# Alexander Wilson to Alexander Lawson, Natchez, 18 May 1810, as printed in George Ord, Sketch of the Life of Alexander Wilson (1828) CITATION: George Ord, Sketch of the Life of Alexander Wilson, Author of the American Ornithology (Philadelphia: Harrison Hall, 1828), pp. cxxxii-cxxxvii (letter headed "To Mr. Alexander Lawson. Natchez, Mississippi Territory, May 18th, 1810"), with Ord's footnote on Lewis. URL fetched: https://archive.org/download/sketchoflifeofal00ordg/sketchoflifeofal00ordg_djvu.txt (Internet Archive item sketchoflifeofal00ordg) DATE FETCHED: 2026-09-14 TRANSCRIPTION: OCR of the 1828 printed book. Ord's text differs slightly from the Port Folio 1812 printing (date 18 May 1810 vs "May 28th, 1811"; "fowling piece" vs "musket"; "eaten only a few mouthfuls" vs "had not eat but a few mouthfuls"; "wistfully" vs "wishfully"; asterisks mark Ord's omissions). ---- VERBATIM TEXT (OCR of the scan; line breaks and page headers as in the scan; runs of spaces collapsed; OCR errors NOT corrected) ---- TO MR. ALEXANDER LAWSON. Natchez, Mississippi Territory, May 18th, 1810. " Dear Sir, " About three weeks ago I wrote to you from Nashville, enclosing three sheets of drawings, which I hope you have re- LIFE OF WILSON. CXXXiii ceived.* I was at that time on the point of setting out for St Louis; but being detained a week by constant and heavy rains, and considering that it would add four hundred miles to my journey, and detain me at least a month; and the season being already far advanced, and no subscribers to be expected there, I abandoned the idea, and prepared for a journey through the wilderness. I was advised by many not to attempt it alone; that the Indians were dangerous, the swamps and rivers almost impassable without assistance, and a thousand other hobgoblins were conjured up to dissuade me from going alone. But I weighed all these matters in my own mind; and attributing a great deal of this to vulgar fears and exaggerated reports, I equipt myself for the attempt, I rode an excellent horse, on which I could depend; I had a loaded pistol in each pocket, a loaded fowling piece belted across my shoulder, a pound of gunpowder in my flask, and five pounds of shot in my belt. I bought some biscuit and dried beef, and on Friday morning. May 4th, I left Nashville. About half a mile from town I ob- served a poor negro with two wooden legs, building himself a cabin in the woods. Supposing that this journey might afford you and my friends some amusement, I kept a particular ac- count of the various occurrences, and shall transcribe some of the most interesting, omitting every thing relative to my Or- nithological excursions and discoveries, as more suitable for another occasion. Eleven miles from Nashville I came to the Great Harpath, a stream of about fifty yards wide, which was running with great violence. I could not discover the en- trance of the ford, owing to the rains and inundations. There was no time to be lost, I plunged in, and almost immediately my horse was swimming. I set his head aslant the current, and being strong, he soon landed me on the other side. As the weather was warm, I rode in my wet clothes without any inconvenience. The country to-day was a perpetual succes- sion of steep hills and low bottoms; I crossed ten or twelve large creeks, one of which I swam with my horse, where he * These drawings never came to hand. cxxxiv LIFE OF WILSON. v^as near being entangled among some bad drift wood. Now^ and then a solitary farm opened from the woods, where the negro children were running naked about the yards. I also passed along the north side of a high hill, where the whole timber had been prostrated by some terrible hurricane. I lodged this night in a miner's, who told me he had been engaged in forming no less than thirteen companies for hunting mines, all of whom had left him. I advised him to follow his farm, as the surest vein of ore he could work. Next day (Saturday) I first observed the cane growing, which increased until the whole woods were full of it. The road this day winded along the high ridges of mountains that divide the waters of the Cum- berland from those of the Tennessee. I passed few houses to- day; but met several parties of boatmen returning from Natchez and New Orleans; who gave me such an account of the road, and the difficulties they had met with, as served to stiffen my resolution to be prepared for every thing. These men were as dirty as Hottentots; their dress a shirt and trowsers of can- vass, black, greasy, and sometimes in tatters; the skin burnt wherever exposed to the sun; each with a budget, wrapt up in an old blanket; their beards, eighteen days old, added to the singularity of their appearance, which was altogether savage. These people came from the various tributary streams of the Ohio, hired at forty or fifty dollars a trip, to return back on their own expenses. Some had upwards of eight hundred miles to travel. When they come to a stream that is un/orda- ble, they coast it for a fallen tree: if that cannot be had, they enter with their budget on their head, and when they lose bottom, drop it on their shoulders, and take to swimming. They have sometimes fourteen or fifteen of such streams to pass in a day, and morasses of several miles in length, that I have never seen equalled in any country. I lodged this night at one Dobbins's, where ten or twelve of these men lay on the floor. As they scrambled up in the morning, they very gene- rally complained of being unwell, for which they gave an odd reason, lying vjithin doors, it being the first of fifteen nighls LIFE OF WILSON. CXXXV they had been so indulged. Next morning (Sunday) I rode six miles to a man's, of the name of Grinder, where our poor friend Lewis perished.