A HISTORY OF KENTUCKY, EMBRACING GLEANINGS, REMINISCENCES, ANTIQUITIES, NATURAL CURIOSITIES, STATISTICS, AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF Pioneers, Soldiers, Jurists, Lawyers, Statesmen, BY WILLIAM B. ALLEN AUTHOR OF THE KENTUCKY OFFICERS' GUIDE. LOUISVILLE, KY. 1872. by the Green County Historical Society Commonwealth of Kentucky Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, BY WM. B. ALLEN, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. ROBERT ROWELL, Electrotype and Stereotype Foundry, LOUISVILLE, KY. F 451 A43 1967 ΤΟ DR. CHRISTOPHER GRAHAM, M. D., WHO WAS BORN IN THE WILDWOODS OF KENTUCKY FIVE YEARS BEFORE IT BECAME A STATE; WHO IS HIMSELF A LIVING HISTORY OF KENTUCKY, AND ONE OF THE FEW LINKS NOW LEFT IN THE LONG CHAIN THAT BINDS THE PRESENT GENERATION TO THE FIRST SETTLERS OF THE "DARK AND BLOODY GROUND;" WHO IS THE BEST RIFLE SHOT IN AMERICA, AND UNEQUALED AS A AND WHILE ALREADY NUMBERED AMONG THE MOST MUNIFICENT BENE FACTORS OF THE STATE HAS ONCE MORE EVINCED HIS LIBERALITY BY THE CONTRIBUTION OF HIS EXTENSIVE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY TO THE PUBLIC LIBRARY OF KENTUCKY, ESTIMATED TO BE WORTH $25,000-TO THIS MAN SO WORTHY OF OUR HIGHEST ESTEEM IS THIS BOOK DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR. PREFACE. The aged actors in the scenes connected with the early settlement of Kentucky have passed away, and all are now slumbering with the dead. To preserve in a durable form such of those events as have not been recorded in history, we have to rely on oral tradition, or to the recollection of the sons of those ancient worthies who participated in the scenes of those stirring times, and who in infancy were witnesses of some of the scenes, or else received them traditionally from their fathers. Much of the primitive history of Kentucky, which would be exceedingly interesting even to the youth of this day, is now forever lost, and lies buried with those venerable witnesses who have long since passed from earth to that bourn from which there is no return. Many mementoes of the past, however, both useful and interesting to the rising generation, have been collected and preserved by the author, and will, in future, occupy a conspicuous place in history. Many things recorded in this volume were delivered me in my youth from the lips of my venerated father, and from my uncle, and others who participated in the scenes of those times, and which would, probably, have ever been lost had it not been for my predilection for such knowledge. I have derived great advantage and assistance from the History of Kentucky, by Lewis Collins, written nearly thirty years ago, as well as from Marshall's and Butler's, written some time previously. Many of the biographical sketches (v) |