SOLDIER AND STATESMAN
In Daniel Boone's "autobiography," he dismisses his year of absence from
Kentucky with few words: "I went into the settlement, and nothing worthy
of notice passed for some time." No doubt he hunted in some of his old
haunts upon the Yadkin; and there is reason for believing that he made a
trip upon business of some character to Charleston, S.C.
Meanwhile, his fellow settlers of Kentucky had not been inactive. In
February (1779) Clark repossessed himself of Vincennes after one of the
most brilliant forced marches of the Revolution; and having there
captured Governor Hamilton--the "hair-buying general," as the
frontiersmen called him, because they thought he paid bounties on
American scalps--had sent him a prisoner to Virginia. The long siege of
Boonesborough and the other attacks of the preceding year, together
with more recent assaults upon flatboats descending the Ohio, had
strongly disposed the Kentuckians to retaliate on the Shawnese. Two
hundred and thirty riflemen under Colonel Bowman rendezvoused in July at
the mouth of the Licking, where is now the city of Covington. Nearly a
third of the force were left to guard the boats in which they crossed
the Ohio, the rest marching against Old Chillicothe, the chief Shawnese
town on the Little Miami. They surprised the Indians, and a hotly
contested battle ensued, lasting from dawn until ten o'clock in the
morning; but the overpowering numbers of the savages caused Bowman to
return crestfallen to Kentucky with a loss of nearly a dozen men. This
was the forerunner of many defeats of Americans, both bordermen and
regulars, at the hands of the fierce tribesmen of Ohio.
Readers of Revolutionary history as related from the Eastern standpoint
are led to suppose that the prolonged struggle with the mother country
everywhere strained the resources of the young nation, and was the chief
thought of the people. This high tension was, however, principally in
the tidewater region. In the "back country," as the Western frontiers
were called, there was no lack of patriotism, and bordermen were
numerous in the colonial armies; yet the development of the
trans-Alleghany region was to them of more immediate concern, and went
forward vigorously, especially during the last half of the war. This did
not mean that the backwoodsmen of the foot-hills were escaping from the
conflict by crossing westward beyond the mountains; they were instead
planting themselves upon the left flank, for French and Indian scalping
parties were continually harrying the Western settlements, and the
Eastern forces were too busily engaged to give succor. Kentuckians were
left practically alone to defend the backdoor of the young Republic.
In this year (1779) the Virginia legislature adopted laws for the
preemption of land in Kentucky, which promised a more secure tenure than
had hitherto prevailed, and thus gave great impetus to over-mountain
emigration. Hitherto those going out to Kentucky were largely hunters,
explorers, surveyors, and land speculators; comparatively few families
were established in the wilderness stations. But henceforth the
emigration was chiefly by households, some by boats down the Ohio River,
and others overland by the Wilderness Road--for the first official
improvement of which Virginia made a small appropriation at this time.
Says Chief Justice Robinson,[16] whose parents settled in Kentucky in
December:
"This beneficent enactment brought to the country during the fall and
winter of that year an unexampled tide of emigrants, who, exchanging all
the comforts of their native society and homes for settlements for
themselves and their children here, came like pilgrims to a wilderness
to be made secure by their arms and habitable by the toil of their
lives. Through privations incredible and perils thick, thousands of men,
women, and children came in successive caravans, forming continuous
streams of human beings, horses, cattle, and other domestic animals, all
moving onward along a lonely and houseless path to a wild and cheerless
land. Cast your eyes back on that long procession of missionaries in the
cause of civilization; behold the men on foot with their trusty guns on
their shoulders, driving stock and leading packhorses; and the women,
some walking with pails on their heads, others riding, with children in
their laps, and other children swung in baskets on horses, fastened to
the tails of others going before; see them encamped at night expecting
to be massacred by Indians; behold them in the month of December, in
that ever-memorable season of unprecedented cold called the 'hard
winter,' traveling two or three miles a day, frequently in danger of
being frozen, or killed by the falling of horses on the icy and almost
impassable trace, and subsisting on stinted allowances of stale bread
and meat; but now, lastly, look at them at the destined fort, perhaps on
the eve of merry Christmas, when met by the hearty welcome of friends
who had come before, and cheered by fresh buffalo-meat and parched corn,
they rejoice at their deliverance, and resolve to be contented with
their lot."
