prominent lawyer in Pittsburg, whither he had come
in 1781, after graduating at Princeton and serving
as chaplain in the regular army. Brackenridge was
a Scotch-Irishman, and a Democrat in politics;
therefore he sympathized with the uprising known
as the Whiskey Rebellion, and wrote a work in its
defense, although his influence had been exercised
to moderate its excesses. Gallatin defeated him for
Congress in 1794; but later he took his place upon
the bench of the state supreme court, and served
with great ability until his death in 1816.--ED.
[6] _Physostegia Virginiana_, Benth.--C. S. S.
[7] _Hedeoma pulegiodes_, Pers.--C. S. S.
[8] Col. Francis Vigo was a Sardinian, who came to
Louisiana in the Spanish army. Settling at St. Louis
as a trader, he embraced the cause of American
independence, rendering substantial aid in many ways
to George Rogers Clark, in the latter’s Illinois
campaigns. Vigo took the oath of allegiance to the
United States, and later settled at Vincennes, where
he died in poverty in 1836. His just claims upon the
government were not settled until thirty years after
his death.--ED.
[9] A Spanish document of this period complains of
Audrain as having misappropriated funds for his
contracts, also charges him with being a radical
republican, receiving all the patriots at his
house, where dinners were given and toasts drunk to
the downfall of monarchy. See American Historical
Association _Report_, 1896, p. 1049.
The commandant at St. Louis was Captain Don Zenon
Trudeau, who held the office from 1792-99.--ED.
[10] This Frenchman was known in Pittsburg as J. B.
C. Lucas, and was appointed associate judge of
Allegheny County in 1800. His Democratic principles
were so strong that he brought about the impeachment
of his colleague, Judge Addison, a well-known
Federalist.--ED.
[11] The writer here uses the term “Fort Pitt” as the
name of the town; the brick fortification which was
being demolished was the one known by that name,
built by Stanwix in 1759-61. It stood between the
rivers, below Third, West, and part of Liberty
streets. A redoubt, built in 1764 as a part of these
works, is still standing, and has been restored
by the Pittsburg chapter of the Daughters of the
American Revolution, whom it serves as a museum.
See _Frontier Forts of Western Pennsylvania_
(Harrisburg, 1896), ii, pp. 99-159.--ED.
[12] Fort Fayette, a stockade erected in 1792 for
protection against the Indians. It stood about a
quarter of a mile above Fort Pitt, on the present
Penn Street, at the crossing of Garrison Avenue.--ED.
[13] _E. atropurpureus_, Jacq.--C. S. S.
[14] This is probably his _Sicyos lobata_ (_Echinocystis
lobata_ of Torr. and Gray) which, according to the
_Flora_, was detected by Michaux “in _occidentalibus
Pensylvaniae, juxta fluvium Ohio_.” The “_corolla
5 partita_” is retained by Richard in his
description.--C. S. S.
[15] Wheeling was founded upon land taken up by Col.
Ebenezer Zane in 1770. During Lord Dunmore’s War
a stockade was built at this place, called Fort
Fincastle; later, the name was changed in honor
of Patrick Henry, first governor of the state of
Virginia. Fort Henry was thrice besieged during
the Revolution--in 1777, 1781, and 1782. Many
romantic incidents are told of these events; most
notable, that of the sortie for additional powder,
successfully executed by Elizabeth Zane. Colonel
Zane laid out the place in town-lots in 1793; two
years later, the Virginia legislature incorporated
it. In 1797 Wheeling became the seat of Ohio County;
and early in the nineteenth century appeared likely
to surpass Pittsburg in prosperity, and as an
important emporium for Western trade.--ED.
