USA > Massachusetts > Our western border : its life, combats, adventures, forays, massacres, captivities, scouts, red chiefs, pioneer women, one hundred years ago, containing the cream of all the rare old border chronicles > Part 29
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255
KENTUCKY AS IT WAS IN THE OLDEN TIME.
and vigor that seems to ravish the intoxicated senses. The sweet song sters of the forest appear to feel the influence of the genial clime, and in more soft and modulated tones warble their tender notes in unison with love and nature. Everything here gives delight, and we feel a glow of gratitude for what an all-bountiful Creator has bestowed upon us."
Filson, another visitor of the long ago, wrote : "The soil is of a loose, deep, black mould without sand-in the best lands about two feet deep and exceedingly luxuriant in all its productions. The country is well timbered, producing large trees of many kinds, and to be exceeded by no country in variety "-among others, sugars, coffee, pawpaw and honey locusts. Of the fine cane, so famous for its buffalo paths; its plenteousness of bear and other wild game, and its ranges for cattle, he says : "This plant grows from three to twelve feet high; is of a hard substance, with joints at eight or ten inches distance along the stalk, from which proceed leaves like those of the willow. There are many canebrakes so thick and tall that it is difficult to pass through them .. Where no cane grows there is an abundance of wild rye, clover and buf- falo grass, covering vast tracts of country, and affording excellent food for cattle. Here are seen the finest crown-imperial in the world; the cardinal flower so much extolled for its scarlet color ; and all the year, excepting the Winter months, the plains and valleys are adorned with a variety of flowers of the most admirable beauty. Here is also found the tulip-bearing laurel tree, or magnolia, which is very fragrant and continues to blossom and seed for several months together. By casting an eye over the map and viewing round the heads of Licking from the Ohio, and round the heads of the Kentucky and Dick's rivers, and down Green river to the Ohio again, one may view within that compass of above a hundred miles square, the most extraordinary country on which the sun has ever shone."
This is a glowing but not an overdrawn picture of Kan-tuck-ee as she was of old, robed in all her primeval beauty. Others have said that the herbage was of such lushness and exuberance that you could track a man through it at a run on a fleet horse. Indeed, we opine, that few of our day can realize the surpassing richness and luxuriance of favored portions of the virgin western wilderness. For instance Spencer, in his Narrative of Captivity, says :
" Our western Winters were much milder, our Springs earlier and our Autumns longer than now. On the last of February, some of the trees were putting forth foliage; in March the red bud, the hawthorn and the dog wood, in full bloom, checkered the hills, and in May the ground was covered with the May apple, bloodroot, ginseng, violets and -
256
OUR WESTERN BORDER.
a great variety of herbs and flowers. Flocks of paroquets were seen, decked in their rich plumage of green and gold. Birds of every species and hue were flitting from tree to tree, and the beautiful red bird and the plaintive dove could be seen, and the rumbling drum of the par- tridge or the loud gobble of the wild turkey, heard from all sides. Here might be seen the clumsy bear, doggedly running off; there the timid deer watchfully resting, cautiously feeding, or, aroused from his matted thicket, gracefully bounding off. It seemed an earthly paradise, and but for the apprehension of the wily copperhead, silently coiled beneath the leaves ; the horrid rattlesnake, who, however, more chival- rous, apprised one of his danger, and the still more fearful and insidious savage, who, crawling upon the ground or noiselessly approaching behind trees and thickets, sped the deadly shaft or fatal bullet, you might have fancied you were in the confines of Eden or the borders of Elysium."
The author of Miami County Traditions says : "The country all · around the settlement presented the most lovely appearance; the earth was like an ash-heap for mellowness and nothing could exceed the luxu- riance of primitive vegetation ; indeed, our cattle often died from excess of feeding, and it was somewhat difficult to rear them on that account. The white weed, or bee harvest, as it is called, so profusely spread now over our bottoms and woodlands, was not then seen among us; the sweet annis, nettles, wild rye and pea vine, now so scarce, then every- where abounded. They were almost the entire herbage of our bottoms; the last two gave subsistence to our cattle, and the first, with other nutri- tious roots, were eaten by our swine with the greatest avidity. In the Spring and Summer months, a drove of hogs could be scented at a con- siderable distance from the flavor of the annis root."
