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DANIEL BOONE
THE
PIONEER OF KENTUCKY.
[Illustration]
BY
JOHN S. C. ABBOTT.
NEW YORK:
DODD & MEAD, No. 762 BROADWAY.
1872.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by
DODD & MEAD,
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
_AMERICAN PIONEERS AND PATRIOTS._
DANIEL BOONE
THE
PIONEER OF KENTUCKY.
BY JOHN S. C. ABBOTT.
ILLUSTRATED.
"His youth was innocent; his riper age,
Marked with some act of goodness every day;
And watched by eyes that loved him, calm and sage,
Faded his late declining years away.
Cheerful he gave his being up and went
To share the holy rest that waits a life well spent."
NEW YORK:
DODD & MEAD, No. 762 BROADWAY.
1872.
[Illustration]
PREFACE.
The name of Daniel Boone is a conspicuous one in the annals of our
country. And yet there are but few who are familiar with the events of
his wonderful career, or who have formed a correct estimate of the
character of the man. Many suppose that he was a rough, coarse
backwoodsman, almost as savage as the bears he pursued in the chase, or
the Indians whose terrors he so perseveringly braved. Instead of this,
he was one of the most mild and unboastful of men; feminine as a woman
in his tastes and his deportment, never uttering a coarse word, never
allowing himself in a rude action. He was truly one of nature's _gentle_
men. With all this instinctive refinement and delicacy, there was a
boldness of character which seemed absolutely incapable of experiencing
the emotion of fear. And surely all the records of chivalry may be
searched in vain for a career more full of peril and of wild adventure.
This narrative reveals a state of society and habitudes of life now
rapidly passing into oblivion. It is very desirable that the record
should be perpetuated, that we may know the scenes through which our
fathers passed, in laying the foundations of this majestic Republic. It
is probable that as the years roll on the events which occurred in the
infancy of our nation will be read with ever-increasing interest.
It is the intention of the publisher of this volume to issue a series of
sketches of the prominent men in the early history of our country. The
next volume will contain the life and adventures of the renowned Miles
Standish, the Puritan Captain.
JOHN S. C. ABBOTT.
Fair Haven, Conn.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
_The Discovery and early Settlement of America._ PAGE
Discovery of the New World.--Of Florida.--Conquest and cruelties of De
Soto.--The Wigwam.--Colony at St. Mary.--Sir Walter Raleigh and his
Colonies.--Grant of King James.--Settlements in the Virginia.--Adventures
of John Smith.--Arrival of Lord Delaware.--Terrible massacres.--Pressures
of Colonists to the West.--Doherty Trade with Indians.--Attempted
Colony on the Tennessee.--Daniel Boone. 9
CHAPTER II.
_Daniel Boone, his Parentage, and early Adventures._
Trials of the Colonists.--George Boone and his home.--Squire Boone.--Birth
and character of Daniel Boone.--His limited education.--A pioneer's
camp.--A log house and furnishings.--Annoyance of Boone on the arrival of
Scotch emigrants.--His longings for adventure.--Camp meetings.--Frontier
life.--Sports.--Squirrel hunting.--Snuffing the candle. 36
CHAPTER III.
_Louisiana, its Discovery and Vicissitudes._
Louisiana, and its eventful history.--The expedition of De Soto.--The
Missionary Marquette.--His voyage on the Upper Mississippi.--The Expedition
of La Salle.--Michilimackinac.--Its History.--Fate of the "Griffin."--Grief
of La Salle.--His voyage of Discovery.--Sale of Louisiana to the United
States.--Remarks of Napoleon. 74
CHAPTER IV.
_Camp Life Beyond the Alleghanies._
John Finley and his adventures.--Aspect of the Country.--Boone's Private
Character.--His Love for the Wilderness.--First view of
Kentucky.--Emigrants' Dress.--Hunter's Home.--Capture of Boone and Stewart
by the Indians.--Their Escape.--Singular Incident. 89
CHAPTER V.
_Indian Warfare._
Alleghany Ridges.--Voyage in a canoe.--Speech of Logan.--Battle at the
Kanawha.--Narrative of Francis Marion.--Important commission of
Boone.--Council at Circleville.--Treaty of Peace.--Imlay's description
of Kentucky.--Settlement right.--Richard Henderson.--Boone's letter.--Fort
at Boonesborough. 109
CHAPTER VI.
_Sufferings of the Pioneers._
Emigration to Boonesborough.--New Perils.--Transylvania
Company.--Beneficence of its Laws--Interesting incident.--Infamous conduct
of Great Britain.--Attack on the Fort.--Reinforcements.--Simon Kenton and
his Sufferings.--Mrs. Harvey. 129
CHAPTER VII.
