1 6 The Winning of the West 



and especially from "scalded" feet. Yet they hur- 

 ried on, and presented their petition to the Gov- 

 ernor 24 and Council the Legislature having ad- 

 journed. Clark also asked for five hundredweight 

 of gunpowder, of which the Kentucky settlement 

 stood in sore and pressing need. This the Council 

 at first refused to give; whereupon Clark informed 

 them that if the country was not worth defending, 

 it was not worth claiming, making it plain that if 

 the request was not granted, and if Kentucky was 

 forced to assume the burdens of independence, she 

 would likewise assume its privileges. After this 

 plain statement the Council yielded. Clark took the 

 powder down the Ohio River, and got it safely 

 through to Kentucky; though a party sent under 

 John Todd to convey it overland from the Lime- 

 stone Creek was met at the Licking and defeated by 

 the Indians, Clark's fellow delegate being among 

 the killed. 



Before returning Clark had attended the fall meet- 

 ing of the Virginia Legislature, and in spite of the 

 opposition of Henderson, who was likewise present, 

 he procured the admission of Kentucky as a separate 

 county, with boundaries corresponding to those of 

 the present State. Early in the ensuing year, 1777, 

 the county was accordingly organized; Harrods- 

 town, or Harrodsburg, as it was now beginning to 

 be called, was made the county-seat, having by this 

 time supplanted Boonesborough in importance. The 

 court was composed of the six or eight men whom 



24 Patrick Henry. 



