William Strong, who also later became a Baptist preacher, was one of the “North Forkers.” So were the Callahans of North Fork. William Strong’s wife was a Callahan. Samuel Davidson also married a Callahan, and he was in the war. Edward Callahan of Red Bird, was the father of the Callahans. Isaac and William were the names of two of the North Fork Callahans; there was a third.
E. C. Strong of Breathitt County, was a grandson of Rev. William Strong, and his father was named William. Captain Bill Strong and Judge Alex Strong were sons of Edward, another son of the preacher. Edward Cope’s grandmother Cope was a daughter of William Strong, and sister of E. C. Strong. Old Cana Baker made rhymes on the “Cattle War.”
Mrs. Sarah Campbell Baker, born in 1824 was the granddaughter of the original John Campbell, who came from New River, North Carolina. She was a daughter of William Campbell who said, “I have heard my mother and father say that a man named John Gilbert made up a company of men from the Middle Fork and Red Bird to take the cattle and stuff from the North Forkers, and one of their members betrayed them and told the North Forkers so they gathered up a company and met them at Hanging Rock. John Gilbert’s horse was shot under him.”
General T. T. Garrard said the battle of Hanging Rock, at the mouth of Lick Branch, on the North Fork, was fought in 1806; that he was personally acquainted with Richard Nicholson, whose horse was shot under him at the battle. Also, Joe Cox, whom he knew well, was wounded and his horse shot. They were John Amis’ men. Preston Campbell, said “I have heard Wollery Eversole say that the Middle Forkers came out at the mouth of Lick Branch because the cane was so thick at the edge of the water.” William Callahan had polished his gun very bright. John Gilbert was at the head of the line and saw the glitter of a gun, he hollered and cried out, “Look out boys, I see the glitter of a gun.” At this, the North Forkers fired at the Middle Forkers, which scattered them. John Gilbert rode across the river and up the bank into the midst of the warriors. Some said, “Shoot him.” Others said, “No,” and it was with difficulty that he was saved. The women and children had been taken to Sam Davidson’s, where Henry Duff now lives, for safety.
The Middle Forkers retreated to Cutshin and fortified, leaving portholes, expecting the enemy to follow them. The Middle Forkers intended to kill the North Forkers, and take everything they had. Wollery Eversole told me all of this. He said a woman came and notified them that the Middle Forkers were coming. Two men were wounded, and at least one horse killed. They settled it in the courts. It nearly broke Sam Davidson up. He had to sell a Negro to pay the costs. It was Old Billy Strong who said, “Shoot him!” when John Gilbert came up the bank. He afterward became a Baptist preacher, and so did John Gilbert.
At the taking of this last mentioned fort, the Indians killed all but two women, the wives of George and Peter Levice. (Livingston in Collins.) Among the slain were the aged mother and father of Benge. After the massacre one of the captured women asked Benge if he did not remember an old man and an old woman who were killed. He said he did. She said, "They were your father and mother." He dropped his head and wept. They crossed the Cumberland Mountains at Benge's Gap. One of the women was tied to an Indian chief but the other, led by Benge (Peter Levice's wife), marked the path of their retreat by pieces of her clothing torn and scattered.
As the whites pursued, they came to the house of my great grandfather, Nimrod Shepherd. My great grandmother was baking bread. It was not more than half cooked but was divided among them hastily. They took down some dried bear meat and venison saying, "We will use the bear's flesh for meat and the venison for bread." The first sight they got of the Indians was an Indians who had been stationed as a picket. He was roasting a turkey and nodding. Peter Levice slipped within 31 feet of him. They feared to shoot, lest the prisoners should be murdered. Springing for behind a tree, Levice, at three bounds, fell upon his victim and dispatched him with his tomahawk. He fell into the fire and the pursuers first ate turkey and then went on in their pursuit. Peter had lost a wife before this by the Indians and had recently remarried. He swore he would have her if he had to pursue them into Ohio.