_Life in the Wilderness._
Stewart killed by the Indians.--Squire Boone returns to the
Settlements.--Solitary Life of Daniel Boone.--Return of Squire
Boone.--Extended and Romantic Explorations.--Charms and Perils of the
Wilderness.--The Emigrant Party.--The Fatal Ambuscade.--Retreat of the
Emigrants.--Solitude of the Wilderness.--Expedition of Lewis and
Clarke.--Extraordinary Adventures of Cotter. 151
CHAPTER VIII.
_Captivity and Flight._
Heroism of Thomas Higgins and of Mrs. Pursley.--Affairs at
Boonesborough.--Continued Alarms.--Need of Salt.--Its Manufacture.--Indian
Schemes.--Capture of Boone and twenty-seven men.--Dilemma of the British
at Detroit.--Blackfish adopts Colonel Boone.--Adoption Ceremony.--Indian
Designs.--Escape of Boone.--Attacks the Savages.--The Fort Threatened. 182
CHAPTER IX.
_Victories and Defeats._
Situation of the Fort.--Indian Treachery.--Bombardment.--Boone goes to
North Carolina.--New Trials.--Boone Robbed.--He returns to
Kentucky.--Massacre of Colonel Rogers.--Adventure of Col. Bowman.--New
Attack by the British and Indians.--Retaliatory Measures.--Wonderful
Exploit. 209
CHAPTER X.
_British Allies._
Death of Squire Boone.--Indian Outrages.--Gerty and McGee.--Battle of
Blue Lick.--Death of Isaac Boone.--Colonel Boone's Narrow Escape.--Letter
of Daniel Boone.--Determination of General Clarke.--Discouragement of the
Savages.--Amusing Anecdote of Daniel Boone. 230
CHAPTER XI.
_Kentucky organized as a State._
Peace with England.--Order of a Kentucky Court.--Anecdotes.--Speech of Mr.
Dalton.--Reply of Piankashaw.--Renewed Indications of Indian
Hostility.--Conventions at Danville.--Kentucky formed into a State.--New
Trials for Boone. 249
CHAPTER XII.
_Adventures Romantic and Perilous._
The Search for the Horse.--Navigating the Ohio.--Heroism of Mrs.
Rowan.--Lawless Gangs.--Exchange of Prisoners.--Boone Revisits the Home
of his Childhood.--The Realms beyond the Mississippi.--Habits of the
Hunters.--Corn.--Boone's Journey to the West. 271
CHAPTER XIII.
_A New Home._
Colonel Boone welcomed by the Spanish Authorities.--Boone's Narrative to
Audubon.--The Midnight Attack.--Pursuit of the Savages.--Sickness in the
Wilderness.--Honesty of Colonel Boone.--Payment of his Debts.--Loss of
all his Property. 292
CHAPTER XIV.
_Conclusion._
Colonel Boone Appeals to Congress.--Complimentary Resolutions of the
Legislature of Kentucky.--Death of Mrs. Boone.--Catholic
Liberality.--Itinerant Preachers.--Grant by Congress to Colonel
Boone.--The Evening of his Days.--Personal Appearance.--Death and
Burial.--Transference of the Remains of Mr. and Mrs. Boone to Frankfort,
Kentucky. 320
CHAPTER I.
_The Discovery and early Settlement of America._
Discovery of the New World.--Of Florida.--Conquest and cruelties of De
Soto.--The wigwam.--Colony at St. Mary.--Sir Walter Raleigh and his
Colonies.--Grant of King James.--Settlements in the Virginia.--Adventures
of John Smith.--Arrival of Lord Delaware.--Terrible massacres.--Pressures
of Colonists to the West.--Doherty Trade with Indians.--Attempted Colony
on the Tennessee.--Daniel Boone.
The little fleet of three small vessels, with which Columbus left Palos
in Spain, in search of a new world, had been sixty-seven days at sea.
They had traversed nearly three thousand miles of ocean, and yet there
was nothing but a wide expanse of waters spread out before them. The
despairing crew were loud in their murmurs, demanding that the
expedition should be abandoned and that the ships should return to
Spain. The morning of the 11th of October, 1492, had come. During the
day Columbus, whose heart had been very heavily oppressed with anxiety,
had been cheered by some indications that they were approaching land.
Fresh seaweed was occasionally seen and a branch of a shrub with leaves
and berries upon it, and a piece of wood curiously carved had been
picked up.
The devout commander was so animated by these indications, that he
gathered his crew around him and returned heartfelt thanks to God, for
this prospect that their voyage would prove successful. It was a
beautiful night, the moon shone brilliantly and a delicious tropical
breeze swept the ocean. At ten o'clock Columbus stood upon the bows of
his ship earnestly gazing upon the western horizon, hoping that the
long-looked-for land would rise before him. Suddenly he was startled by
the distinct gleam of a torch far off in the distance. For a moment it
beamed forth with a clear and indisputable flame and then disappeared.
