The Beginner's American History Part 16

147. Boone's wanderings in the western forests; his bear tree.--When Daniel had grown to manhood, he wandered off with his gun on his shoulder, and crossing the mountains, entered what is now the state of Tennessee. That whole country was then a wilderness, full of savage beasts and still more savage Indians; and Boone had many a sharp fight with both.

More than a hundred and thirty years ago, he cut these words on a beech-tree, still standing in Eastern Tennessee,[3]--"D. Boon killed a bar on (this) tree in the year 1760." You will see if you examine the tree, on which the words can still be read, that Boone could not spell very well; but he could do what the bear minded a good deal more,--he could shoot to kill.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOONE'S BEAR TREE.]

[Footnote 3: The tree is still standing on the banks of Boone's Creek, near Jonesboro, Was.h.i.+ngton County, Tennessee.]

148. Boone goes hunting in Kentucky; what kind of game he found there; the Indians; the "Dark and b.l.o.o.d.y Ground."--Nine years after he cut his name on that tree, Boone, with a few companions, went to a new part of the country. The Indians called it Kentucky. There he saw buffalo, deer, bears, and wolves enough to satisfy the best hunter in America.

This region was a kind of No Man's Land, because, though many tribes of Indians roamed over it, none of them pretended to own it. These bands of Indians were always fighting and trying to drive each other out, so Kentucky was often called the "Dark and b.l.o.o.d.y Ground." But, much as the savages hated each other, they hated the white men, or the "pale-faces," as they called them, still more.

149. Indian tricks; the owls.--The hunters were on the lookout for these Indians, but the savages practised all kinds of tricks to get the hunters near enough to shoot them. Sometimes Boone would hear the gobble of a wild turkey. He would listen a moment, then he would say, That is not a wild turkey, but an Indian, imitating that bird; but he won't fool me and get me to come near enough to put a bullet through my head.

One evening an old hunter, on his way to his cabin, heard what seemed to be two young owls calling to each other. But his quick ear noticed that there was something not quite natural in their calls, and what was stranger still, that the owls seemed to be on the ground instead of being perched on trees, as all well-behaved owls would be. He crept cautiously along through the bushes till he saw something ahead which looked like a stump. He didn't altogether like the looks of the stump.

He aimed his rifle at it, and fired. The stump, or what seemed to be one, fell over backward with a groan. He had killed an Indian, who had been waiting to kill him.

150. Boone makes the "Wilderness Road," and builds the fort at Boonesboro'.--In 1775 Boone, with a party of thirty men, chopped a path through the forest from the mountains of Eastern Tennessee to the Kentucky River,[4] a distance of about two hundred miles. This was the first path in that part of the country leading to the great west. It was called the "_Wilderness Road_." Over that road, which thousands of emigrants travelled afterward, Boone took his family, with other settlers, to the Kentucky River. There they built a fort called Boonesboro'. That fort was a great protection to all the first settlers in Kentucky. In fact, it is hard to see how the state could have grown up without it. So in one way, we can say with truth that Daniel Boone, the hunter, fighter, and road-maker, was a state-builder besides.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MAP SHOWING BOONE'S "WILDERNESS ROAD."]

[Footnote 4: See map in this paragraph.]

151. Boone's daughter is stolen by the Indians; how he found her.--One day Boone's young daughter was out, with two other girls, in a canoe on the river. Suddenly some Indians pounced on them and carried them off.

One of the girls, as she went along, broke off twigs from the bushes, so that her friends might be able to follow her track through the woods. An Indian caught her doing it, and told her that he would kill her if she did not instantly stop. Then she slyly tore off small bits of her dress, and dropped a piece from time to time.

Boone and his men followed the Indians like bloodhounds. They picked up the bits of dress, and so easily found which way the savages had gone. They came up with the Indians just as they were sitting down round a fire to eat their supper. Creeping toward them behind the trees as softly as a cat creeps up behind a mouse, Boone and his men aimed their rifles and fired. Two of the Indians fell dead, the rest ran for their lives, and the girls were carried back in safety to the fort.

152. Boone is captured by Indians; they adopt him as a son.--Later, Boone himself was caught and carried off by the Indians. They respected his courage so much that they would not kill him, but decided to adopt him; that is, take him into the tribe as one of their own people, or make an Indian of him.

They pulled out all his hair except one long lock, called the "scalp-lock," which they left to grow in Indian fas.h.i.+on. The squaws[5] and girls braided bright feathers in this lock, so that Boone looked quite gay. Then the Indians took him down to a river.

There they stripped him, and scrubbed him with all their might, to get his white blood out, as they said. Next, they painted his face in stripes with red and yellow clay, so that he looked, as they thought, handsomer than he ever had before in his life. When all had been done, and they were satisfied with the appearance of their new Indian, they sat down to a great feast, and made merry.

[Footnote 5: Squaws: Indian women.]

153. Boone escapes, but the Indians find him again; what a handful of tobacco dust did.--After a time Boone managed to escape, but the Indians were so fond of him that they could not rest till they found him again. One day he was at work in a kind of shed drying some tobacco leaves. He heard a slight noise, and turning round saw four Indians with their guns pointed at him. "Now, Boone," said they, "we got you.

