A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume I, Part 13

Author: Johnson, E. Polk, 1844-; Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago, Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 656

USA > Kentucky > A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume I > Part 13

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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY AND KENTUCKIANS

one of the ravines in which the Indians had first hidden, he, and a small number of men, succeeded in crossing the river and by a cir- cuitous way, finally returned in safety to Bryan's station.

The death roll was heavy at the river. Sur- rounded on every hand, the gallant men fought desperately for their only means of escape. The water was filled with a mass of horsemen, men on foot and Indians engaged in a life and death struggle. Many were killed ; some who could not swim were drowned, while a few swimmers made their escape.

There was a man named Netherland who had been suspected of cowardice, who at the ford showed the stuff of which heroes are made and proved the injustice of the charge that had been held against him. Owing to the excellence of his horse, he had escaped across the river in advance of some twenty other mounted men, which latter showed an inclination to continue their flight until a point of safety was reached, leaving their friends to continue the struggle alone and arrange their retreat as best they could. Netherland, plac- ing himself in front of these mounted men, called upon them in a loud voice to halt, fire upon the Indians and aid in the rescue of those of their comrades who were in a life and death struggle in the river. These men, encouraged by Netherland's gallant challenge, promptly faced to the rear pouring at the same time a deadly fire into the front of the savage ranks. The Indians fell back under this galling fire to the opposite side of the Licking, thus giving opportunity to the whites struggling in the water to escape. This re- pulse, however, was but momentary. Driven back by Netherland and his men from the ford, the savages began crossing above and below that point, and the flight became a rout, "every man for himself" with no semblance of military discipline. The Indians pursued for about twenty miles, inflicting but little fur-

ther damage, owing to the whites having scat- tered. By circuitous routes the survivors made their way back to Bryan's station, from which they had but a short time before taken their departure full of high hopes of victory and the determination to drive the Indians from the country after inflicting upon them such punishment as would forever deter them from another concerted attack upon the sta- tions.

Smith says: "The loss in this battle was heavier than had been experienced in any other contest that had ever taken place with the savages on Kentucky soil, and carried distress and mourning into half the houses in Kentucky. Of the one hundred and eighty men engaged, sixty were killed and seven taken prisoners. Colonels Todd and Trigg were especially deplored for their eminent social and private, as well as their public worth. Of Major Harlan it was the common sentiment that no officer was braver and more beloved in the field."

Colonel Logan's force was within less than a day's march of the battlefield when the fateful contest occurred. The advance guard of Logan's command met the fugitives from Blue Lick and returned to Bryan's station, there to await the coming of the main body of the command. When the force was again united, they marched to the scene of the late battle to fight the Indians if any remained; to bury the dead if the savages had with- drawn. Arriving at noon on the following day they found that the Indians had gone, leaving on the field the mutilated bodies of the slain. There were buried on the field where they had sacrificed their lives in vain because Major McGary had more of rash- ness than of soldierly judgment in his mental make-up. More than one soldier has need- lessly gone to his death on other and later fields than that of Blue Lick by reason of the same lack of soldierly judgment upon the part of his commanding officer, a fact to which the

HISTORY OF KENTUCKY AND KENTUCKIANS

soldiers who fought in the grand battles of the War Between the States will readily testify.

In Boone's Narrative a commonly credited report is narrated to the effect that after the battle, the Indians found that of their number four more had been killed than of the whites, whereupon four of their seven white prison- ers were killed in order that the score might be even. The tradition continues, relating that the three remaining prisoners, McMur- try, Rose and Yocum were treated with sav- age brutality, being required, among other sufferings and indignities, to three times run the gauntlet. At last they were condemned, in accordance with the custom of savages, to be burned at the stake. To this end they were tied to stakes and the faggots kindled to burn them. A thunder storm, accompanied by a heavy downfall of rain, occurred at this op- portune moment and extinguished the flames. The Indian is superstitious and religious after his own fashion, and accepting the thunder and rain as a manifestation of displeasure upon the part of the Great Spirit at the deed they were about to commit, they desisted from further attempts to burn their prisoners and afterwards treated them kindly as beings un- der the especial protection of the Great Spirit whom, according to their dim light, they wor- shipped.

The main Indian force returned after the battle to Ohio, but some of their allies sought their return home by another route which brought them into touch with the settlements in Jefferson county, where they hoped to fall upon the unprotected and scattered settle- ments murdering the inhabitants ; plundering and burning their homes.

