Sketches of history, life, and manners, in the West

Front matter

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Preface

It has not been the object of the writer to attempt a regular history of the western states, or any connected description of the country, or its institutions. -The materials for such a work are not in existence, in any available form ; no complete collection of political or statistical facts, or scientific observations, has yet been made, from which a work could be compiled. Ignorant and presumptuous travellers have published their own hasty and inaccurate conclusions ; and careless writers have selected from these such supposed facts, as comported with their own theories or notions of probability ; and we hesitate not to say, that the works which have professed to treat of the whole western region, have been failures.

Particular departments of this great subject have been well treated. A few of the early residents have published their reminiscences, which are highly interesting and valuable, as evidences of the facts which occurred within the observation of the writers. It is to be regretted that so little attention has been bestowed upon the collection and preservation of these authentic narratives of early adventure.

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PREFACE.

The travels of Pike, Lewis and Clark, and Long, are replete with valuable facts, carefully collected, and reported with scrupulous fidelity ; and a mass of information may be found scattered through the reports of officers, employed by the general government in making surveys, and constructing public works.

A few scientific gentlemen have written with ability on subjects connected with the general history of this region. Dr. Drake's admirable description of the valley of the Miami, entitled " A Picture of Cincinnati," is composed in the calm spirit of philosophical enquiry, and is worthy of entire confidence. The contributions of Colonel M'Kenny, Governor Cass, Mr. Schoolcraft, Mr. Brackenridge, Mr. M'Clung, Mr. Mann Butler, the writer of Tanner's Narrative, and a number of other intelligent individuals, are replete with valuable and interesting matter. In naming these writers, however, we design no disrespect towards others whose names are omitted, as our object is not to attempt to give a complete list of authorities, but to suggest the names of a few of the most prominent.

Of the compilations from these and other authorities, the statistics embraced in Darby's " Views of the United States," Tanner's " Guide to Emigrants," and the recently published work of Mr. Pitkin, are those which may be most safely relied upon.

PREFACE. 7

When the materials shall be accumulated, when the loose facts and scattered reminiscences, which are now floating along the stream of tradition, shall be gathered together, then may such a work be prepared as will be creditable to our country ; and then will the pioneers, the warriors, and the patriots of the west, take the proud station which they deserve, among the illustrious founders of the American republic. In the mean while, we can only aim at presenting to the public such fragments of history as may be rescued from oblivion by individuals ; and such observations as the few, who are curious in collecting the statistics of their own times, may have been able to accumulate.

In the following volumes, therefore, nothing further is attempted, than a collection of facts, some of which are the result of the writer's own observation, and which are intended rather as examples and illustrations of topics connected with the western states, than as a regular narrative of its history. They are not presented in any connected series, nor with any embellishment of style ; but are placed before the reader, under the most unambitious form, consistent with convenience of arrangement, and propriety of expression. This is not said to disarm criticism ; an author has no right to interpose himself between the critic and his duty, either to secure his clemency or resent his decision ; but simply to explain to the reader the unpretending character of these volumes, in order that their title

PREFACE.

may not awaken expectations which they are not calculated to satisfy.

Nor is the matter contained in this work presented now to the reader for the first time. It has no claim to originality, but is properly a compilation. During a long residence in the west, the author has, from time to time, employed his pen in the discussion of various subjects relating to this region, and he has now done little more than to collect together the fragments, which were scattered through the pages of periodical and other publications. It was due to himself thus to identify and resume his property — the more especially, as these writings have been freely used by a number of compilers, some of whom were not careful to acknowledge the debt, while others have misunderstood, or perverted, the author's meaning.

In addition to the papers thus republished, there will however be found some facts, which are now laid before the public for the first time, and some valuable documents have been thrown into an appendix. The latter are not specially referred to, by marginal notes, as the attentive reader will readily trace their connection with the text.

In another work, now in preparation, a collection of facts of more recent date will be laid before the public.

Chap. II

Founding of St. Louis. — History of that colony. — Transfer to Spain. — Attack by the Indians. — Intercourse with N. Orleans. — A gallant exploit. — Other French settlements. 165

CHAP. II.