The agitation of Columbus no words can describe. Was it a meteor? Was it
an optical illusion? Was it light from the land?
Suddenly the torch, like a star, again shone forth with distinct though
faint gleam. Columbus called some of his companions to his side and they
also saw the light clearly. But again it disappeared. At two o'clock in
the morning a sailor at the look out on the mast head shouted, "Land!
land! land!" In a few moments all beheld, but a few miles distant from
them, the distinct outline of towering mountains piercing the skies. A
new world was discovered. Cautiously the vessels hove to and waited for
the light of the morning. The dawn of day presented to the eyes of
Columbus and his companions a spectacle of beauty which the garden of
Eden could hardly have rivalled. It was a morning of the tropics, calm,
serene and lovely. But two miles before them there emerged from the sea
an island of mountains and valleys, luxuriant with every variety of
tropical vegetation. The voyagers, weary of gazing for many weeks on the
wide waste of waters, were so enchanted with the fairy scene which then
met the eye, that they seemed really to believe that they had reached
the realms of the blest.
The boats were lowered, and, as they were rowed towards the shore, the
scene every moment grew more beautiful. Gigantic trees draped in
luxuriance of foliage hitherto unimagined, rose in the soft valleys and
upon the towering hills. In the sheltered groves, screened from the sun,
the picturesque dwellings of the natives were thickly clustered. Flowers
of every variety of tint bloomed in marvellous profusion. The trees
seemed laden with fruits of every kind, and in inexhaustible abundance.
Thousands of natives crowded the shore, whose graceful forms and
exquisitely moulded limbs indicated the innocence and simplicity of Eden
before the fall.
Columbus, richly attired in a scarlet dress, fell upon his knees as he
reached the beach, and, with clasped hands and uplifted eyes, gave
utterance to the devout feelings which ever inspired him, in
thanksgiving to God. In recognition of the divine protection he gave
the island the name of San Salvador, or Holy Savior. Though the new
world thus discovered was one of the smallest islands of the Caribbean
Sea, no conception was then formed of the vast continents of North and
South America, stretching out in both directions, for many leagues
almost to the Arctic and Antarctic poles.
Omitting a description of the wonderful adventures which ensued, we can
only mention that two years after this, the southern extremity of the
North American continent was discovered by Sebastian Cabot. It was in
the spring of the year and the whole surface of the soil seemed carpeted
with the most brilliant flowers. The country consequently received the
beautiful name of Florida. It, of course, had no boundaries, for no one
knew with certainty whether it were an island or a continent, or how far
its limits might extend.
The years rolled on and gradually exploring excursions crept along the
coast towards the north, various provinces were mapped out with pretty
distinct boundaries upon the Atlantic coast, extending indefinitely into
the vast and unknown interior. Expeditions from France had entered the
St. Lawrence and established settlements in Canada. For a time the whole
Atlantic coast, from its extreme southern point to Canada, was called
Florida. In the year 1539, Ferdinand De Soto, an unprincipled Spanish
warrior, who had obtained renown by the conquest of Peru in South
America, fitted out by permission of the king of Spain, an expedition of
nearly a thousand men to conquer and take possession of that vast and
indefinite realm called Florida.
We have no space here to enter upon a description of the fiendlike
cruelties practiced by these Spaniards. They robbed and enslaved without
mercy. In pursuit of gold they wandered as far north as the present
boundary of South Carolina. Then turning to the west, they traversed the
vast region to the Mississippi river. The forests were full of game. The
granaries of the simple-hearted natives were well stored with corn; vast
prairies spreading in all directions around them, waving with grass and
blooming with flowers, presented ample forage for the three hundred
horses which accompanied the expedition. They were also provided with
fierce bloodhounds to hunt down the terrified natives. Thus invincible
and armed with the "thunder and lightning" of their guns, they swept the
country, perpetrating every conceivable outrage upon the helpless
natives.
After long and unavailing wanderings in search of gold, having lost by
sickness and the casualties of such an expedition nearly half their
number, the remainder built boats upon the Mississippi, descended that
rapid stream five hundred miles to its mouth, and then skirting the
coast of Texas, finally disappeared on the plains of Mexico. De Soto,
the leader of this conquering band, died miserably on the Mississippi,
and was buried beneath its waves.
