The First White Man of the West
by
Timothy Flint
Part 1 out of 4
Produced by Curtis Weyant, Stephanie and
the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
[Illustration: DANIEL BOONE.]
[Illustration: BOONE'S FIRST VIEW OF KENTUCKY.]
"Fair was the scene that lay
Before the little band,
Which paused upon its toilsome way,
To view this new found land.
Field, stream and valley spread,
Far as the eye could gaze,
With summer's beauty o'er them shed,
And sunlight's brightest rays.
Flowers of the fairest dyes,
Trees clothed in richest green;
And brightly smiled the deep-blue skies,
O'er this enchanting scene.
Such was Kentucky then,
With wild luxuriance blest;
Where no invading hand had been,
The garden of the West."
THE FIRST WHITE MAN OF THE WEST,
OR THE
LIFE AND EXPLOITS OF COL. DAN'L. BOONE,
THE FIRST SETTLER OF KENTUCKY;
INTERSPERSED WITH INCIDENTS IN THE
EARLY ANNALS OF THE COUNTRY.
BY TIMOTHY FLINT.
1856.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I.
Birth of Daniel Boone--His early propensities--His pranks at school--His
first hunting expedition--And his encounter with a panther.--Removal of
the family to North Carolina--Boone becomes a hunter--Description of
fire hunting, in which he was near committing a sad mistake--Its
fortunate result--and his marriage.
CHAPTER II.
Boone removes to the head waters of the Yadkin river--He meets with
Finley, who had crossed the mountains into Tennessee--They agree to
explore the wilderness west of the Alleghanies together.
CHAPTER III.
Boone, with Finley and others, start on their exploring
expedition--Boone kills a panther in the night--Their progress over the
mountains--They descend into the great valley--Description of the new
country--Herds of buffaloes--Their wanderings in the wilderness.
CHAPTER IV.
The exploring party divide into different routes--Boone and Stewart
taken prisoners by the Indians, and their escape--Boone meets with his
elder brother and another white man in the woods--Stewart killed by the
Indians, and the companion of the elder Boone destroyed by wolves--The
elder brother returns to North Carolina, leaving Boone alone in the
wilderness.
CHAPTER V.
Boone is pursued by the Indians, and eludes their pursuit--He encounters
and kills a bear--The return of his brother with ammunition--They
explore the country--Boone kills a panther on the back of a
buffalo--They return to North Carolina.
CHAPTER VI.
Boone starts with his family to Kentucky--Their return to Clinch
river--He conducts a party of surveyors to the Falls of Ohio--He helps
build Boonesborough, and removes his family to the fort--His daughter
and two of Col. Calloway's daughters taken prisoners by the
Indians--They pursue the Indians and rescue the captives.
CHAPTER VII.
Settlement of Harrodsburgh--Indian mode of besieging and
warfare--Fortitude and privation of the Pioneers--The Indians attack
Harrodsburgh and Boonesborough--Description of a Station--Attack of
Bryant's Station.
CHAPTER VIII.
Boone being attacked by two Indians near the Blue Licks, kills them
both--Is afterwards taken prisoner and marched to Old Chillicothe--Is
adopted by the Indians--Indian ceremonies.
CHAPTER IX.
Boone becomes a favorite among the Indians--Anecdotes relating to his
captivity--Their mode of tormenting and burning prisoners--Their
fortitude under the infliction of torture--Concerted attack on
Boonesborough--Boone escapes.
CHAPTER X.
Six hundred Indians attack Boonesborough--Boone and Captain Smith go out
to treat with the enemy under a flag of truce, and are extricated from a
treacherous attempt to detain them as prisoners--Defence of the
fort--The Indians defeated--Boone goes to North Carolina to bring back
his family.
CHAPTER XI.
A sketch of the character and adventures of several other
pioneers--Harrod, Kenton, Logan, Ray, McAffee, and others.
CHAPTER XII.
Boone's brother killed, and Boone himself narrowly escapes from the
Indians--Assault upon Ashton's station--and upon the station near
Shelbyville--Attack upon McAffee's station.
CHAPTER XIII.
Disastrous battle near the Blue Licks--General Clarke's expedition
against the Miami towns--Massacre of McClure's family--The horrors of
Indian assaults throughout the settlements--General Harmar's
expedition--Defeat of General St. Clair--Gen. Wayne's victory, and a
final peace with the Indians.
CHAPTER XIV.
Rejoicings on account of the peace--Boone indulges his propensity for
hunting--Kentucky increases in population--Some account of their
conflicting land titles--Progress of civil improvement destroying the
range of the hunter--Litigation of land titles--Boone loses his
lands--Removes from Kentucky to the Kanawha--Leaves the Kanawha and goes
to Missouri, where he is appointed Commandant.
CHAPTER XV.
Anecdotes of Colonel Boone, related by Mr. Audubon--A remarkable
instance of memory.
CHAPTER XVI.
Progress of improvement in Missouri--Old age of Boone--Death of his
wife--He goes to reside with his son--His death--His personal appearance
and character.
PREFACE.
Our eastern brethren have entered heartily into the pious duty of
bringing to remembrance the character and deeds of their forefathers.
Shall we of the west allow the names of those great men, who won for us,
from the forest, the savages, and wild beasts, our fair domain of
fertile fields and beautiful rivers, to fade into oblivion? They who
have hearts to admire nobility imparted by nature's great
seal--fearlessness, strength, energy, sagacity, generous forgetfulness
of self, the delineation of scenes of terror, and the relation of deeds
of daring, will not fail to be interested in a sketch of the life of the
pioneer and hunter of Kentucky, Daniel Boone. Contemplated in any light,
we shall find him in his way and walk, a man as truly great as Penn,
Marion, and Franklin, in theirs. True, he was not learned in the lore of
books, or trained in the etiquette of cities. But he possessed a
knowledge far more important in the sphere which Providence called him
to fill. He felt, too, the conscious dignity of self-respect, and would
have been seen as erect, firm, and unembarrassed amid the pomp and
splendor of the proudest court in Christendom, as in the shade of his
own wilderness. Where nature in her own ineffaceable characters has
marked superiority, she looks down upon the tiny and elaborate
acquirements of art, and in all positions and in all time entitles her
favorites to the involuntary homage of their fellow-men. They are the
selected pilots in storms, the leaders in battles, and the pioneers in
the colonization of new countries.
Such a man was Daniel Boone, and wonderfully was he endowed by
Providence for the part which he was called to act. Far be it from us to
undervalue the advantages of education: It can do every thing but assume
the prerogative of Providence. God has reserved for himself the
attribute of creating. Distinguished excellence has never been attained,
unless where nature and education, native endowment and circumstances,
have concurred. This wonderful man received his commission for his
achievements and his peculiar walk from the sign manual of nature. He
was formed to be a woodsman, and the adventurous precursor in the first
settlement of Kentucky. His home was in the woods, where others were
bewildered and lost. It is a mysterious spectacle to see a man possessed
of such an astonishing power of being perfectly familiar with his route
and his resources in the depths of the untrodden wilderness, where
others could as little divine their way, and what was to be done, as
mariners on mid-ocean, without chart or compass, sun, moon, or stars.
But that nature has bestowed these endowments upon some men and denied
them to others, is as certain as that she has given to some animals
instincts of one kind, fitting them for peculiar modes of life, which
are denied to others, perhaps as strangely endowed in another way.
The following pages aim to present a faithful picture of this singular
man, in his wanderings, captivities, and escapes. If the effort be
successful, we have no fear that the attention of the reader will
wander. There is a charm in such recitals, which lays its spell upon
all. The grave and gay, the simple and the learned, the young and
gray-haired alike yield to its influence.
We wish to present him in his strong incipient manifestations of the
development of his peculiar character in boyhood. We then see him on
foot and alone, with no companion but his dog, and no friend but his
rifle, making his way over trackless and unnamed mountains, and
immeasurable forests, until he explores the flowering wilderness of
Kentucky. Already familiar, by his own peculiar intuition, with the
Indian character, we see him casting his keen and searching glance
around, as the ancient woods rung with the first strokes of his axe, and
pausing from time to time to see if the echoes have startled the red
men, or the wild beasts from their lair. We trace him through all the
succeeding explorations of the Bloody Ground, and of Tennessee, until so
many immigrants have followed in his steps, that he finds his privacy
too strongly pressed upon; until he finds the buts and bounds of legal
tenures restraining his free thoughts, and impelling him to the distant
and unsettled shores of the Missouri, to seek range and solitude anew.
We see him there, his eyes beginning to grow dim with the influence of
seventy winters--as he can no longer take the unerring aim of his
rifle--casting wistful looks in the direction of the Rocky Mountains and
the western sea; and sadly reminded that man has but one short life, in
which to wander.
No book can be imagined more interesting than would have been the
personal narrative of such a man, written by himself. What a new pattern
of the heart he might have presented! But, unfortunately, he does not
seem to have dreamed of the chance that his adventures would go down to
posterity in the form of recorded biography. We suspect that he rather
eschewed books, parchment deeds, and clerkly contrivances, as forms of
evil; and held the dead letter of little consequence. His associates
were as little likely to preserve any records, but those of memory, of
the daily incidents and exploits, which indicate character and assume
high interest, when they relate to a person like the subject of this
narrative. These hunters, unerring in their aim to prostrate the
buffalo on his plain, or to bring down the geese and swans from the
clouds, thought little of any other use of the gray goose quill, than
its market value.
Had it been otherwise, and had these men themselves furnished the
materials of this narrative, we have no fear that it would go down to
futurity, a more enduring monument to these pioneers and hunters, than
the granite columns reared by our eastern brethren, amidst assembled
thousands, with magnificent array, and oratory, and songs, to the memory
of their forefathers. Ours would be the record of human nature speaking
to human nature in simplicity and truth, in a language always
impressive, and always understood. Their pictures of their own felt
sufficiency to themselves, under the pressure of exposure and want; of
danger, wounds, and captivity; of reciprocal kindness, warm from the
heart; of noble forgetfulness of self, unshrinking firmness, calm
endurance, and reckless bravery, would be sure to move in the hearts of
their readers strings which never fail to vibrate to the touch.
But these inestimable data are wanting. Our materials are comparatively
few; and we have been often obliged to balance between doubtful
authorities, notwithstanding the most rigorous scrutiny of newspapers
and pamphlets, whose yellow and dingy pages gave out a cloud of dust at
every movement, and the equally rigid examination of clean modern books
and periodicals.
CHAPTER I.
Birth of Daniel Boone--His early propensities--His pranks at school--His
first hunting expedition--And his encounter with a panther. Removal of
the family to North Carolina--Boone becomes a hunter--Description of
fire hunting, in which he was near committing a sad mistake--Its
fortunate result--and his marriage.
Different authorities assign a different birth place to DANIEL BOONE.
One affirms that he was born in Maryland, another in North Carolina,
another in Virginia, and still another during the transit of his parents
across the Atlantic. But they are all equally in error. He was born in
the year 1746, in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, near Bristol, on the right
bank of the Delaware, about twenty miles from Philadelphia. His father
removed, when he was three years old, to the vicinity of Reading, on the
head waters of the Schuylkill. From thence, when his son was thirteen
years old, he migrated to North Carolina, and settled in one of the
valleys of South Yadkin.