Settlements on the Ohio. — Early movements in Virginia. — Views of Gov. Spotswood. — Settlement of Pittsburg — Travels of Carver. — Expedition of Dunmore. 183

Introduction

Bat few of the writers who have treated of the western country, rank above mediocrity ; and httle of all that has been written on this subject is interesting or true. Books we have had in abundance; travels, gazetteers, and geographies inundate the land ; but few of them are distinguished by literary merit or accurate information. Perhaps a reason for this is to be found in the character of the country. The subjects of interest, in a land which has long been inhabited by a civilised people, are such as are familiar to the student, and, in traveling through such a region, he treads on classic ground with a knowledge of all the localities. He knows the points of attraction, and, having reached them, is learned in their history. If in Italy, he hastens to Rome ; if in the Mediterranean, to Naples, Vesuvius, and the ruins of Carthage ; if in Greece, to Athens ; if in Palestine, to the Holy Sepulchre. Whether in Europe or in Asia, he finds, at every step, some object to awaken classic recollections, and expatiates on a field already familiar to his imagination. In collecting information, he but fills an

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14 1^TR0DUCTI0N.

outline previously sketched out in the seclusion of his closet, and the design itself is but a copy ; for such narratives exhibit, in general, the same pictures, coloured by different hands — each correcting the faults, and improving on the failures, of the other. The accomplished writer, in short, who treats of the countries to which we have alluded, must be familiar with their history, their antiquities, their arts, their literature, their every thing which has been open to the observation of the hundreds and thousands who have preceded him; and, if not altogether devoid of genius, he cannot fail to throw some new light upon subjects, which, however hacknied, are always interesting, and to which every day brings some change, as each year gives moss to the rock and ivy to the ruin.

All this is different in the west. The traveller, who launches his bark upon the silver wave of the Ohio, leaves behind him every object which has been consecrated by the pen of genius. He beholds the beauties of nature in rich luxuriance, but he sees no work of art which has existed beyond the memory of man, except a few faint and shapeless traces of a former race, whose name and character are beyond the reach even of conjecture. Every creation of human skill which he beholds is the work of his cotemporaries. All is new. The fertile soil abounds m vegetation. The forest is bright, and rich, and luxuriant, as it came from the hands of the Creator. The hundred rivers, that bear the treasures of western industry to the ocean, present grand and imposing spectacles to the eye, while they fill the mind with visions of the future wealth and greatness of the lands through which they roll. But they are nameless to the poet and historian; neither song nor chivalry has consecrated their shores.

The inhabitants are all emigrants from other countries ; they have no ruins, no traditions, nothing romantic or incredible, with which to regale the traveller's ear. They can tell of their own weary pilgrimage from the land of their fathers — of exploits performed with the rifle and the axe — of solitary days and fearful nights spent in the wilderness — of sorrow, and sickness, and privation, when none was near to help them — and of competence and comfort, gained by years of toil and suffering; but they have no traditions that run back to an illustrious antiquity.

Scenes and objects of interest occur at every step, but they are of a character entirely new. All that the traveller tells must be learned upon the spot. The subjects are such as appeal to the judgment, and require the deliberate exercise of a cool and discriminating mind. The author has not now to examine the conflicting or conforming opinions of others, but to form a decision for himself upon matters which have not pre-

X6 INTRODUCTIOJf.

viously been investigated. He must describe a new country, with its various features and productions— a new people, with novel laws, habits, and institutions. He is not now in Italy or France, surrounded by the illustrious dead, and scarcely less illustrious living, where the canvass glows, and the marble speaks, where every grove shadows the tomb of a martyr, a hero, or a poet ; and where every scene awakens a familiar image or a poetic thought. A vast but silent scene surrounds him. No object speaks to his classic recollections. The face of the country, its climate, productions, and industry, must be described; and, to do this, he must dwell long and examine patiently. Books he will find, it is true, but they are the hasty productions of incompetent writers, whose opinions are generally wrong, and whose observations are confined to a few subjects of minor interest.

To acquire an adequate knowledge of such a country, requires extensive personal observation. It is necessary to examine things instead of books, to travel over this wide region, to become acquainted with the people, to learn their history from tradition, and to become informed as to their manners and modes of thinking, by associating with them in the familiar intercourse of business and domestic life. There is no other mode of collecting facts in relation to a country whose history has never been written, and with regard to which no

INTRODLCTIOX. 17

accurate printed statistics, embracing the whole region, are in existence.

