The Cumberland Gap is a natural pass through Cumberland Mountain in Bell County, Kentucky, on the border of Kentucky and the State of West Virginia, just northeast of Tennessee. The pass was one of the most accessible routes to the land west of the Appalachian Mountains. The Shawnee called the path through this pass path of the armed ones or Warrior’s Path. The early hunters and explorers passing through the gap and beyond called it the Wilderness Road. As early as 1764, Henry Skaggs, an early explorer and Long Hunter, had crossed the Gap and ventured into central Kentucky. By 1783, over 12,000 settlers and land speculators had passed through the gap. By 1800, more than 200,000 had headed west along the Wilderness Road and beyond. One early significant trail called the Cumberland Trace blazed through what is now Green County as early as 1779. The Trace branched westward off the Wilderness Road near Benjamin Logan’s Fort in Lincoln County. The Trial crossed the south fork of the Rolling Fork River and followed Robinson and Buckhorn Creeks, now in Taylor County. The Trail crossed the ridge between Robinson’s Creek and Sinking Creek (now called Pitman Creek), and followed the southeast fork of Sinking Creek (then called Trace Fork and today named Little Pitman Creek) in both Taylor and Green Counties. The Trail crossed the ridge to Trace Creek and followed it to a ford crossing Green River (approximately three miles west of Greensburg). The Trace crossed the Little Barren River at Elk Lick Ford and continued west and south toward Fort Nashboro (present-day Nashville, Tennessee). It is unclear when the Cumberland Trace ceased to be a major route through Green County, but sometime after 1800. There was one big obstacle, the mountain chain we know as the Appalachians. These high rugged mountains preventing and easy path west, especially with horses and wagons. The explorer Thomas Walker of Virginia in 1758 named the river, but whether for the Duke of Cumberland or named for the English County of Cumberland it is not satisfactorily decided. The Cumberland River was called Wasioto by Native Americans and Riviere des Chaouanons, or river of the Shawnee, by French traders. The river was also known as the Shawnee River (or Shawanoe River) for years after Walkers trip. Henry Skaggs, his brothers, and a group of other long hunters were the first to explore this area in the 1760‘s. In 1763, the Skaggs Brothers went on a Long Hunt, passing through Cumberland Gap this time and going as far as the present town of Crab Orchard, Kentucky.In 1764, Skaggs led his first expedition through the Cumberland Gap, a mountain pass at the junction of Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia. These early trips westward attracted the interest of famed explorer Daniel Boone. Boone used his existing relationship with North Carolina land speculator Richard Henderson to recruit Skaggs as an agent for Hendersons land company, Richard Henderson and Company. In 1765, Skaggs explored the lower Cumberland River region (upper Middle Tennessee) as an agent of Henderson and established his station near the present day Goodlettsville, Tennessee. In June, 1769, a party of hunters gathered at Fort Chiswell as the starting point for their hunt. Among the leaders was RICHARD SKAGGS. They went as far as present Nashville, Tennessee. In the following year, 1770, a large party passed through Cumberland Gap, ranging as far as Green River and the Barrens in Kentucky where many Skaggs later settled. Settlers from Logans Station at St. Asaphs followed the Cumberland Trace into present Green County and built several Stations on the North side of the Green River. The most prominent was that of William PITMAN, established in 1780 near the mouth of Pitmans Creek about 2 miles west of present Greensburg, from which many land claims were located and surveyed in the area of Green and Taylor Counties. Also important was Skaggs Station on Brush Creek about 6 miles northwest of Greensburg, built by the SKAGGS brothers headed by James SKAGGS. Other Stations in the area were John GLOVERs Station, located where the green County Courthouse now stands in Greensburg; and Grays Station, built by Jesse GRAY on Cane Creek, about 8 miles east of Greensburg. Most of these Stations were abandoned during the Indian troubles in 1782-3 but the settlers returned in 1784. Important first as a passage for hunters and settlers, the Cumberland River also supported later riverboat trade which reached to the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Villages, towns, and cities were located at landing points along its banks. Through the middle of the 19th century, settlers depended on rivers for trading and travel. The Cumberland Trace Through Taylor County, Kentucky By the year 1799 an important trace or road ran through the wilderness of central Kentucky. Well known to the pioneers and hunters, it was called the Cumberland Trace. Pages 157-158 -- May 4, 1811 The Deposition of JAMES SKAGGS JR.(LONGMAN) live in this part of the country in the year 1780. First become acquainted with the Cumberland road fork of Sinking Creek.