DOWN THE OHIO RIVER, in the spring of 1778, in the time of the Revolution, came a little band of adventuring emigrants
out of Virginia, destined to write a new chapter in the history of the west. They came under escort of Lieutenant
Colonel George Rogers Clark and his Virginia "Long Knives," among whom was Captain John Vertrees, whose
history has been related. Others traveled in that company whose descendants were to be numbered among the earliest
settlers of Pike county, Illinois.
In this company came Richard Chenoweth and his family, kinsmen of the Pike county Chenoweth and his family, kinsmen
of the Pike county Chenoweths. He was a son of the second John Chenoweth (or Chinoweth) and a grandson of the first
John Chenoweth (Chinoweth) in America, "Gent. Blacksmith and surveyor," native of St. Martins in meneage,
Cornwall county, Wales, where he was born about 1682-3. This John Chenoweth is the progenitor of all the Chenoweths
in America. His wife was Mary Calvert, daughter of Charles Calvert, third of the Lords Baltimore.
Between Richard Chenoweth and Captain John Vertrees was a friendship so strong that either would doubtless have
laid down his life for the other. It was a friendship born of those perilous days upon the Ohio river in 1778,
when Captain John shared with Richard the task of guarding Mrs. Chenoweth and her young children against surprise
attack by lurking Indians. Later, in 1779 or 1780, at the falls of the Ohio (present Louisville), a marriage was
celebrated between a son of Captain John Vertrees and a daughter of Richard Chenoweth's brother, William Chenoweth
(Chennerworth in the old Virginia records).
Richard Chenoweth of this review was an uncle of Major William Chenoweth of the Revolution, who was the father
of Abraham, James Hackley and Jacob Van Meter Chenoweth of the early Perry settlement, an uncle also of Jonathan
and Samuel Chenoweth, who were early comers to the region north of present Griggsville; and the great grandfather
of James H. Kinnear (son of Katurrah Chenoweth Kinnear), who was a resident of Perry in the 1840s.
Richard Chenoweth was born in Virginia in 1734. He was a skilled carpenter. His home was near the North Mountain
in Berkeley county. There he married Margaret (Peggy) McCarthy. In Virginia they had four children, Mildred, Thomas,
Jane and James.
Word drifted back over the mountains of a wonderful land that Dan'l Boone had explored, in a county of Virginia
called Kentucky. Richard decided he would take his family to the new land.
While Richard was making preparations for the great adventure, word reached him that a Lieutenant Colonel Clark
was raising a little army of Virginians for an expedition into the Illinois country, and that he would pass down
the Ohio river, skirting the Kentucky land, as he journeyed into the west. He decided to accompany Colonel Clark
and put his family under the protection of the military expedition.
There were no wagon roads, so the household goods, the mother and the children, were loaded on pack horses, and
the father and his eldest son, Thomas (the father of Katurrah Chenoweth Kinnear of early Perry), strode beside
them through the wilderness.
In April, 1778, the family reached Red Stone (now Brownsville), Pennsylvania, whence so many families started their
journeys into the west. From Red Stone they moved on to Fort Pitt at the junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela
rivers. Here they found Colonel Clark and his soldiers, also about twenty families who, like themselves, were going
to Kentucky and preparing to float down the river in flat-boats, under the protection of Clark's troops.
"At this point," says an old record of this expedition, "Captain Richard Chenoweth was commissioned
to build a flat-boat to carry the party down the river. The landing where the boat was to be built was a smooth
slope, reaching to the water's edge. The ‘yard,' as it was called, was convenient to the blacksmith shop and the
cabins where the people of the little town lived. The boat was to be made, as far as possible, of wood, Iron was
very expensive because every pound had to be brought on horseback from beyond the mountains, and therefore could
not be used to any extent in building the craft. The lumber out of which the boat was made was obtained from trees
which had been cut near the river bank, and trimmed and floated down the stream to the ‘shipyard.'
"Here the logs were drawn out of the water and raised to a kind of platform, where one man could stand beneath
and another on top of the log, and two men, one pulling the saw up and another down, could saw the log into planks.
This, of course, was a slow process. The larger timbers of the boat were hewn out of large logs. The broad ax and
adz were used for this purpose. These timbers were sometimes as large as 9 by 24 inches by 30 feet. They were placed
20 feet apart to form the outside timbers, or gunwales, of the boat. Then planks were closely laid from one to
the other of these long timbers. At the ends they fitted into what carpenters called a ‘gain' or groove. Of course
there was frequently some little space between these bottom boards. These spaces, or cracks, were tightly filled
with oakum, or with old rope, driven in with a hammer.
"It was necessary to construct a boat with the top side down, and turning it over before being floated was
a big job. This was done by raising one side of the boat with long poles as levers, until it stood on its side.
