enton and many other noted riors, he once and Kenton and mar, derness warriors, he expeditions into the Ind 27 noted hunters and wilagain took part in country, where they killed the braves and drove off the horses. dian bands of Indians, accompanied by French, Tory, and British partizans from Detroit, bearing the flag of Great Brita In each case an, attacked Boonesborough. them off with less. At the fatal battle of the Blue Boone and his fellow-settlers beat In e them of which two hundred of the best riflemen were beaten with terrible slaughter Licks, in w by a great force of Indians from the lakes, Boone of Kentucky commanded the left wing. Leading his men, rifle in hand, he pushed back and overthrew the force against him; but meanwhile the Indians destroyed the right wing and center, and got round in his rear, so that there was nothing left all possible for Boone's men except to flee with speed. less and ill at ease. As Kentucky became settled, Boone grew restHe loved the wilderness; he loved the great forests and the great prairielike glades, and the life in the little lonely cabin, where from the door he could see the deer come out into the clearing at nightfall. The neighborhood of his own kind made him feel cramped and So he moved ever westward with the up he crossed frontier; and as Kentucky filled the and settled on the borders of the ill at ease. prairie country of Missouri, where the Spania who ruled the territory, made him an alcalde, judge. He lived to a great age, and died out the border, a backwoods hunter to the last. Have the elder races halted? Do they droop and end their lesson, wearied over there beyond th ? seas We take up the task eternal, and the burden and the lesson, Pioneers! O Pioneers! All the past we leave behind, We debouch upon a newer, mightier world, varied world; We Down the edges, detachments steady throwing, Conquering, holding, daring, venturing, as we go the unknown ways, Pioneers! O Pioneers! The sachem blowing the smoke first towards the sun and then The The towards the scalp dance enacted with painted faces and gut drama of the Setting out of the war-party, the long and stealthy march, The single file, the of enemies. Swinging hatchets, the surprise and slaughter - Whitman. GEORGE ROGERS CLARK CONQUEST AND THE OF THE NORTHWEST When independence was declared, the 1776, Unite States included only the thirteen origiWith the exception nal States on the sea-board. of a few hunters there were no white men west of the Alleghany Mountains, and there was not even an American hunter in the great country out of Which we have since made the States of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin. All this region north of the Ohio River then formed a part of the Province of Quebec. It was a wilderness of forests and prairies, teeming with game, and inhabited by many warlike tribes of Indians. Here and there through it were dotted quaint little towns of French Creoles, the most important being Detroit, Vincennes on the Wabash, and Kaskaskia and Kahokia on the Illinois. These French villages were ruled by British officers commanding small bodies of regular soldiers or Tory rangers and Creole partizans. The towns were completely in the power of the British govern |