xt7v416sz980 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7v416sz980/data/mets.xml  19051904  books b92-144-29441723 English University Society, : New York : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Boone, Daniel, 1734-1820. La Salle, Robert Cavelier, sieur de, 1643-1687. Marquette, Jacques, 1637-1675.Peck, John Mason, 1789-1858. Sparks, Jared, 1789-1866. Makers of American history: Daniel Boone / John M. Peck. Robert Cavelier de La Salle and Father Marquette / by Jared Sparks text Makers of American history: Daniel Boone / John M. Peck. Robert Cavelier de La Salle and Father Marquette / by Jared Sparks 1905 2002 true xt7v416sz980 section xt7v416sz980 


MAKERS OF

AMER I CAN

H ISTORY



   DANIEL BOONE
         BY
     JOHN M. PECK

ROBERT CAVELIER DE LA SALLE
         AND
 FATHER MARQUETTE
         BY
     JARED SPARKS




THE UNIVERSIlTY SOCIETY
       INCORPORATED



NEW YORK



1905

 





































      COPYRIGHT. 1904
             RY
FilE UNIVFRSITY SOCIETY. INC.


 
































        An






















R:OBER'r C.AVELIlER DE LvA SALLE

 This page in the original text is blank.

 












      LIFE OF


DANIEL BOONE

THE PIONEER OF KENTUCKY

        BY

    JOHN M. PECK

 This page in the original text is blank.


 






           DANIEL BOONE



                  CHAPTER I

Birth and Parentage.-Early Education and Training.-Re-
moval to North Carolina.-Marriage.-Hunting Expeditions.
-Affairs in North Carolina.-Emigration to the western
Wilderness.-Boone, Finley, and others go to Kentucky.-
  Indian Claims.-Boone and Stewart taken Prisoners, and
  escape.-Unexpected Arrival of Squire Boone.-Stewart
  killed.-Excursion to Cumberland River.-Boone returns to
  North Carolina.-Notice of other hunting Parties in the
  West.

  DANIEL BOONE, the pioneer of Kentucky, was
born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, in the month
of February, 1735. His father, whose name was
Squire Boone, was a native of England, his mother's
name was Sarah Morgan. He was the father of
eleven children. According to information received
from the late Daniel Bryan, a grandson of Squire
Boone, their births and names were in the following
order: Israel, Sarah, Samuel, Jonathan, Elizabeth,
DANIEL, Mary, (mother of Daniel Bryan,) George,
Edward, Squire, and Hannah.
  When Daniel was a small boy, his father removed
to Berks county, Pennsylvania, not far from Read-
ing, and at that period a frontier settlement, abound-
                      .    3

 
AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY



ing with game, and exposed to Indian assaults. It
was here that young Boone, a mere boy, received
those impressions of character that were so strikingly
displayed in his subsequent life. From childhood, he
delighted to range the woods, watch the wild ani-
mals, and contemplate the beauties of uncultivated
nature.
  Rude and unhewn log cabins, and hewn log
houses, erected in the " clearings," and surrounded
with blackened stumps and cornfields, were the resi-
dences of the frontier settlers. The school-house of
that day, of which samples may still be seen in all
the new settlements of the southwest, was con-
structed of rough logs, exactly square, with a chim-
ney occupying one side, and wrought with sticks and
clay; the door placed in front. A single log cut out
from one side left an aperture, that answered the
purpose of a window, under which a slab was placed
for a writing desk. The surrounding forest fur-
nished ample supplies of fuel, and a spring of water
provided the refreshing and primitive draught for
the thirsty. At such a rustic seminary young Boone
received the rudiments of " book-learning." These
embraced very little more than easy lessons in the
spelling book and Psalter, and a brief space of time
employed in writing and arithmetic.
  In another kind of education, not unfrequent in
the wilds of the west, he was an adept. No Indian
could poise the rifle, find his way through the path-
less forest, or search out the retreats of game, more
readily than Daniel Boone. In all that related to
Indian sagacity, border life, or the tactics of the skil-



