Natives versus Settlers: the Siege of Boonesborough, September 7-18, 1778

The more important a person becomes in history the more controversy they can attract.  Or, put another way, sometimes the road to perdition is paved with good intentions.  Daniel Boone would find this out the hard way in September of 1778 when a well-meant plan to save his beloved Kentucky settlement backfired into a court-martial that would cause him a lifetime of embarrassment.

The settlement at Boonesborough was the result of many years work by Daniel and his brother Squire.  Situated on land leased and later purchased from the Cherokee (1775) in what is now Madison County, Kentucky, the Boones and other members of the Watauga Association had built a sturdy fortification of cabins joined together by a palisade.  There were a number of such settlements on the Kentucky frontier.  Because of the fortifications, Native raiders had taken to killing or driving off livestock and burning crops in an effort to force the Settlers to leave.  In this effort they had the tacit and sometimes explicit background of the British commanders at the garrison of Fort Detroit, most notably General Henry Hamilton.  After several raids by Shawnee leader Blackfish, the Settlers at Boonesborough were reduced to salting what meat they had left to make it last.

To that end, in January, 1778, Daniel led a group of men to the salt deposits on the Licking River.  While there, they were attacked by Blackfish's war party on February 7, 1778.  Daniel believed that it was futile to fight, that his small force would be overwhelmed and Blackfish would push on to Boonesborough.  He convinced his men to surrender, placating Blackfish with promises that, come spring, he would convince the Settlers at Boonesborough to surrender as well.  Daniel and his men were taken to the Shawnee town of Chillicothe in what is now Ohio, and several of them were adopted into the tribe through the traditional running of the gauntlet.  Daniel was placed with Blackfish's family and given the name Shaltowee, meaning Big Turtle.  He either was unable, or unwilling, to tell the other men exactly what was on his mind, leaving many of them to believe he'd sold them out.  Those men who weren't adopted by the Shawnee were taken to Fort Detroit and held as prisoner until their families could ransom them, they could be exchanged, or they simply escaped.

Daniel and the survivors lived with the Shawnee until June 6, 1778, when Daniel heard word that Blackfish planned to attack Boonesborough.  Escaping, Daniel hiked 160 miles in five days to warn the Settlers.  By now, many of them suspected him of having secretly switched sides to the British.  To prove his continued loyalty to the Patriot cause and the settlement he'd helped create, Daniel led a raid on the Shawnee village of Paint Lick Town, which had to be aborted when he found out that Blackfish was headed to Boonesborough.  On September 7, 1778, Blackfish's force arrived outside Boonesborough.  He knew it would be pointless to attack the fortification, but demanded that Daniel make good his promise to surrender the settlement.  Knowing that the Shawnee intended to destroy what little crops and livestock they had, Daniel thought it best to parley with the Shawnee and buy time for reinforcements from Virginia to arrive.

Negotiations wore on over several days as the Settlers inside the fort prepared to defend themselves.  There were 40 men available inside the stockade, though Blackfish had been led to believe there were almost 200.  Some women volunteered to don men's clothes and shoulder muskets in an effort to keep up the ruse.  Finally, on September 8, 1778, Daniel told Blackfish that the fort was not about to surrender.  Blackfish postponed the parley until September 9.  At the council on the 9th, he demanded to know why the Settlers were living there.  Daniel answered that they had purchased the land from the Cherokee (in direct violation of British law).  A Cherokee leader in Blackfish's party confirmed this.  Blackfish relented, stating that if the Settlers would swear allegiance to the Crown, he would leave them alone.  A writing to this effect was drawn up and signed.  As both sides approached each other to shake on the deal, a scuffle ensued and men on both sides opened fire.  Some claimed that the Shawnee attempted to grab Daniel and other Settlers.  More likely, it was a case of wound up nerves and itchy trigger fingers.

Daniel and the other men were able to head back into the fort, except for one settler who had to escape later that night.  The Shawnee surrounded and besieged the fort.  Most of the men were still willing to look to Daniel for leadership, though he was outranked by two other officers present.  At night, Shawnee warriors attempted to throw burning torches onto the roofs of the cabins, but were shot away by marksmen stationed on the walls.  On September 11, 1778, the Natives attempted to dig a tunnel under the walls of the fort.  Defenders inside the fort began digging their own tunnel to thwart any attempts to plant gunpowder and blow down the walls of the fort.  Squire got into the act, fastening a crude cannon made of wood and iron bands, which fired once or twice before cracking.  Not to be outdone, he fashioned squirt pistols out of old musket barrels to put out any fires. 

