Salt
•January 21, 2026•

by Janet Roney

Last week I said that an interesting welcome awaited the very first pioneers who settled in Moultrie County and the Sand Creek area in Shelby County in the late 1820s, but before continuing, let’s review the situation on the western frontier.

Even though the British won the French and Indian War in 1763 and took control of the land beyond the mountains, settlers were slow to move there because the Indians did not quit fighting. Led by Chief Pontiac, they kept raiding frontier settlements in Virginia, the Carolinas, and Kentucky. The British had tried to stop new settlers with the Proclamation Line of 1763, a “do not cross line” drawn down the crest of the mountains. However, try telling a stubborn Scotsman, like my own ancestor or men like James Herrod and Daniel Boone, to stop coming over that line into Kentucky to hunt. Even after Pontiac’s War ended in 1765 with a truce, the Indian menace continued.

    Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.