You no get away this time." "How are you?" said Boone, pleasantly; "glad to see you; just wait a minute till I get you some of my tobacco." He gathered two large handfuls of the leaves: they were as dry as powder and crumbled to dust in his hands. Coming forward, as if to give the welcome present to the Indians, he suddenly sprang on them and filled their eyes, mouths, and noses with the stinging tobacco dust. The savages were half choked and nearly blinded. While they were dancing about, coughing, sneezing, and rubbing their eyes, Boone slipped out of the shed and got to a place of safety. The Indians were mad as they could be, yet they could hardly help laughing at Boone's trick; for cunning as the red men were, he was more cunning still.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOONE'S FORT, AT BOONESBORO', KENTUCKY.]

154. Boone's old age; he moves to Missouri; he begs for a piece of land; his grave.--Boone lived to be a very old man. He had owned a good deal of land in the west, but he had lost possession of it. When Kentucky began to fill up with people and the game was killed off, Boone moved across the Mississippi into Missouri. He said that he went because he wanted "more elbow room" and a chance to hunt buffalo again.

He now begged the state of Kentucky to give him a small piece of land, where, as he said, he could "lay his bones." The people of that state generously helped him to get nearly a thousand acres; but he appears to have soon lost possession of it. If he actually did lose it, then this brave old hunter, who had opened up the way for such a mult.i.tude of emigrants to get farms at the west, died without owning a piece of ground big enough for a grave. He is buried in Frankfort, Kentucky, within sight of the river on which he built his fort at Boonesboro'.

155. Summary.--Daniel Boone, a famous hunter from North Carolina, opened up a road through the forest, from the mountains of Eastern Tennessee to the Kentucky River. It was called the "Wilderness Road,"

and over it thousands of emigrants went into Kentucky to settle.

Boone, with others, built the fort at Boonesboro', Kentucky, and went there to live. That fort protected the settlers against the Indians, and so helped that part of the country to grow until it became the state of Kentucky.

Tell about Daniel Boone. How did he help his father? Where did he go when he became a man? What did he cut on a beech tree? Where did he go after that? What is said of the Indians in Kentucky? Tell about Indian tricks. Tell about the two owls. Tell about the Wilderness Road. What is said of the fort at Boonesboro'? Tell how Boone's daughter and the other girls were stolen by the Indians. What happened next? Tell how Boone was captured by the Indians and how they adopted him. Tell the story of the tobacco dust. What did Boone do when he became old? What did Kentucky get for him? Where is he buried?

GENERAL JAMES ROBERTSON AND GOVERNOR JOHN SEVIER[1]

(1742-1814; 1745-1815).

156. Who James Robertson was; Governor Tryon; the battle of Alamance.[2]--When Daniel Boone first went to Kentucky (1769) he had a friend named James Robertson, in North Carolina[3] who was, like himself, a mighty hunter. The British governor of North Carolina at that time was William Tryon. He lived in a palace built with money which he had forced the people to give him. They hated him so for his greed and cruelty that they nicknamed him the "Great Wolf of North Carolina."

At last many of the settlers vowed that they would not give the governor another penny. When he sent tax-collectors to get money, they drove them back, and they flogged one of the governor's friends with a rawhide till he had to run for his life.

The governor then collected some soldiers and marched against the people in the west. A battle was fought near the Alamance River. The governor had the most men and had cannon besides, so he gained the day. He took seven of the people prisoners and hanged them. They all died bravely, as men do who die for liberty.

[Footnote 1: Sevier (Se-veer'): he was born in Rockingham County, Virginia.]

[Footnote 2: Alamance River (Al'a-mance): see map in paragraph 150.]

[Footnote 3: Robertson was born in Brunswick County, Virginia; he emigrated to North Carolina and settled in the neighborhood of Raleigh. See map in paragraph 150.]

157. James Robertson leaves North Carolina and goes west.--After the battle of Alamance James Robertson and his family made up their minds that they would not live any longer where Governor Tryon ruled. They resolved to go across the mountains into the western wilderness.

Sixteen other families joined Robertson's and went with them. It was a long, hard journey; for they had to climb rocks and find their way through deep, tangled woods. The men went ahead with their axes and their guns; then the older children followed, driving the cows; last of all came the women with the little children, with beds, pots, and kettles packed on the backs of horses.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ROBERTSON WITH HIS PARTY CROSSING THE MOUNTAINS ON THEIR WAY TO TENNESSEE.]

158. The emigrants settle on the Watauga River[4] in Tennessee.--When the little party had crossed the mountains into what is now the state of Tennessee, they found a delightful valley.

Through this valley there ran a stream of clear sparkling water called the Watauga River; the air of the valley was sweet with the smell of wild crab-apples.

On the banks of that stream the emigrants built their new homes. Their houses were simply rough log huts, but they were clean and comfortable. When the settlers put up these cabins, they chopped down every tree near them which was big enough for an Indian to hide behind.

They knew that they might have to fight the savages; but they had rather do that than be robbed by tax-collectors. In the wilderness Governor Tryon could not reach them--they were free; free as the deer and the squirrels were: that one thought made them contented and happy.

[Footnote 4: Watauga River (Wa-taw'ga): see map in paragraph 150.]

159. John Sevier goes to settle at Watauga; what he and Robertson did.--The year after this little settlement was made John Sevier went from Virginia to Watauga, as it was called. He and Robertson soon became fast friends--for one brave man can always see something to respect and like in another brave man. Robertson and Sevier hunted together and worked together.

After a while they called a meeting of the settlers and agreed on some excellent laws, so that everything in the log village might be done decently and in order; for although these people lived in the woods, they had no notion of living like savages or wild beasts. In course of time President Was.h.i.+ngton made James Robertson General Robertson, in honor of what he had done for his country.