THE SCHOLLS, COMING OUT of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, reached Daniel Boone's famous fort at Boonesborough
in the midst of the bitterest winter of the eighteenth century, a winter from which time was reckoned in Kentucky
for 75 years. Hunger stalked the land; food was scarce in almost every cabin home in Kentucky. Boone and Harrod
made long trips into the wilderness in the bitterest of weather, seeking meat for perishing families. Those in
outlying settlements were forced to move to the vicinity of the forts. There was only one gleam of comfort--the
bitter cold kept the savages at home, in their villages across the Ohio.
Among the families coming into Boonesborough at this time was the family of William Scholl. The Scholls appear
not to have come all the way to Boonesborough with Daniel Boone in the summer of 1779. It must be that somewhere
back along the Wilderness Trace, some enchanting spot, clothed in the gorgeous verdure of summer, had charmed the
Scholl eye and induced the family to tarry there; or they may have been forced to stop for some other reason now
unknown. At any rate, the investigations of A. C. Barrow, a Scholl descendant, disclose that the Scholl family,
for some reason, must have stopped somewhere short of Boonesborough on the trip out with Boone in the early Summer
of 1779.
It is probable that the Scholls first stopped near the site of present Barbourville, Kentucky. Abraham Scholl is
known to have said that the family, on first coming into Kentucky, stopped near the oldest settlement beyond Cumberland
Gap. It has been generally supposed that he referred to Boonesborough. In the light of Mr. Barrow's statements,
it is more likely that Abraham Scholl referred to the early settlement of Dr. Thomas Walker of Virginia, who came
through Cumberland Gap in 1750, being probably the first white man to enter the land that is now Kentucky. The
chimney of his house, built in 1750, still stands near Barbourville.
It appears that the Wilson family (which intermarried with the Scholls), coming out of Grayson county, Virginia,
into Kentucky in a very early day, also located near Barbourville. John Wilson of Baylis, 71-year-old grandson
of William Howerton Wilson who came to Pike county with Abraham Scholl and married his daughter Matilda, says that
his grandfather Wilson was born at Barbourville, Kentucky, in the year 1806, "the year the frogs were so bad."
Some say that William H. Wilson was born in Independence, Grayson county, Virginia.
Says Mr. Barrow: "The Scholls came to Kentucky in 1779 and arrived at Boonesboro December 25th and crossed
the river and went some miles on their way to Boone's Station. This is certain." He says he has never had
any information that the Scholls stopped anywhere between Cumberland Gap and Boonesborough and does not know why
it was that they failed to reach the fort with Boone in the summer of 1779. He says:
"I have Rachel Denton's statement (she was a daughter of William and Leah Morgan Scholl) that they arrived
at Boonesboro Dec. 25, 1779 and that Daniel Boone was there and joined them and they crossed the river and made
some distance to Boone's Station that same day. From Court records I know that Boone was at Boonesboro on that
date. I know from Court records that Daniel Boone and his son-in-law Flanders Callaway camped by a spring in the
eastern part of Clark Co., Ky., near my home there in the late fall of 1779. It is quite possible that sickness
may have caused the Scholls to stop somewhere on this journey to Boone's Sta. It is quite possible that the Scholls
waited at some point along the trail for others to come along to have a larger party for mutual protection before
entering country infested with hostile Indians. They may have been alarmed by the siege of Boonesboro and waited
awhile and seriously considered settling at some other point. (The siege of Boonesborough was in the preceding
year, 1778.) I am quite sure the Scholls arrived at Boonesboro Dec. 25, 1779."
Continuing, Mr. Barrow says: "William Scholl stayed in Boone's Station winter of 1779-80, which was the coldest
in history of Kentucky. Streams froze to the bottom. Many of the wild animals perished and in the spring those
that survived were very poor and boldly came around where the people were making sugar."
The story of the terrible hardships of this winter, when, as Bogard tells us, "a single johnnycake would be
divided into a dozen parts and distributed around to the inmates to serve for two meals," has been related
in a preceding chapter of this history in the story of the young bride, Dinah Boone, who sleeps in the old French
cemetery at Milton.
Daniel Boone, soon after his return to his fort in the summer of 1779, removed his family from the fort to a new
location on the banks of Boone's Creek, across the Kentucky river, at a point several miles northwest of Boonesborough,
where he built a log house and called it Boone's Station. This was within the then limits of Fayette county, near
the present site of Athens, in present Fayette, and about 12 miles southeast of Lexington. Here Boone was joined
by his brothers, Edward and Samuel, and his son-in-law, William Hays, with their families; and, as we have seen,
at Christmas time, 1779, by William Scholl and his large family.
