Daniel Boone, and the hunters of Kentucky

Front matter

HAROLD B. LEE LIBRARY

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Preface

Interwoven with the history of the entrance of the Gicat West into the family of civilized nations, is the career of Daniel Boone. It has been the object of the compiler of this volume to present the narrative of that career in fidelity, and in such light as would rescue the memory of this great man from the common judgment passed upon him, of being only an Indian fighter and a bold hunter.

To Daniel Boone, the Great Pioneer of the W est — having ever a purpose and a destiny before him — this volume invites the reader.

The compiler has been greatly aided by the admirable work of Mr. Peck — so accurate and impartial — preserved in the collection of American Biographies by Jared Sparks; by McClung’s Sketches of Western Adventure; by the ex eellent local Histories of Kentucky, collated with such indus try and care by Mr. Lewis Collins ; and by the admirable Address of Gov. Morehead, delivered at Boonesborough.

If the perusal of this volume shall elicit a deeper and a rv

PREFACE.

more diffused gratitude for the memory of the Man who, when he was master of a vast territory committed no oppression, and when he was deprived of every acre uttered no murmur — who fought only to defend, and subdued only to yield up to his country — it will have accomplished the object of its compiler

Chapter I. Pam

Introduction. — Ancestry of Daniel Boone the pioneer. Home of his ancestors.— Emigration of George Boone from England and settlement in Pennsylvania.— Birth of Daniel— Lineage. —School-boy days.— His love for forest life.— The boy hunter.— Removal of Squire Boone, the father of Daniel, to North Carolina

Chapter II

New home in the old North State.— Marriage of Daniel Boone to Rebecca Bryan.— Boone, with his bride crosses the valley of the Yadkin, and builds his cabin.— Other settlers.— Boone shuns society.— Determined to remove west of the mountains. — De Soto — Indian tribes. Prevailing ignorance of the country west of the mountains.— Character of Boone.— An incident of his old age.— The Colonial system.— Its results

Chapter III

John Finley’s visit to Tennessee in 1767.— Dr. Walker’s ex pedition.— Boone’s visit to the Holston River.— Boone and five others move west of the Cumberland Mountains.-

IV

PREFACE.

more diffused gratitude for the memory of the Man who, when he was master of a vast territory committed no oppression, and when he was deprived of every acre uttered no murmur — who fought only to defend, and subdued only to yield up to his country — it will have accomplished the object of its compiler i

Chapter I

rxom

Introduction. — Ancestry of Daniel Boone the pioneer. Home of his ancestors. — Emigration of George Boone from England and settlement in Pennsylvania.— Birth of Daniel— Lineage. —School-boy days.— His love for forest life. — The boy hunter. — Removal of Squire Boone, the father of Daniel, to North Carolina **

Chapter II

New home in the old North State.— Marriage of Daniel Boone to Rebecca Bryan.— Boone, with his bride crosses the valley of the Yadkin, and builds his cabin.— Other settlers. — Boone shuns society. — Determined to remove west of the mountains. — De Soto — Indian tribes. Prevailing ignorance of the country west of the mountains. Character of Boone.— An incident of his old age.— The Colonial system.— Its results,

Chapter III

John Finley’s visit to Tennessee in 1767.— Dr. Walker’s ex pedition.— Boone’s visit to the Holston River.— Boone and five others move west of the Cumberland Mountains.—

CONTENTS.

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Boone’s wife. — Filson’s life of Boone. — Boone and Stewart taken prisoners by the Indians. — Escape. — They find their companions gone. — Boone and Stewart remain alone. — The narrative. — Indian treaties. — Fate of Finley. — Squire Boone arrives. — Death of Stewart. — Boone and his brother pass the winter alone in the woods. — Squire Boone returns to North Carolina for supplies

Chapter IV

Boone alone in the wilderness. — Deprivation. — His own narrative.— His brother returns with supplies and horses.— News from his family. — Extract from Governor Morehead’s address. — The two brothers explore the country, and determine to locate upon the Kentucky River. — They return home. — Wonder of his neighbors at seeing Daniel. — They are deterred from emigrating by fear of the Indians. — Daniel and Squire Boone, with their families, remove to Kentucky,

' CHAPTER V.

the journey. — Five families and forty men join the Boones at Powell’s Valley. — A party of the emigrants are attacked by Indians. — Boone's son and five others killed. — The company turn back to the settlements on the Clinch River. — The Long Hunters.- —Virginia grants land in Kentucky to the soldiers of the French War. — They learn the character of the land from Boone. — Lord Dunmore orders a survey.— The expedition. — Boone’s reports confirmed. — Herds of buffalo. — Surveyors reach the present location of Harrodsburg and Louisville. — Lord Dunmore sends for Boone. — Rescue of the surveyors,

CONTENTS.

