menu_book Chapter 8

chapter eight of daniel boone by reuben goldthwaites chapter eight the hero of clinch valley while daniel boone had been hunting and exploring amid the deep forests and waving greenswards of kentucky important events had been taking place in the settlements the colonists along the atlantic tide water had become so crowded that there were no longer any free lands in that region and settlers cabins in the western uplands of pennsylvania maryland the carolinas and georgia had so multiplied that now much of the best land there had also been taken up the far outlying frontier upon which the boones and bryans had reared their rude log huts nearly a quarter of a century before no longer abounded in game and in free pastures for roving herds indeed the frontier was now pushed forward to the west flowing streams to the headwaters of the watauga clinch powell french broad holston and nolochucky all of them affluence of the tennessee and to the monungahela and other tributaries of the upper ohio

the rising tide of population demanded more room to the westward the forbidding mountain ranges had long hemmed in the restless borderers but the dark-skinned wilderness tribes had formed a still more serious barrier as with rifles and tomahawks purchased from white traders they terrorized the slowly advancing outposts of civilization with the french government no longer in control of canada and the region east of the mississippi although french canadian woodsmen were freely employed by the british indian department with the consequent quieting of indian forays with increased knowledge of the over-mountain passes and with the strong push of population from behind there had arisen a general desire to scale the hills and beyond them to seek exemption from tax-gatherers free lands and the abundant game concerning which the kentucky hunters had brought glowing reports upon the defeat of the french the english king had issued a proclamation seventeen sixty three forbidding his loving subjects to settle to the west of the mountains

the home government was no doubt actuated in this by two motives first a desire to preserve the wilderness for the benefit of the growing fur trade which brought wealth to many london merchants second a fear that borderers who pushed beyond the mountains might not only be beyond the reach of english trade but also beyond english political control but the frontiersmen were already too far distant to have much regard for royal proclamations the king's command appears to have had no more effect than had he like one of his predecessors bade the ocean-tide rise no higher in seventeen sixty eight at fort stanwix new york the iroquois of that province whose war-parties had raided much of the country between the hudson and the mississippi surrendered what shadowy rights they might be supposed to have over all lands lying between the ohio and the tennessee meanwhile at the south the cherokees had agreed to a frontier which opened to settlement eastern kentucky and tennessee but without waiting for these treaties numerous schemes had been proposed in england and the atlantic coast colonies for the settlement of kentucky and the lands of the upper ohio

most of these projects failed even the more promising of them being checked by the opening of the revolutionary war but their existence showed how general was the desire of english colonists to occupy those fertile western lands which explorers like gist washington the boones and the long hunters had now made familiar to the world the new treaty strengthened this desire so that when daniel and squire boone reached their homes upon the yadkin the subject of western settlement was uppermost in the minds of the people the land excitement was however less intense in north carolina than in the valley of virginia and other mountain troughs to the north and northeast at boone's home there was unrest of a more serious character the tax-gatherers were arousing great popular discontent because of unlawful and extortionate demands and in some cases governor tryon had come to blows with the regulators who stood for the people's rights

for two and a half years after his return boone quietly conducted his little farm and as of old made long hunting trips in autumn and winter occasionally venturing sometimes alone sometimes with one or two companions far west into kentucky once visiting french lick on the cumberland where he found several french hunters there is reason to believe that in seventeen seventy two he moved to the watauga valley but after living there for a time went back to the adkin early in the following year he accompanied benjamin cutbirth and others as far as the present jessamine county kentucky and from this trip returned fired with quickened zeal for making a settlement in the new country the spring and summer were spent in active preparations he enlisted the co-operation of captain william russell the principal pioneer in the clinch valley several of the bryans whose settlement was now sixty-five miles distant also agreed to join him and five other families in his own neighborhood engaged to join the expedition the bryan party numbering forty men some of them from the valley of virginia and powell's valley were not to be accompanied by their families as they preferred to go in advance and repair homes before making a final move

