GENERAL SIMON KENTON
By ALBERT L. SLAGER
Introduction.
By ORTON G. RUST
There are Homeric men in every age, men
filled with the
spring of life superabundant, a
perpetually flowing fountain of
youth, men whose every action attracts
the attention of their
fellow men, and whose lives count for
human progress.
Simon Kenton was such a man Tradition,
as well as his-
tory, has placed him among the strong,
the swift, the brave; an
explorer of hitherto unexplored regions
and a pathfinder for the
advancing civilization of mid-western
areas. He was more
than a wilderness Mazeppa, strapped upon
a wild horse, more
than the Leather Stocking of Kentucky
and the valley of the
Ohio. He was an individualistic
embodiment of the expanding
spirit of the American border.
Fate used Kenton as an instrument to
open the doors of an
empire state; to find a promised land
for the struggling pioneer
where he might rear his family and in
the end leave them a
competence. He was bruised and beaten by
the savage inhabi-
tants of the western wilds while engaged
in his self-appointed
task of rendering assistance to the
scattered settlements in the
land he had first explored, and in
protecting them in so far as
was possible from the savagery of the
red allies of, the British
north of the Ohio.
It has been the custom of historians in
the past, to point to
Marietta as the guiding star of all
Ohio. This is incorrect; the
settlement of western Ohio, following
Kenton's pioneering in
Kentucky, was established after Wayne's
Treaty with the In-
dians in I795, by hardy, and in many
cases, well-to-do immigrants
from western Pennsylvania, Virginia, New
Jersey and Kentucky.
(46)
SIMON KENTON 47
The westward path of empire was the Ohio
River from its
forks at Fort Pitt (now Pittsburgh) in
its downward course to
the Mississippi. Pittsburgh, Cincinnati,
Louisville and St. Louis
in the lapse of years became the great
ports of entry to the west,
northwest and southwest. The great
rivers were the earliest
highways of the western wilderness. At
Cincinnati the Ohio
was met by the Licking River from the
south, and the two Miamis
from the north; farther down are the
Kentucky, the Wabash
and other streams. The dug-out and the
canoe were the auto-
mobiles of Kenton's days.
Follow Kenton down the Ohio, and one
follows the settle-
ment of the West in its wildest extent.
His life epitomises his
time and his people; he was the arch
type, the forerunner, a
born guide; his feet trod the path of
empire, but not by chance.
Destiny was his guide.
From a military standpoint, Kenton was a
secondary char-
acter, a youth serving under older and
more highly favored
masters--George Rogers Clark and Daniel
Boone. In western
Ohio his name was a household word, and
the suffering and abuse
heaped upon him by his savage foes were
well known to all.
The Kenton Narrative.
General Simon Kenton was a native of
Virginia and was
born near Hopewell Gap in Fauquier
County (then Prince Wil-
liam), April 3, I755. His father, Mark
Kenton, born in Ireland,
March I, 700o, emigrated to Virginia in
young manhood. After
living some years in Culpepper County,
he removed to Fauquier
and made his home on a farm lying at the
foot of Bull Run Moun-
tain, not far from what is now the
village of Hopewell. Kenton's
mother, whose maiden name was Mary
Miller, was of Scotch de-
scent. Their oldest child, William, as
born September 20, I737.
Benjamin, the second son, was a soldier
in the Revolutionary
War, and died in Philadelphia, before
the war ended. Mark,
the third son, was also a Revolutionary
soldier. He died in
1785, at the age of thirty-six years.
John, the youngest son,
was born in I757. He and his eldest
brother, William, emigrated
to Kentucky in I783.
48 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Simon's parents were poor and their home
in what was then
the backwoods, was an humble one. Here
his boyhood was
passed amid surroundings that in a
degree fitted him for the
hardships of the life he was to live in
the wild regions west of
the mountains. When sixteen years of
age, Kenton was a man in
size and physical strength, and yet,
owing to a lack of school
facilities, he could neither read nor
write.
It happened that at this period of his
career there lived in
the neighborhood of the Kenton home, a
young woman who
numbered Simon and a man named William
Veach among her
suitors. Veach was a man of mature years
and became, eventu-
ally, the accepted suitor. In the course
of a party given at the
bride's home after the wedding, Simon
entered the house in no
gentle frame of mind and boldly took a
seat between the newly
wedded pair. This led to a fist fight
between the groom and his
youthful rival, in which the latter was
worsted.
Some months later, Simon was sent by his
father to the
Veach home to borrow a cross-cut saw.
The elder Veach was
engaged in nailing clapboards on his
house when Simon arrived
and made known the object of his visit.
Told that the saw was
to be found in the woods where the
clapboards were made,
Simon went on toward that place. On the
way he met his late
antagonist, bringing a load of
clapboards to the house.
Then and there Simon, who had been
greatly humiliated over
his earlier defeat, challenged him to
another fist fight. Veach
demurred, but under Simon's persistent
demands, consented.
The fight was a terrific one, as they
were evenly matched physi-
cally. At first Veach had the better of
the fight. When both were
on the ground, Simon managed to wrap
Veach's long hair about
the base of a stout bush. Rising while
Veach was held down
by the bush, young Kenton beat him so
severely that the breath
seemed to have left his body. Simon was
now thoroughly fright-
ened, and believing he had killed Veach,
immediately fled without
the saw for which he had been sent, and
without returning home
to bid farewell to his father's family
or his friends.
His flight was westward over the
mountains. Traveling by
night and hiding during the day, he
arrived after some days at
SIMON KENTON 49
the Isle Ford, on the Cheat River.
Having changed his name to
Simon Butler, to avoid pursuit, the
fugitive made the acquaint-
ance of a man emigrating west from New
Jersey. The two, driv-
ing a pack horse before them, traveled
together to the Mononga-
hela River, which they reached about the
latter part of April, 1771.