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Chapter VI

Boone and Stoner penetrate the wilderness eight hundred miles, to the Falls of the Ohio.— They find the party of James Harrod, and warn them of Indian hostilities. — Lord Dunmore assigns Boone to a military command. — Battle of Point Pleasant. — Boone returns to his family. — Fertility and beauty of the West.— Richard Henderson.— His project of a colony. — Boone is sent on a mission to the Indians by Lord Dunmore.— His success.— Boone employed to open a road from the Holston to the Kentucky River. — Hostility of the Indians.— Letter to Colonel Henderson, 10fi

Chapter VII

Boone and his company build a fort. — He removes his family to it.— Other families remove to the fort. — Arrival of Henderson. — Boonesborough. — Transylvania Land Company—Other settlements.— The first Legislature. — Boone a Delegate. — John Floyd. — Henderson’s address. — Boone as a Legislator. — Divine service. — Colonel Callaway’s family arrives. — The Indians capture three girls. — The pursuit and the rescue. — The Indians attack other posts. — Indian mode of warfare. — The war with Great Britain. — Alarm of the settlers. — Return of many of them,

Chapter VIII

The revolutionary war. — Harassed by the Indians. — General Clarke’s journal. — Military force of the settlements. — Henderson’s land titles. — The comj romise.— The settlers’ petition to be taken under the protection of Virginia. — The Indians attack Boonesborough fort and are repulsed. — Attack renewed by greater numbers.— The whites again successful.— Reinforcements arrive. — News arrives of Washington’s victory over Howe vin

CONTENTS.

Chapter IX

General George R. Clarke. — Virginia grants powder to tlie Colony. — The British garrisons at Detroit, Vincennes and Kaskaskia. — General Clarke secures the aid of Boone. —

Simon Kenton. — His captivity and cruel treatment by the Indians — HisTescue. — The anticipated reunion of the survivors.— The old age of Kenton. — An Indian attack. —

Boone is wounded and narrowly escapes. — Boone’s daring, and services to the emigrants. — Boone, with thirty men, plans an expedition to the Blue Licks, 160

Chapter X

The Blue Licks. — The expedition. — Boone’s adventure with two Indians. — The Indians plan an attack. — Boone is taken prisoner while hunting. — His party surrender and are spared through his influence. — Boone is afterwards tried by a court-martial and honorably acquitted. — Boone and his companions are taken to Old Chillicothe. — Thence to Detroit. — Regard of the English for Boone. — The Indians refuse a large ransom. — They return to Old Chillicothe with Boone alone. — They adopt him into their tribe.—

They set him to making salt, and permit him to hunt, .... 174

Chapter XI

A.ffairs at Boonesborough. — Boone’s wife returns to North Carolina. — Boone returns from the Salt Licks to Chillicothe.— He finds the Indians preparing an expedition against Boonesborough. — Boone makes his escape, and arrives at the fort. — He hastily repairs the fort. — Boone’s expedition to Paint Creek. — Defeat of the Indians. — Return of the party. — Arrival of a large body of Indians, led by Captain Du Quesne. — The garrison summoned to surrender,

CONTENTS.

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Chapter XII. Pag*

Boone obtains two days to consider the summons to surren* der. — He refuses to surrender. — Further negotiations outside the fort. — Treachery of the Indians. — Squire Boone wounded. — Nine days’ siege commences. — The Indians retreat. — Boone’s great shot. — His daughter. — The siege and the defence. — Cause of Kenton’s absence. — Boone is tried by a court-martial, and honorably acquitted, 214

Chapter XIII

Results of the war. — A retrospect. — Boone visits his family in North Carolina. — Emigration to the West increases.—

Land office established. — Commissioners to settle soldiers’ land claims. — Governor Shelby. — Great activity in the surveying of land. — Boone is robbed of a large sum of money.

— Its effect on Boone. — The land law, 232

Chapter XIV

Boone returns to Boonesborough with his family. — The British and Indians contemplate a bold attack on Kentucky.

