vided into two bodies, one commanded by himself; the other by Capt. John Holden. The Indians had not retreated as Floyd expected, but had remained near the scene of their outrage upon Boone's party. They led Floyd into an ambuscade of two hundred or more and killed, wounded and scalped more than half of the command, the latter bravely holding their ground until they were driven back by the tomahawk, and forced to retreat. Perhaps ten only of the Indians were killed. Colonel Floyd, while retreating on foot and nearly exhausted, was met by Capt. Samuel Wells, with whom he was not on friendly terms.

Wells promptly dismounted, assisted Floyd to mount his horse alongside of which he ran, holding Floyd in the saddle. It seems wholly unnecessary to state, as others have done that from that day Colonel Floyd and Captain Holden were friends.

The author may be pardoned for a personal reference at this point. The scene of Floyd's defeat is in full view of the spot on which he was born; on that unfortunate field stands today a monument erected by the state of Kentucky in honor of the brave men who fell in that battle. During the War between the States, this same author fought over the ground on which the forces of Floyd had met. their savage enemies, but in this contest it was not the whites aaginst the reds, but the "grays" against the "blues;" and the writer while in the ranks of the former, could look into the open doors of his boyhood home, only

a short distance away, and see, also, shells bursting over the ball-grounds of the school he had attended but a year before. It was a little bit hotter than any other ball game in which he had ever contested on those grounds and when the umpire called the game, on account of darkness, there was no protest from either the "Blues" or the "Grays." The score was nothing to nothing at the end of the ninth inning, and when the umpire so declared there seemed to be no one who was disposed to dispute his decision.

That the Indian depredations in Kentucky should be considered as having ended because they are to be no longer referred to herein, is not correct. They came many times afterwards, and did many deeds of violence, but their power had been broken, and their deeds were not of so serious a character as before. They never again held Kentucky in their grasp, and this narrative must hurry forward. on the theory that no Indian will disturb or make us afraid. There are hundreds of families in the state today whose forefathers met and overcome the difficult problems of the early settlement of the state and who are entitled to have recognition in any history of the commonwealth. That the author of this work leaves out of consideration in that respect, his own people, who dared Indian depredations and helped to make the state, must be a part of his explanation for passing on to other incidents connected with the earliest history of Kentucky.

In 1781, Virginia, the splendid old Mother of States, offered to the acceptance of the Congress all the Northwest territory embraced within her charter, most of which had been won from the English and Indians by the genius of Clark, one of her vigorous sons, who, to the enthusiasm of the pioneer, united the genius of the soldier. This offer was accepted in 1784 when a formal deed of transfer was made and recorded. Marshall, in his history, says of this transfer:

"Thus, while emperors, kings and potentates of the earth fight, devastate and conquer for territory and dominion, the great state of Virginia peacefully and unconstrained made a gratuitous donation to the common stock of the Union of a country over which she had proposed to erect ten new states, as future members of the Confederation. And to her honor be it remembered, that the favorable change which took place in the state of public affairs from a doubtful contest to acknowledged independence, tainted not the purity of her motive, shook not the firmness of her purpose nor varied the object of her policy. She conceded the right of dominion while Kentucky remained her most remote frontier and the Ohio, instead of the Mississippi, her northwestern boundary. She had magnified herself and secured her place in the Union on which

the midst of war, when her fair fields resounded not to the step of the peaceful husbandman, but to the tread of the war-horse and the march of armed men, when she lay prostrate, the proud old state was robbed, by the Cæsarian process, of her mountains and her vales, and the pseudo state of West Virginia set up as a component part of the Federal Union. This rude process of forming a new state has been so long acceded to that it is not worth while now to discuss it further than to express the hope that no more states will be added to the Union by such a process. West Virginia is a prosperous state; a next door and much respected neighbor of Kentucky, but one may be pardoned for an expression of the belief that if she were Virginia instead of West Virginia she might be more beloved.

