Again the Mingo warriors declared for war and
this time were not dissuaded. But Logan did not join this red
army. He went out alone to wreak his vengeance, slaying and
scalping.
Meanwhile Dunmore prepared to push the war with the utmost vigor.
His first concern was to recall the surveying parties from
Kentucky, and for so hazardous an errand he needed the services
of a man whose endurance, speed, and woodcraft were equal to
those of any Indian scout afoot. Through Colonel Preston, his
orders were conveyed to Daniel Boone, for Boone's fame had now
spread from the border to the tidewater regions. It was stated
that "Boone would lose no time," and "if they are alive, it is
indisputable but Boone must find them."
So Boone set out in company with Michael Stoner, another expert
woodsman. His general instructions were to go down the Kentucky
River to Preston's Salt Lick and across country to the Falls of
the Ohio, and thence home by Gaspar's Lick on the Cumberland
River. Indian war parties were moving under cover across "the
Dark and Bloody Ground" to surround the various groups of
surveyors still at large and to exterminate them. Boone made his
journey successfully. He found John Floyd, who was surveying for
Washington; he sped up to where Harrod and his band were building
cabins and sent them out, just in time as it happened; he reached
all the outposts of Thomas Bullitt's party, only one of whom fell
a victim to the foe*; and, undetected by the Indians, he brought
himself and Stoner home in safety, after covering eight hundred
miles in sixty-one days.
Pages:
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126