USA > Kentucky > A history of the commonwealth of Kentucky > Part 13
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"In reviewing the incidents of this battle, the conduct of the Indians cannot fail of commanding attention. Their determined bravery, their obstinate perseverance, the promptitude with which they seized on the absence of the detachment to advance on their enemy; and thus by a step not less bold than judicious, to ensure to themselves a victory of immortal renown: conduct
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alike bespeaking the possession of skill in war, and a training to command which could but render them formidable, and even victorious.
"The result of this action had the most serious effect upon the. minds of the inhabitants generally."*
The hostility necessarily incident to the hunter state, against the white intruders, as they deemed our people, who were de- stroying their game, the principal source of Indian subsistence; circumscribing their hunting grounds, and attacking their towns whenever they found it convenient; could want but little excitement to direct their exertions against Kentucky. Yet the passions of the Indians are said to have been particularly exasperated by speeches from McKee and Girty; white inen who had abandoned their own countrymen from disappointments in military promotion, under Pennsylvania, as it is said, and had united with the British and Indians. Headed by these renegades, but particularly by Simon Girty, on the evening of the 14th of August, 1782, a body of Indians from various tribes, extending from the Lakes to the Mississippi, to the computed number of five hundred, suddenly assembled round Bryant's station. This place has been previously mentioned, and would be briefly passed over now, were it not for its connexion with the fatal battle of the Blue Licks. This fort was situated on the left of the present road from Lexington to Maysville, immediately on the southern bank of Elkhorn; the fort contained about forty cabins, placed in parallel lines, connected by strong palisades, and was garrisoned by about forty or fifty men. The enemy
* It would be unpardonable to omit on the subject of Estill's defeat, the beautiful pane. gyric upon it expressed hy Chief Justice Robertson in the case of Conley's heirs against Chiles-5th Marshall's P. Dorts .- "The battle was fought on the 201 of March. 1.29. in the now county of Montgomery, and in the vicinity of Monulsterting. It is a memorable incident, and perhaps one of the most memorable in the interesting history of the settle- ment of Kentucky. The usefulness and popularity of Captain Faill: the deep and univer- sal sensibility excited by the premature death ofa cinzen so galant and so beloved: the emphatic character of his associates a battle; the masterly skil and chivalrie daring die- played throughout the action, (every man to dis man, and each to his tree."> the griet and despoudenre produced by the catastrophe; all contrinted to give to "ESTILL'S DE. FEAT." a must geral notoriety and importance, especiali . among "the early others" All the story with ad i's cireunistances of lorahty. and of "the hebt." was tout and told! again and again, until even the children knew i day heart." No legendary tale wasever listened to with as intense anxiety, or was inscribed in as vivid and indetiyle an impres. on the hearts of the few of both sexes, who then constituted the hope and strength of Kentuckv.
"Such is the traditional as well as the recorded history of this sanguinary battle between the white men and the Indians; and such, too, is the testimony embodied in this cause."
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showed themselves suddenly the next morning, when some of the garrison were in the adjacent cornfield, and others absent, though not far from the station, with a good deal of the reckless- ness, too characteristic of the times. Some of these in the neighborhood got safely into the fort, while others communica- ted the alarm to Lexington, and other neighboring stations; whence assistance was immediately and gallantly furnished. The place was closely invested for the two ensuing days; du- ring which the Indians kept up a continual fire, by which four men were killed and three wounded. The enemy made seve- ral attempts to fire the cabins, by shooting lighted arrows on the roofs, and even attempted to fire the log walls with torches, all ineffectually. After sustaining a loss of about thirty warriors in their various bold, but unskillful attempts; the Indians de- parted on the morning of the fourth day. They left their fires burning, and also bits of meat on the roasting sticks, which served instead of spits. They returned along the great Buffalo trace by Ruddle's and Martin's stations, which had been laid waste two years before; although out of their direct course to the Lower Blue Licks. Indeed their retreat showed, that there was no wish to conceal their trail, or avoid a battle. On the contrary, every indication had been given, so contrary to the cautious and secret tactics of Indians, that they desired an en- counter. In the mean time, Colonel John Todd, of Lexington, Lieutenant Colonel Trigg, of Harrodsburg, and Colonel Boone, of Boonesborough, with Majors McGary, Harland, and Levi Todd, at the head of about one hundred and eighty-two men,* repaired to Bryant's station. By the Isth, the detachments had assembled, and it was concluded to proceed in pursuit of the enemy, without waiting, (as urged, it is said, by McGary,) for a large reinforcement, presumed to be collecting by Colonel Ben. Logan. It immediately struck the more experienced of the party, on their march, and particularly Boone, that the chopping the trees along the Indian trail, showed a willingness on their part, to be pursued: and at the same time. the con- tmneting of their camp and using few fires, where they stopped
