The Winning of the West, Volume 1 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 351 pages of information about The Winning of the West, Volume 1.

The Winning of the West, Volume 1 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 351 pages of information about The Winning of the West, Volume 1.

15.  Smyth’s “Tour,” II., p. 179.

16.  “Am.  Archives,” p. 1017.

17. Do.  Stewart says they reached the mouth of the Kanawha on Oct. 1st; another account says Sept. 30th; but this is an error, as shown both by the “Am.  Archives” and by the Campbell MSS.

18.  Hale, 182.

19.  Campbell MSS.  Letter of Isaac Shelby to John Shelby, Oct. 16, 1774.  A portion of this letter, unsigned, was printed in “Am.  Archives,” p. 1016, and in various newspapers (even at Belfast; see Hale, p. 187, who thinks it was written by Captain Arbuckle).  As it is worth preserving and has never been printed in full I give it in the Appendix.

20.  Stewart’s Narrative.

21.  Smyth, II., p. 158.  He claims to have played a prominent part in the battle.  This is certainly not so, and he may not have been present at all; at least Col.  Stewart, who was there and was acquainted with every one of note in the army, asserts positively that there was no such man along; nor has any other American account ever mentioned him.  His military knowledge was nil, as may be gathered from his remark, made when the defeats of Braddock and Grant were still recent, that British regulars with the bayonet were best fitted to oppose Indians.

22.  Some accounts say that he was accompanied by Kenton and McCulloch; others state that no messenger arrived until after the battle.  But this is certainly wrong.  Shelby’s letter shows that the troops learned the governor’s change of plans before the battle.

23.  “Am.  Archives,” IV., Vol.  J., p. 1017; and was joined by Col.  Christian’s three hundred the day after the battle.

24.  Campbell MSS.  Letter of Col.  William Preston (presumably to Patrick Henry), Oct. 31, 1774.  As it is interesting and has never been published, I give it in the Appendix.

25.  Many of the white accounts make their number much greater, without any authority; Shelby estimates it at between eight hundred and one thousand.  Smith, who generally gives the Indian side, says that on this occasion they were nearly as numerous as the whites.  Smyth, who bitterly hates the Americans, and always belittles their deeds, puts the number of Indians at nine hundred; he would certainly make it as small as possible.  So the above estimate is probably pretty near the truth, though it is of course impossible to be accurate.  At any rate, it was the only important engagement fought by the English or Americans against the northwestern Indians in which there was a near approach to equality of force.

26.  Campbell MSS.  Shelby’s letter.  Their names were Mooney and Hickman; the latter was killed.  Most historians have confused these two men with the two others who discovered the Indians at almost the same time.

27.  “Am.  Archives,” IV., Vol, I., p. 1017.

28. Do., p. 1017.  Letter from Stanton, Virginia, Nov. 4, 1774, says 3/4 of a mile; Shelby says 1/2 of a mile.

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The Winning of the West, Volume 1 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.