In October, as a part of this great throng, Daniel Boone and his family
returned to Kentucky by his old route through Cumberland Gap, being two
weeks upon the journey. The great hunter was at the head of a company of
Rowan County folk, and carried with him two small cannon, the first
artillery sent by Virginia to protect the Western forts. Either as one
of his party, or later in the season, there came to Kentucky Abraham
Lincoln, of Rockingham County, Va., grandfather of the martyred
president. The Lincolns and the Boones had been neighbors and warm
friends in Pennsylvania, and ever since had maintained pleasant
relations--indeed, had frequently intermarried. It was by Boone's advice
and encouragement that Lincoln migrated with his family to the "dark and
bloody ground" and took up a forest claim in the heart of Jefferson
County. Daniel's younger brother Edward, killed by Indians a year later,
was of the same company.
[Illustration: SITE OF BOONESBOROUGH TO-DAY.
Fort site, to which roadway leads, is hidden by foliage on the left;
the ridge in the background faced and overlooked the fort. Reduced
from Ranck's "Boonesborough."]
Boone also brought news that the legislature had incorporated "the town
of Boonesborough in the County of Kentuckey," of which he was named a
trustee, which office he eventually declined. The town, although now
laid out into building lots, and anticipating a prosperous growth, never
rose to importance and at last passed away. Nothing now remains upon the
deserted site, which Boone could have known, save a decrepit
sycamore-tree and a tumble-down ferry established in the year of the
incorporation.
As indicated in Robinson's address, quoted above, the winter of 1779-80
was a season of unwonted severity. After an exceptionally mild autumn,
cold weather set in by the middle of November and lasted without thaw
for two months, with deep snow and zero temperature. The rivers were
frozen as far south as Nashville; emigrant wagons were stalled in the
drifts while crossing the mountains, and everywhere was reported
unexampled hardship. It will be remembered that the Revolutionary Army
in the East suffered intensely from the same cause. The Indians had, the
preceding summer, destroyed most of the corn throughout Kentucky; the
game was rapidly decreasing, deer and buffaloes having receded before
the advance of settlement, and a temporary famine ensued. Hunters were
employed to obtain meat for the newcomers; and in this occupation Boone
and Harrod, in particular, were actively engaged throughout the winter,
making long trips into the forest, both north and south of Kentucky
River.
The land titles granted by the Transylvania Company having been declared
void, it became necessary for Boone and the other settlers under that
grant to purchase from the State government of Virginia new warrants.
For this purpose Boone set out for Richmond in the spring. Nathaniel and
Thomas Hart and others of his friends commissioned him to act as their
agent in this matter. With his own small means and that which was
entrusted to him for the purpose, he carried $20,000 in depreciated
paper money--probably worth but half that amount in silver. It appears
that of this entire sum he was robbed upon his way--where, or under what
circumstances, we are unable to discover. His petition to the Kentucky
legislature, in his old age, simply states the fact of the robbery,
adding that he "was left destitute." A large part of the money was the
property of his old friends, the Harts, but many others also suffered
greatly. There was some disposition on the part of a few to attribute
dishonorable action to Boone; but the Harts, although the chief losers,
came promptly to the rescue and sharply censured his critics, declaring
him to be a "just and upright" man, beyond suspicion--a verdict which
soon became unanimous. Sympathy for the honest but unbusinesslike
pioneer was so general, that late in June, soon after the robbery,
Virginia granted him a preemption of a thousand acres of land in what is
now Bourbon County.
A tradition exists that while in Virginia that summer Boone called upon
his former host at Detroit, then a prisoner of war, and expressed
sympathy for the sad plight into which the English governor had fallen;
also some indignation at the harsh treatment accorded him, and of which
Hamilton bitterly complained.
