Daniel Boone in Kentucky
He felt very much as Columbus did, gazing from his caravel on San
Salvador; as Cortes, looking down from the crest of Ahualco, on the
Valley of Mexico; or Vasco Nuñez, standing alone on the peak of Darien,
and stretching his eyes over the hitherto undiscovered waters of the
Pacific.
--William Gilmore Simms: Views and Reviews.
A chance acquaintance formed by Daniel Boone, during the French and
Indian War, with the Irish lover of adventure, John Findlay, [95] was
the origin of Boone's cherished longing to reach the El Dorado of the
West. In this slight incident we may discern the initial inspiration for
the epochal movement of westward expansion. Findlay was a trader and
horse peddler, who had early migrated to Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He had
been licensed a trader with the Indians in 1747. During the same year he
was married to Elizabeth Harris, daughter of John Harris, the
Indian-trader at Harris's Ferry on the Susquehanna River, after whom
Harrisburg was named. During the next eight years Findlay carried on his
business of trading in the interior. Upon the opening of the French and
Indian War he was probably among "the young men about Paxtang who
enlisted immediately," and served as a waggoner in Braddock's
expedition. Over the camp-fires, during the ensuing campaign in 1765,
young Boone was an eager listener to Findlay's stirring narrative of his
adventures in the Ohio Valley and on the wonderfully beautiful levels of
Kentucky in 1752. The fancies aroused in his brooding mind by Findlay's
moving recital and his description of an ancient passage through the
Ouasioto or Cumberland Gap and along the course of the Warrior's Path,
inspired him with an irrepressible longing to reach that alluring
promised land which was the perfect realization of the hunter's
paradise.
Thirteen years later, while engaged in selling pins, needles, thread,
and Irish linens in the Yadkin country, Findlay learned from the
Pennsylvania settlers at Salisbury or at the Forks of the Yadkin of
Boone's removal to the waters of the upper Yadkin. At Boone's rustic
home, in the winter of 1768-9, Findlay visited his old comrade-in-arms
of Braddock's campaign. On learning of Boone's failure during the
preceding year to reach the Kentucky levels by way of the inhospitable
Sandy region, Findlay again described to him the route through the
Ouasioto Gap traversed sixteen years before by Pennsylvania traders in
their traffic with the Catawbas. Boone, as we have seen, knew that
Christopher Gist, who had formerly lived near him on the upper Yadkin,
had found some passage through the lofty mountain defiles; but he had
never been able to discover the passage. Findlay's renewed descriptions
of the immense herds of buffaloes he had seen in Kentucky, the great
salt-licks where they congregated, the abundance of bears, deer, and elk
with which the country teemed, the innumerable flocks of wild turkeys,
geese, and ducks, aroused in Boone the hunter's passion for the chase;
while the beauty of the lands, as mirrored in the vivid fancy of the
Irishman, inspired him with a new longing to explore the famous country
which had, as John Filson records, "greatly engaged Mr. Findlay's
attention."
In the comprehensive designs of Henderson, now a judge, for securing a
graphic report of the trans-Alleghany region in behalf of his land
company, Boone divined the means of securing the financial backing for
an expedition of considerable size and ample equipment. [96] In numerous
suits for debt, aggregating hundreds of dollars, which had been
instituted against Boone by some of the leading citizens of Rowan,
Williams and Henderson had acted as Boone's attorneys. In order to
collect their legal fees, they likewise brought suit against Boone; but
not wishing to press the action against the kindly scout who had
hitherto acted as their agent in western exploration, they continued the
litigation from court to court, in lieu of certain "conditions
performed" on behalf of Boone, during his unbroken absence, by his
attorney in this suit, Alexander Martin. [97] Summoned to appear in 1769
at the March term of court at Salisbury, Boone seized upon the occasion
to lay before Judge Henderson the designs for a renewed and extended
exploration of Kentucky suggested by the golden opportunity of securing
the services of Findlay as guide. Shortly after March 6th, when Judge
Henderson reached Salisbury, the conference, doubtless attended by John
Stewart, Boone's brother-in-law, John Findlay, and Boone, who were all
present at this term of court, must have been held, for the purpose of
devising ways and means for the expedition. Peck, the only reliable
contemporary biographer of the pioneer, who derived many facts from
Boone himself and his intimate acquaintances, draws the conclusion
(1847): "Daniel Boone was engaged as the master spirit of this
exploration, because in his judgment and fidelity entire confidence
could be reposed.... He was known to Henderson and encouraged by him to
make the exploration, and to examine particularly the whole country
south of the Kentucky--or as then called the Louisa River." [98] As
confidential agent of the land company, Boone carried with him letters
and instructions for his guidance upon this extended tour of
exploration. [99]
On May 1, 1769, with Findlay as guide, and accompanied by four of his
neighbors, John Stewart, a skilled woodsman, Joseph Holden, James
Mooney, and William Cooley, Boone left his "peaceable habitation" on the
upper Yadkin and began his historic journey "in quest of the country of
Kentucky." Already heavily burdened with debts, Boone must have incurred
considerable further financial obligations to Judge Henderson and
Colonel Williams, acting for the land company, in order to obtain the
large amount of supplies requisite for so prolonged an expedition. Each
of the adventurers rode a good horse of strength and endurance; and
behind him were securely strapped the blanket, ammunition, salt, and
cooking-utensils so indispensable for a long sojourn in the wilderness.