(now called Pitman Creek). He lived in this part of the country now called Green County in March 1780 and at that time became acquainted with the trace fork of Pitman Creek down which creek the Cumberland Trace passed. The fork of Pitman or Sinking Creek down which the Cumberland road then led notoriously known by the name of the Cumberland road or trace fork of Sinking or Pitmans Creek. All other settlers was known by that name and has been known by that name ever since. At that time with the settlers of Glovers, Pitmans and Skaggs Stations these being at that time the only stations in this part of the area. From Glovers Station it was about 8 or 9 miles about 12 miles from Pitmans and about 13 miles from Skaggs Station the way the Cumberland Trace led. The Cumberland Trace fork of Sinking Creek acquire that name because the road or trace from the upper parts of Kentucky to Nashville came from Robinsons Creek down that fork. This part of the country was travelled in the 3 years last mentioned (1780-1781-1782) by hunters from (Lynn) Linns, Davises and Pottingers Stations. Davis Station, in southern Kentucky, in Logan or Warren County. LINN, one of the finest marksmen in the west, had spent 4 years among the Shawnee, Delaware, Maumee and Kickapoo, speaking all languages fluently. He likely was captured while young and this experience gave him unique insight into the Indian ways. In Kentucky very early, he is closely linked with the desperate events during the time when Harrodsburg withstood repeated Indian attacks. He had certainly arrived at Fort Harrod sometime in 1776, if not earlier. On Jan. 2, 1777, LINN was one of 30 men led by James HARROD, who retrieved a crucial cache of hidden gunpowder near present day Maysville. Fort Harrod was short of powder and all signs were ominous. Had the tense mission been a failure and the gunpowder fallen into Indian hands, the continued assaults on against Harrodsburg, Logan’s and Boonesborough throughout 1777 may well have succeeded. If settlement had been interrupted at this critical juncture, Kentucky and the Northwest Territory might still be part of Canada. Of interest is a look at LINN’s companions on the gunpowder mission. Besides Col. James HARROD, some of the other members were David GLENN, who was active in the Nelson County area from 1774 on; Isaac HITE, who had some of the earliest improver’s claims in Nelson; the legendary Simon KENTON; Jacob SODOWSKY (also often called SANDUSKY), who with his brother, James, established Sandusky’s Station on Pleasant Run in Washington County about 1776; and Samuel MOORE, who would soon accompany Ben LINN on an incredible spy mission for George Rogers CLARK. Recorded in Chinn’s Kentucky Settlement is the following incident which occurred as the Indians laid siege to Fort Harrod in March 1777, only a few months after the gunpowder incident; Several men rushing out (of the Fort) to extinguish the flames (in a cabin), discovered the fire was no accident. A number of Indians hiding near the building attempted to encircle the men. Several shots were exchanged … In the midst of a shower of bullets … Benjamin LINN paused long enough to whip out his hunting knife and take the scalp of an Indian he had just killed … using trees to cover the men worked their way back to the Fort. A month later, April, 1777, Ben LINN and Samuel MOORE were dispatched on a secret mission of the utmost importance. George Rogers CLARK sent the pair to Kaskaskia, in the Illinois country. Posing as trappers the pair were to determine British strength and preparedness to meet an attack. CLARK was already planning the conquest of the Northwest Territory. The settlers at Harrodsburg were led to believe LINN and MOORE were making a trip to dispose of beaver pelt. Everything depended on the success of this spy mission. Thus all the responsibility lay with the two young scouts charged with a round trip journey through hundreds of miles of wilderness right into the enemy stronghold. Without hard intelligence information CLARK could not proceed with his plan. The information had to be accurate and it had to be favorable. Luckily for the besieged frontier, CLARK had chosen the right young men. Barely 3 months later, Ben LINN and Samuel MOORE returned, their mission a complete success. The British forts were well stocked but many troops … French … sympathized with the Americans. No attack by the colonists was expected, thus Clark’s planned offensive was ripe for execution. Promptly upon returning, Ben LINN launched into a new adventure. On July 9, 1777, he married Hannah SEVERNS (Sovereighns) at Fort Harrod. The bride had also been an Indian captive for 6 years. George Rogers Clark noted the ceremony was celebrated with great merriment because a buffalo bull (good omen) had walked up to the Station with the domestic cattle, promptly been dispatched (food was scarce) and furnished meat for the reception. SOUTH FORK Church, originally called No-Lynn, was, according to tradition, constituted in what is now La Rue county, in the summer of 1782, by Benjamin Lynn and James Skaggs Jr.. The late venerable Elder John Duncan took much pains to learn the history of the church, and had conversations with at least