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 32
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Late in the evening of the same day, most of the survivors arrived at Bryant's station. The awful tidings spread rapidly throughout the country, and the whole land was covered with mourning. Sixty of the very flower of Kentucky had been killed in the battle and flight, and seven had been taken prisoners, of whom some were afterwards put to death by the Indians, as was said, to make their loss even. This ac- count, however, appears very improbable. It is almost incredible that the Indians should have suffered an equal loss. Their superiority of numbers, their advantage of position, (being in a great measure shel- tered, while the Kentuckians, particularly the horsemen, were much ex- posed,) the extreme brevity of the battle, and the acknowledged bold- ness of the pursuit, all tend to contradict the report that the Indian loss exceeded ours. We have no doubt that some of the prisoners were murdered after arriving at their towns, but cannot believe that the reason assigned for so ordinary a piece of barbarity was the true one. Still the execution done by the Kentuckians, while the battle lasted, seems to have been considerable, although far inferior to the loss which they themselves sustained.
HUGH MCGARY'S FIERY CHARACTER AND HIS DEFENCE.
Todd and Trigg were a severe loss to their families, and to the country generally. They were men of rank in life, superior to the or- dinary class of settlers, and generally esteemed for courage, probity and intelligence. The death of Major Harland was deeply and univer- sally regretted. A keen courage, united to a temper the most amiable, and an integrity the most incorruptible, had rendered him extremely popular in the country. Together with his friend McBride, he accom- panied McGary in the van, and both fell in the commencement of the action. McGary, notwithstanding the extreme exposure of his station, as leader of the van, and consequently most deeply involved in the ranks of the enemy, escaped without the slightest injury. This gentle- man will ever be remembered as associated with the disaster of which
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he was the immediate, although not the original, cause. He has al- ways been represented as a man of fiery and daring courage, strongly tinctured with ferocity, and unsoftened by any of the humane and gen- tle qualities which awaken affection. In the hour of battle, his pres- ence was invaluable, but in civil life, the ferocity of his temper rendered him an unpleasant companion.
Several years after the battle of the Blue Licks, a gentleman of Ken- tucky, since dead, fell in company with McGary at one of the circuit courts, and the conversation soon turned upon the battle. McGary frankly acknowledged that he was the immediate cause of the loss of blood on that day, and, with great heat and energy, assigned his rea- sons for urging on the battle. He said that in the hurried council which was held at Bryant's, on the 18th, he had strenuously urged Todd and Trigg to halt for twenty-four hours, assuring them that, with the aid of Logan, they would be able to follow them even to Chilli- cothe if necessary, and that their numbers then were too weak to en- counter them alone. He offered, he said, to pledge his head that the Indians would not return with such precipitation as was supposed, but would afford ample time to collect more force, and give them battle with a prospect of success.
He added, that Colonel Todd scouted his arguments, and declared that " if a single day was lost the Indians would never be overtaken- but would cross the Ohio and disperse ; that now was the time to strike them, while they were in a body-that to talk of their numbers was nonsense-the more the merrier !- that for his part he was determined to pursue without a moment's delay, and did not doubt that there were brave men enough on the ground to enable him to attack them with effect." McGary declared, " that he felt somewhat nettled at the man- ner in which his advice had been received ; that he thought Todd and Trigg jealous of Logan, who, as senior Colonel, would be entitled to the command upon his arrival; and that, in their eagerness to have the honor of the victory to themselves, they were rashly throwing them- selves into a condition which would endanger the safety of the country.
"However, sir," (continued he, with an air of unamiable triumph,) " when I saw the gentlemen so keen for a fight, I gave way, and joined in the pursuit as willingly as any; but when we came in sight of the enemy, and the gentlemen began to talk of 'numbers,' 'position,' ' Logan,' and ' waiting,' I burst into a passion, d-d them for a set Fof cowards, who could not be wise until they were scared into it, and swore that since they had come so far for a fight, they should fight, or I would disgrace them forever ! That when I spoke of waiting for Logan
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on the day before, they had scouted the idea, and hinted about ' courage'-that now it would be shown who had courage, or who were d-d cowards, who could talk big when the enemy were at a dis- tance, but turned pale when danger was near. I then dashed into the river, and called upon all who were not cowards to follow !" The gentleman upon whose authority it is given added, that even then, McGary spoke with bitterness of the deceased Colonels, and swore that they had received just what they deserved, and that he for one was glad of it.
