his cabin, to look around to witness the effect of his
achievement. The Indians coughing, sneezing, blinded and almost
suffocated by the tobacco dust, were throwing out their arms and groping
about in all directions, cursing him for a rogue and calling themselves
fools."

CHAPTER XI.

_Kentucky organized as a State._

Peace with England.--Order of a Kentucky Court.--Anecdotes.--Speech of Mr.
Dalton.--Reply of Piankashaw.--Renewed Indications of Indian
Hostility.--Conventions at Danville.--Kentucky formed into a State.--New
Trials for Boone.

The close of the war of the Revolution, bringing peace between the
colonies and the mother country, deprived the Indians of that powerful
alliance which had made them truly formidable. Being no longer able to
obtain a supply of ammunition from the British arsenals, or to be guided
in their murderous raids by British intelligence, they also, through
their chiefs, entered into treaties of peace with the rapidly-increasing
emigrants.

Though these treaties with the Indians prevented any general
organization of the tribes, vagabond Indians, entirely lawless, were
wandering in all directions, ever ready to perpetrate any outrage. Civil
society has its highway robbers, burglars and murderers. Much more so
was this the case among these savages, exasperated by many wrongs; for
it cannot be denied that they were more frequently sinned against than
sinning. Their untutored natures made but little distinction between the
innocent and the guilty. If a vagabond white man wantonly shot an
Indian--and many were as ready to do it as to shoot a wolf--the friends
of the murdered Indian would take revenge upon the inmates of the first
white man's cabin they encountered in the wilderness. Thus it was
necessary for the pioneers to be constantly upon their guard. If they
wandered any distance from the fort while hunting, or were hoeing in the
field, or ventured to rear a cabin on a fertile meadow at a distance
from the stations, they were liable to be startled at any hour of the
day or of the night by the terrible war-whoop, and to feel the weight of
savage vengeance.

This exposure to constant peril influenced the settlers, as a general
rule, to establish themselves in stations. This gave them companionship,
the benefits of co-operative labor, and security against any small
prowling bands. These stations were formed upon the model of the one
which Daniel Boone had so wisely organized at