The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1894-07-13
A HEROIC GIRL.
By a Courageous Act She Saved the Fort
and Her Friends.


By Courageous Act She Saved the For,
and Her Friends.
In the year 1777, when the British troops
in the middle states were marching on
to Philadelphia. and Washington, at
the head of the colonial army, was do
ing all he could to keep them from en-.
tering the city, Gen. Burgoyne led his
forces from the north by the way OF
Lake Champlain and landed near
Crown Point. Here he met large
body of Indians, who went with his
army to Crown Point and Ticonderoga.
These Indians, cruel, cunning, Ind
savage in their nature, were the most
terrible enemies the American army
and country people had to fear. They
were worse than the Hessians, the
tories and the British regulars all put
together.
A body of troops under Col. Shepherd
held Fort Henry against the British and
the Indians, but the garrison was
gradually diminished to few hundred
men. They were daily looking for re-
Inducements, and the majority of the
men, going one day to meet them and
bring them through the enemies lines,
were cut off by band of the Indians,
who prowled about in every direction.
Within the stockade surrounding the
fort the farmers, who were also sol
diers, had driven their horses and cat
tie spared by the invaders; and their
wives and children. with their house,
hold goods, were safe inside the fort.
At the approach of the Indians, the lit
tie garrison of twelve brave men, under
command of Col. Shepherd, determined
to sell their lives as dearly as possible,
and not knowing how far off or how
near the reinforcements might be,
they hoped for the best.
But their powder was nearly ex-
hausted and there was no chance of
keeping the savages at bay by any
other means. Some one then remem-
bered that in a small building just out
side the stockade there was a keg of
powder that had been forgotten when
the other effects had been carried in
side the fortified place. But who would
go for it, or who could be spared from
the small garrison?
Every man was needed at such
time. Their leader was a brave and a
generous man, but he knew that his
place was there; his duty was to pro-
tect the fort and save the helpless
women and children from the savage
cruelty of the enemy. Several of his
best men offered to go, but he could
not make up his mind to lose one of
them, so great seemed to him the risk
of venturing within range of the In
dams tomahawk.
81 cannot command any man to go
for the powder" he said. If there be
any one willing to take the risk he
must assume all responsibility of tho
venture"
What was to be done? The powder
they must have. Soon it would be too
late, for the savages were coming
nearer all the time Three of the men
were eagerly discussing which of them
could best do the hardy deed, when a
brave girl, whom history knows as
Elizabeth Zane. approached Col. Shep-
herd as he stood listening to the argu-
ments of the men.
Let me CO." said she. 81 can bring
the powder as well as any one else, and
if do not come back with it-why,
you will be no worse off than you are
now. 1t would not be like losing
man."
After much hesitation they let her
go, thinking the Indians would be less |
likely to attack her than man. Very
carefully they watched her-those in
side the fort-as she crossed the open /
space before it, until she reached the |
house in which the powder was.
No doubt, if the savages had rushed |
upon her, the gates of the stockade |
would have been opened and the men |
would have defended with their last
breath the brave girl that had SO nobly |
risked her life.
But she reached her destination be. |
fore the savages had fairly seen what
was the object of her expedition outside
the gate of the stockade. Returning,
she again had to cross the open space.
Perhaps the weight of the key of
powder made her footsteps slower.
the Indians had suspicion of
what it was that Elizabeth carried in
her homespun apron, for with wild
vhoop they let fly shower of arrows
'ound her head-not one of which,
harmed her-and two or three
If the nearest savages rushed toward
Ter as the gate of the outer barricade
opened and shut quickly behind her.
The powder that Elizabeth brought
held out well, and the Indians, Judging
rom the incessant firing the garrison
lept up, that reinforcements had ar
lived, withdrew and left them undis-
urbed until the main body of the
roops came to the relief.-Virginia
u Sherry. in n. Y. Advertiser.
The Difference.