The Life and Times of Col. Daniel Boone, Hunter, Soldier, and Pioneer: With Sketches of Simon Kenton, Lewis Wetzel, and Other Leaders in the Settlement of the WestEllis, Edward Sylvester
History
The Life and Times of Col. Daniel Boone, Hunter, Soldier, and Pioneer: With Sketches of Simon Kenton, Lewis Wetzel, and Other Leaders in the Settlement of the West
When Boone and his party reached the headwaters of Dick's River, a halt
was made, and a division took place. Several of the families preferred
to settle at Harrodsburg--the cabin of Harrod having been erected there
the year previous. With mutual good wishes, therefore, they separated
from the main company, and pushing resolutely forward, reached their
destination in safety.
As a matter of course, there was but the one haven which loomed up
invitingly before Daniel Boone,--that was the station named after
himself, and which was now at no great distance away. He and the main
body reached it without molestation, and they helped to swell the
numbers that were already making Boonesborough the strongest post in
the West.
It is one of the facts of which the pioneer was proud throughout
his long, eventful life, that his wife and daughter were the first
white women who ever "stood upon the banks of the wild and beautiful
Kentucky."
But, as we have stated, settlers, speculators, surveyors, and
adventurers were converging to the Dark and Bloody Ground, which was
receiving an influx almost daily--the most of the new-comers being of a
character desirable and useful to a new country.
The latter part of 1775 was specially noteworthy for the number of
settlers who entered Kentucky. The majority of these made their
rendezvous at Boonesborough, which soon became what might be called
the headquarters of the pioneers. Many attached themselves to Boone's
colony, others went to Harrodsburg, while some, having completed the
survey of their lands, returned home.
It was during these stirring days that Boone received visits from
Kenton, the McAfees and other men, who became so noted afterward as
scouts and border rangers.
Those were momentous times in the Colonies, for, as the reader will
observe, our forefathers were on the very verge of the American
Revolution. The country was trembling with excitement from one end to
the other. In the spring of the year occurred the battle of Lexington,
when was fired the shot that was "heard around the world," and the
war opened between Great Britain and the Colonies. Men left the plow
in the furrow, the shop and their homes, and hastened to arms, while
Boone and his brother colonists were planting their homes hundreds of
miles beyond the frontiers of the Carolinas. Many believed the treaties
previously made with the Indians would protect them from molestation
at their hands, but in this expectation the pioneers were wofully
disappointed.
It was necessary for the mother country to put forth the most gigantic
efforts to subdue her American colonies, or she would be confronted
with rebellions among her colonial possessions all around the globe.
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