[16] The site for Fort Harmar was chosen by Gen. Richard
Butler (1785), on his journey to Cincinnati to make
peace with the Miami Indians. A detachment under
Major Doughty began building the fort--named in
honor of Gen. Josiah Harmar--in the autumn of this
year; its completion in 1786 afforded protection
to the frontier inhabitants of Virginia. Two years
later (1788), the Ohio Company of Associates--New
England veterans of the Revolution--came out under
the leadership of Gen. Rufus Putnam, and began the
settlement of Marietta, “the Plymouth Rock of the
West.”--ED.
[17] For the Little Kanawha, see Croghan’s _Journals_,
vol. i of this series, note 98.--ED.
[18] For the Great Kanawha and its historical
associations, see Croghan’s _Journals_, vol. i
of this series, note 101; also Thwaites, _On the
Storied Ohio_.--ED.
[19] For the history of this French settlement on the
Ohio, see _Journal_ of F. A. Michaux, _post_.--ED.
[20] Jean G. Petit was the most prominent man of this
settlement, acting both as physician and judge.--ED.
[21] For a description of the Scioto, and its early
historical importance, see Croghan’s _Journals_,
vol. i of this series, note 102; also Thwaites, _On
the Storied Ohio_.--ED.
[22] The Three Islands were noted landmarks in the
early history of Kentucky. Kennedy and his company
encamped there in 1773, but the settlement was in
a dangerous location, as this was near an Indian
crossing place. In 1791, twenty men were told off to
garrison the settlement. The upper island was near
Brush Creek, in Ohio. Only one island remains at
this place.--ED.
[23] Limestone (now Maysville) was long the chief river
post for Kentucky, but was not early settled owing
to its exposure to Indian attacks. Bullitt and the
McAfees were there in 1773; Simon Kenton settled
farther up on Limestone Creek in 1776. The same
year, George Rogers Clark landed at this place the
powder provided by Virginia for the protection of
the Kentucky settlements. The first blockhouse was
built on the site of Limestone in 1783; four years
later, the town was incorporated by the Virginia
legislature.--ED.
[24] Alexander D. Orr was representative in Congress for
Kentucky, from its admission and through the fourth
Congress (1792-97). A Virginian by birth (1765),
he removed to Mason County at an early period,
and had much influence in his neighborhood, where
he lived as a planter until his death, June 21,
1835. Michaux’s visit to Colonel Orr is probably
significant of the fact that Orr was interested in
the former’s mission.--ED.
[25] Gen. Henry Lee was one of the earliest settlers in
Mason County. Coming to Kentucky as a surveyor in
1779, six years later he established Lee’s Station,
near Washington--one of the earliest in northeastern
Kentucky. Lee was Kentucky delegate in the Virginia
house of burgesses (1788), a member of the
convention that adopted the federal constitution,
and later member of the Danville conventions for
organizing the State of Kentucky; his political
influence, therefore, was important. Unlike many of
the pioneers, he prospered in business and amassed
a considerable fortune, dying on his estate in
1845.--ED.
[26] For the history of Big Bone Lick, see Croghan’s
_Journals_, vol. i of this series, note 104.--ED.
[27] This was either May’s Lick, in Mason County, or the
Lower Blue Licks, in Nicholas County. It is evident
that the buffalo had nearly disappeared from this
region, where less than thirty years before Croghan
had found them in such vast numbers. Butricke
(_Historical Magazine_, viii, p. 259) says that in
1768 they were scarce above the Scioto River. The
last buffalo was killed in the Great Kanawha Valley,
about twelve miles below Charleston, West Virginia,
in 1815.--ED.
[28] There is some doubt thrown upon the
commonly-accepted statement that the first cabin
at Lexington was built in 1775, and the place
named in honor of the opening battle of the
Revolution, news of which had just been received.
The permanent settlement was not made until 1779;
the following year the town was made county seat
of the newly-erected Fayette County, and itself
incorporated in 1782.--ED.
[29] Paris was laid out in 1786, the first court of
Bourbon County being held there in 1787. Two
years later, it was incorporated by the Virginia
legislature as Hopewell; the present designation was
adopted in 1790.--ED.
