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CHAPTER IV.
SOME OF THE ADVENTURES OF
DUNCAN McARTHUR AND SAMUEL DAVIS - THE
CAPTURE AND ESCAPE OF ISRAEL DONALSON -
UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPTS OF THOMAS BEALS TO
REACH THIS COUNTY FROM NORTH CAROLINA - THE
BURNING OF JAMES HORTON AND JOHN BRANSON -
SIMON KENTON PURSUES A PARTY OF SHAWNEES
THROUGH the COUNTY.
Pg. 12
INDIAN
outrages of every kind were now
multiplied, and emigration was almost
suspended. The incursions of savages
kept the frontier settlements in continual
alarm. Indeed, the danger became so
constant and imminent that the Government of
Kentucky found it absolutely necessary to
employ spies or scouts to traverse the
frontier country in every direction to
discover if possible the approach of Indians
and give the alarm to the stations and
neighborhoods. On the vigilance and
fidelity of these spies, depended the lives
and property of the settlers, and on these
guardians of the border all eyes were
turned. The position was much sought
for, and of course esteemed a high
distinction. The number of these
sentinels was necessarily limited.
Duncan McArthur and Samuel
Davis with two others were deemed
sufficient, and they were instructed to
range the country from Limestone to the
mouth of the Big Sandy river.
McArthur and Davis generally went
together. They had with them a light
canoe, and when going up the Ohio their
custom was for one to push the canoe up the
stream while the other walked in advance to
reconnoitre. They had passed up in
this way one day to within a short distance
of the mouth of the Scioto river.
Early the next morning they crossed the Ohio
and went back over the bottom to where they
knew of a fine deer lick. The morning
was very calm, and a light fog hung over the
bottom. When they got near the lick,
McArthur halted and Davis
proceeded, stooping low among the bushes and
weeds to conceal himself. He moved on
with the noiseless tread of the cat till he
was near the lick, when he straightened up
to see if the ground was occupied. At
that instant he heard the crack of a rifle,
and a bullet whistled by his ear. As
the morning was still and foggy, the smoke
from the Indian’s gun settled around him, so
that he could not see whether the shot had
taken effect or not. Davis
raised his rifle, and as the Indian stepped
out of the smoke to make observations, shot
him dead. He immediately reloaded his
rifle, by which time McArthur came
running to him, knowing the shots he had
heard were in too quick succession to come
from the same gun; just as he reached the
spot where Davis stood, they heard
the sound of many footsteps, and in an
instant more a number of Indians made their
appearance on the open ground near the lick.
McArthur and Davis were
standing in the thick bushes and high weeds,
and being unperceived by the Indians,
cautiously retreated, reached their canoe
and crossed the river. On another
occasion while spying in company with
Nathaniel Beasley and others,
McArthur
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went down to the same deer lick, while his
companions remained with the canoe. He
made a blind behind which he concealed
himself, and patiently waited for game.
He lay about an hour, when he discovered two
Indians coming to the lick. They were
so near him before he saw them, that retreat
was out of the question. As the
boldest course appeared to him to be the
safest, he determined to permit them to
approach as near as possible, shoot one of
them and try his strength with the other.
When they came near the lick they halted in
an open piece of ground, and straightened up
to look into the lick for game. This
halt enabled McArthur to take
deliberate aim from a rest, at only fourteen
steps distance. He fired and an Indian
fell. McArthur remained still a
moment, thinking it possible that the other
Indian would take to flight. In this,
however, he was mistaken. The Indian
did not even dodge out of his tracks when
his companion sunk lifeless by his side.
As the Indian’s gun was charged, McArthur
concluded it would be a rather fearful job
to rush upon him; he therefore determined
upon a retreat Accordingly he broke from his
place of concealment and ran with all speed.
He had run but a few steps when he found
himself tangled in the top of a fallen tree,
which caused a momentary half. At that
instant the Indian fired, and the ball
whistled sharply by him. As the
Indian’s gun, as well as his own, was now
empty, he thought of turning round and
giving him fight upon equal terms, but
several other Indians appearing in sight,
rushing with savage screams through the
woods, he continued his flight with his
utmost speed; the Indians pursuing and
firing at him as he ran. One of the
balls struck the bottom of his powder horn
and shivered it. He was sufficiently
self-possessed when the ball struck to drop
his hand and catch a load of powder, which
he immediately used in charging his gun as
he ran, without slacking his pace. The
Indians pursued him for some distance, but
he gained on them so rapidly that they soon
gave up the pursuit. When he reached
the bank of the river he discovered
Beasley and his companions in the canoe
paddling up stream, in order to make
themselves more conspicuous to McArthur
should he make his escape from the
Indians.
In April, 1791,
Israel
Donalson,
while on a surveying expedition with
Massie, on the waters of Brushcreek, was
made prisoner by the Indians and carried
north towards their towns on the Miami.
The route taken by the Indians with their
prisoner must have led them through the
present town of New Market, in this county,
and three or four miles west of the site of
Hillsboro. Donalson remained
but a short time with the Indians.
They had him securely, as they thought, tied
with a bark rope, on each end of which slept
an Indian at night. He determined,
however, to be free, and on the last night
with his captors he set to work, after he
was satisfied they were asleep, to gnaw off
the rope, in which he succeeded just about
day break. He then crawled off on his
hands and knees until he got into the edge
of the prairie, when he sat down within ten
rods of the camp to put on his moccasins.
