Fayette County KY - First Fort Built 1781The Lexington (Kentucky) Transcript, 15 June 1888 A PEEP INTO THE PAST The English Col Byrd had entered Kentucky with a large force of Indians in 1781, bringing with him what had not before been seen in Kentucky, a couple of small field pieces. With these he subdued every station east of Lexington. Why he did not exterminate the settlers as he might easily have done, has never been explained. One tradition has it (and we may hope it is correct) that Col. Byrd was an officer schooled in a different style of war, and that the barbarities practiced by his Indians upon the inmates of Ruddle's and Martin's stations caused him to terminate his campaign abruptly and return to Detroit. "The warning was enough for John Todd, ,who at once obtained authority from Thomas Jefferson, Governor of Virginia, to erect at the public expense a fort at Lexington that should be 'proof against Swivels and small Artillery, which so terrify our people. But the exchequer was low indeed, and the Governor entreated Todd to remember the virtue of economy. "A substantial structure on the creek side was soon built. 'Eight feet in the clear, walls seven feet thick, of Rammed dirt, inclosed with good timbers 9 feet thick. The top of the wall is neatly picketed 6 feet high, proof against Small Arms. Ditch 8 feet wide and between 4 and 5 feet deep.' And from that time no large Indian force crossed to the west of the Kentucky River. "The cost of this fort is worth notice. Col. Todd reported it to the Governor almost in terms of apology. "The whole expense amounted to 11,341 pounds and 10 shillings, as will appear by the account herewith Sent. It is in vain for me to assure your Excellency that Diligence and Economy has been used in this business, as the Work so abundantly proves it. I believe four times the expense never before made for the Publick a work equal to this. An emulation among the overseers and Rewards in Liquor to the men proved powerful Incentives to Industry. Being a charge of an uncommon nature, I thought it proper to present it to you Excellency and the Council, being better Judges of the Necessity and Expediency of the Work than the Auditors, who are probably unacquainted with the Circumstances of this Country. By either of the Delegates your Excellency may have an opportunity of transmitting the money. "This apparently extravagant outlay, for the payment of which Col. Todd pledged himself to the contractors, dwindles, when examined, to amusingly small proportions. The value of the currency had been fixed by legislation of the previous year at one thousand of paper for one of hard money, and the Virginia pound was $3:33. The expenditure of public money in hard cash was, therefore, just $37.76! Well might Todd say, "four times the expense never before made for the Publick a work equal to this." And well may the modern engineer consider the economy and efficiency of a defense that made tenable the whole State of Kentucky, and wonder if the days of common sense and frugality in public outlays will ever return. "The fort thus opportunely built saved the Hamlet of Lexington from attack in the great expedition of the combined tribes against the Kentucky settlements. It was the supreme effort to drive out the white man, and with its failure Indian warfare became a series of desultory forays and small but sanguinary combats."
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