Is it any wonder, then, that the early hunters became enamored of these western Edens, so prodigal of sweetness as to throw an atmos- phere of fragrance even about a drove of vulgar unsavory swine ! But our readers must forgive this tempting side ramble. Revenons a nos moutons.
To one of Boone's tastes, the scenes so enthusiastically described by Findley presented charms not to be longer resisted, so joining, in 1769, Findley and four others of. like mind and tastes with himself, he left his family on the Yadkin and pushed boldly for the West. We cannot, of course, in a work as this, essay to give the details of a life like Boone's, so absolutely crowded with personal adventure, and so must content ourselves with a most meagre outline of his future happenings.
On the 7th of June they reached Red river, and from a neighboring eminence were enabled to survey the vast plain of Kentucky. Here
257
BOONE CAPTURED FOR THE FIRST TIME AND ESCAPES.
they built a cabin, in order to afford them a shelter from the rain- which had fallen in immense quantities on their march-and remained in a great measure stationary until December, killing a great quantity of game immediately around them. Immense herds of buffalo ranged through the forest in every direction, feeding on the leaves of the cane or the rich and spontaneous fields of clover. On the 22d of December, Boone and John Stuart, one of his companions, left their encampment, and following one of the numerous paths which the buffalo had made through the cane, they plunged boldly into the interior of the forest. They had as yet seen no Indians, and the country had been reported as totally uninhabited. This was true in a strict sense, for although the southern and north-western tribes were in the habit of hunting here as upon neutral ground, yet not a single wigwam had been erected, nor did the land bear the slightest mark of having ever been cultivated. The different tribes would fall in with each other, and from the fierce conflicts which generally followed these casual rencontres, the country had been known among them by the name of "the dark and bloody ground !"
BOONE CAPTURED FOR THE FIRST TIME AND ESCAPES.
The two adventurers soon learned the additional danger to which they were exposed. While roving carelessly from canebrake to cane- brake, and admiring the rank growth of vegetation, and the variety of timber which marked the fertility of the soil, they were suddenly alarmed by the appearance of a party of Indians, who, springing from their place of concealment, rushed upon them with a rapidity that rendered escape impossible. They were almost instantly seized, dis- armed and made prisoners. Their feelings may be readily imagined. They were in the hands of an enemy who knew no alternative between adoption and torture, and the numbers and fleetness of their captors rendered escape by open means impossible, while their jealous vigilance seemed equally fatal to any secret attempt. Boone, however, was possessed of a temper admirably adapted to the circumstances in which he was placed. Of a cold and saturnine, rather than an ardent dispo- sition, he was never either so much elevated by good fortune or de- pressed by bad, as to lose for a moment the full possession of all his faculties. He saw that immediate escape was impossible, but he en- couraged his companion, and constrained himself to follow the Indians in all their excursions with so calm and contented an air, that their vigilance insensibly began to relax.
On the seventh evening of their captivity, they encamped in a thick 17
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OUR WESTERN BORDER.
canebrake, and, having built a large fire, lay down to rest. The party whose duty it was to watch, were weary and negligent, and about mid- night Boone, who had not closed an eye, ascertained from the deep breathing all around him that the whole party, including Stuart, were in a deep sleep. Gently and gradually extricating himself from the Indians who lay around him, he walked cautiously to the spot where Stuart lay, and having succeeded in awakening him without alarming the rest, he briefly informed him of his determination, and exhorted him to arise, make no noise, and follow him. Stuart, although ignorant of the design, and suddenly aroused from sleep, fortunately obeyed with equal silence and celerity, and within a few minutes they were be- yond hearing. Rapidly traversing the forest, by the light of the stars and the barks of the trees, they ascertained the direction in which the camp lay, but upon reaching it on the next day, to their great grief, they found it plundered and deserted, with nothing remaining to show the fate of their companions ; and, even to the day of his death, Boone knew not whether they had been killed or taken, or had voluntarily abandoned their cabin and returned. Here in a few days they were accidentally joined by Boone's brother and another man, who had fol- lowed them from Carolina, and fortunately stumbled upon their camp. This accidental meeting in the bosom of a vast wilderness, gave great relief to the two brothers, although their joy was soon overcast.