The whole country which these adventurers traversed, they found to be
quite densely populated with numerous small tribes of natives, each
generally wandering within circumscribed limits. Though these tribes
spoke different languages, or perhaps different dialects of the same
language, they were essentially the same in appearance, manners and
customs. They were of a dark-red color, well formed and always disposed
to receive the pale face strangers with kindliness, until exasperated by
ill-treatment. They lived in fragile huts called wigwams, so simple in
their structure that one could easily be erected in a few hours. These
huts were generally formed by setting long and slender poles in the
ground, inclosing an area of from ten to eighteen feet in diameter,
according to the size of the family. The tops were tied together,
leaving a hole for the escape of smoke from the central fire. The sides
were thatched with coarse grass, or so covered with the bark of trees,
as quite effectually to exclude both wind and rain. There were no
windows, light entering only through the almost always open door. The
ground floor was covered with dried grass, or the skins of animals, or
with the soft and fragrant twigs of some evergreen tree.
The inmates, men, women and children, seated upon these cushions,
presented a very attractive and cheerful aspect. Several hundred of
these wigwams were frequently clustered upon some soft meadow by the
side of a flowing stream, fringed with a gigantic forest, and exhibited
a spectacle of picturesque loveliness quite charming to the beholder.
The furniture of these humble abodes was extremely simple. They had no
pots or kettles which would stand the fire. They had no knives nor
forks; no tables nor chairs. Sharp flints, such as they could find
served for knives, with which, with incredible labor, they sawed down
small trees and fashioned their bows and arrows. They had no roads
except foot paths through the wilderness, which for generations their
ancestors had traversed, called "trails." They had no beasts of burden,
no cows, no flocks nor herds of any kind. They generally had not even
salt, but cured their meat by drying it in the sun. They had no ploughs,
hoes, spades, consequently they could only cultivate the lightest soil.
With a sharp stick, women loosened the earth, and then depositing their
corn or maize, cultivated it in the rudest manner.
These Indians acquired the reputation of being very faithful friends,
but very bitter enemies. It was said they never forgot a favor, and
never forgave an insult. They were cunning rather than brave. It was
seldom that an Indian could be induced to meet a foe in an open
hand-to-hand fight. But he would track him for years, hoping to take him
unawares and to brain him with the tomahawk, or pierce his heart with
the flint-pointed arrow.
About the year 1565, a company of French Protestants repaired to
Florida, hoping there to find the liberty to worship God in accordance
with their interpretation of the teachings of the Bible. They
established quite a flourishing colony, at a place which they named St.
Marys, near the coast. This was the first European settlement on the
continent of North America. The fanatic Spaniards, learning that
Protestants had taken possession of the country, sent out an expedition
and utterly annihilated the settlement, putting men, women and children
to the sword. Many of these unfortunate Protestants were hung in chains
from trees under the inscription, "_Not as Frenchmen but as Heretics._"
The blood-stained Spaniards then established themselves at a spot near
by, which they called St. Augustine. A French gentleman of wealth fitted
out a well-manned and well-armed expedition of three ships, attacked the
murderers by surprise and put them to death. Several corpses were
suspended from trees, under the inscription, "_Not as Spaniards, but as
Murderers._"
There was an understanding among the powers of Europe, that any portion
of the New World discovered by expeditions from European courts, should
be recognised as belonging to that court. The Spaniards had taken
possession in Florida. Far away a thousand leagues to the North, the
French had entered the gulf of St. Lawrence. But little was known of the
vast region between. A young English gentleman, Sir Walter Raleigh, an
earnest Protestant, and one who had fought with the French Protestants
in their religious wars, roused by the massacre of his friends in
Florida, applied to the British court to fit out a colony to take
possession of the intermediate country. He hoped thus to prevent the
Spanish monarchy, and the equally intolerant French court, from
spreading their principles over the whole continent. The Protestant
Queen Elizabeth then occupied the throne of Great Britain. Raleigh was
young, rich, handsome and marvelously fascinating in his address. He
became a great favorite of the maiden queen, and she gave him a
commission, making him lord of all the continent of North America,
between Florida and Canada.
The whole of this vast region without any accurate boundaries, was
called Virginia. Several ships were sent to explore the country. They
reached the coast of what is now called North Carolina, and the
adventurers landed at Roanoke Island. They were charmed with the
climate, with the friendliness of the natives and with the majestic
growth of the forest trees, far surpassing anything they had witnessed
in the Old World. Grapes in rich clusters hung in profusion on the
vines, and birds of every variety of song and plumage filled the groves.
The expedition returned to England with such glowing accounts of the
realm they had discovered, that seven ships were fitted out, conveying
one hundred and eight men, to colonise the island. It is quite
remarkable that no women accompanied the expedition. Many of these men
were reckless adventurers. Bitter hostility soon sprang up between them
and the Indians, who at first had received them with the greatest
kindness.
