The Horrors at Ruddle's and Hinkston's Forts
[October 20, 1826]
It has already been noticed, that the summer 1780 was exceedingly wet, and that all the water-courses were full. This circumstance induced Colonel Byrd to change his original purpose of attacking Louisville first. He therefore decided to ascend Licking river into the heart of the country, by which means he would be enabled to take with him his artillery to Ruddle's Station, and would easily take it by land from Ruddle's to Martin's and Bryan's Stations, and Lexington, the ground being level, and the roads easily made passible. Col. Byrd landed his artillery, stores and baggage on the point of Licking, where he put up some huts to shelter them from the weather; and from thence marched by land, a few miles, to Ruddle's Station, where he arrived on the 22d day of June, at the head of 1000 men. In consequence of the extreme wetness of the weather, which had continued for many days, the men at Ruddle's and Martin's Stations, who were accustomed to be in the woods, had all come in, and therefore, Byrd taking advantage of that circumstance, arrived within gun shot of the fort undiscovered, and the first information the people received of the approach of an enemy, was the report from a discharge of one of the fieldpieces. Byrd sent in a flag and demanded a surrender at discretion- to which demand Capt. Ruddle answered, that he could not consent to surrender but on certain conditions, one of which was: that the prisoners should be under the protection of the British, and not suffered to be prisoners to the Indians; to these terms Col. Byrd consented, and immediately the gates were opened to him. No sooner were the gates opened, than the Indians rushed into the Station, and each seized the first person they could lay their hands on, and claimed them as their own prisoner. In this way the members of every family were separated from each other; the husband from the wife, and the parents from their children. The piercing screams of the children, when torn from their mothers-the distracted throes of the mothers when forced from their tender offspring, are indescribable. Ruddle remonstrated with Colonel Byrd against this barbarous conduct of the Indians, but to no effect. He confessed that it was out of his power to restrain them, their numbers being so much greater than that of the troops over which he had controul that he himself was completely in their power.
After the people were entirely stripped of all their property, and the prisoners divided among their captors, the Indians proposed to Colonel Byrd, to march to and take Martin's Station, which was about five miles from Ruddle's; but Col. Byrd was so affected by the conduct of the Indians to the prisoners taken, that he peremptorily refused, unless the chiefs would pledge themselves in behalf of the Indians, that all the prisoners taken should be entirely under his control, and that the Indians should only be entitled to the plunder.-Upon these propositions being agreed to by the chiefs, the army marched to Martin's Station and took it without opposition. The Indians divided the spoil among themselves, and Colonel Byrd took charge of the prisoners.
The ease with which these two stations were taken, so animated the Indians, that they pressed Col. Byrd to go forward and assist them to take Bryan's Station and Lexington. Byrd declined going, and urged as a reason, the improbability of success; and besides, the impossibility of procuring provisions to support the prisoners they already had, also the impracticability of transporting their artillery by and, to any part of the Ohio river-therefore the neceissity of descending Licking before the waters fell, which might be expected to take place in a few days.
Immediately after it was decided not to go forward to Bryan's Station, the army commenced their retreat to the forks of Licking, where they had left their boats, and with all possible dispatch got their artillery and military stores on board, and moved off. At this place the Indians separated from Byrd, and took with them the whole of the prisoners taken at Ruddle's Station. Among the prisoners were Capt. John Hinkston, a brave man and an experienced hunter and woodsman. The second night after leaving the forks of Licking, the Indians encamped near the river; every thing was very wet, in consequence of which it was difficult to kindle a fire, and before a fire could be made it was quite dark. A guard was placed over the prisoners, and whilst part of them were employed-in kindling the fire, Hinkston sprang from among them and was immediately out of sight. An alarm was instantly given, and the Indians ran in every direction, not being able to ascertain what course he had taken. Hinkston ran but a short distance before he lay down by the side of a log under the dark shade of a large beach tree, where he remained until the stir occasioned by his escape had subsided, when he moved off as silently as possible. The night was cloudy, and very dark, so that he had no mark to steer by, and after travelling some time towards Lexington, as he thought, he found himself close to the camp from which he had just before made his escape. In this dilemma he was obliged to tax his skill as a woodsman, to devise a method by which he should be enabled to stear his course without light enough to see the moss on the trees, or without the aid of sun, moon or stars. Captain Hinkston ultimately adopted this expedient: he dipped his hand in the water, (which almost covered the whole country) and holding it upright above his head, he instantly felt one side of his hand cold; he immediately knew, that from that point the wind came-he therefore steered the ballance of the night to the cold side of his hand, that being from the west he knew, and the course best suited to his purpose. After travelling several hours he sat down at the root of a tree and fell asleep.
