Site of Boone party massacre in 1773

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James Boone, Henry Russell, Whiteside Hargis, William Hargis, the Mendenhall brothers, and a black slave named Charles ARE KILLED HERE BY A SHAWNEE, CHEROKEE, DELAWARE WAR-PARTY during Daniel Boone's first attempt to cross the Appalachians in the Autumn of 1773 under Cpt William Russell. A second African-American slave escapes, the wife and children of the slain Whiteside Hargis ARE KIDNAPPED, his brother John Hargis and family are kidnapped BUT ESCAPE, Isaac Crabtree and another slave, Adam, HIDE UNSEEN AND ESCAPE.




Context: Though originally the expedition had intended to found a settlement in Kentucky County, Virginia, these killings would set off what would become known as Dunmore's War - exploding into a direct confrontation with the Shawnee Nation. Boone later earned the rank of Captain after helping defend those frontier homes further West by what were primarily Shawnee-led raids.

Where the French had lost to the Shawnee in the French & Indian War (1754-1763) fighting for La Salle's land claims on the Ohio country, the colonials would defeat the Shawnee primarily by political isolation and brutal campaigns. Where the French lost their claims to the British, the colonials would later claim independence and defeat the British.