Face to Face

Geography will often define the boundaries for settlement.  Where to go and how to get there will be directed by water, hills, mountains, fertile land and the like.  Figuring things out will often take time and adjustments.

Now, who occupied the land was always a problem for those who wanted to occupy the land.  The geography of the mountains had separated a land grabbing group of folks [on the east] who wanted it all, from a number of ethic groups [on the west] who had been fighting one another for a good long while.  These ethic groups had settled their own differences following a warfare that had lasted until around 1700.  Wyandot, Delaware, Shawnee, Cherokee, and Miami had generally laid claim to their homeland on the western side of this Cumberland-Allegheny mountain ridge.  You can see on the drawing above the general areas occupied by these groups.  The Shawnee and Cherokee were to have the most say about coming into this Ohio Valley after the Wyandot got things rolling with those folks on the eastern side of the mountains.  Anyway you went, down the water (Ohio) or around the mountains (to become the Cumberland Gap) you would have to face the Shawnee or Cherokee.  Face to face was yet to come.

Who's The First

"The City of Firsts" is what it is called...this town of Danville, Kentucky.  But before there was ever this town, or state, or country, the French, Spanish, and English were all trying to get here first.

However, the first to occupy this land that was to become Kentucky, were ethnic groups called the Shawnee and Cherokee.  As early as 1673 [When the French were roaming the land.] the Shawnee had defeated the Cherokee and occupied a major settlement and ceremonial grounds called "Eskippakithiki".  This was along one of the earliest recorded trails west of the Appalachian mountains called "The Warriors Path".  North to south, it ran along the length of the eastern side of this land that was to become Kentucky and my own family's home at Clark County, Kentucky.

What the Shawnee and the Cherokee were yet to face were the arrival from the north, of the powerful Iroquois.  The warfare which resulted between these ethic groups was felt to have been a cruel and devastating struggle leading to the defeat of the Shawnee and the Cherokee.   The last battle in this struggle is believed to have been fought near the Falls of the Ohio before the year 1700.  The Iroquois were left the victors and claimed the right by combat to the title of the valley of the Ohio.  Therefore, they were actually the first to name this area "Ken-tah-teh" which means "tomorrow", or "coming day".  How about that!  The Iroquois were the first to name this land.

Documentation is taken from: Wallis, F.A., Tapp, H.(eds.) A Sesqu-Centennial History of Kentucky. Vol.I - III, The Historical Record Association, Hopkinsville, KY, 1945.