[30] Danville was laid off as a town by Walker Daniel
in 1781, and rapidly rose to importance, being the
centre of political activity and the seat of the
conventions in which statehood for Kentucky was
agitated (1785-92). After the admission of Kentucky
as a state, Frankfort was chosen capital, and the
importance of Danville declined.--ED.
[31] Joshua Barbee was born in Virginia, and after
serving in the Revolution removed to the vicinity of
Danville, early in the Kentucky settlement. He was
militia officer in 1791, a member of the political
club of Danville, and of the state legislature. A
man of wealth and prominence, his family became
intimately associated with Kentucky history. He died
in 1839.
Pierre Tardiveau was a French merchant who had an
extensive business in the West, and connections in
Bordeaux. With his partner, Honoré, he carried on
trade with New Orleans, and made frequent trips
thither. Tardiveau embarked in Genet’s enterprise,
and was appointed interpreter in chief by Michaux,
who appears to have used him to communicate with
agents in New Orleans. See Claiborne, _Mississippi_
(Jackson, 1880), pp. 152, 153; also American
Historical Association _Report_, 1896, pp. 952,
1026, 1096. Tardiveau removed to Louisiana when it
came under American dominion.--ED.
[32] John Brown, one of Kentucky’s most prominent public
men, was born at Staunton, Virginia, in 1757, and
while a student at Princeton joined the Revolutionary
army as aid to Lafayette. At the close of the war he
removed to Kentucky, was its first representative to
the old Congress (1787-89); then to Congress under
the Constitution (1789-92), where he was employed in
securing the admission of Kentucky as a state. Upon
that event (1792), Brown was sent to the United
States Senate, of which he remained a prominent
member until 1805. He was a personal friend of
Washington, Jefferson (with whom he studied law), and
Madison, and when he died in 1837 was the last
survivor of the Congress of the Confederation. Brown
was cognizant of Michaux’s plans, and evidently
sympathized with them, having been interested in
previous separatist movements for Kentucky. See
Butler, _Kentucky_, and John Mason Brown, “Political
Beginnings of Kentucky,” Filson Club _Publications_
No. 6. Brown gave letters of introduction to Michaux.
See American Historical Association _Report_, 1896,
pp. 982, 983, 1010.--ED.
[33] Brown refers here to the embassy of Carmichael, and the
negotiations entered into by him and Pinckney, the
minister at Madrid, that ultimately led to the treaty
of 1794.
The Creek Indians lay south of the United States
territory in West Florida, and were believed by the
Westerners to be incited to attacks upon Americans by
the Spanish authorities of this province and of
Louisiana.--ED.
[34] Michaux went to what was known as St. Asaph’s, or Logan’s
Station, in Lincoln County, to see the well-known
pioneer and Indian fighter, Gen. Benjamin Logan. Next
to Clark, Logan was, doubtless, the best known person
in Kentucky, and had been chosen by Genet as second
in command of the expedition. That he afterwards
decided to enter upon this affair, seems evident from
his letter to Clark of December 31, 1793, in American
Historical Association _Report_, 1896, p. 1026. Logan
was a Scotch-Irishman, born in Virginia in 1743. When
but fourteen his father died, and he was left as
eldest son of the family. Having removed to Holston,
he was out with Bouquet in 1764, and ten years later
in Lord Dunmore’s War. Locating his station in
Kentucky in 1775, he brought out his family the
following year, and sustained many Indian attacks as
well as led several aggressive campaigns against the
savages. As county lieutenant he was a safeguard for
the new settlements, and was revered and respected by
all his neighbors. Having served in the legislature
and the convention that drew up the Kentucky
constitution, he died at his home in Lincoln County
in 1802.--ED.