Most of these colonists were men unaccustomed to work, and who insanely
expected that in the New World, in some unknown way, wealth was to flow
in upon them like a flood. Disheartened, homesick and appalled by the
hostile attitude which the much oppressed Indians were beginning to
assume, they were all anxious to return home. When, soon after, some
ships came bringing them abundant supplies, they with one accord
abandoned the colony, and crowding the vessels returned to England.
Fifteen men however consented to remain, to await the arrival of fresh
colonists from the Mother Country.
Sir Walter Raleigh, still undiscouraged, in the next year 1587 sent out
another fleet containing a number of families as emigrants, with women
and children. When they arrived, they found Roanoke deserted. The
fifteen men had been murdered by the Indians in retaliation for the
murder of their chief and several of his warriors by the English. With
fear and trembling the new settlers decided to remain, urging the
friends who had accompanied them to hasten back to England with the
ships and bring them reinforcements and supplies. Scarcely had they
spread their sails on the return voyage ere war broke out with Spain. It
was three years before another ship crossed the ocean, to see what had
become of the colony. It had utterly disappeared. Though many attempts
were made to ascertain its tragic fate, all were unavailing. It is
probable that many were put to death by the Indians, and perhaps the
children were carried far back into the interior and incorporated into
their tribes. This bitter disappointment seemed to paralyse the energies
of colonization. For more than seventy years the Carolinas remained a
wilderness, with no attempt to transfer to them the civilization of the
Old World. Still English ships continued occasionally to visit the
coast. Some came to fish, some to purchase furs of the Indians, and
some for timber for shipbuilding. The stories which these voyagers told
on their return, kept up an interest in the New World. It was indeed an
attractive picture which could be truthfully painted. The climate was
mild, genial and salubrious. The atmosphere surpassed the far-famed
transparency of Italian skies. The forests were of gigantic growth, more
picturesquely beautiful than any ever planted by man's hand, and they
were filled with game. The lakes and streams swarmed with fish. A
wilderness of flowers, of every variety of loveliness, bloomed over the
wide meadows and the broad savannahs, which the forest had not yet
invaded. Berries and fruits were abundant. In many places the soil was
surpassingly rich, and easily tilled; and all this was open, without
money and without price, to the first comer.
Still more than a hundred years elapsed after the discovery of these
realms, ere any permanent settlement was effected upon them. Most of the
bays, harbors and rivers were unexplored, and reposed as it were in the
solemn silence of eternity. From the everglades of Florida to the
firclad hills of Nova Scotia, not a settlement of white men could be
found.
At length in the year 1607, a number of wealthy gentlemen in London
formed a company to make a new attempt for the settlement of America. It
was their plan to send out hardy colonists, abundantly provided with
arms, tools and provisions. King James I., who had succeeded his cousin
Queen Elizabeth, granted them a charter, by which, wherever they might
effect a landing, they were to be the undisputed lords of a territory
extending a hundred miles along the coast, and running back one hundred
miles into the interior. Soon after, a similar grant was conferred upon
another association, for the region of North Virginia, now called New
England.
Under the protection of this London Company, one hundred and five men,
with no women or children, embarked in three small ships for the
Southern Atlantic coast of North America. Apparently by accident, they
entered Chesapeake Bay, where they found a broad and deep stream, which
they named after their sovereign, James River. As they ascended this
beautiful stream, they were charmed with the loveliness which nature had
spread so profusely around them. Upon the northern banks of the river,
about fifty miles from its entrance into the bay, they selected a spot
for their settlement, which they named Jamestown. Here they commenced
cutting down trees and raising their huts.
In an enterprise of this kind, muscles inured to work and determined
spirits ready to grapple with difficulties, are essential. In such
labors, the most useless of all beings is the gentleman with soft hands
and luxurious habits. Unfortunately quite a number of pampered sons of
wealth had joined the colony. Being indolent, selfish and dissolute,
they could do absolutely nothing for the prosperity of the settlement,
but were only an obstacle in the way of its growth.
Troubles soon began to multiply, and but for the energies of a
remarkable man, Capt. John Smith, the colony must soon have perished
through anarchy. But even Capt. John Smith with all his commanding
powers, and love of justice and of law, could not prevent the idle and
profligate young men from insulting the natives, and robbing them of
their corn. With the autumnal rains sickness came, and many died. The
hand of well-organised industry might have raised an ample supply of
corn to meet all their wants through the short winter. But this had been
neglected, and famine was added to sickness, Capt. Smith had so won the
confidence of the Indian chieftains, that notwithstanding the gross
irregularities of his young men, they brought him supplies of corn and
game, which they freely gave to the English in their destitution.