— Anecdote of Randolph. — Governor Moreliead’s history of Boonesborough — Boone and his brother go to the Blue Licks. — His brother is shot by Indians. — Boone is pursued and escapes. — The cold winter of 1780. — Organization of counties. — Indian hostilities renewed. — The British Government and the Indians. — The renegades Girty and Mc- Kee.— Constant alarms of the settlers. — The confederated Indians. — Boone again afflicted in the death of Bryant,. . 24A

Chapter XV

The attack on Bryant’s Station. — The retreat of the Indians. — Rally of the settlers. — The council. — The pursuit — The

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CONTENTS.

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ambuscade. — Battle of the Blue Licks. — Terrible slaughter and retreat of the settlers — Another of Boone’s sons slain.

— Todd, Trigg, Harlan, and sixty-seven others slain. — Boone’s account. — A thrilling incident. — Boone’s report of the battle. — Col. Thomas Marshall and Girty’s brother, .... 271

Chapter XVI

G eneral Clarke. — His campaign against the Indians at Old Chillicothe. — Narrative of Boone’s escape from four Indians.— The paper currency. — Courts of law instituted. —

Boone establishes himself on a farm. — The return of peace.

— Increase of emigration. — The Indians. — Their love for rum.- -Their petition. — The Indians at the present day, . . . 298

Chapter XVII

Indian hostilities renewed. — The numerous Conventions rela- ' tive to the formation of a State. — John Marshall — Kentucky admitted into the Union as a State in 1791. — Boone’s difficulties relative to the title to his lands. — He loses his farm. — Narrative of the escape of Downing and Yates from the Indians. — The brave Kentuckians. — Escape of Mr. Rowan and family. — Boone’s visit to his birth-place. — His hardships in the loss of his lands, 812

Chapter XVIII

Boone’s influence over the Indians. — Services in procuring an exchange of prisoners. — He removes to Virginia. — Resumes hunting. — His habits. — His residence in Virginia. — He contemplates removing to Upper Louisiana. — Gen. Wayne’s victories over the Indians. — Boone looks to the West, .... 884

CONTENTS.

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Chapter XIX. Pag*

Boone emigrates with his family to Missouri. — The journoy.

— Spanish possession of the territory. — Injustice to Boone’s social character. — Boone is welcomed to Missouri by the Lieutenant Governor. — Arrival at St. Louis of Laclede and Choteau.— Boone receives an appointment from the authorities.— He is presented with a large tract of land by the Lieutenant Governor. — He neglects to go to New Orleans to get his grant confirmed, 846

Chapter XX

The vicissitudes of Boone’s life. — Sale of Louisiana to the United States. — Boone revisits Kentucky. — He pays off his creditors. — Returns home. — The solitary hunter. — Exposure to danger as a trapper. — Ilis hunting excursion to the Osage River. — He is again deprived of his land by land commissioners. — His education. — ‘His children, 859

Chapter XXI

Kentucky as a Commonwealth. — Boone’s memorial to the Legislature and to Congress. — The just response of Kentucky.— Death of Mrs. Boone. — Boone’s treatment at the hands of Congress. — General Lafaj ette’s reception. — The contrast. — The old age of Boone. — His children. — Boone a hunter at eighty-two. — Anecdote. — Harding’s portrait — Sickness of Boone. — His death. — A retrospect, 871

CHAPTER XXIL

Kentucky then and now. — Washington, Lafayette, Boone, and Harrison. — The Legislature of Kentucky cause the remains of Boone to be removed to Frankfort. — The public honors. — John J. Crittendei —Conclusion, 884 xii

CONTENTS.

THE HUNTERS OF KENTUCKY.

Bland Ballard, John Hardin, Benjamin Logan, William Rnssell, Silas Harlan,

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. 417

Chapter I

INTRODUCTION — ANCESTRY OF DANIEL BOONE, THE PIONEER HOM* HU ANCESTORS EMIGRATION OF GEORGE BOONE FROM ENGLAND, AwD SET- TLEMENT IN PENNSYLVANIA BIRTH OF DANIEL LINEAGE SCI*\>OL-BOY

DAYS HIS LOVE FOR FOREST LIFE THE BOY-HUNTER REMOVAL OF

SQUIRE BOONE, THE FATHER OF DANIEL, TO NORTH CAROLINA.

