TWO YEARS OF DARKNESS
With the opening of the year 1776 Daniel and Squire Boone were employed
for several weeks as hunters or assistants to a party of surveyors sent
by the Transylvania Company to the Falls of the Ohio, in the vicinity of
which Henderson and his friends had taken up seventy thousand acres of
land. They met no Indians and saw plenty of game; but returned to find
that the settlers were indignant because of this wholesale preemption by
the proprietors of the colony in a neighborhood where it was now felt
the chief city in Kentucky was sure to be planted. In response to this
clamor Henderson promised that hereafter, in that locality, only small
tracts should be granted to individuals, and that a town should at once
be laid out at the Falls; but the scanty supply of powder and
provisions, and the company's growing troubles with the Virginia
Assembly, prevented the execution of this project.
In the spring newcomers everywhere appeared. In order to please the
people of Harrodsburg, now the largest settlement, who were disposed to
be critical, the company's land-office was moved thither, and it at once
entered upon a flourishing business. Not only did many Virginians and
Carolinians come in on horseback over the "Wilderness Road," as the
route through Cumberland Gap was now styled, but hundreds also descended
the Ohio in boats from the new settlements on the Monongahela, and from
those farther east in Pennsylvania.
While the horsemen of the Wilderness Road generally settled in
Transylvania, those journeying by boat were chiefly interested in the
crown lands north of the Kentucky; through these they ranged at will,
building rude pens, half-faced cabins, and log huts, as convenience
dictated, and planting small crops of corn in order to preempt their
claims. The majority, however, after making sometimes as many as twenty
such claims each, often upon land already surveyed on militia officers'
warrants, returned home at the close of the season, seeking to sell
their fictitious holdings to actual settlers. Of course the unscrupulous
conduct of these "claim-jumping" speculators led to numerous quarrels.
John Todd, of Harrodsburg, wrote to a friend: "I am afraid to lose sight
of my house lest some invader should take possession."
It was difficult, even for those who came to settle, to get down to hard
work during those earliest years. Never was there a more beautiful
region than the Kentucky wilderness. Both old and new settlers were fond
of roaming through this wonderland of forests and glades and winding
rivers, where the nights were cool and refreshing and the days filled
with harmonies of sound and sight and smell. Hill and valley, timberland
and thicket, meadow and prairie, grasslands and cane-brake--these
abounded on every hand, in happy distribution of light and shadow. The
soil was extremely fertile; there were many open spots fitted for
immediate cultivation; the cattle-ranges were of the best, for nowhere
was cane more abundant; game was more plentiful than men's hopes had
ever before conceived--of turkeys, bears, deer, and buffaloes it seemed,
for a time, as if the supply must always far excelled any possible
demand. It is small wonder that the imaginations of the pioneers were
fired with dreams of the future, that they saw in fancy great cities
springing up in this new world of the West, and wealth pouring into the
laps of those who could first obtain a foothold. Thus, in that beautiful
spring of 1776, did Kentuckians revel in the pleasures of hope, and cast
to the winds all thought of the peril and toil by which alone can man
conquer a savage-haunted wilderness.
But the "dark cloud" foretold at the Watauga treaty soon settled upon
the land. Incited by British agents--for the Revolution was now on--the
Cherokees on the south and the Shawnese and Mingos on the north declared
war upon the American borderers. The Kentuckians were promptly warned by
messengers from the East. The "cabiners," as claim speculators were
called by actual settlers; the wandering fur-traders, most of whom were
shabby rascals, whose example corrupted the savages, and whose conduct
often led to outbreaks of race hostility; and the irresponsible hunters,
who were recklessly killing or frightening off the herds of game--all of
these classes began, with the mutterings of conflict, to draw closer to
the settlements; while many hurried back to their old homes, carrying
exaggerated reports of the situation.
Meanwhile, opposition to the Transylvania proprietors was fast
developing. The settlers in the Harrodsburg neighborhood held a
convention in June and sent Colonel George Rogers Clark and Captain John
Gabriel Jones as delegates to the Virginia Convention with a petition to
that body to make Kentucky a county of Virginia. This project was
bitterly opposed by Henderson; but upon the adoption by Congress, in
July, of the Declaration of Independence, there was small chance left
for the recognition of any proprietary government. When the new Virginia
legislature met in the autumn, the petition of the "inhabitants of
Kentuckie" was granted, and a county government organized.[13] David
Robinson was appointed county lieutenant, John Bowman colonel, Anthony
Bledsoe and George Rogers Clark majors, and Daniel Boone, James Harrod,
John Todd, and Benjamin Logan captains.
It was not until July that the Kentuckians fully realized the existence
of an Indian war. During that month several hunters, surveyors, and
travelers were killed in various parts of the district. The situation
promised so badly that Colonel William Russell, of the Holston Valley,
commandant of the southwestern Virginia militia, advised the immediate
abandonment of Kentucky. Such advice fell upon unheeding ears in the
case of men like Boone and his companions, although many of the less
valorous were quick to retire beyond the mountains.