George Levice's wife was enciente. Peter Levice's wife was sitting awake. Benge was asleep with his hand in her lap. Only one Indian was awake. A bird hovered over Benge's head, fluttered, and darted off in the direction of the pursuers. The waking Indian shook Benge and told him there was danger. He grunted but fell back to sleep. The bird repeated its performance. The Indian then awakened Benge and told him, "Get up. Bad luck. Bad luck." Benge rose and climbed a black gum tree nearby and got some mistletoe, saying, "I have always gotten mistletoe from this tree when coming to Powell's Valley and have always had good luck." He put it in his shot pouch and they started. The white men overtook them near Benge's Gap. Mrs. Peter Levice first saw her rescuers, and her husband was the first one she saw. He was peeping from behind a tree. He caught her eye and shook his fist at her to keep her quiet. She went only a few steps, when she broke away and started toward her husband, screaming. Benge made three leaps after her, but seeing his danger, he turned in retreat. Levice fired at him as he was pursuing his wife but feared lest he would kill his wife. As Benge retreated he bounded from side to side to prevent his pursuers from hitting him. Vinton Hobbs saved his load till Benge would get into the narrow gap and then at a distance of 55 yards he put a ball through his head. Benge had a "blackjack" cup tied to his body which he clapped over his forehead, and it filled with blood and brains. He also had a small keg of brandy swung over his shoulder. The white men were so infuriated that they turned the contents of the cup upon the ground and drank the brandy from it. They took three strips of flesh from his back, 18 inches long, saying, "These are for razor strops." They put his skull in the cleft of a rock, and my mother said she had seen it often. George Levice's wife clenched the Indian to who she was tied and held his arms. He struck at her with his tomahawk over his shoulders but she had his arms pinioned and he could only use them below the elbows. She would dodge his lick as far as her head was concerned but her collar bone received the blows. She held him till her husband came to the rescue and dispatched him. Soon after she died. A party of white men had gone another route in pursuit of the Indians and they killed all that escaped from this party save one and he died after reaching home. This was the last Indian raid into that country. My grandfather died about 20 years ago (1878), he was about 90 (88-94) years old. This would place this event late in the last century. (Collins' account is from Beiy Shaw's in American Pioneers.) Collins says 1793, Bell County.
The Indians had captured a little Negro boy. They had him in one end of a sack and a keg of liquor or brandy in the other end of the sack. When they were attacked they tumbled the sack over the cliff. It struck the top of a spruce pine which softened the fall. After they had settled with the Indians and had started back they heard the little boy crying. Going down under the cliff they found him. When they asked him how he got there he said, "Why they just throwed me over here and didn't care whether they killed me or no."
A man named Wallin, with a squad of seven men came from Virginia to Harlan County to hunt. Near the mouth of what is now called Wallins in Harlan County one of the party saw an Indian sitting on a log patching his moccasin and raising his trusty rifle shot him dead. Within two hours the Whites were surrounded by Indians and were all shot dead but one man. He escaped to Virginia and it was 7 days before he returned with a party to bury the dead. Each hunter had his dog. These dogs had attacked the bodies of the dead, except Wallin's. His dog lay by the side of his master's corpse and would neither touch it himself nor suffer another to do so. They buried them where they were shot, which was on Laurel Branch, a little above the mouth of Wallin's Branch, at the foot of Pine Mountain. Wallin's Creek got its name in this way.
Bear Hunting. I believe I have killed 30 bears in my life and from 500 to 1,000 deer. I killed 21 in one season at a lick and never missed a shot. My father-in-law said he killed 705 in five yers. He kept a tally on his gunstock. He sold the hams and the hides and said he made more money than at anything else he ever did. Wild turkeys were abundant. There are a good man in this country yet.
School Teachers. Old Frederic Lewis was the first teacher I ever went to school to. Brashears - Old David Fee is the best teacher I ever went to. Brashears was next.
Preachers. Old Robert Hicks was the first preacher I remember. He was a Baptist. My father and mother were members of the Baptist church. My grandfather, Lewis (Gillam?) [sic], was not a member of the church but his wife was.
Mills. We had hand mills when I was a boy, also pound mills run by a sweep and later pound mills run by water power. Stories are told of mice, rats, and many things getting pounded up with the meal. One story is told of a cow who learned to take out a mouthful while the pretle was lifted. We used graters when corn was soft.
Revolutionary Soldiers. My great-grandfather was a Revolutionary soldier. I do not know whether he was a private or an officer or what regiment he was in.
War of 1812. My grandfather was in the War of 1812. He was in the Horse Shoe Battle and in the Battle of New Orleans. Robert Cornett married Charlotte Callahan. Roger married Zilpah Callahan. Robert lived in Benge. His son, Isaac Cornett, moved to Madison county.
John Melton says that Henderson Fee, son of David Fee Sr., went to the Bluegrass. I have heard my father and my grandfather say that John G. Fee of Berea, or as I knew it, the John G. Fee who was tarred and feathered in these mountains during the war, was a first cousin to my grandfather. The Fees are nearly all Republicans, though I am not. My father and all my brothers were and are Republicans.
