In the Current of the Revolution 1 1 



of the two localities which served to cover the com- 

 munications with Kentucky; but it was far more 

 serious when the Holston region was menaced; be- 

 cause the land travel was at first much the more 

 important. 



The early settlers of course had to suffer great 

 hardship even when they reached Kentucky. The 

 only two implements the men invariably carried were 

 the axe and rifle, for they were almost equally proud 

 of their skill as warriors, hunters, and woodchop- 

 pers. Next in importance came the sickle or scythe. 

 The first three tasks of the pioneer farmer were to 

 build a cabin, to make a clearing burning the brush, 

 cutting down the small trees, and girdling the large 

 and to plant corn. Until the crop ripened he 

 hunted steadily, and his family lived on the abundant 

 game, save for which it would have been wholly 

 impossible to have settled Kentucky so early. If it 

 was winter time, however, all the wild meat was 

 very lean and poor eating, unless by chance a bear 

 was found in a hollow tree, when there was a royal 

 feast, the breast of the wild turkey serving as a sub- 

 stitute for bread. 15 If the men were suddenly called 

 away by an Indian inroad, their families sometimes 

 had to live for days on boiled tops of green nettles. 16 

 Naturally the children watched the growth of the 

 tasseled corn with hungry eagerness until the milky 

 ears were fit for roasting. When they hardened, 

 the grains were pounded into hominy in the hominy- 

 block, or else ground into meal in the rough hand- 



15 McAfee MSS. " McBride, II, 197. 