Kentucky soon after this was divided into three counties, Jefferson, Lincoln and Fayette; Kentucky county, a county
of Virginia, being so divided on November 1, 1780. Prior to this, Kentucky county had been erected out of Fincastle
county, one of the seven original counties in the Western District of Virginia prior to 1776.
Abraham Scholl related that Indians were constantly on the warpath for many years after his family settled in Kentucky.
Soon after they located near Boonesborough, Colonel Richard Callaway and several others from the fort were killed
within rifle shot of the walls. He remembered being at Boonesborough when the body of Colonel Callaway was brought
in and how he, then a boy of about 16, grabbed a heavy rifle and went with the others at the fort in pursuit of
the Indians, whom they failed to overtake. This was in 1780. Many famous in early Kentucky history fell before
the Indians in this year, and in 1781. Which brings us to the year 1782, the bloodiest in Kentucky's history, when
there was mourning in nearly every cabin on the frontier.
In October, 1781, Cornwallis had surrendered at Yorktown. The power of Britain was supposedly broken or at least
so crippled that they would not be able to assist their Indian allies as before. The winter of 1781 had passed
quietly enough and the Kentucky settlers were lulled into a false sense of security from which they were rudely
awakened. Early in the spring the enemy forays began. Cattle were killed, and horses stolen, and remote settlements
were attacked and their inhabitants barbarously slain or carried into captivity.
In the month of May, Estill's Station was attacked and later Captain Estill, raising a company of 25 men, pursued
and came up with the Indians on Hinkston's Ford of Licking, where ensued one of the memorable battles of the frontier,
both sides, equal in numbers, having "treed" in positions which made it a man-to-man affair. "Never,"
says Hartley, " was battle more like single combat since the use of firearms; each man sought his man and
fired only when he saw his mark; wounds and death were inflicted on either side — neither advanced nor retreating.
And thus both sides firmly stood, or bravely fell, for more than an hour; upward of one-fourth of the combatants
had fallen, never more to rise, on either side, and several others were wounded. Never, probably, was the native
bravery or collected fortitude of men put to a test more severe."
In this battle, the first of the desperate encounters of 1782, Captain Estill and eight of his men were killed
and four desperately wounded. On the other side, half of the Wyandot Indians engaged against the whites were believed
to have fallen, including the Wyandot chief who was killed immediately after he had slain Captain Estill.
And now, the grand army intended for the conquest of Kentucky was assembled at Old Chillicothe. A detachment from
Detroit reinforced them there, and before setting out the renegade, Simon Girty, made a speech to them, inciting
them against the Kentucky Long-Knives who were occupying their fertile lands and happy hunting grounds. Six hundred
warriors, the flower of all the Northwestern tribes, then set forth into the land of Kentucky.
Advance parties of Indians, appearing in different localities, left the Kentuckians uncertain where the blow was
to fall. Hays' Station was attacked and two boys carried away, captives. Captain Holden with 17 men pursued and
was obliged to withdraw after a sharp conflict with the savages near the Blue Licks.
Then the blow fell at Bryan's Station. This stockade was invested on the night of August 15, 1782. In a preceding
chapter, the story of the gallant women who went out to the spring for water and of the equally gallant defense
of the stockade that followed has been told. It was here that Aaron Reynolds, great grandfather of Frank Lindsey
of Milton, made his famous challenge of Simon Girty, and it was here that at least three Pike county pioneers,
namely, Abraham Scholl, Zachariah (Boone) Allen and one other (probably Marshall Key), waited in the grim battle
line behind the log palisades of the fort and held their fire until the yelling savages were in the very shadow
of the log walls. Abraham Scholl at this time was just a few days short of 18.
The Indians, as related in the former chapter, having failed to take Bryan's Station by surprise, withdrew on the
morning of August 17 and started apparently in full retreat for the Ohio. Later in the day three different relief
parties, each about 50 strong, arrived from Boonesborough, Lexington and Harrodstown. Among them were many of the
best-known men in Kentucky. Foremost of all, of course, was Daniel Boone, burning to avenge the death of his brother
Edward (whom we have already met on the Wilderness Road with the Scholls in 1779 and who was killed and scalped
by the Indians in October, 1780.)
