Before beginning, may I make a correction. Fort Estill was in Madison Co near the current-day Blue Grass Army Depot. Thanks for an observant lister! Information for this post again taken from the writings of Lewis Collins, historian, pp 195-199. He states that when there were but few settlers in Bourbon county, a band of about 20 Indians came to steal horses. A dozen hunters followed their train and overtook them at Stoner, a few miles above Paris, and after a gun battle the hunters had killed one of the Indians and wounded several others. This caused the Indians to flee, but they came back and returned fire on the hunters. The fight was continued for a long time per Collins. Finally the white settlers ran out of ammunition and they were all wounded. They left as quickly as they could. The one hunter killed was Frank Hickman whose skeleton was found later and identified by the initials on his knee buckles. In June 1780 Martin's Station was captured by a large body of Canadians and Indians led by Colonel Byrd, an officer of the British Army. Then on 11 April 1787, there was a widow named Shanks who lived on Cooper's run, and was involved in an attack. She lived in what they then called a "double cabin" in a very lonely part of the county. Widow Shanks lived in one room in the cabin along with two grown sons, a widowed daughter who had a suckling child. The other section of the cabin was occupied by two unmarried daughters who were still awake at 11 pm that fateful night, weaving. Everyone else had already fallen asleep except one of the sons in the other section. The only sound heard was the hooting of the owls in the timber and the unusual stirring of the horses - a good sign of trouble. The son almost woke his brother several times but hesitated thinking he might be thought a coward. Then he heard steps outside in the yard and there were several loud knocks at the door. In perfect English a voice said "who keeps house?" The son thought it was one of his neighbors seeking assistance and withdrew the bar which secured the door. Widow Shanks, on hearing the voice and having more experience, detected an Indian tone to the voice and jumped out of bed. She ordered her son to re-latch the door! She instantly woke the other son and they all grabbed their guns. The Indian intruder started pounding on the door, but one shot back by one of the residents of the cabin discouraged him. But ... the intruders discovered the other door which opened into the other part of the cabin where the daughters and the infant were. The Indians forced open the door to the girl's room by ripping off railing from the fence and charging. The youngest daughter was captured immediately and the other daughter put up a tremendous fight. She had grabbed a knife she had been using at the loom and stabbed one of the Indians in the heart. Then she was tomahawked. The youngest girl had been ignored while this battle ensued with her older sister and she made her escape and ran out into the yard. Her screaming alerted the Indians when she screamed that her sisters had been killed, but her brothers didn't hear her. When the brother finally heard her cries, Widow Shanks rushed to them and threw herself in front of them. She demanded in a stern voice that the girl's fate was sealed . At that moment the little girl's scream could be heard and then a few moans, and then silence. The next sound they heard was the crackling of fire, a victory yell from the Indians - the girl's portion of the cabin was burning. The fire spread rapidly and in a few moments had caught the other portion of the cabin on fire, forcing Widow Shanks and the sons to run out or perish in the fire. They threw the door open and with the sons holding up their widowed mother made a sprint outside and attempted to cross the wooden fence. Somehow the blaze distracted the waiting Indians and they didn't see the escape. The widow and her sons reached the stile but during her crossing, the Indians saw them and she suffered several balls to the chest and fell dead upon the ground. One of her sons took no fire. He was trying to protect the younger woman and her child. The Indians charged and the young man fought with all his strength drawing attention to himself and allowing his sister a chance to escape. But his fight was short-lived as he was tomahawked and was found the next morning, scalped and mangled in a horrid manner. Once a family of eight, only three escaped to tell their story. Four had been killed on the spot and one carried off a prisoner. The neighborhood (often many miles apart) heard of the attack and at daylight, thirty men were assembled under the command of Colonel Edwards. A snow covered the ground by daylight and the trail of the Indians could be easily followed. It led to the mountainous country near the Licking and it indicated that the Indians were going at a rapid gait. But, they made a mistake. They had taken a hound with them and as the trail grew fresh, she started barking eagerly, thus alerting the Indians. They in retaliation sunk a tomahawk into the skull of the captured sister. As Colonel Edwards' band approached they found her in the snow, barely alive. The girl with her last strength waved her hands and appeared to want to tell them something. But she was too weak from the loss of blood. Her only living brother sprang from his horse and tried to stop the bleeding. She tried to speak but it came out as gurgles and within two minutes she lie dead upon the snowy ground. The settlers, enraged even further, took