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Archiver > WADE > 1999-06 > 0929232567


From: Edward Smith <>
Subject: [WADE-L] Saltmakers Ordeal
Date: Sat, 12 Jun 1999 20:09:27 -0400


To Wade List:
After checking with the most gracious hostess of the Wade page, I will
be posting a short book over the next several days. The book mainly
concerns Richard Wade, but it has other folks in it as well. The book is
not copyrighted. Where I have excerpted information from other material,
such as published books and The Draper files, I have given them credit
in the body of the text. If you use this material, I ask that you do the
same. I will furnish source and page information for any statement, name
or date in the book, but I can’t give the exact quotes due to the length
of the sources. I’ll tell you where to look, and you can look it up! If
you’re not interested in this, just use your delete button ?.
CHAPTER EIGHT

On September 8, 1778 Blackfish arrived at the fort with an estimated
444 Indians decorated in a blaze of brilliant war paint, and 12 French
Canadians serving as British Agents. The Indians had more than an ample
supply of ammunition, weapons, scalping knives, and a generous supply of
war paint - all supplied by Hamilton.

Prior to the siege on Boonesborough, negotiations were held in an
attempt to make peace. The settlers distrusted the Indians enough to
make sure that the conferences were held outside the fort in a hollow of
the Lick Spring, only about eighty yards from the stockade and within
rifle range. The Indians had proposed that the meetings should be held
inside the fort. On the final day of negotiations, nine men were to meet
at the Council Table. Here the negotiators gathered around a
cloth-covered outdoor table, Indians, British, and Americans. A clerk
took down the decisions. It was all very formal. The British union jack
(and for some queer reason, the flag of France, then fighting on the
American side) were displayed by De Quindre. Boonesborough possessed an
American flag by this time, but there is no record the settlers brought
it along. Only eight of the Kentuckians, instead of the nine stipulated,
appeared at the Council Table: Daniel and Squire Boone; the suspicious
Richard Callaway and his nephew Flanders (Daniel Boone's son-in-law);
William Hancock, like Boone an escaped prisoner; Boone's old associate
Stephen Hancock; Major William Bailey Smith, later historian of the
siege, and William Buchanan. At the stockade, masqueraders were showing
themselves in great numbers for the benefit of Blackfish, De Quindre,
and a large number of Indians who now emerged from the forest. The
Siege began shortly after the meeting of September 11, 1778, when
negotiations failed, and continued until September 18. In reality there
were no more than 30 men and 20 boys capable of firing a rifle inside
Boonesborough. A captive had deceived Hamilton into believing all three
forts had been reinforced with Virginia Militia. As the days passed,
ammunition and water were in short supply. Wounds, sleepless nights,
strain and conflicts in personalities were taking its toll on the little
garrison. The Indians fired flaming arrows and the settlers were
becoming desperate, knowing that other Indians were digging a tunnel
underneath the fort to gain access to the settlers. Somehow, the Indians
managed to set fire to one outside wall. It was put out by a brave soul
who rushed outside, extinguished the fire, and managed to scramble back
inside before he was killed.

It began to rain. It continued to rain for two days, extinguishing the
fires and collapsing the tunnel. The Indians retreated. The Kentuckians
had suffered two dead and four wounded. Boone calculated that the enemy
had 37 killed, it had been the longest siege ever mounted in Kentucky.

William's Hancock’s wife, Molly, kept an iron pan with a handle some 5
or 6 feet long near her during the siege. It was her weapon of defense.
She slept with it in her hand, and continued carrying it even after she
went to Missouri and settled.

It was later mistakenly reported, in a petition that was sent to the
authorities on October 16, 1779 requesting 640 acres for use as a town,
that William Hancock had been killed during the siege. He did not die at
Boonesborough.

Shortly after the siege had ended, Richard Callaway brought charges
against Daniel Boone, stating that he had collaborated with the enemy.
These charges were:
i. That Boone had taken out twenty-six men to make salt at the Blue
Licks, and the Indians had caught him trapping for beaver ten miles
below the Licking, and he voluntarily surrendered his men at the Licks
to the enemy.
ii. That when a prisoner, he engaged with Governor Hamilton to surrender
the people of Boonesborough, to be removed to Detroit, and live under
British protection and jurisdiction.
iii. That returning from captivity, he encouraged a party of men to
accompany him to the Paint Lick Town, weakening the garrison at a time
when the arrival of an Indian army was daily expected to attack the
fort.
iv. That preceding the attack on Boonesborough, he was willing to take
the officers of the fort, on pretense of making peace, to the Indian
camp beyond the protection of the guns of the garrison.

Colonel Callaway, who apparently had some kind of grudge against Boone,
said that Boone was in favor of the British government and had sought
opportunities to play into its hands and therefore ought to be broken of
his commission. Boone defended his conduct in a simple statement and
maintained that he only had the true interests of his country at heart
and he had used duplicity, in trying to win the confidence of the enemy.

That he was successful was evident because he was able to escape at a
critical time and give notice of the intended attack against
Boonesborough. The fort was put in proper order before the siege began.
He maintained that the unusual delay of the enemy gave him reason in
making the Scioto expedition to learn of their movements; and that at
the negotiations preceding the attack on Boonesborough he had ventured
more than be thought prudent for personal safety, but he wished to
impress on the minds of the Indians his confidence in them and "fool
them," as he termed it, as long as possible. This entire course of
action was to gain time for the arrival of the anxiously expected
reinforcement from Holston.

His escape from Indian captivity, his expedition to the Scioto and bold
attack on the Indians there, the wound he received, and sleepless
watchfulness and leadership he had exhibited during the siege of
Boonesborough he thought were sufficient evidences of his devotion to
thc American cause.

After a full investigation, he was honorably acquitted by the
court-martial on every charge and at the same time advanced to the rank
of major. Colonel Callaway and Captain Logan were not exactly pleased
with the result, but it appears that the other settlers were happy with
the outcome. Many of the persons involved later admitted that his
actions had saved many lives, and that it was the smart course to take.

William Hancock, who had a feisty, but friendly relationship with
Daniel, admitted publicly that Daniel had done what he could to protect
the saltmakers and the people at Boonesborough. He was often heard
“ragging or needling” Boone about the incident. William and his family
later moved near where Boone had settled in Missouri, and presumably
renewed their old relationship.

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