two men who claimed to have been present when it was constituted. They stated that Lynn had been preaching in the neighborhood for some considerable time, and several persons had professed conversion. The church was constituted under the boughs of a large oak tree, where it continued to meet the remainder of the summer. Immediately after the organization was effected the church sat to hear experiences. Seven persons were approved for baptism. The times were troublous. It had been only a few weeks since the supposed massacre of Elder John Gerrard, in an adjoining neighborhood, and the Indians were now lurking in the surrounding forests. The candidates for the sacred ordinance were guarded to the water by armed citizens, and baptized by Elder Lynn, in No-Lynn [now spelt Nolin] river. If this account be true, it is probable that these were the first persons baptized in Kentucky. From its very inception Captain Pottenger’s Fort played an important part in the early affairs of Nelson County, and the descendants of Samuel Pottenger would play primary roles in the area’s growth. Sam Pottenger was the eldest son of a large family. Reportedly, he came to the Kentucky wilderness at the age of 20, about 1774. Perhaps he was one of the young adventurers who flocked to Kentucky following Dunmore’s War. During that brief clash with the Indian tribes who resented the broken treaties and continuing incursions into their adjacent hunting grounds, a force led by James Harrod returned from the Kentucky wilds to fight in the fracas. As noted in one journal of the times quoted by Chinn’s “Kentucky Settlement and Statehood” … “One of the most significant effects of the Battle of Point Pleasant … is that it provided an opportunity to communicate news about the settlement of Kentucky … the soldiers talked more about Harrod and the opening up of Kentucky settlement than the battle itself.” Harrodsburg was permanently re-occupied on March 15, 1775. With James Harrod were 40 or 50 young men who had made the trip from Fort Redstone. Samuel Pottenger was probably one of them, but no lists containing the names have survived. Of one thing we can be certain, Samuel Pottinger was a friend and associate of the legendary James Harrod. Our first knowledge of their activities in present day Nelson County dates from 1778. During the warm months Pottenger and Harrod explored the waters of a creek just north of the Rolling Fork, criss-crossed by a variety of buffalo roads or traces. Nearby were several large “licks” the game animals had worn over the eons. The bottoms were lush with wild cane, and Sam Pottenger obviously liked what he saw. Surprisingly, the area appeared to be virgin. On their initial visit no earlier “improvements” had been made by white men to indicate land claims were noticed. Thus, Pottenger made what he thought was the first claim in the region, and his friend, James Harrod, dubbed the sparkling stream in his companion’s honor ---- Pottenger’s Creek. It was shortly thereafter that Samuel Pottenger came across the log “pens” which had been left by the Jonah Heaton party two years earlier. Heaton’s friends had, at the time, dubbed the dtream “Heaton’s Creek.” But the later name conjured by James Harrod stuck because Pottenger took possession of the area, so to speak, shortly after his initial improvements were made, while the Heaton party only stayed a matter of days in the summer of 1776. By Samuel Pottenger’s own words … “in the winter of 1778 I built a cabin on (my) settlement on (Pottenger’s) Creek and have made it my place of residence ever since except when absent sometimes on business.” Benjamin Lynn later recalled traveling the length of Pottenger’s Creek in the fall of 1778 and seeing no signs of settlement, but in the spring of 1779 he came across Samuel Pottenger and Henry Prather at the cabin which had been erected a few months before. Also during that spring Pottenger, in company with Thomas Simpson, Patrick McGee and John Severns, made a variety of lottery cabin improvements on the lower waters of Simpson Creek below or north of present day Bloomfield. It was on this occasion that McGee proposed that the extensive watershed be called “Simpson’s Creek” and ever after it has been thus. Perhaps unique is that Pottenger lent his name to one creek and played a part in the naming of another … both of which still bear the same names over 200 years later, although many have forgotten why. Pottenger family tradition tells us that Samuel Pottenger returned to Maryland and enlisted as a private as the Revolution came to the Tidewater Region. One source has him present at Cornwallis’ surrender before Yorktown October 19, 1781. This closed the Revolutionary hostilities in the east and Pottenger must have wasted no time returning to Kentucky because all sources credit the date as 1781 when Pottenger’s Station was erected near the present day Abby of Gethsemani. The Shawnee Indians, led by the British, attacked at least once, if not several times, the earliest settlers living within central Kentucky. The worst attacks occurred in the early spring of 1780 and again in 1781. The forts, then located in what is now Green