Boone's friend, Calloway, urged against acceptance of
the apparently benign proposal which was made, so Dequindre
averred, for "bienfaisance et humanite." But the words were the
words of a white man, and Boone hearkened to them. With eight of
the garrison he went out to the parley. After a long talk in
which good will was expressed on both sides, it was suggested by
Black Fish that they all shake hands and, as there were so many
more Indians than white men, two Indians should, of course, shake
hands with one white man, each grasping one of his hands. The
moment that their hands gripped, the trick was clear, for the
Indians exerted their strength to drag off the white men.
Desperate scuffling ensued in which the whites with difficulty
freed themselves and ran for the fort. Calloway had prepared for
emergencies. The pursuing Indians were met with a deadly fire.
After a defeated attempt to mine the fort the enemy withdrew.
The successful defense of Boonesborough was an achievement of
national importance, for had Boonesborough fallen, Harrodsburg
alone could not have stood. The Indians under the British would
have overrun Kentucky; and George Rogers Clark--whose base for
his Illinois operations was the Kentucky forts--could not have
made the campaigns which wrested the Northwest from the control
of Great Britain.
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