The remotest of his ancestors, of whom there is any recorded notice, is
Joshua Boone, an English Catholic. He crossed the Atlantic to the
shores of the Chesapeake Bay, with those who planted the first germ of
the colony of Maryland. A leading motive to emigration with most of
these colonists, was to avoid that persecution on account of their
religion, which however pleasant to inflict, they found it uncomfortable
to endure. Whether this gentleman emigrated from this inducement, as has
been asserted, or not, it is neither possible, nor, as we deem,
important to settle; for we cannot find, that religious motives had any
direct influence in shaping the character and fortunes of the hero of
the woods. Those who love to note the formation of character, and
believe in the hereditary transmission of peculiar qualities, naturally
investigate the peculiarities of parents, to see if they can find there
the origin of those of the children. Many--and we are of the
number--consider transmitted endowment as the most important link in the
chain of circumstances, with which character is surrounded. The most
splendid endowments in innumerable instances, have never been brought to
light, in defect of circumstances to call them forth. The ancestors of
Boone were not placed in positions to prove, whether he did or did not
receive his peculiar aptitudes a legacy from his parents, or a direct
gift from nature. He presents himself to us as a new man, the author and
artificer of his own fortunes, and showing from the beginning rudiments
of character, of which history has recorded no trace in his ancestors.
The promise of the future hunter appeared in his earliest boyhood. He
waged a war of extermination, as soon as he could poise a gun, with
squirrels, raccoons, and wild cats, at that time exceedingly annoying to
the fields and barn-yards of the back settlers.
No scholar ever displayed more decided pre-eminence in any branch of
learning, than he did above the boys of his years, in adroitness and
success in this species of hunting. This is the only distinct and
peculiar trait of character recorded of his early years. The only
transmitted fact of his early training is presented in the following
anecdote.
In that section of the frontier settlement to which Boone had removed,
where unhewn log cabins, and hewn log houses, were interspersed among
the burnt stumps, surrounded by a potato patch and cornfield, as the
traveller pursued his cow-path through the deep forest, there was an
intersection, or more properly concentration of wagon tracks, called the
"Cross Roads,"--a name which still designates a hundred frontier
positions of a post office, blacksmith's shop, and tavern. In the
central point of this metropolis stood a large log building, before
which a sign creaked in the wind, conspicuously lettered "Store and
Tavern."
To this point, on the early part of a warm spring morning, a pedestrian
stranger was seen approaching in the path leading from the east. One
hand was armed with a walking stick, and the other carried a small
bundle inclosed in a handkerchief. His aspect was of a man, whose whole
fortunes were in his walking stick and bundle. He was observed to eye
the swinging sign with a keen recognition, inspiring such courage as
the mariner feels on entering the desired haven.
His dialect betrayed the stranger to be a native of Ireland. He sat down
on the _stoup_, and asked in his own peculiar mode of speech, for cold
water. A supply from the spring was readily handed him in a gourd. But
with an arch pause between remonstrance and laughter, he added, that he
thought cold water in a warm climate injurious to the stomach and begged
that the element might be qualified with a little whisky.
The whisky was handed him, and the usual conversation ensued, during
which the stranger inquired if a school-master was wanted in the
settlement--or, as he was pleased to phrase it, a professor in the
higher branches of learning? It is inferred that the father of Boone was
a person of distinction in the settlement, for to him did the master of
the "Store and Tavern" direct the stranger of the staff and bundle for
information.
The direction of the landlord to enable him to find the house of Mr.
Boone, was a true specimen of similar directions in the frontier
settlements of the present; and they have often puzzled clearer heads
than that of the Irish school-master.
"Step this way," said he, "and I will direct you there, so that you
cannot mistake your way. Turn down that right hand road, and keep on it
till you cross the dry branch--then turn to your left, and go up a
hill--then take a lane to your right, which will bring you to an open
field--pass this, and you will come to a path with three forks--take the
middle fork, and it will lead you through the woods in sight of Mr.
Boone's plantation."
The Irishman lost his way, invoked the saints, and cursed his director
for his medley of directions many a time, before he stumbled at length
on Mr. Boone's house. He was invited to sit down and dine, in the simple
backwoods phrase, which is still the passport to the most ample
hospitality.
After dinner, the school-master made known his vocation, and his desire
to find employment. To obtain a qualified school-master in those days,
and in such a place, was no easy business. This scarcity of supply
precluded close investigation of fitness. In a word, the Irishman was
authorized to enter upon the office of school-master of the settlement.
We have been thus particular in this description, because it was the way
in which most teachers were then employed.
It will not be amiss to describe the school-house; for it stood as a
sample of thousands of west country school-houses of the present day. It
was of logs, after the usual fashion of the time and place. In
dimension, it was spacious and convenient. The chimney was peculiarly
ample, occupying one entire side of the whole building, which was an
exact square. Of course, a log could be "snaked" to the fire-place as
long as the building, and a file of boys thirty feet in length, could
all stand in front of the fire on a footing of the most democratic
equality. Sections of logs cut out here and there, admitted light and
air instead of windows. The surrounding forest furnished ample supplies
of fuel. A spring at hand, furnished with various gourds, quenched the
frequent thirst of the pupils. A ponderous puncheon door, swinging on
substantial wooden hinges, and shutting with a wooden latch, completed
the appendages of this primeval seminary.
To this central point might he seen wending from the woods, in every
direction of the compass, flaxen-headed boys and girls, clad in
homespun, brushing away the early dews, as they hied to the place, where
the Hibernian, clothed in his brief authority, sometimes perpetrated
applications of birch without rhyme or reason; but much oftener allowed
his authority to be trampled upon, according as the severe or loving
humor prevailed. This vacillating administration was calculated for any
result, rather than securing the affectionate respect of the children.
Scarcely the first quarter had elapsed, before materials for revolt had
germinated under the very throne of the school-master.
Young Boone, at this time, had reached the second stage of teaching the
young idea how to shoot. His satchel already held paper marked with
those mysterious hieroglyphics, vulgarly called _pot-hooks_, intended to
be gradually transformed to those clerkly characters, which are called
hand-writing.
The master's throne was a block of a huge tree, and could not be said,
in any sense, to be a cushion of down. Of course, by the time he had
heard the first lessons of the morning, the master was accustomed to let
loose his noisy subjects, to wanton and bound on the grass, while he
took a turn abroad to refresh himself from his wearying duties. While he
was thus unbending his mind, the observant urchins had remarked, that
he always directed his walk to a deep grove not far distant. They had,
possibly, divined that the unequal tempers of his mind, and his rapid
transitions from good nature to tyrannical moroseness, and the reverse,
were connected with these promenades. The curiosity of young Boone had
been partially excited. An opportunity soon offered to gratify it.
Having one day received the accustomed permission to retire a few
minutes from school, the darting of a squirrel across a fallen tree, as
he went abroad, awakened his ruling passion. He sprang after the nimble
animal, until he found himself at the very spot, where he had observed
his school-master to pause in his promenades. His attention was arrested
by observing a kind of opening under a little arbor, thickly covered
with a mat of vines. Thinking, perhaps, that it was the retreat of some
animal, he thrust in his hand, and to his surprise drew forth a glass
bottle, partly full of whisky. The enigma of his master's walks and
inequalities of temper stood immediately deciphered. After the
reflection of a moment, he carefully replaced the bottle in its
position, and returned to his place in school. In the evening he
communicated his discovery and the result of his meditations to the
larger boys of the school on their way home. They were ripe for revolt,
and the issue of their caucus follows:
They were sufficiently acquainted with fever and ague, to have
experimented the nature of tartar emetic. They procured a bottle exactly
like the master's, filled with whisky, in which a copious quantity of
emetic had been dissolved. Early in the morning, they removed the
school-master's bottle, and replaced it by theirs, and hurried back to
their places, panting with restrained curiosity, and a desire to see
what results would come from their medical mixture.
The accustomed hour for intermission came. The master took his usual
promenade, and the children hastened back with uncommon eagerness to
resume their seats and their lessons. The countenance of the master
alternately red and pale, gave portent of an approaching storm.
"Recite your grammar lesson," said he, in a growling tone, to one of the
older boys.
"How many parts of speech are there?"
"Seven, sir," timidly answered the boy.
"Seven, you numscull! is that the way you get your lesson?" Forthwith
descended a shower of blows on his devoted head.
"On what continent is Ireland?" said he, turning from him in wrath to
another boy. The boy saw the shower pre-determined to fall, and the
medicine giving evident signs of having taken effect. Before he could
answer, "I reckon on the continent of England," he was gathering an
ample tithe of drubbing.
"Come and recite your lesson in arithmetic?" said he to Boone, in a
voice of thunder. The usually rubicund face of the Irishman was by this
time a deadly pale. Slate in hand, the docile lad presented himself
before his master.
"Take six from nine, and what remain?"
"Three, sir."
"True. That will answer for whole numbers, now for your fractions. Take
three-quarters from an integer, and what remains?"
"The whole."
"You blockhead! you numscull!" exclaimed the master, as the strokes fell
like a hail shower; "let me hear you demonstrate that."
"If I subtract one bottle of whisky, and replace it with one in which I
have mixed an emetic, will not the whole remain, if nobody drinks it?"
By this time the medicine was taking fearful effect. The united
acclamations and shouts of the children, and the discovery of the
compounder of his medicament, in no degree tended to soothe the
infuriated master. Young Boone, having paid for his sport by an ample
drubbing, seized the opportune moment, floored his master, already weak
and dizzy, sprang from the door, and made for the woods. The adventure
was soon blazoned. A consultation of the patrons of the school was held.
Though young Boone was reprimanded, the master was dismissed.
This is all the certain information we possess, touching the training of
young Boone, in the lore of books and schools. Though he never
afterwards could be brought back to the restraint of the walls of a
school, it is well known, that in some way, in after life, he possessed
himself of the rudiments of a common education. His love for hunting and
the woods now became an absorbing passion. He possessed a dog and a
fowling piece, and with these he would range whole days alone through
the woods, often with no other apparent object, than the simple pleasure
of these lonely wanderings.
One morning he was observed as usual, to throw the band, that suspended
his shot bag, over one shoulder, and his gun over the other, and go
forth accompanied by his dog. Night came, but to the astonishment and
alarm of his parents, the boy, as yet scarcely turned of fourteen, came
not. Another day and another night came, and passed, and still he
returned not. The nearest neighbors, sympathizing with the distressed
parents, who considered him lost, turned out, to aid in searching for
him. After a long and weary search, at a distance of a league from any
plantation, a smoke was seen arising from a temporary hovel of sods and
branches, in which the astonished father found his child, apparently
most comfortably established is his new experiment of house-keeping.
Numerous skins of wild animals were stretched upon his cabin, as
trophies of his hunting prowess. Ample fragments of their flesh were
either roasting or preparing for cookery. It may be supposed, that such
a lad would be the theme of wonder and astonishment to the other boys of
his age.
At this early period, he hesitated not to hunt wolves, and even bears
and panthers. His exploits of this kind were the theme of general
interest in the vicinity. Many of them are recorded. But we pass over
most of them, in our desire to hasten to the exploits of his maturer
years. We select a single one of the most unquestionable character, as
a sample for the rest.
In company with some of his young companions, he undertook a hunting
excursion, at a considerable distance from the settlements. Near
night-fall, the group of young Nimrods were alarmed with a sharp cry
from the thick woods. A panther! whispered the affrighted lads, in
accents scarcely above their breath, through fear, that their voice
would betray them. The scream of this animal is harsh, and grating, and
one of the most truly formidable of forest sounds.
