ter of instructions from Gov Henry addressed to Lieut. Col. Clark, dated 2d January, 1778. In this letter the Governor refers to the supplies brought from New Orleans by "Capt. Lynn," as he

calls him.

The particulars of this second expedition are equally worthy of enumeration, resting as they do, upon information of the most unquestionable authority.*

When Rogers reached the mouth of the Ozark or Arkansas, he sailed up that river, some twelve or eighteen leagues, to the head of back water from the Mississippi, and above the overflown ground; here, he deposited one of his boats, and stationed his men, while he proceeded with six or seven of them, including Capt. Benham, down the Mississippi to New Orleans. When he arrived at this city, he found a British sloop of war in the port, the captain of which suspicious of the object of an American party from this direction, [a circumstance of no common occurrence at that day,] watched his movements narrowly, and impeded his business with the Spanish officers. For although these were well disposed to promote the American interests, yet, as the courts of Madrid and London were not openly at war, embarrassment was unavoidable in the presence of a British force. The situation of Col. Rogers was truly perplexing. Under these circumstances, he found it necessary to send Benham back to Virginia through the appalling country, on the west side of the Mississippi. He, with the hardihood characteristic of the times, subsisting principally on Indian corn boiled in lye, to preserve it, passed through the Indian wilderness to Kaskaskia, then under the dominion of the same wide spreading State, that had sent him to New Orleans. Thence, he proceeded to the Falls of Ohio, in the spring of 1779; soon after his arrival at that place, Rogers, by some unexplained success, reached the same place with his two keel boats loaded with military supplies on his return to Fort Pitt. Capt. Benham was joyfully taken on board, and placed in command of one of the boats, and the little American squadron, the second escort of military supplies procured by our daring countrymen from New Orleans, moved

See Appendix, p. 448 and 449.

• The late Judge Dunlavy, of Ohio, and Joseph S. Benham, Esq., formerly an eminent lawyer of the bar at Louisville, Ky., and St. Louis, as well as Judge Burnet's Notes, 292.

The declaration of war on the part of Spain against England took place January 16th, 1779.

on its destination up the Ohio. When the expedition reached the sand bar above the present city of Cincinnati, it was bare for more than half the width of the river; here the party stopped on the Kentucky shore to prepare breakfast; it stopped a mile below the Little Miami." A number of Indians on rafts and in canoes was then seen coming out of the mouth of the Little Miami, which was then high, and shot its waters [and consequently the Indians on their rafts,] nearly across the Ohio river. On seeing the en

emy, Col. Rogers ordered his men to prepare and meet them; thinking he would be able to surprise them. But on marching through the willows with which the bar was then covered, and before they had arrived at the place where they expected to meet the Indians, they were themselves surrounded by overpowering numbers. The enemy quickly dispatched the greatest portion of the crew, with their gallant commander Col. Rogers. One of the boats, however, escaped with two men, and reached the Falls. Not more than nine or ten of the party ever returned to their families.

The Indians took and plundered one of the boats, out of which they got considerable booty, consisting of ready made clothing and munitions of war, which had been obtained from the Spaniards for the use of the forces on the western frontiers of Virginia.

It is not a little remarkable, that in the course of some years afterwards, one of the periodical freshets of the river having subsided, several gross of metal buttons were found on the bar, where this battle had been fought. They were deposited, by the fisherman who found them, in Dorfuille's Museum, at Cincinnati.*

The adventures of Capt. Benham are too romantic to be overlooked, supported as they are by most unquestionable testimony. Capt. Benham, shortly after breaking through the enemy's line, was dangerously wounded in the hip.† Fortunately a large tree had lately fallen near the spot where he lay, and with great pain he dragged himself among its bushy branches, and lay concealed. The Indians eager in pursuit of others, passed him without notice; and by midnight, all was quiet. On the following day the enemy returned to the battle ground, in order to strip the dead, and take

There seems to be some confusion in the original account furnished to the author, by the late Judge Dunlavy, of Ohio, and Joseph S. Benham, a son of Capt. Benham. It represents the party above stated, as coming out of the Little Miami, and yet coming from an attack upon the settlements of Kentucky. The discrepancy is irreconcilable by any means, in the author's possession.

† McClung's Sketches.

care of the plunder. Benham although in danger of famishing, permitted the Indians to pass without making known his condition; correctly supposing that his crippled condition would only induce them to tomahawk him upon the spot, in order to avoid the trouble of carrying him to their towns. He therefore lay close, till evening of the second day, when perceiving a raccoon descending a tree near him, he shot it hoping to devise some means of reaching it, kindle a fire, and make a meal. Scarcely had his gun cracked, than he heard a human cry apparently not more than fifty yards off. Supposing it to be an Indian, he hastily reloaded his gun, and remained silent, expecting the approach of an enemy. Presently the same voice was heard again, but much nearer. Still Benham made no reply; but cocked his gun, and sat ready to fire, as soon as an object appeared. A third halloo was quickly heard followed by an exclamation of distress, which convinced Benham that the unknown must be a white man. The man now appeared as he had escaped from the late encounter with both arms broken. In this crippled condition, the two wounded men though wounded so differently, were enabled to help each other. Benham could load his gun and kill game with readiness, while his associate would kick the game to the spot, where Benham sat, and cooked it. When no wood was near, the armless man would rake up brush with his feet and gradually roll it within reach of the hands of Benham. In this painful way, Benham both fed his companion and dressed his wounds, as well as his own; tearing up both of their shirts for this purpose. Their greatest difficulty was in procuring water; but Benham took his own hat, and putting the rim between the teeth of his companion directed him to wade into the Licking river, up to his neck, and then dip the hat in, by sinking his head under the water. In this wonderful manner, [it must be admitted,] the two wounded soldiers are most credibly reported to have helped each other, till late in the ensuing fall, about the latter part of November, 1779. The crippled party had by this time, owing to increasing strength, managed to put up a small shed or camp at the mouth of Licking river, with the hope of arresting the attention of some passing boatmen. After much difficulty and parley, [for white men were often employed by the Indians as decoys to bring passengers into their power by cries of pretended distress, the helpless and forlorn couple were taken to Louisville; their former clothes, which had been taken off by the escaping

