Daniel Boone: The Pioneer of Kentucky
empire of the white man in their country could only exist upon the ruins
of their own. They divided themselves into several parties, making
incessant attacks upon the forts, and prowling around to shoot every
white man who could be found within reach of their bullets. They avoided
all open warfare, and fought only when they could spring from an ambush,
or when protected by a stump, a rock, or a tree. An Indian would conceal
himself in the night behind a stump, shoot the first one who emerged
from the fort in the morning, and then with a yell disappear in the
recesses of the forest. The cattle could scarcely appear for an hour to
graze beyond the protection of the fort, without danger of being struck
down by the bullet of an unseen foe.
The war of the American Revolution was just commencing. Dreadfully it
added to the perils of these distant emigrants. The British Government,
with infamy which can never be effaced from her records, called in to
her aid the tomahawk and the scalping knife of the savage. The Indian
alone in his wild and merciless barbarity, was terrible enough. But when
he appeared as the ally of a powerful nation, guided in his operations
by the wisdom of her officers, and well provided with guns, powder, and
bullets from inexhaustible resources, the settler had indeed reason to
tremble. The winter of 1776 and 1777 was gloomy beyond expression. The
Indians were hourly becoming more bold. Their predatory bands were
wandering in all directions, and almost every day came fraught with
tidings of outrage or massacre.
The whole military force of the colony was but about one hundred men.
Three hundred of the pioneers, dismayed by the cloud of menace, every
hour growing blacker, had returned across the moutains. There were but
twenty-two armed men left in the fort at Boonesborough. The dismal
winter passed slowly away, and the spring opened replete with nature's
bloom and beauty, but darkened by the depravity of man. On the fifteenth
of April, a band of a hundred howling Indians appeared in the forest
before Boonesborough. With far more than their ordinary audacity, they
rushed from their covert upon the fort. Had they been acquainted with
the use of scaling ladders, by attacking at different points, they might
easily, by their superior numbers, have carried the place by storm.
But fortunately the savages had but little military science, and when
once repulsed, would usually retreat in dismay. The garrison, behind
their impenetrable logs, took deliberate aim, and every bullet killed or
wounded some Indian warrior. The savages fought with great bravery, and
succeeded in killing one man in the garrison. Dismayed by the slaughter
which they were encountering, they fled, taking their dead and wounded
with them. But so fully were they conscious, that would they retain
their own supremacy in the wilderness, they must exterminate the white
man, that their retreat was only in preparation for a return with
accumulated numbers.
An intelligent historian writes:
"Daniel Boone appears before us in these exciting times the central
figure towering like a colossus amid that hardy band of pioneers who
opposed their breasts to the shock of the struggle which gave a terrible
significance and a crimson hue to the history of the old dark and bloody
ground."
The Indians were scattered everywhere in desperate bands. Forty men were
sent from North Carolina and a hundred from Virginia, under Colonel
Bowman, to strengthen the feeble settlements. The latter party arrived
on the twentieth of August, 1776. There were at that time skirmishes
with the Indians almost every day at some point. The pioneers within
their log-houses, or behind their palisades, generally repelled these
assaults with but little loss to themselves and not often inflicting
severe injury to the wary savages. In the midst of these constant
conflicts and dangers, the winter months passed drearily away.
Boonesborough was constantly menaced and frequently attacked. In a diary
kept within the fort we find the following entries:
"_May 23._--A large party of Indians attacked Boonesborough fort.
Kept a warm fire till eleven o'clock at night. Began it next morning,
and kept a warm fire till midnight. Attempting several times to burn
the fort. Three of our men were wounded, but not mortally.
"_May 26th._--A party went out to hunt Indians. One wounded Squire
Boone, and escaped."
Very cruel warfare was now being waged by the majestic power of Great
Britain to bring the revolted colonies back to subjection to their laws.
As we have mentioned they called into requisition on their side the
merciless energies of the savage, openly declaring to the world that
they were justified in making use of whatever weapons God and nature
might place in their hands. From the strong British garrisons at
Detroit, Vincennes and Kaskaskia, the Indians were abundantly supplied
with rifles, powder and bullets, and were offered liberal rewards for
such prisoners, and even scalps, as they might bring in.
The danger which threatened these settlements in Kentucky was now such
as might cause the stoutest heart to quail. The savage had been adopted
as an ally by the most wealthy and powerful nation upon the globe. His
marauding bands were often guided by the intelligence of British
officers. Boone organized what might be called a corps of explorers to
go out two and two, penetrating the wilderness with extreme caution, in
all directions, to detect any indication of the approach of the Indians.
One of these explorers, Simon Kenton, acting under the sagacious counsel
of Colonel Boone, had obtained great and deserved celebrity as among the
most heroic of the remarkable men who laid the foundation of the State
of Kentucky. It would be difficult to find in any pages of romance
incidents of more wonderful adventure, or of more dreadful suffering, or
stories of more miraculous escape, than were experienced by this man.
