History of Lexington, Kentucky: Its Early Annals and Recent Progress

The History of Lexington begins in the mist of prehistory. It is believed that it was originally "an ancient walled city of vast extent and population," complete with stone mounds and mummies in subterranean cemeteries. The Indians later entered this region and called it "Kantuckee," meaning "dark and bloody ground." They regarded with "suspicious awe" the land once occupied by a "strange race which their ancestor had long ago exterminated." With the arrival of the White Man, the Red Man faced a similar fate. Although Daniel Boone first gazed across Kentucky in 1769, and several hunting and surveying expeditions crossed the area in subsequent years, the first permanent white settlement in Lexington was not made until 1775; the new community was named in honor of the Massachusetts town where the opening battle of the Revolutionary War had been fought just a few months earlier. This history begins with the ancient inhabitants of the area and continues down to the Civil War era. It covers all manner of topics such as Transylvania University, the siege of Bryant's Station, the battle of Blue Licks, the Lexington Racing Association, native and resident artists, the Lexington Light Infantry, the first session of the Legislature, the founding of The Observer and Reporter in 1807, and much more. The text is laced with the names of early settlers which are now made readily accessible by the addition of a new full-name index.