. Clark's Papere. L *
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to eat, indicated a design to mask their numbers. These cir- cumstances it was thought called emphatically for caution; still, no Indians were seen until the party reached the southern bank of Licking, at the Lower Blue Licks. A few of the enemy were then seen by the Kentucky troops in front, lei- surely and without any apparent alarm, retreating over the ridge. A halt was then called, and a council of officers held, to adopt the best plan of operations: whether to attack imme- diately, or to reconnoiter, and wait for the reinforcements coming up under a most experienced Captain. Colonel Boone delivered it, as his opinion to the other officers, much less skilled in such matters than himself, that the Indians might amount to three or five hundred, from the ambiguous sign, which they had made on the road; that the main body must be near, and pre- pared for action. He said he was particularly acquainted with the ground about the Licks; which is indeed remarkable: the river forming an abrupt bend, includes a ridge on the north side, passing between two ravines, which extend to the river, like the sides of an angle or wings of a net; here, he most sagaciously conjectured, the Indians had formed an ambuscade, and were lying in wait for them .*
To counteract their plan, he proposed to divide the Ken- tuckians into two parties, to send one-half of the men up the river, as high as a small creek called Elk, to cross over to a ridge outside a ravine on the right; while the other half of the troops should occupy the high ground north of the Licks, ready to co-operate with the right wing: or else to reconnoiter the ground well, before the main body crossed the river. The council were only hesitating between the two plans, when Major McGary, in defiance of all subordination, raising the warwhoop, called out, "Those who are not cowards follow me; I will show them where the Indians are," and spurred his horse into the river. The unhappy example was contagious among the fiery spirits assembled, unchecked by any commanding genius; and the whole expedition passed the river without order or concert; following the road which MeGary kept in
· Marshall, 1, 136.
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front. Parties flanked off as the the rough, naked, and irregular surface would admit. It must be noticed, that the ground within the bend of the river was covered with rocks laid bare by the trampling of the buffalo which resorted to the Licks, and by the washing of the rains; it presented only a few scattering trees. The body of the troops headed by McGary, Harland, and Mc- Bride, formed a broken line corresponding with the ridge, which has been mentioned, and parallel with, and between the ravines, which were filled with Indians, concealed by a short growth of timber. No sooner had McGary entered the woods at the head of the ravines, than the action began with great warmth and effect, which our men returned with equal vigor, while they could keep among the trees; but they were soon driven into the naked plain, between two fires from the Indians, who doubled them in numbers. Soon the conflict was discov- ered to be desperate on our side; nearly the whole of the men had fallen, as well as Colonel Todd and Major Trigg, McBride, and Harland. The Indians were turning the rear and rushing upon our men with the tomahawk, when the retreat was com- menced. But there was but one point of escape, and that by a narrow ford at the lower part of the bend, or by swimming the river. Here all were rushing together, to avoid the horrors of Indian massacre, or captivity, not less dreadful. The exe- cution was prodigious in the crowded disorderly retreat to the river and in the water, for a battle fought by backwoodsmen; who, in general, have been as cautious and sparing of blood, as their red enemies. In this extremity, the unhappy fugitives were greatly assisted by a halt, ordered by one Netherland; who, having crossed to the southern side, called to his fellow soldiers to fire on the Indians, and protect the men in the river; the exhortation was regarded by a few, and checked the pur- suit of the enemy for a short time; by which many were saved. The Indians soon, however, crossing above and below, further flight became inevitable, and it continued for twenty miles with little loss.
