Lexington, Kentucky - History (part 5 of 8)

Seminole war; his triumphant eftbrts in behalf of internal improvements, and for the recognition of the South American republics ; his Herculean labors to avert the convulsion which threatened the nation in 1821, on the application of Missouri for admission into the Union ; his eloquent appeals in behalf of Greece; his achievements in the protection battles of 1832-33 ; opposition to the sub-treasury system in 1836; thrilling farewell scene in the senate in 1842; retirement to Ashland; practice of his profession; recall to the senate in 1848 ; and the mighty efforts of " the old man eloquent " during the perilous slavery excitement in Congress in 1850-52.

Mr. Clay was thrice a candidate for the presidency; first, in 1825, when his opponents were Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, and W. H. Crawford. The people failed to make a choice. The election was thrown into the house of representatives, where Mr. Clay gave his vote and influence for Mr. Adams, who thus became President. Upon the inauguration of the new President, Mr. Clay was made secretary of state. The course pursued by Mr. Clay on this occasion subjected him to the bitterest denunciations and abuse. It was charged that he had bought his seat in the cabinet, and the cry of "bargain and corruption" was repeated over and over again, to the end of his life, and defeated him in every subsequent race for the presidency. Where now is the man |Who may hope to keep his greatness and purity undeliled from the ever accumulating filth of the political arena? Slander is the soul -scorching price of political eminence. In a speech delivered at Lexington, Kentucky, September 9, 1842, Mr. Clay said: "My error in accepting the office tendered me arose out of my underrating the power of detraction and the force of ignorance, and abiding with too sure a confidence in the conscious integrity and uprightness of my own motives." It is enough to say that the life-long friends of Mr. Clay, those who knew, indeed, the integrity and clearness of his inner life, have always scouted this charge with scorn and contempt.

presidency by the "National Kepublicans," or Whigs (as they were beginning to be called), a new party, mainly created by himself. His great antagonist was General Jackson, the candidate of the "Democratic" party. .This contest was one of the fiercest and most stubborn that had yet been waged in America, and never did the energy and genius of Mr. Clay shine out more resplendent. Mr. Clay's triumph was complete in his own state, but the indomitable old hero of New Orleans was re-elected President. The "Whig party, of which Mr. Clay was the idol, passionately desired to lift him to the chief magistracy of the nation, and again nominated him in 1844. He was opposed by James K. Polk, the Democratic candidate. Mr. Clay was powerfully and almost successfully supported by his party. The contest, which was remarkably close and long, seemed doubtful, and was decided by the vote of New York, and the prize fell to Mr. Polk, while apparently within the very reach of Mr. Clay.

On the slavery question, Mr. Clay was conservative. "While deprecating the evils of African slavery, and favoring its gradual abolishment, he invariably denounced the wild and violent sentiments of radical abolitionists.

Mr. Clay was engaged in two duels. The first was with Humphrey Marshall, author of the History of Kentucky. Mr. Clay was wounded in this duel. The second was with John Randolph.

The voice of the world has pronounced Mr. Clay a great man - great as a statesmen, and pre-eminently great as a lawyer; but it is as an orator that he will live longest in ^he memory of men. The accompaniments of his great intellect were a finely-formed, graceful, and commanding person, fascinating manners, a piercing eye, and a voice of wonderful melody and power. Upon great occasions, he was all earnestness, all feeling, body and soul seemed merged in one spiritual essence, and from his lips flowed a stream of irresistible eloquence, which has given him a place in history as one of the grandest orators the world has ever produced.

Mr. Clay's personal appearance in 1845 is thus described :* " He is six feet and one inch in height; not stout, but the opposite ; has long arms and a small hand ; always erect ia carriage, but particularly so in debate; has a well-shaped head and a dauntless profile; an uncommonly large mouth; upper lip commanding, nose prominent, spare visage, and blue eyes, electrical when kindled; forehead high, hair naturally light, and slow to put on the frosts of age ; a wellformed person, and an imposing aspect." Taken as a whole, his appearance and bearing were singularly impressive. His presence was always felt.

Mr. Clay was accurate in business, and exceedingly careful to attend to the little things of life.f If he casually borrowed even a dime, he returned it punctually and scrupulously. He met all his obligations, and expected every one else to do the same. He was always neat in his dress. He sent for a barber on the morning of his death, and was cleanly shaved at bis own expressed desire. He always showed great respect for religion. He was born with an appreciation of the courtesies due on all occasions. He was a hard worker. He pre.pared himself for all public occasions. His speeches were the result of study and forethought. While he was ready at all times to defend his honor at the pistol's mouth, he was magnanimous and generous, and if, in the heat of the moment, he gave unmerited offense, he was quick to apologize and ask forgiveness. He was great everywhere. He towered when among the most distinguished. One of Mr. Clay's most remarkable traits was his power over men. He was born to command. On one occasion, after the burning of the old court-house, and while court was being temporarily held in the " old Eankin Meeting-house," which stood on the site of the present city school-house, on the corner of Walnut and Short streets, Mr. Clay was called upon to defend a prisoner. Mr. Clay demanded the warrant, looked at it, found it defective and illegal, and turning at once to the prisoner, said to him, "Go home, sir!" The man hesitated. "Go home!" thundered Mr. Clay. The man jumped up at, once and "put out," without an effort on the part of the astounded sheriff or judge to stop him. IJfo one thought of resisting that imperial personal power.

The tremendous exertions made by Mr. Clay in 1849-50, in behalf of the compromise measures, which employed his whole heart and brain, night and day, sapped his vital powers. The excitement while it lasted kept him alive, but bodily decay soon followed. The last summer Mr. Clay spent with his family and friends in Lexington was in 1850. His health was quite delicate. He looked like a victim of consumption.* Returning to "Washington city, "broken with the storms of state," and scathed with many a fiery conflict, Henry Clay gradually descended toward the tomb. After the month of March, 1852, he wasted rapidly away, and for weeks lay patiently awaiting the stroke of death. For some days before his death^ he was not allowed to walk, even with the support of others. His phj'sician, the eminent Dr. Jackson, of Philadelphia, told him on one occasion not to attempt to walk, that if he stood erect he would faint, and that if he should faint he would breathe no more. "Why is this?" asked Mr. Clay. " Because there is not enough of vitality in the heart to give circulation to the blood." " Has it then come to this," said Mr. Clay, and for a moment sorrowfully. And seeing the necessity, he suffered himself to be borne like a child to and from his bed.

On the morning of June 28, the great change commenced, and found him ready. The dying statesman whispered to his friend, the Eev. Dr. Butler, " I have an abiding trust in the merits and mediation of our Savior." At night he was calm, but his mind wandered. In a low and distinct voice he named his wife and son and other relatives in a disconnected manner. On the morning of the 29th, he continued perfectly tranquil, though exceedingly feeble, and manifesting a disposition to slumber. About ten o'clock he asked for some cool water, which he was in the habit of taking through a silver tube ; upon removing the tube from his mouth, he appeared to have more difficulty in swallowing than previously. He turned to his son and said, " Do n't leave me." Soon after he motioned to have his shirt collar opened, and then added, " I am going soon." Serenely he breathed his last, at eleven o'clock a. m., in the presence of his son Thomas, Governor Jones, of Tennessee, and his favorite servant, Charles. His last moments were calm and quiet, and he seemed in full possession of all his faculties, and apparently suffering but little. His countenance to the last indicated a full knowledge of his condition.

He had long since made every preparation for his death, giving his son full instructions as to the disposition of hia body and the settlement of his worldly affairs.

The sad news was at once flashed to Lexington, when every place of business was immediately closed, and the solemn tolling of the bells announced the great grief that had fallen upon the home of Clay. After every tribute of respect and love had been rendered the illustrious dead in Washington, solemn and impressive funeral honors and services were conducted in the senate chamber at twelve M. of June 31, in the presence of the President and his cabinet, both houses of Congress, the diplomatic corps, and a host of distinguished men from all parts of the country. After laying in state in the capitol building until four o'clock p. M., the body was placed upon a train for Baltimore, but did not reach Lexington until the whole nation, by the most extensive and beautiful demonstrations, had evinced its love and sorrow for the departed sage.

On the morning of Saturday, July 10, his funeral took place at his home, Lexington. (See chapter on 1852.; In the presence of a mighty concourse of the sorrowing, at the sound of the dirge, the minute guns, and the tolling bells, a great procession of his mourning fellow-citizens carried him tenderly, and with every token of love and respect, from the old house at Ashland to Christ Church, and from thence to the Lexington Cemetery. Mr. Clay's body was first deposited in the public vault, afterward it was in- terred by the side of his mother, and lastly, in 1857, it was incased in a beautiful marble sarcophagus, and placed permanently in the chamber of the Clay monument, then completed. On one of the last days of his life, he said to Judge Underwood, his colleague in the senate, " There may be some question where my remains shall be buried. Some persons may designate Frankfort. I wish to repose in the cemetery at Lexington, where many of my friends and connections are buried."* And so it is this day. Upon the marble sarcophagus, in enduring letters, can be seen these memorable words, uttered by Mr. Clay :

"I can, with unshaken confidence, appeal to the Divine Arbiter for the truth of the declaration that I have been influenced by no impure purpose, no personal motive, have sought no personal aggrandizement, but that, in all my public acts, I have had a sole and single eye, and a warm, devoted heart, directed and dedicated to what, in my best judgment, I believed to be the true interests of my country."

Another marble sarcophagus rests near that of Mr, Clay. It contains the remains of his wife and life-long companion, Mrs. Lucretia Clay, who died in April, 1864, aged seventy-three.

