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Struggles in the Old 
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 Prepared by the Staff of the 
 
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 FOREWORD 
 
 The following articles were originally published in the 
 Indianapolis INDIANA JOURNAL on June 8 and June 29, 1833. 
 The Boards and the Staff of the Public Library of Fort Wayne 
 and Allen County present these newspaper items in the hope 
 that they will prove interesting. Grammar, spelling, and 
 punctuation have been changed to conform to current usage. 
 Unverified personal names have been reprinted as in the 
 original articles. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2012 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://archive.org/details/strugglesinoldnoOOpubl 
 
After Columbus discovered the Western Hemisphere, 
 more than a century elapsed before any permanent English 
 or French settlements were made in North America. The 
 colony of Virginia was founded by the English in 1607, and 
 the next year the French planted their first colony in Canada. 
 For some time the English settlements were confined to the 
 vicinity of the coast, while the French gradually extended 
 theirs along the St. Lawrence River and around the Great 
 Lakes. No white man explored what is now called the west- 
 ern country before 1673. In that year Jacques Marquette, a 
 French missionary, set out from a mission which he had es- 
 tablished two years before on the north shore of the Straits 
 of Mackinac. By way of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, he 
 reached the Mississippi and descended that river to the mouth 
 of the Arkansas. Satisfied from its course that the Missis- 
 sippi emptied into the Gulf of Mexico, he thought it unwise 
 to proceed further. After returning to Canada by way of the 
 Illinois River and Lake Michigan, he resided among the In- 
 dians until his death in 1675. 
 
 In 1679 La Salle, who at that time commanded Fort 
 Frontenac at the foot of Lake Ontario, built a vessel on Lake 
 Erie and called it the "Griffon. " After sailing through the 
 Lakes, he disembarked somewhere near Green Bay, Wis- 
 consin. The "Griffon" was to have returned to Fort Fronte- 
 nac, but it disappeared. Later, La Salle reached the Mis- 
 sissippiby way of the Illinois River and descended to the Gulf 
 of Mexico. In 1683 he took passage for France. On his re- 
 turn he disembarked on the shore of the Gulf and was mur- 
 dered by one of his own party while traveling overland to the 
 Illinois country. An account of the expedition was published 
 by Father Louis Hennepin, a missionary who accompanied 
 La Salle onhis explorations. La Salle and his party probably 
 saw nothing of what is now the state of Ohio, although occa- 
 sional landings may have been made on the shore of Lake 
 Erie. French missionaries soonbegan to traverse the coun- 
 try through which La Salle had passed, and the French gov- 
 ernment gradually established military posts on the Lakes. 
 Several settlements were also made on the Mississippi above 
 
 1 
 
the mouth of the Ohio, and about 1735 one was made at Vin- 
 cennes on the Wabash River. 
 
 The French and the English governments, however, 
 took very little notice of the country on the headwaters of the 
 Ohio River until about the middle of the eighteenth century. 
 Both countries claimed it, but neither took steps to occupy 
 it. The French considered that they had the better right to 
 the region; they had been the first to explore it, and it was 
 situated as a kind of connecting link between their posses- 
 sions in Canada and Louisiana. But the French were satis- 
 fied to cross the country as long as they were undisturbed 
 by the English. They took no further steps to establish their 
 claim, and they made no settlements other than those on the 
 Mississippi and Wabash rivers. The English claim was 
 founded on royal charters granted to the colonies along the 
 Atlantic coast. These grants often included all the country 
 west of the settlements to the Pacific Ocean. But the Eng- 
 lish claim, like that of the French, was not carried into ef- 
 fect by actual occupation of the territory. 
 
 In 1749, however, both nations began to realize the 
 importance of this vast area and prepared to establish their 
 respective claims. In that year the governor general of 
 Canada sent out an expedition to deposit leaden plates at the 
 mouths of rivers and other important places in the disputed 
 territory, thereby asserting the right of the king of France 
 to all the country drained by the Ohio River and its branches. 
 At about the same time, the Ohio Company of Virginia was 
 formed. George II granted to this company five hundred 
 thousand acres of land on the Ohio and a virtual monopoly of 
 the Indian trade. The company soon sent out surveyors and 
 traders, who established Pickawillany on the Great Miami 
 River. This was the first establishment made by the British 
 in the Ohio Valley. The settlement was destroyed in 1752 
 by the French, who carried the prisoners to a new French 
 fort at Presque Isle (present-day Erie, Pennsylvania). The 
 French also built a fort on the Allegheny River and began to 
 establish themselves with such vigor in the disputed area 
 that Pennsylvania and Virginia became alarmed. 
 
^iu ooiic oKis murckrcdc. 
 