The founder of Boonesborough was soon back at his station, for he served
as a juryman there on the first of July. During his absence immigration
into Kentucky had been greater than ever; three hundred well-laden
family boats had arrived in the spring from the Pennsylvania and New
York frontiers, while many caravans had come from Virginia and the
Carolinas over the Wilderness Road. Attacks by Indian scalping parties
had been numerous along both routes, but particularly upon the Ohio. As
a reprisal for Bowman's expedition of the previous year, and intending
to interrupt settlement, Colonel Byrd, of the British Army, descended in
June upon Ruddle's and Martin's Stations, at the forks of the Licking,
with six hundred Indians and French-Canadians, and bringing six small
cannon with which to batter the Kentucky palisades. Both garrisons were
compelled to surrender, and the victors returned to Detroit with a train
of three hundred prisoners--men, women, and children--upon whom the
savages practised cruelties of a particularly atrocious character.
This inhuman treatment of prisoners of war created wide-spread
indignation upon the American border. In retaliation, George Rogers
Clark at once organized an expedition to destroy Pickaway, one of the
principal Shawnese towns on the Great Miami. The place was reduced to
ashes and a large number of Indians killed, the Americans losing
seventeen men. Clark had previously built Fort Jefferson, upon the first
bluff on the eastern side of the Mississippi below the mouth of the
Ohio, in order to accentuate the claim of the United States that it
extended to the Mississippi on the west; but as this was upon the
territory of friendly Chickasaws, the invasion aroused their ire, and it
was deemed prudent temporarily to abandon the post.
Another important event of the year (November, 1780) was the division of
Kentucky by the Virginia legislature into three counties--Jefferson,
with its seat at Louisville, now the chief town in the Western country;
Lincoln, governed from Harrodsburg; and Fayette, with Lexington as its
seat. Of these, Fayette, embracing the country between the Kentucky and
the Ohio, was the least populated; and, being the most northern and
traversed by the Licking River, now the chief war-path of the Shawnese,
was most exposed to attack. After his return Boone soon tired of
Boonesborough, for in his absence the population had greatly changed by
the removal or death of many of his old friends; and, moreover, game had
quite deserted the neighborhood. With his family, his laden packhorses,
and his dogs, he therefore moved to a new location across Kentucky
River, about five miles northwest of his first settlement. Here, at the
crossing of several buffalo-trails, and on the banks of Boone's Creek,
he built a palisaded log house called Boone's Station. Upon the division
of Kentucky this new stronghold fell within the borders of Fayette
County.
In the primitive stage of frontier settlement, when the common weal
demanded from every man or boy able to carry a rifle active militia
service whenever called upon, the military organization was quite equal
in importance to the civil. The new wilderness counties were therefore
equipped with a full roll of officers, Fayette County's colonel being
John Todd, while Daniel Boone was lieutenant-colonel; Floyd, Pope,
Logan, and Trigg served the sister counties in like manner. The
three county regiments were formed into a brigade, with Clark as
brigadier-general, his headquarters being at Louisville (Fort Nelson).
Each county had also a court to try civil and criminal cases, but
capital offenses could only be tried at Richmond. There was likewise a
surveyor for each county, Colonel Thomas Marshall serving for Fayette;
Boone was his deputy for several years (1782-85).
In October, 1780, Edward Boone, then but thirty-six years of age,
accompanied Daniel to Grassy Lick, in the northeast part of the present
Bourbon County, to boil salt. Being attacked by a large band of Indians,
Edward was killed in the first volley, and fell at the feet of his
brother, who at once shot the savage whom he thought to be the slayer.
Daniel then fled, stopping once to load and kill another foe. Closely
pursued, he had recourse to all the arts of evasion at his
command--wading streams to break the trail, swinging from tree to tree
by aid of wild grape-vines, and frequently zigzagging. A hound used in
the chase kept closely to him, however, and revealed his whereabouts by
baying, until the hunter killed the wily beast, and finally reached his
station in safety. Heading an avenging party of sixty men, Boone at once
went in pursuit of the enemy, and followed them into Ohio, but the
expedition returned without result.