4

 
DANIEL BOONE



ful hunter, he excelled. The successful training of
a hunter, or woodsman, is a kind of education of
mental discipline, differing from that of the school-
room, but not less effective in giving vigor to the
mind, quickness of apprehension, and habits of close
observation. Boone was regularly trained in all that
made him a successful backwoodsman. Indolence
and imbecility never produced a Tecumthe, or a
Daniel Boone. To gain the skill of an accomplished
hunter requires talents, patience, perseverance, sa-
gacity, and habits of thinking. Amongst other quali-
fications, knowledge of human nature, and especially
of Indian character, is indispensable to the pioneer
of the wilderness. Add to these, self-possession,
self-control, and promptness in execution. Persons
who are unaccustomed to a frontier residence know
not how much, in the preservation of life, and in
obtaining subsistence, depends on such character-
istics.
  Boone's father had relatives in Maryland, and it is
probable that one of his sons lived there for some
time, to acquire the trade of a gunsmith. When
Daniel was about eighteen years old, his father re-
moved the family to North Carolina, and settled on
the waters of the Yadkin, a mountain stream in the
northwestern part of that State. Here wvas a fine
range for hunting, where young Daniel could follow
his favorite employment. Here he formed an ac-
quaintance with Rebecca Bryan, whom he married.
One almost regrets to spoil so beautiful and senti-
mental a romance, as that which had had such ex-
tensive circulation in the various " Lives of Boone,"



5

 
AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY



and which represents him as mistaking the bright
eyes of this young lady, in the dark, for those of a
deer; a mistake that nearly proved fatal from the
unerring rifle of the young hunter. Yet in truth we
are bound to say, that no such event ever happened.
Our backwoods swains never make such mistakes.
  For several years after marriage, Boone followed
the occupation of a farmer; hunting at such times as
would not interfere with raising and securing a crop.
In the meantime, the population along the Yadkin
and its tributary streams increased, explorations
were made to the northwest, and the valleys of the
Holston and Clinch Rivers began to resound with the
strokes of the woodman's axe, and the neighboring
mountains to echo with the sharp crack of the rifle.
The Cherokee Indians were troublesome to the fron-
tier settlements for several years, instigated as they
were by French emissaries from Louisiana; but in
176i they sued for peace. Immediately upon this
adjustment of Indian affairs, several companies of
hunters, from Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North
Carolina, hearing of the abundance of game in the
valleys along the head waters of the Tennessee
River, penetrated the wilderness in their favorite
pursuit. At the head of one of these companies was
Daniel Boone, from the Yadkin settlements, who
ranged through the valleys on the head waters of the
Holston, in the southwestern part of Virginia. In
I764, we find him, with another company of hunters,
on the Rock Castle, a branch of Cumberland River,
within the present boundaries of Kentucky, em-
ployed, as he stated, by a party of land speculators,



6

 
DANIEL BOONE



to ascertain and report concerning the country in
that quarter.
  It is here necessary to give some particulars con-
cerning the state of affairs in North Carojina, which,
together with the peculiarities of Boone's temper, in-
fluenced him to leave the settlement on the Yadkin,
and become a pioneer in the wilds of Kentucky.
  Daniel Boone, far from possessing an ungovern-
able temper, or exhibiting dissatisfaction with the
charms of domestic and social life, was mild, hu-
mane, and charitable; his manners were gentle, his
address conciliating, and his heart open to friendship
and hospitality. The most prominent traits of his
character were unshaken fortitude and self-com-
mand. Perfectly plain in dress and style of living,
contented with frugal fare, accustomed to be much
alone in the woods, he acquired the habit of contem-
plation, and was an enthusiastic admirer of nature in
its primeval wildness. Adventures in hunting had
become his ruling passion. He had a natural sense
of justice and equity between man and man, and felt,
throughout his whole life, repugnance to the tech-
nical forms of law, and the conventional regulations
of society and of government, unless they were in
strict accordance with his sense of right. He felt
keenly opposed to all those customs and usages in
social life that seemed to him at variance with the
divine rule: " As ye would that men should do to
you, do ye also to them likewise."
  For several years before his first excursion, with
Finley and others, to the rich valley of the Louisa
River, as Kentucky was then called, the customs and



