Arrival of Boone with Re-enforcements--Pursuit of the Indian
Force--Boone's Counsel Disregarded--A Frightful Disaster--Reynold's
Noble and Heroic Act--His Escape.
On the morning succeeding the departure of Girty and his Indians
from the front of Bryant's Station, Boone reached the place with
re-enforcements, among them being his son Israel and his brother
Samuel. Before the day closed, Colonel Trigg came in from Harrodstown,
and Colonel Todd from Lexington, each with a similar force, so that the
retreat of the noted renegade was the best thing that could have taken
place for his own personal safety.
The company that gathered within the station was a curious
one--numbering about two hundred, one-fourth of whom were commissioned
officers. A noisy consultation was held, and amid much uproar and
wrangling, it was resolved to pursue the Indians at once, without
awaiting the arrival of Colonel Logan, who was known to be approaching
with a large force, and was certain to arrive within the succeeding
twenty-four hours.
Accordingly the pursuit was begun without delay, and it proved most
easy to keep up, for the retreat of Girty and his Indians was marked by
such a broad and plain trail that there could be no mistaking it.
The bushes had been bent down, the bark was hacked off the trees with
tomahawks, and articles were strewn along the way with most remarkable
prodigality.
Indeed there was so much pains taken to show the trail that Boone and
his older companions were alarmed. They believed Girty had caused it
to be done for the very purpose of drawing them in pursuit, and Boone
spoke to many of the officers. But they laughed at his fears and
pressed forward with the ardor of Kentuckians who see the certainty of
a fierce struggle close at hand, where the victory is likely to be on
their side.
When the settlers reached Blue Licks--an ominous name for them--they
discovered several Indians on the other side of the Licking, who
leisurely retreated into the woods, without showing any special alarm
over the pursuit of the Kentuckians.
As it was certain that Girty and his whole force were immediately
in front, another consultation was held; for the pursuers began to
feel the need of care and caution in their movements. After a long
discussion, all turned to Boone, who they felt was the best qualified
to advise them in the emergency.
The grave face and manner of the great pioneer showed that he
appreciated the danger.
"Our situation is a critical one," said he; "you know nothing of
the nature of the country on the other side of the Licking, and the
Indians have acted in such a manner that I'm satisfied they have laid
an ambush for us. In my opinion, we have the choice of two courses:
the first is to divide our men and send one half up the river to
cross it at the Rapids and attack in the rear, while the rest make a
simultaneous assault in front. But the other course and the one which
I most earnestly urge is to await the coming of Colonel Logan and his
re-enforcements. We have a strong body in front of us, and we have been
taught more than one lesson by the disasters of the past few years,
which we cannot afford to forget to-day. At any rate, we ought not to
try to cross the river until we have sent forward spies to learn the
number and disposition of the troops."
These were the words of wisdom and prudence, but they fell upon
unwilling ears, and the majority bitterly opposed the advice of the
old pioneer. They insisted that the Indians were fleeing in alarm, and
that such delay would give them time to get away unscathed, while the
proposal to divide the settlers would so weaken them that the Indians
would fall upon the detachments separately and destroy them. It may be
said there was reason in the last objection, but none in the former.
It is probable there was little discipline in this wrangling assemblage
which was engaged in discussing a most momentous question, for while
the arguments were going on, Major McGary sprang upon his horse,
spurred him at full gallop toward the river, calling upon all those who
were not cowards to follow him.
The next instant he was plunging through the stream, and the whole
shouting rabble rushed tumultuously after him. There was no semblance
of order as they shouted, struggled, and hurried pell-mell to their
doom. Simon Girty, the renegade, from the woods on the other side, must
have smiled grimly, as he saw his victims doing everything in their
power to hasten their own destruction, just as the majority of the
expeditions against the Indians did before and have done since.
The soldiers hastened forward, until they reached the point against
which Boone had warned them--the heading of two ravines. They had
scarcely halted, when a party of Indians appeared and opened fire upon
them. McGary returned the fire, but his position was disadvantageous,
being on an exposed ridge, while, as usual, the Shawanoes were in a
ravine with plenty of opportunity to conceal themselves, while picking
off the whites.
The majority of the settlers had not yet come up, but they were
hurrying forward in the same wild disorder, and continued rushing up
the ridge, in time to meet the fire from the Indians which grew hotter
and more destructive every minute.
