What makes Henderson and his company particularly interesting to the

admirers of Daniel Boone is, the strong probability that the purchase of
the Cherokees was made on his representation and by his advice. This is
the opinion of Judge Hall and of Mr. Peck, who also believe that Boone
was already in the service of Henderson when he made his long journey
to Kentucky. "This theory," says Mr. Peck, "explains why his brother,
Squire Boone, came out with supplies, and why they examined the country
so fully and particularly between the Kentucky and Cumberland rivers."

[Footnote 22: Gallagher.]

[Footnote 23: Gallagher.]




CHAPTER IX.

Description of the Old Fort at Boonesborough--Usual methods of
fortification against the Indians--Arrival of more settlers at
Boonesborough--Captain Boone returns to the Clinch River to
bring out his family--He enlists new emigrants and starts for
Kentucky--Reinforced by a large party at Powell's Valley--Arrival
at Boonesborough--Arrival of many new settlers at Boonesborough and
Harrod's settlement--Arrival of Kenton, Floyd, the McAfees, and
other distinguished persons--Arrival of Colonel Richard Callaway.


As the old fort at Boonesborough became so celebrated in the Indian
wars which followed its erection, our readers may be curious to know
what sort of structure it was. "We have accordingly copied from a
print in Collins' Historical Sketches of Kentucky a view of the fort,
from a drawing made by Colonel Henderson himself, and the following
description: 'It was situated adjacent to the river, with one of the
angles resting on its bank near the water, and extending from it in the
form of a parallelogram. The length of the fort, allowing twenty feet
for each cabin and opening, must have been about two hundred and sixty,
and the breadth one hundred and fifty feet. In a few days after the work
was commenced, one of the men was killed by the Indians.' The houses,
being built of hewn logs, were bullet proof. They were of a square
form, and one of them projected from each corner, being connected by
stockades. The remaining space on the four sides, as will be seen by
the engraving, was filled up with cabins erected of rough logs, placed
close together. The gates were on opposite sides, made of thick slabs
of timber, and hung on wooden hinges. This was in accordance with the
fashion of the day."

"A fort, in those rude military times," says Butler,[24] "consisted of
pieces of timber sharpened at the end and firmly lodged in the ground:
rows of these pickets enclosed the desired space, which embraced the
cabins of the inhabitants. A block-house or more, of superior care and
strength, commanding the sides of the fort, with or without a ditch,
completed the fortifications or Stations, as they were called. Generally
the sides of the interior cabins formed the sides of the fort. Slight as
this advance was in the art of war, it was more than sufficient against
attacks of small arms in the hands of such desultory warriors, as their
irregular supply of provisions necessarily rendered the Indians. Such
was the nature of the military structures of the provision against their
enemies. They were ever more formidable in the canebrakes and in the
woods than before even these imperfect fortifications."

We have seen in Boone's own account that the fort at Boonesborough was
completed on the 14th of June, 1774. The buildings necessary for the
accommodation and safety of the little colony, and of the relatives and
friends by whom they expected to be joined during the summer and fall,
were completed about this time. Colonel Henderson, Mr. John Luttrell,
and Mr. Nathaniel Hart, three of the proprietors, arrived at the
station, which was now named Boonesborough, in compliment to the
intrepid pioneer. These gentlemen brought out with them between thirty
and forty new settlers, a goodly number of pack-horses, and some of
the necessaries of civilized life; and the Station, upon which various
improvements were soon made, at once became quite a bustling, life-like,
important _military_ place. Much pleased with the manner in which he had
commenced the settlement of a new commonwealth, and laid the foundations
of what he doubted not was soon to become a great city, Boone took a
part of his men and returned to the settlement on Clinch River, for the
purpose of setting an example to others by moving out his own family.

The daring pioneer was now in high spirits, and more than ever
enraptured with the deep forests and rich plains of Kentucky. He sounded
their praises without intermission among the settlers on Clinch River,
and soon induced a number of persons to agree to accompany him on his
return to Boonesborough. He then went about making his domestic
arrangements, for a final removal to Kentucky, with great energy; and
these being soon completed, in September or October he turned his back
upon his old home forever, and started with his family and a few
followers toward that which his unsurpassed daring and rude skill had
prepared for them in a new land. In Powell's Valley he found Hugh
McGary, Richard Hogan, and Thomas Denton, with their families and
followers, awaiting his arrival. His companions, as now increased,
amounted to twenty-six men, four women, and four or five boys and girls,
perhaps half grown; and placing himself at the head of this interesting
little colony, he proudly led it through the Cumberland Gap into the
wilderness beyond, where it was destined to be the germ of a great
State.

When this party had arrived at the head of Dick's River, McGary, Denton,
and Hogan, with their families and a few followers, separated themselves
from the rest, and struck through the forest for the spot where Harrod
and his Monongahelians had built their cabin the year before. Boone,
with the main body of the party, continued his original course, and
in due time arrived safely at Boonesborough; "and Mrs. Boone and her
daughter," it is always recorded with an air of pleasant exultation by
the admirers of the old pioneer, "were the earliest white women in that
region, and the first of their sex and color that ever stood upon the
banks of the wild and beautiful Kentucky."

During the latter part of the year 1775, a great many adventurers and
surveyors, principally from Virginia and North Carolina, made their
appearance in Kentucky; and for all such, Boonesborough was a place
of general rendezvous. Some united themselves to Boone's colony, and
remained permanently at his Station: others clustered abound Harrod's
Old Cabin, and the Fort which had by this time been erected by Logan,
and made "improvements" in the vicinity of each; but most of them
returned to their several homes after having made such locations and
surveys as they thought proper. Among those by whom Boone was visited
in the course of this year, were several men who have subsequently
rendered very important services in the settlement of the West, and
attained great and deserved celebrity: such were Simon Kenton, John
Floyd, the four brothers McAfee, and others. A tolerably good road,
sufficient for the passage of pack-horses in single file, had been
opened from the settlements on the Holston to Boonesborough, by the
party which Boone led out early in the following spring; and this
now became the thoroughfare for other adventurers, a number of whom
removed their families from North Carolina to Kentucky, and settled
at Boonesborough, during the fall and winter of this year. Colonel
Richard Callaway was one of these; and there were others of equal
respectability.

[Footnote 24: History of Kentucky.]




CHAPTER X.

Disturbed state of the country in 1775--Breaking out of
the Revolutionary war--Exposed situation of the Kentucky
settlements--Hostility of the Indians excited by the British--First
political convention in the West--Capture of Boone's daughter and
the daughters of Colonel Callaway by the Indians--Their rescue by a
party led by Boone and Callaway--Increased caution of the colonists
at Boonesborough--Alarm and desertion of the Colonies in the West
by land speculators and other adventurers--A reinforcement of
forty-five men from North Carolina arrive at Boonesborough--Indian
attack on Boonesborough in April--Another attack in July--Attack
on Logan's Fort, and siege--Attack on Harrodsburg.


The reader will not fail to remark that the period at which Daniel Boone
commenced the settlement of Kentucky, was the most eventful one in the
history of our country. In the year 1775 hostilities between Great
Britain and her American Colonies commenced at Lexington and Concord,
and the whole country was mustering in arms at the time when Boone and
the other western emigrants were forming settlements four hundred miles
beyond the frontiers of Virginia and the Carolinas. Encouraged by the
treaty of Lord Dunmore with the Indians in 1774, and knowing the Indian
titles to the lands they were occupying to have been extinguished, they
naturally counted on an unmolested possession of the region they were
settling. But in this expectation they were sorely disappointed. The
English officers and agents in the northwest were indefatigable in
stimulating the Indians to attack the American colonists in every
quarter. They supplied them with arms and ammunition, bribed them with
money, and aided and encouraged them to attack the feeble settlements in
Kentucky and Tennessee. But Providence overruled these circumstances for
the benefit of the Western country. "The settlement of Kentucky led to
the conquest of the British posts in Illinois and Indiana, in 1778, and
eventually threw the wide valleys of the West under control of the
American Union."[25]

The settlers in Kentucky in 1775, were still acting under the belief
that the claims purchased by Henderson and Company from the Cherokees
were valid, and that "the Proprietors of the Colony of Transylvania"
were really founding a political State. Under this impression they
took leases from the Company, and in the course of the year, eighteen
delegates assembled in convention at Boonesborough, and acknowledged the
Company as lawful proprietors, "established courts of justice, and rules
for proceeding therein; also a militia law, a law for the preservation
of game, and for appointing civil and militia officers."[26] This was
the first political convention ever held in the Western Valley for the
formation of a free government.[27]

The winter and spring of 1776[28] were passed by the little colony
of Boonesborough in hunting, fishing, clearing the lands immediately
contiguous to the station, and putting in a crop of corn. The colonists
were molested but once by their enemies during the winter, when one man
was killed by a small band of marauding Indians, who suddenly appeared
in the vicinity, and as suddenly departed.

In the middle summer month, an incident of a thrilling character
occurred, which cast a deep but only momentary shadow upon the little
society of Boonesborough. This was the capture, by some skulking Indians
belonging to a numerous band who were now prowling through the woods and
brakes of Kentucky, and occasionally approaching the settlements for the
purpose of plunder, of three young females, members of the families of
Boone and Callaway.

This incident, which has been taken as the ground-work of two or three
western fictions, and also had thrown around it all the warm coloring of
romance, by writers professing to deal only with the authentic, is thus
briefly related in the papers of Colonel John Floyd, as quoted by Mr.
Butler:

"On the 7th of July, 1776, the Indians took out of a canoe which was
in the river, within sight of Boonesborough, Miss Betsey Callaway, her
sister Frances, and a daughter of Daniel Boone. The last two were about
thirteen or fourteen years of age, and the other grown.

"The affair happened late in the afternoon, and the spoilers left the
canoe on the opposite side of the river from us, which prevented our
getting over for some time to pursue them. Next morning by daylight we
were on the track, but found they had totally prevented our following
them by walking some distance apart through the thickest cane they could
find. We observed their course, however, and on which side they had left
their sign, and traveled upward of thirty miles. We then imagined that
they would be less cautious in traveling, and made a turn in order to
cross their trace, and had gone but a few miles before we found their
tracks in a buffalo-path.

"Pursuing this for the distance of about ten miles, we overtook them
just as they were kindling a fire to cook. Our study had been more to
get the prisoners without giving their captors time to murder them after
they should discover us, than to kill the Indians.

"We discovered each other nearly at the same time. Four of our party
fired, and then all rushed upon them, which prevented their carrying
any thing away except one shot-gun without any ammunition. Mr. Boone and
myself had a pretty fair shot, just as they began to move off. I am well
convinced I shot one through; the one he shot dropped his gun, mine had
none."

[Illustration: CAPTURE OF BOONE'S DAUGHTER.]

"The place was very thick with cane; and being so much elated on
recovering the three little broken-hearted girls, prevented our making
any further search. We sent them off without moccasins, and not one of
them with so much as a knife or a tomahawk."

Although the people of the little colony of Boonesborough were not
aware of the fact at the time, the marauding Indians who thus captured
Miss Boone and the Misses Callaway, as they were amusing themselves by
paddling about the foot of the rock in the canoe, were one of the many
scouting parties of Indians who were scattered about watching all the
different settlements in Kentucky, and preparing to attack them. The
incident of the capture of the girls spread an alarm, and guards were
stationed to defend the hands who were engaged in cultivating the
ground.

Toward autumn the alarm of Indian hostilities, and the knowledge that
war was raging throughout the Colonies east of the mountains, excited
so much alarm, that some three hundred land speculators and other
adventurers deserted the Western country and returned to their old
homes.[29]

With the exception of the capture of the young girls mentioned
above, no incident is recorded as having disturbed the tranquility of
Boonesborough during the year 1776. An occasional immigrant added a new
member to its little society, who assisted in the labors of the hardy
colonists on the surrounding grounds. But its numbers received no
considerable increase till the following summer, when (25th July, 1777,)
a party of immigrants from North Carolina, consisting of forty-five men,
arrived in the country, and took up their first abode in the wilderness
at Boonesborough.

This was a fortunate circumstance for that station, and great cause of
rejoicing among all the settlements, for there were none of them that
had not been much molested by the Indians since the opening of spring,
and one or two of them had undergone long and regular Indian sieges.

Boonesborough had been surrounded by about one hundred of the enemy,
as early as the middle of April, 1777, and fiercely attacked. But the
Indians were so warmly received by the garrison on this occasion, that
they in a very little time withdrew, having killed one of the settlers,
and wounded four others. Their own loss could not be ascertained.

Increased to two hundred warriors, this party had returned to the attack
of Boonesborough on the fourth of July.[30] On the present occasion,
having sent detachments to alarm and annoy the neighboring settlements,
in order that no reinforcements should be sent to Boonesborough, the
Indians encamped about the place, with the object of attempting its
reduction by a regular siege. After a close and vigorous attack for two
days and nights, in which they succeeded in killing but one man and
wounding four others, the Indians, losing all hope of success, suddenly,
and with great clamor, raised the siege, and disappeared in the adjacent
forest. Their own loss was seven warriors, whose fall was noted from the
fort.

After this attack, Boonesborough was disturbed no more by the Indians
during the year. Had it been after the arrival of the immigrants above
referred to, it would, in all probability, have taught its indefatigable
enemies a lesson such as they had never then received at the hands of
the Kentuckians.

But notwithstanding these two considerable attacks, and the "signs"
of Indians in the surrounding forests for the whole summer, the men
continued to clear the lands adjacent to the Station, and to cultivate
corn and garden vegetables, some always keeping a vigilant look-out
while the others labored. For supplies of meat they depended upon the
forests, each of the men taking his turn as a hunter, at great hazard.

Meantime, the other settlements in Kentucky had suffered attacks
from the Indians. Logan's Fort was invested by a force of one hundred
Indians on the 20th of May, 1777, and after sustaining a vigorous
siege for several days, was finally relieved by the timely arrival of
a reinforcement commanded by Colonel Bowman. On the 7th of March, 1777,
the fort at Harrodsburg, then called Harrodstown, was assailed by a body
of Indians, but they were speedily driven off, one of their number being
killed. The whites had four men wounded, one of whom afterward died of
his wounds.

[Footnote 25: Peck. "Life of Daniel Boone."]

[Footnote 26: Butler. "History of Kentucky."]

[Footnote 27: Peck. "Life of Daniel Boone."]

[Footnote 28: Mr. Peck mentions the spring of 1776, as the date of the
arrival at Boonesborough of Colonel Richard Callaway, and an intimate
friend of Boone, with his family, and the family of Benjamin Logan, who
had returned for them the preceding autumn.]

[Footnote 29: Peck.]

[Footnote 30: Gallagher.]




CHAPTER XI.

Arrival of George Rogers Clark in Kentucky--Anecdote of his
conversation with Ray--Clark and Jones chosen as delegates for the
Colonies to the Virginia Legislature--Clark's important services in
obtaining a political organization for Kentucky, and an abundant
supply of gunpowder from the government of Virginia--Great labor
and difficulty in bringing the powder to Harrodstown--Clark's
expedition against Kaskaskias--Surprise and capture of their
fort--Perilous and difficult march to Vincennes--Surprise and
capture of that place--Extension of the Virginian
settlements--Erection of Fort Jefferson.


Among the most celebrated pioneers of the West, was General George
Rogers Clark, who, at the time we are now writing of, bore the rank of
Major. Anxious for the protection of the Western settlements, he was
already planning his celebrated conquest of the British posts in the
northwest.

He first came to Kentucky in 1775, and penetrated to Harrodsburg, which
had been reoccupied by Colonel Harrod. In this visit, from his well
known and commanding talents, he was voluntarily placed in command
of the irregular troops then in Kentucky In the fall he returned to
Virginia, and came back again to Kentucky in 1776. Mr. Butler relates
the following anecdote, received from the lips of General Ray, as having
occurred with General Clark upon his second visit: "I had come down,"
said General Ray, "to where I now live (about four miles north of
Harrodsburg), to turn some horses in the range. I had killed a small
blue-wing duck that was feeding in my spring, and had roasted it nicely
on the brow of the hill, about twenty steps east of my house. After
having taken it off to cool, I was much surprised on being suddenly
accosted by a fine soldierly-looking man, who exclaimed, 'How do you do,
my little fellow? What is your name? Ain't you afraid of being in the
woods by yourself?' On satisfying his inquiries, I invited the traveler
to partake of my duck, which he did, without leaving me a bone to pick,
his appetite was so keen, though he should have been welcome to all the
game I could have killed, when I afterward became acquainted with his
noble and gallant soul." After satisfying his questions, he inquired of
the stranger his own name and business in this remote region. "My name
is Clark," he answered, "and I have come out to see what you brave
fellows are doing in Kentucky, and to lend you a helping hand if
necessary." General Ray, then a boy of sixteen, conducted Clark to
Harrodsburg, where he spent his time in observation on the condition
and prospects of the country, natural to his comprehensive mind, and
assisting at every opportunity in its defense.

At a general meeting of the settlers at Harrodstown, on the 6th of June,
1775, General George Rogers Clark, and Gabriel John Jones, were chosen
to represent them in the Assembly of Virginia.

This, however, was not precisely the thing contemplated by Clark.[31]
He wished that the people should appoint _agents_, with general powers
to _negotiate_ with the government of Virginia, and in the event that
that commonwealth should refuse to recognize the colonists as within its
jurisdiction and under its protection, he proposed to employ the lands
of the country as a fund to obtain settlers and establish an independent
State. The election had, however, gone too far to change its object when
Clark arrived at Harrodstown, and the gentlemen elected, although aware
that the choice could give them no seat in the legislature, proceeded to
Williamsburg, at that time the seat of government. After suffering the
most severe privations in their journey through the wilderness, the
delegates found, on their arrival in Virginia, that the Legislature had
adjourned, whereupon Jones directed his steps to the settlements on the
Holston, and left Clark to attend to the Kentucky mission alone.

He immediately waited on Governor Henry, then lying sick at his
residence in Hanover County, to whom he stated the objects of his
journey. These meeting the approbation of the governor, he gave Clark a
letter to the Executive Council of the State. "With this letter in his
hand he appeared before the council, and after acquainting them fully
with the condition and circumstances of the colony, he made application
for five hundred-weight of gunpowder for the defense of the various
stations. But with every disposition to assist and promote the growth of
these remote and infant settlements, the council felt itself restrained
by the uncertain and indefinite state of the relations existing between
the colonists and the state of Virginia, from complying fully with his
demand. The Kentuckians had not yet been recognized by the Legislature
as citizens, and the proprietary claimants, Henderson & Co., were at
this time exerting themselves to obtain from Virginia, a relinquishment
of her jurisdiction over the new territory. The council, therefore,
could only afford to _lend_ the gunpowder to the colonists as
_friends_, not _give_ it to them as _fellow-citizens_."[32]

At the same time, they required Clark to be personally responsible for
its value, in the event the Legislature should refuse to recognize the
Kentuckians as citizens, and in the mean time to defray the expense of
its conveyance to Kentucky. Upon these terms he did not feel at liberty
to accept the proffered assistance. He represented to the Council, that
the emissaries of the British were employing every means to engage the
Indians in the war; that the people in the remote and exposed Stations
of Kentucky might be exterminated for the want of a supply which he, a
private individual, had at so much hazard and hardship, sought for their
relief, and that when this frontier bulwark was thus destroyed, the fury
of the savages would burst like a tempest upon the heads of their own
citizens.

To these representations, however, the Council remained inexorable; the
sympathy for the frontier settlers was deep, but the assistance already
offered was a stretch of power, and they could go no further. The keeper
of the public magazine was directed to deliver the powder to Clark; but
having long reflected on the situation, prospects, and resources of the
new country, his resolution to reject the assistance, on the proposed
conditions, was made before he left the Council chamber.

He determined to repair to Kentucky, as he had at first contemplated, to
exert the resources of the country for the formation of an _independent
State_. He accordingly returned the order of the Council in a letter,
setting forth his reasons for declining to accept their powder on these
terms, and intimating his design of applying for assistance elsewhere,
adding "that a country which was not worth defending was not worth
claiming." On the receipt of this letter the Council recalled Clark to
their presence, and an order was passed on the 23d of August, 1776, for
the transmission of the gunpowder, to Pittsburg, to be there delivered
to Clark, or his order, for the use of the people of Kentucky. This was
the first act in that long and affectionate interchange of good offices
which subsisted between Kentucky and her parent State for so many years;
and obvious as the reflection is, it may not be omitted, that on the
successful termination of this negotiation hung the connection between
Virginia and the splendid domain she afterward acquired west of the
Alleghany Mountains.

At the fall session of the Legislature of Virginia, Messrs. Jones and
Clark laid the Kentucky memorial before that body. They were, of course,
not admitted to seats, though late in the session they obtained, in
opposition to the exertions of Colonels Henderson and Campbell, the
formation of the territory, which now comprises the present State of
that name, into the County of Kentucky. The first efficient political
organization of Kentucky was thus obtained through the sagacity,
influence, and exertions of George Rogers Clark, who must be ranked as
the earliest founder of that Commonwealth. This act of the Virginia
Legislature first gave it form and a political existence, and entitled
it, under the constitution of Virginia, to a representation in the
Assembly, as well as to a judicial and military establishment.

Having obtained these important advantages from their mission, they
received the intelligence that the powder was still at Pittsburg, and
they determined to take that point in their route home, and carry it
with them. The country around Pittsburg swarmed with Indians, evidently
hostile to the whites, who would no doubt seek to interrupt their
voyage.

These circumstances created a necessity for the utmost caution as well
as expedition in their movements, and they accordingly hastily embarked
on the Ohio with only seven boatmen. They were hotly pursued the whole
way by Indians, but succeeded in keeping in advance until they arrived
at the mouth of Limestone Creek, at the spot where the city of Maysville
now stands. They ascended this creek a short distance with their boat,
and concealed their cargo at different places in the woods along its
banks. They then turned their boat adrift, and directed their course to
Harrodstown, intending to return with a sufficient escort to insure the
safe transportation of the powder to its destination. This in a short
time was successfully effected, and the colonists were thus abundantly
supplied with the means of defense against the fierce enemies who beset
them on all sides.[33]

It was fortunate for Virginia, says a recent writer,[34] that she had
at this time, on her western borders, an individual of rare military
genius, in the person of Colonel George Rogers Clarke, "_the Hannibal
of the West_," who not only saved her back settlements from Indian
fury, but planted her standard far beyond the Ohio. The Governor of the
Canadian settlements in the Illinois country, by every possible method,
instigated the Indians to annoy the frontier.

Virginia placed a small force of about 250 men under Clark, who,
descending the Ohio, hid their boats, and marched northwardly, with
their provisions on their backs. These being consumed, they subsisted
for two days on roots, and, in a state of famine, appeared before
Kaskaskias, unseen and unheard.

At midnight they surprised and took the town and fort, which had
resisted a much larger force; then seizing the golden moment, sent
a detachment who with equal success surprised three other towns.
Rocheblave, the obnoxious Governor, was sent to Virginia. On his person
were found written instructions from Quebec to excite the Indians to
hostilities, and reward them for the scalps of the Americans.

The settlers transferred their allegiance to Virginia, and she, as the
territory belonged to her by conquest and charter, in the autumnal
session of 1778 erected it into a county to be called Illinois.
Insulated in the heart of the Indian country, in the midst of the most
ferocious tribes, few men but Clark could have preserved this
acquisition.

Hamilton, the Governor of Detroit, a bold and tyrannical
personage, determined, with an overwhelming force of British and
Indians, to penetrate up the Ohio to Fort Pitt to sweep all the
principal settlements in his way, and besiege Kaskaskias. Clark
despaired of keeping possession of the country, but he resolved to
preserve this post, or die in its defense. While he was strengthening
the fortifications, he received information that Hamilton, who was at
Fort St. Vincent (Vincennes,) had weakened his force by sending some
Indians against the frontiers.

This information, to the genius of Clark, disclosed, with the rapidity
of an electric flash, not only safety but new glory. To resolve to
attack Hamilton before he could collect the Indians was the work of a
moment--the only hope of saving the country. With a band of 150 gallant
and hardy comrades, he marched across the country. It was in February,
1779. When within nine miles of the enemy, it took these intrepid men
five days to cross the drowned lands of the Wabash, having often to wade
up to their breasts in water. Had not the weather been remarkably mild,
they must have perished.