Yet the country affords ample materials. In the historical department a wide and various field is opened. The history of the western country has never been barren of incident. The valley of the Mississippi has been the theatre of hardy exploit and curious adventure, throughout the whole period of our national existence, and its fertile plains present at this time a wide field of speculation. To whatever point in the annals of this immense region we turn, we find them fraught with strange, and novel, and instructive matter. If we trace the solitary path of the fearless Boone ; if we pursue the steps of Shelby, of Clarke, of Logan, and of Scott, we find them beset with dangers so terrible, adventures so wild, and achievements so wonderful, as to startle credulity, and we encounter tastes, and habits, and sentiments, peculiar to our own frontier. In the disastrous campaigns of Harmar and St. Clair, and the brilliant successes of Clarke and Wayne, there is a sufficiency of those vicissitudes which enliven the narratives of military daring, while a host of lesser worthies present respectable claims to our applause. ^'Grim visag'd war" has so recently " smooth'd his wrinkled front," in this vast territory, that thousands of living witnesses remain to show their scars and attest its dangers. The timeis v/ithin memory when every dwelling was a for-

2* tress, when to fight " pro aris et focis^^—^for our hearths and altars — was not merely the poet's figure, but the hteral and constant business of a whole people, when every father defended his own threshold, and even mothers imbrued their hands in blood to protect their offspring.

Few of these events will live on the dignified page of national history. They formed no part of any national war, either for independence or for conquest ; they neither accelerated nor retarded our march to national greatness ; they brought no blot, and added but little fame, to the federal escutcheon. They are preserved chiefly in tradition, and will form a rich vein of romantic adventure for the future novelist and poet. But, although the historian of our common republic may not record them, they should find an honourable place in the annals of the respective states. They belong to them and to their history.

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 the governments, have no parallel in history, and seem to be the effect of magic, rather than of human agency. Europe was 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 sa\rages, who conquered with the sword, and ruled with the rod of iron. The '• arm of flesh" was visible in all their operations. 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 a people coming from various nations, and differing in langua2:e, politics, and religion, sitting down quietly together, erecting states, forming constitutions, and enacting laws, without bloodshed or dissension. Never was there an experiment of greater moral beauty, or more harmonious operation.

Within a few years past, there has been much curiosity awakened in the minds of the xVmerican people, in relation to the recent history and present state of their country. The struggle for independence, so brilliant in its achievements, so important in its results, so gratifying to national pride in all its details, long absorbed the sympathies and occupied the thoughts of our countrymen. From that period they drew their brightest recollections ; to that period they referred for all their examples of national virtue. There was a classic purity and heroism in the achievements of our gallant ancestors which hallowed their deeds — but there were also substantial comforts and privileges secured to us by these disinterested patriots, which called forth all our gratitude, and in some measure blunted our perceptions of more recent and cotemporary events. With the recollections of Bunker's Hill and Brandywine before him, what American exulted in the trophies of an Indian war 1 What political transaction could awaken the admiration of those who had witnessed the fearful energies which gave existence to a nation ? What hero or statesman could hope to win the applause of a people whose hearts dwelt with reverence upon the exalted standards of civil and military greatness exhibited in the founders of the American republic ? Those luminaries, while they shed an unfading lustre on their country, cast a shadow over succeeding events and rising men ; but their mantles silently fell upon the shoulders of their successors, who, with unpretending assiduity, pursued the course which was to consummate the glory of the nation.

The excitement caused by those splendid national events has passed away, and they are now contemplated with calmness, though still with admiration. Other incidents have occurred in our history, sufficiently striking to attract attention. Of these the settlement and growth of the country lying west of the Alleghany mountains, are among the most important, and those which, perhaps, are destined to affect, more materially than any other, the national character, institutions, and prosperity.

But a few years have elapsed since the fertile regions watered by the beautiful Ohio began to allure the footsteps of our countrymen across the Alleghany mountains. Covered with boundless forests, and protected by Alpine barriers, terrific to the eye, and almost inaccessible to the most adventurous foot, this lovely country remained not only uninhabited, but wholly unexplored, until Boone and his associates resolved to subdue and people it. The dangers and inquietude of a border life presented no obstacles to the adventurous spirit of the first settlers ; nor were such hardships altogether new to those who thus voluntarily sought them. They were generally men inured to danger, or whose immediate predecessors had been, what they themselves now became, warriors and hunters.

The revolutionary war, which had just terminated with infinite glory to the American arms, had infused a military spirit into the whole nation, besides affording to all whose bosoms glowed with the love of liberty, or swelled with the aspirations

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of ambitiorij opportunities of acting a part, however trivial, in the bloody but interesting drama. With the return of peace, when our citizens resumed their domestic avocations, cheerfully abandoning the arms they had reluctantly assumed, the inhabitants of the western frontiers alone formed an exception to the general tranquillity. Here the tomahawk was still bathed in gore : the husbandman reaped his harvest in the garb of the soldier, and often forsook his plough to mingle in the tumult of the battle, or enjoy the dangerous vicissitudes of the chase.

