Rejoicings on account of the peace--Boone indulges his propensity for
hunting--Kentucky increases in population--Some account of their
conflicting land titles--Progress of civil improvement destroying the
range of the hunter--Litigation of land titles--Boone loses his
lands--Removes from Kentucky to the Kanawha--Leaves the Kanawha and goes
to Missouri, where he is appointed Commandant.
The peace which followed the defeat of the northern tribes of Indians by
General Wayne, was most grateful to the harassed settlers of the west.
The news of it was received every where with the most lively joy. Every
one had cause of gratulation. The hardy warriors, whose exploits we have
recounted, felt that they were relieved from the immense
responsibilities which rested upon them as the guardians and protectors
of the infant settlements. The new settlers could now clear their wild
lands, and cultivate their rich fields in peace--without fearing the
ambush and the rifles of a secret foe; and the tenants of the scattered
cabins could now sleep in safety, and without the dread of being wakened
by the midnight war-whoop of the savage. Those who had been pent up in
forts and stations joyfully sallied forth, and settled wherever the soil
and local advantages appeared the most inviting.
Colonel Boone, in particular, felt that a firm and resolute perseverance
had finally triumphed over every obstacle. That the rich and boundless
valleys of the great west--the garden of the earth--and the paradise
of hunters, had been won from the dominion of the savage tribes, and
opened as an asylum for the oppressed, the enterprising, and the free of
every land. He had travelled in every direction through this great
valley. He had descended from the Alleghanies into the fertile regions
of Tennessee, and traced the courses of the Cumberland and Tennessee
rivers. He had wandered with delight through the blooming forests of
Kentucky. He had been carried prisoner by the Indians through the
wilderness which is now the state of Ohio to the great lakes of the
north; he had traced the head waters of the Kentucky, the Wabash, the
Miamies, the Scioto, and other great rivers of the west, and had
followed their meanderings to their entrance into the Ohio; he had stood
upon the shores of this beautiful river, and gazed with admiration, as
he pursued its winding and placid course through endless forests to
mingle with the Mississippi; he had caught some glimmerings of the
future, and saw with the prophetic eye of a patriot, that this great
valley must soon become the abode of millions of freemen; and his heart
swelled with joy, and warmed with a transport which was natural to a
mind so unsophisticated and disinterested as his.
Boone rejoiced in a peace which put an end to his perils and anxieties,
and which now gave him full leisure and scope to follow his darling
pursuit of hunting. He had first been led to the country by that spirit
of the hunter, which in him amounted almost to a passion. This
propensity may be said to be natural to man. Even in cities and populous
places we find men so fond of this pastime that they ransack the
cultivated fields and enclosures of the farmer, for the purpose of
killing the little birds and squirrels, which, from their
insignificance, have ventured to take up their abode with civilized man.
What, then, must have been the feelings of Boone, to find himself in the
grand theatre of the hunter--filled with buffaloes, deer, bears, wild
turkeys, and other noble game?
The free exercise of this darling passion had been checked and
restrained, ever since the first settlement of the country, by the
continued wars and hostile incursions of the Indians. The path of the
hunter had been ambushed by the wily savage, and he seldom ventured
beyond the purlieus of his cabin, or the station where he resided. He
was now free to roam in safety through the pathless wilderness--to camp
out in security whenever he was overtaken by night; and to pursue the
game wherever it was to be found in the greatest abundance.
Civilization had not yet driven the primitive tenants of the forest from
their favorite retreats. Most of the country was still in a state of
nature--unsettled and unappropriated. Few fences or inclosures impeded
the free range of the hunter, and very few buts and bounds warned him of
his being about to trespass upon the private property of some neighbor.
Herds of buffaloes and deer still fed upon the rich cane-brake and rank
vegetation of the boundless woods, and resorted to the numerous Licks
for salt and drink.