Boone and Stuart, in a second excursion, were again pursued by savages, and Stuart was shot and scalped, while Boone fortunately escaped. As usual, he has not mentioned particulars, but barely stated the event. Within a few days they sustained another calamity, if pos- sible still more distressing. Their only remaining companion was benighted in a hunting excursion, and, while encamped in the woods alone, was attacked and devoured by the wolves.
The two brothers were thus left in the wilderness alone, separated by several hundred miles from home, surrounded by hostile Indians, and destitute of everything but their rifles. After having had such melan- choly experience of the dangers to which they were exposed, we would naturally suppose that their fortitude would have given way, and that they would instantly have returned to the settlements. But the most · remarkable feature in Boone's character was a calm and cold equanim- ity, which rarely rose to enthusiasm, and never sunk to despondency. His courage undervalued the danger to which he was exposed, and his presence of mind, which never forsook him, enabled him, on all occa- sions, to take the best means of avoiding it. The wilderness, with all its dangers and privations, had a charm for him which is scarcely con- ceivable by one brought up in a city, and he determined to remain
259
BOONE CAPTURED FOR THE FIRST TIME AND ESCAPES.
alone, whilst his brother returned to Carolina for an additional supply of ammunition, as their original supply was nearly exhausted.
" I was," he says, " left by myself, without bread, salt or sugar, without the company of my fellow-creatures, or even a horse and dog."
His situation, we should now suppose, was in the highest degree gloomy and dispirited. The dangers which attended his brother on his return were nearly equal to his own; and each had left a wife and children, which Boone acknowledged cost him many an anxious thought. But the wild and solitary grandeur of the country around him, where not a tree had been cut, nor a house erected, was to him an inexhaustible source of admiration and delight ; and he says himself, that some of the most rapturous moments of his life were spent in those lonely rambles. The climate was superb. The forests were magnificent with their exu- berance of rustling foliage, and in sunny openings lay verdant savannas covered with the lushest of grasses and perfectly enameled with flowers. Upon these and along several streams and extensive canebrakes, im- mense herds of the unwieldy buffalo could be seen rolling along. The majestic trees were festooned with vines, from which, in early Autumn, hung grapes as luscious as those of Eshcol. In fact, it was a " land of Canaan, flowing with milk and honey." The utmost caution was neces- sary to avoid the savages, and scarcely less to escape the ravenous hun- ger of the wolves that prowled nightly around him in immense numbers. He was compelled frequently to shift his lodging, and by undoubted signs, saw that the Indians had repeatedly visited his hut during his absence. He sometimes lay in canebrakes, without fire, and heard the yell of the Indians around him. Fortunately, however, he never en- countered them, although he took long rambles all over Northern Ken- tucky.
On the 27th of July, 1770, his brother returned with a supply ot ammunition on two well-laden horses ; and with a hardihood which ap- pears almost incredible, they ranged through the country in every direc- tion, and without injury, until March, 1771. They then returned to North Carolina, where Daniel rejoined his family, after an absence of three years, during nearly the whole of which time he had never tasted bread or salt, nor seen the face of a single white man, with the excep- tion of his brother, and the friends who had been killed. He here determined to sell his farm and remove with his family to the wilderness of Kentucky-an astonishing instance of hardihood, and we should even say indifference to his family, if it were not that his character has uniformly been represented as mild and humane as it was bold and fearless.
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OUR WESTERN BORDER. .
BOONE MOVES HIS FAMILY TO KENTUCKY-LOSES A SON.
Accordingly, on the 25th of September, 1771, having disposed of all the property which he could not take with him, he took leave of his friends and commenced his journey to the west. A number of milch cows and horses, laden with a few necessary household utensils, formed the whole of his baggage. His wife and children were mounted on horseback and accompanied him, every one regarding them as devoted to destruction. In Powell's valley, they were joined by five more families and forty men well armed. Encouraged by this accession of strength, they advanced with additional confidence, but had soon a severe warning of the further dangers which awaited them. When near Cumberland Mountain, their rear was suddenly attacked with great fury by a scouting party of Indians, and thrown into considerable con- fusion. The party, however, soon rallied, and being accustomed to Indian warfare, returned the fire with such spirit and effect, that the Indians were repulsed with slaughter. Their own loss, however, had been severe. Six men were killed upon the spot, and one wounded. Among the killed was Boone's eldest son-to the unspeakable affliction of his family. The disorder and grief occasioned by this rough recep- tion, seems to have affected the emigrants deeply, as they instantly retraced their steps to the settlements on Clinch river, forty miles from the scene of action. Here they remained until June, 1774, probably at the request of the women, who must have been greatly alarmed at the prospect of plunging more deeply into a country upon the skirts of which they had witnessed so keen and bloody a conflict.
