Chapters 1-8. Preceding the text is a pocket notebook showing Draper's plan for this book as he envisioned it in 1867. The completed chapters cover:

1) the adventures of de Soto and his army from 1537 to 1543, including the battle of Mauvile; 2) the massacre of the French by the Natchez Indians and the subsequent destruction of the Natchez tribe, 1729-1731; 3) the first fight with Indians west of the Blue Ridge, December 1742; 4) first exploration of Kentucky, 1750; 5) adventures of Robert Stobo and Jacob Van Braam, 1754-1760; 6) the captivity and escape of Mrs. William Ingles, 1755; 7) first military expedition against western Indians, 1756; and 8) John Armstrong's expedition against the Delaware Indian town of Kittanning in September, 1756. These chapters are all in Butterfield's handwriting.