Captain Smith having thus provided for the necessities of the greatly
diminished colony, set out with a small party of men on an exploring
expedition into the interior. He was waylayed by Indians, who with
arrows and tomahawks speedily put all the men to death, excepting the
leader, who was taken captive. There was something in the demeanor of
this brave man which overawed them. He showed them his pocket compass,
upon which they gazed with wonder. He then told them that if they would
send to the fort a leaf from his pocket-book, upon which he had made
several marks with his pencil, they would find the next day, at any spot
they might designate, a certain number of axes, blankets, and other
articles of great value to them. Their curiosity was exceedingly
aroused; the paper was sent, and the next day the articles were found as
promised. The Indians looked upon Captain Smith as a magician, and
treated him with great respect. Still the more thoughtful of the natives
regarded him as a more formidable foe. They could not be blind to the
vastly superior power of the English in their majestic ships, with their
long swords, and terrible fire-arms, and all the developments,
astounding to them, of a higher civilization. They were very anxious in
view of encroachments which might eventually give the English the
supremacy in their land.
Powhatan, the king of the powerful tribe who had at first been very
friendly to the English, summoned a council of war of his chieftains,
and after long deliberation, it was decided that Captain Smith was too
powerful a man to be allowed to live, and that he must die. He was
accordingly led out to execution, but without any of the ordinary
accompaniments of torture. His hands were bound behind him, he was laid
upon the ground, and his head was placed upon a stone. An Indian warrior
of herculean strength stood by, with a massive club, to give the death
blow by crushing in the skull. Just as the fatal stroke was about to
descend, a beautiful Indian girl, Pocahontas, the daughter of the king,
rushed forward and throwing her arms around the neck of Captain Smith,
placed her head upon his. The Indians regarded this as an indication
from the Great Spirit that the life of Captain Smith was to be spared,
and they set their prisoner at liberty, who, being thus miraculously
rescued, returned to Jamestown.
By his wisdom Captain Smith preserved for some time friendly relations
with the Indians, and the colony rapidly increased, until there were
five hundred Europeans assembled at Jamestown. Capt. Smith being
severely wounded by an accidental explosion of gunpowder, returned to
England for surgical aid. The colony, thus divested of his vigorous
sway, speedily lapsed into anarchy. The bitter hostility of the Indians
was aroused, and, within a few months, the colony dwindled away beneath
the ravages of sickness, famine, and the arrows of the Indians, to but
sixty men. Despair reigned in all hearts, and this starving remnant of
Europeans was preparing to abandon the colony and return to the Old
World, when Lord Delaware arrived with several ships loaded with
provisions and with a reinforcement of hardy laborers. Most of the idle
and profligate young men who had brought such calamity upon the colony,
had died. Those who remained took fresh courage, and affairs began to be
more prosperous.
The organization of the colony had thus far been effected with very
little regard to the wants of human nature. There were no women there.
Without the honored wife there cannot be the happy home; and without the
home there can be no contentment. To herd together five hundred men upon
the banks of a foreign stream, three thousand miles from their native
land, without women and children, and to expect them to lay the
foundation of a happy and prosperous colony, seems almost unpardonable
folly.
Emigrants began to arrive with their families, and in the year 1620, one
hundred and fifty poor, but virtuous young women, were induced to join
the Company. Each young man who came received one hundred acres of land.
Eagerly these young planters, in short courtship, selected wives from
such of these women as they could induce to listen to them. Each man
paid one hundred and fifty pounds of tobacco to defray the expenses of
his wife's voyage. But the wickedness of man will everywhere, and under
all circumstances, make fearful development of its power. Many
desperadoes joined the colony. The poor Indians with no weapons of war
but arrows, clubs and stone tomahawks, were quite at the mercy of the
English with their keen swords, and death-dealing muskets. Fifteen
Europeans could easily drive several hundred Indians in panic over the
plains. Unprincipled men perpetrated the grossest outrages upon the
families of the Indians, often insulting the proudest chiefs.
The colonists were taking up lands in all directions. Before their
unerring rifles, game was rapidly disappearing. The Indians became fully
awake to their danger. The chiefs met in council, and a conspiracy was
formed, to put, at an appointed hour, all the English to death, every
man, woman and child. Every house was marked. Two or three Indians were
appointed to make the massacre sure in each dwelling. They were to
spread over the settlement, enter the widely scattered log-huts, as
friends, and at a certain moment were to spring upon their unsuspecting
victims, and kill them instantly. The plot was fearfully successful in
all the dwellings outside the little village of Jamestown. In one hour,
on the 22nd of March, 1622, three hundred and forty-seven men, women and
children were massacred in cold blood. The colony would have been
annihilated, but for a Christian Indian who, just before the massacre
commenced, gave warning to a friend in Jamestown. The Europeans rallied
with their fire-arms, and easily drove off their foes, and then
commenced the unrelenting extermination of the Indians. An arrow can be
thrown a few hundred feet, a musket ball more than as many yards. The
Indians were consequently helpless. The English shot down both sexes,
young and old, as mercilessly as if they had been wolves. They seized
their houses, their lands, their pleasant villages. The Indians were
either slain or driven far away from the houses of their fathers, into
the remote wilderness.