Parting from his companion, Kenton made
his way to the
near vicinity of Pittsburgh, then a
village of twenty-five or thirty
log houses. Here he remained a short
time and formed the ac-
quaintance of Simon Girty, who later
became the notorious white
renegade who turned against his own
race, becoming more
vicious and more bloodthirsty than the
Indian savages among
whom he lived. In the years that
succeeded, this acquaintance
with Girty proved to be a most fortunate
one for Kenton.
Through the pleadings of Girty, Kenton,
who was to have been
burned at the stake at the Indian
village of Wapatomica, near
the present town of Zanesfield in Logan
County, Ohio, was saved
for the time being, and was taken
farther north where he finally
made his escape.
For lack of time and space, the years
that intervened be-
tween the fall of 1771 and October,
1774, must be passed over.
These were doubtless the happiest years
of Kenton's life, as they
were spent in company with men of the
woods, hunters and trap-
pers. It was an easy, pleasant life in
the main. During this time
he and a few chosen companions made a
number of trips down
the Ohio River, and back to Pittsburgh,
or towns in the vicinity,
going at one time as far down as
Cincinnati.
On October IO, I774, occurred the battle
of Point Pleasant,
in what is known in history as Lord
Dunmore's War, in which
Kenton and Girty were employed as scouts
by this British gover-
nor of the colony of Virginia, to watch
and report the movements
of the allied tribes of Indians in the
vicinity of Chillicothe, against
which Lord Dunmore was moving his army,
while a second
division was moving toward Point
Pleasant. The battle at the
latter place was one of the bloodiest
ever fought against the
Indians. They retreated to the Ohio
encampments and upon the
approach of Dunmore's army, sued for
peace, which was granted
and the war ended.
50
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Kenton and Girty were discharged as
scouts and the latter
made his way to the scattered
settlements that had been estab-
lished in Kentucky, all of which he
visited and assisted during
the years of 1775 and 1776, not only by
helping provide food and
aiding in the matter of strengthening
the stockades, but also in
conducting desultory warfare with the
Indians that came from
the Ohio country. As the War of the
Revolution was now on,
repeated raids were being made on the
Kentucky settlements,
with the help and encouragement of the
British commander at
Detroit. These raids did not occur until
the winter and spring of
I776, and at first were limited to the
stealing of horses and the
murder of a few isolated settlers.
The first settlements were Boonesboro,
Harrodsburg, Mc-
Clellands, now called Georgetown, a
fourth was Hustons, now
Paris, and the fifth Hingston Station,
afterward called Ruddells
Station, or Ruddles Mill. In the spring,
of 1776, the dark clouds
of Indian warfare began to gather about
these scattered stations
or settlements. The American Revolution
was now in full swing.
The Battle of Lexington had been fought
April 19, I775. On
June 15, George Washington was appointed
commander-in-chief
of the Continental Army by the Congress
then in session in
Philadelphia, and two days later the
Battle of Bunker Hill was
fought. Meantime Lord Dunmore, the last
British colonial gov-
ernor of Virginia, had been compelled to
take refuge on a British
ship, the Liverpool, which had
arrived in Virginia waters, and in
retaliation had ordered the bombardment
of Norfolk.
News of these happenings was slow in
reaching the Kentucky
settlements. The British, who claimed
the territory northwest of
the Ohio, were forming alliances, at
their headquarters for the
West, Detroit, with the Indian tribes
around the Great Lakes,
the upper Mississippi, and along the Big
Miami (now, the Mau-
mee) and down the great Miami to the
Ohio River, and with
the larger number at Piqua on Mad River,
five miles west of the
present city of Springfield. These
tribes were largely furnished
with arms and encouraged to set upon the
defenseless settlements
in Kentucky and destroy them.
The Shawnee in particular were not slow
to take advantage
SIMON KENTON 51
of the opportunity given them, and
during the spring and summer
of 1776, and the year 1777 and the early
part of 1778, made
numerous raids upon the settlements
south of the Ohio. The
last invasion in force, in 1780, was led
by ten British officers, a
company of regulars and four hundred
Indians, all commanded by
Captain Henry Bird, a British officer
from Detroit. More than
three hundred men and women were killed
or taken captive and
taken to Detroit by forced marches. Many
died on the way, or
were tomahawked.
In October, 1778, Kenton with two
companions approached
the Indian village of old Chillicothe
(Old, Town) by night for
the purpose of recovering horses that
had been stolen from one of
the settlements in Kentucky, and
doubtless, also, for retaliation
by carrying off some of the horses of
their enemies. They
secured a number of them and fled to the
Ohio River, well
knowing they would be pursued on the
morrow. Reaching the
river, they found it much swollen by
recent rains. A strong
wind blowing created great waves, with
the result that they were
unable to get the horses to attempt to
swim across the river.
With a lack of judgment that no one
familiar with the incident
can account for, they turned the horses
loose to graze, while
calmly waiting for the wind to die down.
This did not occur
until the morning of the second day.
Meanwhile they were
being tracked by the Indians, who,
coming up them suddenly,
killed one of Kenton's companions and
made Kenton prisoner.
He was tied upon one of the wildest of
the horses in such a
way that he could not protect his body
or his face from the
underbrush and limbs of trees, and in
this position the horse was
driven back to their village of
Chillicothe. Approaching the
village, the Indians gave the peculiar
halloo denoting the capture
of a prisoner. Instantly the whole
village, warriors, squaws and
dogs came out to meet them heaping
taunts and abuse upon the
unfortunate Kenton. When he was released
from the back of
the horse, Blackfish, the chief of the
village, gave him an un-
merciful beating with a stout switch,
exclaiming, "Steal Indian's
horse, will you?"
