Letters from the West; containing sketches of scenery, manners, and customs; and anecdotes connected with the first settlements of the western sections of the United States

Preface

. The following Letters were commenced in the year 1820, and were intended for the pages of a periodical work,* in which some of them have been published. A residence of several years in the country which he attempts to describe, has enabled the author to enlarge his original plan, and to offer the result of his observations in the more formidable shape of a volume — formidable to the public, who are already sur feited with books, and to the author, who in this dress, may incur the test of criticism, which he might have escaped under the humbler garb of a periodical writer. * The Portfolio, a monthly magazine, which has been published at Philadelphia since the year 1801 — a degree of lon gevity altogether unequalled in the United States. It is con ducted by John E. Hall, Esq., who is likewise the editor of an " American Law Journal," and other works on Jurisprudence.

PREFACE.

. It will be seen that neither a history nor a book of travels is attempted, but a mere collection of sketches, with but little choice of sub jects, and still less attention to the order in which they are arranged. If his work should afford amusement, the author will be satisfied ; if it should develope any new fact, honourable to his country, or useful to its citizens, his highest aim will be achieved ; and, in any event, he will submit cheerfully to the verdict of public opinion, convinced that his book, if too dull to deserve approbation, is too brief to merit cen sure. CONTENTS.

Letter I. Introductory

Can you tell me, my dear N e, why I left you in sadness, though I would fain have chased away the cloud that hung upon my brow ? If you can, you will explain a feeling which I have often experienced, but never could exactly define. I have seldom left a spot, at which I had sojourned long enough to form acquaintances, without a heavy heart ; and yet there is something in that same heart which makes me delight to be ever roving from scene to scene. The prospect of a journey fills my n mind with delightful anticipations, and there is no labour which I undertake with so much alacrity as that which is preparatory to a change of place. The horse is my favourite among quadrupeds, and I find no music so inspiriting as the cracking of a coachman's whip ; even the creaking of cordage, and the howling of the ocean blast, though they intimate danger, have often charmed me into forgetfulness, by harmonizing vvith my locomotive propensities.

And yet there is a sadness in the word " fare well" — a melancholy in the glance which the traveller throws back at the receding landscape, but little in accordance with the bright visions which illumine his onward path. What is it that chains the heart to a narrow spot, when the wide world is blooming around ? Can it be fondness for the scene which has already been enjoyed to satiety, where every thing has be come monotonous, and the palled senses must feed upon the food they have grown tired of ? Can it be regret, when pleasure allures in the perspective, and when any dear object which is left behind will be regained, and glow with new charms after a temporary absence ? These are questions which you may answer if you please, for I assure you I shall not take the trouble to investigate them ; it is enough for me to leave my friends with heaviness, and to return to them with delight, without intruding on philosophic ground to analyze the light and shade of those conflicting emotions, of which the experience is sufficiently pleasurable.

Now, while you are answering my questions, I will reply to yours. You ask me, in the very spirit of Goldsmith's Hermit, what allures me to " tempt the dangerous gloom," and to risk my neck, aye, and my complexion too, among the tangled forests and sun-burnt prairies of the West ? I might reply, in my usual style, by a quotation from a favourite author : " We may roam through this world like a child at a feast, Who but sips of a sweet, and then flies to the rest ; And when pleasure begins to grow dull in the east, We may order our wings and be off to the west ;" — or I might briefly say, with the churlish Shy lock, " It is my humour." But as I would have you to know, that I am not so much of a knight-errant as to seek for giants for the mere pleasure of overcoming them, nor so sentib mental as to hie me to purling streams and spreading shades, to cool my blood and warm my fancy, I will discuss my reasons in sober prose.