The colony now increased rapidly, and the cabins of the emigrants spread
farther and farther over the unoccupied lands. These hardy adventurers
seemed providentially imbued with the spirit of enterprise. Instead of
clustering together for the pleasure of society and for mutual
protection, they were ever pushing into the wild and unknown interior,
rearing their cabins on the banks of distant streams, and establishing
their silent homes in the wildest solitudes of the wilderness. In 1660,
quite a number of emigrants moved directly south from Virginia, to the
river Chowan, in what is now South Carolina, where they established a
settlement which they called Albermarle. In 1670, a colony from England
established itself at Charleston, South Carolina. Thus gradually the
Atlantic coast became fringed with colonies, extending but a few leagues
back into the country from the sea-shore, while the vast interior
remained an unexplored wilderness. As the years rolled on, ship-loads of
emigrants arrived, new settlements were established, colonial States
rose into being, and, though there were many sanguinary conflicts with
the Indians, the Europeans were always in the end triumphant, and
intelligence, wealth, and laws of civilization were rapidly extended
along the Atlantic border of the New World.
For many years there had been a gradual pressure of the colonists
towards the west, steadily encroaching upon the apparently limitless
wilderness. To us it seems strange that they did not, for the sake of
protection against the Indians, invariably go in military bands. But
generally this was not the case. The emigrants seem to have been
inspired with a spirit of almost reckless indifference to danger; they
apparently loved the solitude of the forest, avoided neighbors who might
interfere with their hunting and trapping, and reared their humble
cottages in the wildest ravines of the mountains and upon the smooth
meadows which border the most solitary streams; thus gradually the tide
of emigration, flowing through Indian trails and along the
forest-covered vines, was approaching the base of the Alleghany
mountains.
But little was known of the character of the boundless realms beyond the
ridges of this gigantic chain. Occasionally a wandering Indian who had
chased his game over those remote wilds, would endeavor to draw upon the
sand, with a stick, a map of the country showing the flow of the rivers,
the line of the mountains, and the sweep of the open prairies. The Ohio
was then called the Wabash. This magnificent and beautiful stream is
formed by the confluence of the Alleghany and the Monongahela rivers. It
was a long voyage, a voyage of several hundred miles, following the
windings of the Monongahela river from its rise among the mountains of
Western Virginia till, far away in the north, it met the flood of the
Alleghany, at the present site of the city of Pittsburg. The voyage, in
a birch canoe, required, in the figurative language of the Indians, "two
paddles, two warriors and three moons."
The Indians very correctly described the Ohio, or the Wabash, as but the
tributary of a much more majestic stream, far away in the west, which,
pouring its flood through the impenetrable forest, emptied itself they
knew not where. Of the magnitude of this distant river, the Mississippi,
its source, rise and termination, they could give no intelligible
account. They endeavored to give some idea of the amount of game to be
found in those remote realms, by pointing to the leaves of the forest
and the stars in the sky.
The settlers were deeply interested and often much excited by the
glowing descriptions thus given them of a terrestrial Eden, where life
would seem to be but one uninterrupted holiday. Occasionally an
adventurous French or Spanish trader would cross the towering mountains
and penetrate the vales beyond. They vied with the Indians in their
account of the salubrity of the climate, the brilliance of the skies,
the grandeur of the forests, the magnificence of the rivers, the
marvelous fertility of the soil and the abundance of game.
As early as the year 1690 a trader from Virginia, by the name of
Doherty, crossed the mountains, visited the friendly Cherokee nation,
within the present bounds of Georgia, and resided with the natives
several years. In the year 1730 an enterprising and intelligent man from
South Carolina, by the name of Adair, took quite an extensive tour
through most of the villages of the Cherokees, and also visited several
tribes south and west of them. He wrote an exceedingly valuable and
interesting account of his travels which was published in London.
Influenced by these examples several traders, in the year 1740, went
from Virginia to the country of the Cherokees. They carried on pack
horses goods which the Indians valued, and which they exchanged for
furs, which were sold in Europe at an enormous profit.