Mr. and Mrs. Clay had eleven children - six daughters and five sons. Two daughters died in infancy. Lucretia died at Ashland, aged fourteen. Eliza died at the same age, while en route for Washington city. Mrs. Duralde only lived to be twenty. Mrs. Irwine died in 1835. Henry, Jr., was killed at Buena Vista, in 1847. James B. died in Canada, in 1864, aged forty-seven. Theodore died in 1871, at the age of sixty-nine. Thomas H., born in 1803, died in 1872. John M. Clay, born in 1821, is the only surviving child of the Cicero of the West. All of the deceased members of the household sleep in the family lot in the Lexington Cemetery, where also repose the remains of Elizabeth "Watkins, the mother of the great Clay.

court-house, on the southwest side of the turnpike leading to Bichmond. The grounds are beautiful, and the forest trees magnificent. The land, which is not surpassed for richness in the famous " Blue Grass Region," cost Mr. Olay about ten dollars an acre, in 1805 or 1806. The " old house " which Mr. Clay occupied, stood on the site of the present beautiful residence, which was erected by James B. Clay, in 1857. The "old house" was a spacious and comfortable brick mansion, devoid of architectural adornment. Here Mr. and Mrs. Clay entertained, with simple elegance, Daniel Webster, Lafayette, President Monroe, Mr. Lowndes, Martin Van Buren, Mr. Politica (the Russian minister). General Bertrand, Lord Morpeth, and a host of other distinguished men of this and foreign countries.

Mr. Clay's law office* was, for a long time, in the house now occupied by Dr. Bruce, on Mill, between Church and Second streets. He, and his son James, also used the office now occupied by Judge Carr, on Short, between Upper and Limestone streets. Some of Mr. Clay's grandest oratorical eftbrts were made in the present court-house, and in the yard suirounding it. Before Mr, Clay purchased Ashland, he lived in a house erected on the site of the Hunter residence, on Mill street, and opposite his old law office.

Chapter Xxx

Nowhere in the United States was the administration of President John Adams more odious than in Lexington, and when, on the 9th of ifovember, 1798,* the Kentuckylegislature passed the resolutions introduced by John Breckinridge, of Fayette, protesting against the notorious alifen and sedition laws, the gratification and excitement of the citizens was intense. Liberty poles and tri-color cockades were more numerous then in Lexington than in any other place in the whole country.

The Scotchmen of Lexington organized an association on the 17th of November, 1798,t which they entitled the " St. Andrew's Society of Lexington, in the State of Kentucky." John Maxwell was the chairman of the meeting of organization, and George Muter, afterward one of the judges of the supreme court of the state, was elected the first president. The objects of the society, as stated verbatim in the preamble to its constitution, were : " To promote philanthropy amongst those of the natives of Scotland who have chosen as their residence different parts of the State of Kentucky, and to promote a friendly union and intercourse with the descendants of parents who came originally from that country; desirous, also, to extend the benevolent hand of relief to such of this description, whether presently residing in said state, or who may hereafter arrive therein."

given, which was enjoyed by the members of the society, and a number of invited guests. The original members of the society were Alexander McGregor, John Cameron, William McBean, John Maxwell, David Keid, Richard Lake, John Arthur, "William Todd, Thomas Reid, George Muter, Miles McCoun, James Russell, Alexander Springle, and James Bain. Up to 1806, the following additional names had been added to the roll of the society, viz: Robert Campbell, Allan B. McGruder, John Bradford, Daniel McBean, John Brand, John Ferrier, Thomas Bodley, E. Sharpe, William Miller, George Anderson, John Jackson, and Joseph McClear. The St. Andrew's Society has been succeeded by tbe present " Caledonian Club," which regularly celebrates the birthday of Robert Burns.

About the year 1798, Jesse Bledsoe commenced the study of law in Lexington.* Judge Bledsoe was born in Culpepper county, Virginia, April 6, 1776, and was the son of Joseph Bledsoe, a Baptist preacher, and Elizabeth Miller, his wife. Judge Bledsoe was brought by an elder brother to the neighborhood of Lexington when a boy, and was sent to Transylvania Seminary, where he soon made himself conspicuous by his talents, industry, and scholarly attainments. After completing his collegiate course, he studied law, and commenced its practice with success and reputation. About this time, he married the eldest daughter of Colonel Nathaniel Gist.

He early attracted popular attention and favor, and was frequently elected to the Kentucky legislature. He was at one time state senator from Bourbon county, after which his superior abilities caused him to receive the appointment of secretary of state under Governor Charles Scott. In 1812, while a member of the legislature, he was elected to the IJnited States Senate, the distinguished John Pope being his colleague. He was appointed circuit judge in the Lexington district, by Governor Adair, in 1822, whereupon he removed to, and settled permanently in Lexington; where, before, he had only resided at times. Simul- taneous with his appointment as judge, he was made professor of law in Transylvania University, and after ably filling both places for a number of years, he resigned, and resumed the practice of liw.

Subsequently, he abandoned his profession for a short time for that of the ministry; and in 1831,* he preached the dedication sermon on the opening of the Christian Church, on the corner of Mill and Hill streets. In 1833, Judge Bledsoe removed to Mississippi, and from thence, in 1835,t to Texas, and was gathering materials for a history of that new Republic, when he was taken sick and died, June 25, 1836, at Nacogdoches. Judge Bledsoe was a man of powerful intellect, no little eccentricity, and remarkable eloquence. His speeches were noted for strength, wit, originality, and fire, and rarely failed to carry conviction with them. In his best days, but few men were considered the mental equals of Judge Bledsoe. Amos Kendall, who knew him in his palmiest day, said of him : J " Mr. Bledsoe was a man sui generis. He was endowed with splendid talents, and with the exception of Henry Clay, was the most eloquent man in Kentucky. His manner was slow and deliberate, his language beautiful, his gestures graceful, and his thoughts communicated with the utmost clearness." Judge Bledsoe's residence in Lexington was, at one time, on the place now occupied by Mr. A. M. Barnes, fronting on Fourth street, and at the head of Walnut. At another time, he lived on Short, between Walnut and Dewees streets, and in the house now occupied by Mr. Armstrong.

Chapter Xxvi

The first improvement of the streets of Lexington commenced in 1799, in which year a part of Main street was paved. Up to this time, the citizens had contented themselves with narrow " log-walks," with here and t)iere a hroad, fiat stone. Macadamized roads were unknown, and mud-holes were so deep and numerous on Main street and the "public square," that the trustees had a "bridge" extended from the court-house to what is now called Carty's corner.* The " Branch," or as it was then frequently called, the " Canal," rose so high in 1799, that it overflowed the bridge which extended across it on Upper street.

It did not take the people of Kentucky many years to discover that they wanted a more democratic constitution than that of 1792, and a convention to revise it was accordingly called by the legislature. In May, 1799, the following delegates were elected in Fayette to the convention, which met the succeeding June, viz: John McDowell, Buckner Thurston, John Breckinridge, W. Carr, and John Bell. The convention framed the second constitution of Kentucky, which went into effect in June, 1800.

The Kentucky Vineyard Association was formed in Lexington in 1799, and seven hundred and fifty acres of land, "lying in the big bend of the Kentucky river, near the mouth of Hickman creek," were purchased. The association assured the public that, " in less than four years, wine may be drank on the banks of the Kentucky, produced from European stock." This was, probably, the first regular attempt to cultivate a vineyard in America.

Chapter Xxvii

In the year 1800, Lexington was the rising town of the West. Her population amounted to two thousand four hundred, while the adjacent village of Cincinnati, which bought much of its merchandise in Lexington, could only claim a population of seven hundred and fifty.

The news of the death of Washington, which occurred December 14, 1799, was a long time in creeping "out West;" but as soon as it was known in Lexington, due respect was paid to the memory of the Father of his Country. On the 22d of January, 1800,* the town council unanimously "Resolved, That the trustees of Lexington will join the procession on Saturday next from respect to the memory of George Washington, as commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary army of the United States, who led his country to independence, and then resumed his station as a private citizen in 1783." The " procession " formed at Masons' Hall, at twelve o'clock m., on Saturday, January 25, 1800, and was composed of military with arms reversed, musicians, trustees, president, professors and students of Transylvania University, Masons in regalia, clerk of the town and board of trustees, clergy, justices of the peace, and private citizens. To the measure of a solemn dirge, the procession slowly moved to the frame Presbyterian church on Cheapside, when an appropriate address was delivered by Professor James Brown, of Transylvania University.f

Lexington and Fayette county in 1800. It was confined to Methodists, Presbyterians, and Baptists, and before the " great revival," as it is called, had ended, the most astonishing events transpired. At Lexington and "Walnut Hill, meetings were commenced which frequently extended through entire days and nights. The people attended in vast crowds from all the surrounding country, on foot, on horseback, and in every imaginable vehicle, bringing with them tents, provisions, and cooking utensils for a protracted visit, and often a camp-meeting concourse would number from ten to twenty thousand persons. The wildest excitement, and the most ridiculous extravagances, characterized these meetings. A hymn or an exhortation was the signal to the living mass of humanity to shout and groan and laugh and scream until the noise was almost equal to the ocean in a storm. Visions and trances were of frequent occurrence. In Lexington,* a woman swooned, and when she awoke, said she had been walking on the tree tops. One fainted and had a vision of heaven, and another had a view of hell. These epileptic evidences of piety were succeeded by growling and barking, kissing and hugging,,danciDg, jerking, falling, rolling, and tumbling. The influence of the imagination on the nervous system has never been more strikingly illustrated than during the "great revival" of 1800.