My desire of exploring the western country has not been altogether the effect of that wandering disposition to which my friends have been good enough to attribute it It is true, too true, perhaps, that a roving fancy, in dulged and confirmed into habit by the unsettled manner of my early life, may have had much weight in forming my determination ; but it is equally true, that this is a national trait, en tailed in common upon most of my country men, few of whom regard time or space, when profit or amusement allures to distant regions. But I found my strongest inducement in the deep interest we all feel in those young states which have sprung up in the wilderness, and Avhich, expanding with unexampled rapidity, are fast becoming the rivals of their elder sisters in the east. It might be questioned whether I have reached the years of discretion ; and yet, young as I am, I can remember the time when Pitts- AVEST. burgh was considered as one of the outposts of civilized America ; and I shall never forget the intense interest which I felt, while a boy, in gazing at the brawny limbs and sun-burnt features of a Kentuckian, as he passed through the streets of Philadelphia.

The rough, hardy air of the stranger, the jaded paces of his nag, the blanket, bear-skin, and saddle-bags — nay, the very oil-cloth on his hat, and the dirk that peeped from among his vestments, are still in my eye ; they bespoke him to be of distant regions, to have been reared among dangers, and to be familiar with fatigues. He strode among us with the step of an Achilles, glancing Avith a good-natured superciliousness at the fragile butterflies of fashion that glittered in the sun-beams around him. I thought I could see in that man, one of the progenitors of an unconquerable race ; his face presented the traces of a spirit quick to resent — he had the will to dare, and the power to execute ; there was a something in his look which bespoke a disdain of controul, and an absence of con straint in all his movements, indicating an habitual independence of thought and action.

Such was the stock from which a new people were to spring ; but the oak has blossomed and borne fruit. Science and refinement, engrafted upon the rude stem, have flourished, and have mingled their verdure and their sweets among its hardy branches. That " lone, wayfaring man," is not now the only representative of his country ; the West has already sent us the statesman, upon whose accents listening thousands have hung enraptured — the gentleman, whose politeness pleases — and the maiden, whose loveliness delights us. At the period to which I have alluded, a journey from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh was a most serious affair ; and he who would adventure further, took with him arms, and guides, and provisions, and " all appliances and means to boot," necessary for subsistence and defence. What was then the goal, is now the starting place ; Pittsburgh is the threshold by Avhich we pass into the great States of the West ; and Kentucky, but lately a western frontier, is now one of the eastern boundaries of the western country.

The shores of the Mississippi, and its tributary streams, present to the world a singular and most enchanting picture — one which future ages will contemplate with wonder and delight. The celerity with which the soil has been peopled, and the harmony which has prevailed in the erection of their governments, have no parallel in history, and seem to be the effect of magic, rather than of human agency. Europe Avas at one time overrun by numerous hordes, who, rushing like a torrent from the North, in search of a more genial climate, captured or expelled the effeminate inhabitants of the South, and planted colonies in its richest provinces ; but these were savages, who conquered with the sword, and ruled with the rod of iron. The " arm of flesh " was visible in all their opera tions. Their colonies, like ours, were formed by emigration ; the soil was peopled with an exotic population ; but here the parallel ends.

The country, gained by violence, was held by force ; the blood-stained soil produced nothing but " man and steel, the soldier and his sword." What a contrast does our happy country present to scenes like these ! It remained for us to exhibit to the world the novel spectacle of AVEST. a people, coming from various nations, and differing in language, politics, and religion, sitting down quietly together, erecting states, forming constitutions, and enacting laws, without bloodshed or dissension. Our curiosity is excited to know what powerful attraction has drawn these multitudes from their native plains, and why, like bees, they swarm as it were to the same bough. Nor is it less interesting to inquire by what process such heterogeneous particles have become united, and to observe the effect of so extraordinary a combination.