The animal, when pressed, does not shrink from encountering a man, and
often kills him, unless he is fearless and adroit in his defence. All
the companions of young Boone fled from the vicinity, as fast as
possible. Not so the subject of our narrative. He coolly surveyed the
animal, that in turn eyed him, as the cat does a mouse, when preparing
to spring upon it. Levelling his rifle, and taking deliberate aim, he
lodged the bullet in the heart of the fearful animal, at the very moment
it was in the act to spring upon him. It was a striking instance of that
peculiar self-possession, which constituted the most striking trait in
his character in after life.
Observing these early propensities for the life of a hunter in his son,
and land having become dear and game scarce in the neighborhood where he
lived, Boone's father formed the design of removing to remote forests,
not yet disturbed by the sound of the axe, or broken by frequent
clearings; and having heard a good account of the country bordering upon
the Yadkin river, in North Carolina, he resolved to remove thither.
This river, which is a stream of considerable size, has its source among
the mountains in the north-east part of North Carolina, and pursues a
beautiful meandering course through that state until it enters South
Carolina. After watering the eastern section of the latter state, it
reaches the ocean a few miles above the mouth of the Santee.
[Illustration]
Having sold his plantation, on a fine April morning he set forth for the
land of promise--wife, children, servants, flocks, and herds, forming
a patriarchal caravan through the wilderness. No procession bound to the
holy cities of Mecca or Jerusalem, was ever more joyful; for to them the
forest was an asylum. Overhung by the bright blue sky, enveloped in
verdant forests full of game, nought cared they for the absence of
houses with their locks and latches. Their nocturnal caravansary was a
clear cool spring; their bed the fresh turf. Deer and turkeys furnished
their viands--hunger the richest sauces of cookery; and fatigue and
untroubled spirits a repose unbroken by dreams. Such were the primitive
migrations of the early settlers of our country. We love to meditate on
them, for we have shared them. We have fed from this table in the
wilderness. We have shared this mirth. We have heard the tinkle of the
bells of the flocks and herds grazing among the trees. We have seen the
moon rise and the stars twinkle upon this forest scene; and the
remembrance has more than once marred the pleasure of journeyings in the
midst of civilization and the refinements of luxury.
The frontier country in which the family settled was as yet an unbroken
forest; and being at no great distance from the eastern slope of the
Alleghanies, in the valleys of which game was abundant, it afforded fine
range both for pasture and hunting. These forests had, moreover, the
charm of novelty, and the game had not yet learned to fear the rifles of
the new settlers. It need hardly be added that the spirits of young
Boone exulted in this new hunter's paradise. The father and the other
sons settled down quietly to the severe labor of making a farm,
assigning to Daniel the occupation of his rifle, as aware that it was
the only one he could be induced to follow; and probably from the
experience, that in this way he could contribute more effectually to the
establishment, than either of them in the pursuits of husbandry.
An extensive farm was soon opened. The table was always amply supplied
with venison, and was the seat of ample and unostentatious hospitality.
The peltries of the young hunter yielded all the money which such an
establishment required, and the interval between this removal and the
coming of age of young Boone, was one of health, plenty, and privacy.
But meanwhile this settlement began to experience the pressure of that
evil which Boone always considered the greatest annoyance of life. The
report of this family's prosperity had gone abroad. The young hunter's
fame in his new position, attracted other immigrants to come and fix
themselves in the vicinity. The smoke of new cabins and clearings went
up to the sky. The baying other dogs, and the crash of distant falling
trees began to be heard; and painful presentiments already filled the
bosom of young Boone, that this abode would shortly be more pressed upon
than that he had left. He was compelled, however, to admit, that if such
an order of things brings disadvantages, it has also its benefits.
A thriving farmer, by the name of Bryan, had settled at no great
distance from Mr. Boone, by whose establishment the young hunter, now at
the period of life when other thoughts than those of the chase of wild
game are sometimes apt to cross the mind, was accustomed to pass.
This farmer had chosen a most beautiful spot for his residence. The farm
occupied a space of some hundred acres on a gentle eminence, crested
with yellow poplars and laurels. Around it rolled a mountain stream. So
beautiful was the position and so many its advantages, that young Boone
used often to pause in admiration, on his way to the deeper woods beyond
the verge of human habitation. Who can say that the same dreamy thoughts
that inspired the pen of the eloquent Rousseau, did not occupy the mind
of the young hunter as he passed this rural abode? We hope we shall not
be suspected of a wish to offer a tale of romance, as we relate, how the
mighty hunter of wild beasts and men was himself subdued, and that by
the most timid and gentle of beings. We put down the facts as we find
them recorded, and our conscience is quieted, by finding them perfectly
natural to the time, place, and circumstances.
Young Boone was one night engaged in a fire hunt, with a young friend.
Their course led them to the deeply timbered bottom that skirted the
stream which wound round this pleasant plantation. That the reader may
have an idea what sort of a pursuit it was that young Boone was engaged
in, during an event so decisive of his future fortunes, we present a
brief sketch of a night _fire_ hunt. Two persons are indispensable to
it. The horseman that precedes, bears on his shoulder what is called a
_fire pan_, full of blazing pine knots, which casts a bright and
flickering glare far through the forest. The second follows at some
distance, with his rifle prepared for action. No spectacle is more
impressive than this of pairs of hunters, thus kindling the forest into
a glare. The deer, reposing quietly in his thicket, is awakened by the
approaching cavalcade, and instead of flying from the portentous
brilliance, remains stupidly gazing upon it, as if charmed to the spot.
The animal is betrayed to its doom the gleaming of its fixed and
innocent eyes. This cruel mode of securing a fatal shot, is called in
hunter's phrase, _shining the eyes_.
The two young men reached a corner of the farmer's field at an early
hour in the evening. Young Boone gave the customary signal to his
mounted companion preceding him, to stop, an indication that he had
_shined the eyes_ of a deer. Boone dismounted, and fastened his horse to
a tree. Ascertaining that his rifle was in order, he advanced
cautiously behind a covert of bushes, to reach the right distance for a
shot. The deer is remarkable for the beauty of its eyes when thus
_shined_. The mild brilliance of the two orbs was distinctly visible.
Whether warned by a presentiment, or arrested by a palpitation, and
strange feelings within, at noting a new expression in the blue and dewy
lights that gleamed to his heart, we say not. But the unerring rifle
fell, and a rustling told him that the game had fled. Something
whispered him it was not a _deer_; and yet the fleet step, as the game
bounded away, might easily be mistaken for that of the light-footed
animal. A second thought impelled him to pursue the rapidly retreating
game; and he sprang away in the direction of the sound, leaving his
companion to occupy himself as he might. The fugitive had the advantage
of a considerable advance of him, and apparently a better knowledge of
the localities of the place. But the hunter was perfect in all his field
exercises, and scarcely less fleet footed than a deer; and he gained
rapidly on the object of his pursuit, which advanced a little distance
parallel with the field-fence, and then, as if endowed with the utmost
accomplishment of gymnastics, cleared the fence at a leap. The hunter,
embarrassed with his rifle and accoutrements, was driven to the slow and
humiliating expedient of climbing it. But an outline of the form of the
fugitive, fleeting through the shades in the direction of the house,
assured him that he had mistaken the species of the game. His heart
throbbed from a hundred sensations; and among them an apprehension of
the consequences that would have resulted from discharging his rifle,
when he had first shined those liquid blue eyes. Seeing that the fleet
game made straight in the direction of the house, he said to himself, "I
will see the pet deer in its lair;" and he directed his steps to the
same place. Half a score of dogs opened their barking upon him, as he
approached the house, and advertised the master that a stranger was
approaching. Having hushed the dogs, and learned the name of his
visitant, he introduced him to his family, as the son of their neighbor,
Boone.
Scarce had the first words of introduction been uttered, before the
opposite door opened, and a boy apparently of seven, and a girl of
sixteen, rushed in, panting for breath and seeming in affright.
"Sister went down to the river, and a _painter_ chased her, and she is
almost scared to death," exclaimed the boy.
The ruddy, flaxen-haired girl stood full in view of her terrible
pursuer, leaning upon his rifle, and surveying her with the most eager
admiration. "Rebecca, this is young Boone, son of our neighbor," was
their laconic introduction. Both were young, beautiful, and at the
period when the affections exercise their most energetic influence. The
circumstances of the introduction were favorable to the result, and the
young hunter felt that the eyes of the _deer_ had _shined_ his bosom as
fatally as his rifle shot had ever the innocent deer of the thickets.
She, too, when she saw the high, open, bold forehead; clear, keen, and
yet gentle and affectionate eye--the firm front, and the visible impress
of decision and fearlessness of the hunter--when she interpreted a
look, which said as distinctly as looks could say it, "how terrible it
would have been to have fired!" can hardly be supposed to have regarded
him with indifference. Nor can it be wondered at that she saw in him her
_beau ideal_ of excellence and beauty. The inhabitants of cities, who
live in mansions, and read novels stored with unreal pictures of life
and the heart, are apt to imagine that love, with all its golden
illusions, is reserved exclusively for them. It is a most egregious
mistake. A model of ideal beauty and perfection is woven in almost every
youthful heart, of the brightest and most brilliant threads that compose
the web of existence. It may not be said that this forest maiden was
deeply and foolishly smitten at first sight. All reasonable time and
space were granted to the claims of maidenly modesty. As for Boone, he
was incurably wounded by her, whose eyes he had _shined_, and as he was
remarkable for the backwoods attribute of _never being beaten out of his
track_, he ceased not to woo, until he gained the heart of Rebecca
Bryan. In a word, he courted her successfully, and they were married.
CHAPTER II.
Boone removes to the head waters of the Yadkin river--He meets with
Finley, who had crossed the mountains into Tennessee--They agree to
explore the wilderness west of the Alleghanies together.
After his marriage, Boone's first step was to consider where he should
find a place, in which he could unite the advantages of fields to
cultivate, and range for hunting. True to the impulse of his nature, he
plunged deeper into the wilderness, to realize this dream of comfort and
happiness. Leaving his wife, he visited the unsettled regions of North
Carolina, and selected a spot near the head waters of the Yadkin, for
his future home.
The same spirit that afterwards operated to take Mrs. Boone to Kentucky,
now led her to leave her friends, and follow her husband to a region
where she was an entire stranger. Men change their place of abode from
ambition or interest; women from affection. In the course of a few
months, Daniel Boone had reared comfortable cabins upon a pleasant
eminence at a little distance from the river bank, inclosed a field, and
gathered around him the means of abundance and enjoyment. His dwelling,
though of rude exterior, offered the weary traveller shelter, a cheerful
fire, and a plentiful board, graced with the most cordial welcome. The
faces that looked on him were free from the cloud of care, the
constraint of ceremony, and the distrust and fear, with which men learn
to regard one another in the midst of the rivalry, competition, and
scramble of populous cities. The spoils of the chase gave variety to his
table, and afforded Boone an excuse for devoting his leisure hours to
his favorite pursuit. The country around spread an ample field for its
exercise, as it was almost untouched by the axe of the woodsman.
The lapse of a few years--passed in the useful and unpretending
occupations of the husbandman--brought no external change to Daniel
Boone, deserving of record. His step was now the firm tread of sober
manhood; and his purpose the result of matured reflection. This
influence of the progress of time, instead of obliterating the original
impress of his character, only sunk it deeper. The dwellings of
immigrants were springing up in all directions around. Inclosures again
began to surround him on every hand, shutting him out from his
accustomed haunts in the depths of the forest shade. He saw cultivated
fields stretching over large extents of country; and in the distance,
villages and towns; and was made sensible of their train of forms, and
laws, and restrictions, and buts, and bounds, gradually approaching his
habitation. Be determined again to leave them far behind. His resolve
was made, but he had not decided to what point he would turn.