Chapter Xxviii

The first bank chartered in Kentucky was the Lexington Insurance Company, which was incorporated by the legislature in 1801 * and inadvertently with banking privileges. The clause giving it such powers was not perceived or understood by the members, and they voted for the bill, while they were bitterly hostile to all banks. The officers of "the bank," as the institution was always called in early days, were : President, "William Morton ; directors, John Jordon, Stephen Waute, Thos. Hart, and Thomas Wallace; cashier, John Bradford; clerk, Wm. McBean. The bank was located on Main, between Mill and Broadway, about where the Scott bakery now stands, and issued bills of various denominations. The bank was subsequently located on the site of Thompson and Boyd's saddlery store, on Main, between Upper and Limestone. The institution exploded in 1818.

A cut-nail manufactory, the first one in Kentucky, was established in Lexington, by George Norton, in 1801. Tenpenny nails were sold at one shilling fourpence per pound, and six pennies at one shilling sixpence. Cincinnati bought all her nails in Lexington, and purchasers often came from points two hundred miles distant for Lexington nails, and carried them home in saddle-bags on horseback. In fact, Lexington was then the metropolis of a great territory, and was noted among other things forf her stores, manufactories, newspaper, taverns, paper and powder mills, tanyards, and her two rope-walks, which supplied the shipping on the Ohio.

Chapter Xxix

The "Lexington Medical Society" was in active operation in 1802, and numbered among its members Drs. B. "W. Dudley, Samuel Brown, Frederick Ridgely, Walter Warfield, J. L. Armstrong, and otbers.*

Thomas Paine's writings aftbrded Lexington subjects for long and animated discussions in 1803. In this year, a musical society was formed. The excitement in regard to the acquisition of Louisiana was such that "volunteers for New Orleans" paraded on the streets.f

The citizens of Lexington celebrated the annexation of Louisiana, in the spring of 1804, by a grand barbecue, at Maxwell Spring, at which patriotic toasts were given, and salutes were fired by four military companies. In June, twelve splendid looking Indian chiefs of the Osage nation, passed through the city on their way to Washington, to try to effect a treaty with the United States. The noted and eccentric Lorenzo Dow arrived in Lexington, on foot, October 3d, and preached a characteristic sermon.

In 1804, and for several years after, the late distinguished George M. Bibb was a member of the Lexington bar. He was a native of Virginia, and a graduate of Princeton. He died April 14, 1859, aged eighty, after having been successively senator in Congress, chief justice of Kentucky court of appeals, and secretary of the treasury under Tyler. Hon. John J. Crittenden studied law in Lexington, under Mr. Bibb, in 1805.

Dr. Joseph Buchanan* settled in Lexington in 1804, and soon became noted as one of her tnost extraordi narycitizens. He was born in "Washington county, Virginia, August 24, 1785, but spent his boyhood in Tennessee, where he attended a grammar school, and astonished every one by his remarkable progress. In the course of nine months, in 1803, he mastered the Latin language. He was so fond of originality in all his essays, that he would not even condescend to write on any subject on which he had ever read anything.

He entered Transylvania University at the age of nineteen,! and was so delicate and diffident that he passed for a simpleton, until he detected and ofl'ered to demonstate an error in his mathematical text-book (Ferguson on Optics), which brought him into direct collision with the professor of mathematics. During the vacation of the college, he published a mathematical pamphlet of twenty pages, in which he demonstrated the sufficiency of gravitation for all the celestial motions, and showed the inaccuracy of some of the hypotheses of the very distinguished Sir Isaac Ifewton,

In 1805, he commenced the study of medicine with Dr. Samuel Brown. Eemoving to Port Gibson, Mississippi Territory [then], in 1807, in order that he might, by medical practice, obtain means to complete his medical education in Philadelphia, Dr. Buchanan then wrote a volume on fevers, which, while it defeated his first object, that of earning money, was his favorable introduction to the distinguished professors of the University of Pennsylvania and especially to Professors Barton and Rush. But his means being insufficient for the completion of his medical studies there, as well as for the publication of his book, he walked back to Lexington, in 1808, in twenty-seven days, where the degree of A. B. having been conferred on him, at the instance of President Blythe, he was, in 1809, appointed to the chair of the Institutes of Medicine in the university.

of Human Nature," and almost immediately abandoned the medical profession, to visit the East to learn the new Pestalozzian system of education, and to introduce it into Kentucky. Subsequently, he invented a " capillary" steam engine, with spiral tubes for boilers; and in 1825, he made a steam land carriage which attracted general attention in Louisville, through the streets of which city it was run ; and, we are told, discovered a new motive principle, described as being derived from combustion, without the aid of water or of steam.

This remarkable philosophical, mathematical, and inventive genius died in Louisville, in 1829, " little known, except as a writer, to more than a small circle of friends."

In the language of his biographer, "the life of Dr. Buchanan affords an instructive moral," to young men, we add, showing that for success in this world, talents of the highest order, industry the most untiring, or self-denial the most strict, are not alone sufficient, unless combined with steadiness of purpose and unvarying concentration of effort in the right direction.

Aauon Buek, one of the most extraordinary men of his age, made his first visit to Kentucky in 1805, arriving in Lexington, August 19th, and attracting universal attention. After a stay of several days, he went south, but returned again, and remained a considerable time in Lexington. It was at this time that Colonel Burr commenced, it is believed, to lay his unsuccessful plans for the erection of a magnificent Southern empire. He was met in Lexington by the studious and accomplished Blannerhasset and his gifted wife, around whose lives fate wove so strange and sad a web.

The trustees of Lexington distinguished themselves, in 1805, by prohibiting the citizens from keeping " pet panthers;" by encouraging the introduction of "chimney sweeps," and by indorsing the "Bachelors' Society for the Promotion of Matrimony," which met weekly at Wilson's tavern. For the sum of five dollars, they " allowed Thomas Ardon to shew his lyon," which constituted the first menagerie that ever visited Lexington.

"William Taylor Barry commenced the practice of law in Lexington in 1805. This illustrious orator and statesman was born in Lunenburg county, Virginia, February 15, 1784.* His parents, who were respectable, energetic, and poor, emigrated to Kentucky in 1796, and settled first in Fayette and then in Jessamine county; and conscious that they could not give their son wealth, resolved to educate him. Young Barry was sent to the Kentucky Academy in Woodford, and finishing his collegiate course at Transylvania

After he left the university, he commenced the study of law with the Hon. James Brown, minister to France, and finished his law studies at William and Mary College in Virginia. Then, like his great competitor of after years, Henry Clay, he commenced life in Lexington at the age of twenty-one - young and poor, with neither family nor influence to bring him into notice, and with nothing to recommend him but his virtues and attainments. Shortly after, he commenced business he married the daughter of Waller Overton, of Fayette county. His first wife dying in 1809, in 1812, he married again, in Virginia, a daughter of General S. T. Mason.

From the year of his arrival in Lexington to the time of his death in a foreign land, the life of the gifted Barry was a brilliant panorama of success. Soon after he came to the bar, he was appointed attorney for the commonwealth, which ofiice he filled for several years, and in 1807 he was for the first time, elected a representative from Fayette county, and was re-elected for several years in succession almost without opposition. He rose rapidly in his profession ; soon took the first rank as a great lawyer and an eloquent advocate, and in a little while was the recognized peer of Eowan Bledsoe, Haggin, and " Harry of the West." In 1810, Mr. Barry was elected a representative to Congress from the Ashland district, and distinguished himself by his eloquent denunciations of the aggressive insults then being offered to the United States by England. After the declaration of war in 1812, he not only strongly advocated its vigorous prosecution, but took the field as an aid to Governor Shelby, and served during the severe and glorious campaign, which resulted in the capture of the British army, the death of Tecumseh, and the conquest of a large part of Upper Canada.* house, and shortly after elected to the United States Senate, -where he remained for two sessions. Here occurred one of the most remarkable events of his life. He resigned his seat in the senate, to accept the position of circuit judge with a meager salary. Public men rarely abandon national honors, position, and pay so easily at this day. It was during Mr. Barry's judgeship that a tipsy mountaineer stalked into the presence of the court shouting : " I am a horse ! " " Sheriff," said Judge Barry, "take that horse to the stable."

In 1817, he was forced by the people to become a member of the state senate. "While in the legislature, Mr. Barry, who was ever alive to home interests, was actively engaged in promoting the success of Transylvania University', and was persevering in his efforts to have it endowed, and to bring it under the patronage of the state.* He succeeded in his undertakings, for his struggles and his eloquence principally induced the legislature to give the institution about $20,000, and the name of Wm. T. Barry gave it free passport among the people. The law department of this institution, with which, by his profession, he was more particularly connected, also commanded his attention. He was instrumental in giving it funds sufficient to purchase a good library. In this department he was the first regular professor and law lecturer after the reform in the university. Under his management it prospered beyond expectation, and surpassed the most sanguine anticipation of its friends.

In 1820, he became a candidate for the office of lieutenant-governor. The people recollected his services and his struggles in their cause, and gave him an overwhelming vote. At this period he decidedly stood foremost in the affections of the people of Kentucky. Subsequently, he was made secretary of state during the administration of Governor Desha, and after the appellate court of the state was reorganized, he was appointed chief justice. In the change of parties in Kentucky in 1825, produced by Mr.

Clay's adherence to Mr. Adams,* Major Barry became the leader of the Democratic party in the state, and was devoted to its principles to the day of his untimely death.