It was then let down gradually by means of shorter poles or posts until the bottom was on the ground. The finishing
touches to the hull were then put on.
"The boat now being ready for the ‘launching,' large timbers called ‘ways,' were laid, inclining from the
boat to the water. The boat was then placed on these timbers and held from sliding down the ways by a rope. When
all was in readiness, the rope was cut, and the boat slid from the shore into the river.
"The boat was then tied to the shore and the process of finishing began. Uprights about six feet high were
fastened to the heavy gunwales and to these planks were pinned. This furnished protection against the fire of Indians
in case of attack. The bow of the boat was inclosed in the same way, except that a small deck was left where the
crew of the boat could go about to fasten the lines that were used to ‘tie up' the boat when a landing was made
for some purpose. The stern was generally inclosed to the roof. Doors were placed in the sides and bow. Scuttle-holes
for going up and down from the main body of the boat were made in the roof at convenient places. There was always
a short stairs near the women's part of the boat, to be used by the women and children when a landing was made.
Holes were cut in the sides and ends, from which guns could be fired in case of attack by the Indians.
"The boats were allowed to drift but were also propelled in shallow water by poles touching the bottom, while
deckhands walked along the sides from the bow to the stern, thus pushing the boat along. In deep water the boat
was propelled by means of large oars placed on a pivot on each side. To steer this unwieldy craft there was a large
oar mounted on the stern and the steersman walked across the roof and pushed the oar, directing the boat to the
left or right.
"When the boat was finished, the men and older boys were quartered in the bow, and the women and children
in the stern. The baggage was stowed away in the most convenient places. In the stern of the boat a fireplace had
been built so that in rainy weather, or when the boat could not land, cooking could be done. This fireplace was
built almost like those built in the log cabins. Dirt was spread over a 4-by-6 space, and then over this a layer
of stones was placed. Then the chimney of clay and sticks was built high enough to go above the top of the boat.
A small supply of wood was taken on board. The fire was kept burning all the time, because if it went out, it would
be difficult to start again. Matches had not been invented, and the only means of rekindling would be to get fire
from another boat, or start it from flint and steel."
At last all was in readiness, and the little fleet under the command of colonel Clark started the momentous voyage.
By day the boats drifted slowly down the river, flanked on either side by the primeval wilderness. When darkness
settled on the river, the boats were tied to the shore and all disembarked and camped for the night. Guards were
posted over the boats and in the woods back of the camp. During this long voyage the soldiers and settlers became
well acquainted.
Captain John Vertrees on this voyage formed a strong liking for young Thomas Chenoweth, eldest son of Richard.
Young Thomas later was captured by the Indians and for many years was a captive in their fastnesses in the old
Northwest Territory. Captain John finally effected his return to his people through his old friend, George Rogers
Clark, by whom an exchange was arranged with the British Governor at Detroit.
The voyage down the Ohio ended May 27, 1778 at Corn Island, in the Ohio river, near what is now Louisville. The
island was then, of course, nameless. It no longer is in existence, and historians dispute as to its exact location.
It was just above the falls of the Ohio. The boats were tied to trees on the island's shores, near the Kentucky
side. The rich soil of the island was clothed with great forests and the soldiers and settlers at once set to work
to make a clearing. Cabins were thrown up for the settlers' families. An inclosure or stockade was built, and Richard
Chenoweth, being the most experienced carpenter in the company, was directed by Colonel Clark to build the fortification.
In this inclosure the military supplies were stored, becoming a base for Clark's great campaigns in the west. In
log houses within the inclosure the soldiers were quartered.
Corn was planted in the clearings and the rich soil provided a bountiful harvest the first year. Thus, the place
was named Corn Island.
Colonel Clark and his Virginians tarried on Corn Island until the following June 24, setting out on that date upon
his western campaign for the subjugation of the Illinois villages, in which he was so signally successful. When
Clark sent back dispatches by forest runners, telling of his capture of Kaskaskia, he included orders for the immediate
erection of a fort on the mainland, opposite Corn Island. Richard Chenoweth was placed in charge of construction.
The fort was built on the highest point of the river, near a spring, being the first fort within the confines of
present Louisville. It was about 200 feet long by 100 feet wide, having eight log cabins on the east and west sides,
the length of the enclosure, and four cabins across the ends.
In 1782, Clark, raised to the rank of brigadier general, began a fort some distance up the river bank from the
first fort, on which Richard Chenoweth was the contractor. The state of Virginia, failing to pay Chenoweth, he
failed financially. This fort, just below the mouth of the Beargrass, played a prominent part in the early history
of Louisville.
Colonel Clark, returning to the falls of the Ohio following his successful conquest of Old Vincennes, had taken
up his headquarters in a log cabin in the fort built by Chenoweth. Here he kept up a correspondence with the Governor
of Virginia.