Circumstances soon occurred to terminate his indecision.
As early as 1760, the country west of the Cumberland mountains was
considered by the inhabitants of Carolina and Virginia, as involved in
something of the same obscurity which lay over the American continent,
after its first discovery by Columbus. Those who spread their sails to
cross the sea, and find new skies, a new soil, and men in a new world,
were not deemed more daring by their brethren at home, than the few
hardy adventurers, who struck into the pathless forests stretching along
the frontier settlements of the western country, were estimated by their
friends and neighbors. Even the most informed and intelligent, where
information and intelligence were cultivated, knew so little of the
immense extent of country, now designated as the "Mississippi Valley,"
that a book, published near the year 1800, in Philadelphia or New York,
by a writer of talent and standing, speaks of the _many_ mouths of the
Missouri, as entering the Mississippi _far below the Ohio_.
The simple inmates of cabins, in the remote region bordering on the new
country, knew still less about it; as they had not penetrated its
wilderness, and were destitute of that general knowledge which prevents
the exercise of the exaggerations of vague conjecture. There was,
indeed, ample room for the indulgence of speculation upon the features
which the unexplored land was characterized. Its mountains, plains, and
streams, animals, and men, were yet to be discovered and named. It might
be found the richest land under the sun, exhaustless in fertility,
yielding the most valuable productions, and unfailing in its resources.
It was possible it would prove a sterile desert. Imagination could not
but expatiate in this unbounded field and unexplored wilderness; and
there are few persons entirely secure from the influence of
imagination. The real danger attending the first exploration of a
country filled with wild animals and savages; and the difficulty of
carrying a sufficient supply of ammunition to procure food, during a
long journey, necessarily made on foot, had prevented any attempt of the
kind. The Alleghany mountains had hitherto stood an unsurmounted barrier
between the Atlantic country and the shores of the beautiful Ohio.
Not far from this period, Dr. Walker, an intelligent and enterprising
Virginian, collected a small party, and actually crossed the mountains
at the Cumberland Gap, after traversing Powell's valley. One of his
leading inducements to this tour, was the hope of making botanical
discoveries. The party crossed Cumberland river, and pursued a
north-east course over the highlands, which give rise to the sources of
the lesser tributaries of the important streams that water the Ohio
valley. They reached Big Sandy, after enduring the privations and
fatigue incident to such an undertaking. From this point they commenced
their return home. On reaching it, they showed no inclination to resume
their attempt, although the information thus gained respecting the
country, presented it in a very favorable light. These first adventurers
wanted the hardihood, unconquerable fortitude, and unwavering purpose,
which nothing but death could arrest, that marked the pioneers, who
followed in their footsteps. Some time elapsed before a second exploring
expedition was set on foot. The relations of what these men had seen on
the other side of the mountains had assumed the form of romance, rather
than reality. Hunters, alone or in pairs, now ventured to extend their
range into the skirts of the wilderness, thus gradually enlarging the
sphere of definite conceptions, respecting the country beyond it.
In 1767, a backwoodsman of the name of Finley, of North Carolina, in
company with a few kindred spirits resembling him in character, advanced
still farther into the interior of the land of promise. It is probable,
they chose the season of flowers for their enterprise; as on the return
of this little band, a description of the soil they had trodden, and the
sights they had seen, went abroad, that charmed all ears, excited all
imaginations, and dwelt upon every tongue. Well might they so describe.
Their course lay through a portion of Tennessee. There is nothing grand
or imposing in scenery--nothing striking or picturesque in cascades and
precipitous declivities of mountains covered with woods--nothing
romantic and delightful in deep and sheltered valleys, through which
wind clear streams, which is not found in this first region they
traversed. The mountains here stretch along in continuous ridges--and
there shoot up into elevated peaks. On the summits of some, spread
plateaus, which afford the most commanding prospects, and offer all
advantages for cultivation, overhung by the purest atmosphere. No words
can picture the secluded beauty of some of the vales bordering the
creeks and small streams, which dash transparent as air over rocks,
moss-covered and time-worn--walled in by the precipitous sides of
mountains, down which pour numberless waterfalls.
The soil is rich beyond any tracts of the same character in the west.
Beautiful white, gray, and red marbles are found here; and sometimes
fine specimens of rock-crystals. Salt springs abound. It has lead mines;
and iron ore is no where more abundant. Its salt-petre caves are most
astonishing curiosities. One of them has been traced ten miles. Another,
on a high point of Cumberland mountain, has a perpendicular descent, the
bottom of which has never been sounded. They abound in prodigious
vaulted apartments and singular chambers, the roofs springing up into
noble arches, or running along for miles in regular oblong excavations.
The gloomy grandeur, produced by the faint illumination of torches in
these immense subterranean retreats, may be imagined, but not described.
Springs rise, and considerable streams flow through them, on smooth
limestone beds.
This is the very home of subterranean wonders, showing the noblest caves
in the world. In comparison with them, the celebrated one at Antiparos
is but a slight excavation. Spurs of the mountains, called the
"Enchanted Mountains," show traces impressed in the solid limestone, of
the footsteps of men, horses, and other animals, as distinctly as though
they had been made upon clay mortar. In places the tracks are such as
would be made by feet, that had slidden upon soft clay in descending
declivities.
Prodigious remains of animals are found near the salines. Whole trees
are discovered completely petrified; and to crown the list of wonders,
in turning up the soil, graves are opened, which contain the skeletons
of figures, who must have been of mature age. Paintings of the sun,
moon, animals, and serpents, on high and apparently inaccessible cliffs,
out of question the work of former ages, in colors as fresh as if
recently laid on, and in some instances, just and ingenious in
delineation, are a subject of untiring speculation. Even the streams in
this region of wonders have scooped out for themselves immensely deep
channels hemmed in by perpendicular walls of limestone, sometimes
springing up to a height of three or four hundred feet. As the traveller
looks down upon the dark waters rolling so far beneath him, seeming to
flow in a subterranean world, he cannot but feel impressions of the
grandeur of nature stealing over him.
It is not to be supposed, that persons, whose sole object in entering
the country was to explore it, would fail to note these surprising
traces of past races, the beautiful diversity of the aspect of the
country, or these wonders of nature exhibited on every hand. Being
neither incurious nor incompetent observers, their delineations were
graphic and vivid.
"Their teachers had been woods and rills,
The silence, that is in the starry sky;
The sleep, that is among the lonely hills."
They advanced into Kentucky so far, as to their imaginations with the
fresh and luxuriant beauty of its lawns, its rich cane-brakes and
flowering forests. To them it was a terrestrial paradise for it was
full of game. Deer, elk, bears, buffaloes, panthers, wolves, wild-cats,
and foxes, abounded in the thick tangles of the green cane; and in the
open woods, pheasants, partridges, and turkeys, were as plenty as
domestic fowls in the old settlements.
Such were the materials, from which these hunters, on their return
formed descriptions that fixed in the remembrance, and operated upon the
fancy of all who heard. A year after Finley's return, his love of
wandering led him into the vicinity of Daniel Boone. They met, and the
hearts of these kindred spirits at once warmed towards each other.
Finley related his adventures, and painted the delights of
_Kain-tuck-kee_--for such was its Indian name. Boone had but few
hair-breath escapes to recount, in comparison with his new companion.
But it can readily be imagined, that a burning sensation rose in his
breast, like that of the celebrated painter Correggio, when low-born,
untaught, poor and destitute of every advantage, save that of splendid
native endowment, he stood before the work of the immortal Raphael, and
said, "I too am a painter!" Boone's purpose was fixed. In a region, such
as Finley described, far in advance of the wearying monotony of a life
of inglorious toil, he would have space to roam unwitnessed, undisturbed
by those of his own race, whose only thought was to cut down trees, at
least for a period of some years. We wish not to be understood to laud
these views, as wise or just. In the order of things, however, it was
necessary, that men like Finley and Boone, and their companions, should
precede in the wilderness, to prepare the way for the multitudes who
would soon follow. It is probable, that no motives but those ascribed to
them, would have induced these adventurers to face the hardships and
extremes of suffering from exposure and hunger, and the peril of life,
which they literally carried in their hand.
No feeling, but a devotion to their favorite pursuits and modes of life,
stronger than the fear of abandonment, in the interminable and pathless
woods, to all forms of misery and death, could ever have enabled them to
persist in braving the danger and distress that stared them in the face
at every advancing step.
Finley was invited by Boone permanently to share the comfort of his
fire-side,--for it was now winter. It needs no exercise of fancy to
conjecture their subjects of conversation during the long evening. The
bitter wintry wind burst upon their dwelling only to enhance the
cheerfulness of the blazing fire in the huge chimneys, by the contrast
of the inclemency of nature without.
It does not seem natural, at first thought, that a season, in which
nature shows herself stern and unrelenting, should be chosen, as that in
which plans are originated and matured for settling the destiny of life.
But it was during this winter, that Boone and Finley arranged all the
preliminaries of their expedition, and agreed to meet on the first of
May in the coming spring; and with some others, whom they hoped to
induce to join them for greater strength and safety, to set forth
together on an expedition into Kentucky.
Boone's array of arguments, to influence those whom he wished to share
this daring enterprise with him, was tinctured with the coloring of rude
poetry. "They would ascend," he said, "the unnamed mountains, whose
green heads rose not far from their former hunting-grounds, since fences
and inclosures had begun to surround them on all sides, shutting up the
hunter from his free range and support. The deer had fled from the sound
of the axe, which levelled the noble trees under whose shade they could
repose from the fatigues of pursuit. The springs and streams among the
hills were bared to the fierce sun, and would soon dry up and disappear.
Soon 'the horn would no more wake them up in the morn.' The sons of
their love and pride, instead of being trained hunters, with a free,
bold step, frank kindness, true honor, and a courage that knew not fear,
would become men to whom the pleasures and dangers of their fathers
would seem an idle tale." The prospect spreading on the other side of
the mountains, he pictured as filled with all the images of abundance
and freedom that could enter the thoughts of the hunter. The paintings
were drawn from nature, and the words few and simple, that spoke to the
hearts of these sons of the forest. "The broad woods," he pursued,
"would stretch beneath their eyes, when the mountain summits were
gained, one extended tuft of blossoms. The cane was a tangle of
luxuriance, affording the richest pastures. The only paths through it
were those made by buffaloes and bears. In the sheltered glades,
turkeys and large wild birds were so abundant, that a hunter could
supply himself in an hour for the wants of a week. They would not be
found like the lean and tough birds in the old settlements, that
lingered around the clearings and stumps of the trees, in the topmost of
whose branches the fear of man compelled them to rest, but young and
full fed. The trees in this new land were of no stinted or gnarled
growth, but shot up tall, straight, and taper. The yellow poplar here
threw up into the air a column of an hundred feet shaft in a contest
with the sycamore for the pre-eminence of the woods. Their wives and
children would remain safe in their present homes, until the first
dangers and fatigues of the new settlement had been met and overcome.