In 1828, Mr. Barry was the Democratic candidate for the office of governor, while Mr. Clay was the champion of the opposing party, and it was during that bitter and hotly contested struggle that Barry exhibited so powerfully the wonderful resources of his great intellect, and achieved his greatest triumph, for though he was defeated by a small majority for governor, it was mainly through his almost superhuman exertions in that campaign that the vote of Kentucky was given to General Jackson in the presidential election which followed. Mr. Barry's astonishing oratorical powers were all brought out in this campaign. As a speakerf he was full of energy, action, and fire, and on the stump, filled as he always was, on such occasions, with eloquence and majesty, he seemed every inch a towering tribune of the old Roman commonwealth. The rare peculiarity of Mr. Barry's style was, that, instead of conmiencing a speech with deliberation and coolness, and gradually warming up with his subject, he launched out at once with words as bold and eloquent as those which invariably attended his blazing perorations. One of Judge Barry's finest efforts was made in 1828, when standing upon a table placed against the rear wall of the present court-house, he defended himself, before an immense crowd, against some partisan charges made by his political opponents.

Mr. Barry was called to "Washington in 1829, as postmaster-general, which office he held until unable, from physical disability, to discharge its onerous duties. Ardently hoping that a milder climate would restore the now shattered health of this ornament of his cabinet. President Jackson appointed him minister to Spain, for which country Mr. Barry sailed in 1835. He was destined to never reach Madrid. His health rapidly declined, and Barry, the great orator, the favorite of fortune, the idol of the people, died a few days after reaching Liverpool.

It has been truly said that " no man who has figured so largely in the well-contested arena of western politics ever left it with fewer enemies or a larger number of devoted friends than "Wiiiiam T. Barry." His great abilities and lofty virtues made him the hero of his party, and his political opponents loved him as they felt the singular charm of his mild and conciliating disposition, and the influence of his generous and exalted soul.

In our court-house yard stands an unpretending, weatherbeaten monument of granite, surrounded by a plain iron railing. It has been there so long, and has such an oldfashioned look, that hundreds pass it daily without once giving it so much as a glance, and without the thought once occurring to them that it stands there to remind them of one of the loftiest spirits that ever did honor to Lexington and our commonwealth. The rains and snows of many winters have descended upon it, but the angel of immortality has shielded that old shaft with her protecting wings, and it still tells its proud story.

" To the memory of William Taylor Barry this monument is erected by his friends in Kentucky (the site being granted by the county court of Fayette), as a testimony of their respect and admiration for his virtues."

The remains of Barry, after reposing nearly nineteen years in a foreign land, were brought back to Kentucky, by act of the legislature, and reinterred in the State cemetery at Frankfort, with many honors and great respect, November 8, 1854. The eloquent Theodore O'Hara, who was the orator of the occasion, concluded his eulogy upon Barry in these burning words :

" Let the marble minstrel rise to sing to the future generations of the commonwealth the inspiring lay of his high genius and lofty deeds. Let the autumn wind harp on the dropping leaves her softest requiem over him ; let the winter's purest snow rest spotless on his grave; let spring entwine her brightest garland for his tomb, and summer gild it with her mildest sunshine, and let him sleep embalmed in glory till the last trumph shall reveal him to us all radiant with the halo of his life."

Chapter Xxxi

The currency used in trade in Lexington, in 1806, was miscellaneous in its character. Kaecoon and other skins were given in exchange for goods, but Spanish dollars, cut into halves, quarters, and eighths, were mostly used, while very small change was effected by means of papers of needles and pins. In this year a Lexington merchant carried one hundred pounds of " cut silver " with him to Philadelphia.

Felix Grundy, long eminent as a Democratic leader and statesman, was a resident of Lexington and a trustee of Transylvania University in 1806, and for some time anterior to that date. He was born in Berkley county, Virginia, September 11, 1777, came to Kentucky when a boy, studied law, and soon acquired a high reputation as an advocate in criminal cases. Before his removal to Nashville in 1808, he had served in the Kentucky legislature, and as chief justice of the court of appeals. He died December 19, 1840, after filling the positions of representative and senator in Congress, and attorney general of the United States.

Chapter Xxxii

The Observer and Reporter, now the oldest newspaper in existence in Kentucky, if not in the "West, was founded in 1807,* by William W. "Worsley and Samuel R. Overton, and was first called the " Kentucky Reporter." Their first office, as the early copies of the paper state, was opposite Mr. Sanders' store," and therefore occupied the site now filled by Clark & Bro.'s warehouse, on East Main street, and was between the first capitol building of the infant commonwealth of Kentucky, and the Free and Easy tavern, so notorious in the early history of Lexington. Near it was a rakish-looking craft of a building, nine feet wide and forty feet long, then commonly called the " Old Gun-boat." This was the first silver-plater's shop used in this city by the late David A. Sayre, and there the ring of his busy hammer was often heard far into the night.

Mr. "Worsley came to this place from Virginia at an early day, and married a sister of Thomas Smith, at that time editor of the Kentucky Gazette, and afterward editor of the Observer. Aside from his capacity as a writer and publisher, Mr. Worsley was noted for his strict integrity and remarkable amiability. Mr. Overton, who was connected with the Observer only a few months, and in a business way, was a son of Waller Overton, of this county.

The Observer commenced its career as a strong Jeffersonian Democratic organ, or rather " Republican," as the party was then called. Its first prospectus contains this language :* " The character of the Reporter witji relation to politics shall be strictly republican. Highly approving of the principles of the revolution, as contained in the federal constitution, and duly 'appreciating the enlightened policy pursued by the present administration, it shall be the undeviating object of the editors, as far it may come within the sphere of their influence, to contribute to the promotion and preservation of the former, and embrace every opportunity of testifying to the virtue and faithfulness of the latter. Whenever we may discover ourselves deviating from the principles held sacred by the people, we shall invariably be disposed to retrace our steps and make such assertions as may clearly and satisfactorily present themselves. We shall also rely with confidence on the vigilance of the people to point out those errors to which we may be subject and in which their interests may be involved." The public is also informed that " for the more speedy conveyance of the Reporter, the editor has established at great expense some private posts."

Mr. Overton retired from the paper, and left Mr. Worsley sole proprietor until February, 1816, when he took into partnership his brother-in-law, Mr. Thomas Smith. Mr. Smith married Miss iN'aunette Price, a niece of Mrs. Henry Clay. He was at one time president of the Frankfort and Lexington railroad. Smith bought out Worsley's interest in 1819, and conducted the paper alone until April, 1828, when he took in James W. Palmer as a partner. Mr. Palmer was an Englishman, whose beautiful disposition and engaging manners made him exceedingly popular. He wrote elegantly, but not strongly. He was a devoted Episcopalian, and for years, as was then the custom here, made the responses at public worship in behalf of the congregation. He was well known as the calculator of the almanacs for Kentucky. Mr. Palmer was connected with the Reporter about a year, after which Mr. Smith had entire charge again, until March, 1832, when the paper passed into the hands of Edwin Bryant and 'E. L. Finnell, who united with it the " Lexington Observer, the consolidated papers being called " The Kentucky Reporter and Lexington Observer."* Mr. Smith removed to Pewee Valley, where he died only a few months ago. On his retirement from the paper the gentlemen of Lexington gave him a public reception.

Mr. Finnell came to this place from Georgetown, and had published a paper in "Winchester. He was the father of General J. W. Finnell, of Covington, and a practical printer, and often stood at the case and " set up" his own editorials. He was a sprightly writer, and a man of great energy. "When his connection with this paper ceased, he, with considerable enterprise, established and labored hard to keep up " The Lexington Atlas," a daily paper, but without success. His subscription list became quite extensive, but the expenses of the establishment were so great that he was compelled to give up the attempt, after several months of disastrous experience. He died near Frankfort, in 1853.

Judge Edwin Bryant came from the old Berkshire hills of Massachusetts, to this city, when but a boy, and was soon a Kentuckian, both in sentiment and by adoption. He was an editor of signal ability, courtesy, and success. After the Observer, he assumed the management of the "Louisville Dime," in connection with Mr. W. N. Haldeman, of the present Courier-Journal.

In 1847, failing health induced him to take an overland mule-back journey to the Pacific, and he joined Fremont in one of his famous expeditions. He assisted in the capture of California, and was the first American alcalde (judge) who ever administered justice on that then far distant coast.

honors at Transylvania University, was admitted to the bar, and in all subsequent oratorial efforts evinced a rare fertility and resource of scholarship and literary knowledge. As an editor, he was fully equal to Prentice, and as an orator, was considered by many to be the peer of Clay.

Mr. "Wickliffe represented his county in the legislature, was a delegate to the conventiou which framed the present state constitution, and in 1851 was Democratic candidate for lieutenant-governor,* but he never attained the position his extraordinary powers entitled him to, as he lacked ambition, and was totally indifferent to political and professional honors. For years after his official connection with the Observer had ceased, Mr. "Wickliffe contributed to the editorial department. He died at the age of fifty, February 26, 1855.

Daniel Carmichael Wickliffe was born in Lexington, Kentucky, on the 15th of March, 1810. He was educated at Transylvania University, and graduated with much honor at the very early age of seventeen. He adopted the law as his profession.

On the 25th of November, 1844, Mr. Wickliffe married Miss Virginia Cooper, a daughter of the Rev. Spencer Cooper, widely-known local Methodist minister of this city.

Anterior to his marriage, and in September, 1838, Mr. Wickliffe succeeded Mr. IST. L. Finnell as editor and proprietor of the Observer and Reporter, and he gave all the rest of his active life to the profession of journalism, not even excepting the period when he was secretary of state of Kentucky, during Governor Robinson's executive term He was editor of this paper for nearly twenty-seven years, and in very many respects was the ablest one that ever wielded a pen in the whole commonwealth of Kentucky. He gave Mr. Clay no weak support,

The establishment was purchased by a number of gentlemen in 1865, and the concern was styled the " Observer and Eeporter Printing Company," with William A. Dudley as editor. Mr. Dudley resigned the editorial chair for a seat in the senate of Kentucky. He died March 19, 1870, at the age of forty-six, after an exertion of energy in connection with, first, the Lexington and Frankfort, and then the Short Line railroad, that made him most widely known.

