Surviving trans-Appalachian accounts are rare, and the accounts in this volume describe the journey over Daniel Boone?s Wilderness Road and down the Ohio River toward the "New Eden" of Kentucky. Settlers found that the route west was fraught with danger and they describe the challenges and hardships they faced in their travels. The settlers? accounts vividly depict a region that had captured the imagination of a young nation and describe the risks pioneers were willing to endure to put down roots in the new wilderness.
Eslinger?s extensive introduction considers the major aspects of the journey west. In addition to explaining how Americans had made the decision to leave established communities in the East, she explores the reasons for communal protection and for pioneer preferences for certain types of travel. She also describes the sights and experiences early settlers encountered and discusses how travel in the region changed throughout the century as Native American tribes acquired weapons from their interactions with the French and British during the Revolutionary War.
Running Mad for Kentucky is an invaluable contribution to the history and understanding of early Kentucky and the first frontier. The volume also brings to light a less-understood chapter in the nation?s westward development by utilizing numerous letters and oral histories of trans-Appalachian travelers to examine the historic consequences of a pivotal period in the saga of the creation of the United States.