When their homes were selected, and their cabins built, they would
return and bring them out to their new abodes. The outward journey could
be regulated by the uncontrolled pleasure of their more frail
travellers. What guardians could be more true than their husbands with
their good rifles and the skill and determination to use them? They
would depend, not upon circumstances, but upon themselves. The babes
would exult in the arms of their mothers from the inspiring influence of
the fresh air; and at night a cradle from the hollow tree would rock
them to a healthful repose. The older children, training to the pursuits
and pleasures of a life in the woods, and acquiring vigor of body and
mind with every day, in their season of prime, would feel no shame that
they had hearts softened by the warm current of true feeling. When their
own silver hairs lay thin upon the brow, and their eye was dim, and
sounds came confused on their ear, and their step faltered, and their
form bent, they would find consideration, and care, and tenderness from
children, whose breasts were not steeled by ambition, nor hardened by
avarice; in whom the beautiful influences of the indulgence of none but
natural desires and pure affections would not be deadened by the
selfishness, vanity, and fear of ridicule, that are the harvest of what
is called _civilized and cultivated_ life." Such at least, in after
life, were the contrasts that Boone used to present between social life
and that of the woodsman.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER III.
Boone, with Finley and others, start on their exploring
expedition--Boone kills a panther in the night--Their progress over the
mountains--They descend into the great valley--Description of the new
country--Herds of buffaloes--Their wanderings in the wilderness.
The first of May, 1769, Finley and Boone, with four others, whose names
were Stewart, Holden, Mooney, and Cool, and who had pledged themselves
to the undertaking, were assembled at the house of Boone, in readiness
to commence their journey. It may be imagined that all the neighbors
gathered to witness their departure. A rifle, ammunition, and a light
knapsack were all the baggage with which they dared encumber themselves.
Provisions for a few days were bestowed along with the clothing deemed
absolutely necessary for comfort upon the long route. No shame could
attach to the manhood and courage of Daniel Boone from the fact that
tears were said to have rushed to his eyes, as he kissed his wife and
children before he turned from his door for the last time for months,
and perhaps forever. The nature of the pioneer was as gentle and
affectionate as it was firm and persevering. He had power, however, to
send back the unbidden gush to its source, and forcibly to withdraw his
mind from enervating thoughts.
Beside, the natural elasticity of his temperament and the buoyancy of
his character came to his aid. The anticipation of new and strange
incidents operated to produce in the minds of the travellers, from the
commencement of the enterprise, a kind of wild pleasure.
With alert and vigorous steps they pursued a north-west course, and were
soon beyond the reach of the most distant view of their homes. This day
and night, and the succeeding one, the scenes in view were familiar; but
in the course of the four or five that followed, all vestiges of
civilized habitancy had disappeared. The route lay through a solitary
and trackless wilderness. Before them rose a line of mountains, shooting
up against the blue of the horizon, in peaks and elevations of all
forms. The slender store of food with which they had set out, was soon
exhausted. To obtain a fresh supply was the first and most pressing
want. Accordingly, a convenient place was selected, and a camp
constructed of logs and branches of trees, to keep out the dew and rain.
The whole party joined in this preliminary arrangement. When it was so
far completed, as to enable a part to finish it before night-fall, part
of the company took their rifles and went in different directions in
pursuit of game. They returned in time for supper, with a couple of deer
and some wild turkeys. Those, whose business it was to finish the camp,
had made a generous fire and acquired keen appetites for the coming
feast. The deer were rapidly dressed, so far at least as to furnish a
supper of venison. It had not been long finished, and the arrangements
for the night made, before the clouds, which had been gathering
blackness for some hours, rolled up in immense folds from the point,
whence was heard the sudden burst of a furious wind. The lightning
darted from all quarters of the heavens. At one moment every object
stood forth in a glare of dazzling light. The next the darkness might
almost be felt. The rain fell in torrents, in one apparently unbroken
sheet from the sky to the earth. The peals of thunder rolled almost
unheard amid this deafening rush of waters. The camp of the travellers,
erected with reference to the probability of such an occurrence, was
placed under the shelter of a huge tree, whose branches ran out
laterally, and were of a thickness of foliage to be almost impervious to
the rain. To this happy precaution of the woodsmen, they owed their
escape from the drenching of the shower. They were not, perhaps, aware
of the greater danger from lightning, to which their position had
exposed them.
As was the universal custom in cases like theirs, a watch was kept by
two, while the others slept. The watches were relieved several times
during the night. About midnight, Boone and Holden being upon the watch,
the deep stillness abroad was broken by a shrill scream, resembling the
shriek of a frightened woman or child more nearly than any other sound.
The two companions had been sitting in a contemplative mood, listening
to the deep breathing of the sleepers, when this cry came upon their
ears. Both sprang erect. "What is that?" exclaimed Holden, who was not
an experienced backwoodsman, in comparison with the others. "Hush!"
answered Boone; "do not wake the rest. It is nothing but the cry of a
panther. Take your gun and come with me."
They stole gently from the camp and listened in breathless silence for a
repetition of the cry. It was soon repeated, indicating the place where
the animal was. Groping cautiously through the bushes in its direction,
frequently stopping to look around, and holding their rifles ready for
an instantaneous shot, they drew near the formidable animal. At length
they discovered at a little distance before them, two balls that glared
with an intense brightness, like that of living coals of fire. Boone,
taking deliberate aim, in the best manner that the darkness would
permit, discharged his rifle. The yell of pain from the animal, as it
was heard leaping among the undergrowth in an opposite direction,
satisfied Boone that his shot had taken sufficient effect to prevent a
second disturbance from it, at least for that night, and he returned to
the camp with his companion. The sleepers, aroused by the report of the
gun, were awaiting him. The account of the adventure afforded
speculation, touching the point, whether the animal had been killed or
would return again. Early the next morning, some were dispatched to
bring in more game, while others prepared and dried what had already
been obtained. The whole day was spent in this way and the night
following passed without any disturbance.
With the first light of the sun on the succeeding morning, they threw
their knapsacks over their shoulders, and leaving their temporary
shelter to benefit any who might come after them, resumed their route.
They had not proceeded far before an animal stretched on the ground
attracted attention. It was a dead panther. By comparing the size of the
ball, which had killed it, with those used by Boone, the party were
satisfied that this was the same animal he had shot the night after the
storm.
During the day they began the ascent of the ridge of the Alleghany, that
had for some days bounded their view. The mountainous character of the
country, for some miles, before the highest elevations rose to sight,
rendered the travelling laborious and slow. Several days were spent in
this toilsome progress. Steep summits, impossible to ascend, impeded
their advance, compelling them to turn aside, and attain the point above
by a circuitous route. Again they were obliged to delay their journey
for a day, in order to obtain a fresh supply of provisions. This was
readily procured, as all the varieties of game abounded on every side.
The last crags and cliffs of the middle ridges having been scrambled
over, on the following morning they stood on the summit of Cumberland
mountain, the farthest western spur of this line of heights. From this
point the descent into the great western valley began. What a scene
opened before them! A feeling of the sublime is inspired in every bosom
susceptible of it, by a view from any point of these vast ranges, of the
boundless forest valleys of the Ohio. It is a view more grand, more
heart-stirring than that of the ocean. Illimitable extents of wood, and
winding river courses spread before them like a large map. "Glorious
country!" they exclaimed. Little did Boone dream that in fifty years,
immense portions of it would pass from the domain of the hunter--that it
would contain four millions of freemen, and its waters be navigated by
nearly two hundred steam boats, sweeping down these streams that now
rolled through the unbroken forests before them. To them it stood forth
an unexplored paradise of the hunter's imagination.
After a long pause, in thoughts too deep for words, they began the
descent, which was made in a much shorter time than had been required
for the opposite ascent; and the explorers soon found themselves on the
slopes of the subsiding hills. Here the hunter was in his element. To
all the party but Finley, the buffaloes incidentally seen in small
numbers in the valleys, were a novel and interesting sight. It had as
yet been impossible to obtain a shot at them, from their distance or
position. It may be imagined with what eagerness Boone sought an
opportunity to make his first essay in this exciting and noble species
of hunting.
The first considerable drove came in sight on the afternoon of the day
on which the travellers reached the foot of the mountains. The day had
been one of the most beautiful of spring. The earth was covered with
grass of the freshest green. The rich foliage of the trees, in its
varied shading, furnished its portion of the loveliness of the
surrounding landscape. The light of the declining sun lay full on the
scene of boundless solitude. The party had descended into a deep glen,
which wound through the opening between the highlands, still extending a
little in advance of them. They pursued its course until it terminated
in a beautiful little plain. Upon advancing into this, they found
themselves in an area of considerable extent, almost circular in form,
bounded on one half its circumference by the line of hills, from among
which they had just emerged. The other sections of the circle were
marked by the fringe of wood that bordered a stream winding from the
hills, at a considerable distance above. The buffaloes advanced from the
skirt of wood, and the plain was soon filled by the moving mass of these
huge animals.
The exploring adventurers perceived themselves in danger of what has
more than once happened in similar situations. The prospect seemed to be
that they would be trampled under the feet of the reckless and sweeping
body, in their onward course.
"They will not turn out for us," said Finley; "and If we do not conduct
exactly right, we shall be crushed to death."
The inexperienced adventurers bade him direct them in the emergency.
Just as the front of the phalanx was within short rifle distance, he
discharged his rifle and brought down one of the bulls, that seemed to
be a file leader, by a ball between the horns. The unwieldy animal fell.
The mass raised a deafening sort of bellow, and became arrested, as if
transfixed to the spot. A momentary confusion of the mass behind ensued.
But, borne along by the pressure of the multitudes still in the rear,
there was a gradual parting of the herd direct from the front, where the
fallen buffalo lay. The disruption once made, the chasm broadened, until
when the wings passed the travellers, they were thirty yards from the
divisions on either hand. To prevent the masses yet behind from closing
their lines, Finley took the rifle of one of his companions, and
levelled another. This changed the pace of the animals to a rout. The
last masses soon thundered by, and left them gazing in astonishment, not
unmixed with joy, in realizing their escape, "Job of Uz," exclaimed
Boone, "had not larger droves of cattle than we. In fact, we seem to
have had in this instance an abundance to a fault."
As this was an era in their adventures, and an omen of the abundance of
the vast regions of forests which they had descried from the summits of
the mountains, they halted, made a camp, and skinned the animals,
preserving the skins, fat, tongues, and choice pieces. No epicures ever
feasted higher than these athletic and hungry hunters, as they sat
around their evening fire, and commented upon the ease with which their
wants would be supplied in a country thus abounding with such animals.
After feasting again in the morning on the spoils of the preceding day,
and packing such parts of the animals as their probable necessities
suggested, they commenced their march; and in no great distance reached
Red river, a branch of the Cumberland. They followed the meanders of
this river for some miles, until they reached, on the 7th day of June,
Finley's former station, where his preceding explorations of the western
country had terminated.
Their journey to this point had lasted more than a month; and though the
circumstances in which they had made it, had been generally auspicious,
so long a route through unknown forests, and over precipitous mountains,
hitherto untrodden by white men, could not but have been fatiguing in
the extreme. None but such spirits could have sustained their hardships
without a purpose to turn back, and leave their exploration
unaccomplished.
They resolved in this place to encamp, and remain for a time sufficient
to recruit themselves for other expeditions and discoveries. The weather
had been for some time past, and still remained, rainy and unpleasant;
and it became necessary that their station should be of such a
construction, as to secure them a dry sleeping place from the rain. The
game was so abundant, that they found it a pleasure, rather than a
difficulty, to supply themselves with food. The buffaloes were seen like
herds of cattle, dispersed among the cane-brakes, or feeding on the
grass, or ruminating in the shade. Their skins were of great utility, in
furnishing them with moccasins, and many necessary articles
indispensable to their comfortable subsistence at their station.
