We find by the report of a traveler in this year, that Louisville contained “63 houses finished, 37 partly finished, 22 raised but not covered, and more than 100 cabins.”
In the year 1785 the convention again met, first on the 23d of May, and afterwards on the 8th of August, to take action in relation to the formation of the new State. An address to Virginia and another to Kentucky, together with resolutions in favor of the proposed separation, were unanimously passed in the earlier of these meetings. These addresses, however, were not deemed strong enough by the third or August convention, and that meeting accordingly changed them to a new and still stronger form of petition or remonstrance, and sent them forward for the action of the parent State. Accordingly in January of 1786, Virginia passed a law allowing independence to Kentucky, on this, among other conditions, that the separation should not take place until Congress should assent thereto, which assent of Congress was not gained until 1791.
In January of this year the county of Nelson was erected out of all that part of Jefferson county south of Salt river.
In the early part of 1785 Gen. Clark, together with Messrs. Lee and Butler, had held a treaty with the Western Indians at Fort McIntosh; but later in the year an Indian council of a hostile character had also been held on the Wabash, and the Indians had annoyed the settlers greatly during the latter part of the year. It was therefore thought advisable to enter into another treaty with the Indians on the Wabash, and accordingly Gen. Clark and Messrs. Butler and Parsons met those tribes at the mouth of the Great Miami in January of 1786. It was with great difficulty that the various tribes could be brought to treat at all, and, but for Gen. Clark’s knowledge of their character, and for the high estimation in which he was held by them, these commissioners would have been murdered outright. Judge Hall, of Cincinnati, has given a glowing and vivid description of this meeting, which is here inserted. After noticing their abrupt and scornful manner of entering the council, he says: “The commissioners, without noticing the disorderly conduct of the other party, or appearing to have discovered their meditated treachery, opened the council in due form. They lighted the peace-pipe, and after drawing a few whiffs, passed it to the chiefs, who received it. Col. Clark then rose to explain the purpose for which the treaty was ordered. With an unembarrassed air, with the tone of one accustomed to command, and an easy assurance of perfect security and self-possession, he stated that the Commissioners had been sent to offer peace to the Shawnees; that the President had no wish to continue the war; he had no resentment to gratify; and, if the red men desired peace, they could have it on reasonable terms. ‘If such be the will of the Shawnees,’ he concluded, ‘let some of their wise men speak.’
“A chief arose, drew up his tall person to its full height, and assuming a haughty attitude, threw his eye contemptuously over the commissioners and their small retinue, as if to measure their insignificance in comparison with his own numerous train, and then stalking to the table, threw upon it two belts of wampum, of different colors—the war and the peace belt.
“‘We come here,’ he exclaimed, ‘to offer you two pieces of wampum; they are of different colors; you know what they mean; you can take which you like!’ and turning upon his heel, he resumed his seat.
“The chiefs drew themselves up, in consciousness of having hurled defiance in the teeth of the white men. They had offered an insult to the renowned leader of the Long Knives, to which they knew it would be hard for him to submit, while they did not suppose he dared resent it. The council-pipe was laid aside. Those fierce wild men gazed intently at Clark. The Americans saw that the crisis had arrived; they could no longer doubt that the Indians understood the advantage they possessed, and were disposed to use it; and a common sense of danger caused each eve to be turned on the leading commissioner. He sat undisturbed and apparently careless until the chief who had thrown the belts upon the table had taken his seat; then with a small cane which he held in his hand, he reached, as if playfully, toward the war belt, entangled the end of the stick in it, drew it towards him, and then with a switch of the cane threw the belt into the midst of the chiefs. The effect was electric. Every man in the council of each party sprang to his feet, the savage with a loud exclamation of astonishment, “Hugh!” the Americans in expectation of a hopeless conflict against overwhelming numbers. Every hand grasped a weapon.
“Clark alone was unawed. The expression of his countenance changed to a ferocious sternness and his eye flashed, but otherwise he was unmoved. A bitter smile was perceptible upon his compressed lips as he gazed upon that savage band, whose hundred eyes were bent fiercely and in horrid exultation upon him as they stood like a pack of wolves at bay thirsting for blood, and ready to rush upon him whenever one bolder than the rest should commence the attack. It was one of those moments of indecision when the slightest weight thrown into either scale will make it preponderate; a moment in which a bold man conversant with the secret springs of human action, may seize upon the minds of all around him and sway them at his will.
