Daniel Boone, Backwoodsman

by C. H. Forbes-Lindsay

The annihilation of Captain Laughrey’s expedition was the more serious, though the less interesting of these. Laughrey was coming down the Ohio with a force of one hundred and seven men, designed to reinforce the Kentuckians. At a point near the mouth of the Miami he was attacked by a large body of Indians and his entire party was killed or captured.

It is a remarkable fact that when the whites and redskins were pitted against each other in large bodies, the latter were generally victorious. The backwoodsman always gave the best account of himself when alone or when acting with one or two companions. A few men of the stamp of Boone and Kenton could withstand five times their number of savages. Thus it was that the Indians held rather a contemptuous estimate of the whites in general, and had by contrast an exaggerated opinion of the prowess of Boone and a few others.

In May Estill’s Station was attacked by a party of Wyandots. After killing one of the settlers and securing a prisoner they slaughtered the cattle in the neighboring fields and retreated. Captain Estill assembled twenty-five men and went in pursuit of the Indians. They had crossed the Licking and entered a narrow valley. He overtook them as they were about to leave it. As soon as the Indians perceived the whites, they halted and took up position under cover to await them.

The Wyandots were distinguished for bravery above all the tribes in that part of the country. They were rendered especially formidable adversaries from the fact that they would maintain a stand under heavy loss, which none of the other tribes would do. The Shawnees, Mingos, and other savages with whom the Kentuckians came in contact, invariably retreated upon the loss of a few of their number. This was not the result of cowardice but of calculation. They justly reasoned that their warriors were so few as compared with the whites that a victory might easily be too dearly bought at the expense of ten or twenty of them. The Wyandots, however, would sometimes lose half their number engaged and still continue the fight.

Estill advanced his men to within eighty yards of the Indians, who had each taken shelter behind a tree, and made a similar disposition of them. The Indians slightly outnumbered their adversaries and had somewhat the advantage of position. They also excelled in the matter of taking cover, but were inferior to the backwoodsmen in marksmanship.

At the outset the whites gained an advantage by wounding the chief of the Wyandots. Seeing him fall, his men began to waver but he was almost instantly upon his feet again and, supporting himself against the trunk of a tree, he continued to encourage the warriors.

The combat was carried on for upwards of an hour with the utmost determination on both sides. The whites had lost six or seven men and several more were wounded, the casualties among the Indians being about the same. But there was no sign of giving way in their ranks and Captain Estill began to be impatient to bring the affair to an issue.

Considering how closely contested had been the fight, it is difficult to understand how Estill could have entertained the idea of weakening his line. He did, however, decide to detach six men and an officer in a flanking movement. The party was placed in charge of Lieutenant Miller, who was instructed to steal round under cover and take the enemy in flank or rear.

Estill now faced the Indians with only twelve men, four of whom were wounded. His weakened condition became apparent to the enemy before Miller had had time to execute his movement. Urged on by their chief, the Wyandots rushed upon the whites and forced them to retreat. Pursuing closely, the savages killed eight of the backwoodsmen, and among them Captain Estill.