It is only necessary to state here that Clark’s success in this expedition was complete and perfect, and that a more brilliant campaign has probably never been performed by any general. More than this does not immediately concern this history.
It is estimated that Col. Clark left in his new fort on this island about thirteen families, when he proceeded on his journey to Kaskaskia. And so brave, hardy and resolute were these pioneers, that, notwithstanding they were separated from the nearest of their countrymen by four hundred miles of hostile country, filled with savages whose dearest hunting grounds they were about to occupy; notwithstanding they knew that these relentless savages were not only inimical on account of the invasion of their choicest territory, but were aided by all the arts, the presents and the favors of the British in seeking to destroy their settlements; notwithstanding all these terrifying circumstances, those dauntless pioneers went quietly to work, and with the rifle in one hand and the implements of agriculture in the other, deliberately set about planting, and actually succeeded in raising a crop of corn on their little island. It is thus that Corn Island derived its name. And truly so bold and heroic an act as this of that feeble band deserves a perpetuity beyond what the mere name of the island will give it. Columns have been reared and statues erected, festivals have been instituted and commemorations held of deeds far less worthy of renown than was this little settlement’s crop of corn. But like many other deeds of true heroism, it is forgotten, for there was wanted the pen and the lyre to make it live forever. The founders of the parent colony themselves did never greater deeds of heroism than did these pioneers of Louisville. And yet the very historians of the fact speak of it without a word of wonder or of admiration. Even in Louisville herself, now in her palmiest days, the Pilgrim’s Landing is commemorated each returning year, while the equal daring, danger and victory of the Western Pioneer has sunk into oblivion. But it is ever so. Men may live for a hundred years within the very roar of Niagara, and yet live uninspired until the same sound falls upon the ear or the same sight greets the eye on the far-off shores of the Evelino or the Arno. Erin’s Bard has ever told the praises of the Oriental Clime; the Lord of English verse has tuned his lyre under a foreign sky; the Mantuan Bard has sung “arma virumque Trojæ” and the Poet of Italy has soared even beyond the bounds of space in search of novelty; so must we wait for a stranger hand to weave the magic charm around the pioneers of our forest land. Let this frail record, at least, lend its little quota toward the honorable preservation of the names of Captain James Patton, who piloted the first boat over the falls, Richard Chenoweth, John Tuel, Wm. Faith, and John McManus, the only names that history or tradition has given us of those earliest settlers of our native city.
The chief subsistance of this little band had of course to be derived from the products of the chase, for the Indians would never have allowed them to attain a sufficiency of food by the slow and laborious processes of agriculture. Indeed one of the historians of this period roundly states that Kentucky could never have been settled had the products of the soil been the only resource of its pioneer inhabitants. Fortunately the woods of Kentucky so abounded in game, that it was easy for its early settlers to supply themselves with abundance of food from these sources. But the difficulty of carrying their game at all seasons of the year and all stages of the water to their insulated home, and the various annoyances of their constrained position on the island, united with the encouragement they derived from the wonderful success of their old commander in Illinois, soon determined the little colony to remove to the main bank of the river. And accordingly in the fall of 1778, or more probably in the spring of 1779, having built a fort on the eastern side of the large ravine which formerly entered the river at the present termination of Twelfth Street, they emigrated thither and thus laid the first permanent foundation of the present city of Louisville.
It was about this time that we have the first record of a social party in our city now so celebrated for its elegant entertainments and luxurious repasts. The bill of fare on that memorable occasion had at least the great and unusual merit of novelty to recommend it. We give the account of the event in the words of its own historian: “It is related,” says he, “that when the first patch of wheat was raised about this place, after being ground in a rude and laborious hand-mill, it was sifted through a gauze neckerchief, belonging to the mother of the gallant man who gave us the information, as the best bolting cloth to be had. It was then shortened, as the housewife phrases it, with Raccoon fat, and the whole station invited to partake of a sumptuous feast upon a flour cake!” How little of a prophet would he have been accounted who had then predicted that, in less than sixty years, the inhabitants of the very spot where they then stood should have at their command all the fruits and viands of every quarter of the globe!