 ^H, 
 
In 1753 George Washington was sent by Governor Rob- 
 ert Dinwiddie of Virginia with a letter to the French com- 
 mandant. Dinwiddie remonstrated against French occupation 
 of land claimed by the king of Great Britain. The French 
 disregarded the protest and in 1754 built Fort Duquesne 
 where Pittsburgh now stands at the confluence of the Alle- 
 gheny and Monongahela rivers. During the French and Indian 
 War the French evacuated Fort Duquesne in 1758. By the 
 Treaty of Paris in 1763, France surrendered Canada to Eng- 
 land and renounced all of her claims to any part of the coun- 
 try east of the Mississippi River. 
 
 Between the end of the French and Indian War and the 
 beginning of the American Revolution, permanent settlements 
 were made across the Allegheny Mountains in western Penn- 
 sylvania and Virginia, but none were made in Ohio. Soon 
 after the outbreak of the Revolution, questions arose regard- 
 ing the ownership of unappropriated land claimed by the sev- 
 eral colonies. Because the views held by the government of 
 Virginia differed from those of the Continental Congress, 
 the Virginia legislature enacted a law prohibiting settlement 
 northwest of the Ohio River. This law was designed to ob- 
 viate any difficulties or jealousies which might arise before 
 ownership was finally determined. It was claimed in Con- 
 gress that the lands were acquired from the British govern- 
 ment and were maintained and defended by the blood and 
 treasure of all the states; therefore, the area should belong 
 to all the states in common and should be a source from 
 which the expenses of acquisition might be regained. The 
 sovereignty and the possessions of the crown were said to 
 have been transferred to the Continental Congress, the su- 
 preme governmental power of the American commonwealth. 
 It would be unfair for one state to receive a larger share of 
 land than another state, for each had contributed equally to- 
 ward its acquisition. 
 
 Virginia resisted this claim on the ground that the ter- 
 ritorial limits of the states must be those which were pre- 
 scribed and defined in their respective charters as colonies; 
 boundaries could be determined by no other means. To de- 
 
prive a state of any territory would be an infringement of 
 state sovereignty and a violation of the Articles of Confed- 
 eration. Virginia declared its willingness, however, to sup- 
 ply free lands in the Old Northwest to veterans of the Revo- 
 lution from states which had no unappropriated lands. Vir- 
 ginia's offer was made on the condition that other states 
 which owned western land would contribute their proportions 
 in the same manner. After considerable agitation, jealousy, 
 and uneasiness, Virginia agreed in 1784 to cede its jurisdic- 
 tion over the Old Northwest to the United States but retained 
 the right to grant land to its own soldiers in the area between 
 the Little Miami and the Scioto rivers. Virginia's claim ex- 
 tended to the forty-first parallel; Connecticut claimed juris- 
 diction over the area north of that line, which included part 
 of the present state of Ohio. Connecticut surrendered her 
 claim to the area to the general government in 1786, except 
 the district known as the Western Reserve. Jurisdiction 
 over the Western Reserve was also ceded in 1800, but Con- 
 necticut retained ownership of the land. In this manner, the 
 Old Northwest became the property of the general govern- 
 ment. 
 
 While the settlement of the territory north of the Ohio 
 River was delayed, Daniel Boone and those who followed him 
 were establishing themselves in Kentucky. That country 
 was not inhabited by Indians but was a kind of common hunt- 
 ing ground used by the tribes north and south of it. It was 
 frequently the scene of battles when hostile parties happened 
 to meet. At that time the Indians were not in a state of de- 
 termined hostility toward the whites, but they soon began to 
 consider the pioneers intruders and to be alarmed at their 
 encroachment on the hunting grounds. The Indians realized 
 that the destruction and dispersion of the game, upon which 
 they relied for subsistence, was a certain consequence of 
 the coming of settlers. The Indians soon determined to op- 
 pose the occupation of the country and to expel or destroy 
 the settlers. In the ensuing struggle, the Kentuckians found 
 dangerous and determined enemies in the Indians from north 
 of the Ohio. Many events of this struggle may be considered 
 
part of the history of Ohio, which was then inhabited by hos- 
 tile tribes and was frequently the scene of conflict. Forays 
 of Indians into Kentucky were usually followed by retaliatory 
 expeditions into Indian country; injuries inflicted upon resi- 
 dents on one side of the river were avenged by reprisals up- 
 on residents on the other side of the river. 
 
 One of the principal Indian towns in Ohio was the Shaw- 
 nee capital, Chillicothe, located on the Little Miami River. 
 '77Z Captain Thomas Bullitt visited Chillicothe onhis way 
 down the Ohio River to the falls. He and his party from Vir- 
 ginia intended to survey and settle on the site of Louisville, 
 Kentucky. Bullitt knew that the Shawnee claimed the land 
 around the falls as their hunting ground and that it would be 
 important for them to approve the settlement rather than to 
 consider it an intrusion. Therefore, he left his party on the 
 Ohio River and proceeded alone to Chillicothe. Without send- 
 ing any notice of his approach and without being seen, Bullitt 
 arrived at the town and displayed a white flag as a token of 
 peace. 
 
