Biographical sketches of General Nathaniel Massie, General Duncan McArthur, Captain William Wells, and General Simon Kenton: who were early settlers in the western country

Preface

Ix presenting the reader with the following narratives of the distinguished men whose characters are attempted to be delineated, no apology is deemed necessary. The subject is one in which all men, who love to see portrayed from the stump, the rise, and progressive improvements of our country, must feel a lively interest. Is there a man whose feelings are so obtuse, as not to follow General Massie and his compatriots, with intense anxiety, through the wilderness, surveying the country, and forming new settlements in the midst of dangers and difficulties the most appalling 1 if such there be, I envy him not his insensible stupidity.

The defects in the composition, none will more sincerely deplore than myself; and I regret, more than any other can, that my attainments as an author are not more fully equal to the subjects on which I have treated.

I have endured more pain, from diffidence and even timidity, in presenting myself to the public as an author, than I have suifered from fear in the most dangerous situation. It must appear novel to see a man over sixty years of age, without any of the advantages of education, having but little leisure, and always hard pressed to secure a living, turn his attention to the labor of composition in the evening of life. Under these disadvantageous circumstances, little eclat is expected ; if humble mediocrity is allowed I will be content. I took up my pen to rescue from oblivion the names of men who " have done some service to the state."

In this age of enterprise and intellectual improvement, shall it be said by posterity, that, while the bones of our pioneer fathers are

iii

IV PREFACE.

mouldering into dust, no record of their useful labors shall be preserved to perpetuate their memories 1 " The man dies, but his memory should live."

There are certain epochs in the history of every country which indissolubly fix themselves in the memory of its inhabitants, from generation to generation. The war for independence, and the first settling of the western country being simultaneous, these were the starting points, from which we date our national existence. The brilliant achievements performed by our forefathers to effect these memorable objects appear to have formed the critical era, on which long hung, in doubtful suspense, the destiny of these United States. It will be admitted by all, that the old Indian war was a continuation of the war of the Revolution. And, as Thomas Paine eloquently said in his Crisis, " these are the times that try men's souls ; the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis shrink from the service of his country — but he that stands it out now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman."

In many scenes of the grand drama, were tragedies performed which, for boldness and sublimity of execution, throw romance into shade. The names and characters of some of the actors have found a place in the history of the country — but of many, very many, who in that crisis performed brilliant exploits, the names and memories are lost forever ; whilst the names of others are only remembered in lingering, changeful, traditionary legends.

In attempting to describe the awful catastrophes and frightful combats which took place on the western frontier, we sometimes meet incidents to which language is not equal. " The conception is too bulky to be born alive, and in the struggle for expression every finger tries to be a tongue." When we reflect on the bold assaults, or the ingenious, masterly retreats of the old frontier-men — the patient fortitude with which they endured fatigue and hunger — it is evident, that man little knows till he is tried in the school of adversity what calamities and hardships are beyond his endurance. The dangers from their enemies, though great, were only an item in the catalogue of their sufferings. They had to travel through thick woods without road or path, scratched with briars, stung by nettles, or torn by thorns. When night approached, no shelter to protect them from the " pitiless pelting of the storm," or comfortable Couch on which to repose their weary limbs ; the moist earth was

PREFACE. V

their bed, the firmament of heaven their covering ; tormented with gnats and musquitoes, their nights were sleepless ; when morning light returned, their cares and watchfulness were resumed, to guard against the danger of being surprised by their bold, vigilant and dexterous enemy.

It must be remembered that the period is almost at hand, when to speak of the enterprising men who first settled on the banks of the beautiful river Ohio, from personal knowledge, will be closed forever. Who, and what they were, and what they accomplished, if not immediately recorded, can shortly be known only as traditionary legends. To cast his mite of information on this subject, to those who may succeed him, is the principal design of the author.

When a retrospective glance is taken of the path pursued by the old frontier-men, and the difficulties and dangers encountered and overcome, all will admit, that they performed their fearful duties with a firmness unsurpassed in the annals of history. Many of them bled under the tomahawk of the red men, and to all their existence was one connected period of toil, privation, and watchfulness.

Having been an humble actor in many of the scenes described, the incidents which I did not witness were communicated by the actors shortly after the events took place, so that the reader can place the fullest reliance in the truth of the narratives related in the following pages.

The biography of General Massie I had published in the Western Christian Advocate some time since; and, as herewith presented, it has been revised by Henry Massie, (son of the General,) and I have no doubt is much improved on the original draft. Perhaps the work would have pleased better had his friendly pen revised the other parts of the volume.

