Daniel Boone, Backwoodsman

by C. H. Forbes-Lindsay

By this time the trio had arrived at Boone’s cabin, but before they could set about their preparations for supper neighbors began to arrive with an abundance and variety of food, prompted equally by a desire to serve their leader and impatient curiosity to hear his story. The party made a hearty meal in the open, and then Boone related to them all that had befallen him since the New Year’s Day on which he set out for the Lower Blue Licks with the band of salt-makers. The tale was long in the telling, for the description of the Indian village and the customs of its inhabitants was new to the auditors. They, in their turn, had many matters of more or less moment to mention to Boone, so that the summer night was far advanced when this man of iron turned to his couch for a much needed rest.

The next day work upon the necessary repairs to the fort was entered into with vigor. From time to time settlers, alarmed by the urgency of the call, came in with their families. Men, women and children were kept busy from early morning until night, for there was work in which all could take some part. When the fourth, and then the fifth, day passed without the appearance of the Indians, there was some inclination to desist, but Boone insisted upon a completion of the preparations without delay, and would not allow any of the men to return to their farms until the fort was in a satisfactory state.

After ten days’ hard labor the stockade was in the most effective condition attainable to resist attack. The line of palisades had been made entire, new gates had been erected, the blockhouses strengthened, double bastions constructed, provisions laid in, and cattle collected. Just before the termination of the task, one of the captives from Chillicothe, who had contrived to escape shortly after Boone left, arrived at the fort. From him it was learned that the war-party, disconcerted by Boone’s escape, had postponed its departure for three weeks, and meanwhile had sent to Detroit for a reinforcement of whites. The latter news was alarming, but it was offset by the consideration that the delay greatly increased the chance of the hoped-for aid from the Holston arriving in time.

Boone now determined to adopt Clark’s tactics of “carrying the war into Africa.” He thought that by arousing the apprehensions of the Indians for the safety of their own towns, he might succeed in diverting the impending attack against Boonesborough, or at least in inducing the leaders of the expedition to detach a portion of their strength for the defence of their country. With this idea, then, he took nineteen men and started on a rapid march for an Indian village on Paint Creek, a branch of the Scioto. Hardy, who was now a full-fledged “gun,” made one of the party.

On the way frequent traces were discovered that indicated that small parties of Indian scouts were abroad in Kentucky, and pointed to unusual preparation for the ensuing expedition. When within four miles of their objective point, Boone’s band suddenly fell in with a force of thirty warriors on the way to Kentucky. The two bodies had approached closely before either discovered the presence of the other, but immediately they did so the men on both sides sprang behind trees and a typical backwoods fight followed.

These guerilla combats always took the form of so many independent duels, each individual acting upon his own responsibility and without direction. Every man singled out an adversary and awaited an opportunity to get a shot at some exposed part of his body. Frequent ruses, such as poking a cap out upon the end of a ramrod, were employed to induce an enemy to show himself. The Indians almost invariably defeated regular troops in this kind of skirmishing. The latter adhered to their accustomed tactics of charging in close order and fell easy victims to the active savages. On the other hand, the backwoodsmen were greatly the superior of the redskins in fighting from cover. Such men as Boone possessed all the cunning and dogged patience of the Indian, whilst vastly excelling him in marksmanship.

In such a case as the present, where the disparity in numbers was not overwhelming, the ultimate issue was a foregone conclusion. After two or three hours of conflict the Indians took advantage of the growing dusk to withdraw, abandoning their horses and baggage. What their loss in killed and wounded was had to be left, as usual, to conjecture. The settlers escaped without any casualties. Immediately after this affair Boone learned, to his dismay, that the war-party from Chillicothe had already set out and was now between him and Boonesborough.

Boone now started for the settlement with all possible speed, his front and flanks guarded by scouts feeling for the large body of Indians which he was striving to overtake. On the third day the Indians were reported to be but a few miles away and immediately in the course of the returning settlers. Boone now made a détour and redoubled his speed. The army of warriors was successfully passed and left behind. The raiders entered Boonesborough, after their three hundred miles’ march, in time to allow the occupants of the fort nearly twenty-four hours’ time for preparation.

The following day the Indian force made its appearance. It consisted of about four hundred warriors, for the most part Shawnees, but including Wyandots, Miamis and Delawares. They were under the command of Blackfish, Boone’s adoptive father. Accompanying the Indians was a small body of French-Canadians led by Captain De Quindre, of the Detroit militia. This formidable battalion marched to within a few hundred yards of the stockade and sent forward a white flag with a demand upon the garrison to “surrender the fort in the name of his Britannic Majesty.”

There were at Boonesborough fewer than seventy males capable of bearing arms, and a number of women and children. Whilst the defences were in good condition and a plentiful supply of ammunition was on hand, the settlers were not fully prepared to resist a protracted siege, such as the present situation promised. There was far from a sufficiency of water stored, and the cattle, which was collected at the time of the first alarm, had been permitted to return to the woods. In fact, a party that had been sent out the previous day to round up and bring in some beeves had not yet returned to the stockade.