County, had to be abandoned, and the settlers moved to other eastern, better fortified forts. Glover’s Fort The earliest settlements recorded in Green County were Glover’s Fort, established in the fall of 1779 by John Glover, accompanied by his immediate family, several related families, and their slaves. The fort was abandoned after several Indian attacks in 1781. Pitman Station Pitman Station and Henry Skaggs was first settled by William Pitman in early spring of 1780. The station (possibly fortified) was located above a stream of water then called Sinking Creek, later to be renamed Pitman Creek. Pitman Station was situated upon a bluff top overlooking a place then called The Narrows of Sinking Creek (a horseshoe bend in the creek). Some 20+ individuals lived near or at Pitman Station prior to March 1781. The Shawnee attacked the settlers at Pitman Station, and they were forced from the area of Green River Country for almost two years. No white man lived here from March 1781 until October 1784. Once the Indian threat was over, Pitman Station was re-settled in late 1784. The Cumberland Trace was the only trail that led to and from Pitman Station. James Skaggs Jr.Station James Skaggs Station was the third to be established within the modern day Green County. It was located near a tributary of Big Brush Creek, situated in the northern portion of the County. James Skaggs and his wife, three sons, and one daughter settled on land after April 1780. His station was located where today’s Jones Cemetery is located, near Highway Route 61. In the fall of 1781, James Skaggs had decided that they did not have enough provisions to get them through the oncoming winter months and that it would be necessary to return to Brian’s Station (Lexington, Kentucky) to spend the winter. James Skaggs’s daughter took their iron cooking pot and dutch oven to a small cave (Indian Hollow), to hide until their return the following spring. While at the cave she was surprised by a small band of hostile Indians, who killed and scalped the young girl. Her family found her remains and brought her body back to the cabin where she was buried under the cabin floor. This was the first burial at the Jones Cemetery. The exact grave site is unknown. In the following spring, James Skaggs and his family, with other settlers, returned to their land and found that the Indians had burned their original cabin. They built a larger structure, two stories high, 22x24 feet in size, with a fireplace on each floor. This structure stood until it was torn down in 1951. The Treasury Warrant Number for James Skaggs’s 450 acres of land located on Brush Creek was issued on the first day of April, 1780. Fort Blevins Colonel James Skaggs had established Fort Blevins (possibly a station) on Big Brush Creek near Gum Springs about 1780. The exact location of this fort is unknown today. Indians had attacked the fort when all the men were gone for the day. Several women and Colonel Skaggs’s small infant were horribly murdered. The Indians were tracked by Colonel Skaggs and other settlers, and several Indians were killed. Graham’s Station Graham’s Station was established near the water’s edge of Big Brush Creek about 1787. The station was located in the northeastern part of Green County. It was built by William Graham and his brothers. The station soon grew into a small community having its own spinning factory, training mill, church, and cemetery. There were never any reports of Indian attacks at this station. Natural Kentucky iron ore was abundant along Big Brush Creek, and by 1818, Graham’s Station had a furnace used in processing the ore into pig-iron. Gray’s Station Gray’s Station was located on Caney Fork, a tributary of Russell’s Creek. Jesse Gray had built the station before 1792. At 24 settlers were living around Gray’s Station in 1792. After 1794, Gray’s Station quietly disappeared. Gray’s Station (Greenburg) to the south; Henry Skaggs was married to Mary Thompson (sister to Lucinda Thompson--Nancy Skaggs Merediths mother and Henry Skaggs was a brother to Charles Skaggs Long Hunter). Jesse Gray was married to Mary Skaggs (Nancy Skaggs Merediths sister). From: Ky. Skaggs Notes pg. 424-425 8 Jul. 1794 Green County Records Jesse & Mary Skaggs Gray made their good and faithful friend Joseph Meredith their lawful attorney to sell a tract of 115 acres in Russell Co., Va. Also, the William Meredith, listed in early Green County, Ky. records who was married to Nancy Skaggs (sister to Charles. Skaggs)is an older brother of Joseph Meredith together they made a community that could band together strongly against Indians. Graham’s Station was established near the water’s edge of Big Brush Creek about 1787. The station was located in the northeastern part of Green County. It was built by William Graham and his brothers and the Skaggs Brothers. The station soon grew into a small community having its own spinning factory, training mill, church, and cemetery. There were never any reports of Indian attacks at this station.(now State Highway 61).
Posted on: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 00:57:32 +0000
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