Part 7

[77] Michaux remained in Philadelphia until February 9, 1794, chiefly occupied with his botanical pursuits, and in getting his accounts audited. Proceeding south on horseback, he arrived at Charleston March 14, 1794, where he consulted with the French consul, Mangourit, concerning the Florida portion of the expedition against French territory. See American Historical Association _Report_, 1897, pp. 569-679. Upon the collapse of this project, Michaux undertook a botanizing tour to the mountains of North Carolina, from July 14, to October 2, 1794. Upon his return, he had an attack of fever for “more than six weeks,” and passed the remainder of the winter in arranging his garden and classifying his plants.--ED.

[78] _Planera aquatica_, Gmel. (_P. Gmelini_, Michx.).--C. S. S.

[79] A word here is illegible in the manuscript.--C. S. S.

[80] Probably this was Thomas Lee, son of a Revolutionary patriot, and usually a dweller in Charleston. In 1792, however, he married and afterwards lived for some time on his estate in the up-country. Born in Charleston in 1769, he was admitted to the bar in 1790, and later was assistant judge (1804-16), and United States district judge (1823-39). He was one of the most prominent South Carolinians of his day.--ED.

[81] These were the most important iron-works in the state; their owner had invented an improved water-blast, and had a forge, furnace, rolling mill, and nail factory.--ED.

[82] Col. Martin Armstrong was a Revolutionary soldier in command of the local militia, and much engaged in the war against the Tories. After the battle of King’s Mountain, he took over the command from Benjamin Cleveland.--ED.

[83] Lincolnton is the seat of Lincoln County, which was originally part of Tyron. The name was changed in 1779 in honor of the patriot leader, Gen. Benjamin Lincoln. This entire region was a centre of agitation for independence; and in 1780 a fierce battle between Whigs and Tories was fought at Ramsour’s Mills, near Lincolnton.--ED.

[84] Probably this was Capt. Zaccheus Wilson, a Scotch-Irish resident of this region who migrated thither from Pennsylvania between 1740 and 1750. Wilson was an ardent patriot, a member of the Mechlenburg convention in 1775, of the provincial congress of the state the following year, and a captain at King’s Mountain in 1780. In 1796 he followed his brother David to Tennessee, where he lived until his death in 1823 or 1824.--ED.

[85] Morganton is the oldest town in the mountainous district of North Carolina, having been founded during the Revolution, and named in honor of Gen. Daniel Morgan. The settlers of this region were largely Scotch-Irish, who had emigrated from Pennsylvania by way of the Valley of Virginia.--ED.

[86] Col. Waightstill Avery was of New England origin, born in Connecticut in 1743. At the age of twenty-three he was graduated at Princeton, and after studying law in Maryland removed to North Carolina in 1769. He was very influential in the upper country, a member of the Mechlenburg convention of 1775, and of the state provincial congress the following year. After a campaign against the Cherokees, he was commissioned to negotiate a treaty with this tribe in 1777. During the war Colonel Avery was in active service as a militia officer; at its close he settled four miles from Morganton, calling his plantation “Swan Ponds.” Five times Burke County sent him to the state legislature, and in 1796 to the senate. Andrew Jackson challenged Avery to a duel in 1788, but later became his firm friend. He died about 1821.--ED.

[87] Michaux followed the well-known Bright’s trace, by which communication was maintained between the settlements of East Tennessee and those of Western North Carolina. Over this road came the men who won the victory at King’s Mountain in 1780. Bright’s place is now in the possession of the Avery family. Martin Davenport resided at a noted spring not far from Toe River, in Mitchell County, North Carolina. He was a well-known Whig; his son William became a man of prominence, several times representing his county in the state legislature.--ED.

[88] _Rhododendron arborescens_, Torrey.--C. S. S.

[89] Col. John Tipton was one of the noted pioneers of Tennessee. Born in Virginia, he early removed to Eastern Tennessee, and was engaged in the defense of the frontier. Upon the inauguration of the state of Franklin, Tipton joined the North Carolina party, and a fierce factional struggle ensued, which culminated in the arrest of Colonel Sevier by Tipton’s agency. Tipton lived east of Jonesborough, on Sinking Creek.--ED.

[90] Jonesborough is the oldest town in Tennessee, having been founded in 1779 and named in honor of Willie Jones, Esq., an active patriot of Halifax, North Carolina, and a warm friend of the Western counties. Jonesborough was the first capital of Washington District, and is still the seat of Washington county.--ED.

