Jefferson said that if his advice were followed, all
the use the Virginians should make of their charter would be "to
prevent any arbitrary or oppressive government to be established
within the boundaries of it"; and that it was his wish "to see a
free government established at the back of theirs [Virginia's]
properly united with them." He would not consent, however, that
Congress should acknowledge the colony of Transylvania, until it
had the approbation of the Virginia Convention. The quit-rents
imposed by the company were denounced in Congress as a mark of
vassalage; and many advised a law against the employment of
negroes in the colony. "They even threatened us with their
opposition," says Hogg, with precise veracity, "if we do not act
upon liberal principles when we have it so much in our power to
render ourselves immortal."

CHAPTER XVI. The Repulse of the Red Men

To this short war may be properly attributed all the kind
feelings and fidelity to treaty stipulations manifested by the
Cherokees ever afterwards. General Rutherford instilled into the
Indians so great a fear of the whites, that never afterwards were
they disposed to engage in any cruelty, or destroy any of the
property of our frontier men.--David L. Swain: The Indian War of
1776.

During the summer of 1775 the proprietors of Transylvania were
confronted with two stupendous tasks--that of winning the favor
and support of the frontiersmen and that of rallying the rapidly
dwindling forces in Kentucky in defense of the settlements.
Recognizing the difficulty of including Martin's Station, because
of its remoteness, with the government provided for Transylvania,
Judge Henderson prepared a plan of government for the group of
settlers located in Powell's Valley. In a letter to Martin (July
30th), in regard to the recent energetic defense of the settlers
at that point against the Indians, Henderson says: "Your spirited
conduct gives me much pleasure.... Keep your men in heart if
possible, NOW IS OUR TIME, THE INDIANS MUST NOT DRIVE US." The
gloom which had been occasioned by the almost complete desertion
of the stations at Harrodsburg, the Boiling Spring, and the
Transylvania Fort or Boonesborough was dispelled with the return
of Boone, accompanied by some thirty persons, on September 8th,
and of Richard Callaway with a considerable party on September
26th. The crisis was now passed; and the colony began for the
first time really to flourish. The