Of these hardy woodsmen, or their immediate descendants, was composed that gallant band of pioneers, who first peopled the shores of the Ohio, men whose infant slumbers had been lulled by the midnight howl of the panther, and to whose ears the war-whoop of the Indian was as familiar as the baying of the faithful watch-dog. To such men home has no indissoluble tie, if that word be employed in its usual sense, as referring to local attachments, or implying any of those associations by which the heart is bound to a spot endeared by fond recollections. The dwelling-place of the woodsman is a frail cabin, erected for temporary shelter, and abandoned upon the lightest cause. His home is in the bosom of his family, who follow his erratic footsteps, as careless of danger, and as patient under privation, as himself.

INTHODUCTION. 23

With these men were mingled a few others, whose character ranked higher in the scale of civihsation, and who gave a tone to the manners of the new settlements, while they furnished the people with leaders in their military, as well as their civil affairs. Several revolutionary officers of gallant name — many promising young men, seeking, with the eagerness of youthful ambition, for scenes of enterprise more active than the quiet prosperity of their own homes afforded — and substantial farmers from the vicinity of the frontiers, who to the hardihood and experience of the woodsman, added the industry and thrift of rural pursuits — such were the men who laid low the forest, expelled the ferocious Indian and the prowling beast of prey, and possessed themselves of a country of vast extent and boundless fertility.

They came in a manner peculiar to themselves; like men fond of danger, and fearless of consequences. Instead of settling in the vicinity of each other, insuring to themselves society and protection by presenting the front of a solid phalanx to the foe, they dispersed themselves over the whole land in small companies, selecting the most fertile spots without reference to the locahty of others. The tide of emigration, as it is often called, came not like the swelling billows of the ocean, overwhelming all the land with one vast torrent, but like the gradual overflowing of a great river, whose waters at first escape the general mass in small streams, which breaking over the banks, glide through the neighbouring country by numberless little channels, and forming diminutive pools, swell and unite, until the whole surface is inundated. So came the pioneers. Depending more upon their valour than their numbers, these little communities maintained themselves in the wilderness, where the Indian still claimed dominion, and the wolf lurked in every thicket. Between the settlements were extensive tracts, as desert, as blooming, and as wild, as hunter could wish, or poet could imagine.

So long as the frontier was subject to the hostile irruptions of the Indians, the first care of every little colony was to provide for its defence. This was, in general, effected by the erection of a rude fortress, constructed of such materials as the forest afforded, and in whose design no art was displayed, beyond that which the native ingenuity of the forester supplied. A block-house was built of logs, surrounded by a palisade, or picketwork, composed of long stakes driven into the ground, forming an inclosure sufficiently large to contain the people of the settlement, and affording a sufficient protection against the sudden irruptions of savage warfare. This was a temporary refuge for all in time of danger ; but it was also the permanent residence of a single family, usually that of the man whose superior skill, courage, or opulence, constituted him, for the time being, a

INTRODrCTIOX. 25

sort of chieftain in this little tribe. For, as in all societies there are master spirits who acquire an influence over their fellow men, there was always in a frontier settlement, some individual who led the rest to battle, and who, by his address or wisdom in other matters, came into quiet possession of many of the duties and powers of a civil magistrate. There remain traditions of able stratagem, and daring self-devotion, on the part of such men, which may be proudly compared with the best exploits of Rome or Greece. When one of these primitive fortifications formed the rallying point of a numerous population, or was placed at an important point, it was called a '■ fort ;" but in other cases they were known by the less dignified title of " station." Of the latter, there were many which afibrded protection only to single families, who had boldly disconnected themselves from society, either for the purpose of acquiring possession, by occupancy, of choice tracts of land, or to gain a scanty emolument by supplying the wants of the chance travellers who occasionally penetrated into these wilds, and who accomplished their journeys to- the most distant settlements, as a general penetrates to the capital of an enemy, by advancing from post to post.

Such was the general character of the first settlers who followed the adventurous footsteps of Boone; and whose exploits were not confined to the forests of Kentucky. From the shores of the

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26 IIVTRODUCTION.

Ohio, the hardy pioneers moved forward to those of the Wabash, and from the Wabash to the Mississippi, subduing the whole country, and preserving in OhiOj lUinois, and Missouri, the same bold outlines of character which they first exhibited in Kentucky.

