436 INDIAN ANECDOTES. 



by a backwoodsman of substance and importance, who had possessed 

 himself of the Fort, and reigned the Robin Hood of the neighbour- 

 hood, maugre a notice of ejectment from the secretary at war. He 

 was dressed in deer-skins from head to foot, wearing a cap and mo- 

 cassins ornamented in the Indian style. His deportment was cour- 

 teous, self-possessed, and dignified. He welcomed us to the Fort, 

 and perceiving our curiosity to know the history of the place, shewed 

 us through the dilapidated quarters, and round the now ruined gar- 

 dens of its French possessors. 



Fort Massac, he informed us, was built by the troops of the Grand 

 Monarch, at a period when so vast a portion of this continent was 

 included in the limits of Louisiana, and subject to the crown of 

 France. Its history contained many tales of the enterprises for its 

 demolition by the neighbouring Indian tribes. For many years the 

 garrison were immured in the walls of the Fort, the supplies of pro- 

 visions, arms, and ammunition being derived from the French en- 

 trepot of New Orleans, distant about fifteen hundred miles, and a 

 solitary keel-boat arriving in a period of three months against the 

 current of the Mississippi, formed the only communication with the 

 external world. 



The Indians seldom ventured to the walls, for the fire-arms of the 

 white men were yet the terror of the natives of the forest. At length, 

 however, a design was laid by the wily Chickasaws, which proved 

 fatal to every man, woman, and child within the walls of the Fort. 

 It was about the middle of winter, and the Ohio was frozen over, 

 when two bears were seen crossing the river upon the ice imme- 

 diately below the Fort. The officers of the garrison, unmindful of 

 the many stratagems of the enemy, hastily sallied out to follow and 

 bring down the animals. The gates of the Fort were left open, and 

 numbers of the soldiers of the garrison had gone down to the banks 

 of the river for the purpose of watching the progress of the chace, 

 when a body of eight hundred Chickasaws issued from the neigh- 

 bourhood woods, and rushing into the Fort, despatched every human 

 being to be found within its walls. Hence its name of Fort Massac, 

 which it retains to this day. 



Some years after this dreadful event, the Fort came into the pos- 

 session of the English conquerors of these western colonies. The 

 walls were repaired by the troops of his Britannic majesty, and our 

 entertainer informed us that long after this period the hostile attacks 

 of the Indians were frequent and destructive. Upon one occasion, a 

 grand assault had been planned by a confederation of all the tribes of 

 the Ohio, and the warriors were appointed to assemble upon a certain 

 day at Chillicothi, a fortress distant through the wilderness about one 

 hundred and sixty miles. At this time, it appears that the celebrated 

 Daniel Boon, then a young man, was a captive in the hands of the 

 Indians at Chillicothi, and to avert the impending destruction of his 

 countrymen, he resolved at all hazards to effect his escape, and to ap- 

 prise the garrison of the approach of the hostile Indians. He ac- 

 cordingly set out, and travelled the entire distance through the 

 trackless woods in the short space of four days, eating only one meal 

 in the time, a feat which could only have been performed by the 