The Indians awoke while he was thus engaged,
and missing him, raised the yell, and
started on the back track, while Donalson
ran with one moccasin in his hand, and
escaped. He suffered intensely from
fatigue, hunger, sore feet, &c., before he
reached Fort Washington. Mr.
Donalson lived in Adams county until he
reached the advanced age of ninety years.
He was a member of the Convention that
framed the Old Constitution.
In 1778,
Thomas Beals,
a leading member of the Society of Friends,
and one of the earliest settlers in the
northern part of Highland, conceived the
idea that he could travel among the Indians
of the West, and in the character of the
great and good William Penn succeed
in christianizing and civilizing them.
He accordingly left North Carolinas in the
spring of this year in company with seven or
eight others on his way to Kentucky.
The party arrived at the residence of
Beverly Milliner, also an old settler in
our county, on Clinch river, where some more
Friends joined his party. When they
were about resuming their journey, Beals
spoke to them and said he could not see the
way clear to start then. They
re-entered the house and sat in silence some
time. At length Thomas broke
the silence, and was giving them a good
sermon While he was preaching a squad
of Light-horsemen rode up and inquired if
Beals' company was there. On being
answered, the commander delivered a dispatch
from Col. Preston, then on duty near
Bean's station with a small military
force Beals' aprty immediately set
out for that place When they arrived,
Preston inquired very minutely into
his plans, and told him the Indians would
not listen to him, and he could not let his
party pass, but that he might stay and
preach to him and his troops. Beals
replied that he did not know that he could
say anything of himself, but if the Colonel
would
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order his men into silence he would sit with
them, which the Colonel did. They all
eat awhile in profound silence; for the
scene, though extremely novel to most of the
troops, who had never before witnessed the
peculiar, though simple and impressive
ceremonies of the meek, gentle and
philanthropic Friends, was understood to be
a religious meeting, and the rough soldiers
and the hardy back-woodsmen, though deprived
for many months of the advantages of regular
preaching, had by no means ceased to respect
the ministers of the church. Beals
finally rose to his feet and preached one of
the greatest sermons, which was listened to
with marked attention. This was
doubtless the first sermon ever heard from
the lips of a Friend in the wilds of
Kentucky. Col. Preston
was much pleased with the preaching, as well
as the earnest devotion and self-sacrificing
spirit manifested by the preacher and his
companions. They seemed unconscious of
danger, and impressed with the belief that
the voice of Christian love and the promised
rewards of an obedience to the promptings of
the inner spirit, could not fail in their
effects on the hearts of the savages.
But Col. Preston knew the
Indians better, and advised Beals and
his companions to return, which they
reluctantly did.
Two years afterwards, Beals, still
impressed with the idea of christianizing
the Indians, set out with another party to
the West, crossed the New river country down
to a stream called Bluestone, about fifty
miles above the falls of Kanawha. The
party was pleased with the country, but
owing to some unknown cause, the project was
again abandoned, and after taking a good
hunt, the party returned home.
The next spring
Beals made up an emigrant party of
Carolinians, and moved out and commenced a
settlement on Bluestone. That fall
most of the men went on a hunt some distance
from the settlement. They had
excellent luck and killed a large quantity
of game—bear, deer, &c. They returned
home and sent a party out with horses to
bring in the meat. During their
absence the Indians had discovered their
camp, and were lying in ambush awaiting the
return of the party. On the first
fire, five of the men were shot dead.
The remaining two,
James Horton,
Beals’ son-in-law, and
John Branson were
taken prisoners. They were immediately
hurried off to the north-west, and taken to
Old Chillicothe— now Frankfort—and after
undergoing all the tortures peculiar to
savage ingenuity, were finally burned at the
stake. James Horton was the
father of Jacob Horton, who afterward
resided in Fairfield township, in this
county.
Early in the spring of 1791 a party of Shawnees
crossed the Ohio near the mouth of Eagle
creek and stole horses, robbed and burned
houses and murdered some of the inhabitants
of what is now Mason county, Kentucky.
Kenton raised a party and pursued them.
The Indians took a due north course.
The pursuing party made a forced march, and
being fresh and eager, reached by night-fall
the banks of the Rocky Fork of Paint, and
encamped on its bank near the present
residence of John H. Jolly. In
the morning they continued the pursuit, and
passed up the ridge in the direction of
where Hillsboro now stands, and over the
site of the town on towards where
Martinsville now stands. A short
distance east of the present town, and on a
tract of land now known as the Throckmorton
survey, the scouts of the party reported
Indians in the neighborhood. Kenton
and his party halted and sent one Timothy
Downing forward to reconnoitre,
supported by two others. Downing
was in advance and caught sight of an Indian
who had doubtless loitered in the rear of
his party for the same purpose that
Downing had gone in advance of his.
Downing, by some means, got the start
of the Indian and killed him. At the
report of his rifle the main body of the
Indians took alarm and scattered through the
woods, leaving all the stolen horses and
goods. Kenton and his men
pursued with all speed, but were unable to
overtake any of them. So they were
compelled to content themselves with the
plunder they had obtained.
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