[91] Greene Court House is now Greeneville, seat of Greene County. From here two roads branch off, that to the right toward Cumberland Gap and Kentucky; that to the left through Newport and Sevierville, along the French Broad Valley. Michaux took, as he says, the right hand road, leaving it, however, beyond Russelville, and continuing by this upper and less frequented road to Knoxville.--ED.

[92] Bull’s Gap is a pass in Bay’s Mountain, between Jefferson and Greene counties, named probably for Captain Bull, an early pioneer.--ED.

[93] This was one of the earliest forges in Tennessee; it was in Jefferson County, not far from Mossy Creek.--ED.

[94] McBee’s Ferry, crossing the Holston in the northwestern corner of Knox County, was a well-known landmark of this region.--ED.

[95] Knoxville was settled by James White in 1787, and at first called White’s Station. In 1791 a town was laid out, named in honor of General Knox, which after the establishment of territorial government became the capital. The first governor of the territory was William Blount, who was born in North Carolina in 1749, and was active both in the War of the Regulators (1771), and in the Revolution. Blount was a member of the North Carolina legislature and later of the national constitutional convention. Washington appointed him governor of Southwest Territory, and on the admission of Tennessee as a state he was chosen first state senator. For intriguing with foreign emissaries he was impeached, and expelled from the Senate. The people, however, showed their confidence by choosing him to the state senate (1797). He died in Knox County in 1800.--ED.

[96] Fort Southwest Point, as it was usually called, was erected in 1792 at the junction of Clinch and Holston rivers, near the present town of Kingston, as an outpost on the road to Western Tennessee, and a protection against the Cherokee Indians. As late as 1803 travellers found it safer to go in company through this wilderness. See journal of F. A. Michaux, _post._--ED.

[97] Probably _M. macrophylla_, Michx. In the _Flora_, it is described as only growing “_in regionibus occidentalibus fluvio Tennassee trajectis_.”--C. S. S.

[98] Isaac Bledsoe was one of a party of hunters who discovered this lick (near Gallatin, in Sumner County) as early as 1771. He removed hither in 1779 and founded a station; he was also one of the framers of the Cumberland Association, and a faithful adherent of Robertson. His brother, Col. Anthony Bledsoe, who had a reputation as a leader in the Holtson settlement, later removed to Cumberland, and was an able second in command on Indian expeditions, especially that against the Chickamaugas in 1787. He was killed by Indians at Bledsoe’s Station in 1788. The spring at this place is now called “Castilian Springs.”--ED.

[99] Gen. James Winchester, born in Maryland in 1752, served in the Revolution, after which he removed to Tennessee, and settled not far from Gallatin, in Sumner County. He served in the territorial and state militia, and in 1812 was appointed brigadier-general in the regular army, superseding Harrison in command of the Western division. Captured at the River Raisin, he was exchanged in 1814, resigned the following year, and died at his home in Tennessee in 1826.--ED.

[100] Michaux’s remark indicates the obscurity of Andrew Jackson at this early period of his history. He then lived upon a plantation called Hunter’s Hill, thirteen miles from Nashville, not having removed to the “Hermitage” (two miles beyond) until 1804.--ED.

[101] _Quercus macrocarpa_, Michx.--here first mentioned.--C. S. S.

[102] _Q. bicolor_, Willd.--C. S. S.

[103] Nashville was founded by James Robertson, who in 1779 came overland from the settlements of Eastern Tennessee. Donelson’s party, which went via the rivers, did not arrive until April of the following year. Being beyond the jurisdiction of any state, the settlers drew up a compact under which they lived until the organization (1783) of Davidson County as a part of North Carolina. The town, named for the patriot General Nash, was until 1784 called Nashborough. Nashville was incorporated in 1806. The legislature met at this city in 1812-16 and after 1826, but the city was not made the permanent capital until 1843.--ED.

[104] See description of visit to Daniel Smith, brother-in-law of Andrew Jackson, in _Journal_ of F. A. Michaux, _post._--ED.

[105] Gen. James Robertson, the founder of West Tennessee, was born in Virginia in 1742, but removed to North Carolina at an early age, and was one of the first settlers of Watauga. In 1774 he took part in Dunmore’s War, defended the Watauga fort in a siege in 1776, and three years later removed with a party to the Cumberland. This settlement was maintained only by heroic exertions, and the courage and wisdom of Robertson in his dealing with the Indians. In 1790, Washington appointed him brigadier-general and Indian commissioner. He died in the Chickasaw country in 1814.--ED.