52
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
The morning after his arrival, the
Indians compelled him to
run the gauntlet by forming two long
lines about six feet apart,
and leading to the council house. All
were armed with sticks,
clubs, tomahawks, and some with hoe
handles. Through this
line he must attempt to run, with each
man, woman and boy
privileged to strike him. If he survived
the blows and reached
the council house, he was safe for the
time being.
Realizing that this would be a race for
his life, Kenton
quickly formed his plan for reaching the
haven of safety. His
youth and outdoor life stood him in good
stead. Summoning
all his strength, he jumped into the
space between the lines, and
knocked over two or three of the Indians
before they could pre-
vent him. He then struck out at right
angles to the line, thus
drawing the savages after him in a wild
race. Doubling back
and forth, and dodging his pursuers, he
reached the door of the
council house. Here, however, stood an
Indian on each side of
the door. Both Indians struck him a
severe blow as he entered.
He was now safe from immediate death,
and his clothes, most of
which had been taken, were returned to
him, greatly to his relief.
A squaw soon appeared with food and
drink and a few hours'
respite was granted.
Another council was held to determine
his fate, and it was
finally decided that he should be taken
to the Shawnee village of
Piqua, on Mad River, and from there to
Wapatomica, an Indian
village a short distance south of the
present village of Zanesfield,
in Logan County, for burning. A large
number of Indians,
members of several tribes, were living
in and about this village
and in the upper Mad River Valley, thus
affording opportunity
for a large number to witness the manner
of his death. Stopping
at Piqua, and at a small village on the
Macochee, near the present
town of West Liberty, they arrived at
Wapatomica during the
second day of their march.
A third council was held, while Kenton
waited under a close
guard on the outside of the council
house. The white renegade,
Girty, was in the village, and
approaching Simon, whose fate was
being decided, began to question him as
to the circumstances under
which he was captured, and finally asked
his name. The reply
SIMON KENTON 53
was "Simon Butler," that being
the name by which he was still
known. Upon hearing this, Girty became
much agitated for he
knew that his former friend was to be
burned at the stake. He
told Kenton he would make every effort
in his power to save him
from his impending fate.
Going into the council, Girty asked to
be heard, and upon
being granted leave, requested the life
of his former friend and
fellow scout, reminding the Indians that
he had never before
asked them to spare the life of a white
man, but on the other
hand, had been foremost in their forays
upon the settlements
and their destruction. Finally, seeing
that all his arguments were
useless, he suggested that the prisoner
be taken to Upper San-
dusky, where a larger number might
witness his death. He did
not want to see his former friend
suffer, and may have thought
something might occur there to mitigate
his sentence.
Five warriors were appointed as an
advance guard to take
their prisoner to the appointed place.
On their way northwest,
these warriors with Kenton in charge,
arrived near evening, at
the cabin of Logan, the former chief of
the Mingo tribe, who,
until his family had been murdered by
the whites, had been a
friend to the settlers. He was now a
broken man, and his
thirst for revenge had been appeased by
the death of more
than thirty white persons at his hands.
He invited the In-
dians to stay at his cabin until
morning. He gave them food,
and after learning the object of their
journey northward,
questioned Kenton as to his name and the
circumstances of his
capture. As darkness came on he secretly
sent a messenger
to the British officer in charge of the
trading post at Upper
Sandusky. Pierre Druillard, the trader,
was a man of great
influence among the savages. From him
they were able to
secure such supplies as they required:
arms, ammunition,
rum and such simple tools as were needed
by their squaws in
raising corn and vegetables. When the
Indians and their
prisoner departed, Logan said good-bye
to Kenton, but gave
no hint as to what he had done or what
his sympathies were.
The arrival of the party at Upper
Sandusky, caused a
^------------------------------^-------
54
OHIO ARCHEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
great commotion, as the fame of Kenton
as scout and white
warrior had preceded him. A council was
again called, and
when the commandant of the post learned
what the nature of it
was to. be, appeared in the full regalia
of his rank as a British
officer, and asked to be heard. This was
granted. He began by
recounting the friendship of the British
for the Indians. He re-
minded them that the British and the
Indians were allies, and
that both were now at war with the
Americans; that Kenton
was from Kentucky and was familiar with
conditions there, and
knew how many men were under arms, where
they were located,
and who their commanders were, in short,
that he possessed such
military knowledge as would be
exceedingly valuable to their
British father at Detroit, and if the
Indians would let him send
Kenton to the fort at that place, the
commandant would be able
to secure information that would not
only be advantageous to the
British, but to the Indians themselves.
The officer then offered to pay them one
hundred dollars in
rum, and certain supplies if they would
deliver the prisoner to
the British at Detroit. To this the
Indians finally consented, with
the provision that Kenton was to be
returned to them for pun-
ishment.
Arriving under guard at Detroit, Kenton
was confined for
some time within the fort as a military
prisoner. Here he was
closely questioned as to the military
forces in Kentucky, but of
these Kenton professed to have little
knowledge, and such infor-
mation as he gave was worth little to
the British. After a time
he was allowed to live outside the fort,
but was obliged to report
daily and was restricted to certain
conditions.
Here he remained from October, 1778
until June, 1779,
during which time he recovered from his
injuries at the hands
of his captors, and was well treated.
During the spring of 1778,
a number of prisoners were brought into
the fort; among them
were Captain Nathan Bullitt and Jesse
Coffer, former companions
of Kenton in Kentucky. Kenton now
planned to escape and took
the other two men into his confidence.
They were four hundred
miles from Louisville, their objective
point, and were without
guns, ammunition, or food supplies.
