The Lost Gettysburg Address Read Free Page B

seven pack horses and set out for
the Falls of Ohio (now Louisville) accompanied by three slaves. He
built a log cabin at the headwaters of Bear Grass Creek on a grant of
five hundred acres in what later became Jefferson County. 1
    From the beginning of his residence in this largely unsettled area,
Anderson attempted to impose civility and order on what was
essentially a raw wilderness. He founded the first masonic lodge west
of the Allegheny Mountains in 1784. Indian tribes dominated the
Ohio land tracts and frequently followed game into Kentucky, making
settlement there a risky proposition. Anderson’s surveyors were
especially vulnerable. Mountains of paperwork chained Anderson
to his office most of the time. When he did get out, he often
accompaniedGeorge Rogers Clark, the founder of the Commonwealth
of Kentucky, on hunting expeditions in the deep forest. In 1787,Anderson married Clark’s sister Elizabeth. Three years later he began
building his dream house, a Georgian-style stone mansion that he
dubbed“Soldier’s Retreat.”
    Anderson waited to occupy his new home until the Indian threat
had lessened. In the fall of 1789, Indians raided Chenoweth Station,
killing several members of that family. When Anderson arrived on
the horrible scene the next morning, he encountered a four-year-old
child, apparently unharmed. “We are all dead here, Colonel
Anderson,” the little girl said. This looked to be true as a servant and
three of the child’s brothers lay dead on the cabin floor. The girl had
been spared when her bed was overturned by the intruders, throwing
her against the wall and sheltering her behind the mattress. Further
investigation of the grisly scene found little Jamie Chenoweth lying
by the wood pile with a tomahawk gash in his forehead. He rose,
fully conscious. Mrs. Chenoweth was found in the woods nearby,
still alive despite her missing scalp. She had played dead when the
Indian tomahawk thrown at her missed its mark; she had endured
the heinous operation without crying out. Both survived. In 1793,
Anderson’s former acquaintance,“Mad Anthony” Wayne, defeated a
combined force of Indians at Fallen Timbers. Settlement of the countryside
began in earnest. 2
    Elizabeth Clark Anderson gave her husband five offspring before
dying shortly after her namesake daughter was born in December
1794. The grieving widower had four surviving children to raise and
a large business and farm to oversee. In September 1797 he marriedSarah Marshall, the cousin of his old friend and Revolutionary
War comradeJohn Marshall. Marshall was destined for greatness
in his role as chief justice of the United States Supreme Court. Sarah
Marshall Anderson bore the old colonel’s next twelve children. She
christened her ninth child and youngest surviving son with the name
Charles. The family called him Charley.
     
    One of Charley Anderson’s earliest memories was accompanying his
slave “nurse boy” Frank on an errand to deliver a dinner basket to
his older brothers and sisters at the schoolhouse a few miles away.
Frank held Charley’s hand as they inched their way across the
knee-deep Bear Grass Creek on a long board, just below Uncle Tompkins
spring. The young slave boy stopped abruptly and pointed down at
the waters below. Charley was amazed at what he saw. There, reflected
in the quiet clear pool, was a young boy clothed in a blue and
white calico girl’s gown with a red morocco skull cap, replete with a
cotton knot and tassels. Fine, curly white hair cascaded down from
the comical hat and framed the face of the innocent youngster. Dirty
bare feet and creamy white skin completed the visage. Charley giggled
with glee as he realized that he was gazing at himself for the very
first time. What a delightful surprise indeed. Life on the Bear Grass
for the youngest son of Richard Clough Anderson and his wife Sarah
was languid and luxurious. Charley’s mother and sisters doted on the
bright little tot, and he loved being spoiled.