That the author, who was a Confederate soldier, and who may therefore be thought to write with a prejudice from which he has as honestly sought to divorce himself as he has from intruding his personality in this work, may excuse himself from the charge of feeling in this respect, he reproduces here what Mr. Blaine said in "Twenty Years in Congress" of the measure which robbed the Mother of Kentucky of so fair a portion of her domain:

"To the state of old Virginia the blow was a heavy one. In the years following the war it added seriously to her financial embarrassment, and in many ways obstructed her prosperity. The anatomy of Virginia was alone disturbed. Upon her alone fell the penalty for secession which, if due to one, was due to all. Texas and Florida retained their public lands at the close of the war. Why were not these and others despoiled? Mexico was helpless in our hands when conquered by this country; yet our high sense of justice would not permit the despoilment of our helpless neighbor. Fifteen millions were given her for the territory we wanted. We went even fur

ther than this in our magnanimity and assumed to pay four millions more of debts due by Mexico to our own citizens. Americans can but feel a deep personal interest in the good name and good fortune of a state so closely identified with the renown of the republic, with whose soil is mingled the dust of those to whom all states and all generations are debtors-the Father of His Country, the author of the Declaration of Independence, and chief projector of the national constitution, the purest and wisest of statesmen."

It would seem that after this quotation from Mr. Blaine, Kentucky, the eldest daughter of Virginia, might rest herself in peace and leave to the Mother State the determination of such questions as may yet exist between her and her western neighbor. What has here been written finds a reason therefor in the fact that so closely is the early history of Kentucky interwoven with that of Virginia that what effects the latter also touches the former. The daughter loves the mother with filial affection.

The people of Kentucky had now grown so numerous that the fear of Indian invasion was materially lessened and there grew a desire for an organization that should have more force politically than it had been possible to heretofore exhibit. They wanted self-government. Richmond, which had now become the chief city and capital of Virginia, was far distant, the difficulties of travel were great, and the necessities demanded that the District should have an independent government. They had not long to wait for a pretext for the step which would lead them to the end sought. Colonel Benjamin Logan was foremost among the real leaders of the district, a fearless soldier and something of a statesman; a man who was the progenitor of a line which has ever stood in the forefront in Kentucky in whatever direction its Scotch-Irish mind was turned. They were and are a sturdy, hard-headed, loveable line, who cannot be

turned from the point at which they believe the right lies, by any other means than a club wielded by one stronger than they. Colonel Logan learned in 1784 that the Cherokees and their allied tribes planned to invade the frontier of Kentucky to the south and that the Indians to the northward were to simultaneously move against that part of the district bordered by the Ohio river. There had been no recent Indian incursions other than those made by small bands of marauders acting on their own initiative, but this proposed invasion threatened seriously. Colonel Logan therefore called a meeting at Danville, before which he laid the information he had and asked for suggestions as to how best the threatened invasion could be met.

It was unanimously determined that a force should be raised to attack the Indians before the latter were ready for their proposed advance into Kentucky. Then came the discovery that there was no one in the district qualified to call the militia into service, for offensive measures. This put an end to the proposed incursion into the enemy's country, perhaps a fortunate circumstance, as it turned out, since the threatened Indian invasion never took place.

The Danville meeting, however, was of farreaching importance. While it failed of the defensive purpose for which it was called, it proved that the district was in every way equal to defending itself but that there was no law to justify such action save that of selfdefense when attacked. It was therefore determined to request Virginia to enact a law by which Kentucky should be enabled to organize as a state and to enter the Union when accepted by the congress.

These men at Danville had come together to confer as to the best means for defending their homes against savage attack; they concluded their deliberations by taking the steps which led after many delays and anxieties to placing another and a very bright star upon the flag of our Union.