Colonel Floyd early learned of their com- ing and ordered out a force to patrol the sec- tion where they were expected to first appear. Of these troops Collins says: "Some of this party were from Kincheloe's station on Simp- son's creek in what is now Spencer county, where six or seven families resided. On the

Ist of September, the militia, unable to dis- cover any Indians, dispersed and returned to their homes. There had been no alarm at Kincheloe's station during the absence of the men and, upon reaching home late in the eve- ning much fatigued and without apprehension of danger, they retired to rest. At the dead hour of night, when the inmates of the station were wrapped in the most profound sleep, the Indians made a simultaneous attack upon the cabins of the station and breaking open the doors, commenced a massacre of men, women and children. The unconscious sleepers were awakened but to be cut down, or to behold their friends fall by their side. A few only, availing themselves of the darkness of the night, escaped the tomahawk or captivity. Among those who escaped was Mrs. Davis whose husband was killed, and another woman whose name is not known. They fled to the woods, where they were fortunately joined by a lad by the name of Ash, who con- ducted them to Cox's station.

"Wm. Harrison, after placing his wife and a young woman of the family, under the floor of the cabin, made his escape under cover of the darkness. He remained secreted in the neighborhood until he was satisfied the In- dians had retired when he returned to the cabin and liberated his wife and her compan- ion from their painful situation.

"Thomas Randolph occupied one of the small cabins with his wife and two children, one an infant. The Indians succeeded in breaking into his house and, although they outnumbered him four or five to one, he stood by his wife and children with heroic firmness. He had succeeded in killing several Indians, when his wife and the infant in her arms were both murdered by his side. He instantly placed the remaining child in the loft, then, mounting himself, made his escape through the roof. As he alighted on the ground from the roof of the cabin, he was assailed by two of the savages whom he had just forced out of the

HISTORY OF KENTUCKY AND KENTUCKIANS

house. With his knife he inflicted a severe wound upon one and gave the other a stun- ning blow with his gun, when they both re- treated. Freed from his foes, he snatched up liis child, plunged into the forest and was soon beyond the reach of danger.

"Several women and children were cruelly put to death after they were made prisoners, on their way to the Indian towns. On the sec- ond day of her captivity, Mrs. Bland made her escape in the bushes. Totally unacquainted with the surrounding country, and destitute of a guide, for eighteen successive days she wandered through the woods without seeing a human face, without clothes and subsisting on sour grapes and green walnuts, until she became a walking skeleton. On the eight- eenth day she was accidentally discovered and taken to Linn's station, where, by kind treatment and careful nursing, her health and strength were soon restored."

There is another interesting story connected with the capture of Kincheloe's station. Among the prisoners taken by the Indians there was a Mrs. Polk and her four children. She was in extremely delicate health and was compelled to walk until almost exhausted. An Indian brandished a tomahawk and threatened her with death, at which another Indian inter- posed and saved her life. This latter Indian, having about him an instinct of humanity, and recognizing the delicate condition of the prisoner, took her into his care, and mounting her and two of her children on a horse, took her safely to Detroit. Here a British trader purchased her and her children from her cap- tors. By some means she sent a letter to her husband, who had been absent from the sta- tion at the time of the attack, and he at once visited Detroit, where he regained his wife and children with whom he returned to Ken- tucky. The remaining prisoners, left alive, were permitted to return to their homes in Kentucky after the declaration of peace be-

tween England and the United States in the following year.

The optimists hoped that the close of the War of the Revolution would bring peace to those who had pressed forward into the wil- derness to make homes for their families; that the specious inducements, offered by English officers, to savages, to raid white settlements and murder women and children, would fall into disuse, and that the Kentucky pioneer would thereafter be left to till his fertile fields in safety undisturbed by the sound of an Eng- lish gun carried by a savage.

