The longhunters of the classic era, from the early 1760s to the 1770s, were professional hide hunters who would routinely embark on grand hunts that would sometimes last for over a year. They were commonly employed as market hunters who sought the red deer skins of the summer and early autumn, meat, and tallow to furnish to the settlement traders. These men, while existing under their forest canopy, would roam wherever they pleased, reaping the rewards from the bounty of the forest. They were perhaps the freest and most enduring of any other eastern American frontier character the Skaggs were known as the Longhunters. The Longhunters were a group of men that went into Kentucky in the fall of each year to trap and gather furs. When their mules were loaded they returned home to sell them. SKAGGS FRONTIERSMAN From 1658 to 1761 very little has been found about the migrations of the Various Skaggs families. However, near the end of that period records of their living in southwestern Virginia begin to appear. After 1761 they are found in the vanguard of the slow but steady stream of pioneers into Tennessee and Kentucky. Robert L. Kincaid,in his book, The Wilderness Road, tells about the Long Hunters who pushed farther and farther west after 1761, traveling long distances in unexplored country for months at a time in their quest for pelts which could be sold or traded at home. In the meantime it was up to their wives and children to do the farming and gardening. One of the early leaders in these hunting expeditions was a man by the name of Wallen. On one of his first trips he was accompanied by his father-in-law, William Blevins, his brother-in-law, Jack Blevins, HENRY SKAGGS, Walter Newman, Charles Cox and about a dozen other trained woodsmen. The party spennt about eighteen months on the trip and ranged as far as the vicinity of Cumberland Gap. The area was a hunters paradise abounding in deer, buffalo, beaver, otter and mink and small game for their daily food supply. They brought home a large supply of pelts and hides. 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 the Fall of 1769, Skaggs returned to the Cumberland with Kasper Mansker, Joseph Drake and Colonel James Knox. This expedition reached the Dix River in Kentucky, and pressed on to the Green River country. One day on this expedition, the group heard an eerie sound unlike anything they had ever heard before. Mansker pressed forward to investigate only to find the source of the mysterious noise to be Daniel Boone, sprawled on a deerskin singing. The Boones, Daniel and Squire, stayed with the expedition for a week or two, harvesting wild meat and rendering tallow. Part of the Wilderness Road, crossing Rockcastle County, Kentucky from Hazel Patch to Crab Orchard, was known as Skaggs Trace, named after Henry Skaggs.The news of their successful hunts soon spread and led others to venture on similar trips. 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. In May, 1769, Daniel Boone and his party followed the Wilderness Road through Cumberland Gap into Kentucky following an old hunter trail called Skaggs Trace but at Hazel Patch Ky turned northward to the site of Boonesborough which he would later establish as a settlement. By the year 1775 the branch of the Wilderness Road that pointed toward Louisville, Kentucky was known as the SKAGGS TRACE and was named for three Irish brothers, HENRY, CHARLES AND RICHARD SKAGGS. Long Hunters who had spent much time in the region according to Kincaid, page 113. There is also a stream known as SKAGGS CREEK. During the Revolutionary War, the Indian allies of the British waged war against the Kentucky settlers. Beginning in 1777 the fighting was bitter bringing much loss of life and hardships to the people. Several Skaggs were in the war, at least three of them being killed. Virginia and Kentucky Skaggs in the war included JAMES, JOHN, RICHARD, WILLIAM, ARCHIBALD, HENRY, CHARLES, MOSES, JACOB, JORRE AND AARON [SKAGGS] and a few with the same names as some of the above. MOSES and AARON [SKAGGS] are said to have been killed and also a PETER SKAGGS. Several of them received pensions later according to the records. The Draper Manuscripts include a statement that A number of Skaggs brother came to Green County, Kentucky, most of them very early, long before any settlement, and then they became the earliest settlers. JAMES, HENRY, JOHN, CHARLES AND RICHARD SKAGGS left records in Green County, while MOSES AND AARON [SKAGGS] were said to have been killed there. Note: In 1798 Barren County was split off Green County. The Skaggs brothers, sons of JAMES AND RACHEL SKAGGS are believed to have been HENRY, CHARLES, RICHARD, JAMES,JR., AARON, MOSES and JOHN SKAGGS. Many of their descendants still live in Kentucky but as early as 1820 there were three Skaggs in