods ... it appeared that Nature in the profusion of her Bounties,
had Spread a feast for all that lives, both for the Animal & Rational
World, a Sight so delightful to our View and grateful to our feelings
almost Induced us, in Immitation of Columbus in Transport to Kiss the
Soil of Kentucky, as he haild & Saluted the sand on his first setting
his foot on the Shores of America. [162]
On the journey Henderson was joined in Powell's Valley by Benjamin
Logan, afterward so famous in Kentucky annals, and a companion, William
Galaspy. At the Crab Orchard they left Henderson's party; and turning
their course westward finally pitched camp in the present Lincoln
County, where Logan subsequently built a fort. On Sunday, April 16th, on
Scaggs's Creek, Henderson records: "About 12 oClock Met James McAfee
with 18 other persons Returning from Cantucky." They advised Henderson
of the "troublesomeness and danger" of the Indians, says Robert McAfee
junior: "but Henderson assured them that he had purchased the whole
country from the Indians, that it belonged to him, and he had named it
Transylvania.... Robt, Samuel, and William McAfee and 3 others were
inclined to return, but James opposed it, alleging that Henderson had no
right to the land, and that Virginia had previously bought it. The
former (6) returned with Henderson to Boonesborough." Among those who
had joined Henderson's party was Abraham Hanks from Virginia, the
maternal grandfather of Abraham Lincoln; but alarmed by the stories
brought by Stewart and his party of fugitives, Hanks and Drake, as
recorded by William Calk on that day (April 13th), turned back. [163]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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