W. C. P. Breckinridge succeeded Mr. Dudley, having been elected by the company in July, 1866. The author of this volume succeeded Colonel Breckinridge in July, 1868, and became sole editor and proprietor of the Observer and Reporter. In April, 1871, he disposed of the establishment, which is at present owned and managed by a company. Dr. Thomas Pickett, of Maysville, Kentucky, succeeded the writer as editor, and he in turn was succeeded by the present editor, Mr. J. S. Smith.

Chapter Xxxiii

All Lexington and Fayette county was excited in the summer of 1808 over a " living elephant," the first one ever seen in the community. One of the newspapers of the town urged every one to go and see it, as " perhaps the present generation may never have the opportunity of seeing a living elephant again."

At an early period, probably at this time (1809), a great excitement was created about Merino sheep, which suddenly acquired an enormous value, and the few in the country were sought after with the most ridiculous avidity. The extent of the speculation may be inferred from the tradition that a master mechanic actually received three merino sheep from Mr. Samuel Trotter as payment for building for him the residence now owned, by Judge Robertson, and situated at the corner of Hill and Mill streets.*'

Dr. Benjamin "W". Dudley, who afterward became so famous as a surgeon, commenced his public career in 1809, in which year he was appointed to the chair of anatomy and surgery in Transylvania University.

Dr. Benjamin Winslow Dudley! was born in Spottsylvania county, Virginia, on the 12th day of April, 1785; was brought by his parents to Kentucky county, where they landed six miles east of Lexington, on the 3d day of May,

1786. His earlier education was obtained at country schools, and finished in Transylvania University. He came to Lexington in 1797, and for a time -worked in the store of Samuel and George Trotter. He studied medicine with the late Drs. Ridgely and Fishback, after which he attended medical lectures in the old school of Philadelphia, graduated in 1806, and returned to Lexington, where he continued the practice of medicine, and acted as professor in the medical college until 1810, when he visited Europe, and spent four years, profiting by the instructions of the most distinguished medical and scientific teachers. During his stay in London, he was made a member of the Royal College of Surgeons.

Returning to Lexington, he soon stood in the front rank of the profession. In 1818, on the reorganization of the medical college of Transylvania University, he was recalled to the chair of surgery and anatomy, and remained in that connection for forty years, during which time the college acknowledged no superior on this continent. Its great success was largely due to Dr. Dudley, whose professional fame spread throughout the civilized world. He attended a laborious practice for about fifty years, when he contracted poison in performing a surgical operation, from which he suflEered greatly, and never recovered. He died suddenly, after about two hours of illness, at a quarter to one o'clock, on Thursday morning, January 20, 1870, of apoplexy.

Dr. Dudley's achievements in the operation of lithotomy alone are so great as to be actually incredible to the most distinguished surgeons of Europe, and are sufiicient of themselves to hand his name down to a distant posterity. He operated for stone in the bladder about two hundred and sixty times, losing only two or three patients. He operated upon the eye in numerous cases, and frequently perforated the cranium for the relief of epilepsy. In spite of the fact that he left no production of his pen behind, his scientific triumphs will long cause him to be remembered as the great surgeon of Kentucky. Dr. Dudley's ofiice was on the corner of Mill and Church streets, and occupied the site of the present residence of E. Say re.

Chapter Xxxiv

Great Prosperity of Lexington in 1810 - Center of theWestern Trade - Manufacturers and Business - Decline - Lexington Bible Society - Freshets.

Lexington was at the zenith of her commercial prosperity in 1810. Situated on the great line of communication between the older settlements of the East and the fertile West, she was benefited by every great wave of immigration that swept into the wilderness. Since 1800, her growth had been so rapid that her population had tripled itself, and was now eight thousand, while that of Fayette county was twenty-one thousand three hundred and seventy. By this time, almost the entire trade of the "West centered in Lexington, which had also become the grand depot of supplies for emigrants, and the great manufacturing point of an immense region. It is said that in 1810 the sales of the most extensive business house in Lexington amounted to one hundred thousand dollars per month. A careful eye witness of the prosperity of Lexington at this time said :* " Main street presents to the eye as much wealth and more beauty than can be found in most Atlantic cities. A prodigious quantity of European goods are displayed and retailed to the crowds of customers who resort here from the neighboring settlements."

A tolerably correct estimate of the business and manufacturing importance of Lexington in 1810 is extantf Its enumeration is as follows, viz: four paper mills, two tobacco factories, three nail factories, one mustard factory, four cabinet shops, six powder mills, five wool-carding machines run by horse power, one sail-duck factory, one brush factory, one reed factory, one umbrella factory, one white lead factory, four chair factories, one oil-mill, thirteen rope-walks, seven brick-yards, five hat factories, ten blacksmith shops, seven saddlery shops, ten tailor shops, fifteen boot and shoe shops, three blue dyers, two copper and tin shops, two printing establishments where books were made, one bindery, seven distilleries, four billiard tables, five paint shops, one looking-glass factory, one Venetian blind factory, two foundries, three cotton mills, five bagging factories, and five coarse linen factories. One steam flour mill, the first in Kentucky, had just been erected by Stevens & Winslow. Twenty-five large stores are mentioned. Negroes from fourteen to thirty years of age quoted at from three hundred and fifty to four hundred dollars. " Vauxhall" is described as "a public garden, kept by Mr. Terasse, from St. Bartholomew, with summer-houses, and arbors illuminated every "Wednesday evening with variegated latnps, a fashionable resort for music, dancing, and feasting." In Lexington and Fayette there were one thousand looms, which wove two hundred and seven thousand yards of hemp, flax, and cotton cloth. " Lexington," says a traveler,* " is expected to become the largest inland town of the United States. Perhaps there is no manufactory in ' this country which is not known here."

The trade and population of Lexington, after 1810, declined, and did not begin to grow again until about the year 1820. The cause of this decline is easily accounted for. It commenced with the successful opening of steam navigation upon the Ohio river, an event which revolutionized the trade and trade channels of the western country. The same cause which produced this decline in Lexington, made Cincinnati, with its favorable location, an important city. In 1810, when Lexington had eight thousand inhabitants, Cincinnati had but two thousand five hundred ; but the steamboat came, and, in 1820, Cincinnati had grown to four times the size of Lexington. The prosperity of Lex- ington in' the future will largely depend upon the use she makes of the same great agent which has operated against her. Steam, upon artificial highways, can bring back to her much of what it carried away upon the natural channels of trade.

A "Bible Society" was formed in Lexington in 1810* of which Robert M. Cunningham was president. It grew and prospered, and, in 1820, its corresponding secretary, James Blythe, supplied- many persons with Bibles printed in Lexington. Its successor was the " Lexington and Vicinity Bible Society," which was formed November 24, 1836,t and its officers were: President, L. P. Yandell; Vice-presidents, J. M. Hewitt, J. C. Stiles, Walter Bullock, D. M. "Winston, George Robertson, R. T. Dillard, and Mr. Harris; Executive Committee, James Eishback, Edward Stevenson, T. K. Layton, M. T. Scott; W. A. Leavy, Corresponding Secretary; Edward "Winthrop, Recording Secretary; Willliam Richardson, Treasurer. The object of this society, as set forth in its constitution, is, "to aid in the circulation of the Holy Scriptures, without note or comment. It interferes with no man's views of truth and duty; requires no sacrifice of principle; aims to establish no peculiar creed ; but wants all to meet on common ground, to give the Bible to their fellow creatures." The society is still in existence, and doing a great work of usefulness and good.

Alarming freshets were not unfrequent at this period. The miserable " canal " then in existence could not accommodate the water which ran from all the streets and high lots, and collected in the " Town Fork of Elkhorn creek," and sometimes, after a rain, the water extended from tlie present Phoenix Hotel far beyond "Water and Vine streets.^ A lead factory and a paper mill were on "Water street at that time, near where the present Louisville freight depot stands, and the mill-races were fed from the then flourishing Town Fork, now so insignificant.

Chapter Xxxv

On the morning of December 16, 1811, the citizens of Lexington were startled and alarmed by several successive shocks of an earthquake,* accompanied by a sound like that of distant thunder. Fortunately no other damage was done than the breaking of window glass and the disturbance of a few bricks from chimneys.

In 1811, the Indians of the Northwest, incited by Tecumseh and the Prophet, who were encouraged by the British, gave such marked evidences of hostility that General Harrison marched to the Wabash, where, shortly after, he was joined by Colonel J. H. Daviess and a number of voluateers from Lexington. On the 7th of November, the memorable battle of Tippecanoe took place, and Colonel Daviess was numbered among the slain.

Colonel Joseph Hamilton Daviess was born in Bedford county, Virginia, March 4, 1774.t His parents, Joseph and Jean Daviess, emigrated to Kentucky when their son was five years old, and settled near Danville. Young Daviess received his education from his mother and superior teachers of country schools, and became a proficient in the Latin and Greek languages, and evinced a remarkable talent for public speaking. In 1792, he volunteered under Major Adair, and served against the Indians, and distinguished himself by his daring conduct. After this, he studied law under the celebrated George Nicholas, in a class with Jesse Bledsoe, John Pope, Felix Grundy, an I others who afterward became noted, and studied with the most untiring energy and perseverance. He was admitted to the bar in 1795, and in his first case triumphed over his learned old teacher. In 1801, he went to Washington City, and was the first western lawyer who ever appeared in the supreme court of the United States. There he gained another legal victory, which placed him at once in the foremost rank of his profession. He was married to Miss Annie Marshall, sister of the United States chief justice, in 1803, and in 1806, occurred his celebrated prosecution of Aaron Burr, during which he confronted Henry Clay and John Allin.