The following April Boone went to Richmond as one of the first
representatives of Fayette County in the State legislature. With the
approach of Cornwallis, La Fayette, whose corps was then protecting
Virginia, abandoned Richmond, and the Assembly adjourned to
Charlottesville. Colonel Tarleton, at the head of a body of light horse,
made a dash upon the town, hoping to capture the law-makers, and
particularly Governor Jefferson, whose term was just then expiring.
Jefferson and the entire Assembly had been warned, but had a narrow
escape (June 4th), for while they were riding out of one end of town
Tarleton was galloping in at the other. The raider succeeded in
capturing three or four of the legislators, Boone among them, and after
destroying a quantity of military stores took his prisoners to
Cornwallis's camp. The members were paroled after a few days'
detention. The Assembly fled to Staunton, thirty-five miles distant,
where it resumed the session. The released members are reported to have
again taken their seats, although, after his capture, Boone's name does
not appear in the printed journals. Possibly the conditions of the
parole did not permit him again to serve at the current session, which
closed the twenty-third of June. He seems to have spent the summer in
Kentucky, and late in September went up the Ohio to Pittsburg, thence
journeying to the home of his boyhood in eastern Pennsylvania, where he
visited friends and relatives for a month, and then returned to Richmond
to resume his legislative duties.
Of all the dark years which Kentucky experienced, 1782 was the
bloodiest. The British authorities at Detroit exerted their utmost
endeavors to stem the rising tide of settlement and to crush the
aggressive military operations of Clark and his fellow-borderers. With
presents and smooth words they enlisted the cooperation of the most
distant tribes, the hope being held out that success would surely
follow persistent attack and a policy of "no quarter." It would be
wearisome to cite all the forays made by savages during this fateful
year, upon flatboats descending the Ohio, upon parties of immigrants
following the Wilderness Road, upon outlying forest settlers, and in the
neighborhood of fortified stations. The border annals of the time abound
in details of robbery, burning, murder, captivities, and of
heart-rending tortures worse than death. A few only which have won
prominence in history must here suffice.
In March, some Wyandots had been operating in the neighborhood of
Boonesborough and then departed for Estill's Station, fifteen miles
away, near the present town of Richmond. Captain Estill and his garrison
of twenty-five men were at the time absent on a scout, and thus unable
to prevent the killing and scalping of a young woman and the capture of
a negro slave. According to custom, the Indians retreated rapidly after
this adventure, but were pursued by Estill. A stubborn fight ensued,
there being now eighteen whites and twenty-five savages. Each man stood
behind a tree, and through nearly two hours fought with uncommon
tenacity. The Indians lost seventeen killed and two wounded, while the
whites were reduced to three survivors, Estill himself being among the
slain. The survivors then withdrew by mutual consent.
In May, his station having been attacked with some loss, Captain Ashton
followed the retreating party of besiegers, much larger than his own
squad, and had a fierce engagement with them lasting two hours. He and
eleven of his comrades lost their lives, and the remainder fled in
dismay. A similar tragedy occurred in August, when Captain Holden,
chasing a band of scalpers, was defeated with a loss of four killed and
one wounded.
The month of August marked the height of the onslaught. Horses were
carried off, cattle killed, men at work in the fields mercilessly
slaughtered, and several of the more recent and feeble stations were
abandoned. Bryan's Station, consisting of forty cabins enclosed by a
stout palisade, was the largest and northernmost of a group of Fayette
County settlements in the rich country of which Lexington is the center.
An army of nearly a thousand Indians--the largest of either race that
had thus far been mustered in the West--was gathered under Captains
Caldwell and McKee, of the British Army, who were accompanied by the
renegade Simon Girty and a small party of rangers. Scouts had given a
brief warning to the little garrison of fifty riflemen, but when the
invaders appeared during the night of August 15th the defenders were
still lacking a supply of water.
The Indians at first sought to conceal their presence by hiding in the
weeds and bushes which, as at Boonesborough, had carelessly been left
standing. Although aware of the extent of the attacking force, the
garrison affected to be without suspicion. In the morning the women and
girls, confident that if no fear were exhibited they would not be shot
by the hiding savages, volunteered to go to the spring outside the
walls, and by means of buckets bring in enough water to fill the
reservoir. This daring feat was successfully accomplished. Although
painted faces and gleaming rifles could readily be seen in the
underbrush all about the pool, this bucket-line of brave frontiers-women
laughed and talked as gaily as if unconscious of danger, and were
unmolested.