It is unnecessary to inform the reader that the author of the following pages makes no pretension to the accomplishment of learning— this the learned reader will soon discover. My early life was passed with hunters, boatmen, and soldiers, where there were but rare opportunities of associating with men of learning, or polite acquirements. I have the most humble opinion of my literary abilities ; and when I engaged in writing and publishing in the newspapers sketches of the lives of some of the old backwoodsmen, with whose history I was well acquainted, it was without the most distant idea of writing a book. The approbation with which my narratives ap-

VI PREFACE.

pear to have been received by the public, together with the solicitation of some of my friends, has induced me to adopt my present course.

Having endeavored to present the reader with the manners and customs of the old frontier-men, together with some interesting events which will aid the historian of some future day, in delineating the character of the early settlers as well as the early history of the western country, I now take my leave of the subject.

john Mcdonald,

Of Poplar Ridge, Ross County, Ohio.

A SKETCH OF THE LIFE

OF

GENERAL NATHANIEL MASSIE.

Chapter I

The life of every man, of any distinction, is intimately connected with many of the events that compose the general history of his country. It is by his connection with those events he is made to display his character, and derive from his companions whatever reputation he may merit. Nor can we, in writing the biography of such a man, strictly confine ourselves to the immediate occurrences of his own time ; but we must be permitted to look back a little, and form a connected chain of events, in order to make plain what would otherwise appear obscure, and give a just importance to events which would not otherwise seem to merit attention. These are the reasons I beg leave to urge as an apology for the following digression.

A short time previous to, and about the time the Revolutionary struggle commenced, the attention of the citizens of Virginia was drawn to the Kentucky territory ; which was, at that time, and for many years afterwards, the western portion of that state. This attention was produced by some hardy hunters of the mountains, who accustomed to danger, and always seeking some new and exciting field of enterprize, passed far beyond the pale of civilization, and pushed their discoveries in the rich bosom of Kentucky. Returning to the settlements, the fame of the exuberant richness of the soil was spread throughout the land. They told, that they had passed beyond the wide chain of mountains, that composed, at that time, the middle portion of Virginia, and had reached the valley beyond, and found a beautifully rolling country, covered by a dense forest of large trees, the ground beneath them carpeted by the luxuriant growth of waving cane, and that the soil was rich beyond any they ever beheld. Besides all this, what gave the greatest joy to the hunter, was the fact, that game of different kinds abounded in profusion ; so much so, that the Indian tribes, from different portions of the West, had from time immemorial contested, in long and bloody battles, the occupancy of the soil, during the hunting season ; and, on this account, the country was known among the Indians by the name of Kentucky, " the dark and bloody ground."

Such glowing descriptions, in spite of the many and embarrassing difficulties under which Virginia, at that time, labored, soon excited the activity of many of her citizens. That state owned an immense landed territory, and had always been extensively liberal in its disposal. The legislature foresaw, that the only mode to accomplish the early settlement of their vast unappropriated lands, was to be effected by the liberal encouragement to settlers ; and, by an act for that purpose, every one, who made a settlement by clearing a spot of ground, erecting a cabin, and raising a crop of corn, on such lands, was entitled to four hundred acres of land, including the settlement, and the preemption right to one thousand acres adjoining thereto. The settlement claims were bounties given to settlers by the state ; the preemption claims were rights given by the state to the settlers, to purchase before others and appropriate one thousand acres adjoining their settlements. These claims to land, in Kentucky, were of high standing and much respected, and generally prevailed beyond other claims, when difficulties did not arise about the location of them. A large portion of the state was quickly settled by this liberal encouragement extended to settlers ; yet a very short time was allowed to them. The unbounded rage for the acquisition of western lands seized the speculators, and the greater portion of the country was soon more than doubly appropriated by the military and treasury warrants, issued in almost as large quantities by Virginia, as continental paper.

The wretched " every one for himself" system of locating lands, at that time, gave rise to more than thirty years continued litigation of the land claims. So much, indeed, were they entangled, that in their adjustment, more brilliancy of talent was displayed, and more abstruse learning brought forward and applied, than it could well be conceived possible such a subject could originate. Happily, however, for the country, the rules of our laws, when applied by great and discriminating minds, are rules of reason, and when directed steadily to some great end connected with human transactions, will finally overcome all difficulties, and accomplish the desired object. In Kentucky, a system of land law was soon erected, abstruse indeed, but founded in justice, as it soon relieved their entangled and much litigated titles. But to return.

