The Winning of the West, Volume 2: From the Alleghanies to the Mississippi, 1777-1783Roosevelt, Theodore
History
The Winning of the West, Volume 2: From the Alleghanies to the Mississippi, 1777-1783
Roosevelt, Theodore
Northwest, Old -- History; United States -- Territorial expansion; West (U.S.) -- History
absolutely impossible to find out the real facts concerning the sieges
of Wheeling; it is not quite certain even whether there were two or
three. The testimony as to whether the heroine of the powder feat was
Betty Zane or Molly Scott is hopelessly conflicting; we do not know
which of the two brothers Girty was in command, nor whether either was
present at the first attack. Much even of De Haas' account is, to put it
mildly, greatly embellished; as for instance his statement about the
cannon (a small French gun, thrown into the Monongahela when Fort Du
Quesne was abandoned, and fished up by a man named Naly, who was in
swimming), which he asserts cut "a wide passage" through the "deep
columns" of the savages. There is no reason to suppose that the Indians
suffered a serious loss. Wheeling was a place of little strategic
importance, and its fall would not have produced any far-reaching
effects.]
It would be tiresome and profitless to so much as name the many
different stations that were attacked. In their main incidents all the
various assaults were alike, and that made this summer on McAfee's
station may be taken as an illustration.
The Attack on McAfee's Station.
The McAfees brought their wives and children to Kentucky in the fall of
'79, and built a little stockaded hamlet on the banks of Salt River, six
or seven miles from Harrodsburg. Some relatives and friends joined them,
but their station was small and weak. The stockade, on the south side,
was very feeble, and there were but thirteen men, besides the women and
children, in garrison; but they were strong and active, good woodsmen,
and excellent marksmen. The attack was made on May 4, 1781. [Footnote:
McAfee MSS. This is the date given in the MS. "Autobiography of Robert
McAfee"; the MS. "History of First Settlement on Salt River" says May
6th. I draw my account from these two sources; the discrepancies are
trivial.]
The Indians lay all night at a corn-crib three-quarters of a mile
distant from the stockade. The settlers, though one of their number had
been carried off two months before, still continued their usual
occupations. But they were very watchful and always kept a sharp
look-out, driving the stock inside the yard at night. On the day in
question, at dawn, it was noticed that the dogs and cattle betrayed
symptoms of uneasiness; for all tame animals dreaded the sight or smell
of an Indian as they did that of a wild beast, and by their alarm often
warned the settlers and thus saved their lives.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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