Col. John Mason Brown, a descendant of the early Kentucky pioneers, and himself a distinguished son of Kentucky, whose mod- esty was only surpassed by his great capacity, says of this period :

"The spring of the year 1782 opened upon what, indeed, seemed an era of prosperity and security for the west. The surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, in the preceding au- tumn, had ended the War of Independence. Peace with England brought with it a recog- nized American title to the great northwest as far as the lakes and beyond Detroit. The splendid dream of Clark, which none but Jef- ferson seemed fully to comprehend. was ful- filled in the cession of an empire. Strong men had come in numbers to seek fortune and ad- venture in the brakes and forests of Kentucky. Brave women encountered the hardships of the frontier and followed husbands and fath- ers into the wilderness. Families had been established and children had been born to the pioneers. Already was cradled the generation of riflemen destined to crush, in after years, the great confederation of Tecumseh, and to assure the northern boundary of the Union."

That the whites had a reason to expect a cessation of Indian atrocities after the decla- ration of peace between the United States and England, as stated by Colonel Brown, was en- tirely reasonable, but the deadly affair at Blue

HISTORY OF KENTUCKY AND KENTUCKIANS

Lick showed that however peace may have come in a general sense, there was yet war for them and that the sturdy "backwoodsmen of Kentucky" had still to fight for home, wife and children.

Recognizing this fact and the dangers that surrounded them, Daniel Boone, Levi Todd, Robert Patterson, R. Netherland (the latter of whom had been called a coward and who was really the hero of Blue Lick), William Henderson, John Craig and others of the Ken- tucky pioneers, addressed the following memo- rial to Governor Harrison of Virginia :

"The officers, civil as well as military, of this county, beg the attention of Your Excellency and the Honorable Council. The number of the enemy that · lately penetrated into our country, their behavior and, adding to this, our late unhappy defeat at the Blue Licks, fill us with the greatest concern and anxiety. The loss of our worthy officers and sol- diers who fell there the 19th of August, we sensibly feel and deem our situation truly alarming. We can scarcely behold a spot of earth but what reminds us of the fall of some fellow adventurer, massacred by savage hands. Our number of militia decreases. Our widows and orphans are numerous; our officers and worthiest men fall a sacrifice. In short, Sir, our settlement hitherto formed at the sacrifice of treasure and much blood, seems to decline, and if something is not speedily done we doubt not will be wholly depopulated. The Executive, we believe, thinks often of us and wishes to protect us, but we believe that any military operations that for eighteen months have been carried on in obedience to orders from the Executive have been rather detrimental than beneficial. Our militia are called upon to do duty in a manner that has a tendency to protect Jef- ferson county, or rather Louisville, a town without inhabitants, and a fort situated in such manner that an enemy coming with a design to lay waste our country would scarcely come within one hundred miles of it; and our own frontiers are open and un- guarded. Our inhabitants are discouraged. It is now near two years since the division of the county and no surveyor has ever appeared among us, but has, by appointment, from time to time, deceived us. Our principal expectation of strength is from him. During his absence from the county claimants of land disappear, when if otherwise they would prove a source of additional strength.

"We entreat the executive to examine into the

cause and remove it speedily. If it is thought im- practicable to carry the war into the enemy's coun- try the plan of building a garrison at the mouth of the Limestone and another at the mouth of Licking, formerly prescribed by Your Excellency, might be again adopted and performed. A garrison at the mouth of Limestone would be a landing place for adventurers from the back parts of Pennsylvania and Virginia, adjacent to a large body of good land which would be speedily settled. It would be in the enemy's principal crossing place, not more than fifty miles from Lexington, our largest settlement, and might be readily furnished with provisions from above till they could be supplied from our settle- ments here. Major Netherland, we expect, will de- liver this. He will attend to give any additional information that may be deemed necessary. Hu- manity towards inhabitants, destitute of hope of any other aid will surely induce Your Excellency to spare from the interior parts of the state two hun- dred men and a few pieces of artillery for those pur- poses above mentioned."

Col. Benjamin Logan on the 31st of August of the same year, wrote to Governor Harrison, as follows in relation to the affair at Blue Lick :

"From the situation of the ground on which our men were drawn, I hardly know how it was possible for any to escape. I am inclined to believe that when Your Excellency and coun- cil become acquainted with the military opera- tions in this country, you will not think them so properly conducted as to answer the general interests of Kentucky. From the accounts we had received by prisoners who had es- caped this spring, we were confident of an in- vasion by the Detroit Indians. Common safety then made some scheme of defense neces- sary. For this purpose I was called upon by General Clark to attend a council, and after consulting over matters, it was determined to build a fort at the mouth of the Licking. Shortly, I received his orders for one hundred men to attend this business with a certain number from Fayette. Before the day of the rendezvous, I was instructed to send the men to the Falls of the Ohio in order to build a strong garrison and a row-galley, thus by

