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Archiver > WADE > 1999-06 > 0929232964
From: Edward Smith <>
Subject: [WADE-L] Saltmakers Ordeal
Date: Sat, 12 Jun 1999 20:16:04 -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 cant give the exact quotes due to the length
of the sources. Ill tell you where to look, and you can look it up! If
youre not interested in this, just use your delete button ?.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
At some point in time between his return from captivity and the Battle
at Blue Licks, Richard Wade was ordered to participate in some
unspecified action against the Indians. This action could have been as a
member of the group participating in the action at Estills Defeat or
some other action or scouting expedition. Whatever it was, Richard
refused to participate, saying in his deposition of 1833 that he was
unable to perform the duties. He was brought before a Courts Martial,
but excused by Gen. George Rogers Clark, who said the persons ordering
Richard into service had no right to do so.
Gen. Clark was one of the Virginia heros about whom enough praise
cannot be given. He was born in 1752, and was a very intelligent,
complex man. He served as a Captain in Dunmores War in 1774 and then
came to Kentucky and established himself near present day Frankfort. In
1777 Gov. Patrick Henry promoted him to Lt. Col. and by 1779 he had made
excursions into what would become Indiana and Illinois and captured the
British occupied French towns of Kaskaskia, Vincennes and Cahokia. His
exploits and adventures in the exploration and settlement of the
Mississippi River valley are well documented and will not be covered
here. He was promoted by Gov. Thomas Jefferson to Brig. General in 1781.
He died on 13 February 1818 of a stroke. He never married. He died at
his sisters house, near Louisville.
The Battle of Blue Licks, as told through excerpts from Draper,
Belue and Ward and significantly edited and shortened by the author,
occurred on Monday, August 19th, 1782. William and Stephen were probably
not involved, but Richard was sent to the battle field on the following
Saturday to assist in recovering and burying the dead.
A large force of Wyandot Indians laid siege to Bryan's Station in
August 1782. Less than 200 men from Boonesborough, Lexington and
Harrodsburg marched to assist the settlement. It has been stated that no
finer fighting men ever faced an enemy than these weathered
frontiersmen. The warriors withdrew to Blue Licks. Commanders Lt. Col.
Daniel Boone, Lt. Col. John Todd, and Lt. Col. Stephen Trigg were
discussing tactics in council. Col. Benjamin Logan was enroute with
nearly 500 reinforcements. While the council was in session, Boone was
cautioning against an ambush, when the following conversation took
place.
"By Godly," inquired McGary, "what have we come here for?" "To fight the
Indians," said somebody.
"By Godly," cried McGary, "then why not fight them?" With that, swearing
he would prove his own courage at least, he waved his rifle over his
head and rode into the river, yelling: "All who are not damned cowards
follow me, and I'll soon show you the Indian.
This piece of bravado was the worst sort of insubordination, but it
suited the temperment of the frontiersmen. Instantly men were everywhere
scrambling into their saddles and splashing through the river, while the
Indian scouts watching from above must have wondered if the white men
had lost their minds."
In less than five minutes, approximately 400 Indians under cover
ambushed the unsuspecting frontiersmen. It was possibly the last battle
of the American Revolution, and over 70 valiant Kentuckians were killed
in the Battle at Blue Licks. One of those killed was Israel Boone, the
son of Daniel. The shock of the mutilations and death of these brave
frontiersmen rocked the small forts.
Richard was referring to this battle in his deposition when he said
that he went to recover the bodies of the dead.
The lives of the Hancock brothers Stephen and William, and their
descendents have been recorded in some detail in other books and will
not be repeated here. Several small incidents are recorded below in
order that the reader may follow the lives and migrations of William and
Stephen to their conclusion, with no attempt to provide the myriad of
details that are available.
The Kentucky Historical Society reports that William and Stephen were
included on a list of those who "lived more or less within the fort from
its completion in the latter part of July 1776 up to 1783." They were
also listed as having established Hancock Station, close to Irvins
Station on Tates Creek.