What struck them with unfailing pleasure was, to observe the soil, in
general, of a fertility without example on the other side of the
mountains. From an eminence in the vicinity of their station, they could
see, as far as vision could extend, the beautiful country of Kentucky.
They remarked with astonishment the tall, straight trees, shading the
exuberant soil, wholly clear from any other underbrush than the rich
cane-brakes, the image of verdure and luxuriance, or tall grass and
clover. Down the gentle slopes murmured clear limestone brooks. Finley,
who had some touch of scripture knowledge, exclaimed in view of this
wilderness-paradise, so abundant in game and wild fowls, "This
wilderness blossoms as the rose; and these desolate places are as the
garden of God."
"Ay," responded Boone; "and who would remain on the sterile pine hills
of North Carolina, to hear the screaming of the jay, and now and then
bring down a deer too lean to be eaten? This is the land of hunters,
where man and beast will grow to their full size."
They ranged through various forests, and crossed the numerous streams of
the vicinity. By following the paths of the buffaloes, bears, deer, and
other animals, they discovered the Salines or _Licks_, where salt is
made at the present day. The paths, in approaching the salines, were
trodden as hard and smooth, as in the vicinity of the farm-yards of the
old settlements. Boone, from the principle which places the best pilot
at the helm in a storm, was not slow to learn from innumerable
circumstances which would have passed unnoticed by a less sagacious
woodsman, that, although the country was not actually inhabited by
Indians, it was not the less a scene of strife and combat for the
possession of such rich hunting grounds by a great number of tribes. He
discovered that it was a common park to these fierce tribes; and none
the less likely to expose them to the dangers of Indian warfare, because
it was not claimed or inhabited by any particular tribe. On the
contrary, instead of having to encounter a single tribe in possession,
he foresaw that the jealousy of all the tribes would be united against
the new intruders.
These fearless spirits, who were instinctively imbued with an abhorrence
of the Indians, heeded little, however, whether they had to make war on
them, or the wild beasts. They felt in its fullest force that
indomitable elasticity of character, which causes the possessor, every
where, and in all forms of imagined peril, to feel sufficient to
themselves. Hence the lonely adventurers continued fearlessly to explore
the beautiful positions for settlements, to cross and name the rivers,
and to hunt.
By a happy fatality, through all the summer they met with no Indians,
and experienced no impediment in the way of the most successful hunting.
During the season, they had collected large quantities of peltries, and
meeting with nothing to excite apprehension or alarm, they became
constantly more delighted with the country.
So passed their time, until the 22d of December. After this period
adventures of the most disastrous character began to crowd upon them. We
forthwith commence the narrative of incidents which constitute the
general color of Boone's future life.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER IV.
The exploring party divide into different routes--Boone and Stewart
taken prisoners by the Indians, and their escape--Boone meets with his
elder brother and another white man in the woods--Stewart killed by the
Indians, and the companion of the elder Boone destroyed by wolves--The
elder brother returns to North Carolina, leaving Boone alone in the
wilderness.
In order to extend the means of gaining more exact information with
regard to this beautiful country, the party divided, and took different
directions. Boone and Stewart formed one division, and the remaining
three the other. The two former had as yet seen few thick forests. The
country was much of it of that description, now known by the name of
"Barrens," or open woods, which had the appearance of having been
planted out with trees at wide and regular distances from each other,
like those of an orchard, allowing the most luxuriant growth of cane,
grass, or clover beneath them. They now passed a wide and deep forest,
in which the trees were large and thick. Among them were many of the
laurel tribe, in full verdure in mid winter. Others were thick hung with
persimmons, candied by the frost, nutritive, and as luscious as figs.
Others again were covered with winter grapes. Every thing tended to
inspire them with exalted notions of the natural resources of the
country, and to give birth to those extravagant romances, which
afterwards became prevalent, as descriptions of Kentucky. Such were
Finley's accounts of it--views which went abroad, and created even in
Europe an impression of a kind of new El Dorado, or rather rural
paradise. Other and very different scenes, in no great length of time,
disenchanted the new paradise, and presented it in the sober traits of
truth.
They were never out of sight of buffaloes, deer, and turkeys. At
night-fall they came in view of Kentucky river, and admired in unsated
astonishment, the precipices three hundred feet high, at the foot of
which, as in a channel cut out of the solid limestone, rolled the dark
waters of the beautiful stream. A lofty eminence was before them.
Thinking it would afford them a far view of the meanderings of the
river, they ascended it. This expectation was realized. A large extent
of country stretched beneath them. Having surveyed it, they proposed to
commence their return to rejoin their companions. As they were leisurely
descending the hill, little dreaming of danger, the Indian yell burst
upon their ears. A numerous party of Indians sprang from the cane-brake,
surrounded, vanquished, and bound them, before they had time to have
recourse to their arms. The Indians proceeded to plunder them of their
rifles, and every thing in their possession but the most indispensable
articles of dress. They then led them off to their camp, where they
confined them in such a manner as effectually to prevent their escape.
Not knowing a word of the speech of their captors, who knew as little of
theirs, they were wholly ignorant of what fate awaited them. The Indians
next day marched them off rapidly towards the north, compelling them to
travel at a rate which was excessively annoying to captives in their
predicament-manacled, in momentary apprehension of death, and plunging
deeper into the wilderness in advancing towards the permanent abode of
their savage masters. It was well for them that they were more athletic
than the savages, equally capable of endurance, and alike incapable of
betraying groans, fear, or even marks of regret in their countenance.
They knew enough of savage modes to beware that the least indications of
weariness, and inability to proceed, would have brought the tomahawk and
scalping-knife upon their skulls--weapons with which they were thus
early supplied from Detroit. They therefore pushed resolutely on, with
cheerful countenances, watching the while with intense earnestness, to
catch from the signs and gestures of the Indians, what was their purpose
in regard to their fate. By the second day, they comprehended the words
of most frequent recurrence in the discussion, that took place
respecting them. Part, they perceived, were for putting them to death to
prevent their escape. The other portion advocated their being adopted
into the tribe, and domesticated. To give efficacy to the counsels of
these last, the captives not only concealed every trace of chagrin, but
dissembled cheerfulness, and affected to like their new mode of life;
and seemed as happy, and as much amused, as the Indians themselves.
Fortunately, their previous modes of life, and in fact their actual
aptitudes and propensities wonderfully qualified them, along with their
reckless courage and elasticity of character, to enact this difficult
part with a success, which completely deceived the Indians, and gave the
entire ascendency to the advice of those who proposed to spare, and
adopt them into their tribe. Lulled by this semblance, the captors were
less and less strict in their guard. On the seventh night of their
captivity, the savages, having made a great fire, and fed plentifully,
all fell into a sound sleep, leaving their prisoners, who affected to be
as deeply asleep as themselves, wholly unguarded.
It need hardly be said, that the appearance of content they had worn,
was mere outward show; and that they slept not. Boone slowly and
cautiously raised himself to a sitting posture, and thus remained a few
moments to mark, if his change of position had been observed. One of the
sleepers turned in his sleep. Boone instantly dropped back to his
recumbent posture and semblance of sleep. So he remained fifteen
minutes, when he once more raised himself, and continued sitting for
some time, without noting a movement among the slumberers around him. He
then ventured to communicate his purpose to his companion.
The greatest caution was necessary to prevent disturbing the savages, as
the slightest noise would awake them, and probably bring instant death
upon the captives. Stewart succeeded in placing himself upon his feet
without any noise. The companions were not far apart, but did not dare
to whisper to each other the thought that occurred alike to both--that,
should they escape without rifles and ammunition, they must certainly
die of hunger. The place where their rifles stood had been carefully
noted by them, and by groping their way with the utmost care, they
finally reached them. Fortunately, the equipments, containing the usual
supply of powder and ball, were near the rifles. The feelings with which
Boone and Stewart stole forth from the circle of their captors may be
imagined. They made their way into the woods through the darkness,
keeping close together for some time, before they exchanged words.
It was not far from morning when they began their attempt at escape; but
they had made considerable progress from the Indian encampment before
the dawn. They took their course with the first light, and pursued it
the whole day, reaching their camp without meeting with any accident. As
the sun was declining, forms were seen approaching the camp in the
distance. The uncertain light in which they were first visible, rendered
it impossible for Boone and Stewart to determine whether they were
whites or Indians; but they grasped their rifles, and stood ready for
defence. The forms continued to approach cautiously and slowly, until
they were within speaking distance. Boone then hailed them with the
challenge, "Who comes there?" The delight may be imagined with which
Boone and Stewart heard the reply of "White men and friends!" "Come on
then," said Boone. The next moment he found himself in the arms of his
brother, who, accompanied by a single companion, had left North
Carolina, and made his way all the distance from the Yadkin to the
Cumberland. They had been wandering many days in the woods, in pursuit
of Boone and his party, and had thus providentially fallen upon them.
Notwithstanding the damp which it must cast on the spirits of these new
adventurers to hear of the recent captivity of Boone and Stewart, and
the uncertain fate of the rest of the company, this joyous meeting of
brothers and friends in the wilderness, and this intelligence from home,
filled the parties with a joy too sincere and unalloyed to be repressed
by apprehensions for the future.
The four associates commenced the usual occupation of hunting, but were
soon alarmed by signs of the vicinity of Indians, and clear proofs that
they were prowling near them in the woods. These circumstances strongly
admonished them not to venture singly to any great distance from each
other. In the eagerness of pursuing a wounded buffalo, Boone and
Stewart, however, allowed themselves to be separated from their
companions. Aware of their imprudence, and halting to return, a party of
savages rushed from the cane-brake, and discharged a shower of arrows
upon them, one of which laid Stewart dead on the spot. The first purpose
of Boone was to fire upon them, and sell his life as dearly as possible.
But rashness is not bravery; and seeing the numbers of the foe, the
hopelessness of resistance, and the uselessness of bartering his own
life for the revenge of inflicting a single death--reflecting, moreover,
on the retaliation it would probably bring down on the remainder of his
companions, he retreated, and escaped, amidst a flight of arrows, in
safety to the camp.
One would have supposed that this party would have needed no more
monition to keep them together, and always on their guard. But,
forgetful of the fate of Stewart, the partner of the elder Boone, who
had recently arrived, allowed himself to be beguiled away from the two
Boone's, as they were hunting together. The object of his curiosity was
of little importance. In pursuit of it, he wandered into a swamp, and
was lost. The two brothers sought him, long and painfully, to no
purpose. Discouraged, and perhaps exasperated in view of his careless
imprudence, they finally concluded he had chosen that method of
deserting them, and had set out on his return to North Carolina. Under
such impressions, they relinquished the search, and returned to camp.
They had reason afterwards to repent their harsh estimate of his
intentions. Fragments of his clothes, and traces of blood were found on
the opposite side of the swamp. A numerous pack of wolves had been heard
to howl in that direction the evening on which he had been lost.
Circumstances placed it beyond a doubt, that, while wandering about in
search of his companions, these terrible animals had come upon him and
torn him in pieces. He was never heard of afterwards.
The brothers were thus left alone in this wide wilderness, the only
white men west of the mountains; as they concluded the remainder of the
original party had returned to North Carolina. But they were neither
desponding nor indolent. They held pleasant communion together--hunted
by day, cooked their game, sat by their bright fires, and sung the airs
of their country by night, as though in the midst of the gayest society.
They devoted, beside, much of their time and labor to preparing a
comfortable cabin to shelter them during the approaching winter.