Several times he was taken captive by the Indians, and though treated
with great inhumanity, succeeded in making his escape. The following
incident in his life, occurring about this time, gives one a very vivid
picture of the nature of this warfare with the Indians:
"Colonel Bowman sent Simon Kenton with two other men, Montgomery and
Clark, on an exploring tour. Approaching an Indian town very cautiously
in the night, on the north side of the Ohio river, they found a number
of Indian horses in an enclosure. A horse in the wilderness was one of
the most valuable of prizes. They accordingly each mounted an animal,
and not daring to leave any behind, which would aid the Indians to
pursue them, by hastily constructed halters they led the rest. The noise
which the horses made awoke the Indians, and the whole village was at
once in a state of uproar. The mounted adventurers dashed through the
woods and were soon beyond the reach of the shouts and the yells which
they left behind them. They knew, however, full well that the
swift-footed Indian warriors would be immediately on their trail.
Without a moment's rest they rode all night, the next day and the next
night, and on the morning of the second day reached the banks of the
Ohio river. The flood of that majestic stream flowed broad and deep
before them, and its surface was lashed into waves by a very boisterous
wind. The horses could not swim across in such a gale, but their desire
to retain the invaluable animals was so great that they resolved to wait
upon the banks until sunset, when they expected the wind to abate.
Having been so well mounted and having such a start of the Indians, they
did not suppose it possible that their pursuers could overtake them
before that time.
"Night came, but with it an increase of the fury of the gale, and the
stream became utterly impassable. Early in the morning Kenton, who was
separated from his companions, observed three Indians and a white man,
well mounted, rapidly approaching. Raising his rifle, he took steady aim
at the breast of the foremost Indian, and pulled the trigger. The powder
flashed in the pan. Kenton took to his heels, but was soon overtaken and
captured. The Indians seemed greatly exasperated at the loss of their
horses. One seized him by the hair and shook his head 'till his teeth
rattled.' The others scourged him severely with their ramrods over the
head and face, exclaiming at every blow, 'Steal Indian hoss, hey!'
"Just then Kenton saw Montgomery coming boldly to his assistance.
Instantly two Indian rifles were discharged, and Montgomery fell dead.
His bloody scalp was waved in the face of Kenton, with menaces of a
similar fate. Clark had sought safety in flight. Kenton was thrown upon
the ground upon his back. His neck was fastened by a halter to a
sapling; his arms, extended to their full length, were pinioned to the
earth by stakes; his feet were fastened in a similar manner. A stout
stick was passed across his breast, and so attached to the earth that he
could not move his body. All this was done in the most violent and cruel
manner, accompanied by frequent cuffs, and blows, as the maddened
Indians called him in the broken English which they had acquired, 'a
tief, a hoss steal, a rascal,' which expressions the Indians had learned
to intersperse with English oaths.
"In this condition of suffering Kenton remained through the day and
through the night. The next morning the savages having collected their
scattered horses, put Kenton upon a young colt, tied his hands behind
him and his feet beneath the horse's belly, and set out on their return.
The country was rough and Kenton could not at all protect himself from
the brambles through which they passed. Thus they rode all day. When
night came, their prisoner was bound to the earth as before. The next
day they reached the Indian village, which was called Chilicothe, on the
Miami river, forty or fifty miles west of the present city of
Chilicothe, Ohio. A courier was sent forward, to inform the village of
their arrival. Every man, woman and child came running out, to view the
prisoner. One of their chiefs, Blackfish, approached Kenton with a
strong hickory switch in his hand, and addressing him said,
"'You have been stealing our horses, have you?'
"'Yes,' was the defiant reply.
"'Did Colonel Boone,' inquired the chief, 'tell you to steal our
horses?'
"'No,' said Kenton, 'I did it of my own accord.'
"Blackfish then with brawny arms so mercilessly applied the scourge to
the bare head and shoulders of his prisoner, as to cause the blood to
flow freely, and to occasion the acutest pain.
"In the mean time the whole crowd of men, women and children danced and
hooted and clapped their hands, assailing him with the choicest epithets
of Indian vituperation. With loud cries they demanded that he should be
tied to the stake, that they might all enjoy the pleasure of tormenting
him. A stake was immediately planted in the ground, and he was firmly
fastened to it. His entire clothing was torn from him, mainly by the
Indian women. The whole party then danced around him until midnight,
yelling in the most frantic manner, smiting him with their hands and
lacerating his flesh with their switches.
"At midnight they released him from the stake, and allowed him some
little repose, in preparation for their principal amusement in the
morning, of having their prisoner run the gauntlet. Three hundred
Indians of all ages and both sexes were assembled for the savage
festival. The Indians were ranged in two parallel lines, about six feet
apart, all armed with sticks, hickory rods, whips, and other means of
inflicting torture. Between these lines, for more than half a mile to
the village, the wretched prisoner was doomed to run for his life,