At this time Boone, at the request of Governor Dunmore, of Virginia, conducted' a number of surveyors to the falls of Ohio, a distance of eight hundred miles. Of the incidents of this journey, we have no record whatever. After his return he was engaged under Dunmore, until 1775, in several affairs with the Indians, and at the solicitation of some gentlemen of North Carolina, he attended at a treaty with the Cherokees, for the purpose of purchasing the lands south of Kentucky river.
It was under the auspices cf Colonel Henderson that Boone's next visit to Kentucky was made. Leaving his family on Clinch river, he set out, at the head of a few men, to mark out a road for the pack-horses or wagons of Henderson's party. This laborious and dangerous duty he executed with his usual patient fortitude, until he came within fifteen miles of the spot where Boonsborough afterwards was built. Here, on the 22d of March, his small party was attacked by the Indians, and suf-
Capture of the Boone and Calloway Girls. SEE PAGE 261.
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CAPTURE OF BOONE'S DAUGHTER AND THE CALLOWAY GIRLS. 201
fered a loss of four men killed and wounded. The Indians, although repulsed with loss in this affair, renewed the attack with equal fury on the next day, and killed and wounded five more of his party. On the Ist of April, the survivors began to build a small fort on the Kentucky river, afterwards called Boonsborough, and, on the 4th, they were again attacked by the Indians, and lost another man. Notwithstanding the harassing attacks to which they were constantly exposed, (for the In- dians seemed enraged to madness at the prospect of them building houses on their hunting grounds,) the work was prosecuted with inde- fatigable diligence, and on the 14th was completed.
Boone instantly returned to Clinch river for his family, determined to bring them with him at every risk. This was done as soon as the journey could be performed, and Mrs. Boone and her daughters were the first white women who stood upon the banks of the Kentucky river, as Boone himself had been the first white man who ever built a cabin upon the borders of the State. The first house, however, which ever stood in the interior of Kentucky, was erected at Harrodsburg, in the year 1774, by James Harrod, who conducted to this place a party of hunters from the banks of the Monongahela. This place was, there- fore, a few months older than Boonsborough. Both soon became dis- tinguished, as the only places in which hunters and surveyors could find security from the fury of the Indians.
Within a few weeks after the arrival of Mrs. Boone and her daugh- ters, the infant colony was reinforced by three more families, at the head of which were Mrs. McGary, Mrs. Hogan and Mrs. Denton. Boons- borough, however, was the central object of Indian hostilities, and scarcely had his family become domesticated in their new possession when they were suddenly attacked by a party of Indians, and lost one of their garrison. This was in December, 1775.
CAPTURE OF BOONE'S DAUGHTER AND THE CALLOWAY GIRLS.
In the following July, however, a much more alarming event oc- curred. Boone's daughter, Jemima, in company with Betty and Fanny Calloway, crossed the Kentucky river in a canoe, and while amusing themselves along the leafy bank by splashing the water about with their paddles, they were seen by five lurking savages. One of them, stealthily gliding into the stream, seized the tying rope and succeeded in noise- lessly dragging the canoe into a little leafy nook out of sight of the fort. The loud shrieks of the now terrified girls quickly alarmed the family. The small garrison was dispersed in their usual occupations; but Boone hastily collected a small party of eight men, and pursued the enemy,
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OUR WESTERN BORDER.
So much time, however, had been lost, that the Indians had got several miles the start of them. The pursuit was urged through the night with great keenness, by woodsmen capable of following a trail at all times, and on the following day they came up with them. The attack was so sudden and furious, that the Indians were driven from the ground be- fore they had time to tomahawk their prisoners, and the girls were recov- ered without having sustained any other injury than excessive fright and fatigue. Nothing but a barren outline of this interesting occurrence has been given. We know nothing of the conduct of the Indians to their captives, or of the situation of the young ladies during the short engagement, and cannot venture to fill up the outline from imagination. The Indians lost two men, while Boone's party was uninjured.