[106] These were all prominent early settlers of Cumberland. Captain Gordon was commander in several Indian affrays, notably the Nickajack expedition, and served under Jackson in 1813. Thomas Craighead was the first clergyman in Nashville, where he arrived in 1785 and built a school-house at Spring Hill. He was an especial friend of Andrew Jackson, whose wife was a member of his church (Presbyterian).--ED.

[107] _Q. lyrata_, Nutt.--C. S. S.

[108] _Ulmus fulva_, Michx.--C. S. S.

[109] _Rhamnus Caroliniana_, Gray.--C. S. S.

[110] _A. tomentosa_, Sims.--C. S. S.

[111] _Oxybaphus nyctagineus_, Sweet. (_Allionia nyctaginea_, Michx.).--C. S. S.

[112] Probably _Hypericum aureum_, Bartram.--C. S. S.

[113] Mansco Lick was in the northeastern part of Davidson County, named for its discoverer, Kasper Mansco (Mansker), who was one of the party of Long Hunters in 1769. On his adventures, see Roosevelt, _Winning of the West_, i, pp. 147 ff.--ED.

[114] Major Sharp had formerly lived in Washington County, Virginia, whence he had gone out to serve at the battle of King’s Mountain. He removed to Kentucky soon after the Revolution, and later settled in the Barrens. His son, Solomon P. Sharp, born in 1780, became one of the most noted Kentucky lawyers and political leaders, serving in the thirteenth and fourteenth Congresses, a friend and adherent of Calhoun. He was assassinated in the midst of a brilliant career.--ED.

[115] This was Andrew McFadden, who settled a station and ferry at this point in 1785, and was a well-known character of that region.--ED.

[116] A part of one leaf of the Journal is here left blank.--C. S. S.

[117] Mann’s Lick was a salt station before 1786; it was on the road from Shepherdsville to Louisville, on the southern border of Jefferson County.--ED.

[118] Probably some form of _Quercus alba_, Michx.--C. S. S.

[119] _Hibiscus militaris_, Cav. (_H. hastatus_, Michx.).--C. S. S.

[120] Here follow to the end of this part of the Journal separate memoranda on loose sheets.--C. S. S. We omit these.--ED.

[121] Michael Lacassagne was one of the richest and most prominent merchants of Louisville; he enjoyed the confidence of the community, and was a member of the Kentucky convention of 1787.--ED.

[122] It is not clear what species are here referred to. _Q. praemorsa_ is probably _Q. macrocarpa_, and _Q. cerroides_ some form of _Q. alba_, although later in the journal it is spoken of as an overcup oak.--C. S. S.

[123] Clarksville, named in honor of Gen. George Rogers Clark, was intended as the metropolis of the Illinois grant of 150,000 acres, which was made by the Virginia legislature in 1783 to the officers and soldiers of the Illinois regiment which had served with Clark. A board of trustees was established for the town, and a few of the former officers settled here; but the place did not thrive, and is now but a suburb of New Albany.--ED.

[124] For the early history of Vincennes, see Croghan’s _Journals_, vol. i of this series, note 113.--ED.

[125] _V. urticifolia_, L.--C. S. S.

[126] _V. hastata_, L.?--C. S. S.

[127] _V. stricta_, Vent. (_V. ringens_, Michx.).--C. S. S.

[128] _V. bracteosa_, Michx.--C. S. S.

[129] _Spigelia?_--C. S. S.

[130] The Piankeshaw tribe of Indians, a branch of the Miami nation that dwelt around Vincennes.--ED.

[131] _G. auriculala_, Michx.--C. S. S.

[132] The French villages in Illinois resulted from the plans of La Salle; the earliest grew up about Fort St. Louis, on the Illinois River. In 1700, the Kaskaskia tribe of Indians removed to the river bearing their name, the Jesuit missionaries and traders followed, and the village at this place began. The inhabitants were chiefly descendants of the _coureurs des bois_, intermixed with Indian blood. The Jesuit plantation at Kaskaskia consisted of two hundred and forty arpents of land, well-cultivated and stocked with cattle, containing also a brewery. When the Jesuits were suppressed, the buyer, Beauvais, raised eighty-six thousand weight of flour from a single harvest. The French dominion came to an end in 1765 (see Croghan’s _Journals_, vol. i of this series). Kaskaskia was captured from the English in 1778 by George Rogers Clark, and the American régime was instituted by John Todd, under appointment from Virginia. See Mason, _Chapters from Illinois History_ (Chicago, 1901), pp. 250-279.--ED.

[133] Prairie du Rocher was a small French village situated upon a grant made to Boisbriant (about 1725) by the Mississippi Company, and by him transferred to his nephew Langlois, who maintained seignioral rights therein until the establishment of American government.--ED.

