Breckinridge County KyArchives News.....Hardin's Fort September 8, 2021
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Dana Brown http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00005.html#0001067 January 29, 2022, 4:54 pm

The Herald News Newpaper September 8, 2021
HARDIN’S FORT
BY LESLIE GALLOWAY HAYCRAFT
THE HERALD NEWS NEWSPAPER 
9/8/2021 EDITION

The first settlers in Breckinridge County were in a group led by William Hardin. 
Born in Virginia in 1747, Hardin and his family moved to Pennsylvania when he was
age 17.  He was known as “Big Bill” for his large stature of 6’4” and 240 pounds. 
These qualities, as well as his bravery were highly needed by a frontier leader. 
Later on he was known as “Indian Bill” for his many fights against Indians.  Big
Bill arrived in Kentucky with an original land grant for 400 acres.  The party
consisted of William Hardin, Christopher Bush, Michael Leonard, and Sinclair Hardin
(Bill’s cousin).  They arrived from the Ohio River on a flatboat at the mouth of
Sinking Creek which is the current site of Stephensport.

When the men landed and started walking “on this spot of luxurious growth and
beauty,” a group of Indians overtook their flatboat and another group began to
closely follow them.  As they realized they could not return to their boat, they
fled toward Hine’s Fort (the current site of Elizabethtown) for safety.  It was at
Big Spring that the men stopped to rest and get some water.  At this time Sinclair
Hardin was hit in the back with an arrow and the others crawled to the safety of
tall grass.  As the Indians that had shot Sinclair ran to claim his scalp in
Victory, Hardin ordered his men to fire on them.  Three Indians were killed here at
Big Spring and the party was able to reach the safety of Hine’s Fort.

In 1775 negotiators from The Transylvania Company, which included Daniel Boone, had
managed to make an agreement with the Cherokees along the Tennessee River.  This
treaty allowed white settlement in the area.  Hardin’s Fort was one of those
settlements soon after the treaty that was pivotal in assisting people to migrate
towards the eastern states.

It was Spring before the settlers made it from Hine’s Fort back to the spot they had
chosen to build their fort.  This entailed lots of work; clearing the land and
cutting of trees which would make posts for the fort.  Some posts were said to have
been 12 to 15 feet long.  Trenches were dug two and a half feet deep, posts set and
earth packed firmly around them.  Several stayed behind to work while Hardin and a
few others went back to Pennsylvania to escort 12 families to come live in Kentucky.
 Hardin brought his first wife, Winifred Ann Holtzclaw, and their nine children, as
well as many other families.  Names included: Claycomb, Brashear, Bruner, Barger,
Hayness, Rice, Jolly, Barr, Dean, Spencer.

Hardins’ Fort’s first cabin was built by Leighton White with assistance by
Christopher Bush, Michael Leonard, John Taul, Roger Barton, and others.  It was
approximately 16 feet by 16 feet and sat on the Southwest end of a 50 foot tall
bluff, less than a mile southwest of current Hardinsburg.  From there it was built
onto and included a 30 foot by 80 foot palisade style wall, the inside of which
contained six or eight small 12 by 12 foot cabins.

The fort came to be known as a “Surveryor’s Fort” and sheltered more surveyors and
land speculators than actual families.  When it was built in 1880 it was the
furthermost western fort of any frontier fort in America.  Written records of some
of these events exist in the form of a deposition of William Hardin in a legal case
from 1812.  In it there are several statements referring to the early history of the
fort and the area settled.  For instance, it is mentioned that the Ohio River was
previous to 1780 called the Wabasha in Shawnee.  Michael Leonard’s, a member of the
original party, death soon after their arrival is also mentioned.  Many interesting
details such as these are mentioned in W. H. Perrin’s History of Kentucky from
1885.

William Hardin’s house was burned (although not clear by who) and in the fire were
lost many deeds and patents.  Because of this he sadly lost his rights to much of
the land he had in Breckinridge, Hardin, Meade, Grayson, and Hancock Counties. 
Nonetheless, William Hardin will always be remembered for his bravery and actions,
without which we might not have the Hardinsburg, Kentucky as we know it today.


Additional Comments:
Copied from original article, with permission from Leslie Galloway Haycraft
(reporter) and the Herald News newspaper, from their 9/8/2021 edition.

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ky/breckinridge/newspapers/hardinsf563gnw.txt

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