HISTORY OF KENTUCKY AND KENTUCKIANS

weakening one end to strengthen another. The upper part of the country was left exposed and the enemy, intercepting our plans, brought their intended expedition against the frontiers of Fayette. The immense expenses incurred by the state in this western country we know are enough to prevent the government from giving us further aid, but when Your Excel- lency and council are informed that the people have never been benefited by those expendi- tures, we still hope your compassion will be extended to a detached and distressed part of your country, as it is not in the power of the people to answer the misapplication of any- thing by a proper officer. General Irwin, com- manding at Fort Pitt as a Continental officer, might probably be of more assistance to this country, could he receive proper supplies from the state of Virginia, than any other measure that could be adopted, as he has the same ene- mies to encounter that trouble us and stores of every kind seem to be of little use to us, ammunition excepted. Colonel Trigg being killed, there is a field officer wanting in this county. I am at a loss how to proceed on the occasion, for all our magistrates have been killed except three, and there can be no court to send a recommendation. Colonel Harrod, who formerly acted as a colonel and who, ac- cording to seniority, ought to have received a commission, is now in being, and, I think a very proper person for that purpose."

It is difficult to leave the narration of events connected with the disastrous affair at Blue Licks. Those who have been soldiers participating in great victories, or suffering the pangs of disastrous defeats, will recog- nize the fascination which holds a former sol- dier to the events of the fatal day at Blue Licks. Therefore no excuse need be offered for presenting here a copy of a letter written August 26, 1782, by Col. Levi Todd to his brother, Captain Robert Todd, giving further details of the battle: "Our men suffered much in retreat, many Indians having

mounted our abandoned horses and having an open woods to pass through to the river, sev- eral were killed in the river. Efforts were made to rally, but in vain. He that could re- mount a horse was well off, and he that could not, saw no cause for delay. Our brother re- ceived a ball in his left breast and was on horseback when the men broke. He took a course that I thought dangerous and I never saw him afterwards. I suppose he never got over the river. Col. Trigg, Major Harlan, Major Bulger, Captains McBride, Gordon, Kinkead and Overton fell upon the ground; also, our friend, James Brown. Our number missing is about seventy-five. I think the number of the enemy was about three hun- dred, but many of the men think five hundred. Col. Logan, with five hundred men, went upon the ground on the 24th and found and buried about fifty of our men. They were all stripped naked, scalped and mangled in such manner that it was hard to know one from another. Our brotlier was not known.

"As people in different parts of the country will be anxious to know the names of the killed, I will add a list of what I can now re- member: Col. John Todd, Colonel Stephen Trigg, Major Silas Harlan, and Major Ed- ward Bulger; Captains William McBride, John Gordon, Josepli Kinkead, and Clough Overton; Lieutenants William Givens, John Kennedy, Joseph Lindsey, and - Rodgers ; Ensign John McMurtry; Privates Francis McBride, John Price, James Ledgerwood, John Wilson, Isaac McCracken, Lewis Rose, Mathias Rose, Hugh Cunningham, Jesse Yo- cum, Wm. Eads, Esau Corn, Wm. Smith, Henry Miller, Ezekiel Field, John Folly, John Fry, Val Stern, Andrew McConnell, Surgeon James Brown, William Harris, William Stew- art, William Stevens, Charles Ferguson, John Wilson, John O'Neal, John Stapleton, Daniel Greggs, Jervis Green, Dowry Polly, William Robertson, Gilbert Marshall, James Smith and Israel Boone."

IHISTORY OF KENTUCKY AND KENTUCKIANS

But for the rash conduct of Major Mc- Gary the dread result at Blue Licks would have been avoided. The logical duty of those in command was to await the arrival of the reinforcements under Colonel Logan, who were hastening to the assistance of their fel- low colonists. With these men the Indians would have been defeated and driven from the state, probably never to return in such organized form. McGary was of the type of brave man without judgment, and most griev- ously did his comrades pay for his rashness.

The people were disheartened by this dis- astrous battle, even the lion-hearted Boone, sharing the general depression. Writing to Governor Harrison of Virginia, he said: "I have encouraged the people in this country all that I could, but I can no longer justify them or myself to risk our lives here under such ex- traordinary circumstances. The inhabitants are very much alarmed at the thoughts of the Indians bringing another campaign into our country this fall. If this should be the case, it would break up these settlements."