Indiana and at least one is known definitely to be from Kentucky. [Part 2 & 3 are very lengthy & are not included on this webpage. Copies of all of the articles may be obtained from the Morgan County Public Library, Martinsville, Indiana, 46151.] Roadside History: A Guide to Kentucky Highway Markers # 635 Long Hunters Camp Location: .5 mi. N. Jct. with KY 90, US 31-E County: Barren Description: Henry Skaggs and two companions trapping beaver, winter 1770-71, were probably first white men in the area. Named Long Hunters due to long period away from home in the East. Came through Cumberland Gap, 1769, in party led by James Knox. Skaggs group left the main party to spend the winter here. Friendly with the Indians, Skaggs brought many pioneers here later # 1187 Long Hunters Location: Bowling Green, Courthouse lawn, US 68, 231 County: Warren Description: An exploring party of 13 Long Hunters, so named because of the long periods of time spent away from home, camped along Barren River in 1775. Their names were carved on a beech tree, a silent record of the first white men in this area. Henry Skaggs and Joseph Drake of this group had been among first Long Hunters, 1769-71, whose exploring helped open mid-Kentucky. Skaggs Trace ***** The Skaggs Trace was a hunters trail leading from Flat Lick to the Dicks (now Dix River in Lincoln County. It was named for Henry or Richard Skaggs, who hunted in Kentucky as early as 1769. Skaggs Trace left the Warriors Path at Flat Lick in Knox County, Crossed Stinking Creek, and headed northwest along the west branch of Turkey Creek, almost as U.S. 25E does today. It passed north of present-day Barbourville, westward along Poplar Branch of Richland Creek, then northward across several western branches of the Middle Fork. It crossed Robinson Creek, passed Raccoon Spring, and reached Laurel River at happy Hollow Branch. The old trace went through what is now the Levi Jackson Park and followed the Little Laurel River northward, passing what is now London to the east. From the headwaters of the Little Laurel River, it went to the headwaters of Hazel Patch Creek, down the creek to the Rockcastic River, down that river to Skeggs Creek, and up Skeggs Creek to the headwaters. From there it crossed over the Little Negro Creek, a branch of Dicks River and went down Dicks River to Crab Orchard and Stanford. This road was extended through Harrodsburg to Louisville by 1779. It is believed that more pioneer families used Skaggs Trace than Boones Trace when journeying to Kentucky. See Robert L. Kincaid, The Wilderness Road (Middlesborougk KY., 1966); Neat Hammon, Early Roads into Kentucky, Register 68 (April 1970):118-23. Neat 0. Hammon Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set out on an amazing expedition across the Louisiana Territory. In April 1803, The United States, under President Thomas Jefferson, purchased 828,000 square miles from France. This land acquisition is commonly known as the Louisiana Purchase. William Clark’s brother, George Rogers Clark, William Clark and Meriwether Lewis had passed through what is now London and Laurel County. Lewis and Clark passed through this area after returning from their expedition. Lewis made the first trip and Clark came later because he wanted to stay for a while with his family in Louisville. William Clark’s memorandum book charting his trip from Louisville, and he had brought at least some of his family, to meet with President Thomas Jefferson. Notes from Lewis and Clark: He left Crab Orchard on Skaggs Trace on Nov. 2, 1809, after spending the night at Mr. Pleasant’s home. He had breakfast somewhere in Crab Orchard. He paid a Mr. Taylor $2.25, the Pleasants at Crab Orchard, $1.50 and the Stone House $1.50. The next day, he arrived at the home of Mr. “Faress,” which could have been Faris. That could have been what started as the Wood Block House at The Hazel Patch in what is now Laurel County. He paid $6. That would probably indicate that his family had stayed together there. I think I’ve seen somewhere that a Mr. Faris had taken over the Wood Block House after Wood had perhaps died or just decided to sell, but don’t quote me on that. Clark mentioned that it had rained the night before and he paid someone named Mr. Bell 50 cents and someone else $2.85. Nov. 4, he spent the night at a Mr. Anderson’s place. Clark noted that it “rained all last night and morning, roads bad.” He had left Louisville on Oct. 26 and made it to The Hazel Patch by Nov. 3. Five days later, he’d made Bean Station in East Tennessee. By Dec. 7, he’d made it to Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello home in Virginia and was in Washington D.C. by Dec. 18.
Posted on: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 02:11:24 +0000
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