 The inhabitants, surprised at the sudden appearance 
 of a strange ambassador among them, gathered around him. 
 They asked him what news he brought, where he came from, 
 and why he had not sent a runner before him to give notice 
 of his approach. He answered that he had no bad news, that 
 he had come from the long knives (the common Indian appel- 
 lation for Virginians), and that he proposed to talk with his 
 brothers about living on the south side of the Ohio River. 
 Bullitt explained to the Shawnee that he had not sent a runner 
 because he did not have one as swift as himself. If he had 
 sent one, he would have been forced to await the runner's 
 return. He ended with a question in the Indian manner: if 
 one of them killed a deer and was very hungry, would he 
 send his squaw to the town to tell the news and not eat until 
 she returned? 
 
 The idea pleased the Indians, and Bullitt was taken to 
 their principal wigwam and regaled with venison. After the 
 feast, the warriors convened, and Bullitt told them that he 
 desired to settle on the south side of the Ohio River andcul- 
 
X— <Mu^^^ 
 
 %c in&abltanb qaKicrcol around Bullitt 
 
tivate the land. He declared that the settlement would not 
 interfere with hunting and trapping, and he expressed his 
 wish that the two races might live together as brothers and 
 friends. After a consultation, the Shawnee consented to the 
 proposed settlement and professed their satisfaction at Bul- 
 litt's promises not to disturb their hunting. The agreement 
 was satisfactory to both parties, and Captain Bullitt pro- 
 ceeded with his group to the falls, where they selected and 
 surveyed their lands. The pioneers then returned to Virginia 
 to make the necessary preparations for permanent settle- 
 ment, but Bullitt died before this was accomplished. 
 
 Notwithstanding the pacific disposition of the Indians 
 at the time of Bullitt's visit, it was not long until they became 
 hostile. Near the mouth of the Kanawha River in April, 1774, 
 white men murdered the family of the Indian chief known by 
 his English name of James or John Logan. About the same 
 time, the Indians became alarmed at the increasing numbers 
 of adventurers in Kentucky. At length they attacked the sur- 
 veyors who were selecting and locating lands. Some white 
 men were killed, and others were forced to return to Vir- 
 ginia. A general war ensued along the headwaters of the 
 Ohio and Kanawha rivers. To check the Indians in that area, 
 an army of nearly three thousand men was raised in Virginia. 
 One division of fifteen hundred men, "commanded by Colonel 
 Andrew Lewis, was dispatched to the mouth of the Kanawha; 
 the other division, commanded by Governor John Dunmore, 
 was directed to a higher point on the Ohio. 
 
 When the division under Colonel Lewis arrived at the 
 junction of the Kanawha and the Ohio rivers, it was attacked 
 by a strong force of Shawnee, Delaware, and Mingo Indians. 
 The battle commenced at sunrise on October 10, 1774, and 
 lasted until sunset, when the whites were left in possession 
 of the field with approximately fifty men killed and one hun- 
 dred wounded. About two hundred Indians were killed. On 
 the evening after the fight, a runner arrived from Governor 
 Dunmore, who did not know of the battle. He ordered Colo- 
 nel Lewis' division to join his command in the neighborhood 
 of the Shawnee towns. Colonel Lewis crossed the Ohio and 
 
was proceeding according to his orders when he was met by 
 another runner with the information that a treaty had been 
 concluded with the Indians; all lands south of the Ohio River 
 had been ceded to the whites. It was at that conference that 
 Governor Dunmore received the celebrated speech from the 
 Mingo chief, Logan. Logan explained that he had taken part 
 in the war to avenge the unprovoked murder of his family by 
 Colonel Michael Cresap. 
 
 The treaty made by Lord Dunmore did not protect the 
 adventurers in Kentucky from further Indian hostility; the 
 savages continued to infest the country and to murder or 
 carry into captivity everyone falling into their power. Set- 
 tlers barricaded themselves in stockades, and every attempt 
 to procure game for food was at the risk of life or liberty. 
 Indians were constantly prowling and lurking about the forts, 
 so that no one felt secure outside the walls. Large numbers 
 of Indians sometimes besieged the forts for several days and 
 made determined efforts to destroy them. 
 
 During the Revolutionary War, the hostility of the sav- 
 ages was stimulated and increased by the British who occu- 
 pied the posts on the Lakes. The British thought that the 
 miseries and horrors of abloody and unrelenting Indian war- 
 fare on the frontier would be the most effective means of de- 
 feating the colonies. The Indians were incited by promises 
 of rewards for all the scalps they could take; at the same 
 time, they were reminded of the necessity of destroying the 
 settlers, whose encroachments were depriving them of their 
 homes and hunting grounds. The British were not content, 
 however, merely with inciting the Indians; frequently, they 
 joined in the incursions and aided the Indians with their ex- 
 perience in European warfare. Combinations of Indians and 
 British were frequently more formidable to the Americans 
 than were much larger numbers of Indians unaided by their 
 civilized allies. The Kentuckians were, of course, particu- 
 larly exposed to all these attacks, for they were in the midst 
 of their enemies and beyond the efficient aid of their friends. 
 In 1777 the Indians made determined efforts to destroy the 
 three settlements in Kentucky; Harrodsburg was besieged 
 
once, Boonesborough and Logan's Fort twice. Although the 
 garrisons withstood the sieges, the pioneers experienced 
 great hardships. 
 