Boone now improved this golden opportunity of indulging in his favorite
pursuit. He loved to wander alone, with his unerring rifle upon his
shoulder, through the labyrinths of the tangled forests, and to rouse
the wild beast from his secret lair. There was to him a charm in these
primeval solitudes which suited his peculiar temperament, and he
frequently absented himself on these lonely expeditions for days
together. He never was known to return without being loaded with the
spoils of the chase. The choicest viands and titbits of all the
forest-fed animals were constantly to be found upon his table. Not that
Boone was an epicure; far from it. He would have been satisfied with a
soldier's fare. In common with other pioneers of his time, he knew what
it was to live upon roots and herbs for days together. He had suffered
hunger and want in all its forms without a murmur or complaint. But when
peace allowed him to follow his profession of a hunter, and to exercise
that tact and superiority which so much distinguished him, he selected
from the abundance and profusion of the game which fell victims to his
skill, such parts as were most esteemed. His friends and neighbors were
also, at all times, made welcome to a share of whatever he killed. And
he continued to live in this primitive simplicity--enjoying the luxury
of hunting, and of roving in the woods, and indulging his generous and
disinterested disposition towards his neighbors, for several years after
the peace.
In the meantime, while Boone had been thus courting solitude, and
absorbed by the engrossing excitement of hunting, the restless spirit of
immigration, and of civil and physical improvement, had not been idle.
After the peace the tide of population poured into the country in a
continual stream and the busy spirit of civilization was every where
making inroads into the ancient forests, and encroaching upon the
dominions of the hunter.
In order, however, that the reader may more readily comprehend the
causes which operated as grievances to Boone, and finally led him to
abandon Kentucky, and seek a home in regions more congenial, it will be
necessary to allude to the progress made in population, and the civil
polity, and incidents attending the settlement of the country.
The state of Kentucky was not surveyed by the government and laid off
into sections and townships as has been the case with all the lands
north of the Ohio. But the government of Virginia had issued land
warrants, or certificates entitling the holder to locate wherever he
might choose, the number of acres named in the warrant. They also grave
to actual settlers certain pre-emption rights to such lands as they
might occupy and improve by building a cabin, raising a crop, &c. The
holders of these warrants, after selecting the land which they intended
to cover, with their titles, were required to enter a survey and
description of the tracts selected, in the Land office, which had been
opened for the purpose, to be recorded there, for the information of
others, and to prevent subsequent holders of warrants from locating the
same lands. Yet notwithstanding these precautions, such was the careless
manner in which these surveys were made, that many illiterate persons,
ignorant of the forms of law, and the necessity of precision in the
specification and descriptions of the tracts on which they had laid
their warrants, made such loose and vague entries in the land office, as
to afford no accurate information to subsequent locators, who frequently
laid their warrants on the same tracts. It thus happened that the whole
or a part of almost every tract was covered with different and
conflicting titles--forming what have been aptly called 'shingle
titles'--overlaying and lapping upon each other, as shingles do upon the
roof of a building. In this way twice the existing acres of land were
sold and the door opened for endless controversy about boundaries and
titles. The following copy of an entry may serve as a specimen of the
vagueness of the lines, buts, and bounds of their claims, and as
accounting for the flood of litigation that ensued.
"George Smith enters nine hundred acres of land on a treasury warrant,
lying on the north side of Kentucky river, a mile below a creek;
beginning about twenty poles below a lick; and running down the river
westwardly, and northwestwardly for quantity."
It will easily be seen that a description, so general and indefinite in
its terms, could serve as no guide to others who might wish to avoid
entering the same lands. This defect in providing for the certainty and
safety of land titles, proved a sore evil to the state of Kentucky. As
these lands increased in value and importance, controversies arose as to
the ownership of almost every tract: and innumerable suits, great
strife and excitement, prevailed in every neighborhood, and continued
until within a late period, to agitate the whole body of society. The
legislature of the state, by acts of limitation and judicious
legislation upon the subject, have finally quieted the titles of the
actual occupants.
Among others who made these loose and unfortunate entries, was Daniel
Boone. Unaccustomed to the forms of law and technical precision, he was
guided by his own views of what was proper and requisite, and made such
brief and general entries, as were afterwards held not sufficient to
identify the land. He had discovered and explored the country when it
was all one vast wilderness--unoccupied, and unclaimed. He and a few
other hardy pioneers, by almost incredible hardships, dangers, and
sacrifices, had won it from the savage foe; and judging from his own
single and generous mind, he did not suppose that question would ever be
made of his right to occupy such favorite portions as he might select
and pay for. He did not think it possible that any one, knowing these
circumstances, could be found so greedy or so heartless, as to grudge
him the quiet and unmolested enjoyment of what he had so dearly earned.