If it be fame, that in tlie progress of a great empire, one name above all others shall be associated with its deliverance from the dominion of the savage — with the first step of enterprise — with the grasp of civilization upon the domain before it — then this inheritance is that of the subject of this memoir — Daniel Doone. It was hio to lead a nation to its place of power, and the memories of that nation cannot find more grateful use, than in the treasuring together of the incidents of his career. He knew no tame or commonplace existence, but lived on, in a series of wild and vivid experiences. His life is in the annals of the forest chivalry that only America has placed before the observation of mankind, — and *u all the stirring records of the bold and daring —

LIFE OF DANIEL BOONE.

the determined and the adventurous, the first place is his by the consent of the historian.

It is ever to those who seek to illustrate the career of such men, a thought of regret, that themselves were careless of their own biography — not dreaming, while they performed great deeds, that to the world that was to come after them, every incident would be, in all its detail, of value. They were more solicitous to make the present a distinct and determined reality, than to take care of the future — and thus they deemed the deed done in its own doing, and cared not who heard, or admired, or recorded.

Especially is this true of men of the Border. They

took the powder horn and left the ink horn at home

and like all men of true courage, they cared not to be ^the historians of their own exploits. It is such characteristics of the western rover — above all of Daniel Boone — that imposes upon their annalist the most difficult, as it must be the most discriminating of duties, in weaving a narrative of facts and not of fancies.

The home of his immediate ancestor was in one of the fairest and pleasantest of the gentle garden-lands of England. Devonshire, in its richness of cultivation, its crowded population, its immediate contiguity

to the comforts and advantages of an old society in

its peaceful exemption from the sound or alarm of war — was in singular contrast to the scenes to which the emigration from Bradninch, near Exeter, of George

SETTLEMENT IN PENNSYLVANIA.

Boone was to introduce his descendants. It was a school, of all others, least adapted to furnish material for the formation of character of the adventurous borderer ; and when the gentle slopes and rich pastures and quiet and cultured farms and fields of Devonshire sent to America this group of emigrants, the keenest prophet of future destiny could not have imagined a change more extraordinary than was to be wrought in the future of this family.

Arriving in this country, he selected as his home, that part of Pennsylvania which is now the county of Berks, and became a large landholder. The honors of the possession of a great area of territory, which in his own country he could not acquire, the circumstances of the new land to which he had come, made it easy, and he availed himself of the position, by purchasing a large estate in the locality where he bad settled, and in the neighboring States of Maryland and Virginia. He had need of all these possessions, for -he brought with him from Devonshire a family of nine sons and ten daughters.

There was a touch of the character of his famous grandson about him, in considering England too crowded for the comfort of such a family as that which clustered about him. In that day, 1717, the colonies of Pennsylvania and Maryland and Virginia were a field with space and verge enough for all those who sought to give their children a capacious home.

LIFE OF DANIEL BOCNE.

One of the children of George Boone bore the very American name of “ Squire,” so often affixed in the progress of judicial honor, but seldom, even in the fanciful variety of our nomenclature, finding its way to the baptismal font. He settled in Bucks county in the same State, and married Sarah Morgan. Like his father, he .raised a very large, family ; and it is curious to observe that it was not till he had, in Israel and Jonathan, and Samuel and Daniel, and George and Edward, drawn extensively upon the scriptural and fanciful designations of mankind, that he invested his seventh and last son with his own quaint title of Squire.

He became a resident of Bucks county. The vicinity of the Delaware was attractive to the emigrant, who had that richest country “ all before him where to choose.” It had been selected by Penn as one of the great avenues to the ocean, on which enterprise must be successful. The observation of each hour in this day shows how true was the sagacity of those fathers of the country, who distinctly felt that the homes they secured would soon be surrounded by busy men.

Dani'el Boone was born 11th February, 1735, while his father resided near Bristol, on the right bank of the Delaware, about twenty miles from Philadelphia — inheriting from his parents that, in comparison with which all other inheritances are faint and feeble in worth — a constitution insuring longevity, a frame

LINEAGE.

fitted for the long career of toil and exertion and desperate adventure, and sad suffering which awaited it And that this physical good was a characteristic of this remarkable family, it is a record of value to observe that while Boone’s father attained the age of seventy-six years, the united ages of his six brothers and sisters amounted to the great aggregate of five hundred and sixteen years. Three years the junior of George Washington, his destiny in the formation of a country for the future development of free institutions, had kindred features.