Kenton had made the ac-
SIMON KENTON
55
quaintance of an Indian trader and his
wife, who seemed friendly.
He had heard the trader remark in a
casual way that if he were
to attempt to escape from Detroit, he
would strike westward,
beyond the trails of the Ohio followed
by the Indians on their
raids into Kentucky. Without evincing
any interest in the re-
mark, Kenton determined to follow this
course.
Harvey, the trader, was absent much of
the time, trading
among the various tribes around the
lakes, and after much de-
liberation, the three prisoners decided
to confide in Mrs. Harvey
and if possible secure her help. She had
shown a friendly interest
in them, and when appealed to, agreed to
assist them in their
attempt. Accordingly, she cautiously
secured and hid a supply
of food to last them several days, and
bided the time when she
might secure guns and ammunition. The
opportunity came when
a large band of Indians came to the fort
and stacked their guns
and ammunition near her dwelling,
proceeding to have a hilarious
time by getting drunk on the rum
furnished them by the British
commander of the fort.
When darkness came on, Mrs. Harvey
selected three of the
rifles that had been stacked near her
house, and took also the
ammunition that belonged with them.
These she hid in her garden,
which was surrounded with a high picket
fence. She then placed
a short ladder on the outside, at the
back of the garden, and told
Kenton he would find the guns hidden
among the pea vines, and
the food in a certain hollow tree
outside of the camp.
The guns, ammunition and food were
quickly secured by
the three men who struck out westward,
determined to put as
great distance behind them as possible
before daylight. Hiding
by day and traveling by night, guiding
their course by the stars,
they reached the Falls of the Ohio
during the latter part of July,
1779, without having been discovered by
the Indians, although
there were some narrow escapes.1
The small quantity of food which they
took from Detroit did
not last many days and they suffered
much from hunger. They
1 John McDonald, Biographical
Sketches of General Nathaniel Massie, General
Duncan McArthur, Captain William
Wells, and General Simon Kenton: Who Were
Early Settlers in the Western Country
(Cincinnati, 1838), 235-89. This story
of
Simon Kenton's escape differs materially
from that given by Edna Kenton, Simon
Kenton, His Life and Period,
1755-1836 (New York, 1930), 187-42.
56
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
did not shoot game for
fear it would bring their enemies upon
them. At last, however, when nearing
the Ohio, they killed a
deer, and appeased their hunger of many
days.
Upon an island at the Falls, opposite
the present site of
Louisville, Kenton and his companions
found General George
Rogers Clark, who had come down from
Pittsburgh during the
spring of 1778. With about two hundred
enlisted men, and a num-
ber of adventurous families, who were on
their way to complete
a stockade fort, they prepared for an
attack upon the British posts
at Kaskaskia and Cahokia, on the
Mississippi, below St. Louis.
Clark, who had known Kenton as an
intrepid Indian fighter and
scout, was rejoiced to have him join the
expedition. The War of
the Revolution was now in its third
year, and the western Indians,
hostile to the American cause, were
being fitted out at the French
town of Vincennes with arms, ammunition
and supplies by the
British.
Kenton's own account of his capture and
escape, from a
manuscript2 found by
relatives, says nothing about his abuse by
the Indians, but gives the following:
When I got to Detroit in 1778, I found a
Capt. Renew [Ler-
noult] commander at that place, and I was given into his hands
as a pris-
oner. He told me that I was to remain
there under his directions. Peter
Druyere [Druillard] requested
Renew to let him take me with him, and
at night we were to return to him to get
orders, and we did so; and
Capt. Renew told me I was to go to Capt.
McGregor--and when I went
to him, he told me that I might go and
work where I pleased, so that I
was there every Sunday morning to answer
to my name--and I did so
faithfully.
I continued there from, that time until
the Spring of 1779 and then I
returned to the Falls of the Ohio.
I immediately sent on to Gen. Clark,
giving him my opinion of De-
troit, stating to him that Depeyster was
at Mackinaw [Mackinac], 300
miles off from Detroit, and that I
thought if he could get there, to the
Detroit settlement, that Renew would
surrender to him [Clark].
Within a few months after the capture of
these posts (Kas-
kaskia and Cahokia) had been effected,
Clark learned from some
of their French inhabitants that General
Henry Hamilton had ar-
rived at Vincennes from Detroit, with a
number of regulars and
Indians, and had retaken the town.
He at once summoned Kenton and sent him
with two com-
2 Simon Kenton MSS. (in Draper
Collection, State Historical Society of Wis-
consin, Madison, Wisconsin).
SIMON KENTON 57
panions back to Vincennes to ascertain
and report the number
of troops and Indians that were at the
post, what new fortifica-
tions had been erected, and what old
ones repaired, the number
of cannon and how placed, and such other
military information
as he might be able to secure.
Arriving in the vicinity of the post,
Kenton and his com-
panions disguised themselves as Indians,
and entered under cover
of darkness. Mingling freely with the inhabitants,
and exercis-
ing extreme caution, he was able to send
to his superior officer a
full report of the military occupation
of Vincennes. After send-
ing this information to Clark, Kenton
proceeded to Kentucky,
probably with dispatches, and joined with
Boone in the Paint
Creek expedition of August, 1778. He was not to remain idle,
however. In the spring of 1780 occurred
the invasion of the
Kentucky settlements, previously
mentioned, by Bird with a con-
tingent of British soldiers from
Detroit, and a large number of
Shawnee and other Indians from the
territory which later be-
came the State of Ohio. After the
departure of the invaders
with their prisoners, word was sent to
Clark who was at
Vincennes, asking for help. Clark, as
military commander
of Kentucky County and the West, ordered
all able-bodied
men in Kentucky to meet at the mouth of
the Licking River
with such food supplies and horses as
they could bring with them.
