Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1915-10-13
THE
PIONEERS
By MARJORIE CLOUGH

Singular it is that little more than
century ago what we call the middle
west, now teeming with millions of
civilized beings engaged in commerce
and manufacture, was a wilderness
under process Of conquest from the
savage. Reading of the terrible dan
gers, the many butcheries of the set
tiers of that period, we are wonder
struck not only that men should go to
such a region to live, but that they
should take their wives and children
with them.
In April, 1854, six families left Louis
vile, KY, to make a new home farther
down the Ohio on Green river The
method of travel was by the f1atboat
OF the period. They used two of these
boats, one for themselves, the other
for the cattle One night about 10
O'Clock, when they were floating in the
middle of the river, the bloodcurdling
Indian yell was heard several miles
below, coming from the northern shore.
Having foated a little farther down,
they saw fires ON the bank from which
the yells proceeded.
during the day, and they concluded
that the Indians had captured it and
were massacring its crew. The fat
boat was designed to drift with the
current, and there was no propelling
power capable Of forcing 1t upstream.
The emigrants were therefore COM
, PEELED to float on down and run the
gantlet of the savages. A man named
Rowan was In command Of the boats,
which were dashed together, and under
his direction preparations were made
| for defense. The men Of the party
Were seven, including himself.
The Indians being on what is now
the Indiana shore, the boats were
guided nearer the Kentucky shore, but
| the emigrants dared not approach too
near, fearing there might be savages
there too. The fires were extended
along the shore, and the boats must
directed that not sound should be
made, either of voice Or oar, hoping
that they might drift by unperceived-
They had reached a point midway on
the line Of fires when the Indians dis
covered them and ordered them to
| come to the shore. The whites con-
tinued their course and their silence.
With yell the savages rushed to their
canoes and left the shore to intercept
them. The latter foated on In silence,
not even moving an oar to assist in
their escape.
When the red men had approached
to within a hundred yards Of the float
ing boats the wife Of the commander of
the whites rose from her seat, collected
the axes and placed one beside each
man, who silently awaited till the In
dams should come near enough to war
rant giving them a volley. Mrs.
Rowan, desiring to make sure that
each man knew that an ak had been
left beside him and not being permit
| ted to speak, touched him as she de-
I posted his weapon. The furnishing of
these axes was designed to enable the
men to repel the Indians in case they
/ should attempt to board the boats.
With SO many children present it
was difficult to preserve silence, and
each mothers duty was to see that
|
/ It has been recorded that no one ex-
cept such as have heard the Indian
yell can form any idea of the fear with
: which it inspires one. 1t is therefore
to be wondered that the children, who
heard the bloOdcurdling sounds. could
be kept quiet
A being used to inspire fear by noise
would naturally be awed by silence.
! Whether it was this silence on the fiat
boats or the red men believed that
their intended victims were waiting
for their nearer approach to pour a
vOlley into them after coming a certain
distance, they ventured no nearer,
keeping up their fiendish yells, brand
ishing their weapons and otherwise at
tempting to paralyze their intended
victims by fear. Mrs. Rowan, who had
reserved a Ratchet for her own use in
case the boat was boarded, remained
seated like a statue, while every other
mother watched her children to see
that none of them broke the silence.
One can fancy the feelings of these
emigrants, awed not only by the death
that threatened them, but the scene
about them. There were the dark wa
tiers, the still darker banks, the great
dome above, while the whole was illu-
minated by the lurid fires on the shore
But what was most terrorizing were the
hideous yells of the savages, who al
ways used these means to paralyze
those they wished to capture The
Ohio was called by the French La Belle
Riviere beautiful river), but this was
the river of He'll.
For three miles the Indians followed
the boats, then, awed by the impress
sive silence, drew off. More than q
hundred savages had been kept at bay
by seven men and three boys, for
whom there were but nine guns. This
result, achieved by policy requiring