The Conquest of the Old Southwest | Page 5

civilization was
wanderlust--the passionately inquisitive instinct of the hunter, the
traveler, and the explorer. This restless class of nomadic wanderers was
responsible in part for the royal proclamation of 1763, a secondary
object of which, according to Edmund Burke, was the limitation of the
colonies on the West, as "the charters of many of our old colonies give
them, with few exceptions, no bounds to the westward but the South
Sea." The Long Hunters, taking their lives in their hands, fared boldly
forth to a fabled hunter's paradise in the far-away wilderness, because
they were driven by the irresistible desire of a Ponce de Leon or a De
Soto to find out the truth about the unknown lands beyond.
But the hunter was not only thrilled with the passion of the chase and of
discovery; he was intent also upon collecting the furs and skins of wild
animals for lucrative barter and sale in the centers of trade. He was
quick to make "tomahawk claims" and to assert "corn rights" as he
spied out the rich virgin land for future location and cultivation. Free
land and no taxes appealed to the backwoodsman, tired of paying
quit-rents to the agents of wealthy lords across the sea. Thus the settler
speedily followed in the hunter's wake. In his wake also went many
rude and lawless characters of the border, horse thieves and criminals
of different sorts, who sought to hide their delinquencies in the merciful
liberality of the wilderness. For the most part, however, it was the
salutary instinct of the homebuilder--the man with the ax, who made a

little clearing in the forest and built there a rude cabin that he bravely
defended at all risks against continued assaults--which, in defiance of
every restraint, irresistibly thrust westward the thin and jagged line of
the frontier. The ax and the surveyor's chain, along with the rifle and
the hunting-knife, constituted the armorial bearings of the pioneer.
With individual as with corporation, with explorer as with landlord,
land-hunger was the master impulse of the era.
The various desires which stimulated and promoted westward
expansion were, to be sure, often found in complete conjunction. The
trader sought to exploit the Indian for his own advantage, selling him
whisky, trinkets, and firearms in return for rich furs and costly peltries;
yet he was often a hunter himself and collected great stores of peltries
as the result of his solitary and protracted hunting-expeditions. The
rancher and the herder sought to exploit the natural vegetation of marsh
and upland, the cane-brakes and pea-vines; yet the constantly recurring
need for fresh pasturage made him a pioneer also, drove him ever
nearer to the mountains, and furnished the economic motive for his
westward advance. The small farmer needed the virgin soil of the new
region, the alluvial river-bottoms, and the open prairies, for the
cultivation of his crops and the grazing of his cattle; yet in the intervals
between the tasks of farm life he scoured the wilderness in search of
game "and spied out new lands for future settlement".
This restless and nomadic race, says the keenly observant Francis Baily,
"delight much to live on the frontiers, where they can enjoy undisturbed,
and free from the control of any laws, the blessings which nature has
bestowed upon them." Independence of spirit, impatience of restraint,
the inquisitive nature, and the nomadic temperament--these are the
strains in the American character of the eighteenth century which
ultimately blended to create a typical democracy. The rolling of wave
after wave of settlement westward across the American continent, with
a reversion to primitive conditions along the line of the farthest frontier,
and a marked rise in the scale of civilization at each successive stage of
settlement, from the western limit to the eastern coast, exemplifies from
one aspect the history of the American people during two centuries.
This era, constituting the first stage in our national existence, and
productive of a buoyant national character shaped in democracy upon a
free soil, closed only yesterday with the exhaustion of cultivable free

land, the disappearance of the last frontier, and the recent death of
"Buffalo Bill". The splendid inauguration of the period, in the region of
the Carolinas, Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky, during the second
half of the eighteenth century, is the theme of this story of the pioneers
of the Old Southwest.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
I THE MIGRATION OF THE PEOPLES
II THE CRADLE OF WESTWARD EXPANSION
III THE BACK COUNTRY AND THE BORDER
IV THE INDIAN WAR
V IN DEFENSE OF CIVILIZATION
VI CRUSHING THE CHEROKEES
VII THE LAND COMPANIES
VIII THE LONG HUNTERS IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE
IX DANIEL BOONE AND WILDERNESS EXPLORATION
X DANIEL BOONE IN KENTUCKY
XI THE REGULATORS
XII WATAUGA--HAVEN OF LIBERTY
XIII OPENING THE GATEWAY--DUNMORE'S WAR
XIV RICHARD HENDERSON AND THE