Going himself to Fort Nelson, which he
had established on the
island opposite the present city of
Louisville, he loaded a number
of boats with ammunition, arms and
supplies, including also
about one hundred of his own men.
Sending scouts along the
banks of the river on each side, to keep
pace with the boats, Clark
arrived without delay at the point
designated. Here he found one
thousand Kentuckians, and among them, as
a matter of course,
his friend and scout, Kenton.
Crossing with his army to the present
site of Cincinnati,
Clark built two small log structures in
which were placed a
reserve supply of food and ammunition.
The objective of
Clark and his Kentucky volunteer army
was the punishment
of the Indians and the destruction of
their villages on the
58
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
Little Miami and Mad Rivers. The
northward march began
on August 3, 1780, with Daniel Boone and Kenton as guides.
Both had been prisoners at the village
on the Little Miami,
now known as Old Town, and at Piqua on
the north bank of
Mad River, and were therefore familiar
with the Indian trails
from the mouth of the Licking to these
Shawnee villages.
Clark took the precaution to divide his
force into four
sections with a space of forty yards
between the lines, and issued
specific orders for a defense in the
event of an attack from the
Indians while on the march. Much of the
way had to be cleared
of obstructions to the line of march,
but in four days the army
arrived in the vicinity of the village
of Chillicothe. They found
it deserted and almost wholly destroyed
with fire, as the Indians
had been warned of their approach, and
had retreated to their
village of Piqua, twelve miles to the
northwest.
Stopping only long enough to set fire to
the remainder of
the village, and to destroy all the
standing corn, excepting a
small area, which was reserved for feed
for the horses upon
their return, Clark and his army started
on the afternoon of
August 7 for the village on the north
bank of the Mad River.
As they neared the river, a rainstorm
came up which halted
the army for the night. None of the men
excepting the offi-
cers had tents or other shelter.
Consequently, it was difficult
to keep their guns and ammunition in fit
condition for use.
After the rain had ceased, Clark ordered
the men to discharge
their guns in squads, each squad
reloading before the next one
fired. Thus the army was prepared
against a sudden attack
of the enemy. The Indians on the north side
of the river
heard the sectional firing and fully
comprehended the reasons
for it.
It is not the purpose of this paper to
describe the battle that
took place next day, August 8,
1780, as such description
properly belongs to a narrative of the
exploits of Clark.
Suffice it to say, the huts of the
Indians were demolished by
the fire of the six-pounder cannon that
Clark had brought
from Fort Nelson, and the Indians were
defeated and com-
SIMON KENTON 59
pelled to flee to the northwest, where
they established an-
other village upon or near the present
city of Piqua, on the
Great Miami River.
After burning what remained of the
village and destroying
the corn and the growing vegetables, the
army started on its
return to Kentucky on the afternoon of
August 9, and after
reaching the mouth of the Licking River,
was disbanded, each
man going to his own home. In 1782
Kenton was again called
on by Clark to aid in dispersing the
Indians at Upper Piqua, on
the Big Miami, and in 1786 he acted as
scout in General Benjamin
Logan's attack on the upper waters of
the Mad River, and in the
Macochee Valley, where eight years
before he had been a prisoner
of the Indians and in imminent danger of
death at the stake and
from which he had been saved through the
interposition of the
renegade Girty and Logan, chief of the
Mingoes.
Returning to Kentucky again, he was
married at the age of
thirty-two to Martha Dowden, on February
15, 1787. To
this union were born four children.
Nancy, the eldest, born
October 11, 1788, married
William McCarty, and died in Sep-
tember, 1817. John Kenton, born December
11, 1790, when
grown, was sent to Texas by his father
to enter lands, and did not
return. It has been said that he went to
Mexico and died there
but this is not certainly known. Simon
Kenton, jr., was born
February 8, 1793. He lived for some
years in West Liberty,
Ohio, and died in November, 1844. Sarah
Kenton, the youngest,
was born May 18, 1795. She married John
McCord, in 1812,
in Urbana, Ohio, where both were living
at that time. She died
some time prior to 1862, the exact date
not being known. During
life she was familiarly known as
"Sallie McCord." All the
children had been born in Kentucky,
their mother, Martha
Dowden Kenton, dying there December 13,
1796. Her age
and place of burial are unknown. Mrs.
Charles F. Downey,
her son Charles, and her brother, Joseph
Kenton Cheetham,
are direct descendants of Sarah Kenton
McCord, and are now
(1929)
living in Urbana, Ohio.
Left a widower with four small children,
it was imperative
that Kenton should marry again. This he
did. Rev. Samuel
60
OHIO ARCHEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
W. Williams, a pioneer Methodist
preacher, who preached on
the Mad River and Xenia circuit in
1817-1818, and who was well
acquainted with Kenton and his family,
in writing of pioneer
Methodist women, gave to his readers a
glimpse of the courtship,
marriage and domestic life of this hero
of western adventure and
the companion of his later years, who
became a sainted foster
mother to the motherless children of
Kenton's young manhood.
He says:
Elizabeth Kenton was the daughter of
Stephen and Elizabeth (Clelland)
Jarboe. Her father was a native of France, who came to
this country and
settled in Maryland. Her mother was a
well educated woman, deeply
pious, and a communicant in the
Presbyterian Church. When Elizabeth was
seventeen years of age, her parents
moved to Mason County, Kentucky.
This was in the year 1796. Here she
became acquainted with General
Simon Kenton, who was then a widower,
with four children. General
Kenton admired her personal bearing and
appearance, and loved her. She
on her part, like Desdemona, listening
to the adventure of Othello the
Moor, was fond of hearing the general
tell the story of his exploits; and
when he proposed marriage to her, she accepted
his proposal, and they
were married at Kenton's Station [in
Bourbon County, Kentucky] by the
Rev. William Wood, of the Baptist
Church, in 1798.