Is it not singular to behold the Englishman and the Frenchman rushing to the same goal ; the labo rious, economical New Englander treading the same path with the high-minded, luxurious native ofthe South ; and the cautious Hollander, with an enterprise foreign to his nature, rearing his vine and his fig-tree at a spot whence the footsteps of the savage aborigines are scarcely yet effaced? Is it not more strange that such men can live in fellowship, act in unison, make laws in peace, and "do all things which are requisite and necessary, as well for the body as the soul," in harmonious concert ? These are healthful symptoms, indicating moral beauty and political soundness. With such practical effects of liberty before us, we may smile at the sneers of those, who know freedom only in theory, and, hugging their own base chains, affect to scorn that blessing which they have not the manliness to attain, or the virtue to preserve.

But there are other considerations, besides those of a political nature, which render this country peculiarly interesting. It is the refuge of thousands, who have fled from poverty, from tyranny, and from fanaticism. The tumults of Europe have driven hither crowds of unhappy beings, whose homes have been rendered odious or unsafe by the mad ambition of a few aspiring sovereigns. Here is no Holy Alliance, trafficking in human blood ; no sceptre to be obeyed, no mitre to be worshipped. Here they find not merely a shelter from the rude storm that pelts them, but they become propri etors of the soil, and citizens in the state. Here they learn the practical value of that liberty, which they only knew before in theory. They learn here, that although the Englishman may be born a freeman, the American only is bred a freeman; the latter has this blessing in possession, while the former cherishes a vague tradition of its achievement, which is contra dicted by the records of his country, and the practice of his rulers.

You are not to suppose, however, that this is a land of radicals and paupers. Far from it : though many emigrate from necessity, a larger number do so from in clination. Among the emigrants are gentle men of wealth and education, whose object is to build up estates for their children, in a country which offers such facilities for the ac cumulation of property, and presents so fair a promise to posterity. By far the greatest class are neither wealthy nor poor ; these are respectable farmers and mechanics, who, in the present unpropitious times, find it to their interest to seek out a residence, where their labours will yield more profit than at home. There are also a variety of historical and literary facts, connected Avith this country, which serve to give it interest in the eyes of an American.

Braddock was defeated, and Washington immortalized, on the romantic shores of Monongahela ; and the vicinity of Pittsburgh, already famous for the loveliness of its mountain scenery, and the magnitude of its mineral treasures, has been the scene of martial achievement, which may one day wake the lyre of the Pennsylvania bard to strains as national and as sweet as those of Scott. In the western forests did Wayne gather a wreath of imperishable laurel ; and St. Clair — I blush to name him, injured man ! — a crown of thorns. On the borders of the Ohio, Butler fell, in the prime of his life, and the vigour of his ambition, leaving a name which his countrymen have delighted to embalm. Can we trace with indifference the path of Burr, the smoothest of seducers, but himself seduced by the wildest of all visionary schemes ? or pass, without a tear of sympathy, the spot, where the philosophic Blannerhasset, surrounded in his loved seclusion with rural and literary enjoyments, tasted of " that peace, which the world cannot give" — tasted, alas ! for but a moment, and dashed away ?

Will it not be delightful to stray along those shores where Wilson strayed — to view the scenes which charmed his poetic fancy — to mark the plumage, and listen to the " wood notes wild" which allured him through many a weary mile? Surely this is classic ground, which has been trodden by the erudite and the brave, whose graves have been battle fields, and in whose soil the patriot soldier reposes from his labours ! Who has not heard of the Antiquities of the West? Who that has heard, has not listened with admiration or incredulity? Of all that has been written on this most interesting sub ject, how little has appeared to satisfy a reasonable mind. The time was, when the tales of western travellers were received as fanciful productions, written to amuse the idle, or to beguile the unwary emigrant into the fangs of speculating avarice.

When we were told of the Great Valley, whose noble rivers, stretching in every direction from the distant mountains, poured their waters into the bosom of the Father of Streams; and of the rich bottoms, extensive prairies, and gigantic forests of the West, we could smile at what we believed to be simple exaggeration. But when we heard of caverns, extending horizontally for miles, and exhibiting traces of former inhabitants, of immense mausoleums filled with human bones, some of them of a dwarfish size, indicating the former existence of a pigmy race — of the skeletons of gigantic brutes — of metallic orna ments, warlike implements, and earthen utensils found buried in the soil — of the vestiges of temples and fortifications — in short, of the many remains of a civilized population, we were inclined to consider them as gross impostures.