On the very day on which this rash and unfortunate battle was fought Colonel Logan arrived at Bryant's station, at the head of no less than four hundred and fifty men. He here learned that the little army had marched on the preceding day, without waiting for so strong and neces- sary a reinforcement. Fearful of some such disaster as had actually occurred, he urged his march with the utmost diligence, still hoping to overtake them before they could cross the Ohio; but within a few miles of the fort, he encountered the foremost of the fugitives, whose jaded horses, and harassed looks, announced but too plainly the event of the battle. As usual with men after a defeat, they magnified the number of the enemy and the slaughter of their comrades. None knew the actual extent of their loss. They could only be certain of their own escape, and could give no account of their companions. Fresh strag- glers constantly came up, with the same mournful intelligence ; so that Logan, after some hesitation, determined to return to Bryant's until all the survivors should come up. In the course of the evening, both horse and foot were reassembled at Bryant's, and the loss was distinctly ascer- tained.
Although sufficiently severe, it was less than Logan had at first appre- hended; and having obtained all the information which could be col- lected, as to the strength and probable destination of the enemy, he determined to continue his march to the battle ground, with the hope that success would embolden the enemy, and induce them to remain until his arrival. On the second day he reached the field. The enemy were gone, but the bodies of the Kentuckians still lay unburied, on the spot where they had fallen. Immense flocks of buzzards were soaring over the battle ground, and the bodies of the dead had become so swollen and disfigured, that it was impossible to recognize the features of their most particular friends. Many corpses were floating near the shore of the northern bank, already putrid from the action of the sun, and partially eaten by fishes. The whole were carefully collected, by order of Colonel Logan, and interred as decently as the nature of the mil would permit. Being satisfied that the Indians were by this time
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HUGH MCGARY'S FIERY CHARACTER AND HIS DEFENCE.
far beyond his reach, he then retraced his steps to Bryant's station and dismissed his men.
As soon as intelligence of the battle of the Blue Licks reached Colo- nel George Rogers Clark, who then resided at the falls of Ohio, he determined to set on foot an expedition against the Indian towns, for the purpose, both of avenging the loss of the battle, and rousing the spirit of the country, which had begun to sink into the deepest dejec- tion. He proposed that one thousand men should be raised from all parts of Kentucky, and should rendezvous at Cincinnati, under the command of their respective officers, where he engaged to meet them at the head of a part of the Illinois regiment, then under his command, together with one brass field piece, which was regarded by the Indians with superstitious terror. The offer was embraced with great alacrity ; and instant measures were taken for the collection of a sufficient number of volunteers.
The whole force of the interior was assembled, under the command of Colonel Logan, and descending the Licking in boats prepared for the purpose, arrived safely at the designated point of union, where they were joined by Clark, with the volunteers and regular detachment from below. No provision was made for the subsistence of the troops, and the sudden concentration of one thousand men and horses upon a single point, rendered it extremely difficult to procure the necessary supplies. The woods abounded in game-but the rapidity and secrecy of their march, which was absolutely essential to the success of the expedition, did not allow them to disperse in search of it. They suffered greatly, therefore, from hunger as well as fatigue; but all being accustomed to privations of every kind, they prosecuted their march with unabated rapidity, and appeared within a mile of one of their largest villages, without encountering a single Indian. Here, unfortunately, a straggler fell in with them, and instantly fled to the village, uttering the alarm whoop repeatedly in the shrillest and most startling tones. The troops pressed forward with great dispatch, and, entering their town, found it totally deserted. The houses had evidently been abandoned only a few minutes before their arrival. Fires were burning, meat was upon the roasting sticks, and corn was still boiling in their kettles. The pro- visions were a most acceptable treat to the Kentuckians, who were well nigh famished, but the escape of their enemies excited deep and universal chagrin.