An instance of generous forgetfulness of self which took place in this retreat, ought not to be omitted for its intrinsic
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moral beauty, and for the relief it affords from the disgusting tale of slaughter and destruction, which occur with such bale- ful monotony on both sides. in these early border wars. Still it is only a picture of the calamities, which have attended the. hostilities with barbarians in other ages and countries; but particularly on the marches or frontiers. Scots and English, English and Welsh, the chappows of Turcomans and the forays of feudal times, have presented the same features. The great lesson this truth furnishes, ought eternally to admonish the peo- ple of these States, against creating the same excitements to all the fiercer and malevolent passions, which a dissolution of the present glorious Union of the States, would inevitably administer to the nation.
The incident alluded to above, is as follows: Captain Robert Patterson, exhausted by the retreat and wounds received in former battles, was overtaken by a young man of the name of Reynolds, on horseback; the latter immediately dismounted, placed Patterson on his saddle, and took his own chance on foot. Patterson escaped, but his generous friend was seized by three or four Indians, who deprived him of his arms, and left him in charge of one of their companions, while they engaged in further pursuit. The Indian in charge of Reynolds, had occa- sion to stoop in order to tie his moccason, the latter seized the opportunity to snatch the Indian's gun, to knock him down. and effect his own safety, which he happily accomplished. In re- turn for his magnanimity, Patterson presented Reynolds with* "two hundred acres of first rate land:" a reciprocation of good offices, which ever has constituted the essence of virtue and true excellence of heart. The loss in this battle was heavier than ever experienced in Kentucky before; out of one hundred and seventy-six men, sixty were killed and seven taken prison- ers; the great part of the Harrodsburg men fell in the front, at the first onset; for the battle only lasted from ffive to fifteen minutes. Numbers, unfeeling as the remark may appear, are by no means the same criterion of loss in our agricultural state of society, as in the hunter state. Losses. which are rapidly repair-
· Marsball 1, 141. * Compare Marshall 111, and Boone's Narrative, 29.
بالان شطة:
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ed by our superior rate of increase, are fatal to the inferior pro- gress of savage society; yet what a triumph is this, that we can afford to kill down our adversaries! It converts our superiority into one of population, rather than one of arms, and is well - calculated to moderate our boasting over the rude warriors of the forest. Colonels John Todd and Stephen Trigg, were par- ticularly deplored for their eminent social and private worth, distinguished intelligence, and urbanity of manners; qualities which are inestimable, as public models and guides to society in a forming state like that of' our nascent Commonwealth. Of Major Harland, it is affectingly said, no "officer was more brave and none more beloved in the field." It is due to the memory of Major McGary (who was a man of courage almost too fierce for Indian battles, much less for pacific society) to state that he is said to have counselled a delay at Bryant's for twenty-four hours, until Logan could arrive with his powerful reinforce- ment. This was rather tauntingly rejected as it is alleged, by Colonel Todd, who in the honorable ambition of a brave man, was fearful of the escape of the Indians, and was apprehensive that he should lose this opportunity of distinguishing himself by the arrival of his senior Colonel. McGary unhappily, and too fiercely resented this treatment; and in a spirit of lamenta- ble revenge, determined to force a battle at the hazard of any consequences to his fellow-soldiers and to his country. On the 20th, Colonel Logan reached the battle ground with four hun- dred and fifty men; but too late to do any thing except bury the mangled and distigured dead. From this scene of bloodshed and massacre, under their most horrid aggravations on the part of the Indians, the reader's attention must be directed to its re- taliation with little less ferocity, by the hands of our exaspera- ted countrymen. Indeed it is worse than vain, to attempt to ad- just the equity of wars between savages and a people however faintly civilized, by investigating any one individual transac- tion on either side, upon the ordinary principles of social jus- tice. There is a deeper root of natural incompatibility between the two states of man, which nothing can reconcile; and it is this principle, which must govern our final judgment upon the
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conduct of races of men in such opposite and irreconcilable states of society. Let it not be supposed, the author is insensible to the eternal truth, that the obligations of justice and mercy are as universal in their force, as the existence of sentient beings; or- that he is not alive to iniquity practiced upon savage nations; but the doctrine he means to assert is, that the mass of mutual wrongs and sufferings inflicted by men, in inconsistent states of society, like those of the hunter and the agriculturist, are not to be attributed to the ferocious dispositions of either party alone. They must be traced to a deeper source, which the most benevolent dispositions could not dry up, and but feebly stop. The Indians have faded away before the be- nevolence of Penn; "the property line" of the colonial authority and all the considerate reservations of land and privilege by the elder States, nearly as rapidly as before fiercer measures, and more merciless dealing. No barrier can be raised, which will effectually protect the one state of society from the annihilating encroachments of the other; it is a war of social condition, and not of individual character, in which there can be neither long truce nor durable peace. It seems to be the decree of Provi- dence, and no doubt for the wisest purposes, that the barbarous ' state of man should utterly yield, and be merged in his civilized condition. These reflections have been thought appropriate to the occasion, and may serve as a final commentary upon our Indian wars, which are to be viewed in every respect like the conflicts of the elder nations of the eastern continent with their barbarous neighbors, from the carhest records of social conten- tion.
