Leaving North Carolina--Joined by a Large Company at Powell's
Valley--Glowing Anticipations--Attacked by Indians in Cumberland
Gap--Daniel Boone's Eldest Son Killed--Discouragement--Return
to Clinch River Settlement--The Check Providential--Boone acts
as a Guide to a Party of Surveyors--Commissioned Captain by
Governor Dunmore, and takes command of Three Garrisons--Battle of
Point Pleasant--Attends the making of a Treaty with the Indians
at Wataga--Employed by Colonel Richard Henderson--Kentucky
claimed by the Cherokees--James Harrod--The First Settlement
in Kentucky--Boone leads a Company into Kentucky--Attacked
by Indians--Erection of the Fort at Boonesborough--Colonel
Richard Henderson takes Possession of Kentucky--The Republic of
Transylvania--His Scheme receives its Death-blow--Perils of the
Frontier--A Permanent Settlement made on Kentucky Soil.
On the 25th of September, 1774, Daniel Boone and his family started to
make their settlement in Kentucky.
He had as his company his brother Squire, who had spent several months
with him in the wilderness, and they took with them quite a number of
cattle and swine with which to stock their farms when they should reach
their destination, while their luggage was carried on pack-horses.
At Powell's Valley, not very far distant, they were joined by another
party, numbering five families and forty able-bodied men, all armed and
provided with plenty of ammunition. This made the force a formidable
one, and they pushed on in high spirits.
When night came they improvised tents with poles and their blankets,
and the abundance of game around them removed all danger of suffering
from the lack of food, for it was but sport to bring down enough of it
to keep the entire company well supplied.
The experience of the Boones, when they passed through this region
previously, taught them to be on their guard constantly, for the most
likely time for the Indians to come is when they are least expected,
and the leaders saw to it that no precaution was neglected.
And yet it is easy to see that such a large company, moving slowly, and
encumbered by women and children and so much luggage and live-stock,
was peculiarly exposed to danger from the dreaded Indians.
On the 10th of October they approached Cumberland Gap. The cattle had
fallen to the rear, where they were plodding leisurely along, with
several miles separating them from their friends in front, when the
latter suddenly heard the reports of guns coming to them through the
woods. They instantly paused and, looking in each other's pale faces,
listened.
There could be no mistaking their meaning, for the reports were from
the direction of the cattle in the rear, and the shouts and whoops came
from the brazen throats of Indians, who had attacked the weak guard of
the live-stock.
Boone and his friends, leaving a sufficient guard for the women and
children, hurried back to the assistance of the young men, who were in
such imminent peril.
There was sore need of their help indeed, for the attack, like the
generality of those made by Indians, was sudden, unexpected, and of
deadly fierceness. When the panting hunters reached the spot, they
found the cattle had been stampeded and scattered irrecoverably in the
woods, while of the seven men who had the kine in charge, only one
escaped alive, and he was badly wounded.
Among the six who lay stretched in death, was the oldest son of Daniel
Boone, slain, as may be said, just as he was about entering upon the
promised land.
The disaster was an appalling one, and it spread gloom and sorrow among
the emigrants, who might well ask themselves whether, if they were
forced to run the gauntlet in that fearful fashion, they would be able
to hold their own if spared to reach Kentucky?
A council was called, and the question was discussed most seriously.
Daniel Boone, who had suffered such an affliction in the loss of his
child, strenuously favored pushing on, as did his brother and a number
of the other emigrants, but the majority were disheartened by the
disaster, and insisted on going back to their homes, where, though the
annoyances might be many, no such calamity was to be dreaded.
The sentiment for return was so strong that the Boones were compelled
to yield, and turning about, they made their way slowly and sadly
to Clinch River settlement, in the southwestern part of Virginia,
a distance of perhaps forty miles from where they were attacked by
Indians.
It would be difficult to look upon this occurrence in any other light
than a most serious check and misfortune, as certainly was the case, so
far as the loss of the half dozen men was concerned, but the turning
back of the rest of the party was unquestionably a providential thing.
It was a short time previous to this, that the historical Logan episode
took place. The family of that noted chief and orator were massacred,
and the fierce Dunmore War was the consequence. This was impending at
the very time Boone and the others were journeying toward Kentucky, and
breaking out shortly afterwards, extended to the very section in which
the emigrants expected to settle, and where in all probability they
would have suffered much more severely had they not turned back for the
time.
