The National tribune., 1903-06-04
A FORGOTTEN ANTE=BEtLUM CELEBRITY.
Peter Cartwright the Begeent Frontier Preacher and His
Remarkable Career.
Remarkable Career.


Perhaps the leading celebrity known to
my beyhood days in Western Illinois in
the early ffties, was Peter Cartwright,
the redoubtable Methodist preacher, then
an old man, but covered with the Slamor
of romantic fame that appealed success
fully to the ina ginations of the young,
and made him our ne plus ultra OF hero
ism. His life had been a stirring one, put
its comparatively simple annals had beeh
so overgrown with a network OF 1apie'
based on newspaper gossip and mouth-to-
mouth eXaggeration. that he had become
ssthe fighting. brawling. half-civilized Prot
estant Friar Tuck" of popular leseno
throughout a dozen Commonwealths OF the
Mississippi Valley.
THE LEGENDARY CARTWRIGHT.
- Those were the flying, eventful years
; which led the predestined 'boys lnfb.ue
sunconsciously up to the grand catastrophe
~ of the war of the rebellion. 1t was the era
of preparation = the training period Tor
great events. A decade later we had my
riads of heroes and had manufactured his.
tory which dwarfed preceding events ana
the actors therein, as if the telescope had
been reversed. end biographies minimized.
But in those quiet days we loved to near
and tell of Peter CartwrightS camp-meet-
ing battles, wherein he had, unaided, put
-, to flight a score of camp-meeting disturb
ers, or the less tragic and more humorous
episodes of his ecclesiastical service.
1t was said that once, after listening TO
n. PRAYER from book-leaned young min
lister, more remarkable for its diction than
its JUNCTION, Peter exclaimed: Brother,
three prayers like that would freeze nell
over'-a calamity that would have put
Peter out of business in short order
=" In New York hotel, where he was
quartered once. on his way to the quad
.rennial General Conference of his church,
he was charged with calling for hatchet
and Blazing his way along the mahoG-
any stairways and painted corridors, from
the office to his room.
His alleged achievements in the line of
pugilism were solemnly quoted in favor,
able contrast with those of Heenan ana
= Savers the dawning divinities OF unor-
thodox assault-and-battery circ.es at that
day.
His eccentricities and the exaggerated
fame of his extra ministerial exploits by
no means lessened the public anxiety to
see and hear him. Thousands Hooked to
every meeting where he was announced TO
preach, and one of the delights OF my
youth was to sit perched on the limb OF a
tree near the camp-meeting platform where
Peter Cartwright was expounding the doc
trines of his church with vigor and elo-
ouence The country has had great preach
ers since-Beecher, Bishop Simpson, Phi-
lips Brooks, Talmadge, Archbishop Ire
land and many more; but none OF them mas
been more to the country than sturdy Old
Peter was to the Western clientage whose
ideals he so completely met and satisfied
Finally, in 1856, appeared his autobl-
ography, a standard volume OF 800 pages
which Immediately became classic III
the regions where its author and subject
were so generally known. The book dis
pelled some of the old illusions and gave
us Peter as he was. 1t is long since out OF
print and nearly forgotten, but weil-worn
copy lies before me, and its occasional
perusal brings back many remlnlscence
of bygone days.
THE CARTWRIGHT OF REAL LIFE.
This book demonstrates that there was
Peter Cartwright of actual flesh and
blood. with g sufficiently notable person
nlity and adventurous life to justify us
even at this day, in turning aside briefly
to recall his memory. He was born II
the State of Virginia, Sept !, 1888, ant
died in Sargamon County, H., near Spring
field, in 1872, at the ripe old age OF 3
years, leaving 129 direct descendants. III!
father had been for two years a Soldier
in the Revolutionary War, and in 119l
emigrated with his wife and children ant
200 other families in bodE in SEX Of Ken. n
tHcky The party embraced 100 well mount
ed and armed young men for offensive and
defensive purposes. should any of the mum
erous bands of hostile Indians that infest
ed the country be met. There were NJ
roads. and pack-horses were the only
means of transporting the household goods
The trail they followed was literally red
with the blood of slain eIsigrants. A
" one point their campfres were lighted il
the presence of the dead recently muir
dered, and at another they halted to bury
= six men who had been killed.
Just before reaching their destination
at Fort Grab Orchard, KY, seven families
belonging to their party voted to camp a
nightfall rather than finish their journey
and they were all cruelty slaughtered, ex
cept one individual who escaped to tel
the tale. Kentucky at that time was thu
common hunting ground of many tribes o
Indians, as it abounded in every variet!
of game, and for this reason the intrusion
of the whites was specially resented ant
ferociously resisted. 1t became the "darl
and bloody ground" of that era, and ha'
since been famous in the annals of pion
eer settlement for the many tragedies en-
acted on its fertile soil.
EARLY LIFE IN KENTUCKY.
The Cartwrights first lived on a small
farm in Lincoln County, but after tw,
years removed to the County of Logan
about nine miles south of the present cit,
of Russellville. Logan County, KY, whel
the elder Cartwright settled there, wa
called 'Rogues Harbor." Thither man,
refugees, from all parts of the Union
fled TO escape punishment; for, although
there was law, yet it could not be execut
ed, and there was a desperate state of so
ciety Murderers, horse thieves, highwa.
robbers, and counterfeiters gathered Their
until they combined and formed a major
fly. The honest people would prosecut
these banditti, but they would swear eacl
other clear. They set the laws at def
ance, and CARRIED on such desperate vic
Ience and outrage that good citizens seem
ed driven to the necessity of uniting an
taking the law into their own hands, un
der the name of Regulators"
Shortly after the Regulators had or
ganized and established their code o
bylaws on court day at Russell
vile the two bands met. Soon n quarre
commenced, and general battle ensue
between the two elements. who tough
with guns, pistols, dirks, knives and clubs
Some were killed and many wounded. Th
rogues were victorious, being PLENTIFUL
supplied with the fluids that in later year
have made Kentucky famous. They hel
their ground and drove the Regulators ou
of town, but the latter rallied again, hunt
ed, killed and lynched many of she rogue!
until most Of them left for parts unknown