tility to the Spanish dominion in the West, that neither Governor Shelby nor the Legislature of Kentucky took any measures to interrupt the unlawful enterprise ;* and such was the state of public feeling in Kentucky, that on the 14th of May following, a numerous and respectable public meeting was held at Lexington, at which resolutions of the most violent character were adopted, expressive of the severest censure upon the administration of President Washington, in condemnation for all the difficulties, perplexities, and disasters of the Indian war, and the British occupancy of the northwestern posts, and the procrastination of arrangements with Spain for the free navigation of the Mississippi. The virtuous and patriotic John Jay was denounced as the enemy of the West for his failure to secure greater advantages to the western people in his treaty with England and Spain.† A convention was likewise invited, "for the purpose of deliberating on the steps which will be most expedient for the attainment and security of our just rights.”‡ The enterprise of Genet was wholly frustrated by the recall of the French minister, and the active efforts of the Federal authorities in suppressing any attempt to continue his schemes. Thus ended the exciting period of French intrigue in the West. The people of Kentucky, and of the West generally, were soon afterward officially informed that the Federal government had opened an active and pressing negotiation with the Spanish minister for the speedy adjustment of existing difficulties relative to the free navigation of the Mississippi. With this assurance of the energetic action of the Federal government in their behalf, the public mind became quieted, and harmony was restored to the country.§ In the mean time, the population of Kentucky had continued to increase rapidly under the new state government; the people were making rapid advances in wealth, manufactures, and commerce, no less than in arts, sciences, and intellectual refinement. The new state, which had been the theatre of strife and discord, now rose proudly in her station as the first independent state in the Valley of the Mississippi, the foster-mother of the rising empire of the West. * Butler's Kentucky, p. 226, 227. † Mr. Jay, in his negotiations with the Spanish minister, had entertained the proposi tion of surrendering the navigation of the Mississippi for twenty or thirty years, while the western settlements were comparatively small, in consideration of a free and unrestricted navigation of the river after the expiration of that period. Butler, p. 235. § Idem, p. 228. The first Legislature in 1793 had laid off and organized three additional counties. These were the "counties of Washington, Scott, and Shelby," the first named in honor of the President of the United States, and the father of his country; the others in honor of the two prominent defenders of Kentucky, General Charles Scott and Colonel Isaac Shelby. In the spring of 1794 the "counties of Greene and Hardin" were laid off and organized. They were named in honor of General Nathaniel Greene, a distinguished officer of the Revolutionary war, and of Colonel Hardin, a distinguished officer of the western army, who fell a sacrifice to Indian revenge on his way to negotiate for peace with the hostile tribes in 1792.* In the winter of 1794 the "counties of Franklin, Christian, and Campbell" were laid off, and named in honor of the patriotic philosopher Benjamin Franklin, and two prominent defenders of Kentucky, Colonel Christian, a noted and gallant defender of southwestern Virginia, and Colonel Campbell of North Carolina, who was also one of the first proprietors of Transylvania. Colonel Christian was a veteran of the Revolution, and had distinguished himself early in the war by his noted invasion of the Cherokee country upon the sources of the Holston River in December, 1776. Having distinguished himself in defense of the western frontier of Virginia, at the close of the Revolutionary war he retired to Kentucky, and settled upon the waters of Bear-grass Creek, where he was killed by a party of Indians in April, 1785.† The Legislature, at the next session, laid off and organized the "county of Floyd," which was named in honor of Colonel John Floyd, one of the most enterprising of the early pioneers of Kentucky. During the Indian war which was prosecuted by the Federal government against the northwestern tribes in the years. 1793 and 1794, Kentucky furnished nearly sixteen hundred volunteers and militia, chiefly under the command of her favorite general, Charles Scott. These, co-operating with the regular troops under General Wayne, carried the American arms victoriously to the confines of the British province of Upper * See Flint's History and Geography of the Mississippi Valley, vol. ii., p. 289–299, first edition. Also, chapter xi., of this book. See Flint's History and Geography of the Mississippi Valley, vol. ii., p. 273, first edition. Canada, and effectually humbled the power of the savages. During all the campaigns into the northwestern territory, Kentucky had been the principal store-house for the army, and the theatre of military parade and preparation, no less than for the decisive campaign conducted by General Wayne. Many of the officers of the regular army, and hundreds of recruits, besides the militia and mounted volunteers, were citizens of Kentucky. Kentucky continued to increase in population and wealth; organized government was gradually extended to the remote limits of the state, and new counties were laid off from the larger ones as the population multiplied and the settlements reached into the unoccupied portions of the state.. Each new county formed was designated by the name of some one of the early pioneers and defenders, who were occasionally leaving the stage of action; and to this day her ninety counties are so many monuments perpetuating the memory of the most prominent founders of the state.