But in this he was sadly mistaken. A set of speculators and interlopers,
who, following in the train of civilization and wealth, came to enrich
themselves by monopolizing the rich lands which had thus been won for
them, and by the aid of legal advisers, following all the nice
requisitions of the law, pounced, among others, upon the lands of our
old pioneer. He was not at first disturbed by these speculating
harpies; and game being plenty, he gave himself little uneasiness about
the claims and titles to particular spots, so long as he had such vast
hunting grounds to roam in--which, however, he had the sorrow to see
daily encroached upon by the new settlements of the immigrants.
But the inroads made by the frequent settlements in his accustomed
hunting range, were not the only annoyances which disturbed the simple
habits and patriarchal views of Boone. Civilization brought along with
it all the forms of law, and the complicated organization of society and
civil government, the progress of which had kept pace with the
increasing population.
As early as 1783, the territory of Kentucky had been laid off into three
counties, and was that year, by law, formed into one District,
denominated the District of Kentucky. Regular courts of justice were
organized--log court-houses and log jails were erected--judges, lawyers,
sheriffs, and juries were engaged in the administration of
justice--money began to circulate--cattle and flocks multiplied--reading
and writing schools were commenced--more wealthy immigrants began to
flock to the country, bringing with them cabinet furniture, and many of
the luxuries of more civilized life--and merchandize began to be wagoned
from Philadelphia across the mountains to fort Pitt, now Pittsburgh,
from whence it was conveyed in flat boats to Maysville and Louisville.
In 1785 a convention was convoked at Danville, who adopted a memorial,
addressed to the Legislature of Virginia, and another to the people of
Kentucky--suggesting the propriety, and reasons for erecting the new
country into an independent state. In the discussion of this question
parties arose, and that warmth and excitement were elicited, which are
inseparable from the free and unrestrained discussion of public
measures.
In 1786 the legislature of Virginia enacted the preliminary provisions
for the separation of Kentucky, as an independent state, provided that
Congress should admit it into the Union. About this time another source
of party discord was opened in agitating debates touching the claims of
Kentucky and the West to the navigation of the Mississippi. The
inhabitants were informed by malcontents in Western Pennsylvania, that
the American Secretary of State was making propositions to the Spanish
minister, to cede to Spain the exclusive right of navigation of the
Mississippi for twenty-five years. This information as might be
supposed, created a great sensation. It had been felt from the beginning
of the western settlements, that the right to the free navigation of the
Mississippi was of vital importance to the whole western country, and
the least relinquishment of this right--even for the smallest space of
time, would be of dangerous precedent and tendency. Circulars were
addressed by the principal settlers to men of influence in the nation.
But before any decisive measures could be taken, Virginia interfered, by
instructing her representatives in Congress to make strong
representations against the ruinous policy of the measure.
In 1787 commenced the first operations of that mighty engine, the
press, in the western country. Nothing could have been wider from the
anticipations, perhaps from the wishes of Boone, than this progress of
things. But in the order of events, the transition of unlettered
backwoods emigrants to a people with a police, and all the engines of
civilization was uncommonly rapid. There was no other paper within five
hundred miles of the one now established by Mr. Bradford, at Lexington.
The political heart-burnings and slander that had hitherto been
transmitted through oral channels, were now concentrated for circulation
in this gazette.
In April, 1792, Kentucky was admitted into the Union as an independent
state; improvements were steadily and rapidly progressing, and
notwithstanding the hostility of the Indians, the population of the
state was regularly increasing until the peace which followed the
victory of Gen. Wayne. After which, as has been observed, the tide of
emigration poured into the country with unexampled rapidity.