It is time, however, to return to the retaliatory expedition of General Clark, which gave rise to these remarks. The General invited a merang of the superior military officers of his brigade at the Fall-, to make arrangements for an imposing expedition against the bohans. This council recommended a draft of men to make up any deficiency of volunteers, and the impressment of pourrions and horses, where voluntary contri- butions were not sufficient. The spirit and patriotism of the country rendered these coercive measures unnecessary; men
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. and officers presented themselves with the utmost eagerness, and "beeves, pack-horses, and other supplies" poured in abun- dantly from those who could not personally join the expedition. In every case of property offered or impressed, a certificate of its valuation was given as evidence to its owner, for future compensation; at that time deemed by no means certain. "Bryant's station was appointed the rendezvous for the upper part of the country; the Falls of the Ohio for the lower, and the mouth of Licking the point of union" for the different de- tachments. General Clark assumed the command, with Colo- nels Floyd and Logan under him; these officers at the head of about one thousand mounted ritlemen, assembled at the ap- pointed spot on the last of' September. 1782. The expedition proceeded with the efficiency ever characteristic of its chief, while in the pride of his energy; and reached the neighborhood of the first Indian town, and within hall' a mile of a camp, which formed the rear of the triumphant party, from the battle of the Blue Licks. An Indian straggler now discovered the hostile force, and gave the alarm of "a mighty army on its march."* The savage camp was immediately evacuated, and the alarm conveyed to the different towns. This most unpropitious dis- covery left nothing but empty cabins and deserted fields, to satisfy the resentment of the whites. The buildings were quickly fired, and the cornfields laid waste, seven prisoners were taken, and three of the enemy killed in this expedition; it extended its ravages through the different Chilicothes, Picka- way, and Will's-town. with the same desolating effect. This campaign, trifling as its execution may seem, appears to have put an end to the formidable Indian invasions of Kentucky; after this period, it was only exposed to stragglers and small parties. Such an effect must be attributed to so overwhelming a display of force, immediately after the disastrous battle of the Blue Licks.
The opportunity now seems favorable to notice the spirit and manners of society in these primitive times of Kentucky history. Until nearly this time, the proportion of females had
· Marsball 1, 147.
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been small, painfully so, to the gallantry and devotion of the males; it was now no longer felt, and a licence to marry is said to have been the first process issued by the Clerks of the new counties. A law suit did not at this time, exist in Kentucky; since so unfortunately loaded with litigation about the very homes and the firesides of her citizens. Our first settlers were necessarily composed in general, of those who had braved and enjoyed the perils and enterprise of settling the frontiers of the adjacent States. Few others could support the hardships, or would encounter the dangers and difficulties, which environed a residence in these dark and bloody grounds, as the term *Kan- tuck-kee, or Kentucky, is said to mean in the Indian dialect. The duties of the household, in the happy absence at that time, of slaves, (would to God Kentucky could always have escaped the curse and the iniquity of their condition,) were discharged by the females. They milked the cows, prepared the meats, spun and wove the garments of their husbands and children; while the men hunted the game of the woods, cleared the land, and planted the grain. To grind the Indian corn into meal on the rude and laborious handmill; or to pound it into hominy in a mortar, was occasionally the work of either sex. The de- fence of the country, the building of forts and cabins, fell most properly to the share of the men; though in those hardy times, it was not at all uncommon for females, during a siege, to run bullets and neck them for the rifle. Deer skins were exten- sively used for dress, to compose the hunting shirt, the long overalls, the leggins, and the soft and pliable moccasons; the buffalo and the bear furnished the principal covering for the night. Handkerchiefs tied round the head had often supplied the place of hats; strips of buffalo hide were used for ropes. Stores or shops were unknown; wooden vessels either prepared by the turner, the cooper, or their rude representatives in the woods, were the common substitutes for table furniture. t"A
* The author has been unable to confirin this popular etymology, by the inquiries he bas made of those conversant in the Indian languagey. The Kentucky river is called Cuttawa by Lewis Evans, in his map of the middle colonies published at Philadelphia in 1755. It is called Kentucke or Cuttawa in Wayne's treaty of 1795.
