Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 9.djvu/13

CHAPTER I.

THE "DARK AND BLOODY GROUND"—ORIGIN OF THE NAME—BATTLE GROUND OF NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN INDIANS-RECURRENCE OF CONDITIONS IN THE CIVIL WAR—RETURN OF PEACE-IMPORTANCE OF A CORRECT HISTORY OF THE SOUTH IN THE WAR, ESPECIALLY AS TO KENTUCKY—MISCONCEPTION AND MISREPRESENTATION—THE PRINCIPLES INVOLVED IN THE STRUGGLE—MR JEFFERSON'S VIEWS—ATTITUDE OF OTHER STATESMEN NORTH AND SOUTH—STATE RIGHTS AND NULLIFICATION IN THE NORTH— BLOOD NOT SHED IN VAIN—THE REPUBLIC MORE STABLE BY REASON OF THE SOUTH'S PROTEST IN ARMS.

AT the treaty at Watauga, Tenn., in March, 1775, when the Cherokees sold to the Henderson company for ten thousand pounds sterling the greater part of the territory embracing the present State of Kentucky, the chief, Dragging Canoe, said there was a dark cloud over that country. Another version is that he said it was "a dark and bloody ground." The whites, inquiring the meaning of his reference to a cloud, and fearing it implied an imperfect title, were assured with a stately wave of the hand by the stern chieftain that their title was unquestioned, but that he feared when the purchasers went to take possession the Indians of the north who frequented the land as a hunting ground would shed their blood and resist their occupancy.

Three days after the conclusion of the treaty, the purchasers, preceded by Daniel Boone with a small party, started for their newly acquired possessions, and within ten days the first blood was spilled in verification of the chief's ominous warning. The Indians of the north met

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