 While hunting game for men who were making salt at 
 the Lower Blue Licks in February, 1778, Daniel Boone was 
 captured by nearly one hundred Indians on their way to attack 
 Boonesborough. Unable to escape, Boone promised the sur- 
 render of the men at the Licks; twenty-seven became pris- 
 oners. The Indians, elated with their success, returned 
 home in great triumph instead of attacking Boonesborough. 
 Boone and his companions were taken to Chillicothe, and in 
 March he and ten others were moved to Detroit. The com- 
 mandant, Governor Henry Hamilton, wished to ransom Boone , 
 but the Indians would not agree. They had become fond of 
 him and had decided to adopt him. Soon they returned with 
 Boone to Chillicothe but left his ten companions in Detroit. 
 He was adopted into one of the principal families and became 
 a great favorite because of his skill with a rifle and his judi- 
 cious conduct. In June, he was sent with a party to make 
 salt at the Scioto salt springs. When they returned to Chilli- 
 cothe, Boone found 450 armed and painted warriors ready to 
 attack Boonesborough. 
 
 The imminent danger of his friends and their certain 
 capture if surprised and unprepared determined him to warn 
 them at the hazard of his life. Concealing food for a single 
 meal in his blanket, Boone went out as if to hunt, as he was 
 permitted to do. Four days later he arrived in Boonesbor- 
 ough. He had traveled 1 60 miles without even taking time to 
 kill an animal for food. Boone found the fort in a bad state 
 of repair, but no time was lost in making arrangements to 
 repel the enemy. The Indians, however, delayed their ex- 
 pedition for about three weeks because of Boone's escape. 
 
 Later another escaped prisoner reported the decision 
 of the Indians to postpone their invasion; Boone and nineteen 
 other men seized the opportunity to attack a town, also named 
 Chillicothe, on Paint Creek. Withinfour miles of that place, 
 Boone and his men met thirty Indians who were on their way 
 to join the grand army marching against Boonesborough. 
 
 10 
 
Simon Kenton, whose name is almost as celebrated in the 
 annals of Kentucky as is that of Daniel Boone, was serving 
 as a scout in advance of Boone's party. Hearing loud laugh- 
 ter in a thicket, Kenton concealed himself behind a tree. 
 Two Indians, talking and laughing in fine humor, were riding 
 on the same horse toward him. When they had approached 
 sufficiently near, he aimed at the breast of the foremost and 
 fired. The ball killed the first Indian and wounded the sec- 
 ond. Kenton immediately rushed up to tomahawk the wounded 
 Indian, but he heard a rustling in the bushes and turned in 
 time to see two other Indians aiming their rifles at him. As 
 he sprang aside, the balls whistled by his ears. He flew to 
 the nearest tree for protection and in a moment saw about a 
 dozen Indians approaching. At this critical juncture the Ken- 
 tuckians came up, and the Indians fled. The Indian whom 
 Kenton had killed was left on the ground, and two of those 
 who fled were wounded. 
 
 After the rout of the enemy, Boone sent two spies to 
 reconnoiter the town, which was found to be deserted. Con- 
 cluding that the Indian force must be on the way to attack 
 Boonesborough, Boone realized that the force might reach 
 the fort before his return. He marched his men day and 
 night, and on the sixth of September they came upon the trail 
 of the enemy. Taking a circuit to avoid the Indians, Boone 
 arrived at the fort on the seventh; the Indians arrived the 
 next day. The garrison had less than fifty men, while the 
 Indians numbered between five and seven hundred and were 
 led by Captain Du Quesne of the British service. 
 
 The fort was surrounded and called upon to surrender 
 in the name of the king of England. Boone demanded two 
 days to consider the proposal and immediately called a coun- 
 cil of all the men in the fort. They resolved unanimously to 
 defend themselves to the last. They herded their cattle and 
 horses into the fort and strengthened their defenses. When 
 the two days had passed, they announced their decision. 
 Du Quesne continued to impress upon them the advantages of 
 a treaty and made further proposals. Negotiations were 
 continued for another day, terms were agreed upon, and a 
 
 11 
 
 
kerctan iuxneL da turae- 
 
treaty was signed. But the whole proceeding was a trick! 
 After the treaty had been concluded about sixty yards from 
 the gate of the fort, two Indians approached each white man 
 and, under pretense of shaking hands with him, attempted to 
 drag him off as a prisoner. Every white man extricated 
 himself and, except for one who was wounded, reached the 
 fort safely as the soldiers inside fired upon the pursuing In- 
 dians. The fort was then vigorously attacked. During the 
 nine-day siege which followed the first onslaught, the enemy 
 made numerous unsuccessful attempts to set the cabins afire 
 and to undermine the walls of the fort. At length the Indians 
 abandoned the siege and returned home with thirty-seven 
 braves killed and a considerable number wounded. Two Ken- 
 tuckians were killed and four wounded. 
 