[134] St. Philippe was founded upon Regnault’s grant. Pittman (_Present State of European Settlements on the Mississippi_, London, 1770), says that when he visited it (1766) there were sixteen houses, a small church, and one inhabitant, dubbed “captain of the militia,” who had twenty slaves, many cattle, and a mill.--ED.

[135] Cahokia was probably the oldest settlement in the Illinois, although Kaskaskia disputes its priority. A mission of the Séminaire des Missions Etrangères was founded among the Tamaroa and Cahokia Indians about 1698, and a French village sprang up around the place. In 1714 there was a large accession of renegade _coureurs des bois_. See _Wisconsin Historical Collections_ (Madison, 1902), xvi, pp. 331, 332. After the English acquired the Illinois, many inhabitants migrated from Cahokia to St. Louis.--ED.

[136] Fort Chartres was the most considerable fortification built by the French in the western part of America. The original fort was constructed in 1720 by Boisbriant, commandant in Illinois for the Company of the Indies. In 1756, the stronghold was rebuilt in stone, being described as an irregular quadrangle with port-holes for cannon, houses, barracks, magazines, etc. For a contemporary description, see Pittman, _Settlements on the Mississippi_, pp. 45, 46. After 1765, Fort Chartres was garrisoned by the English; but in 1772 the erosion by the river caused a portion to collapse, and the fort was abandoned. For its present condition, see Mason, _Chapters from Illinois History_, pp. 241-249.--ED.

[137] The earliest American settlements in Illinois were made by soldiers of Clark’s army. Bellefontaine, in the present Monroe County, was the centre for American life. More American families were reported a few years previous to this. Probably the Indian wars and the allurements of the Indian trade had caused some dispersal.--ED.

[138] St. Louis was founded by Pierre Laclède in April 1764. He had secured a license from the French governor of Louisiana to trade upon the upper Mississippi and the Missouri. Upon arriving in the Illinois country, the previous November, he chose the site for his new settlement, and spent the winter at Cahokia making arrangements. Meanwhile the news of the transfer of Canada and the Illinois to the British had arrived. Under the impression that France had retained the left bank of the Mississippi, many Illinois settlers removed thither with Laclède. St. Louis flourished under Spanish dominion, but was known by its neighbors as “Pain Court” (Scant-bread) because its inhabitants devoted more time to fur-trading than to agriculture. It was not until transferred to the United States (March, 1804) that the career of St. Louis as a city began.--ED.

[139] For definition of _Toise_, see _post_, note 163.

Fort Massac had been erected by the order of General Wayne in 1794, in order to check the expedition which Michaux went to Kentucky to promote. It was on the site of an old French post, which had been erected in 1757 by Aubry, governor of Illinois. He first named it Fort Ascension, and proceeded thence to reinforce Fort Duquesne at the forks of the Ohio. After the evacuation of that fortress (1758), the Illinois troops dropped down to this place, and renamed it Fort Massac, in honor of the Marquis de Massiac, minister of marine. When the French surrendered the Illinois, the British neglected to fortify this place, although recommended to do so by their engineers. Accordingly Clark marched hither overland to his capture of Illinois.--ED.

[140] _Q. imbricaria_, Michx.--C. S. S.

[141] _Forestiera acuminata_, Poir. (_Adelia acuminata_, Michx.).--C. S. S.

[142] _Vitis riparia_, Michx., or more probably, in part, at least, _V. palmata_, Vahl. (_V. rubra_, Michx. in herb), a species which is often monospermous, and which was discovered by Michaux in this region and merged by him with his _V. riparia_.--C. S. S.

[143] The Cumberland River was usually known as the Shawnese River on early maps. Doubtless this Indian tribe had dwelt thereon when first met by white explorers.--ED.

[144] So called because it took its rise in the Cherokee territory. See Weiser’s _Journal_, vol. i of this series, note 33.--ED.

[145] _Forestiera ligustrina_, Poir. (_Adelia ligustrina._, Michx.).--C. S. S.

[146] _Betula nigra_, L. (_B. lanulosa_, Michx.).--C. S. S.

[147] _Planera aquatica_, Gmel.--C. S. S.

[148] The interpolation of these names in the journal at this point, would appear to indicate that the news of the appointments consequent upon the arrival of the new French minister, Adet (June 1, 1795), had just reached Michaux; also that his interest in political affairs was still active, and that other motives may have led him to this country under feint of herborizing.--ED.

[149] A blank of five days in the Journal occurs here.--C. S. S.

[150] A habitant named Pierre Richard is listed as a head of family at Kaskaskia in 1783, and again in 1790.--ED.