7

 
AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY



fashions of North Carolina, had been in that process
of change which was calculated to drive such men
as Boone from the colony. The trade of the country
was in the hands of Scotch adventurers, who came
to the colony to acquire wealth and consequence.
The people of the country, who had the ability to
purchase, laid aside the rustic garments of domestic
manufacture, and appeared in all circles clad in im-
ported apparel. To dress otherwise was soon re-
garded as the sign of poverty and barbarism. The
poor man felt himself treated with disdain, and those
persons whose taste and inclination disposed them to
habits of frugality, were disgusted with what they
regarded as the progress of luxury and effeminacy.
  The rich were led into extravagant modes of liv-
ing, far beyond their income. Labor, among the
opulent, was performed by slaves, and the indus-
trious white man, who kept no servants, but who,
with his sons, worked the farm, and whose wife and
daughters were practical economists in domestic
affairs, was less respected than his more opulent
neighbor, who passed much of his time in frivolous
amusements. Under these circumstances, men of
quiet habits, opposed to luxury and oppression,
migrated to the wilderness beyond the mountains,
where they could enjoy independence and a share of
respectability.
  In 1767, a backwoods hunter, by the name of John
Finley, with a few others like himself, made an ex-
cursion farther west than the previous hunting par-
ties had gone, upon the waters of Kentucky River,
where he spent the season in hunting and trading



8

 
DANIEL BOONE



with the roaming bands of Indians. Their course lay
through a portion of Tennessee, where everything
grand and picturesque in mountain scenery, or ro-
mantic and delightful in deep and sheltered valleys,
existed. They found an exuberant soil, from which
sprang giant forests. They saw the rich cane-brakes
of Kentucky. To the hunter, here seemed a ter-
restrial paradise, for it abounded in all kinds of
game.
  Disgusted as Boone was with the growing fash-
ions, and the oppressions of the rich in North Caro-
lina, he was prepared to listen with eagerness and
delight to the glowing descriptions of Finley, and
his mind was soon made up to see this delectable
land. But it was not till after the lapse of many
months that arrangements could be made for the ex-
ploration. A party of six was formed, and Boone
was chosen the leader. His companions were John
Finley, John Stewart, Joseph Holden, James Mon-
cey, and William Cool. In the language of Filson,
to whom Boone dictated this part of his life, " It was
on the ist of May, in the year I769, that I resigned
my domestic happiness for a time, and left my family
and peaceable habitation on the Yadkin River, in
North Carolina, to wander through the wilderness
of America, in quest of the country of Kentucky."
Boone was not unfeeling or indifferent to the do-
mestic relation. His affectionate wife, who was an
excellent household manager, kindly and quietly con-
sented to this separation, and called into requisition
her skill as a housewife in assisting to provide the
necessary outfit. He had sons large enough to raise



9

 
AMEAICAN BIOGRAPHY



a crop and manage the business of the farm, under
the supervision of their industrious mother.
  It was on the 7th of June, 1769, that six men,
weary and wayworn, were seen winding their way
up the steep side of a rugged mountain in the wilder-
ness of Kentucky. Their dress was of the descrip-
tion usually worn at that period by all forest rangers.
The outside garment was a hunting shirt, or loose
open frock, made of dressed deer skins. Leggings
or drawers, of the same material, covered the lower
extremities, to which was appended a pair of moc-
casins for the feet. The cape or collar of the hunt-
ing shirt, and the seams of the leggings, were
adorned with fringes. The under garments were of
coarse cotton. A leathern belt encircled the body;
on the right side was suspended the tomahawk, to be
used as a hatchet; on the left side was the hunting
knife, powder-horn, bullet-pouch, and other ap-
pendages indispensable for a hunter. Each person
bore his trusty rifle; and, as the party slowly made
their toilsome way amid the shrubs, and over the
logs and loose rocks, that accident had thrown into
the obscure trail which they were following, each
man kept a sharp look-out, as though danger or a
lurking enemy was near. Their garments were
soiled and rent, the unavoidable result of long travel-
ling and exposure to the heavy rains that had fallen;
for the weather had been stormy and most uncom-
fortable, and they had traversed a mountainous
wilderness for several hundred miles. The leader of
the party was of full size, with a hardy, robust.
sinewy frame, and keen, piercing, hazel eyes, that



