Chapter 8: 1778, Callaway, Boone and the Shawnee

“Boone is back!” Andrew Johnson announced after bursting into the room. “So, the prodigal son has returned?” Richard Callaway asked in disbelief.

2 “He says that he escaped, but who knows what that feller is up to,” Johnson replied. “He could be waiting for his Indian and British friends to arrive,” Callaway snarled.

3 “Chief Blackfish adopted him, and he lived with a squaw,” Johnson reminded him. Callaway wrinkled his nose in disgust. “He has a lot of nerve returning here!”

4 The two men weren’t alone in their skepticism about where Boone’s loyalties lay. Daniel noticed that several of the residents of Boonesborough either turned away from him or studied him with suspicious eyes. “I can’t worry about that right now – there’s too much work to do,” he thought.

5 “Listen to me, Blackfish is gatherin a large group of warriors together, and they intend to attack this place!” Daniel warned the settlers who had gathered around him.

6 “Why should any of us believe or trust anything you say?” Callaway shouted as he approached the growing crowd of people. “Hello, Richard,” Daniel smiled. “I’ve been livin among them – I’ve heard their plans from their own lips.”

7 “What are you proposin we do about it, Danil?” a man shouted from the perimeter. “We need to finish this stockade as quickly as possible, start diggin a well and gather enough supplies to withstand the attack,” Boone declared in a calm and reassuring manner. “Let’s get to work!” another man shouted.

8 In the weeks that followed, they completed the palisade around the fort and finished the blockhouses which stood at the corners and would provide the necessary platforms for the riflemen to defend the place. They also began digging a well within the enclosure to provide enough water for the settlers in the event of a protracted siege. Nevertheless, the enthusiasm for the work began to wane as the summer dragged on and the Indians did not appear as anticipated.

9 Then, one day, William Hancock walked out of the forest naked and bruised and staggered toward the fort. “What happened, Will?” Daniel asked him. “I escaped them savages and walked all the way back here,” Hancock replied.

10 “What have the Shawnee been up to?” Richard demanded. “We’ve been expecting them to attack us here,” he added before the man could reply.

11 “And that’s just what those bastards plan to do,” Will assured him. “Danil’s escape set them back a bit, but they’ve been gittin ready ever since.”

12 Daniel and Richard both wrote letters to Colonel Campbell of the Virginia militia informing him of their situation and requesting that he send reinforcements to Boonesborough as quickly as possible. They began gathering food and animals into the stockade, but another month passed without any sign of the Indians.

13 “I’ll take twenty or thirty men across the Ohio and see what they’re up to,” Daniel proposed. “We can’t afford to weaken our defenses right now,” Richard protested. “What if we’re attacked while you’re gone?” he demanded.

14 “We’re feelin around in the dark here,” Daniel argued. “We need to know what they’re doin and how big of a force Blackfish has been able to put together for this assault.”

15 Boone’s reasoning prevailed, and he led a small scouting party out of the fort the following day. They came into contact with some warriors as soon as they had crossed the Ohio, and it became clear to them that the greatest part of Blackfish’s force was already in Kentucky. Daniel and his men promptly recrossed the river and hurried back to Boonesborough.

16 “They’re at the Blue Licks,” Daniel reported matter-of-factly. “There are several hundred Indians, and it looks like the British have sent a pretty good-sized company of men from Detroit,” he continued.

17 Boone was disappointed to see that the reinforcements which they had requested from the Virginia militia had not arrived. Instead, a few men had trickled in from Harrodsburg and Logan’s Station to assist in the defense of Boonesborough.

18 Boone was outside of the stockade with his nephews when the Indians finally appeared. “You boys git back to the fort!” he shouted.

19 The boys dropped the buckets which they had been using to water the cattle and ran toward the fort. The gate was closed behind them. Boone watched the Indians move closer to the stockade, and then carefully made his own way back to the gate and slipped inside.

20 In the meantime, the Shawnee and their allies had assembled in the meadow in front of the fort. Within a few minutes, the Tory militia planted a British flag in the ground where they were standing, and the Indians began constructing an arbor in the settlers’ peach orchard.

21 Soon, a large Black man emerged from the Indian camp and approached the fort with a white flag. “Boone!” he yelled. “I’m here,” Daniel responded. “Chief Blackfish will accept the fort’s surrender now!” he declared.