 INDIANA JOURNAL, June 8, 1833 
 
 After the siege of Boonesborough was raised, Colonel 
 John Bowman of Kentucky proposed a retaliatory expedition 
 against Chillicothe. It was not undertaken, however, until 
 the following year. In the meantime, Simon Kenton, George 
 Clark, and Alexander Montgomery were sent to Chillicothe 
 to gather information for use in planning the attack. The 
 spies arrivedat Chillicothe without being discovered, walked 
 around the houses at night, and carefully examined every- 
 thing. When they came to an enclosure where the Indians 
 had penned their horses, the temptation to carry them off 
 was irresistible. They succeeded in placing halters on a 
 number of horses, but some animals made so much noise 
 that the Indians were awakened. The whole village was soon 
 in an uproar as the inhabitants rushed out to save their prop- 
 erty. Kenton and his friends grabbed the halters of the horses 
 they had secured and commenced their flight. Two men led 
 the way, and the third rode in the rear with a whip, urging 
 
 13 
 
the horses forward at full speed. Soon they had far outdis- 
 tanced their pursuers. After riding all of the following day 
 and night, they arrived on the banks of the Ohio River. A 
 whole day was spent in endeavoring to force the horses to 
 swim the river. During a last and still unavailing effort the 
 next morning, several of the horses got away and turned 
 homeward. Unwilling to give them up, the Kentuckians pur- 
 sued the horses and were soon discovered by the Indians. 
 Kenton was captured, Montgomery was killed, and Clark 
 escaped. 
 
 The incensed Indians commenced to beat Kenton with 
 their ramrods and to call him "thief," "rascal," and, as the 
 worst epithet of all, "white man. " Finally, they began the 
 return to Chillicothe. At night they secured Kenton by mak- 
 ing him lie on his back with a pole placed across his breast 
 and tied to his outstretched arms. His feet were tied to 
 stakes driven into the ground, and a rope was passed around 
 his neck and tied to a sapling. Combining sport with re- 
 venge, the Indians once tied Kenton's hands behind him and 
 placed him on an unbroken colt. After tying his feet under 
 the belly of the animal, they turned it loose with a sudden 
 lash. Kenton expected to be torn to pieces in the brushy 
 country; but after bucking for some time to the great amuse- 
 ment of the Indians, the colt fell in line with the other horses 
 and was quiet the remainder of the day. 
 
 The party halted within a few miles of Chillicothe, and 
 a messenger was sent forward to inform the inhabitants of 
 their approach. Kenton and the Indians were met about a 
 mile from the town by its whole population- -men, women, 
 and children. Whooping, yelling, and clapping their hands, 
 they demanded that Kenton be tied to the stake. This was 
 soon done. Then the howling, screaming Indians danced 
 around him until midnight, cuffing and striking him with 
 switches and keeping him in momentary expectation of being 
 tortured to death by fire. At last he was unbound and taken 
 to the village. Early the next morning he was brought out to 
 run the gauntlet. Braves, squaws, and children, armed with 
 clubs, switches, and similar weapons, formed two long rows 
 
 14 
 
<*& 
 
 %c Indians ala^cea curowak loam. 
 
extending to the council house, where an Indian stood with a 
 drum to give the starting signal. Kenton was ordered to run 
 between the lines to the council house. After the signal was 
 given, he ran a short distance and then burst through the 
 lines. All the Indians rushed after him in disorderly pur- 
 suit, but by running in a semicircle Kenton reached the door 
 of the council house with little injury. A council decided not 
 to burn him immediately but to exhibit him first in other 
 towns. Kenton was accordingly marched from town to town 
 and was compelled to run the gauntlet eight times. He could 
 only expect to end his sufferings by a death of torture. 
 
 On one occasion Kenton made a desperate attempt to 
 escape. As the Indians guarding him approached a town, 
 they announced their arrival by firing their guns and by giv- 
 ing the scalp halloo. When they were answered by a drum in 
 the town, Kenton suddenly burst from his guards and sprang 
 into the bushes. He was immediately followed by the whole 
 party, some on horseback and some on foot. Kenton had 
 considerably outdistanced his pursuers when he was recap- 
 tured by a party of Indians from the town. 
 
 At the village of Wakatomica, the warriors assembled 
 in the council house to determine Kenton's fate. Among the 
 Indians were Simon Girty and several other white renegades 
 who had adopted the savage way of life. They were noted for 
 surpassing, if possible, the Indians themselves in the cruelty 
 and inhumanity with which they treated prisoners. Girty and 
 Kenton had served together as scouts in Dunmore's expedi- 
 tion, but that was before Girty had received the mortal of- 
 fense which made him the implacable enemy of his country- 
 men. At that time, Simon Kenton was known only by the as- 
 sumed name of Simon Butler. 
 