For several years after the Kentucky territory was explored, many difficulties were encountered in making permanent settlements. The settlers were placed, as it were, in a gauntlet, continually exposed to the inroads of the Indians from the northwest of the Ohio, and also from the tribes that bordered the southern part of Kentucky. These different tribes of Indians meeting yearly, during their hunting and war season, found the country possessed by the whites, who were looked upon by them as a common enemy, who, they justly suspected, had come to rob them of their possessions. Animated by the wrong which was about to be done them, and also by the thought that they were contending for the country, which had been the glorious field of the warlike exploits of their chiefs and warriors, they fought with that bravery which borders on despair. For these reasons, their warfare with the whites was of an exterminating character on both sides, and the scenes of bloodshed that ensued were most terrific. Another great difficulty, under which the settlers labored, was the distance they were removed from the settlements. Supplies of absolute necessaries were not easily transported so great a distance, as no roads were then known, and the only mode of transportation was the pack-horse, and the only guide the compass and the experience of the woodman. Unfortunately, at that time, no remedy could be applied to remove these difficulties, as Virginia with the other colonies were, at that time, engaged in the arduous struggle for Independence, and no protection could, as heretofore, be afforded to the settlers by troops levied for the frontier service.

Under these and many other difficulties, the pioneers of an early day labored. Is it not surprising that the settlement of the country should have continued to progress ? Every returning messenger, too, from the new to the old country, had scenes of horror to relate of the stealthy incursions of the savages, their deadly hatred to the whites, and their indiscriminate and inhuman butcheries of them. The thoughts of such things did not discourage the pioneers. On the contrary, the tide of emigration, year after year, began to swell in larger and more regular streams, and the inhabitants soon commenced a system of offensive, as well as defensive, operations. Hitherto, the hunters and surveyors had adopted, from necessity, the roving habits, the cunning, and hardihood of the savages, and had carried on with them a desultory warfare, in which innumerable instances of personal bravery were displayed, that showed them to be men of more than Spartan courage. Many sad lessons, however, had taught the settlers that their only means of safety could be afforded by combinations of the inhabitants. At their stations, they, therefore, constructed block-houses and walls built of trees, as they were found to be the most secure method of defence, and always afforded a place of retreat from danger. In these stations were placed the wives, the children, and the moveable goods of the settlers, and a sufficiency of land in the immediate vicinity was cleared and cultivated to raise the necessaries of life. The men, during the greater part of the year, were busily employed in locating and surveying land.

This subject is so absorbing as to have carried me beyond my intention. It is impossible, indeed, to reflect on the early settlement of Kentucky without being deeply impressed with interest in its varied scenes, and, at the same time, made to feel an almost unbounded admiration of the character of its early inhabitants. Enterprize and courage gave to each one the knowledge of his own capacity, while sincere friendship, strict confidence, and mutual dependence in times of danger cemented them together like a band of brothers. They lived at a time, when those manly and ennobling qualities were necessary for their well-being, and a continuation of these qualities among their descendants, have rendered them celebrated, in our land, for their open and manly bearing and other qualities connected with true courage.

I have made the above remarks, in order to connect them with the subject of this biographical sketch. It was at an interesting period of the settlement of Kentucky, that he entered upon the active duties of a surveyor, and to a man of capacity in that business an immense field of enterprize was opened.

General Nathaniel Massie was born, in Goochland county, Virginia, on the 28th day of December, 1763. He was the eldest son of Maj. Nathaniel Massie of that county, who was a substantial farmer in easy circumstances. The Major was a man of great plainness, industry, and good practical sense, and although possessed of means sufficient, he chose rather to give his sons such educations as would prepare them to transact the common business of life, than such as would be of no service to them in the employments he intended them to pursue. Besides all this he had a large family of children, and acting rather contrary to the old Virginia system, he thought it better for his sons, that at an early day they should be placed in a situation to gain their own livelihood. So soon, therefore, as they completed their educations, he permitted them to select whatever employment they preferred. Nathaniel, the eldest son, chose for his occupation to learn surveying, and go to the western country, which at that time held out great inducements to enterprizing young men. Previously, however, to this, at the early age of seventeen years (1780), he was sent by his father as a substitute for himself, or some member of the family, in the draft of soldiers, made about that time, to recruit the army during the revolutionary war. What length of time he remained, or at what post stationed, is not known to the author. The fact itself shows the confidence reposed in him at that early age by his father, and the excursion was well calculated to make him better acquainted with men and things, and it is highly probable gave a spring to that latent ambition which distinguished him in after life as a man of uncommon enterprize.