but boone and the other men of the upper yadkin took with them their wives and children most of them sold their farms as did boone thus burning their bridges behind them arranging to meet the bryan contingent in powells valley boone's party left for the west upon the twenty fifth of september seventeen seventy three fifty six years after old george boone had departed from england for the pennsylvania frontier near philadelphia and twenty-three after the family had set out for the new south-west frontier on the yadkin reaching powell's boone went into camp to await the rear party his riding and pack-horses hoppled and belled after the custom of such caravans and their small herd of cattle properly guarded in a meadow his eldest son james now a boy of sixteen years was sent with two men with pack animals across country to notify russell and to secure some flour and farming tools they were returning leyden in company with russell's son henry a year older than james two of russell's negro slaves and two or three white workpeople when missing their path they went into camp for the night only three miles from boone's quarters

at daybreak they were attacked by a shawnees war-party and all killed except a white laborer and a negro this pathetic tragedy created such consternation among the movers that despite boone's entreaties to go forward all of them returned to virginia and carolina daniel and his family no longer having a home on the yadkin would not retreat and took up their quarters in an empty cabin upon the farm of captain david gass seven or eight miles from russell's upon clinch river throughout this sorrowful winter the boons were supported from their stock of cattle and by means of daniel's unerring rifle it was long before the intrepid pioneers could again take up their line of march ever since the bouquet treaty of seventeen sixty four there had been more or less disturbance upon the frontiers during all these years although there was no open warfare between whites and reds many scores of lives had been lost indians had wantonly plundered and murdered white men and the latter had been quite as merciless toward the savages whenever a member of one race met a man of the other the rifle was apt to be at once brought into play

meanwhile armed parties of surveyors and land speculators were swarming into kentucky notching the trees for landmarks and giving evidence to apprehensive tribesmen that the hordes of civilization were upon them in seventeen seventy three george rogers clark afterward the most famous of border leaders had staked a claim at the mouth of fishing creek on the ohio washington had this summer descended the river to the same point while at the falls of the ohio and upon interior waters of the kentucky wilderness other parties were laying ambitious plans for the capitals of new colonies in the following spring the cherokees and shawnees now wrought to a high pitch of ill temper combined four onslaughts on the advancing frontiersmen the wanton murder by border ruffians of chief john logan's family near mingo junction on the ohio was the match which in early summer fired the tinder the mingoes ablaze with the fire of vengeance carried the war-pipe through the neighboring villages runners were sent in every direction to rouse the tribes tomahawks were unearthed war-posts were planted messages of defiance were sent to the virginians

as all frontiersmen were generally called by the western indians and in a few days the border war to which history has given the name of lord dunmore then governor of virginia was in full swing from cumberland gap to fort pitt from the alleghanies to the wabash its isolation at first protected the valley of the clinch the commandant of the southwest militia which comprised every boy or man capable of bearing arms was colonel william preston under him was major arthur campbell the principal man in the clinch valley was boone's friend russell when in june the border captains were notified by lord dunmore that the war was now on forts were erected in each of the mountain valleys and scouts sent out along the trails and streams to ascertain the whereabouts of the enemy there were in kentucky at this time several surveying parties which could not obtain news by way of the ohio because of the blockade maintained by the shawnees it became necessary to notify them overland and advise their retreat to the settlements by way of cumberland gap russell having been ordered by preston to employ two faithful woodsmen for this purpose chose daniel boone and michael stoner if they are alive wrote russell to his colonel it is indisputable but boone must find them

leaving the clinch on june twenty seventh the two envoys were at harrodsburg before july eighth there they found james harrod and thirty-four other men laying off a large town in which they proposed to give each inhabitant a half-acre in lot and a ten-acre out lot boone who had small capacity for business but in land was something of a speculator registered as a settler and in company with a neighbor put up a cabin for his future occupancy this done he and stoner hurried on down the kentucky river to its mouth and thence to the falls of the ohio site of louisville notifying several bands of surveyors and town builders of their danger after an absence of sixty-one days they were back again upon the clinch having travelled eight hundred miles through a practically unbroken forest experienced many dangers from indians and overcome natural difficulties almost without number meanwhile lord dunmore personally unpopular but an energetic and competent military manager had sent out an army of nearly three thousand backwoodsmen against the shawnees north of the ohio