Immediately after their return within the gates, some young men went to
the spring to draw the enemy's fire, and met a fusillade from which they
barely escaped with their lives. The assault now began in earnest.
Runners were soon spreading the news of the invasion among the
neighboring garrisons. A relief party of forty-six hurrying in from
Lexington fell into an ambush and lost a few of their number in killed
and wounded, but the majority reached the fort through a storm of
bullets. The besiegers adopted the usual methods of savage attack--quick
rushes, shooting from cover, fire-arrows, and the customary uproar of
whoops and yells--but without serious effect. The following morning,
fearful of a general outpouring of settlers, the enemy withdrew
hurriedly and in sullen mood.
Colonel Boone was soon marching through the forest toward Bryan's, as
were similar companies from Lexington, McConnell's, and McGee's, the
other members of the Fayette County group; and men from the counties of
Jefferson and Lincoln were also upon the way, under their military
leaders. The neighboring contingents promptly arrived at Bryan's in the
course of the afternoon.
The next morning a hundred and eighty-two of the best riflemen in
Kentucky, under Colonel Todd as ranking officer, started in pursuit of
the foe, who had followed a buffalo-trail to Blue Licks, and were
crossing the Licking when the pursuers arrived on the scene. A council
of war was held, at which Boone, the most experienced man in the party,
advised delay until the expected reenforcements could arrive. The bulk
of the Indians had by this time escaped, leaving only about three
hundred behind, who were plainly luring the whites to an attack. Todd,
Trigg, and most of the other leaders sided with Boone; but Major Hugh
McGary, an ardent, hot-headed man, with slight military training, dared
the younger men to follow him, and spurred his horse into the river,
whither, in the rash enthusiasm of the moment, the hot-bloods followed
him, leaving the chief officers no choice but to accompany them.
Rushing up a rocky slope on the other side, where a few Indians could be
seen, the column soon fell into an ambush. A mad panic resulted, in
which the Kentuckians for the most part acted bravely and caused many of
the enemy to fall; but they were overpowered and forced to flee in hot
haste, leaving seventy of their number dead on the field and seven
captured. Among the killed were Todd and Trigg, fighting gallantly to
the last. Boone lost his son Israel, battling by his side, and himself
escaped only by swimming the river amid a shower of lead. A day or two
later Logan arrived with four hundred men, among whom was Simon Kenton,
to reenforce Todd; to him was left only the melancholy duty of burying
the dead, now sadly disfigured by Indians, vultures, and wolves.
The greater part of the savage victors, laden with scalps and spoils,
returned exultantly to their northern homes, although small bands still
remained south of the Ohio, carrying wide-spread devastation through the
settlements, especially in the neighborhood of Salt River, where, at one
station, thirty-seven prisoners were taken.
While all these tragedies were being enacted, General Clark, at the
Falls of the Ohio, had offered only slight aid. But indignant protests
sent in to the Virginia authorities by the Kentucky settlers, who were
now in a state of great alarm, roused the hero of Kaskaskia and
Vincennes to a sense of his duty. A vigorous call to arms was now issued
throughout the three counties. Early in November over a thousand mounted
riflemen met their brigadier at the mouth of the Licking, and from the
site of Cincinnati marched through the Ohio forests to the Indian towns
on the Little Miami. The savages fled in consternation, leaving the
Kentuckians to burn their cabins and the warehouses of several British
traders, besides large stores of grain and dried meats, thus entailing
great suffering among the Shawnese during the winter now close at hand.
The triumphant return of this expedition gave fresh heart to the people
of Kentucky; and the sequel proved that, although the tribesmen of the
north frequently raided the over-mountain settlers throughout the decade
to come, no such important invasions as those of 1782 were again
undertaken.
FOOTNOTE:
[16] Address at Camp Madison, Franklin County, Ky., in 1843.