Description of the Old Fort at Boonesborough--Usual methods of
fortification against the Indians--Arrival of more settlers at
Boonesborough--Captain Boone returns to the Clinch River to
bring out his family--He enlists new emigrants and starts for
Kentucky--Reinforced by a large party at Powell's Valley--Arrival
at Boonesborough--Arrival of many new settlers at Boonesborough and
Harrod's settlement--Arrival of Kenton, Floyd, the McAfees, and
other distinguished persons--Arrival of Colonel Richard Callaway.
As the old fort at Boonesborough became so celebrated in the Indian
wars which followed its erection, our readers may be curious to know
what sort of structure it was. "We have accordingly copied from a
print in Collins' Historical Sketches of Kentucky a view of the fort,
from a drawing made by Colonel Henderson himself, and the following
description: 'It was situated adjacent to the river, with one of the
angles resting on its bank near the water, and extending from it in the
form of a parallelogram. The length of the fort, allowing twenty feet
for each cabin and opening, must have been about two hundred and sixty,
and the breadth one hundred and fifty feet. In a few days after the work
was commenced, one of the men was killed by the Indians.' The houses,
being built of hewn logs, were bullet proof. They were of a square
form, and one of them projected from each corner, being connected by
stockades. The remaining space on the four sides, as will be seen by
the engraving, was filled up with cabins erected of rough logs, placed
close together. The gates were on opposite sides, made of thick slabs
of timber, and hung on wooden hinges. This was in accordance with the
fashion of the day."
"A fort, in those rude military times," says Butler,[24] "consisted of
pieces of timber sharpened at the end and firmly lodged in the ground:
rows of these pickets enclosed the desired space, which embraced the
cabins of the inhabitants. A block-house or more, of superior care and
strength, commanding the sides of the fort, with or without a ditch,
completed the fortifications or Stations, as they were called. Generally
the sides of the interior cabins formed the sides of the fort. Slight as
this advance was in the art of war, it was more than sufficient against
attacks of small arms in the hands of such desultory warriors, as their
irregular supply of provisions necessarily rendered the Indians. Such
was the nature of the military structures of the provision against their
enemies. They were ever more formidable in the canebrakes and in the
woods than before even these imperfect fortifications."
We have seen in Boone's own account that the fort at Boonesborough was
completed on the 14th of June, 1774. The buildings necessary for the
accommodation and safety of the little colony, and of the relatives and
friends by whom they expected to be joined during the summer and fall,
were completed about this time. Colonel Henderson, Mr. John Luttrell,
and Mr. Nathaniel Hart, three of the proprietors, arrived at the
station, which was now named Boonesborough, in compliment to the
intrepid pioneer. These gentlemen brought out with them between thirty
and forty new settlers, a goodly number of pack-horses, and some of
the necessaries of civilized life; and the Station, upon which various
improvements were soon made, at once became quite a bustling, life-like,
important _military_ place. Much pleased with the manner in which he had
commenced the settlement of a new commonwealth, and laid the foundations
of what he doubted not was soon to become a great city, Boone took a
part of his men and returned to the settlement on Clinch River, for the
purpose of setting an example to others by moving out his own family.
The daring pioneer was now in high spirits, and more than ever
enraptured with the deep forests and rich plains of Kentucky. He sounded
their praises without intermission among the settlers on Clinch River,
and soon induced a number of persons to agree to accompany him on his
return to Boonesborough. He then went about making his domestic
arrangements, for a final removal to Kentucky, with great energy; and
these being soon completed, in September or October he turned his back
upon his old home forever, and started with his family and a few
followers toward that which his unsurpassed daring and rude skill had
prepared for them in a new land. In Powell's Valley he found Hugh
McGary, Richard Hogan, and Thomas Denton, with their families and
followers, awaiting his arrival. His companions, as now increased,
amounted to twenty-six men, four women, and four or five boys and girls,
perhaps half grown; and placing himself at the head of this interesting
little colony, he proudly led it through the Cumberland Gap into the
wilderness beyond, where it was destined to be the germ of a great
State.
When this party had arrived at the head of Dick's River, McGary, Denton,
and Hogan, with their families and a few followers, separated themselves
from the rest, and struck through the forest for the spot where Harrod
and his Monongahelians had built their cabin the year before. Boone,
with the main body of the party, continued his original course, and
in due time arrived safely at Boonesborough; "and Mrs. Boone and her
daughter," it is always recorded with an air of pleasant exultation by
the admirers of the old pioneer, "were the earliest white women in that
region, and the first of their sex and color that ever stood upon the
banks of the wild and beautiful Kentucky."
During the latter part of the year 1775, a great many adventurers and
surveyors, principally from Virginia and North Carolina, made their
appearance in Kentucky; and for all such, Boonesborough was a place
of general rendezvous. Some united themselves to Boone's colony, and
remained permanently at his Station: others clustered abound Harrod's
Old Cabin, and the Fort which had by this time been erected by Logan,
and made "improvements" in the vicinity of each; but most of them
returned to their several homes after having made such locations and
surveys as they thought proper. Among those by whom Boone was visited
in the course of this year, were several men who have subsequently
rendered very important services in the settlement of the West, and
attained great and deserved celebrity: such were Simon Kenton, John
Floyd, the four brothers McAfee, and others. A tolerably good road,
sufficient for the passage of pack-horses in single file, had been
opened from the settlements on the Holston to Boonesborough, by the
party which Boone led out early in the following spring; and this
now became the thoroughfare for other adventurers, a number of whom
removed their families from North Carolina to Kentucky, and settled
at Boonesborough, during the fall and winter of this year. Colonel
Richard Callaway was one of these; and there were others of equal
respectability.
[Footnote 24: History of Kentucky.]