The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1875-06-04
now LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY, GOT
HER NAME.


In the year 1775 party of hunters were
sent out from the fort at Harrodsburg and
took possession of the north side of the
Kentucky River.
Clothed In their quaint pioneer style of
buckskin pataloons, deerskin legrinps.
linsey hunting shirt and peltly cap, and
armed each with a trusty hint-lock rifle
they toiled through the trackless woods
/ and almost impenetrable canebrakes in
the direction Of the future Lexington.
On or atout the 9Th of June the ap-
proach of night ended one of their solitary
and dangerous marches, and glad to rest,
the tired hunters camped on spot after
wards known successfully as McConnell's
Station. Royals Springs and the Head
ley Distillery property. 1t is only a few
steps from the present "Old Franklin
road" and is nearly opposite the beautiful
Lexington Cemetery. The spring from
which the pioneers drank and watered
their horses still exists, with stream as
cool. clear and grateful as then. After
posting one OF their number on the lookout
for the "red-skin varmints,'' who were ever
on the alert to slay the pale-face. the rest
seated themselves around blazing brush
heap, on logs, and buffalo hides, and with
hunger for sauce, supped with gusto upon
the then inevitable Jerk" and parched
corn.
While eating their simple meal they
talked with enthusiasm of the beautiful
country they had just travelled over, and,
surprised and delighted with the prospect
about them, they determined that their
place of settlement should be around the
very spot where they were then en-
calnped.
The hunters assisted VIM. Mcconnell to
! build a rude little cabin on their camping
ground as the foundation for title, for
Virginia, as early as the year IVA, had
offered 400 acres Of land to each person
who cleared u piece of land, built a cabin
and raised crop of Indian corn. The
name of the settlement, that was to be,
was discussed with animation, One sug-
gested York" another Lancaster" but
both were dropped with shout for LEX
ington = as the conversation turned to the
strange news that had crept slowly through
the wilderness, and which, after it had
been weeks on the way, they had Just heard
of, how king Georges troops, on the 10Th
of April, had called Americans rebels and
shot them down like dogs at Lexington in
Massachusetts, colony"
The story of Lexington's christening,
the historic fact of how she got her name,
is as romantic as the legend of the beauti-
ful Princess Pocohontas, and is an Incl
dent far more interesting, because more
true than the fabulous one told of the
founding of ancient Rome
So the hunters called the new settlement
Lexington, in memory of that bloody field,
hundreds of miles away. and som, of them
soon after joined the continental army
and fought long and bravely to avenge the
minute men who fell that day.
How strange the story Of that pioneer
camp Here. almost one hundred years
ago, when Kentucky was wilderness ter
ritory of the royal province of Virginia;
here, far away from civilized life, in the
heart of an unbroken forest. at the dead
of night. a little band of adyenturers
erected the first monument ever raised on
this continent in honor of the first dead of
the revolution. 1t is true the ceremonies
of its dedication were not attended with
gittering pomp or show, for the officials
were only clad in buckskin and honest
homespun, and the music of their choir
was naught but the scream of the panther
or the far off yell of the savage. But it
vas consecrated by the strictest virtue and
truest patriotism, and nature smiled benig-
nantly upon it from Eden of luxuriant
beauty.