“Such a man was the intrepid Virginian. He spoke, and there was no man bold enough to gainsay him; none that could return the fierce glance of his eye. Raising his arm and waving his hand toward the door, he exclaimed, “Dogs, Begone!” The Indians hesitated for a moment, and then rushed tumultuously out of the council-room.” To this a writer of the Encyclopædia Americana adds that the Indians were heard all that night debating in the bushes near the fort; a part of them for war and a part of them for peace. The latter prevailed, and the next morning they came back and sued for peace. All this, however, did not remove the annoyances experienced from the attacks of the more distant Indians. These annoyances were of such a character as to induce the general government to send two companies of military to the Falls, to authorize the raising of militia in Kentucky and the invasion of the hostile territory. In pursuance of the spirit of this authority, if not in direct consonance with it, a body of a thousand men had rendezvous at Louisville, and marched thence in September toward Vincennes. At this point the little army waited, contrary to the advice of Gen. Clark, their commanding officer, for nine days, expecting provisions and ammunition. This delay was fatal. The soldiers became weary, and seeing the frequent inebriety of their general, lost their confidence in him, and refused their obedience. A body of about three hundred, dissatisfied that their wishes in regard to their officers were not attended to, actually returned homeward, regardless of the earnest pleadings and almost the tears of their general; and the rest soon followed them. This expedition was a sad blow to Clark, for it put into the hands of his enemies a powerful weapon against him; and one which they remorselessly used. Had his advice been heeded before the delay was determined upon, he would never have become inebriated or exposed himself in an undignified light to his soldiery, and the expedition might have been successful. Palliated as may be his fault, it cannot be denied that, in this sortie, he was not what he had been. The sun of his military glory had not sunk below the horizon, but it was obscured by clouds whose thick shadows promised long to hide its beams.
The troubles in relation to the navigation of the Mississippi river were now the topics of all absorbing interest in every part of the West. We have not before alluded to these troubles, preferring to connect them entirely with the period of which we are now writing. A brief retrospect of the question will enable the reader readily to understand the subject in dispute and its bearing on the residents on the western waters. In 1781, Spain, having previously declared herself mistress of the Great Mississippi, took possession of the North-West in the name of her king. Mr. Jay, then in Madrid, had received instructions not to insist upon the American claim to this river, if he could not effect a treaty without yielding it. The Spanish Government, during the whole of 1782, was laboring to induce the United States not only to yield the Mississippi, but also to give up a part of her actual possessions in the West; and her pretensions to these asserted rights were upheld by France. In this condition matters rested till 1785, when a representative of the Spanish Government appeared before Congress. Mr. Jay was at once authorized to negociate with him, and these negociations came again before Congress in May 1786; Mr. Jay having asked the guidance of that body in the matter. He showed them the importance of a treaty in commerce with a people so intimately connected with them as was Spain, and explained the difficulty in forming this treaty, owing to the unwillingness of Spain either to yield the river or to decrease her boundary claims. He could see no safer plan than, as a sort of compromise, to yield for a term of twenty-five or thirty years, the navigation of the river below the boundaries of the United States. This plan was vehemently opposed by Southern Congressmen and an attempt was made to take the negociations out of the hands of Mr. Jay altogether. In this attempt they were defeated, and Mr. Jay was not only retained in office, but was authorized to continue his negociations without being bound to insist on the immediate use of the river. The rumor of these movements at the capitol soon reached the West, but in the distorted form which rumor ever employs. Mr. Jay’s position was represented as positive and as having been assumed without reference to Congress. This news created great indignation in the West and led to the first dream of secession. The people felt that if the navigation of the Mississippi was denied them on the one hand, and in case of a quarrel with Spain, the protection of the General Government on the other, secession was inevitable. Either they must conquer Spain or unite with her. And as if to show that they were in earnest in the matter, “a board of field-officers at Vincennes determined to garrison that point, to raise supplies by impressment, and to enlist new troops. Under this determination Spanish property was seized, soldiers were enrolled, and steps were taken to hold a peace-council with the natives; all under the direction of Gen. Clark. Soon after this, Thomas Green wrote from Louisville to the Governor and Legislature of Georgia, which State was involved in the boundary quarrel with Spain, that Spanish property had been seized in the North-West as a hostile measure, and not merely to procure necessaries for the troops, which Clark afterward declared was the case, and added that the General was ready to go down the river with ‘troops sufficient’ to take possession of the lands in dispute, if Georgia would countenance him.” The following extract from another letter written from Louisville, professedly to some one in New England, and probably also written by Green, will serve as additional evidence to prove that the people were seriously deliberating upon their position. It reads thus: