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Daniel Boone · Daniel Boone

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  Daniel Boone by John S. C Abbott preface and Chapter one preface. The
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  name of Daniel Boone is a conspicuous one in the annals of our country,
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  and yet there are but few who are familiar with the events of his wonderful
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  career, or who have formed a correct estimate of the character of the man.
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  Many suppose that he was a rough, coarse backwoodsman, almost as savage
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  as the bears he pursued in the chase, or the Indians whose terrors he
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  so perseveringly braved. Instead of this, he was one of the most mild
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  and unboastful of men, feminine as a woman in his tastes and deportment,
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  never uttering a coarse word, never allowing himself in a rude action, He
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  was truly one of nature's gentle men. With all of this instinctive refinement and
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  delicacy, there was a boldness of character which seemed absolutely incapable of experiencing the
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  emotion of fear. And surely all the records of chivalry may be searched in
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  vain for a career more full of peril and of wild adventure. This narrative
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  reveals a state of society and habitudes of life, now rapidly passing into oblivion.
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  It is very desirable that the records should be perpetuated, that we may
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  know the scenes through which our fathers passed in laying the foundations of this majestic
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  republic. It is probable that, as the years roll on, the events
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  which occurred in the infancy of our nation will be read with ever increasing interest.
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  It is the intention of the publisher of this volume to issue a series
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  of sketches of the prominent men in the early history of our country. The
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  next volume will contain the life and adventures of the renowned Miles Standish, the
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  Puritan captain John S. C Abbott, fair Haven, Connecticut. Chapter one,
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  The Discovery and Early Settlement of America. The little fleet of three small
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  vessels with which Columbus left Palos in Spain in search of a new world,
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  had been sixty seven days at sea. They had traversed nearly three thousand miles
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  of ocean, and yet there was nothing but a wide expanse of waters spread
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  out before them. The despairing crew were loud in their murmurs, demanding that
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  the expedition should be abandoned and that the ships should return to Spain. The
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  morning of the eleventh of October fourteen ninety two had come. During the day,
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  Columbus, whose heart had been very heavily oppressed with anxiety, had been
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  cheered by some indications that they were approaching land. Fresh seaweed was occasionally seen,
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  and a branch of a shrub with leaves and berries upon it, and
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  a piece of wood curiously carved had been picked up the devout. The commander
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  was so animated by these indications that he gathered his crew around him in return
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  heartfelt thanks to God for this prospect that their voyage would prove successful. It
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  was a beautiful night, The moon shone brilliantly, and a delicious tropical breeze
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  swept the ocean. At ten o'clock, Columbus stood upon the bowels of his
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  ship, earnestly, gazing upon the western horizon, hoping that the long looked
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  for land would rise before him. Suddenly he was startled by the distinct gleam
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  of a torch far off in the distance. For a moment it beamed forth
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  with a clear and indisputable flame, and then disappeared. The agitation of Columbus
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  no words can describe. Was it a meteor. Was it an optical illusion?
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  Was it light from the land. Suddenly the torch, like a star,
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  again shone forth with a distinct, though faint, gleam. Columbus called
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  some of his companions to his side, and they also saw the light clearly.
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  But again it disappeared. At two o'clock in the morning, a sailor
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  at the lookout on the mast head shouted, land, Land, Land.
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  In a few moments all beheld but a few miles distance from them the distinct
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  outline of towering mountains piercing the skies. A new world was discovered. Cautiously,
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  the vessels hove too, and waited for the light of the morning.
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  The dawn of the day presented to the eyes of Columbus and his companions a
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  spectacle of beauty which the garden of Eden could hardly have rivaled. It was
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  a morning of the tropics, calm, serene and lovely. But two miles
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  before them there emerged from the sea and island of mountains and valleys, luxuriant
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  with every variety of tropical vegetation. The voyagers, weary of gazing for many
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  weeks on the wide waste of waters, were so so enchanted with the fairy
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  scene which then met the eye that they seemed to really believe that they had
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  reached the realms of the blessed. The boats were lowered, and as they
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  were rowed towards the shore, the scene every moment grew more beautiful. Gigantic
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  trees draped in luxuriance of foliage hitherto unimagined, rose in the soft valleys and
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  upon the towering hills. In the sheltered groves screened from the sun. The
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  picturesque dwellings of the natives were thickly clustered. Flowers of every variety of tint
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  bloomed in marvelous profusion. The trees seemed laden with fruits of every kind,
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  and in inexhaustible abundance. Thousands of natives crowded the shore, whose graceful forms
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  and exquisitely molded limbs indicated the innocence and simplicity of Eden. Before the fall,
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  Columbus, richly attired in a scarlet dress, fell upon him his knees
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  as he reached the beach, and with clasped hands and uplifted eyes, gave
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  utterance to the devout feelings which ever inspired him in thanksgiving to God, In
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  recognition of the divine protection, he gave the island the name of San Salvador,
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  or Holy Savior. Though the new world thus discovered was one of the
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  smallest islands of the Caribbean Sea, no conception was then formed of the vast
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  continents of North and South America, stretching out in both directions for many leagues,
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  almost to the Arctic and Antarctic poles. Emitting a description of the wonderful
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  adventures which ensued. We can only mention that two years after this, the
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  southern extremity of the North American continent was discovered by Sebastian Cabot. It was
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  in the spring of the year, and the whole surface of the soil seemed
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  carpeted with the most brilliant flowers. The country consequently received the beautiful name of
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  Florida. It of course, had no boundaries, for no one knew with
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  certainty whether it were an island or a continent, or how far its limits
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  might extend. The years rolled on, and gradually exploring excursions crept along the
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  coast toward the north. Various provinces were mapped out with pretty distinct boundaries.
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  Upon the Atlantic coast, extending indefinitely into the vast and unknown interior. Expeditions
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  from France had entered the Saint Lawrence and established settlements in Canada. For a
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  time, the whole Atlantic coast from its extreme southern point to Canada was called
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  Florida. In the year fifteen thirty nine, Fernande Soto, an unprincipled Spanish
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  warrior who had obtained renown by the conquest of Peru in South America, fitted
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  out, by permission of the King of Spain, an expedition of nearly one
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  thousand men to conquer and take possession of that vast and in definite realm called
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  Florida. We have no space here to enter upon a description of their fiendlike
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  cruelties practiced by these Spaniards. They robbed and enslaved without mercy. In pursuit
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  of gold. They wandered as far north as the present boundary of South Carolina.
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  Then, turning to the west, they traversed the vast region to the
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  Mississippi River. The forests were full of game, the granaries of the simple
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  hearted natives were well stored with corn. Vast prairies spreading in all directions around
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  them, waving with grass and blooming with flowers, presented ample forage for the
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  three hundred horses which accompanied the expedition. They were also provided with fierce bloodhounds
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  to hunt down the terrified natives. Thus invincible and armed with the thunder and
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  lightning of their guns, they swept the country, perpetuating every conceivable outrage upon
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  the helpless natives. After long and unavailing wanderings in search of gold, Having
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  lost by sickness and the casualties of such an expedition, nearly half their number,
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  the remainder built boats upon the Mississippi, descended that rapid stream five hundred
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  miles to its mouth, and then skirting the coasts of Texas, finally disappeared
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  on the plains of Mexico. De Soto, the leader of this conquering band,
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  died miserably on the Mississippi and was buried beneath its waves. The whole
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  country which these adventurers traversed they found to be quite densely populated, with numerous
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  small tribes of natives, each generally wandering within circumscribed limits. Though these tribes
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  spoke different languages, or perhaps different dialects of the same language, they were
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  essentially the same in appearance, manners, and customs. They were of a
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  dark red color, well formed, and always disposed to receive the pale faced
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  strangers with kindliness until it aspirated by ill treatment. They lived in fragile huts
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  called wigwams, so simple in their structure that one could easily be erected in
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  a few hours. These huts were generally formed by setting long and slender poles
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  in the ground, enclosing an area of from ten to eighteen feet in diameter
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  according to the size of the family. The tops were tied together, leaving
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  a hole for the escape of smoke from the central fire. The sides were
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  thatched with coarse grass or so covered with the bark of trees as quite effectually
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  to exclude both wind and rain. There were no windows, light entering only
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  through the almost always open door. The ground floor was covered with dried grass
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  or the skins of animals, or with the soft and fragrant twigs of some
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  evergreen tree. The inmates, men, women, and children, seated upon
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  these cushions, presented a very attractive and cheerful aspect. Several hundred of these
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  wigwams were frequently clustered upon some soft meadow by the side of a flowing stream,
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  fringed with a gigantic forest, and exhibited a spectacle of picturesque loveliness,
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  quite charming to the beholder. The furniture of these humble abodes was extremely simple.
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  They had no pots or kettles which would stand the fire. They had
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  no knives nor forks, no tables nor chairs. Sharp flints such as they
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  could find, served for knives, with which, with incredible labor, they
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  sawed down small trees and fashioned their bows and arrows. They had no roads
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  except footpaths through the wilderness, which for generations their ancestors had traversed called trails.
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  They had no beasts of burden, no cows, no flocks, nor
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  herds of any kind. They generally had not even salt, but cured their
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  meat by drying it in the sun. They had no plows, hose bades.
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  Consequently, they could only cultivate the lightest soil with a sharp stick.
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  Women loosened the earth, and then, depositing their corner maize, cultivated it
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  in the rudest manner. These Indians acquired the reputation of being very faithful friends,
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  but very bitter enemies. It was said They never forgot a favor and
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  never forgave an insult. They were cunning rather than brave. It was seldom
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  that an Indian could be induced to meet a foe in an open hand to
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  hand fight, but he would track him down for years, hoping to take
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  him unawares and to brain him with the tomahawk or pierce his heart with the
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  flint pointed arrow. About the year fifteen sixty five, a company of French
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  Protestants repaired to Florida, hoping there to find the liberty to worship God in
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  accordance with their interpretation of the teachings of the Bible. They established quite a
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  flourishing colony, a place which they named Saint Mary's near the coast. This
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  was the first European settlement on the continent of North America. The fanatic Spaniards,
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  learning that Protestants had taken possession of the country, set out an expedition
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  and utterly annihilated the settlement, putting men, women and children to the sword.
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  Many of these unfortunate Protestants were hung in chains from trees under the inscription
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  not as Frenchmen, but as heretics. The blood stained Spaniards then established themselves
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  at a spot nearby, which they called Saint Augustine. A French gentleman of
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  wealth fitted out a well mannered and well armed expedition of three ships, attacked
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  the murderers by surprise and put them to death. Several corpses were suspended from
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  trees under the inscription, not as Spaniards, but as murderers. There was
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  an understanding among the powers of Europe that any portion of the New World discovered
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  by expeditions from European courts should be recognized as belonging to that court. The
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  Spaniards had taken possession in Florida, far away a thousand leagues to the north,
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  the French had entered the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, but little was known
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  of the vast region. Between a young English gentleman, Sir Walter Raley,
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  an earnest Protestant and one who had fought with the French Protestants in their religious
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  wars, roused by the massacre of his friends in Florida, applied to the
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  British court to fit out a colony to take possession of the intermediate country.
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  He hoped thus to prevent the Spanish monarchy and the equally intolerant French court from
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  spreading their principles over the whole continent. The Protestant Queen Elizabeth then occupied the
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  throne of Great Britain. Raleigh was young, rich, handsome, and marvelously
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  fascinating. In his address. He became a great favorite of the Maiden Queen,
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  and she gave him a commission, making him lord of all the continent
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  of North America between Florida and Canada. The whole of this vast region,
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  without any accurate boundaries, was called Virginia. Several ships were sent to explore
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  the country. They reached the coast of what is now called North Carolina,
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  and the adventurers landed at Roanoke Island. They were charmed with the climate,
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  with the friendliness of the natives, and with the majestic growth of the forest
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  trees, far surpassing anything they had witnessed in the old world. Grapes and
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  rich clusters hung in profusion on the vines, and birds of every variety of
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  song and plumage filled the groves. The expedition returned to England with such glowing
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  accounts of the realm. They had discovered that seven ships were fitted out conveying
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  one hundred and eight men to colonize the island. It is quite remarkable that
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  no women accompanied the expedition. Many of these men were reckless adventurers. Bitter
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  hostility soon sprang up between them and the Indians, who at first had received
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  them with the greatest kindness. Most of these colonists were men unaccustomed to work,
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  and who insanely expected that in the new world, in some unknown way,
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  wealth was to flow in upon them like a flood. Disheartened, homesick,
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  and appalled by the hostile attitude which the much oppressed Indians were beginning to
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  assume, they were all anxious to return home. When soon after some ships
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  came bringing them abundant supplies, They, with one accord, abandoned the colony,
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  and, crowding the vessels, returned to England. Fifteen men, however,
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  consented to remain to await the arrival of fresh colonists from the mother country.
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  Sir Walter Raleigh, still undiscouraged, in the next year, fifteen eighty
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  seven, sent out another fleet containing an number of families as immigrants, with
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  women and children. When they arrived, they found Roanokee deserted. The fifteen
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  men had been murdered by the Indians in retaliation for the murder of their chief
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  and several of his warriors by the English. With fear and trembling, the
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  new settlers decided to remain, urging the friends who had accompanied them to hasten
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  back to England with the ships and bring them reinforcements and supplies. Scarcely had
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  they spread their sails on the return voyage, ere war broke out with Spain.
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  It was three years before another ship crossed the ocean to see what had
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  become of the colony. It had utterly disappeared. Though many attempts were made
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  to ascertain its tragic fate, all were unavailing. It is probable that many
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  were put to death by the Indians, and perhaps the children were carried far
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  back into the interior and incorporated into their tribes. This bitter disappointment seemed to
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  paralyze the energies of colonization. For more than seventy years, the Carolinas remained
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  a wilderness, with no attempt to transfer to them the civilization of the Old
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  World. Still, English ships continued occasionally to visit the coast. Some came
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  to fish, some to purchase furs of the Indians, and some for timber
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  for shipbuilding. The stories which these voyagers told on their return kept up an
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  interest in the new world. It was indeed an attractive picture which could be
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  truthfully painted. The climate was mild, genial, and salubrious. The atmosphere
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  surpassed the far famed transparency of Italian skies. The forests were of gigantic growth,
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  more picturesquely beautiful than any ever planted by man's hand, and they were
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  filled with game. The lakes and streams swarmed with fish. A wilderness of
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  flowers of every variety of loveliness bloomed over the wide meadows and the broad savannas
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  which the forest had not yet invaded. Berries and fruits were abundant in many
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  places. The soil was surpassingly rich and easily tilled, and all this was
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  open without money and without price to the first comer. Still, more than
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  one hundred years elapsed after the discovery of these realms, ere any permanent settlement
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  was effected upon them. Most of the bays, harbors, and rivers were
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  unexplored and reposed, as it were, in the solemn silence of eternity.
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  From the Everglades of Florida to the fur clad hills of Nova Scotia. Not
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  a settlement of white men could be found at length. In the year sixteen
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  o seven, a number of wealthy gentlemen in London formed a company to make
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  a new attempt for the settlement of America. It was their plan to send
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  out hearty colonists abundantly provided with arms, tools and provisions. King James the
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  First, who had succeeded his cousin, Queen Elizabeth, granted them a charter
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  by which, wherever they might effect a landing, they were to be the
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  undisputed lords of a territory extending one hundred miles along the coast and running back
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  one hundred miles into the interior. Soon after, a similar grant was conferred
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  upon another association for the region of North Virginia, now called New England.
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  Under the protection of this London company, one hundred and five men, with
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  no women or children, embarked in three small ships for the southern Atlantic coast
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  of North America. Apparently by accident, they entered Chesapeake Bay, where they
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  found a broad and deep stream, which they named after their sovereign James River.
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  As they ascended this beautiful stream, they were charmed with the loveliness which
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  nature had spread so profusely around them. Upon the northern banks of the river,
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  about fifty miles from its entrance into the bay, they selected a spot
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  for their settlement, which they named Jamestown. Here they commenced cutting down trees
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  and raising their huts in in enterprise of this kind. Muscles inured to work
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  and determined spirits ready to grapple with difficulties are essential in such labors. The
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  most useless of all beings is the gentleman, with soft hands and luxurious habits.
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  Unfortunately, quite a number of pampered sons of wealth had joined the colony.
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  Being indolent, selfish, and dissolute, they could do absolutely nothing for
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  the prosperity of the settlement, but were only an obstacle in the way of
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  its growth. Troubles soon began to multiply, and but for the energies of
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  a remarkable man, Captain John Smith, the colony must have soon perished through
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  anarchy. But even Captain John Smith, with all his commanding powers and love
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  of justice and of law, could not prevent the idle and profligate young men
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  from insulting the natives and robbing them of their corn. With the autumnal reins,
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  sickness came and many died. The hand of well organized industry might have
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  raised an ample supply of corn to meet all their wants through the short winter,
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  but this had been neglected, and famine was added to sickness. Captain
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  Smith had so won the confidence of the Indian chieftains that, notwithstanding the gross
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  irregularities of his young men, they brought him supplies of corn and game,
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  which they freely gave to the English and their destitution. Captain Smith, having
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  thus provided for the necessities of the greatly diminished colony, set out with a
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  small party of men on an exploring expedition into the interior. He was waylaid
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  by Indians, who, with arrows and tomahawks, speedily put all the men
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  to death, excepting the leader, who was taken captive. There was something
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  in the deer of this brave man which overawed them. He showed them his
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  pocket compass, upon which they gazed with wonder. He then told them that
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  if they would send to the fort a leaf from his pocket book, upon
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  which he had made several marks with his pencil, they would find the next
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  day at any spot they might designate a certain number of axes, blankets,
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  and other articles of great value to them. Their curiosity was exceedingly aroused.
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  The paper was sent, and the next day the articles were found as promised.
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  The Indians looked upon Captain Smith as a magician and treated him with great
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  respect. Still, the more thoughtful of the natives regarded him as a more
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  formidable foe. They could not be blind to the vastly superior power of the
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  English in their majestic ships, with their long swords and terrible firearms, and
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  all the developments astounding to them of a higher civilization. They were very anxious
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  in view of encroachments which might eventually give the English the supremacy in their land.
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  Powhattan, the king of the powerful tribe, who had at first been
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  very friendly to the English, summoned a council of war of his chieftains,
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  and after long deliberation, it was decided that Captain Smith was too powerful a
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  man to be allowed to live, and that he must die. He was
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  accordingly led out to execution, but without any of the ordinary accompaniments of torture.
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  His hands were bound behind him, he was laid upon the ground,
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  and his head was placed upon a stone. An Indian warrior of herculean strength
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  stood by with a massive club to give the death blow by crushing in the
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  skull. Just as the fatal stroke was about to descend, a beautiful Indian
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  girl, Pocahontas, the daughter of the king, rushed forward and, throwing
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  her arms around the neck of Captain Smith, placed her head upon his.
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  The Indians regarded this as an indication from the great Spirit that the life of
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  Captain Smith was to be spared, and they set their prisoner at liberty,
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  who, being thus miraculously rescued, returned to Jamestown. By his wisdom.
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  Captain Smith preserved for some time friendly relations with the Indians, and the colony
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  rapidly increased, until there were five hundred Europeans assembled at Jamestown. Captain Smith,
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  being severely wounded by an accidental explosion of gunpowder, returned to England for
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  surgical aid. The colony, thus divested of his vigorous way, speedily lapsed
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  into anarchy. The bitter hostility of the Indians was aroused, and within a
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  few months the colony dwindled away beneath the ravages of sickness, famine, and
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  the arrows of the Indians to but sixty men. Despair reigned in all hearts,
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  and the starving remnant of Europeans was preparing to abandon the colony and returned
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  to the old world. When Lord Delaware arrived with several ships loaded with provisions
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  and with a reinforcement of hearty laborers, most of the idle and profligate young
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  men who had brought such calamity upon the colony had died. Those who remained
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  took fresh courage, and affairs began to be more prosperous. The organization of
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  the colony had thus far been affected with very little regard to the wants of
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  human nature. There were no women there. Without the honored wife, there
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  cannot be the happy home, and without the home there can be no contentment
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  to her. Together, five hundred men upon the banks of a foreign stream,
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  three thousand miles from their native land, without women and children, and
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  to expect them to lay the foundation of a happy and prosperous colony seemed almost
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  unpardonable. Folly immigrants began to arrive with their families, and in the year
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  sixteen twenty one, hun hundred and fifty poor but virtuous young women were induced
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  to join the company. Each young man who came received one hundred acres of
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  land. Eagerly, these young planters, in short courtship, selected wives from
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  such of these women as they could induce to listen to them. Each man
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  paid one hundred and fifty pounds of tobacco to defray the expenses of his wife's
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  voyage. But the wickedness of man will everywhere and under all circumstances, make
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  fearful development of its power. Many desperadoes joined the colony. The poor Indians,
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  with no weapons of war but arrows, clubs and stone tomahawks, were
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  quite at the mercy of the English. With their keen swords and death dealing
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  muskets, fifteen Europeans could easily drive several hundred Indians in panic over the plains.
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  Unprincipled men perpetuated the grossest outrages upon the families of the Indians, often
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  insulting the proudest chiefs. The colonists were taking up lands in all directions before
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  their unerring rifles game was rapidly disappearing. The Indians became fully awake to their
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  danger. The chiefs met in council and a conspiracy was formed to put at
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  an appointed hour all the English to death, every man, woman and child.
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  Every house was marked. Two or three Indians were appointed to make the
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  massacre sure in each dwelling. They were to spread over the settlement, enter
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  the widely scattered log huts as friends, and at a certain moment were to
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  spring upon their unsuspecting victims and kill them instantly. The plot was fearfully successful
• 28:41
  in all the dwellings outside the little village of Jamestown. In one hour,
• 28:47
  on the twenty second of March sixteen twenty two, three hundred and forty seven
• 28:52
  men, women and children were massacred in cold blood. The colony would have
• 28:57
  been annihilated but for a cree Christian Indian, who, just before the massacre
• 29:02
  commenced, gave warning to a friend in Jamestown. The Europeans rallied with their
• 29:07
  firearms and easily drove off their foes, and then commenced the unrelenting extermination of
• 29:14
  the Indians. An arrow can be thrown a few hundred feet, a musketball
• 29:18
  more than as many yards. The Indians were consequently helpless. The English shot
• 29:25
  down both sexes, young and old, as mercilessly as if they had been
• 29:29
  wolves. They seized their houses, their land, their pleasant villages. The
• 29:33
  Indians were either slain or driven far away from the houses of their fathers into
• 29:38
  the remote wilderness. The colony now increased rapidly, and the cabins of the
• 29:45
  immigrants spread farther and farther over the unoccupied lands. These hardy adventurers seemed providentially
• 29:52
  imbued with the spirit of enterprise. Instead of clustering together for the pleasure of
• 29:56
  society and for mutual protection, they were ever pushing into the wild and unknown
• 30:02
  interior, rearing their cabins on the banks of distant streams and establishing their silent
• 30:07
  homes and the wildest solitudes of the wilderness. In sixteen sixty quite a number
• 30:14
  of immigrants moved directly south from Virginia to the River Chowan in what is now
• 30:18
  South Carolina, where they established a settlement which they called Albermarley. In sixteen
• 30:25
  seventy, a colony from England established itself at Charleston, South Carolina. Thus,
• 30:30
  gradually the Atlantic coast became fringed, with colonies extending but a few leagues
• 30:36
  back into the country from the seashore, while the vast interior remained an unexplored
• 30:41
  wilderness. As the years rolled on, shiploads of immigrants arrived, new settlements
• 30:47
  were established, colonial states rose into being, and though there were many sanguinary
• 30:52
  conflicts with the Indians, the Europeans were always in the end triumphant, and
• 30:57
  intelligence, wealth and laws of civilization were rapidly extended along the Atlantic border of
• 31:03
  the New World. For many years there had been a gradual pressure of the
• 31:08
  colonists toward the west, steadily encroaching upon the apparently limitless wilderness. To us,
• 31:15
  it seemed strange that they did not, for the sake of protection against
• 31:18
  the Indians, invariably go in military bands. But generally this was not the
• 31:23
  case. The immigrants seemed to have been inspired with a spirit of almost reckless
• 31:29
  indifference to danger. They apparently loved the solitude of the forest, avoided neighbors
• 31:34
  who might interfere with their hunting and trapping, and reared their humble cottages in
• 31:38
  the wildest ravines of the mountains and upon the smooth meadows which bordered the most
• 31:45
  solitary streams. Thus, gradually the tide of immigration, flowing through Indian trails
• 31:51
  and along the forest covered vines, was approaching the base of the Allegheny Mountains,
• 31:59
  but little was known of the character of the boundless realms beyond the ridges
• 32:02
  of this gigantic chain. Occasionally, a wandering Indian who had chased his game
• 32:08
  over those remote wilds, would endeavor to draw upon the sand with a stick
• 32:14
  a map of the country, showing the flow of the rivers, the line
• 32:16
  of the mountains, and the sweep of the open prairies. The Ohio was
• 32:22
  then called the Wabash. This magnificent and beautiful stream is formed by the confluence
• 32:29
  of the Allegheny and the Monongalla rivers. It was a long voyage, a
• 32:34
  voyage of several hundred miles, following the windings of the Monongahelo River from its
• 32:39
  rise among the mountains of West Virginia till far away in the north it met
• 32:45
  the flood of the Allegheny at the present site of the city of Pittsburgh.
• 32:50
  The voyage in a birch canoe required, infigurative language of the Indians, two
• 32:55
  paddles, two warriors, and three moons. The Indians very correctly described the
• 33:02
  Ohio or the Wabash, as but the tributary of a much more majestic extreme
• 33:08
  far away in the west, which, pouring its flood through the impenetrable forest,
• 33:14
  emptied itself. They knew not where of the magnitude of this distant river,
• 33:19
  the Mississippi, its source, rise and termination. They could give no
• 33:24
  intelligible account. They endeavored to give some idea of the amount of game to
• 33:30
  be found in those remote realms by pointing to the leaves of the forest and
• 33:35
  the stars in the sky. The settlers were deeply interested, and often much
• 33:40
  excited by the glowing descriptions thus given them of a terrestrial eden, where life
• 33:46
  would seem to be but one uninterrupted holiday. Occasionally, an adventurous French or
• 33:53
  Spanish trader would cross the towering mountains and penetrate the vales beyond. They vied
• 34:00
  with the Indians in their account of the salubrity of the climate, the brilliance
• 34:06
  of the skies, the grandeur of the forest, the magnificence of the rivers,
• 34:10
  the marvelous fertility of the soil, and the abundance of game. As
• 34:15
  early as the year nineteen sixty, a trader from Virginia by the name of
• 34:21
  Doherty crossed the mountains visited the friendly Cherokee nation. Within the present bounds of
• 34:25
  Georgia and resided with the natives several years. In the year seventeen thirty and
• 34:32
  enterprising, an intelligent man from South Carolina by the name of Adair took quite
• 34:37
  an extensive tour through most of the villages of the Cherokees, and also visited
• 34:43
  several tribes south and west of them. He wrote an exceedingly valuable and interesting
• 34:49
  account of his travels, which was published in London. Influenced by these examples,
• 34:54
  several traders in the year seventeen forty went from Virginia to the tree of
• 35:00
  the Cherokees. They carried on pack courses goods which the Indians valued, and
• 35:06
  which they exchanged for furs, which were sold in Europe at an enormous profit.
• 35:10
  A hatchet, a knife, a trap, a string of beads which
• 35:15
  could be bought for a very small sum in the Atlantic towns, when exhibited
• 35:20
  beyond the mountains to admiring groups in the Wigwam of the Indian could be exchanged
• 35:25
  for furs which were of almost priceless value in the metropolitan cities of the Old
• 35:31
  World. This traffic was mutually advantageous, and so long as peaceful relations existed
• 35:37
  between the white man, and the Indian was prosecuted with great and ever increasing
• 35:44
  vigor. The Indians thus obtained the steel trap, the keenly cutting axe,
• 35:50
  and the rifle, which he soon learned to use with unerring game. He
• 35:54
  was thus able in a day to obtain more game than with his arrow and
• 36:00
  his clumsy snares he could secure in a month. This friendly intercourse was in
• 36:06
  all respects very desirable, and but for the depravity of the white man,
• 36:12
  it might have continued unerupted for generations. But profligate and vagabond adventurers from the
• 36:19
  settlements defrauded the Indians, insulted their women, and often committed wanton murder.
• 36:27
  But it would seem that the majority of the traders were honest men. Ramsay
• 36:31
  in his Annals of Tennessee Rights in reference to this traffic. Other advantages resulted
• 36:38
  from it to the whites. They became thus acquainted with the great avenues leading
• 36:44
  through the hunting ground and to the occupied country of the neighboring tribes, an
• 36:50
  important circumstance in the condition of either peace or war. Further, the traders
• 36:55
  were an exact thermometer of the pacific or hostile and and feelings of the Indians
• 37:01
  with whom they traded. Generally they were foreigners, most frequently scotchmen who had
• 37:07
  not long been in the country or upon the frontier, who, having experienced
• 37:13
  none of the cruelties, depredations, or aggressions of the Indians, cherished none
• 37:19
  of the resentment and spirit of retaliation born with and everywhere manifested by the American
• 37:25
  settler. Thus, free from animosity against the Aborigines, the trader was allowed
• 37:31
  to remain in the village where he traded, unmolested, even where its warriors
• 37:37
  were singing the war song or brandishing the war club preparatory to an invasion or
• 37:43
  massacre of the whites. Timely warning was thus often given by a returning pac
• 37:47
  Man to a feeble and unsuspecting settlement of the perfidy and cruelty meditated against it.
• 37:55
  Game on the eastern side of the Alleghenies, hunted down alike by white
• 38:00
  men and Indians, soon became scarce. Adventurers, combining the characters of traders
• 38:07
  and hunters rapidly multiplied. Many of the hunters among the white men far outstripped
• 38:14
  the Indians in skill and energy. Thus some degree of jealousy was excited on
• 38:19
  the part of the savages. They saw how rapidly the game was disappearing,
• 38:23
  and these thoughtful men began to be anxious for the future. With no love
• 38:29
  for agriculture, the destruction of the game was their ruin. As early as
• 38:38
  the year seventeen forty eight, quite a party of gentlemen explorers, under the
• 38:44
  leadership of doctor Thomas Walker of Virginia, crossed a range of the Allegheny Mountains,
• 38:50
  which the Indians called Warrior Toe, but to which doctor Walker gave the
• 38:54
  name Cumberland, in honor of the Duke of Cumberland, who was then Prime
• 39:00
  Minister of England. Following along this chain in a southwesterly direction in search of
• 39:06
  some pass or defile by which they could cross the cliffs, they came to
• 39:10
  the remarkable depression in the mountains, to which they gave the name of Cumberland
• 39:15
  Gap. On the western side of the range, they found a beautiful mountain
• 39:20
  stream rushing far away with ever increasing volume, into the unknown wilderness, which
• 39:25
  the Indians called Shwawnee, but which doctor Walker's party baptized with the name of
• 39:31
  Cumberland River. These names have adhered to the localities upon which they were thus
• 39:37
  placed. In seventeen fifty six, a feeble attempt was made to establish a
• 39:44
  colony upon the Tennessee River, at a spot which was called London. This
• 39:49
  was one hundred and fifty miles in advance of any White settlement. Eight years
• 39:53
  passed, and by the ravages of war, the little settlement went up in
• 39:59
  flame and smoke. As the years rapidly came and went, there were occasional
• 40:04
  bursts of the tempests of war. Again there would be a short lull,
• 40:09
  and blessed peace would come with its prosperity and joy. In the year seventeen
• 40:15
  sixty, doctor Walker again passed over the Clinch and Powell's Rivers on a tour
• 40:21
  of exploration into what is now Kentucky. The Cherokees were then at peace with
• 40:27
  the Whites, and hunters from the back settlements began with safety to penetrate deeper
• 40:32
  and further into the wilderness of Tennessee, several of them, chiefly from Virginia.
• 40:38
  Hearing the abundance of game with which the woods were stocked, and allured
• 40:43
  by the prospect of gain which might be drawn from this source, formed themselves
• 40:49
  into a company composed of Wallin, Sige's Levins, Cocks, and fifteen others,
• 40:55
  and came into the valley since known as Carter's Valley in Hawk County,
• 41:00
  Tennessee. They hunted eighteen months upon the Clinch and Powell rivers. Wallins Creek
• 41:07
  and Wallin's Ridge received their name from the leader of the company, as also
• 41:12
  did Wallin Station, which they erected in Lee County, Virginia. They penetrated
• 41:19
  as far north as Laurel Mountain in Kentucky, where they terminated their journey,
• 41:23
  having met with a body of Indians whom they supposed to be Shawnees. At
• 41:29
  the head of one of the companies that visited the West this year came Daniel
• 41:32
  Boone from the Yadkin in North Carolina, and traveled with them as low as
• 41:37
  the place where Abingdon now stands, and there left them. This is the
• 41:44
  first time the advent of Daniel Boone to the western wilds has been mentioned by
• 41:49
  historians or by the several biographers of that distinguished pioneer and hunter. There is,
• 41:54
  reason, however, to believe that he hunted upon Watalga sometime earlier than
• 42:00
  this. End of preface and Chapter one, Chapter two Daniel Boone, his
• 42:09
  parentage and his early adventures. It was but a narrow fringe upon the sea
• 42:15
  coast of North America, which was thus far occupied by the European immigrants.
• 42:21
  Even this edge of the continent was so vast in its extent, from the
• 42:24
  southern capes of Florida to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, that these colonial settlements
• 42:30
  were far separated from each other. They constituted but little dots in the interminable
• 42:35
  forest, the surges of the Atlantic beating upon their eastern shores, and the
• 42:39
  majestic wilderness sweeping in its sublime solitude behind them on the west. Here the
• 42:45
  painted Indians pursued their game while watching anxiously the encroachments of the palefaces. The
• 42:52
  cry of the panther, the growling of the bear, and the howling of
• 42:55
  the wolf were music to the settlers, compared with the warhoop of the savage,
• 43:00
  which often startled the inmates of the lonely cabins and consigned them to that
• 43:06
  sleep from which there is no earthly waking. The Indians were generally hostile,
• 43:12
  and, being untutored savages, they were as merciless as demons in their revenge.
• 43:17
  The mind recoils from the contemplation of the tortures to which they often exposed
• 43:22
  their captives, and one cannot but wonder that the Almighty Father could have allowed
• 43:28
  such agony to be inflicted upon any of his creatures. Notwithstanding the general desire
• 43:34
  of the colonial authorities to treat the Indians with justice and kindness, there were
• 43:38
  unprincipled adventurers crowding all the colonies, whose wickedness no laws could restrain. They
• 43:45
  robbed the Indians, insulted their families, and inflicted upon them outrages which goaded
• 43:52
  the poor savages to desperation. In their unintelligent vengeance, they could make no
• 43:58
  distinction between the innocence and the guilty. On the tenth of October seventeen seventeen,
• 44:06
  a vessel containing a number of immigrants arrived at Philadelphia, a small but
• 44:10
  flourishing settlement upon the banks of the Delaware. Among the passengers there was a
• 44:16
  man named George Boone, with his wife and eleven children, nine sons and
• 44:22
  two daughters. He had come from Exeter, England, and was lured to
• 44:27
  the New World by the cheapness of land. He had sufficient property to enable
• 44:31
  him to furnish all his sons with ample farms. In America, the Delaware
• 44:37
  above Philadelphia was at that time a silent stream flowing sublimely through the almost unbroken
• 44:44
  forest. Here and there a bold settler had felled the trees, and in
• 44:49
  the clearing had reared his log hut upon the river banks. Occasionally the birch
• 44:53
  canoe of an Indian hunter was seen passing rapidly from cove to cove and Cacationally.
• 45:00
  A little cluster of Indian wigwams graced some picturesque and sunny exposure. For
• 45:06
  the Indians, manifested much taste in the location of their villages. George Boone
• 45:10
  ascended this solitary river about twenty miles above Philadelphia, where he purchased upon its
• 45:16
  banks an extensive territory consisting of several hundred acres. It was near the present
• 45:22
  city of Bristol in what is now called Bucks County. To this tract sufficiently
• 45:29
  large for a township, he gave the name of Exeter, in memory of
• 45:32
  the home he had left in England. Here, aided by the strong arms
• 45:37
  of his boys, he reared a commodious log cabin. It must have been
• 45:43
  an attractive and happy home. The climate was delightful, the soil fertile,
• 45:47
  supplying him with but little culture, with an ample supply of corn and the
• 45:52
  most nutritious vegetables. Before his door rolled the broad expanse of the Delaware,
• 45:59
  a bounding with fish of delicious flavor. His boys, with hook and line,
• 46:04
  could at any time, in a few moments, supply the table with
• 46:07
  a nice repast. With the unerring rifle, they could always procure game in
• 46:14
  great variety and abundance. The Indians won by the humanity of William Penn,
• 46:20
  were friendly, and their occasional visits to the cabin contributed to the enjoyment of
• 46:24
  its inmates. On the whole. A more favored lot in life could not
• 46:29
  well be imagined. There was unquestionably far more happiness in this log cabin of
• 46:34
  the settler on the silent waters of the Delaware than could be found in any
• 46:38
  of the castles or palaces of England, France or Spain. George Boone had
• 46:45
  one son, on whom he conferred the singular name of Squire. His son
• 46:50
  married a young woman in the neighborhood by the name of Sarah Morgan, and
• 46:53
  surrounded by his brothers and sisters. He raised his humble home in the beautiful
• 46:58
  township, which is father had purchased before leaving England. The family, religiously
• 47:04
  inclined, had accepted the episcopal form of Christian worship, but in the New
• 47:08
  World, far removed from the institutions of the Gospel, and allured by the
• 47:14
  noble character and influence of William Penn, they enrolled themselves in the Society of
• 47:19
  Friends. In the record of monthly meetings of this society we find it stated
• 47:23
  that George Boone was received to its communion on the thirty first day of the
• 47:29
  tenth month in the year seventeen seventeen. It is also recorded that his son,
• 47:35
  Squire Boone, was married to Sarah Morgan on the twenty third day of
• 47:38
  the seventh month seventeen twenty. The records of the meetings also show the number
• 47:45
  of their children and the periods of their birth. By this it appears that
• 47:49
  their son, Daniel, the subject of this memoir, was born on the
• 47:52
  twenty second day of eighth month seventeen thirty four. It seems that Squire Boone
• 47:59
  became an involved in difficulties with the Society of Friends for allowing one of his
• 48:04
  sons to marry out of meeting. He was therefore disowned, and perhaps on
• 48:08
  this account, he subsequently removed his residence to North Carolina. As we shall
• 48:13
  hereafter show, his son, Daniel, from earliest childhood, developed a peculiar
• 48:19
  and remarkably interesting character. He was silent, thoughtful of pensive temperament, yet
• 48:24
  far from gloomy, never elated, never depressed, He exhibited from his earliest
• 48:30
  years such an insensibility to danger as to attract the attention of all who knew
• 48:35
  him. Though affectionate and genial in disposition, never morose or moody, he
• 48:40
  still loved solitude and seemed never so happy as when entirely alone. His father
• 48:45
  remained in his home upon the Delaware until Daniel was about ten years of age.
• 48:52
  Furious stories are related of his adventures in these early years, which may
• 48:55
  or may not be entirely authentic. It makes but little difference. These anecdotes,
• 49:00
  if only founded on facts, show at least the estimation in which he
• 49:05
  was regarded and the impression which his character produced. In these days of childhood.
• 49:09
  Before he was ten years old, he would take his rifle and plunge
• 49:14
  boldly into the depths of the illimitable forest. He seemed, by instinct possessed
• 49:19
  of the skill of the most experienced hunter, so that he never became bewildered
• 49:23
  or in danger of being lost. There were panthers, bears, and wolves
• 49:28
  in those forests, but of them he seemed not to have the slightest fear.
• 49:32
  His skill as a marksman became quite unerring. Not only raccoons, squirrels,
• 49:37
  partridges, and other small game were the result of his hunting expeditions,
• 49:43
  but occasionally even the fierce panther fell before his rifle ball. From such frequent
• 49:49
  expeditions he would return silent and tranquil, with never a word of boasting in
• 49:53
  view of exploits of which a veteran hunter might be proud. Indeed, his
• 49:58
  love of solitude was so great that he reared for himself a little cabin in
• 50:01
  the wilderness, three miles back from the settlement. Here he would go all
• 50:07
  alone, without even a dog for companion, his trusty rifle his only protection.
• 50:13
  At his camp fire on the point of his ramrod, he would cook
• 50:15
  the game which he obtained in abundance, and upon his bed of leaves would
• 50:21
  sleep in sweetest enjoyment, lulled by the wind through the tree tops, and
• 50:24
  by the cry of the night bird and of the wild beasts roaming around.
• 50:30
  In subsequent life he occasionally spoke of these hours as seasons of unspeakable joy.
• 50:37
  The education of young Boone was necessarily very defective. There were no schools then
• 50:42
  established in those remote districts of log cabins. But it so happened that an
• 50:46
  irishman of some little education strolled into that neighborhood, and Squire Boone engaged him
• 50:52
  to teach for a few months his children and those of some others of the
• 50:58
  adjacent settlers. These hardy emigrants met with their axes and a central point in
• 51:02
  the wilderness, and in a few hours constructed a rude hut of logs for
• 51:07
  a schoolhouse. Here young Boone was taught to read and perhaps to write.
• 51:14
  This was about all the education he ever received. Probably the confinement of the
• 51:17
  school room was to him unendurable. The forest was his congenial home, hunting
• 51:23
  the business of his life. Though thus uninstructed in the learning of books,
• 51:29
  there were other parts of practical education of infinitely more importance to him, in
• 51:34
  which he became adept. His native strength of mind keen habits of observation and
• 51:39
  imperturbable tranquility under whatever perils or reverses, gave him skill in the life upon
• 51:46
  which he was to enter, which the teaching of books alone could not confer.
• 51:52
  No marksmen could surpass him in the dexterity with which, with his bullet
• 51:57
  he would strike the head of a nail at the distance of men yards.
• 52:00
  No Indian hunter or warrior could, with more sagacity trace his steps through the
• 52:07
  pathless forest, detecting the footsteps of a retreating foe, or search out the
• 52:10
  hiding place of the panther or the bear. In these hunting excursions, the
• 52:15
  youthful frame of Daniel became inured to privation, hardship, endurance, taught to
• 52:22
  rely upon his own resources. He knew not what it was to be lonely
• 52:28
  for an hour in the darkest night, and in the remotest wilderness, when
• 52:32
  the storm raged most fiercely. Although but a child, he felt peaceful,
• 52:37
  happy, and entirely at home. About the year seventeen forty eight, the
• 52:44
  date is somewhat uncertain, Squire Boone, with his family emigrated seven hundred miles
• 52:50
  farther south and west to a place called Holman's Ford on the Yadkin River in
• 52:54
  North Carolina. The Yadkin is a small stream in the north Way Best part
• 53:00
  of the state. One hundred years ago, this was indeed a howling wilderness.
• 53:05
  It is difficult to imagine what could have induced the father of a family
• 53:08
  to abandon the comparatively safe and prosperous settlements on the bank of the Delaware to
• 53:15
  plunge into the wilderness of these pathless solitudes, several hundred miles from the Atlantic
• 53:20
  coast. Daniel was then about sixteen years of age. Of the incidents of
• 53:25
  their long journey through the wood on foot, with possibly a few pack courses,
• 53:30
  for there were no wagon roads. Whatever, we have no record.
• 53:35
  The journey must probably have occupied several weeks, occasionally cheered by sunshine and again
• 53:40
  drenched by storms. There were nine children in the family. At the close
• 53:45
  of the weary pilgrimage of a day through such narrow trails at which the Indian
• 53:51
  or the buffalo had made through the forest or over the prairies, they were
• 53:54
  compelled to build a cabin at night with logs and the bark of trees to
• 53:59
  shelter them from the wind and rain, and at the campfire to cook the
• 54:02
  game which they had shot during the day. We can imagine that this journey
• 54:07
  must have been a season of unspeakable delight to Daniel Boone alike. At home,
• 54:13
  with the rifle and the hatchet, never for a moment bewildered or losing
• 54:17
  his self possession, he could even unaided, at any hour, rear a
• 54:22
  sheltering hut for his mother and his sisters, before which the campfire would blaze
• 54:28
  cheerily, and their hunger would be appeased by the choicest viands from the game
• 54:31
  which his rifle had procured. The spirit of adventure is so strong in most
• 54:37
  human hearts which luxurious indulgence has not enervated, that it is not improbable that
• 54:43
  this family enjoyed far more in this romantic excursion through an unexplored wilderness than those
• 54:49
  now enjoy who, in a few hours traverse the same distance in the smooth
• 54:53
  rolling rail cars. Indeed, fancy can paint many scenes of picturesque beauty which
• 55:00
  we know that the reality must have surpassed. It is the close of a
• 55:05
  lovely day. A gentle breeze sweeps through the treetops from the northwest. The
• 55:09
  trail through the day has led along the banks of a crystal mountain stream sparkling
• 55:15
  with trout. The path is smooth for the moccasined feet. The limbs,
• 55:21
  inured to action, experienced no weariness. The axes of the father and the
• 55:25
  sons speedily construct a camp open to the south and perfectly sheltered on the roof
• 55:32
  and on the sides by the bark of trees. The busy fingers of the
• 55:36
  daughters have, in the meantime, spread over the floor a soft and fragrant
• 55:40
  carpet of evergreen twigs. The mother is preparing supper of trout from the stream,
• 55:46
  and the fattest of wild turkeys or partridges, or tender cuts of venison,
• 55:52
  which the rifles of her husband or sons have procured. Voracious appetites render
• 55:57
  the repast far more palatable than the choicest viands which were ever spread in the
• 56:02
  banqueting halls of Versallly's or windsor waterfowl of gorgeous plumage sport in the stream,
• 56:09
  unintimidated by the approach of man. The plaintive songs of the forest birds float
• 56:15
  in the evening air on the opposite side of the stream, herds of deer
• 56:20
  and buffalo crop, the rich herbage of the prairie, which extends far away
• 56:24
  till it is lost in the horizon of the south. Daniel retires from the
• 56:30
  converse of the cabin to an adjoining eminence, where silently and rapturously he gazes
• 56:36
  upon the scene of loveliness spread out before him. Such incidents must have often
• 56:42
  occurred even in the dark and tempestuous night, with the storms surging through the
• 56:46
  tree tops and the rain descending in floods. In their sheltered camp, illumined
• 56:52
  by the flames of their night fire, souls capable of appreciating the sublimity of
• 56:58
  such scenes must have ex experienced exquisite delight. It is pleasant to reflect that
• 57:04
  the poor man in his humble cabin may often be the recipient of much more
• 57:07
  happiness than the lord finds in his castle or the king in his palace.
• 57:14
  No details are given respecting the arrival of this family on the banks of the
• 57:17
  Yadkin, or of their habits of life while there. We simply know that
• 57:22
  they were far away in the untrodden wilderness, in the remotest frontiers of civilization.
• 57:30
  Bands of Indians were roving around them, but even if hostile, so
• 57:34
  long as they had only bows and arrows, the settler, in his log
• 57:37
  hut, which was a fortress, and with his death dealing rifle, was
• 57:42
  comparatively safe. Here the family dwelt for several years, probably in the enjoyment
• 57:47
  of abundance and with ever increasing comforts. The virgin soil, even poorly tilled,
• 57:54
  furnished them with the corn and vegetables they required, while the forests supplied
• 57:59
  the table with game. Thus the family, occupying the double position of the
• 58:04
  farmer and the hunter, lived in the enjoyment of all the luxuries which both
• 58:08
  of those callings could afford. Here Daniel Boone grew up to manhood. His
• 58:15
  love of solitude and of nature led him on long hunting excursions, from which
• 58:20
  he often returned laden with furs. The silence of the wilderness he brought back
• 58:24
  with him to his home, and though his placid features ever bore a smile,
• 58:30
  he had but few words to interchange with neighbors or friends. He was
• 58:35
  a man of affectionate but not of passionate nature. It would seem that other
• 58:39
  immigrants were lured to the banks of the Yadkin, for here After a few
• 58:44
  years, young Boone fell in love with the daughter of his father's neighbor,
• 58:49
  and that daughter, Rebecca Bryan, became his bride. He thus left his
• 58:53
  father's home, and with his axe, speedily erected for himself and wife a
• 58:59
  cabin, we may presume, at some distance from sight or sound of any
• 59:02
  other house. There from noise and tumult far Daniel Boone established himself in the
• 59:08
  life of solitude to which he was accustomed and which he enjoyed. It appears
• 59:15
  that his marriage took place about the year seventeen fifty five. The tide of
• 59:19
  emigration was still flowing in an uninterrupted stream towards the west. The population was
• 59:24
  increasing throughout this remote region, and the acts of the settler began to be
• 59:30
  heard on the stream's tributary to the Yadkin. Daniel Boone became restless. He
• 59:36
  loved the wilderness and its solitude, and was annoyed by the approach of human
• 59:40
  habitations, bringing to him customs with which he was unacquainted, and exposing him
• 59:46
  to embarrassments from which he would gladly escape. The mode of life practiced by
• 59:52
  those early settlers in the wilderness is well known. The log house usually consisted
• 59:58
  of but one room, with a fire place of stones at the end.
• 1:00:01
  These houses were often very warm and comfortable, presenting in the interior with a
• 1:00:07
  bright blazing on the hearth a very cheerful aspect. Their construction was usually as
• 1:00:13
  follows. Straight smooth logs about a foot in diameter, cut of the proper
• 1:00:17
  length and so notched at the ends as to be held very firmly together,
• 1:00:22
  were thus placed one above the other to the height of about ten feet.
• 1:00:27
  The interstices were filled with clay, which soon hardened, rendering the walls comparatively
• 1:00:32
  smooth and alike impervious to wind or rain. Other logs of straight fiber were
• 1:00:38
  split into clapboards one or two inches in thickness, with which they covered the
• 1:00:43
  roof. If suitable wood for this purpose could not be found, the bark
• 1:00:47
  of trees was used, with an occasional thatching of the long grass of the
• 1:00:52
  prairies. Logs about eighteen inches in diameter were selected for the floor. These
• 1:00:58
  were easily split in halves, and with the convex side buried in the earth
• 1:01:01
  and the smooth surface uppermost joined closely together by a slight trimming with axe or
• 1:01:07
  ads presented a very firm and even attractive surface for the feet. In the
• 1:01:13
  center of the room, four auger holes were bored in the logs about three
• 1:01:17
  inches in diameter. Stakes were driven firmly into these holes, upon which were
• 1:01:22
  placed two pieces of timber, with the upper surfaces hewn smooth, thus constructing
• 1:01:28
  a table. In one corner of the cabin, four stakes were driven in
• 1:01:32
  a similar way, about eighteen inches high, with forked tops. Upon these
• 1:01:37
  two saplings were laid with smooth pieces of bark stretched across. These were covered
• 1:01:43
  with grass or dried leaves, upon which was placed with the fur upwards,
• 1:01:46
  the well tanned skin of the buffalo or the bear. Thus quite a luxurious
• 1:01:52
  bed was constructed upon which there was often enjoyed as sweet sleep as perhaps is
• 1:01:59
  ever found on beds of down. In another corner, some rude shelves were
• 1:02:04
  placed, upon which appeared a few articles of tin and ironware upon some buck
• 1:02:09
  horns. Over the door was always placed the rifle, ever, loaded and
• 1:02:14
  ready for use. A very intelligent immigrant, doctor Doddridge, gives the following
• 1:02:20
  graphic account of his experience in such a log cabin as we have described in
• 1:02:23
  the remote wilderness when he was but a child. His father, with a
• 1:02:29
  small family, had penetrated these trackless wilds, and in the midst of their
• 1:02:32
  sublime solitude, had reared his lonely cabin. He writes. My father's family
• 1:02:40
  was small, and he took us all with him. The Indian meal which
• 1:02:45
  he brought was expended six weeks too soon, so that for that length of
• 1:02:50
  time we had to live without bread. The lean venison and the breast of
• 1:02:53
  wild turkeys we were taught to call bread. I remember how narrowly we chose
• 1:03:00
  and watch the growth of the potato tops, pumpkin and squash vines, hoping
• 1:03:04
  from day to day to get something to answer in the place of bread.
• 1:03:08
  How delicious was the taste of the young potatoes when we got them, What
• 1:03:13
  a jew believe? When we were permitted to pull the young corn for roasting
• 1:03:16
  ears, still more so when it had acquired sufficient hardness to be made into
• 1:03:22
  johnny cake by the aid of a ten grater. The furniture of the table
• 1:03:27
  consisted of a few pewter dishes, plates, and spoons, but mostly of
• 1:03:30
  wooden bowls and trenchers, and noggins, if these last were scarce, gourds
• 1:03:36
  and hard shell squashes made up the deficiency. I well remember the first time
• 1:03:42
  I ever saw a tea cup and saucer. My mother died when I was
• 1:03:45
  six or seven years of age. My father then sent me to Maryland to
• 1:03:50
  go to school at Bedford. The tavern at which my uncle put up was
• 1:03:54
  a stone house, and to make the changes still more complete, it was
• 1:03:59
  plastered on the inside, both as to the walls and ceiling. On going
• 1:04:03
  into the dining room, I was struck with astonishment at the appearance of the
• 1:04:06
  house. I had no idea that there was any house in the world that
• 1:04:11
  was not built of logs. But here I looked around and could see no
• 1:04:15
  logs, and above I could see no joists. Whether such a thing had
• 1:04:19
  been made by the hands of man or had grown so of itself, I
• 1:04:24
  could not conjecture. I had not the courage to inquire anything about it.
• 1:04:30
  When supper came on, my confusion was worse. Confounded a little cup stood
• 1:04:34
  in a bigger one, with some brownish looking stuff in it, which was
• 1:04:38
  neither milk, hominy, nor broth. What to do with these little cups
• 1:04:44
  and the spoons belonging to them, I could not tell, But I was
• 1:04:47
  afraid to ask anything concerning the use of them. Daniel Boone could see from
• 1:04:53
  the door of his cabin, far away in the west, the majestic ridge
• 1:04:57
  of the Allegheny Mountains, many of the eeks rising six thousand feet into the
• 1:05:01
  clouds. This almost impassable wall which nature had reared, extended for hundreds of
• 1:05:08
  leagues along the Atlantic coast, parallel with that coast, and at an average
• 1:05:13
  distance of one hundred and thirty miles from the ocean. It divides the waters
• 1:05:17
  which flow into the Atlantic from those which run into the Mississippi. The great
• 1:05:23
  Chain consists of many spurs, from fifty to two hundred miles in breadth,
• 1:05:28
  and receives in different localities different names, such as the Cumberland Mountains, the
• 1:05:33
  Blue Ridge, et cetera. But few white men had ever as yet ascended
• 1:05:39
  the summits to cast a glance at the vast wilderness beyond. The wildest stories
• 1:05:45
  were told around the cabin fires of these unexplored realms of the Indian tribes wandering
• 1:05:49
  there, of the forests filled with game, of the rivers alive with fishes,
• 1:05:55
  of the fertile plains, the floral beauty, the abounding fruit and the
• 1:05:59
  almost celestial climb. These stories were brought to the settlers in the broken language
• 1:06:04
  of the Indians, and in the exaggerated tales of hunters, who professed that,
• 1:06:10
  in the chase they had from some Pisca's summit, gazed upon the splendors
• 1:06:15
  of this canaan of the new world. Thus far the settlers had rested contented
• 1:06:20
  with the seaboard region east of the Alleghenies. They had made no attempt to
• 1:06:25
  climb the summits of this great barrier, or to penetrate its gloomy defiles,
• 1:06:30
  A dense forest covered alike the mountain cliff and the rocky gorge. Indeed,
• 1:06:35
  there were but few points at which even the foot of the hunter could pass
• 1:06:40
  this chain. While Daniel Boone was residing in the congenial solitude of his hut
• 1:06:45
  on the banks of the Yadkin, with the grandeur of the wilderness all around
• 1:06:49
  him, in which his soul delighted, with his table luxuriously spread according to
• 1:06:56
  his tastes, with venison, bear's meat, fat turkeys, chickens from the
• 1:07:00
  prairie, and vegetables from his garden, with comfortable clothing of deer skin,
• 1:07:04
  and such cloths as peddlers occasionally brought to his cabin door in exchange for furs.
• 1:07:11
  He was quite annoyed by the arrival of a number of Scotch families in
• 1:07:14
  his region, bringing with them customs and fashions which to Daniel Boone were very
• 1:07:19
  annoying. They began to cut down the glorious old forest, to break up
• 1:07:25
  the green sward of the prairies, to rear more ambitious houses than the humble
• 1:07:30
  home of the Pioneer. They assumed airs of superiority, introduced more artificial styles
• 1:07:35
  of living, and brought into hitherto unknown vexation of taxes. One can easily
• 1:07:43
  imagine how restive such a man as Boone must have been under such innovations.
• 1:07:48
  The sheriff made his appearance in the Lonely Hut, The collection of the taxes
• 1:07:53
  was enforced by suits at law. Even Daniel Boone's title to his lands was
• 1:07:58
  called in question, some of the newcomers, claiming that their more legal grants
• 1:08:02
  lapped over upon the boundaries which Boone claimed. Under these circumstances, our Pioneer
• 1:08:10
  became very anxious to escape from these vexations by an emigration farther into the wilderness.
• 1:08:16
  Day after day he cast wistful glances upon the vast mountain barrier, piercing
• 1:08:21
  the clouds in the distant horizon. Beyond that barrier, neither the sheriff nor
• 1:08:27
  the tax gatherer were to be encountered. His soul, naturally incapable of fear,
• 1:08:32
  experienced no dread and apprehension of Indian hostilities or the ferocity of wild beasts.
• 1:08:40
  Even the idea of the journey through the sublime solitudes of an unexplored region
• 1:08:45
  was far more attractive to him than the tour of Europe. To a stated
• 1:08:48
  millionaire, two or three horses would convey upon their backs all their household goods.
• 1:08:56
  There were Indian trails and streets so called made by the buffalo as in
• 1:09:00
  large numbers they had followed each other, selecting by a wonderful instinct their path
• 1:09:04
  from one feeding ground to another, through cane brakes, around morasses and over
• 1:09:10
  mountains, through the most accessible defiles. Along these trails or streets, Moon
• 1:09:15
  could take his peaceful route without any danger of mistaking his way. Every mile
• 1:09:20
  would be opening to him new scenes of grandeur and beauty. Should night come
• 1:09:26
  or a storm set in a few hours labor with his axe would rear for
• 1:09:30
  him not only a comfortable but cheerful tent with its warm and sheltered interior,
• 1:09:34
  with the camp fire crackling and blazing before it. His wife and children not
• 1:09:40
  only afforded him all the society his peculiar nature craved, but each one was
• 1:09:45
  a helper, knowing exactly what to do in this picnic excursion through the wilderness.
• 1:09:49
  Wherever he might stop for the night or for a few days, his
• 1:09:55
  unerring rifle procured for him viands which might tint the appetite of the epicure.
• 1:10:00
  There are many, even in civilized life, who will confess that for them
• 1:10:05
  such an excursion would present attractions such as are not to be found in the
• 1:10:10
  banqueting halls at Windsor Castle, or in the gorgeous saloons of Versailles. Daniel
• 1:10:15
  Boone, in imagination, was incessantly visiting the land beyond the mountains, and
• 1:10:20
  longing to explore its mysteries. Whether he would find the ocean there or in
• 1:10:26
  expanse of lakes and majestic rivers, or boundless prairies or the unbroken forest,
• 1:10:31
  he knew not whether the region were crowded with Indians, and if so,
• 1:10:35
  whether they would be found friendly or hostile, And whether game roamed there in
• 1:10:40
  greater variety and in larger abundance than on the Atlantic side of the Great Barrier,
• 1:10:45
  were questions, as yet all unsolved. But these questions Daniel Boone pondered
• 1:10:50
  in silence night and day. A gentleman, who nearly half a century ago
• 1:10:57
  visited one of these frontier dwellings, very romantically situated amidst the mountains of West
• 1:11:02
  Virginia, has given us a pencil sketch of the habitation, which we here
• 1:11:08
  introduce. The account of the visit is also so graphic that we cannot improve
• 1:11:13
  it by giving it any language but its own. This settler had passed through
• 1:11:16
  the first and was entering upon the second stage of pioneer life. Towards the
• 1:11:23
  close of an autumnal day, when traveling through the thinly settled region of western
• 1:11:28
  Virginia, I came up with a substantial looking farmer leaning on the fence by
• 1:11:32
  the roadside. I accompanied him to his house to spend the night. It
• 1:11:38
  was a log dwelling, and near it stood another log structure about twelve feet
• 1:11:42
  square, the weaving shop of the family On entering the dwelling, I found
• 1:11:46
  the numerous household, all clothed and substantial garments of their own manufacture. The
• 1:11:53
  floor was unadorned by a carpet, and the room devoid of superfluous furniture.
• 1:11:58
  Yet they had all that necessity required for their comfort. One needs but little
• 1:12:02
  experience like this to learn how few are our real wants, how easily most
• 1:12:09
  luxuries of dress, furniture, and equipage can be dispensed with. Soon after
• 1:12:15
  my arrival, supper was ready. It consisted of fowls, bacon, hoe
• 1:12:19
  cake, and buckwheat cakes. Our beverage was milk and coffee, sweetened with
• 1:12:25
  maple sugar. Soon as it grew dark, my hostess took down a small
• 1:12:29
  candle mold for three candles hanging from the wall on a framework just in front
• 1:12:33
  of the fireplace, in company with a rifle, long streams of dried pumpkins
• 1:12:38
  and other articles of household property. On retiring, I was conducted to the
• 1:12:43
  room overhead, to which I ascended by stairs out of doors. My bedfellow
• 1:12:48
  was the county Sheriff, a young man of about my own age, and
• 1:12:53
  as we lay together a fine field was had for astronomical observations through the chinks
• 1:12:59
  of the log. The next morning, after rising, I was looking for
• 1:13:02
  the washing apparatus when he tapped me on the shoulder as a signal to accompany
• 1:13:08
  him to the brook in the rear of the house, in whose pure crystal
• 1:13:12
  waters we performed our morning ablutions after breakfast. Through the persuasion of the sheriff,
• 1:13:18
  I agreed to go across the country by his horse. He was on
• 1:13:23
  horseback, I on foot, bearing my knapsack. For six miles, our
• 1:13:27
  route lay through a pathless forest on emerging from which we soon passed through the
• 1:13:31
  court House, the only village in the county, consisting of about a dozen
• 1:13:35
  log houses and the court building. Soon after we came to a methanist encampment.
• 1:13:42
  This was formed of three continuous lines, each occupying a side of a
• 1:13:46
  square and about one hundred feet in length. Each row was divided into six
• 1:13:50
  or ten cabins, with partitions between the height of the rows on the inner
• 1:13:56
  side of the enclosed area was about ten feet on the outer about six to
• 1:14:00
  which the roofs sloped shed like. The door of each cabin opened on the
• 1:14:04
  inner side of the area and at the back of each was a log chimney
• 1:14:09
  coming up even with the roof. At the upper extremity of the enclosure formed
• 1:14:15
  by these three lines of cabins was an open shed, a mere roof supported
• 1:14:18
  by posts, say thirty by fifty feet, and which was a coarse pulpit
• 1:14:24
  and log seats. A few tall trees were standing within the area, and
• 1:14:28
  many stumps scattered here and there. The whole establishment was in the depth of
• 1:14:32
  a forest, and wild and rude, as can be well imagined. In
• 1:14:36
  many of these sparsely inhabited counties, there are no settled clergy, and rarely
• 1:14:43
  do the people hear any other than the Methodist preachers. Here is the itinerating
• 1:14:47
  system of Wesley exhibited in its full usefulness. The circuits are usually of three
• 1:14:53
  weeks duration, in which the clergymen preach daily. Most of these preachers are
• 1:14:58
  energetic, devoted men, and often they endure great privations. After sketching the
• 1:15:03
  encampment, I came in a few moments to the dwelling of the sheriff close
• 1:15:08
  by. It was a group of mountain men and women seated around a log
• 1:15:12
  cabin about twelve feet square, ten high and open at the top. Into
• 1:15:16
  which these neighbors of my companion were casting ears of corn as fast as they
• 1:15:20
  could shuck them. Cheerfully they performed their tasks. The men were large and
• 1:15:26
  hearty, the damsels plump and rosy, and all dressed in good, warm
• 1:15:30
  homespun. The sheriff informed me that he owned about two thousand acres around his
• 1:15:35
  dwelling, and that his farm was worth about one thousand dollars or fifty cents
• 1:15:40
  an acre. I entered his log domicile, which was one story in height
• 1:15:45
  about twenty feet square, and divided it into two small rooms, without windows
• 1:15:49
  or places to let in the light, except by a front and rear door.
• 1:15:54
  I soon partook of a meal in which we had a variety of luxuries,
• 1:15:58
  not omitting bear's meat. A blessing was asked at the table by one
• 1:16:01
  of the neighbors. After supper, the bottle, as usual at corn huskings,
• 1:16:06
  was circulated. The sheriff, learning that I was a Washingtonian with the
• 1:16:12
  politeness of one of nature's gentlemen, refrained from urging me to participate. The
• 1:16:16
  men drank but moderately, and we all drew round the fire, the light
• 1:16:20
  of which was the only one we had hunting stories and kindred topics served to
• 1:16:26
  talk down the hours till bedtime. On awaking in the morning, I saw
• 1:16:30
  two women cooking breakfast in my bedroom, and three men seated over the fire
• 1:16:34
  watching the operation. After breakfast, I bathed my host farewell, buckled on
• 1:16:41
  my knapsack, and left. In the course of two hours I came to
• 1:16:45
  a cabin by the wayside. There being no gate, I sprang over the
• 1:16:48
  fence, entered the open door, and was received with a hearty welcome.
• 1:16:54
  It was a humble dwelling, the abode of poverty. The few articles of
• 1:16:58
  furniture were neat and plays arranged. In the corner stood two beds, one
• 1:17:02
  hung with curtains and both with coverlets of snowy white, contrasting with dingy log
• 1:17:08
  walls, rude furniture, and rough boarded floor. Of this the only room
• 1:17:13
  in the dwelling, around a cheerful fire, was seated an interesting family group.
• 1:17:18
  In one corner on the hearth sat the mother smoking a pipe. Next
• 1:17:23
  to her was a little girl in a small chair holding a young kitten.
• 1:17:27
  In the opposite corner sat a venerable old man of herculean stature, robed in
• 1:17:31
  a hunting shirt, and with a countenance as majestic and impressive as that of
• 1:17:36
  a Roman senator. In the center of the group was a young maiden,
• 1:17:41
  modest and retiring, not beautiful except in that moral beauty virtue gives. She
• 1:17:46
  was reading to them from a little book. She was the only one of
• 1:17:50
  the family who could read, and she could do so but imperfectly. And
• 1:17:55
  that small volume was the whole secret of the neatness and happiness found in this
• 1:17:59
  life. Only caught that little book was the New Testament. The institution of
• 1:18:05
  camp meetings, introduced with so much success by the Methodists, those noble pioneers
• 1:18:11
  of Christianity, seemed to have been the necessary result of the attempt to preach
• 1:18:15
  to the sparsely settled population of a new country. The following is said to
• 1:18:20
  be the origin of those camp meetings which have done incalculable good socially, intellectually,
• 1:18:28
  and religiously. In the year seventeen ninety nine, two men by the
• 1:18:31
  name of McGee, one a Presbyterian, the other a Methodist, set out
• 1:18:36
  on a missionary tour together to visit the loghouses in the wilderness. A meeting
• 1:18:42
  was appointed at a little settlement upon one of the tributaries of the Ohio.
• 1:18:45
  The pioneers flocked to the place for many miles around. There was no church
• 1:18:50
  there, and the meeting was necessarily held in the open air. Many brought
• 1:18:56
  their food with them and camped out. Thus the meeting, with the exhortation
• 1:19:00
  and prayer, was continued in the night. Immense bonfires blazed, illuminating the
• 1:19:05
  sublimities of the forest, and the assembled congregation, cut off from all the
• 1:19:11
  ordinary privileges of civilized life, listened devoutly to the story of a saviour's love.
• 1:19:17
  This meeting was so successful in its results that another was appointed at a
• 1:19:21
  small settlement on the banks of a stream called Muddy River. The tidings spread
• 1:19:27
  rapidly through all the stations and farmhouses on the frontier. It afforded these lonely
• 1:19:31
  settlers a delightful opportunity of meeting together. They could listen for hours with unabated
• 1:19:38
  interest to the religious exercises. The people, assembled from a distance of forty
• 1:19:44
  or fifty miles around a vast concourse, had met beneath the foliage of the
• 1:19:47
  trees. The skies alone draped with clouds by day, and adorned with stars
• 1:19:53
  by night the dome of their majestic temple. The scene by night must have
• 1:19:58
  been picturesque in the extreme. Men, women and children were there in homespun
• 1:20:02
  guard and being accustomed to camp life, they were there in comfort. Strangers
• 1:20:08
  met and became friends. Many wives and mothers obtained rest and refreshment from their
• 1:20:14
  monotonous toils. There is a bond in Christ's discipleship stronger than any other,
• 1:20:18
  and Christians grasped hands in love, pledging themselves anew to a holy life.
• 1:20:25
  For several days and nights, this religious festival was continued. Time could not
• 1:20:30
  have been better spent. Dwellers in the forest could not afford to take so
• 1:20:33
  long a journey merely to listen to one half hour's discourse. These men and
• 1:20:39
  women were earnest and thoughtful. In the solitude of their homes. They had
• 1:20:44
  reflected deeply upon life and its issues. When death occasionally visited their cabins,
• 1:20:49
  it was a far more awful event than when death occurs in the crowded city,
• 1:20:55
  where the hearse is every hour of every day passing through the streets.
• 1:21:00
  These scenes of worship very deeply impressed the minds of the people they were not
• 1:21:04
  Gospel hardened, the gloom and silence of the forest alike still by night and
• 1:21:10
  by day, the memory of the past with its few joys and many griefs,
• 1:21:15
  the anticipations of the future, with its unceasing struggles to terminate only in
• 1:21:20
  death. The solemnity which rested on every countenance, the sweet melody of the
• 1:21:27
  hymns, the earnest tones of the preachers in exhortation and prayer, all combined
• 1:21:31
  to present a scene calculated to produce a very profound impression upon the human mind.
• 1:21:38
  At this meeting, not only professed Christians were greatly revived, but not
• 1:21:44
  less than a hundred persons, it was thought, became disciples of the Savior.
• 1:21:48
  Another camp meeting was soon after appointed to meet on Desha's Creek, a
• 1:21:54
  small stream flowing into the Cumberland River. The country was now becoming more populous,
• 1:21:59
  and so several thousand were assembled, and thus the work went on,
• 1:22:02
  multitudes being thus reached by the preached gospel who could not be reached in any
• 1:22:08
  other way. Life on the frontier was by no means devoid of its enjoyments
• 1:22:14
  as well as of its intense excitements. It must have also been an exceedingly
• 1:22:18
  busy life. There were no mills for cutting timber or grinding corn, no
• 1:22:24
  blacksmith shops to repair the farming utensils. There were no tanneries, no carpenters,
• 1:22:30
  shoemakers, weavers. Every family had to do everything for itself. The
• 1:22:34
  corn was pounded with a heavy pestule and a large mortar made by burning an
• 1:22:40
  excavation and a solid block of wood. By means of these mortars, the
• 1:22:44
  settlers in regions where saltpeter could be obtained made very respectable gunpowder. In making
• 1:22:50
  corn meal, a grater was sometimes used, consisting of a half circular piece
• 1:22:56
  of tin perforated with a punch from the concave side. The ears of corn
• 1:23:00
  were rubbed on the rough edges, and the meal fell through the holes on
• 1:23:04
  a board or cloth placed to receive it. They also sometimes made use of
• 1:23:09
  a hand mill, resembling those alluded to in the Bible. These consisted of
• 1:23:14
  two circular stones, The lowest, which was immovable, was called the bedstone,
• 1:23:18
  the upper one the runner. Two persons could grind together at this mill.
• 1:23:25
  The clothing was all of domestic manufacture, a fabric called linsey woolsey was
• 1:23:30
  most frequently in use and made the most substantial and warmest clothing. It was
• 1:23:35
  made of flax and wool, the former the warp, the latter the filling.
• 1:23:40
  Every cabin almost had its rude loom, and every woman was a weaver.
• 1:23:45
  The men tanned their own leather. A large trough was sunk in the
• 1:23:49
  ground to its upper edge. Bark was shaved with an axe and pounded with
• 1:23:55
  a mallet. Ashes were used for lime in removing the hair in the window
• 1:24:00
  evenings. The men made strong shoes and moccasins, and the women cut out
• 1:24:04
  and made hunting shirts, leggings and drawers. Hunting was a great source of
• 1:24:11
  amusement, as well as a very exciting and profitable employment. The boys were
• 1:24:15
  all taught to imitate the call of every bird and beast in the woods.
• 1:24:19
  The skill in imitation which they thus acquired was wonderful. Hidden in a thicket,
• 1:24:25
  they would gobble like a turkey and lure a whole flock of these birds
• 1:24:29
  within reach of their rifles. Bleeding like a fawn, they would draw the
• 1:24:32
  timid dam to her death. The moping owls would come in flocks, attracted
• 1:24:38
  by the screech of the hunter, while the packs of wolves far away in
• 1:24:42
  the forest would howl in response to the hunter's cry. The boys also rivaled
• 1:24:47
  the Indians and the skill with which they would throw the tomahawk. With a
• 1:24:50
  handle of a given length, and measuring the distance with the eye, they
• 1:24:55
  would throw the weapon with such accuracy that its keen edge would be sure to
• 1:24:59
  strike the object at which it was aimed. Running, jumping, wrestling were
• 1:25:03
  pastimes in which both boys and men engaged. Shooting at a mark was one
• 1:25:08
  of the most favorite diversions. When a boy had attained the age of about
• 1:25:12
  twelve years, a rifle was usually placed in his hands. In the house
• 1:25:16
  or fort where he resided, a porthole was assigned to him, where he
• 1:25:20
  was to do valiant service as a soldier in case of an attack by the
• 1:25:25
  Indians. Every day he was in the woods hunting squirrels, turkeys, and
• 1:25:29
  raccoons. Thus he soon acquired extraordinary expertness with his gun. The following interesting
• 1:25:36
  narrative is taken from Ramsay's Annals of Tennessee, which state was settled about the
• 1:25:42
  same time with Kentucky and with immigrants from about the same region. The settlement
• 1:25:47
  of Tennessee was unlike that of the present new country of the United States.
• 1:25:51
  Immigrants from the Atlantic cities and from most points in the Western interior, now
• 1:25:58
  embarked upon steamboats or other and carrying with them all the conveniences and comforts of
• 1:26:02
  civilized life. Indeed, many of its luxuries are in a few days,
• 1:26:08
  without toil, danger, or exposure, transported to their new abodes, and
• 1:26:12
  in a few months are surrounded with the appendages of home, of civilization,
• 1:26:16
  and the blessings of law and of society. The wilds of Minnesota and Nebraska,
• 1:26:21
  by the agency of steam or the stylewart arms of Western boatmen, are
• 1:26:27
  at once transformed into the settlements of a commercial and civilized people. Independence and
• 1:26:32
  Saint Paul. Six months after they are laid off, have their stores and
• 1:26:36
  their workshops, their artisans, and their mechanics. The mantua maker and the
• 1:26:43
  tailor arrive in the same boat, with the carpenter and the mason. The
• 1:26:46
  professional man and the printer quickly follow. In the succeeding year, the piano,
• 1:26:51
  the drawing room, the restaurant, the billiard table, the church bell,
• 1:26:56
  the village, and the city in miniature are all found. While the
• 1:26:59
  neighbor ring interior is yet a wilderness and a desert. The town and comfort,
• 1:27:04
  taste and urbanity are first, the clearing, the farmhouse, the wagon
• 1:27:09
  road, and the improved country second. It was far different on the frontier
• 1:27:14
  of Tennessee. At first, a single Indian trail was the only entrance to
• 1:27:17
  the eastern border of it, and for many years admitted only the hunter and
• 1:27:23
  the pack horse. It was not till the year seventeen seventy six that a
• 1:27:27
  wagon was seen in Tennessee. In consequence of the want of roads, as
• 1:27:30
  well as of the great distance from the sources of supply, the first inhabitants
• 1:27:34
  were without tools, and of course without mechanics. Much more, without the
• 1:27:40
  conveniences of living and the comforts of housekeeping. Luxuries were absolutely unknown. Salt
• 1:27:46
  was brought on pack horses from Augusta to Richmond and readily commanded ten dollars a
• 1:27:51
  bushel. The salt gourd in every cabin was considered a treasure. The sugar
• 1:27:57
  maple furnished the only article of lanfe luxury on the frontier, Coffee and tea
• 1:28:01
  being unknown or beyond the reach of settlers, Sugar was seldom made and was
• 1:28:08
  used only for the sick, or in the preparation of a sweetened dram at
• 1:28:11
  a wedding, or on the arrival of a newcomer. The appendages of the
• 1:28:15
  kitchen, the cupboard, and the table were scanty and simple. Iron was
• 1:28:19
  brought at great expense from the forages east of the mountains on pack horses,
• 1:28:25
  and was sold at an enormous price. Its use was for this reason confined
• 1:28:30
  to the construction and repair of plows and other farming utensils. Hinges, nails,
• 1:28:35
  and fastenings of that material were seldom seen. The costume of the first
• 1:28:41
  settlers corresponded well with the style of their buildings and the quality of their furniture.
• 1:28:45
  The hunting shirt of the militia man and the hunter was in general use.
• 1:28:50
  The rest of their apparel was in keeping with it, plain, substantial,
• 1:28:55
  and well adapted for comfort, use and economy. The apparel of the
• 1:29:00
  pioneer's family was all homemade, and in a whole neighborhood there would not be
• 1:29:04
  seen at the first settlement of the country a single article of dress of foreign
• 1:29:10
  manufacture. Half the year. In many families, shoes were not worn,
• 1:29:15
  boots, a fur hat and a coat with buttons on each side, attracted
• 1:29:18
  the gaze of the beholder and sometimes received censure or rebuke. A stranger from
• 1:29:25
  the Old States chose to doff his ruffles, his broadcloth, and his cue
• 1:29:30
  rather than endure the scoff and ridicule of the backwoodsman. The dwelling house on
• 1:29:35
  every frontier in Tennessee was the log cabin. A carpenter and a mason were
• 1:29:41
  not needed to build them, much less the painter, the glacier, and
• 1:29:45
  the upholsterer. Every settler had, besides his rifle no other instrument but an
• 1:29:49
  axe or hatchet, and a butcher knife, A saw, an auger,
• 1:29:54
  a file, and a broad axe would supply a whole settlement and were used
• 1:29:58
  as common property. In the erection of the log cabin. The labor and
• 1:30:02
  employment of a pioneer family were distributed in accordance with surrounding circumstances. To the
• 1:30:09
  men, it was assigned the duty of procuring subsistence and materials for clothing,
• 1:30:15
  erecting the cabin in the station, opening and cultivating the farm, hunting the
• 1:30:18
  wild beasts, and repelling and pursuing the Indians. The women spun the flax,
• 1:30:25
  the cotton and the wool wove the cloth, made them up, milked,
• 1:30:29
  churned, and prepared the food, and did their full share of the
• 1:30:31
  duties of housekeeping. Could there be happiness or comfort in such dwellings in such
• 1:30:38
  a state of society? To those who are accustomed to modern refinements, the
• 1:30:42
  truth appears like fable. The early occupants of log cabins were among the most
• 1:30:46
  happy of mankind. Exercise and excitement gave them health. They were practically equal.
• 1:30:53
  Common danger made them mutually dependent. Brilliant hopes of future wealth and distinction
• 1:30:59
  led them on. And as there was ample room for all, and as
• 1:31:01
  each newcomer increased individual and general security, there was little room for that envy,
• 1:31:08
  jealousy, and hatred which constitute a large portion of human misery. And
• 1:31:12
  older societies never were the story, the joke, the song, and the
• 1:31:15
  laugh better enjoyed than upon the hued blocks or punching stools around the roaring log
• 1:31:21
  fire of the early western settler on the frontier. The diet was necessarily plain
• 1:31:28
  and homely, but exceedingly abundant and nutritive. The ghostan of America furnishes the
• 1:31:33
  richest milk and the most savory and delicious meats, in their rude cabins,
• 1:31:39
  with their scanty and inartificial furniture. No people ever enjoyed in wholesome food,
• 1:31:45
  a greater variety, or a superior quality of the necessaries of life. A
• 1:31:49
  writer of that day describes the sports of these pioneers of Kentucky. One of
• 1:31:55
  them consisted in driving the nail. A common nail was hammered into a target
• 1:32:00
  were about two thirds of its length. The marksmen then took their stand at
• 1:32:02
  the distance of about forty paces. Each man carefully cleaned the interior of his
• 1:32:08
  gun and then placed a bullet in his hand, over which he poured just
• 1:32:12
  enough powder to cover it. This was a charge. A shot which only
• 1:32:16
  came close to the nail was considered a very indifferent shot. Nothing was deemed
• 1:32:21
  satisfactory but striking the nail with the bullet fairly on the head. Generally one
• 1:32:27
  out of three shots would hit the nail. Two nails were frequently needed before
• 1:32:31
  each man could get a shot. Barking of squirrels is another sport I first
• 1:32:38
  witnessed right the one to whom we have above eluded. This manner of procuring
• 1:32:43
  squirrels while near the town of Frankfort. The performer was the celebrated Daniel Boone.
• 1:32:47
  We walked out together and followed the rocky margins of the Kentucky River until
• 1:32:51
  we reached a piece of flat land thickly covered with black walnuts, oaks,
• 1:32:57
  and hickories. Squirrels were seen gambling on every tree around us. My companion,
• 1:33:02
  mister Boone, a stout, hail athletic man, dressed in a homespun
• 1:33:06
  hunting shirt, bare legged and moccasined, carried a long and heavy rifle,
• 1:33:12
  which, as he was loading it, he said, had proved efficient in
• 1:33:15
  all his former undertakings, and which he hoped would not fail on this occasion,
• 1:33:20
  as he felt proud to show me his skill. The gun was wiped,
• 1:33:25
  the powder measured, the ball patched with six hundred thread linen, and
• 1:33:29
  a charge sent home with a hickory rod. We moved not a step from
• 1:33:33
  the place, for the squirrels were so thick that it was unnecessary to go
• 1:33:38
  after them. Boone pointed to one of these animals, which had observed us,
• 1:33:42
  and was crouched on a tree about fifty paces distant, and bade me
• 1:33:46
  mark well where the ball should hit. He raised his piece gradually until the
• 1:33:51
  head or side of the barrel was brought to a line with the spot he
• 1:33:56
  intended to strike the whiplike. Reports sounded through the woods and along the hills
• 1:34:00
  in repeated echoes. Judge of my surprise when I perceived that the ball had
• 1:34:06
  hit the piece of bark immediately underneath the squirrel and shivered it into splinters,
• 1:34:12
  the concussion produced by which had killed the animal, and since it whirling through
• 1:34:16
  the air as if it had been blown up by the explosion of a powder
• 1:34:19
  magazine, Boone kept up his firing, and before many hours had elapsed,
• 1:34:25
  we had procured as many squirrels as we wished. Since that first interview with
• 1:34:30
  the veteran Boone, I have seen many other individuals perform the same feat,
• 1:34:34
  this nothing of a candle with a ball. I first had an opportunity of
• 1:34:39
  seeing near the banks of Green River, not far from a large pigeon roost
• 1:34:43
  to which I had previously made a visit. I had heard many reports of
• 1:34:46
  guns during the early part of a dark night, and, knowing them to
• 1:34:49
  be rifles, I went towards the spot to ascertain the calls. On reaching
• 1:34:55
  the place, I was welcomed by a dozen tall, stout men, who
• 1:34:59
  told me they were ex sizing for the purpose of enabling them to shoot in
• 1:35:01
  the night at the reflected light from the eyes of a deer or wolf.
• 1:35:05
  By torchlight. A fire was blazing, near the smoke of which rose curling
• 1:35:11
  among the thick foliage of the trees. At a distance which rendered it scarcely
• 1:35:15
  distinguishable, stood a burning candle, which in reality was only fifty yards from
• 1:35:20
  the spot on which we all stood. One man was within a few yards
• 1:35:25
  of it to watch the effect of the shots, as well as to light
• 1:35:28
  the candle should it chance to go out, or to replace it should the
• 1:35:31
  shot cut it. Across each marksman shot in his turn. Some never hit
• 1:35:36
  neither the snuff or the candle, and were congratulated with a loud laugh,
• 1:35:41
  while others actually snuffed the candle without putting it out, and were recompensed for
• 1:35:45
  their dexterity with numerous hurrahs. One of them, who was particularly expert,
• 1:35:51
  was very fortunate and snuffed the candle three times out of seven, while all
• 1:35:56
  the other shots either put out the candle or cut it immediately under the light.
• 1:36:01
  End of chapter two, Chapter three Louisiana, its discovery and vicissitudes.
• 1:36:10
  The transfer of Louisiana to the United States is one of the most interesting events
• 1:36:15
  in the history of our country. In the year eighteen hundred, Spain,
• 1:36:18
  then in possession of the vast region west of the Mississippi, ceded it to
• 1:36:24
  France. The whole country west of the majestic river, appropriately called the Father
• 1:36:29
  of Waters, was then called Louisiana, and its boundaries were very obscurely defined.
• 1:36:34
  Indeed, neither the missionary nor the hunter had penetrated but a very short
• 1:36:40
  distance into those unknown wilds. It was in the year fifteen forty one that
• 1:36:45
  de Soto, marching from Florida across the country, came to the banks of
• 1:36:49
  this magnificent river, near the present site of Memphis. He knew not where
• 1:36:54
  it took its rise or where it emptied its swollen flood, but he found
• 1:36:59
  a stream more more than a mile in width, of almost fathomless depth,
• 1:37:02
  rolling its rapid, turbid stream on which were floated innumerable logs and trees,
• 1:37:09
  through an almost uninhabited country of wonderful luxuriance. He was in search of gold,
• 1:37:15
  and crossing the river, advanced in a northwesterly direction about two hundred miles
• 1:37:20
  till he came within sight of the highlands of the White River. He then
• 1:37:25
  turned in a southerly direction and continued his explorations till death soon terminated his melancholy
• 1:37:30
  career. More than one hundred and thirty years passed over these solitudes when James
• 1:37:36
  Marquette, a French missionary among the Indians at Saint Mary's, the outlet of
• 1:37:42
  Lake Superior, resolved to explore the Mississippi, of whose magnificence he had heard
• 1:37:47
  much from the lips of the Indians who had occasionally extended their hunting tours to
• 1:37:53
  its banks. He was inured to all the hardships of the wilderness, seemed
• 1:37:58
  to despise worldly comfort, and had a soul of bravery which could apparently set
• 1:38:02
  all perils at defiance. And still he was endued with a poetic nature which
• 1:38:09
  reveled in the charms of these wild and romantic realms as he climbed its mountains
• 1:38:15
  and floated in his canoe over its silent and placid streams. Even then,
• 1:38:20
  it was not known whether the Mississippi emptied its majestic flood into the Pacific Ocean
• 1:38:26
  or into the Gulf of Mexico. The foot of the white man upon the
• 1:38:30
  shores of Lake Superior had never penetrated beyond the Indian village, where the Fox
• 1:38:35
  River enters into Green Bay. From this point Marquette started for the exploration of
• 1:38:42
  the Mississippi. The party consisted of mister Marquette, a French gentleman by the
• 1:38:46
  name of Joillette, five French voyagers, and two Indian guides. They transported
• 1:38:54
  their two birch canoes on their shoulders across the portage from the Fox River to
• 1:38:59
  the Wisconsin River. Paddling rapidly down this stream through realms of silence and solitude,
• 1:39:04
  they soon entered the majestic Mississippi, more than fifteen hundred miles above its
• 1:39:10
  mouth. Marquette seems to have experienced in the highest degree the romance of his
• 1:39:15
  wonderful voyage, for he says that he commenced the descent of the mighty river
• 1:39:21
  with a joy that could not be expressed. It was the beautiful month of
• 1:39:27
  June sixteen seventy three, the most genial season of the year. The skies
• 1:39:32
  were bright above them, the placid Stream was fringed with banks of wonderful luxuriance,
• 1:39:38
  and beauty, the rocky cliffs, at times assuming the aspect of majestic
• 1:39:43
  castles of every variety of architecture. Again, the gently swelling hills were robed
• 1:39:49
  in sublime forests, and again the smooth meadows, in their verdure, spread
• 1:39:55
  far away to the horizon. Rapidly the canoes, gently guided by the paddles,
• 1:40:01
  floated down the stream. Having descended the river about one hundred and eighty
• 1:40:06
  miles, they came to a very well trod Indian trail leading back from the
• 1:40:12
  river to the interior. Marquette and Joilette had the curiosity and the courage to
• 1:40:17
  follow this trail for six miles until they came to an Indian village. It
• 1:40:23
  would seem that some of the Indians there, in their hunting excursions, had
• 1:40:27
  wandered to some of the French settlements. For four of their leading men,
• 1:40:31
  dressed in the most gorgeous display of barbaric pomp, brilliant with many colored plumes,
• 1:40:39
  came out to meet them and conducted them to the cabin of their chief.
• 1:40:43
  He addressed them in the following words, how beautiful is the sun,
• 1:40:47
  Frenchmen, When thou cometst to us our whole village, welcomes thee in peace,
• 1:40:55
  thou shalt enter all our dwellings. After a very pleasant visit, they
• 1:41:00
  returned to their boats and resumed their voyage. They floated by the mouth of
• 1:41:04
  the turbid Missouri, little dreaming of the grandeur of the realms watered by that
• 1:41:11
  imperial stream and its tributaries. They passed the mouth of the Ohio, which
• 1:41:15
  they recognized as the Belle Riviere, which the Indians then called the Wabash.
• 1:41:21
  As they floated rapidly away towards the south, they visited many Indian villages on
• 1:41:27
  the banks of the stream, where the devoted missionary Marquette endeavored to proclaim the
• 1:41:32
  Gospel of Christ. I did not, says Marquette, fear death. I
• 1:41:38
  should have esteemed it the greatest happiness to have died for the glory of God.
• 1:41:43
  Thus they continued their exploration as far south as the mouth of the Arkansas
• 1:41:47
  River, where they were hospitably received in a very flourishing Indian village. Being
• 1:41:54
  now satisfied that the Mississippi River entered the Gulf of Mexico somewhere between Florida and
• 1:41:59
  Californa Corgnia, they returned to Green Bay by the route of the Illinois River.
• 1:42:03
  By taking advantage of the eddies on either side of the stream, it
• 1:42:08
  was not difficult for them, in their light canoes to make the ascent.
• 1:42:13
  Marquette landed on the western banks of Lake Michigan to preach the gospel to a
• 1:42:17
  tribe of Indians called the Miamis residing near the present site of Chicago. Joilette
• 1:42:24
  returned to Quebec to announce the results of their discoveries. He was received with
• 1:42:29
  great rejoicing. The whole population flocked to the cathedral where the Tadouum was sung.
• 1:42:36
  Five years passed away, during which the great river flowed almost unthought of,
• 1:42:42
  through its vast and somber wilderness. At length. In the year sixteen
• 1:42:45
  seventy eight, LaSalle received a commission from Louis the fourteenth of France to explore
• 1:42:51
  the Mississippi to its mouth. Having received from the king the command of Fort
• 1:42:57
  Frontenac at the northern extremes of Lake Ontario, and a monopoly of the fur
• 1:43:02
  trade in all the countries he should discover, he sailed from La Rochelle and
• 1:43:08
  a ship well armed and abundantly supplied in June sixteen seventy eight, ascending the
• 1:43:15
  Saint Lawrence to Quebec, he repaired to Fort Frontenac with a large number of
• 1:43:19
  men. He paddled in Birch Canoes to the southern extremity of Lake Ontario,
• 1:43:26
  and by a portage around the Falls of Niagara, entered Lake Erie. Here
• 1:43:30
  he built a substantial vessel called the Griffin, which was the first vessel ever
• 1:43:35
  launched upon the waters of that lake. Embarking in this vessel with forty men
• 1:43:41
  in the month of September, a genial and gorgeous month in those latitudes,
• 1:43:45
  he traversed with favoring breezes the whole length of the lake. A voyage of
• 1:43:50
  two hundred and sixty five miles ascended the straits and passed through the Lake of
• 1:43:57
  Saint Clair and ran along the coast of Lake Huron on three hundred and sixty
• 1:44:00
  miles to Michelacamac, where the three majestic Lakes Superior, Michigan, and Huron
• 1:44:08
  form a junction. Here a trading post was established, which subsequently attained worldwide
• 1:44:15
  renown, and to which the Indians flocked with their furs from almost boundless realms.
• 1:44:20
  Mister Schoolcraft, who some years after visited this romantic spot gives the following
• 1:44:28
  interesting account of the scenery and strange life witness there. As these phases of
• 1:44:32
  human life have now passed away, never to be renewed, it seems important
• 1:44:38
  that the memory of them should be perpetuated. Nothing can present a more picturesque
• 1:44:44
  and refreshing spectacle to the traveler wearied with the lifeless monotony of a voyage through
• 1:44:49
  Lake Huron than the first sight of the island of Michilimackinac, which rises from
• 1:44:55
  the watery horizon in lofty bluffs, imprinting a rugged outline along the sky and
• 1:45:00
  capped with a fortress on which the American flag is seen waving against the blue
• 1:45:05
  heavens. The name is a compound of the word misrule, signifying great,
• 1:45:12
  and Mackinac, the Indian word for turtle, from a fancied resemblance of the
• 1:45:16
  island to a great turtle lying upon the water. It is a spot of
• 1:45:20
  much interest, aside from its romantic beauty, in consequence of its historical associations
• 1:45:28
  and natural curiosities. It is nine miles in circumference, and its extreme elevation
• 1:45:33
  above the lake is over three hundred feet The town is pleasantly situated around a
• 1:45:39
  small bay at the southern extremity of the island, and contains a few hundred
• 1:45:44
  souls, which are sometimes swelled to one or two thousand by the influx of
• 1:45:47
  voyagers, traders, and Indians. On these occasions, its beautiful harbor is
• 1:45:53
  seen checkered with American vessels at anchor and Indian canoes rapidly shooting across the water
• 1:45:59
  in every direction. It was formerly the seat of an extensive fur trade.
• 1:46:03
  At present it is noted for the great amounts of trout and white fish annually
• 1:46:09
  exported. Fort Mackinac stood on a rocky bluff overlooking the town the ruins of
• 1:46:15
  Fort Holmes, or on the apex of the island. It was built by
• 1:46:18
  the British in the War of eighteen twelve under the name of Fort George,
• 1:46:23
  and was changed to its present appellation after the surrender to the Americans in complement
• 1:46:29
  to the memory of Major Holmes, who fell in the attack upon the island.
• 1:46:32
  The old town of Micheli Mackinac stood at the extreme point of the Peninsula
• 1:46:38
  of Michigan, nine miles south of the island. Eight years before Lesalle's expedition.
• 1:46:44
  Father Marquette, the French missionary, visited this spot with a party of
• 1:46:47
  Hurons, upon whom he prevailed to locate themselves. A fort was soon constructed
• 1:46:53
  and became an important post. It continued to be the seat of the fur
• 1:46:57
  trade and the undisturbed rendezvous of the Indian tribes during the whole period that the
• 1:47:01
  French exercised dominion over the Canadas. Here at Michelimackinac LaSalle purchased a rich cargo
• 1:47:10
  of firs, exchanging them for his goods at an immense profit. The griffin,
• 1:47:15
  laden with wealth, set out on her return and was wrecked by the
• 1:47:18
  way with total loss. LaSalle with his companions had embarked in birch canoes,
• 1:47:25
  and descending Lake Michigan to its near southern extremity. They landed and erected a
• 1:47:30
  fort, which they called Miami's. Then they carried their canoes across to the
• 1:47:34
  Illinois River and paddled down the stream until they came near the present site of
• 1:47:40
  Peoria, where they established another fort, which LaSalle, grief stricken in his
• 1:47:45
  view of his loss, named Heartsore. Here, the energetic and courageous adventurer
• 1:47:51
  left his men in winter quarters, while with but three companions, he traversed
• 1:47:57
  the wilderness on foot amidst the snows of winter, to Fort Frontenac, a
• 1:48:01
  distance of fifteen hundred miles. After an absence of several weeks, he returned
• 1:48:06
  with additional men and the means of building a large and substantial, flat bottomed
• 1:48:11
  boat with which to descend the Illinois River to the Mississippi and the latter stream
• 1:48:16
  to its mouth. The romantic achievement was successfully accomplished. The banners of France
• 1:48:24
  were unfurled along the banks of the Majestic River and upon the shores of the
• 1:48:28
  Gulf of Mexico. This whole region, which France claimed by the right of
• 1:48:31
  discovery, was named in honor of the King of France, Louisiana. Its
• 1:48:36
  limits were necessarily quite undefined. In sixteen eighty four, a French colony of
• 1:48:43
  two hundred and eighty persons was sent out to effect a settlement on the lower
• 1:48:46
  Mississippi. Passing by the mouth of the river without discovering it, they landed
• 1:48:51
  in Texas and took possession of the country in the name of the King of
• 1:48:56
  France. Disaster followed disaster, all died and the colonists were exterminated by the
• 1:49:02
  Indians. Not long after this, all the country west of the Mississippi was
• 1:49:08
  seeded by France to Spain, and again, some years after was surrendered back
• 1:49:14
  again by Spain to France. We have not space here to allude to the
• 1:49:17
  details of these varied transactions, but this comprehensive record seems to be essential to
• 1:49:24
  the full understanding of the narrative upon which we have entered. It was in
• 1:49:29
  the years seventeen sixty three that Louisiana was seated by France to Spain. In
• 1:49:34
  the year eighteen hundred, it was yielded back to France under Napoleon by a
• 1:49:40
  secret article in the Treaty of essen Ildefonso. It had now become a matter
• 1:49:46
  of infinite moment to the United States that the Great Republic should have undisputed command
• 1:49:53
  of the Mississippi from its source to its mouth. President Jefferson instructed our minister
• 1:49:59
  at Paris, Robert Livingstone, to negotiate with the French government for the purchase
• 1:50:03
  of Louisiana. France was then at war with England. The British fleet swept
• 1:50:09
  triumphantly all the seas. Napoleon, conscious that he could not protect Louisiana from
• 1:50:15
  British arms, consented to the sale. We are informed that on the tenth
• 1:50:18
  of April eighteen o three he summoned two of his ministers in council and said
• 1:50:24
  to them, I am fully sensible of the value of Louisiana, and it
• 1:50:30
  was my wish to repair the error of the French diplomatists who abandoned it in
• 1:50:34
  seventeen sixty three. I have scarcely recovered it before I run the risk of
• 1:50:39
  losing it. But if I am obliged to give it up, it shall
• 1:50:43
  cost more to those who force me to part with it than to those to
• 1:50:46
  whom I yielded. The English have despoiled France of all her northern possessions in
• 1:50:53
  America, and now they covet those of the south. I am determined that
• 1:50:58
  they shall not have the Mississi, although Louisiana is but a trifle compared with
• 1:51:03
  their vast possessions in other parts of the globe. Yet judging from the vexation
• 1:51:09
  they have manifested, on seeing it returned to the power of France, I
• 1:51:13
  am certain that their first object will be to obtain possession of it. They
• 1:51:17
  will probably commence the war in that quarter. They have twenty vessels in the
• 1:51:23
  Gulf of Mexico, and our affairs in Saint Domingo are getting worse since the
• 1:51:29
  death of Leclaire. The conquest of Louisiana might be easily made, and I
• 1:51:33
  have not a moment to lose in putting it out of their reach. I
• 1:51:38
  am not sure but that they have already began an attack upon it. Such
• 1:51:43
  a measure would be in accordance with their habits, and in their place.
• 1:51:46
  I should not wait. I am inclined in order to deprive them of all
• 1:51:51
  prospect of ever possessing it, to cede it to the United States. Indeed,
• 1:51:57
  I can hardly say I seed it, for I do not yet possess
• 1:52:00
  it. But if I wait but a short time, my enemies may leave
• 1:52:04
  me nothing but an empty title to grant to the Republic. I wish to
• 1:52:09
  conciliate the only ask for one city of Louisiana, but I consider the whole
• 1:52:15
  colony as lost, and I believe that in the hands of this rising power
• 1:52:19
  it will be more useful to the political and even the commercial interests of France
• 1:52:25
  than if I should attempt to retain it. Let me have both of your
• 1:52:29
  opinions upon this subject. One of the ministers, Barbee Morbois, cordially approved
• 1:52:35
  of the plan of session, the other opposed it. After long deliberation,
• 1:52:41
  the conference was closed without Napoleon making his decision known. The next day he
• 1:52:46
  sent for Barbe Marbois and said to him, the season for deliberation is over.
• 1:52:54
  I have determined to part with Louisiana. I shall give up not only
• 1:52:58
  New Orleans, but the whole colony, without reservation. That I do not
• 1:53:02
  undervalue Louisiana. I have sufficiently proved, as the object of my first treaty
• 1:53:09
  with Spain was to recover it. But though I regret parting with it,
• 1:53:13
  I am convinced that it would be folly to persist in trying to keep it.
• 1:53:17
  I commission you, therefore, to negotiate this affair with the envoys of
• 1:53:23
  the United States. Do not wait the arrival of mister Monroe, but go
• 1:53:28
  this very day and confer with mister Livingstone. Remember, however, that I
• 1:53:32
  need ample funds for carrying on the war, and I do not wish to
• 1:53:38
  commence it by levying new taxes. During the last century, France and Spain
• 1:53:43
  have incurred great expense in the improvement of Louisiana, for which her trade has
• 1:53:47
  never indignified them. Large sums have been advanced to different companies, which have
• 1:53:54
  never returned to the treasury. It is fair that I should require payment for
• 1:53:59
  these. Were I to regulate my demands by the importance of this territory to
• 1:54:03
  the United States, they would be unbounded. But being obliged to part with
• 1:54:09
  it, I shall be moderate in my terms. Still, remember I must
• 1:54:14
  have fifty millions of francs ten million dollars, and I will not consent to
• 1:54:18
  take less. I would rather make some desperate effort to preserve this fine country.
• 1:54:25
  Negotiations commenced that day, soon mister Monroe arrived. On the thirtieth of
• 1:54:30
  April eighteen o three, the treaty was signed, and the United States paying
• 1:54:35
  fifteen million dollars for the entire territory. It was stipulated by Napoleon that Louisiana
• 1:54:43
  should be as soon as possible incorporated into the Union, and that its inhabitants
• 1:54:47
  should enjoy the same rights, privileges, and immunities as other citizens of the
• 1:54:53
  United States. The third article of the treaty, securing to them. These
• 1:54:58
  benefits was drawn up by Napoleon himself. He presented it to the plenipotentiaries with
• 1:55:03
  these words, make it known to the people of Louisiana that we regret to
• 1:55:10
  part with them, that we have stipulated for all the advantages they could desire,
• 1:55:15
  and that France, in giving them up, has insured to them the
• 1:55:18
  greatest of all. They could never have prospered under any European government, as
• 1:55:24
  they will when they become independent. But while they enjoy the privileges of liberty,
• 1:55:29
  let them ever remember that they are French, and preserve for their mother
• 1:55:32
  country that affection which a common origin inspires. This purchase was an immense acquisition
• 1:55:40
  to the United States. I consider, said mister Livingstone, that from this
• 1:55:45
  day the United States take rank with the first powers of Europe, and now
• 1:55:49
  she has entirely escaped from the power of England. Napoleon was also well pleased
• 1:55:57
  with the transaction. By this session. He said, I have secured the
• 1:56:00
  power of the United States and given to England a maritime rival, who at
• 1:56:06
  some future time will humble her pride. The boundaries of this unexampled purchase could
• 1:56:14
  not be clearly defined. There was not any known landmarks to which reference could
• 1:56:18
  be made. The United States thus had the sole claim to the vast territory
• 1:56:24
  west of the Mississippi, extending on the north through Oregon to the Pacific Ocean,
• 1:56:29
  and on the south to the Mexican dominions. From the day of the
• 1:56:33
  transfer, the natural resources of the great Valley of the Mississippi began to be
• 1:56:39
  rapidly developed. The accompanying map will enable the reader to more fully understand the
• 1:56:45
  geography of the above narrative. End of Chapter three, Chapter four camp Life
• 1:56:51
  Beyond the Alleghenies. In the year seventeen sixty seven, a bold hunter by
• 1:57:00
  the name of John Finley, with two or three companions cross the mountain range
• 1:57:04
  of the Alleghenies into the region beyond, now known as Kentucky. The mountains
• 1:57:10
  where he crossed, consisting of a series of parallel ridges, some of which
• 1:57:14
  were quite impassable save at particular points, presented a rugged expanse nearly fifty miles
• 1:57:20
  in breadth. It took many weary days for these moccasined feet to traverse the
• 1:57:26
  wild solitudes the Indian avoids the mountains, he chooses the smooth prairie where the
• 1:57:31
  buffalo and the elk grays, and where the wild turkey, the grouse,
• 1:57:36
  and the prairie chicken wing their flight, or the banks of some placid stream
• 1:57:42
  over which he can glide in his birch canoe, and where fish of every
• 1:57:45
  variety can be taken. Indeed, the Indians, with an eye for picturesque
• 1:57:50
  beauty, seldom reared their villages in the forest, whose glooms repelled them.
• 1:57:57
  Generally, where the forest approached the stream, they clustered their wigwams in its
• 1:58:01
  edge, with the tranquil river and the open country spread out before them.
• 1:58:06
  John Finley and his companions traversed the broad expanse of the Alleghenies without meeting any
• 1:58:13
  signs of human life. The extreme western ridge of these parallel eminences or spurs,
• 1:58:19
  has received the name of Cumberland Mountains. Passing through a gorge which has
• 1:58:25
  since then become renowned in peace and war as Cumberland Gap, they entered upon
• 1:58:30
  a vast, undulating expanse of wonderful fertility and beauty in its rivers, its
• 1:58:36
  plains, its forests, its gentle eminences, its bright skies, and salubrious
• 1:58:43
  climb. It presented then as now as attractive a residence for man as this
• 1:58:48
  globe can furnish. Finley and his companions spent several months roving through this to
• 1:58:56
  them New Eden, game of every variety of bounded through some inexplicable reason,
• 1:59:02
  no Indians held possession of the country, but wandering tribes whose homes and acknowledged
• 1:59:09
  territory were far away in the north, the West, and the South were
• 1:59:13
  ever traversing these regions in hunting bands. They often met in bloody encounters.
• 1:59:18
  These conflicts were so frequent and so sanguinary, that this realm, so highly
• 1:59:25
  favored of God for the promotion of all happiness, subsequently received the appropriate name
• 1:59:30
  of the Dark and Bloody Ground. After an absence of many months, Finley
• 1:59:36
  and his companions returned to North Carolina with the most glowing accounts of the new
• 1:59:42
  country which they had found. Their story of the beauty of those realms was
• 1:59:46
  so extravagant that many regarded them as gross exaggerations. It subsequently appeared, however,
• 1:59:54
  that they were essentially true. A more lovely and detractive region cannot be
• 1:59:58
  found on Earth. It is man's inhumanity to man mainly, which has ever
• 2:00:02
  caused such countless millions to mourn. Daniel Boone listened eagerly to the recital of
• 2:00:10
  John Finley and his associates. The story they told added fuel to the flame
• 2:00:15
  of immigration which was already consuming him. He talked more and more earnestly of
• 2:00:19
  his desire to cross the mountains. We know not what were the emotions with
• 2:00:25
  which his wife was agitated in view of her husband's increasing desire for another plunge
• 2:00:30
  into the wilderness. We simply know that through her whole career she manifested the
• 2:00:34
  most tender solicitude to accommodate herself to the wishes of her beloved husband. Indeed,
• 2:00:42
  he was a man peculiarly calculated to win a noble woman's love, Gentle
• 2:00:46
  in his demeanor and in all his utterances, mild and affectionate in his intercourse
• 2:00:53
  with family. He seemed quite unconscious of the heroism he manifested in those achievements
• 2:00:58
  which gave him ever increasing renown. Life in the cabin of the frontiersmen,
• 2:01:03
  where the wants are few and the supplies abundant, is comparatively a leisure life.
• 2:01:10
  These men knew but little of the hurry and the bustle with which those
• 2:01:14
  in the crowded city, engaged daily in the almost deadly struggle for bread.
• 2:01:18
  There was no want in the cabin of Daniel Boone. As these two hearty
• 2:01:24
  adventurers, John Finley and Daniel Boone sat together hour after hour by the fire,
• 2:01:29
  talking of the new country which Finley had explored, the hearts of both
• 2:01:33
  burned within them again to penetrate those remote realms. To them, there were
• 2:01:40
  no hardships in the journey. At the close of each day's march, which
• 2:01:45
  but slightly wearied their toughened sinews, they could in a few moments throw up
• 2:01:49
  a shelter beneath which they could enjoy more luxurious sleep than the traveler, after
• 2:01:56
  being rocked in the rail cars can now find on the softest couches of our
• 2:02:00
  metropolitan hotels. And the dainty morsel, cut with artistic skill from the fat
• 2:02:05
  buffalo and toasted on the end of a ramrod before the campfire, possessed a
• 2:02:11
  relish which few epicures have ever experienced at the most sumptuous tables in Paris or
• 2:02:17
  New York. And as these men seem to have been constitutionally devoid of any
• 2:02:23
  emotions of fear from wild beasts or still wilder Indians. The idea of a
• 2:02:28
  journey of a few hundred miles in the wilderness was not one to be regarded
• 2:02:32
  by them with any special solicitude. Gradually they formed a plan for organizing a
• 2:02:39
  small party to traverse these beautiful realms in search of a new home. A
• 2:02:44
  company of six picked men was formed, and Daniel Boone was their chosen leader.
• 2:02:49
  The names of this party were John Finley, John Stewart, Joseph Holden,
• 2:02:54
  James Monsey, and William cool. A journey of many hundred miles was
• 2:03:00
  before them through the vast mountain barrier, which could only be traversed by sircutuous
• 2:03:04
  wanderings some hundreds of miles in extent. Their route was utterly pathless, and
• 2:03:11
  there were many broad and rapid streams to be crossed, which flowed through the
• 2:03:15
  valleys between the mountain ridges. Though provision and abundance was scattered along the way,
• 2:03:20
  strong clothing must be provided, powder and bullets they must take with them,
• 2:03:25
  and all these necessaries were to be carried upon their backs, for no
• 2:03:30
  pack horses could thread the defiles of these mountains or climb their rugged cliffs.
• 2:03:34
  It was also necessary to make provision for the support of the families of these
• 2:03:40
  adventurers during their absence of many months. It does not appear that missus Boone
• 2:03:45
  presented any obstacle in the way of her husband's embarking in this adventure. Her
• 2:03:49
  sons were old enough to assist her in the management of the farm, and
• 2:03:54
  game was still to be found in profusion in the silent prairies and sublime forests
• 2:04:00
  which surround them. In the sunny climb of North Carolina, May comes with
• 2:04:05
  all the balminess and soft zephyrs of a more northern summer. It was a
• 2:04:11
  beautiful morning on the first day of May seventeen sixty nine, when Boone and
• 2:04:15
  his companions commence their adventurous journey. In the brief narrative which Boone has given
• 2:04:21
  of this excursion, we perceive that it was with some considerable regret that he
• 2:04:27
  separated himself from his much loved wife and children on the peaceful banks of the
• 2:04:31
  Yadkin. We must infer that the first part of their journey was fatiguing,
• 2:04:36
  for it took them a full month to accomplish the passage of the mountains,
• 2:04:41
  though it was less than one hundred miles across these ridges in a direct line.
• 2:04:45
  The surcurtuous route which it was necessary to take greatly lengthened the distance,
• 2:04:51
  and as they were never in a hurry, they would be very likely,
• 2:04:55
  when coming to one of the many lovely valleys on the banks of the Holstein
• 2:05:00
  or the Clinch River, to be enticed to some days of delay. Where
• 2:05:03
  now there are thriving villages filled with the hum of the industries of a high
• 2:05:09
  civilization, there was then but the solitary landscape, dotted with herds of buffalo
• 2:05:15
  and of deer. Boone says that in many of these regions he found buffalo
• 2:05:19
  roving in companies of several hundreds, feeding upon the tender leaves of the cane
• 2:05:25
  brake, or browsing upon the smooth and extended meadows. Being far removed from
• 2:05:30
  the usual route of the Indian hunters, they were very tame, manifesting no
• 2:05:34
  fear at the approach of Man. On the seventh of June, our adventurers,
• 2:05:41
  at the close of a day of arduous travel, reached an eminence of
• 2:05:45
  the Cumberland Mountains, which gave them a commanding and almost entrancing view of the
• 2:05:49
  region beyond now known as the state of Kentucky. At the height upon which
• 2:05:55
  they stood, the expanse, spreading out to the west until lost in the
• 2:05:59
  distance horizon, presented an aspect of nature's loveliness such as few eyes have ever
• 2:06:04
  beheld. The sun was brilliantly sinking, accompanied by a gorgeous retinue of clouds,
• 2:06:13
  majestic forests, widespread prairies, and lakes and rivers gilded by the setting
• 2:06:17
  sun. Confirmed the truth of the most glowing reports which had been heard from
• 2:06:23
  the lips of Finlay. An artist has seized upon this incident, which he
• 2:06:28
  has transferred to canvas in a picture which he is entitled Daniel Boone's First View
• 2:06:32
  of Kentucky. Engravings have been so multiplied of this painting that it has become
• 2:06:39
  familiar to most eyes. The appearance of our adventurers is thus graphically described by
• 2:06:45
  mister Peck in his excellent Life of Daniel Boone. Their dress was one of
• 2:06:50
  the description usually worn at that period by all forest rangers. The outside garment
• 2:06:57
  was a hunting shirt or loose open frost made of dressed deer skins. Leggins
• 2:07:02
  or drawers of the same material covered the lower extremities, to which was appended
• 2:07:08
  a pair of moccasins for the feet. The cape or collar of the hunting
• 2:07:12
  shirt and the seams of the leggins were adorned with fringes. The undergarments were,
• 2:07:17
  of course cotton, a leather belt encircled the body. On the right
• 2:07:21
  side was suspended the tomahawk to be used as a hatchet. On the left
• 2:07:27
  was the hunting knife, powder horn, bullet pouch, and other appendages indispensable
• 2:07:31
  for a hunter. Each person bore his trusty rifle, and as the party
• 2:07:36
  made its toilsome way amid the shrubs and over the logs and loose shrubs that
• 2:07:43
  accident had thrown upon the obscure trail they were following, each man gave a
• 2:07:46
  sharp lookout, as though danger or a lurking enemy were near. Their garments
• 2:07:51
  were soiled in rent, the unavoidable result of long travel and exposure to the
• 2:07:58
  heavy rains which had fallen, the weather having been stormy and uncomfortable, and
• 2:08:03
  they had traversed a mountainous wilderness for several hundred miles. The leader of the
• 2:08:07
  party was of full size, with a hearty, robust, sinewy frame and
• 2:08:13
  keen piercing hazel eyes that glanced with quickness at every object as they passed on.
• 2:08:18
  Now cast forward in the direction they were traveling for signs of an old
• 2:08:22
  trail, and in the next moment directed askance into the dense forest or the
• 2:08:28
  deep ravine, as if watching some concealed enemy. The reader will recognize in
• 2:08:33
  this man the pioneer Boon, at the head of his companions. The peculiar
• 2:08:39
  character of these men is developed in the fact that rapidly descending the western declivity
• 2:08:46
  of the mountains, they came to a beautiful meadow upon the banks of a
• 2:08:50
  little stream now called Red River. Here they reared their hut, and here
• 2:08:54
  they remained in apparently luxurious idleness all the summer, and here, Daniel Boone
• 2:09:01
  remained all of the ensuing winter. Their object could scarcely have been to obtain
• 2:09:07
  furs, for they could not transport them across the mountains. There were in
• 2:09:11
  the vicinity quite a number of salt springs, which the animals of the forest
• 2:09:16
  frequented in immense numbers. In the brief account which Boone gives of these long
• 2:09:20
  months, he simply says, in this forest, the habitation of beasts of
• 2:09:26
  every kind natural to America. We practiced hunting with great success until the twenty
• 2:09:33
  second day of December following. Bears, buffalo and deer were mainly the large
• 2:09:39
  game which fell before their rifles. Water fowl and also land birds of almost
• 2:09:45
  every variety were found in great profusion. It must have been a strange life
• 2:09:50
  which these six men experienced during these seven months in the camp on the silent
• 2:09:54
  waters of the Red River. No Indians were seen, and no trace of
• 2:10:00
  them were discovered. Through this period, the hunters made several long excursions in
• 2:10:05
  various directions, apparently examining the country in reference to their own final settlement in
• 2:10:11
  it and to the introduction of immigrants from the Atlantic border. Indeed, it
• 2:10:16
  has been said that Daniel Boone was the secret agent of a company on the
• 2:10:20
  other side of the mountains who wished to obtain possession of a large extent of
• 2:10:24
  territory for the formation of a colony there. But of this nothing with certainty
• 2:10:30
  is known. Yet there must have been some strong controlling motive to have induced
• 2:10:35
  these men to remain so long in their camp, which consisted simply of a
• 2:10:39
  shed of logs on the banks of this solitary stream. Three sides of the
• 2:10:45
  hut were enclosed. The interstees between the logs were filled with moss or clay.
• 2:10:50
  The roof was also carefully covered with bark so as to be impervious terrain.
• 2:10:56
  The flora was spread over with dry leaves, and with the frame fagrant
• 2:11:00
  twigs of the hemlock, presenting a very inviting couch for the repose of weary
• 2:11:05
  men. The skins of buffaloes and of bears presented ample covering for their night's
• 2:11:09
  repose. The front of the hut, facing the south, was entirely open
• 2:11:15
  before which blazed their campfire. Here the men seemed to have been very happy.
• 2:11:20
  The climate was mild, they were friendly to each other, They had
• 2:11:24
  good health, and abundance of food was found in their camp. On the
• 2:11:28
  twenty second of December, Moon with one of his companions, John Stewart,
• 2:11:33
  set out on one of their exploring tours. There were parts of the country
• 2:11:37
  called cane brakes, covered with cane growing so thickly together as to be quite
• 2:11:41
  impenetrable to the hunter. Through portions of these, the buffaloes had trampled their
• 2:11:46
  way in large companies, one following another, opening paths called streets. These
• 2:11:52
  streets had apparently been trodden for ages. Following these paths, Moon and his
• 2:11:58
  companion had advanced several miles from their camp when suddenly a large party of Indians
• 2:12:03
  sprang from their concealment and seized them both as captives. The action was so
• 2:12:09
  sudden that there was no possibility of resistance. In the following words, Boone
• 2:12:13
  describes this event. This day, John Stewart and I had a pleasing ramble,
• 2:12:20
  but fortune changed the scene in the close of it. We had passed
• 2:12:24
  through a great forest on which stood myriads of trees, some gay with blossoms,
• 2:12:31
  others rich with fruits. Nature was here a series of wonders and a
• 2:12:35
  fond of delight. Here she displayed her ingenuity and industry in a variety of
• 2:12:41
  flowers and fruits, beautifully colored, elegantly shaped, and charmingly flavored. And
• 2:12:48
  we were diverted with innumerable animals presenting themselves perpetually to our view. In the
• 2:12:54
  decline of the day, near Kentucky River, as we ascended the brow of
• 2:12:58
  a small hill, a number of Indians rushed out upon us from a thick
• 2:13:03
  cane break and made us prisoners. The time of our sorrow was now arrived.
• 2:13:09
  They plundered us of what we had and kept us in confinement seven days,
• 2:13:13
  treating us with common savage usage. The peculiar character of Boone was here
• 2:13:20
  remarkably developed. His whole course of life had made him familiar with the manners
• 2:13:24
  and customs of the Indians. They were armed only with bows and arrows.
• 2:13:30
  He had the death dealing rifle, which they knew not how to use.
• 2:13:33
  His placid temper was never ruffled by elation and prosperity or despair. In adversity,
• 2:13:41
  he assumed perfect contentment with his lot, cultivated friendly relations with them,
• 2:13:46
  taught them many things they did not know, and aided them in all the
• 2:13:48
  ways in his power. His rifle ball would instantly strike down the buffalo when
• 2:13:54
  the arrow of the Indian would only goad him to frantic flight. The Indians
• 2:14:00
  admired the courage of their captive, appreciated his skill, and began to regard
• 2:14:05
  him as a friend and a helper. They relaxed their vigilance while every day
• 2:14:09
  they were leading their prisoners far away from their camp into the boundless west.
• 2:14:15
  Boone was so well acquainted with the Indian character as to be well aware that
• 2:14:20
  any attempt to escape, if unsuccessful, would cause his immediate death. The
• 2:14:24
  Indians, exasperated by what they would deem such an insult to their hospitality,
• 2:14:30
  would immediately bury the tomahawk in his brain. Thus seven days and nights passed
• 2:14:35
  away. At the close of each day's travel, the Indians selected some attractive
• 2:14:41
  spot for the night's encampment or bivouac, according to the state of the weather,
• 2:14:46
  near some spring or stream. Here they built a rousing fire, roasted
• 2:14:50
  choice cuts from the game they had taken, and feasted abundantly with jokes and
• 2:14:56
  laughter, and many boastful stories of their achievements. They then threw themselves upon
• 2:15:01
  the ground for sleep. Though someone was appointed to keep a watch over their
• 2:15:05
  captives, but deceived by the entire contentment and friendliness famed by Boone and by
• 2:15:11
  Stuart, who implicitly followed the council of his leader's superior mind, all thoughts
• 2:15:16
  of any attempt of their captives to escape soon ceased to influence the savages.
• 2:15:24
  On the seventh night after the capture, the Indians, gorged with an abundant
• 2:15:28
  feast, were all soundly asleep. It was midnight the flickering fire burned feebly.
• 2:15:35
  The night was dark. They were in the midst of an apparently boundless
• 2:15:39
  forest. The favorable hour for an attempt to escape had come, but it
• 2:15:43
  was full of peril. Failure was certain death, for the Indians deemed it
• 2:15:48
  one of the greatest of all crimes for a captive who had been treated with
• 2:15:52
  kindness to attempt to escape. A group of fierce savages were sleeping around each
• 2:15:58
  one, one of whom, accustomed to midnight alarms, was supposed to sleep
• 2:16:03
  to use an expressive phrase, with one eye open, boone, who had
• 2:16:07
  feigned sound slumber, cautiously awoke his companion, who was asleep, and motioned
• 2:16:13
  him to follow the rustling of a leaf. The crackling of a twig would
• 2:16:16
  instantly cause every savage to grasp his bow and arrow and spring from the ground.
• 2:16:22
  Fortunately, the Indians had allowed their captives to retain their guns, which
• 2:16:26
  had proved so valuable in obtaining game. With step as light as the fall
• 2:16:33
  of a feather, these men, with moccasined feet crept from the encampment.
• 2:16:37
  After a few moments of intense solicitude, they found themselves in the impenetrable gloom
• 2:16:43
  of the forest and their captors still undisturbed. With vastly superior native powers to
• 2:16:50
  the Indian and equally accustomed to forest life, Boone was in all respects their
• 2:16:56
  superior. With the instinct of the bee, he made a shit straight line
• 2:17:00
  towards the encampment they had left, with the locality of which the Indians were
• 2:17:05
  not acquainted. The peril which menaced them added wings to their flight. It
• 2:17:11
  was midwinter, and, though not very cold in that climate, fortunately for
• 2:17:15
  them, the December nights were long. Six precious hours would pass before the
• 2:17:20
  dawn of the morning would struggle through the tree tops, till then the bewildered
• 2:17:26
  Indians could obtain no clue whatever to the direction of their flight. Carefully guarding
• 2:17:31
  against leaving any traces of their footsteps behind them, and watching with an eagle
• 2:17:35
  eye lest they should encounter any other band of savages, they pressed forward hour
• 2:17:41
  after hour with sinews, apparently as tireless as if they had been wrought of
• 2:17:46
  iron. When the fugitives reached their camp, they found it plundered and deserted.
• 2:17:52
  Whether the red men had discovered it and carried off their companions as prisoners,
• 2:17:56
  or whether the white men in a panic, had destroyed what they could
• 2:18:00
  not remove, and had attempted a retreat to the settlements was never known.
• 2:18:03
  It is probable that in some way they perished in the wilderness, and that
• 2:18:09
  their fate is to be added to the thousands of tragedies occurring in this world,
• 2:18:13
  which no pen has recorded. The intrepid Boone and his companion Stewart seemed,
• 2:18:18
  however, to have no idea of abandoning their encampment, but apprehensive that
• 2:18:24
  the Indians might have discovered their retreat, they reared a small hut in another
• 2:18:28
  spot, still more secret and secure. It is difficult to imagine what motive
• 2:18:33
  could have led these two men to remain any longer in these solitudes, five
• 2:18:39
  hundred miles from home, exposed to so many privations and to such fearful peril,
• 2:18:45
  notwithstanding the utmost care in husbiting their resources. Their powder and lead were
• 2:18:50
  rapidly disappearing, and there was no more to be obtained in the wilderness.
• 2:18:56
  But here they remained a month, doing apparently nothing but living xuriously according to
• 2:19:01
  their ideas of good cheer. The explanation is probably to be found in the
• 2:19:05
  fascination of this life of a hunter, which, once enjoyed, seems almost
• 2:19:09
  irresistible even to those accustomed to all the appliances of a high civilization. A
• 2:19:16
  gentleman from New York, who spent a winter among the wild scenes of the
• 2:19:20
  Rocky Mountains, describes in the following graphic language the effect of these scenes upon
• 2:19:26
  his own mind. When I turned my horse's head from Pike's Peak, I
• 2:19:31
  quite regretted the abandonment of my mountain life, solitary as it was, and
• 2:19:37
  more than once thought of again taking the trail to the Salado Valley, where
• 2:19:41
  I enjoyed such good sport. Apart from the feeling of loneliness which anyone in
• 2:19:46
  my situation must naturally have experienced surrounded by these stupendous works of nature, which,
• 2:19:52
  in all their solitary grandeur, frowned upon me, there was something inexpressibly
• 2:19:58
  exult in the sensation of positive freedom from all worldly care, and a consequent
• 2:20:05
  expansion of the sinews, as it were, of mind and body, which
• 2:20:09
  made me feel elastic as a ball of India rubber, and in such a
• 2:20:13
  state of perfect ease that no more dread of scalping Indians entered my mind than
• 2:20:18
  if I had been sitting in Broadway in one of the windows of the Astor
• 2:20:22
  House. A citizen of the world, I never found any difficulty in investing
• 2:20:28
  my resting place, wherever it might be, with the attributes of a home.
• 2:20:33
  Although liable to the accusation of barbarism, I must confess that the very
• 2:20:37
  happiest moments of my life have been spent in the wilderness of the far West.
• 2:20:43
  I never recall, but with pleasure, the remembrance of my solitary camp
• 2:20:48
  in the Bayou Salado, with no friend near me, more faithful than my
• 2:20:52
  rifle, with a plentiful supply of dry pine logs on the fire, and
• 2:20:58
  its cheerful blaze streaming up into the sky, illuminating the valley far and near.
• 2:21:03
  I would sit, enjoying the genial warmth, and watch the blue smoke
• 2:21:07
  as it curled upward, building castles in its vapory wreaths. Scarcely did I
• 2:21:13
  ever wish to change such hours of freedom, for all the luxuries of civilized
• 2:21:18
  life, and unnatural and extraordinary as it may appear, yet such are the
• 2:21:24
  fascinations of the life of the mountain hunter, that I believe that not one
• 2:21:30
  instance could be adduced of even the most polished and civilized of men, who
• 2:21:35
  had once tasted the sweets of its attendant, liberty and freedom from every worldly
• 2:21:39
  care, not regretting to exchange them for the monotonous life of the settlements,
• 2:21:45
  and not sighing and sighing again for its pleasures and allurements. A hunter's camp
• 2:21:50
  in the rocky mountains is quite a picture. It is invariably made in a
• 2:21:56
  picturesque locality, for, like the Indian, the wight hunter has an eye
• 2:22:01
  to the beautiful. Nothing can be more social and cheering than the welcome blaze
• 2:22:05
  of the campfire on a cold winter's night, and nothing more amusing or entertaining,
• 2:22:11
  if not instructive, than the rough conversation of the simple minded mountaineers,
• 2:22:16
  whose nearly daily task is all of exciting adventure, since their whole existence is
• 2:22:22
  spent in scenes of peril and privation. Consequently, the Narration is a tale
• 2:22:28
  of thrilling accidents and hair breadth escapes, which, though simple matter of fact
• 2:22:33
  to them, appears a startling romance to those unacquainted with the lives led by
• 2:22:39
  those men who, with the sky for a roof and their rifles to supply
• 2:22:43
  them with food and clothing, call no man lord or master, and are
• 2:22:48
  as free as the game they follow. There are many events which occurred in
• 2:22:54
  the lives of Boone and his companions which would seem absolutely incredible were they not
• 2:22:58
  sustained by evidence beyond dispute. Boone and Stuart were in a boundless, pathless
• 2:23:05
  wilderness of forests, mountains, rivers and lakes. Their camp could not be
• 2:23:09
  reached from the settlements, but by a journey of many weeks, apparently without
• 2:23:13
  the smallest clue to its location. And yet the younger brother of Boone,
• 2:23:18
  upon whom had been conferred his father's singular baptismal name of Squire, set out
• 2:23:24
  with a companion to cross the mountains in search of Daniel. One day in
• 2:23:28
  the latter part of January, Boone and Stuart were quite alarmed in seeing two
• 2:23:33
  men approach their camp. They supposed, of course, that they were Indians,
• 2:23:37
  and that they were probably followed by a numerous band. Escape was impossible,
• 2:23:43
  captivity and death seemed certain. But to their surprise and delight, the
• 2:23:48
  two strangers proved to be white men, one the brother of Daniel Boone,
• 2:23:52
  and the other a north Carolinian, who had accompanied him. They brought with
• 2:23:56
  them quite a supply of powder and laws inestimable treasures in the remote wilderness.
• 2:24:03
  Daniel in his autobiography in the following simple strain, alludes to this extraordinary occurrence.
• 2:24:11
  About this time, my brother Squire Boone, with another adventurer, who
• 2:24:16
  came to explore the country shortly after us, was wandering through the forest,
• 2:24:20
  determined to find me if possible, and accidentally found our camp. Notwithstanding the
• 2:24:26
  unfortunate circumstance of our company and our dangerous situation as surrounded by hostile savages,
• 2:24:33
  our meeting so fortunately in the wilderness made us reciprocally sensible of the utmost satisfaction.
• 2:24:39
  So much does friendship triumph over misfortune, that sorrows and sufferings vanish at
• 2:24:45
  the meeting not only of real friends, but of the most distant acquaintances,
• 2:24:50
  and substitute happiness in their room. Our hearty pioneer, far more familiar with
• 2:24:56
  his rifle than his pen, comments as follows on their condition. We were
• 2:25:01
  in a helpless, dangerous situation, exposed daily to perils and death among savages
• 2:25:07
  and wild beasts. Not a white man in the country, but ourselves thus
• 2:25:13
  situated many hundred miles from our families in the howling wilderness. I believe few
• 2:25:18
  would have equally enjoyed the happiness we experienced. I often observed to my brother,
• 2:25:24
  you see how little nature requires to be satisfied felicity. The companion of
• 2:25:31
  content is rather found in our own breasts than in the enjoyment of external things.
• 2:25:37
  And I firmly believe it requires but a little philosophy to make a man
• 2:25:41
  happy, in whatsoever state he is. This consists in a full resignation to
• 2:25:46
  the will of Providence, and a resigned soul finds pleasure and a path strewed
• 2:25:52
  with briars and thorns. End of Chapter four, Chapter five, Indian Warfare.
• 2:26:01
  The valley of the Clinch River is but one of the many magnificent ravines
• 2:26:05
  amid the gigantic ranges of the Allegheny Mountains. Boone, speaking of these ridges,
• 2:26:11
  which he so often had occasion to cross, says, these mountains in
• 2:26:16
  the wilderness, as we pass from the old settlements in Virginia to Kentucky,
• 2:26:20
  are ranged in a southwest and northeast direction, and are of great length and
• 2:26:26
  breadth, and not far distant from each other. Over them, nature hath
• 2:26:31
  formed passes that are less difficult than might be expected from a view of such
• 2:26:35
  huge piles. The aspect of these cliffs is so wild and horrid that it
• 2:26:41
  is impossible to behold them without terror. The spectator is apt to imagine that
• 2:26:46
  nature has formerly suffered some violent convulsion, and that these are the dismembered remains
• 2:26:52
  of the dreadful shock. One cannot but regret that no memorials are left of
• 2:26:58
  a wonderful jobs, full of romantic interest and exciting adventure, which Boone at
• 2:27:03
  one time took to the falls of the Ohio to warn some surveyors of their
• 2:27:09
  danger. He reached them in safety, rescued them from certain death, and
• 2:27:13
  conducted them triumphantly back to the settlements. So long as the white men,
• 2:27:18
  with their rifles, could keep upon the open prairie, they could defend themselves
• 2:27:24
  from almost any number of Indians, who could only assail them with bows and
• 2:27:28
  arrows. But the moment they entered the forest or any ravine among the hills,
• 2:27:33
  the little band was liable to hear the war whoop of a thousand Indian
• 2:27:37
  braves in the ambush around, and to be assailed by a storm of arrows
• 2:27:43
  and javelins from unseen hands. A few days after Boone's arrival at the encampment
• 2:27:48
  near the falls of the Ohio, and as the surveyors were breaking camp in
• 2:27:52
  preparation for their precipitate retreat, several of their number, who had gone to
• 2:27:58
  a spring at a short distance from the camp, were suddenly attacked on the
• 2:28:01
  twentieth of July by a large party of Indians. One was instantly killed,
• 2:28:07
  The rest, being nearly surrounded, fled as best they could in all directions.
• 2:28:13
  One man hotly pursued, rushed along an Indian trail till he reached the
• 2:28:18
  Ohio River. Here he chanced to find a bark canoe. He jumped into
• 2:28:22
  it and pushed out into the rapid stream till beyond the reach of the Indian
• 2:28:26
  arrows. The swift current bore him down the river by curves and headlands till
• 2:28:33
  he was far beyond the encampment. To return against the strong flood, with
• 2:28:37
  the savages watching for him, seemed perilous, if not impossible. It is
• 2:28:43
  said that he floated down the whole length of the Ohio and of the Mississippi,
• 2:28:46
  a distance not less probably counting the curvatures of the stream than two thousand
• 2:28:52
  miles, and finally found his way by sea to Philadelphia, probably in some
• 2:28:56
  vessel which he encountered near the coast. This is certainly one of the most
• 2:29:01
  extraordinary voyages which ever occurred. It was midsummer, so that he could not
• 2:29:07
  suffer from cold. Grapes often hung in rich clusters in the forests which lined
• 2:29:11
  the river banks, and various kinds of nutritious berries were easily gathered to satisfy
• 2:29:16
  hunger. As these men never went into the forest without the rifle and a
• 2:29:22
  supply of ammunition, and as they never lost a bullet by an inaccurate shot,
• 2:29:26
  it is not probable that our adventurers suffered from hunger. But the incidents
• 2:29:31
  of such a voyage must have been so wonderful that it is greatly to be
• 2:29:35
  regretted that we have no record of them. The apprehensions of Lord Dunmore respecting
• 2:29:41
  the conspiracy of the Indians, proved to have been well founded. Though Boone,
• 2:29:46
  with his great sagacity, led his little band by safe paths back to
• 2:29:50
  the settlements, a very fierce warfare immediately blazed forth all along the Virginia frontier.
• 2:29:58
  This conflict with the U Indians, very brief and very bloody, is
• 2:30:03
  usually called Lord Dunmore's War. The white men have told the story, and
• 2:30:07
  they admit that the war arose in consequence of cold blooded murders committed upon inoffensive
• 2:30:15
  Indians in the region of the Upper Ohio. One of the provocatives to this
• 2:30:20
  war was the assassination by fiendlike white men of the whole family of the renowned
• 2:30:26
  Indian chief Logan in the vicinity of the city of Wheeling. Logan had been
• 2:30:31
  the friend of the white man, but exasperated by these outrages, he seized
• 2:30:35
  his tomahawk, breathing only vengeance. General Gibson was sent to one of the
• 2:30:43
  Shawneese towns to confer with Logan and to detach him from the conspiracy against the
• 2:30:48
  whites. It was on this occasion that Logan made that celebrated speech, whose
• 2:30:52
  pathetic eloquence will ever move the human heart. I appeal to any white man
• 2:31:00
  to say, if ever he entered Logan's cabin hungry, and I gave him
• 2:31:03
  not meat. If ever he came cold or naked, and I gave him
• 2:31:09
  not clothing. During the course of the last, long and bloody war,
• 2:31:13
  Logan remained in his tent, an advocate of peace. Nay, such was
• 2:31:18
  my love for the whites, that those of my own country pointed at me
• 2:31:22
  and said, Logan is a friend of white men. I had even thought
• 2:31:26
  to live with you, but for the injuries of one man, Colonel Craysop,
• 2:31:31
  the last spring, in cold blood and unprovoked, cut off all the
• 2:31:37
  relatives of Logan, not sparing even my woman and children. There runs not
• 2:31:43
  a drop of my blood in the veins of any human creature. This called
• 2:31:48
  on me for revenge. I have killed many. I have fully glutted my
• 2:31:52
  vengeance for my country. I rejoice at the beams of peace, yet do
• 2:31:58
  not harbor the thought that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt
• 2:32:01
  fear. He will not return on his hill to save his life. Who
• 2:32:07
  is there to mourn for Logan? This war, though it lasted but a
• 2:32:11
  few months, was very sanguinary. Every exposed point on the extensive Virginia frontier
• 2:32:18
  was assailed. Cabins were burned, harvests were trampled down, cattle driven off,
• 2:32:24
  and men, women and children either butchered or carried into captivity. More
• 2:32:28
  dreadful than death. The peril was so dreadful that the most extraordinary efforts on
• 2:32:35
  the part of the Virginian government were requisite to meet it. An army of
• 2:32:39
  three thousand men was raised in the utmost haste. This force was in two
• 2:32:45
  divisions. One of eleven hundred men rendezvoused in what is now Greenbrier County and
• 2:32:52
  marched down the valley of the Great Kanawa to its entrance into the Ohio at
• 2:32:56
  a place now named Point Pleasant Lord Dudmore, with the remaining nineteen hundred,
• 2:33:03
  crossed the Cumberland Mountains to Wheeling, and thence descended the Ohio in boats to
• 2:33:07
  form a junction with the other party at the mouth of the Great Canawa.
• 2:33:13
  Thence united, they were to march across the country about forty miles due west
• 2:33:18
  to the valley of the Scayoto. The banks of this lovely stream were lined
• 2:33:22
  with Indian villages in a high state of prosperity. Cornfields waved luxuriantly around their
• 2:33:28
  humble dwellings. They were living at peace with each other and relied far more
• 2:33:33
  upon the produce of the soil than upon the chase for their support. It
• 2:33:39
  was the plan of Lord Dunmore to sweep this whole region with utter desolation and
• 2:33:43
  entirely to exterminate the Indians. But the savages did not await his arrival in
• 2:33:50
  their own homes. Many of them had obtained guns and ammunition from the French
• 2:33:54
  in Canada, with whom they seemed to have lived on the most friendly terms.
• 2:33:58
  In a well ordered army for Indian warfare, whose numbers cannot now with
• 2:34:03
  certainty be known. They crossed the Ohio below the mouth of the Great Kanawa,
• 2:34:09
  and, marching through the forest in the rear of the hills, fell
• 2:34:11
  by surprise very impetuously upon the rear of the encampment at point Pleasant. The
• 2:34:18
  Indians seemed to be fully aware that their only safety was in the energies of
• 2:34:22
  desperation. One of the most bloody battles was then fought which ever occurred in
• 2:34:28
  Indian warfare. Though the Virginians, with far more potent weapons, repelled their
• 2:34:33
  assailants, they paid dearly for their victory. Two hundred and fifteen of the
• 2:34:39
  Virginians fell dead or severely wounded beneath the bullets or arrows of their foes.
• 2:34:45
  The loss which the Savages incurred could never be ascertained with accuracy. It was
• 2:34:50
  generally believed that several hundred of their warriors were struck down on that bloody field.
• 2:34:58
  The whites, accustomed to Indians warfare and skilled in the use of the
• 2:35:01
  rifle, scarcely fired a shot which did not reach its mark. In the
• 2:35:05
  cautious warfare between the tribes fighting with arrows from behind trees. The loss of
• 2:35:11
  fifteen or twenty warriors was deemed a great calamity. Now to find hundreds of
• 2:35:16
  their braves weltering in blood was awful, beyond precedent, and gave them new
• 2:35:22
  ideas of the prowess of the white man. In this conflict, the Indians
• 2:35:26
  manifested a very considerable degree of military ability, Having constructed a breastwork of logs
• 2:35:33
  behind which they could retreat in case of a repulse, they formed in a
• 2:35:37
  long line extending across the point from the Kanawa to the Ohio. Then they
• 2:35:43
  advanced in the impetuous attack through the forest, protected by logs and stumps and
• 2:35:48
  trees. Had they succeeded in their assault, there would have been no possible
• 2:35:54
  escape for the Virginian troops. They must have been annihilated. The Indians had
• 2:35:58
  a simil on that field. Nearly all the warriors of four powerful tribes,
• 2:36:03
  the Shawnee, Delaware, Mingo, and Weindots. After the repulse, panic
• 2:36:09
  stricken, they fled through the wilderness, unable to make any other stand against
• 2:36:15
  their foes. Lord Dunmore, with his triumphant army, flushed with victory and
• 2:36:20
  maddened by its serious loss, marched rapidly down the left bank of the Ohio,
• 2:36:24
  and then crossed into the valley of the Scioto to sweep it with flame.
• 2:36:30
  We have no accounts of the details of this cruel expedition, but the
• 2:36:33
  following graphic description of a similar excursion into the land belonging to the Cherokees will
• 2:36:39
  give one a vivid idea of the nature of these conflicts. The celebrated Francis
• 2:36:46
  Marion, who was an officer in the campaign and an eye witness of the
• 2:36:50
  scenes which he describes, gives the following narrative of the events which ensued now
• 2:36:56
  commenced a scene of devastations scarcely paralleled in the annals of this continent. For
• 2:37:03
  thirty days, the army employed themselves in burning and ravaging the settlements of the
• 2:37:07
  broken, spirited Indians. No less than fourteen of their towns were laid in
• 2:37:13
  ashes, Their granaries were yielded to the flames, their corn fields ravaged,
• 2:37:18
  while the miserable fugitives flying from the sword took refuge with their starving families among
• 2:37:24
  the mountains. As the lands were rich and the season had been favorable,
• 2:37:30
  the corn was bending under the double weight of lusty roasting ears and pods and
• 2:37:35
  clustering beans. The furrows seemed to rejoice under their precious loads. The fields
• 2:37:41
  stood thick with bread. We encamped the first night in the woods near the
• 2:37:48
  fields, where the whole army feasted on the young corn, which, with
• 2:37:52
  fat venison, made a most delicious treat. The next morning, by order
• 2:37:56
  of Colonel Grant, we proceeded to burn down Indian cabins. Some of our
• 2:38:01
  men seemed to enjoy this cruel work, laughing very heartily at the curling flames
• 2:38:07
  as they mounted, loud crackling over the tops of the huts. But to
• 2:38:11
  me it appeared a shocking sight. Poor creatures, thought I, we surely
• 2:38:18
  need not grudge you such miserable habitations. But when we came according to orders
• 2:38:24
  to cut down the fields of corn, I could scarcely refrain from tears.
• 2:38:28
  For who could see the stalks that stood so stately with broad green leaves,
• 2:38:33
  and gaily tasseled shocks filled with the sweet milky flower the staff of life?
• 2:38:39
  Who I say, could see without grief these sacred plants sinking under our swords,
• 2:38:46
  with all their precious load, to wither and rot untasted in the fields
• 2:38:52
  I saw everywhere around the footsteps of little Indian children, where they had lately
• 2:38:56
  played under the shelter of the rustling corn. No doubt they had often looked
• 2:39:01
  up with joy to the swelling shocks, and were gladdened when they thought of
• 2:39:05
  the abundant cakes. For the coming winter. When we are gone, thought
• 2:39:11
  I, they will return, and, peeping through the weeds with tearful eyes,
• 2:39:16
  will mark the ghastly ruin poured over their homes and the happy fields where
• 2:39:20
  they had so often played. Such was life among the comparatively intelligent tribes in
• 2:39:28
  the beautiful and fertile valley of the Scayoto. Such was the scene of devastation,
• 2:39:33
  or of punishing the Indians, as it was called, upon which Lord
• 2:39:37
  Dunmore's army entered, intending to sweep the valley with fire and sword from its
• 2:39:43
  opening at the Ohio to its head waters leagues away in the north. In
• 2:39:48
  this campaign, the Indians, while with much sagacity, they combined their main
• 2:39:54
  force to encounter the army under Lord dunmore, detached separate bands of picked warriors
• 2:40:00
  to assail the settlements on the frontier at every exposed point. These bands of
• 2:40:05
  painted savages, emerging from the solitudes of the forests at midnight, would fall
• 2:40:09
  with hideous yells upon the lone cabin of the settler, or upon a little
• 2:40:15
  cluster of log huts, and in a few hours nothing would be left but
• 2:40:18
  smoldering ruins and gory corpses. To Daniel Boone, who had manifested wonderful skill
• 2:40:26
  in baffling all the stratagems of the Indian warfare, was assigned the difficult and
• 2:40:31
  infinitely important task of protecting these frontiers. Three garrisons were placed under his command,
• 2:40:39
  over which he exercised supreme control. He located them at the most available
• 2:40:43
  points, noiselessly passed from one to the other to see that they were fortified
• 2:40:48
  according to the most approved principles of military engineering then known in the forest.
• 2:40:54
  His scouts were everywhere to give prompt notice of any approach of hostile bands.
• 2:41:01
  Thus, this quiet, silent man, with great efficiency, fulfilled his mission
• 2:41:05
  to universal satisfaction without seeking fame, without thinking even of such a reward for
• 2:41:11
  his services. His sagacity and his virtues were rapidly giving him a very enviable
• 2:41:18
  reputation throughout all those regions. The discomfited Indians had become thoroughly disheartened and sent
• 2:41:26
  couriers to Lord Dunmore imploring peace. Comstock, their chief, seems to have
• 2:41:31
  been a man not only of strong native powers of mind, but of unusual
• 2:41:35
  intelligence, with quite a brilliant retinue of his warriors. He met Lord Dunmore
• 2:41:41
  in council at a point in the valley of the Scioto, about four miles
• 2:41:46
  south of the present city of Circleville. Comstock himself opened the deliberations with a
• 2:41:52
  speech of great dignity and argumentative power in a loud voice, which was heard
• 2:41:58
  as he intended by all in the camp. He portrayed the former prosperous condition
• 2:42:03
  of the Indian tribes, powerful in numbers and abounding in wealth, in the
• 2:42:07
  enjoyment of their rich corn fields and their forests filled with game. With this,
• 2:42:13
  he contrasted very forcibly their present wretched condition, with diminished numbers and with
• 2:42:18
  the loss of their hunting grounds. He reproached the Whites with the violation of
• 2:42:24
  their treaty obligations, and declared that the Indians had been forbearing in the extreme
• 2:42:30
  under the wrongs which had been inflicted upon them. We know, said he
• 2:42:35
  perfectly well, our weakness when compared with the English. The Indians desire only
• 2:42:41
  justice. The war was not sought by us, but was forced upon us.
• 2:42:46
  It was commenced by the Whites. We should have merited the contempt of
• 2:42:50
  every white man. We could have tamely submitted to the murders which have been
• 2:42:54
  inflicted upon our unoffending people at the hands of the white men. The power
• 2:43:00
  was with Lord Dunmore. In the Treaty of Peace, he exacted terms which,
• 2:43:05
  though very hard for the Indians, were perhaps not more than he had
• 2:43:09
  a right to require. The Indians surrendered four of their principal warriors as hostages
• 2:43:15
  for the faithful observance of the treaty. They relinquished all claims whatever to the
• 2:43:20
  vast hunting grounds which their bands from time immemorial had ranged, south of the
• 2:43:24
  Ohio River. This was an immense concession. Lord Dunmore returned across the mountains
• 2:43:31
  well satisfied with his campaign, though his soldiers were excited almost to mutiny in
• 2:43:37
  not being permitted to wreak their vengeance upon the unhappy savages. And here let
• 2:43:43
  it be remarked that deeply wronged as these Indians unquestionably were, there was not
• 2:43:48
  a little excuse for the exasperation of the whites. Fiends incarnet could not have
• 2:43:54
  invented more terrible tortures than they often inflicted upon their captives. Have no heart
• 2:44:00
  to describe these scenes. They are too awful to be contemplated. In view
• 2:44:05
  of the horrid barbarity thus practiced, it is not strange that the English should
• 2:44:11
  have wished to shoot down the whole race, men, women and children,
• 2:44:16
  as they would exterminate wolves or bears. This campaign being thus successfully terminated,
• 2:44:22
  Daniel Boone returned to his humble cabin on the Clinch River. Here he had
• 2:44:26
  a small and fertile farm which his energetic family had successfully cultivated during the summer,
• 2:44:33
  and he spent the winter months in his favorite occupation of hunting in the
• 2:44:37
  forests around his thoughtful mind during these long and solitary rambles, was undoubtedly occupied
• 2:44:45
  with plans for the future. Immigration to his beautiful Kentucky was still his engrossing
• 2:44:50
  thought. It is not wonderful that a man of such fearless temperament and a
• 2:44:56
  natural turn of mind, so poetic and a mass imaginative should have been charmed
• 2:45:01
  beyond expression by a realm whose attractions he had so fully experienced. That the
• 2:45:07
  glowing descriptions of Boone and Findlay were not exaggerated. Is manifest from the equally
• 2:45:13
  rapturous account of others who now began to explore this favored land. Imlay writes
• 2:45:18
  of that region, everything here assumes a dignity and splendor I have never seen
• 2:45:26
  in any other part of the world. You ascend a considerable distance from the
• 2:45:30
  shores of the Ohio, and when you would suppose you had arrived at the
• 2:45:33
  summit of a mountain, you find yourself upon an extensive level. Here,
• 2:45:39
  an eternal rejewer reigns, and the brilliant sun of latitude thirty nine degrees,
• 2:45:43
  piercing through the azure heavens, produces in this prolific soil and early maturity,
• 2:45:50
  which is truly astonishing flowers, full and perfect as if they had been cultivated
• 2:45:56
  by the hand of a florist, with all their captivating odors, and with
• 2:46:01
  all the variegated charms which color and nature can produce. Here in the lap
• 2:46:05
  of elegance and beauty decorate the smiling groves. Soft zephyrs gently breathe on sweets,
• 2:46:13
  and the inhaled air gives a glow of health and vigor that seems to
• 2:46:16
  ravish the intoxicated senses. The Virginian government now resolved to pour a tide of
• 2:46:22
  immigration into these as yet unexplored realms south of the Ohio. Four hundred acres
• 2:46:30
  of land were offered to every individual who would build a cabin, clear a
• 2:46:33
  lot of land, and raise a crop of corn. This was called a
• 2:46:37
  settlement right. It was not stated how large the clearing should be or how
• 2:46:43
  extensive the corn filled. Several settlements were thus begun in Kentucky. When there
• 2:46:48
  was a new and extraordinary movement which attracted universal attention. A very remarkable man
• 2:46:54
  named Richard Henderson appeared in North carolinaming from the humblest walks of life, and
• 2:47:01
  unable even to read until he had obtained maturity, he developed powers of conversational
• 2:47:09
  eloquence and administrative ability of the highest order. The Cherokee Indians claimed the whole
• 2:47:16
  country bounded by the Kentucky, the Ohio, and the Cumberland rivers, and
• 2:47:20
  we know not how much more territory extending indefinitely to the south and west.
• 2:47:26
  Colonel Henderson formed an association of gentlemen, which he called the Transylvania Company.
• 2:47:33
  Making a secret journey to the Cherokee Country, he met twelve hundred chiefs in
• 2:47:37
  council and purchased of them the whole territory equal to some European kingdoms bounded by
• 2:47:43
  the above mentioned rivers. For this realm above a hundred miles square, he
• 2:47:50
  paid the insignificant sum of ten wagon loads of cheap goods, with a few
• 2:47:54
  firearms and some spirituous liquors. Mister Henderson, to whom the the rest of
• 2:48:00
  the company seemed to have delegated all their powers, now assumed the position of
• 2:48:05
  proprietor, governor, and legislator of his magnificent domain, which he called Transylvania.
• 2:48:11
  It seems that Boone accompanied Colonel Henderson to the Council of the Cherokee Chieftains,
• 2:48:16
  which was held at Wataga, the southern branch of the Holston River.
• 2:48:22
  Boone had explored nearly the whole of this region, and it was upon his
• 2:48:24
  testimony that the company relied in endeavoring to purchase these rich and fertile lands.
• 2:48:31
  Indeed, as we have before intimated, it has been said that Boone,
• 2:48:35
  in his wonderful and perilous explorations, was the agent of this secret company.
• 2:48:41
  No treaties with the Indians were sure of general acquiescence. There were always discontented
• 2:48:48
  chieftains. There were almost always conflicting claims of hostile tribes. There were always
• 2:48:54
  wandering tribes, of hunters and of warriors, who, exasperated by the treatment
• 2:49:00
  which they had received from vagabond white men, were ever ready to wreak their
• 2:49:03
  vengeance upon any band of emigrants they might encounter. Colonel Henderson's treaty was made
• 2:49:11
  in the month of March seventeen seventy five. With characteristic vigor. He immediately
• 2:49:16
  made preparations for the settlement of the kingdom of which he was the proud monarch.
• 2:49:22
  The first thing to be done was to mark out a feasible path through
• 2:49:24
  which immigrants might pass without losing their way over the mountains and through the wilderness
• 2:49:31
  to the heart of this new Eden. Of all the men in the world,
• 2:49:35
  Daniel Boone was the one to map out this route of five hundred miles.
• 2:49:39
  He took with him a company of road makers, and in a few
• 2:49:41
  months opened a path which could be traversed by pack horses and even by wagons,
• 2:49:48
  to a place called Boonesville on the Kentucky River, within about thirty miles
• 2:49:52
  of the present site of Lexington. The Indian hunters and warriors, notwithstanding the
• 2:49:58
  treaties into which the chief of the North and the South had entered, watched
• 2:50:03
  the construction of this road with great solicitude. They knew full well that it
• 2:50:07
  would air long secure their expulsion from their ancient hunting grounds. Though no general
• 2:50:13
  warfare was organized by the tribes, it was necessary to be constantly on the
• 2:50:18
  watch against lawless bands who were determined to harass the pioneers in every possible way.
• 2:50:26
  In the following letter, Boon communicated to Colonel Henderson the hostility which they
• 2:50:31
  had perhaps unexpectedly encountered. It was dated the first of April, and was
• 2:50:35
  sent back by a courier through the woods dear colonel, after my compliments to
• 2:50:43
  you, I shall acquaint you with my misfortunes. On March the twenty fifth,
• 2:50:48
  a party of Indians fired on my company about half an hour before day
• 2:50:52
  and killed mister Twitty and his negro, and wounded mister Walker very deeply,
• 2:50:58
  but I hope he will recover. On March the twenty eighth, as we
• 2:51:01
  were hunting for provisions, we found Samuel Taill's son, who gave us an
• 2:51:05
  account that the Indians fired on their camp. On the twenty seventh day.
• 2:51:11
  My brother and I went down and found two men killed and scalped, Thomas
• 2:51:16
  mc dowell and Jeremiah mac Peters. I have sent a man down to all
• 2:51:20
  the lower companies in order to gather them all to the mouth of the Otter
• 2:51:24
  Creek. My advice to you, sir, is to come or send as
• 2:51:28
  soon as possible. Your company is greatly desired, for the people are very
• 2:51:33
  uneasy, but are willing to stay and venture their lives with you. And
• 2:51:39
  now is the time to frustrate there the Indians intentions and keep the country while
• 2:51:43
  we are in it. If we give way to them now, it will
• 2:51:46
  ever be the case. This day we start from the battleground to the mouth
• 2:51:52
  of Otter Creek, where we shall immediately erect a fort, which will be
• 2:51:56
  done before you can come or send. Then we can send ten men to
• 2:52:01
  meet you, if you send for them. I am, Sir, your
• 2:52:05
  most obedient servant, Daniel Boone. Boon immediately commenced upon the left bank of
• 2:52:11
  the Kentucky River, which here ran in a westerly direction. The erection of
• 2:52:16
  a fort. Their position was full of peril, for the road makers were
• 2:52:20
  but few in number, and Indian warriors, to the number of many hundreds,
• 2:52:26
  might at any time encircle them. Many of these Indians had also obtained
• 2:52:31
  muskets from the French in Canada and had become practiced marksmen. Nearly three months
• 2:52:37
  were busily occupied in the construction of this important fort. Fortunately, we have
• 2:52:41
  a minute description of its structure and a sketch of its appearance, either from
• 2:52:46
  the pencil of Colonel Henderson or of some one in his employ The fort or
• 2:52:52
  fortress consisted of a series of strong log huts enclosing a large interior or square.
• 2:53:00
  The parallelogram was about two hundred and sixty feet in length and one hundred
• 2:53:03
  and fifty in breadth. These cabins, built of logs, were bullet proof.
• 2:53:09
  The intervals between them were filled with stout pieces of timber about twelve feet
• 2:53:13
  high, planted firmly in the ground, in close contact with each other,
• 2:53:18
  and sharpened at the top. The fort was built close to the river,
• 2:53:22
  with one of its angles almost overhanging the water, so that an abundant supply
• 2:53:26
  could be obtained without peril. Each of the corner houses projected a little so
• 2:53:31
  that from the portholes any Indian could be shot, who should approach the walls
• 2:53:37
  with ladder or hatchet. This really artistic structure was not completed until the fourteenth
• 2:53:43
  day of June. The Indians, from a distance watched its progress with dismay.
• 2:53:48
  They made one attack, but were easily repelled, though they succeeded in
• 2:53:52
  shooting one of the emigrants. Damiel Boone contemplated the fortress on its completion with
• 2:53:58
  much satisfaction. He was fully assured that behind its walls and palisades, bold
• 2:54:05
  hearts with an ample supply of ammunition, could repel any assaults which the Indians
• 2:54:11
  were capable of making. He now resolved immediately to return to Clinch River and
• 2:54:16
  bring his family out to share with him his new and attractive home. End
• 2:54:22
  of Chapter five, Chapter six Sufferings of the Pioneers. The fortress at Boonsborough
• 2:54:30
  consisted of ten strong log huts arranged in a quadrangular form, enclosing an area
• 2:54:35
  of about one third of an acre. The intervals, as before stated,
• 2:54:41
  between the huts, were filled with strong palisades of timber, which, like
• 2:54:46
  the huts themselves, were bulletproof. The outer sides of the cabins, together
• 2:54:50
  with the palisades, formed the sides of the fort exposed to the foe.
• 2:54:56
  Each of these cabins was about twenty feet in length and twelve or fifteen in
• 2:55:01
  breadth. There were two entrance gates opposite each other, made of thick slabs
• 2:55:05
  of timber and hung on wooden hinges. The forest, which was quite dense,
• 2:55:11
  had been cut away to such a distance as to expose an assailing party
• 2:55:16
  to the bullets of the garrison. As at that time the Indians were armed
• 2:55:20
  mainly with bows and arrows, a few men fully supplied with ammunition within the
• 2:55:26
  fort could bid defiance to almost any number of savages, and subsequently, as
• 2:55:31
  the Indians obtained firearms, they could not hope to capture the fort without a
• 2:55:37
  long siege, or by assailing it with a vastly overwhelming superiority of numbers.
• 2:55:43
  The accompanying illustration will give the reader a very correct idea of this renowned fortress
• 2:55:48
  of Logs, which was regarded as the Gibraltar of Indian warfare. Having finished
• 2:55:54
  this fort, Daniel Boone, leaving a sufficient garrison for its security, out
• 2:56:00
  for his home on the Clinch River, to bring his wife and family to
• 2:56:03
  the beautiful land he so long had coveted for their residence. It seems that
• 2:56:07
  his wife and daughters were eager to follow their father to the banks of the
• 2:56:11
  Kentucky, whose charms he had so glowingly described to them. Several other families
• 2:56:16
  were also induced to join the party of immigration. They could dwell together in
• 2:56:22
  a very social community and in perfect safety in the spacious cabins within the fortress.
• 2:56:28
  The river would furnish them with an unfailing supply of water. The hunters,
• 2:56:33
  with their rifles, could supply them with game, and with those rifles
• 2:56:37
  could protect themselves while laboring in the fields which with the axe they had laid
• 2:56:41
  open to the sun. Around the fort, the hunters and the farmers at
• 2:56:46
  night, returning within the enclosure, felt perfectly safe from all assaults. Daniel
• 2:56:52
  Boone commenced his journey with his wife and children, and others who joined them
• 2:56:58
  back to Boonsborough in high spe spirits. It was a long journey of several
• 2:57:03
  hundred miles, and to many persons it would seem a journey fraught with great
• 2:57:07
  peril, for they were in danger almost every mile of the way of encountering
• 2:57:11
  hostile indians. But Boone, accustomed to traversing the wilderness and accompanied by well
• 2:57:18
  armed men, felt no more apprehensions of danger than the father of a family
• 2:57:22
  would at the present day in traveling by cars from Massachusetts to Pennsylvania. It
• 2:57:28
  was beautiful autumnal weather when the party of pioneers commenced its adventurous tour through the
• 2:57:33
  wilderness to find a new home, five hundred miles beyond even the remotest frontiers
• 2:57:39
  of civilization. There were three families besides that of Boone, and numbered in
• 2:57:46
  all twenty six men, four women, and four or five boys and girls
• 2:57:50
  of various ages. Daniel Boone was the happy leader of this heroic little band.
• 2:57:56
  In due time, they all arrived safely at Boonsburg, without having encountered,
• 2:58:01
  as Boone writes, any other difficulties than such as are common to this
• 2:58:05
  passage. As they approached the fort, Boone and his family, for some
• 2:58:11
  unexplained reason, pressed forward and entered the fortress a few days in advance of
• 2:58:16
  the rest of the party. Perhaps Boone himself had a little pride to have
• 2:58:20
  said it that Missus Boone and her daughter were the first of her color and
• 2:58:24
  sex that ever stood upon the banks of the wild and beautiful Kentucky. A
• 2:58:30
  few days after their arrival, the immigrants had a very solemn admonition of the
• 2:58:35
  peril which surrounded them, and of the necessity of constant vigilance to guard against
• 2:58:39
  treacherous and sleepless foe. One of their number, who had sauntered but a
• 2:58:45
  short distance from the fort, lured by the combined beauty of the field,
• 2:58:48
  the forest, and the river, was shot by a prowling Indian, who,
• 2:58:52
  raising the war whoop of exultation and defiance, immediately disappeared in the depths
• 2:58:58
  of the wildernes. Colonel Henderson and his partners, anxious to promote the settlement
• 2:59:03
  of the country by organizing parties of immigration, were busy in making known through
• 2:59:09
  the settlements the absolute security of the fort at Boonsborough, and the wonderful attractions
• 2:59:15
  of the region in soil, climate and abounding game. Henderson himself soon started
• 2:59:22
  with a large party, forty of whom were well armed. A number of
• 2:59:26
  pack horses conveyed the luggage of the immigrants. Following the very imperfect road that
• 2:59:31
  Boone with much skill, had engineered, which was quite tolerable for pack horses
• 2:59:37
  in single file, they reached Boonsborough early in the following spring. The Transylvania
• 2:59:43
  Company was in the full flush of successful experiment. Small parties of immigrants were
• 2:59:48
  constantly arriving. Boonsborough was the capital of the colony. Various small settlements were
• 2:59:54
  settled in its vicinity. Colonel Henderson opened a land office there, and in
• 3:00:00
  the course of a few months over half a million of acres were entered by
• 3:00:03
  settlers or speculators. These men did not purchase the lands outright, but found
• 3:00:09
  themselves to pay a small but perpetual rent. The titles, which they supposed
• 3:00:16
  to be perfectly good, were given in the name of the proprietors of the
• 3:00:20
  Colony of Transylvania in America. Soon four settlements were organized, called Boonsborough,
• 3:00:26
  Harrodsburg, Boiling Spring, and Saint Asseph. Colonel Henderson, on the twenty
• 3:00:33
  third of May seventeen seventy five, as president, or rather sovereign, of
• 3:00:37
  this extraordinary realm, summoned a legislature consisting of delegates from this handful of pioneers
• 3:00:43
  to meet at his capital, Boonsborough. Henderson presided Daniel and his brother Squire
• 3:00:50
  were delegates from Boonsborough. A clergyman, the Reverend John Lythe, opened the
• 3:00:54
  session with prayer. Colonel Henderson made a remarkable and admirable speech. This extraordinary
• 3:01:01
  legislature represented by only a constituency of one hundred and fifty souls, but the
• 3:01:07
  Colonel presented to them very clearly the true Republican principle of government. He declared
• 3:01:13
  that the only legitimate source of political power is to be found in the will
• 3:01:18
  of the people, and added, if any doubts remain among you with respect
• 3:01:24
  to the force and efficiency of whatever laws you now or hereafter, make be
• 3:01:28
  pleased to consider that all power is originally in the people. Make it their
• 3:01:33
  interest, therefore, by impartial and beneficent laws, that you may be sure
• 3:01:39
  of their inclination to see them enforced. Rumors of these extraordinary proceedings reached the
• 3:01:45
  ears of Lord Dunmore. He considered the whole region of Kentucky as included in
• 3:01:50
  the original grant of Virginia, and that the Government of Virginia alone had the
• 3:01:54
  right to extinguish the Indian title to any of those lands. He therefore issued
• 3:02:01
  a proclamation denouncing in the severest terms, the unlawful proceedings of one Richard Henderson
• 3:02:07
  and other disorderly persons his associates. The legislature continued in session but three days,
• 3:02:13
  and honoured itself greatly by its energetic action and by the character of the
• 3:02:18
  laws which it inaugurated. One bill was introduced for preserving game, another for
• 3:02:24
  improving the breed of their horses. And it is worthy of a special record
• 3:02:30
  that a law was passed prohibiting profane swearing and sabbath breaking. The moral sense
• 3:02:35
  of these bold pioneers was shocked at the desecration of the Creator's name among their
• 3:02:41
  sublime solitudes. The controversy between the Transylvania Company and the Government of Virginia was
• 3:02:48
  short, but very sharp. Virginia could then very easily send an army of
• 3:02:54
  several thousand men to exterminate the Kentucky colony. A compromise was the result.
• 3:03:00
  The title of Henderson was declared null and void, but he received in compensation
• 3:03:05
  a grant of land on the Ohio, about twelve miles square below the mouth
• 3:03:09
  of the Green River. Virginia assumed that the Indian title was entirely extinguished,
• 3:03:16
  and the region called Transylvania now belonged without encumbrance to the old dominion. Still,
• 3:03:22
  the tide of emigration continued to flow into this beautiful region. Among others
• 3:03:28
  came the family of Colonel Calloway, consisting of his wife and two daughters.
• 3:03:33
  For a long time, no Indians had been seen in the vicinity of Boonsborough.
• 3:03:37
  No one seemed to apprehend the least danger from them, and the people
• 3:03:41
  in the fort wandered about as freely as if no foe had ever excited their
• 3:03:46
  fears. An accident occurred which sent a tremor of dismay through the whole colony,
• 3:03:52
  in which we will describe as related to the intelligent historian Peck from the
• 3:03:58
  lips of one of the parties who exped experienced all the terrors of the scene
• 3:04:03
  on the fourteenth of July seventeen seventy six, Betsey Calloway, her sister Francis,
• 3:04:09
  and Jemima Boone, a daughter of Daniel Boone. The two last,
• 3:04:13
  about fourteen years of age, carelessly crossed the river opposite Boonsboro in a canoe
• 3:04:18
  at a late hour in the afternoon. The trees and shrubs on the opposite
• 3:04:24
  bank were thick and came down to the water's edge. The girls, unconscious
• 3:04:28
  of danger, were playing and splashing the water with their paddles until the canoe,
• 3:04:33
  floating with the current, drifted near the shore. Five stout Indians lay
• 3:04:39
  there, concealed, one of whom noiseless and stealthy. As the serpent crawled
• 3:04:45
  down the bank until he reached the rope that hung from the bow, turned
• 3:04:48
  its course up the stream and in a direction to be hidden from the view
• 3:04:52
  of the fort. The loud shrieks of the captured girls were heard, but
• 3:04:58
  too late for their rescue the canoe. Their only means of crossing was on
• 3:05:03
  the opposite shore, and none dared to risk the chance of swimming the river.
• 3:05:07
  Under the impression that a large body of savages was concealed in the woods.
• 3:05:13
  Boone and Callaway were both absent, and night came on before arrangements could
• 3:05:16
  be made for their pursuit. Next morning, by daylight we were on the
• 3:05:20
  track and found they had prevented our following them by walking some distance apart through
• 3:05:26
  the thickest canes they could find. We observed their course and on which side
• 3:05:31
  they had left their sign, and traveled upwards of thirty miles. We then
• 3:05:35
  imagined that they would be less cautious in traveling and made a turn in order
• 3:05:39
  to cross their trace, and had gone but a few miles when we found
• 3:05:43
  their tracks in a buffalo path. We pursued and overtook them on going about
• 3:05:48
  ten miles as they were kindling a fire to cook. Our study had been
• 3:05:52
  more to get the prisoners without giving the Indians time to murder them after they
• 3:05:58
  discovered us, than to kill them. We discovered each other nearly at the
• 3:06:01
  same time. Four of us fired, and all of us rushed in on
• 3:06:07
  them, which prevented them from carrying away anything except one shot gun without ammunition.
• 3:06:13
  Mister Boone and myself had a pretty fair shoot just as they began to
• 3:06:16
  move off. I am well convinced I shot one through, and the one
• 3:06:20
  he shot dropped his gun. Mine had none. The place was very thick
• 3:06:26
  with canes, and being so much elated on recovering the three broken hearted girls,
• 3:06:31
  prevented our making further search. We sent them off without their moccasins,
• 3:06:37
  and not one of them with so much as a knife or a tomahawk.
• 3:06:41
  The Indians seemed to awake increasingly to the consciousness that the empire of the white
• 3:06:46
  men and their country could only exist upon the ruins of their own. They
• 3:06:52
  divided themselves into several parties, making incessant attacks upon the forts and prowling around
• 3:06:58
  to shoot every white man who could be found within reach of their bullets.
• 3:07:01
  They avoided all open warfare and fought only when they could spring up from an
• 3:07:05
  ambush, or when protected by a stump, a rock, or a tree.
• 3:07:11
  An Indian would conceal himself in the night behind a stump, shoot the
• 3:07:16
  first one who emerged from the fort in the morning, and then with a
• 3:07:18
  yell, disappear into the recesses of the forest. The cattle could scarcely appear
• 3:07:24
  for an hour to graze beyond the protection of the fort without danger of being
• 3:07:28
  struck down with a bullet of an unseen foe. The War of the American
• 3:07:33
  Revolution was just commencing. Dreadfully. It added to the perils of these distant
• 3:07:39
  emigrants. The British government, with infamy which can never be effaced from her
• 3:07:43
  records, called in to aid the Tomahawk and the scalping knife of the savage.
• 3:07:50
  The Indian alone in his wild and merciless barbarity was terrible enough. But
• 3:07:54
  when he appeared as the ally of a powerful nation, guided in his operations
• 3:08:00
  by the wisdom of her officers, and well provided with guns, powder and
• 3:08:05
  bullets from inexhaustible resources, the settler had indeed reason to tremble. The winter
• 3:08:11
  of seventeen seventy six. In seventeen seventy seven was gloomy beyond expression. The
• 3:08:16
  Indians were hourly becoming more bold. Their predatory bands were wandering in all directions,
• 3:08:22
  and almost every day came fraught with tidings of outrage or massacre. The
• 3:08:28
  whole military force of the colony was but about one hundred men. Three hundred
• 3:08:33
  of the pioneers dismayed by the cloud of menace. Every hour growing blacker had
• 3:08:39
  returned across the mountains. There were but twenty two armed men left in the
• 3:08:43
  fort at Boonsboro. The dismal winter passed slowly away, and the spring opened,
• 3:08:50
  replete with nature's bloom and beauty, but darkened by the depravity of man.
• 3:08:56
  On the fifteenth of April, a band of one hundred howling in appeared
• 3:09:00
  in the forest before Boonsborough. With far more than their ordinary audacity, they
• 3:09:05
  rushed from their covert upon the fort. Had they been acquainted with the use
• 3:09:11
  of scaling ladders by attacking at different points, they might easily, by their
• 3:09:16
  superior numbers, have carried the place by storm. But fortunately the savages had
• 3:09:22
  but little military science, and when once repulsed, would usually retreat in dismay.
• 3:09:28
  The garrison behind their impenetrable logs took deliberate aim, and every bullet killed
• 3:09:35
  or wounded some Indian warrior. The savages fought with great bravery and succeeded in
• 3:09:41
  killing one man in the garrison. Dismayed by the slaughter which they were encountering,
• 3:09:46
  they fled, taking their dead and wounded with them. But so fully
• 3:09:50
  were they conscious that they would retain their own supremacy in the wilderness. They
• 3:09:56
  must exterminate the white man that their retreat was on only in preparation for a
• 3:10:01
  return with accumulated numbers. An intelligent historian, rites Daniel Boone, appears before
• 3:10:09
  us in these exciting times, the central figure towering like a colossus amid that
• 3:10:15
  hardy band of pioneers who opposed their breasts to the shock of the struggle,
• 3:10:20
  which gave a terrible significance and a crimson hue to the history of the old,
• 3:10:24
  dark and bloody ground. The Indians were scattered everywhere in desperate bands.
• 3:10:31
  Forty men were sent from North Carolina and a hundred from Virginia under Colonel Bowman
• 3:10:37
  to strengthen the feeble settlements. The latter party arrived on the twentieth of August
• 3:10:43
  seventeen seventy six. There were at that time skirmishes with the Indians almost every
• 3:10:48
  day at some point. The Pioneers, within their loghouses or behind their palisades,
• 3:10:54
  generally repelled these assaults with but little loss to themselves, and not all,
• 3:11:00
  often inflicting severe injury to the weary savages. In the midst of these
• 3:11:05
  constant conflicts and dangers, the winter months passed drearily away. Boonsborough was constantly
• 3:11:11
  menaced and frequently attacked. In a diary kept within the fort, we find
• 3:11:16
  the following entries. May twenty three a large party of Indians attacked Boonsborough Fort,
• 3:11:24
  kept a warm fire till eleven o'clock at night, began it next morning,
• 3:11:28
  and kept a warm fire till midnight, attempting several times to burn the
• 3:11:33
  fort. Three of our men were wounded, but not mortally. May twenty
• 3:11:39
  sixth a party went out to hunt Indians, one wounded, Squire Boone and
• 3:11:43
  escaped. Very cruel warfare was now being waged by the majestic power of Great
• 3:11:50
  Britain to bring the revolted colonies back to subjugation to their laws. As we
• 3:11:56
  have mentioned, they called into requisition on their side, the merciless energies of
• 3:12:01
  the savage, openly declaring to the world that they were justified in making use
• 3:12:05
  of whatever weapons God and Nature might place in their hands. From the strong
• 3:12:11
  British garrisons at Detroit, vin sins at Kaskaskia. The Indians were abundantly supplied
• 3:12:18
  with rifles, powder and bullets, and were offered liberal rewards for such prisoners
• 3:12:24
  and even scalps as they might bring in the danger which threatened these settlements in
• 3:12:28
  Kentucky was now such as might cause the stoutest heart to quail. The savage
• 3:12:35
  had been adopted as an ally by the most wealthy and powerful nation upon the
• 3:12:39
  globe. His moratering bands were often guided by the intelligence of British officers.
• 3:12:46
  Boone organized what might be called a corp of explorers to go out two and
• 3:12:50
  two, penetrating the wilderness with extreme caution in all directions, to detect any
• 3:12:56
  indication of the approach of the Indians. One of these explorers, Simon Kenton,
• 3:13:01
  acting under the sagacious council of Colonel Boone, had obtained great and deserved
• 3:13:07
  celebrity as among the most heroic of the remarkable men who laid the foundation of
• 3:13:13
  the state of Kentucky. It would be difficult to find in any pages of
• 3:13:18
  romance incidents of more wonderful adventure, or of more dreadful suffering, or stories
• 3:13:22
  of more miraculous escape, than were experienced by this man. Several times he
• 3:13:28
  was taken captive by the Indians, and, though treated with great inhumanity,
• 3:13:33
  succeeded in making his escape. The following incident in his life, occurring about
• 3:13:39
  this time, gives one a very vivid picture of the nature of this warfare
• 3:13:43
  with the Indians. Colonel Bowman sent Simon Kenton with two other men, Montgomery
• 3:13:50
  and Clark, on an exploring tour. Approaching an Indian town very cautiously in
• 3:13:56
  the night on the north side of the Ohio River, they found a number
• 3:13:58
  of Indian horses in an enclosure. A horse in the wilderness was one of
• 3:14:03
  the most valuable of prizes. They accordingly each mounted an animal, not daring
• 3:14:09
  to leave any behind which would aid the Indians to pursue them. By hastily
• 3:14:13
  constructed halters, they led the rest. The noise which the horses made awoke
• 3:14:20
  the Indians, and the whole village was at once in a state of uproar.
• 3:14:24
  The mounted adventurers dashed through the woods and were soon beyond the reach of
• 3:14:28
  the shouts and the yells which they left behind them. They knew, however,
• 3:14:33
  full well, that the swift footed Indian warriors would be immediately on their
• 3:14:37
  trail without a moment's rest. They rode all night the next day and the
• 3:14:43
  next night, and on the morning of the second day reached the banks of
• 3:14:46
  the Ohio River. The flood of that majestic stream flowed broad and deep before
• 3:14:52
  them, and its surface was lashed into waves by a very boisterous wind.
• 3:14:58
  The horses did not swim across in such a gale, but their desire to
• 3:15:03
  retain the invaluable animals was so great that they resolved to wait upon the banks
• 3:15:07
  until sunset, when they expected the wind to abate. Having been so well
• 3:15:13
  mounted, and having such a start of the Indians, they did not suppose
• 3:15:16
  it possible that their pursuers could overtake them before that time. Night came,
• 3:15:22
  but with it an increase of the fury of the gale, and the stream
• 3:15:26
  became utterly impassable. Early in the morning, Kenton, who was separated from
• 3:15:31
  his companions, observed three Indians and a white man well mounted, rapidly approaching.
• 3:15:39
  Raising his rifle, he took steady aim at the breast of the foremost
• 3:15:43
  Indian and pulled the trigger. The powder flashed in the pan. Kenton took
• 3:15:48
  to his heels, but was soon overtaken and captured. The Indians seemed greatly
• 3:15:52
  exasperated at the loss of their horses. One seized him by the hair and
• 3:15:58
  shook his head till his teeth rattled. The others scourged him severely with their
• 3:16:01
  ramrods over the head and face, exclaiming at every blow steel Indian hoss hey.
• 3:16:09
  Just then Kenton saw Montgomery coming boldly to his assistance. Instantly two Indian
• 3:16:16
  rifles were discharged, and Montgomery felt dead. His bloody scalp was waved in
• 3:16:22
  the face of Kenton with menaces of a similar fate Clark had sought safety in
• 3:16:26
  flight. Kenton was thrown upon the ground upon his back. His neck was
• 3:16:31
  fastened by a halter to a sapling. His arms, extended to their full
• 3:16:35
  length, were pinioned to the earth by stakes. His feet were fastened in
• 3:16:41
  a similar manner. A stout stick was passed across his breast and so attached
• 3:16:46
  to the earth that he could not move his body. All this was done
• 3:16:50
  in the most violent and cruel manner, accompanied by frequent cuffs and blows.
• 3:16:54
  As the maddened Indians called him in the broken English which they had acquired,
• 3:17:00
  a teeth, a hoss steel, a rascal, which expressions the Indians had
• 3:17:05
  learned to intersperse with English oaths. In this condition of suffering, Kenton remained
• 3:17:11
  through the day and through the night. The next morning, the savages having
• 3:17:16
  collected their scattered horses, put Kenton upon a young colt, tied his hands
• 3:17:22
  behind him and his feet beneath the horse's belly, and set out on their
• 3:17:26
  return. The country was rough, and Kenton could not at all protect himself
• 3:17:31
  from the brambles through which they passed. Thus they rode all day. When
• 3:17:37
  night came, their prisoner was bound to the earth as before. The next
• 3:17:41
  day they reached the Indian village, which was called Chilicothee, on the Miami
• 3:17:46
  River, forty or fifty miles west of the present city of Chilicothee, Ohio.
• 3:17:52
  A courier was sent forward to inform the village of their arrival. Every
• 3:17:56
  man, woman and child came running out to view the princes. One of
• 3:18:01
  their chiefs, Blackfish, approached Kenton, with a strong hickory switch in his
• 3:18:05
  hand, and addressing him, said, you have been stealing our horses,
• 3:18:09
  have you? Yes? Was the defiant reply. Did Colonel Boone, inquired
• 3:18:16
  the chief tell you to steal our horses? No, said Kenton, I
• 3:18:20
  did it of my own accord. Blackfish, then, with brawny arms,
• 3:18:24
  so mercilessly applied the scourge to the bare head and shoulders of his prisoner as
• 3:18:31
  to cause the blood to flow freely and to occasion the acutest pain. In
• 3:18:37
  the meantime, the whole crowd of men, women and children danced and hooted
• 3:18:43
  and clapped their hands, assailing him with the choicest epithets of Indian vituperation.
• 3:18:48
  With loud cries, they demanded that he should be tied to the steak,
• 3:18:52
  that they might all enjoy the pleasure of tormenting him. A steak was immediately
• 3:18:58
  planted in the ground, and he was firmly fastened to it. His entire
• 3:19:03
  clothing was torn from him, mainly by the Indian women. The whole party
• 3:19:07
  then danced around him until midnight, yelling in the most frantic manner, smiting
• 3:19:13
  him with their hands and lacerating his flesh with their switches. At midnight they
• 3:19:18
  released him from the stake and allowed him some little repose in preparation for their
• 3:19:22
  principal amusement in the morning of having their prisoner run the gauntlet. Three hundred
• 3:19:28
  Indians of all ages and both sexes were assembled for the savage festival. The
• 3:19:35
  Indians were ranged in two parallel lines about six feet apart, all armed with
• 3:19:39
  sticks, hickory rods, whips, and other means of inflicting torture between these
• 3:19:46
  lines from more than half a mile to the village. The wretched prisoner was
• 3:19:50
  doomed to run for his life, exposed to such injury as his tormentors could
• 3:19:56
  inflict as he passed. If he succeeded in reaching the councilse else alive,
• 3:20:01
  it would prove an asylum to him for the present. At a given signal,
• 3:20:05
  Kenton started in the perilous race, exerting his utmost strength and activity.
• 3:20:11
  He passed swiftly along the line, receiving numerous blows, stripes, buffets,
• 3:20:16
  and wounds, until he approached the town, near which he saw an Indian
• 3:20:20
  leisurely awaiting his advance with a knife drawn in his hand. Intent upon his
• 3:20:26
  death to avoid him, he instantly broke through the line and made his rapid
• 3:20:31
  way towards the council house, pursued by the promiscuous crowd, whooping and yelling
• 3:20:35
  like infernal furies at his heels, Entering the town in advance of his pursuers.
• 3:20:41
  Just as he supposed, the council house within his reach, an Indian
• 3:20:46
  was perceived leisurely approaching him with his blanket wrapped around him, but suddenly he
• 3:20:52
  threw off the blanket and sprung upon Kenton as he advanced. Exhausted with fatigue
• 3:20:56
  and wounds, he was thrown to the ground, and in a moment he
• 3:21:01
  was beset with crowds eager to inflict upon him the kick or blow which had
• 3:21:05
  been avoided by breaking through the line. Here beaten, kicked, and scourged
• 3:21:11
  until he was nearly lifeless. He was left to die a few hours afterwards.
• 3:21:16
  He was supplied with food and water, and was suffered to recuperate for
• 3:21:20
  a few days until he was enabled to attend at the council house and receive
• 3:21:24
  the announcement of his final doom. It was here decided that he should be
• 3:21:30
  made a public sacrifice to the vengeance of the nation. The Indian town of
• 3:21:35
  Wapatomica, upon the present site of Zanesville, Ohio, was the appointed place
• 3:21:39
  of his execution. Being in a state of utter exhaustion, his escape was
• 3:21:45
  deemed impossible, and he was carelessly guarded. In despair, he attempted it.
• 3:21:52
  He was promptly recaptured and punished by being taken to a neighboring creek,
• 3:21:56
  where he was dragged through the mud and water till life was nearly extinct.
• 3:22:01
  Still, his constitutional vigor triumphed and he revived when Potomika was a British trading
• 3:22:09
  post. Here Kenton met an old comrade, Simon Gerdy, who had become
• 3:22:15
  a renegade, had joined the Indians, and had so adopted their dress and
• 3:22:18
  manners as hardly to be distinguished from his savage associates. Gerdy cautiously endeavored to
• 3:22:26
  save the condemned prisoner. He represented to the band that it would be of
• 3:22:30
  great advantage to them to have possession of one so intimately acquainted with all the
• 3:22:35
  white settlements in their resources. A respite was granted, another council was held.
• 3:22:41
  The spirit of Indian revenge prevailed. Kenton was again doomed to death,
• 3:22:48
  to be preceded by the terrible ordeal of running the gauntlet. But a British
• 3:22:54
  officer, influenced by the persuasions of the Indian chief Logan, the friend of
• 3:22:58
  the White Man, urged upon the Indian chiefs that the British officers at Detroit
• 3:23:03
  would regard the possession of Kenton with the information he had at his command,
• 3:23:07
  as a great acquisition, and that they would pay for him a ransom of
• 3:23:11
  at least one hundred dollars. They took him to Detroit. The ransom was
• 3:23:16
  paid and Kenton became the prisoner of the British officers instead of savage chieftains.
• 3:23:24
  Still, he was a prisoner, though treated with ordinary humanity, and was
• 3:23:28
  allowed the liberty of the town. There were two other American captives there,
• 3:23:33
  Captain Nathan Bullet and Jesse Kaufer. Escape seemed impossible as it could only be
• 3:23:39
  effected through a wilderness four hundred miles in extent, crowded with wandering Indian bands,
• 3:23:46
  where they would be eminently exposed to recapture or to death by starvation.
• 3:23:50
  Simon Kenton was a very handsome man. He won the sympathies of a very
• 3:23:56
  kind english woman, Missus Harvey, the wife of one of the traders at
• 3:24:00
  the post. She secretly obtained for him and his two companions, and concealed
• 3:24:05
  in a hollow tree powder, lead, moccasins, and a quantity of dried
• 3:24:09
  beef. One dark night, when the Indians were engaged in a drunken bout,
• 3:24:16
  she met Kenton in the garden and handed him three of the best rifles
• 3:24:20
  which she had selected from those stacked near the house. The biographer of these
• 3:24:24
  events writes, when a woman engages to do an action, she will risk
• 3:24:31
  limb life or character to serve him whom she respects or wishes to befriend.
• 3:24:37
  How differently, the same action would be viewed by different persons. By Kenton
• 3:24:41
  and his friends, her conduct was viewed as the benevolent conduct of a good
• 3:24:46
  angel, while if the part she played in behalf of Kenton and his companions
• 3:24:50
  had been known to the commander at Detroit, she would have been looked upon
• 3:24:54
  as a traitress who merited the scorn and contempt of all honest citizens. This
• 3:25:01
  night was the last that Kenton ever saw or heard of her. Our fugitives
• 3:25:07
  traveled mostly by night, guided by the stars. After passing through a series
• 3:25:11
  of wonderful adventures which we have not space here to record, on the thirty
• 3:25:16
  third day of their escape, they reached the settlement at the Falls of the
• 3:25:20
  Ohio now Louisville. During the rest of the war, Kenton was a very
• 3:25:24
  active partisan. He died in the year eighteen thirty six, over eighty years
• 3:25:31
  of age, having been from more than a quarter of a century, and
• 3:25:35
  honored member of the Methodist Church. End of chapter six, Chapter seven,
• 3:25:41
  Life in the Wilderness, There were now four hungry men to occupy the little
• 3:25:48
  camp of our bold adventurers. They do not seem to have been conscious of
• 3:25:52
  enduring any hardships. The winter was mild, their snug tent furnished perfect protection
• 3:25:58
  from wind and rain, with abundant fuel. Their camp fire, ever,
• 3:26:03
  blazed brightly. Still, it was necessary for them to be diligent in hunting
• 3:26:07
  to supply themselves with their daily food. Bread, eggs, milk, butter,
• 3:26:13
  sugar, and even salt were articles of which they were entirely destitute.
• 3:26:18
  One day, not long after the arrival of Squire Boone, Daniel Boone,
• 3:26:22
  with his companion Stuart, was a long distance from the camp hunting. Suddenly
• 3:26:28
  the terrible war whoop of the Indians resounded from a thicket, and a shower
• 3:26:31
  of arrows fell around them. Stewart, pierced by one of these deadly missiles,
• 3:26:37
  fell mortally wounded. A sturdy savage sprained from the ambuscade upon his victim,
• 3:26:43
  and with a yell, buried a tomahawk in his brain. Then,
• 3:26:48
  grasping with one hand the hair on top of his head, he made a
• 3:26:52
  rapid circular cut with his gleaming knife and tore off the scalp, leaving the
• 3:26:56
  skull bare. The revolt, indeed, was done quicker than it can be
• 3:27:01
  described. Shaking the bloody trophy in his hand, he gave a whoop of
• 3:27:05
  exultation, which echoed far and wide through the solitudes of the forest moon swift
• 3:27:13
  of foot as the antelope escaped and reached the camp with the sad tidings of
• 3:27:18
  the death of his companion and of the presence in their immediate vicinity of hostile
• 3:27:22
  Indians. This so affrighted the North Carolinian, who had come with Squire Boone,
• 3:27:28
  that he resolved upon an immediate return to the Yadkin. He set out
• 3:27:33
  alone and doubtless perished by the way, as he was never heard of again.
• 3:27:39
  A skeleton subsequently found in the wilderness was supposed to be the remains of
• 3:27:43
  the unfortunate hunter. He probably perished through exhaustion or by the arrow or tomahawk
• 3:27:48
  of the savage. The two brothers, Daniel and Squire were now left entirely
• 3:27:54
  alone. They selected a favorable spot in a wild ravine where they would be
• 3:28:01
  the least likely to be discovered by hunting bands, and built for themselves a
• 3:28:05
  snug and comfortable log house in which they would be more effectually sheltered from the
• 3:28:09
  storms of the cold winter, and into which they moved from their open camp.
• 3:28:15
  Here they remained two loving brothers of congenial tastes during the month of January,
• 3:28:20
  February, March and April, solitary, as their life must have been,
• 3:28:26
  probably every hour brought busy employment. Each day's food was to be obtained
• 3:28:31
  by the rifle, wood was to be procured for their fire. All their
• 3:28:35
  clothing, from the cap to the moccasin, was to be fashioned by their
• 3:28:39
  own hands from the skin of the deer, which they had carefully tanned into
• 3:28:43
  pliancy and softness. And there were to be added to their cabin many conveniences
• 3:28:48
  which required much ingenuity, with knife and hatchet for their only tools, and
• 3:28:54
  with neither nail nor screw for their construction. In addition to this, they
• 3:28:58
  were under the necessity of being ever on the alert to discover indications of the
• 3:29:03
  approach of the Indians. The winter passed away not only undisturbed, but evidently
• 3:29:11
  very happily. It is remarked that their retreat was not discovered by any of
• 3:29:15
  the Indian bands, who, in pursuit of game, were constantly roving over
• 3:29:20
  those rich hunting grounds. As Summr's warmth returned, Squire Boone decided to retrace
• 3:29:26
  his steps to the Yadkin, to carry to his brother's family news of his
• 3:29:30
  safety, and to obtain much needed supplies of powder and of lead. There
• 3:29:35
  is no satisfactory explanation of the motives which could have induced Daniel, after the
• 3:29:39
  absence of a year from his home, to remain alone in that solitary cabin.
• 3:29:45
  In his autobiography he has assigned no reason for the extraordinary decision. One
• 3:29:50
  of the most judicious of his biographers makes the following statement, which by no
• 3:29:54
  means solves the mystery. When the spring came, it was time for another
• 3:30:01
  movement. The spring came early, and the awaking to its foliage seemed like
• 3:30:05
  the passing from night to the day. The game had reduced their powder and
• 3:30:09
  lead, and without these there was no existence. To the white man again,
• 3:30:15
  Daniel Boone rises to the emergency. It was necessary that the settlement which
• 3:30:20
  they had made should be continued and protected, and it was the duty,
• 3:30:24
  in the progress of events that one of them should remain to that task.
• 3:30:28
  He made this election and shows himself he had the courage to remain alone,
• 3:30:33
  and while he felt the keenest desire to see his own family, he felt
• 3:30:37
  that he had a noble purpose to serve and was prepared for it. Daniel
• 3:30:41
  Boone, in his quaint autobiography in the following terms, alludes to the departure
• 3:30:46
  of his brother and his own solitary mode of life during the three months of
• 3:30:52
  his brother's absence. On the first day of May seventeen seventy, my brother
• 3:30:56
  returned home to the settlement by himself for a new recruit of horses and ammunition,
• 3:31:03
  leaving me by myself without bread, salt, or sugar, without the
• 3:31:07
  company of my fellow creatures, or even a horse or dog. I confess
• 3:31:11
  I never before was under greater necessity of exercising philosophy and fortitude. A few
• 3:31:18
  days I passed uncomfortably. The idea of a beloved wife and family, in
• 3:31:24
  their anxiety on account of my absence and exposed situation, made sensible impressions on
• 3:31:30
  my heart. A thousand dreadful apprehensions presented themselves to my view, and had
• 3:31:35
  undoubtedly exposed me to melancholy if further indulged. One day I took a tour
• 3:31:41
  through the country, and the diversity and beauties of nature I met with in
• 3:31:45
  this charming season expelled every gloomy and vexatious thought. Just at the close of
• 3:31:50
  the day, the gentle gales retired and left the place to the disposal of
• 3:31:56
  a profound calm. Not a breeze shook the most tremulous leaf. I had
• 3:32:01
  gained the summit of a commanding ridge, and looking around with astonishing delight,
• 3:32:05
  beheld the ample plain the beauteous tracks below. On the other hand, I
• 3:32:11
  surveyed the famous Ohio River that rolled in silent dignity, marking the western boundary
• 3:32:18
  of Kentucky with inconceivable grandeur. At a vast distance, I beheld the mountains
• 3:32:24
  lift their venerable heads and penetrate the clouds. I kindled a fire near a
• 3:32:30
  fountain of sweet water and feasted on the loin of a buck. The fallen
• 3:32:35
  shades of night soon overspread the whole hemisphere, and the earth seemed to gape
• 3:32:39
  after the hovering moisture. My roving excursion this day had fatigued my body and
• 3:32:46
  diverted my imagination. I laid me down to sleep, and I woke not
• 3:32:50
  until the sun had chased away the night. I continued this tour, and
• 3:32:54
  in a few days explored a considerable part of the country. Each day equally
• 3:33:00
  pleased as the first, I returned to my camp, which was not disturbed
• 3:33:05
  in my absence. I did not confine my lodging to it, but often
• 3:33:09
  reposed in thick cane breaks to avoid the savages, who I believe often visited
• 3:33:15
  it. But fortunately for me, in my absence, in this situation,
• 3:33:20
  I was constantly exposed to danger and death. How unhappy such a condition for
• 3:33:24
  a man tormented with fear, which is vain if no danger comes, and
• 3:33:30
  if it does, only augments the pain. It was my happiness to be
• 3:33:35
  destitute of this afflicting passion, with which I had the greatest reasons to be
• 3:33:39
  affected. The prowling wolves diverted my nocturnal hours with perpetual howlings, and the
• 3:33:46
  various species of animals in this vast forest in the daytime were continually in my
• 3:33:52
  view. Thus I was surrounded with plenty in the midst of want. I
• 3:33:56
  was happy in the midst of dangers and incan nveniences. In such a diversity,
• 3:34:01
  it was impossible I should be exposed to melancholy. No populous city,
• 3:34:07
  with all the varieties of commerce and stately structures, could afford so much pleasure
• 3:34:11
  to my mind as the beauties of nature I found here. Thus, through
• 3:34:16
  an uninterrupted scene of Sylvan pleasures, I spent the time until the twenty seventh
• 3:34:22
  day of July following, when my brother to my great Felicity met me according
• 3:34:28
  to appointment, at our old camp. Boone was at this time thirty six
• 3:34:33
  years of age. He was about five feet ten inches in height, and
• 3:34:37
  of remarkably vigorous and athletic frame. His life in the open air, his
• 3:34:43
  perfect temperance, and his freedom from all exciting passions gave him constant health.
• 3:34:50
  Squire brought back to his brother the gratifying news that his wife, Rebecca was
• 3:34:54
  in good health and spirits and cheerfully acquiesced in whatever decision her hus been might
• 3:35:00
  make in reference to his absence, she had full confidence in the soundness of
• 3:35:05
  his judgment and in his conjugal and parental love. The children were all well,
• 3:35:11
  and from the farm and the forest, the wants of the family were
• 3:35:15
  fully supplied. It appears that Squire Boone had succeeded in bringing one or two
• 3:35:20
  horses across the mountains. The abundance of grass kept them in fine condition.
• 3:35:26
  Upon the backs of these horses, the pioneers could traverse the treeless prairies without
• 3:35:31
  obstruction, and large portions of the forest were as free from underbrush as the
• 3:35:37
  park of an English nobleman. Invaluable as these animals were to the adventurers,
• 3:35:43
  they greatly increased their perils. They could not easily be concealed, their footprints
• 3:35:48
  could not be effaced, and there was nothing the Indians coveted so greatly as
• 3:35:52
  a horse. The two adventurers now set out on horseback for an exploring tour
• 3:35:58
  to the southwest, following a line nearly parallel with the Cumberland Range. After
• 3:36:05
  traversing a magnificent region of beauty and fertility for about one hundred and fifty miles,
• 3:36:11
  they reached the banks of the Cumberland River. This majestic stream takes its
• 3:36:16
  rise on the western slope of the Cumberland Mountains. After an exceedingly surcurtuous route
• 3:36:22
  of six hundred miles, running far down into Tennessee, it turns northwesterly again
• 3:36:26
  and empties its waters into the Ohio. About sixty miles above the entrance of
• 3:36:31
  that river into the Mississippi. It was midsummer. The weather was delightful,
• 3:36:37
  the forest free from underbrush, attractive as the most artificial park, and the
• 3:36:43
  smooth sweep of the treeless prairie presented before them as enticing a route of travel
• 3:36:48
  as the imagination could desire. There were, of course, hardships and privations
• 3:36:54
  which would have been regarded as very severe by the dwellers in the sealed houses,
• 3:36:58
  but none which disturbed in the slightest degree the equanimity of these hearty adventurers.
• 3:37:05
  They journeyed very leisurely, seven months being occupied in the tour. Probably
• 3:37:09
  only a few miles were accomplished each day, with soft saddles made of the
• 3:37:15
  skin of buffalo, with their horses never urged beyond a walk, With bright
• 3:37:20
  skies above them, and vistas of beauty ever opening before them, and luxuriance,
• 3:37:26
  bloom, and fragrance spread everywhere around. Their journey seemed replete with enjoyment
• 3:37:33
  of the purest kind. Though it was necessary to practice the extreme of caution
• 3:37:39
  to avoid capture by the Indians, our adventurers do not seem to have been
• 3:37:43
  annoyed in the slightest degree with any painful fears. On that account, each
• 3:37:48
  morning they carefully scanned the horizon to see if anywhere there could be seen the
• 3:37:52
  smoke of the camp fire curling up from the open prairie or from the forest.
• 3:37:56
  Through the day, they were ever on the alarte, examining the trails
• 3:38:01
  which they occasionally passed to see if there were any fresh footprints or other indications
• 3:38:07
  of the recent presence of their foe. At night, before venturing to kindle
• 3:38:11
  their own campfire, they looked cautiously in every direction to see if a gleam
• 3:38:16
  from an Indian encampment could anywhere be seen. Thus, from the first of
• 3:38:20
  August to the ensuing month of March, these two bold men traversed for many
• 3:38:26
  hundred miles an unknown country filled with wandering hunting bands of hostile Indians, and
• 3:38:33
  yet avoided capture or detection. If a storm arose, they would rear their
• 3:38:37
  cabin in some secluded dell and, basking in the warmth of their campfire,
• 3:38:43
  wait until the returning sun invited them to resume their journey, or if they
• 3:38:46
  came to some of nature's favored haunts, where eden like attractions were spread around
• 3:38:52
  them, on the borders of the lake, by the banks of the stream,
• 3:38:56
  or beneath the brow of the mountain. They would teary for a few
• 3:38:58
  days, reveling in delights which they both had the taste to appreciate. In
• 3:39:05
  this way, they very thoroughly explored the upper valley of the Cumberland River.
• 3:39:09
  For some reason not given, they preferred to return north several hundred miles to
• 3:39:13
  the Kentucky River as the seat of their contemplated settlement. The head waters of
• 3:39:18
  this stream are near those of the Cumberland. It, however, flows through
• 3:39:24
  the very heart of Kentucky till it enters the Ohio River, midway between the
• 3:39:28
  present cities of Cincinnati and Louisville. It was in the month of March that
• 3:39:33
  they reached the Kentucky River. On their return, for some time they wandered
• 3:39:37
  along its banks, searching for the more suitable situation for the location of a
• 3:39:43
  colony. The exemption of these men, said W. H. Bogart,
• 3:39:48
  from assault by the Indians. During all this long period of seven months,
• 3:39:52
  in which armed and on horseback, they seemed to have roamed just where they
• 3:39:56
  chose is most wonderful. It has something about it which seems like a special
• 3:40:01
  innerposition of providence, beyond the ordinary guardianship over the progress of man. On
• 3:40:07
  the safety of these men rested the hope of a nation. A very distinguished
• 3:40:13
  authority has declared that without Boon, the settlements could not have been upheld,
• 3:40:18
  and the conquest of Kentucky would have been reserved for the emigrants of the nineteenth
• 3:40:22
  century. Boone, having now, after an absence of nearly two years,
• 3:40:28
  apparently accomplished the great object of his mission, having after the most careful and
• 3:40:33
  extensive exploration, selected such a spot as he deemed most attractive for the future
• 3:40:37
  home of his family, decided to return to the Yadkin and make preparations for
• 3:40:43
  their emigration across the mountains to US. Now, such a movement seems to
• 3:40:48
  indicate an almost insane boldness and recklessness. To take a wife and children into
• 3:40:54
  a pathless wilderness filled with unfriendly savages five hundred miles from any any of the
• 3:41:00
  settlements of civilization would seem to invite death. A family could not long be
• 3:41:05
  concealed. Their discovery by the Indians would be almost the certain precursor of their
• 3:41:11
  destruction. Boone, in his autobiography says, an allusion to this hazardous adventure,
• 3:41:18
  I returned home to my family with a determination to bring them as soon
• 3:41:22
  as possible, at the risk of my life and fortune, to live in
• 3:41:26
  Kentucky, which I esteemed a second paradise. The two brothers accomplished the journey
• 3:41:31
  safely, and Daniel Boone found his family after his long absence in health and
• 3:41:37
  prosperity. One would have supposed that the charms of home on the banks of
• 3:41:41
  the Yadkin, where they could dwell in peace, abundance in safety, would
• 3:41:46
  have lured our adventurer to rest from his wanderings, and it is probable that
• 3:41:50
  for a time he wavered in his resolution. Two years elapsed, Eiry set
• 3:41:56
  out for his new home in the far West. There was much to be
• 3:42:00
  done in preparation for so momentous a movement. He sold his farm on the
• 3:42:03
  Yadkin and invested the proceeds in such comforts as would be available on the banks
• 3:42:09
  of the Kentucky money would be of no value to him there a path had
• 3:42:13
  been discovered by which horses could be led through the mountains and Thus many articles
• 3:42:18
  could be transported which could not be taken in packs on the back. Several
• 3:42:22
  of the neighbors, elated by the description which Boon gave off the paradise he
• 3:42:28
  had found, were anxious to join his family in their immigration. There were
• 3:42:31
  also quite a number of young men rising here and there, who lured by
• 3:42:37
  the romance of the adventure, were eager to accompany the expedition. All these
• 3:42:41
  events caused delays. The party of immigrants became more numerous than Boone at first
• 3:42:46
  expected. It was not until the twenty fifth of September seventeen seventy three that
• 3:42:52
  Daniel Boone, his brother Squire, and quite a large party of immigrants,
• 3:42:58
  probably in all men women in Chiwley, not less than sixty in number,
• 3:43:01
  commenced their journey across the mountains. There were five families and forty pioneers,
• 3:43:07
  all well armed, who were quite at home amid the trials and privations of
• 3:43:13
  the wilderness. Four horses, heavily laden, led the train through the narrow
• 3:43:18
  trails of the forest, then came in single file the remainder of the party,
• 3:43:22
  of all ages and both sexes. It must have been a singular spectacle
• 3:43:28
  which was presented. As this long line wound its way through the valleys and
• 3:43:31
  over the ridges, Squire Boon was quite familiar with the path. It was
• 3:43:37
  delightful autumnal weather. The days were long and calm, and yet not oppressively
• 3:43:43
  hot. There were no gloved gentlemen or delicate ladies in the company. All
• 3:43:48
  were hardy men and women accustomed to endurance. Each day's journey was short.
• 3:43:54
  An hour before the sun disappeared. In the west, the little village of
• 3:43:58
  Cabins arose, where some spring gurgled from the cliff, or some sparkling mountain
• 3:44:03
  stream rippled before them. In front of each cabin, the camp fire blazed.
• 3:44:07
  All was animation and apparent joy as the women prepared the evening meal,
• 3:44:13
  and the weary children rested upon their couch of dried leaves or fragrant twigs.
• 3:44:20
  If the storm arose, they had but to remain beneath their shelter until it
• 3:44:24
  passed away. Traveling, says Madame de Stael, who was accustomed to the
• 3:44:28
  most luxurious of European conveyances, is the most painful of all pleasures. Probably
• 3:44:35
  our travelers on this journey experienced as many pleasures and as few pains, as
• 3:44:41
  often fall to the lot of any tourist. The solitary wilderness has its attractions
• 3:44:46
  as well as the thronged town. These bold men, armed with their rifles,
• 3:44:52
  under such an accomplished leader as Daniel Boone, penetrated the wilderness with almost
• 3:44:56
  the strength of an invading army. Upon the open prairie. The superiority of
• 3:45:03
  their arms would compensate for almost any inferiority of numbers. Indeed, they had
• 3:45:09
  little to fear from the savages, unless struck suddenly with overwhelming numbers leaping upon
• 3:45:13
  them from some ambush. Pleasant days came and went, while nothing occurred to
• 3:45:18
  interrupt the prosperity of their journey. They were approaching the celebrated Cumberland Gap,
• 3:45:24
  which seems to be a door that nature has thrown open for passing through this
• 3:45:28
  great mountain barrier. The vigilance they ought to have practiced had been in some
• 3:45:33
  degree relaxed by their freedom from all alarm. The cows had fallen a few
• 3:45:39
  miles behind. Seven young men were with them, a son of Daniel Boone
• 3:45:43
  being one of the number. The main party was not aware how far the
• 3:45:46
  cattle had fallen. In the rear It is probable that the savages had been
• 3:45:52
  following them for several days, watching for an opportunity to strike. For suddenly,
• 3:45:56
  as they were passing through a narrow ravine, the fearful war whoop resounded
• 3:46:01
  from the thickets on both sides. A shower of arrows fell upon them,
• 3:46:07
  and six of the seven young men were instantly struck down by these deadly missiles.
• 3:46:11
  One only escaped. The attack was so sudden, so unexpected, that
• 3:46:18
  the immigrants had scarcely time for one discharge of their firearms, ere they were
• 3:46:22
  struck down with death. The party in advance heard with consternation the reports of
• 3:46:28
  the muskets, and immediately returned to the scene of the disaster. But several
• 3:46:33
  miles intervened. They met the fugitive who had escaped, bleeding and almost breathless,
• 3:46:41
  hurrying on. An awful spectacle met their view. The bodies of six
• 3:46:46
  of the young men lay in the path, mangled and gory, with their
• 3:46:50
  scalps torn from their heads. The cattle were driven into the forest beyond pursuit.
• 3:46:56
  One of these victims was the eldest son of Daniel Boone. James was
• 3:47:01
  a noble lad of but seventeen years. His untimely death was a terrible blow
• 3:47:07
  to his father and mother. This massacre took place on the tenth of October,
• 3:47:13
  only a fortnight after the expedition had commenced its march. The gloom which
• 3:47:18
  it threw over the minds of the immigrants was so great that the majority refused
• 3:47:22
  to press any farther into a wilderness where they would encounter such perils. They
• 3:47:28
  had already passed two mountain ridges. Between them, there was a very beautiful
• 3:47:33
  valley through which flows the Clinch River. This, many leagues below, uniting
• 3:47:39
  with the Holston River flowing on the other side of Powell's Ridge, composes the
• 3:47:43
  majestic Tennessee, which, extending far down into Alabama, turns again north and
• 3:47:50
  traversing the whole breadth of Tennessee and Kentucky, empties into the Ohio. Notwithstanding
• 3:47:56
  the remonstrances of Daniel Boone and his brother, the majority of the immigrants resolved
• 3:48:01
  to retreat forty miles over the Walden Ridge and establish themselves in the valley of
• 3:48:07
  the Clinch. Daniel Boone, finding all his attempts to encourage them to proceed
• 3:48:13
  in vain, decided with his customary good sense to acquiesce in their wishes and
• 3:48:18
  quietly to await further developments. The whole party consequently retraced their steps and reared
• 3:48:26
  their cabins on fertile meadows in the valley of the Clinch River. Here between
• 3:48:31
  parallel ridges of mountains running northeast and southwest. Boone with his disheartened immigrants past
• 3:48:37
  seven months. This settlement was within the limits of the present state of Virginia
• 3:48:43
  in its most extreme southwestern corner. The value of the vast country beyond the
• 3:48:48
  mountains was beginning to attract the attention of the governors of several colonies. Governor
• 3:48:54
  Dunmore of Virginia had sent a party of surveyors to explore the valley of the
• 3:48:58
  Ohio as far as the celebrated Falls of the Ohio, near the present site
• 3:49:03
  of Louisville. Quite a body of these surveyors had built and fortified a camp
• 3:49:09
  near the falls, and were busy in exploring the country in preparation for the
• 3:49:13
  granting of lands as reward for services to the officers and soldiers in the French
• 3:49:18
  War. These pioneers were far away in the wilderness four hundred miles beyond any
• 3:49:24
  settlement of the whites. They were surrounded by thousands of Indian warriors, and
• 3:49:28
  still they felt somewhat secure, as a treaty of peace had been made by
• 3:49:33
  the Governor of Virginia with the neighboring chiefs. But notwithstanding this treaty, many
• 3:49:39
  of the more intelligent of the Indians foresaw the inevitable destruction of their hunting grounds
• 3:49:43
  should the white men succeed in establishing themselves on their lands and cutting them up
• 3:49:48
  into farms. A friendly Indian had informed Governor Dunmore that a very formidable conspiracy
• 3:49:56
  had been organized by the tribes for the destruction of the park encamped at the
• 3:50:00
  falls of the Ohio, and for the extermination of every other party of whites
• 3:50:05
  who should penetrate their hunting grounds. It was in accordance with this conspiracy that
• 3:50:09
  Daniel Boone's party was so fiercely assailed when near the gap in the Cumberland Mountains,
• 3:50:16
  And it was probably the knowledge of this conspiracy thus practically developed, which
• 3:50:20
  led the husbands and fathers to abandon their enterprise of plunging into the wilderness of
• 3:50:26
  Kentucky. There were about forty men, all numbered, and the little band
• 3:50:31
  of surveyors at the falls. They were in terrible peril. Unconscious of danger.
• 3:50:37
  In supposing the Indians to be friendly, they were liable to be attacked
• 3:50:41
  on any day by overwhelming numbers of savages, and utterly exterminated. It consequently
• 3:50:46
  became a matter of great moment that Governor Dunmore should send them word of their
• 3:50:52
  danger, and, if possible, secure their safe return into the settlements.
• 3:50:56
  But who would undertake such a mission trought with greater danger could not easily be
• 3:51:01
  imagined. The courier must traverse on foot a distance of four or five hundred
• 3:51:07
  miles through a pathless wilderness filled with hunting bands of hostile savages. He must
• 3:51:13
  live upon the game he could shoot each day, when every discharge of his
• 3:51:16
  musket was liable to bring upon him scores of foes. He must either eat
• 3:51:22
  his food raw or cook it at a fire whose gleam at night or smoke
• 3:51:26
  by day would be almost sure to attract the attention of death dealing enemies.
• 3:51:31
  He must conceal his footprints from hunting bands wandering far and wide in every direction,
• 3:51:37
  so keen in their sagacity that they could almost follow the track of the
• 3:51:41
  lightest footed animal through the forest or over the prairie. The Indians had also
• 3:51:48
  well trained dogs, who, being once put upon the scent, could with
• 3:51:52
  unerring instinct, follow any object of search until it was overtaken. The name
• 3:51:58
  of Daniel Boone was mentioned to Governor Dunmore as precisely the man to meet this
• 3:52:03
  exigency. The Governor made application to the practiced hunter, and Boone, without
• 3:52:09
  the slightest hesitancy, accepted the perilous office. Indeed, he seems to have
• 3:52:16
  been entirely unconscious of the heroism he was developing. Never did knight Errant of
• 3:52:20
  the Middle Ages undertake an achievement of equal daring for capture. Not only was
• 3:52:26
  certain death, but death under the most frightful tortures. But Boone, calm,
• 3:52:33
  imperturbable, pensive, with never a shade of boastfulness in word or action,
• 3:52:39
  embarked in the enterprise as if it had been merely one of the ordinary
• 3:52:43
  occurrences of everyday life, and the following modest words. He records the event
• 3:52:48
  in his autobiography, I remained with my family on the Clinch River until the
• 3:52:54
  sixth of June seventeen seventy four, when I and one Michael Stoner, and
• 3:53:00
  were solicited by Governor Dunmore of Virginia to go to the falls of the Ohio
• 3:53:03
  to conduct into the settlements a number of surveyors that had been sent thither by
• 3:53:09
  him some months before. This country having about this time drawn the attention of
• 3:53:15
  many adventurers. We immediately complied with Governor's requests and conducted in the surveyors,
• 3:53:20
  completing a tour of eight hundred miles through many difficulties in sixty two days.
• 3:53:26
  The narrative which follows will give the reader some idea of the wilderness which Boone
• 3:53:31
  was about to penetrate, into perils which he was about to encounter. An
• 3:53:37
  immigrant of these early days who lived to witness the transformation of the wilderness from
• 3:53:43
  a scene of unbroken solitude into the haunts of busy men, and the following
• 3:53:48
  words describes this change and its influence upon the mind. To a person who
• 3:53:54
  has witnessed all the changes which have taken place in the Western country since its
• 3:53:58
  first settlement, its former appearance is like a dream or romance. He will
• 3:54:03
  find it difficult to realize the features of that wilderness which was the abode of
• 3:54:07
  his infant days, the little cabin of his father no longer exists. The
• 3:54:13
  little field and truck patch which gave him a scanty supply of coarse bread and
• 3:54:18
  vegetables have been swallowed up in the extended meadows, orchard or grain fields.
• 3:54:24
  The rude fort in which his people had resided so many painful summers has vanished
• 3:54:30
  everywhere, surrounded by the busy hum of men and the splendor arts, refinements,
• 3:54:35
  and comforts of civilized life. His former state and that of his country
• 3:54:41
  have vanished from his memory, or if sometimes he bestows a reflection on its
• 3:54:46
  original aspect, the mind seems to be carried back to a period of time
• 3:54:50
  much more remote than it really is. One advantage, at least results from
• 3:54:56
  having lived in a state of society, ever on the change, and always
• 3:55:00
  for the better, that it doubles the retrospect of life with me. At
• 3:55:05
  any rate it has had that effect, did not the definite number of my
• 3:55:09
  years teach me to the contrary, I should think myself at least one hundred
• 3:55:13
  years old instead of fifty. The case is said to be widely different with
• 3:55:18
  those who have passed their lives in cities or ancient settlements where from year to
• 3:55:24
  year, the same unchanging aspect of things presents itself. One prominent feature of
• 3:55:30
  the wilderness is its solitude. Those who plunged into the bosom of this forest
• 3:55:35
  left behind them not only the busy hum of men, but of domesticated animal
• 3:55:39
  life. Generally, the solitude of the night was interrupted only by the howl
• 3:55:45
  of the wolf, the melancholy moan of the ill boding owl, or the
• 3:55:48
  shriek of the frightful panther. Even the faithful dog, the only steadfast companion
• 3:55:54
  of man among the brute creation, partook of the silence of the desert.
• 3:56:00
  The discipline of his master forbade him to bark or move, but in obedience
• 3:56:03
  to his command, and his native sagacity soon taught the propriety of obedience to
• 3:56:09
  this severe government. The day was, if possible, more solitary than the
• 3:56:15
  night. The noise of the wild turkey, the croaking of the raven,
• 3:56:20
  or the woodpecker tapping the hollow beech tree did not much enliven the dreary scene.
• 3:56:26
  The various tribes of singing birds are not inhabitants of the desert. They
• 3:56:31
  are not carnivorous, and therefore must be fed from the labors of man.
• 3:56:35
  At any rate, they did not exist in this country as its first settlement.
• 3:56:41
  Let the imagination of the reader pursue the track of the adventurer into the
• 3:56:46
  solitary wilderness, bending his course towards the setting sun, over undulating hills,
• 3:56:52
  under the shade of large forest trees, and wading through the rank weeds and
• 3:56:56
  grass which then covered the earth. Now he views from the top of a
• 3:57:01
  hill the winding course of a creek, whose stream he wishes to explore.
• 3:57:07
  Doubtful of its course and of his own, he ascertains the cardinal points of
• 3:57:11
  north and south by the thickness of the moss and the bark on the north
• 3:57:16
  side of the ancient trees. Now descending into a valley, he presages his
• 3:57:20
  approach to a river by seeing large ash, bass wood, and sugar trees
• 3:57:26
  beautifully festooned with wild grape vines. Watchful as argus, his restless eye catches
• 3:57:33
  everything around him. In an unknown region and surrounded with dangers, he is
• 3:57:39
  the sentinel of his own safety and relies on himself for protection. The toil
• 3:57:43
  some march of the day being ended at the fall of night, he seeks
• 3:57:48
  for safety some narrow, sequestered hollow, and by the side of a large
• 3:57:52
  log, builds a fire, and, after eating a coarse and scanty mill,
• 3:57:58
  wraps himself up in his blanket, and lays himself down for repose on
• 3:58:01
  his bed of leaves, with his feet to the fire, hoping for favorable
• 3:58:05
  dreams ominous of future good luck, while his faithful dog and gun rest by
• 3:58:11
  his side. But let not the reader suppose that the pilgrim of the wilderness
• 3:58:16
  could feast his imagination with the romantic beauties of nature without any drawback from conflicting
• 3:58:22
  passions. His situation did not afford him much time for contemplation. He was
• 3:58:28
  in exile from the warm clothing and plentiful mansions of society. His homely woodman's
• 3:58:35
  dress soon became old and ragged. The cravings of hunger compelled him to sustain
• 3:58:41
  from day to day the fatigues of the chase. Often he had to eat
• 3:58:45
  his venison, bear's meat, or wild turkey without bread or salt. His
• 3:58:50
  situation was not without its dangers. He did not know at what moment his
• 3:58:54
  foot might be stung by a serpent, at what moment he might meet with
• 3:58:58
  the form of a bear, or on what limb of a tree over his
• 3:59:03
  head, the murderer's panther might be perched, and a squatting attitude to drop
• 3:59:07
  down upon him and tear him to pieces. In a moment. Exiled from
• 3:59:13
  society and its comforts, the situation of the first adventurers was perilous in the
• 3:59:18
  extreme. The bite of a serpent, a broken limb, a wound of
• 3:59:22
  any kind, or a fit of sickness in the wilderness without those accommodations which
• 3:59:28
  wounds and sickness require was a dreadful calamity. The bed of sickness without medical
• 3:59:35
  aid, and above all, to be destitute of the kind of attention a
• 3:59:39
  mother, sister, wife, or other female friends was a situation which could
• 3:59:43
  not be anticipated by the tenant of the forest. With other sentiments than those
• 3:59:48
  of the deepest horror. There are no narratives of more thrilling interest than those
• 3:59:54
  which describe the perils and hair breadth escapes which some of these bold hunters encountered.
• 4:00:00
  Immediately after the purchase of Louisiana, an expedition under Lewis and Clark was
• 4:00:05
  fitted out under President Jefferson's administration to explore the vast mysterious undefined realms which the
• 4:00:13
  government had purchased. In the month of May eighteen o four, the expedition
• 4:00:18
  in birch canoes commenced the ascent of the Missouri River. They knew not whence
• 4:00:24
  its source, what its length, or the number of its tributaries, through
• 4:00:28
  what regions of fertility or barrenness it flowed, or what the character of the
• 4:00:33
  nations who might inhabit its banks. Paddling up the rapid current of this flood
• 4:00:39
  of waters in their frail boats, the ascent was slow. By the latter
• 4:00:43
  part of October, they had reached a point fifteen hundred miles above the spot
• 4:00:48
  where the Missouri enters the Mississippi. Here they spent the winter with some friendly
• 4:00:52
  Indians called the Mandans. Early in April, Lewis and Clark, with thirty
• 4:01:00
  men in their canoes, resumed their voyage. Their course was nearly west.
• 4:01:05
  In May they reached the mouth of the Yellowstone River, and on the thirteenth
• 4:01:09
  of June came to the great Falls of the Missouri. Here they found a
• 4:01:13
  series of cataracts ten miles in length. At one spot, the river plunged
• 4:01:18
  over a precipice eighty seven feet in height. Carrying their canoes around these falls,
• 4:01:24
  they re embarked and paddled through what they called the gates of the Rocky
• 4:01:28
  Mountains. Here, for six miles they were in a narrow channel with perpendicular
• 4:01:33
  walls of rock rising on both sides to the height of twelve hundred feet.
• 4:01:39
  Thus, these adventurers continued their voyage till they reached the head of navigation,
• 4:01:45
  three thousand miles from the mouth of the Missouri River. Passing through the mountains,
• 4:01:50
  they launched their canoes on streams flowing to the west, through which they
• 4:01:54
  entered the Columbia River, reaching its mouth through one thousand perils. On the
• 4:01:58
  fifteenth of November. They were now more than four thousand miles distant from the
• 4:02:03
  mouth of the Missouri. Such was the breadth of the estate we had purchased
• 4:02:09
  of France. Here they passed their second winter. In the early spring they
• 4:02:15
  commenced their return. When they arrived at the falls of Missouri, they encountered
• 4:02:20
  a numerous band of Indians, very bold and daring, called the Blackfoot.
• 4:02:24
  These savages were astonished beyond measure at the effect of the rifle, which could
• 4:02:30
  emit thunder and lightning and a deadly, though invisible bolt. Some of the
• 4:02:35
  boldest endeavored to wrench the rifles from some of the Americans. Mister Lewis found
• 4:02:41
  it necessary to shoot one of them before they would desist. The rest fled
• 4:02:46
  in dismay, but burning with desire for revenge. The explorers continued their voyage,
• 4:02:52
  arrived at Saint Louis on the twenty third of September eighteen o six,
• 4:02:56
  having been absent more than two years and having traveled more more than nine thousand
• 4:03:01
  miles. When the expedition on its return had reached the headwaters of the Missouri,
• 4:03:07
  two of these fearless men, Colter and Pots, decided to remain in
• 4:03:11
  the wilderness to hunt beaver. Being well aware of the hostility of the Blackfoot
• 4:03:16
  Indians within whose regions they were, they set their traps at night and took
• 4:03:22
  them up in the first dawn of the day. Early one morning, they
• 4:03:26
  were ascending a creek in a canoe visiting their traps when they were alarmed by
• 4:03:30
  a great noise like the trampling of animals. They could see nothing, as
• 4:03:35
  the perpendicular banks of the river impeded their view. Yet they hoped that the
• 4:03:39
  noise was occasioned simply by the rush of a herd of buffaloes. Their doubts
• 4:03:45
  were soon painfully removed. A band of six hundred blackfoot warriors appeared upon each
• 4:03:50
  side of the creek. Escape was hopeless. The Indians beckoned to the hunters
• 4:03:56
  to come ashore. Colter turned the head of the canoe towards the bank,
• 4:04:01
  and as soon as it touched the land, a burly savage seized the rifle
• 4:04:05
  belonging to Potts and wrenched it from his hand. But Colter, who was
• 4:04:09
  a man of extraordinary activity and strength, grasped the rifle, tore it from
• 4:04:15
  the hands of the Indian, and handed it back to Pots. Colter stepped
• 4:04:20
  ashore and was a captive. Pots, with apparent infatuation, but probably influenced
• 4:04:26
  by deliberate thought, pushed again out into the stream. He knew that as
• 4:04:30
  a captive, death by horrible torture awaited him, he preferred to provoke the
• 4:04:35
  savages to his instant destruction. An arrow was shot at him, which pierced
• 4:04:41
  his body. He took deliberate aim at the Indian who threw it, and
• 4:04:45
  shot him dead upon the spot. Instantly, a shower of arrows whizzed through
• 4:04:50
  the air, and he fell a dead man in the bottom of the boat.
• 4:04:54
  The earthly troubles of pots were ended, but fearful were those upon which
• 4:04:58
  Colter was about to go. The Indians, after some deliberation respecting the manner
• 4:05:03
  in which they would put him to death, stripped him entirely naked, and
• 4:05:07
  one of the chiefs led him out upon the prairie, to the distance of
• 4:05:11
  three or four hundred yards from the rest of the band, who were grouped
• 4:05:15
  together. Colter then perceived that he was to have the dreadful privilege of running
• 4:05:20
  for his life. He entirely naked and unarmed, to be pursued by six
• 4:05:26
  hundred fleet footed Indians with arrows and javelins, and with their feet and limbs
• 4:05:31
  protected from thorns and brambles by moccasins and deer skin leggings. Save yourself,
• 4:05:37
  if you can, said the chief in the Blackfoot language. As he set
• 4:05:41
  him loose. Colter sprung forward with almost supernatural speed. Instantly the Indian's war
• 4:05:48
  whoop burst from the lips of his six hundred pursuers. They were upon a
• 4:05:54
  plain about six miles in breadth, abounding with the prickly pear. At the
• 4:05:58
  end of the there was Jefferson River, a stream but a few rods wide.
• 4:06:03
  Every step Colter took, bounding forward with almost the speed of an antelope.
• 4:06:09
  His naked feet were torn by the thorns. The physical effort he made
• 4:06:13
  was so great that the blood gushed from his nostrils and flowed profusely down over
• 4:06:20
  his chest. He had half crossed the plain before he ventured to glance over
• 4:06:24
  his shoulder upon his pursuers, who, with hideous yells like baying bloodhounds,
• 4:06:30
  seemed close upon his hills. Much to his relief, he perceived that he
• 4:06:35
  had greatly distanced most of the Indians, though one stout savage with a javelin
• 4:06:39
  in his hand was within a hundred yards of him. Hope reanimated him.
• 4:06:46
  Regardless of lacerated feet and blood, he pressed forward with renovated vigor until he
• 4:06:50
  arrived within a mile of the river. When he found that his pursuer was
• 4:06:56
  gaining rapidly upon him. He could hear his breathing in the sound of his
• 4:07:00
  footsteps, and expected every moment to fill the sharp javelin piercing his back.
• 4:07:05
  In his desperation, he suddenly stopped, turned round, and, stretching out
• 4:07:11
  both of his arms, rushed in his utter defenselessness upon the armed warrior.
• 4:07:16
  The savage, startled by this unexpected movement and by the bloody appearance of his
• 4:07:22
  victim, stumbled and fell, breaking his spear as he attempted to throw it.
• 4:07:26
  Colter instantly snatched up the pointed part and pinned his foe. Quivering with
• 4:07:31
  convulsions to the earth. Again, he plunged forward on the race for life.
• 4:07:37
  The Indians, as they came up, stopped for a moment around the
• 4:07:41
  body of their slain comrade, and then, with hideous yells, resumed the
• 4:07:46
  pursuit. The stream was fringed with a dense growth of cottonwood trees. Colter
• 4:07:52
  rushed through them, thus concealed from observation, and seeing nearby a large raft
• 4:07:58
  of draft timber, he plung plunged into the water, dived under the raft,
• 4:08:01
  and fortunately succeeded in getting his head above the water between the logs,
• 4:08:07
  where smaller wood covered him to the depth of several feet. Scarcely had he
• 4:08:11
  attained this hiding place ere the Indians, like so many fiends, came rushing
• 4:08:16
  down to the river's bank, they searched the cottonwood thickets and traversed the raft
• 4:08:22
  in all directions. They frequently came so near the hiding place of Colter that
• 4:08:28
  he could see them through the chinks. He was terribly afraid that they would
• 4:08:31
  set fire to the raft. Night came on and the Indians disappeared. Colter,
• 4:08:39
  in the darkness, dived from under the raft, swam down the river
• 4:08:43
  to a considerable distance, and then landed and traveled all night following the course
• 4:08:48
  of the stream. Although happy in having escaped from the Indians, his situation
• 4:08:54
  was still dreadful. He was completely naked under a burning sun. The soles
• 4:08:58
  of his feet were filled with the thorns of the prickly pear. He was
• 4:09:03
  hungry and had no means of killing game, although he saw abundance around him,
• 4:09:07
  and was at a great distance from the nearest settlement. After some days
• 4:09:13
  of sore travel, during which he had no other sustenance than the route known
• 4:09:18
  by naturalists under the name of Soulierre Escluenta, he at length arrived in safety
• 4:09:24
  at least a fort on the Big Horn, a branch of the Yellowstone River.
• 4:09:30
  End of chapter seven, Chapter eight Captivity and Flight, The following well.
• 4:09:37
  Authenticicated account of the adventures of a ranger is so graphically described in Brown's
• 4:09:43
  History of Illinois that we give it in the words of the writer. Thomas
• 4:09:48
  Higgins, a native Kentuckian, was in the summer of eighteen fourteen, stationed
• 4:09:54
  in a block house eight miles south of Greenville in what is now Bond County,
• 4:09:58
  Illinois. On the evening of the thirtieth of August eighteen fourteen, a
• 4:10:03
  small party of Indians having been seen prowling around the station, Lieutenant Jerney,
• 4:10:09
  with all of his men twelve only in number, sallied forth the next morning,
• 4:10:13
  just before daybreak in pursuit of them. They had not proceeded far on
• 4:10:18
  the border of the prairie before they were in an ambuscade of seventy or eighty
• 4:10:22
  savages. At the first fire, the lieutenant and three of his men were
• 4:10:28
  killed. Six fled to the fort under cover of the smoke, for the
• 4:10:31
  morning was sultry and the air being damp, The smoke from the guns hung
• 4:10:37
  like a cloud over the scene, but Higgins remained behind to have one more
• 4:10:41
  pull at the enemy and to avenge the death of his companions. He sprang
• 4:10:46
  behind a small elm, scarcely sufficient to protect his body. When the smoke,
• 4:10:52
  partly rising, discovered to him a number of Indians, upon whom he
• 4:10:56
  fired and shot down the foremost one concealed still by the smoke. Higgins reloaded,
• 4:11:03
  mounted his horse and turned to fly when a voice apparently from the grass,
• 4:11:09
  held him with Tom, you won't leave me, will you. He
• 4:11:13
  turned immediately around, and, seeing a fellow soldier by the name of Burgess
• 4:11:18
  lying on the ground, wounded and gasping for breath, replied no, I
• 4:11:22
  will not leave you. Come along. I can't come, said Burgess.
• 4:11:28
  My leg is all smashed to pieces. Higgins, dismounted, and taking up
• 4:11:33
  his friend, whose ankle had been broken, was about to lift him on
• 4:11:37
  his horse, when the animal, taking fright, darted off in an instant
• 4:11:41
  and left them both behind. This is too bad, said Higgins, But
• 4:11:46
  don't fear you. Hop off on your three legs, and I will stay
• 4:11:50
  behind you and the Indians and keep them off. Get into the tallest grass
• 4:11:56
  and creep as near the ground as possible. Burgess did so and escaped the
• 4:12:01
  smoke, which had hitherto concealed. Higgins now cleared away, and he resolved,
• 4:12:07
  if possible to retreat to follow the track of Burgess was most expedient.
• 4:12:13
  It would, however, endanger his friend. He determined therefore to venture boldly
• 4:12:18
  forward, and, if discovered, to secure his own safety by the rapidity
• 4:12:22
  of his flight. On leaving a small thicket in which he had sought refuge,
• 4:12:28
  he discovered a tall, portly savage near by, and two others in
• 4:12:31
  the direction between him and the fort. He started therefore for a little rivulet
• 4:12:37
  near but found one of his limbs failing him it, having been struck by
• 4:12:41
  a ball in the first encounter, of which till now he was scarcely conscious.
• 4:12:48
  The largest Indian pressed close upon him, and Higgins turned round two or
• 4:12:52
  three times in order to fire. The Indian halted and danced about to prevent
• 4:12:58
  his taking aim. He saw that it was unsafe to fire at random,
• 4:13:01
  and perceiving two others approaching, knew he must be overpowered unless he could dispose
• 4:13:07
  of the forward Indian first. He resolved therefore to halt and receive his fire.
• 4:13:13
  The Indian raised his rifle, and Higgins, watching his eye, turned
• 4:13:18
  suddenly as his finger pressed the trigger and received the ball in his thigh.
• 4:13:24
  He fell, but rose immediately and ran. The foremost Indian, now certain
• 4:13:28
  of his prey, loaded again, and with the other two pressed on,
• 4:13:33
  they overtook him. He fell again, and as he rose, the whole
• 4:13:37
  three fired, and he received all their balls. He now fell and rose
• 4:13:43
  a third time, and the Indians, throwing away their guns, advanced upon
• 4:13:48
  him with spears and knives. As he presented his gun at one or another
• 4:13:52
  each fell back. At last the largest Indian, supposing his gun to be
• 4:13:58
  empty from his fire, having been thus reserved, advanced boldly to the charge.
• 4:14:03
  Higgins fired, and the savage fell. He had now four bullets in
• 4:14:09
  his body, an empty gun in his hand, two Indians unharmed as yet
• 4:14:13
  before him, and a whole tribe but a few yards distant. Any other
• 4:14:18
  man would have despaired, not so with him. He had slain the most
• 4:14:24
  dangerous of the three, and, having but little to fear from the others,
• 4:14:28
  began to load his rifle. They raised a savage whoop and rushed to
• 4:14:33
  the encounter. A bloody conflict now ensued. The Indians stabbed him in several
• 4:14:39
  places. Their spears, however, were but thin poles, hastily prepared,
• 4:14:45
  and which bent whenever they struck a rib or a muscle. The wounds they
• 4:14:48
  made were not therefore deep, though numerous. At last one of them threw
• 4:14:54
  his tomahawk. It struck him upon the cheek, severed his ear, laid
• 4:14:58
  bare his skull to the back of his head, and stretched him upon the
• 4:15:01
  prairie. The Indians again rushed on, but Higgins, recovering his self possession,
• 4:15:09
  kept them off with his feet and hands, Grasping at length one of
• 4:15:13
  their spears. The Indian, in attempting to pull it from him, raised
• 4:15:16
  Higgins up, who, taking his rifle, dashed out the brains of the
• 4:15:20
  nearest savage. In doing this, however, it broke the baryl, only
• 4:15:26
  remaining in his hand. The other Indian, who had heretofore fought with caution,
• 4:15:31
  came now manfully into the battle. His character as a warrior was in
• 4:15:37
  jeopardy. To have fled from a man thus wounded and disarmed, or to
• 4:15:41
  have suffered his victim to escape, would have tarnished his fame forever. Uttering
• 4:15:48
  therefore a terrific yell, he rushed on and attempted to stab the exhausted ranger,
• 4:15:54
  but the latter warded off his blow with one hand and brandished his rifle
• 4:15:58
  barrel with the other. The Indian was as yet unharmed, and under existing
• 4:16:03
  circumstances, by far the most powerful man. Higgins's courage, however, was
• 4:16:08
  unexhaustible and inexhaustible. The Savage at last began to retreat from the glare of
• 4:16:17
  his untamed eye to the spot where he had dropped his rifle. Higgins knew
• 4:16:22
  that if he recovered that his own case was desperate. Throwing therefore his rifle
• 4:16:27
  barrel aside and drawing his hunting knife, he rushed upon his foe. A
• 4:16:33
  desperate strife ensued. Deep gashes were inflicted on both sides. Higgins, fatigued
• 4:16:41
  and exhausted by the loss of blood, was no longer a match for the
• 4:16:45
  Savage. The latter succeeded in throwing his adversary from him, and went immediately
• 4:16:51
  in pursuit of his rifle. Higgins, at the same time rose and sought
• 4:16:56
  for the gun of the other Indian. Both, therefore, bleeding and out
• 4:17:00
  of breath, were in search of arms to renew the combat. The smoke
• 4:17:04
  had now passed away, and a large number of Indians were in view.
• 4:17:10
  Nothing, it would seem, could now save the gallant ranger. There was,
• 4:17:15
  however, an eye to pity and an arm to save, and that
• 4:17:18
  arm was a woman's. The little garrison had witnessed the whole combat. It
• 4:17:23
  consisted of but six men and one woman. That woman, however, was
• 4:17:29
  a host, a missus Pursley. When she saw Higgins contending single handed with
• 4:17:34
  a whole tribe of savages, she urged the rangers to attempt his rescue.
• 4:17:40
  The rangers objected, as the Indians were ten to one. Missus Pursley therefore,
• 4:17:45
  snatched a rifle from her husband's hand, and, declaring that so fine
• 4:17:49
  a fellow as Tom Higgins should not be lost for want of help, mounted
• 4:17:55
  a horse and sallied forth to his rescue. The men, unwilling to be
• 4:18:00
  outdone by a woman, followed at full gallop, reached the spot where Higgins
• 4:18:04
  had fainted and fell before the Indians came up, and while the savage with
• 4:18:10
  whom he had been engaged was looking for his rifle, his friends lifted the
• 4:18:14
  wounded ranger up and throwing him across a horse before one of the party reached
• 4:18:18
  the fort in safety. Higgins was insensible for several days, and his life
• 4:18:25
  was preserved by continued care. His friends extracted two of the balls from his
• 4:18:30
  thigh. Two, however, yet remained, one of which gave him a
• 4:18:34
  good deal of pain. Hearing afterwards that a physician had settled within a day's
• 4:18:40
  ride of him, he determined to go and see him. The physician asked
• 4:18:45
  him fifty dollars for the operation. This Higgins flatly refused, saying that it
• 4:18:51
  was more than half a year's pension. On reaching home, he found that
• 4:18:55
  the exercise of riding had made the ball discernible. Did his wife, therefore,
• 4:19:00
  to hand him his razor. With her assistance, he laid open his
• 4:19:06
  thigh until the edge of the razor touched the bullet. Then, inserting his
• 4:19:10
  two thumbs into the gash, he flirted it out, as he used to
• 4:19:14
  say, without it costing him a cent. The other ball yet remained.
• 4:19:18
  It gave him, however, but little pain, and he carried it with
• 4:19:22
  him to the grave. Higgins died in Fayette County, Illinois, a few
• 4:19:27
  years ago. He was the most perfect specimen of a frontier man in his
• 4:19:32
  day, and was once assistant doorkeeper of the House of Representatives in Illinois.
• 4:19:37
  The facts above stated are familiar to many whom Higgins was personally known, and
• 4:19:42
  there is no doubt of their correctness. This narrative gives one a very vivid
• 4:19:48
  idea of the nature of the conflict in which Boone, through so many years
• 4:19:52
  of his life, was engaged. The little fort, whose feeble garrison he
• 4:19:56
  commanded, was liable at any time to be assailed by overwhelming numbers. Daniel
• 4:20:03
  Boone, during his occupancy of the fort at Boonsborough, manifested the most constant
• 4:20:08
  vigilance to guard against surprise. He was, however, struggling against a foe
• 4:20:15
  whose cunning and stratagems were such as not to allow him an hour of quiet.
• 4:20:19
  One morning, two men laboring in the field were shot at by the
• 4:20:23
  Indians. Not being hit, they ran for the fort. They were pursued
• 4:20:30
  by the savages, and one was tomahawked and scalped within a few hundred feet
• 4:20:33
  of the gate. Boone, hearing the alarm, inconsiderately, rushed out with
• 4:20:38
  ten men upon the miscreants. They fled before him, hotly pursued. In
• 4:20:45
  the eagerness of the chase, Boone had not counted the number of his foes,
• 4:20:49
  some of them rushing from their ambush cut off his retreat. At one
• 4:20:55
  discharge, six of his men fell wounded. Boone's leg was shattered by a
• 4:21:00
  ball. As he fell to the ground, the tomahawk of a savage was
• 4:21:04
  over his head. Simon Kenton, who was one of Boone's party, with
• 4:21:08
  sure aim, pierced the heart of the savage with a rifle bullet, and
• 4:21:12
  he fell dead. Reinforcements rushed from the fort and fortunately succeeded in rescuing the
• 4:21:19
  adventurous party, the wounded and all. It is said of Boone that,
• 4:21:25
  though a silent man and not given to compliments, he manifested very deep gratitude
• 4:21:30
  to his friend Kenton for saving his life. The very peculiar character of Boone
• 4:21:36
  is vividly presented in the following sketch from the graphic pen of mister Peg.
• 4:21:42
  As dangers thickened and appearances grew more alarming, as scouts came in with rumors
• 4:21:48
  of Indians seen here and there, and as the hardy and bold woodsman sat
• 4:21:53
  around their camp fires with the loaded rifle at hand, rehearsing for the twentieth
• 4:21:59
  time the Tales of Noble Daring or the hair Breadth escapes Boone would sit silent,
• 4:22:04
  apparently not heeding the conversation, employed in repairing the rents in his hunting
• 4:22:11
  shirt and leggings, and molding bullets, or cleaning his rifle. Yet the
• 4:22:15
  eyes of the garrison were upon him concerning Indian signs. He was an oracle,
• 4:22:22
  sometimes with one or two trusty companions, but more frequently alone. As
• 4:22:26
  night closed in, he would steal noiselessly away into the woods to reconnoiter the
• 4:22:33
  surrounding wilderness. And in the daytime, stealthily would he creep along with his
• 4:22:38
  trusty rifle resting on his arm, ready for the least sign of danger,
• 4:22:42
  his keen piercing eyes glancing into every thicket and cane break, or watch intently
• 4:22:49
  for signs of the wily enemy. Accustomed to range the country as a hunter
• 4:22:56
  and a scout, he would frequently meet the approaching travelers on the road and
• 4:23:00
  pilot them into the settlement, while his rifles supplied them with provisions. He
• 4:23:06
  was ever more ready to aid the community or to engage in public services,
• 4:23:11
  than to attend to his private interests. The want of salt had become one
• 4:23:15
  of the greatest privations of the garrison. It was an article essential to comfort
• 4:23:21
  and health, and yet in the warfare than existing was almost impossible of attainment.
• 4:23:27
  Upon the Sicking River, nearly one hundred miles north from Boonsborough, there
• 4:23:33
  were valuable springs richly impregnated with salt. Animals from all quarters frequent in these
• 4:23:38
  springs, licking the saturated clay around them, hence the name of salt licks.
• 4:23:47
  Evaporating the water by boiling in large kettles, salts of a good quality
• 4:23:52
  was easily obtained. The necessities of the garrison became so great that Colonel Boone
• 4:23:56
  took a well armed party of thirty men, and, threading their way through
• 4:24:00
  the wilderness, at length, reached the springs unassailed. It was one of
• 4:24:06
  the boldest adventures. It was certain that the watchful Indians would learn that a
• 4:24:11
  party had left the cover of the fort and would fall upon them with great
• 4:24:15
  ferocity. Colonel Boone, who desired to obtain salt for all the garrisons,
• 4:24:22
  deemed it consequently necessary to work night and day with the greatest possible diligence.
• 4:24:27
  They could never venture to move a step beyond the grasp of their rifles.
• 4:24:32
  For nearly four weeks, the salt makers pursued their work unassailed. The news
• 4:24:37
  of so strong and well armed a party having left the fort reached the ears
• 4:24:42
  of the Indians. They had a very great dread of Boone, and knew
• 4:24:48
  very well he would not be found sleeping or unprotected at the springs. They
• 4:24:52
  shrewdly inferred that the departure of so many men must greatly weaken the garrison,
• 4:24:59
  and that they could never hope for a more favorable opportunity to attack Boonsborough.
• 4:25:04
  This formidable fortress was the great object of their dread. They thought that if
• 4:25:10
  they could lay in its ashes, making it the funeral pyre of all its
• 4:25:14
  inmates, the weaker fort would immediately be abandoned by their garrisons in despair,
• 4:25:19
  or could easily be captured. An expedition was formed, consisting of more than
• 4:25:25
  one hundred Indian warriors and accompanied, it is said by two frenchmen. Boone
• 4:25:30
  had sent three men back to the garrison, loaded with salt and to convey
• 4:25:34
  tidings of the good condition of the party at the springs. On the morning
• 4:25:38
  of the seventh of February, Boone, who was unequaled in his skill as
• 4:25:44
  a hunter and also in the sagacity by which he could avoid the Indians.
• 4:25:48
  Was out in search of game as food for the party. Emboldened by the
• 4:25:52
  absence of all signs of the vicinity of the Indians, he had wandered some
• 4:25:56
  distance from the springs, where he encountered this band of warriors attended by the
• 4:26:00
  two frenchmen on the march for the assault on Moonsborough. Though exceedingly fleet afoot,
• 4:26:07
  his attempt to escape was in vain. The young Indian runners overtook and
• 4:26:12
  captured him. The Indians seemed to have great respect for Boone. Even with
• 4:26:18
  them, he had acquired the reputation of being a just and humane man,
• 4:26:23
  while his extraordinary abilities both as a hunter and a warrior had won their admiration.
• 4:26:30
  Boone was not heading a war party to assail them. He had not
• 4:26:34
  robbed them of any of their horses. They were therefore not exasperated against him
• 4:26:40
  personally. It is also not improbable that the Frenchmen who were with them had
• 4:26:45
  influenced them not to treat their prisoner with barbarity. Boone, whose spirits seemed
• 4:26:51
  never to be perturbed, yielded so gracefully to his captors as to awaken in
• 4:26:56
  their bosoms some emotions of kindness. They promised that if the party at the
• 4:27:00
  springs would yield without resistance, which resistance, though unavailing, they knew,
• 4:27:07
  would cost them the lives of many of their warriors, the lives of the
• 4:27:11
  captives should be safe, and they should not be exposed to any inhumane treatment.
• 4:27:17
  Boone was much perplexed. Had he been with his men, he would
• 4:27:21
  have fought to the last extremity, and his presence, not improbably might have
• 4:27:26
  inspirited them even to a successful defense. But deprived of their leader, taken
• 4:27:33
  entirely by surprise, and outnumbered three or four to one, their massacre was
• 4:27:37
  certain, and it was also certain that the Indians, exasperated by the loss
• 4:27:42
  which they would have encountered, would put every prisoner to death through all the
• 4:27:48
  horrors of fiendlike torture. Under these circumstances, Colonel Boone very wisely decided upon
• 4:27:56
  surrender. It would have been very impolite and cruel to do otherwise. He
• 4:28:03
  having thus given his word, the Indians placed implicit confidence in it. They
• 4:28:08
  were also perfectly faithful to their own promises. Boone was allowed to approach his
• 4:28:14
  men and represent the necessity of a surrender, which was immediately affected. The
• 4:28:19
  Indians were so elated by this great victory, and were so well satisfied with
• 4:28:23
  the result of the campaign, that instead of continuing their march for the attack
• 4:28:29
  of Boonsborough, they returned with their illustrious captive and his twenty seven companions to
• 4:28:34
  their headquarters on the Little Miami River. The modest, unaffected account which Boone
• 4:28:41
  himself gives of these transactions is worthy of record here. On the seventh of
• 4:28:47
  February, as I was hunting to procure meat for the company, I met
• 4:28:51
  a party of one hundred and two Indians and two Frenchmen on their march against
• 4:28:56
  Boonsborough, that place being particularly the object of the enemy. They pursued and
• 4:29:03
  took me, and brought me the eighth day to the licks, where twenty
• 4:29:07
  seven of my party were, three of them having previously returned home with the
• 4:29:11
  salt. I, knowing it was impossible for them to escape, capitulated with
• 4:29:17
  the enemy and at a distance in their view, gave notice to my men
• 4:29:21
  of their situation, with orders not to resist, but to surrender themselves captives.
• 4:29:26
  The general usage the Indians had promised before in my capitulation was afterwards fully
• 4:29:33
  complied with, and we proceeded with them as prisoners to the old Chillicothe,
• 4:29:37
  the principal Indian town on Little Miami, where we arrived after an uncomfortable journey
• 4:29:44
  in very severe weather, on the eighteenth of February, and received as good
• 4:29:48
  treatment as prisoners could expect from savages. On the tenth of March following,
• 4:29:53
  I and ten of my men were conducted by forty Indians to Detroit, where
• 4:29:59
  we arrived on the thirtieth day, and retreated by Governor Hamilton, the British
• 4:30:03
  commander at that post. With great humanity. During our travels, the Indians
• 4:30:08
  entertained me well, and their affection for me was so great that they utterly
• 4:30:14
  refused to leave me there with the others, although the governor offered them one
• 4:30:18
  hundred pounds sterling for me on purpose to give me a parole to go home.
• 4:30:23
  Several English gentlemen, there, being sensible of my adverse fortune and touched
• 4:30:29
  with human sympathy, generously offered a friendly supply for my wants, which I
• 4:30:33
  refused with many thanks for their kindness, adding that I never expected it would
• 4:30:40
  be in my power to recompense such unmerited generosity. The British officers in Detroit
• 4:30:47
  could not venture to interfere in behalf of Colonel Boone in any way which would
• 4:30:52
  displease their savage allies, for they relied much upon them and their warfare against
• 4:30:56
  the colonies. There was much in the character of our hero to win the
• 4:31:02
  affection of the savages. His silent, unboastful courage, they admired. He
• 4:31:07
  was more their equal in skill in traversing the pathless forest. His prowess as
• 4:31:14
  a hunter they fully appreciated. It was their hope that he would consent to
• 4:31:18
  be incorporated in their tribe, and they would have gladly accepted him as one
• 4:31:23
  of their chiefs. The savages had almost universally sufficient intelligence to appreciate the vast
• 4:31:30
  superiority of the white man. The Indians spent ten days at Detroit and surrendered
• 4:31:37
  for a ransom all of their captives to the English, excepting Colonel Boone.
• 4:31:41
  Him they took back on a long and fatiguing journey to Old Chillicothe on the
• 4:31:47
  Little Miami. The country they traversed, now so full of wealth, activity,
• 4:31:52
  and all the resources of individual and social happiness, was then a vast
• 4:31:56
  wilderness, silent and lonely still in its solitude. It was very beautiful,
• 4:32:03
  embellished with fertile planes, magnificent groves, and crystal streams. At Chillicothe,
• 4:32:10
  Colonel Boone was formally adopted, according to an Indian custom, into the family
• 4:32:15
  of Blackfish, one of the distinguished chiefs of the Shawnese tribe. At Chillicothe,
• 4:32:21
  writes Boone, I spent my time as comfortably as I could expect.
• 4:32:26
  I was adopted, according to their custom, into a family where I became
• 4:32:30
  a son and had a great share in the affection of my new parents,
• 4:32:33
  brothers, sisters, and friends. I was exceedingly familiar and friendly with them,
• 4:32:38
  always appearing as cheerful and satisfied as possible, and they put great confidence
• 4:32:44
  in me. I often went hunting with them, and frequently gained their applause
• 4:32:48
  for my activity at our shooting matches. I was careful not to excel them
• 4:32:53
  when shooting, for no people are more envious than they in their sport.
• 4:32:57
  I could observe in their count countenances and gestures the greatest expressions of joy when
• 4:33:03
  they exceeded me, and when the reverse happened of envy. The Shawneese king
• 4:33:08
  took great notice of me and treated me with profound respect and entire friendship,
• 4:33:15
  often trusting me to hunt at my liberty. I frequently returned with the spoils
• 4:33:21
  of the woods, and has often presented some of what I had taken to
• 4:33:23
  him, expressive of my duty to my sovereign. My food and lodging were
• 4:33:30
  in common with them, not so good, indeed, as I could desire,
• 4:33:33
  but necessity makes everything acceptable. The spirit manifested by Boone under the circumstances
• 4:33:41
  when he was apparently a hopeless prisoner in the hands of the Indians, was
• 4:33:45
  not influenced by artifice alone. He had real sympathy for the savages, Being
• 4:33:51
  fully conscious of the wrongs which were often inflicted upon them, and which goaded
• 4:33:56
  their untamed natures to fearful barbarities, he had always treated them, not only
• 4:34:00
  kindly, but with fraternal respect. The generous treatment he had received in return
• 4:34:07
  won his regards. His peculiarly placid nature was not easily disturbed by any reverses.
• 4:34:15
  He never allowed himself to complain or to worry, thus making the best
• 4:34:18
  of circumstances. He always looked upon the brightest side of things, and was
• 4:34:23
  reasonably happy even in this direful captivity. Still, he could not forget his
• 4:34:30
  home, and was continually on the alert to avail himself of whatever opportunity might
• 4:34:36
  be presented to escape and return to his friends. The ceremony of adoption was
• 4:34:41
  pretty severe and painful. All the hair of the head was plucked out by
• 4:34:45
  a tedious operation, leaving simply a tuft three or four inches in diameter on
• 4:34:52
  the crown. This was called the scalp lock. The hair was here allowed
• 4:34:56
  to grow long, and was dressed with ribbons, and it was to an
• 4:35:02
  individual warrior what the banner is to an army. The victor tore it from
• 4:35:07
  the skull as his trophy. Having thus denuded the head and dressed the scalplock,
• 4:35:11
  the candidate was taken to the river and very thoroughly scrubbed, that all
• 4:35:17
  the white blood might be washed out of him. His face was painted in
• 4:35:21
  the most approved style of Indian taste. When he was led to the council
• 4:35:26
  lodge and addressed by the chief in a long and formal speech in which he
• 4:35:30
  expatiates upon the honor conferred upon the adopted son and upon the corresponding duties expected
• 4:35:37
  of him. Colonel Boone, having passed through this transformation, with his Indian
• 4:35:42
  dress and his painted cheeks, his tufted scalplock, and his whole person embrowned
• 4:35:48
  by constant exposure to the open air, could scarcely be distinguished from any of
• 4:35:53
  his Indian associates. His weary captors, however, notwithstanding all the kinds with
• 4:36:00
  which they treated him, seemed to be conscious that it must be his desire
• 4:36:03
  to return to his friends. They therefore, habitually, but without a remark
• 4:36:08
  suggestive of any suspicions, adopted precautions to prevent his escape. So skillful a
• 4:36:15
  hunter as Boone could, with his rifle and a supply of ammunition, traversed
• 4:36:19
  the solitary expanse around for almost any length of time, living in abundance,
• 4:36:26
  but deprived of his rifle or of ammunition, he would soon almost inevitably perish
• 4:36:30
  of starvation. The Indians were therefore very careful not to allow him to accumulate
• 4:36:37
  any ammunition, which was so essential to sustain him in a journey through the
• 4:36:41
  wilderness. The Boon was often allowed to go out and hunt alone. They
• 4:36:47
  always counted his balls and the charges of powder. Thus they could judge whether
• 4:36:52
  he had concealed any ammunition to aid him should he attempt to escape. He,
• 4:36:57
  however, with equals to Gouty, cut the balls and halves, and
• 4:37:02
  used very small charges of powder. Thus he secretly laid aside quite a little
• 4:37:07
  store of ammunition. As Ever, undismayed by misfortune, he serenely gave the
• 4:37:14
  energies of his mind to the careful survey of the country around. During the
• 4:37:19
  time that I hunted for them, he writes, I found the land for
• 4:37:22
  a great extent about this river, to exceed the soil of Kentucky, if
• 4:37:27
  possible, and remarkably well watered. Upon one of the branches of the Sciota
• 4:37:33
  River, which stream runs about sixty miles east of the Little Miami, there
• 4:37:37
  were some salt springs. Early in June, a party of Indians set out
• 4:37:42
  for these licks to make salt. They took Boone with them. The Indians
• 4:37:48
  were quite averse to anything like hard work. Boon not only understood the process
• 4:37:53
  of manufacture perfectly, but was always quietly and energetically devoted to whatever he undertook
• 4:38:00
  The Indians, inspired by the double motive of his desire to obtain as much
• 4:38:04
  salt as possible, and to hold securely the prisoner, whom they so highly
• 4:38:10
  valued, kept him so busy at the kettles as to give him no opportunity
• 4:38:14
  to escape. After an absence of about a fortnight, they returned with a
• 4:38:18
  good supply of salt to the Little Miami. Here. Boone was quite alarmed
• 4:38:23
  to find that during his absence, the chiefs had been marshaling a band of
• 4:38:27
  four hundred and fifty of their bravest warriors to attack Boonsborough. In that fort
• 4:38:33
  were his wife and children, its capture would probably insure their slaughter. He
• 4:38:40
  was aware that the fort was not sufficiently guarded by its present inmates, and
• 4:38:45
  that an apprehensive of impending danger, they were liable to be taken entirely by
• 4:38:49
  surprise. Boone was sufficiently acquainted with the Shawnese dialect to understand every word they
• 4:38:56
  said. While he very sagaciously had a domed from the moment of his captivity
• 4:39:02
  that he was entirely ignorant of their language. Boone's anxiety was very great.
• 4:39:07
  He was compelled to assume a smiling face as he attended their war dances.
• 4:39:14
  Apparently unmoved, he listened to the details of their plans for the surprise of
• 4:39:18
  the fort. Indeed, to disarm suspicion, and to convince them he had
• 4:39:22
  truly become one of their number, he cooperated in giving efficiency to their hostile
• 4:39:27
  designs, against all he held most dear in the world. It had now
• 4:39:33
  become a matter of infinite moment that he should immediately escape and carry to his
• 4:39:37
  friends in the fort the tidings of their peril. But the slightest unweary movement
• 4:39:42
  would have led the suspicious Indians so to redouble their vigilance as to render escape
• 4:39:48
  utterly impossible. So skillfully did he conceal the emotions which agitated him, and
• 4:39:55
  so successfully did he feign entire contentment with his lot, that captors, all
• 4:40:00
  absorbed in the enterprise in which they were engaged, remitted their ordinary vigilance.
• 4:40:07
  On the morning of the sixteenth of June, Boone rose very early to take
• 4:40:11
  his usual hunt with his secreted ammunition and the amount allowed him by the Indians
• 4:40:17
  for the day. He hoped to be able to save himself from starvation.
• 4:40:22
  During his flight of five days through the pathless wilderness, there was a distance
• 4:40:26
  of one hundred and sixty miles between Old Chilicothee and Boonsboro. The moment his
• 4:40:33
  flight should be suspected, four hundred and fifty Indian warriors, breathing vengeance and
• 4:40:38
  in perfect preparation for the pursuit, would be on his track. His capture
• 4:40:42
  would almost certainly result in his death by the most cruel tortures, for the
• 4:40:48
  infuriated Indians would wreak upon him all their vengeance. It is, however,
• 4:40:53
  not probable that this silent, pensive man allowed these thoughts seriously to dis stir
• 4:41:00
  of his equanimity. An instinctive trust in God seemed to inspire him. He
• 4:41:06
  was forty three years of age, in the knowledge of woodcraft and in powers
• 4:41:10
  of endurance. No Indian surpassed him, though he would be pursued by sagacious
• 4:41:15
  and veteran warriors and by young Indian braves, a pack of four hundred and
• 4:41:21
  fifty savages following with keener scent than that of the bloodhound. One poor victim,
• 4:41:26
  yet undismayed, he entered upon the appalling enterprise the history of the world
• 4:41:33
  perhaps presents, but few feats so difficult and yet so successfully performed, And
• 4:41:40
  yet the only record which this modest man makes in his autobiography of this wonderful
• 4:41:45
  adventure is as follows. On the sixteenth, before sunrise, I departed in
• 4:41:52
  the most secret manner, and arrived at Boonsborough on the twentieth, after a
• 4:41:56
  journey of one hundred and sixty miles, during which I had but one meal.
• 4:42:03
  It was necessary, as soon as Boone got out of sight of the
• 4:42:07
  village to fly with the utmost speed, to put as great a distance as
• 4:42:11
  possible between himself and his pursuers before they should suspect his attempt at escape.
• 4:42:17
  He subsequently learned that as soon as the Indians apprehended that he had actually fled,
• 4:42:22
  there was the most intense commotion in their camp, and immediately a large
• 4:42:26
  number of their fleetest runners and keenest hunters were put upon his trail. He
• 4:42:32
  dared not fire a gun. Had he killed any game, he could not
• 4:42:36
  have ventured to kindle a fire to cook it. He had secretly provided himself
• 4:42:41
  with a few cuts of dried venison with which he could appease his hunger.
• 4:42:45
  As he pressed forward by day and by night, scarcely allowing himself one moment
• 4:42:51
  for rest or sleep, his route lay through forests and swamps, and across
• 4:42:56
  many streams swollen by recent rains. At length he reached the Ohio River.
• 4:43:02
  Its current was swift and turbid, rolling in a majestic flood half a mile
• 4:43:07
  in width, feeling the bed of the stream with almost fathomless waters from shore
• 4:43:11
  to shore. Experienced as Colonel Boone was in woodcraft, he was not a
• 4:43:17
  skillful swimmer. The thought of how he should cross the Ohio had caused him
• 4:43:22
  much anxiety. Upon reaching its banks, he fortunately, may we not say
• 4:43:27
  providentially found an old canoe which had drifted among the bushes upon the shore.
• 4:43:33
  There was a large hole at one end, and it was nearly filled with
• 4:43:37
  water. He succeeded in baling out the water and plugging up the hole,
• 4:43:41
  and crossed the river in safety. Then, for the first time he so
• 4:43:45
  far indulged in a feeling of security, as to venture to shoot a turkey
• 4:43:51
  and kindling a fire. He feasted abundantly upon the rich repast. It was
• 4:43:56
  the only meal in which he indulged during his flight of five days. On
• 4:44:00
  his arrival at Boonsborough, he was welcomed as one risen from the grave,
• 4:44:06
  much to his disappointment, he found that his wife, with his children,
• 4:44:11
  despairing of ever seeing him again, had left the fort and returned to the
• 4:44:15
  house of her father in North Carolina. She supposed that the Indians had killed
• 4:44:21
  him, oppressed, writes Boone, with the distresses of the country, and
• 4:44:26
  bereaved of me her only happiness. She had undertaken her long and perilous journey
• 4:44:33
  through the wilderness. It is gratifying to record that she reached her friends in
• 4:44:37
  safety. Boone found the fort, as he had apprehended, in a bad
• 4:44:42
  state of defense. His presence, his military skill, and the intelligence he
• 4:44:48
  brought immediately inspired every man to the intentest exertion. The gates were strengthened,
• 4:44:55
  new bastions were formed, and provisions were laid in to stand a see.
• 4:45:00
  Everything was done which could be done to repel an assault from They knew not
• 4:45:04
  how many savages, aided by British leaders from the band of Old Chillicothe,
• 4:45:10
  was to be joined by warriors from several other tribes. In ten days.
• 4:45:14
  Boonsborough was ready for the onset. These arduous labors being completed, Boone heroically
• 4:45:21
  resolved to strike consternation into the Indians by showing them that he was prepared for
• 4:45:26
  aggressive as well as defensive warfare, and that they must leave behind them warriors
• 4:45:33
  for the protection of their own villages. Selecting a small party of but nineteen
• 4:45:37
  men, about the first of August, he emerged from Boonsboro, marched boldly
• 4:45:41
  to the Ohio, crossed the river into the Valley of Scioto, and was
• 4:45:47
  within four miles of an Indian town, Paint Creek, which he intended to
• 4:45:51
  destroy, when he chanced to encounter a band of thirty savages painted thoroughly armed
• 4:45:57
  and on the warpath to join the band and advancing from Old Chillicothe. The
• 4:46:03
  Indians were attacked with such vehemence by Boone that they fled in consternation, leaving
• 4:46:07
  behind them three horses and all their baggage. The savages also lost one killed
• 4:46:14
  and two wounded, while they inflicted no loss whatever upon the white men.
• 4:46:19
  Boone sent forward some swift runners as spies, and they speedily returned with the
• 4:46:25
  report that the Indians, in a panic, had entirely abandoned Pint Creek,
• 4:46:30
  aware that the warriors would rush to join the four hundred and fifty from Old
• 4:46:33
  Chillicothe, and that they might cut off his retreat or reach Boonsborough before his
• 4:46:38
  return. He immediately commenced a rapid movement back to the fort. Every man
• 4:46:45
  would be needed there for an obstinate defense. This forat had extended one hundred
• 4:46:51
  and fifty miles from the fort. It greatly alarmed the Indians, It emboldened
• 4:46:56
  the hearts of the garrison, and gave them intelligence of the approach of their
• 4:47:00
  After an absence of but seven days, Boone, with his heroic little band,
• 4:47:06
  quite triumphantly re entered the fort. The approach of the foe is described
• 4:47:11
  in the following terms by Boone. On the eighth of August, the Indian
• 4:47:15
  army arrived, being four hundred and forty four in number, commanded by Captain
• 4:47:22
  Durkeaisney, eleven other Frenchmen and some of their own chiefs, and marched up
• 4:47:26
  in view of our fort, with British and French colors flying, and having
• 4:47:32
  sent a summons to me in his Britannic Majesty's name to surrender the fort.
• 4:47:37
  I requested two days consideration, which was granted. It was now a critical
• 4:47:41
  period with us. We were a small number in the garrison, a powerful
• 4:47:47
  army before our walls, whose appearance proclaimed inevitable death, fearfully painted and marking
• 4:47:53
  their footsteps with desolation. Death was preferable to captivity, and if take and
• 4:48:00
  by storm, we must inevitably be devoted to destruction. In this situation,
• 4:48:06
  we concluded to maintain our garrison if possible. We immediately proceeded to collect what
• 4:48:11
  we could of our horses and other cattle, and bring them through the posterns
• 4:48:15
  into the fort. And in the evening of the ninth I returned the answer
• 4:48:21
  that we were determined to defend our fort while a man was living. Now,
• 4:48:26
  said I to their commander, who stood attentively hearing my sentiments. We
• 4:48:30
  laugh at your formidable preparations, but thank you for giving us notice and time
• 4:48:34
  for our defense. Your efforts will not prevail, for our gates shall forever
• 4:48:40
  deny you admittance. Whether this answer affected their courage or not, I cannot
• 4:48:45
  tell, But contrary to our expectations, they formed a scheme to deceive us,
• 4:48:51
  declaring it was their orders from Governor Hamilton to take us captives and not
• 4:48:56
  to destroy us, but if nine of us would come out and treat with
• 4:49:00
  them, they would immediately withdraw their forces from our walls. And return home
• 4:49:04
  peaceably. This sounded grateful in our ears, and we agreed to the proposal.
• 4:49:11
  End of Chapter eight, Chapter nine Victories and Defeats. There were but
• 4:49:19
  fifty men in the garrison at Boonsboro. They were assailed by a body of
• 4:49:23
  more than ten to one of the bravest Indian warriors under the command of an
• 4:49:29
  officer in the British Army. The boldest in the fort felt their situation was
• 4:49:33
  almost desperate. The ferocity of the Indian and the intelligence of the white Man
• 4:49:38
  were combined against them. They knew that the British commander, however humane he
• 4:49:44
  might be, would have no power should the fort be taken by storm,
• 4:49:48
  to save them from death by the most horrible tortures. General Ducaisney was acting
• 4:49:55
  under instructions from Governor Hamilton. The British officer in supreme command Detroit. Boone
• 4:50:00
  knew that the Governor felt very kindly towards him when he had been carried to
• 4:50:07
  that place a captive. The governor had made very earnest endeavors to obtain his
• 4:50:11
  liberation. Influenced by these considerations, he consented to hold the conference. But
• 4:50:18
  better acquainted with the Indian character than perhaps Ducaseny could have been. He selected
• 4:50:23
  nine of the most athletic and strong of the garrison, and appointed the place
• 4:50:29
  of meeting in front of the fort, at a distance of only one hundred
• 4:50:32
  and twenty feet from the walls. The riflemen of the garrison were placed in
• 4:50:37
  a position to cover the spot with their guns, so that in case of
• 4:50:41
  treachery, the Indians would meet with instant punishment, and the retreat of the
• 4:50:45
  party from the fort would probably be secured. The language of Boone is we
• 4:50:51
  held a treaty within sixty yards of the garrison on purpose to divert them from
• 4:50:56
  a breach of honor, as we could not avoid suspicion of the sacages.
• 4:51:00
  The terms proposed by General Ducaisney were extremely liberal, and while they might satisfy
• 4:51:07
  the British party, whose object in the war was simply to conquer the colonists
• 4:51:11
  and bring them back to loyalty, they could by no means have satisfied the
• 4:51:15
  Indians, who desired not merely to drive the white men from their hunting grounds,
• 4:51:21
  but to plunder them of their possessions and to gratify their savage natures.
• 4:51:25
  By hearing the shrieks of their victims at the stake, and by carrying home
• 4:51:30
  the trophies of numerous scalps. Moon and his men, buried in the depths
• 4:51:34
  of the wilderness, had probably taken little interest in the controversy which was just
• 4:51:40
  then rising between the colonies and the mother country. They had regarded the King
• 4:51:45
  of England as their lawful sovereign, and their minds had never been agitated by
• 4:51:48
  the question of revolution or of independence. When therefore, General Ducaisney proposed that
• 4:51:55
  they should take the oath of allegiance to the King of Great Britain, and
• 4:51:59
  that then they should be permitted to return unmolested to their homes and their friends
• 4:52:03
  beyond the mountains, taking all of their possessions with them. Colonel Boone and
• 4:52:08
  his associates were very ready to accept such terms. It justly appeared to them,
• 4:52:15
  in their isolated condition, five hundred miles away from the Atlantic coast,
• 4:52:18
  that this was vastly preferable to remaining in the wilderness, assailed by thousands of
• 4:52:23
  Indians, guided by English energy and abundantly provided with all the munitions of war
• 4:52:30
  from British arsenals. But Boone knew very well that the Indians would never willingly
• 4:52:36
  assent to this treaty. Still, he and his fellow commissioners signed it,
• 4:52:41
  while very curious to learn how it would be regarded by their savage foes.
• 4:52:45
  The commissioners on both sides had appeared at the appointed place of conference, as
• 4:52:49
  is usual on such occasions, entirely unarmed. There were, however, a
• 4:52:55
  large number of Indians lingering around and drawing nearer as the conference proceeded. After
• 4:53:00
  the treaty was signed, the old Indian chief, Blackfish, Boone's adopted father,
• 4:53:06
  and who exasperated by the escape of his ungrateful son, had been watching
• 4:53:11
  him with a very unamiable expression of countenance, arose and made a formal speech
• 4:53:17
  in the most approved style of Indian eloquence. He commented upon the bravery of
• 4:53:22
  the two armies and of the desirableness that there should be entire friendship between them,
• 4:53:29
  and closed by saying that it was accustom with them on all such important
• 4:53:33
  occasions to ratify the treaty by two Indians shaking hands with each white man.
• 4:53:38
  This shallow pretense scarcely up to the sagacity of children, by which Blackfish hoped
• 4:53:45
  that two savages grappling each one of the commissioners would easily be able to make
• 4:53:49
  prisoners of them, and then, by threats of torture, compelled the surrender
• 4:53:53
  of the fort. Did not in the slightest degree deceive Colonel Boone. He
• 4:53:59
  was well aware of his own strength and of that of the men who accompanied
• 4:54:03
  him. He also knew that his riflemen occupied concealed positions from which, with
• 4:54:07
  unerring aim, they could instantly punish the savages for any act of treachery.
• 4:54:14
  He therefore consented to the arrangement. The grasp was given instantly, a terrible
• 4:54:19
  scene of confusion ensued. The burly savages tried to drag off their victims.
• 4:54:26
  The surrounding Indians rushed in to their aid, and a deadly fire was opened
• 4:54:30
  upon them from the fort, which was energetically responded to by all the armed
• 4:54:36
  savages from behind stumps and trees. One of the fiercests of battles had instantly
• 4:54:41
  blazed forth. Still, these stalwart pioneers were not taken by surprise. Aided
• 4:54:48
  by the bullets of the fort, they shook off their assailants, and all
• 4:54:52
  succeeded in escaping within the heavy gates, which were immediately closed behind them.
• 4:54:56
  One only of their number, boons brother, was wounded. This escape seems
• 4:55:02
  almost miraculous, but the majority of the Indians in intelligence were mere children,
• 4:55:08
  sometimes very cunning, but often with the grossest stupidity. Mingled with their strategy
• 4:55:15
  to Kesni and Blackfish, the Associated leaders now commenced the siege of the fort
• 4:55:19
  with all their energies. Dividing their forces into two parties, they kept up
• 4:55:25
  an incessant fire upon the garrison for nine days and nine nights. It was
• 4:55:30
  one of the most heroic of those bloody struggles between civilization and barbarism which have
• 4:55:37
  rendered the plains of Kentucky memorable. The savages were very careful not to expose
• 4:55:41
  themselves to the rifles of the besieged. They were stationed behind rocks and trees
• 4:55:48
  and stumps, so that it was seldom that the garrison could catch even a
• 4:55:52
  glimpse of the foes who were assailing them. It was necessary for those within
• 4:55:56
  the fort to be sparing of their immunition. They seldom fired unless they could
• 4:56:02
  take deliberate aim, and then the bullet was almost always sure to reach its
• 4:56:07
  mark. Colonel Boone, in describing this attempt of the Indians to capture the
• 4:56:11
  commissioners by stratagem and of the storm of war which follows rights. The immediately
• 4:56:18
  grappled us, but although surrounded by hundreds of savages, we extricated ourselves from
• 4:56:23
  them and escaped, all safe into the garrison, except one who was wounded
• 4:56:29
  through a heavy fire from their army. They immediately attacked us on every side,
• 4:56:34
  and a constant heavy fire ensued between us day and night for the space
• 4:56:38
  of nine days. In this time, the enemy began to undermine our fort,
• 4:56:44
  which was situated about sixty yards from the Kentucky River. They began at
• 4:56:48
  the water mark and proceeded in the bank some distance, which we understood by
• 4:56:52
  their making the water muddy with the clay. We immediately proceeded to disappoint their
• 4:56:59
  design by cutting a trench across their subterranean passage. The enemy, discovering our
• 4:57:04
  countermine by the clay we threw out of the fort, desisted from that stratagem
• 4:57:10
  experience, now fully convincing them that neither their power nor their policy could effect
• 4:57:17
  their purpose. On the twentieth of August, they raised the siege and departed.
• 4:57:22
  During this siege, which threatens death in every form, we had two
• 4:57:26
  men killed and four wounded, besides a number of cattle. We killed of
• 4:57:32
  the enemy thirty seven and wounded a great number. After they were gone,
• 4:57:37
  we picked up one hundred and twenty five pounds weight of bullets, besides what
• 4:57:41
  stuck in the logs of our fort, which certainly is a great proof of
• 4:57:45
  their industry. It is said that during this siege, one of the Negroes,
• 4:57:51
  probably a slave, deserted from the fort with one of their best rifles
• 4:57:55
  and joined the Indians, concealing himself in a tree, where unseen he could
• 4:58:00
  take deliberate aim. He became one of the most successful assailants, but the
• 4:58:04
  eagle eye of Boone detected him, and, though as was afterwards ascertained by
• 4:58:10
  actual measurement, the tree was five hundred and twenty five feet distant from the
• 4:58:15
  fort, Boone took deliberate aim, fired, and the man was seen to
• 4:58:19
  drop heavily from his covert to the ground. The bullet from Boone's rifle had
• 4:58:25
  pierced his brain. At one time, the Indians had succeeded in setting fire
• 4:58:30
  to the fort by throwing flaming combustibles upon it, attached to their arrows.
• 4:58:36
  One of the young men extinguished the flames, exposing himself to the concentrated and
• 4:58:41
  deadly fire of the assailants. In doing so, though the bullets fell like
• 4:58:45
  hailstones around him, the brave fellow escaped unscathed. This repulse quite disheartened the
• 4:58:53
  Indians. Henceforth they regarded Boonsboro as a Gibraltar, impregnable to an any force
• 4:59:00
  which they could bring against it. They never assailed it again. Though Boonsborough
• 4:59:06
  is now but a small village in Kentucky, it has a history which will
• 4:59:10
  render it forever memorable In the annals of heroism. It will be remembered that
• 4:59:15
  Boone's family, supposing him to have perished by the hands of the Indians,
• 4:59:19
  had returned to the home of Missus Boone's father in North Carolina. Colonel Boone,
• 4:59:25
  anxious to rejoin his wife and children, and feeling that Boonsborough was safe
• 4:59:30
  from any immediate attack by the Indians. Soon after the dispersion of the savages,
• 4:59:34
  entered again upon the long journey through the wilderness to find his friends east
• 4:59:38
  of the mountains. In the autumn of seventeen seventy eight, Colonel Boone again
• 4:59:44
  found himself after all his wonderful adventures in a peaceful home on the banks of
• 4:59:48
  the Yadkin. The settlements in Kentucky continued rapidly to increase. The savages had
• 4:59:56
  apparently relinquished all hope of holding exclusive pace possession of the country. Though there
• 5:00:02
  were occasional acts of violence and cruelty, there was quite a truce in the
• 5:00:06
  Indian warfare. But the white settlers and those who wished to immigrate were greatly
• 5:00:12
  embarrassed by conflicting land claims. Many of the pioneers found their titles pronounced to
• 5:00:18
  be of no validity. Others who wished to immigrate experienced great difficulty in obtaining
• 5:00:25
  secure possession of their lands. The reputation of Kentucky as in all respects one
• 5:00:30
  of the most desirable of earthly regions for comfortable homes, added to the desire
• 5:00:36
  of many families to escape from the horrors of revolutionary war, which was sweeping
• 5:00:41
  the sea. Board led to a constant tide of immigration beyond the mountains.
• 5:00:47
  Under these circumstances, the government of Virginia established a court consisting of four prominent
• 5:00:52
  citizens to go from place to place examined such titles as should be presented to
• 5:00:57
  them, and to confirm those which were good. This Commission commenced its duties
• 5:01:03
  at Saint assaf. All the old terms of settlement proposed by Henderson and the
• 5:01:08
  Transylvania Company were abrogated. Thus Colonel Boone had no title to a single acre
• 5:01:15
  of land in Kentucky. A new law, however, was it acted as
• 5:01:18
  follows. Any person may acquire title to so much unappropriated land as he or
• 5:01:26
  she may desire to purchase, on paying the consideration of forty pounds for every
• 5:01:30
  one hundred acres and so in proportion. This money was to be paid to
• 5:01:36
  the State Treasurer, who would give for it a receipt. This receipt was
• 5:01:41
  to be deposited with the State Auditor, who would, in exchange for it,
• 5:01:45
  give a certificate. This certificate was to be lodged at the Land Office.
• 5:01:49
  There it was to be registered, and a warrant was to be given
• 5:01:53
  authorizing the survey of the land. Selected surveyors who had passed the Ordeal of
• 5:02:00
  William and Mary College, having defined the boundaries of the land, or to
• 5:02:03
  make a return to the Land Office. A due record was there to be
• 5:02:08
  made of the survey. A deed was given in the name of the state,
• 5:02:12
  which deed was to be signed by the Governor with the Seal of the
• 5:02:15
  Commonwealth attached. This was a perplexing labyrinth for the pioneer to pass through before
• 5:02:22
  he could get a title to his land. Not only Colonel Boone, but
• 5:02:26
  it seems that his family were anxious to return to the beautiful fields of Kentucky.
• 5:02:32
  During the few months he remained on the Yadkin, he was busy in
• 5:02:36
  converting every particle of property he possessed into money, and in raising every dollar
• 5:02:41
  he could for the purchase of lands he so greatly desired. The sum he
• 5:02:47
  obtained amounted to about twenty thousand dollars in the depreciated paper currency of that day.
• 5:02:53
  To Daniel Boone, this was a large sum. With this the simple
• 5:02:57
  hearted man started for Richmond to pay it to the state treasurer and to obtain
• 5:03:03
  for it the promised certificate. He was also entrusted with quite large sums of
• 5:03:08
  money from his neighbors for a similar purpose. On his way, he was
• 5:03:15
  robbed of every dollar. It was a terrible blow to him, for it
• 5:03:19
  not only left him penniless, but exposed him to the insinuation of having feigned
• 5:03:25
  the robbery that he might retain the money entrusted to him by his friends.
• 5:03:30
  Those who knew Daniel Boone well would have no more suspected him a fraud than
• 5:03:34
  an angel of light. With others, however, his character suffered, Rumor
• 5:03:40
  was busy in denouncing him. Colonel Nathaniel Hart had entrusted Boone with two thousand,
• 5:03:47
  nine hundred pounds. This, of course, was all gone. A
• 5:03:52
  letter, however, is preserved from Colonel Hart which bears noble testimony to the
• 5:03:56
  character of the man from whom he had suffered. I observe what you say
• 5:04:02
  respecting our losses by Daniel Boone. I had heard of the misfortune soon after
• 5:04:07
  it happened, but not of my being a partaker before. Now. I
• 5:04:11
  feel for the poor people who perhaps are to lose their preemptions. But I
• 5:04:15
  must say I feel more for Boone, whose character I am told suffers by
• 5:04:21
  it. Much degenerated must the people of this age be when amongst them are
• 5:04:26
  to be found men to censure and blast the reputation of a person so just
• 5:04:30
  and upright, and in whose breast is a seat of virtue, too pure
• 5:04:36
  to admit of a thought so base and dishonorable. I have known Boone in
• 5:04:41
  times of old, when poverty and distress had him fast by the hand,
• 5:04:45
  and in these wretched circumstances I have ever found him of a noble and generous
• 5:04:51
  soul, despising everything mean. And therefore I will freely grant him a discharge
• 5:04:56
  for whatever sums of mine he might have possess. At the time, Boone
• 5:05:03
  was now forty five years of age. But the hardships to which he had
• 5:05:07
  been exposed had borne heavily upon him, and he appeared ten years older.
• 5:05:11
  Though he bore without a murmur the loss of his earthly all and the imputations
• 5:05:15
  which were cast upon his character, he was more anxious than ever to find
• 5:05:19
  refuge from the embarrassments which oppressed him in the solitudes of his beautiful Kentucky.
• 5:05:26
  Notwithstanding his comparative poverty, his family on the banks of the Yadkin need not
• 5:05:30
  experience any want. Land was fertile, abundant, and cheap. He and
• 5:05:36
  his boys, in a few days, with their axes, could erect as
• 5:05:40
  good a house as they desired to occupy. The cultivation of a few acres
• 5:05:44
  of the soil, and the results of the chase would provide them an ample
• 5:05:48
  support. Here also, they could retire to rest at night with unbolted door,
• 5:05:53
  and with no fear that their slumbers would be disturbed by the yell of
• 5:05:56
  the bloodthirsty savage. The wife and mother must doubtless have wished to remain in
• 5:06:03
  her pleasant home, but cheerfully and nobly she acceded to his wishes and was
• 5:06:07
  ready to accompany him to all the abounding perils of the distant west. Again,
• 5:06:12
  the family set out on its journey across the mountains of the incidents which
• 5:06:18
  they encountered. We are not informed the narrative we have from Boone as simply
• 5:06:22
  as follows. Our readers will excuse this slight repetition. It involves about this
• 5:06:27
  time I returned to Kentucky with my family, and here to avoid an inquiry
• 5:06:33
  into my conduct, the reader, being before informed of my bringing my family
• 5:06:37
  to Kentucky, I am under the necessity of informing him that during my captivity
• 5:06:41
  with the Indians, my wife, who despaired of ever seeing me again,
• 5:06:45
  had transported my family and goods back through the wilderness amid a multitude of dangers,
• 5:06:52
  to her father's house in North Carolina. Shortly after the troubles at Boonsborough,
• 5:06:56
  I went to them and lived peaceably there until this time. The history
• 5:07:02
  of my going home and returning with my family forms a series of difficulties,
• 5:07:07
  an account of which would swell a volume, and being foreign to my purpose,
• 5:07:11
  I shall omit them. During Boone's absence from Kentucky, one of the
• 5:07:17
  most bloody battles was fault which ever occurred between the Whites and the Indians.
• 5:07:22
  Colonel Rogers, returning with supplies by boat from New Orleans to the Upper Ohio,
• 5:07:27
  when he arrived at the mouth of the Little Miami, detected the Indians
• 5:07:32
  in large numbers, painted, armed, and evidently on the war path,
• 5:07:37
  emerging from the mouth of the river in their canoes and crossing the Ohio to
• 5:07:41
  the Kentucky shore. He cautiously landed his men, intending to attack the Indians
• 5:07:47
  by surprise. Instead of this, they turned upon him with overwhelming numbers and
• 5:07:52
  assailed him with the greatest fury. Colonel Rogers and sixty of his men were
• 5:07:57
  almost instantly killed. This constituted nearly the whole of his party. Two or
• 5:08:03
  three effected their escape and conveyed the sad tidings of the massacre to the settlements.
• 5:08:08
  The Kentuckians were exceedingly exasperated and resolved that the Indians should feel the weight
• 5:08:15
  of their vengeance. Colonel Bowman, in accordance with a custom of the times,
• 5:08:19
  issued a call inviting all the Kentuckians who were willing to volunteer under his
• 5:08:23
  leadership for the chastisement of the Indians, to rendezvous at Harrodsburg. Three hundred
• 5:08:30
  determined men soon assembled. The expedition moved in the month of July and commenced
• 5:08:36
  the ascent of the Little Miami Undiscovered. They arrived in the vicinity of Old
• 5:08:41
  Chillicothe just before nightfall. Here, it was determined so to arrange their forces
• 5:08:47
  in the darkness as to attack the place just before the dawn of the ensuing
• 5:08:51
  day. One half of the army, under the command of Colonel Logan,
• 5:08:56
  were to grope their way through the woods and march around the town. Was
• 5:09:00
  to attack it in the rear at a given signal from Colonel Bowman, who
• 5:09:03
  was to place his men in position for efficient cooperation. Logan accomplished his movement
• 5:09:10
  and concealing his men behind stumps, trees, and rocks, anxiously awaited the
• 5:09:15
  signal for attack, but the sharp ear of a watchdog detected some unusual movement
• 5:09:22
  and commenced barking furiously. An Indian warrior came from his cabin and cautiously advanced
• 5:09:27
  the way the dog seemed to designate. As the Indian drew near, one
• 5:09:33
  of the party, by accident or great imprudence, discharged his gun. The
• 5:09:38
  Indian gave a war whoop, which immediately startled all the inmates of the cabins
• 5:09:42
  to their feet. Logan and his party were sufficiently near to see the women
• 5:09:48
  and the children in a continuous line rushing over the ridge to the protection of
• 5:09:52
  the forest. The Indian warriors, with a military discipline hardly to be expected
• 5:09:57
  of them, instantly collected in several strong cabins, which were their citadels,
• 5:10:03
  and from whose loopholes, unexposed, they could open a deadly fire upon their
• 5:10:07
  assailants. In an instant the whole aspect of affairs was changed. The assailants
• 5:10:15
  advancing through the clearing must expose their unprotected breasts to the bullet of an unseen
• 5:10:19
  foe. After a brief conflict, Colonel Logan, to his bitter disappointment,
• 5:10:26
  and that of his men felt constrained to order a retreat. The two parties
• 5:10:30
  were soon reunited. Having lost several valuable lives, and depressed by the conviction
• 5:10:37
  that the enterprise had proved an utter failure, the savages pursued, keeping up
• 5:10:41
  a harassing fire upon the rear of the fugitives. Fortunately for the white men,
• 5:10:47
  the renowned Indian chieftain Blackfish, struck by a bullet, was instantly killed.
• 5:10:52
  This so disheartened his followers that they abandoned the pursuit. The fugitives continued
• 5:10:59
  their flight all the night, and then, at their leisure, returned to
• 5:11:03
  their homes, much dejected. In this disastrous expedition, nine men were killed
• 5:11:08
  and one was severely wounded. The Indians, aided by their English allies,
• 5:11:15
  resolved by the invasion of Kentucky, to retaliate for the invasion of Little Miami,
• 5:11:19
  Governor Hamilton raised a very formidable army and supplied them with two pieces of
• 5:11:25
  artillery. By such weapons, the strongest log fort could be speedily demolished,
• 5:11:30
  while the artillerists would be entirely beyond the reach of the guns of the garrison.
• 5:11:36
  A British officer, Colonel Boyd commanded the combined forces. The valley of
• 5:11:41
  the Licking River, along whose banks many thriving settlements had commenced, was their
• 5:11:47
  point of destination. A twelve days march from the Ohio brought this army,
• 5:11:52
  which was considered a large one in those times, to a post called Cuttle's
• 5:11:56
  Station. The garrison was immediately summoned to surrender, with the promise of protection
• 5:12:02
  for their lives. Only resistance against artillery was hopeless. The place was surrendered.
• 5:12:08
  Indians and white men rushed in alike, eager for plunder. The Indians,
• 5:12:14
  breaking loose from all restraint, caught men, women and children and claimed
• 5:12:18
  them as their prisoners. Three persons who made some slight resistance, were immediately
• 5:12:23
  tomahawked. The British commander endeavored to exonerate himself from these atrocities by saying it
• 5:12:30
  was utterly beyond his power to control the savages. These Wolfish allies, elated
• 5:12:37
  by their conquest, their plunder, and their captives, now demanded to be
• 5:12:41
  led along the valley five miles to the next station, called Martin's Fort.
• 5:12:45
  It is said that Colonel Byrd was so affected by the uncontrollable atrocities he had
• 5:12:51
  witnessed that he refused to continue the expedition unless the Indians would consent that while
• 5:12:56
  they should receive all the plunder, he should have all the prisoners. It
• 5:13:02
  is also said that, notwithstanding this agreement, the same scenes were enacted at
• 5:13:07
  Martin's Fort which had been witnessed at Ruttle's station. In confirmation of this statement,
• 5:13:12
  it is certain that Colonel Bird refused to go any farther. All the
• 5:13:18
  stations on the river were apparently at his disposal, and it speaks well for
• 5:13:22
  his humanity that he refused to lead any farther savages armed with the tomahawk and
• 5:13:27
  the scalping knife against his white brethren. He could order a retreat, as
• 5:13:33
  he did, but he could not rescue the captives from those who had seized
• 5:13:36
  them. The Indians loaded down their victims with the plunder of their own dwellings,
• 5:13:41
  and as they fell by the way, sinking beneath their burdens, they
• 5:13:45
  buried the tomahawk in their brains. The exasperation on both sides was very great,
• 5:13:52
  and General Clark, who was stationed at Fort Jefferson with a thousand picked
• 5:13:56
  men, entered the Indian territory, burned the villages, destroyed the crops and
• 5:14:02
  utterly devastated the country. In reference to this expedition, mister Cecil B.
• 5:14:07
  Hartley writes, some persons who have not the slightest objection to war, very
• 5:14:15
  gravely expressed doubts as to whether the expedient of destroying the crops of the Indians
• 5:14:19
  was justifiable. It is generally treated by these men as if it were a
• 5:14:25
  wanton display of a vindictive spirit, where in reality it was dictated by the
• 5:14:30
  soundest policy. For when the indians harvests were destroyed, they were compelled to
• 5:14:37
  subsist their families altogether by hunting, and had no leisure for their murderous inroads
• 5:14:42
  into the settlement. This result was plainly seen on this occasion, for it
• 5:14:47
  does not appear that the Indians attacked any of the settlements during the remainder of
• 5:14:51
  this year. The following incident, well authenticated, which occurred early in the
• 5:14:57
  spring of seventeen eighty, give one a vivid idea of the nature of this
• 5:15:02
  warfare. Mister Alexander McConnell of Lexington, while out hunting, killed a large
• 5:15:08
  buck. He went home for his horse to bring it in. While he
• 5:15:12
  was absent five Indians accidentally discovered the body of the deer. Supposing the hunter
• 5:15:18
  would return, Three of them hid themselves within rifles shot of the carcass,
• 5:15:22
  while two followed his trail. McConnell, anticipating no danger, was riding slowly
• 5:15:29
  along the path when he was fired upon from ambush. His horse shot beneath
• 5:15:33
  him, and he seized as a prisoner. His captors were in high glee
• 5:15:38
  and treated him with unusual kindness. His skill with the rifle excited their admiration,
• 5:15:45
  and as he provided them with abundance of game, they soon became quite
• 5:15:49
  fond of him. Day after day, the savages continued their tramp to the
• 5:15:53
  Ohio River to cross over to their own country. Every night they bound to
• 5:16:00
  and very strongly. As they became better acquainted and advanced farther from the settlements
• 5:16:04
  of the pioneers, they in some degree remitted their vigilance. One evening,
• 5:16:11
  when they had arrived near the Ohio McConnell complained so earnestly of the pain which
• 5:16:15
  the tightly bound cords gave him, that they more loosely fastened the cord of
• 5:16:19
  buffalo hide around his wrists. Still, they tied it as they supposed securely,
• 5:16:26
  and attached the end of the cord to the body of one of the
• 5:16:30
  Indians. At midnight, McConnell discovered a sharp knife lying near him, which
• 5:16:34
  had accidentally fallen from its sheath. He drew it to him with his feet
• 5:16:40
  and succeeded noiselessly in cutting the cords. Still, he hardly dared to stir,
• 5:16:45
  for there was danger that the slightest movement might rouse his vigilant foes.
• 5:16:51
  The savages had stacked their five guns near the fire. Cautiously, he crept
• 5:16:56
  towards them and secreted three at but a short distance, where they would not
• 5:17:00
  easily find them. He then crept noiselessly back, took a rifle in each
• 5:17:06
  hand, rested the muzzles upon a log, and, aiming one at the
• 5:17:10
  heart and one at the head of the two Indians at the distance of a
• 5:17:12
  few feet, discharged both guns simultaneously. Both shots were fatal. The three
• 5:17:19
  remaining savages, in bewilderment, sprang to their feet. McConnell, instantly,
• 5:17:25
  seizing the two other guns, shot one through the heart and inflicted a terrible
• 5:17:30
  wound upon the other. He fell to the ground, bellowing, loudly.
• 5:17:34
  Soon, however, he regained his feet and hobbled off into the woods as
• 5:17:38
  fast as possible. The only remaining one of the party who was unhurt,
• 5:17:44
  uttered a loud yell of terror and dismay, and bounded like a deer into
• 5:17:48
  the forest. McConnell was not disposed to remain even for one moment to contemplate
• 5:17:53
  the result of his achievement. He selected his own trusty rifle, plunged into
• 5:17:59
  the forest, and, with the unerring instinct of the veteran hunter, in
• 5:18:03
  two days, reached the garrison at Lexington to relate to them his wonderful escape
• 5:18:10
  and of Chapter nine, Chapter ten, British Allies. It was in the
• 5:18:17
  autumn of the year seventeen eighty that Daniel Boone with his family returned to Boonsborough.
• 5:18:22
  A year before, the Legislature of Virginia had recognized essentially what is now
• 5:18:27
  Kentucky as one of the counties of Virginia and had established the town of Boonsborough
• 5:18:33
  as its capital. By this act, Daniel Boone was named one of the
• 5:18:37
  trustees or selectmen. Town lots were ordered to be surveyed, and a very
• 5:18:44
  liberal grant of land was conferred upon everyone who would erect a house at least
• 5:18:48
  sixteen feet square with either brick stone or dirt chimney. For some reason,
• 5:18:53
  Colonel Boone declined this office. It is probable that he was disgusted by his
• 5:18:59
  own own experience in the civil courts. There was little danger now of an
• 5:19:03
  attack upon Boonsboro by the Indians. There were so many settlements around it that
• 5:19:08
  no foe could approach without due warning and without encountering serious opposition. On the
• 5:19:15
  sixth of October, Daniel Boone with his brother Squire, left the fort alone
• 5:19:19
  for what would seem to be an exceedingly imprudent excursion. So defenseless to the
• 5:19:25
  Blue Licks, they reached the Licks in safety. While there they were discovered
• 5:19:32
  by a party of Indians and were fired upon from ambush. Squire Boone was
• 5:19:37
  instantly killed and scalped. Daniel, heart stricken by the loss of his beloved
• 5:19:41
  brother, fled like a deer, pursued by the whole band, filling the
• 5:19:45
  forest with their yells like a pack of hounds. The Indians had a very
• 5:19:51
  powerful dog with them, who, with unerring scent, followed closely in the
• 5:19:56
  trail of the fugitive. For three miles. This unequal ch continued. The
• 5:20:00
  dog, occasionally embarrassed in his pursuit, would be delayed for a time in
• 5:20:06
  regaining the trail. The speed of Boon was such that the foremost of the
• 5:20:11
  savages was left far behind. He then, as the dog came bounding on,
• 5:20:15
  stopped, took deliberate aim, and shot the brute. Moon was still
• 5:20:21
  far from the fort, but he reached it in safety, leaving upon the
• 5:20:25
  Indians the impression that he bore a charmed life. He was very deeply afflicted
• 5:20:30
  by the death of his brother. Squire was the youngest of the sons,
• 5:20:34
  and the tie which bound the brothers together was unusually tender and confidential. They
• 5:20:41
  had shared in many perilous adventures, and for months had dwelt entirely alone in
• 5:20:47
  the wilderness, far away from any other society. The winter of seventeen eighty
• 5:20:52
  was one of the saddest in the annals of our country. The colonial army
• 5:20:57
  everywhere defeated, was in the most deplorable state of destitution and suffering. Our
• 5:21:03
  frontiers were most cruelly ravaged by a barbarian foe. To add to all of
• 5:21:08
  this, the winter was severely cold, beyond any precedent. The crops had
• 5:21:15
  been so destroyed by the enemy that many of the pioneers were compelled to live
• 5:21:19
  almost entirely upon the flesh of the buffalo. Virginia, in extending her jurisdiction
• 5:21:26
  over her western lands of Kentucky now for the sake of a more perfect military
• 5:21:30
  organization, divided the extensive region into three counties, Fayette, Lincoln, and
• 5:21:37
  Jefferson. General Clark was made commander in chief of the Kentucky Militia. Daniel
• 5:21:44
  Boone was commissioned as lieutenant colonel of Lincoln County. The immigration into the state
• 5:21:49
  at this time may be inferred from the fact that the Court of Commissioners to
• 5:21:53
  Examine Land Titles, at the close of its session of seven months, had
• 5:21:57
  granted three thousand and claims. Its meetings had been held mainly at Boonsboro,
• 5:22:03
  and its labors terminated in April seventeen eighty. During the spring, three hundred
• 5:22:10
  barges loaded with emigrants were floated down the Ohio to the falls at what is
• 5:22:15
  now Louisville. As we have stated, the winter had been one of the
• 5:22:19
  most remarkable on record. From the middle of November to the middle of February,
• 5:22:25
  the ground was covered with snow and ice without a thaw. The severity
• 5:22:30
  of the cold was terrible. Nearly all unprotected animals perished. Even bears,
• 5:22:36
  buffaloes, wolves, and wild turkeys were found frozen in the woods. The
• 5:22:41
  starving wild animals often came near the settlement for food. For seventy five years.
• 5:22:47
  The winter of seventeen eighty was an era to which the old men referred.
• 5:22:52
  Though the Indians organized no formidable raids, they were very annoying. No
• 5:22:57
  one could safely wander any distance from the forts. In March seventeen eighty one,
• 5:23:03
  several Vands entered Jefferson County and, by lying in ambush, killed four
• 5:23:08
  of the settlers. Captain Whittaker, with fifteen men, went in pursuit of
• 5:23:14
  them. He followed their trail to the banks of the Ohio. Supposing they
• 5:23:18
  had crossed, he and his party embarked in canoes boldly to continue the pursuit
• 5:23:23
  into the Indian country. They had scarcely pushed a rod from the shore when
• 5:23:29
  hideous yells rose from the Indians in ambush and a deadly fire was opened upon
• 5:23:34
  the canoes. Nine of the pioneers were instantly killed or wounded. The savages,
• 5:23:41
  having accomplished this feat, fled into the wilderness, where the party,
• 5:23:45
  thus weakened in numbers, could not pursue them. A small party of settlers
• 5:23:49
  had reared their log huts near the present site of Shelbyville. Squire Boon had
• 5:23:56
  been one of the prominent actors in the establishment of this little colony. Alarmed
• 5:24:00
  by the menaces of the savages, these few settlers decided to remove to a
• 5:24:04
  more secure station on Bear's Creek. On their way, they were startled by
• 5:24:10
  the war whoop of They knew not how many Indians concealed in ambush, and
• 5:24:15
  a storm of bullets fell upon them, killing and wounding many of their number.
• 5:24:18
  The miscreants, scarcely waiting for the return fire, fled with yells which
• 5:24:23
  resounded through the forest, leaving their victims to the sad task of burying the
• 5:24:29
  dead and nursing the wounded. Colonel Floyd collected twenty five men to pursue them.
• 5:24:34
  The wary Indians, nearly two hundred in number, drew them into an
• 5:24:38
  ambush and opened upon the party a deadly fire, which almost instantly killed half
• 5:24:45
  their number. The remainder with great difficulty escaped, leaving their dead to be
• 5:24:51
  mutilated by the scalping knife of the savage. Almost every day brought tidings of
• 5:24:56
  similar disasters. The Indians, in boldened by these successes, seemed to rouse
• 5:25:02
  themselves to a new determination to exterminate the Whites. The conduct of the British
• 5:25:07
  government in calling such wretches to their alliance in war with the colonies, created
• 5:25:12
  the greatest exasperation. Thomas Jefferson gave expression to the public sentiment in the Declaration
• 5:25:19
  of Independence, and which he says, an arraignment of King George the Third
• 5:25:25
  he has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian
• 5:25:30
  savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages,
• 5:25:36
  sexes, and conditions. There were two wretched men, official agents of the
• 5:25:42
  British government, who were more savage than the savages themselves. One of them,
• 5:25:48
  a vagabond named Simon Gerdy, had joined the Indians by adoption. He
• 5:25:53
  had not only acquired their habits, but had become their leader in the most
• 5:25:57
  awful scenes of ferocity. He was a Tory, and as such was the
• 5:26:03
  bitterest foe of the colonists who were struggling for independence. The other, Colonel
• 5:26:08
  McGhee, with a little more respectability of character, was equally fiend like in
• 5:26:14
  exciting the Indians to the most revolting barbarities. Thus incited and sustained by British
• 5:26:19
  authority, the Indians kept all the settlers in Kentucky in constant alarm. Instigated
• 5:26:26
  by the authorities at Detroit, the warriors of five tribes assembled at Old chillicothe
• 5:26:32
  to organize the most formidable expedition which had as yet invaded Kentucky. These tribes
• 5:26:38
  were the Shawnese on the Little Miami, the Cherokees on the Tennessee, the
• 5:26:45
  Wyandots on the Sandusky, the Tawas on the Mammie, and the Delawares on
• 5:26:49
  the Muskingum. Their choicest warriors, five hundred in number, rendezvous at Old
• 5:26:56
  Chillicothee. This Indian village was built in the form of a square, enclosing
• 5:27:00
  a large area. Some of their houses were of logs, some of bark,
• 5:27:06
  some of reeds filled in with clay. Boone says that the Indians concentrated
• 5:27:11
  their utmost force and vengeance upon this expedition, hoping to destroy the settlements and
• 5:27:17
  depopulate the country at a single blow. Not far from Boonsborough, in the
• 5:27:22
  same valley of Kentucky, there was a small settlement called Bryant's Station. William
• 5:27:27
  Bryant, the founder, had married a sister of Colonel Boone. On the
• 5:27:33
  fifteenth of August, a war party of five hundred Indians and Canadians under the
• 5:27:37
  leadership of Simon Gurdy, appeared before this little cluster of log huts, each
• 5:27:42
  of which was, of course bulletproof. The settlers fought heroically. Gurdy was
• 5:27:48
  wounded and thirty of his band were killed, while the garrison lost before the
• 5:27:53
  assailing party, thus, disappointed in their expectation of carrying the place by storm,
• 5:28:00
  and fearing the arrival of reinforcements from other settlements, hastily retired. Colonel
• 5:28:06
  Boone, hearing of the attack, hastened to the rescue, joining troops from
• 5:28:11
  several of the adjacent forts. The party consisted of one hundred and eighty men
• 5:28:15
  under the leadership of Colonel Todd, one of Nature's noblemen. Colonel Boone seems
• 5:28:22
  to have been second in command. Two of his sons, Israel and Samuel
• 5:28:26
  accompanied their father. Upon this expedition, the Indians, led by British officers
• 5:28:33
  were far more to be dreaded than when left to their own cunning, which
• 5:28:37
  was often childish. As the little band of pioneers rushing to the rescue approached
• 5:28:42
  Bryant's station and were informed of the retreat of the invaders, a council of
• 5:28:48
  War was held to decide whether it were best for one hundred and eighty men
• 5:28:52
  to pursue five hundred Indians and Canadians through a region where every mile presented the
• 5:28:57
  most favorable opera tunities for concealment and ambush. Gerdy was a desperado who was
• 5:29:04
  to be feared as well as hated. Contrary to the judgment of both Colonels
• 5:29:10
  Todd and Boone, it was decided to pursue the Indians. There was no
• 5:29:15
  difficulty in following the trail of so large a band, many of whom were
• 5:29:18
  mounted. Their path led almost directly north to the Licking River and then followed
• 5:29:25
  down its banks towards the Ohio. As the pursuers were cautiously advancing, they
• 5:29:30
  came to a remarkable bend in the stream, where there was a large and
• 5:29:34
  open space with prairie grass very high. A well trampled buffalo track led through
• 5:29:41
  this grass, which was almost like a forest of reeds. Along this street,
• 5:29:45
  the Indians had retreated. The scouts who had been sent forward to explore,
• 5:29:51
  returned with the report that there were no signs of Indians, and yet
• 5:29:56
  four hundred savages had so adroitly concealed themselves that their line really extended from bank
• 5:30:02
  to bank of the river, where it bent like a horseshoe before them.
• 5:30:07
  The combined cunning of the Indian and the intelligence of their white leaders was now
• 5:30:11
  fatally enlisted for the destruction of the settlers. One hundred and eighty men were
• 5:30:18
  to be caught in a trap, while five hundred demons prepared to shoot them
• 5:30:22
  down. As soon as Colonel Todd's party pasted the neck of this bend,
• 5:30:26
  the Indians closed in behind them, rose from their concealment, and with terrific
• 5:30:33
  yells, opened upon them a still more terrific fire. The pioneers fought with
• 5:30:38
  the courage of desperation. At the first discharge, nearly one third of Colonel
• 5:30:44
  Todd's party fell dead or wounded, struck fatally by several bullets Colonel Todd himself
• 5:30:51
  fell from his horse, drenched with blood. While a portion of the Indians
• 5:30:56
  kept up with fire, the others, with hideous yells, sprang forward with
• 5:31:00
  tomahawk and scalping knife, completing their fiendlike work. It was a scene of
• 5:31:06
  awful confusion and dismay. The survivors, fighting every step of the way,
• 5:31:11
  retreated towards the river, for there was no escape back through their thronging foes.
• 5:31:17
  Colonel Boone's two sons fought by the side of their father. Samuel,
• 5:31:21
  the younger, struck by a bullet, was severely but not mortally wounded.
• 5:31:26
  Israel, his second son, fell dead. The unhappy father took his dead
• 5:31:32
  boy upon his shoulders to save him from the scalping knife. As he tottered
• 5:31:37
  beneath the bleeding body, an Indian of Herculean's stature with uplifted tomahawk, rushed
• 5:31:42
  upon him. Colonel Boone dropped the body of his son, shot the Indian
• 5:31:48
  through the heart, and, seeing the savages rushing upon him from all directions,
• 5:31:52
  fled, leaving the corpse of his boy to its fate. Being intimately
• 5:31:56
  acquainted with the ground, he plunged bung into a ravine, baffling several parties
• 5:32:03
  who pursued him, swam across the river and entering the forest, succeeded in
• 5:32:07
  escaping from his foes, and at length safely by a sircutuous route, returned
• 5:32:11
  to Bryant's station. In the meantime, the scene of tumult and slaughter was
• 5:32:18
  awful, beyond all description. Victors and vanquished were blended together upon the banks
• 5:32:23
  of the stream. In this dreadful conflict. There were four Indians to each
• 5:32:29
  white man. There was a narrow ford at the spot, but the whole
• 5:32:33
  stream seemed clogged. Some swimming and some trying to wade, while the exultant
• 5:32:38
  Indians shot and tomahawked without mercy. Those who succeeded in crossing the river,
• 5:32:44
  leaving the great buffalo track which they had been following, plunged into the thickets,
• 5:32:48
  and though vigorously pursued by the Indians, most of them eventually reached the
• 5:32:52
  settlements. In this dreadful disaster, the colonists lost sixty men and killed,
• 5:33:00
  and seven were taken prisoners. The Indians, in counting up their loss,
• 5:33:04
  found that sixty four were missing. In accordance with their barbaric custom. They
• 5:33:10
  selected, in vengeance four of the prisoners and put them to death by the
• 5:33:14
  most terrible tortures which savage ingenuity could devise. Had Colonel Boone's advice been followed,
• 5:33:21
  this calamity might have been avoided. Still, characteristically, he uttered not
• 5:33:26
  a word of complaint. In his comments upon the event, He says,
• 5:33:32
  I cannot reflect upon this dreadful scene, but sorrow fills my heart. A
• 5:33:37
  zeal for the defense of their country led these heroes to the scene of action,
• 5:33:41
  though with a few men to attack a powerful army of experienced warriors.
• 5:33:48
  When we gave way, they pursued us with the utmost eagerness, and in
• 5:33:52
  every quarter spread destruction. The river was difficult to cross, and many were
• 5:33:56
  killed in the flight, some just entering the river, some in the water,
• 5:34:02
  others after crossing and ascending the cliffs. Some escaped on horseback, a
• 5:34:07
  few on foot, and being dispersed everywhere in a few hours brought the melancholy
• 5:34:12
  news of this unfortunate conflict to Lexington. The reader may guess what sorrow filled
• 5:34:18
  the hearts of the inhabitants, exceeding anything I am able to describe. Being
• 5:34:23
  reinforced. We returned to bury the dead, and found their bodies strewed everywhere,
• 5:34:30
  cut and mangled in a dreadful manner. This mournful scene exhibited a horror
• 5:34:34
  almost unparalleled. Some torn and eaten by wild beasts, those in the river
• 5:34:41
  eaten by fishes, all in such a putrefied condition that no one could be
• 5:34:45
  distinguished from another. This Battle of Blue Licks, as it is called,
• 5:34:52
  occupies one of the most mournful pages in the history of Kentucky. The escape
• 5:34:56
  of Boone adds another to the extraordinary readventures of this chivalric and now sorrow stricken
• 5:35:03
  man. Colonel Boone communicated an official report to the Governor of Virginia, Benjamin
• 5:35:07
  Harrison, father of William Henry Harrison, subsequently President of the United States.
• 5:35:14
  In this report it is noticeable that Boone makes no allusion whatever to his own
• 5:35:18
  services. This modest document throws such light upon the character of this remarkable man,
• 5:35:25
  and upon the peril of the times, that it merits full insertion here.
• 5:35:30
  It is as follows. Boone's Station, Fayette County, August thirtieth,
• 5:35:36
  seventeen eighty two, Sir, Present circumstances of affairs calls me to write to
• 5:35:42
  your Excellency as follows. On the sixteenth Instant, a large body of Indians
• 5:35:48
  with some white men attacked one of our frontier stations, known as Bryant's Station.
• 5:35:55
  The siege continued from about sunrise until two o'clock of the next day,
• 5:35:59
  when they marched off, notice being given to neighboring stations. We immediately raised
• 5:36:04
  one hundred and eighty one horsemen commanded by Colonel John Todd, including some of
• 5:36:10
  the Lincoln County militia, and pursued about forty miles. After a brief account
• 5:36:15
  of the battle, which we have already given, he continues afterwards, we
• 5:36:21
  were reinforced by Colonel Logan, which made our force four hundred and sixty men.
• 5:36:26
  We marched again to the battleground, but finding the enemy had gone,
• 5:36:30
  we proceeded to bury the dead. We found forty three on the ground and
• 5:36:34
  many lay about which we could not stay to find. Hungry and weary as
• 5:36:38
  we were, and dubious that the enemy might not have gone off. Quite
• 5:36:44
  by the sign, we thought that the Indians exceeded four hundred, while the
• 5:36:48
  whole of the militia of the county does not amount to more than one hundred
• 5:36:51
  and thirty. From these facts, your Excellency may form an idea of our
• 5:36:56
  situation. I know that your own circumstances are but are we to be wholly
• 5:37:00
  forgotten? I hope not. I trust that about five hundred men may be
• 5:37:06
  sent to our assistance immediately. If these shall be stationed, as our County
• 5:37:11
  Lieutenant shall deem necessary, it may be the means of saving our part of
• 5:37:15
  the country. But if they are placed under the direction of General Clark,
• 5:37:18
  they will be of little or no service to our settlement. The falls lie
• 5:37:23
  one hundred miles west of us, and the Indians northeast, while our men
• 5:37:27
  are frequently called to protect them. I have encouraged the people in this county
• 5:37:33
  all that I could, but I can no longer justify them or myself to
• 5:37:37
  risk our lives here under such extraordinary hazards. The inhabitants of this county are
• 5:37:42
  very much alarmed at the thoughts of the Indians bringing another campaign into our country
• 5:37:48
  this fall. If this should be the case, it will break up these
• 5:37:52
  settlements. I hope, therefore, that your Excellency will take the matter into
• 5:37:56
  your consideration and send us some relief as quick as possible. These are my
• 5:38:02
  sentiments, without consulting any person. Colonel Logan, while I expect immediately send
• 5:38:07
  you an express by whom I humbly request your Excellency's answer. In the meantime,
• 5:38:12
  I remain yours, et Ce Daniel Boone. General Clark, who was
• 5:38:18
  the military leader of Kentucky under the Colonial government, was established at the Falls.
• 5:38:25
  The British authorities held their headquarters at Detroit, from which post they were
• 5:38:29
  sending out their Indian allies in all directions to ravage the frontiers. General Clark
• 5:38:34
  was a man of great energy of character, and he was anxious to organize
• 5:38:38
  an expedition against Detroit. With this object in view, he had, by
• 5:38:44
  immense exertions, assembled a force of nearly two thousand men. Much to his
• 5:38:49
  chagrin, he received orders to remain at the Falls for the present to protect
• 5:38:55
  the frontiers then so severely menaced. But when the tidings reached him of the
• 5:39:00
  terrible disaster at Blue Lick, he resolved to pursue the Indians and punish them
• 5:39:04
  with the greatest severity. The exultant savages had returned to Old Chilicothee and had
• 5:39:11
  divided their spoil and their captives. Colonel Boone was immediately sent for to take
• 5:39:17
  part in this expedition. Clark's army crossed the Ohio, and, marching very
• 5:39:22
  rapidly up the banks of the Little Miami, arrived within two miles of Chillicothee
• 5:39:27
  before they were discovered. On perceiving the enemy, the Indians scattered in all
• 5:39:33
  directions, men, women and children fled into the remote forest, abandoning their
• 5:39:40
  homes and leaving everything behind them. The Avenging army swept the valley with fire
• 5:39:45
  and ruin. Their corn, just ripening and upon which they mainly relied for
• 5:39:51
  their winter supply of food, was utterly destroyed. Every tree which bore any
• 5:39:56
  fruit was felled, and five of their towns were laid in out. The
• 5:40:00
  trail of the army presented a scene of utter desolation. The savages were alike
• 5:40:07
  astonished and dismayed. They had supposed that the white men, disheartened by their
• 5:40:11
  dreadful defeat at the Blue Lick, would abandon the country, instead of that
• 5:40:17
  with amazing recuperative power, they had scarcely reached their homes. Ere another army,
• 5:40:23
  utterly resistless in numbers, is burning their towns and destroying their whole country.
• 5:40:30
  This avenging campaign so depressed the Indians that they made no farther attempt for
• 5:40:36
  the organized invasion of Kentucky. The termination of the war with England also deprived
• 5:40:41
  them of their military resources and left them to their own unaided and unintelligent efforts.
• 5:40:48
  Still, miserable bands continued prowling around waylaying and murdering the lonely traveler,
• 5:40:53
  setting fire to the solitary hut, and inflicting such other outrages as were kngjal
• 5:41:00
  with their cruel natures. It thus became necessary for the Pioneers always to live
• 5:41:04
  with the rifle in hand. Colonel Boone had become especially obnoxious to the Indians.
• 5:41:11
  Twice he had escaped from under them under circumstances which greatly mortified their vanity.
• 5:41:18
  They recognized the potency of his rifle in the slaughter of their own warriors
• 5:41:22
  at the Blue Lick, and they were well aware that it was his sagacity
• 5:41:26
  which led the army of General Clarke in its avenging march through their country.
• 5:41:32
  It thus became with them an object of intense desire to take him prisoner,
• 5:41:37
  and had he been taken, he would doubtless have been doomed to the severest
• 5:41:41
  torture they could inflict. Mister Peck, in his Interesting Life of Boone,
• 5:41:47
  gives the following account of one of the extraordinary adventures of this man, which
• 5:41:52
  he received from the lips of Colonel Boone himself. On one occasion, four
• 5:41:56
  Indians suddenly appeared before his cat and took him prisoner. Though the delicacy of
• 5:42:03
  Colonel Boone's organization was such that he could never himself relish tobacco in any form,
• 5:42:08
  he still raised some for his friends and neighbors, and for what were
• 5:42:11
  then deemed the essential rights of hospitality. As a shelter for curing the tobacco,
• 5:42:18
  he had built an enclosure of rails about a dozen feet in height and
• 5:42:22
  covered with canes and grass. Stalks of tobacco are generally split and strong on
• 5:42:27
  sticks about four feet in length. The ends of these are laid on poles
• 5:42:33
  placed across the tobacco house, and in tiers one above another to the roof.
• 5:42:37
  Boone had fixed his temporary shelter in such a manner as to have three
• 5:42:41
  tiers. He had covered the lower tier, and the tobacco had become dry
• 5:42:47
  when he entered the shelter for the purpose of removing the sticks to the upper
• 5:42:51
  tier preparatory to gathering the remainder of the crop. He had hoisted up the
• 5:42:56
  sticks from the lower to the second tier, and was standing on the poles
• 5:43:00
  which supported it while raising the sticks to the upper tier, when four stout
• 5:43:04
  Indians with guns entered the low door and called him by name. Now,
• 5:43:10
  Boone, we got you, you know, get away more. We carry
• 5:43:15
  you off to Chilicothe. This time you no cheat us any more. Boone
• 5:43:19
  looked down upon their upturned faces, saw their loaded guns pointed at his breast,
• 5:43:26
  and recognizing some of his old friends, the Shawnese who had made him
• 5:43:30
  prisoner near Blue Licks in seventeen seventy eight, coolly and pleasantly responded, ah,
• 5:43:36
  old friends, glad to see you. Perceiving that they manifested impatience to
• 5:43:41
  have him come down, he told them he was quite willing to go with
• 5:43:45
  them, and only begged that they would wait where they were and watch him
• 5:43:48
  closely until he could finish removing the tobacco. While thus parleying with them,
• 5:43:53
  Boone inquired earnestly, respecting his old friends in Chilicothe, he continued for some
• 5:44:00
  time to divert the attention of these simple minded men by allusions to past events
• 5:44:06
  with which they were familiar, and by talking of his tobacco, his mode
• 5:44:10
  of curing it, and promising them an abundant supply. With their guns in
• 5:44:15
  their hands, however, they stood at the door of the shed, grouped
• 5:44:18
  closely together, so as to render his escape apparently impossible. In the meantime,
• 5:44:23
  Moone carefully gathered his arms full of the long, dry tobacco leaves filled
• 5:44:30
  with pungent dust, which would be blinding and stifling as the most powerful snuff,
• 5:44:34
  and then, with a leap from his station twelve feet high, came
• 5:44:38
  directly upon their heads, filling their eyes and nostrils, and so bewildering and
• 5:44:45
  disabling them for the moment that they lost all self possession and all self control.
• 5:44:51
  Moon Agile, as a deer, darted out at the door, and
• 5:44:55
  in a moment was in his bullet proof log hut, which to him was
• 5:44:59
  an impress magnable citadel. Loopholes guarded every approach. The Indians could not show
• 5:45:04
  themselves without exposure to certain death. They were too well acquainted with the unerring
• 5:45:10
  aim of Boom's rifle to venture within its range. Keeping the log cabin between
• 5:45:15
  them and their redoubtable foe, the baffled Indians fled into the wilderness. Colonel
• 5:45:21
  Boone related this adventure with great glee, imitating the gestures of the bewildered Indians.
• 5:45:27
  He said that, notwithstanding his narrow escape, he could not resist the
• 5:45:32
  temptation as he reached the door of his cabin to look around to witness the
• 5:45:36
  effect of his achievement. The Indians, coughing, sneezing, blinded and almost
• 5:45:41
  suffocated by the tobacco dust, were throwing out their arms and groping about in
• 5:45:47
  all directions, cursing him for a rogue, and calling themselves fools. And
• 5:45:53
  of Chapter ten, Chapter eleven, Kentucky organized as a the close of the
• 5:46:02
  War of the Revolution, bringing peace between the colonies and the mother country.
• 5:46:07
  Deprived the Indians of that powerful alliance which had made them truly formidable, being
• 5:46:12
  no longer able to obtain a supply of ammunition from the British arsenals or to
• 5:46:17
  be guided in their murderous raids by British intelligence. They also, through their
• 5:46:22
  chiefs, entered into treaties of peace with the rapidly increasing immigrants. Though these
• 5:46:26
  treaties with the Indians prevented any general organization of the tribes, vagabond Indians,
• 5:46:33
  entirely lawless, were wandering in all directions, ever ready to perpetrate any outage.
• 5:46:38
  Civil society has its highway robbers, burglars and murderers. Much more so
• 5:46:45
  was this the case among these savages exasperated by many wrongs. For it cannot
• 5:46:51
  be denied that they were more frequently sinned against than sinning. Their untutored natures
• 5:46:56
  made but little distinction between the innocent and the guilty. If a vagabond white
• 5:47:02
  man wantonly shot an Indian, and many were as ready to do it as
• 5:47:06
  to shoot a wolf, the friends of the murdered Indian would take revenge upon
• 5:47:10
  the inmates of the first white man's cabin they encountered in the wilderness. Thus
• 5:47:15
  it was necessary for the pioneers to be constantly upon their guard. If they
• 5:47:18
  wandered any distance from the fort while hunting, or were hoeing in the field,
• 5:47:23
  or ventured to rear a cabin on a fertile meadow at a distance from
• 5:47:27
  the stations, they were liable to be startled at any hour of the day
• 5:47:32
  or of the night by the terrible war whoop, and to feel the weight
• 5:47:36
  of savage vengeance. This exposure to constant peril influenced the settlers, as a
• 5:47:41
  general rule, to establish themselves in stations. This gave them companionship, the
• 5:47:47
  benefits of cooperative labor, and security against any small prowling bands. These stations
• 5:47:53
  were formed upon the model of the one which Daniel Boone had so wisely organized
• 5:47:57
  at Boonsboro. They consisted of a cluster of bulletproof lie cabins arranged in a
• 5:48:03
  quadrangular form so as to enclose a large internal area. All the doors opened
• 5:48:08
  upon this interior space. Here the cattle were gathered at night. The intervals
• 5:48:14
  between the cottages were filled with palisades. Also, bullet proof loopholes through the
• 5:48:19
  logs enabled these riflemen to guard every approach to their fortress. Thus they had
• 5:48:25
  little to fear from the Indians when sheltered by these strong citadels. Emigration to
• 5:48:30
  Kentucky began very rapidly to increase. Large numbers crossed the mountains to Pittsburgh,
• 5:48:36
  where they took flat boats and floated down the beautiful Ohio until they reached such
• 5:48:41
  points on its southern banks as pleased them for a settlement or from which they
• 5:48:45
  could ascend the majestic rivers of that peerless state. Comfortable homesteads were fast rising
• 5:48:52
  in all directions. Horses, cattle, swine, and poultry of all kinds
• 5:48:57
  were multiplied. Farming utensils began to make their appearance. The hum of happy
• 5:49:03
  industry was heard where wolves had formerly howled and buffalo ranged. Merchandise in considerable
• 5:49:10
  quantities was transported over the mountains on pack horses, and then floated down the
• 5:49:15
  Ohio and distributed among the settlements upon its banks. Country stores arose, land
• 5:49:21
  speculators appeared, and continental paper money became a circulating medium. This money,
• 5:49:27
  however, was not of any great value, as may be inferred from the
• 5:49:32
  following decree passed by one of the county courts establishing the schedule of prices for
• 5:49:37
  tavern keeping. The court doth set the following rates to be observed by keepers
• 5:49:42
  in this county. Whiskey fifteen dollars, the half pint rum ten dollars,
• 5:49:48
  the gallon a meal twelve dollars. Stabling or pasturage four dollars the night.
• 5:49:56
  Under these changed circumstances. Colonel Boone, who whose intrepidity nothing could daunt,
• 5:50:02
  and whose confidence in the protective power of his rifle was unbounded, had reared
• 5:50:06
  for himself on one of the beautiful meadows of the Kentucky a commodious home.
• 5:50:11
  He had selected a spot whose fertility and loveliness pleased his artistic eye. It
• 5:50:17
  is estimated that during the years seventeen eighty three and seventeen eighty four, nearly
• 5:50:22
  twelve thousand persons emigrated to Kentucky. Still, all these had to move with
• 5:50:27
  great caution, with rifles always loaded and ever on the alert against surprise.
• 5:50:33
  The following incident will give the reader an idea of the perils and wild adventures
• 5:50:37
  encountered by these parties in their search for new and distant homes. Colonel Thomas
• 5:50:44
  Marshall, a man of much note in those days, had crossed the Alleghenies
• 5:50:48
  with his large family. At Pittsburgh, he purchased a flat boat and was
• 5:50:52
  floating down the Ohio. He had passed the mouth of the Kanawa River without
• 5:50:59
  any incident of note, occurring about ten o'clock one night, as his boat
• 5:51:03
  had drifted near the northern shore of the solitary stream. He was hailed by
• 5:51:07
  a man upon the bank, who, after inquiring who he was, where
• 5:51:11
  he was bound, et cetera, added, I have been posted here by
• 5:51:15
  order of my brother Simon Gerdy, to warn all boats of the danger of
• 5:51:21
  permitting themselves to be decoyed ashore. My brother regrets very deeply the injury he
• 5:51:26
  has inflicted upon the white men, and to convince them of the sincerity of
• 5:51:30
  his repentance and of his earnest desire to be restored to their society, he
• 5:51:36
  has stationed me here to warn all boats of the snares which are spread for
• 5:51:40
  them by the cunning of the Indians. Renegade white men will be placed upon
• 5:51:45
  the banks, who will represent themselves as in the greatest distress. Even children
• 5:51:49
  taken captive will be compelled, by threats of torture, to declare that they
• 5:51:53
  are all alone upon the shore, and to entreat the boats to come and
• 5:51:57
  rescue them. But keep in the middle of the river, said Gerdy,
• 5:52:02
  and steal your heart against any supplications you may hear. The colonel thanked him
• 5:52:07
  for his warning and continued to float down the rapid current of the stream.
• 5:52:12
  Virginia had passed a law establishing the town of Louisville at the falls of the
• 5:52:17
  Ohio. A very thriving settlement soon sprang up there. The nature of the
• 5:52:22
  warfare still continuing between the Whites and the Indians may be inferred from the following
• 5:52:29
  narrative, which we give in the words of Colonel Boone. The Indians continued
• 5:52:33
  to practice mischief secretly upon the inhabitants in the exposed part of the country.
• 5:52:38
  In October, a party made an incursion into a district called crab Orchard.
• 5:52:44
  One of these Indians, having advanced some distance before the others, boldly entered
• 5:52:48
  the house of a poor, defenseless family, in which was only a Negro
• 5:52:52
  man, a woman and her children. Terrified with apprehensions of immediate death.
• 5:52:59
  The savage, perceiving their defenseless condition, without offering violence to the family,
• 5:53:04
  attempted to capture the Negro, who happily proved an overmatch for him, and
• 5:53:08
  through the Indian on the ground. In the struggle, the mother of the
• 5:53:14
  children drew an axe from the corner of the cottage and cut off the head
• 5:53:17
  of the Indian while her little daughter shut the door. The savages soon appeared
• 5:53:22
  and applied their tomahawks to the door. An old, rusty gun barrel without
• 5:53:26
  a lock lay in the corner, which the mother put through a small crevice,
• 5:53:30
  and the savages, perceiving it, fled. In the meantime, the
• 5:53:36
  alarm spread through the neighborhood. The armed men collected immediately and pursued the savages
• 5:53:41
  into the wilderness. Thus providence, by means of this Negro saved the whole
• 5:53:47
  of the poor family from destruction. The heroism of Missus Merrill is worthy of
• 5:53:52
  being perpetuated not only as a wonderful achievement, but as an illustrative of the
• 5:53:57
  nature of this dreadful warfare. Mister Merrill, with his wife, little son,
• 5:54:03
  and daughter occupied a remote cabin in Nelson County, Kentucky, on the
• 5:54:08
  twenty fourth of December seventeen ninety one. He was alarmed by the barking of
• 5:54:12
  his dog, opening the door to ascertain the calls, he was instantly fired
• 5:54:18
  upon by seven or eight Indians who had crept near the house, secreting themselves
• 5:54:22
  behind stumps entrees. Two bullets struck him, fracturing the bones both of his
• 5:54:29
  leg and of his arm. The savages, with hideous yells then rushed for
• 5:54:33
  the door. Missus Merrill had but just time to close and bolt it when
• 5:54:38
  the savages plunged against it and hewed it with their tomahawks. Every dwelling was
• 5:54:45
  at that time a fortress whose log walls were bulletproof. But for the terrible
• 5:54:49
  wounds which mister Merrill had received, he would, with his rifle, shooting
• 5:54:55
  through loopholes, soon have put the savages to flight. Emboldened by the supposition
• 5:55:02
  that he was killed, cut away at the door till they had opened a
• 5:55:04
  hole sufficiently large enough to crawl through. One of the savages attempted to enter.
• 5:55:11
  He had got nearly in when Missus Merrill cleft his skull with an axe,
• 5:55:15
  and he fell lifeless upon the floor. Another, supposing that he had
• 5:55:19
  safely effected an entrance, followed him and encountered the same fate. Four or
• 5:55:25
  more of the savages were in this way dispatched when the others, suspecting that
• 5:55:30
  all was not right, climbed upon the roof, and the two of them
• 5:55:33
  endeavored to descend through the chimney. The noise they made directed the attention of
• 5:55:37
  the inmates of the cabin to the new danger. There was a gentle fire
• 5:55:42
  burning upon the hearth. Mister Merrill, with much presence of mind, directed
• 5:55:48
  his son, while his wife guarded the opening of the door with her axe
• 5:55:52
  to empty the contents of a feather bed upon the fire. The dense,
• 5:55:56
  smothering smoke filled the flu of the chimney. The two savages, suffocated with
• 5:56:02
  the fumes, after a few convulsive efforts to ascend, fell almost insensible down
• 5:56:07
  upon the hearth. Mister Merrill, seizing with his unbroken arm a billet of
• 5:56:12
  wood, despatched them both. But one of the Indians now remained peering in
• 5:56:18
  at the opening in the door. He received a blow from the axe of
• 5:56:22
  Missus Merrill, which severely wounded him. Bleeding and disheartened, he fled alone
• 5:56:26
  into the wilderness. The only one of the eight who survived the conflict,
• 5:56:32
  a white man who was at the time a prisoner among the Indians and who
• 5:56:36
  subsequently effected his escape, reported that when the wounded savage reached his tribe,
• 5:56:41
  he said to the white captive in broken English, I have bad news for
• 5:56:47
  the poor Indian. Me lose a son, me lose a broder. The
• 5:56:52
  squaws have taken the breech clout and fight worse than the long knives. But
• 5:56:57
  the Indians were not always the Indeed, it is doubtful whether they would have
• 5:57:03
  ever raised the war whoop against the white men had it not been for the
• 5:57:07
  outrages they were so constantly experiencing from unprincipled and vagabond adventurers who were ever infesting
• 5:57:14
  the frontiers. The following incident illustrates the character and conduct of these miscreants.
• 5:57:22
  A party of Indian hunters from the south, wandering through their ancient hunting grounds
• 5:57:26
  of Kentucky, accidentally came upon a settlement where they found several horses grazing in
• 5:57:32
  the field. They stole the horses and commenced a rapid retreat to their own
• 5:57:37
  country. Three young men, Davis, Caffrey and McClure, pursued them.
• 5:57:42
  Not being able to overtake the fugitives, they decided to make reprisals on the
• 5:57:48
  first Indian they should encounter. It so happened that they soon met three Indian
• 5:57:52
  hunters. The parties saluted each other in a friendly manner and proceeded on their
• 5:57:56
  way in pleasant companionship. The young men said that they observed the Indians conversing
• 5:58:03
  with one another in low tones of voice, and thus they became convinced that
• 5:58:07
  the savages meditated treachery. Resolving to anticipate the Indian's attack, they formed the
• 5:58:14
  following plan while walking together in friendly conversation, the Indians being entirely off their
• 5:58:21
  guard. Caffrey, who was a very powerful man, was to spring upon
• 5:58:25
  the lightest of the Indians, crush him to the ground, and thus take
• 5:58:29
  him a prisoner. At the same instant, Davis and mc clure were to
• 5:58:33
  shoot one of the other Indians, who, being thus taken by surprise,
• 5:58:37
  could offer no resistance. The signal was given, Caffrey sprang upon his victim
• 5:58:42
  and bore him to the ground. Mc clure shot his man dead. Davis's
• 5:58:48
  gun flashed in the pan. The Indian, thus narrowly escaping death, immediately
• 5:58:52
  aimed his gun at Caffrey, who was struggling with the one he had grappled,
• 5:58:57
  and instantly killed him. Mc clure, in his turn, shot the
• 5:59:02
  Indian. There was now one Indian and two white men, but the Indian
• 5:59:06
  had the loaded rifle. McClure's was discharged and Davis's missed fire. The Indians,
• 5:59:12
  springing from the grasp of his dying antagonist presented his rifle at Davis,
• 5:59:18
  who immediately fled hotly pursued by the Indian. McClure, stopping only to reload
• 5:59:23
  his gun, followed after them. Soon he lost sight of both. Davis
• 5:59:29
  was never heard of afterwards. Doubtless he was shot by the avenging Indian,
• 5:59:33
  who returned to his wigwam with the white man's scalp. McClure, after this
• 5:59:40
  bloody Fray, being left alone in the wilderness, commenced a return to his
• 5:59:44
  distant home. He had not proceeded far before he met an Indian on horseback
• 5:59:48
  accompanied by a boy on foot. The warrior dismounted and, in a token
• 5:59:53
  of peace, offered mc clure his pipe. As they were seated together upon
• 5:59:57
  a log conversing, mc cluura said that the Indian informed him by signs that
• 6:00:03
  there were other Indians in the distance who would soon come up, and that
• 6:00:07
  then they should take him captive, tie his feet beneath the horse's belly,
• 6:00:11
  and carry him off to their village. Mc clure seized his gun, shot
• 6:00:15
  the Indian through the heart and plunging into the forest, affected his escape.
• 6:00:21
  About this same time, Captain James Ward with a party of half a dozen
• 6:00:25
  white men, one of whom was his nephew, and a number of horses,
• 6:00:29
  was floating down the Ohio River from Pittsburgh. They were in a flat
• 6:00:33
  boat about forty five feet long and eight feet wide. The gunwale of the
• 6:00:37
  boat consisted of but a single pine plank. It was beautiful weather, and
• 6:00:42
  for several days they were swept along by the tranquil stream, now borne by
• 6:00:48
  the changing current towards the one shore and now towards the other. One morning,
• 6:00:52
  when they had been swept by the stream within about one hundred and fifty
• 6:00:56
  feet of the northern shore, suddenly several one hundred Indians appeared upon the bank,
• 6:01:02
  and uttering savage yells opened upon them a terrible fire. Captain Ward's nephew,
• 6:01:08
  pierced by a ball in the breast, fell dead in the bottom of
• 6:01:11
  the boat. Every horse was struck by a bullet, Some were instantly killed,
• 6:01:18
  others severely wounded, struggled so violently as to cause the frail bark to
• 6:01:23
  dip in the water, threatening immediate destruction. All the crew, except Captain
• 6:01:29
  Ward, were so panic stricken by this sudden assault that they threw themselves flat
• 6:01:33
  upon their faces in the bottom of the boat, and attempted no resistance,
• 6:01:37
  where even the exposure of a hand would be the target for a hundred rifles.
• 6:01:42
  Fortunately, Captain Ward was protected from this shower of bullets by a post
• 6:01:48
  which for some purpose had been fastened to the gunwale. He therefore retained his
• 6:01:52
  position at the helm, which was an oar, striving to guide the boat
• 6:01:56
  to the other side of the river. As the assailants had no canoes,
• 6:02:00
  they could not attempt to board, but for more than an hour they ran
• 6:02:04
  along the banks, yelling and keeping up an almost constant fire. At length
• 6:02:10
  the boat was swept to the other side of the stream, when the miscreants
• 6:02:14
  abandoned the pursuit and disappeared. Quite a large party of immigrants were attacked by
• 6:02:18
  the Indians near what is now called Skagg's Creek, and six were instantly killed.
• 6:02:25
  A Missus McClure, delirious with terror, fled she knew not where,
• 6:02:30
  followed by her three little children and carrying a little babe in her arms.
• 6:02:33
  The cries of the babe guided the pursuit of the Indians. They cruelly tomahawked
• 6:02:40
  the three oldest children and took the mother and the babe as captives. Fortunately,
• 6:02:45
  the tidings of this outrage speedily reached one of the settlements. Captain Whitley
• 6:02:49
  immediately started in pursuit of the gang. He overtook them, killed two,
• 6:02:55
  wounded two, and rescued the captives. Such were the scenes. And during
• 6:03:00
  a period of nominal peace with the Indians, there has been transmitted to us
• 6:03:06
  a very curious document giving an account of a speech made by mister Dalton,
• 6:03:11
  a government agent, to a council of the Indian chiefs, upon the announcement
• 6:03:15
  of peace with Great Britain, and their reply. Mister Dalton said, my
• 6:03:21
  children, what I have often told you is now come to pass. This
• 6:03:26
  day I received news from my great Chief at the falls of the Ohio.
• 6:03:30
  Peace is made with the enemies of America. The white flesh, the Americans,
• 6:03:36
  French and Spanish, this day smoked out of the peace pipe. The
• 6:03:40
  Tomahawk is buried, and they are now friends. I am told by the
• 6:03:44
  Shawanese, the Delawares, the Chickasaws, the Cherokees, and all other red
• 6:03:49
  flesh have taken the long knife by the hand. They have given up to
• 6:03:53
  them. The prisoners that were in their hands. My children on the Wabash,
• 6:03:59
  open your ears and let what I tell you sink into your hearts.
• 6:04:03
  You know me near twenty years I have been among you. The long Knife
• 6:04:08
  is my nation. I know their hearts. Peace they carry in one hand,
• 6:04:14
  and war in the other. I leave you to yourselves to judge,
• 6:04:18
  consider, and now accept the one or the other. We never beg peace
• 6:04:22
  of our enemies. If you love your women and children, receive the belt
• 6:04:26
  of the Wampom I present you return me my flesh you have in your villages,
• 6:04:32
  and the horses you stole from my people in Kentucky. Your cornfields were
• 6:04:36
  never disturbed by the long knife. Your women and children lived quiet in their
• 6:04:41
  houses while your warriors were killing and robbing my people. All this you know
• 6:04:47
  is the truth. This is the last time I shall speak to you.
• 6:04:51
  I have waited six moons to hear you speak and to get my people from
• 6:04:53
  you. In ten nights, I shall leave the Wabash to see my great
• 6:04:57
  chief at the falls of the Ohio, where he will be glad to hear
• 6:05:02
  from your own lips what you have to say. Here is tobacco. I
• 6:05:06
  give you smoke, and consider what I have said mister Dalton then presented Piankashaw,
• 6:05:12
  the chief of the leading tribe assembled in council, with a belt of
• 6:05:17
  blue and white wampalm. Pian Kashaw received the emblem of peace with much dignity
• 6:05:22
  and replied, my great father the long knife, you have been many years
• 6:05:27
  among us. You have suffered by us. We still hope you will have
• 6:05:32
  pity and compassion upon us, on our women and children. The sun shines
• 6:05:37
  on us, and the good news of peace appears in our faces. This
• 6:05:41
  is the day of joy to the Wabash Indians. With one tongue, we
• 6:05:45
  now speak. We accept your peace belt. We received the tomahawk from the
• 6:05:49
  English. Poverty forced us to it. We were followed by other tribes.
• 6:05:56
  We are sorry for it. Today we collect the scattered bones of our friends
• 6:06:00
  and bury them in one grave. We thus plant the tree of peace that
• 6:06:03
  God may spread its branches, so that we can all be secured from bad
• 6:06:07
  weather. Here is the pipe that gives us joy. Smoke out of it.
• 6:06:12
  Our warriors are glad you are the man we present it too. We
• 6:06:17
  have buried the tomahawk, have forigned friendship never to be broken, And now
• 6:06:22
  we smoke out of your pipe. My father. We know that the Great
• 6:06:26
  Spirit was angry with us for stealing your horses and attacking your people. He
• 6:06:30
  has sent us so much snow and cold weather as to kill your horses with
• 6:06:34
  our own. We are a poor people. We hope God will help us,
• 6:06:38
  and that the long knife will have compassion on our women and children.
• 6:06:42
  Your people who are with us are well. We shall collect them when they
• 6:06:47
  come in from hunting. All the prisoners taken in Kentucky are alive. We
• 6:06:52
  love them, and so do our young women. Some of your people mend
• 6:06:56
  our guns, and others tell us they can make rum out of corn.
• 6:07:00
  They are now the same as we, and one moon after this we will
• 6:07:04
  take them back to their friends in Kentucky. My father, this being the
• 6:07:10
  day of joy to the Wabash Indians, we beg a little drop of your
• 6:07:14
  milk to let our warriors see that it came from your own breast. We
• 6:07:18
  were born and raised in the woods. We could never learn to make rum.
• 6:07:22
  God has made the white men masters of the world. Having finished his
• 6:07:27
  speech, Piankashaw presented mister Dalton with three strings of blue and white wampalm as
• 6:07:33
  the seal of peace. All must observe the strain of despondency which pervades this
• 6:07:40
  address, And it is melancholy to notice the imploring tones with which the chief
• 6:07:45
  asks for rum the greatest curse which ever afflicted his people. The incessant petty
• 6:07:51
  warfare waged between vagrant bands of the Whites and the Indians, with the outrages
• 6:07:56
  perpetrated on either side, created great exasperation. In the year seventeen eighty four,
• 6:08:03
  there were many indications that the Indians were again about to combine in an
• 6:08:07
  attack upon the settlements. These stations were widely scattered, greatly exposed, and
• 6:08:12
  there were many of them. It was impossible for the pioneers to rally in
• 6:08:18
  sufficient strength to protect every position. The savages, emerging unexpectedly from the wilderness,
• 6:08:25
  could select their own point of attack, and could thus cause a vast
• 6:08:27
  amount of loss and misery. For a long time, it had been unsafe
• 6:08:33
  for any individual or even small parties, unless very thoroughly armed, to wander
• 6:08:38
  beyond the protection of the forts. Under these circumstances, a convention was held
• 6:08:44
  of the leading men of Kentucky at the Danville Station to decide what measures to
• 6:08:48
  adopt In view of the threatened invasion, it was quite certain that the movement
• 6:08:53
  of the savages would be so sudden and impetuous that the settlers would be compelled
• 6:08:59
  to rely mainly upon their own resources. The great State of Virginia, of
• 6:09:03
  which Kentucky was but a frontier portion, had become rich and powerful. But
• 6:09:08
  many weary leagues intervened. Leading through forests and over craggy mountains between the plains
• 6:09:15
  of these distant counties and Richmond, the capital of Virginia. The convention at
• 6:09:21
  Danville discussed the question whether it were not safer for them to anticipate the Indians
• 6:09:26
  and immediately to send an army for the destruction of their towns and crops north
• 6:09:30
  of the Ohio. But here they were embarrassed by the consideration that they had
• 6:09:34
  no legal power to make this movement, and that the whole question, momentous
• 6:09:40
  as it was and demanding immediate action, must be referred to the state government
• 6:09:45
  far away beyond the mountains. This involved long delay, and it could hardly
• 6:09:49
  be expected that the members of the General Court and their peaceful homes would fully
• 6:09:55
  sympathize with the unprotected settlers in their exposure to the Tomahawk and the Scalping Knights.
• 6:10:00
  Several conventions were held, and the question was earnestly discussed whether the interests
• 6:10:06
  of Kentucky did not require her separation from the government of Virginia and her organization
• 6:10:11
  as a self governing state. The men who had boldly ventured to seek new
• 6:10:15
  homes so far beyond the limits of civilization were generally men of great force of
• 6:10:21
  character and of political foresight. They had just emerged from the War of the
• 6:10:26
  Revolution, during which all the most important questions of civil pulity had been thoroughly
• 6:10:30
  canvassed. Their meetings were conducted with great dignity and calm deliberation. On the
• 6:10:38
  twenty third of May seventeen eighty five, the Convention at Danville passed the resolve
• 6:10:44
  with great unanimity that Kentucky ought to be separated from Virginia and received into the
• 6:10:49
  American Union upon the same basis as the other states. Still, that they
• 6:10:53
  might not act upon a question of so much importance without due deliberation, they
• 6:10:59
  referred this subject to another convention to be assembled at Danville in August. This
• 6:11:03
  convention reiterated the resolution of its predecessor, issued a proclamation urging the people everywhere
• 6:11:10
  to organize for defense against the Indians, and appointed a delegation of two members
• 6:11:15
  to procede to Richmond and present their request for a separation to the authorities there.
• 6:11:21
  The legislature of Virginia was composed of men too wise not to see that
• 6:11:25
  separation was inevitable, separated from the parent state by distance and by difficulties of
• 6:11:30
  communication in those days most formidable. They saw that Kentuckians would not long submit
• 6:11:37
  to be ruled by those whose power was so far removed as to surround every
• 6:11:41
  approach to it with the greatest embarrassment. It was without its wrongs and tyranny
• 6:11:48
  and misgovernment, the repetition of the circumstances of the crown and colonies, and
• 6:11:52
  with good judgment, and as the beautiful language of the Danville Convention expressed it,
• 6:11:57
  with sole intent to bless its people, they agreed to a dismemberment of
• 6:12:03
  its part to secure the happiness of the whole. It is not important here
• 6:12:07
  to enter into a detail of the various discussions which ensued and of the measures
• 6:12:12
  which were adopted. It is sufficient to say that the communication from Kentucky to
• 6:12:17
  the legislature of Virginia was referred to the illustrious John Marshall. Then, at
• 6:12:22
  the commencement of his distinguished career, he gave, to the request of the
• 6:12:26
  petitioners his own strong advocacy. The result was that a decree was passed,
• 6:12:33
  after tedious delays, authorizing the formal separation of Kentucky from Virginia. On the
• 6:12:38
  fourth of February seventeen ninety one, the new state, by earnest recommendation of
• 6:12:44
  George Washington, was admitted into the American Union. It does not appear that
• 6:12:49
  Colonel Boone was a member of any of these conventions. He had no taste
• 6:12:53
  for the struggles in political assemblies. He dreaded, indeed, the speculator,
• 6:12:59
  the life jobber, and the intricate decisions of the courts more than the tomahawk
• 6:13:03
  of the Indian And he knew full well that should the hour of action come,
• 6:13:08
  he would be one of the first to be summoned to the field.
• 6:13:12
  While therefore others of the early pioneers were engaged in these important deliberations, he
• 6:13:18
  was quietly pursuing those occupations congenial to his tastes of cultivating the farm or in
• 6:13:25
  hunting game. In the solitude of the forests. His humble cabin stood upon
• 6:13:29
  the banks of the Kentucky River, not far from the station at Boonsborough,
• 6:13:33
  and thoroughly acquainted as he was with the habits of the Indians, he felt
• 6:13:37
  quite able in his bullet proof citadel to protect himself from any maraudering bands which
• 6:13:44
  might venture to show themselves so near the fort. It seems to be the
• 6:13:48
  lot of humanity that life should be composed of a series of storms, rising
• 6:13:52
  one after another in the palace and in the cottage. In ancient days,
• 6:13:57
  and at the present time we find the sweep of the inexorable law that man
• 6:14:03
  is born to mourn, sorrow is for the sons of men, and weeping
• 6:14:08
  for Earth's daughters. The cloud of menaced Indian invasions had passed away, when
• 6:14:15
  suddenly the sheriff appears in Boone's little cabin and informs him that his title to
• 6:14:21
  his land is disputed, and that legal proceedings were commenced against him. Boone
• 6:14:26
  could not comprehend this Kentucky he regarded almost his own. By the right of
• 6:14:32
  his discovery, he had led the way there, he had established himself and
• 6:14:37
  family in the land and had defended it from the incursions of the Indians,
• 6:14:41
  And now, in his advancing years, to be driven from the few acres
• 6:14:45
  he had selected and to which he supposed he had a perfect title, seemed
• 6:14:51
  to him very unjust. Indeed, he could not recognize any right in what
• 6:14:56
  seemed to him but the quibbles of the lawyers. His autobiography, he wrote,
• 6:15:00
  in reference to his many painful adventures, my footsteps have often been marked
• 6:15:07
  with blood. Two darling sons and a brother have I lost by savage hands,
• 6:15:12
  which have also taken from me forty valuable horses and abundance of cattle.
• 6:15:18
  Many dark and sleepless nights have I been a companion for owls, separated from
• 6:15:23
  the cheerful society of men, scorched by the summer's sun and pinched by the
• 6:15:29
  winter's cold, an instrument ordained to settle the wilderness. Agitated by the thought
• 6:15:34
  of the loss of his farm, and deeply wounded in his feelings, as
• 6:15:37
  though a great wrong had been inflicted upon him, Boone addressed an earnest memorial
• 6:15:42
  to the Legislature of Kentucky. In this he stated that, immediately after the
• 6:15:48
  troubles with the Indians, had ceased. He located himself upon lands to which
• 6:15:52
  he supposed he had a perfect title, that he reared his house and commenced
• 6:15:57
  cultivating his fields. And after briefly enumerting the sacrifices he had made in exploring,
• 6:16:03
  settling, and defending Kentucky, he said he could not understand the justice
• 6:16:08
  of making a set of complicated forms of law superior to his actual occupancy of
• 6:16:14
  the land selected, as he believed, when and where it was, it
• 6:16:18
  was his unquestioned right to do so. But the lawyers and the land speculators
• 6:16:23
  were too shrewd for the pioneer. Colonel Boone was sued, the question went
• 6:16:29
  to the courts, which he detested, and Boone lost his farm. It
• 6:16:33
  was indeed a very hard case. He had penetrated the country when no other
• 6:16:38
  white man trod its soil. He discovered its wonderful resources and proclaimed them to
• 6:16:45
  the world. He had guided settlers into the region, and by his sagacity
• 6:16:49
  and courage, had provided for their wants and protected them from the savage.
• 6:16:55
  And now, in his declining years, he found himself driven from his farm,
• 6:17:00
  robbed of every acre, a houseless, homeless, impoverished man. The
• 6:17:06
  deed was so cruel that thousand cents in reading the recital had been agitated by
• 6:17:11
  the strongest emotions of indignation and grief, and of chapter eleven, Chapter twelve
• 6:17:21
  adventures romantic and perilous. The Indians still continued hostile. The following incident gives
• 6:17:29
  one an idea of the nature of the conflict which continued and of the perils
• 6:17:33
  which were encountered. There was a striving station where a few settlers were collected
• 6:17:38
  at a spot now called State Creek iron Works. One or two farmhouses were
• 6:17:45
  scattered around, but at such a short distance from the fort that their inmates
• 6:17:49
  could at once take refuge behind its log walls in case of alarm. In
• 6:17:53
  the month of August seventeen eighty six, a young man residing in the fort
• 6:18:00
  by the name of Yates called at one of these farmhouses and requested a lad
• 6:18:04
  Francis Downing to accompany him in search of a horse which had strayed away.
• 6:18:10
  The two friends set out together, and, after searching the forest in vain,
• 6:18:14
  found themselves the latter part of the afternoon in a lonely uninhabited valley nearly
• 6:18:19
  seven miles from the fort. Here, young Downing became quite alarmed by some
• 6:18:25
  indications that Indians were dogging their steps. He communicated his fears to his companion,
• 6:18:30
  but Yates, who was several years older than Downing, was an experienced
• 6:18:34
  hunter and inured to life in the woods, had become to a certain degree
• 6:18:40
  indifferent to danger. He made himself quite merry over his young companion's fears,
• 6:18:45
  asking him at what price he was willing to sell his scalp, and offering
• 6:18:48
  to insure it for sixpence. Still, Downing was not satisfied, and his
• 6:18:53
  alarm increased as he insisted that he occasionally heard the crack of dry twigs behind
• 6:18:59
  them, as if broken by someone pursuing. But Yates, deriding his fears,
• 6:19:04
  pressed on making the woods resound with a song, to which he gave
• 6:19:08
  utterance from unusually full and strong lungs. Downing gradually slackened his pace, and,
• 6:19:15
  when Yates was some thirty yards in advance of him, sprang into a
• 6:19:19
  dense cluster of tall wardleberry bushes, where he was effectually concealed. Scarcely had
• 6:19:26
  he done this, when, to his great terror, he saw two Indians
• 6:19:30
  peeping cautiously out of a thick cane brake. Deceived by the song of Yates,
• 6:19:36
  who with stentorian lungs, was still giving forth his woodland ditty. They
• 6:19:41
  supposed both had passed. Young Downing thought it impossible, but the savages must
• 6:19:47
  have seen him as he concealed himself Greatly alarmed, he raised his gun,
• 6:19:52
  intending to shoot one and to trust his heels for escape from the other.
• 6:19:56
  But his hand was so unsteady that the gun un went off before he had
• 6:20:00
  taken aim. Terror stricken, he rushed along the path Yates had trod.
• 6:20:06
  Yates, alarmed by the report of the gun, came running back. As
• 6:20:11
  they met the two Indians were seen not far from them in hot pursuit.
• 6:20:15
  They soon could easily see that the enemy was gaining upon them. In their
• 6:20:19
  rapid flight, they came to a deep gully, which Yates cleared at a
• 6:20:23
  bound, but Young Downing failed in the attempt. His breast struck the opposite
• 6:20:30
  almost precipitous bank, and he rolled to the bottom of the ditch. Some
• 6:20:34
  obstruction in the way prevented the Indians from witnessing the fall of Downing. They
• 6:20:40
  continued the pursuit of Yates, crossing the gully a few yards below where Downing
• 6:20:45
  had met his mishap. Thus, in less time than we had occupied in
• 6:20:49
  the narration, the Indians disappeared in their chase after Yates. Downing was in
• 6:20:56
  great perplexity. He did not dare to creep out of the gully, lest
• 6:21:00
  he should be seen. And as soon as the Indians should perceive that he
• 6:21:03
  was not with Yates, as they inevitably would ere long do, they would
• 6:21:08
  know that he was left behind, and would turn back for his capture.
• 6:21:12
  Unfortunately, young Downing had so far lost his presence of mind that he had
• 6:21:18
  failed to reload his gun. Just then he saw one of the savages returning
• 6:21:25
  evidently in search of him. There was no possible resource left but flight.
• 6:21:30
  Throwing away his now useless gun, he rushed into the forest with all the
• 6:21:36
  speed which terror could inspire. He was but a boy. The full grown
• 6:21:41
  Indian gained rapidly upon him, and he could almost strike him with his tomahawk.
• 6:21:45
  When they came to an immense tree blown up by the roots. The
• 6:21:49
  boy ran on one side of the trunk, and the Indian on the other,
• 6:21:53
  towards the immense pile of earth which adhered to the upturned roots. Now
• 6:22:00
  gave up all hope in utter despair. It seemed certain that the brawny Indian
• 6:22:04
  would get ahead of him and intercept his further flight. But it so happened.
• 6:22:11
  Was it an accident or was it a providence? That a she bear
• 6:22:15
  had made her bed directly in the path which the Indian, with almost blind
• 6:22:19
  eagerness, was pursuing. Here the ferocious beast was suckling her cubs. The
• 6:22:26
  bear sprang from her layer, and instantly, with a terrific hug, grasped
• 6:22:30
  the savage in her palls. The Indian gave a terrific yell and plunged his
• 6:22:36
  knife again and again into the body of the bear. The boy had but
• 6:22:41
  one brief glance, as in this bloody embrace they rolled over and over on
• 6:22:45
  the ground. The boy, praying that the bear might tear the Indian in
• 6:22:51
  pieces, added new speed to his flight and reached the fort in safety.
• 6:22:56
  There he found Yates, who had arrived but a few mon moments before him,
• 6:23:00
  and who had outrun the other Indian. The next morning, a well
• 6:23:04
  armed party returned to the tree. Both the bear and the Indian had disappeared.
• 6:23:11
  Probably both had suffered very severely in the conflict, and both had escaped
• 6:23:15
  with their lives. Another incident illustrative of these perilous adventures in the now peaceful
• 6:23:22
  state of Kentucky, mister Rowan, with his own and five other families,
• 6:23:27
  left the little hamlet at Louisville to float down the Ohio to Green River and
• 6:23:33
  to ascend that stream, intending to rear their new homes on its fertile and
• 6:23:38
  delightful banks. The families were quite comfortably accommodated in a large, flat bottomed
• 6:23:45
  boat. Another boat of similar construction conveyed their cattle and sundry articles of household
• 6:23:51
  furniture. On the route which they were pursuing. There were then no settlements.
• 6:23:56
  The Ohio River and the Green River flowed through unbroken solitudes. The flat
• 6:24:03
  boats had floated down the beautiful Ohio through the scenes of surpassing loveliness about one
• 6:24:08
  hundred miles when one night, about ten o'clock, a prodigious shouting and yelling
• 6:24:15
  of Indians was heard some distance farther down the river on the northern shore.
• 6:24:19
  Very soon they came in sight of their campfires, which were burning very brightly.
• 6:24:25
  It was evident that the Indians were having a great carousel. Rejoicing over
• 6:24:30
  some victory, mister Rowan immediately ordered the two boats to be lashed firmly together.
• 6:24:37
  There were but seven men on board who were capable of making efficient use
• 6:24:41
  of the rifle, plying the oars as vigorously and noiselessly as they could.
• 6:24:47
  They endeavored to keep close to the Kentucky shore, and yet they were careful
• 6:24:52
  not to approach too near lest there might be Indians there. Also, it
• 6:24:56
  was evident that there was a large gathering of the Indians on the northern for
• 6:25:00
  their camp fires extended for a distance of nearly half a mile along the river.
• 6:25:04
  As the boats floated noiselessly along in the gloom of the night under shadow
• 6:25:10
  of the cliffs, they were not detected until they were opposite the central fire,
• 6:25:15
  whose brilliancy threw a flood of light nearly across the stream. A simultaneous
• 6:25:21
  shout greeted this discovery, and with terrific yells, the savages rushed to their
• 6:25:26
  canoes and commenced a pursuit. The two flat boats rapidly floated beyond the illumination
• 6:25:33
  of the fires into the region of midnight darkness. The timid Indians well acquainted
• 6:25:38
  with the white men's unerring aim, pursued cautiously, though their hideous yells resounded
• 6:25:44
  along the shores. Mister Rowan ordered all on board to keep perfect silence,
• 6:25:51
  to conceal themselves as much as possible, and ordered not a gun to be
• 6:25:55
  fired till the Indians were so near that the powder of the gun would burn
• 6:25:59
  them, thus rendering every shot absolutely certain. The Indians, with their hideous
• 6:26:06
  yells, pursued in their canoes until within a hundred yards of the boats.
• 6:26:10
  They then seemed simultaneously to have adopted the conviction that the better part of valor
• 6:26:15
  was discretion. In the darkness, they could not see the boatmen, who
• 6:26:21
  they had no doubt were concealed behind bulletproof bulwarks. Their birch canoes presented not
• 6:26:26
  the slightest obstruction to the passage of a rifle ball. Knowing that the flash
• 6:26:32
  of a gun from the boat would be certain death to some one of their
• 6:26:36
  number, and that thus the boatmen, with the rapidity with which they could
• 6:26:40
  load and fire, would destroy a large part of their company before they could
• 6:26:45
  hope to capture the flat boats, they hesitated to approach any nearer, but
• 6:26:49
  followed in the pursuit for nearly three miles down the river, assailing the white
• 6:26:53
  men only with harmless yells. The heroic missus Rowan, as she saw the
• 6:27:00
  canoes approaching, supposing that the savages would attempt to board the boats, crept
• 6:27:04
  quietly around in the darkness, collected all the axes, and placed one by
• 6:27:10
  the side of each man, leaning the handle against his knee. While performing
• 6:27:15
  this significant act, she uttered not a word, but returned to her own
• 6:27:19
  seat in silence, retaining a sharp hatchet for herself. With such determined spirits
• 6:27:26
  to a sail, it was well for the savages that they did not approach
• 6:27:29
  within arm's length of those whom they were pursuing. They would certainly have met
• 6:27:33
  with a bloody reception. The savages, hearing of success, relinquished the pursuit
• 6:27:41
  and returned to their demoniac orgies around the campfires. It was supposed that they
• 6:27:47
  had captured a boat which was descending the river the day before, and that
• 6:27:51
  their extraordinary revelry was accompanied by the roasting of their captives. A son of
• 6:27:56
  mister Rowan, but ten years of age, who subsequently became one of the
• 6:28:00
  most distinguished men in Kentucky. Was present on this occasion, he frequently in
• 6:28:06
  after years, alluded to the indescribable sensations of sublimity and terror which the scene
• 6:28:11
  inspired. The gloom of the night, the solemn flow of the majestic river,
• 6:28:17
  the dim view of the forests on either side, the gleam of the
• 6:28:21
  campfires of the Indians, around which the half clad savages were dancing in hideous
• 6:28:26
  contortions. The unearthly yells in which every demoniac passion seemed contending for the mastery.
• 6:28:34
  The shout which was given when they discovered the boats beneath the shadows of
• 6:28:37
  the opposite cliffs. The pursuit of the canoes with redoubled vehemence of hooting,
• 6:28:42
  the rapidity with which, with brawny arms they paddled their boats to and fro,
• 6:28:48
  the breathless silence which pervaded the flat boat, while for more than an
• 6:28:52
  hour the occupants awaited, momentarily expecting the terrible onset. And above all,
• 6:29:00
  the fortitude and heroism displayed by his mother. All these combined to leave an
• 6:29:04
  impression upon the mind of the boy which could never be obliterated. Few will
• 6:29:10
  be able to read the record of this adventure without emotion. What then must
• 6:29:15
  it have been to have experienced it in bodily presence and to have shared in
• 6:29:19
  all its terrible dangers. As we have said before, there was no distinctly
• 6:29:26
  proclaimed war at this time between the pioneers and the Indians. While lawless men
• 6:29:30
  on both sides were committing the most atrocious outrages, the chiefs and the legitimate
• 6:29:37
  authorities were nominally at peace. The red men, whether engaged in what they
• 6:29:41
  deemed lawful warfare or moving and plundering bands, were in the habit of inflicting
• 6:29:47
  upon their captives the most dreadful tortures which their ingenuity could devise. The white
• 6:29:53
  men could not retaliate by the perpetration of such revolting cruelty. It was probably
• 6:30:00
  a suggestion of Colonel Boone that a council might be held with the Indian chiefs
• 6:30:03
  and a treaty formed by which prisoners should be exempted from torture and exchanged as
• 6:30:10
  in civilized warfare. The Indians were by no means reckless of the lives of
• 6:30:15
  their warriors, and would probably be very ready to give up a white captive
• 6:30:19
  if by so doing they could receive one of their own braves in return.
• 6:30:23
  A council was held at a station where Maysville now stands. Colonel Boone was
• 6:30:30
  at once selected as the man of all others most fit to take part in
• 6:30:34
  these deliberations. He was not only thoroughly acquainted with the Indians, their habits,
• 6:30:40
  their modes of thought, and the motives most likely to influence their minds,
• 6:30:45
  but his own peculiar characters seemed just the one calculated to inspire them with
• 6:30:49
  admiration. The principle was here adopted of an exchange of prisoners, which,
• 6:30:56
  notwithstanding the continued violence of the lawless, saved the lives of many captives.
• 6:31:03
  It is an interesting fact illustrative of the sagacity and extraordinary power of Colonel Boone
• 6:31:08
  over the Indian mind, that the chiefs, with one consent, agreed,
• 6:31:14
  in grateful commemoration of this treaty, that if any captive should hereafter be taken
• 6:31:18
  by them from Maysville, that captives should be treated with every possible degree of
• 6:31:25
  lenity. And it is worthy of record that such a captive was subsequently taken,
• 6:31:30
  and that the Indians, with the most scrupulous fidelity, fulfilled their pledge.
• 6:31:36
  Indeed, it is difficult for an impartial historian to deny that these poor
• 6:31:40
  savages, ignorant and cruel as they were, often displayed a sense of honor
• 6:31:45
  which we do not so often find in their opponents. It is to be
• 6:31:49
  feared that were Indian historians to write the record of these wars, we should
• 6:31:55
  not find that they were always in the wrong. Colonel Boone, ejected from
• 6:32:00
  his lands and thus left penniless, felt keenly the wrongs which were inflicted upon
• 6:32:04
  him. He knew full well that he had done a thousand times more for
• 6:32:10
  Kentucky than any other man, living or dead. He had conferred upon the
• 6:32:15
  state services which no money could purchase. Though to his intimate friends he confided
• 6:32:21
  his sufferings, he was too proud to utter loud complaints. In silence,
• 6:32:26
  he endured. But Kentucky had ceased to be a happy home for him.
• 6:32:32
  Over All its broad and beautiful expanse which he had opened to the world,
• 6:32:37
  there was not a single acre which he could call his own, and he
• 6:32:41
  had no money with which to purchase a farm. Of those speculators into whose
• 6:32:45
  hands most of the lands had fallen. Could the good old man now rise
• 6:32:49
  from his grave? A Kentucky legislature would not long leave him landless. There
• 6:32:56
  is scarcely a cabin or mansion in the whole state where Dean Boone would not
• 6:33:00
  meet with as hospitable a reception as grateful hearts could give. As a grief
• 6:33:07
  stricken child rushes to its mother's arms for solace. So it is natural for
• 6:33:11
  man, when world weary and struggling with adversity, to look back with longing
• 6:33:17
  eyes to the home of his childhood. The remembrance of its sunny days animates
• 6:33:22
  him, and its trivial sadnesses are forgotten. Thus, with Daniel Boone,
• 6:33:27
  houseless and stung by ingratitude, he turned his eyes to the far distant home
• 6:33:33
  of his childhood on the banks of the School Kill. More than forty years
• 6:33:38
  of a wonderfully adventurous life had passed since he, a boy of fourteen,
• 6:33:44
  had accompanied his father in his removal from Reading in Burke's County to North Carolina.
• 6:33:49
  Still, the remarkable boy had left traces behind him which were not yet
• 6:33:53
  obliterated. He visited Reading, probably influenced by a faint hope of finding a
• 6:34:00
  home there. A few of his former acquaintances were living, and many family
• 6:34:04
  friends remained. By all he was received with the greatest kindness. But the
• 6:34:11
  frontier settlement of log huts and the majestic surrounding forests filled with game had entirely
• 6:34:18
  disappeared. Ambitious mansions adorned the hillsides, and all the appliances of advancing civilization
• 6:34:25
  met the eye. There could be no home here for Daniel Boone. Amid
• 6:34:30
  these strange scenes, he felt as a stranger, and his heart yearned again
• 6:34:36
  for the solitudes of the forest. He longed to get beyond the reach of
• 6:34:40
  the lawyer's offices and courthouses and land speculators. After a short visit, he
• 6:34:47
  bade adieu forever to his friends upon the school kill, and turned his steps
• 6:34:52
  again towards the setting sun. His feelings had been too deeply wounded to allow
• 6:34:56
  him to think of remaining a man without a home Kentucky. Still, the
• 6:35:02
  idea of leaving a region endeared to him by so many memories must have been
• 6:35:07
  very painful. He remembered vividly his long and painful journeys over the mountains,
• 6:35:14
  through the wilderness untrodden by the foot of the white man, his solitary exploration
• 6:35:18
  of the new Eden which he seemed to have found there the glowing accounts he
• 6:35:23
  had carried back to his friends of the sunny skies, the salubrious climb,
• 6:35:30
  the fertile soil, and the majesty and loveliness of the landscape of mountain,
• 6:35:34
  valley, lake, and river, which Providence had lavished a prodigal hand in
• 6:35:40
  this garden of the Lord. One by one he had influenced his friends to
• 6:35:45
  emigrate, had led them to their new homes, had protected them against the
• 6:35:48
  savages. And now, when Kentucky had become a prosperous state in the Union,
• 6:35:53
  containing thirty thousand inhabitants, he was cast aside, and under the forms
• 6:36:00
  of law, was robbed of the few acres which he had cultivated as his
• 6:36:03
  own. His life. Embittered by these reflections, and seeing nothing to attract
• 6:36:08
  him in the wild and unknown regions beyond the Mississippi, Colonel Boone turned sadly
• 6:36:15
  back to Virginia. It was an easy task for him to remove. In
• 6:36:19
  such an hour, one can sometimes well say, blessed be nothing. A
• 6:36:26
  few pack horses were sufficient to convey all his household goods. It is probable
• 6:36:30
  that his wife and children, indignant at the treatment which the husband and father
• 6:36:36
  had received, were glad to leave. This was doubtless one of the saddest
• 6:36:41
  journeys that Colonel Boone ever undertook. Traversing an almost pathless wilderness and a direction
• 6:36:48
  a little north of east from Brunsboro, he crossed the various spears of the
• 6:36:52
  Allegheny Range, supporting his family with his rifle on the way, until after
• 6:36:59
  passing over three hundred miles of the wilderness, he reached the mouth of the
• 6:37:03
  Canawa River, as that stream flows from Virginia due north and empties into the
• 6:37:07
  Ohio River. Here there was a point of land washed by the Ohio on
• 6:37:14
  the north and the Great Kanawha on the west, to which the appropriate name
• 6:37:18
  of Point Pleasant had been given. It does not appear that civilization had as
• 6:37:23
  yet penetrated this region. The immigration to Kentucky had floated by it down the
• 6:37:29
  river descending from Pittsburgh, or had crossed the mountain passes from North Carolina several
• 6:37:34
  hundred miles to the south. Colonel Boone was now fifty five years of age.
• 6:37:41
  If there were any settlement at the time at Point Pleasant, it must
• 6:37:45
  have consisted merely of a few log huts. Here. At all events,
• 6:37:49
  Colonel Boone found the solitude and the communion with nature alone for which his heart
• 6:37:56
  yearned. The world might call him poor and stie bill, he was rich
• 6:38:00
  in the abundant supply of all his earthly wants. He reared his log hut
• 6:38:06
  where no one appeared to dispute his claim. The fertile soil around, a
• 6:38:11
  virgin soil rich with undeveloped treasures under the simplest culture produced abundantly, and the
• 6:38:18
  forest around supplied him daily with animal food more than a European peasant season a
• 6:38:25
  year. Here, Colonel Boone and his family remained for several years. To
• 6:38:30
  use a popular phrase, buried from the world. His life was mainly that
• 6:38:34
  of a hunter. Mister Peck speaking of the habits of those pioneers who depended
• 6:38:40
  mainly upon the rifle for support, right, I have often seen him get
• 6:38:45
  up early in the morning, walk hastily out and look anxiously to the woods
• 6:38:49
  and snuff the autumnal winds with the highest rapture. Then returned into the house
• 6:38:55
  and cast a quick and attentive look at the rifle, which was always suspended
• 6:38:59
  to a rejoiced by a couple of buckhorns or little forks. The hunting dog,
• 6:39:03
  understanding the intentions of his master, would wag his tail, and by
• 6:39:08
  every blandishment in his power, express his readiness to accompany him to the woods.
• 6:39:15
  It probably did not diminish Colonel Boone's interest in his new home, that
• 6:39:18
  it was exposed to all the perils of border life, that his rifle should
• 6:39:22
  ever be loaded, that his faithful watchdog should be stationed at the door to
• 6:39:27
  give warning of any approaching footsteps, and that he and his family should always
• 6:39:33
  be ready for a siege or battle. With these precautions, Moon had no
• 6:39:37
  more fear of assault from half a dozen vagabond Indians than he had from so
• 6:39:42
  many howling wolves. The casualties of life had greatly reduced his family. Of
• 6:39:48
  his three sons, the eldest had fallen beneath the arrow and the tomahawk of
• 6:39:53
  the savages amidst the gloomy defiles of the Allegheny Mountains. His second son was
• 6:40:00
  killed at the dreadful Battle of the Blue Licks, as his agonized father had
• 6:40:04
  been compelled to abandon him to the merciless foe. His third son, probably
• 6:40:11
  chagrined by the treatment which his father had received from the authorities of Kentucky had
• 6:40:15
  bidden adieu to all the haunts of civilized life, and traversing the wilderness towards
• 6:40:21
  the setting sun for many hundred miles, had crossed the Mississippi and sought a
• 6:40:26
  home in the wilds of Upper Louisiana, then under the dominion of Spain.
• 6:40:33
  As Boone was quietly engaged in his solitary vocation of farmer and hunter, where
• 6:40:37
  there were no books, no newspapers, nothing whatever to inform him of what
• 6:40:41
  was transpiring in the busy world of civilization or in the haunts of savage life.
• 6:40:47
  Two or three hunters came one day to his cabin, where, of
• 6:40:51
  course they met with a very hospitable reception. It was not difficult to entertain
• 6:40:56
  guests in those days. The floor of the cabin supplied all the needed accommodations
• 6:41:00
  for lodging. Each guest, with his rifle, could easily furnish more food
• 6:41:06
  than was desired for the whole family. A little corn meal, very coarsely
• 6:41:11
  ground in what was called a tubmeal, gave quite a variety of palatable food.
• 6:41:15
  Boiled in water, it formed a dish called mush, which, when
• 6:41:19
  eaten with milk, honey, or butter, presented truly a delicious repast for
• 6:41:25
  hungry mouths. Mixed with cold water, it was ready to be baked.
• 6:41:30
  When covered with hot ashes, it emerged smoking from the glowing embers in the
• 6:41:34
  form of ash cake. When baked upon a shingle and placed before the coals,
• 6:41:38
  it was termed journey cake, so called because it could be so speedily
• 6:41:44
  prepared. This name has been corrupted in modern times into Johnny cake. When
• 6:41:49
  baked upon a heafless hoe, it formed the hoe cake. When baked in
• 6:41:55
  a kettle covered with a heated lid. If in one large cake, it
• 6:41:59
  was called a pone or loaf. If in quite a number of small cakes,
• 6:42:03
  they were called dodgers. Cornflour seems to have been peculiarly prepared by the
• 6:42:08
  Providence for the pioneers. For them, it possesses some very great advantages over
• 6:42:14
  all the other flour. It requires but few and the most simple cooking utensils.
• 6:42:19
  It can be rendered very palatable without either yeast, eggs, sugar,
• 6:42:23
  or spices of any kind. It can easily be raised in the greatest abundance,
• 6:42:29
  and affords the most wholesome and nutritious foods. Let pagans writes mister Hartley
• 6:42:34
  be sung all over the mighty West to the Indian corn. Without it,
• 6:42:40
  the West would still have been a wilderness. Was the frontier suddenly invaded without
• 6:42:45
  commissary or quartermaster, or other sources of supply, each soldier parched a peck
• 6:42:51
  of corn, a portion of it was put into his pockets, and the
• 6:42:56
  remainder in his wallet, and throwing it upon his saddle with his right on
• 6:43:00
  his shoulder, he was ready in half an hour for the campaign. Did
• 6:43:03
  a flood of immigration inundate the frontier with an amount of consumers disproportioned to the
• 6:43:10
  supply of grain? The facility of raising the Indian corn and its early maturity
• 6:43:15
  gave promise and guarantee that the scarcity would be temporary and tolerable. Did the
• 6:43:22
  safety of the frontier demand the services of every adult militia man the boys and
• 6:43:27
  women could themselves raise corn and furnish ample supplies of bread. Did an autumnal
• 6:43:34
  intermittent confine the whole family or the entire population to the sick bed? This
• 6:43:40
  certain concoctment of the clearing and cultivating the new soil mercifully withholds its paroxysms till
• 6:43:48
  the crop of corn is made. It requires no further labor or care afterwards,
• 6:43:55
  Pagans say, we and a temple of worshiping to the creator of Indian
• 6:43:59
  corn worn. The hunters to whom we referred were indeed congenial companions to Daniel
• 6:44:07
  Boone, As day after day they accompanied him in the chase, and night
• 6:44:11
  after night sat by the blaze of his cabin fire, related to him the
• 6:44:15
  adventures they had encountered far away beyond the Mississippi. The spirit of his youth
• 6:44:21
  revived within him, an irrepressible desire sprang up in his heart again to become
• 6:44:26
  a pioneer in the pathless forest which he loved so well. It is not
• 6:44:32
  improbable also that his parental feelings might have been aroused by the consideration that his
• 6:44:37
  son had gone before him to that distant land, and that he might have
• 6:44:41
  been animated by the hope of being reunited with him In his declining years.
• 6:44:47
  The hunters represented to him that another Kentucky could be found beyond the Father of
• 6:44:52
  Waters, that the game was abundant and would be inexhaustible until long after his
• 6:44:57
  earthly pilgrimage should end. That the Spanish government, desirous of promoting immigration,
• 6:45:03
  were ready to make the most liberal grants of land to any man who would
• 6:45:08
  rear a cabin and commence the cultivation of the soil that over an expanse of
• 6:45:14
  hundreds of miles, of a sunny climb, and as luxurious soil as heart
• 6:45:18
  could desire, he could select his broad acres with no fear of ever again
• 6:45:23
  being ejected from his home. These representations were resistless. Colonel Boone decided again
• 6:45:32
  to become a wanderer to the far West, though it involved the relinquishment of
• 6:45:37
  American citizenship and becoming a subject of the Crown of Spain. The year seventeen
• 6:45:42
  ninety five had now come, as Colonel Boone gathered up a few of his
• 6:45:47
  household goods for the fourth great remove of his life. He was born on
• 6:45:52
  the banks of the Delaware. His childhood was passed amidst the solitudes of the
• 6:45:56
  Upper Schoolkill. His early manhood, where he reared his cabin and took to
• 6:46:02
  it. His worthy bride was in North Carolina, thence penetrating the wilderness through
• 6:46:07
  adventures surpassing the dreams of romance. He had passed many years amidst the most
• 6:46:12
  wonderful vicissitudes of quietude and of agitation, of peace and of war on the
• 6:46:19
  settlement of which he was the father At Boonsborough in the valley of the Kentucky
• 6:46:25
  River. Robbed of the possessions which he had earned a hundred times over,
• 6:46:30
  he had sought a temporary residence at Point Pleasant in Virginia, And now,
• 6:46:34
  as he was approaching the termination of his threescore years, he was prepared to
• 6:46:40
  traverse the whole extent of Kentucky, from the Allegheny border on the east to
• 6:46:45
  the mighty flood of the Mississippi, which then upon the west, rushed with
• 6:46:49
  its turbid flood through an almost unbroken solitude. It was a long, long
• 6:46:55
  journey. We can only surmise the reasons why he did did not float down
• 6:47:00
  the Ohio in a flat boat. It may be said that he was entirely
• 6:47:04
  unaccustomed to boating, and as it does not appear that any other families joined
• 6:47:08
  him in the enterprise, his solitary boat would be almost certain to be attacked
• 6:47:14
  and captured by some of the maraudering bands which frequented the northern banks of the
• 6:47:18
  Ohio. Colonel Boone was perfectly at home in the wilderness. He could always
• 6:47:25
  find a path for himself where there was no trail to follow, and but
• 6:47:29
  few Indians now ventured into the interior of the state, we have no record
• 6:47:33
  of the journey. He reached the Mississippi, safely crossed the river into what
• 6:47:38
  is now the state of Missouri, and found a warm greeting in the cabin
• 6:47:42
  of his son, Daniel M. Boone, who had established himself upon the
• 6:47:47
  western banks of the river, near where the city of Saint Louis now stands
• 6:47:52
  end of Chapter twelve, Chapter thirteen, a new home at the time.