In Powell's Valley they doubtless encountered the party led thither by
Joseph Martin (see Chapter VII), and there fell into the "Hunter's
Trail" commented on in a letter written by Martin only a fortnight
before the passing of Boone's cavalcade. Crossing the mountain at the
Ouasioto Gap, they made their first "station camp" in Kentucky on the
creek, still named after that circumstance, on the Red Lick Fork. After
a preliminary journey for the purpose of locating the spot, Findlay led
the party to his old trading-camp at Es-kip-pa-ki-thi-ki, where then
(June 7, 1769) remained but charred embers of the Indian huts, with some
of the stockading and the gate-posts still standing. In Boone's own
words, he and Findlay at once "proceeded to take a more thorough survey
of the country"; and during the autumn and early winter, encountering on
every hand apparently inexhaustible stocks of wild game and noting the
ever-changing beauties of the country, the various members of the party
made many hunting and exploring journeys from their "station camp" as
base. On December 22, 1769, while engaged in a hunt, Boone and Stewart
were surprised and captured by a large party of Shawanoes, led by
Captain Will, who were returning from the autumn hunt on Green River to
their villages north of the Ohio. Boone and Stewart were forced to pilot
the Indians to their main camp, where the savages, after robbing them of
all their peltries and supplies and leaving them inferior guns and
little ammunition, set off to the northward. They left, on parting, this
menacing admonition to the white intruders: "Now, brothers, go home and
stay there. Don't come here any more, for this is the Indians'
hunting-ground, and all the animals, skins, and furs are ours. If you
are so foolish as to venture here again, you may be sure the wasps and
yellow jackets will sting you severely."
Chagrined particularly by the loss of the horses, Boone and Stewart for
two days pursued the Indians in hot haste. Finally approaching the
Indians' camp by stealth in the dead of night, they secured two of the
horses, upon which they fled at top speed. In turn they were immediately
pursued by a detachment of the Indians, mounted upon their fleetest
horses; and suffered the humiliation of recapture two days later.
Indulging in wild hilarity over the capture of the crestfallen whites,
the Indians took a bell from one of the horses and, fastening it about
Boone's neck, compelled him under the threat of brandished tomahawks to
caper about and jingle the bell, jeering at him the while with the
derisive query, uttered in broken English: "Steal horse, eh?" With as
good grace as they could summon--wry smiles at best--Boone and Stewart
patiently endured these humiliations, following the Indians as captives.
Some days later (about January 4, 1770), while the vigilance of the
Indians was momentarily relaxed, the captives suddenly plunged into a
dense cane-brake and in the subsequent confusion succeeded in effecting
their escape. Finding their camp deserted upon their return, Boone and
Stewart hastened on and finally overtook their companions. Here Boone
was both surprised and delighted to encounter his brother Squire, loaded
down with supplies. Having heard nothing from Boone, the partners of the
land company had surmised that he and his party must have run short of
ammunition, flour, salt, and other things sorely needed in the
wilderness; and because of their desire that the party should remain, in
order to make an exhaustive exploration of the country, Squire Boone had
been sent to him with supplies. [100] Findlay, Holden, Mooney, and
Cooley returned to the settlements; but Stewart, Squire Boone, and
Alexander Neely, who had accompanied Squire, threw in their lot with the
intrepid Daniel, and fared forth once more to the stirring and bracing
adventures of the Kentucky wilderness. In Daniel Boone's own words, he
expected "from the furs and peltries they had an opportunity of taking
... to recruit his shattered circumstances; discharge the debts he had
contracted by the adventure; and shortly return under better auspices,
to settle the newly discovered country." [101]
Boone and his party now stationed themselves near the mouth of the Red
River, and soon provided themselves, against the hardships of the long
winter, with jerk, bear's oil, buffalo tallow, dried buffalo tongues,
fresh meat, and marrow-bones as food, and buffalo robes and bearskins as
shelter from the inclement weather. Neely had brought with him, to while
away dull hours, a copy of "Gulliver's Travels"; and in describing
Neely's successful hunt for buffalo one day, Boone in after years
amusingly deposed: "In the year 1770 I encamped on Red River with five
other men, and we had with us for our amusement the History of Samuel
Gulliver's Travels, wherein he gave an account of his young master,
Glumdelick, careing him on market day for a show to a town called
Lulbegrud. A young man of our company called Alexander Neely came to
camp and told us he had been that day to Lulbegrud, and had killed two
Brobdignags in their capital." [102] Far from unlettered were pioneers
who indulged together in such literary chat and gave to the near-by
creek the name (after Dean Swift's Lorbrulgrud) of Lulbegrud which name,
first seen on Filson's map of Kentucky (1784), it bears to this day.