 WhenKenton entered the council house at Wakatomica, 
 Girty did not recognize him. Girty threw a blanket upon the 
 floor and harshly ordered him to sit down upon it. When 
 Kenton did not comply with the order immediately, Girty 
 seized him violently and jerked him down. He then began to 
 question Kenton about conditions in Kentucky and the number 
 of men who were there. He inquired about particular indi- 
 
 16 
 
mm 
 
 t& • - 
 
 6i>tw embracei Kenton.... 
 
 '/*¥".■ 
 
viduals whom he had known, and at length he asked the pris- 
 oner his name. When Kenton answered "Simon Butler," 
 Girty recognized his old companion and friend. Feelings of 
 friendship revived, and Girty became so violently excited 
 that at length he rushed forward and embraced Kenton with 
 much emotion. In a short and energetic speech, Girty told 
 the astonished Indians of his old companionship and friend- 
 ship with the prisoner and entreated them to grant Kenton's 
 life. He asked to be spared the agony of witnessing the tor- 
 ture of his old comrade. Girty claimed this favor was due 
 him for his faithful services and his zealous devotion to the 
 Indian cause. After listening to him in silence and after 
 holding a long, animated, and earnest debate, the Indians 
 voted to grant Girty' s request. 
 
 When Kenton was set at liberty, Girty took him to his 
 own wigwam and clothed him; for some time the Indians 
 treated him as one of themselves. But when the chiefs in 
 some of the neighboring towns heard that Kenton had been 
 saved from the stake, they were very dissatisfied and de- 
 manded that another council be held to reconsider his re- 
 lease. All Girty' s influence and efforts were unavailing, 
 and he was forced to acquiesce. Those who desired Kenton's 
 execution triumphed. The prisoner was condemned to be 
 burned at Sandusky, where he was conducted by a guard. On 
 the way, an Indian in a paroxysm of fury sank a tomahawk 
 into Kenton's shoulder and almost severed his arm from his 
 body. The morning after the arrival at Sandusky was se- 
 lected as the time for the execution. 
 
 When hope had deserted him and death seemed at hand, 
 Kenton was saved by the intervention of a British Indian agent 
 named Drew-year. He prevailed upon the Indians to let him 
 take Kenton to Detroit, where the English commander might 
 obtain information from him about Kentucky. Drew-year 
 promised the Indians that Kenton would again be returned to 
 them after the information had been obtained. On the way to 
 Detroit, however, the agent informed Kenton that he would 
 not be handed over to the Indians again. In Detroit Kenton 
 was allowed his freedom but was required to report once a 
 
 18 
 
day at the time of the parade of the garrison. In June, 1779, 
 Kenton devised a plan of escape with two young men who had 
 been captured the previous spring at Blue Licks with Boone. 
 After procuring arms and ammunition, they escaped at night; 
 by taking a circuitous course, they arrived safely in Louis- 
 ville thirty days later. 
 
 In July, 1779, the expedition which the settlers had 
 planned against Chillicothe the previous year was begun. The 
 Shawnee who inhabited the towns on the Mad River were noted 
 for the bitterness of their hostility toward the Kentuckians 
 and for the frequency of their invasions. It was decided, 
 therefore, to carry the war into Shawnee territory. About 
 160 men assembled at Harrodsburg and placed themselves 
 under the commandof Colonel John Bowman; the next officer 
 in command was Captain Logan. They arrived near Chilli- 
 cothe in the evening of the second day after they had crossed 
 the Ohio River at the mouth of the Licking River. The Indi- 
 ans were unaware of their approach. After scouts had re- 
 ported the exact location of the town, the party divided. 
 Logan commanded one detachment , and Bowman led the other. 
 The attack was to begin shortly before daybreak. The divi- 
 sions were to march around opposite sides of the village and 
 were to encircle it completely. When the front lines of the 
 two divisions met, the attack was to commence. 
 
 Logan followed the plan and directed his men to con- 
 ceal themselves in the grass and weeds until they received 
 the signal for the attack, but no orders arrived. In the mean- 
 time, a dog began to bark. A warrior walked cautiously to- 
 wards the place of Logan's concealment, looking for the ob- 
 ject of the dog's alarm. Logan's men hoped to capture the 
 Indian noiselessly, but suddenly one of Bowman's party fired 
 a gun. The Indian gave a whoop and ran back to the town. 
 The Indians immediately ran to the largest cabin and pre- 
 pared to defend it. The men of Logan's detachment seized 
 the deserted houses and soon established themselves within 
 range of the cabin in which the Indians were collected. Both 
 sides kept up a rapid fire. Logan then ordered a movable 
 breastwork made of the floors and doors of cabins. It was 
 
 19 
 
tobe pushed forward against the Indian stronghold. As Logan 
 was making these preparations, Colonel Bowman ordered 
 him to retreat. The withdrawal became difficult and dan- 
 gerous, for the men were exposed to Indian fire. Several 
 men were killed. 
 
