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Page 1
ELLA BARNWELL.
CHAPTER I.
THE STRANGER.
That portion of territory known throughout Christendom as Kentucky, was,
at an early period, the theatre of some of the wildest, most hardily
contested, and bloody scenes ever placed on record. In fact its very
name, derived from the Indian word Kan-tuck-kee, which was applied to it
long before its discovery by the whites, is peculiarly significant in
meaning--being no less than "the dark and bloody ground." History makes
no mention of its being inhabited prior to its settlement by the present
race; but rather serves to aid us to the inference, that from time
immemorial it was used as a "neutral ground," whereon the different
savage tribes were wont to meet in deadly strife; and hence the
portentious name by which it was known among them. But notwithstanding
its ominous title, Kentucky, when first beheld by the white hunter,
presented all the attractions he would have envied in Paradise itself.
The climate was congenial to his feelings--the country was devoid of
savages--while its thick tangles of green cane--abounding with deer,
elk, bears, buffaloes, panthers, wolves and wild cats, and its more open
woods with pheasant, turkey and partridge--made it the full realization
of his hopes--his longings. What more could he ask? And when he again
stood among his friends, beyond the Alleghanies, is it to be wondered at
that his excited feelings, aided by distance, should lead him to
describe it as the El Dorado of the world? Such indeed he did describe
it; and to such glowing descriptions, Kentucky was doubtless partially
indebted for her settlement so much in advance of the surrounding
territory.
As it is not our purpose, in the present instance, to enter into a
history of the country, further than is necessary to the development of
our story, the reader will pardon us for omitting that account of its
early settlement which can readily be gleaned from numerous works
already familiar to the reading public. It may not be amiss, however, to
remark here, what almost every reader knows, that first and foremost in
the dangerous struggles of pioneer life, was the celebrated Daniel
Boone; whose name, in the west, and particularly in Kentucky, is a
household word; and whose fame, as a fearless hunter, has extended not
only throughout this continent, but over Europe. The birth place of this
renowned individual has been accredited to several states, by as many
writers; but one, more than the rest, is positive in asserting it to
have been Bucks county, Pennsylvania; and the year of his birth 1732;
which is sufficient for our purpose, whether strictly correct or not. At
an early period of his life, all agree that he removed with his father
to a very thinly settled section of North Carolina, where he spent his
time in hunting--thereby supplying the family with meat and destroying
the wild beasts, while his brothers assisted the father in tilling the
farm--and where he afterwards, in a romantic manner, became acquainted
with a settler's daughter, whom he married; and whence, in the spring
of 1769, in company with five others, he set out on an expedition of
danger across the mountains, to explore the western wilds; and after
undergoing hardships innumerable, and losing all his companions in
various ways, he at last succeeded in erecting the first log cabin, and
being the first white settler within the borders of Kentucky. To follow
up, even from this time, a detail of his trials, adventures, captures by
the Indians, and hair-breadth escapes, to the close of his eventful
career, would be sufficient to fill a volume; therefore we shall drop
him for the time--merely remarking, by the way, that he will be found to
figure occasionally in the following pages.
From the first appearance of Boone in the wilds of Kentucky, we shall
pass over a space of some ten or twelve years, and open our story in the
fall of 1781. During this period, the aspect of the country for a
considerable distance around the present site of Lexington, had become
materially changed; and the smoke from the cabin of the white settler
arose in an hundred places, where, a dozen years before, prowled the
wolf, the bear, and the panther, in perfect security. In sooth, the year
in question had been very propitious to the immigrants; who, flocking in
from eastern settlements in goodly numbers, were allowed to domiciliate
themselves in their new homes, with but few exceptions, entirely
unmolested by the savage foe. So much in fact was this the case, that
instead of taking up their residence in a fort--or station, as they were
more generally called--the new comers erected cabins for themselves, at
such points as they considered most agreeable; gradually venturing
further and further from the strongholds, until some of them became too
distant to look hopefully for succor in cases of extreme necessity.
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