Yet these curiosities actually exist, as well as others of equal interest ; and while we can no longer withhold our credence, we cannot help exclaiming, " Can such things be, And overcome us like a summer cloud, Without our special wonder !" Are you answered now? Is not here sufficient food for speculation? Will it not be gratifying to mingle with the mighty flood which is sweeping onward to the West — to see it prostrating the forest, and depositing the seeds of art and refinement? The spots which I shall visit have not been consecrated by the classic pen ; a Homer has not sung their heroes, nor an Ovid peopled their shades with divinities. But shall I not stroll among the ruins of ancient cities, and recline upon the tombs of departed heroes ? You may not ad mire my taste ; but, believe me, I should tread with as much reverence over the mausoleum of a Shawanee chief, as among the catacombs of Egypt ; and would speculate with as much delight on the site of an Indian village, as -in the gardens of Tivoli or the ruins of Hercu laneum.

But, to add another and a last inducement, there has been a material variance in the evidence given of this country, by the travellers and writers who have undertaken to describe it. Some laud it as a paradise, others denounce it as a hell. Some have given it health, fertility, and commercial advantages ; others have filled it with swamps, agues, tomahawks, and musquitoes. One writer tells us, that "a dirk is the inseparable companion of every gentle man in Illinois ;" while another facetiously hints that the ladies of Kentucky conceal the same weapon among the folds of their graceful vestments. This latter insinuation, however, I take to be a metaphorical compliment to the lovely daughters of Kentucky, believing, as I do, that the gentleman, alluding to the well known words of Romeo, intended to say, " There is more peril in those eyes, than twenty of their dirks."

I could refer you to a thousand other vile discrepancies, but I have not room. " I will see into it," said Mr. Shandy, when he went to France, to learn whether they " ordered things better" there than at home — " I will see into it," said I, when I found how doctors disagreed about a section of my native country ; and it is in conformance with this determination that I am now fairly embarked, and gliding merrily down the Ohio.

Letter II. Pittsburgh, And Its Vicinity

As I commenced my tour at Pittsburgh, it may not be improper to begin my observations with a description of this thriving town. To you, to whom these details will be familiar, this may seem a superfluous task ; but as it is not a novel thing for travellers to write what is already known to their readers, I shall, at least, be able to plead numerous precedents in excuse for troubling you with a twice-told tale. The vanity of every writer — and authors are not apt to be deficient in this quality — whispers him that he can detail what he sees more agreeably than his predecessors ; while indolence, pointing out the intricate mazes that lie before him, allures the tourist, in the outset of his journey, to linger in beaten paths. You are welcome, therefore, to attribute my plagiarisms to either of these causes, remembering always, that when I promised, like Dogberry, to " bestow all my tediousness upon you," I reserved to myself the privilege of choosing the subjects of discussion.

The situation of Pittsburgh, at the head of the Ohio, and at the confluence of the Monon gahela and Allegheny rivers, was probably first noticed for its military, rather than its commer cial advantages. The early French and Eng lish settlers of this hemisphere of ours, were engaged in continual wars vvith each other, and with the natives; in the course of which, the former determined to establish a chain of posts from Canada to Louisiana. One of the most important of these was Fort Du Quesne, situated atthis point. It did not escape the military eye of Washington, when he visited this country seve ral years before the revolution, on a mission from the government of Virginia ; and, in his despatches, he spoke of its importance with a prophetic spirit. During the struggle, which is commonly called " Braddock's war," Fort Du Quesne changed masters, and the English, c abandoning the original work, which was pro bably a mere stockade, built a more regular fortification on a site immediately adjoining, which they named Fort Pitt.

