A Thousand- Mile Walk 
to the Gulf 
CHAPTER I 
KENTUCKY FORESTS AND CAVES 
I HAD long been looking from the wild woods 
and gardens of the Northern States to those 
of the warm South, and at last, all draw- 
backs overcome, I set forth [from Indianapo- 
lis] on the first day of September, 1867, joyful 
and free, on a thousand-mile walk to the Gulf 
of Mexico. [The trip to Jeffersonville, on the 
banks of the Ohio, was made by rail.] Crossing 
the Ohio at Louisville [September 2], I steered 
through the big city by compass without speak- 
ing a word to any one. Beyond the city I found 
a road running southward, and after passing a 
scatterment of suburban cabins and cottages I 
reached the green woods and spread out my 
pocket map to rough-hew a plan for my journey. 
My plan was simply to push on in a general 
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