After refreshing themselves, they engaged in the serious business of destroying the property of the tribes with unrelenting severity. Their villages were burnt, their corn cut up, and their entire country laid waste. During the whole of this severe but necessary occupation,
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scarcely an Indian was to be seen. The alarm had spread universally, and every village was found deserted. Occasionally, a solitary Indian would crawl up within gunshot and deliver his fire; and once a small party, mounted upon superb horses, rode up with great audacity, within musket shot, and took a leisurely survey of the whole army, but upon seeing a detachment preparing to attack them, they galloped off with a rapidity that baffled pursuit.
BOONE'S LAST DAYS-DRIVEN TO MISSOURI-TOUCHING SCENES.
Boone accompanied this expedition, but, as usual, has omitted every- thing which relates to himself. Here the brief memoir of Boone closes. It does not appear that he was afterwards engaged in any public expe- dition or solitary adventure. He continued a highly respectable farmer- citizen of Kentucky for several years, until the country became too thickly settled for his taste. As refinement of manners advanced, and the general standard of intelligence became elevated by the constant arrival of families of rank and influence, the rough old woodsman found himself entirely out of his element. The all-engaging subject of poli- tics, which soon began to agitate the country with great violence, was to him as a sealed book or an unknown language, and for several years he wandered among the living groups which thronged the court yard or the churches, like a venerable relic of other days. He was among them, but not of them! He pined in secret for the wild and lonely forests of the west -- for the immense prairie, trodden only by the buf- falo or the elk, and became eager to exchange the listless languor and security of a village for the healthful exercise of the chase or the more thrilling excitement of savage warfare.
In 1792, he dictated his brief and rather dry memoirs to some young gentleman who could write, and who garnished it with a few flour- ishes of rhetoric, which passed off upon the old woodsman as a precious morsel of eloquence. He was never more gratified than when he could sit and hear it read to him, by some one who was willing, at so small an expense, to gratify the harmless vanity of the kind-hearted old pioneer. He would listen with great earnestness, and occasionally rub his hands, smile and ejaculate, "all true !- every word true !- not a lie in it!" He never spoke of himself unless particularly questioned; but this writ- ten account of his life was the Delilah of his imagination. The idea of "seeing his name in print," completely overcame the cold philosophy of his general manner, and he seemed to think it a masterpiece of com- position.
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BOONE'S LAST DAYS-DRIVEN TO MISSOURI.
A disastrous reverse increased his discontent. He had, after the Rev- olution, collected much of his means to purchase land warrants, but while on his way to Richmond, was robbed of the whole and left desti- tute. Ignorant, too, of the niceties of the law, he found that even those lands he had located and thought his own, were defective in title, and so it came to pass that the old pioneer, although the first to explore the magnificent domain of Kentucky, could at length claim of her soil only the six feet that belonged to every child of Adam. Sore, wounded and dissatisfied, but never, that we can hear, embittered, Boone forever left Kentucky ; turned his back upon civilization and its legal chicanery ; . settled for awhile with his faithful wife on the Kanawha in Virginia, and finally joined his son Daniel in what is now Missouri, but what was then part of the Spanish territory. The Spanish authorities at St. Louis gave him a grant of land, and at length lie found peace again and lived by his traps and rifle, sending the spoils of the hunt to St. Louis.
He had left Kentucky in debt, but living in a time when it was not considered exactly honorable to break up " full handed," or to com- pound with creditors at fifty cents on the dollar, he worked manfully along until he had raised some money, and then once more appeared in Boonsborough a stranger in a strange land. The honest old man sought out his creditors, took each one's word for the amount of his indebted- ness to him, and, after satisfying every claim, dollar for dollar, he shouldered his trusty rifle and started again for his western home.
But marked changes were going on even in that remote wilderness. His western paradise was soon disturbed by intruders. The territory had changed hands from Spain to France and then to the United States. He now used to make long trapping and hunting excursions up the Missouri river and its tributaries. At one time he took pack-horses and went to the Osage, taking with him a negro lad. Soon after preparing his camp, he lay a long time sick. One pleasant day, when able to walk out, he took the boy to a slight eminence and marked out his own grave, enjoining the lad, in case of his (Boone's) death, to wash his body and wrap it in a clean blanket. He was then to dig a grave exactly as he had marked it, drag his body and put it therein and then plant posts at the head and foot, and mark the trees so the place could be found by his friends. Special messages were then given about his horses, rifle, &c. All these directions were given, as the boy declared, with entire calmness and serenity.