This post, erected on a low point of land, and commanded by hills on every side, would appear to a soldier of the present day to have been untenable, and con sequently useless ; nor can the reasons of its original establishment, and subsequent importance, be ascertained, without recurring to the history of those times. As a place of deposit for military stores it possessed singular advan tages, in the facilities which it afforded for their transportation, as there is no other spot from which they could have been distributed with equal celerity, or over so large an extent of country. Nor was its situation with regard to defence so desperate as we might at first imagine. It is to be recollected, that in those days there was little or no artillery west of the mountains ; and that it was considered as almost impossible to pass the Allegheny ridge with a carriage of any description.

There was little reason to apprehend that any ordnance would be brought to assail the ramparts of that insulated fortress, which seemed destined to assert the sway of Britain over a boundless wilderness. But, notwithstanding this imaginary security, the works, of which there are extensive ruins still visible, seem to have been built after the usual fashion of that period, and to have had the strength, as well as the form, of a regular fortification. A bomb-proof magazine is still extant, in good preservation. This fort is said to have been built by Lord Stanwin, and to have cost the British government sixty thousand pounds sterling. As it would seem, by placing it at this exposed spot, that an attack by artillery was not apprehended, and as, if such an attack had been made, resistance would have been in vain, it is difficult to conceive what could have been the motives of the builders in giving it such strength and regularity.

We must either suppose that their military habits prevailed over the better dictates of prudence, or that they intended to impress their Indian neighbours with an exalted opinion of their security and power. It is said, that shortly after the English took possession, the Indian traders built a row of fine brick houses, on the c margin ofthe Allegheny, but that their founda tions were sapped by the encroachments of the river : no vestige of them remains. About the year I76O, a small town was built near Fort Pitt, which contained nearly two hundred souls ; but on the breaking out of the Indian war in 1763, the inhabitants retired into the fort, and their dwellings were suffered to fall into decay. The British officers had some fine gardens here, called the " King's," and " Artil lery gardens," and large orchards of choice fruit : the old inhabitants of the present town recollect them ; but there are now no remains of these early attempts at luxury and comfort.

After Fort Pitt came into the possession of the Americans, it was occupied but for a short time, when the garrison was removed to a spot about a mile further up, on the Allegheny river, where a picket work and block-houses were erected, and called Fort Fayette. This post was occupied by the United States' troops until the erection, within a few years past, of the arsenal, two miles further up. The location of the arsenal as a military post is injudicious ; and so little skill was exerted in its erection, as to render it not susceptible of defence ; but in other respects it is a convenient and valuable establishment, well calculated for the manufacture and deposit of ordnance, small arms, and other munitions of war. Pittsburgh was first laid out in the year 1765 ; it was afterwards laid out, surveyed, and com pleted on its present plan, in 1784, by Colonel George Woods, by order of Tench Francis, Esq., attorney for John Penn, and John Penn, junior.

The increase of the town was not rapid until the year 1793, in consequence of the in roads of the savage tribes, which impeded the growth of the neighbouring settlements. The western insurrection, more generally known as the " Whisky War," once more made this the scene of commotion, and is said to have given Pittsburgh a new and reviving impulse, by throwing a considerable sum of money into circulation. Since that time it has increased rapidly, and a few years ago was erected into a city. Pittsburgh and its vicinity may proudly challenge comparison in beauty of scenery and healthfulness of situation. Surrounded by hills and vallies which, in the seasons of verdure, are clothed in the richest vegetation, commanding points may be found in every direction, from which the eye is delighted with the most romantic scenes.

Three noble streams contribute to diversify the prospect, embellishing and enlivening an endless variety of Nature's loveliest pictures. Grant's-hill, an abrupt eminence which pro jects into the rear ofthe city, affords one ofthe most delightful prospects with which I am ac quainted ; presenting a singular combination of the bustle of the town, with the solitude and sweetness of the country. How many hours have I spent here, in the enjoyment of those exquisite sensations which are awakened by pleasing associations and picturesque scenes! The city lay beneath me, enveloped in smoke — the clang of hammers resounded from its nume rous manufactories — the rattling of carriages and the hum of men were heard from its streets — churches, courts, hotels, and markets, and all the " pomp and circumstance" of busy life, were presented in one panoramic view.