On the evening of the 23d, they landed in sight of the fort, before the
enemy knew any thing of their approach. After a siege of eighteen hours
it surrendered, without the loss of a man to the besiegers. The Governor
was sent prisoner to Williamsburg, and considerable stores fell into the
possession of the conqueror.

Other auspicious circumstances crowned this result. Clark, intercepting
a convoy from Canada, on their way to this post, took the mail, forty
prisoners, and goods to the value of $45,000; and to crown all, his
express from Virginia arrived with the thanks of the Assembly to him and
his gallant band for their reduction of the country about Kaskaskias.
This year Virginia extended her western establishments through the
agency of Colonel Clark, and had several fortifications erected, among
which was Fort Jefferson, on the Mississippi.[35]

[Footnote 31: Collins.]

[Footnote 32: Collins.]

[Footnote 33: Collins. "Historical Sketches of Kentucky."]

[Footnote 34: Howe. "Historical Collections of Virginia."]

[Footnote 35: Howe.]




CHAPTER XII.

Scarcity of salt at Boonesborough--Boone goes to Blue Licks to make
salt, and is captured by the Indians--Taken to Chillicothe--Affects
contentment, and deceives the Indians--Taken to Detroit--Kindess of
the British officers to him--Returns to Chillicothe--Adopted into
an Indian family--Ceremonies of adoption--Boone sees a large force
of Indians destined to attack Boonesborough--Escapes, and gives the
alarm, and strengthens the fortifications at Boonesborough--News
of delay by the Indians on account of Boone's escape--Boone goes
on an expedition to the Scioto--Has a fight with a party of
Indians--Returns to Boonesborough, which is immediately besieged
by Captain Duquesne with five hundred Indians--Summons to
surrender--Time gained--Attack commenced--Brave defense--Mines and
countermines--Siege raised--Boone brings his family once more back
to Boonesborough, and resumes farming.


While George Rogers Clark was engaged in his campaign against the
British posts in the northwest, Daniel Boone was a prisoner among the
Indians. The people at Boonesborough were suffering for want of salt.
It could not be obtained conveniently from the Atlantic Colonies, but it
could be manufactured at a place called the Blue Licks, from salt water,
which abounded there.

In January, 1778, accompanied by thirty men, Boone went to the Blue
Licks to make salt for the different Stations; and on the 7th of
February following, while out hunting, he fell in with one hundred
and two Indian warriors, on their march to attack Boonesborough. He
instantly fled, but being upward of fifty years old, he was unable to
outstrip the fleet young men who pursued him, and was a second time
taken prisoner. As usual, he was treated with kindness until his final
fate should be determined, and was led back to the Licks, where his
party were still encamped. Here Boone surrendered his whole party, to
the number of twenty-seven, upon a promise on the part of the Indians
of life and good treatment, both of which conditions were faithfully
observed. This step was apparently unnecessary; but the result showed
that it was a master-stroke of policy on Boone's part. He knew the
nature of the Indians, and foresaw that they would forthwith return
home with their prisoners, and thus save Boonesborough from attack.

Had the Indians gone on to that place, by showing their prisoners
and threatening to put them to the torture, they might have obtained
important results. But they did nothing of the kind. As Boone had
calculated, they went home with their prisoners and booty.

Captain Boone has been censured for the surrender of his men, which
he made at his own capture, and at a subsequent period was tried by
court-martial and acquitted. This was a just decision. The surrender
caused the Indians to return home with their prisoners instead of
attacking Boonesborough, which would almost certainly have been taken
and destroyed if this surrender had not been made.

Elated with their unexpected success, the Indians now returned at once
to old Chilicothe, the principal town of the Shawnees, on the Little
Miami, treating their prisoners, during a march of three days in very
cold and inclement weather, as well as they fared themselves, as
regarded fire and provisions. Boone and his companions were kept in
captivity by the Indians, and closely watched for several weeks, when
the old pioneer and ten of his men were conducted to Detroit, then a
British garrison, and all but Boone presented to the commandant, by whom
they were all well treated. For the old pioneer himself, the Indians had
conceived a particular liking; and they stubbornly refused to give him
up, though several gentlemen of Detroit were very anxious they should
leave him, and the commandant offered to ransom him by a liberal sum.
He was therefore compelled to accompany them back to Chillicothe, their
town on the Little Miami, which they reached after a march of fifteen
days.