t Marshall 1, 123.
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tin cup was an article of delicate luxury, almost as rare as an iron fork." Every hunter carried a knife, too aptly called a scalping knife, in the hands of the white man, as well as in those of the Indian; one or two knives would compose the cutlery for families. never deficient in their numbers. The furniture of the cabin was appropriate to the habitation; the table was composed of a slab, or thick flat piece of timber, split and roughly hewn with the axe, with legs prepared in the same manner. This latter instrument was the principal tool in all mechanical operations, and with the adze, the auger, and above all, the riffe, composed the richest mechanical assort- ment of Kentucky. Stools of the same material and manufac- ture, filled the place of chairs. When some one more curiously nice than his neighbors, chose to elevate his bed above the floor, (often the naked ground,) it was placed on slabs laid across poles, which were again supported by forks driren into the floor. If, however, the floor happened to be so luxurious, as to be made of puncheons, (another larger sort of slabs,) the bedstead became hewed pieces, let into the sides of the cabin by auger holes in the logs. It is worth while to mention, that the cradle of these times, was a small rolling trough, much like what is called the sugar trough; used to receive the sap of the sugar maple. Still the food in these rude habitations, and with this rough and inartificial furniture, was the richest milk and fin- est butter furnished by the luxuriant pasture of the woods, cover- ed with the rich pea vine and the lucious cane. The game of the country it has been already seen, struck the experienced eye of even Boone, as profuse beyond measure; it was the theme of admiration to every hunter: nor did the abundance afford slight assistance to the whites, in their conquest of the land.
It has often been remarked, that Kentucky could never have been maintained against the Indians, had it not been for the ample store of provisions, which the forests supplied. The eng- my would never have permitted provisions to have been trans- ported, or to have grown by the slow and peaceable processes of farming; and the consequence must have been, that the sta- tions would have been starved into surrender; but for the M
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providential supply of the deer, the buffalo, and the bear. These were to be obtained by every gallant rifleman; and this so abundantly, that the buffalo has otten been shot in order to enjoy either its hump or its tongue. 'The hospitality of these times, was much less a merit than an enjoyment; often a protection to both parties. The fare was rough, but heartily and generously divided with every fellow woodsman.
It would not, however, be justice to the manners and charac- ter of the present state of society; any more, than to those of the times we are describing, to conclude the portrait here. Hardihood, bravery, endurance of suffering and generosity, were prominent and undeniable features in the character of the first settlers of Kentucky. These qualities are attested by the whole history of their gallant, hardy, and magnanimous deeds, in the conquest which they made of this lovely land, from such wily, ferocious, and formidable tribes of Indians, assisted by the ample resources of Great Britain. Literature and science with their train of humanizing arts, and the thousand delightful excitements to activity of mind, which they furnish, it would be worse than folly to expect in these, not misnamed, barbar- ous and primitive times of Kentucky. Government was nearly as simple, as the impalpable policy, subsisting among the In- dians; the complexities of law were uncalled for in this condi- tion of few wants, and nearly universal means of gratifying them. . Trade, there was none; for there was nothing yet to give in exchange. Did any man want land? He could occupy any quantity that he could defend against the Indians. Did he want clothing or subsistence? His rifle would furnish any supply of either, which his activity and his industry could com- mand. Avarice and the love of gain had scarcely at first a temptation to develope them. What a chasm must then have existed, to be filled by one of the fiercest and most insatiate passions of the human mind! Still let it not be supposed, that our early society was quite one of Arcadian fiction. Though politics did not distract the community with their noisy din and bitter contentions; though traffic and labor did not furnish their topics of strife, and sources of discontent; still there was no
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