It was a great undertaking for young
Mrs. Kenton to take charge
of a large family at the very outset of
her married life, but she was equal to
the task. Pioneer women were competent
for anything. Their life in the
wilderness was never one of luxury or of
ease, it was one of labor and
hardship; yet they endured, having the
promise of the life that now is,
and many, like Mrs. Kenton, having also
that of the life to come. She
had been trained in all domestic duties
by her parents, and she had been
taught the elementary branches of
learning. She knew how to read and
write and cipher well--beyond which few
girls, and boys, too, in the new
settlements were able to go. Her husband
had no schooling whatever,
except that he could read and write a
little; but he was a man of wide
observation and . . . practical
knowledge, which he turned to the best
account in his expeditions among savage
tribes and through the untrodden
forests of the West.3
A few months after their marriage,
Kenton and his wife
removed to Cincinnati, which then
consisted of a few scattered
log houses and a log fort garrisoned by
a company of United
States troops. Here they lived until the
spring of I799, when he
piloted a colony of eight families
(including his own) from
Mason County, Kentucky, to what was
known as the Mad River
country, in Ohio.
They settled at first on a spot about
two miles west of the
present city of Springfield, where a
stockade was built and
3 Samuel W. Williams, Pictures of
Early Methodism in Ohio (Cincinnati, 1909),
123-25.
SIMON KENTON 61
within which were built fourteen log
cabins, such as the
settlers had been accustomed to seeing
in Kentucky.
This number was necessary for the reason
that they had
brought with them a number of colored
people who had been their
former slaves. Finding there was now no
danger from Indian
attack, they did not remain very long.
The land had not been
surveyed as yet, and they occupied the
position as squatters.
This location was about four miles east
of the site of the former
Shawnee village, where Kenton had been a
prisoner of the In-
dians, and which he had helped destroy,
when he had been a
captain and guide in Clark's army,
nineteen years before.
After living in the stockade for a brief
period, Kenton
settled with his family on a tract of
land four miles north of
Springfield. Here he built two log
houses, one for his own
family and one for the widowed mothers
of his two wives, who
were sisters. He also built a cabin for
the colored people he had
brought with him from Kentucky. The
latch string to his own
cabin was always out, and he and his
good wife dispensed hos-
pitality to all who came. Their home was
at the intersection of
the Springfield and Urbana highway and
Jarboe's Run, the latter
being a small stream formed by springs
in the hills to the east.
A large spring near Kenton's cabin also
emptied into it, and it
was bordered by a thick growth of willow
and other bushes.
It was while living here that several
incidents occurred
worthy of note in a history of Kenton.
Though peace had been
declared between the Indians and General
Anthony Wayne, at the
Treaty of Greenville in I795, still a
number of small bands
of red men roamed about, some of whose
numbers visited
the home of the Kentons. On one occasion
one of these In-
dians came to the door asking for
whiskey. Being refused,
he lurked about, and watching his
opportunity, while Mrs.
Kenton was temporarily absent from the
house, snatched her
sleeping baby from the cradle, making
off with it through the
woods. The mother's feelings can be
imagined. When the
kidnapper brought the babe to his camp
near by, the other
Indians of his party immediately sent
word to the mother
---------------------------^------
62 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
asking what punishment should be
inflicted on the culprit.
She required nothing except that she be
protected against
such an outrage in the future. It can
readily be surmised
that the child's father was not at home
when the kidnapping
occurred.
On another occasion, a tap was heard on
the cabin door
after night had set in, and when Kenton
demanded to know
from the inside who was there, the voice
of a friendly Indian,
speaking in low tones, told him not to
open the door as an enemy
Indian who had come up from Kentucky was
near by, waiting to
kill him. The next morning Kenton rose
early, and told his wife
that after waiting a short while, she
should open and close the
door leading to the spring, making much
noise. He then took
his rifle, leaving quietly by the door
on the opposite side of the
cabin, and circled round to a tree from
which he had an unob-
structed view of the bushes bordering
the run. When Mrs.
Kenton opened and closed the door as
directed by her husband,
the Indian in waiting, cautiously raised
up to look for his in-
tended victim. At that instant the crack
of Kenton's rifle was
heard, and the Indian fell with a bullet
through his head.
At another time Kenton's home was
visited by a small band
of savages, among whom he recognized one
who had abused
him, while he was a helpless prisoner in
their hands. Cutting a
stout hickory switch, he gave the Indian
a severe whipping.
This aroused the wrath of the band, but
Kenton, after explaining
the cause of his action, invited all of
them to a feast at his cabin
the next day. All came, good cheer
prevailed, and the incident
of the whipping was passed over.
As a farmer, Kenton was not a pronounced
success. While
living in Kentucky, he had entered much
land, and had a large
farm upon which he built a good brick
house, and cultivated the
land with slave labor. Owing to faulty
descriptions of his land
entries and the dishonesty of land
sharks, he lost one piece after
another, until no land was left to him
which he could call his
own. Several years after he had settled
on Jarboe's Run, the
United States Government offered thirty
acres of land for a mill
site to any one who would build and
operate a grist mill in or
SIMON KENTON 63
near a frontier settlement. Kenton
decided to take advantage of
this offer, and entered the thirty
acres, now included in the
present site of Lagonda village, two
miles east of Springfield.