Nothing could change the purpose of Boone to enter into Kentucky, and
to make his home there. Although obliged from the sentiment of his
friends to withdraw for a time, he looked upon the check as only a
temporary one, and was confident that before long he would be firmly
fixed in what he called the "land of promise."
Boone was not to be an idle spectator of the famous Dunmore War going
on around him. In the month of June, 1774, he and Michael Stoner were
requested by Governor Dunmore of Virginia to go to the falls of
the Ohio, for the purpose of guiding into the settlement a party of
surveyors, sent out some months before.
Boone and his friend promptly complied, and conducted the surveyors
through the difficult and dangerous section without accident,
completing a tour of eight hundred miles in a couple of months.
Shortly afterward Boone rejoined his family on Clinch river, and was
there when Governor Dunmore sent him a commission as captain, and
ordered him to take command of three contiguous garrisons on the
frontier, during the prosecution of the war against the Indians.
Boone, who had proven his coolness and intrepidity many a time, was
equally prompt in discharging the responsible duty with which the
governor honored him. It is believed that the pioneer was present at
the famous battle of Point Pleasant, which perhaps was the most furious
contest ever waged with the Indians on Virginia soil.
The Shawanoes, Delawares, Mingoes, Wyandots and Cayugas, to the number
of 1500, and under the leadership of such famous chiefs as Logan,
Cornstock, Elenipsico, Red-Eagle and others, made a fight against
General Lewis and his brave Virginians, not only with bravery, but with
a skill which came within a hair's-breadth of annihilating the entire
force of whites as utterly as was that of General Custer more than a
century later.
Finally, however, the sanguinary fight terminated in favor of the
Virginians, by a skillful maneuvre at the proper moment, and the
savages were completely routed. Not long afterward a treaty of peace
was made in which the Indians surrendered all claim to Kentucky. As the
Six Nations had done the same six years before, it may be said that all
the aboriginal title to Kentucky was extinguished when Boone settled
there.
Dunmore's War having terminated with the utter overthrow of the
combined tribes, the militia that had been called into service were
discharged, and Boone returned to his family on Clinch River.
He had already become known as a hunter and explorer possessing great
daring and shrewdness, and those were the days when such men were
needed in wresting the Western wilderness from the grasp of the wild
Indian, who was sure to fight the advancing hosts of civilization with
the treacherous fierceness which the barbarian always displays in
defending its young.
Boone, therefore, had been home but a short time, when he received a
request from a company of North Carolinians, who proposed purchasing
a large tract of land lying to the south of Kentucky River from the
Cherokee Indians, to attend their treaty to be held at Wataga in
March, 1775, with a view of negotiating with them, and determining the
boundaries of the purchase.
This association was known as Colonel Richard Henderson's Company, and
it was one of the most extraordinary that was engaged at any time in
opening up our Western territory.
When the Boones returned from their first visit to Kentucky, it is
scarcely necessary to say that they gave glowing descriptions of its
wonderful attractiveness for the hunter and settler. These accounts
spread over North Carolina and created great excitement, one of the
direct results being the formation of Colonel Henderson's Company. The
originator was a man of education, wealth and energy, and he displayed
such ability and daring in its management, that he frightened off most
of his rivals, or led them to enlist under his banner.
At that time the entire country lying within the natural lines formed
by the Ohio, Kentucky and Cumberland rivers was claimed by the Cherokee
Indians, who lived within the boundaries of North Carolina. Previously,
however, Virginia had given an impetus to the exploration and adventure
in Kentucky, by presenting to her officers and soldiers Western lands
by way of bounties for their services in the British army, in the old
war between France and England. It was required that these lands should
be surveyed by the claimants, who were also given a large discretion in
locating their claims.
The first of these was made upon the Kanawha in the year 1772, and the
second was on the south side of the Ohio the following year.
The business having begun it was pressed vigorously forward. Extensive
tracts were surveyed on the north fork of the Licking and numerous salt
licks, and other especially desirable spots were taken up.
The year 1774 was notable for arrivals in Kentucky of those who were
entitled to lands, besides scores of others who went to indulge in
speculation, and to secure the most valuable sections before they could
be taken by others.
Among those daring explorers and hunters was James Harrod, at the head
of a party of Kentuckians from the shores of the Monongahela. They
followed the Kentucky River into the interior, and left it at a place
afterwards known as "Harrod's Landing." Moving further westward they
located themselves in a beautiful and attractive section, where they
erected the first log-cabin ever built in Kentucky.
