Stories of Old Kentucky

The history of the "Dark and Bloody Ground" teems with adventure and patriotism. Its pages are filled with the great achievements, the heroic deeds, and the inspiring examples of the explorers, the settlers, and the founders of our state. In the belief that a knowledge of their struggles and conquests is food that is both instructive and inspiring, and with a knowledge that a text on history does not always attract, the author sets before the youth of Kentucky these stories of some of her great men.

This book is intended as both a supplementary reader and a text, for, though in story form, the chapters are arranged chronologically, and every fact recorded has been verified.

Thanks are due to the many friends who have granted access to papers of historical value, to many others who have assisted in making this book a reality, and especially to my husband, Dr. Clyde Edison Purcell, for his valuable suggestions, careful criticisms, and untiring coöperation.

MARTHA GRASSHAM PURCELL.

CONTENTS

PAGE

WHEN THE OCEAN COVERED KENTUCKY 9

THE ABORIGINES OF KENTUCKY 10

SOME PREHISTORIC REMAINS 16

THE DISCOVERY OF KENTUCKY 18

INDIAN CLAIMS IN KENTUCKY 22

SCOUWA 23

THE GRAVEYARD OF THE MAMMOTHS 27

THE DRUID OF KENTUCKY 28

A PIONEER NOBLEMAN 33

EARLY KENTUCKY CUSTOMS 37

BOONE'S ILLUSTRIOUS PEER 41

BOONE'S TRACE 49

BOONE IN CAPTIVITY 52

BOONESBOROUGH'S BRAVE DEFENSE 56

THE LOST BABY 61

THE FIRST ROMANCE IN KENTUCKY 64

A WEDDING IN THE WILDERNESS 67

PIONEER CHILDREN 70

HOW THE PIONEERS MADE CHANGE 72

A WOMAN'S WILL 73

WHEN THE WOMEN BROUGHT THE WATER 76

THE RESULT OF ONE RASH ACT 83

TWO KENTUCKY HEROES 86

THE BATTLE OF THE BOARDS 89

THE FAITHFUL SLAVE AND HIS REWARD 91

THE DOUBLE SHOT 94

A MAN OF STRATEGY AND SAGACITY 96

THE KIND-HEARTED INDIAN 100

SAVED BY THE HUG OF A BEAR 101

A KENTUCKIAN DEFEATED THE BRITISH 105

A FAMOUS MARCH 110

THE FIRST CHRISTMAS PARTY 113

FORT JEFFERSON 115

"THE HARD WINTER" 118

WILDCAT MCKINNEY 119

HOW KENTUCKY WAS FORMED 122

KENTUCKY IN THE REVOLUTION 123

KENTUCKY'S PIONEER HISTORIAN 125

SPANISH CONSPIRACY 128

A KENTUCKY INVENTOR 135

OTHER KENTUCKY INVENTIONS 138

THE MAN WHO KNEW ABOUT BIRDS 140

A HERO OF HONOR 143

THE "PRIDE OF THE PENNYRILE" 150

LUCY JEFFERSON LEWIS 153

NATURAL CURIOSITIES IN KENTUCKY 155

THE WORLD'S GREATEST NATURAL WONDER 159

HOW REELFOOT LAKE WAS FORMED 161

KENTUCKY VALOR IN 1812-1815 163

A TRIUMVIRATE OF ELOQUENCE 166

KENTUCKIANS IN TEXAS AND MEXICO 167

CLAY, THE GREAT COMMONER 169

KENTUCKY IN THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES 171

WHY SOME CITIES WERE SO NAMED 175

KENTUCKY IN THE FIELD OF SCIENCE 179

"BESSEMER STEEL" IN KENTUCKY 182

KENTUCKY ARTISTS 184

KENTUCKY IN THE FIELD OF LETTERS 187

KENTUCKIANS IN HISTORY 190

A LIST OF BOOKS ABOUT KENTUCKY

AUDUBON, LUCY: "Life and Journals of John James Audubon." Putnam.

COLLINS, R.H.: "History of Kentucky." Collins & Co.

EGGLESTON, E.: "Stories of American Life and Adventure." "Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans." American Book Co.

HULBERT, A.B.: "Boone's Wilderness Road." Arthur H. Clark Co.

JOHNSON, E.P.: "History of Kentucky and Kentuckians." Lewis Publishing Co.

KINKEAD, E.S.: "History of Kentucky." American Book Co.

MARSHALL, H.: "History of Kentucky." Frankfort.

OTIS, JAMES: "Hannah of Kentucky." American Book Co.

PRICE, S.W.: "Old Masters of the Blue Grass." Morton & Co.

SHALER, N.S.: "Kentucky." Houghton Mifflin Co.

SMITH, H.I.: "Prehistoric Ethnology of a Kentucky Site." Amer. Museum of Nat. Hist.