He dug a mill-race and built and
equipped a small log mill a few
rods west of the bridge over Buck Creek,
on the New Moorefield
Pike, in the village. To do this he was
compelled to borrow
money and being unable to repay it when
the loan fell due, the
patent to the land was issued to the
lender, and once more Kenton
lost his land. After having conducted
his mill from 1806 to 1810,
during which time he lived in a house he
had built near the
mill, the family moved to Urbana, Ohio,
where they resided
until I8I9. They then removed
to a tract of land which Ken-
ton purchased on the head waters of Mad
River, three and
one-half miles north of the present town
of Zanesfield, in
Logan County, and about five miles to
the north of the old
Indian town of Wapatomica, where he was
a prisoner of the
Indians in I778, and where he narrowly
escaped burning at
their hands, through the interposition
of Girty.
Here in a secluded spot in the woods,
within a few rods of a
large spring which still exists, and
which pours its waters from
an upright section of a hollow sycamore
tree, into the waters of
Mad River, Kenton built a cabin home, in
which he lived until
his death, April 29, I836.
He was buried on high ground, a short
distance to the
south, and within sight of his home. Two
corner stones still
mark
the site of his cabin. Upon one of
these, a stone with a
smooth oval top, is the following
inscription, placed there by the
Logan County Historical Society:
"The corner stone of the
house in which General Simon Kenton died
April 29, 1836. Do
not remove it."
On November 30, I865, his remains were
disinterred and
removed to Urbana, Ohio, where services
were conducted over
them in the Presbyterian Church by
several ministers. The body
was then buried in Oakdale Cemetery, one
mile east of Urbana. In
1884 the State of Ohio, at the
solicitation of Kenton's friend of
many years, Judge William Patrick of
Urbana, erected a hand-
64
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
some monument over his grave. This
monument was designed
by the celebrated sculptor, J. Quincy A.
Ward, of New York,
who was born and had spent his boyhood
days in Urbana. The
small headstone that had marked Kenton's
grave in Logan County
was placed at the foot of his final
resting place in Oakdale Ceme-
tery.
The following is the first verse of a
poem on the death of
Kenton, from the pen of William Hubbard,
a newspaper editor of
Bellefontaine, Ohio:
Tread lightly, this is hallowed ground;
tread reverently here;
Beneath this sod, in silence sleeps the
brave old pioneer,
Who never quailed in darkest hour, whose
heart ne'er felt a fear;
Tread lightly, then, and here bestow the
tribute of a tear.
In 1819, Kenton and his family attended
a camp meeting on
Mad River, where they met Rev. Robert W.
Finley, whom they
had known in Kentucky, but whom Kenton
had not met for
several years. He became an interested
listener and observer of
the services and taking Finley into the
woods for a private inter-
view, he unburdened his heart. At the
suggestion of the minister,
both kneeled beside the log on which
they had been sitting, and
here Kenton became soundly converted,
and ran shouting into the
camp where a great crowd gathered about
him to hear the story of
his conversion. He joined the Methodist
Church, of which he re-
mained a member during the remainder of
his life. Mrs. Kenton
had been a consistent member of the same
church since 1808.
Jacob Burnet, an eminent attorney and
United States Dis-
trict Judge in pioneer days, writing of
Kenton, said:
When Mr. B urnet, the author] first became acquainted with him
[Kenton], at
Marietta, in the fall of 1796, he was attending the General
Court of the Territory as a witness on
behalf of a young man who had been
indicted for the murder of a Mr. Miller.
He was then possessed of a large
estate--and a more generous, kind
hearted man, did not inhabit the earth.
His door was always open. .. Travelers
of every grade were received with
kindness, treated with hospitality, and
pressed to stay. His residence was
in Kentucky, in the vicinity of
Washington, where he cultivated a thousand
acres of land, equal in fertility to any
in-the world.
In 1797 Mr. B. on his way from
Limestone to Lexington, stopped
a day at his house, to redeem a pledge he had given him at the Marietta
SIMON KENTON 65
court, in the fall of the preceding
year; and partook of his hospitality
with great satisfaction.4
Governor Joseph Vance of Ohio was a warm
friend of
Kenton, and when he was in the United
States Congress, suc-
ceeded in getting a bill through the
House of Representatives in
1824, granting this highly meritorious
pioneer a pension. When
Burnet and Vance met in Washington in
1826, the former a Sen-
ator and the latter a Representative,
they determined to make an-
other effort in Kenton's behalf. With
the aid of General William
Smith, a Senator from Baltimore, they
succeeded in having the-
bill passed. The act was made
retroactive, and the pension of
twenty dollars per month was made to
begin when the bill was
first introduced in 1824. The pension
was paid during Kenton's
life, and aided greatly in sustaining
him during declining years.
In the year 1832, Robert C. Woodward,
then a young man
and in the later years of his life a
librarian of the Warder Public
Library in Springfield, entered a north
bound hack at the National
Hotel in Springfield. He wrote:
My first visit to Springfield and
the Mad River country, was in Oc-
tober in the year 1832. I took lodging
with Col. Werden--then keeper of
"the National"--for the night,
and the next morning continued my journey-
ings northward. When I entered the
two-horse hack for Urbana in the
morning, I found already seated therein
a very elderly and dignified gentle-
man, who at the first glance commanded
my respect; by his side sat a
lady much younger in appearance, with an
animated countenance, an in-
telligent eye, and pleasing manners. We
three formed the load. As we
wheeled by the old residence of the late
Maddox Fisher, now owned and
occupied by Wm. Rogers, Esq., on
Limestone street, the lady directed my
attention to it as the most beautiful
place in the town, and the one she
always most admired. This led into a
running conversation, and I found
her to be a very agreeable and
companionable traveler. Among other facts
she told me that SPRINGFIELD was so
named AT HER SUGGES-
TION, on account of the many delightful
and valuable springs, within and
around the plat located for the town.