IO

 
DANIEL BOONE



glanced with quickness at every object as they passed
on, now cast forward in the direction they were
travelling for signs of an old trail, and in the next
moment directed askance into the dense thicket, or
into the deep ravine, as if watching some concealed
enemy. The reader will recognize in this man the
pioneer Boone, at the head of his companions.
  Towards the time of the setting sun, the party had
reached the summit of the mountain range, up which
they had toiled for some three or four hours, and
which had bounded their prospect to the west during
the day. Here new and indescribable scenery opened
to their view. Before them, for an immense distance,
as if spread out on a map, lay the rich and beautiful
vales watered by the Kentucky River; for they had
now reached one of its northern branches. The
country immediately before them, to use a western
phrase, was " rolling," and, in places, abruptly hilly;
but far in the vista was seen a beautiful expanse of
level country, over which the buffalo, deer, and other
forest animals, roamed unmolested, while they fed
on the luxuriant herbage of the forest. The counte-
nances of the party lighted up with pleasure, con-
gratulations were exchanged, the romantic tales of
Finley were confirmed by ocular demonstration, and
orders wvere given to encamp for the night in a
neighboring ravine. In a deep gorge of the moun-
tain, a large tree had fallen, surrounded by a dense
thicket, and hidden from observation by the abrupt
and precipitous hills. This tree lay in a convenient
position for the back of their camp. Logs were
placed on the right and left, leaving the front open,



I I

 
AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY



where fire might be kindled against another log; and
for shelter from the rains and heavy dews, bark was
peeled from the linden tree.
  From this point they reconnoitred the country,
and hunted the buffalo, with which the wilderness
abounded. This site was on the waters of the Red
River, one of the principal branches of the Kentucky,
and, so far as can now be ascertained, within the
present boundaries of Morgan county. The buffaloes
were very numerous, so that hundreds might be seen
in one drove, dispersed in the cane-brakes, feeding
in the glades, or gathered around the salt licks.
  In this region the party hunted with much success
till December, without seeing a single red man. Yet,
to the experienced eyes of Boone and his companions,
there were signs of the visitation of Indians. The
Chaonanons, or Shawanoes, had lived and roamed,
in their savage way, over that part of Kentucky,
which bordered the Kentucky River at the south,
near the middle of the seventeenth century, and their
scattered settlements and hunting grounds extended
to the Cumberland River, and to the present site of
Nashville; but history has preserved no authentic
memorials of the occupancy of that part of Ken-
tucky  where our pioneers were engaged in hunting.
Strolling parties of Indian hunters or warriors
passed over it, but not one Indian village existed in
all that district, which lay between the Guyandot and
Kentucky Rivers.
 Kain-fuck-ee is a Shawanese word, and signified "at the
head of the river." See " Trans. Amer. Antiq. Society," Vol.
I. p. 299. The repeated statement, that it meant " dark and
bloody ground," is a fiction.



12

 
DANIEL BOONE



  The Chickasaws possessed that part of the State
west of the Tennessee River, called the Cherokee, or
Hogohege River. The Cherokees set up a sort of
claim to the country, between the Kentucky and
Cumberland Rivers, as hunting grounds. Whatever
might be the equity of this claim, it was extinguished
by a treaty held at Lochaber, in South Carolina, by
John Stewart, superintendent of Indian affairs, act-
ing under the auspices of the colony of Virginia.
This treaty was made on the 5th of October, I770,
and, by a subsequent arrangement between the con-
tracting parties, the boundaries were extended from
" the head of Louisa [Kentucky] River to its mouth,
and thence up the Ohio River to the mouth of the
Great Kenhawa."
  The Shawanoes migrated from the country bor-
dering on the Atlantic Ocean south of James River,
where they were found in the early part of the seven-
teenth century; but they were afterwards subjugated
by the Iroquois, or Five Nations, and driven to the
north of the Ohio River, in the latter part of the
same century. The Iroquois, by a pretended right of
conquest, claimed the country, as they did all the
lands of the tribes they conquered, and at the treaty
of Fort Stanwix, in 1768, they ceded their claim,
such as it was, south of the Ohio River to Great
Britain. Hence Boone and his associates did not in-
trude upon the rights of any Indian nation, as these
rights were then understood.
  For convenience of hunting, and that their obser-
vations might be extended over a much larger dis-
trict, in December the explorers divided themselves



