OHIO
Archaeological and Historical
PUBLICATIONS.
SIMON KENTON.
PROF. R. W. M'FARLAND.
SECTION I.
PRELIMINARY NOTE.
It may seem to many people that enough
has already been
written both of Boone and Kenton: the
first having been the
most prominent early settler of
Kentucky; the second having
been the scout who did probably more
than any one else, not ex-
cepting Boone himself, to save the
settlers from the tomahawk
and scalping knife of the Indian. By
Boone's own account, it
appears that he, John Finley, John
Stewart, and three others left
their homes on the Yadkin river, North
Carolina "in quest of the
country of Kentucky. This was in May,
1769, and 'on the 7th'
day of June following, we found
ourselves on Red river, the
northernmost branch of the Kentucky
river."
The party continued hunting with great
success throughout
the summer and fall, as late as December
22d. Soon after this
date, Stewart was killed by the Indians,
the first victim to fall,
so far as is known. Estimates of the number
of men, women,
and children killed by the savages from
1770 to 1790, vary from
fifteen hundred or two thousand. No one
puts the number be-
low the smaller of these two numbers. Of
course the exact
number can never be known; but it is an
appalling list, viewed
in any light whatever.
Vol. XIII.- 1. (1)