After his return home from the army, he studied surveying, and made himself master of that science. In the fall of the year 1783, in his nineteenth year, he was prepared to set out in the world on his own footing. He has been described by an intimate acquaintance of his, who saw him a short time previous to his departure for the West, " as an uncommonly fine-looking young man. That his form was slender, well made, and muscular, and was calculated, from his good constitution and uncommon activity, to endure fatigue, exposure, and privations in an eminent degree. That his countenance was open and expressive of great energy and good sense, and well suited to gain favor from men of enterprize." His father furnished him with a horse well equipped, and all necessary surveying instruments. A small amount of treasury warrants were also placed in his care, together with a letter of recommendation to Gen. James Wilkinson, who was, at that time, a citizen of Kentucky country, and a man of distinction.

The author, as he is personally unacquainted with the early history of General Massie, has been obliged to depend on whatever information his children could afford him, which was but little, as they have lived far away from the home of his youth and family connections. What information he has derived from them of him, while in Kentucky, is contained in some old letters, from different persons to him. It is well known, however, that very shortly after his arrival there he was actively engaged in locating warrants and surveying lands ; and from the property he accumulated, it would appear great success had attended his industry. An extract from a letter of his father, of an early date, is given on account of its antiquity.

" Goochland, Aug. 24, 1784.

"Loving Son: — I received yours, per Mr. Underwood, wherein you informed me that you were in good health : likewise that favored by Mr. Parker, dated May 25, 1784, wherein you informed me, that the warrant for two hundred and fifty acres of land was joining the other warrant, and that it was rather dangerous to have it surveyed. I am glad to hear that it is the best quality, equal to James river low grounds," &c.

The following letter, as it shows the manner in which surveying was conducted, at that time, is worthy of an insertion.

" Hanging-fork, April 26, 1786.

" Dear Sir :— I am, at this time, unable to come over on the business that I promised you. For my attending the surveys it will not make the least difference, as you can do it as well as if I was with you. I wish you to divide the land that is surveyed, belonging to the Dutchmen, and survey the entries that lay joining of those lands, and divide the entries also. Survey that land you purchased of Captain Owing, and survey the one thousand and five hundred acre entry, that is located at Logan's old camp on Bird's trace, about one mile from another large camp. The old camp was made on the first campaign, in the year '80, and the other the next campaign. I wish you to survey the entries that are on the heads of Grassy creek, in the name of Howard Lewis. If you find where Creuss was buried at a camp, you can easily find the entries. You must take the marked way from the camp up a ridge, westwardly course, about two miles, and the way is marked all the way of the two miles with a tomahawk ; and then you will turn down a hollow to your left hand, until you cross a branch of Grassy creek, and you will see some stumps, where there has been some fire-wood cut, on the east side of the branch ; and continue the marked way the same course, perhaps two and a half miles, near the heads of said waters, and there you will find some trees marked, as the entry calls for, on the west side of the black oak, and some small trees marked near the said oak ; and you will return down to the same branch to the creek, and down the creek to the fork, and cross the forks and go a southeast course about four miles, until you come to a creek ; then up said creek until you find a camp on said creek, in the bottom, where you will see trees peeled, and stumps, and an old camp, and there is Mr. Howard Lewis's entry of two thousand acres. You will find the beginning about fifty rods below the camp in a buffalo trace, on an ash tree, marked M. black with powder, the mark is facing down the creek ; I peeled the bark off" with my knife ; and survey Stephen's above Meamey's and Young's preemption ; and that, I think, will be as much as you can do at this time. Now, my good friend, if you cannot do it, pray write a letter to me, and direct it to Mr. Nagle, in Danville. But I would be glad if you could do it, and I will give you five pounds besides your fees. Promise your chain carriers goods for their wages, which I will pay on your return ; and am, sir, your friend and humble servant,

"JOHN MARTIN."

" Mr, Nathaniel Massie."

