Eskippakithiki, The Last Indian Town in Kentucky - The Filson ...

382 The Filson Club History Quarterly [ Vol. 6
1 Pennsylvania Colonial Records, Vol. III, p. 660; and Wilderness Trail, Hanna,
Vol. I, pp. 302-303.
1, The reason for attributing this Catawba siege to Eskippakithiki is not strong.
The siege may have been of the Lower Shawnee Town, or even of one of the Allegheny
towns. As Eskippakithiki was the first town the Catawbas met on the Great
War Trace going north, it is most likely the town attacked. The burden of proof
lies against the claim of any other locality.
14 Hanna, in his Wilderness Trail, has given a long list of these traders who were
on the Ohio early and in it many interesting names occur. He has made all Ohio
Val ey historians indebted to him for his wonderful collection of facts.
16 This flight of Martin Chartier up the Cumberland River and over Cumberland
Gap into Virginia took place in the year 1692" which makes him possibly the second
white man to visit the interior of Kentucky. ossibly Gabriel Arthur preceded him,
but Arthur's being in Kentucky is not as thoroughly proven as is Martin Chattier's;
and La Salle's alleged trip down the Ohio in 1669 is perhaps less proven than
Arthur's, although France and England had a war about it. Maryland Council Pro.
ceedings, Vol. III, pp. 341-350, etc.; and Wilderness Trail, Hanna, Vol. I, p. 175, et
seq. For Gabriel Arthur's story see "The Discovery of Kentucky," by Dr. Willard
Rouse Jillson, in Register of the Kentucky State Historical Societ;d, May, 1922.
1, A letter from the Marquis de Beauharnois to the French Ministry, dated October
1, 1740, says: "the Sieur de Noyon writes me that, as soon as the Hurons leave,
the Chaouanons will come and take their place . . . they are very docile" and the
individual named [Peter] Chartier seems very well disposed." This was We years
before Chartier's rebellion.
DJManuscripttroit ", Vol . ,p. Letter1 09. in the Burton Historical Collection of thc uhlio ibrary,
is The History of the American Indians, James Adair London (1775) p. 3.
tg On Mitchell's map for 1755 there is located, in Alabama, on the Locushatchee
branch of the Alabama River "Cayomulgee Saunanoos from the Ohio " evidently
Chartier's horde or what was left of them. Early History of the Creek Indians and
their Neighbors, J r. John R. Swanton, Bulletin 73 Bureau of American Ethnology,
Smlthsonian Institution, Washington, 1922; map pocket.
20 Dr. Archibald Henderson, of the University of North Carolbm, in answer to
my questioning, aided and encouraged me to compile the known data about John
Findleyinto a biography Hanna in his Wilderness Trail, Vol lI pp 213-229 pub-
. , . • 2 •
hshed Dr. Lyman C. Draper's " ccount of John Finley," and gives new data and
suggests sources. My thanks are due to these splendid historians of the Old West for
many items in this paper.
2t For Grassy Lick see "History in Circuit Court Records, Fayette County,"
abstracted by Charles R. Staples, Lexington,and published in Register of the Kentucky
State Historical Society, July, 1932. It has often been said that no one of our
time can write a book about Kentucky without Charley Staples being in it, so great
is his historic zeal so careful is his work, and so helpful does he make himself when
an opportunity presents itse f.
The capture of these traders is set out fully in Hanna's 1Vilderness Trail, Vol.
II pp 230 231 252-256 where those who are interested can read of it. The llmitatmns
of space prohibit its story in this paper.
23 Hanna's Wilderness Trail, in a note to page 215, in Volume II, says: " 'Indian
Old Corn Fields,' where this town stood, were so called by Kentucky settlers after
1800; located about eleven miles east of Winchester, in Clark County, Kentucky.
The present hamlet of Indian Fields, on Lulbegrud Creek, marks the site of these
fields and probably, also, the site of Eskippakithiki. The Iroquois name for 'the
place of many fields,' or 'prairie,' as applied to this tract of land (containing about
3000 acres) was kenta-ke from whence comes the name of the state in which they
are situate .:
' Theodore Roosevelt in his Winning of the West publishes this deposition, and
interprets "Brobdernags" as Indians, hut against this interpretation local tradition
in Clark County, preserved by the late Judge James Flanagan, who knew George
Smith for whom the deposition was given, and others, says that the "Brohdernags"
were the giant buffalos.
2a Shane papers in Draper Manuscripts, 11 CC 86-90, Wisconsin State Historical
Society's Collections.