When he was at the age of three, his father removed to Beading, in Berks county. It is difficult to realize that the important and flourishing city, the centre of one of the richest and most thickly settled counties of the great Commonwealth, was at a period which is yet imperfectly passing into history, a frontier border settlement, where the watchfulness and vigilance of the inhabitants were keenly exercised in guarding their homes against the attacks of the marauding Indian. It was a revelation to the boy Boone, of the future of his life. The conversations of his childhood were the strategy of the savage — and the development of his mind was formed into the pattern , in which its boldest pursuit was moulded. It is doubtless literally trup, that the Indian and his incidents were the household words his tongue earliest formed.

Concerning his lineage, whether he was of descent

LIFE OF DANIEL BOONE.

from the Boones who were of the Society of Friends, an ingenious and able genealogical controversy has been had ; and the arguments on either side have been so clear, so fortified with array of name and. date, that it has been most difficult to decide.* It is very singular that of one almost contemporaneous with the seniors of this generation, so much doubt should exist. It arises from the complete seclusion and obscurity in which his earlier years, from youth to manhood, were passed, and from the cause that he was utterly unconscious, except at last, of the value of his own biography. One of the most elaborate reviews of this question has been made by John F. Watson, of Philadelphia, whose contributions to the historical annals of Pennsylvania and New-York have been very valuable. A note from him is subjoined. It

* At a meeting of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, held at Philadelphia on the 6th instant, Mr. Thomas Biddle, Jr., the Secretary, read a letter in relation to the Boone family. He stated that a number of early records of that family recently came into his hands, one of which gives an account of the Boone family. It states they left a town eight miles from Exeter, England, in 1717. It names Squire Boone as a son of the immigrant, and father of Daniel. The letter of Mr. Biddle further states, that it is an entire mistake that the family originally belonged to the Society of Friends ; that the papers prove they were Episcopalians; that he (Mr. B.) learned verbally from his half-sister, Miss Boone, who died in 1846, aged 76, that George Boone, on his arrival in 1717, purchased and settled in what was then Berks county, and laic out a town, naming it Exeter. He also purchased land in different places, seme as far south as North Carolina, and that he purchased and laid out Georgetown,

LINEAGE.

may well be, judging from the tone of calmness and placidity which were so marked in the character ot Boone, that he, by association or education, had known the peaceful associations of the domestic life of the Friends. He may have found these traits of the utmost service. Indeed, though this is anticipating, it will most impress the close student of the simple annals of the great man, that in the midst of a border life of commingling in and exposure to scenes of predatory warfare, he seemed to have possessed no desire whatever to stir up strife or provoke a contest. The subjoined extract throws light on it :

“The first of the family of he Boone’s were Friends, enrolled and recorded in the re Drd of the monthly meetings at G Wynne meeting, — then ( died North Wales, in Montgomery Co., Penn., to wit, 11 17, 31st of 10th mo., George Boone, senior, (the grandfath er of Col. Daniel Boone) produced a certificate of his gooc life and conversation, from the monthly meeting in Great Br tain, ‘ which was read and well received.’ He was born in 1 866. George 2d, son of the above George, had one son and four daughters, horn and recorded from 1714 to ’22. ‘Squire Boone,’ on the 23d of 7th mo. 1120, (was son of the 1st George Boone,) was united in marriage to Sarah Morgan, and the records of the

O. C. Mr. Biddle, looking over i he papers one day, remarked that ‘these Boones all appeared to ha’ ebeen Episcopalians.” “Oh, yes,” replied Miss Boone, “they were all High Church people,” adding that “ most of them became Qua7 )rs out of compliment to Penn and his successors.”

LIFE OF DANIEL BOONE.

