EDITOR'S PREFACE

The present work is the result of consultation and cooperation. Those engaged in its composition have had but one purpose, and that was to give to the people of Kentucky a social and political account of their state, based on contemporaneous history, as nearly as the accomplishment of such an undertaking were possible. It has not been the purpose of those who have labored in concert to follow any line of precedent. While omitting no important event in the history of the state, there has been a decided inclination to rather stress those events that have not hitherto engaged the attention of other writers and historians, than to indulge in a mere repetition of that which is common knowledge. How far they have succeeded in this purpose a critical public must determine.

When its editor consented to join in the undertaking it was expressly stipulated that it was to be a real history of Kentucky, and not a mere chronological citation of events. Between him and the publishers there was an express stipulation that one who could catch the spirit of the Kentucky viewpoint and could bring to the undertaking a sympathetic interest in recording the story of as great a race of home-builders and state-builders as had ever marked Anglo-Saxon progress, should be engaged to write the text. After several months of delay the justly merited historian of experience and established reputation, himself a Kentuckian by birth, Mr. William E. Connelley, of Topeka, Kansas, was introduced to the editor as one capable and willing to join in the undertaking. At a general consultation between them it was discovered that there was perfect harmony in the conception each entertained concerning the character of history that should be written. The contract for writing the present history was thereupon given to Mr. Connelley. It was early discovered that the character of history contemplated could not be prepared within a designated time without other assistance, and thereupon, at the instance of Mr. Connelley, Prof. E. M. Coulter, of the University of Georgia, an author of experience and ability, was added to the staff of Mr. Connelley. From the outset Professor Coulter manifested a desire to enter into the work with energy and will. He spent three months in the Library of Congress at Washington, examining all the manuscripts in that institution bearing on Kentucky history-those which had hitherto attracted attention, as well as those which had not. When he had completed his labors in Washington he went to Kentucky, where he spent many weeks in not only examining all the manuscript material that was available, but examined with care and minuteness early newspaper files, especially those of the Kentucky Gazette, Niles Register and the Observer and Reporter. A like labor was performed in Frankfort. Louisville was also visited, and all the material there available was carefully examined and copious citations made therefrom. Chicago was next visited, and all the deported manuscripts and pamphlets bearing on the early settlement of the state were examined with like care and attention. A meeting was arranged between himself and Mr. Connelley for a joint examination of the vast wealth of material now in the possession of the Historical Society of Wisconsin. Here all the material that had been gathered by Professor Coulter, together with such additions as were made from the Wisconsin archives, were carefully gone over by them and

arranged in the order in which they were to be used, having relation to the subject under treatment. The work of writing the history did not begin until all this preliminary work had been completed. For the information of the public it may be said that the following chapters have been written by Mr. Connelley:

Origin and Meaning of Names.

Early Indian Occupancy of the Ohio Valley.

Discovery and Exploration by the English of the Ohio Country.
Indian Title to Kentucky and Its Extinction.

Explorations of Dr. Thomas Walker.

Explorations of Christopher Gist.

Mrs. Mary Ingles.

The Sandy Creek Voyage.

Swift's Silver Mines.

The Founding of Harman's Station.

The Governors of Kentucky and Their Biographies.

United States Senators from Kentucky and Their Biographies.
The Counties of Kentucky and for Whom Named.

Officers from Kentucky in the Civil War.

Alphabetical List of Battles in Kentucky in the Civil War.

No historian in the United States is better acquainted with Indian lore and tradition, or has made a more searching examination into the habits and customs of the North American Indian than has Mr. Connelley. His treatise on these subjects, particularly the chapter on names, will give a new and entirely distinct understanding of that subject and serve to dispel many long-existing misconceptions on the subject, particularly the origin and meaning of the word Kentucky as it is now spelled and pronounced.

All other chapters except those of a special character, as indicated, were written and prepared by Professor Coulter.

In the progress of the work, all chapters were first sent to Mr. Connelley at Topeka. There they were carefully revised by him and recopied, one copy of which revision was sent to the editor, who likewise made such revisions, by way of deletions, additions, phrasing and such other changes, as he deemed proper. They were then returned to Mr. Connelley, by whom they were again examined, recopied and sent to the publisher. The purpose of these several examinations and reexaminations was to make the work as nearly historically accurate as care and attention could make it.

This history has been written entirely from original and contemporaneous sources. This is no less an account of the economic development and history of the state than it is of its social and political development. It is in many respects the first work of its kind bearing on Kentucky. All secondary sources were consulted, but they were followed only where supported by available manuscript records and contemporaneous accounts. It was the desire of its authors from the outset to avoid repeating what had been recorded by former analysts, without adding any new facts. The histories of Marshall and Butler furnish the greater portion of the original material records that we have in the form of written histories. Notwithstanding the fact that Marshall could not avoid injecting personal animosities into his writings, his history must. be accepted as one of the most valuable of all the early pioneer writers. His work is indispensable by reason of the fact that it is a record of personal knowledge and the recording of events in which he bore no inconspicuous part. Where personal knowledge did not supply material, original documents, most of which have been lost, did. The great service