William Fee, son of Abner Fee, is a Baptist preacher living in Harlan County. The trouble in which my great-grandfather got into with the schoolteacher grew out of the following circumstances. He was attending school, and the teacher told his younger brother to trim his fingernails. The boy did not obey whereupon the teacher began to break them off with a paddle. When the blood began to flow, my great-grandfather struck the teacher over the head with a chair. The young man fled, and never knew whether or not the teacher died.
The people need our preaching and help. The Presbyterians are not getting the people saved, but simply getting them into church. The county is large and more than they can cultivate. I have been preaching on Cutshin, at the mouth of Wooton’s Creek, with a view to building at that point and establishing a church. It is one of the most lawless neighborhoods in the mountains, although there are many good citizens. There are 109 scholars in the district school, and it is a good place to build up a graded school. I have been trying to get the trustees to let me furnish them a teacher, but have not succeeded yet in getting them to do so. I hope for Christian teachers. The money of the state will support them, and they can do so much to mold sentiment and toward bringing the children to Christ.
I have had this view in building and funding schools at Jackson and London, but also, I do not see the results I have labored for. The faculties do not get the students saved. That is the great mistake they are making. Culture is not enough. I will pray for London. Oh, that that school may be a school of Christ. How we need converted teachers.
During my stay in Hyden, I visited the people. I do not feel like any place there is home. During this visit one man, Henry Lewis, told me to make his house my home; I trust he meant it. All received me kindly, but there is a lack of cordiality that makes one feel uncomfortable. But I endure it all for the sake of Christ, who endured such contradiction of sinners for my sake.
I visited the county jail, and held services twice. Monday morning last, I went to Wooton’s Creek again to see further about the school at that place. During my stay, Emanuel Wooton received an appointment to raise a company for the Cuban War from the governor. He got it the 27th and the 31st; he led 46 men. Then young men in the county were enlisting very fast. Some married men were volunteering also.
The creeks are full of timber. They have had no tides yet in Leslie County, and very little in Clay. In the two counties there are 80, 000 logs ready for market, worth $240,000 or at least $200,000.
The young corn is very vigorous in the bottoms and on the hillsides men, women and children are cultivating it. I hardly past a field that did not have women in it, where work was being done. The people have an abundance of corn this year. This staple is worth little more than last year, and there are thousands of bushels in this county, and plenty in Leslie County to do the people.
The people are strong in intellect considering their lack of culture. The children are both handsome and bright. The young people make a much more attractive appearance than in former years. The have more money, more knowledge of what other parts of the world are doing, and have a greater desire to keep up with the customs and fashions of the world. As I rode up Cutshin Creek, last Monday morning, I passed eight or ten men playing cards, on the roadside. They paid no attention to me. Two games were being played. They had coats or blankets spread on the ground on which to play. I rebuked them in a mild way and passed on. The same day I visited Harrison Napier, a merchant who is a trustee of the Wooton’s Creek School, to see him about furnishing a teacher. He is nearly 44 years old. He introduced me to his wife, who, he informed me, has passed her 14th birthday since they married five weeks ago. She is a mere child in every way with no conception of the responsibility of her situation. He has grandchildren. He killed a man a few years ago, whose wife’s affections he had alienated. I could tell from his conversation that he was very impure in his life. Yet, he is a very bright man, one of the best salesmen in this section.
Rev. Apperson Sizemore, our local preacher in Leslie County, started to Wooton’s Creek Saturday and Sunday, but he became offended at something before we reached our destination, and returned home. I did not know he was going or was offended until I heard of his retreating. Well, I thank God that he kept me in good fellowship and love with everyone. He is a very useful man, and I trust his usefulness will continue.
There are a number of Baptist and Campbellite preachers in Leslie County. I found one Sunday School outside of Hyden, conducted by some Baptists, at the mouth of Short Creek, one and one-half miles up the river from Hyden. If there are others in the county I am not informed. Praise God for the privilege of working in such a destitute field.
The effect of pious training was evident in the character of the old man. Had he been as religious as his father, his son would have never been a distiller. No training is so important as that during the first years of life. The die is already cast. Parentage is highest, holiest, and heavenliest of all relationships. No work is so great as bearing and raising children. The child will live while God lives, and it is for the parent to decide, largely, whether that existence will be in heaven or hell.
It is sad to look at the ashes of Wyatt's Chapel. Brother Ragan and the people here labored so hard to build it. God so signally blessed their efforts and gave His endorsements by saving so many souls in it, that one feels regretful in looking at the ruin. But, God thus permits them an opportunity to do another great work, so that they may have a double reward and double honor.
