Why bother with it! He'd probably
never be back there to live, for this time Daniel and Rebecca, with
their children, the Bryans, and Captain William Russell, were going on a
long journey. They were headed for Kentucky. Daniel had told them some
fine and promising yarns about his lone expedition to that far-off
country.

The way wasn't easy. Following watercourses, fording swollen streams,
picking their way over rocks and loose boulders, through mud and sand.
Besides there was the constant dread of the Indian. Their fears were
confirmed before they reached Cumberland Gap. While they were still in
Powell Valley a band of Indians attacked Boone's party. The women
huddled together in terror while the men seized their guns.

But for all his skill as a marksman, Daniel Boone could not stay the
hand of the Indian whose arrow pierced the heart of his oldest son.
There was another grave in the wilderness and the disheartened party
returned to the Watauga country. This time, however, Boone settled in
the Clinch Valley.

The Indians continued on a rampage. Consequently it was nearly two years
before Boone started again for Kentucky. This time he gained his goal,
though at first he did not take Rebecca and his family. He meant to make
a safe place for them to live.

These were times to try men's souls. Everywhere man yearned for freedom.
About this time a young Scotch-Irishman in Virginia astounded his
hearers by a speech he made at St. John's Church in Richmond. When the
zealous patriot cried, "Give me liberty, or give me death," the fervor
and eloquence of his voice echoed down the valleys. It re-echoed through
the mountains. That young orator, "Patrick Henry, and his Scotch-Irish
brethren from the western Counties carried and held Virginia for
Independence," it has been said.

There was unity in thought and purpose among the Scotch-Irish whether
they lived in highland or lowland and their purpose was to gain freedom
and independence. A bond of feeling that could not have existed among
the Dutch of New York, the Puritans of New England, the English of
Virginia, even if they had not been so widely separated geographically.
Moreover, the isolation of the Scotch-Irish in the wilderness, though it
cut them off from voice in the government or protection by it, made them
self-reliant people. They had had enough of royal government. Added to
this was their natural hatred of British aggression, distaste for the
unfairness of thos