From one of his long, solitary hunts Stewart never returned; and it was
not until five years later, while cutting out the Transylvania Trail,
that Boone and his companions discovered, near the old crossing at
Rockcastle, Stewart's remains in a standing hollow sycamore. The
wilderness never gave up its tragic secret.
The close of the winter and most of the spring were passed by the
Boones, after Neely's return to the settlements, in exploration,
hunting, and trapping beaver and otter, in which sport Daniel
particularly excelled. Owing to the drain upon their ammunition, Squire
was at length compelled to return to the settlements for supplies; and
Daniel, who remained alone in the wilderness to complete his
explorations for the land company, must often have shared the feelings
of Balboa as, from lofty knob or towering ridge, he gazed over the waste
of forest which spread from the dim outlines of the Alleghanies to the
distant waters of the Mississippi. He now proceeded to make those
remarkable solitary explorations of Kentucky which have given him
immortality--through the valley of the Kentucky and the Licking, and
along the "Belle Rivière" (Ohio) as low as the falls. He visited the Big
Bone Lick and examined the wonderful fossil remains of the mammoth found
there. Along the great buffalo roads, worn several feet below the
surface of the ground, which led to the Blue Licks, he saw with
amazement and delight thousands of huge shaggy buffalo gamboling,
bellowing, and making the earth rumble beneath the trampling of their
hooves. One day, while upon a cliff near the junction of the Kentucky
and Dick's Rivers, he suddenly found himself hemmed in by a party of
Indians. Seizing his only chance of escape, he leaped into the top of a
maple tree growing beneath the cliffs and, sliding to safety full sixty
feet below, made his escape, pursued by the sound of a chorus of
guttural "Ughs" from the dumbfounded savages.
Finally making his way back to the old camp, Daniel was rejoined there
by Squire on July 27, 1770. During the succeeding months, much of their
time was spent in hunting and prospecting in Jessamine County, where two
caves are still known as Boone's caves. Eventually, when ammunition and
supplies had once more run low, Squire was compelled a second time to
return to the settlements. Perturbed after a time by Squire's failure to
rejoin him at the appointed time, Daniel started toward the settlements,
in search of him; and by a stroke of good fortune encountered him along
the trail. Overjoyed at this meeting (December, 1770) the indomitable
Boones once more plunged into the wilderness, determined to conclude
their explorations by examining the regions watered by the Green and
Cumberland rivers and their tributaries. In after years, Gasper Mansker,
the old German scout, was accustomed to describe with comic effect the
consternation created among the Long Hunters, while hunting one day on
Green River, by a singular noise which they could not explain.
Stealthily slipping from tree to tree, Mansker finally beheld with
mingled surprise and amusement a hunter, bare-headed, stretched flat
upon his back on a deerskin spread on the ground, singing merrily at the
top of his voice! It was Daniel Boone, joyously whiling away the
solitary hours in singing one of his favorite songs of the border. In
March, 1771, after spending some time in company with the Long Hunters,
the Boones, their horses laden with furs, set their faces homeward. On
their return journey, near Cumberland Gap, they had the misfortune to be
surrounded by a party of Indians who robbed them of their guns and all
their peltries. With this humiliating conclusion to his memorable tour
of exploration, Daniel Boone, as he himself says, "once more reached
home after experiencing hardships which would defy credulity in the
recital." [103]
Despite the hardships and the losses, Boone had achieved the ambition of
years: he had seen Kentucky, which he "esteemed a second paradise." The
reports of his extended explorations, which he made to Judge Henderson,
were soon communicated to the other partners of the land company; and
their letters of this period, to one another, bristle with glowing and
minute descriptions of the country, as detailed by their agent. Boone
was immediately engaged to act in the company's behalf to sound the
Cherokees confidentially with respect to their willingness to lease or
sell the beautiful hunting-grounds of the trans-Alleghany. [104] The
high hopes of Henderson and his associates at last gave promise of
brilliant realization. Daniel Boone's glowing descriptions of Kentucky
excited in their minds, says a gifted early chronicler, the "spirit of
an enterprise which in point of magnitude and peril, as well as
constancy and heroism displayed in its execution, has never been
paralleled in the history of America."