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Page 71
We have mentioned this expedition for the purpose of showing why the
year which opens our story, 1781, was less disastrous to the frontier
settlers than the preceding ones--the Indians being too busily occupied
in repairing the damage done them, and in hunting to support their
families, to have much thought for the war-path, or time to follow it;
consequently the year in question, as regards Kentucky, may be said to
have passed away in a comparatively quiet manner, with no events more
worthy of note than those we have laid before the reader.
But if the vengeance of the savage slumbered for the time being, it was
only like some pent up fire, burning in secret, until opportunity should
present for it to burst forth in a manner most appalling, carrying
destruction and terror throughout its course; and in consequence of
this, the year 1782 was destined to be one most signally marked by
bloody deeds in the annals of Kentucky. The winter of '81 and '82
passed quietly away; but early in the ensuing spring hostilities were
again renewed, with a zeal which showed that neither faction had
forgotten old grudges during the intervening quietude. Girty did all
that lay in his power to stir up the vindictive feelings of the Indians,
and was aided in his laudable endeavors by one or two others[18] who
wore the uniform of British officers. It was the design of the renegade
to raise a grand army from the union of the Six Nations, lead them
quietly into the heart of Kentucky, and, by a bold move, seize some
prominent station, murder the garrison, and thus secure at once a
stronghold, from which to sally forth, spread death and desolation in
every quarter, and, if possible, depopulate the entire country. Long
and ardently did he labor in stirring up the Indians by inflammatory
speeches; till at last he succeeded in uniting a grand body for his
hellish purpose; which, on the very eve of success, as one may say, was
at last frustrated by what seemed a direct Providence, of which more
anon, and its proper place.
Previously, however, to the event just referred to, parties of Indians,
numbering from five to fifty, prowled about the frontiers, committing
at every opportunity all manner of horrid deeds, and thus rousing the
whites to defence and retaliation. One of these skirmishes has been more
particularly dwelt on, by the historians of Kentucky, than any of the
others; on account, probably, of the desperate and sanguinary struggle
for mastery between the two contending parties, and the cruel desertion,
at a time of need, of a portion of the whites; by which means the
Indians had advantage of numbers, that otherwise would have been equally
opposed. We allude to what is generally known as Estill's Defeat.
It is not our province in the present work to detail any thing not
directly connected with our story; and therefore we shall pass on, after
a cursory glance at the main facts in question. Sometime in March, a
party of Wyandots made a descent upon Estill's station, which stood near
the present site of Richmond; and having killed and scalped a young
lady, and captured a Negro slave, were induced, by the exaggerated
account which the latter gave of the force within, to an immediate
retreat; whereby, probably, the lives of the women and children, almost
the only occupants, were saved--Captain Estill himself, with his
garrison, and several new recruits, being at the time away, on a search
for these very savages, who were known by some unmistakable signs to be
in the vicinity. Word being despatched to Estill, of what had transpired
in his absence, he immediately sought out the trail of the retreating
foes, which he followed with his men, and toward night of the second day
overtook them at Hinston's Fork of Licking, where a desperate engagement
immediately ensued. At the onset, there were twenty-five Indians, and
exactly the same number of whites; but the immediate desertion, in a
cowardly manner, of a certain Lieutenant Miller, with six men under his
command, left the odds greatly in favor of the Wyandots, who were all
picked warriors. Notwithstanding the cowardice of their companions, our
little Spartan band fought most heroically for an hour and
three-quarters; when the few survivors, on both sides, being almost worn
out, ceased hostilities as by mutual consent. In this ever memorable
action, Captain Estill, a brave and popular man, together with nine of
his gallant companions, fell to rise no more. Four others were badly
wounded, leaving only the same number of unharmed survivors. The
Indians, it was afterwards ascertained, had seventeen warriors killed on
the field, among whom was one of their bravest chiefs, and two others
severely wounded; and there has been a tradition since among the
Wyandots, that only one survivor ever returned to tell the tale.
The news of the foregoing disastrous skirmish flew like wild fire, to
use a common phrase, throughout the borders, and, together with others
of less note, served to kindle the fire of vengeance in the bosoms of
the settlers, and excite a deeper hostility than ever against the savage
foe. Nor was the subsequent conduct of the Indians themselves calculated
to soften this bitter feeling against them; for, to use the words of a
modern writer, "The woods again teemed with savages, and no one was safe
from attack beyond the walls of a station. The influence of the British,
and the constant pressure of the Long Knives, upon the red-men, had
produced a union of the various tribes of the northwest, who seemed to
be gathering again to strike a fatal blow at the frontier settlements;
and had they been led by a Phillip, a Pontiac, or a Tecumseh, it is
impossible to estimate the injury they might have inflicted."
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