He did not die then, however, but soon after became landless again. His title was declared invalid and, at seventy-six, the venerable pioneer was a second time left without one acre in all that boundless domain. But this did not sour him. His sweetness of disposition still continued .-
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and with an enduring and touching faith, he sent, in 1812, a memorial to the Kentucky Senate, asking their influence in form of a petition to Congress to confirm his Spanish title to ten thousand acres. This was done, much to Boone's satisfaction, most promptly and heartily, but Congress hesitated, and at length, in 1814, gave him title to less than a thousand.
While his claim was pending, the most terrible disaster of his life be- fell the old man in the loss of his dear and most faithful wife, Rebecca. He wept over her coffin as one who " would not be comforted." With her he buried all his earthly affections. He left his own humble cabin and took up his residence with his son, Major Nathan Boone. He now returned to his forest rambles and hunting sports, and when about eighty- two years old, he made a hunting excursion as far as Fort Osage on the Kansas, one hundred miles from his dwelling. On all these distant ad- ventures, he took with him a companion bound by written agreement, that wherever he died, he was to convey and bury his body beside that of his wife overlooking the Missouri.
In 1819 a distinguished artist visited Boone at his dwelling near the Missouri, for the purpose of taking his portrait, and found him in a " small, rude cabin, indisposed and reclining on his bed. A slice from the loin of a buck, twisted about the ramrod of his rifle, within reach of him as he lay, was roasting before the fire. Several other cabins, arranged in the form of a parallelogram, were occupied by the descend- ants of the pioneer. Here he lived in the midst of his posterity. His withered energies and locks of snow, indicated that the sources of exist- ence were nearly exhausted."
Boone died of fever on the 26th of September, 1820, in the eighty- seventh year of his age, and at the residence of his son-in-law in Flan- ders, Calloway county, Mo., and was buried by the side of his wife. It is said that when too old to hunt, he would seat himself, with his trusty old rifle in hands and with eyes turned towards the forest, and thus gaze wistfully for hours, living over again in memory, doubtless, the active and stirring scenes of his youth and manhood beneath similar sombre shades. When intelligence of his death reached the Missouri Legisla- ture, an adjournment and the usual badge of mourning for thirty days was voted.
In 1845 a committee, appointed by the Kentucky Legislature, visited Missouri and had the bodies of the old pioneer and his wife, Rebecca, removed to Frankfort, and on the 13th of September, 1845, the ashes of the revered and illustrious dead were recommitted to Kentucky dust amid the most solemn and imposing ceremonies. It was a great day in Kentucky, and one ong to be held in sacred remembrance. An im-
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Two CHARACTERISTIC ANECDOTES OF DANIEL BOONE.
mense concourse of citizens had assembled from all parts of the State. The funeral procession was more than a mile in length. The hearse, profusely decorated with flowers and evergreens, was drawn by four white horses and accompanied, as pall bearers, by such distinguished pioneers as Colonel R. M. Johnson, General James Taylor, General R. McAfee, Colonel John Johnston, of Ohio, and Colonel Wm. Boone, of Shelby. The affecting funeral ceremonies were performed in a beauti- ful hollow near the grave, the oration having been delivered by the Hon. J. J. Crittenden.
It is a common error to suppose that Boone was a very ignorant, illiterate man. He could both read and write, and his spelling was no worse than that of his cotemporary, General George Rogers Clark, and other prominent men of his day and generation. Governor Morehead, in his commemorative address, says of Boone :
" His life is a forcible example of the powerful influence a single absorbing passion exerted over the destiny of an individual. Possess- ing no other acquirements than a very common education, he was ena- bled, nevertheless, to maintain through a long and useful career. a con- spicuous rank among the most distinguished of his cotemporaries. ITe united in an eminent degree the qualities of shrewdness, caution, cour- age and uncommon muscular strength. He was seldom taken by sur- prise ; he never shrank from danger, nor cowered beneath the pressure of exposure and fatigue. His manners were simple and unobtrusive- exempt from the rudeness characteristic of the backwoodsman. In his person there was nothing remarkably striking. He was five feet ten inches in height and of robust and powerful proportions. His counte- nance was mild and contemplative. His ordinary habits were those of a hunter. He died as he lived, in a cabin, and perhaps his trusty rifle was the most valuable of all his chattels."
