n the Maumee, and the Delawares on the Muskingum.

Their choicest warriors, five hundred in number, rendezvoused at Old
Chilicothe. This Indian village was built in the form of a square
enclosing a large area. Some of their houses were of logs, some of bark,
some of reeds filled in with clay. Boone says that the Indians
concentrated their utmost force and vengeance upon this expedition,
hoping to destroy the settlements and to depopulate the country at a
single blow.

Not far from Boonesborough, in the same valley of the Kentucky, there
was a small settlement called Bryant's Station. William Bryant, the
founder, had married a sister of Colonel Boone. On the fifteenth of
August, a war party of five hundred Indians and Canadians, under the
leadership of Simon Gerty, appeared before this little cluster of
log-huts, each of which was of course bullet-proof. The settlers fought
heroically. Gerty was wounded, and thirty of his band were killed, while
the garrison lost but four. The assailing party, thus disappointed in
their expectation of carrying the place by storm, and fearing the
arrival of reinforcements from other settlements, hastily retired.
Colonel Boone, hearing of the attack, hastened to the rescue, joining
troops from several of the adjacent forts. The party consisted of one
hundred and eighty men, under the leadership of Colonel Todd, one of
"nature's noblemen." Colonel Boone seems to have been second in command.
Two of his sons, Israel and Samuel, accompanied their father upon this
expedition.

The Indians, led by British officers, were far more to be dreaded than
when left to their own cunning, which was often childish. As the little
band of pioneers, rushing to the rescue, approached Bryant's Station and
were informed of the retreat of the invaders, a council of war was held,
to decide whether it were best for a hundred and eighty men to pursue
five hundred Indians and Canadians, through a region where every mile
presented the most favorable opportunities for concealment in ambush.
Gerty was a desperado who was to be feared as well as hated. Contrary to
the judgment of both Colonels Todd and Boone, it was decided to pursue
the Indians. There was no difficulty in following the trail of so large
a band, many of whom were mounted. Their path led almost directly north,
to the Licking River, and then followed down its banks towards the Ohio.

As the pursuers were cautiously advancing, they came to a remarkable