This was near the present town of Harrodsburg, in the spring of 1774,
and this place, therefore, may claim to be the oldest settlement in
Kentucky. Harrodsburg is now the capital of Mercer county, and is
thirty miles south of Frankfort, with a population of about 2,500. It
is an attractive summer retreat, and enjoys a fine reputation for its
mineral waters.
As we have stated, the most remarkable of the many associations formed
for the settlement of Kentucky was that organized by Colonel Richard
Henderson of North Carolina.
It was intended to obtain by purchase from the Cherokee Indians their
right to the same, and then to take possession of the immense area.
As soon as the organization of the company was effected, Daniel Boone
was fixed upon to conduct the negotiations with the Cherokees. As
might have been anticipated, he met with perfect success, and Colonel
Henderson went to Wataga, a small place on the Holston River, where,
in solemn council, on the 17th of March, 1775, he delivered to them a
consideration in merchandise, for which he received in return a deed to
Kentucky, signed by all the leading chiefs.
This was a most important step indeed, but another of no less
importance remained to be taken, and that was to assume possession of
the territory claimed by Colonel Henderson.
This gentleman was too energetic and clear-sighted to delay such a
necessary measure, and his wisdom was further shown by fixing upon
Captain Daniel Boone for the carrying out of his intentions.
A small company of brave and trustworthy men were at once selected, who
were sent to Kentucky under the direction of Boone, with instructions
to open a road from the Holston to the Kentucky River, and to erect a
station at the mouth of Otter Creek, on the latter stream.
This was serious business, and none appreciated it more than Boone
and his companions, who knew that the treaty signed with the chiefs
would not afford them the slightest protection against the treacherous
Indians. They proceeded with the greatest care and caution, keeping
their most vigilant sentinels on the lookout at night, while every man,
it may be said, was on guard through the day.
They pushed steadily forward, until they reached a point about fifteen
miles from where Boonesborough stands, using all the dispatch possible,
and escaping molestation up to that time. But at the place named,
they were suddenly fired upon by Indians, who, springing up from
their ambush, attacked them with great ferocity. Two of the whites
were killed and two wounded, but they repulsed their assailants a few
minutes later.
Boone and his friends lost no time in pressing ahead; but three
days later, they were fired upon by Indians again, and two of their
number were killed and three wounded. Well might Kentucky be named
the Dark and Bloody Ground, for its soil has been crimsoned with the
life-current of its earliest pioneers, from the very hour they first
placed foot within its borders.
The settlers, however, had no thought of turning back, but fought their
way, as may be said, to the Kentucky River, which they reached on the
1st of April, 1775, and began the erection of the fort of Boonesborough
at a salt lick, about two hundred feet from the south bank of the river.
A few days later, the Indians shot one of the men, but the others
paused in their work only long enough to give their late comrade a
respectful burial, and to shed a few tears of sympathy over his loss,
when they resumed cutting and hewing the logs and placing them in
position.
They continued steadily at work, and the fort was finished by the
middle of June following, when, having satisfactorily discharged his
duty, Boone returned to his family at the Clinch River settlement.
Kentucky was formally taken possession of on the 20th of April, 1775,
which, it may be stated, was on the very day that Colonel Richard
Henderson reached the age of forty years, there being about two months
difference between his age and that of Daniel Boone.
Henderson was a native Virginian, who had been a judge in the Superior
Court of the Colonial Government of North Carolina; but the halls of
justice were shut up by the anarchy occasioned by the Regulators, and
he engaged a number of the most influential of North Carolinians in
the Utopian scheme of founding the Republic of Transylvania. It was
with this grandiloquent project in their mind, that Kentucky was taken
possession of on the date named, and everything considered necessary
was done for laying the foundation stones of the model republic in the
heart of American territory.
The death-blow of the grand scheme was received before it was fairly
born. Governor Martin of North Carolina issued a proclamation,
declaring the purchase of the lands by Colonel Henderson and his
association from the Cherokees illegal; but, as a matter of equity, the
State subsequently granted 200,000 acres to the company.
Virginia did the same thing, granting them an equal number of acres
bounded by the Ohio and Green Rivers. Tennessee claimed this tract,
but gave in compensation therefor the same number of acres in Powell's
Valley. Thus ended the attempt to found the Transylvania Republic, but
the original projectors of the movement acquired individual fortunes,
and Colonel Henderson himself, when he died, ten years later, was the
possessor of immense wealth, and was loved and respected throughout the
entire territory.