* In the same room where he expired, I took down from Mrs. Grinder the particulars of that melan- choly event, which affected me extremely. This house or ca- bin is seventy-two miles from Nashville, and is the last white man's as you enter the Indian country. Governor Lewis, she said, came hither about sunset, alone, and inquired if he could stay for the night; and, alighting, brought his saddle into the house. He was dressed in a loose gown, white, striped with blue. On being asked if he came alone, he replied that there were two servants behind, who would soon be up. He called for some spirits, and drank a very little. When the servants arrived, one of whom was a negro, he inquired for his powder, saying he was sure he had some powder in a canister. The servant gave no distinct reply, and Lewis, in the mean while, walked backwards and forwards before the door, talking to him- self. Sometimes, she said, he would seem as if he were walk- ing up to her; and would suddenly wheel round, and walk back as fast as he could. Supper being ready he sat down, but had eaten only a few niouthfuls when he started up, speak- ing to himself in a violent manner. At these times, she says, she observed his face to flush as if it had come on him in a fit. He lighted his pipe, and drawing a chair to the door sat down, saying to Mrs. Grinder, in a kind tone of voice, " Madam, this is a very pleasant evening." He smoked for some time, but quitted his seat and traversed the yard as before. He again sat down to his pipe, seemed again composed, and cast- ing his eyes wistfully towards the west, observed what a sweet evening it was. Mrs. Grinder was preparing a bed for him; * It is hardly necessary to state, that this was tlie brave and enterprising traveller, whose journey across the Rocky Mountains, to the Pacific Ocean, has obtained for lum well-merited celebrity. Tlie true cause of his commit- ting tlie rash deed, so feelingly detailed above, is not yet known to the pub- lic; but liis fi-iends will not soon forget tlie base imputations and cruel neglect, which the honourable mind of the gallant sokUer knew not how to brook. CXXXVi LIFE OF WILSON. but he said he would sleep on the floor, and desired the ser- vant to bring the bear skins and buflfalo robe, which were im- mediately spread out for him; and it being now dusk the wo- man went off to the kitchen, and the two men to the barn, which stands about two hundred yards off. The kitchen is only a few paces from the room where Lewis was, and the wo- man being considerably alarmed by the behaviour of her guest could not sleep, but listened to him walking backwards and forwards, she thinks, for several hours, and talking aloud, as she said, "like a lawyer." She then heard the report of a pistol, and something fall heavily on the floor, and the words " 0 LordP^ Immediately afterwards she heard another pistol, and in a few minutes she heard him at her door calling out ^* O madam! give me some water, and heal m,y wounds^ The logs being open, and unplastered, she saw him stagger back and fall against a stump that stands between the kitchen and room. He crawled for some distance, and raised himself by the side of a tree, where he sat about a minute. He once more got to the room; afterwards he came to the kitchen door, but did not speak; she then heard him scraping the bucket with a gourd for water; but it appears that this cooling element was denied the dying man ! As soon as day broke and not before, the terror of the woman having permitted him to remain for two hours in this most deplorable situation, she sent two of her children to the barn, her husband not being at home, to bring the servants; and on going in they found him lying on the bed; he uncovered his side, and showed them where the bullet had entered; a piece of the forehead was blown off, and had ex- posed the brains, without having bled much. He begged they would take his rifle and blow out his brains, and he would give them all the money he had in his trunk. He often said, <' I am no coward; but I am so strong, so hard to die.^^ He begged the servant not to be afraid of him, for that he would not hurt him. He expired in about two hours, or just as the sun rose above the trees. He lies buried close by the common path, with a few loose rails thrown over his grave. I gave LIFE OF WILSON. CXXXVii Grinder money to put a post fence round it, to .shelter it from the hogs, and from the wolves; and he gave me his written promise he would do it. I left this place in a very melancholy mood, which was not much allayed by the prospect of the gloomy and savage wilderness which I was just entering alone. •* » * » " I was roused from this melancholy reverie by the roaring of Buffalo river, which I forded with considerable difficulty. I passed two or three solitary Indian huts in the course of the day, with a few acres of open land at each; but so wretchedly cultivated, that they just make out to raise maize enough to keep in existence. They pointed me out the distances by holding up their fingers. This is the country of the Chicka- saws, though erroneously laid down in some maps as that of