meeting show, that they had the following children, to wit Sarah, born 1724, Israel in 1726, Samuel in 1728, Jonathan in 1730, Elizabeth in 1732, Daniel , the 22d of 8th mo., 1734. Mary, born in 1736, George in 1739, and Edward in 1740. These last alone are taken from the records of monthly meetings at Exeter in Berks Co., about 9 miles south from Reading, Penn. The above Daniel, is the Col. Daniel. James Boone was a distinguished mathematician, about the year 1770, as some of his professional papers still show. He wrote some family pedigree, which is now with that last son in Missouri. Richard, a large iron master, (and his brother Samuel) now live near Reading, and their sister Sally lives in Exeter. Ruppe’s History of Berks and Lebanon, says several families of Friends settled in this township, (Oley) as early as 1713 or 1715, and that George Boone, a native of England, took out a warrant of 400 acres of land in 1718 in this township, (meaning Oley.) The records of Friends concerning Boone, stop with the year 1748, as being about that time pretty much out of meeting. In 1747, Israel Boone, eldest son of Squire Boone, was dis- - owned for marrying out of meeting, and on 26th of 3d mo., 1748, Squire Boone himself is disowned for countenancing such marriage. About this time he must have emigrated with his family to Holomant Ford, on the Yadkin River, North Carolina ; because the North Carolinian history of Boone Co., talks of Daniel as coming there a child, but I infer rather a lad of 13 or 14 years. The name ‘Squire’ is in all places given in place of baptismal name, and I saw nothing to indicate him as in the magistracy.”

The evidence from the compositions of the Forest Statesman, when he had occasion to resort to the

SCHOOL-BOY DAYS.

written language, in which to communicate his ideas to his fellow-men, is that his education, in the technical and school sense of the term, was very simple and incomplete. Grammar and orthography were not his household deities. He expressed his meaning, taking his road to it over every obstacle of spelling or sentence that chanced in his way. The school was just such an one as the frontier settlements would be likely to possess. Logs were the material most available for dwelling, fort, or school, and the order of architecture was severe in its simplicity. It was but one of the seven lamps of architecture that blazed in the forest. The right-angle was to the settler possessed of the beauty which Hogarth ascribed to the curve, for it had simplicity, convenience and strength. The school-house at which Daniel Boone was an attendant was of the square form — the windows, a mere hole cut in the logs to admit the light — a chimney, huge in utter disproportion, on one oide, and the art of the rude mason evinced only in the alternate layers of log and clay. Ho luxury ot cushions, or patent seats, or easy-angled desks, favored the children of that time. Their minds were taught in the midst of privation ; and to submit to the roughness and inconvenience of life was the discipline which prepared those who attended them to go out and “ make the rough places smooth.” All that education set before its guests, were the great dishes of the feast of learn-

LIFE OF DANIEL BOONE.

ing — but the artist had no skill in their preparation. The school was to be passed through as an ordeal, ra thei than lingered in as a privilege.

To read was taught, but it was more as the median ical utterance of the words — to write, but with characters whose size, more than grace, was consulted to cypher, the problems as simple as for which a rural trade could furnish the example. But they who graduated at such chairs, went thence to write with glittering axe and sword their names and history and purposes in forests — to read the emotions and passions and will of crafty and dangerous foes, or the true destinies of an advancing country— to use their arithmetic in estimating the resources of arms, the chances of battle, the results of harvest. The scholar and the merchant were always behind them, waiting the time of safe adventure.

But among the brief library of that school, their text books were few indeed. There was one in which, in all probability, as it was part of the routine of study, Boone was taught, whose lessons came to him in the mighty solitudes of his after years. A lonely man — a companion of the stately trees — away from home and the vices of the race, the heavens above him seemed nearer than to us, who are forever attracted by the crowd around us ; ar.d the promptings of admiration, of veneration, and of simple faith, may have come up to his memory from the teachings

SCHOOL-BOY DAYS.

of the simple lessons of the school-house, with cheering and consoling power. Boone’s “ schooling ” was soon over. The times left astute scholarship to the far-off cities of the Old World. The frontier men had other and bolder pursuits.

Around the school-house was the material for learning to an illimitable extent. The woods opened their recesses to the hunter, in which he could acquire all the mysteries of forest craft; and Boone found in these scenes pursuits most congenial... Pennsylvania, in the policy pursued by its founder, had not fought its dominion inch by inch, from the savage; but his doctrines had not quite as successfully reached the. frontier, as they had been prevalent at the seat of government. The Indian was regarded, even by the most sensible and best judging of the settlers, as an incumbrance as of a class of men who occupied land, the value of which they did not realize, and of which they made most imperfect use. But those who looked thus upon them were the few. The many considered the Indian as a foe — as treacherous — never to be trusted, and ready to destroy whenever opportunity offered ; and thus a fitting subject for the prowess and might of the white man. The woods were common ground to each. As the Indian either could not or would not acquire the habit of the settler, the latter applied himself to acquire the cunning and the strategy of the forest men. The settler