one wing of this army led by the governor himself went by way of fort pitt and descended the ohio among its members was george rogers clark the other wing commanded by general andrew lewis included the men of the southwest eleven hundred strong they were to descend the great kanawha and rendezvous with the northern wing at point pleasant at the junction of the kanawha and the ohio when boone arrived upon the clinch he found that russell and most of the other militiamen of the district had departed upon the campaign with a party of recruits the great hunter started out to overtake the expedition but was met by orders to return and aid in defending his own valley for the drawing off of the militia by dunmore had left the southwest frontiers in weak condition during september the settlers upon the clinch suffered much apprehension the depredations of the tribesmen were not numerous but several men were either wounded or captured in a letter written upon the sixth of october major campbell gives a list of forts upon the clinch black moors sixteen men sergeant moore commanding moores twenty miles above twenty men lieutenant boone commanding

russells four miles above twenty men sergeant w poage commanding glade hollow twelve miles above fifteen men sergeant john duncan commanding elk garden fourteen miles above eighteen men sergeant john kinkeed commanding made spring twenty-three miles above five men sergeant john crane commanding whitton's big crab orchard twelve miles above three men ensign john campbell of rich valley commanding during this month boone and his little garrison made frequent sallies against the enemy and now and then fought brief but desperate skirmishes he appears to have been by far the most active commander in the valley and when neighboring forts were attacked his party of well-trained riflemen generally furnished the relief necessary to raise the siege mr boone writes campbell to preston is very diligent at castles woods and keeps up good order his conduct is frequently alluded to in the military correspondence of that summer campbell and other leaders exhibited in their references to our hero a respectful and even deferential tone

an eye-witness of some of these stirring scenes has left us a description of daniel boone now forty years of age in which it is stated that his was then a familiar figure throughout the valley as he hurried to and fro upon the military duties dressed in deerskin colored black and his hair plaited and chubbed up upon the tenth of october cornstalk a famous shawnees chief taking advantage of dunmore's failure to join the southern wing led against lewis's little army encamped at point pleasant a thousand picked warriors gathered from all parts of the northwest here upon the wooded eminence at the junction of the two rivers was waged from dawn until dusk one of the most bloody and stubborn hand-to-hand battles ever fought between indians and whites it is hard to say who displayed the best generalship cornstalk or lewis the american savage was a splendid fighter although weak in discipline he could competently plan a battle the tactics of surprise were his chief resource and these are legitimate even in civilized warfare but he could also make a determined contest in the open and when as at point pleasant the opposing members were nearly equal the result was often slow of determination desperately courageous pertinacious with a natural aptitude for war combined with consummate treachery cruelty and cunning

it is small wonder that the indian long offered a formidable barrier to the advance of civilization in early virginia john smith noticed that in indian warfare the whites won at the expense of losses far beyond those suffered by the tribesmen and here at point pleasant while the long knives gained the day the number of their dead and wounded was double that of the casualties sustained by cornstalk's painted ban the victory at point pleasant practically closed the war upon the border boone had been made a captain in response to a popular petition that the hero of clinch valley be thus honored and was given charge of the three lower forts but there followed only a few alarms and upon the twentieth of november he and his brother militiamen of the region received their discharge the war had cost virginia ten thousand pounds sterling many valuable lives had been sacrificed and an incalculable amount of suffering and privation had been occasioned all along the three hundred and fifty miles of american frontier

but the shawnees had been humbled the cherokees had retired behind the new border line and a lasting peace appeared to be assured in the following january captain boone true son of the wilderness was celebrating his freedom from duties incident to war's alarms by a solitary hunt upon the banks of kentucky river chapter eight recording by william tomko