Behind me were all the silent soft attractions of rural sweetness — the ground rising gradually for a considerable distance, and exhibiting country seats, surrounded with cultivated fields, gardens, and orchards. On either hand were the rivers, one dashing over beds of rock, the other sluggishly meandering among the hills ; — while the lofty eminences beyond them, covered with timber, displayed a rich foliage, decked and shadowed with every tint of the rainbow. Be low the town, the Ohio is seen, receiving her tributary streams, and bearing off to the west, burthened with rich freights. The towns of Allegheny on the right hand, and Birmingham on the left — the noble bridges that lead to the city in opposite directions — the arsenal, and the little village of Laurenceville, in the rear, added variety to the scene.

What a spot for a poet ! But little more than half a century ago, how lonely and insulated were these solitudes ! How solitary was that fortress, whose flag, like an exotic flower, displayed its gaudy colours in an uncongenial clime, and whose morning gun awakened the echoes which had slept for un numbered years ! The sentry walked " his lonely round" upon those battlements which are now in ruins — the officer strayed pensively along the margin of the river, and as he gazed upon the surrounding beauties, which now began to pall upon the senses, he thought, as the poet has since sung : " Society, friendship, and love, Divinely bestow'd upon man — Oh, had I the wings of a dove, How soon would I taste you again !" The deer then tenanted the forest, and the Indian with his light canoe sported on the wave.

Behold now the contrast ! But enough of this. This eminence received its name from Colonel Grant, a Scottish officer, who fell a sacrifice here to his imprudent courage in the war wdiich ended in 1763. He had been de tached with a body of eight hundred high landers, to surprise the French garrison of Fort Du Quesne ; and arriving at these heights in the evening, he delayed the final blow until the succeeding morning. The morning found him ready for action and confident of success ; but, elated by the impunity which had so far at tended his enterprise, or despising the inactive foe, who seemed already within his grasp, — in a fatal moment of incaution, he ordered his musi cians to sound the reveille. As the martial sounds stole along the hills, calling forth the echoes from an hundred caverns, the gallant Scots might have fancied themselves in that /ar awd land which a Scotsman never forgets ; but alas ! those bugle blasts which aroused their hearts to enthusiasm, were the last they were destined to hear !

The French and Indians, thus apprised by their enemy of his approach, sallied privately from the fort, possessed them selves of the hills in the rear of Grant, and of the surrounding coverts, and, rushing in upon the devoted party, hewed them in pieces ! Castlemahf s-hill, one of the highest points in this vicinity, affords a rich and extensive prospect, embracing a view of this lovely country for many miles round. The Monongahela is seen winding its serpentine course far beneath the spectator's feet, and the city, dwindled to an atom, appears in distant perspective. Per sons of taste resort to this spot, and a stranger would hardly be pardonable who should omit to pay it a visit. Twelve miles from Pittsburgh, on the banks of the Monongahela, is " Braddock's Field," a scene of signal disaster to the British arms.

The name of Braddock has not been cherished by his countrymen, and no attempt has been made to rescue his fame from obloquy ; per haps, because no plausible ground of vindica tion exists ; but every feeling mind must deplore the premature fall of a brave, though obstinate leader, and the sacrifice of a gallant army. There is nothing more arbitrary than the meed of applause or opprobrium, bestowed upon the soldier's toils ; success being, too generally, the test of merit. I am therefore disposed to judge charitably of military miscarriages, and to vene rate the fallen brave, although they may have fallen unwisely. He who gives his life to his country, gives his all, and having thus proved the sincerity of his patriotism, leaves his name to posterity, with a sacred and imposing claim upon their candour.