 At length Logan's command rejoined Bowman's force, 
 which had not moved during the attack. For some unknown 
 reason, Bowman and his men had done nothing toward the 
 fulfillment of their part of the plan of attack. Bowman him- 
 self appeared to have lost, all energy and self-command and 
 seemed incapable of meeting the emergency. No course was 
 left but to retreat with all possible speed. The captains at- 
 tempted to restore order, and the march began. A short 
 time later the Indians surrounded them and kept up a hot and 
 galling fire. A detachment soon repelled the enemy; but as 
 soon as the Kentuckians proceeded, they were again sur- 
 rounded and attacked. The Indians were compelled to retire 
 on every occasion, but it soon became evident from the fre- 
 quent and continued attacks that the enemy was endeavoring 
 merely to harass and impede their progress. When rein- 
 forcements arrived from the other villages, the Indians would 
 be strong enough to destroy the entire white force. There- 
 fore, Logan and the other officers decided to attack. All the 
 mounted men dashed in among the Indians, searched the 
 woods in every direction, and completely dispersed the en- 
 emy. Continuing their retreat unmolested, the men de- 
 scended the Little Miami River to the mouth, crossed the 
 Ohio, and arrived home. Nine men had been killed and sev- 
 eral wounded. 
 
 Early in 1780, the British at Detroit prepared to send 
 a powerful expedition into Kentucky to destroy the settle- 
 ments. In May of that year, a prisoner named Chaplin es- 
 caped from Detroit and arrived at Harrodsburg with the first 
 news of the intended invasion. The British planned to collect 
 a strong Indian force and supplement it with British and Ca- 
 nadian troops and artillery under the command of Colonel 
 Henry Bird. The first blow was to be struck at Louisville; 
 then the other stations were to be destroyed systematically. 
 
 20 
 
On the basis of information given by Chaplin, the Kentuckians 
 supposed that the enemy could not arrive before the last of 
 July, and they made their preparations accordingly. 
 
 The season was wet, however, and Colonel Bird gave 
 up his design of attacking Louisville first. He took advan- 
 tage of the swollen streams to transport cannon and stores 
 by water. Reaching Kentucky earlier than anticipated, he 
 descended the Miami River and ascended the Licking River 
 to the forks. Here he erected some huts to protect his bag- 
 gage from the weather and then marched by land against 
 Ruddle's Station, a small stockade on the south side of the 
 river. He arrived there on the twenty- second of June with a 
 force in excess of six hundred men and six pieces of artil- 
 lery. The first intimation the garrison had of the British 
 approach was the sound of cannon. Bird then demanded the 
 surrender of the fort. Aware of their inability to defend 
 themselves against so large a force, the garrison capitulated 
 with the express condition that the inhabitants should be pris- 
 oners of the British and not of the Indians. As soon, how- 
 ever, as the gates were opened, the Indians rushed into the 
 fort and seized all those within as prisoners. Bird was un- 
 able to restrain them, and the captives were distributed 
 among the savage conquerors. The horror of the situation 
 was increased by the separation of members of families-- 
 wives were torn from their husbands, and children from 
 their parents. 
 
 When the prisoners and the plunder had been divided, 
 the Indians proposed to attack Martin's Station, which was 
 five miles away and as defenseless as Ruddle's Station. Colo- 
 nel Bird refused to march against it, however, until the In- 
 dians agreed to take only plunder and leave the prisoners 
 entirely under British control. After this agreement had 
 been made, they proceeded against Martin's Station and took 
 it without opposition. The prisoners were taken by the Brit- 
 ish, and the Indians did not violate their agreement. The 
 red men were so elated with their success that they pressed 
 Colonel Bird to lead them against Bryan's Station and Lex- 
 ington, which they could probably have captured with little 
 
 21 
 
c Jhe Indians rushed into the fort 
 
difficulty. Colonel Bird, however, was afraid that the waters 
 would recede and make it very difficult for him to reach the 
 Ohio River with his artillery. He declined to attack Lexing- 
 ton, returned to his boats at the forks of the Licking River, 
 and descended to the Ohio River. There the Indians left him 
 and dispersed. Bird then ascended the Great Miami River 
 as far as it was navigable and, after hiding his artillery, 
 marched by land to Detroit. 
 