Litigation in regard to land titles now began to increase, and continued
until it was carried to a distressing height. Col. Boone had begun to
turn his attention to the cultivation of the choice tracts he had
entered; and he looked forward with the consoling thought that he had
enough to provide for a large and rising family, by securing to each of
his children, as they became of age, a fine plantation. But in the
vortex of litigation which ensued, he was not permitted to escape. The
speculators who had spread their greedy claims over the lands which had
been previously located and paid for by Boone, relying upon his
imperfect entries, and some legal flaws in his titles, brought their
ejectments against him, and dragged him into a court of law. He employed
counsel, and from term to term, was compelled to dance attendance at
court. Here the old hunter listened to the quibbles--the subtleties, and
to him, inexplicable jargon of the lawyers. His suits were finally
decided against him, and he was cast out of the possession of all, or
nearly all the lands which he had looked upon as being indubitably his
own. The indignation of the old pioneer can well be imagined, as he saw
himself thus stript, by the quibbles and intricacies of the law, of all
the rewards of his exposures, labors, sufferings, and dangers in the
first settlement of Kentucky. He became more than ever disgusted with
the grasping and avaricious spirit--the heartless intercourse and
technical forms of what is called civilized society.
But having expended his indignation in a transient paroxysm, he soon
settled back to his customary mental complacency and self-possession;
and as he had no longer any pledge of consequence remaining to him in
the soil of Kentucky--and as it was, moreover, becoming on all sides
subject to the empire of the cultivator's axe and plough, he resolved to
leave the country. He had witnessed with regret the dispersion of the
band of pioneers, with whom he had hunted and fought, side by side, and
like a band of brothers, shared every hardship and every danger; and he
sighed for new fields of adventure, and the excitement of a hunter's
life.
Influenced by these feelings, he removed from Kentucky to the great
Kanawha; where he settled near Point Pleasant. He had been informed that
buffaloes and deer were still to be found in abundance on the unsettled
bottoms of this river, and that it was a fine country for trapping. Here
he continued to reside several years. But he was disappointed in his
expectations of finding game. The vicinity of the settlements above and
below this unsettled region, had driven the buffaloes from the country;
and though there were plenty of deer, yet he derived but little success
from his trapping. He finally commenced raising stock, and began to turn
his attention to agriculture.
While thus engaged, he met with some persons who had returned from a
tour up the Missouri, who described to him the fine country bordering
upon that river. The vast prairies--the herds of buffaloes--the grizzly
bears--the beavers and otters; and above all, the ancient and unexplored
forests of that unknown region, fired his imagination, and produced at
once a resolve to remove there.
Accordingly, gathering up such useful articles of baggage as were of
light carriage, among which his trusty rifle was not forgotten, he
started with his family, driving his whole stock of cattle along with
him, on a pilgrimage to this new land of promise. He passed through
Cincinnati on his way thither in 1798. Being enquired of as to what had
induced him to leave all the comforts of home, and so rich and
flourishing a country as his dear Kentucky, which he had discovered, and
might almost call his own, for the wilds of Missouri? "Too much
crowded," replied he--"too crowded--I want more elbow room." He
proceeded about forty-five miles above St. Louis, and settled in what is
now St. Charles county. This country being still in the possession of
the French and Spanish, the ancient laws by which these territories were
governed were still in force there. Nothing could be more simple than
their whole system of administration. They had no constitution, no king,
no legislative assemblies, no judges, juries, lawyers, or sheriffs. An
officer, called the Commandant, and the priests, exercised all the
functions of civil magistrates, and decided the few controversies which
arose among these primitive in habitants, who held and occupied many
things in common. They suffered their ponies, their cattle, their swine,
and their flocks, to ramble and graze on the same common prairies and
pastures--having but few fences or inclosures, and possessing but little
of that spirit of speculation, enterprise, and money-making, which has
always characterized the Americans.
These simple laws and neighborly customs suited the peculiar habits and
temper of Boone. And as his character for honesty, courage, and fidelity
followed him there, he was appointed Commandant for the district of St.
Charles by the Spanish Commandant. He retained this command, and
continued to exercise the duties of his office with credit to himself,
and to the satisfaction of all concerned, until the government of the
United States went into effect.