He removed to Lexington in 1809, and resided there up to the time of his death. During that period, there was hardly an important cause litigated in the courts where he practiced that he was not engaged in. Colonel Daviess was a federalist, but when the Indian war of 1811, which was aggravated by England, broke out, he was one of the first to enlist.* He was appointed major of cavalry, but when he was killed in the battle of Tippecanoe, he was fighting on foot in a charge made at his own solicitation. He fell wounded in three places, and met death with great calmness. General Harrison said of him :f " Major Daviess joined me as a private volunteer, and on the recommendation of the officers of that corps, was appointed to command the third troop of dragoons. His conduct in that capacity justified their choice; never was there an officer possessed of more ardor and zeal to discharge his duties with propriety, and never one who would have encountered greater danger to purchase military fame." Colonel Daviess was a man of remarkably fine personal appearance and impressive bearing. As a lawyer . he was one of the ablest in the land, and as an orator he had few equals and no superiors. His death caused a profound sensation, and in Lexington imposing funeral ceremonies were performed, and a Masonic lodge was formed and named in his honor. Colonel Daviess lived in the house now occupied by Mr. William Fishback, opposite the Chris-

A St. Tammany Society was instituted in Lexington about this time (1811), and continued to exist up to 1820. The " "Wigwam" was in the second story of " Connell's ale shop," which stood on the site of the Cleary building, on the corner of Main and Broadway. The sons of St. Tammany often paraded through the streets disguised as Indians, and magnificent in red paint, feathers, bows, tomahawks, and war clubs. It was one of the moat noted Democratic organizations in the West. Thomas T. Barr, Richard Chinn, and others successively filled the office of " Sachem." We give verbatim one of the society's orders,* viz :

"St. Tammany's Day. - The Sons of St. Tammany, or Brethren of the Columbian Order, will assemble at the council fire of their great wigwam, on Tuesday, the 12th of the month of flowers, at the rising of the sun, to celebrate the anniversary of their patron saint.

"A dinner will be provided at brother John Fowler's garden, to which the brethren will march in procession, where a long talk will be delivered by one of the order.

Chapter Xxxvi

War with England - Bolls of Lexington and Fayette Volunteers - The Meeting and Farting at Lexington - The Review and the March - EusselVs Expedition- Trotter s Fight with the Indians - The Barracks.

The commencement of the year 1812 found Lexington full of excitement. The frequent and long-continued outrages of England on American rights and property on the ocean were denounced in the strongest terms by the Democrats, and palliated by the Federalists. While the parties hurled at each other the epithets of "Jacobin" and "Tory," a war with England was openly threatened, and on May 2d, General James Winchester, an old officer of the Revolution, established a recruiting office in Lexington. Early in June, an immense war-meeting was held in the court-house yard, and deafening shouts of applause greeted one of the il, sentiments proposed : " May the legs of every Tory be made into drumsticks with which to beat Jefferson's march."*

War was declared by the United States on the 18th of June, and Lexington greeted the news with a brilliant illumination and great rejoicing, and as soon as it was known that a requisition had been made upon Kentucky for troops, and even before the governor's orders reached Lexington, a company of volunteers had been formed, and its services tendered to the state.f Six companies in all were quickly raised in the city and county, and it is a matter of the greatest regret that complete rolls of them are not to be had, either in the state military office or in the war department at Washington. Of one company, Captain Arnold's riflemen, we could obtain no list whatever, and the following rolls, with the exception of that of Captain Hart's company, are meager, confused, and unsatisfactory. The subjoined fragments are all that could be gathered, viz : la addition to these participants in the war, the following persons also went from Lexington or Fayette, viz : "William 0. Butler, afterward general; Major Ben. Graves, on the staff of Colonel Lewis; James Overton, aid to General Winchester; Chas. Carr, paymaster of Dudley's regiment; Charles S. Todd, then a young lawyer in Lexington, but subsequently minister to Eussia; Thomas Bodley, deputy quartermaster-general, who died June 11, 1833, aged sixtyone; and Adjutant, afterward General, John M. MeCalla, who was reported by his commander as "distinguished" in the actions of the 18th and 22d of January, 1813. General McCalla, now a venerable and highly esteemed citizen of Washington, D. C, is a native of Lexington, and a graduate of Transylvania TJniversity. He practiced law in this city for many years prior to his removal to his present residence, and was well known for his bold and skillful support of the Democratic party. He was a clear, astute, and efficient political debater, and is well remembered for his earnestness, energy, atid integrity. General McCalla erected and lived in the house now owned by Mr. Benjamin Gratz, and situated on Mill street, opposite the college lawn.

The Kentucky quota was rapidly organized for the field, and the Fifth regiment, commanded by Col. William Lewis, and composed of the companies of Capts. Hart, Hamilton, and Megowan, from Fayette ; Capts. Gray and Price, from Jessamine ; Capt. Williams, from Montgomery, and Capts. Martin and Brassfield, of Clark, in obedience to orders, assembled in Lexington on the 14th of August, to march to the general rendezvous at Georgestown, at which place it was to join the other regiments, and be put in motion with them for the frontier.* It was a soul-stirring occasion, and thousands of citizens assembled from all quarters to witness the novel sight of a band of citizen soldiers marching to the battle-field. Gray-haired veterans of the lievo- lution, and their matron companions, came to behold again what they often saw in former days ; the youth of both sexes, the generation which had grown up since the storm of the Revolution had passed away, were eager to behold the unwonted spectacle, and all classes came to bid an agitated adieu to friends, to sons, to brothers, to lovers, to those whom they might never again behold. Many doubted whether the youth and effeminacy of some of the troops were not unequal to , the fatigues of the campaign ; all felt for them the deepest interest, the keenest anxiety. As the regiment took up the line of march from "the common" (Water street), where it was formed, and wheeled into Main street, at Postlethwaite's corner, such a spectacle was there exhibited as Lexington had never seen before, and probably may never behold again. The moving mass of people filling the street; the windows, doors, and even roofs of houses crowded; weeping females waving their parting adieus from the windows; an occasional shout from the crowd below; the nodding plumes and inspiring music; the proud military step and glancing eye of the marching soldier as he caught the last view of the girl he left behind him, or looked his last farewell to his tender mother or affectionate sister - neither language nor painting can portray the scene.

The troops marched a few miles that evening and encamped, and the next day reached Georgetown, where, with Scott's and Allen's regiments, they were formed into a brigade under General Payne. On the following Sunday they were reviewed by Governor Scott and Generals Payne and Winchester, accompanied by all the field oflicers. The field was covered with the friends and relatives of our brave soldiers who went to take their parting farewell. The spectators, it is supposed by some, amounted to twenty thousand persons.*

After the review was finished, the army and spectators formed a compact'body and listened to an eloquent address from Henry Clay, and an animated sermon from President

Blythe, of Transylvania University. Mr. Clay adverted to the causes of the war, the orders in council, the previous aggressions on American commerce, the impressment of seamen, and the incitement of the savages to hostilities. He concluded with a stirring appeal to the troops to remember that much was expected of them from abroad, that Kentucky was famed for her brave men, and that they had the double character of Americans and Kentuckians to support.

A few days after the review, the brigade was ordered to Cincinnati to receive arms, ammunition, and camp-equipage. Hardships commenced at once, for heavy rains continued from the time the troops left Georgetown until they reached Cincinnati. That was, however, but a trifle to the labors which were awaiting them, when, having crossed the Ohio under the gloom of Hull's surrender, and pressed forward to Saint Mary's, they were ordered to leave their heavy baggage, take six days' provision, and a supply of ammunition, and by forced marches, to push on to relieve Fort Wayne, then besieged by an allied Indian and British force. Here en route, we leave them for the present.

On the 29th of September, General W. H. Harrison, who had been appointed commander-in-chief of the Western army, left Lexington for the seat of war.

Little was done by the American forces during the year 1812, after Hull's surrender; but what was done, was largely participated in by the volunteers from Lexington. In October,* Colonel William Russell, with four hundred men, marched rapidly up the Illinois river until he got within a mile of one of the Peoria towns. A brisk charge was made upon the town defended by about one hundred and fifty Indian warriors, who were put to flight, with the loss of twenty-five found dead, besides a number carried off. The women and children fled to a swamp at the flrst approach of the men, and the warriors soon took shelter under the same cover. Colonel Russell had only three men wounded. Four prisoners were taken, and about sixty horses prepared to remove the women and children, with all their plunder, fell into his hands. The Indians of the neighboring towns had heard of General Hopkins crossing the Wabash, and seven hundred warriors marched to meet him, leaving one hundred and fifty in charge of the women and children, who were preparing to move off when Colonel Russell arrived. He destroyed everything in the town which he could not bring away, and left it on the same evening.

Captain George Trotter's company (McDowell Cavalry) was in Campbell's expedition* against the Mississinawa towns at the head of the Wabash, and was in the heat of the action of the 18th of December, in which the Indians were defeated. Two members of the company, viz : Corporal Henry Riddle and Salem Piatt were killed, and Captain Trotter, Sergeant Byrd Smith, and David Steel were wounded. When this company returned to Lexington after the expiration of its term of enlistment, it was given a public dinner. ny Recruiting for the regular army was kept up in Lexington during the entire war. A rope-walk which was on the "Woodlands'" property, and which ran parallel with the Richmond turnpike, was converted into a barraeks.f and used by the regular soldiers until the close of the struggle. At this place, a deserter was shot and buried.