While we chatted about as freely
as strangers generally do on first
meeting, the old gentleman sat in silence;
and as his grave appearance was not of a
character to invite to conversation
a young and bashful man, I had to be
content, for the while, with looking
at him, and wondering who he was! At
length, however, when he came
into the neighborhood of Maj. Wm.
Hunt's, I ventured to ask him if he
were "going far north." He said, "No." The lady then said they were
going to their home near Zanesfield, in
Logan county. This question
happened to break the ice a little, and
the gentleman became somewhat
talkative--in a slow way. He told
me he had been to Newport, Ky. to
attend a meeting of pioneers appointed
fifty years before, but that the
4 Jacob Burnet, Early Settlement of the North-western Territory
(Cincinnati,
1847), 466.
T
66
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
cholera had thwarted the meeting. He
pointed out along the verge of
the road nearly opposite the Half-'Way
House the path along which the
Indians had once escorted him, a
prisoner, on the way to Zanesfield,
to make him run the gauntlet; and
gave me sundry snatches of detail as
to his early hardships in the backwoods,
and adventures with the Indians;
so that by the time we came to Urbana we
had all become quite free
talkers. All the time I did not take any
hint as to who he was, though I
tried hard to study him out, and though
I had been somewhat familiar
with his history from my boyhood. When
we landed at Urbana, at the
house kept by Daniel Harr, Esq., the
people collected pretty freely around
the hack, all anxious to see and speak
to who [sic] I now became convinced
was a man of eminent distinction. On
eager inquiry I soon learned that
I had been traveling with him whom I
had, till then, known only in history
--the celebrated pioneer SIMON KENTON, and
his excellent lady.5
For more than thirty years Kenton
participated in the war-
fare between the pioneers of Kentucky
and Ohio and the Indians.
He was with Clark at Vincennes,
Kaskaskia and Cahokia, on the
Mississippi, and at the Battle of Piqua
on, Mad River, in Ohio;
with Wayne at Greenville, and Fort
Recovery, Ohio, and at the
Battle of the Thames, where the Indian
chief, Tecumseh, was
killed in Lower Canada. In most of these
conflicts he served as
scout and guide, with the rank of
captain; about the year I805, he
was commissioned as a general of
militia, and from that date
was known as General Kenton. Under this
title, he assisted
Logan in the destruction of eight Indian
towns on the Macochee
Creek, in Logan County, and on the head
waters of Mad River,
including Blue Jacket's town, on the
present site of Bellefontaine.
and Solomonstown, four miles north.
In
1812, while a portion of Brigadier-General William Hull's
army was in quarters at Urbana, a band
of friendly Indians
camped for protection in the southern
part of the town. Some
of the revengeful members of these
troops planned to kill the
Indians. Kenton heard of the plan and
tried to dissuade them
from their purpose, but to no effect.
Finding they would not
listen to reason, nor heed the dictates
of humanity, he told them
he would place himself in front of these
Indians who had placed
themselves under their care, and would
kill the first man who
attempted to harm them. This ended the
plot, as they knew that
Kenton would certainly execute his
threat.
The following description of this
remarkable man was writ-
5 Robert Christie Woodward, Sketches
of Springfield . . . (Springfield, Ohio,
1852), Appendix.
-~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SIMON KENTON 67
ten by John McDonald, who on numerous
occasions shared with
Kenton the dangers of warfare in field
and forest:
General Kenton was of fair complexion,
six feet one inch in height.
He stood and walked very erect; and, in
the prime of life, weighed about
one hundred and ninety pounds. He never
was inclined to be corpulent,
although of sufficient fulness to form a
graceful person. He had a soft,
tremulous voice, very pleasing to the hearer.
He had laughing, grey eyes,
which appeared to fascinate the
beholder. He was a pleasant, good-humored,
and obliging companion. When excited, or provoked to
anger (which was
seldom the case) the fiery glance of his
eye would almost curdle the blood
of those with whom he came in contact.
... In his dealing, he was per-
fectly honest; his confidence in man,
and his credulity, were such, that the
same man might cheat him twenty times;
and if he professed friendship,
he might cheat him still.6
Second Marriage Family.
Simon Kenton and Elizabeth Jarboe were
married at Ken-
ton's Station, Kentucky, by Rev. William
Wood, March 27,
1798. His wife, Elizabeth, was born September 13, 1778, and
died at the home of one of her
sons-in-law, John S. Parkinson,
in Jasper County, Indiana, in January,
1843. Their children were:
Matilda, born in Cincinnati, Ohio,
January 23, 1799, married
John S. Parkinson. She died in 1858.
Elizabeth, born Decem-
ber 6, I8oi, died in Urbana, Ohio,
October 27, 1810. Mary,
born March 3, 1803, married Daniel
Murray, and in 1851 was
living in Monong, White County, Iowa.
William Miller Kenton,
born February 12, 1807, married Mary Ann
McCullough, April
29, 1832; resided in 1851 near
Monticello, Iowa, in White
County. Elizabeth C., born May 29, 1811,
married first Jacob
Myers and then Madison Thornton; resided
in 1851 at Mo-
nong, White County, Iowa. Ruth Jane,
born January 19, 1816,
married James Brown; died in White
County, Indiana, in April,
1851. Her husband preceded her in death.
The mothers of
Kenton's first and second wives were
sisters, and were the daugh-
ters of Thomas McClelland. They came
with their father and a
number of families to Kentucky from
Virginia in 1783, brought
by William Kenton, eldest brother of
Simon. In 1807, William
Kenton and his family with a number of
other families came to
Ohio and settled a few miles west of
Urbana. A number of the
descendants of William Kenton are still
living in the western part
of Champaign County.
6 McDonald, Biographical
Sketches, 266.
------------------------------------------------