If we trace the history of this country still further back into the remote periods of its discovery and earliest occupation of European adventurers, a fund of interesting though somewhat unconnected information is presented. We are favourably impressed with its features and character, by the manner in which the first travellers invariably speak of its fertility and beauty. The Spaniards, who discovered the southern coast, called it Florida^ or the land of flowers ; the French, who first navigated the Ohio, named it the Beautiful river, and La Salle, when he beheld the shores of the Illinois, pronounced them a terrestrial paradise. The imaginations of those adventurous spirits warmed into a poetic fire, as they roamed over the extensive plains of the west, reposed in its delightful groves, or glided with hourly increasing wonder along those liquid highways, which have since become the channels of commerce as mighty in its extent as it has been rapid in its growth.

The French were the first allies and earliest friends of our nation ; and of all the emigrants from foreign countries, they most cheerfully submit to our laws, and most readily adopt our mariners and language. They engraft themselves on our stock, and take a deep root in our affections. It is more than a century since a colony of that nation settled at Kaskaskia, a ' thousand miles from the ocean, a thousand miles from any community of civilised men. Here they flourished for many years, increasing in wealth and population, cultivating the most amicable relations with the Indian tribes, and enjoying a more than ordinary portion of health, prosperity, and peace. Living so long in a situation thus insulated, and having but little commerce with the civilised world, they imbibed many peculiar customs and traits of character, to which their descendants still adhere with singular tenacity. They preserved the gaiety, the content, the hospitality of their nation — but their houses, their language, their agriculture, their trade, and their amusements, are all singularly impressed with characteristic marks of their estranged position, and point them out as a peculiar people. As they were not a literary race, they have left few records behind them, but many valuable traditions, fraught with curious matter, are extant among their descendants, which ought to be preserved.

The Indians still linger on our borders, and sometimes pass through the settled parts of our country, the squalid and miserable remains of a once warlike population. Can it be that they have not degenerated ? Is it possible that these wretched beings exhibit fair specimens of savage men ? If they have indeed fallen from a better estate, it should be our task to rescue from oblivion the memory of their former virtues. Our immediate predecessors saw them in their untamed state, in the vigour of their power, and the pride of their independence. Many of these have left behind them testimonials of what they saw, and a few, who properly belong to a departed generation, yet linger on the confines of existence, as if destined to instruct the present generation by their knowledge of the past.

Passing down to periods still more remote, a boundless field of enquiry is presented to our attention. The inexhaustible fertility of the soil, the salubrity of the climate, and the various and amazing resources of our country, evince its capacity to support a dense population. Such a country was not made in vain, nor can it be believed that it was intended by a wise Creator as the residence of savages and beasts of prey. That it once sustained a numerous population, may be inferred from indications which admit of little doubt ; that the character of that population was superior to that of the present race of Indians, has been suspected upon evidence, which, though far from being conclusive, is worthy of great consideration.

Part I. Intercourse Of The American People With The

INDIANS.

Chapter I

Subject stated — Practice of the first European discoverers, in reference to savage nations.

The relations of our government with the Indian tribes is a subject which is daily increasing in importance ; and reflecting men cannot but perceive the^ ruinous tendency of the policy now pursued, and the absolute necessity of a speedy and radical change. The existence, within our territorial limits, of tribes acknowledged to be independent, involves in itself a paradox ; while the details of our negotiations with them, and of our legislation with respect to them, are full of the strangest contradictions. We acknowledge them to be sovereign nations, yet we forbid them from making war upon each other ; we admit their purely allodial title to their lands, their unlimited power over them while they remain theirs, and their full possession of the rights of self-government within them, — yet we restrain them from selling those lands to any but ourselves ; we treat with them as with free

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States, yet we plant our agents, and our military posts among them, and make laws which operate within their territory. In our numerous treaties with them, we acknowledo;e them to be free, both as nations and as individuals, yet we claim the power to punish in our courts, and by our laws, aggressions committed within their boundaries, denying to them even a concurrent jurisdiction, and forbidding them from adjudicating in their tribunals, upon the rights of our citizens, and from vindicating the privileges of their own. We make distinctions, not merely in effect, but in terms, between the white man and the Indian, of the most desradin^ character ; and at the moment when our commissioners are negotiatinor with their chiefs solemn leagues, involving the most important interests, pledging to them the faith of our government, and accepting from them similar pledges, we reject those same chiefs if offered as witnesses in our courts, as persons destitute of truth — as creatures too Ignorant to understand, or too degraded to practise, the ordinary rules of rectitude.