[151] This, doubtless, is _C. speciosa_, Warder, the only indigenous species in this region.--C. S. S.

[152] The principal fur-trading company at St. Louis had been formed in 1794 by a union of all the traders at the suggestion of the governor, Trudeau; at its head as manager was placed Jacques Clanmorgan (Ch. Morgan is a misprint for Clanmorgan), who had for some time been in business in St. Louis, but did not sustain an honorable reputation. He, however, succeeded in interesting in his enterprises, a rich merchant of Canada, named Todd, and probably the Scotchman and Welshman were his factors. See Billon, _Annals of St. Louis_ (St. Louis, 1886), pp. 283 ff.--ED.

[153] Cape St. Cosme has been corrupted into Cape Cinque Hommes, in Perry County, Missouri. It was originally named for Jean François de St. Cosme, a Canadian Seminary priest who made a voyage down the Mississippi in 1700, and was a missionary to the Illinois and Natchez. A few years later, he was assassinated on the lower Mississippi by a band of savages, upon whom Bienville later avenged his death. The term “Cap St. Cosme” is found on a map of 1758.--ED.

[154] Cape Girardeau was settled in 1794, the first house having been built by a Frenchman. The later settlement, however, was almost exclusively American; by 1803 there was a population of twelve hundred.--ED.

[155] Don Manuel Gayoso de Lemos was educated in England and married an American. During his governorship at Natchez he was employed by Carondelet in intrigues with the inhabitants of Kentucky; he had come north at this time for a conference with Sebastian, and to communicate with Wilkinson. In 1797 he was made governor-general of Louisiana, and died two years later, after a dinner given at New Orleans in honor of Wilkinson.--ED.

[156] The town of Eddyville, Lyon County, Kentucky, was founded at this eddy in 1799.--ED.

[157] _B. nigra_, L.--C. S. S.

[158] Clarksville was one of the oldest settlements of Cumberland, having first been occupied (1780) by the Renfroe and Turpin families. As an advanced outpost it was attacked many times by Indians, the latest onslaught having occurred in 1794. The other settlements which Michaux mentions were, as he says, of quite recent origin--incident upon the close of the Indian war (1795), and the inrush of settlers over the new wagon road made this same year to the Cumberland.--ED.

[159] The entry for the 14th is omitted in the original publication.--ED.

[160] Capt. John Edmeston was a well-known Indian fighter and leader of the militia. An expedition against the Chickasaws, organized by him in 1792, was forbidden by Robertson, because of negotiations pending with this warlike tribe.--ED.

[161] “Old man” Frederick Stumps was a German, who early made improvements on White Creek, north of Eaton’s Station. His flight of three miles to the latter station, with Indian pursuers close at his heels, was one of the traditions of the settlement.--ED.

[162] This was George Madison, brother of Bishop Madison of Virginia. Born about 1763, he served in the Revolution while yet a boy, and enlisting in the regular army was wounded at St. Clair’s defeat (1791), and again the following year. Shortly after this visit of Michaux, Madison was appointed state auditor, and removed to Frankfort, where he held the office for twenty ensuing years. In 1812 he served as major in the army, was captured at Raisin River, and sent as prisoner to Quebec. Upon his exchange, he was received in Kentucky with great rejoicing, and elected governor (1816), but died during the first year of his term.--ED.

[163] A toise is a French linear measure equivalent to 6.395 English feet.--ED.

[164] This mill was at the site of the present town of Hodgenville, seat of Larue County. Abraham Lincoln was born about two miles south of this place, when Larue was still part of Hardin County--ED.

[165] Shepherdsville, the seat of Bullitt County, was incorporated as a town in 1793. Its site was at the falls of Salt River, and it was an important station in early Kentucky history.--ED.

[166] Gayoso mentions one Sarpy, a rich merchant of New Orleans, as concerned in the plot against Louisiana (1793). Another merchant, Beauvais, was similarly involved. Consult American Historical Association _Report_, 1896, p. 1049.--ED.

[167] Samuel Fulton, a native of North Carolina, who had lived for some time among the Creek Indians, was agent for Clark in settling his accounts with the French government. He arrived from France late in 1795, and Michaux’s testimony was relied upon to secure the affidavits necessary to obtain recompense from the French republic. See _American State Papers, Indian Affairs_, i, p. 463. Consult, also, American Historical Association _Report_, 1896, pp. 1047-1065.--ED.

[168] Probably _Pinus inops_, Ait.--C. S. S.

[169] _Aplectrum hyemale_, Nutt.--C. S. S.