Pierre, where crayfishes had destroyed a pioneer dam
They reached without incident the famous Grindstone Ford of Bayou
Pierre, where crayfishes had destroyed a pioneer dam. Beyond, at
the forks of the path where the Choctaw Trail bore off to the
cast the party pursued the alternate Chickasaw Trail by Indian
guidance, and soon noted the change in the character of the soil
from black loam to sandy gravel, which indicated that they had
reached the Piedmont region. Indian marauders stole one horse
from the camp, and three of the party fell ill. The others,
pressed for food, were compelled to leave the sick men in an
improvised camp and to hasten on, promising to send to their aid
the first Indian they should meet ‘who understood herbs.’ After
appalling hardships, they crossed the Tennessee and entered the
Nashville country, where the roads were good enough for coaches,
for they met two on the way. Thence Baily proceeded to Knoxville,
seeing, as he went, droves of cattle bound for the settlements of
west Tennessee. With his arrival at Knoxville, his journal ends
abruptly; but from other sources we learn that he sailed from New
York on his return to England in January, 1798. His interesting
record, however, remained unpublished until after his death in
1844.