In 1773, Capt. Thomas Bullitt, sent by a special commission from William and Mary College in Virginia, came to survey lands and effect settlements in the then territory of Kentucky. His practiced eye perceived the advantages of this port, and he moored his traveling barge in the safe and beautiful harbor of Beargrass and established a camp to protect his men from the weather and to shelter his stores. From this point, he made surveys of much of the adjacent country as far down as Salt River, to which he gave its present title from his having there found the “salt lick” still known by his name. He estimated the advantages of his new settlement at their total worth and proposed to return at once to his friends and procure the means of re-visiting and establishing it. But Death sought him during his well-laid plans!
The story is told of Bullitt’s visit to Chillicothe, a Shawnee town, to hold a friendly talk with the Indians about his intended settlements and obtain their permission.
To accomplish this, he left his party on the Ohio River and traveled out to the town unattended. It was not discovered until he got into the midst of Chillicothe and waved his white flag as a token of peace. The Indians saw with astonishment a stranger among them in the character of an ambassador; for such, he assumed by the flag without any intimation of his intended visit. Some collected information about him and asked him what the news was. Was he from the Long Knife? And why, if he was an ambassador, he had not sent a runner?”
Bullitt, not in the least intimidated, replied that he had no bad news—he was from the Long Knife—and as the red men and white men were at peace, he had come among his brothers to have a friendly talk with them about living on the other side of the Ohio River; that he had no runner swifter than himself, and that he was in haste and could not wait for the return of a runner. ‘Would you,’ said he, ‘if you were starving and had killed a deer, send your squaw to town to tell the news and wait for her return before you eat?’ This put the bystanders in high good humor and gave them a favorable opinion of their interlocutor. And upon his desiring that the warriors should be called together, they were immediately convened, and he promptly addressed them in the following speech, extracted from his journal:
“Brothers:
“I am sent by my people, whom I left on the Ohio, to settle the country on the other side of that river, as low down as the falls. We come from Virginia. The king of my people has bought all the land from the nations of red men both north and south, and I am instructed to inform you and all the warriors of this great country that the Virginians and the English are in friendship with you. This friendship is dear to them, and they intend to keep it sacred. They expect The same friendship from you and all the nations to the lakes. We know that the Shawnees and the Delawares are to be our nearest neighbors, and we wish them to be our best friends as we will be theirs.”
Source: The History of Louisville, from the Earliest Settlement till the Year 1852 by Ben Casseday.