their Indian allies. By defending itself, the West defended the rest of the country, and contributed to the establishment of American Independence. Clarke had, on his first invasion, but 153 men, a part of them being from Kentucky. A permanent settlement at Louisville was made in 1778. The inhabitants of Tennessee increased greatly in numbers and prosperity in this and the previous year. Kentucky continued to increase in population rapidly, though much harassed by Indian attacks.

1779.-Vincennes, in Indiana, which had been reoccupied by Indians and British troops after Clarke's capture of it, was recovered by Clarke, February 25, with eighty-one prisoners and $50,000 worth of military stores. Lexington, Kentucky, was settled April 17. In May, Colonel John Bowman invaded the Indian territory in Ohio. After burning Chillicothe and capturing 163 horses he retreated. Colonel Rogers, with seventy men, was attacked by a large force of Indians, near the mouth of Licking River, and only twenty whites escaped. Several new settlements were made this year in Kentucky. Titles to land having become confused and annoying, Virginia passed land laws and sent a court of commissioners to adjudicate on the claims. They sat until April, 1780, settling 3,000 claims.

Colonel Shelby attacked the Chickamauga Indians (Cherokees) below the rapids of the Tennessee River, with complete success. A settlement was commenced in Middle Tennessee, on the site of Nashville, this year.

1780. The winter of 1779 and 1780 was extremely severe. Game in the woods and the stock of the settlers were often frozen and corn sold for $50 to $175 a bushel, in depreciated Continental money. There was much suffering. In June, a British and Indian force of 600, commanded by Colonel Byrd, of the British army, crossed the Ohio and ascended Licking River. They had six cannon. Two block-houses, or stations, Ruddle's and Martin's, surrendered at their approach.

TRIUMPHANT VIGOR OF THE SETTLERS IN 1780. 229

For the moment there were not, it has been said, over 300 able-bodied men in all the scattered settlements of the interior of Kentucky. For some reason not explained the enemy retreated after these two conquests. Gen. George Rogers Clarke collected the settlers and the troops in garrison on the river and invaded the Indian country in Ohio, destroying the town and stores of the Miamis, which checked Indian hostility for the time.

As soon as spring opened, a large immigration down the Ohio took place, three hundred capacious flat-boats, with families and stock, reaching Louisville, which was incorporated as a town, this year, by the Legislature of Virginia. Former settlements increased in numbers and many new ones were commenced, especially in the neighborhood of Louisville.

May 26, 1780, St. Louis, the capital of Upper Louisiana, was attacked by a large force, said to be 1,400 Indians and some English officers and Canadians. About sixty persons were killed and thirty taken prisoners, when the enemy withdrew, in fear, it was said, of General Clarke then on the Missisippi below, or from meeting with French friends among the citizens. St. Louis had then nearly 1,000 inhabitants. Clarke built a fort this spring, on the Mississippi, five miles below the mouth of the Ohio. The Chickasaws, who claimed that territory, complained that their permission had not been asked.

In this year, the Legislature of Virginia organized three counties in Kentucky. In Tennessee, the settlers organized a regiment to assist in repelling the British who were endeavoring to force Western North Carolina into submission. They joined with the mountaineers of Virginia and North Carolina and obtained the complete victory of King's Mountain, October 7, in which almost all the British troops were killed or taken prisoners. This severe loss was the turning point in the fortunes of Cornwallis. Thus, the West struck most effective blows for American liberty. A corps of these

Valley men remained east of the mountains to assist in the last campaign in South Carolina, in the following year. The Cherokees again commenced hostilities and marched on the settlements. Colonel Sevier met and defeated them, on Boyd's Creek. A larger force being gathered, the Cherokee towns were destroyed and the tribe forced to make a temporary peace. Emigrants followed this army to the French Broad River and settlements spread rapidly.

1781. In this year a large number of. unmarried women emigrated to Kentucky to find husbands and a home among the multitudes of unmarried men in that region. The Chickasaws attacked Fort Jefferson, on the Mississippi. General Clarke relieved, but afterward withdrew, the garrison. Colonel Brodhead led an expedition from the upper Ohio on an invasion of the Indian country without much effect. The Cherokees continued their attacks on unguarded settlers, and their country was again invaded and laid waste by the Tennesseeans. A settlement of Americans was formed at Bellefontaine, Monroe County, Illinois, this year.

1782.-Hostilities continued between Tennessee and the Cherokees, but the settlers there were so little scattered that they were able to rally in time to defeat an Indian expedition.

A party of whites from Western Pennsylvania marched against the Moravian, or Christian (Delaware) Indians, on the Muskingum, and nearly one hundred of these harmless natives were murdered, in cold blood, by white men! The inhuman act was universally reprobated. In Kentucky Capt. James Estill was defeated and killed, March 22; Captain Holder, August 15; and Colonel Laughery, August 22. Six hundred Indians and British besieged (August 15) Bryan's Station, defended by fifty or sixty men, but were repulsed with a loss of thirty men. They were pursued by 182 Kentuckians, who were defeated with a loss of sixty-nine killed, twelve wounded, and seven taken prisoners. It was a disastrous year for Kentucky. Gen. George Rogers Clarke gathered 1,050 men, in