On Sunday, the seventeenth of July, an incident occurred at
Boonesborough which created wide-spread consternation. Jemima, the
second daughter of Daniel Boone, aged fourteen years, together with two
girl friends, Betsey and Fanny Calloway, sixteen and fourteen
respectively, were paddling in a canoe upon the Kentucky. Losing control
of their craft in the swift current, not over a quarter of a mile from
the settlement, they were swept near the north bank, when five Shawnese
braves, hiding in the bushes, waded out and captured them. The screams
of the girls alarmed the settlers, who sallied forth in hot pursuit of
the kidnappers.
The mounted men, under Colonel Calloway, father of two of the captives,
pushed forward to Lower Blue Licks, hoping to cut off the Indians as
they crossed the Licking River on their way to the Shawnese towns in
Ohio, whither it was correctly supposed they were fleeing. Boone headed
the footmen, who followed closely on the trail of the fugitives, which
had been carefully marked by the girls, who, with the self-possession of
true borderers, furtively scattered broken twigs and scraps of clothing
as they were hurried along through the forest by their grim captors.
After a two days' chase, Boone's party caught up with the unsuspecting
savages some thirty-five miles from Boonesborough, and by dint of a
skilful dash recaptured the young women, unharmed. Two of the Shawnese
were killed and the others fled into the woods. Calloway's horsemen met
no foe.
Although few other attacks were reported during the summer or autumn,
the people were in a continual state of apprehension, neglected their
crops, and either huddled in the neighborhood of the settlements, or
"stations" as they were called, or abandoned the country altogether. In
the midst of this uneasiness Floyd wrote to his friend Preston, in
Virginia, urging that help be sent to the distressed colony: "They all
seem deaf to anything we can say to dissuade them.... I think more than
three hundred men have left the country since I came out, and not one
has arrived, except a few _cabiners_ down the Ohio. I want to return as
much as any man can do; but if I leave the country now there is scarcely
one single man who will not follow the example. When I think of the
deplorable condition a few helpless families are likely to be in, I
conclude to sell my life as dearly as I can in their defense rather
than make an ignominious escape."
[Illustration: FORT BOONESBOROUGH.
Drawn from Henderson's plans and other historical data by George W.
Ranck; reduced from the latter's "Boonesborough" (Filson Club
Publications, No. 16).]
Seven stations had now been abandoned--Huston's, on the present site of
Paris; Hinkson's, on the Licking; Bryan's, on the Elkhorn; Lee's, on the
Kentucky; Harrod's, or the Boiling Spring settlement; Whitley's, and
Logan's. But three remained occupied--McClellan's, Harrodsburg, and
Boonesborough. Up to this time none of the Kentucky stations had been
fortified; there had been some unfinished work at Boonesborough, but it
was soon allowed to fall into decay. Work was now resumed at all three
of the occupied settlements; this consisted simply of connecting the
cabins, which faced an open square, by lines of palisades. It was only
at McClellan's, however, that even this slender protection was promptly
completed; at Boonesborough and Harrodsburg the work, although but a
task of a few days, dragged slowly, and was not finished for several
months. It was next to impossible for Boone and the other militia
captains to induce men to labor at the common defenses in time of
peace.
Great popular interest was taken by the people of the Carolinas,
Virginia, and Pennsylvania in the fate of the Kentucky settlements,
whither so many prominent borderers from those States had moved. The
frantic appeals for help sent out by Floyd, Logan, and McGary, and
expressed in person by George Rogers Clark, awakened keen sympathy; but
the demands of Washington's army were now so great, in battles for
national liberty upon the Atlantic coast, that little could be spared
for the Western settlers. During the summer a small supply of powder was
sent out by Virginia to Captain Boone; in the autumn Harrod and Logan
rode to the Holston and obtained from the military authorities a
packhorse-load of lead; and in the closing days of the year Clark
arrived at Limestone (now Maysville), on the Ohio, with a boat-load of
powder and other stores, voted to the service of Kentucky by the
Virginia Assembly. He had experienced a long and exciting voyage from
Pittsburg with this precious consignment, and about thirty of the
settlers aided him in the perilous enterprise of transporting it
overland to the stations on the Kentucky. While the ammunition was
supposed to be used for defense, the greater part of it was necessarily
spent in obtaining food. Without the great profusion of game the
inhabitants must have starved; although several large crops of corn were
raised, and some wheat, these were as yet insufficient for all.
Early in 1777 Indian "signs" began to multiply. McClellan's was now
abandoned, leaving Boonesborough and Harrodsburg the only settlements
maintained--except, perhaps, Price's, on the Cumberland, although
Logan's Station was reoccupied in February. The number of men now in the
country fit for duty did not exceed a hundred and fifty. In March the
fighting men met at their respective stations and organized under
commissioned officers; hitherto all military operations in Kentucky had
been voluntary, headed by such temporary leaders as the men chose from
their own number.
