So it proved. At the end of eighteen hours it was surrendered by Governor Hamilton, the Americans not losing a man. The governor was sent a prisoner to Williamsburg, and a large quantity of stores fell into the hands of General Clark.
This was a brilliant achievement indeed, but it was not all. General Clark captured a convoy from Canada on its way to the post which had just surrendered, and secured the mail, $45,000, and forty prisoners. Shortly after an express arrived from Virginia, thanking him and his gallant companions for the reduction of the Kaskaskia country; and not long after, Virginia, through the agency of General Clark, extended her western establishments and erected a number of fortifications.
[CHAPTER XI.]
Boone leads a Party to the Blue Licks to make Salt—Capture of Boone and Surrender of the Entire Party—Conducted to Detroit—His Captors Refuse to Exchange him—He is Adopted by the Shawanoes—He discovers a Formidable Expedition is to move against Boonesborough—His Escape and Arrival at Boonesborough—The Attack Postponed—Boone leads a Party against an Indian Town on the Sciota—Encounter with a War Party—Returns to Boonesborough—The State Invested by Captain Duquesne and a Large Force—Boone and the Garrison determine to Defend it to the Last—Better Terms Offered—Treachery Suspected—The Attack—The Siege Raised.
We have been compelled, in the preceding chapter, to carry forward for a few years the history of the military and political movements connected with the earlier history of Kentucky in order to give an intelligent idea of the work performed by its great pioneer Daniel Boone.
During the exciting military occurrences to which we have referred, Boonesborough was stirred by a startling disaster.
The settlement was greatly in need of salt, and, as it was a work of extreme difficulty and danger to secure its importation from the Atlantic States, the much simpler method was resorted to of having it manufactured at the Blue Licks, where there was such an abundance of brackish water that the work was easily done.
Collecting some thirty men, Boone set out for the Blue Licks which were at no great distance, and they began immediately the process of evaporating the water and collecting the saline deposit. Salt is one of the prime necessities of life, and they were desirous of making enough of it to last them for a long time to come.