Their experiences were much the same as the many who had preceded them; except as they had Indian guides, Oliuachica and two Mingo braves, they were in little danger of attack from the Indians.
What was then known as the Wilderness Road extended from the last settlements on the east side of the Alleghanies, over the mountain on to the headwaters of Clinch River, down that river valley, thence across the mountain into Powell’s Valley, thence with the valley to Cumberland Gap and thence through the Gap into the District of Kentucky.
The road had been marked off by Daniel Boone in 1774-5, some said at the direction of Lord Dunmore and others at the direction of Colonel Richard Henderson, as a highway to his colony of Transylvania; a vast boundary mostly in Kentucky, which he had purchased from the Cherokees at the Council of Sycamore Falls.
The road after crossing Cumberland Gap, as shown by John Filson’s map of “Kentucke,” forked at Flat [pg 175] Lick; the Indian trail known as the “Warrior’s Path,” passing north across the Ohio River to old Shauane-Town and to the chief settlement of the Mingo Nation on the “Sciotha” River. The other fork, Boone’s or the Wilderness Road, from Flat Lick followed a southwest course to Rock Castle River, where the road again forked, the right to Blue Licks and Boonesboro, the left on to the head of Dick’s River, to Logan Station or St. Asaph’s Plantation, then forks to Danville, to Lexington and to the Green River Settlements.
It was little more than a bridle path, being intended for pack horses and foot travelers, though it was possible to follow it in a wagon. After 1780, quite a few came through carrying their heavy household effects in wagons; and a few of the aristocrats drove through their family carriages, the tops of which were usually torn off by trailing vines from the trees or overhanging limbs.
Along a good portion of the road at intervals of the average day’s journey, were “stations” or taverns where travelers usually passed the night; but if these were not reached they used well-known camp grounds cleared of underbrush and near a good spring, where they bivouaced around a great open fire and slept under awnings or in their wagons.
The caravan led by Colonel Campbell, used to frontier life, preferred the camping grounds. The taverns or stations had a bad name, as headquarters for bandits who frequently robbed and murdered travelers and then spread the rumor of an Indian raid.
The four families, with their slaves, servants and three Indian guides made a total of thirty-two persons. There were eight wagons, two carriages, thirty horses, six oxen, more than eighty head of beef and milk cattle, a small flock of sheep and on the back of each wagon, resting [pg 176] on the tail gate, was either a coop of chickens or a crate of pigs. The camp outfits were carried on pack horses so as not to disturb the loaded wagons. The five negro slaves with their three children, driving the three ox wagons and bringing up the rear, whistling, singing and laughing, were the boisterous ones of the party. The three Indians, Colonel Campbell and Richard Cameron took the lead, and John, when he was not driving the Fairfax carriage, rode with them, conversing with his Indian friends. The Indians were the watchful, silent leaders by day, and one of them with a white companion, the guard by night.
The train bore a marked resemblance to the caravan of a patriarch of ancient days, searching for verdant pasture lands and sweet water courses; who rode at the head with a body-guard and was followed by his dependents and herds.
They had cause to be thankful for their three Indian guides. Traveling through Powell’s Valley, in a dense forest, one of the braves gave the signal for a halt and silence, while he stole silently ahead. In a half hour he returned accompanied by more than thirty Mingoes and Shauanese who had placed themselves in ambush, expecting to massacre the party.