[35] There was no better-known character in the West, than
Governor Shelby. Born in Maryland in 1750, the family
were of pioneer stock, and early moved to Western
Virginia, where young Shelby was sheriff (1771), and
lieutenant under his father, Evan Shelby, at the
Battle of Point Pleasant (1774). The next year he
surveyed in Kentucky, and then returned to the
Holston to engage in the Revolutionary struggles. To
his forethought is attributed the success of the
battle of King’s Mountain, after which he served in
the North Carolina legislature. Removing to Kentucky
in 1783, Shelby was welcomed as a hero by the new
community, and made the first governor of the State.
He served a second term during the War of 1812-15,
reinforcing Harrison at a critical juncture for the
Western division of the army. Refusing the portfolio
of war, offered by Monroe in 1817, Shelby retired to
his farm in Lincoln County, where he died in 1826.
Michaux carried letters to Shelby; see American
Historical Association _Report_, 1896, pp. 983, 984.
On Shelby’s later attitude toward the expedition, see
_ibid._, pp. 934, 1023, 1040, _note_.--ED.
[36] Knob Licks, Lincoln County, was formed as a settlement
in 1776 by Governor Shelby. De Pauw, one of the French
agents, resided here. See American Historical
Association _Report_, 1896, pp. 977, 1002, 1023,
1102-1106. The Knobs were a peculiar formation of
detached hillocks.--ED.
[37] Beardstown (Bardstown) was an important settlement in early
Kentucky history, established (1788) near the Salt
River in what is now Nelson County, and named for the
proprietor, David Baird. It is now a small village,
although still the county seat.--ED.
[38] For the founding of Louisville, see Croghan’s _Journals_,
vol. i of this series, note 106. The old road from
Bardstown to Louisville went via the Salt Works
(Shepherdsville, Bullitt County), and was reckoned at
forty-five miles. See Speed, “Wilderness Road,”
Filson Club _Publications_ (Louisville, 1886), p. 17.
The new road was more direct, went across country
from Bardstown, and joined the old about ten miles
below Louisville.--ED.
[39] For the letters of Genet and Clark, see American Historical
Association _Report_, 1896, pp. 967, 986.--ED.
[40] In Clark’s letter to Genet, he seems to indicate that
this obstacle was the leaking out of the secret, by
which intimations might reach the Spaniards. Possibly
he refers to the Spanish mission which caused Logan’s
hesitation; see _ante_, note 33; also American
Historical Association _Report_, 1896, p.
1007-1009.--ED.
[41] The home of Clark’s father, with whom he resided, was
known as “Mulberry Hill,” situated in the environs of
Louisville.--ED.
[42] _E. Americanus, L._--C.S.S.
[43] On the early mail routes, see Speed, _Wilderness Road_, pp.
65-68.--ED.
[44] James Hogan was a pioneer of Kentucky who settled at Bryan’s
Station before 1779, and took a leading part in its
defense against Indians (1781). He was granted (1785)
by the Virginia legislature the right to maintain a
ferry across the Kentucky River.--ED.
[45] The principal ferry on the road from Danville to Lexington
was at the mouth of Hickman’s Creek, so named in
honor of the first Baptist preacher in Kentucky, Rev.
William Hickman.--ED.
[46] See letter of this date, written by Michaux to Clark
(American Historical Association _Report_, 1896, p.
1010), in which he gives his address at “Mᵗᵉ Isham
Prewitt, Jefferson County, near Danville.”--ED.
[47] The original letter sent by this messenger is in the
Wisconsin Historical Library (Draper MSS., 55 J 5),
and is printed in American Historical Association
Report, 1896, p. 1013.--ED.
[48] This reply is given in American Historical Association
_Report_, 1896, pp. 1007-1009. The break in the
manuscript of Michaux’s diary is occasioned by the
completion of one blank book and the commencement of
another.--ED.
