n of the "red sign." Bonnett was carried by his
comrades on a rude stretcher, but in four days died. His body
was placed in a cleft of rock and the entrance securely
chinked.--R. G. T.

[285] CHAPTER XVII.

Upon the close of the war of the revolution, many circumstances
conspired to add considerably to the population of Kentucky; and her
strength and ability to cope with the savages and repel invasion, were
consequently much increased. Conscious of this, and sensible of their
own condition, weakened by the withdrawal of their allies, the Indians
did not venture upon expeditions against its inhabitants, requiring to
be conducted by the co-operation of many warriors. They preferred to
wage war in small parties, against detached settlements and
unprotected families; and guarding the Ohio river and the "_wilderness
trace_,"[1] to cut off parties of emigrants removing to that country.
In all of those they were eminently successful. In the interval of
time, between the peace of 1783 and the defeat of General Harmar, in
1790, it is inferred from evidence laid before Congress, that in
Kentucky, not less than one thousand human beings were killed and
taken prisoners. And although the whites were enabled to carry the war
into the heart of the Indian country, and frequently with success, yet
did not this put a stop to their enormities. When pressed by the
presence of a conquering army, they would sue for peace, and enter
into treaties, which they scarcely observed inviolate 'till those
armies were withdrawn from among them.

In April 1785, some Indians hovering about Bear Grass, met with
Colonel Christian and killed him. His loss was severely felt
throughout the whole country.[2]

In October of the same year, several families moving to the [286]
country were attacked and defeated on Skegg's creek. Six of the whites
were killed, and a number of the others made prisoners, among whom
were Mrs. McClure and her infant. When the attack was begun, she
secreted herself with four children in some bushes, which together
with the darkness of the night, protected her from observation; and
could she have overcome the feelings of a mother for her child, she
might have ensured her own safety and that of her three other children
by leaving her infant at some distance from them. She was aware of the
danger to which its cries would expose her, and sought to prevent them
by giving it the breast. For awhile it had th