trodden way, by the Cumberland Gap, which was most likely to be waylaid by the Indians," explored his way over the Cumberland mountains with the hardihood of a soldier, and the sagacity of a hunter. Our hero went, where no man had been known to travel before, through brush and cane over rocks and around precipices, difficult enough to have daunted the most fearless and hardy.

In less than ten days from his departure, Capt. Logan having obtained the desired supply, and leaving it with directions to his men, how to conduct their march, arrived alone and safe at his "diminutive station," which had been almost reduced to despair. The escort with the ammunition, observing the directions given it, rrived in safety, and the garrison once more felt able to defend itself, and that it was master of its own fortune.

Still they were under the necessity of hunting for their support, which daily exposed them to the Indians, who infested the whole neighborhood. The fort remained in this hazardous situation from the 20th of May, 1777, until the month of September of the same year: when, most unexpectedly, Col. John Bowman arrived with a reinforcement of one hundred men. A detachment, considerably in advance of the main body, upon its approach to the fort, was fired at by the besiegers, and several of them killed; the rest made their way into the fort. This soon led to the dispersion of the

enemy.

On the dead body of one of our men were found proclamations by the British governor of Canada, offering protection to such of the inhabitants as would abandon the rebellious colonies, and denouncing vengeance against those who refused. Thus was announced to these advanced posts of the western country, that the Indians and the British were united in the war against them. Logan, upon receiving these papers from the man who found them, thought it most prudent, in the harassed and distressed state of the garrison, rather than of the country, to conceal their contents.

The assistance of Col. Bowman was but temporary; "his men were engaged but for a short time, and much of that had expired on the road." Thus again, the garrison, deprived of its brief auxiliaries, was left to the resident inhabitants. The Indians had not withdrawn from the country; and in addition to the distress of the exposed post, its ammunition was once more nearly exhausted.

* Marshall, I, 52. Maishall, I, 53.

"Again Logan left his family and his fort, to visit the settlements on Holston; with his usual promptitude and energy, he obtained the assistance sought, and returned in safety to his expecting friends.

Soon after his return, the force was augmented by a party under Montgomery particularly acceptable after the departure of Bowman with his brief command.*

A second attack was now made upon Boonesborough on the 4th of July, 1777, by an Indian force of two hundred warriors. In this attempt of the enemy, the garrison not half their number lost one man, and had two wounded; while the Indians had seven killed, as was seen from the fort, altho' removed from the groundit is the pious and most tenacious custom of these people. This siege lasted "two days and nights," when the Indians losing hope of success tumultuously departed, under the concealment of the adjacent hills. Notwithstanding these various sieges, the fields adjacent to the fort were cleared of their timber, and cultivated in corn and vegetables;" some keeping guard while others labored, and each taking his turn as a hunter, at great hazard. Yet amidst these multiplied and hidden dangers, the intrepidity of our hunters found it a relief, to take an equal chance with the enemy in the open woods. "They thought themselves the best marksmen, and as likely to see the Indian first, as to be seen by him; while the first sight was equivalent to the first fire, and the most expert shooter held the best security for his life." The Indians had become shy of exposing themselves before the garrisons; and even in the woods took some precautions to avoid rencounters with equal numbers.

On the close of this most eventful year [1777], "the Indians disappeared for a while;" and the permanent settlements yet formed in Kentucky were at Boonesborough with twenty-two men; at Harrodsburg with sixty-five, and at Logan's Fort, or St. Asaphs, with fifteen. In this army of Kentucky, amounting to 102, a few less than the first band of pilgrims who landed on "New Englands rock-bound shore," the occasional militia, who visited the stations of Kentucky, are not counted.

With this small number of fighting men in the country, no lan

Possibly John Montgomery, who commanded a company in the Illinois battalion, and became Lieutenant Colonel in the regiment of the same name. † Marshall.

‡ Marshall, I, 54.

guage can describe the distress, which was felt by its inhabitants, when intelligence was received, that Boone the beau ideal of a woodsman-the leader and first pioneer in the country, with twenty-seven men was captured by the enemy at the Lower Blue Licks.

