The goods were assembled on one side, and the drivers led off some distance, under guard. The “Black Boys” examined the contents of the packs, and, as they suspected, found them to consist of blankets, shirts, vermilion, lead, beads, wampum, tomahawks, scalping-knifes, etc. The whole lot was burned.
The English soldiers thought the “Black Boys” were rioters, but the inhabitants viewed their acts with general satisfaction.
Lieutenant Grant attempted to effect the arrest of Captain Smith and his command, but the latter soon raised a force of 300 frontiersmen and promptly captured two British soldiers of the garrison at Fort Loudoun for every one of the “Black Boys” they held as prisoners.
The result of this action was that very few pack trains passed through that valley carrying goods to the Indians along the Ohio.
In 1769, when the Indians became troublesome in the vicinity of Fort Bedford, a new company of “Black Boys” was organized, but members were arrested and confined in irons, as they were not understood.
Captain Smith determined to release the men, and by a ruse managed to apprize the British of his approach and intended attack, which was to occur at midday. But at dawn his command was under the bank of the Juniata awaiting word from William Thompson who had entered the fort as a spy.
At the given signal the little band rushed the fort and secured the arms which were stocked in the center of the parade.
The prisoners were released and the first British fort in America was then and there captured by what they termed “American rebels.”
Captain Smith was afterward arrested in Bedford and confined in jail, on a trumped up charge of murder.
His “Black Boys” would have rescued him but Smith was conscious of his innocence and stood trial. In spite of the fact they desired it otherwise he was acquitted.