• 6:48:00
  And when Colonel Boone crossed the Mississippi and entered Missouri, the Spanish government,
• 6:48:03
  then in possession of that territory, being anxious to promote the settlement of the
• 6:48:07
  country, gave a very cordial welcome to all immigrants. The fame of Colonel
• 6:48:12
  Boone, as one of the most bold and valuable of pioneers, had preceded
• 6:48:17
  him. The Lieutenant governor under the Spanish Crown, who resided at Saint Louis,
• 6:48:22
  received him with marked attention and gave him the assurance that ample portions of
• 6:48:26
  land should be given to him and his family. Colonel Boone took up his
• 6:48:32
  residence with his son and what is called the femme Osage District. The Spanish
• 6:48:37
  authorities appointed him Commandant of the district, which was an office of both civil
• 6:48:42
  and military power. His commission was dated July eleventh, eighteen hundred. Remote
• 6:48:48
  as was this region from the Atlantic States, bold adventurers, lured by the
• 6:48:52
  prospect of obtaining large tracts of land, were rapidly pouring in. Instead of
• 6:48:59
  collecting together, they scattered wildly over the vast domain. Don Charles, the
• 6:49:04
  Spanish governor, gave Colonel Boone eight thousand acres of land on the north side
• 6:49:08
  of the Missouri River. By the law of the providence, he was bound
• 6:49:14
  to build upon some part of this land a house within a year, and
• 6:49:18
  also to obtain a confirmation of the grant from the representative of the Spanish Crown
• 6:49:23
  then residing in New Orleans. Both of these precautions the simple minded man neglected
• 6:49:30
  to adopt. To visit New Orleans required a journey through the wilderness of more
• 6:49:34
  than a thousand miles. Though he might float down the stream in his boat,
• 6:49:40
  he would be exposed continually to attacks from the Indians, on its banks,
• 6:49:44
  and when ready to return, he could not surmount the rapid current of
• 6:49:48
  the river in his boat, but would be compelled to traverse the winding banks,
• 6:49:52
  often through almost impenetrable forests and morasses. His duties as syndic or justice
• 6:50:00
  of the peace also occupied much of his time, and the Lieutenant governor at
• 6:50:04
  Saint Louis agreed to dispense with his residence upon his lands. In addition to
• 6:50:10
  this, Colonel Boone had no doubt that the country would soon come under the
• 6:50:14
  power of the United States, and he could not believe the United States government
• 6:50:18
  would disturb his title. Soon after Boone's immigration to Missouri, the Emperor Napoleon,
• 6:50:23
  by treaty with Spain, obtained possession of the whole of the vast region
• 6:50:29
  west of the Mississippi and Missouri, then known as Louisiana, and the region
• 6:50:33
  was transferred to France. It is a curious fact in the history of Boone,
• 6:50:38
  passing through such wonderful adventures, that he had been a subject of George
• 6:50:44
  the second George the third, a citizen of the United States of the temporary
• 6:50:48
  nationality of Transylvania, an adopted son and citizen of the Shawnese tribe of Indians,
• 6:50:55
  a subject of Charles the fourth of Spain, and now he found himself
• 6:50:59
  as subject of the first Napoleon, whose empire was then filling the world with
• 6:51:03
  its renown. Not long after this, the Emperor sold the country, as
• 6:51:08
  we have recorded, to the United States, saying that with prophetic wisdom which
• 6:51:14
  characterized this extraordinary man, I have now given England a rival upon the seas.
• 6:51:21
  The fulfillment of this prophecy has since then been every hour in process of
• 6:51:26
  development. Colonel Boone seems to have been very happy in his new home.
• 6:51:30
  He still enjoyed his favorite pursuit of hunting, for the forests around him were
• 6:51:36
  filled with game and with animals, whose rich furs were every year becoming more
• 6:51:41
  valuable. The distinguished naturalist J. J. Audubon visited him in his solitary
• 6:51:47
  retreat and spent a night with him. In his Ornithological Biography, he gives
• 6:51:52
  the following narrative which he received from Boone that evening as they sat at the
• 6:51:56
  cabin fire. We give the story in the words of the news Daniel Boone,
• 6:52:02
  or as he was usually called in the Western country. Colonel Boone happened
• 6:52:07
  to spend a night with me under the same roof. More than twenty years
• 6:52:10
  ago, we had returned from a shooting excursion, in the course of which
• 6:52:15
  his extraordinary skill in the management of the rifle had been fully displayed. On
• 6:52:19
  retiring to the room appropriated to that remarkable individual and myself for the night,
• 6:52:26
  I felt anxious to know more of his exploits and adventures than I did,
• 6:52:30
  and accordingly took the liberty of proposing numerous questions to him. The stature and
• 6:52:34
  general appearance of this wanderer of the Western forests approached the gigantic. His chest
• 6:52:41
  was broad and prominent, his muscular powers displayed themselves in every limb. His
• 6:52:47
  countenance gave indication of his great courage, enterprise, and perseverance, And when
• 6:52:52
  he spoke, the very motion of his lips brought the impression that whatever he
• 6:52:56
  uttered could not be otherwise than strictly true. I undressed, while he merely
• 6:53:03
  took off his hunting shirt and arranged a few folds of blankets on the floor,
• 6:53:07
  choosing rather to lie there, as he observed, than on the softest
• 6:53:11
  bed. When we had both disposed of ourselves, each after his own fashion,
• 6:53:15
  he related to me the following account of his powers of memory, which
• 6:53:19
  I lay before your kind reader in his own words, hoping that the simplicity
• 6:53:23
  of his style may prove interesting to you. I was once, said he,
• 6:53:30
  on a hunting expedition on the banks of the Green River, when the
• 6:53:33
  lower parts of Kentucky were still in the hands of nature, and none but
• 6:53:37
  the sons of the soil were looked upon as its lawful proprietors. We Virginians
• 6:53:42
  had for some time been waging a war of intrusion upon them, and I,
• 6:53:47
  among the rest, rambled through the woods in pursuit of their race,
• 6:53:51
  as I now would follow the tracks of any ravenous animal. The Indians outwitted
• 6:53:56
  me one dark night, and I was as unexpectedly as suddenly made a prisoner
• 6:54:00
  by them. The trick had been managed with great skill, for no sooner
• 6:54:04
  had I extinguished the fire of my camp and laid me down to rest in
• 6:54:08
  full security, as I thought, than I felt seized by an undistinguishable number
• 6:54:15
  of hands, and was immediately pinioned, as if about to be led to
• 6:54:18
  the scaffold for execution. To have attempted to be refractory would have proved useless
• 6:54:25
  and dangerous to my life, and I suffered myself to be removed from my
• 6:54:29
  camp to theirs a few miles distant, without uttering a word of complaint.
• 6:54:33
  You are aware, I dare say that to act in this manner was the
• 6:54:37
  best policy, as you understand that by so doing, I proved the Indians
• 6:54:42
  at once that I was born and bred as fearless of death as any of
• 6:54:47
  themselves. When we reached the camp, great rejoicings were exhibited. Two squalls
• 6:54:52
  and a few papooses appeared particularly delighted at the sight of me, and I
• 6:54:57
  was assured by every unequivocal gesture and word that on the morrow, the mortal
• 6:55:03
  enemy of the Red Skins would cease to live. I never opened my lips,
• 6:55:08
  but was busy contriving some scheme which might enable me to give the rascals
• 6:55:12
  a slip before dawn. The women immediately fell a searching about my hunting shirt
• 6:55:18
  for whatever they might think valuable, and fortunately for me, soon found my
• 6:55:23
  flask filled with strong whiskey. A terrific grin was exhibited on their murderous countenances,
• 6:55:30
  while my heart throbbed with joy at the anticipation of their intoxication. The
• 6:55:36
  crew began immediately to beat their bellies and sing as they passed the bottle from
• 6:55:41
  mouth to mouth. How often did I wish the flask ten times its side
• 6:55:47
  and filled with aquafortis. I observed that the squaws drank more freely than the
• 6:55:52
  warriors, and again my spirits were about to be depressed. When the report
• 6:55:56
  of a gun was heard at a distance. The Indian all jumped to their
• 6:56:00
  feet. The singing and drinking were both brought to a stand, and I
• 6:56:04
  saw with inexpressible joy the men walk off to some distance and talk to the
• 6:56:10
  squalls. I knew that they were consulting about me, and I foresaw that
• 6:56:14
  in a few moments the warriors would go to discover the calls of the gun
• 6:56:18
  having been fired so near their camp. I expected that the squalls would be
• 6:56:22
  left to guard me. Well, sir, it was just so they returned.
• 6:56:29
  The men took up their guns and walked away. The squalls sat down
• 6:56:33
  again, and in less than five minutes had my bottle up to their dirty
• 6:56:36
  mouths, gurgling down their throats the remains of the whiskey. With pleasure did
• 6:56:41
  I see them becoming more and more drunk, until the liquor took such hold
• 6:56:45
  of them that it was quite impossible for these women to be of any service.
• 6:56:51
  They tumbled down, rolled about, and began to snore. When I,
• 6:56:55
  having no other chance of freeing myself from the cords that fastened me,
• 6:56:59
  rolled over and over towards the fire, and after a short time burned them
• 6:57:03
  asunder. I rose on my feet, snatched up my rifle, and for
• 6:57:07
  once in my life, spared that of the Indians. I now recollected how
• 6:57:12
  desirous I once or twice felt to lay open the skulls of the wretches with
• 6:57:17
  my tomahawk. But when I again thought upon killing beings unprepared and unable to
• 6:57:22
  defend themselves, it looked like murder without need, and I gave up the
• 6:57:26
  idea. But Sir, I felt determined to mark the spot, and,
• 6:57:30
  walking to a thrifty ash sapling, I cut out of it three large chips
• 6:57:36
  and ran off. I soon reached the river, soon crossed it, and
• 6:57:41
  threw myself into the cane brakes, imitating the tracks of an Indian with my
• 6:57:45
  feet, so that no chance might be left for those from whom I had
• 6:57:48
  escaped to overtake me. It is now nearly twenty years since this happened,
• 6:57:53
  and more than five since I left the White settlement, which I might never
• 6:57:56
  probably have visited again had I not been called upon as a witness in a
• 6:58:00
  lawsuit which was pending in Kentucky, and which I really believe would never have
• 6:58:06
  been settled had I not come forward and established the beginning of a certain boundary
• 6:58:10
  line. The story is this, Sir mister Blank moved from Old Virginia into
• 6:58:15
  Kentucky, and, having a large tract granted to him in the new state,
• 6:58:21
  laid claim to a certain parcel of land adjoining the Green River, and,
• 6:58:25
  as chance would have it, took for one of his corners the very
• 6:58:29
  ash tree on which I had made my mark, beginning as it is expressed
• 6:58:33
  in the deed, at an ash marked by three distinct notches of the tomahawk
• 6:58:37
  of a white man. The tree had grown much, and the bark had
• 6:58:41
  covered the marks. But somehow or other, mister Blank had heard from someone
• 6:58:47
  all that I have already said to you, and, thinking that I might
• 6:58:49
  remember the spot alluded to in the deed, but which was no longer discoverable,
• 6:58:56
  wrote for me to come and try at least to find the place or
• 6:58:59
  the tree. His letter mentioned that all my expenses should be paid. And
• 6:59:03
  not caring much about once more, going back to Kentucky, I started and
• 6:59:08
  met mister Blank. After some conversation the affair with the Indians came to my
• 6:59:14
  recollection. I considered for a while and began to think that, after all,
• 6:59:18
  I could find the very spot as well as the tree, if it
• 6:59:22
  were yet standing. Mister Blank and I mounted our horses, and off we
• 6:59:26
  went to the Green River bottoms. After some difficulty, for you must be
• 6:59:32
  aware, sir, that great changes have taken place in those woods, I
• 6:59:36
  found at last the spot where I had crossed the river, and, waiting
• 6:59:40
  for the moon to rise, made for the course in which I thought the
• 6:59:42
  ash trees grew. On approaching the place, I felt as if the Indians
• 6:59:47
  were there still, and as if I were still a prisoner among them.
• 6:59:52
  Mister Blank and I camped near what I conceived the spot, and waited until
• 6:59:56
  the return of day. At the of the sun, I was on foot,
• 7:00:02
  and, after a good deal of musing, thought that an ash tree
• 7:00:04
  then in sight must be the very one on which I had made my mark.
• 7:00:08
  I felt as if there could be no doubt about it, and mentioned
• 7:00:11
  my thought to mister Blank. Well, Colonel Boone said, he if you
• 7:00:17
  think so, I hope that it may prove true. But we must have
• 7:00:21
  some witnesses. Do you stay hereabouts, and I will go and bring back
• 7:00:26
  some of the settlers whom I know. I agreed. Mister Blank trotted off,
• 7:00:32
  and I, to pass the time, rambled about to see if a
• 7:00:34
  deer was still living in the land. But ah, sir, what a
• 7:00:40
  wonderful difference thirty years makes in a country. Why at the time when I
• 7:00:45
  was caught by the Indians, you would not have walked out in any direction
• 7:00:48
  more than a mile without shooting a buck or a bear. There were then
• 7:00:52
  thousands of buffaloes on the hills in Kentucky. The land looked as if it
• 7:00:56
  never would become poor, And to hunt in those days was a pleasure,
• 7:01:00
  indeed. But when I was left to myself on the banks of the Green
• 7:01:04
  River, I dare say, for the last time in my life, a
• 7:01:08
  few signs only of the deer were seen, And as to a deer itself,
• 7:01:14
  I saw none. Mister Blank returned, accompanied by three gentlemen. They
• 7:01:19
  looked upon me as if I had been Washington himself, and walked to the
• 7:01:25
  ash tree, which I now call my own, as if in quest of
• 7:01:27
  a long lost treasure. I took an axe from one of them and cut
• 7:01:33
  a few chips off the bark. Still no signs were to be seen,
• 7:01:37
  so I cut again, until I thought it time to be cautious, and
• 7:01:41
  I scraped and worked away with my butcher knife until I did come to where
• 7:01:44
  my tomahawk had left an impression on the wood. We now went regularly to
• 7:01:48
  work and scraped at the tree with care, until three hacks, as plain
• 7:01:52
  as any three notches ever were, could be seen. Mister Blank and the
• 7:01:57
  other gentlemen were astonished, and I must allow that I was as much surprised
• 7:02:03
  as pleased myself. I made affidavit of this remarkable occurrence in presence of these
• 7:02:08
  gentlemen. Mister Blank gained his calls. I left Green River forever and came
• 7:02:15
  to where we are now, and sir, I wish you a good night.
• 7:02:19
  The life of this wonderful man was filled with similar adventures, many of
• 7:02:25
  which can now never be recalled. The following narrative will give the reader an
• 7:02:30
  idea of the scenes which were continually occurring in those bloody conflicts between the white
• 7:02:36
  settlers and the Indians. A widow was residing in a lonely log cabin,
• 7:02:41
  remote from any settlers in what is now Bourbon County, Kentucky. Her lonely
• 7:02:47
  hut consisted of but two rooms. One the aged widow occupied herself with two
• 7:02:53
  sons and a widowed daughter with an infant child. The other was tenanted by
• 7:02:59
  her three un married daughters, the oldest of whom was twenty years of age.
• 7:03:03
  It was eleven o'clock at night, and the members of the industrious family
• 7:03:07
  and their lonely habitation had retired, with the exception of one of the daughters
• 7:03:11
  and one of the sons, who was keeping her company. Some indications of
• 7:03:17
  danger had alarmed the young man, though he kept his fears to himself.
• 7:03:22
  The cry, apparently of owls in an adjoining forest was heard, answering each
• 7:03:26
  other in a rather unusual way. The horses in the enclosure by the side
• 7:03:32
  of the house, who seemed to have an instinct informing them of the approach
• 7:03:34
  of the Indians, seemed much excited and galloped around, snorting with terror.
• 7:03:41
  Soon steps were heard in the yard, and immediately several loud knocks were made
• 7:03:45
  at the door, with someone inquiring in good English, who keeps this house.
• 7:03:51
  The young man, very imprudently, was just unbarring the door when the
• 7:03:56
  mother sprang from the bed, exclaiming that they were Indians. The whole family
• 7:04:00
  was immediately aroused, and the young men seized their guns. The Indians now
• 7:04:07
  threw off all disguise and began to thunder at the door, endeavoring to break
• 7:04:11
  it down through a loophole prepared for such an emergency. A rifle shot discharged
• 7:04:18
  at the savages compelled a precipitate retreat. Soon, however, they cautiously returned
• 7:04:23
  and attacking the other end of the cabin, where they found a point not
• 7:04:26
  exposed to the fire from within. They succeeded at length in breaking through and
• 7:04:32
  entered the room occupied by the three girls. One of them they seized and
• 7:04:37
  bound. Her. Sister made desperate resistance and stabbed one of the Indians to
• 7:04:41
  the heart with a large knife which she was using at the loom. They
• 7:04:45
  immediately tomahawked her and she fell dead upon the floor. The little girl.
• 7:04:51
  In the gloom of midnight, they had overlooked. The poor little thing ran
• 7:04:56
  out of the door, and might have escaped had she not, in her
• 7:04:59
  tear lost all self control and ran around the house, wringing her hands and
• 7:05:03
  crying bitterly. The brothers, agonized by the cries of their little sisters,
• 7:05:08
  were just about opening the door to rush out to her rescue, when their
• 7:05:12
  more prudent mother declared that the child must be abandoned to its fate, that
• 7:05:18
  any attempt to save her would not only be unavailing, but would insure the
• 7:05:22
  certain destruction of them all. Just then the child uttered a most frantic scream.
• 7:05:30
  They heard the dull sound as of a tomahawk falling upon the brain.
• 7:05:34
  There were a few convulsive moans, and all again was silent. It was
• 7:05:41
  but too evident to all what these sounds signified. Presently, the crackling of
• 7:05:45
  flames was heard, and through the portholes could be seen the glare of the
• 7:05:49
  rising conflagration, while the shouts of the savages grew more exultant. They had
• 7:05:56
  set fire to the end of the building occupied by the daughters. The logs
• 7:06:00
  were dry as tender, and the devouring element was soon enveloping the whole building
• 7:06:06
  in its fatal embrace. To remain in the cabin was certain death in its
• 7:06:11
  most appalling form, and rushing out there was a fer possibility that some might
• 7:06:15
  escape. There was no time for reflection. The hot, stifling flames and
• 7:06:22
  smothering smoke were rolling in upon them, and when they opened the door and
• 7:06:26
  rushed out into the outer air, endeavoring as soon as possible to reach the
• 7:06:30
  gloom of the forest. The old lady, aided by her eldest son,
• 7:06:34
  ran in one direction towards a fence, while the other daughter, with her
• 7:06:38
  infant in her arms, accompanied by the younger of the brothers, ran in
• 7:06:42
  another direction. The fire was blazing so fiercely as to shed all round the
• 7:06:48
  light of day. The old lady had just reached the fence when several rifle
• 7:06:52
  balls pierced her body and she fell dead. Her son, almost miraculously escaped
• 7:06:59
  and keeping the fence, plunged into the forest and disappeared. The other party
• 7:07:03
  was pursued by the Indians, with loud yells, throwing down their guns which
• 7:07:10
  they had discharged. The savages rushed upon the young man and his sister with
• 7:07:15
  their gleaming tomahawks gallantly. The brother defended his sister, firing upon the savages
• 7:07:22
  as they came, rushing on, and then assailing them with the butt of
• 7:07:25
  his musket, which he wielded with the fury of despair. He fought with
• 7:07:29
  such herculean strength as to draw the attention of all the savages upon himself,
• 7:07:33
  and thus gave his sister an opportunity of escaping. He soon, however,
• 7:07:38
  fell beneath their tomahawks, and was in the morning found scalped and mangled in
• 7:07:44
  the most shocking manner. Of this family of eight persons, two only escaped
• 7:07:49
  from this awful scene of midnight massacre. The neighborhood was immediately aroused. The
• 7:07:55
  second daughter was carried off a captive by the savages. The fate of the
• 7:08:00
  poor girl awakened the deepest sympathy, and by daylight thirty men were assembled on
• 7:08:04
  horseback under the command of Colonel Edwards to pursue the Indians. Fortunately, a
• 7:08:10
  light snow had fallen during the night, thus it was impossible for the savages
• 7:08:14
  to conceal their trail, and they were followed on the full gallop. The
• 7:08:18
  wretches knew full well that they would not be allowed to retire unmolested. They
• 7:08:23
  fled with the utmost precipitation. Seeking to gain the mountainous region which bordered upon
• 7:08:29
  the Licking River. A hound accompanied the pursuing party. The sagoshous animal was
• 7:08:34
  very eager in the chase. As the trail became fresh, and as scent
• 7:08:38
  indicated that the foe was nearly overtaken, the hound, rushing forward, began
• 7:08:44
  to bay very loudly. This gave the Indians the alarm. Finding the strength
• 7:08:49
  of their captive failing so that she could no longer continue their rapid flight,
• 7:08:55
  they struck their tomahawks into her brain and left her bleeding and dying upon the
• 7:08:59
  snow. Her friends soon came up and found her in the convulsions of death.
• 7:09:04
  Her brothers sprang from his horse and tried in vain to stop the effusion
• 7:09:08
  of blood. She seemed to recognize him, gave him her hand, uttered
• 7:09:14
  a few inarticulate words, and died. The pursuit was then continued with new
• 7:09:19
  ardor, and in about twenty minutes the avenging white men came within sight of
• 7:09:23
  the savages with considerable military sagacity. The Indians had taken position upon a steep
• 7:09:30
  and narrow ridge and seemed desirous of magnifying their numbers in the eyes of their
• 7:09:36
  pursuers, by running from tree to tree and making the forest resound with their
• 7:09:41
  hideous yells. The pursuers were, however, too well acquainted with Indian warfare
• 7:09:47
  to be deceived by this childish artifice. They dismounted, tied their horses,
• 7:09:52
  and endeavored to surround the enemy so as to cut off his retreat. But
• 7:09:56
  the cunning Indians, leaving two of their numb behind to delay the pursuit by
• 7:10:02
  deceiving the white men into the conviction that they were all there, fled to
• 7:10:06
  the mountains. One of this heroic rear guard for remaining under the circumstances,
• 7:10:11
  was the almost certain surrendered of themselves to death, was instantly shot. The
• 7:10:17
  other, badly wounded, was tracked for a long distance by his blood upon
• 7:10:21
  the snow. At length his trail was lost in a running stream. Night
• 7:10:26
  came a dismal night of rain, long and dark. In the morning,
• 7:10:30
  the snow had melted, every trace of the retreat of the enemy was obliterated,
• 7:10:34
  and the further pursuit of the foe was relinquished. Colonel Boone, deprived
• 7:10:41
  of his property by the unrelenting processes of pitiless law had left Kentucky impoverished and
• 7:10:47
  in debt. His rifle was almost the only property he took with him beyond
• 7:10:51
  the Mississippi. The rich acres which had been assigned to him there were then
• 7:10:56
  of but little more value than so many acres of the sky. Though he
• 7:11:00
  was so far away from his creditors that it was almost impossible that they should
• 7:11:04
  ever annoy him. Still, the honest hearted man was oppressed by the consciousness
• 7:11:10
  of his debts, and was very anxious to pay them. The forests were
• 7:11:15
  full of game, many of the animals furnishing very valuable furs. He took
• 7:11:19
  his rifle, some pack horses, and, accompanied by a single black servant
• 7:11:23
  boy, repaired to the banks of the Osage River to spend the winter in
• 7:11:27
  hunting. Here he was taken dangerously sick, and was apprehensive that he should
• 7:11:33
  die. We know not what were his religious thoughts upon this occasion, but
• 7:11:38
  his calmness in view of death, taken in connection with his blameless, conscientious
• 7:11:45
  and reflective life, and with the fact that subsequently he had become an openly
• 7:11:49
  avowed disciple of Jesus, indicate that then he found peace in view of pardoned
• 7:11:55
  sin through faith in the atonement of Jesus Christ. He pointed out to the
• 7:12:00
  black boy the place where should he die he wished to be buried. He
• 7:12:06
  gave very minute directions in reference to his burial and the disposal of his rifle,
• 7:12:11
  blankets, and peltry. Mister Peck in the following language describes this interesting
• 7:12:17
  incident in the life of the pioneer. On another occasion, he took pack
• 7:12:22
  horses and went to the country on the Assage River, taking for a camp
• 7:12:26
  keeper a Negro boy about twelve or fourteen years of age. Soon after preparing
• 7:12:32
  his camp and laying his supplies for the winter, he was taken sick and
• 7:12:36
  lay a long time in camp. The horses were hobbled out on the range.
• 7:12:41
  After a period of stormy weather, there came a pleasant and delightful day,
• 7:12:45
  and boone felt able to walk out with his staff, for he was
• 7:12:51
  quite feeble. He took the boy to the summit of a small eminence and
• 7:12:55
  marked out the ground in shape and size of a grave, and then he
• 7:12:59
  gave the following direc He instructed the boy, in case of his death,
• 7:13:03
  to wash and lay his body straight wrapped up in one of the cleanest blankets.
• 7:13:08
  He was then to construct a kind of shovel, and with that instrument
• 7:13:12
  and a hatchet to dig a grave exactly as he had marked it out.
• 7:13:17
  He was then to drag the body to the place and put it in the
• 7:13:21
  grave, which he was directed to cover up. Putting posts at the head
• 7:13:25
  and foot poles were to be placed around and above the surface. The trees
• 7:13:30
  to be marked so that the place could easily be found by his friends.
• 7:13:33
  The horses were to be caught, the blankets and skins gathered up, with
• 7:13:37
  some special instructions about the old rifle, and various messages to his family.
• 7:13:44
  All these directions were given, as the boy afterwards declared, with entire calmness,
• 7:13:49
  and as if he were given instructions about ordinary business. He soon recovered,
• 7:13:56
  broke up his camp, and returned homeward without the usual signs of winter's
• 7:14:00
  hunt. One rider says Colonel Boone went on a trapping excursion up the Grand
• 7:14:06
  River. This stream rises in the southern part of Iowa and flows in a
• 7:14:10
  southerly course into the Missouri. He was entirely alone, paddling his canoe up
• 7:14:15
  the lonely banks of the Missouri. He entered the Grand River and established his
• 7:14:19
  camp in a silent, sheltered cove where an experienced hunter would with difficulty find
• 7:14:26
  it. Here he first laid in his supply of venison, turkeys, and
• 7:14:30
  bear's meat, and then commenced his trapping operation, where no sound of his
• 7:14:34
  rifle would disturb the beavers and no smell of gunpowder would excite their alarm.
• 7:14:40
  Every morning he took the circuit of his traps, visiting them all in turn.
• 7:14:45
  Much to his alarm, he one morning encountered a large encampment of Indians
• 7:14:49
  in his vicinity, engaged in hunting. He immediately retreated to his camp and
• 7:14:55
  secreted himself. Fortunately for him, quite a deep snow fell that night,
• 7:15:00
  which covered his traps. But this same snow prevented him from leaving his camp
• 7:15:04
  lest his footprints should be discovered. For twenty days. He continued thus secreted,
• 7:15:11
  occasionally at midnight, venturing to cook a little food when there was no
• 7:15:15
  danger that the smoke of his fire would reveal his retreat. At length,
• 7:15:19
  the enemy departed and he was released from his long imprisonment. He subsequently stated
• 7:15:26
  that never in his life had he felt so much anxiety for so long a
• 7:15:30
  period lest the Indians should discover his traps and search out his camp. It
• 7:15:34
  seems that the object of Colonel Boone in these long hunting excursions was to obtain
• 7:15:40
  furs that he might pay the debts which he still owed in Kentucky. A
• 7:15:45
  man of less tender conscience would no longer have troubled himself about them. He
• 7:15:49
  was far removed from any importunity on the part of his creditors, or from
• 7:15:53
  any annoyance through the law. Still, his debts caused him much solicitude,
• 7:16:00
  and he could not rest in peace until they were fully paid. After two
• 7:16:04
  or three seasons of this energetic hunting, Colonel Boone succeeded in obtaining a sufficient
• 7:16:11
  quantity of firs to enable him, by their sale, to pay all his
• 7:16:15
  debts. With this object in view, he set out on his long journey
• 7:16:19
  of several hundred miles through an almost trackless wilderness to Kentucky. He saw every
• 7:16:26
  creditor and paid every dollar. Upon his return, Colonel Boone had just one
• 7:16:30
  half dollar in his pocket, but he said triumphantly to his friends, who
• 7:16:34
  eagerly gathered around him, Now I am ready and willing to die. I
• 7:16:40
  am relieved from a burden which has long oppressed me. I have paid all
• 7:16:44
  my debts, and no one will say when I am gone. Boone was
• 7:16:48
  a dishonest man. I am perfectly willing to die. In the year eighteen
• 7:16:52
  o three, the territory west of the Mississippi came into the possession of the
• 7:16:57
  United States. The whole reas region embracing what is now Missouri was then called
• 7:17:02
  the Territory of Louisiana. Soon after this, a commission was appointed, consisting
• 7:17:07
  of three able and impartial men, to investigate the validity of the claims to
• 7:17:12
  land granted by the action of the Spanish government. Again, poor Boone was
• 7:17:18
  caught in the meshes of the law. It was found that he had not
• 7:17:22
  occupied the land which had been granted him, that he had not gone to
• 7:17:25
  New Orleans to perfect his title, and that his claim was utterly worthless.
• 7:17:30
  Poor Boone, seventy four years old, and the second grasp you have made
• 7:17:36
  upon the West has been powerless. You have risked life and lost the life
• 7:17:41
  next dearest, your own, for the West, in all its fearful forms.
• 7:17:45
  Death has looked you in the face, and you have moved on to
• 7:17:48
  conquer the soil which you did but conquer that it might be denied to you.
• 7:17:53
  You have been the architect of the prosperity of others, but your own
• 7:17:56
  crumbles each time as you are about to occupy it. When he lost his
• 7:18:02
  farm in Boonsborough, he did not linger around in complainings, but went quietly
• 7:18:07
  away, returning only to fulfill the obligations he had incurred. And now this
• 7:18:11
  last decision came even at old age, to leave Daniel Boone, the pioneer
• 7:18:17
  of the West, unable to give a title deed to a solitary acre.
• 7:18:22
  The fur trade was at this time very lucrative. Many who were engaged in
• 7:18:27
  it accumulated large fortunes. It was in this traffic that John jacob Astor laid
• 7:18:33
  the foundations of his immense wealth. A guide of Major Long stated that he
• 7:18:37
  had purchased of an Indian one hundred and twenty beaver skins for two blankets,
• 7:18:44
  two gallons of rum, and a pocket mirror. The skins he took to
• 7:18:48
  Montreal, where he sold them for over four hundred dollars. In the employment
• 7:18:52
  of the fur companies, the trappers are of two kinds, called the hired
• 7:18:56
  hands and the free trapper. The former is employed by the month, receiving
• 7:19:03
  regular wages and bringing in all the furs which he can obtain, be they
• 7:19:07
  more or less, he receives his stipulated monthly wages. The free trapper is
• 7:19:12
  supplied by the company with traps and certain other conveniences, with which he plunges
• 7:19:18
  into the forest on his own hook, engaging, however, to sail to
• 7:19:22
  the company at a stipulated price whatever furs he may secure. The outfit of
• 7:19:27
  the trapper as he penetrated the vast and trackless region of gloomy forests, treeless
• 7:19:33
  prairies and solitary rivers spreading everywhere around him, generally consisted of two or three
• 7:19:41
  horses, one for the saddle and the others for packs containing his equipment of
• 7:19:45
  traps, ammunition, blankets, cooking, utensils, et cetera. In preparation
• 7:19:52
  for passing lonely months in the far away solitudes, he would endeavor to find,
• 7:19:56
  if possible, a region which neither the white man nor the Indian had
• 7:20:02
  ever visited. The dress of the hunter consisted of a strong shirt of well
• 7:20:07
  dressed and pliant buckskin ornamented with long fringes. The vanity of dress if it
• 7:20:14
  may be so called, followed him into regions where no eye but his own
• 7:20:18
  could see its beauties. His pantaloons were also made of buckskin, decorated with
• 7:20:23
  variously colored porcupine quills, and with long fringes down the outside of his leg
• 7:20:30
  moccasins, often quite gorgeously embroidered, fitted closely to his feet. A very
• 7:20:37
  flexible hat or cap covered his head, generally a felt obtained from some Indian
• 7:20:42
  trader. There was suspended over his left shoulder, so as to hang beneath
• 7:20:48
  his right arm, a powder horn and bullet pouch. In the latter he
• 7:20:52
  carried balls, flints, steel, and various odds, and ends A long,
• 7:20:59
  heavy rifle he bore upon his shoulder. A belt of buckskin, buckled
• 7:21:03
  tightly around the waist, held a large butcher knife in a sheath of stout
• 7:21:07
  buffalo hide, and also a buckskin case containing a whetstone. A small hatchet
• 7:21:15
  or tomahawk was also attached to this belt. Thus rigged and in a new
• 7:21:19
  dress, the hunter of good proportions presented a very picturesque aspect. With no
• 7:21:26
  little pride. He exhibited himself at the trading posts, where not only the
• 7:21:30
  squalls and the children, but veteran hunters and Indian braves contemplated his person with
• 7:21:36
  admiration. Thus provided the hunter, more frequently alone, but sometimes accompanied by
• 7:21:42
  two or three others, set out for the mountain streams as early in the
• 7:21:47
  spring as the melting ice would enable him to commence operations against the beaver.
• 7:21:52
  Arrived on his hunting ground, he carefully ascends some creek or stream, examining
• 7:21:57
  the banks with practiced eyes to discern any sign of the presence of beaver or
• 7:22:03
  of any other animal whose fur would prove valuable. If a cottonwood tree lies
• 7:22:07
  prostrate, he examines it to see if it has been cut down by the
• 7:22:11
  sharp tooth of the beaver, and if so, whether it has been cut
• 7:22:15
  down for food or to furnish material for damming a stream. If the track
• 7:22:18
  of a beaver is seen in the mud, he follows the track until he
• 7:22:22
  finds a good place to set his steel trap in the run of the animal,
• 7:22:26
  hiding it under water and carefully attaching it by a chain to a bush
• 7:22:30
  or tree, or to some picket driven into the bank. A float strip
• 7:22:34
  is also made fast to the trap, so that should the beaver chance to
• 7:22:40
  break away with the trap. This float upon the surface at the end of
• 7:22:44
  a cord a few feet long would point out the position of the trap.
• 7:22:48
  When a lodge is discovered, the trap is set at the edge of the
• 7:22:52
  dam, at the point where the animal passes from deep to shoal water.
• 7:22:56
  Early in the morning, the hunter always mounts his mule and examines his traps.
• 7:23:02
  The captured animals are skinned and the tails, which are a great dainty,
• 7:23:06
  carefully packed into the camp. The skin is then stretched over a hoop
• 7:23:11
  or framework of ochre twigs and is allowed to dry, the flesh and fatty
• 7:23:15
  substance being carefully scraped off. When dry, it is folded into a square
• 7:23:22
  sheet, the fur turned inward, and the bundle, containing from about ten
• 7:23:26
  to twenty skins, lightly pressed and corded, is ready for transportation. During
• 7:23:32
  the hunt, regardless of Indian vicinity, the fearless trapper wanders far and near
• 7:23:37
  in search of sign. His nerves must ever be in a state of tension,
• 7:23:41
  and his mind ever present at his call. His eagle eye sweeps around
• 7:23:47
  the country and in an instant detects any foreign appearance. A turned leaf,
• 7:23:52
  a blade of grass pressed down the uneasiness of wild animals, the flight of
• 7:23:57
  birds are all paired paragraphs to him, written in nature's legible hand and plainest
• 7:24:03
  language. All the wits of the subtle savage are called into play to gain
• 7:24:08
  an advantage over the wily woodsman. But with the instinct of the primitive man.
• 7:24:14
  The white hunter has the advantage of a civilized mind, and thus provided
• 7:24:18
  seldom fails to outwit, under equal advantages, the cunning savage. Sometimes the
• 7:24:25
  Indian, following on his trail, watches him set his traps on a shrub
• 7:24:29
  belted stream, and passing up the bed like bruce of old, so that
• 7:24:33
  he may leave no track. He lies in wait in the bushes until the
• 7:24:37
  hunter comes to examine. Then, waiting until he approaches his ambush within a
• 7:24:42
  few feet, Whiz flies the home drawn arrow, never failing at such close
• 7:24:48
  quarters to bring the victim to the ground. For one white scalp, however,
• 7:24:52
  that dangles in the smoke of an Indian lodge, a dozen black ones
• 7:24:56
  at the end of the hunt, ornament the camp fire of the rendezvous.
• 7:25:02
  At a certain time, when the hunt is over or they have loaded their
• 7:25:04
  pack animals, the trappers proceed to their rendezvous, the locality of which has
• 7:25:10
  been previously agreed upon, and here the traders and agents of the fur companies
• 7:25:15
  await them with such assortments of goods as their hearty customers may require, including
• 7:25:21
  generally a fair supply of alcohol. The trappers drop in singy and in small
• 7:25:26
  bands, bringing their packs of beaver to this mountain market, not unfrequently to
• 7:25:32
  the value of one thousand dollars each the produce of one hunt. The dissipation
• 7:25:37
  of the rendezvous, however, soon turns the trapper's pocket inside out. The
• 7:25:42
  goods brought by the traders, although of the most inferior quality, are sold
• 7:25:47
  at enormous prices. Coffee twenty and thirty shillings a pint cup, which is
• 7:25:52
  the usual measure, tobacco fetches ten and fifteen shillings, a plug, alcohol
• 7:25:57
  from twenty to fifty ships a pint, gunpowder sixteen shillings a pint cup,
• 7:26:03
  and all other articles at proportionately exorbitant prices. The rendezvous is one continued scene
• 7:26:11
  of drunkenness, gambling, brawling, and fighting, so long as the money
• 7:26:15
  and credit of the trappers last. Seated Indian fashion around the fires with a
• 7:26:19
  blanket spread before them. Groups are seen with their decks of cards, playing
• 7:26:25
  poker and seven up the regular mountain games. The steaks are beaver, which
• 7:26:30
  is here current coin, and when the fur is gone, their horses,
• 7:26:34
  mules, rifles and shirts. Hunting packs and breeches are staked. Deering gamblers
• 7:26:41
  make the rounds of the camp, challenging each other to play for the highest
• 7:26:45
  steak, his horse, his squaw if he has won, and as once
• 7:26:49
  happened, his scalp. A trapper often squanders the produce of his hunt,
• 7:26:55
  amounting to hundreds of dollars in a couple of hours, and supplied on credit
• 7:27:00
  with another equipment, leaves the rendezvous for another expedition, which has the same
• 7:27:04
  result time after time. Although one tolerably successful hunt would enable him to return
• 7:27:11
  to the settlements and civilized life with an ample sum to purchase and stock a
• 7:27:15
  farm, and enjoy himself in ease and comfort for the remainder of his days,
• 7:27:21
  these annual gatherings are often the scene of bloody duels, for over their
• 7:27:26
  cups and cards, no men are more quarrelsome than your mountaineers. Rifles at
• 7:27:32
  twenty paces settle all differences, and as may be imagined the fall of one
• 7:27:37
  or other of the combatants is certain, or, as sometimes happens, both
• 7:27:41
  fall at the same fire. End of Chapter thirteen, Chapter fourteen conclusion,
• 7:27:51
  Colonel Boone, having lost all his property, sent in a memorial by the
• 7:27:56
  advice of his friends, to the Legislature of Kentucky and also another to Congress.
• 7:28:00
  Kentucky was now a wealthy and populous state and was not at all indisposed
• 7:28:06
  to recognize the invaluable services she had received from Colonel Boone. An allusion to
• 7:28:11
  these services, Governor Moorehead said, it is not assuming too much to declare
• 7:28:17
  that without Colonel Boone, in all probability, the settlements could not have been
• 7:28:21
  upheld, and the conquest of Kentucky might have been reserved for the immigrants of
• 7:28:26
  the nineteenth century. What obstacles stood in the way of a liberal grant of
• 7:28:30
  land by the Kentucky Legislature, we do not know. We simply know that,
• 7:28:34
  by a unanimous vote of that body, the following preamble and resolution were
• 7:28:38
  passed the Legislature of Kentucky, taking into view the many eminent services rendered by
• 7:28:45
  Colonel Boone and exploring and settling the Western country from which great advantages have resulted
• 7:28:52
  not only to this state, but to this country in general, and that
• 7:28:56
  from circumstances over which he had no control, he has now reached to poverty,
• 7:29:00
  not having so far as appears an acre of land out of the vast
• 7:29:04
  territory he has been a great instrument in peopling. Believing also that it is
• 7:29:11
  as unjust as it is in politic that useful enterprise and eminent services should go
• 7:29:17
  unrewarded by a government where merit confers the only distinction, and having sufficient reason
• 7:29:25
  to believe that a grant of ten thousand acres of land which he claims in
• 7:29:29
  Upper Louisiana, would have been confirmed by the Spanish Government, had not said
• 7:29:33
  territory passed by Session into the hands of the General Government. Therefore resolved by
• 7:29:40
  the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, that our Senators in Congress be
• 7:29:45
  requested to make use of their exertions to procure a grant of land in said
• 7:29:49
  territory to said Boone, either the ten thousand acres to which he appears to
• 7:29:55
  have an equitable claim from the grounds set forth to this legislat for a way
• 7:30:00
  of confirmation, or to such quantity in such place as shall be deemed most
• 7:30:04
  advisable by way of donation. While this question was pending before Congress, Colonel
• 7:30:11
  Boone met with the heaviest grief he had thus far encountered on his stormy pilgrimage.
• 7:30:15
  In the month of March eighteen thirteen, his wife, whom he tenderly
• 7:30:21
  loved, died at the age of seventy six. She had been one of
• 7:30:26
  the best wives and mothers, seeking in all things to conform to the wishes
• 7:30:30
  of her husband and aid him in his plans. She was a devoted wife
• 7:30:34
  and loving mother. Colonel Boone selected upon the summit of a ridge the place
• 7:30:40
  for her burial, and marked out the spot for his own grave by her
• 7:30:44
  side. We have no means of knowing what were the religious views which sustained
• 7:30:48
  Missus Boone in her dying hour. Her life was passed in the discharge of
• 7:30:53
  the humble duties of a home in the wilderness, and she had no biographer.
• 7:30:59
  But we do know that the religion of Jesus had penetrated many of these
• 7:31:02
  remote cabins, and had ennobled the lives of many of these hearty pioneers.
• 7:31:07
  Under the Spanish government. The Roman Catholic religion was the established religion of the
• 7:31:12
  province, and none other was openly tolerated. Still, the authorities were so
• 7:31:18
  anxious to encourage immigration from the United States that they avoided any rigorous enforcement of
• 7:31:23
  the law. Each immigrant was required to be a good Catholic unbon catholique,
• 7:31:30
  but by covenants of the authorities, only a few general questions were asked,
• 7:31:37
  such as do you believe in Almighty God, in the Holy Trinity, in
• 7:31:41
  the True Apostolate Church, in Jesus Christ our Savior, in the Holy Evangelists.
• 7:31:48
  The ceremony was closed by the declaration that the applicant was unbon Catholic.
• 7:31:55
  Thus, many Protestant families entered the Spanish territory and remained undisturbed and their religious
• 7:32:00
  principles. Protestant clergymen crossed over the Mississippi River and unmolested, preached the Gospel
• 7:32:07
  and the log cabins of the settlers. The Catholic priests received their salaries from
• 7:32:11
  the Spanish crown, and no taxes for religion were imposed. The Reverend John
• 7:32:18
  Clark, a very zealous Christian minister, made monthly excursions to the Spanish territory.
• 7:32:25
  The commandant at Saint Louis, mister Trudeau, would take no notice of
• 7:32:29
  his presence till the time when he knew that mister Clark was about to leave.
• 7:32:33
  Then he would send a threatening message ordering him to leave within three days.
• 7:32:38
  One of the emigrants, mister Murich of the Baptist persuasion, who knew
• 7:32:42
  the commandant very well, petitioned for permission to hold religious meetings at his house
• 7:32:48
  and to have mister Clark preach. Mister Trudeau replied, you must not put
• 7:32:55
  a bill upon your house or call it a church, but if any of
• 7:32:59
  your friends che used to meet at your house, sing, pray and talk
• 7:33:03
  about religion, you will not be molested, provided you continue as I suppose
• 7:33:07
  you are, whom bon catholique. Thus, in reality, there was scarcely
• 7:33:12
  any restraint in those remote regions, even under the Spanish regime imposed upon religious
• 7:33:18
  freedom. Christian songs, the Penitential and the Triumphant often ascended blended with prayers
• 7:33:26
  and praises from these lonely and lowly homes in the wilderness. Thus characters were
• 7:33:30
  formed for heaven and life was ennobled and often far more of true nobility of
• 7:33:37
  soul, and more real and satisfying enjoyment were found in those log huts,
• 7:33:41
  illumined only by the blaze of the pitch pine knot than Lewis the fourteenth and
• 7:33:48
  his courtiers ever experienced amidst the splendors and the luxuries of Verseilles and of Marley.
• 7:33:55
  We do not know that Colonel Boone ever made a public profession of his
• 7:33:59
  faith in Christ, though somewhere we have seen it stated that he died an
• 7:34:02
  honored member of the Methodist Church. It is certain that the religious element predominated
• 7:34:07
  his nature. He was a thoughtful, serious, devout good man. He
• 7:34:12
  walked faithfully in accordance with the light and the privileges which were conferred upon him
• 7:34:18
  in his singularly adventurous life. Colonel Boone was seventy nine years of age when
• 7:34:22
  Congress conferred upon him a grant of eight hundred and fifty acres of land.
• 7:34:27
  He had never repined at his lot, had never wasted his breath in unavailing
• 7:34:33
  murmurs. He contentedly took life as it came, and was ever serene and
• 7:34:37
  cheerful. But this grant of land, though it came so late, greatly
• 7:34:42
  cheered him. He was no longer dependent on others. He had property rapidly
• 7:34:48
  increasing in value to leave to the children, and the grandchildren he so tenderly
• 7:34:52
  loved. His aged limbs would no longer allow him to expose himself to the
• 7:34:57
  vicissitudes of hunting, and he he took up his abode with one of his
• 7:35:00
  sons, enjoying perhaps as serene and happy in old age as ever fell to
• 7:35:07
  the lot of mortals. His conversation often gathered charmed listeners around him, for
• 7:35:12
  he had a very retentive memory, and his mind was crowded with the incidents
• 7:35:17
  of his romantic career. It is said that at this period of his life
• 7:35:21
  an irritable expression never escaped his lips. His grandchildren vied with each other in
• 7:35:26
  affectionate attentions to one whom they ardently loved, and of whose celebrity they were
• 7:35:33
  justly proud. Colonel Galloway, the gentleman whose two daughters were captured with one
• 7:35:38
  of the daughters of Colonel Boone in a bote by the Indians, which event
• 7:35:42
  our readers will recall to mind, visited Colonel Boone in Missouri about this time.
• 7:35:48
  He gives a very pleasing description of the gentle and genial old man as
• 7:35:52
  he then found him. His personal appearance was venerable and attractive, very neatly
• 7:35:57
  clad in garments spun and made in the cabin. His own room consisted of
• 7:36:03
  a cabin by itself, and was in perfect order. His countenance was pleasant,
• 7:36:07
  calm and fair, his forehead high and bold, and the soft silver
• 7:36:12
  of his hair. In unison with his length of days, he spoke feelingly
• 7:36:18
  with solemnity of being a creature of Providence, ordained by Heaven as a pioneer
• 7:36:22
  in the wilderness to advance the civilization and the extension of his country. He
• 7:36:27
  professed the belief that the Almighty had assigned him a work to perform, and
• 7:36:33
  that he had only followed the pathway of duty in the work which he had
• 7:36:37
  pursued. That he had discharged his duty to God and his country by following
• 7:36:41
  the direction of Providence. His stormy day of life had passed away into an
• 7:36:47
  evening of unusual beauty and serenity. Still, he was continually busy, engaged
• 7:36:53
  in innumerable acts of kindness for his neighbors and his friends. He could repair
• 7:36:59
  rifles, make in carved powder horns of great beauty, and could fashion moccasins
• 7:37:03
  and snow shoes of the most approved patterns. His love for the solitude of
• 7:37:08
  the wilderness and for the excitement of the hunter's life continued unabated to the last.
• 7:37:15
  He loved to cut tender slices of venison and to toast them upon the
• 7:37:19
  end of his ramrod, over the glaring coals of his cabin fire, finding
• 7:37:23
  in that repast a treat more delicious than any gormand ever yet experienced in the
• 7:37:30
  viands of the most costly restaurants of the Palais Royale or the Boulevard. Upon
• 7:37:37
  one occasion, he could not resist the impulse of again going hunting, though
• 7:37:41
  in the eighty second year of his age, exacting from his friends the promise
• 7:37:47
  that he should die, his remains should be brought back and buried by the
• 7:37:49
  sight of those of his wife, He took a boy with him and went
• 7:37:53
  to the mouth of the Kansas River, where he remained two weeks. Returning
• 7:37:57
  from this his last expedition, he visited his youngest son, Major Nathan Boone,
• 7:38:03
  who had reared a comfortable stone house in that remote region to which immigrants
• 7:38:08
  were now rapidly moving. Here He died after an illness of but three days,
• 7:38:14
  on the twenty sixth day of September eighteen twenty. He was then eighty
• 7:38:18
  six years of age. Soon after the death of his wife, Colonel Boone
• 7:38:23
  made his own coffin, which he kept under his bed, awaiting the day
• 7:38:27
  of his burial. In this coffin, he was buried by the side of
• 7:38:32
  his wife. Missouri, though very different from the Missouri of the present day,
• 7:38:37
  was no longer an unpeopled wilderness. The Indians had retired, thousands of
• 7:38:42
  immigrants had flocked to its fertile plains, and many thriving settlements had sprung up
• 7:38:48
  along the banks of its magnificent streams. The great respect with which Colonel Boone
• 7:38:53
  was regarded by his fellow citizens was manifest in the large numbers who were assembled
• 7:38:59
  at his burial. The legislature of Missouri, which chanced then to be in
• 7:39:03
  session, adjourned for one day in respect for his memory, and passed a
• 7:39:07
  resolve that all the members should wear a badge of mourning for twenty days.
• 7:39:12
  This was the first legislature of the new state. Colonel Boone was the father
• 7:39:18
  of nine children, five sons and four daughters. His two eldest sons were
• 7:39:22
  killed by the Indians. His third son, Daniel Morgan Boone, had preceded
• 7:39:29
  his father in his immigration to the Upper Louisiana, as it was then called,
• 7:39:33
  and had taken up his residence in the fem Osage settlement. He became
• 7:39:37
  a man of influence and comparative wealth, and attained the advanced age of four
• 7:39:44
  score. Jesse, the fourth son, also emigrated to Upper Louisiana about the
• 7:39:48
  year eighteen o six, where he died a few years after. The youngest
• 7:39:53
  son, Nathan, whose privilege it was to close his father's eyes and death,
• 7:39:57
  had found a home beyond them Mississippi. He became a man of considerable
• 7:40:03
  note and received the commission of captain in the United States Dragoons. The daughters,
• 7:40:08
  three of whom married, lived and died in Kentucky. In the meantime,
• 7:40:14
  Kentucky, which Boone had found a pathless wilderness, the hunting ground of
• 7:40:18
  Indians, who were scarcely less wild and savage than the beasts they pursued in
• 7:40:22
  the chase, was rapidly becoming one of the most populous, wealthy, and
• 7:40:27
  prosperous states in the Union. Upon the eastern bank of the Kentucky River.
• 7:40:33
  The beautiful city of Frankfort had risen, surrounded by remarkably romantic and splendid scenery.
• 7:40:40
  It had become the capital of the state, and was situated about sixty
• 7:40:44
  miles from the entrance of the Kentucky into the Ohio River. Many of the
• 7:40:48
  houses were tastefully built of brick or of marble, and the place was noted
• 7:40:52
  for its polished, intelligent and hospitable society. It was but a few miles
• 7:40:59
  above of Frankfort, upon this same river that Colonel Boone had reared the log
• 7:41:03
  fort of Boonsborough, when scarcely a white man could be found west of the
• 7:41:07
  Alleghenies. In the year eighteen forty five, the citizens of Frankfort, having
• 7:41:14
  in accordance with the refinements of modern tastes, prepared a beautiful rural cemetery in
• 7:41:18
  the suburbs of their town, resolved to consecrate it by the interment of the
• 7:41:23
  remains of Daniel Boone and his wife. The legislature, appreciating the immense obligations
• 7:41:30
  of the state to the illustrious pioneer, cooperated with the citizens of Frankfort in
• 7:41:36
  this movement. For twenty five years, the remains of Colonel Boone and his
• 7:41:40
  wife had been moldering in the grave beyond the banks of the Missouri. There
• 7:41:45
  seemed, said one of the writers of that day, to be a peculiar
• 7:41:48
  propriety in this testimonial of the veneration borne by the Commonwealth for the memory of
• 7:41:55
  its illustrious dead. And it was bidding that the soil of Kentucky should ford
• 7:42:00
  the final resting place for his remains, whose blood in life had been so
• 7:42:04
  often shed to protect it from the fury of savage hostility. It was the
• 7:42:10
  beautiful and touching manifestation of filial affection shown by children to the memory of a
• 7:42:15
  beloved parent. And it was right that the generation which was reaping the fruits
• 7:42:21
  of his toils and dangers, should desire to have in their midst and decorate
• 7:42:26
  with the tokens of their love, the sepulcher of this primeval patriarch, whose
• 7:42:32
  stout heart watched by the cradle of this now powerful commonwealth. The honored remains
• 7:42:37
  of Daniel Boone and his wife were brought from Missouri to Frankfort, and the
• 7:42:42
  reinterment took place on the thirteenth of September eighteen forty five. The funeral ceremonies
• 7:42:48
  were very imposing. Colonel Richard M. Johnson, who had been Vice President
• 7:42:53
  of the United States, and others of the most distinguished citizens of Kentucky officiated
• 7:43:00
  as pallbearers. The two coffins were garlanded with flowers, and an immense procession
• 7:43:06
  followed them to their final resting place. The Honorable John J. Crittenden,
• 7:43:11
  who was regarded as the most eloquent man in the state, pronounced the funeral
• 7:43:15
  oration, and there, beneath an appropriate monument, the body of Daniel Boone
• 7:43:22
  now lies awaiting the summons of the resurrection. Trumpet. Life's labor done securely
• 7:43:27
  laid in this his last retreat, unheeded. O'er his silent dust, the
• 7:43:33
  storms of earth shall beat the end end of Chapter fourteen and End of Daniel
• 7:43:42
  Boone by John S. C Abbott