The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1880-07-23

corEwcrfox or soME ERRORS IN REGARD TO
rHn MEN VINO FELL. IN JEFFERSON COUNTY

CORRECTION or sOME ERRORS IN hE"AHp w
rgg xex VINO FILL IN JEFFERSON COUNTY
WHILE FIGHTING THE INDIANS.
To Editor of Louisville Courier-Jotrndt
In your paper Of last sunday i read
an account Of the proceedings ano
speeches ST tue unveiIing oil the monument
on saturday, July 18th, erected to the mem,
ory of those who fell under Coionel Fioyo
while attempting TO defend their feliow-cui'
zens from the Indians. fear that In this
ius, tribute 10 the dead the living nave
fallen into some serious errors. The Dattie
in which the commemorated braves feii i
represented in these proceedings ana al
dresses to have occurred in the year 1903.
If have read Alright the history OF men
lucky 1t was in the year I1Si, ana not III
1888. -,
~ OF Keptucky,v published at Frankfort
In 1912. on page 140, the foiiowinS account
Of that battle Is given:
ain April, 1881, station settled by squire
Boopc. near where ShelbyvilIe now stands,
became alarmed by the appearance OF IN
dams, and, after some consultation among
the people, they determined to remove to
Rear0rass. In executing this resolution.
men, women, and children, encountered
with household goods and cattle, were over
taken on the road near Long Run by a large
party OF Indians, attacked, defeated with
considerable loss and general dispersion.
| Intelligence OF this disaster re7cbing Colo
| mel John Floyd, he In great haste raised
company OF twenty-five men ana repaired
| toward the scene OF the late encounter. in-
| tent upon administering relief to the suf1er-
ers and chastisemeut TO the enemy, ana
notwithstanding he divided his party
and proceeded with considerable caution.
such was the address o. the Indians ana
the nature OF the country that he
fell into an ambuscade and was defeated,
with the loss Of half OF his men. who, IL
was said, killed nine or ten OF The Indians.
The Indians are believed TO have been three
times the number Of Colonel Floyd's party.
| The Colonel narrowly escaped, with the as
sistance OF Captain samuel Wells. who, see'
| ing him on foot pursued by the eHemy,
mounted him on bis own horse and fed by
| his side to support him. The conduct OF
| Captain Wells was the more magnanmous,
| inasmuch ss be and Colonel Floyd were not
| friends at the time. This service. however,
was OF nature to subdue all existing ami
mosities, nor was it bestowed on an I'M
| worthy object. No man knew better than
| Floyd how TO regard so gallant and d'sin-
teresied an action. He lived and died the
| friend OF Wells"
Such is the account OF the affair as it first
| appears I'm history, and it has come down
through subsequent histories substantially
| the same-:hrough the edition OF Marshall
| in 1924. Butler in 1884, and Collins In 1874.
| The date OF this event is so fixed in history
as not to admit OF an error upon the SUBJ
ject. The brave men who have thus been
honored with monument have slept UNI
disturbed for nearly "a century, and now
that we make them glory, let us not in
doing so make them to have lived two years
longer than they did. 1t is almost pity,
after deferring the hon0rs due them so long.
that we had not waited until the spring OF
next year, and in the bright month OF April.
when all nature puts on new life, unveiled
our monument over their graves an hundred
years after they hud been resting in them.
Another error needs correction In these
proceedings. 1t is made TO appear that Col
onel FLOYD and bis men were guarding par.
ty of emigrants from Louisville TO Boone's
Station, near Harrodsburg. The BoOnc's
Station in question was not near Harrods-
burg, but was the station OF Squire Boone,
near where Shelbyyilie now stands. 1t was
settled in 1880, and its inhabitants becom-
ing alarmed at the appearance Of Indians,
in 1881 set out for the stronger stations on
Beargrass, among which was that OF Colo
mel Floyd, on the Middle Fork, about six
miles from Louisville. The Indians attack.
ed these settlers on their way 10 Louisville,
and Floyd and his men went to their relief.
Still another error in these proceedings
needs correction. 1t was stated that
Colonel Floyd was among the slain.
Colonel Floyd, though wounded on this
OCCASION, made his escape and lived to do
many good and noble deeds afterward.
Two years later, while he and his brother
were OH horseback, near his own station,
they were fired upon by concealed Indians,
and the Colonel received a mortal wound.
His brother, seeing him about to fall, leaped
from his own hors, to that OF the Colonel.
and, supporting the Colonel with one hand
while holding the reins with the other,
urged on the horse and escaped to the sta
ton. In a few hours afterward Colonel
Flod died of the wound, April u, 1888.
X. Il. DURRETT.