The First White Man of the West: Life and Exploits of Col. Dan'l. Boone, the First Settler of Kentucky;; Interspersed with Incidents in the Early Annals of the Country.Flint, Timothy
History
The First White Man of the West: Life and Exploits of Col. Dan'l. Boone, the First Settler of Kentucky;; Interspersed with Incidents in the Early Annals of the Country.
In the winter of 1776, he removed his family from Holston, and in March,
arrived with it in Kentucky. It was the same year in which the daughter
of Col. Boone, and those of Col. Calloway were made captives. The
whole-country being in a state of alarm, he endeavored to assemble some
of the settlers that were dispersed in the country called the Crab
Orchard, to join him at his cabins, and there form a station of
sufficient strength to defend itself against Indian assault. But finding
them timid and unresolved, he was himself obliged to desert his
incipient settlement, and move for safety to Harrodsburgh. Yet, such was
his determination not to abandon his selected spot, that he raised a
crop of corn there, defenceless and surrounded on all sides by Indian
incursion.
In the winter of 1777, and previous to the attack of Harrodsburgh, he
found six families ready to share with him the dangers of the selected
spot; and he removed his family with them to his cabins, where the
settlement immediately united in the important duty of palisading a
station.
Before these arrangements were fully completed as the females of the
establishment, on the twentieth of May, were milking their cows,
sustained by a guard of their husbands and fathers, the whole party was
suddenly assailed by a large body of Indians, concealed in a cane-brake.
One man was killed, and two wounded, one mortally, the other severely.
The remainder reached the interior of the palisades in safety. The
number in all was thirty, half of whom were women and children. A
circumstance was now discovered, exceedingly trying to such a benevolent
spirit as that of Logan. While the Indians were still firing, and the
inmates part exulting in their safety, and the others mourning over
their dead and wounded, it was perceived, that one of the wounded, by
the name of Harrison, was still alive, and exposed every moment to be
scalped by the Indians. All this his wife and family could discern from
within. It is not difficult to imagine their agonizing condition, and
piercing lamentations for the fate of one so dear to them. Logan
discovered, on this occasion, the same keen sensibility to tenderness,
and insensibility to danger, that characterized his friend Boone in
similar predicaments. He endeavored to rally a few of the small number
of the male inmates of the place to join him, and rush out, and assist
in attempting to bring the wounded man within the palisades. But so
obvious was the danger, so forlorn appeared the enterprise, that no one
could be found disposed to volunteer his aid, except a single individual
by the name of John Martin. When they had reached the gate, the wounded
man raised himself partly erect, and made a movement, as if disposed to
try to reach the fort himself. On this, Martin desisted from the
enterprise, and left Logan to attempt it alone. He rushed forward to the
wounded man. He made some efforts to crawl onwards by the aid of Logan;
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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