very of this most important strong hold upon the Indian frontier. At this surrender there were seventy-nine prisoners received, and considerable stores: on viewing the strength of the fort, Colonel Clark was astonished at its easy surrender; but on reflection was convinced, that it could have been undermined, as the fort was within thirty feet of the river bank. If even that attempt had failed, his information was so exact that on the arrival of his artillery, the first hot shot could have blown up the magazine. A few days afterwards, Captain Helm was dispatched up the Wabash after a quantity of stores, upon their way from Detroit; all of which were surprised; and stores to the amount of ten thousand pounds sterling, with forty prisoners, were captured. On the return of this successful expedition, with the British flags still flying, our galley hove in sight, and was preparing for an attack upon the little river fleet, supposing it to be the enemy; but soon the beloved ensign of American freedom was hoisted at the mast head, to the joy and triumph of our countrymen. They were only mortified to find their services had not been lent in the reduction of the post. After this brilliant achievement, over obstacles which might well have deterred the most energetic of commanders, it was not for a moment looked upon as a sufficient effort, but on the contrary, it was only regarded as a stepping stone to other and richer triumphs. Detroit now presented itself in full view, to our bold and indefatigable officer. "Twice has this town been in my power," he writes to Governor Jefferson; "had I been able to have raised only five hundred men when I first arrived in the country, or when I was at St. Vincents, could I have secured my prisoners, and only have had three hundred good men, I should have attempted it." Recent intelligence had informed Clark, that the British force at Detroit consisted of but eighty men, many of them invalids, and the inhabitants exceedingly well disposed towards the American interest. Indeed Colonel Clark had determined on completing his bold enterprises, by an attack upon this point, with his present forces; when receiving dispatches from Governor Henry, promising & reinforcement of another battalion, to

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complete the regiment, it was deemed most prudent to postpone the expedition, until such an imposing force should arrive. In the meantime Colonel Clark embarked on his galley for Kaskaskia, leaving Captain Helm once more in the command of the town, and the superintendence of Indian affairs. By these gallant expeditions, Colonel Clark most richly merited the high encomiums of Chief Justice Marshall, "that these bold and decisive measures, which, whether formed on a great or small scale, mark the military and enterprising genius of the man, who plans and executes them.” The circumstantial relation of these exploits now, for the first time, submitted to the American public, may appear to some, as too wide a digression from the plan of this nistory. The author thinks not; for they form an integral ana almost important part of Kentucky history; achieved under the auspices of our parent State, by a portion of troops drawn from this Commonwealth, when it, as well as the castern Illinois,* formed a portion of the wide domain of Virginia. Nor does the author think a more cruel mutilation of Kentucky history could be committed, than to omit these brilliant Illinois campaigns, which contributed so materially to support the settlement of Ken tucky, by distracting and overawing her savage foes. To the mind of the author, they present some of the most beautiful flowers of western history, worthy of the most assiduous care.

CHAPTER VI.

First Court of Kentucky-Its officers-First Colonel-Siege of St. Asaphs, or Logan's Station-British Proclamatious-Capture of Boone-Siege of Boonesborough-Land Law-Its Commissioners.

It is now time to turn our attention to the more immediate affairs of Kentucky, the narration of which has been suspended, in order to present in one unbroken story, the achievements of the great western hero. It has been seen that it was owing to

*The west side of the Upper Mississippi was called Western Illinois, under the Spanish government, and that portion on the eastern side, was called Eastern Illinois.-Ancient Inhabitants.

his agency, that the executive of Virginia was induced to un- dertake the defence of Kentucky at all, and subsequently, that the legislature established it, as an integral part of that ancient Commonwealth.

Hitherto Kentucky had scarcely formed an object of legislative attention to the parent state of Virginia; which was no doubt profoundly, and justly engrossed, by the soul-stirring concerns of that opening revolution, the results of which have told so gloriously not only for the people of the United States, but for the freedom and the happiness of the world. Still amidst these perilous and tremendous times of social commotion, the legislature of Virginia having declared the State independent of Great Britain, on June 29th, 1776, in October of the same year established the county of Kentucky, as has been previously mentioned. The limits of the new county, which had previously formed a part of Fincastle county, in Virginia, embraced “all the country lying south and westward of a line beginning on the Ohio at the mouth of Great Sandy creek, (now Big Sandy river) and running up the same, and the main or north-easterly branch thereof, to the great Laurel Ridge, or Cumberland mountain; and with that, to the line of North Carolina," or the present State of Tennessee.