One of the parties that rushed to the relief of Bryan's was headed by Colonel Daniel Boone's son-in-law, William
Hays, and in this party came three of the Scholls, Abraham, Peter and Joseph, and two of the sons of Samuel Boone,
brother of Daniel. This relief party was from Boone's Station, where we have already seen William Hays and the
Scholl family, and the families of Edward and Samuel Boone, locating in the new settlement. An excerpt from Lyman
C. Draper's interview with Daniel Bryan (nephew of Daniel Boone) in April, 1844, relates to this relief party.
It says:
"Captain William Hays (Colonel Daniel Boone's son-in-law) raised a party of about 12 men on Kentucky river,
a dozen miles from Lexington probably the second day of the siege, and pressed on to Bryan's — found the fence
built across the lane partly torn down — not this cross fence, but the lane fence, and leaped over it into the
field. The Indians were posted on each side of the lane, for some 20 paces, and as Hays' party of horsemen dashed
down the lane, they raised such a cloud of dust as to greatly screen them from the enemy's aim and hence probably
it was that they were not all cut off. Hays was wounded in the neck and came near falling from his horse, but escaped."
So far as known, none of the Scholls was wounded in this daring dash to the relief of Bryan's. These men were among
the defenders at Bryan's when the Indians made their great but unsuccessful assault on August 16.
With the arrival of the other relief parties at Bryan's on the 17th, the route taken by the retreating Indians
was soon ascertained, and pressing forward with great rapidity, the settlers followed the wide-open trail to the
lower Blue Licks, which was reached early on the morning of the 19th. All along the way, however, were signs indicating
to the experienced veteran, Boone, that the Indians were courting rather than evading pursuit. Reaching the Licking,
some Indians were observed on the hills beyond the river and they also seemed to court rather than to avoid detection.
Before fording the river a council of war was called, at which Boone declared it would be madness to proceed without
Logan's reinforcements, as the enemy were almost certainly setting a trap. This wise counsel probably would have
been heeded and many a valiant Kentucky life saved had not one of the rash leaders, a man by the name of McGary,
with a taunting cry, spurred his horse into the river, swinging his rifle above his head, and exclaiming: "Delay
is dastardly! Let all who are not cowards follow me!"
"It could scarcely be called a battle," says one chronicler, "so quickly was it at an end. Rather
was it a massacre, a butchery, a pitiless hewing down. All who, escaping the tomahawk, plunged headlong into the
river and sought safety by swimming, found themselves assailed by a hail of bullets. Of the army that had so gallantly,
though recklessly, responded to McGary's challenging appeal, nearly 70 were left dead on the field, while four
were carried off to the Indian towns and tortured to death. To add to the bitterness of the defeat, as the survivors
approached Bryan's Station they were met by Logan with an army of almost 500 men, a force which, in conjunction
with their own, would have overwhelmed the enemy had they only heeded Boone's warning.
"It was then too late to do anything but bury the dead, as, on advancing rapidly, Logan found that the Indians
had crossed the Ohio immediately after the battle, and were secure in the tangled fastnesses of their own country."
Among those who fell at the Blue Licks was Daniel Boone's son Israel, a lad of 23; also Samuel Boone's son, Thomas.
Squire, another son of Samuel, was badly wounded. These two had accompanied the Scholls from Boone's Station. Abraham
Scholl, hard pressed, passed Daniel's fallen son, Israel, and saw his lifeblood spurting from a ghastly wound in
his breast. Scholl's own life was saved by one of his mother's people, Andrew Morgan, believed to have been a brother
of Leah Morgan and an uncle of Abraham. Together, Abraham and Andrew braved the wild ford where death reigned on
every hand and the bodies of the dead almost clogged the stream.
Abraham Scholl once gave to his nephew, Joseph Scholl, Jr., an account of his having been in the Blue Licks battle,
and in 1868 Joseph Scholl related to Lyman C. Draper the substance of Abraham's narrative. This relation is found
in Draper Manuscripts 24 S. 31215, at Madison, Wisconsin, the following excerpt being from Mr. Draper's notes of
his interview with Joseph Scholl, June 15 and 16, 1868:
"COL. BOONE AT BLUE LICK DEFEAT. 1782. ABRAHAM SCHOLL must have been born about 1757 (he was born August 24,
1764.) He was a younger brother of Peter and Jos. Scholl.) He went to Illinois in 1816 (this was a prospecting
trip), and died in Pike county, Illinois. He related to informant (Jos. Scholl) that he was in the Blue Licks Battle
— that Col. Boone's wing fought longer than the two others. That reaching the river on the retreat, Abraham Scholl
said to Andrew Morgan — ‘I'm afraid I can't get over the river with my rifle, and I can't part with it'. Morgan
replied, ‘Hold on to my shoulder as we pass the river, and we will mutually support each other,' and they did so,
and Scholl saved the rifle.
