Between pen
scratches, no doubt, he looked out frequently upon the river to
descry if possible a boatload of ammunition or the banners of the
troops he had been promised.
When neither appeared, he gave up the idea of Detroit and set
about erecting defenses on the southern border, for the Choctaws
and Cherokees, united under a white leader named Colbert, were
threatening Kentucky by way of the Mississippi. He built in 1780
Fort Jefferson in what is now Ballard County, and had barely
completed the new post and garrisoned it with about thirty men
when it was besieged by Colbert and his savages. The Indians,
assaulting by night, were lured into a position directly before a
cannon which poured lead into a mass of them. The remainder fled
in terror from the vicinity of the fort; but Colbert succeeded in
rallying them and was returning to the attack when he suddenly
encountered Clark with a company of men and was forced to abandon
his enterprise.
Clark knew that the Ohio Indians would come down on the
settlements again during the summer and that to meet their
onslaughts every man in Kentucky would be required. He learned
that there was a new influx of land seekers over the Wilderness
Road and that speculators were doing a thriving business in
Harrodsburg; so, leaving his company to protect Fort Jefferson,
he took two men with him and started across the wilds on foot for
Harrodsburg.
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