ern
bank of the Elkhorn, at the time of which we write, stood Bryan's
Station, to which we must now call the reader's attention. This station
was founded in the year 1779, by William Bryan, (a brother-in-law of
Daniel Boone,) who had, prior to the events we are now about to
describe, been surprised and killed by the Indians in the vicinity of a
stream called Cane Run.

This fort, at the period in question, was one of great importance to the
early settlers--standing as it did on what was considered at the time of
its erection, the extreme frontier, and, by this means, extending their
area of security. The station consisted of forty cabins, placed in
parallel lines, connected by strong pallisades, forming a parallelogram
of thirty rods by twenty, and enclosing something like four acres of
ground. Outside of the cabins and pallisades, to render the fort still
more secure, were planted heavy pickets, a foot in diameter, and some
twelve feet in height above the ground; so that it was impossible for an
enemy to scale them, or affect them in the least, with any thing short
of fire and cannon ball. To guard against the former, and prevent the
besiegers making a lodgment under the walls, at each of the four corners
or angles, was erected what was called a block-house--a building which
projected beyond the pickets, a few feet above the ground, and enabled
the besieged to pour a raking fire across the advanced party of the
assailants. Large folding gates, on huge, wooden hinges, in front and
rear, opened into the enclosure, through which men, wagons, horses, and
domestic cattle, had admittance and exit. In the center, as the reader
has doubtless already divined, was a broad space, into which the doors
of the cabins opened, and which served the purpose of a regular common,
where teams and cattle were oftentimes secured, where wrestling and
other athletic sports took place. The cabins were all well constructed,
with puncheon floors, the roofs of which sloped inward, to avoid as much
as possible their being set on fire by burning arrows, shot by the
Indians for the purpose, a practice by no means uncommon during a siege.
This fort, at the period referred to, was garrisoned by from forty to
fifty men; and though somewhat out of repair, in respect to a few of its
pallisades, was still in a condition to resist an overwhelming force,
unless taken wholly by surprise. There was one great error, however,
connected with its design--and one t