Photo from George H. Honig
The Richard Henderson
Company, under the leadership of Judge Richard Henderson of North Carolina, was
established in 1773 to conduct speculative ventures. In March 1775, this
company transformed into the Transylvania Company and Henderson helped
negotiated the Treaty of Sycamore Shoals with the Cherokee Native
Americans. Henderson was an important
man in the east – a colonel in the militia, a noted orator, a judge – a
self-made man who had dreams of a great fortune in the West. He had a vision of
taking over Kentucky and making it a separate country with himself as supreme
ruler, or at least a new colony with himself as governor. When trying to
describe the glory and bounty of Kentucky, Henderson said,
“A
description of the country is a vain attempt, there being nothing else to
compare with it, and therefore could be only known to those who visit it."
Photo from the Robinson Library
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