George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 7, 4th edition.

The valleys of Kentucky laughed as they heard the distant tread of clustering troops of adventurers, who, under a grant from the Cherokees, already prepared to take possession of the meadows and undulating table land that nature has clothed with its richest grasses. Their views extended to planting companies of honest farmers, and erecting iron works, a salt manufactory, grist-mills, and saw-mills; and the cultureof the rich region was to be fostered by premiums for the heaviest crop of corn, and for the emigrant who should drive out the greatest number of sheep. The men who are now to occupy ‘that most desirable territory,’ will never turn back, but, as we shall see, will carry American independence to the Wabash, the Detroit, and the Mississippi.

At Charleston, South Carolina, the association was punctually enforced. A ship load of near three hundred slaves was sent out of the colony by the consignee; even household furniture and horses, though they had been in use in England, could not be landed; and on the twenty-fifth, the whole cargo of ‘the Charming Sally’ was thrown into Hog Island Creek.

The winter at Boston was the mildest ever known; and in this ‘the gracious interposition of heaven was recognised.’ All the towns in Massachusetts, nearly all in New England, and all the colonies ministered to the wants of Boston. Some relief came even from England. ‘Call me an enthusiast,’ said Samuel Adams; ‘this union among the colonies and warmth of affection can be attributed to nothing less than the ’