CHAPTER I
Commencement of journey--Schuylkill bridge--Schuylkill river--Downingstown--Brandywine creek--Pequea creek--New Holland--Conestoga creek and bridge--Lancaster 25
CHAP. II
Elizabethtown--Susquehannah river--Harrisburgh 33
CHAP. III
Conestoga massacre--Carlisle and Dickinson college 42
CHAP. IV
Shippensburgh--Strasburgh--Horse valley 49
CHAP. V
Fannetsburgh--Juniata--Bloody run--Bedford 55
CHAP. VI
Allegheny mountains--Somerset--A murder 61
CHAP. VII
Laurel and Chesnut hills--Greensburgh--Pittsburgh 70
CHAP. VIII
Pittsburgh--Lawyers--Clergymen 76
CHAP. IX
Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio rivers 87
CHAP. X
Georgetown--Little Beaver creek 100
CHAP. XI
Steubenville--Charlestown 106
CHAP. XII
Warren--Wheeling--Canton 111
CHAP. XIII
Little and Big Grave creeks--Monuments 114
CHAP. XIV
Muskingum--Marietta--Fortifications 120
CHAP. XV
Little Kenhawa--Blennerhasset’s island 126
CHAP. XVI
Little and Big Hockhocking--Belleville 130
CHAP. XVII
Le Tart’s falls--Graham’s station 135
CHAP. XVIII
Point Pleasant--Battle--Dunmore’s campaign 140
{iv} CHAP. XIX
Galliopolis--Green’s bottom--Hanging rock 147
CHAP. XX
Big Guiandot--Great Sandy--Snakes 153
CHAP. XXI
French Grant--Little Sciota--Portsmouth 156
CHAP. XXII
Sciota--Alexandria--Salt-works 161
CHAP. XXIII
Brush creek--Manchester--Maysville 165
CHAP. XXIV
Washington, K.--May’s and Blue licks--Salt furnaces 170
CHAP. XXV
Nicholasville--Millersburgh--Massacre 176
CHAP. XXVI
Lexington 181
CHAP. XXVII
Leesburgh--Frankfort 189
CHAP. XXVIII
Paris--Frank Bird--Hospitality 196
CHAP. XXIX
Commence a journey from Maysville through the state of Ohio to Pittsburgh 201
CHAP. XXX
Bainbridge--Arrival at Chilicothe 208
CHAP. XXXI
The Sciota--Chilicothe--Monuments 215
CHAP. XXXII
Hockhocking--New Lancaster--Zanesville 219
CHAP. XXXIII
Wills’s creek--Cambridge--Beymer’s 226
CHAP. XXXIV
St. Clairsville--Indian Wheeling 230
CHAP. XXXV
Little Wheeling--Alexandria or Hardscramble 234
CHAP. XXXVI
Washington, Penn.--Canonsburgh--Pittsburgh 238
CHAP. XXXVII
Pittsburgh--Panorama around it 242
CHAP. XXXVIII
Descends the Ohio again--Columbia, Newport, Cincinnati, Port Williams, Louisville, falls 255
{v} CHAP. XXXIX
Blue river--Horse machinery boat 261
CHAP. XL
Green river--Henderson--Cotton machine 265
CHAP. XLI
Wabash river, Shawanee town, Rocking cave 269
CHAP. XLII
Cumberland river, Tennessee, Fort Massac 273
CHAP. XLIII
Mississippi, New Madrid, Little Prairie 279
CHAP. XLIV
Indian warriours, their manners and customs 284
CHAP. XLV
Fort Pike, Chickasaw Indians, Fort Pickering 289
CHAP. XLVI
Settlements of Arkansas and White river 295
CHAP. XLVII
Grand lake, Anecdote of a Carolinean 300
CHAP. XLVIII
Walnut Hills, Fort M’Henry, Bayou Pierre 305
CHAP. XLIX
Commence a tour by land, Cole’s creek, Greenville 310
CHAP. L
Washington, Natchez, Mississippi territory 318
CHAP. LI
Homochito, Fort Adams, Pinkneyville 326
CHAP. LII
Enter West Florida, Thomson’s creek 331
CHAP. LIII
Baton Rouge, Spanish governour, Mrs. O’Brien’s 339
CHAP. LIV
Remarks on the climate, soil, manners, face of the country, productions, &c. 347
The description of the Mississippi continued from Bayou Pierre to New Orleans--Thence a sea voyage to Philadelphia, by another hand 354
PREFACE
The writer of the following tour would not trouble the reader with a Preface, did not some circumstances render it in a certain degree necessary.
It might be asked why he had not commenced the tour with a particular description of Philadelphia. His reasons for not doing so were, in the first place, Philadelphia is a city so minutely described in every modern geographical publication, that few readers are unacquainted with its local situation between the rivers Delaware and Schuylkill, its regularity of plan, its rapid progress, &c. Whereas the country through which the author travelled has been very little treated of by tourists, of course is little known to strangers; though an account of its appearance, its natural properties, its improvements, and the manners of its mixed population, perhaps merits a place on the shelves of the literati, as much as the numerous tours and travels through Europe, Asia and Africa with which they are loaded. Indeed, in one point of view, such a book may be much more useful, as it may serve for a record of the situation of a country, in its infancy, which from its rapid improvement in a very few years, will form a wonderful contrast to its present state, while the trans-Atlantick travellers have to treat of countries either arrived at the highest state of improvement, or of others buried in the gloom of ignorance and barbarity, and of course both stationary, and therefore not affording any variety of consequence, during the two last centuries, (in which time they have been the theme of so many able pens) excepting the style of writing and manner of description.
In the second place--It was the author’s wish to condense as much into one cheap volume as he could make it contain, and had he entered into minute descriptions of places the best known, he would [have] had so much the less room for the original matter, with which he intended to constitute the bulk of the work.
It was intended to have put the work to the press in the winter of 1807, the year in which the tour commenced, but a series of disappointments essayed by the author, has unavoidably postponed it, and has given him an opportunity of adding to the original plan, some account of the lower parts of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and the countries washed by them, particularly the Mississippi territory, which has become of great importance to the United States, and is not without its value to Europe, from its immense supply of cotton to the European manufacturers.
{viii} As the intention of the author was the increase of information, he makes no apology for the plainness of his style, and he expects, on that account, to be spared any criticism. Should however any one think proper to bestow a leisure hour in the remarking of his inaccuracies, or the incorrectness of his language, he can have no possible objection, as criticism of that kind always tends to general improvement.
THE AUTHOR
Mississippi territory, 20th Oct. 1809.
SKETCHES OF A TOUR