13

 
AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY



into parties. Boone and Stewart formed one party,
and, on the 22d day of the month, they were near
the banks of the main Kentucky River. Filson, in
his attempt to record Boone's story, says, " At the
decline of day, near Kentucky River, as we de-
scended the brow of a small hill, a number of Indians
rushed out of a thick cane-brake upon us and made
us prisoners. The time of our sorrow was now ar-
rived, and the scene fully opened." The Indians
plundered them of what supplies they had, and de-
tained them seven days.
  Boone knew too well the character of Indians to
manifest fear, uneasiness, or a desire to escape. The
savages treated them with rude hospitality, intend-
ing, doubtless, after washing all the white blood out
by the customary ablution, to adopt them as mem-
bers of the tribe. At night, the party lodged by a
large fire in a thick cane-brake. It is evident from
Boone's story, defective as it is, that the Indians had
no apprehension of an escape. They took no pains
for security, set no watch, but all slept soundly. The
seventh night had arrived, and Boone, wvhile pretend-
ing to sleep, was forming his plans. The greatest
caution was necessary lest the savages should awake.
Any attempt to run away, where kindness and lenity
have been shown to a captive, is a mortal offence to
an Indian. Boone gently awakened Stewart. and,
in a low whisper and a sign, gave the intimation
necessary. Having secured their guns, and a few
trifling articles, the two hunters left their captors in
a profound slumber, and successfully made their es-
cape. It is obvious, from the circumstances narrated,
that this was a mere hunting party; for, had the



14

 DANIEL BOONE



savages been on the " war-path," they would have
guarded their prisoners with greater vigilance, nor
could they have made so safe a retreat.
  While wandering in darkness through the woods,
the feelings of Boone and Stewart may be better
imagined than described. They slept no more, but
pursued their course all the next day in as direct a
line and with as much rapidity as the dense forest
and canes would permit, towards their old hunting
camp, where they expected to meet their companions.
But to their surprise and distress, they found it plun-
dered; and their friends, Finley and his associates,
as they supposed, had left the country. Of this party
nothing more remains either in history or tradition.
No intimation has been given, whether they returned
to North Carolina or were taken prisoners by the
Indians. Boone and his companion continued their
hunting, but with more caution; their ammunition
began to fail, and their adventure with the Indians
increased their vigilance by day, and directed them
to the most obscure retreats at night.
  Early in January, 1770, the forms of two men
were discerned in the distant forest. Whether they
were hostile Indians, or their former associates, could
not be determined at the first view, but they grasped
their rifles, and took to the trees for shelter and fur-
ther observation. It was evident that they had been
observed, for the strangers approached cautiously
and slowly, exhibiting signs that they were white
men and friends. But this did not give the desired
relief, for the wily Indian will make such signs of
friendship and recognition, to throw his enemy off
his guard. Boone gave the customary challenge,



I 5

 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY



" Holloa, strangers! who are you " The response
was, " White men and friends." Judge of the sur-
prise and delight of Boone upon embracing his
brother, Squire Boone, and another adventurer from
North Carolina, with tidings of his family and sup-
plies of powder and lead. This party had left the
settlement on the Yadkin, for the purposes of explor-
ing these western wilds, engaging in a winter's hunt,
and finding, if alive, Daniel and his associates. They
had seen repeatedly the " signs " and encampments
of white men, and, only an hour before the meeting,
had stumbled on their last night's camp.
  Shortly after this happy event, Daniel Boone and
Stewart were on a second excursion, at some dis-
tance from their camp, when they were again at-
tacked by a party of Indians, and Stewart was shot
and scalped, while Boone succeeded in effecting his
escape. None of the documents or reminiscences
give any further particulars. The man, who came
to the wilderness with Squire Boone, went into the
woods and was missing, or, as Boone supposed, was
lost in the woods; but, after several days of anxious
search, they concluded he had taken this method to
desert them, and return to the settlement. Long
afterwards, a decayed skeleton and some fragments
of clothing were found near a swamp, and, as this
man never reached his friends, the supposition was
that he perished at that place. But whether he fell
a victim to savage cruelty or hunger, was Lever
known.
 The story, in some of the "Lives of Boone," that this
man was killed and devoured by wolves, is a fiction. The
wolves of the western forests rarely attack and kill a man.
They are bountifully supplied with game.

