At the close of the autumn of 1780, Kentucky, from being one county, was
divided into three, named Jefferson, Fayette, and Lincoln. William Pope,
Daniel Boone, and Benjamin Logan, were appointed to the important
offices of commanding the militia of their respective counties.
During this year Col. Clarke descended the Ohio, with a part of his
Virginia regiment, and after entering the Mississippi, at the first
bluff on the eastern bank, he landed and built Fort Jefferson. The
occupation of this fort, for the time, added the Chickasaws to the
number of hostile Indians that the western people had to encounter. It
was soon discovered, that it would be advisable to evacuate it, as a
mean of restoring peace. It was on their acknowleged territory. It had
been erected without their consent. They boasted it, as a proof of their
friendship, that they had never invaded Kentucky; and they indignantly
resented this violation of their territory. The evacuation of the fort
was the terms of a peace which the Chickasaws faithfully observed.
The winter of 1781, was one of unusual length and distress for the young
settlement of Kentucky. Many of the immigrants arrived after the close
of the hunting season; and beside, were unskilful in the difficult
pursuit of supplying themselves with game. The Indians had destroyed
most of the corn of the preceding summer, and the number of persons to
be supplied had rapidly increased. These circumstances created a
temporary famine, which, added to the severity of the season, inflicted
much severe suffering upon the settlement.
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