Although placed at such disadvantage, the whites fought with great
bravery, loading and shooting rapidly, though without any attempt at
discipline and regularity. The fact was, the whites saw they were
entrapped, and each and all were fighting for their very lives.
Had the warriors been given their choice of ground, they would have
selected in all probability that taken by the respective combatants,
for nothing could have been more in favor of Girty and his savages.
The Indians gradually closed in around the whites, loading and firing
with great rapidity, while the settlers fell fast before the bullets
rained in upon them from every quarter.
Among the officers, Todd, Trigg, Harland and McBride were soon killed,
and Daniel Boone's son Israel, while gallantly doing his duty, fell
pierced by bullets. The savages gaining confidence from their success
continued to extend their line, so as to turn the right of the
Kentuckians, until they got in their rear and cut off their retreat to
the river.
The soldiers saw what the Indians were doing, for the heavy fire
indicated it, and they became panic-stricken. At once every one
thought of saving only himself, and a tumultuous, headlong rush was
made for the river. As a matter of course, the savages did not allow
the invitation to pass unaccepted, and they swarmed down upon the
demoralized whites, tomahawking them without mercy.
Most of the horsemen escaped, but the slaughter of the foot soldiers
was terrible. Nearly all of those who were in Major McGary's party
were killed, and at the river the scene became appalling. Horsemen,
foot soldiers, and painted Indians were mingled in fierce confusion,
fighting desperately in the water, which was crowded from shore to
shore.
A score of soldiers, having got across, halted and poured a volley into
the red men, which checked them for a few minutes; but they quickly
rallied and resumed the massacre and pursuit, the latter continuing
for fully twenty miles. More than sixty Kentuckians were killed, a
number made prisoners; and another disaster was added to the long roll
of those which mark the history of the attempts at civilization in the
West.
Daniel Boone bore himself in this fight with his usual intrepidity and
coolness, doing his utmost to check the hurricane-like rush of the
Indians, and endeavoring to rally those around him into something like
organized resistance. Could this have been done, the renegade Girty
and his merciless horde would have been routed, for some of those who
fought on his side admitted years afterward that they were once on the
very point of breaking and fleeing in disorder.
But Boone saw his son and many of his closest friends shot dead, and
himself almost surrounded by Indians, before he comprehended his
imminent personal peril.
The ford which was looked upon by most of the settlers as the only door
of escape was crowded with fugitives, and several hundred warriors were
between him and the river. Instead of seeking to reach the stream,
he turned toward the ravine from which the Shawanoes themselves had
emerged, and, with several comrades, made a desperate dash for it.
There was firing all along the line at the few who took this
exceptional means, and several small parties sprang after them. Boone
and his companions were fleet of foot, but he succeeded in eluding
their enemies more by strategy than speed, and finally brought his
friends to the river bank at a point so far below the ford that they
were invisible to the Indians.
Here they swam across and then started for Bryant's Station, which they
reached without further molestation.
Such an utter rout and irretrievable disaster is always marked by some
extraordinary incidents. Reynolds, who made the insulting reply to
Simon Girty, when he demanded the surrender of Bryant's Station, was in
the battle and fought furiously against the renegade and his allies,
but was forced back by the turbulent tide which, once set in motion,
swept everything before it.
Reynolds was making for the river, when he overtook an officer on foot
who was so weak from wounds received in a former engagement with the
Indians, that he could not keep up with the fugitives, and, indeed, was
so exhausted, that he was ready to fall fainting to the ground.
Reynolds sprang from his horse and helped the officer upon it, and then
told him to do the best he could. The captain did so and saved himself.
Reynolds was now placed in great peril, but he made a plunge into the
river, and soon carried himself by powerful strokes to the other side,
where he was immediately made prisoner.
The Shawanoes, at this juncture, were so engaged in capturing and
killing the fugitives, that they could not leave very large guards to
keep those who fell into their hands.
Thus it came about that the guard placed over Reynolds was a single
Indian, but he was tall and muscular, and would have preferred to
tomahawk his prisoner and join in the general massacre.
Reynolds did not give him time to debate the matter, but, turning
quickly upon the warrior, dealt him a blow which felled him like an ox,
and then, before he could rise, Reynolds was in the woods, speeding for
life.
One of the first men whom he encountered, after reaching the
settlement, was the officer to whom he had given his horse, when there
was no other means by which he could be saved.
The officer appreciated the favor, and showed it by making Reynolds a
present of two hundred acres of land.