From this time until the 15th of April, 1777, the garrison was inces- santly harassed by flying parties of Indians. While ploughing their corn, they were waylaid and shot; while hunting, they were chased and fired upon; and sometimes a solitary Indian would creep up near the fort, in the night, and fire upon the first of the garrison who appeared in the morning. They were in a constant state of anxiety and alarm, and the most ordinary duties could only be performed at the risk of their lives. On the 15th the enemy appeared in large numbers, hoping to crush the infant settlement at a single blow. Boonsborough, Logan's Fort and Harrodsburg were attacked at one and the same time. But, destitute as they were of artillery, scaling ladders, and all the proper means of reducing fortified places, they could only distress the men, alarm the women and destroy the corn and cattle. Boonsborough sus- tained some loss, as did the other stations, but the enemy, being more exposed, suffered so severely as to cause them to retire with precipita- tion.
No rest, however, was given to the unhappy garrison. On the 4th of July following they were again attacked by two hundred warriors, but the enemy were repulsed with loss. The Indians retreated, but a few days afterwards fell upon Logan's station with great fury, having sent detachments to alarm the other stations, so as to prevent the ap- pearance of reinforcements at Logan's. In this last attempt they dis- played great obstinacy, and as the garrison consisted only of fifteen men, they were reduced to extremity. Not a moment could be allowed for sleep. Burning arrows were shot upon the roofs of the houses, and the Indians often pressed boldly up to the gates, and attempted to hew them down with their tomahawks. Fortunately, at this critical time, Colonel Bowman arrived from Virginia with one hundred men well armed, and the savages precipitately withdrew, leaving the garrison almost exhausted with fatigue and reduced to twelve men.
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BOONE'S FIGHT WITH TWO SAVAGES.
BOONE'S FIGHT WITH TWO SAVAGES-HE IS TAKEN CAPTIVE.
A brief period of repose now followed, in which the settlers endea- vored to repair the damages done to their farms. But a period of heavy trial to Boone and his family was approaching. In January, 1778, ac- companied by thirty men, Boone went to the Blue Licks to make salt for the different stations, and used to go out to hunt for them regularly. One day, according to Flint, his biographer, he had wandered some distance from the river, and suddenly encountered two savages. He could not retreat, and so slipped behind a tree, and then exposed him- self to attract their aim. The first shot, and Boone dropped at the flash as if killed. To make the second throw away his shot, he again exposed part of his person. The eager savage instantly fired, and Boone evaded the shot as before. The two Indians were now, with nervous hands, attempting to reload. Boone now drew a fatal bead on the foremost, and he fell, pierced to the heart. The two antagonists now advanced- Boone flourishing his knife and the savage his tomahawk-to the dead body of the fallen Indian. Boone placed his foot on the body, and received the tomahawk on his rifle. In the attitude of striking, the un- wary savage had exposed his body, in which the remorseless knife was plunged to the hilt.
On the 7th of February following, while out hunting, he fell in with one hundred and two Indian warriors, on their march to attack Boons- borough. He instantly fled, but being nearly fifty years old, was un- able to contend with the fleet young men who pursued him, and was a second time taken prisoner. As usual, he was treated with kindness until his final fate was determined, and was led back to the Licks, where his men were still encamped. Here his whole party, to the number of twenty-seven, surrendered themselves, upon promise of life and good treatment, both of which conditions were faithfully observed.
Had the Indians prosecuted their enterprise, they might, perhaps, by showing their prisoners and threatening to put them to the torture, have operated so far upon the sympathies of the garrison as to have ob- tained considerable results. But nothing of the kind was attempted. They had already been unexpectedly successful, and it is their custom after either good or bad fortune, immediately to return home and enjoy the triumph. Boone and his party were conducted to the old town of Chillicothe, where they remained till the following March. No journal was written during this period, by either Boone or his party. We are only informed that his mild and patient equanimity wrought powerfully upon the Indians; that he was adopted into a family, and uniformly
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