Two CHARACTERISTIC ANECDOTES OF DANIEL BOONE.
Boone, according to James Hall, was once resting in the woods with a small number of his followers, when a large party of Indians came suddenly upon them and halted-neither party having discovered the other until they came in contact. The whites were eating, and the sav- ages, with the ready tact for which they are famous, sat down with per- fect composure, and also commenced eating. It was obvious they wished to lull the suspicions of the white men, and seize a favorable opportunity for rushing upon them. Boone affected a careless inatten- tion, but, in an undertone, quietly admonished his men to keep their hands upon their rifles. He then strutted towards the reddies unarmed 19
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and leisurely picking the meat from a bone. The Indian leader, who was somewhat similarly employed, arose to meet him.
Boone saluted him, and then requested to look at the knife with which the Indian was cutting his meat. The chief handed it to him without hesitation, and our pioneer, who, with his other traits, possessed con- siderable expertness at sleight of hand, deliberately opened his mouth and affected to swallow the long knife, which, at the same instant, he threw adroitly into his sleeve. The Indians were astonished. Boone gwiped, rubbed his throat, stroked his body, and then, with apparent satisfaction, pronounced the horrid mouthful to be very good.
Having enjoyed the surprise of the spectators for a few moments, he made another contortion, and drawing forth the knife, as they supposed, from his body, coolly returned it to the chief. The latter took the point cautiously between his thumb and finger, as if fearful of being contam- inated by touching the weapon, and threw it from him into the bushes. The pioneer sauntered back to his party, and the Indians, instantly dis- patching their meal, marched off, desiring no further intercourse with a man who could swallow a scalping knife.
From Collins' Kentucky we derive the following: One morning in 1777, several men in the fields near Boonsborough were attacked by In- dians, and ran towards the fort. One was overtaken and tomahawked within seventy yards of the fort, and while being scalped, Simon Ken- ton shot the warrior dead. Daniel Boone, with thirteen men, hastened to help his friends, but they were intercepted by a large body of In- dians, who got between them and the fort. At the first fire from the Indians, seven whites were wounded, among them Boone. An Indian sprang upon him with uplifted tomahawk; but Kenton, quick as a flash, sprang toward the Indian, discharged his gun into his breast, snatched up the body of his noble leader, and bore it safely into the fort. When the gate was closed securely against the Indians, Boone sent for Ken- ton: "Well, Simon," said the grateful old pioneer, "you have behaved yourself like a man to-day-indeed, you are a fine fellow." Boone was a remarkably silent man, and this was great praise from him.
KENTUCKY SPORTS-BOONE BARKING SQUIRRELS BY RIFLE.
We have individuals in Kentucky, wrote Audubon, the famous nat- uralist, that, even there, are considered wonderful adepts in the manage- ment of the rifle. Having resided some years in Kentucky, and hav- ing more than once been witness of rifle sport, I shall present the re- sults of my observation, leaving the reader to judge how far rifle shoot- ing is understood in that State :
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KENTUCKY SPORTS- BOONE BARKING SQUIRRELS BY RIFLE.
Several individuals who conceive themselves adepts in the manage- ment of the rifle, are often seen to meet for the purpose of displaying their skill ; and, betting a trifling sum, put up a target, in the centre of which, a common-sized nail is hammered for about two-thirds its length. The marksmen make choice of what they consider a proper distance, and which may be forty paces. Each man cleans the interior of his tube, which is called wiping it, places a ball in the palm of his hand, pouring as much powder from his horn as will cover it. This quantity is supposed to be sufficient for any distance short of a hundred yards. A shot which comes very close to the nail is considered that of an in- different marksman ; the bending of the nail is of course somewhat bet- ter ; but nothing less than hitting it right on the head is satisfactory. One out of the three shots generally hits the nail; and should the shooters amount to half-a-dozen, two nails are frequently needed before each can have a shot. Those who drive the nail have a further trial among themselves, and the two best shots out of these generally settles the affair, when all the sportsmen adjourn to some house, and spend an hour or two in friendly intercourse, appointing, before they part, a day for another trial. This is technically termed, " driving the nail."
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