In the Current of the Revolution 129 



The incoming settlers were therefore left in com- 

 parative peace. They built many small palisaded 

 towns, some of which proved permanent, while 

 others vanished utterly when the fear of the Indians 

 was removed and the families were able to scatter 

 out on their farms. At the Falls of the Ohio a regu- 

 lar fort was built, armed with cannon and garri- 

 soned by Virginia troops, 12 who were sent down 

 the river expressly to reinforce Clark. The In- 

 dians never dared assail this fort ; but they ravaged 

 up to its walls, destroying the small stations on Bear 

 Grass Creek and scalping settlers and soldiers when 

 they wandered far from the protection of the 

 stockade. 



The new-comers of 1779 were destined to begin 

 with a grim experience, for the ensuing winter 13 

 was the most severe ever known in the West, and 

 was long recalled by the pioneers as the "hard win- 

 ter." Cold weather set in toward the end of No- 

 vember, the storms following one another in un- 

 broken succession, while the snow lay deep until 

 the spring. Most of the cattle, and very many of 

 the horses, perished; and deer and elk were like- 

 wise found dead in the woods, or so weak and 

 starved that they would hardly move out of the 

 way, while the buffalo often came up at nightfall to 

 the yards, seeking to associate with the starving 



1J One hundred and fifty strong, under Col. George 

 Slaughter. 



13 Boone, in his Narrative, makes a mistake in putting this 

 hard winter a year later ; all the other authorities are unani- 

 mous against him. 