Who this John Martin was is not known, but this letter of instruction to Mr. Massie shows him to have been a land speculator and a merchant. I have introduced this letter to show the necessity of a surveyor's being, what is termed, a woodsman, and also the manner in which surveyors' fees were paid. Mere surveyors had their fees regulated by law, and were illy paid for their trouble, and as they were men of great enterprize and much information as to good unappropriated lands, they soon became locators of land on the shares. The locators who were popular, and in whom confidence could be placed, would get a fourth, a third, £iid, sometimes, half, when locations could be made on first rate land. Massie, at first, acted as a surveyor, but he soon discovered that it was a small business, and that the pro- 2 fitable land business fell into the hands of the locators. As he was young and extremely active, and one of the best footmen in the West, he soon became an expert woodsman, to be which was an indispensable qualification of a land locator, as the country was then an entire and unbroken wilderness. No roads, or even paths, led from one part to the other ; and besides these difficulties, the restless Indians were continually on the alert to surprise and cut off surveying parties. The surveyors, too, had to explore the country, in order to find the most fertile lands, and in doing this they were obliged to traverse the woods in every direction, guess at courses, and judge of distances. Young Massie soon became an'expert surveyor, and it was a matter of astonishment, (as he was raised in the dense population east of the mountains) how soon he acquired the science and habits of the backwoodsmen. Although he never practised the art of hunting, he was admitted by all, who knew his qualifications as a woodsman, to be of the first order. He could steer his course truly in clear or cloudy weather, and compute distances more correctly than most of the old hunters. He could endure fatigue and hunger, with more composure than the most of those persons who were inured to want on the frontier. He could live upon meat without bread, and bread without meat, and was perfectly cheerful and contented with his fare. In all the perilous situations in which he was placed, he was always conspicuous for his good feeling and the happy temperament of his mind. His courage was of a cool and dispassionate character, which added to great circumspection in times of danger, gave him a complete ascendancy over his companions, who were always willing to follow when Massie led the way.

The field of young Massie's activity seems not to have been confined, during this period, to the business of locating and surveying lands. In the fall of 1786, we find him interested with Gen. James Wilkinson in speculations in salt, which on account of its scarcity, and the absolute necessity of the article, rendered it very valuable. There were then few places in the western country, where salt could be made to any advantage. The art of boring for salt water was then unknown, and the few places where salt was made, were where the water rose to the level of the earth, which from its great mixture with fresh water, generally required eight hundred or a thousand gallons of the water to make fifty pounds or a bushel of salt, which sold for two to five dollars, per bushel. The principal manufactories in Kentucky, were Bullitt's and Mann's licks near Louisville, from which the inhabitants of the West were scantily supplied at an enormous price. From two old letters from Gen. Wilkinson to Massie, which are inserted below, we learn that Massie was about to start for Nashville, on the Cumberland river, with a barge load of salt. Gen. Wilkinson, as the senior partner, directed the affairs of the firm, and, from his letters of instruction to Massie, shows his remarkable cunning, and the means employed, at that day, to keep from being overreached. The General, at that time, was one of the largest dealers of merchandize in the West, and one of the most popular men in the country, and was well known to be a man of the first order of talents, and great discrimination as to the character of men. Whether Massie made or sunk money in the salt speculation is not known, and the subject is introduced chiefly to show in what articles of trade the commerce of the country consisted, and the manner in which it was conducted ; and also to show that Massie, young as he was, had rendered his name respectable by his industry and attention to business. The confidence placed in him by Gen. Wilkinson shows the light in which he viewed him. These letters further show the manner in which business was transacted, and information communicated between different parts of the country This was done, generally, by means of expresses. It was eight or ten years after that period, before post routes and post offices afforded their facilities to the inhabitants of Kentucky.

" Danville, December 19, 1786.

" Dear Sir : — I beg you to proceed with all possible dispatch to the falls. You will call by the lick, and urge the provision of the salt ; and prepare some way of conveying it to the river, &c. &c. You will make the best of your way to Nashville, and there dispose of it for cotton, beaver furs, racoon skins, otter, &c. You must always observe to get as much cash as you can. When you have completed your sales, you will yourself move with the horses, &c, by land, and commit the other articles, with the barge, to Captain Alexander, with directions to him to proceed up to the falls, there secure the boat and property, and give me the earliest advice of his arrival, by express or otherwise. The goods which Captain Alexander carries down to the falls, I wish you to exchange for horses, or elegant high blooded mares, if you can get great bargains ; otherwise, sell them for cash, peltry, or cotton. When you receive the salt, take care to have it measured in a proper honest way, with a spade or shovel, and no sifting, &c. One Smith is preparing to go down with two or three hundred bushels from the lower lick. Endeavor to get off before him, and if you cannot, persuade him to stay for you ; but you must not wait for him a moment, as it will be your interest to arrive before him. You will remember you are going amongst a set of sharpers, and therefore must take care of yourself. Write to me by every opportunity, letting me know how you come on. Don't fail in this. God bless you and give you good luck.