A hatchet, a knife, a trap, a string of beads, which could be bought for
a very small sum in the Atlantic towns, when exhibited beyond the
mountains to admiring groups in the wigwam of the Indian, could be
exchanged for furs which were of almost priceless value in the
metropolitan cities of the Old World. This traffic was mutually
advantageous, and so long as peaceful relations existed between the
white man and the Indian, was prosecuted with great and ever increasing
vigor. The Indians thus obtained the steel trap, the keenly cutting ax,
and the rifle, which he soon learned to use with unerring aim. He was
thus able in a day to obtain more game than with his arrows and his
clumsy snares he could secure in a month.
This friendly intercourse was in all respects very desirable; and but
for the depravity of the white man it might have continued uninterrupted
for generations. But profligate and vagabond adventurers from the
settlements defrauded the Indians, insulted their women, and often
committed wanton murder. But it would seem that the majority of the
traders were honest men. Ramsay, in his Annals of Tennessee, writes, in
reference to this traffic:
"Other advantages resulted from it to the whites. They became thus
acquainted with the great avenues leading through the hunting ground,
and to the occupied country of the neighboring tribes--an important
circumstance in the condition of either peace or war. Further the
traders were an exact thermometer of the pacific or hostile intention
and feelings of the Indians with whom they traded. Generally they were
foreigners, most frequently Scotchmen, who had not been long in the
country, or upon the frontier; who, having experienced none of the
cruelties, depredations or aggressions of the Indians, cherished none of
the resentment and spirit of retaliation born with and everywhere
manifested by the American settler.
"Thus free from animosity against the aborigines, the trader was allowed
to remain in the village, where he traded, unmolested, even where its
warriors were singing the war song or brandishing the war club,
preparatory to an invasion or massacre of the whites. Timely warning was
thus often given by a returning packman to a feeble and unsuspecting
settlement, of the perfidy and cruelty meditated against it."
Game on the eastern side of the Alleghanies, hunted down alike by white
men and Indians, soon became scarce. Adventurers combining the
characters of traders and hunters rapidly multiplied. Many of the
hunters among the white men far outstripped the Indians in skill and
energy. Thus some degree of jealousy was excited on the part of the
savages. They saw how rapidly the game was disappearing, and these
thoughtful men began to be anxious for the future. With no love for
agriculture the destruction of the game was their ruin.
As early as the year 1748 quite a party of gentlemen explorers, under
the leadership of Doctor Thomas Walker of Virginia, crossed a range of
the Alleghany mountains, which the Indians called Warioto, but to which
Doctor Walker gave the name of Cumberland, in honor of the Duke of
Cumberland who was then prime minister of England. Following along this
chain in a south-westerly direction, in search of some pass or defile by
which they could cross the cliffs, they came to the remarkable
depression in the mountains to which they gave the name of Cumberland
Gap. On the western side of the range they found a beautiful mountain
stream, rushing far away, with ever increasing volume, into the unknown
wilderness, which the Indians called Shawnee, but which Doctor Walker's
party baptised with the name of Cumberland River. These names have
adhered to the localities upon which they were thus placed.
In 1756 a feeble attempt was made to establish a colony upon the
Tennessee river, at a spot which was called London. This was one
hundred and fifty miles in advance of any white settlement. Eight years
passed, and by the ravages of war the little settlement went up in flame
and smoke. As the years rapidly came and went there were occasional
bursts of the tempests of war; again there would be a short lull and
blessed peace would come with its prosperity and joy.
"In the year 1760, Doctor Walker again passed over Clinch and Powell's
rivers on a tour of exploration, into what is now Kentucky. The
Cherokees were then at peace with the whites, and hunters from the back
settlements began, with safety, to penetrate deeper and further into the
wilderness of Tennessee. Several of them, chiefly from Virginia, hearing
of the abundance of game with which the woods were stocked, and allured
by the prospect of gain which might be drawn from this source, formed
themselves into a company composed of Wallen, Seagys, Blevins, Cox and
fifteen others, and came into the valley, since known as Carter's
Valley, in Hawkin's county, Tennessee. They hunted eighteen months upon
Clinch and Powell rivers. Wallen's Creek and Wallen's Ridge received
their name from the leader of the company; as also did Wallen's Station
which they erected in the Lee county, Virginia.
"They penetrated as far north as Laurel Mountain, in Kentucky, where
they terminated their journey, having met with a body of Indians whom
they supposed to be Shawnees. At the head of one of the companies that
visited the West, this year, came Daniel Boone from the Yadkin, in North
Carolina, and travelled with them as low as the place where Abingdon now
stands, and there left them."
This is the first time the advent of Daniel Boone to the western wilds
has been mentioned by historians or by the several biographers of that
distinguished pioneer and hunter. There is reason however to believe
that he hunted upon Watauga some time earlier than this.