CHAPTER IV 



THE HOLSTON SETTLEMENTS, 1 777" 1 779 



THE history of Kentucky and the Northwest has 

 now been traced from the date of the Cherokee 

 war to the close of the Revolution. Those portions 

 of the southwestern lands that were afterward made 

 into the State of Tennessee had meanwhile devel- 

 oped with almost equal rapidity. Both Kentucky 

 and Tennessee grew into existence and power at 

 the same time, and were originally settled and built 

 up by precisely the same class of American back- 

 woodsmen. But there were one or two points of 

 difference in their methods of growth. Kentucky 

 sprang up afar off in the wilderness, and as a sep- 

 arate entity from the beginning. The present State 

 has grown steadily from a single centre, which was 

 the part first settled; and the popular name of the 

 commonwealth has always been Kentucky. Ten- 

 nessee, on the other hand, did not assume her pres- 

 ent name until a quarter of a century after the first 

 exploration and settlement had begun; and the 

 State grew from two entirely distinct centres. The 

 first settlements, known as the Watauga, or after- 

 ward more generally as the Holston, settlements, 

 grew up while keeping close touch with the Vir- 

 ginians, who lived round the Tennessee head-waters, 



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