Chapter Xxxvii

Battle of Frenchtown - The Baisin Massacre - Fate of Lexington Volunteers: Hart, Graves, Edmonson, and others - The Pall of Grief - " Kentucky Squaw " - New Companies - Incomplete Rolls - Dudley's Defeat - Thrilling Incidents - Battle of the Thames - Great Rejoicing - Close of the Campaign in the Northwest.

In the former chapter, we left the Kentucky troops on their weary march toward the seat of war. After undergoing every kind of, hardship, they finally reached the rapids of the Maumee where, broken down and disheartened, they camped by the frozen river in snow two feet deep. But soon the call of the suffering citizens of Prenchtown (now Monroe), on the river Eaisin, Michigan, roused the feelings of the troops into zeal and ardor, and a detachment of six hundred men, under Colonel Lewis, was sent to relieve them. Two marches brought the detachment in view of Raisin, and at last they were gratified with the object of their desire, the sight of an enemy in battle array. The skill of Colonel Lewis, and the bravery of the troops, brought to a successful termination the battle of the 18th January, 1813; and after contending with the enemy until the darkness of the night separated the combatants, the troops collected their wounded, and took up their position on the spot from which the enemy had been driven.

On the evening of the 20th, General Winchester arrived with two hundred regulars, and assumed command, but took none of the precautions which military foresight would have dictated, and at daylight, on the morning of the 22d, while in an exposed position, the little army was suddenly attacked by two thousand British and Indians. The scenes that followed, we describe, in the language of an eye witness and participant:* " Upon the firing of the first gun, Major Graves immediately left his quarters, and ordered his men to stand to their arms. Very many bombs were discharged by the enemy> doing, however, very little execution, most of them bursting in the air, and the fighting became general along the line, the artillery of the enemy being directed mainly to the right of our lines, where "Wells' command had no protection but a common rail fence, four or five rails high. Several of the Americans on that part of the line were killed, and their fence knocked down by the cannon balls, when General Winchester ordered the right to fall back a few steps, and reform on the bank of the river, where they would have been protected from the enemy's guns. Unfortunately, however, that part of the line commenced retreating, and reaching Hull's old trace along the lane, on either side of which the grass was BO high as to conceal the Indians. At this time, Colonel Lewis and Allen, with a view of rallying the retreating party, took one hundred men from the stockade, and endeavored to arrest their flight. Very many were killed and wounded, and others made prisoners; among the former. Colonel Allen, Captains Simpson, Price, Edmonson, Mead, Dr. Irwin, Montgomery, Davis, Mcllvain, and Patrick ; and of the latter, General Winchester, Colonel Lewis, Major Overton, etc. The firing was still kept up by the enemy on those within the pickets, and returned with deadly effect. The Indians, after the retreat of the right wing, got around in the rear of the picketing, under the bank, and on the same side of the river, where the battle was raging, and killed and wounded several of our men.

"It is believed that the entire number of killed and wounded within the pickets did not exceed one dozen, and the writer doubts very much whether, if the reinforcements had not come, those w:ho fought the first battle, although their number had been depleted by sixtj'-five, would not have held their ground, at least until reinforcements could have come to their relief. Indeed, it was very evident the British verv much feared a reinforcement, from their hurry in removing the prisoners they had taken, from the south to the west of the battle ground, and in the direction of Fort Maiden, from which they sent a flag, accompanied by Dr. Overton, aid to General "Winchester, demanding the surrender of the detachment, informing them they had Generals Winchester and Lewis, and in the event of refusal to surrender, would not restrain their Indians. Major Graves being wounded, Major Madison was now left in command, who, when the summons to surrender came, repaired to the room in which Major Graves and several other wounded officers were, to consult with them as to the propriety of surrendering. It is proper here to state that our ammunition was nearly exhausted. It was finally determined to surrender, requiring of the enemy a solemn pledge for the security of the wounded. If this was not unhesitatingly given, they determined^ to fight it out. But 0, the scene which now took place ! \ The mortification at the thought of surrendering the Spar- / - tan band who had fought like heroes, the tears shed, the , ''' wringing of hands, the swelling of hearts - indeed, the scene beggars description. Life seemed valueless. Our ) Madison replied to the summons, in substance, ' We will not surrender without a guaranty for the safety of the wounded, and the return of side-arms to the officers.' (We did not intend to be dishonored.) The British officer haughtily responded: 'Do you, sir, claim the right to dictate what terms I am to offer?' Major Madison replied: ']S"o, but I intend to be understood as regards the only terms on which we will agree to surrender.' Captain William Elliott, who had charge of the Indians, it was agreed, should be left with some men, whom, it was said, would aSord ample protection until carryalls could be brought from Maiden to transport the prisoners there, but the sequel proved they were a faithless, cowardly set. The British were in quite a hurry, as were their Indian allies, to leave after the surrender. Pretty soon Captain Elliott came into the room where Major Graves, Captain Hickman, Captain Hart, and the writer of this (all wounded) were quartered. He recognized Captain Hart, with whom he had been a room-mate, at Hart's father's, in Lexington, E^entucky. Hart introduced him to the other officers, and, after a short conversation, in which he (Elliott) seemed quite restless and a good deal agitated, (he, I apprehend, could have readily told why,) as he could not have forgotten the humiliation he had contracted in deceiving Hart's family pecuniarily. He proposed borrowing a horse, saddle, and bridle, for the purpose of going immediately to Maiden, and hurrying on sleighs to remove the wounded. Thence assuring Captain Hart especially of the hospitality of his house, and begging us not to feel uneasy; that we were in no danger; that he would leave three interpreters, who would be an ample protection to us, he obtained Major Graves' horse, saddle, and bridle, and left, which was the last we saw of Captain Elliott. We shall presently see how Elliott's pledges were fulfilled. On the next morning, the morning of the massacre, between daybreak and sunrise, the Indians were seen approaching the houses sheltering the wounded. The house in which Major Graves, Captains Hart and Hickman and the writer were, had been occupied as a tavern. The Indians went into the cellar and rolled out many barrels, forced in their heads, and began drinking and yelling. Pretty soon they came crowding into the room where we were, and in which there was a bureau, two beds, a chair or two and perhaps a small table. They forced the drawers of the bureau, which were filled with towels, table cloths, shirts, pillow-slips, etc. About this time Major Graves and Captain Hart left the room. The Indians took the bedclothing, ripped open the bed-tick, threw out the feathers, and apportioned the ticks to themselves. They took the overcoat, close-bodied coat, hat, and shoes. from the writer. When they turned to leave the room, just as he turned, the Indians tomahawked Captain Hickman in less than six feet from me. I went out on to a porch, next the street, when I heard voices in a room at a short distance ; went into the room where Captain Hart was engaged in conversation with the interpreter. He asked: 'What do the Indians intend to do with us?' The reply was: 'They intend to kill you.' Hart rejoined : 'Ask liberty of them forme to make a speech to them before they kill us.' The interpreters replied: 'They can't understand.' 'But,' said Hart, ' you can interpret for me.' The interpreters replied: ' If we undertook to interpret for you, they will as soon kill us as you.' It was said, and I suppose truly, that Captain Hart subsequently contracted with an Indian warrior to take him to Amherstburg, giving him six hundred dollars. The brave placed him on a horse and started. After going a short distance, they met another company of Indians, when the one having charge of Hart spoke of his receiving the six hundred dollars to take Hart to Maiden. The other Indians insisted on sharing the money, which was refused, when some altercation took place, resulting in the shooting of Hart off the horse by the Indian who received the money. A few minutes after leaving the room where I had met Hart and the interpreters, and while standing in the snow eighteen inches deep, the Indians brought Captain Hickman out on the porch, stripped of clothing, except a flannel shirt, and tossed him out on the snow within a few feet of him, after which he breathed once or twice and expired. While still standing in the yard, without coat, hat, or shoes, Major Graves approached me in charge of an Indian, and asked if I had been taken. I answered, no. He proposed that I should go along with the Indian who had taken him. I replied: ''So; if you are safe, I am satisfied.' He passed on, and I never saw him afterward."

The author of the above narrative was finally ransomed by a generous British officer, who gave his Indian captor an old pack-horse and a keg of whisky to release him.

Another witness* of the cowardly massacre at Raisin gives the following experience, which particularly concerns the volunteers directly from Lexington. He says : eight Indians came to the house of Jean Baptiste Jereauuie, where I was in company with Major Graves, Captains Hart and Hickman, Dr. Todd, and fifteen or twenty volunteers. They did not molest anything, or person, on their first approach, but kept sauntering about until there was a large number collected, at which time they commenced plundering the houses of the inhabitants, and killing the wounded prisoners. The Indian who claimed me as his property, commanded me to hold his horse, which was about tweuty paces from the house. Shortly after going to the house, I saw them knock down Captain Hickman at the door, together with several others. Supposing a general massacre had commenced, I made an eflbrt to get to a house about a hundred yards distant, which contained a number of wounded; but on my reaching the house, to my great mortification, found it surrounded by Indians, which precluded the possibility of my giving notice to the unfortunate victims of savage barbarity. An Indian chief, of the Tawa tribe, of the name of McCarty, gave me possession -of his horse and blanket, telling me, by signs, to lead the horse to the house which I had just before left. The Indian that first took me by this time came up and manifested a hostile disposition toward me, by raising his tomahawk as if to give me the fatal blow, which was prevented by my very good friend McCarty. On my reaching the house which I had first started from, I saw the Indians take oft" several prisoners, which I afterward saw in the road, in a most mangled condition, and entirely stripped of their clothing.