[49] Nicholas was one of a famous coterie of Virginia
constitutional lawyers. Born in 1743, the son of a
distinguished lawyer, Robert Cary Nicholas, he served
as captain in the Revolution, and at its close
qualified for the bar. His services in the Virginia
convention which adopted the federal constitution,
were important. Shortly after its close he removed to
Kentucky, and there aided in the adoption of its
state constitution, which is reputed to have been
drawn up by his hand. Upon the formation of the state
government, he was chosen first attorney general.
Nicholas adopted a moderate position in regard to
Western politics; the scheme here outlined, seems
characteristic. In 1799 he was appointed law
professor in Transylvania University, but died during
the same year.--ED.
[50] Michaux returned to Philadelphia by the well-known
“Wilderness Road,” the chief means of exit from
Kentucky. Parties frequently waited at Crab
Orchard--the western terminus in Lincoln
County--until enough had gathered to act as
protection against the Indians. See Speed,
“Wilderness Road,” Filson Club _Publications_, No. 2
(Louisville, 1886); also Hulbert, _Historic Highways
of America_, vol. vi.--ED.
[51] _Lygodium palmatum_, Swz.--C.S.S.
[52] Three words are here frayed away in the manuscript of
the Journal.--C.S.S.
[53] Cumberland Gap, in southeastern Kentucky, emerging into
Tennessee, was explored in 1750 by Dr. Thomas Walker,
who named both mountains and river in honor of the
Duke of Cumberland, son of George II.--ED.
[54] The Clinch and Holston rivers are upper waters of the
Tennessee, in southwestern Virginia and northeastern
Tennessee. The settlements in these valleys were
among the first on the west-flowing streams. See map
in Turner, “State Making in the Revolutionary Era,”
in _American Historical Review_, i, p. 74.--ED.
[55] Both of these stations are mentioned in an early journal;
see Speed, _Wilderness Road_, p. 21. The first was
the seat for Hawkins County, Tennessee.--ED.
[56] The forks of the road was at the junction of the north
and south forks of the Holston River, near the
present town of Kingsport, Sullivan County,
Tennessee.--ED.
[57] Abingdon, originally known as Wolf Hills, was one of
the earliest settlements in the Valley of Virginia,
and the seat of Washington County. It was established
as a town in 1778. It is still the county seat, and a
station on the Norfolk & Western Railway.--ED.
[58] Wytheville, near the centre of the county of that name,
and its county seat.--ED.
[59] The early route through the Virginia Valley crossed
New River at Ingles’s Ferry, a short distance west of
Blacksburg, Montgomery County. A new road shortened
the distance and crossed the New River about five
miles farther up the stream, at a ferry operated by
the pioneer family of Pepper. They are alluded to in
the Draper MSS., Wisconsin Historical Library, I QQ
97.--ED.
[60] Botetourt Court House, now Fincastle, the seat of
Botetourt County (established in 1769), was laid off
as a town in 1772 on land donated for the purpose by
Israel Christian. It was named for the ancestral seat
of Lord Botetourt, an early governor of
Virginia.--ED.
[61] Lexington was established by law in 1777 as county
seat for Rockbridge, then newly-formed out of Augusta
and Botetourt. See _ante_, note 28.--ED.
[62] Col. James McDowell, who lived near Fairfield, Rockbridge
County, was a descendant of the Scotch-Irish settler,
Capt. John McDowell, who came to the valley as a
surveyor in 1737, and was killed in the first Indian
fight therein (1742).--ED.
[63] The present roads through the Valley of Virginia follow
the course described by Michaux, passing through the
same towns. Staunton is one of the earliest towns of
the region, having been settled in 1732 by John
Lewis, a Scotch-Irishman, whose sons Andrew and
Charles were among the most prominent borderers.
Andrew commanded the Sandy Creek expedition in 1756;
and at the battle of Point Pleasant in 1774, where
Charles was slain. Staunton was laid out as a town in
1748, at the “Beverly Mill Place,” but was not
established by act of legislature until 1761.--ED.