It may not be inappropriate at this period of our history, and while upon this subject of parties and feasts, to extract, partly from Mr. Marshall, and partly from Doddridge and others, some account of the habits of life among our progenitors here. To many, especially to those who have long been intimate with Western Frontier Life, a few of the succeeding pages may present nothing that is either novel or interesting; but to those to whom the country and its social institutions are alike new, we are sure that nothing more could be offered likely to excite their interest or to promote their amusement than this vivid and life-like description of the manners and customs of the inhabitants of Louisville seventy years ago. We copy the account in full:—
“Then the women did the offices of the household; milked the cows, cooked the mess, prepared the flax, spun, wove, and made the garment of linen or linsey; the men hunted, and brought in the meat; they planted, ploughed, and gathered the corn; grinding it into meal at a handmill, or pounding it into hominy in the mortar, was occasionally the work of either, or the joint labor of both. The men exposed themselves alone to danger; they fought the Indians, they cleared the land, they reared the hut or built the fort, in which the women were placed for safety. There might incidentally be a few articles brought to the country for sale, in a private way; but there was no store for supply. Wooden vessels, either turned or coopered were in common use as table furniture. A tin cup was an article of delicate luxury almost as rare as an iron fork. Every hunter carried his knife; it was no less the implement of a warrior; not unfrequently the rest of the family was left with but one or two for the use of all. A like workmanship composed the table or the stool; a slab hewed with the axe, and sticks of a similar manufacture, set in for legs, supported both. When the bed was, by chance or refinement, elevated above the floor, and given a fixed place, it was often laid on slabs placed across poles, supported on forks set in the earthen floor; or where the floor was puncheons, the bedstead was hewed pieces, pinned on upright posts, or let into them by auger holes. Other utensils and furniture were of a corresponding description, applicable to the time.
“The food was of the most wholesome and nutritive kind. The richest milk, the finest butter, and best meat that ever delighted man’s palate, were here eaten with a relish which health and labor only know. These were shared by friend and stranger in every cabin with profuse hospitality.
“Hats were made of the native fur; and the buffalo wool employed in the composition of cloth, as was also the bark of the wild nettle.
“There was some paper money in the country, which had not depreciated one half nor even a fourth as much as it had at the seat of government. If there was any gold or silver its circulation was suppressed. The price of a beaver was five hundred dollars.
“The hunting shirt was universally worn. This was a kind of loose frock, reaching half way down the thighs, with large sleeves, open before, and so wide as to lap over a foot or more when belted. The cape was large and sometimes handsomely fringed with a ravelled piece of cloth of a different color from that of the hunting shirt itself. The bosom of his dress served as a wallet to hold a chunk of bread, cakes, jerk, tow for wiping the barrel of his rifle, or any other necessary for the hunter or warrior. The belt which was always tied behind, answered several purposes besides that of holding the dress together. In cold weather the mittens, and sometimes the bullet-bag occupied the front part of it. To the right side was suspended the tomahawk, and to the left was the scalping knife in its leathern sheath. The hunting shirt was generally made of linsey, sometimes of coarse linen, and a few of dressed deer skins. These last were very cold and uncomfortable in wet weather. The shirt and jacket were of the common fashion. A pair of drawers or breeches and leggins, were the dress of the thighs and legs; a pair of moccasins answered for the feet much better than shoes.—These were made of dressed deer skin. They were mostly made of a single piece, with a gathering seam along the top of the foot, and another from the bottom of the heel, without gathers, as high as the ankle joint or a little higher. Flaps were left on each side to reach some distance up the legs. These were nicely adapted to the ankles and lower part of the leg by thongs of deerskin, so that no dust, gravel, or snow, could get within the moccasin.