The circumstances of this heavy misfortune were, that Boone with thirty men had gone about the 1st of Jan., 1778, "to make salt for the different garrisons in the country, where the people were in great want of that article, without the prospect of supply from abroad." On the 7th day of the ensuing February, while Boone was out hunting to obtair. meat for the salt-makers, he fell in with a large Indian party and two Frenchmen, on its march to attack, for a third time, the devoted fort at Boonesborough. At this moment the Indians particularly wanted a prisoner, who might give them intelligence; and while Boone fled, some of the swiftest warriors pursued and overtook him. Eight days afterwards, they brought Boone to the Licks, where twenty-seven of his men surrendered as prisoners by a previous capitulation, in which they were promised life and good treatment. The other three men of the original party had been sent home with the salt, which had already been made. The difficulty of obtaining salt, and the severe want of it which was felt in the western country, at an early day, are but little known at this advanced period of its settlement. Yet at a comparatively recent time, the interior country, remote from navigable waters, was supplied by long lines of salt-packers conveying the precious condiment from the different licks, a thousand gallons of whose water would only afford a bushel of salt. The price of this most essential article has varied from two and five dollars per bushel to fifty cents for the same quantity its present price at St. Louis.

wards complied with."

ruthless scenes.

An instance of Indian faith which, if it

had only been continued, might have saved both belligerents many But the truth is, that the Indian is not brought up to spare his enemies when in his power, or to murmur at the full practice on himself of all the torments authorized by his laws of war.

Early in June, 1778, a party of 450 warriors assembled at Chilicothe, armed and painted, in their usual terrific way, and bent on another expedition against the marked and signal object of Indian hostility and vengeance-Boone's Fort on the Kentucky river.Now, for the first time, Capt. Boone derived pleasure from his captivity, since it gave him an opportunity of information of the utmost importance to his threatened garrison. This he determined at all hazards, to convey to it, in order to save it from destruction. How much must the simple woodcraft of Boone have won upon the Indians, to have permitted him to know, much more to witness their formidable military preparations! That he was a great favorite with them, in spite of his white skin, appears from the refusal of his captors to allow of his ransom, when offered by Col. Hamilton, the British governor at Detroit. The prisoner was too dear, even to gratify the love of tormenting a prisoner, or avidity for the tempting stores of British goods kept for liberal distribution among their red allies.

On the 10th of the month, before sunrise, "I departed," says the pioneer, "in the most secret manner, and arrived at Boonesborough on the 20th, after a journey of 160 miles, during which time I had but one meal." Never could an escape have been more providential for the redemption of our forlorn hope on the frontiers. The fort was in a bad state of defence; the garrison proceeded, however, to repair its flanks, strengthen its gates and posterns, and to form double bastions; all of which was completed in ten days."* At length another of the white prisoners, escaping from the enemy, informed our people, that the Indians, on learning Boone's elopement, had, according to their customs, postponed their expedition three weeks.

The Indians had sent spies out to view our movements; and were greatly alarmed, at our increase in number and strength. "The grand councils of the nation were held frequently, and with more deliberation than usual." They evidently saw the hour ap

• Filson's Kentucky.

proaching, when the Long Knife would dispossess them of their domestic habitations, and anxiously concerned for futurity, determined utterly to extirpate the whites out of Kentucky.* Our forlorn hope was not intimidated by the fearful odds opposed to them; but in the face of a formidable invasion impending over them, Capt. Boone, about the 1st of August, 1778, undertook an expedition into the Indian country with a party of 19 men for the purpose of surprising a small Indian town, on the Scioto, called Paint Creek Town. "We advanced," says the daring invader, within four miles thereof, where we met a party of thirty Indians on their march against Boonesborough, intending to join the others at Chilicothe. A smart fight ensued betwixt us; at length the savages gave way and fled." Learning from two of his scouts,

who had been sent on to the town, that the Indians had deserted it, Boone returned with all possible expedition to assist the garrison at home. On the 6th of August, 1778, he passed a mixed party of Canadians and Indians, and on the 7th day the party arrived safe at Boonesborough."

Could active enterprise have been more gallantly displayed at the head of thousands, than by this sagacious and intrepid captain of forest rangers? In the face of an enemy twenty times his force, Boone carried the war into the enemy's country into Africa. On the 7th of September, 1778,† an Indian army [if the term is not hyperbolical] consisting of four hundred men, commanded by Capt. Duchesne, with eleven other Frenchmen, and some Indian chiefs, invaded Kentucky. They marched up within view of our fort with British and French colors flying." Col. Bowman makes the number 350, and Blackfish [who had adopted Boone as his son, when a prisoner among the Indians,] was the commander. The fort was summoned in his Britannic Majesty's name, to surrender. Two days were requested for consideration, which were granted. It was now indeed, in the language of Boone, "a critical time" with the besieged; their numbers were small, "between 60 and 70 men, with a large number of women and children;" the army before these rude walls was "fearfully painted, marking their footsteps with desolation." Death was, however, preferable to captivity among such an enemy, and could but be their fate,

• Boone's Narrative. Filson's Kentucky.

† See Bowman's Letter in Appendix, and Annals of the West, 2d edit., 220. Spark's Biography. Life of Boone, p. 18.

Peck's Life of Boone, 79.