By 1780, William and Stephen appear on the land records of Lincoln
County. William owned land on Tates and Otter Creeks, and Stephen had
land on Tates and Silver Creek.
According to Louis Houck's History of Missouri, Daniel Boone started
for Upper Louisiana (Missouri) September, 1799, accompanied by a group
of about twenty-five persons, including Flanders Callaway and Forrest
Hancock, (Daniel Forest Hancock, Williams son). They reached the
Mississippi River in October and crossed Boone's stock at the mouth of
the Missouri. They traveled to the Femme Osage, where Daniel Morgan
Boone, one of his sons, had already established himself several years
earlier. Apparently William's sons Stephen and Forrest were also
settled, or had at least scouted out the area, prior to the actual
moving of the remaining family members. Forrest had a survey of 400
arpents executed on January 24, 1798.
William Sr. filed for 600 arpents of land, son Stephen filed for 400
arpents, with boundaries on the Missouri River and Tuque Creek. This,
indeed, may have been the first time William and Stephen were separated
for any length of time. Church records of Madison County note "William
Hancock and wife dismissed by letters" in February 1800.
Stephen (Sr.) appears in land and court documents as late as 1820 in
Kentucky:
April 2, 1804 "Motion of Higgason Grubbs also of Stephen Hancock who
holds a bond given by James Estill Deceased for land and filed with the
Clerk of this Court and a notice filed it is ordered that James Anderson
be appointed a commissioner in the room of John Wilkerson who was
appointed last Court for the purpose of conveying to the said Higgason
Grubbs the land mentioned in said bond for and on behalf of the heirs of
James Estill deceased agreeable to the said bond."
Stephen is listed on the 1810 Madison County census.
He was a juror in the following murder trial, concerning some slaves.
1812 Nelson, property of Thomas C. Bullard, killed Jim, property of Joe
Kennedy, Christmas night 1811. He was tried in February County Court and
hanged on Friday February 21, 1812 at the forks of Woods Mill and Mouth
of Muddy Creek roads.
In 1818, Court documents list Stephen in Knox County. His final land
sale in Madison County appears in 1820. There was contact with the
family members in Missouri and no doubt visiting. However, according to
Robert Hancock, Stephen had established his home in Missouri by 1821. At
the time of his death in 1827, Stephen (Sr.) lived on Wildhorse Creek in
St. Louis County, only seven miles further west from the original land
grant of William Hancock. Preceding Stephen's move to Missouri in 1821,
were several of his children. No doubt the arrival of the family
patriarch was greeted with approval by all.
One final story concerning the Hancocks deserves inclusion in this
synopsis of their early life.
Before the entire family had migrated to Missouri, Forest Daniel
Hancock, the son of William, became a hunter and trapper. Trappers and
fur traders were the trail blazers of the American frontier. Over the
years, wild animals and then Indians had established paths to passes
over mountains, to water holes and river crossings. These were called
traces. The fur trappers extended these traces into trails into the
unknown wilderness areas. The trappers were rewarded with an abundance
of pelts and the pleasure that they must have felt at becoming the first
white men into the new, unexplored country. Men of destiny, schooled in
the wilderness, totally self reliant, these fur trappers would prove
their value as scouts and guides for official explorers in the years to
come.
Considered one of the original Mountain Men", Forrest no doubt spent
more of his life in the mountains hunting and trapping than he did in
civilization. One source mentions he lived at some point in Maysville,
(originally called Limestone) Kentucky. This is where Daniel Boone lived
and kept a store before his migration to Missouri. Only limited written
documentation is available on Forrest. He was, however, numbered among
the Daniel Boone party as they left Kentucky in 1799
Flanders Callaway, Forest Hancock, Isaac Van Bibber, Wm. Hays joined
Col. Boone in the land route - either at Limestone or at points below.
Callaway, Van Bibber had their families with the boat party - & Flanders
Callaway Jr 2d [second] son of Flanders Callaway, about 16 years old,
accompanied his father & grandfather in driving the cattle -from
Louisville to Vinceinnes(sic) & St. Louis.