 
DANIEL BOONE



  The brothers, thus left alone in this vast wilder-
ness, were not oppressed with despondency or fear;
nor were they indolent. They hunted by day, pre-
pared the skins of the animals they killed for future
use, cooked their game, and sang and talked by their
bright camp-fires at night, and built a comfortable
cabin as a shelter from the storms and frosts of win-
ter. They were in want of many necessaries. Cloth-
ing and moccasins were easily made from dressed
deer-skins. With bread and salt they had learned to
dispense, but powder and lead were indispensable,
and they fancied that horses would be of essential
service. During the winter, they saw no Indians,
and continued unmolested.
  As Spring approached, it was decided that the
younger brother, Squire Boone, should return to
North Carolina for supplies, while Daniel remained
to protect the peltry and increase the stock. On the
ist of May, the brothers gave to each other the part-
ing hand. Squire took up the line of march of more
than five hundred miles, to the Yadkin settlement,
while Daniel was left in the cabin to his own solitary
reflections. He thus remained alone in a vast wilder-
ness, without bread, salt, or sugar, without the so-
ciety of a fellow-creature, without the company of a
horse, or even a dog, often the affectionate com-
panions of the lone hunter. In reviewing this period
of his life, he said, " I confess I never before was un-
der greater necessity of exercising philosophy and
fortitude. A few days I passed uncomfortably. The
idea of a beloved wife and family, and their anxiety
on account of my absence and exposed situation,
made sensible impressions on my heart."
      A. B., VOL. 1. -2

 AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY



  To relieve himself from the oppressive feelings of
loneliness, he made a long tour of observation to the
southwest, and explored the country along the waters
of Salt and Green Rivers. The Indians were again
abroad; and on his return he saw, by undoubted
signs, that they had visited his cabin during his ab-
sence. Frequently at night he would retire to the
woods, and lie in the cane-brake, without fire, that he
might escape the vigilant observation of the wily
savages.
  On the 27th of July, his brother returned from
North Carolina, and they met at the old camp on
Red River. He rode one horse, and led another
heavily laden with the necessaries required. The
intelligence from his family was cheering. They
were in good health and in comfortable circum-
stances.
  Convinced that small parties of Indians were
roaming over the country, hunting the buffalo,
Boone and his brother well knew that two men, how-
ever skilful in the use of their weapons, could hardly
escape if attacked; that their horses would betray
them, and be tempting objects of Indian cupidity.
Hence they resolved to leave that part of Kentucky
and explore the country on Cumberland River.
Here they found the hills more abrupt, the soil of an
inferior quality, and the game less plentiful. They
continued their exploration over a large district, be-
tween Cumberland and Greene Rivers, where the
timber was scattering and stunted in growth, the
surface uneven, and abounding in what are called
sink-holes, or depressions produced in a cavernous



i8

 
DANIEL BOONE



limestone country by the sinking of the earth, from
the action of water after heavy rains. They con-
tinued on the waters of the Cumberland region until
march, 177I, when they returned in a northeastern
direction to the Kentucky River, where the soil ap-
peared more fertile, and more heavily timbered.
Here they resolved to fix the site of their projected
settlement.
  Having packed up as much peltry as their horses
could carry, they departed for their families on the
Yadkin, resolved to return and make this new coun-
trv their future home. Daniel had been absent two
years, during which time he had tasted neither bread
nor salt, nor had he seen any other human being than
his travelling companions, and the Indians who had
taken him prisoner.
  At the same period that Boone and his associates
were exploring Kentucky, there were parties, with-
out the knowledge of each other, on the waters of
the Cunmberland and Tennessee Rivers.  In June,
1769, a company of about twenty men, from North
Carolina and Western Virginia, assembled on
Reedy Creek, a branch of New River. with their
horses and equipments for an exploring and hunting
tour. They departed, on the 2d of June, for the
country of Tennessee, passed over the dividing ridge
to Holston River, thence to Powell's Valley, and
through the Gap of Cumberland 'Mountain to the
river of the same name, into what is nowv Wayne
county, in Kentucky, where they made a camp for
a general rendezvous, to which each party was to
return and make a deposit every five weeks. They



