Fort Nashborough - Robertson By Land

Robertson By Land

On 1 November 1779, Robertson led some 200 settlers from Fort Patrick Henry (now Vincennes, Indiana) toward Fort Nashborough to prepare for the later arrival of the party's women and children, who were to be led (by John Donelson) out of the east over waterways. Robertson's brothers, Mark and John, were in the party, as well as his oldest son, 11-year-old Jonathan, who drove the sheep. The men were joined en route by John Rains and a number of his friends and allied families. This group decided to settle at French Lick, rather than continue upriver into that area which later became the State of Kentucky. Their journey ended on Christmas Day, due to delays caused by the winter (described as the coldest one any of them had ever known).