"This may justly be considered an important event in the condition of the Kentucky settlers. As a part of Fincastle county, they had in fact, no part, or lot, in its police; nor could they vote at elections for representatives-receive military protection, or be distinctly heard in the legislature, in consequence of their detached situation: but composing a county themselves, they, by the constitution of the State, were to be thenceforth entitled to two representatives of their own choosing. They were also entitled to have a county court of civil jurisdiction of matters in both law and equity-justices of the peace-militia officers-sheriff-coroner, and surveyor: in fine, to be a civil, and military municipality, or corporation; with powers competent to their own government, agreeably to the general laws of the Commonwealth."*

* Marshall 1, page 47.
H*

Our first municipal court, under the authority of Virginia, went into operation in 1777, at Harrodsburg; "composed of six or eight of the most respectable men in the county for literary information." These "had been commissioned by the Governor of Virginia, as justice of the peace; and could, moreover, hold monthly sessions for the dispatch of ordinary business." The names of John. Todd, John Floyd, Benjamin Logan, John Bowman, and Richard Calloway, are recollected by Mr. Humphrey Marshall. Levi Todd was appointed the

first clerk of Kentucky, in its chrysalis condition of a county. The requisite officers for a regiment of militia were also commissioned; of which John Bowman was Colonel, being the first Colonel of Kentucky county.* He promptly placed the citizens whether permanent residents, or not, in companies and batta!ions. Thus was organized this infant colony of Virginia, under the command of a county Lieutenant with the rank of Colonel; no imperfect type of their British ancestors, who had migrated to Jamestown, and had founded the parent Commonwealth. Let us for a moment consider the situation of our pioneers at this period of their history. They were posted in the heart of the most favorite hunting ground of numerous and hostile tribes of Indians, on the north and on the south; a ground endeared to these tribes by its profusion of the finest game, subsisting on the luxuriant vegetation of this great natural park; in fatness, not surpassed by the flocks and herds of agricultural society. It was, emphatically the Eden of the Red man. Was it then wonderful, that all his fiercest passions, and wildest energies, should be aroused in its defence against an enemy; whose success was the Indian's downfall? So formidable were these enemies, into whose mouth our handful of hunters had thrown themselves, that they occupied the present territory of Tennessee, and the whole north-western side of the Ohio river; now embracing the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and the territory of Michigan. These territories were then the stronghold of the most ferocious and war-like tribes of Indians on this continent. They had frequently wasted the frontiers of the

*Correspondence of Colonel Logan with Clark.

Carolinas, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, with the tomahawk, and with fire. Moreover, the enemy was at this time freely aided by the arts and treasure of Great Britain, furnished by her military officers from Detroit to Kaskaskia. Thus the pioneers of Kentucky were separated by three or four hundred miles of Indian wilderness, from the nearest fort of their countrymen at Pittsburg; and fully six hundred miles from the seat of government in Virginia, with forests and Indian country between. Under these appalling circumstances, may not the forlorn and perilous situation of our first settlers, bear some honorable comparison with the gallant daring of the fathers of our great republic, who led the way across the Atlantic wave, and founded the empire of freedom at Jamestown, and at Plymouth?

It was the turn of Logan's fort next, to experience an attack by about the same number of Indians, and probably by the same party which had so recently invested Boonesborough, and attacked Harrodsburg.* The garrison at that time consisted of fifteen men only. The two other principal forts were each kept in a state of alarm by the Indians, so that no assistance could be afforded by the one to the other. The distresses of the inhabitants, particularly of the women and children, may faintly be conceived; cooped up at this period of the year in their confined stations, and surrounded by a merciless foe. "But aided by Logan, and encouraged by his example, the little handful under his command, not exceeding thirty-five, the men less than half this number, would not complain, much less despair." What must have been the joy of these beleaguered forts, when on the 25th of July, 1777, a party of forty-five recruits arrived at Boonesborough from North Carolina! The Indians made their attack upon Logan's fort, with more than their usual secrecy, while the women, guarded by a part of the men, were milking the cows outside of the fort; they were suddenly fired upon by a large body of Indians, till then concealed in the thick cane which stood about the cabins. By this fire, one man was killed and two others wounded, one mortally; the

Marshall 1, page 49..