Ig

 
AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY



dispersed in small parties, and in different directions,
and hunted throughout that district.  At a later
period, the whole party moved in a southwestern
direction down the country, along the head waters
of Roaring River and Caney Fork. After hunting
for eight or nine months, they returned in April,
1770. The same year, a company of ten hunters
built two boats and two trapping canoes, loaded
them with furs, venison, and bear's meat, and went
down the Cumberland, Ohio, and Mississippi Rivers,
to Natchez, where they disposed of their venison
and peltry. At the French Licks, now Nashville,
they saw immense herds of buffaloes and other
game, and an old fort, unoccupied, which they sup-
posed had been erected by the Cherokees.  Here
had been a stockade and trading-post for several
years, by a company of Frenchmen from Kaskaskia,
at the head of which was Timothy de Monbrun.
  In 177I, Casper Mansco, who had twice visited
the Valley of the Cumberland, came out again in
company with James Knox, John Montgomery,
Isaac Bledsoe, and several others. They encamped
on Russell's Creek, a branch of Powell's River,
where they wintered. The next season, they trav-
ersed the country down the waters of the Cumber-
land, to the region north of Nashville, and into the
" barrens " of Kentucky. Here they met with an-
other body of hunters, and soon after returned to
New River. This party passed through the same
district of country, that, a few weeks after they had
left it, was visited by Daniel and Squire Boone.
From the period of their absence, they obtained the
name of the " long hunters."



20


 







CHAPTER II



Boone attempts a Removal to Kentucky.-Attacked by the
Indians.-Returns to Clinch River.-Sent by Governor Dun-
more to bring in a Party of Surveyors from Kentucky.-
Commands three Garrisons in Dunmore's War.-Commis-
sioned to mark out a Road for the Emigrants.-Erects a
Fort at Boonesborough.-Indians hostile.-Removes his
Family to Kentucky.-Lexington.-Simon Kenton.-William
Whitley.-Political Convention.-Capture of the Daughters
of Boone, and their Rescue.-Indian Mode of Fighting.-
Attack on Harrod's, Boone's, and Logan's Stations.

  ANXIOUS as Boone was to remove his family to
the hunting-grounds of Kentucky, more than two
years elapsed before the necessary arrangements for
the enterprise were effected. He sold his farm on
the Yadkin, and made his preparations, having per-
suaded his wife and children to accompany him.
This we might regard as a remarkable instance of
indifference and hardihood, did we not know that
Daniel Boone was as mild, humane, and affectionate,
as he was bold and fearless, and did we not know
that the wives of our western pioneers are as cour-
ageous, and as ready to enter on the line of march
to plant the germ of a new settlement, as their
husbands.
  On the 25th of September, I773, the two brothers
bade adieu to their friends and neighbors on the
Yadkin, and entered on the perilous task of travers-
                        21

 
AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY



ing the wilderness to the banks of the Kentucky. A
drove of pack-horses carried their bedding, clothing,
provisions, and other necessaries; a number of milch
cows furnished refreshment for the children; and
these cows, with some young cattle and swine, were
intended to constitute the herd of the western wil-
derness. At Powell's Valley, through which their
route lay, they were joined by five families and forty
men, all well-armed. This accession of strength
gave them courage, and the party advanced full of
hope and confident of success. At night they en-
camped, as is still the custom of emigrating parties
throughout the vast West.
  The camping-place is near some spring or water-
course; temporary shelters are made by placing
poles in a sloping position, with one end resting on
the ground, the other elevated on forks. On these,
tent cloth, prepared for the purpose, or, as in case
of these pioneers, articles of bed covering, are
stretched. The fire is kindled in front against a
fa