boat, were restored to them, and after a few weeks confinement, they recovered their health.*

But this is not the earliest exploration of the Mississippi pursued by our countrymen, and this occasion may well draw attention to this interesting navigation of the greatest river of our country, and among the largest of the earth.

The earliest Anglo-American enterprise in this direction, and indeed of wonderful boldness, which the author has been able to discover, is that of Col. Richard Taylor, late of the county of Jefferson, in the State of Kentucky, and often honored by distinguished public trusts. He was the father of the late President of the United States, Gen. Zach. Taylor. This gentleman, with his brother, Hancock Taylor, both of Virginia, was at Fort Pitt, in 1769, and thence descended the Ohio and the Mississippi, as far as the Yazoo river. From this point, the brothers passed through the country of the southern Indians to Georgia, and thence home.f

The second was that of John Whitacker Willis, John Ashby, and William Bolland, of Stafford and Fauquier counties, in Virginia. These men were engaged in the battle of Point Pleasant, ir. 1774, and after the engagement, visited Kentucky, as Boone and Harrod and others are known to have revisited it, after that memorable encounter, for the novelty of the enterprise. Being afraid to return to Virginia by land, along the usual route, they hollowed out a pirogue from the body of a large tree, and passed

This account is so wonderful that, without full confirmation, the author would scarcely hazard its publication; but the particulars were extensively known at the time, and came to the author from the late Joseph Benham, Esq., a lawyer distinguished at the bar of Cincinnati, Louisville and St. Louis, and father in law to Geo. D. Prentice, the distinguish d editor of the Louisville Journal. His letter to the author contained the following additional particulars: "His companion in distress whose arms were broken, still [1833] lives in the town of Brownsville, Pa., which at the time he joined Roger's expedition, was almost the Ultima Thule of western emigration. Capt. Benham left the Falls as soon as his wounds would permit, and returned home by way of New Orleans. He returned to the West in Harmar's campaign; was Commissary General to the army under Gen. St. Clair, and continued in the service performing arduous and responsible duties, until after the treaty of Greenville, in 1795, which put a period to the bloody sequel, to the war of Independence.

In St. Clair's defeat, at the request of the General, when the army was surrounded by the Indians, he mounted his horse, and was among the foremost in leading on the bloody charge, which broke through the enemy's lines, and opened a way to save the remnant of the army. In this battle, he was again wounded. He was many years a useful and active member of the Territorial and State Legislatures of Ohio. His adventures may well be deemed notorious and authentic.

This information was obtained from a deposition in a suit at law, com municated to the author by the late Worden Pope, of estimable memory in Kentucky.

down the rivers in it, to New Orleans. From this point the party made its way to Pensacola, then in possession of the British; here they were assisted by the Governor, and conveyed to Charleston, in South Carolina, whence their return to Virginia was easy.*

The next effort at this perilous navigation by our own countrymen that I have met with, was the public mission of Cols. Gibson and Linn to New Orleans already related.

No doubt the navigation of the Mississippi had been familiar to the French, from their remotest posts on the lakes to New Orleans. Indeed it had become a common course of mercantile business from Quebec and Montreal to the French possessions on the Mississippi; as well as the channel of military expeditions.

About the spring of 1779, a block house was built where the neat and beautiful city of Lexington now adorns the State of Kentucky, with her fruitful literary and scientific institutions. Here a settlement was begun, under the lead and direction of Robert Patterson, an early and meritorious adventurer in the West, much engaged in its defence and settlement. Col. Patterson was joined by the McConnels, Lindseys, and James Masterton. Soon after them, Maj. John Morrison removed his family from Harrodsburg and Mrs. Morrison is said to have been the first white female settled in Lexington. This name so well calculated to awaken patriotic associations was given by the pioneers to commemorate the battle of that name, so memorable at the commencement of the American Revolution. A name indeed well calculated to perpetuate the patriotic sentiments, for which the citizens of Lexington. have ever been distinguished, even among a high-spirited people.

Bryant's station, about five miles north-eastward of Lexington, was settled by the Bryants also in 1779, and several stations were erected in the neighborhood of the present town of Danville. This notice must suffice for the rise of the towns of Kentucky now merging fast into the general settlement of the country.

• These men were neighbors of Capt. William B. Wallace, a worthy veteran of the revolution, formerly of Virginia, but lately of Anderson county, Ky., where he died amid the regrets of a large circle of admiring friends. He had stood sentry at the tent of Gov Henry at the opening of the revolution, although a gentleman of good estate. At that early day, it was matter of emulation and struggle not to get into commission, but to get into the ranks of the defenders of the republic. This most worthy gentleman is my authority for the above facts.