On September 17, 1778, the Shawnee launched a final effort to take the fort, but were driven back.  A lucky rainstorm put out any fires they attempted to set.  They finally gave up and left on the following day.  There were two fatalities from the siege, a slave and a Settler, but there was still the matter of the men from the salt lick expedition who had been surrendered to the Shawnee by Daniel and some of whom were still in British hands.  There was also the matter of Colonel Richard Callaway's personal jealousy toward Daniel.  As his senior officer, he brought four charges against Daniel Boone.  He had surrendered the salt lick party without a fight.  He had promised to surrender Boonesborough to the British.  He had led the expedition to Paint Lick, weakening the fighting strength at Boonesborough in the face of a potential Shawnee/British onslaught.  And, he had exposed fellow officers to ambush by the protracted treaty parley.

Daniel was found not guilty and, in fact, promoted from captain to major, but the whole episode was deeply embarrassing and galling.  Boonesborough had been his life's work.  He'd attempted to save it the best way he knew how, and he'd been repaid with the anger and jealousy of men he'd helped defend and protect.  It was time to move on.   He soon left for North Carolina to retrieve his family and returned to Kentucky to start another settlement at Boone's Station.  He never brought up Boonesborough again.  Settlers from Boonesborough launched a retaliatory raid on Chillicothe in the spring of 1779.  Blackfish led a successful defense, but was shot in the leg and died soon after from a gangrenous wound.  And karma caught up with Richard Callaway in the form of a Shawnee raid on March 8, 1780, which saw Calloway killed, scalped and mutilated. 

Captivity Narrative: Capture of Jemima Boone

We've already looked at a brief rundown of the Cherokee-American Wars (1776-1795).  Today, we'll look at a story that was front page news at the time and an important propaganda piece used by Settlers against Natives in the ongoing struggle, the capture and rescue of Daniel Boone's daughter Jemima and two of her best friends by a Cherokee-Shawnee war party in 1776. 

By 1776, Native raiders had made their point and few people remained in Kentucky except at the fortified settlements of Harrodsburg, Logan's Station and Boonesborough.  Settlers were warned not to stray too far outside the stockades.  On July 14, 1776, ten days after the Declaration of Independence was first signed at Independence Hall, three teenage girls decided to disregard that warning and take a boat out on the lake.  They were Jemima Boone, a daughter of Daniel Boone, and two of her best friends Elizabeth and Frances Callaway.  As they sat in the boat drifting on the lake.  As they returned home, a war party led by Cherokee leader Hanging Maw consisting of two Cherokee and three Shawnee captured the girls and hurried with them toward the Ohio River and the Shawnee towns there.  They were on their way to a life similar to that of Mary Jemison and other famous captives of the time.

Daniel Boone, Richard Callaway and other men of the settlement were out hunting and did not realize what happened until they returned later in the day.  Boone, who had been a prisoner of the Shawnee in his younger years, quickly picked up the trail and hurried to catch up with the war party, who had already several hours start.  As they were marched along by their captors, the girls devised various means to mark their trail until the Natives realized what they were doing and put a stop to it.  Three days later, as the party stopped for breakfast, a shot rang out, wounding one of the Natives.  Jemima shouted, 'that's Pa's rifle'.  Whether they understood her cry or not, the Natives undoubtedly knew that a rescue party was bearing down on them.  As another Native fell mortally wounded by a musket ball, the Natives broke camp and left the girls to be found by Boone and his men. 

There has to be a happy ending to a story like this.  Jemima married Flanders Callaway, older brother of the Callaway girls and a member of the rescue party.  Elizabeth and Frances Callaway also soon found husbands and settled down for the rest of their lives.  Daniel Boone had to ask his daughter a hard question and her answer was no, the Natives had not attempted rape.  She later said, "the Indians were kind to us, as much as they could well have been, or their circumstances permitted."  This was a common theme among captivity stories.  Native on Settler rape was almost non-existent. 

The dramatic scenes of capture and rescue were common themes of paintings and prints throughout the 18th and 19th centuries.  James Fenimore Cooper may also have used the story as one of his many inspirations for The Last of the Mohicans.  Natty Bumpo, the main character, is often thought to be based on Boone.  Just as Boone raised a party to rescue his daughter and her friends, Natty raises a party to rescue primarily Cora and Alice Munro.