The first settlers here were Michael Sprinkle, John
Upp, William Smith, father of William Finely Smith, John Husbands, John
Haussman, Jacob Sprinkle, John Kurkendall, Eneas McCallister and John
Dunn. During the year 1792 Captain John Dunn was appointed Constable for
this territory. Eneas McCallister, grandfather of the late John E.
McCallister, was detained here with his family by the ice, while enroute
from the Cumberland River country to Pittsburgh, Penn. There were not more
than half a dozen little log cabins on the bank, and two of these found
vacant by Mr. McCallister were taken possession of and occupied by him and
his family.
There were no Indians at that time to be seen on this
side of the Ohio, but on the Indiana side were to be found several tribes,
among the number were the Shawnees, from whom Shawneetown derived its
name. There were very troublesome at times, and as heartless as
troublesome. A party of young boys, of whom were Michael and Jake Sprinkle
and John Upp, armed for the purpose of hunting, crossed the river in
canoes, never once suspecting that Indians were in that vicinity, and upon
landing were surprised by a party in ambush, two of them captured, one
shot down, the fourth being an expert swimmer, and under providential
favors, made his escape back to Kentucky. The two captives were tortured
in many ways - they were made to walk force marches, then beaten with many
stripes, and finally after having undergone a terrible journey, bare-foot
and almost naked, march into Sandusky, on Lake Erie, from whence, after
having lived a most frightful life, they escaped, and some time afterward
arrived at the Red Banks, to the joy of their kin and comrades.
History of Henderson County, Kentucky
by Edmund L. Starling
p. 27
published in 1887
public domain material
