Reynolds, the young man who replied to Girty, had a narrow escape. Finding in the retreat an officer wounded, he dismounted and gave him his horse, when he was immediately seized by three Indians. They were just about to despatch him, when two other white men rushed by. Two of the savages started in pursuit, and the third having stooped to fasten his moccasin, Reynolds sprang away from him and escaped.
More than sixty Kentuckians were slain in this battle; among whom were six officers and the son of Daniel Boone. Such as regained the shore, too weak to rally, started homeward in great dejection. On their way they met Logan. He had reached Bryant’s Station with 500 men, soon after their departure. Nothing now remained but to go back and bury the dead. Logan accompanied them. Arrived at the scene of carnage, an awful spectacle presented itself; the dead bodies were strewed over the ground as they had fallen; the heat was intense, and birds of prey were feeding on the carcases. The bodies were so mangled that none could distinguish friend or relative. The dead were buried as rapidly as possible.
Nor was this all the carnage. The Indians after the defeat had scattered, but only to sweep through other settlements, carrying everywhere destruction before them.
Innumerable instances of suffering fortitude and heroism abound in this portion of the American border-history. One passage from the life of a Kentucky pioneer we will give, even at the risk of being thought to dwell too long on this subject.
During this same troubled year of 1782, late in the summer, predatory bands of Indians having committed great ravages in the vicinity of Elizabeth Town, Silas Hart, surnamed by the Indians “Sharp-Eye,” assembled a party of settlers and pursued the marauders. In the pursuit Hart shot their chief, and his brother, having vowed vengeance, came secretly with a small band of warriors to Elizabeth Town, and commenced the work of plunder and destruction.
The neighbourhood was roused, and the Indians fled, Hart being again the foremost in pursuit. Finding it impossible to overtake the savages, the people returned to their homes; and the Indians, who kept close watch upon their movements, turned when they turned and followed them back to the settlement.
Hart reached home, some five miles from Elizabeth Town, about dusk, and fearing no enemy, went to bed and slept soundly. The next morning, the Indians, who had secreted themselves round the house in the night, suddenly appeared at the door, and the brother of the fallen chief deliberately shot Hart dead. The son of Hart, a boy of twelve, no sooner saw his father fall than, grasping a rifle, he sent a bullet through the chief before he could enter.
The Indians rushed into the house; again the foremost warrior was killed by a blow from a hunting-knife in the hands of the resolute boy; the family, however, were speedily overpowered and carried into captivity. The daughter, unable to bear the fatigues of a forced march, was despatched by the Indians at a short distance from the settlement. The mother and son were doomed to a lingering and painful death.
When the prisoners reached the Wabash, preparations were made for their execution. Fortunately, the extraordinary heroism of the boy having touched the heart of an influential woman of the tribe, his life was spared at her intercession. Mrs. Hart was also saved from the stake by the intervention of a chief. The mother and son were finally ransomed and returned to their desolate homes.
The back settlements of South Carolina were ravaged also by parties of loyalists and Cherokees, the brother of General Pickens being on one occasion made prisoner. At the head of a body of South Carolina and Georgia militia, General Pickens, in return, invaded and laid waste the Cherokee country.