CHAPTER XV.

GREAT CAMPAIGN NORTH OF THE OHIO-CREATION OF KENTUCKY-CLARK U'NAPPRECIATED BY VIRGINIA-BOONE'S LATER YEARS-AT NINETY-NOT ILLITERATE-SIMON KENTON- "PROUDEST DAY OF HIS LIFE"-CLARK'S LARGE PLANS-FLOYD'S DISASTER ON LONG RUN -SCENE OF CIVIL WAR BATTLE-INDIANS' POWER FOREVER BROKEN.

The desperation of Boone, as set forth in his letter to Gov. Harrison, was a natural se- quence to the affair at Blue Lick. The brave old pioneer was almost in despair but there was a gallant, soldierly man in Kentucky who knew not the word despair and who had never abandoned the plan of carrying the war into the enemy's country.

George Rogers Clark had been charged with expending his energies in defense of the set- tlements about Louisville, but, in fact, his sole idea was the relief of all the settlements. He proposed to strike so serious a blow to the Indian tribes as would forever prevent an- other incursion by them into Kentucky. He sent forth a call for volunteers before Boone's complaint had been made known. The gal- lant settlers rallied in immediate response, well knowing that with Clark as their leader there would be prompt and quick reprisal upon the savage enemy.

Early in November, 1782, according to the best authorities, though some have named September as the month when they rallied, Clark found himself at the head of more than a thousand brave and determined men who had rallied to his call at the mouth of the Licking, opposite to what is now the great city of Cincinnati. With this force, early in No- vember, 1782, he moved across the Ohio river and on the evening of the 10th surprised and

captured the principal Shawnee town, de- stroying everything that was of no value to his troops. Col. Benjamin Logan, the splen- did soldier, who seemed to be always ready when there was active work to be done, a characteristic of the Logans to come after him. led a party of one hundred and fifty men against the British post at the head of the Miami, which he captured, destroying vast quantities of stores which the English had furnished to the Indians. The amount of these stores was a surprise to the invading forces, who had no idea that the savages had such substantial support from their English allies.

Clark remained for four days in the Indian country, but finding that he could not bring on a general engagement, as he so much desired, he withdrew his forces, owing to threatening weather and the near approach of winter. But he had taught the savages a useful lesson and afterward they made no formidable invasion of Kentucky. Small parties of Indians made subsequent incursions into the district, doing much damage, but there were no organized efforts after Clark's expedition into their country, though the English, even after the treaty of peace was signed, continued to in- cite the savages to deeds of violence against the white settlers along the American fron- tier. The English of today confront a situa-

HISTORY OF KENTUCKY AND KENTUCKIANS

tion in India which must bring to the minds of those among them who are students of his- tory, lively recollections of the time when their ancestors incited the savages of the western world to slay the men, women and children who were of their own flesh and blood. Us- ing a familiar quotation one may say: "Their chickens are coming home to roost."

Clark, Boone, Logan and the other splendid spirits who had acted in unison with them, had made practically impossible further organized raids into Kentucky by the Indians and the English-who not only encouraged the sav- ages but furnished them the equipments of warfare and accompanied them in their for- ays. They had done more than this ; they had all unconsciously, builded a state and paved the way for the addition of another star to the splendid flag of our country. Clark, at a later period, was offered a commission in the army of France which, owing to a proclama- tion of President Washington, he did not ac- cept. His heart was devoted to the freedom of Kentucky from English and savage domi- nation and, at this day, it appears that he was not amenable to the charge that he was leaving other parts of Kentucky unprotected from savage forays by calling troops to Louisville. The events of the period show that he had larger views than were held by his contempo- raries and that he sought by master strokes to destroy the Indian and English power to that effect which should protect not Louisville alone, but the entire territory of Kentucky. And the result of his last foray into the In- dian stronghold in Ohio proved the correct- ness of his plans, since there were never after- ward any invasions of Kentucky by organized bands of savages of any great force.

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A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume I, Part 13

Author: Johnson, E. Polk, 1844-; Lewis Publishing Company Publication date: 1912 Publisher: Chicago, Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 656

Author: Johnson, E. Polk, 1844-; Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago, Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 656