22 “Now, why would we do that?” Boone asked. “Governor Hamilton will guarantee your peoples’ safety to Detroit,” the man continued. “They’ll scalp us the first chance they get,” Richard protested.

23 Just then, Daniel heard someone shouting his Shawnee name. “Sheltowee!” he heard again. “Blackfish wishes to talk with his son,” the Black man shouted.

24 “You men cover me – I’m goin out there,” Daniel declared. “Do you think that’s wise?” Callaway demanded.

25 “Blackfish will listen to me, and I may be able to find out more about what they’re wantin to do here,” Daniel responded evenly. “Well, just remember that you don’t speak for all of us, and we expect to be consulted on everything you discuss with that old heathen!” Richard snapped. Daniel nodded and turned to the other men gathered there, “Cover me!”

26 Boone walked out of the gate and stopped about two hundred feet from the stockade. Blackfish and several of his warriors walked toward him from the arbor. When the two men met each other, they embraced.

27 “I don’t understand how he can be so friendly to those savages,” Callaway observed. “I wish I could hear what they are saying to each other,” he added. Callaway paced back and forth while Boone parlayed with the Indians. “What’s taking him so long?” he thought aloud.

28 When Boone returned to the fort, he had a grim look on his face. Blackfish had given him a letter from the British governor guaranteeing their safe passage to Detroit if they surrendered, and he showed it to the other men.

29 “He said that he intends to take this fort, and that he will kill every man in here and take the women as his squaws if we refuse to surrender,” Daniel reported. Everyone knew that was what Blackfish intended, but it still shocked them to hear it spoken aloud. “He’s waitin for our reply,” Boone finished.

30 “How many wants to surrender?” he asked. About half of the men who were present slowly raised their hands.

31 “I will personally kill the first man who tries to surrender!” Callaway exclaimed. “I say that we tell them to kiss our ass!” William Smith agreed. “I’m prepared to fight to the death,” Boone’s brother added.

32 Daniel looked from man to man and saw the determination on their faces. “Well, if that’s what everyone wants, I’ll die too!” Boone finally exclaimed.

33 “Even so, we need more time,” he continued. “There are a lot of Indians out there, and we need all of the reinforcements we can git,” Boone argued. Everyone agreed, and they sent Boone and Smith out to talk again with Blackfish.

34 “Will you surrender?” the old chief demanded. “Your offer is generous; but Detroit is many miles away, and we have women and children to consider,” Smith interjected.

35 “I brought horses along with me for them to ride on,” Blackfish pressed. “We will tell the leaders in the fort about your proposal,” Boone offered without accepting or rejecting the offer.

36 Neither man welcomed the uncertainty of war – too many things could go wrong. Nevertheless, Daniel sensed that his adopted father’s patience was wearing thin. Clearly, they didn’t have much time before the old man would make his move.

37 The Black translator approached Boonesborough again. “Chief Blackfish demands an answer,” he shouted. “Our people will not surrender!” Boone answered. “We have decided to fight to the death!” Callaway added.

38 A few minutes later, the translator returned with a request for another parley. “It’s a trap!” Will Hancock exclaimed. “It may be, but we may be able to delay them a few more days,” Daniel interjected. “If we’re going to do this, I want to be out there this time,” Richard asserted.

39 “Why don’t we send out a delegation?” Boone asked. “Wouldn’t that be too dangerous?” one of the men asked. “Not if you men are covering us,” Daniel assured them. “If they try to grab us, you men start shooting,” he continued. “Don’t worry about hitting one of us – there will be a lot more of them than there are of us.”

40 “We’ll talk with the chief by the big elm on this side of the creek,” Daniel shouted back to the translator. With the arrangements made, Callaway and Boone (along with seven other men) emerged from the gate and made their way to the elm. Blackfish and his warriors were waiting there for them.

41 “What right do you have to settle here?” the old chief demanded. “Henderson bought this land from the Cherokee at Sycamore Shoals,” Boone calmly replied.

42 “I did not know about this deal,” the old man protested. “Let me discuss this with my people.” Blackfish got up and retired a short distance away and began discussing something with the warriors who had gathered around him.

43 After a few minutes, he returned to the delegation from the fort and told them that this new information had altered the nature of his views about the settlement. “We must live here together in peace,” he told them. “Let the Ohio be the boundary between us, but you must swear your loyalty to the great chief of the British,” Blackfish concluded.

