Battle of Blue Licks - Worst Massacre in Early Frontier History
Daniel Boone’s son Israel was killed here. It was one of the last battles of the Revolutionary War, and it was fought almost a year after Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown. It was one of the worst one-sided defeats in frontier history. Daniel Boone said, “we are all slaughtered men”. The Battle of Blue Licks.
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The siege of Bryan Station only lasted two days because the British force got word that the pioneer militia was on its way to defend the fort. The militia arrived on 18 August, and totaled one hundred eighty-two men, led by Colonel John Todd, who is the grand-uncle of Mary Todd Lincoln, by the way, Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Boone, Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Trigg, and Major Hugh McGary. Colonel Benjamin Logan was still gathering men to join the force.
The militia had a choice to make. They could wait a day for Benjamin Logan’s men to arrive to make a larger force, or they could take off after the British and Indians immediately, who were already forty miles ahead of them. Daniel Boone and Hugh McGary were adamant that they wait for Logan, but the other leaders insisted upon chasing the enemy now, so they didn’t escape back into Ohio. Some of the men even questioned the bravery of Boone and McGarry, a fact that would soon lead to disaster. The militia rode about forty miles and camped at dusk.
The next morning the militia arrived at Blue Licks on the Licking River. This was the same place that Daniel Boone and the salt makers were taken captive by the Shawnee in 1778, so he knew the area well. They could see a few Indian scouts on the other side of the river and Boone was very suspicious because the trail that the Indians left was too obvious. Boone told the other leaders that he thought they were being lead into an ambush. Just across the river was a steep hill and they couldn’t see what laid beyond it.
The militia leadership took a little time to decide about what to do, but soon, Major Hugh McGarry, the Scots-Irish hot head had had enough waiting. Perhaps he was trying to make a bigger name for himself, or perhaps he felt that he needed to prove his bravery because the day before it had been questioned. McGary plunged his horse into the river and shouted, “Those that ain’t cowards, follow me!”. The militia immediately followed after him as the officers tried to reorganize them. Daniel Boone is quoted as saying, “we are all slaughtered men”.
The militia dismounted and formed into lines. Colonel Todd, and Major McGarry’s men formed the middle, Lieutenant Colonel Trigg’s men formed the right, and Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Boone and his men formed the left. They advanced up the hill and when they reached the summit, they were fired upon with devastating effect from the enemy which hid in the ravines. After only five minutes the center and the left lines had broken, and the men were retreating. Colonel Todd and Lieutenant Trigg had been killed and their men were fighting hand to hand with the enemy who had outflanked them.
Major McGary went to Boone’s Company and told them that they were surrounded and that everyone was retreating. Boone grabbed a horse and told his son Israel to get on it and get out. Israel chose to stay put so that he could leave with Daniel who had gone looking for a horse for himself, but while he was waiting, Israel was shot through the neck and died. A family story has been passed down by the descendants of Private James Norton who fought at the battle. It is said that James was near Daniel and saw Israel get shot and fall. Norton shouted, “my God Daniel, it’s Israel”. Daniel was forced to make his escape without his beloved twenty-three old son. He had now lost two sons and a brother to the wild frontier.
The battle was the worst defeat in the Kentucky frontier. The militia started that day one hundred eighty-two strong, but seventy-two of them were killed, and eleven captured. Only seven of the enemy were killed. The retreating militia soon met up with Colonel Benjamin Logan’s force of around three hundred sixty men. In the beginning, had they waited on Logan’s men to arrive, they would have had a force three times what is was in the battle and likely things would have been much different. However, perhaps the enemy would have escaped. We will never know. The reinforced unit went back to the battle site and buried their dead. Many of the men were buried in a mass grave that you can visit today. The memorial is located on the path between the monument and the museum. The enemy had escaped back to their villages in Ohio, so the militia men returned to their homes and families.
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