They were in want of many things. Clothing and moccasins they might
supply. With bread, sugar, and salt, though articles of the first
necessity, they could dispense. But ammunition, an article absolutely
indispensable, was failing them. They concluded, too, that horses would
be of essential service to them. They finally came to the resolution
that the elder Boone should return to North Carolina, and come out to
the new country with ammunition, horses, and supplies.
The character of Daniel Boone, in consenting to be left alone in that
wilderness, surrounded by perils from the Indians and wild beasts, of
which he had so recently and terribly been made aware, appears in its
true light. We have heard of a Robinson Crusoe made so by the necessity
of shipwreck; but all history can scarcely parallel another such an
instance of a man voluntarily consenting to be left alone among savages
and wild beasts, seven hundred miles from the nearest white inhabitant.
The separation came. The elder brother disappeared in the forest, and
Daniel Boone was left in the cabin, so recently cheered by the presence
of his brother, entirely alone. Their only dog followed the departing
brother, and Boone had nothing but his unconquerable spirit to sustain
him during the long and lonely days and nights, visited by the
remembrance of his distant wife and children.
To prevent the recurrence of dark and lonely thoughts, he set out, soon
after his brother left him, on a distant excursion to the north-west.
The country grew still more charming under his eye at every step of his
advance. He wandered through the delightful country of the Barrens, and
gained the heights of one of the ridges of Salt river, whence he could
look back on the Alleghany ridges, lifting their blue heads in the
direction of the country of his wife and children. Before him rolled the
majestic Ohio, down its dark forests, and seen by him for the first
time. It may be imagined what thoughts came over his mind, as the lonely
hunter stood on the shore of this mighty stream, straining his thoughts
towards its sources, and the unknown country where it discharged itself
into some other river, or the sea. During this journey he explored the
country on the south shore of the Ohio, between the Cumberland and the
present site of Louisville, experiencing in these lonely explorations a
strange pleasure, which, probably, none but those of his temperament can
adequately imagine.
Returning to his cabin, as a kind of head quarters, he found it
undisturbed by the Indians. Caution suggested to him the expedient of
often changing his position, and not continuing permanently to sleep in
the cabin. Sometimes he slept in the cane-brake sometimes under the
covert of a limestone cliff, often made aware on his return to the cabin
that the Indians had discovered it, and visited it during his absence.
Surrounded with danger and death, though insensible to fear, he
neglected none of those prudent precautions of which men of his
temperament are much more able to avail themselves, than those always
forecasting the fashion of uncertain evils. He was, however, never for
an hour in want of the most ample supply of food. Herds of deer and
buffaloes were seldom out of his sight for a day together. His nights
were often disturbed by the howling of wolves, which abounded as much as
the other forest animals. His table thus abundantly spread in the
wilderness, and every excursion affording new views of the beautiful
solitudes, he used to affirm afterwards that this period was among the
happiest in his life; that during it, care and melancholy, and a painful
sense of loneliness, were alike unknown to him.
We must not, however, suppose that the lonely hunter was capable only of
feeling the stern and sullen pleasures of the savage. On the contrary,
he was a man of the kindliest nature, and of the tenderest affections.
We have read of verses, in solid columns, said to have been made by him.
We would be sorry to believe him the author of these verses, for they
would redound little to his honor as a poet. But, though we believe he
did not attempt to make bad verses, the woodsman was essentially a
poet. He loved nature in all her aspects of beauty and grandeur with the
intensest admiration. He never wearied of admiring the charming natural
landscapes spread before him; and, to his latest days, his spirit in old
age seemed to revive in the season of spring, and when he visited the
fires of the sugar camps, blazing in the open maple groves.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER V.
Boone is pursued by the Indians, and eludes their pursuit--He encounters
and kills a bear--The return of his brother with ammunition--They
explore the country--Boone kills a panther on the back of a
buffalo--They return to North Carolina.
Boone's brother had departed on the first of May. During the period of
his absence, which lasted until the twenty-second of July, he considered
himself the only white person west of the mountains. It is true, some
time in this year, (1770,) probably in the latter part of it, an
exploring party led by General James Knox, crossed the Alleghany
mountains. But this exploring expedition confined its discoveries
principally to the country south and west of the river Kentucky. This
exploration was desultory, and without much result. Boone never met with
them, or knew that they were in the country. Consequently, in regard to
his own estimation, he was as completely alone in this unexplored world,
as though they had not been there.
He never allowed himself to neglect his caution in respect to the
numerous savages spread over the country. He knew that he was exposed
every moment to the danger of falling into their hands. The fate of
Stewart had served as a warning to him. It is wonderful that he should
have been able to traverse such an extent of country as he did, and live
in it so many months, and yet evade them. It required no little
ingenuity and self-possession to take such measures as insured this good
fortune.
About mid-day, near the close of the month of June, he paused in one of
his excursions for a short time under the shade of a tree. As he looked
cautiously around him, he perceived four Indians advancing openly
towards him, but at a considerable distance, and apparently without
having yet seen him. He did not delay to recommence his course through
the woods, hoping by short turns, and concealing himself among the
hills, to prevent an encounter with them, as the chance of four to one
was too great an odds against him. He advanced in this way one or two
miles; but as he cast a glance behind, he saw, with pain, that they
sedulously followed in his trail at nearly their first distance, showing
the same perseverance and sagacity of pursuit with which a hound follows
a deer. When he first perceived them, he was in such a position that he
could see them, and yet remain himself unseen. He was convinced that
they had not discovered his person, although so closely pursued by them.
But how to throw them off his trail, he was at a loss to conjecture. He
adopted a number of expedients in succession, but saw the Indians still
on the track behind. Suddenly a method occurred to his imagination,
which finally proved successful. Large grape vines swung from the trees
in all directions around him.
Hastening onward at a more rapid pace, until he passed a hill that would
serve to conceal him for a few moments, he seized a vine sufficiently
strong to support his weight; and disengaging it from the roots,
climbed it a few feet, by bracing against the tree to which it was
attached. When he had attained the necessary height, he gave himself so
strong an impulse from the tree, that he reached the ground some yards
from the spot where he left it. By this expedient he broke his trail.
Resuming his route in a course at right angles from that he had
previously followed, as fast as possible, he finally succeeded in
entirely distancing his pursuers, and leaving them at fault in pursuing
his trail.
Boone soon after this met with a second adventure in which he actually
encountered a foe scarcely less formidable than the savage. Rendered
doubly watchful by his late escape, none of the forest sounds escaped
his notice. Hearing the approach of what he judged to be a large animal
by the noise of its movement through the cane, he held his rifle ready
for instant use, and drew from its sheath a long and sharp knife, which
he always wore in his belt. He determined to try the efficacy of his
rifle first. As the animal came in sight it proved to be a she bear.
They are exceedingly ferocious at all times, and their attack is
dangerous and often fatal; but particularly so, when they are surrounded
by their cubs, as was the case in this instance.
As soon as the animal perceived him it gave indications of an intention
to make battle. Boone levelled his rifle, and remained quiet, until the
bear was sufficiently near to enable him to shoot with effect. In
general his aim was sure; but this time the ball not reach the point at
which he had aimed; and the wound it inflicted only served to render
the animal mad with rage and pain. It was impossible for him to reload
and discharge his gun a second time before it would reach him; and yet
he did not relish the idea of grappling with it in close fight. His
knife was the resource to which he instantly turned. He held it in his
right hand in such a position that the bear could not reach his person
without receiving its point. His rifle, held in his left hand, served as
a kind of shield. Thus prepared, he awaited the onset of the formidable
animal. When within a foot of him, it reared itself erect to grasp him
with its huge paws. In this position it pressed upon the knife until the
whole blade was buried in its body. Boone had pointed it directly to the
heart of the animal. It fell harmless to the ground.
[Illustration]
The time fixed for the return of his brother was drawing near. Extreme
solicitude respecting him now disturbed the hitherto even tenor of his
life. He remained most of his time in his cabin, hunting no more than
was necessary for subsistence, and then in the direction in which his
brother would be likely to approach. It was not doubt of his brother's
compliance with his promise of return, that disturbed the woodsman--such
a feeling never even entered his mind. He was confident he would prove
faithful to the trust reposed in him; but the difficulties and dangers
of the way were so great for a solitary individual upon the route before
him, that Boone feared he might fall a victim to them, notwithstanding
the utmost exertion of self-possession and fortitude.
Day after day passed, after the extreme limit of the period fixed by the
elder Boone for his return, and still he came not. It may be imagined
that Boone had need of all the firmness and philosophy of character,
with which he was so largely endowed by nature, to sustain him under the
pressure of anxiety for the safety of his brother, and to hear through
him from his family. He suffered, too, from the conviction that he must
soon starve in the wilderness himself, as his ammunition was almost
gone. He could not hope to see his family again, unless his brother or
some other person furnished him the means of obtaining food on his way
to rejoin them. His rifle--his dependence for subsistence and
defence--would soon become entirely useless. What to others would have
been real dangers and trials--a solitary life in the wilderness,
exposure to the attacks of the savages and wild beasts--were regarded by
him as nothing; but here he saw himself driven to the last extremity,
and without resource. These meditations, although they made him
thoughtful, did not dispirit him. His spirit was unconquerable. He was
sitting one evening, near sunset, at the door of his cabin, indulging in
reflections naturally arising from his position. His attention was
withdrawn by a sound as of something approaching through the forest.
Looking up, he saw nothing, but he arose, and stood prepared for
defence. He could now distinguish the sound as of horses advancing
directly towards the cabin. A moment afterwards he saw, through the
trees, his brother mounted on one horse, and leading another heavily
laden.
It would be useless to attempt to describe his sensations at this sight.
Every one will feel instantly, how it must have operated upon all the
sources of joy. More unmixed happiness is seldom enjoyed on the earth,
than that, in which the brothers spent this evening. His brother brought
him good news of the health and welfare of his family, and of the
affectionate remembrance in which he was held by them; and an abundant
supply of ammunition, beside many other articles, that in his situation,
might be deemed luxuries. The brothers talked over their supper, and
until late at night, for they had much to relate to each other, and both
had been debarred the pleasure of conversation so long that it now
seemed as though they could never weary of it. The sun was high when
they awoke the following morning. After breakfast, they held a
consultation with respect to what was next to be done. From observation,
Boone was satisfied that numbers of Indians, in small parties, were then
in the neighborhood. He knew it was idle to suppose that two men,
however brave and skilful in the use of their weapons, could survive
long in opposition to them. He felt the impolicy of wasting more time in
roaming over the country for the mere purpose of hunting.
He proposed to his brother that they should immediately set themselves
seriously about selecting the most eligible spot on which permanently to
fix his family. This done, they would return together to North Carolina
to bring them out to the new country. He did not doubt, that he could
induce a sufficient number to accompany him, to render a residence in it
comparatively safe. That they might accomplish this purpose with as
little delay as possible, they proceeded the remainder of the day to
hunt, and prepare food sufficient for some time. The following day they
completed the necessary arrangement, and settled every thing for
departure on the next morning.
They directed their course to Cumberland river. In common with all
explorers of unknown countries, they gave names to the streams which
they crossed. After reaching Cumberland river, they traversed the region
upon its banks in all directions for some days. Thence they took a more
northern route, which led them to Kentucky river. The country around the
latter river delighted them. Its soil and position were such as they
sought; and they determined, that here should be the location of the new
settlement. Having acquainted themselves, as far as they deemed
necessary, with the character of the region to be revisited, their
returning journey was recommenced. No incidents, but such as had marked
all the period of their journeyings in the wilderness, the occasional
encounter of Indians by day and the cries of wild beasts by night had
happened to them, during their last exploration.