"Maj. Netherland and party then checked the Indians. In crossing, the water reached to Scholl and Morgan's
shoulders, and as they neared the southern shore, Morgan observed — ‘Now you can wade out; I'll stop and drink,'
and was so thirsty that he ran the dangerous risk, stopped and drank heartily, though the balls were striking and
splashing the water all around him.
"Another man, after crossing the river, and beyond reach of bullets, sat down, undid his buckskin leggins,
all saturated with water in crossing the Licking, wrung them out, catching the water in his hat, and drank what
he wanted, and then readjusted his leggins and escaped.
"The Indians did not, to any extent, pursue the whites after crossing the river on their retreat."
The Draper Manuscript, continuing Abraham Scholl's narrative as remembered by Joseph Scholl, Jr., says:
"Col. Boone rather blamed himself in some degree for the Blue Licks battle. He said that at the council preceding
the crossing of the river he said: ‘You see the Indians have shown themselves on the hills beyond the river, loiteringly,
as if to invite pursuit - there are two ravines there, filled with brush and timber, for their protection: It is
not wise for us to run heedlessly into the trap set for us. Now, I propose taking a party and reconnoitering in
their rear, by going around for that purpose.' This was opposed by someone (McGary) saying: ‘We came to fight the
Indians and here they are,' and then insinuated that perhaps Col Boone that he retorted - ‘If you are determined
to go and meet the enemy at this great disadvantage, go on: I can go as far in an Indian fight as any other man.'
His caution was misconstrued into cowardice, and he let his zeal get the better of his judgment.
"‘At the Blue Licks,' said Abraham Scholl, ‘in early times the buffalo would drink the brackish water freely,
and then their appetites would be sharpened and all the herbage, every green thing for a long distance around,
would be browsed off - hence the barren condition of the surface when the battle was fought.'
"Israel Boone, from his youth and sprightliness (Jos. Scholl, Jr. is still quoting Abraham Scholl), could
easily have made his escape but remained to protect his father, Col. Boone. He got ahead of his father and the
Indians ahead of him. He re-loaded his gun and fired after his father had passed him on the retreat; when he, in
turn, received a deadly shot in the breast. Abram Scholl said he passed him, hard pressed, and saw Israel and the
blood spurting out of the wound, indicating that he had been shot with a very large ball."
Such is Abraham Scholl's account of that terrible August day of death and thirst at the Licking river, from which
spread the news that caused mourning in nearly every home in Kentucky.
Says McClung in ‘Western Adventure": "The slaughter was great in the river. The ford was crowded with
horsemen, footmen and Indians, all mingled together. Some were compelled to seek a passage above by swimming; some
who could not swim were overtaken and killed at the edge of the water."
McClung also chronicles the exploit of the man referred to by Abraham Scholl as Maj. Netherland, who checked the
Indians at the river, thus enabling Scholl and Morgan and many other footmen to get across. McClung says: "A
man by the name of Netherland, who had formerly been strongly suspected of cowardice, here displayed a coolness
and presence of mind equally noble and unexpected. Being finely mounted, he had outstripped the great mass of fugitives,
and crossed the river in safety. A dozen or twenty horsemen accompanied him and, having placed the river between
them and the enemy, showed a disposition to continue their flight, without regard for the safety of their friends
who were on foot and still struggling with the current.
"Netherland instantly checked his horse, and in a loud voice called upon his companions to halt, fire upon
the Indians and save those who were still in the stream. The party instantly obeyed and, facing about, poured a
close and fatal discharge of rifles upon the foremost of the pursuers. The enemy instantly fell back from the opposite
bank, and gave time for the harassed and miserable footmen to cross in safety." To this check, though but
momentary, Scholl and Morgan doubtless owed their lives.
It was in this route that Aaron Reynolds, ancestor of the Pike county Lindseys, performed the valorous feat that
saved the life of Captain Patterson, the story of which was recited in a former chapter.
The late Hannah Dalby of Griggsville remembered the story of the Blue Licks as being among numerous stories she
heard related by the man Abraham Scholl. She remembered Scholl telling of Daniel Boone picking up the body of his
slain son and attempting to carry it from the battlefield, when he was suddenly confronted by several savages with
uplifting tomahawks and with a groan dropped the body of his son and darted down a ravine , effecting his escape.
Stewart Edward White, in an account of the battle, tells a somewhat similar story of Boone's attempt to save the
body of his son from desecration by the savages.