THE ROAD TO KENTUCKY

Fine red lines on Map 1 mark the extensive network of trails that Native Americans had already established in eastern North America before the arrival of Europeans. Red dots mark the sites of Indian villages. Note that major routes, including the Great Indian Warpath/ Great Wagon Road and the Natchez Trace, trended north-south paralleling the Appalachian mountain chain. By contrast, roads built by Americans such as the Wilderness Road (Map 2) often went east-west, cutting across both rivers and mountains.

These maps are important because geography greatly influences how events unfold. Where American pioneers could go, their horses could go also. Earlier Spanish explorers such as De Soto had brought horses into Florida and the Gulf States that were taken in by the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes. Trade between white settlers and tribesmen was the primary source for Spanish blood in the developing Mountain Horse landrace. Settlers led by Daniel Boone and others rode in from the east on Virginia Hobbies or else came south from New England riding Morgans.

“Cumberland Gap,” drawn by Harry Fenn in 1872 The 1851 George Caleb Bingham painting, “Daniel Boone Escorting Settlers Through the Cumberland Gap” (courtesy, the Bridgeman Art Library)