 Among the prisoners taken at Ruddle's Station was 
 Captain John Hinkston, a courageous and experienced hunter 
 and woodsman. When the Indians encamped on the second 
 night after leaving the forks of the Licking River, they en- 
 countered considerable difficulty in building fires. Every- 
 thing was wet, and it was dark before the fires were burn- 
 ing. While the attention of the guards was distracted, Hink- 
 ston sprang into the woods and immediately disappeared from 
 sight. When the alarm was given, the Indians dispersed in 
 every direction, for they did not know which way the prisoner 
 had gone. Hinkston ran only a short distance and then lay 
 down by a large log to conceal himself until the tumult had 
 subsided and the pursuit was nearly abandoned. He then 
 continued his flight but lost his way in the darkness. After 
 traveling a considerable distance, he found himself again 
 close to the Indian camp. Unable to see the stars or the 
 moss on the trees, Hinkston found it difficult to direct his 
 course. But he knew that the wind blew from the west, which 
 was the direction he wished to go. By dipping his hand in 
 water and holding it above his head, he could feel the direc- 
 tion of the wind. In this way he directed his course toward 
 the west. After traveling most of the night, he sat down be- 
 neath a tree and fell asleep. In the morning a very thick fog 
 saved Hinkston from again falling into the hands of the ene- 
 my. Close around him he heard Indians imitating the cries 
 of different beasts and birds. After having baffled all pur- 
 suit for several days, he arrived in Lexington with the first 
 news of the capture of Ruddle's Station. 
 
 The alarm of Bird's invasion into Kentucky soon gave 
 way to a determination to avenge the injury done by the ene- 
 
 23 
 

 ^^s 
 
 \\z 5al doi)n and (ell Qfiiedp 
 
my. An expedition was planned to destroy the Indian towns 
 on the Little Miami and Mad rivers. It was decided that 
 Colonel Logan's force should join General George Rogers 
 Clark's volunteers and regular troops at the mouth of the 
 Licking River. When the junction was effected on July 26, 
 1780, the army consisted of 970 men and some artillery. On 
 August 2, the march was started from the site of the present 
 city of Cincinnati. On the afternoon of the sixth they arrived 
 at Chillicothe, which they found abandoned. Warned of the 
 approaching army, the Indians had set fire to their houses 
 and fled. The troops encamped on the ground that night; on 
 the following day they cut down several hundred acres of corn 
 around the town before resuming the march in the afternoon. 
 
 The next objective was the Indian town of Piqua, lo- 
 cated on the northwest side of the Mad River about eight miles 
 from Springfield and twelve miles from Chillicothe. After 
 the army had marched only about a mile, a violent thunder- 
 storm developed and continued until nearly dark and forced 
 the army to encamp. To keep their arms in order, one 
 company was directed to fire their guns; after they had re- 
 loaded, another company on the opposite side of the encamp- 
 ment fired. The firing continued until all the guns had been 
 discharged and reloaded. It was afterward learned that the 
 Indians had intended to attack them that night, but after hear- 
 ing the firing, they deferred the encounter because of the 
 vigilant precautions taken by the American army. 
 
 At sunrise on the morning of the eighth, the march 
 was resumed, and at two o'clock the army arrived in sight 
 of Piqua. The road from Chillicothe crossed the Mad River 
 about a quarter of a mile below Piqua. This town extended 
 up the river for about three miles with the houses sometimes 
 more than twenty rods apart. As soon as the first ranks had 
 crossed the river into the prairie, they were attacked by the 
 enemy concealed in the grass and weeds. Realizing that a 
 general engagement was imminent, Clark ordered Colonel 
 Logan with about four hundred men to go up the east side of 
 the river and to cross above the town. Clark was unaware 
 that Piqua extended as far as it did. The object of the move- 
 
 25 
 
ment was to prevent the Indians from escaping by hemming 
 them in between the two divisions of the army; its effect, 
 however, was to cause the battle to be fought entirely by the 
 division under Clark's immediate command. The fighting 
 was over before Logan's detachment reached its destination; 
 his men did not see an Indian or fire a gun. 
 
 While Logan was going up the river, another division 
 under Colonels John Floyd, William Lynn, and William 
 Harrod was ordered to cross the river and to encompass the 
 town on the west side. General Clark and Colonel Thomas 
 Slaughter were to march with the artillery directly toward 
 the village. Floyd and his men crossed two hundred yards 
 of open prairie in order to reach the woodland and avoid en- 
 emy fire. When the Indians endeavored to turn toward the 
 left, Floyd and Lynn executed a corresponding movement. 
 The attempts of each army to outflank the other extended the 
 line of battle more than a mile from the river. The engage- 
 ment was warmly contested until about five o'clock in the 
 afternoon, when the Indians suddenly gave way and disap- 
 peared. 
 
 Clark's army found abundant provisions already cooked 
 and left almost untouched. It appeared that the Indians were 
 just commencing their meal when the army arrived. The 
 day after the battle was spent in destroying corn and vege- 
 tables, in burning cabins, and in collecting horses; the next 
 day the army returned to Chillicothe, where it encamped for 
 the night. After destroying a field of corn which had been 
 left for the horses, the army began its homeward march on 
 the eleventh of August. When it reached the mouth of Lick- 
 ing River, the army disbanded, and the pioneer soldiers re- 
 turned to their homes. The success of the campaign was of 
 the utmost importance. A defeat would have been disastrous 
 to the settlers in Kentucky. 
 
 INDIANA JOURNAL, June 29, 1833 
 
 26 
 
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 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS URBANA 
 
 977IN2S C001 
 
 STRUGGLES IN THE OLD NORTHWEST AND KENTU 
 
 3 0112 025376218