* The population by the census of the United States in 1790 was 73,677 souls, including 12,430 slaves. The emigration of ten years augmented the number to 220,960 souls, including 40,343 slaves. This number in ten years more had increased to 406,511 souls in 1810, including 80,560 slaves. The increase of population continued rapid for thirty years more, although in a diminished ratio. The census of 1820 gave the population at 564,317 souls; that of 1830 at 688,884 souls, of whom 165,350 were slaves. The census of 1840 gave the entire pop * The governors of Kentucky are as follows: 1. Isaac Shelby, from 1792 to 1796, Sep- 9. Joseph Desha, from 1824 to 1828, September. tember. 2. James Garrard, from 1796 to 1804, Sep- 10. Thomas Metcalfe, from 1828 to 1832, 3. Christopher Greenup, from 1804 to 1808, 11. John Breathitt, from 1832 to 1835, Sep September. tember. 4. Charles Scott, from 1808 to 1812, Sep-12. James T. Morehead, from 1835 to 1836, tember. acting governor. 5. Isaac Shelby, from 1812 to 1816, Sep- 13. James Clark, from 1836 to 1839: died tember. 6. George Madison, from 1816. 7. Gabriel Slaughter, from 1816 to 1820, acting governor. 8 John Adair, from 1820 to 1824, September. 16. William Ousley, from 1844 to 1848, September. --Bradford's Illustrated Atlas, p. 124 and American Almanac for 1845. ulation at 779,828 souls, including 182,258 slaves.* The state contained hundreds of large towns and villages. Louisville, the chief commercial city, contained a population of more than twenty-one thousand inhabitants, and Lexington, an inland city, contained nearly seven thousand. CHAPTER VII. THE EARLY SETTLEMENT AND POLITICAL CONDITION OF WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA.-A.D. 1783 TO 1796. Argument. Jurisdiction of Pennsylvania extended to the Ohio.- "Westmoreland County" organized.—" Washington County" organized.-Emigration to the Monongahela and Youghiogeny.-Town of Pittsburgh laid out.-Brownsville laid out; becomes an important Point.-First Newspaper in the West.-Pittsburgh becomes a Market Town in 1788.-Trade and Manufactures spring up.-It derives great Importance as a military Dépôt in 1790.-Prosperous Condition of Settlements on the Monongahela.-Pittsburgh becomes an important manufacturing and trading Town. -Agricultural Prosperity of Monongahela Settlements.-Effects of Spanish Restrictions on the Mississippi.-"Excise Law" odious.-Disaffection toward Federal Gov. ernment.-French Influence in the West.-Resistance to Excise on Whisky.-Difficulties encountered by excise Officers.-General Neville appointed Superintendent of excise Customs.-His moral Worth and Popularity insufficient to sustain him.His House burned by a Mob.-Other Outrages perpetrated by the Mob.-Character of the Insurgents.-A Meeting of the Militia.-A Convention proposed.-Measures adopted by the President of the United States.-Proposed Amnesty.-Convention at Parkinson's Ferry.-Alarm of the insurgent Leaders.-Effects of General Wayne's Victory on the Maumee.-Commissioners appointed by the President.-Troops levied to suppress the Insurrection.-Fourteen thousand Troops advance to Pittsburgh. -The Insurrection is suppressed.-Insurgents dispersed.-Inquisitorial Court established. Three hundred Insurgents arrested.-The Troops discharged.-Pittsburgh incorporated in 1794.—Quietude of Frontiers, and Advance of Population.-Uninhabited Region west of Alleghany River.-Emigration encouraged.-"Population Company."-Their Grant. - -State Grants to actual Settlers.- Conflict of State Grants with the Company's Privileges.-First Paper Mill on the Monongahela.-Manufactures increase. [A.D. 1783.] We have already remarked, that in the early settlement of the country west of the mountains, before the close of the Revolutionary war, the northern and southern limits of Virginia were not clearly defined and known. Virginia, however, was prompt in asserting her right to all the territory which was supposed to lie within her chartered limits on the west. It was not until the year 1780 that her southern boundary, separating her from North Carolina, had been surveyed from the mountains westward to the Mississippi. *See Guthrie's Geography, vol. ii., p. 451. Smith's Gazetteer of the United States, p. 320. Her northern boundary next to Pennsylvania had not been properly ascertained and designated until several years afterward. Previous to running this line, Virginia had claimed, and had exercised, jurisdiction over Western Pennsylvania as far north as Fort Pitt, which was claimed as a post of the Old Dominion. Emigrants from Virginia and Maryland had formed settlements, and had introduced their slave property, believing themselves within the jurisdiction of Virginia. Hundreds of the best citizens, who had settled on the Youghiogeny and Monongahela Rivers, afterward finding themselves in Pennsylvania by the line of demarkation, were compelled to retire, with their slaves, to Western Virginia and to Kentucky, where they would be protected in their property by the laws of Virginia. After the southern line of Pennsylvania had been fully designated, the Legislature proceeded to organize the country thus detached from Virginia into two counties, called Westmoreland and Washington. Westmoreland county extended from the mountains westward to the Alleghany River, including the town of Pittsburgh and all the country between the Kiskeminetas and the Youghiogeny. North of this was the Indian territory, in the possession of the native tribes. Washington county comprised all south and west of Pittsburgh, including all the country east and west of the Monongahela, now comprised in the counties of Washington, Green, Alleghany, and Fayette. [A.D. 1784.] After the close of the Revolutionary war, the tide of immigration set with double force into the region west of the mountains. Besides hundreds of families who had suf fered in their fortunes by the war, there were thousands of soldiers and officers of the Continental army, who, now disbanded, were compelled to seek homes in the West, and provide for their growing families. As late as the year 1784, Fort Pitt was a frontier post, and the region contiguous was quite unprotected. The Indian tribes occupied the country on the north and west, and their numbers and prowess rendered them terrible to the weak settlements. The town of Pittsburgh, which had sprung up near the fort, was a frontier trading place, frequented by hundreds of friendly Indians in time of peace, eager to barter their furs, skins, and bear's grease for the rude staples of a trader's stock VOL. II.-N |