"Messrs. Charles Bradford, Charles Searls, Turner, and Ebenezer Blythe, of Hart's company, were collected around a carryall, wtiieh contained articles taken by the Indians from the citizens. We had all been placed there by our respective captors, except Blythe, who came where we were entreating an Indian to convey him to Maiden, promising to give him forty or fifty dollars, and whilst in the act of pleading for mercy, an Indian, more savage than the other, stepped up behind, tomahawked, stripped, and scalped him. The next that attracted my attention was the houses on fire that contained several wounded, whom I knew were not able to get out. After the houses were nearly consumed, we received marching orders, and, after arriving at Sandy creek, the Indians called a halt, and commenced cooking. After preparing and eating a little sweetened gruel, Messrs. Bradford, Searls, Turner, and myself received some, and were eating, when an Indian came up, and proposed exchanging his moccasins for Mr. Searls' shoes, which he readily complied with. They then exchanged hats, after which the Indian inquired how many men Harrison had with him, and, at the same time, calling Searls a Washington or Madison, then raised his tomahawk and struck him on the shoulder, which cut into the cavity of the body. Searls then caught hold of the tomahawk, and appeared to resist, and upon my telling him his fate was inevitable, he closed his eyes and received the savage blow, which terminated his existence. I was near enough to him to receive the brains and blood, after the fatal blow, on my blanket. A short time after the death of Searls, I saw three others share a similar fate. We then set out for Brownstown, which place we reached about twelve or one o'clock at night. After being exposed to several hoursincessant rain in reaching that place, we were put into the council-house, the floor of which was partly covered with water, at which place we remained until next morning, when we again received marching orders for their village on the river Rouge, which place we made that day, where I was kept six days, then taken to Detroit and sold." -

The grief in Lexington and Fayette county, occasioned by the Frenchtown defeat, and the cold-blooded massacre after it, was as intense as it was widely spread. The em- / blems of sorrow and afiliction were soon seen on every hand. ' The churches and newspapers were clothed in mourning, and, amid the tolling of bells, the relatives and friends of the murdered soldiers walked sadly in a funeral procession to church, when the sorrow of a whole community was poured out, and prayers were ofl^ered for strength to bear the great affliction.

town, was a native of Washington county, Virginia,* but had settled early in Fayette county, Kentucky, where he had resided for many years before his death. His company of riflemen was connected with Colonel Allen's regiment. Edmonson county, Kentucky, was named in his honor.

Major Benjamin Graves, one of the victims of the " massacre," after the battle of Frenchtown, was also a Virginian, but had emigrated to Fayette county, Kentucky, when quite young.f He was an amiable, shrewd, and intelligent man, and represented the county several years in the legislature. He was one of the first to volunteer in 1812, and was appointed major in Colonel Lewis' regiment, and proved himself a cool, vigilant, and gallant officer. Qtraves county, Kentucky, bears his name.

Captain Nathaniel G. T. Hart, whose tragic fate we have recorded, and in whose honor Hart county, Kentucky, was named, was born inTHSgerstowSTMaryland, but was brought toTiexington, Kentucky, when a little child.J He studied law, and practiced in Lexington, but abandoned the profession for mercantile pursuits. In 1812, at the age of twenty-seven, he was commanding the celebrated "Lexington Light Infantry " company, and he and the company enlisted as soon as war was declared. Henry Clay and James Brown both married sisters of Captain Hart.

An amusing incident,|| toogood to be lost, occurred during this tragic period. An adventurous and exceedingly useful female, born in Fayette, went out with one of the Lexington companies in the capacity of a washerwoman, shared the captivity at Haisin, and marched with the prisoners to Maiden, which was crowded with Indians, among whom were a number of squaws. The appearance of the washerwoman at once caught their attention, especially as she bore on her back a large blanket, well filled with her baggage. One of the squaws came up to her, and demanded the bundle, which she very promptly refused to give up, but the squaw seized it, and a struggle for its possession at once drew a crowd of warriors around them, who formed a circle to see fair play, and enjoy the sport. The pulling operation not being sufficient, the female soldier determined to show her Kentucky play, and attacked her with her fists, and, pulled her hair with vigor, until at last her antagonist gave up the attempt, and left her in possession of her bundle. With laughter and huzzas for the "Kentucky squaw," the warriors declared she should not be disturbed again, and she marched off in triumph to join her fellow prisoners. The "Kentucky squaw" remained at Maiden about six months, making money by her skill and industry, and then marched back to Lexington in regular infantry style, on foot, and lived for many years to enjoy the fame of her brilliant victory over her rash and badly taken-in foe.

The following names, in addition to those already given, of soldiers killed and wounded, have fortunately been preserved. They belonged to Captain Hart's company. Killed - Alex. Crawford, Wm. Davis, Sam'l Elder, Thos. King, "Wm. Lewis, Peter Mesner, Jas. Riley, Stephen Smith, Geo. Shindlebower, B. Stephens, Armstrong Stewart, Thos. Fant. Wounded - Chas. Bradford, Thos. Chamberlain, John Beckly, Edward Elder, James Higgius, S. B. Todd.

The butchery at Raisin excited a storm of the intensest -^ indignation and excitement throughout Kentucky, which was the greatest sufferer by it. There was a general rush to avenge the slaughter of the gallant men who had fallen, and the tender of troops was largely in excess of the demand. Lexington resounded with the notes of the bugle and the beating of drums. Five companies of volunteers were rapidly organized in the city and county, and campfires blazed on every hand. The companies formed were commanded by Captains Archie Morrison, John C. Morrison, David Todd, Stewart W. Megowan, and M. Flournoy, and belonged to the regiment of Colonels Dudley and Boswell. The following is a fragment of the roll of Captain Archie Morrison's company, viz : Thomas Christian, A. F. Eastin, George Eave, Elijah Smith, Larkin Webster, John Webster, and Thomas Webster.

The Kentucky volunteers were hurried to the relief of Harrison, and succeeded in cutting their way through the British and Indians to Fort Meigs. But the soldiers of Lexington and Fayette seemed ever destined to reach victory only after repeated baptisms of blood. Another disaster awaited them.

On the 5th of May, General Harrison sent Captain Hamilton with an order to Colonel Dudley to land eight hundred men on the northern shore of the Maumee, opposite Fort Meigs, destroy the British batteries there, and then immediately return.

Dudley succeeded perfectly in capturing the batteries, but instead of instantly returning to his boats, suffered his men to waste their time, and skirmished with the Indians until Proctor was enabled to cut them off' from their only chance of retreat. They were surrounded, taken by surprise, defeated, and then came another repetition of the Raisin massacre, in which Colonel Dudley, as already related in a former chapter, was barbarously mangled and murdered, and only one hundred and fifty of his men es-

"When Colonel Dudley attacked the batteries of the enemy, opposite Fort Meigs, on the 5th of May, 1813, he advanced in three columns. The right, led by himself, carried them without the loss of a man. The middle was the reserve. The left, headed by Major Shelby, formed at right angles on the river, to protect from below. This arrangement was scarcely made before the spies under my command (about thirty in number, including seven friendly Indians), who flanked at some hundred yards distance in the woods, were attacked by part of the Indian force of the enemy. Unacquainted with the views of Colonel Dudley, they knew not but that it was their duty to fight. For near fifteen minutes, with the loss of several killed and wounded, they maintained an unequal conflict. In this time. Colonel Dudley having effected his object, and fearing their fate, had advanced to their relief with the right column. The enemy retreated. Our troops, impelled more by incautious valor and a desire for military distinguishment than prudence, pursued. He then stood firm for a short time on his right, and gave way on his left, which threw our lines with its back toward the river, so that every step we tJvanced carried us farther from under the protection of our fort. Whenever we halted, so did the Indians, and renewed their fire - we charged on them. They again retreated. In this way, with the loss of from thirty to fifty killed on our side, and a number wounded, was the battle fought for upward of three hours. How much the enemy suffered during this time, 'twas impossible to ascertain from the circumstance of their bearing off" their dead. Soon after the commencement of the engagement, we were forced to bring our whole force into action. The enemy was, during this time, receiving large reinforcements from the other side of the river, which enabled him now nearly to surround us. Our troops were generally mucli exhausted, owing to the swampiness of the ground over which they had fought, and many of them with their guns wet, or without ammunition. In this situation, the enemy in much force, fresh to the battle, pressed with a most destructive cross-lire on our left. It gave way. Conscious of his advantage, with a desperate effort he advanced on the remainder. These, disheartened and confused, were ordered to retreat to the batteries. Unfortunately, this retreat soon turned to flight, which all the eflorts of the officers could neither prevent nor stop.

" The best disciplined troops in the world are sometimes panic struck - then can it be surprising that militia, under these circumstances, and who had seen scarce thirty days service, should become so ? In small parties, by tens and by twenties, they arrived at the batteries, thereby falling an easy prey to the regular force of the enemy, who, early in the action, had retaken them from the right column. Thus, upward of eight hundred men, who had set out with the most flattering prospect of success, led on by imprudence, were overwhelmed by numbers, cut up, and defeated. About one hundred and seventy only having made good their retreat before the close of the battle, escaped across the river in our boats.

" Immediately after the surrender, we were marched oft" toward Fort Maumee, one and a half miles below, near the British encampment. "We had gone but a short distance before we met the head of the left line of Indians who had been inclosing us. Having surrendered to Englishmen entirely, I expected we should be treated with that tenderness and humanity indicative of a noble mind, and always due the unfortunate. What was, then, ray astonishment when, so soon as we met the Indians, they began, in face of the English guard, of General Proctor, Colonel Elliot, and other officers who were riding up the line, to rob us of our clothing, money, watches, etc. Almost all lost in this way their hats and coats, some even their shirts, and some their pantaloons also. He who did not instantaneously give up his clothes, frequently paid his life for it. No ditt'ereiice was made between well and wounded in this as well as what followed.