[64] This town is generally known as Harrisonburg, from its
founder, Thomas Harrison (1780). The county of
Rockingham was erected in 1778, and held its first
court at the house of Daniel Smith, which was two
miles north of Harrisonburg.--ED.
[65] The upper or northern portion of the Valley of Virginia
was first settled by German emigrants from
Pennsylvania. Woodstock was laid off as a town by
Jacob Miller, and established by law in 1761.--ED.
[66] Newtown, or Stephensburg, was founded by Lewis Stephens
on the site of his father’s first claim. Peter
Stephens came to Virginia in 1732, with Joist Hite,
an early settler of the northern portion of the
Valley. His son established the town in 1758, it
being called Newtown to distinguish it from the older
Winchester. Newtown is now a small hamlet, without a
post-office.--ED.
[67] Winchester was built upon Lord Fairfax’s grant in 1752.
In 1738 there were two cabins at this place, which
was then called “Shawnee Springs,” and was the
frontier outpost in that direction. The population
was a mixture of Germans and Scotch-Irishmen. Col.
James Wood is accredited with the foundation of the
town of Winchester.--ED.
[68] Charlestown, in what was then Berkeley County, but now
the seat for Jefferson County, West Virginia, was
laid off (1786) upon his own land by Col. Charles
Washington, brother of the general, and christened
from his own Christian name.--ED.
[69] Harper’s Ferry takes its name from the first settler,
Robert Harper, who formed part of the German
emigration of 1734. Washington perceived the
strategic importance of this place, and recommended
it as the site of a national arsenal.--ED.
[70] Frederick City, Maryland, was laid out in 1745 by
Patrick Dulany, and named in honor of the sixth Lord
Baltimore. The first house, however, was not erected
on this site until 1748, when it became the seat of
the newly-erected Frederick County. Most of the early
settlers were Germans, with an admixture of
Scotch-Irish. At Frederick the road from Virginia
crossed the National Road from Baltimore to
Wheeling.--ED.
[71] Woodsboro is a small village in Frederick County,
Maryland. Littlestown, in Adams County, Pennsylvania,
was laid out in 1765 by one of the early German
settlers of the region, called Peter Klein (Little).
It was frequently called Petersburg in the earlier
days. It is now a small station on the Fredericksburg
branch of the Pennsylvania Railway.--ED.
[72] Hanover, York County, Pennsylvania, was laid out upon
a tract granted by Lord Baltimore to John Digges in
1728. The proprietors of Maryland claimed this
region, and Digges settled a number of German
immigrants upon his tract of 10,000 acres, which was
known as “Digges’s Choice.” A Scotch-Irishman,
Richard McAllister, emigrated thither about 1749 and
acquired great influence over the German settlers of
the neighborhood, where he kept a store and tavern.
He laid out the town and named it Hanover in 1763 or
1764.--ED.
[73] Michaux is mistaken in placing the Pennsylvania boundary
so far north, as he had entered that state before
reaching Littlestown. This territory, however, had
been in dispute between Pennsylvania and Maryland,
but was settled by the running of Mason and Dixon’s
line in 1763. York was not settled on the lands of
the Penn estate until 1741, when there were 2,000
settlers within the bounds of what is now York
County. The town became an incorporated borough in
1785.--ED.
[74] For the early history of Harris Ferry, see Post’s
_Journals_, vol. i of this series, note 73.--ED.
[75] Dr. Daniel Rittenhouse was one of America’s best known
scientists. Born in Pennsylvania in 1732, his talent
for mathematics early manifested itself, and he
became a clock and instrument maker, and finally an
astronomer of much repute. He held important
positions in the new State of Pennsylvania, was its
treasurer (1777-89), also first director of the
United States mint. Rittenhouse was employed to
settle the boundary between Virginia and his own
state, and during 1784-85 was in service in the
field, directing the running of the line. He
succeeded Franklin as president of the American
Philosophical Society in 1790, retaining the office
until his death in 1796.--ED.