Upon the second day of their advance in the direction of their home,
they heard the approach of a drove of buffaloes. The brothers remarked,
that from the noise there must be an immense number, or some uncommon
confusion among them. As the buffaloes came in view, the woodsmen saw
the explanation of the unusual uproar in a moment. The herd were in a
perfect fury, stamping the ground and tearing it up, and rushing back
and forward upon one another in all directions. A panther had seated
himself upon the back of one of the largest buffaloes, and fastened his
claws and teeth into the flesh of the animal, wherever he could reach
it, until the blood ran down on all sides. The movements of a powerful
animal, under such suffering, may be imagined. But plunging, rearing,
and running were to no purpose. The panther retained its seat, and
continued its horrid work. The buffalo, in its agony, sought relief in
the midst of its companions, but instead of obtaining it, communicated
its fury to the drove.
The travellers did not care to approach the buffaloes too closely; but
Boone, picking the flint of his rifle, and looking carefully at the
loading, took aim at the panther, determined to displace the monster
from its seat. It happened, that the buffalo continued a moment in a
position to allow the discharge to take effect. The panther released its
hold, and came to the ground. As generally happens in such cases, this
herd was followed by a band of wolves. They prowl around for the remains
usually found in the train of such numbers of animals. Another rifle was
discharged among them, for the sport of seeing them scatter through the
woods.
[Illustration]
The brothers left such traces--or blazes as they are technically
called--of their course, as they thought would enable them to find it
again, until they reached the foot of the mountains. They tried various
ascents, and finally discovered a route, which, with some labor might be
rendered tolerably easy. They proposed to cross the families here, and
blazed the path in a way that could not be mistaken. This important
point settled, they hastened to the settlement, which they reached
without accident.
CHAPTER VI.
Boone starts with his family to Kentucky--Their return to Clinch
river--He conducts a party of surveyors to the Falls of Ohio--He helps
build Boonesborough, and removes his family to the fort--His daughter
and two of Col. Calloway's daughters taken prisoners by the
Indians--They pursue the Indians and rescue the captives.
The next step was to collect a sufficient number of emigrants who would
be willing to remove to the new country with the families of the Boones,
to give the settlements security and strength to resist the attacks of
the Indians. This was not an easy task. It may be readily imagined that
the Boones saw only the bright side of the contemplated expedition. They
painted the fertility and amenity of the flowering wilderness in the
most glowing colors. They described the cane-brakes, the clover and
grass, the transparent limestone springs and brooks, the open forests,
the sugar maple orchards, the buffaloes, deer, turkeys and wild fowls,
in all the fervid colors of their own imaginations. To them it was the
paradise of the first pair, whose inhabitants had only to put forth
their hands, and eat and enjoy. The depredations, captivities, and
scalpings, of the Indians; the howling of the wolves; the diseases, and
peculiar trials and difficulties of a new country, without houses,
mills, and the most indispensable necessaries of civilized life, were
all overlooked. But in such a case, in a compact settlement like that of
the Yadkin, there are never wanting gainsayers, opposers, gossips, who
envied the Boones. These caused those disposed to the enterprise to
hear the other part, and to contemplate the other side of the picture.
They put stories in circulation as eloquent as those of the Boones,
which told of all the scalpings, captivities, and murders of the
Indians, magnified in a tenfold proportion. With them, the savages were
like the ogres and bloody giants of nursery stories. They had pleasant
tales of horn-snakes, of such deadly malignity, that the thorn in their
tails, struck into the largest tree in full verdure, instantly blasted
it. They scented in the air of the country, deadly diseases, and to
them, Boone's paradise was a _Hinnom, the valley of the shadow of
death_.
The minds of the half resolved, half doubting persons, that meditated
emigration, vibrated alternately backwards and forwards, inclined or
disinclined to it, according to the last view of the case presented to
them. But the natural love of adventure, curiosity, fondness for the
hunting life, dissatisfaction with the incessant labor necessary for
subsistence on their present comparatively sterile soil, joined to the
confident eloquence of the Boones, prevailed on four or five families to
join them in the expedition.
All the necessary arrangements of preparing for this distant expedition,
of making sales and purchases, had occupied nearly two years. The
expedition commenced its march on the 26th of September, 1773. They all
set forth with confident spirits for the western wilderness, and were
joined by forty persons in Powell's Valley, a settlement in advance of
that on the Yadkin, towards the western country. The whole made a
cavalcade of nearly eighty persons.
The three principal ranges of the Alleghany, over which they must pass,
were designated as Powell's, Walden's, and Cumberland. These mountains
forming the barrier between the old settlements and the new country,
stretch from the north-east to the south-west. They are of great length
and breadth, and not far distant from each other. There are
nature-formed passes over them, which render the ascent comparatively
easy. The aspect of these huge piles was so wild and rugged, as to make
it natural for those of the party who were unaccustomed to mountains, to
express fears of being able to reach the opposite side. The course
traced by the brothers on their return to Carolina, was found and
followed. The advantage of this forethought was strongly perceived by
all. Their progress was uninterrupted by any adverse circumstance, and
every one was in high spirits, until the west side of Walden's ridge,
the most elevated of the three, had been gained. They were now destined
to experience a most appalling reverse of fortune.
On the tenth of October, as the party were advancing along a narrow
defile, unapprehensive of danger, they were suddenly terrified by
fearful yells. Instantly aware that Indians surrounded them, the men
sprang to the defence of the helpless women and children. But the attack
had been so sudden, and the Indians were so much superior in point of
numbers, that six men fell at the first onset of the savages. A seventh
was wounded, and the party would have been overpowered, but for a
general and effective discharge of the rifles of the remainder. The
Indians, terror-struck, took to flight, and disappeared.
Had the numbers of the travellers allowed it, they felt no inclination
to pursue the retreating Indians. Their loss had been too serious to
permit the immediate gratification of revenge. The eldest son of Daniel
Boone was found among the slain. The domestic animals accompanying the
expedition were so scattered by the noise of the affray, that it was
impossible again to collect and recover them. The distress and
discouragement of the party were so great, as to produce an immediate
determination to drop the projected attempt of a settlement in Kentucky,
and return to Clinch river, which lay forty miles in their rear, where a
number of families had already fixed themselves.
They then proceeded to perform the last melancholy duties to the bodies
of their unfortunate companions with all decent observances which
circumstances would allow. Their return was then commenced. Boone and
his brother, with some others, did not wish to forsake the undertaking
upon which they had set out; but the majority against them was so great,
and the feeling on the subject so strong, that they were compelled to
acquiesce. The party retraced, in deep sadness, the steps they had so
lately taken in cheerfulness, and even joy.
Daniel Boone remained with his family on Clinch river, until June, 1774;
when he was requested by the governor of Virginia to go to the falls of
Ohio, to act as a guide to a party of surveyors. The manifestations of
hostility, on the part of the Indians, were such, that their longer stay
was deemed unsafe. Boone undertook to perform this service, and set out
upon this journey, with no other companion than a man by the name of
Stoner. They reached the point of destination, now Louisville, in a
surprisingly short period, without any accident. Under his guidance the
surveyors arrived at the settlements in safety. From the time that Boone
left his home, upon this enterprise, until he returned to it, was but
sixty-two days. During this period he travelled eight hundred miles on
foot, through a country entirely destitute of human habitations, save
the camps of the Indians.
In the latter part of this year, the disturbances between the Indians
north-west of the Ohio, and the frontier settlers, grew to open
hostilities. Daniel Boone being in Virginia, the governor appointed him
to the command of three contiguous garrisons on the frontier, with the
commission of captain. The campaign of the year terminated in a battle,
after which the militia were disbanded. Boone was consequently relieved
from duty.
Col. Henderson, of North Carolina, had been for some time engaged in
forming a company in that state, for the purpose of purchasing the lands
on the south side of the Kentucky, from the southern Indians. The plan
was now matured, and Boone was solicited by the company to attend the
treaty to be made between them and the Indians, at Wataga, in March,
1775, to settle the terms of the negociation. The requisite information,
in respect to the proposed purchase, was given him, and he acceded to
the request. At the appointed time, he attended and successfully
performed the service intrusted to him. Soon afterwards the same company
applied to him to lay out a road between the settlements on Holston
river and Kentucky river. No little knowledge of the country, and
judgment were requisite for the proper fulfilment of this service. A
great many different routes must be examined, before the most
practicable one could be fixed upon. The duty was, however, executed by
Boone, promptly and faithfully. The labor was great, owing to the rugged
and mountainous country, through which the route led. The laborers, too,
suffered from the repeated attacks of Indians. Four of them were killed,
and five wounded. The remainder completed this work, by reaching
Kentucky river, in April, of the same year. They immediately proceeded
to erect a fort near a salt spring, where Boonesborough now stands. The
party, enfeebled by its losses, did not complete the erection of the
fort until June. The Indians troubled them exceedingly, and killed one
man. The fort consisted of a block-house, and several cabins, surrounded
by palisades.
The fort being finished, Boone returned to his family, and soon after
removed them to this first garrison of Kentucky. The purpose on which
his heart had so long been set, was now accomplished. His wife and
daughters were the first white women that ever stood on the banks of
Kentucky river. In our zeal to blazon our subject, it is not affirmed,
that Boone was absolutely the first discoverer and explorer of Kentucky,
for he was not. But the high meed of being the first actual settler and
cultivator of the soil, cannot be denied him. It was the pleasant season
of the close of summer and commencement of autumn, when the immigrants
would see their new residence in the best light. Many of its actual
inconveniences were withheld from observation, as the mildness of the
air precluded the necessity of tight dwellings. Arrangements were made
for cultivating a field in the coming spring. The Indians, although far
from friendly, did not attempt any immediate assault upon their new
neighbors, and the first events of the settlement were decidedly
fortunate. The game in the woods was an unfailing resource for food. The
supplies brought from their former homes by the immigrants were not yet
exhausted, and things went on in their usual train, with the added
advantage, that over all, in their new home, was spread the charm of
novelty.
Winter came and passed with as little discomfort to the inmates of the
garrison as could be expected from the circumstances of their position.
The cabins were thoroughly daubed, and fuel was of course abundant. It
is true, those who felled the trees were compelled to be constantly on
their guard, lest a red man should take aim at them from the shelter of
some one of the forest hiding places. But they were fitted for this way
of getting along by their training, natures, and predilections. There
was no want of excitement during the day, or even night--nothing of the
wearying monotony to which a life of safe and regular occupation is
subject. Spring opened. The trees were girdled, and the brush cut down
and burned, preparatory to ploughing the field. A garden spot was marked
off, the virgin earth thrown up and softened, and then given in charge
to the wives and daughters of the establishment. They brought out their
stock of seeds, gathered in the old settlements, and every bright day
saw them engaged in the light and healthful occupation of planting them.
They were protected by the vicinity of their husbands and fathers, and
in turn cheered them in their severer labors. The Indians had forborne
any attacks upon the settlers so long, that, as is naturally the case,
they had ceased in a degree to dwell upon the danger always to be
apprehended from them. The men did not fail to take their rifles and
knives with them whenever they went abroad; but the women ventured
occasionally a short distance without the palisades during the day,
never, however, losing sight of the fort. This temerity was destined to
cost them dear.
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