Boone was now formally adopted as a son in one of the Indian families.
"The forms of the ceremony of adoption," says Mr. Peck,[36] "were often
severe and ludicrous. The hair of the head is plucked out by a painful
and tedious operation, leaving a tuft, some three or four inches in
diameter, on the crown, for the scalp-lock, which is cut and dressed up
with ribbons and feathers. The candidate is then taken into the river in
a state of nudity, and there thoroughly washed and rubbed, 'to take all
his white blood out.' This ablution is usually performed by females. He
is then taken to the council-house, where the chief makes a speech, in
which he expatiates upon the distinguished honors conferred on him. His
head and face are painted in the most approved and fashionable style,
and the ceremony is concluded with a grand feast and smoking."

After undergoing after this fashion what was not inaptly termed the
Indian toilette, Boone was considered a regular member of the tribe, and
by judiciously accommodating himself to his new condition, he rapidly
won upon the regards of the Indians, and soon secured their confidence.
They challenged him to a trial of skill at their shooting-matches--in
which he took care not to excel them--invited him to accompany them on
their hunting excursions, bestowed particular notice upon him in various
ways, and always treated him with much consideration. As regarded merely
his physical comfort, Boone's situation was, at this time, rather
enviable than otherwise; but he felt a depressing anxiety with regard
to his wife and children, and doubted the safety and prosperity of the
Station, without his own watchfulness and superintendence. He therefore
determined to escape from his captors at the earliest possible period,
and very impatiently waited an opportunity for accomplishing this
purpose.

Early in June, a party of Indians went to the Scioto Licks to make
salt. Boone was taken with them, but kept so constantly employed at
the kettles, that he found no chance of escaping. Having sufficiently
supplied themselves with the desired article, the party returned; and
at the Chillicothe town, Boone found four hundred and fifty Indian
warriors, armed well and painted in a most frightful manner, ready to
march against Boonesborough: this was on the fifteenth or sixteenth of
the month.

Boone now saw the absolute necessity of escaping at once, and determined
to make the attempt without delay. He rose at the usual time the next
morning, and went out upon a hunt. His object was to give his wary
masters the slip, in such a manner as would be least likely to excite
their suspicions, and be the longest in determining them upon a pursuit.

No sooner was he at such a distance from the town as would prevent
observations of his movements, than he struck out rapidly in the
direction of Boonesborough. So great was his anxiety, that he stopped
not to kill any thing to eat; but performed his journey--a distance of
one hundred and sixty miles--in less than five days, upon one meal,
which, before starting, he had concealed in his basket. On arriving at
Boonesborough, he found the fort, as he feared he should, in a bad state
for defense; but his activity soon strengthened it, and his courage at
once reinspired the sinking hearts of the garrison. Every thing was
immediately put in proper condition for a vigorous defense, and all
became impatient for intelligence of the movements of the enemy.

A few days after Boone's escape from the Indians, one of his
fellow-prisoners succeeded likewise in eluding their vigilance, and
made his way safely and expeditiously to Boonesborough. This man arrived
at the Station at a time when the garrison were hourly expecting the
appearance of the enemy, and reported that, on account of Boone's
elopement, the Indians had postponed their meditated invasion of the
settled regions for three weeks.[37] It was discovered, however, that
they had their spies in the country, watching the movements of the
different garrisons; and this rendered the settlers wary and active, and
gave all the Stations time and opportunity to strengthen themselves, and
make every preparation for a powerful resistance of what, they could not
but believe, was to be a long and great effort to drive them from the
land, and utterly destroy their habitations.

Week passed after week, but no enemy appeared. The state of anxiety and
watchfulness in which the garrison at Boonesborough had, for so long a
time, been kept, was becoming irksome, and the men were beginning to
relax in their vigilance. This Boone observed, and it determined him to
undertake an expedition, which he had been probably meditating for some