44 Boone and Callaway looked at each other for several minutes. “Agreed!” they both said at almost the same instant. “Now let us conclude this treaty between us with an embrace of friendship,” the old man said as he rose from the place where he was seated.

45 As the Indians reached out to embrace their White counterparts, Boone shoved Blackfish to the ground and shouted, “Run!” One of the warriors grabbed Callaway, but he managed to wriggle free. At that same instant, the men from the fort began firing into the Indians. Daniel, Richard and the others quickly took advantage of the confusion and ran back to the fort.

46 Somehow, they all managed to make it back inside without serious harm. Boone had suffered a superficial tomahawk wound on his back, and his brother had been hit by a rifle ball in the shoulder. With the gate secured behind them, the siege of Boonesborough had begun.

47 Rifle fire commenced in earnest on both sides. Bullets thudded into the logs of the palisade and splinters flew into the air outside of the wall. The smell of gunpowder filled the air.

48 The cattle within the stockade stampeded from one side to the other. Dogs barked and howled, and many of the children hovered in the corners, frightened and crying. On occasion, a stray ball would drop a cow or horse and added to the mayhem.

49 Then, suddenly, a large group of Indians emerged from their hiding places and charged across the open ground between them and the fort. Moreover, although the sustained rifle fire of the defenders eventually drove them back, the brazenness and numbers of the enemy almost unnerved the settlers on more than one occasion.

50 In the days that followed, the Tories and their Indian allies attempted several times to burn down the fort. On one occasion, they set fire to the settlers’ flax – hoping to ignite a fence which adjoined the superstructure of the fort. At other times, they fired flaming arrows into the palisade and onto the roofs of the buildings within. On numerous occasions, brave warriors would run up to the stockade and toss torches over the wall.

51 Nevertheless, all of their efforts to burn down the defenses of the American settlers failed. Women and men beat out flames and poured out buckets of water. The heavens even opened their doors once to quench the flames. Thus, in spite of persistent efforts on the part of the attackers, Boonesborough continued to stand against the onslaught; and a frontier version of the newly designed flag of the still infant American republic continued to fly over the fort.

52 Finally, on the morning of September 18, the area around the fort felt empty and quiet. As daylight broke over the horizon, the men on the wall could see that the Indians had abandoned their position in the peach orchard.

53 “Wait!” Daniel Boone had shouted. “It may be a trick.” So, the men waited until later in the day to venture outside of the enclosure.

54 When they did, however, it was soon discovered that their caution had been unnecessary. Blackfish, his warriors and their Tory allies were gone. The siege of Boonesborough was over!

55 A few days later, the Virginia militia arrived to relieve the fort and the other Kentucky settlements. “Daniel Boone should be tried for treason,” Callaway insisted.

56 He then proceeded to tell the officers of the militia about all of the stories that he had heard about Boone’s behavior among the Shawnee and British while he was Blackfish’s “prisoner.” “From what I’ve heard, he sounded more like a part of the chief’s family,” Richard finished.

57 A formal court-martial was held at Logan’s Station a few days later. Colonel Richard Callaway enumerated the charges against him: “Daniel Boone willingly surrendered his men at the Licks to the savages. He offered to surrender the people of Boonesborough to the British governor at Detroit. After he returned, Boone deliberately weakened the defenses of Boonesborough when an attack was imminent. And he exposed the leadership of the fort to capture by the enemy during our negotiations with them.”

58 “I surrendered those men at the Blue Licks to prevent an attack on Boonesborough,” Boone began. “I pretended to be friendly to the British to buy myself and the others some time,” he continued. “After I escaped, I did lead a few men across the Ohio to see where the Indians was at. And I made sure our men was always within rifle range of the fort.”

59 When Boone was finished, the officers withdrew to make their decision. They had already heard from a number of other people about everything that had transpired over the past several months. After deliberating for about an hour, the panel emerged to give their decision.

60 “We find Daniel Boone to be innocent of the charges leveled against him,” one of them announced. “And, in recognition of his bravery and efforts on behalf of the people of Kentucky, we recommend that he be promoted to the rank of major.”

61 The room erupted in cheers and slaps on the back. Richard Callaway was stunned. The ordeal was over, and Boone and Callaway never spoke to each other again.

62 Now these are the generations of Joseph Callaway:

63 Joseph was the father of Thomas, William, Joseph, Elizabeth, Francis, James, Richard, Ann and John.

64 Ann Callaway married Henry Bunch, and they had a daughter named Elizabeth.