This was merely the initial step towards Union, a step taken with "reverence for the law," as McElroy states it. Realizing that the body there assembled was without authority, a recommendation was published that on a given day each military company in the district should elect a representative to meet with others chosen in like manner at Danville on December 27, 1784, to "devise if possible, some means of preserving their country from that immediate destruction which seemed then impending." The suggestion was well received and on the day thus named, these chosen representatives met at Danville and at once proceeded to a consideration of the business for which they had assembled. There was a prolonged debate upon the advisability of a separation from Virginia, which was listened to by many auditors not members of the assembly. Though differing in many other respects, there was no difference of opinion that, whatever was done, it should be strictly in accordance with the laws of Virginia to which all gladly acknowledged allegiance. The final result of the deliberations was the adoption of a resolution providing that the citizens of Kentucky, at the next election of delegates to the Virginia legislature, should choose representatives who should meet in the following May with full power to petition the general assembly of Virginia for an act of separation, and through it, to petition congress for admission into the sisterhood of states.

On the 23rd of May, 1785, the "Second Assembly of Kentucky," met at Danville, the result of which meeting was the following resolutions:

"I. Resolved (unanimously), as the opinion of this convention, That a petition be presented to the assembly praying that this district may be established into a state separate from Virginia.

"II. Resolved (unanimously), as the opinion of this convention, That this district, when established into a state, ought to be taken into the Union with the United States of America, and enjoy equal privileges in common with said states.

"III. Resolved, That this convention recommend it to their constituents to elect deputies in their respective counties to meet in Danville on the second Monday of August next, to serve in convention and to continue by adjournment till the first day of April next, to take further under their consideration the state of the district.

"IV. Resolved (unanimously), That the election of the deputies for the proposed convention ought to be on the principle of 'equal representation.'

"V. Resolved, That the petition to the assembly for the assembling of this district into a state and the several resolves of the former and present conventions upon which the petition is founded, together with all other matters relative to the interests of the district that have been under their consideration, be referred to the future convention, so that such further measures may be taken thereon as they may deem proper."

This assembly seems to have hesitated at the performance of the duty it was called upon. to perform and to have shown a desire to shift upon other shoulders the burden of its responsibility. The people, as is usually the case, were wiser than their representatives. They knew what they wanted. They knew that they were not protected by the government against the British in the posts they still held in the northwest; they heard vague rumors that the congress was about to surrender the free navigation of the Mississippi river for twenty-five years, which surrender, if accomplished, would destroy their every hope of commercial prosperity. They heard many other stories, most of which or all of them, were untrue, but all of which tended to produce a state of unrest. They thought if the general government would not or could not protect them in their personal or commercial interests, they might better "set up shop" for themselves and work out their own salvation. This was precisely the spirit which pleased the agents of Spain who sought to control the navigation of the Mississippi river and its tributaries with the rich trade they were soon to offer.

The three counties into which the district of

Kentucky had been divided, Jefferson, Lincoln and Fayette, were increased in 1785 to four by the naming of the county of Nelson, which was constituted out of all that part of Jefferson county which lay south of Salt river -the stream which, in song and story, has been termed the final destination of the unsuccessful politician.

The members of the next convention were apportioned among these four counties and were named as follows:

Jefferson county-Richard Terrell, George Wilson, Benjamin Sebastian and Philip Barbour.

Nelson county-Isaac Cox, Isaac Morrison, Andrew Hynes, Matthew Walton, James Morrison and James Rogers.

Lincoln county-Samuel McDowell, George Muter, Christopher Irwin, William Kennedy, Benjamin Logan, Caleb Wallace, Harry Innes, John Edwards and James Speed.

Fayette county-James Wilkinson, James Garrard, Levi Todd, John Coleman, James Trotter, John Craig and Robert Patterson.

There were names among these that were to become historic. Harry Innes and George Muter were later to become chief justices of the court of appeals of Kentucky. James Wilkinson was that General Wilkinson who was at a later period alleged to be connected with what is termed "The Spanish Conspiracy," which in the end proved to be a fantastic failure. Caleb Wallace and Benjamin Sebastian were subsequently judges of the court of appeals. James Garrard was twice chosen governor of the new state of Kentucky.

On assembling the convention named Samuel McDowell as president. All papers referred by the former convention were committed to consideration by the convention in committee of the whole, which subsequently submitted a report as follows:

"Your committee having maturely considered the important matters to them referred, are of the opin