Forest had a Spanish land grant near his father on the Missouri River.
Record of his executed survey is dated 24 January 1798 for 400 arpents.
He no doubt had explored the area prior to his move to Missouri with
Daniel Boone. Forrest was a "free" trapper and woodsman, meaning that
he worked for no one, but trapped and hunted for his own gain on
speculation.
Early in the spring of 1804, Forrest began securing supplies and
equipment for a two year expedition with Joseph Dickson. They departed
in August of 1804---wintering at the mouth of Platte River, according to
a biography of Joseph Dickson. Their furs were stolen by Indians. In
1805, they were not allowed to continue their way westward, blocked by
the Teton Sioux Indians. In some unrecorded incident an arrow wounded
Dickson during that winter. Again, their furs were taken. In the spring
of 1806, they reached the Mandan villages in the Dakotas. Their hunting
trip up to this point had been unsuccessful as they had trapped few
beaver, the most sought after and valuable pelt. However, the men were
determined to proceed with their expedition. The journal of Lewis and
Clark provides additional information on the meeting of the expedition
with Hancock and Dickson near the mouth of Yellowstone River.
Lewis and Clark had separated, and were heading downstream toward St.
Louis. On Tuesday, August 12, 1806, their journal entry reads:
Being anxious to overtake Capt. Clark who from the appearance of his
camps could be at no great distance before me, we set out early and
proceeded with all possible expedition at 8 A.M. These men informed me
that there was a canoe and a camp he believed of whitemen on the N.E.
shore. I directed the perogue and canoes to come too at this place and
found it to be the camp of two hunters from the Illinois by name of
Joseph Dickson and Forrest Hancock. These men informed me that Capt. C.
had passed them about noon the day before. they also informed me that
they had left the Illinois in the summer of 1804 since which time they
had been ascended the Missouri, hunting and trapping beaver; that they
had been robed by the indians and the former wounded last winter by the
Tetons of the birnt woods; that they had hitherto been unsuccessfull in
their voyage having as yet caught but little beaver, but were still
determined to proceed. I gave them a short discription of the Missouri,
a list of distances to the most conspicuous streams and remarkable
places on the river above and pointed out to them the places where the
beaver most abounded. I also gave them a file and a couple of pounds of
powder and some lead. these were articles which they assured me they
were in great want of. I remained with these men and hour and a half
when I took leave of them and proceeded. I believe these two trappers
are not only the first white men whom the expedition has seen since
leaving the Mandan villages in April 1805 - they are also the first to
follow the trail which the expedition had blazed.
An entry of August 1806 stated that John Colter, a member of the Lewis
and Clark Expedition, requested permission to join Dickson and Hancock
in their trapping expedition. Eventually, they would enter Yellowstone
basin. The men were determined to stay up the river at least two years
until they were rich with beaver pelts to trade. The partners started
out with about twenty traps, tools for building canoes, ammunition and
other necessary equipment for two years. They were only a few weeks
journey from one of the richest beaver streams in the Rockies, and it
was nearing trapping season. As the Lewis and Clark expedition loaded
canoes and left the Mandans on August 17, 1806, the new partnership also
embarked on their journey on the upper Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers.
Unfortunately, there are no known journals in existence of their
journey. As the trapping partnership of three worked its way up to the
mouth of the Yellowstone River, Dixon and Hancock, were well aware of
the disasters that grizzlies, Indians, blizzards, floods, disease, or
broken bones and guns could inflict upon a the small party. The actual
details of the adventure are unknown.
By the spring of 1807, the group had separated--- the gamble of a
fortune in furs was unsuccessful. The bitter disappointment that some
men may have felt was never evident in these stoic individuals. They met
life as it came, and never complained or made excuses.
Sources state that Forrest spent the winter of 1806-1807 at the
Mandans' Village. In the autumn of 1807 and winter of 1808, John Colter
made a journey through the area of today's Yellowstone Park and became
the first known white man to view its wonders!
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