During the greater part of the year the palisaded stations were
frequently attacked by the savages--Shawnese, Cherokees, and Mingos, in
turn or in company. Some of these sieges lasted through several days,
taxing the skill and bravery of the inhabitants to their utmost. Indian
methods of attacking forts were far different from those that would be
practised by white men. Being practically without military organization,
each warrior acted largely on his own behalf. His object was to secrete
himself, to kill his enemy, and if possible to bear away his scalp as a
trophy. Every species of cover was taken advantage of--trees, stumps,
bushes, hillocks, stones, furnished hiding-places. Feints were made to
draw the attention of the garrison to one side, while the main body of
the besiegers hurled themselves against the other. Having neither
artillery nor scaling-ladders, they frequently succeeded in effecting a
breach by setting fire to the walls. Pretending to retreat, they would
lull the defenders into carelessness, when they would again appear from
ambush, picking off those who came out for water, to attend to crops and
cattle, or to hunt for food; often they exhibited a remarkable spirit of
daring, especially when making a dash to secure scalps. Destroying
crops, cattle, hogs, and poultry, stealing the horses for their own
use, burning the outlying cabins, and guarding the trails against
possible relief, they sought to reduce the settlers to starvation, and
thus make them an easy prey. Every artifice known to besiegers was
skilfully practised by these crafty, keen-eyed, quick-witted wilderness
fighters, who seldom showed mercy. Only when white men aggressively
fought them in their own manner could they be overcome.
In the last week of April, while Boone and Kenton were heading a sortie
against a party of Shawnese besieging Boonesborough, the whites stumbled
into an ambuscade, and Boone was shot in an ankle, the bone being
shattered. Kenton, with that cool bravery for which this tall, vigorous
backwoodsman was known throughout the border, rushed up, and killing a
warrior whose tomahawk was lifted above the fallen man, picked his
comrade up in his arms, and desperately fought his way back into the
enclosure. It was several months before the captain recovered from this
painful wound; but from his room he directed many a day-and-night
defense, and laid plans for the scouting expeditions which were
frequently undertaken throughout the region in order to discover signs
of the lurking foe.
Being the larger settlement, Harrodsburg was more often attacked than
Boonesborough, although simultaneous sieges were sometimes in progress,
thus preventing the little garrisons from helping each other. At both
stations the women soon became the equal of the men, fearlessly taking
turns at the port-holes, from which little puffs of white smoke would
follow the sharp rifle-cracks whenever a savage head revealed itself
from behind bush or tree. When not on duty as marksmen, women were
melting their pewter plates into bullets, loading the rifles and handing
them to the men, caring for the wounded, and cooking whatever food might
be obtainable. During a siege food was gained only by stealth and at
great peril. Some brave volunteer would escape into the woods by night,
and after a day spent in hunting, far away from hostile camps, return,
if possible under cover of darkness, with what game he could find. It
was a time to make heroes or cowards of either men or women--there was
no middle course.
Amid this spasmodic hurly-burly there was no lack of marrying and giving
in marriage. One day in early August, 1776, Betsey Calloway, the eldest
of the captive girls, was married at Boonesborough to Samuel Henderson,
one of the rescuing party--the first wedding in Kentucky. Daniel Boone,
as justice of the peace, tied the knot. A diarist of the time has this
record of a similar Harrodsburg event: "July 9, 1777.--Lieutenant Linn
married--great merriment."
At each garrison, whenever not under actual siege, half of the men were
acting as guards and scouts while the others cultivated small patches of
corn within sight of the walls. But even this precaution sometimes
failed of its purpose. For instance, one day in May two hundred Indians
suddenly surrounded the corn-field at Boonesborough, and there was a
lively skirmish before the planters could reach the fort.
Thus the summer wore away. In August Colonel Bowman arrived with a
hundred militiamen from the Virginia frontier. A little later
forty-eight horsemen came from the Yadkin country to Boone's relief,
making so brave a display as they emerged from the tangled woods and in
open order filed through the gates of the palisade, that some Shawnese
watching the procession from a neighboring hill fled into Ohio with the
startling report that two hundred Long Knife warriors had arrived from
Virginia. In October other Virginians came, to the extent of a hundred
expert riflemen; and late in the autumn the valiant Logan brought in
from the Holston as much powder and lead as four packhorses could carry,
guarded by a dozen sharpshooters, thus insuring a better prospect for
food.
With these important supplies and reenforcements at hand the settlers
were inspired by new hope. Instead of waiting for the savages to attack
them, they thenceforth went in search of the savages, killing them
wherever seen, thus seeking to outgeneral the enemy. These tactics quite
disheartened the astonished tribesmen, and the year closed with a
brighter outlook for the weary Kentuckians. It had been a time of
constant anxiety and watchfulness. The settlers were a handful in
comparison with their vigilant enemies. But little corn had been raised;
the cattle were practically gone; few horses were now left; and on the
twelfth of December Bowman sent word to Virginia that he had only two
months' supply of bread for two hundred women and children, many of whom
were widows and orphans. As for clothing, there was little to be had,
although from the fiber of nettles a rude cloth was made, and deerskins
were commonly worn.
FOOTNOTE:
[13] It was, however, not until November, 1778, that the legislature
formally declared the Transylvania Company's claims null and void.