off in pursuit of the Indian band and within 20 minutes reached their goal. They were located in a narrow valley and in order to make the white men think there were more Indians than there really were, they darted back from tree to tree making it appear that there was a larger band. But Colonel Edwards and his men were quite wise to this tactic and readily determined that they outnumbered the Indians. Firing started and it was soon determined that there were only two Indians who were really in attack against them. They were the "sacrifices" offered by the Indians in order to protect the rest of the band. One of the Indians was killed immediately, the other wounded. The wounded Indian limped off with the whites in pursuit. This continued until night; the trail was lost because of darkness and the Indian crossing a creek. Colonel Edwards' band finally realized the trial was cold and returned. But a few weeks later, the settlers experienced a miracle. About sunrise a young man of "wild and savage appearance" appeared in the front of a cabin and helloed in a "barbarous dialect" - neither Indian nor English. It became obvious that he was white - or had been - but was now tanned due to the elements. He was dressed like an Indian and it looked like he was no older than 20 years old. Although the residents could not understand him, it was obvious he was trying them something. More and more people of the neighborhood began to gather to look upon this strange looking young man. The young man seemed to withdraw with the appearance of more people, his eyes rolled, and he looked more like a trapped animal. Several of the settlers understood the Indian tongue and began communicating with him. They finally got the story that he had been kidnapped by the Indians at birth and adopted by an Indian warrior who brought him up as his own son. He had experienced a happy life until the previous month. He said that a few weeks ago, his Indian father and a younger brother had gone out hunting on the waters of the Miami (about 40miles from Cincinnati), and after all their meats, skins etc had been secured, the old Indian chief wanted to do something to gratify his children and said he would be taking them on a war expedition to Kentucky. They built a bark canoe, crossed the Ohio near the mouth of the Licking and then buried the canoe to prevent discovery and the sun's rays. They proceeded about 15 miles from the river and heard an owl cry in a strange tone. The chief said this boded of death and determined to return to the river. The sons protested, ready for adventure and he was finally persuaded to continue into Kentucky. The old man had bad dreams that night on what faced them in Kentucky and he tried to talk the kidnapped white son and his own son to return. The boys again begged for a continuance and the three headed towards Bourbon County. They reached a house there which the chief hailed in English and suddenly the young man was overcome by the desire to return to his own people, the white man. As the interpreters continued with his story, some thought he was a spy and ordered his arrest. Others believed his tale and wanted him to prove the point by took some of the settlers to where the canoe was buried. He refused to do this, he had deserted his Indian father and brother and he did not want to betray them. But finally he complied. He however took them slowly - first to where an iron kettle had been left, then to the spot of the owl's hoot, in order to give his father and brother a chance to escape. But finally, there was no more delaying and the settlers saw an old man and a young boy sitting by a fire cooking venison. The deserting boy became excited at the sight of them and begged the bands not to kill him, but take then only as prisoners. The white men agreed but the old man and his son became agitated and tried to escape. Firing resulted and the old chief was killed. The kidnapped white boy was so distraught over this, sprang from his horse and ran to the old man's side. The warrior's other son was able to escape. The white boy raised as an Indian wept greatly and fell across his "father's" body. The warrior, just before death, recognized him and held out his hand and grasped it. The white band urged the boy to take them immediately to where the canoe was buried so the warrior's son could not escape. He begged them to spare his "brother's" life. But the men were insistent. He sadly started to lead them to the canoe - however, there were no tracks so the young man hadn't arrived. The band hid themselves in the trees and finally the young Indian arrived and started digging out the canoe. The shots began to ring out, and balls were so fierce as to throw his body into the air, and then the young Indian died. He was scalped in retaliation and buried where he fell. He never saw his white brother. The former captive returned with the white men in Bourbon County but never was known to have regained his tranquility of mind. He then disappeared as quickly as he had appeared and returned to the Indian band, distraught over the ferocity of the white race. He was never seen again. Next week I will publish a list of Captain Garrarad's troops, volunteer state dragoons. (c) Copyright 8 April 2004, Sandra K. Gorin. All rights reserved. Colonel Sandi Gorin SCKY Links: http://www.public.asu.edu/~moore/Gorin.html SCKY surname registry sites: http://www.rootsweb.com/~kyclinto/reg.html http://www.rootsweb.com/~kyclinto/forms/SCKYreg.html Gorin Publishing: http://ggpublishing.tripod.com/