A few hours before day, there came on a very heavy dense fog, so that a man could not be seen at twenty yards distance. This circumstance was of infinite advantage to Hinkston, for as soon as day light appeared, the howling of wolves, the gobling of turkeys, the bleating of fawns, the cry of owls, and every other wild animal, was heard in almost every direction. Hinkston was too well acquainted with the customs of the Indians, not to know that it was Indians, and not beasts or birds that made these sounds-he therefore avoided approaching the places where he heard them, and notwithstanding he was several times within a few yards of them, with the aid of the fog he escaped, and arrived safe at Lexington. It was the 8th day after Ruddle's Station was taken, when Hinkston arrived in Lexington, and brought the first news of that event.
The Indians not only collected all the horses belonging to Ruddle's and Martin's Station, but a great many from Bryan's Station and Lexington, and with their booty, crossed the Ohio river near the mouth of Licking, and there dispersed. The British descended Licking river to the Ohio, down the Ohio to the mouth of the Big Miami, and up the Miami as far as it was then navigable for their boats, where they hid their artillery and marched by land to Detroit. The rains having ceased, and the weather being exceedingly hot, the waters fell so low, that they were able to ascend the Miami but a short distance by water.
The great panic occasioned throughout Kentucky by the taking of Ruddle's and Martin's Stations, caused the people to look up to General Clarke as their only hope. His counsel and advice was received as coming from an oricle. He advised that a levy of four-fifths should be made of all the men in the country capable of bearing arms, whether inhabitants or strangers, and to meet at the mouth of Licking on the 20th of July. Those from Lincoln and Fayette under the command of Col. Logan, were to march down Licking-those from Jefferson under Gen. Clarke, were to march up the Ohio.
As soon as it was decided that an expedition should be carried on against the Indians, General Clarke gave orders to have a number of small skiffs built at Louisville, capable of taking 15 or 20 men, which together with batteaus, the provisions and military stores, were taken by water from Louisville to the mouth of Licking. These vessels were under the direction of Col. George Slaughter, who commanded about 150 troops raised by him in Virginia for the Western service.
In ascending the river, it was necessary to keep the vessels close to the shore, some of which were on one side of the river, and some on the other; it happened whilst one of these skiffs was near the north side of the river, a party of Indians ran down the water's edge, and fired into it and killed and wounded several before assistance could be obtained from the other boats.
That part of the army commanded by Col. Logan, assembled at Bryan's spring, about eight miles from Lexington, and on the following night a man by the name of Clarke, stole a valuable horse and went off. it was generally believed that he intended to go to Carolina. When the army arrived at the mouth of Licking, the horse was found there, when the conjecture was, that he had been taken prisoner by the Indians; but it was afterwards discovered that he had gone to the Indians voluntarily, in order to give them notice of the approach of an army from Kentucky.
The army rendezvoused and encamped on the ground whereon Cincinnati now stands, and the next day built two block-houses, in which was deposited a quantity of corn, and where several men who were sick were left, with a small guard, until the return of the army.
The division of the army commanded by Col. Logan, took with them generally
provisions only sufficient to last them to the mouth of Licking, as it was
understood a sufficient quantity for the campaign would be brought up from
Louisville to that place; but when the army were about to march, the provisions
were distributed among the men, and was only six quarts of Indian corn,
measured in a quart pot, for each man, most of whom were obliged to carry
it on their backs, not having a sufficiency of pack-horses to convey the
whole, together with the military stores and other baggage of the army.