The old fort at Boonesborough, being the first real foothold gained by
the pioneers, was sure to become most prominently identified with the
Indian troubles that were inevitable. It was to be a haven of safety to
many a settler and his family, when the whoop of the vengeful Shawanoe
or Miami rang through the forest arches, and the sharp crack of the
warrior's rifle sent the whizzing bullet to the heart of the white man
who had ventured and trusted his all in the wilderness.
It was to be the lighthouse on the coast of danger, warning of the
peril that lay around and beyond, but offering protection to those who
fled to its rude shelter, as the cities of the olden times received and
spread their arms over the panting fugitive escaping from his pursuers.
The old fort was a most notable figure in the history of the West, a
hundred years ago. There have been gathered in the structure of logs
and slabs, the bravest men who ever trailed the red Indian through the
wilderness. There those mighty giants of the border, Boone, Kenton,
Wells, M'Clelland, the Wetzel and McAfee Brothers, M'Arthur, and scores
of others converged from their long journeyings in the service of the
Government; and, closing about the fire, as they smoked their pipes,
they told of the hand-to-hand encounter in the silent depths of the
woods, of the maneuvering on the banks of the lonely mountain stream,
of the panther-like creeping through the canebrake on the trail of the
Indian, of the camps at night, when the Shawanoes were so plentiful
that they did not dare close their eyes through fear that their
breathing would betray them, of the smoking cabin with the mutilated
forms of husband, wife, and babe showing that the aboriginal tigers
had been there, of the death-shots, the races for life, and the days
of perils which followed the daring scout up to the very stockades of
Boonesborough.
Sometimes one of the rangers of the wilderness would fail to come into
the fort when expected. There would be mutual inquiries on the part of
those who had been accustomed to meet him. Perhaps some one would say
he was scouting for the Government, but nothing would be known with
certainty, and a suspicion would begin to shape itself that he had
"lain down," never to rise again.
Perhaps some ranger in threading his way through the long leagues of
trackless forests would stop to camp from the snow which was whirling
and eddying about him, while the wintry wind moaned and soughed through
the swaying branches overhead; and mayhap, as he cautiously struck
flint and steel in the hidden gorge, he saw dimly outlined in the
gathering gloom the form of a man, shrunk to that of a skeleton, in
which the spark of life had been extinguished long before.
The bullet-hole in the chest, or the cleft made in the skull by the
fiercely-driven tomahawk, showed why it was the scout had been missing
so long, and why his cheery voice and ringing laugh would never be
heard again.
Boonesborough, as we have stated, stood about 200 feet from the
Kentucky River, one of its angles resting on its banks 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, was 260 with
a breadth of 150 feet. The houses were built of rough logs, and were
bulletproof. They were square in form, one of the cabins projecting
from each corner, the remaining spaces along the sides being filled
with cabins, constructed more with an eye to strength than beauty.
On the side facing the river was a large strong gate moving on wooden
hinges, and a similar one was placed on the opposite side.
The cabins along the four sides were connected by pickets, which
consisted of slabs, sharpened at one end and driven deep into the
ground. Such forts would be of little account in these days, but they
were effective against the Indians who followed such desultory warfare,
and who were thus compelled, as may be said, to transfer the advantage
which they naturally sought to their enemies.
A frontier fort like Boonesborough did not afford that absolute
protection which would allow the garrison to lie down and slumber in
peace, certain that all danger was removed. The Indian was wily and
catlike by nature; he knew the advantage of mining, and took naturally
to the most insidious methods of warfare; but the whites, if vigilant,
were sure to detect such demonstrations, and they possessed the power
to countermine, and defeat any and every movement of the savages.
Besides this, and above all, the garrison possessed a shelter from
which to aim their deadly rifles, and they might well scorn the attempt
of any force of warriors that could be gathered together.
The fort with its cabins was completed in the early summer of 1774,
including also the cabins and buildings intended for the friends and
families who were expected to join them a few months later. Colonel
Henderson and a couple of the proprietors visited the place, and gave
it its name in honor of the great pioneer who had built it.
These leaders took with them some forty new settlers, a large number
of pack-horses, and a goodly supply of such articles as were needed at
a frontier-post like Boonesborough. And now it will be admitted that
Boone and his employers were fully warranted in believing that at last
a permanent settlement had been planted on Kentucky soil.