Boys' Book of Frontier Fighters

Edwin L. (Edwin Legrand) Sabin

Informations

• Publié par: thioh
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 27
• Langue: English

Extrait

Project Gutenberg's Boys' Book of Frontier Fighters, by Edwin L. Sabin This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net Title: Boys' Book of Frontier Fighters Author: Edwin L. Sabin Release Date: January 30, 2010 [EBook #31130] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOYS' BOOK OF FRONTIER FIGHTERS *** Produced by Al Haines Custer's Last Stand BOYS' BOOK OF FRONTIER FIGHTERS BY EDWIN L. SABIN Author of "Boys' Book of Indian Warriors," etc. PHILADELPHIA GEORGE W. JACOBS & COMPANY PUBLISHERS Copyright, 1919, by George W. Jacobs & Company All rights reserved Printed in U. S. A. Ah, where are the soldiers that fought here of yore? The sod is upon them, they'll struggle no more, The hatchet is fallen, the red man is low; And near him reposes the arm of his foe. ........ Sleep, soldiers of merit; sleep, gallants of yore. The hatchet is fallen, the struggle is o'er. While the fir tree is green and the wind rolls a wave, The tear drop shall brighten the turf of the brave. —From an Old Poem. FOREWORD The BOYS' BOOK OF INDIAN WARRIORS told of the deeds by the red Americans in defense of their lives and to keep their homes. This second book tells of the deeds by the white Americans, in defense of their lives and also to clear the way for their homes. It commences with the pioneers and hunters in the East, and continues on to the frontiersmen and soldiers in the West. These are stories of bravery and of pluck amidst great odds. In many of the stories victory was won by the aid of powder, ball and steel, used manfully. In others it was won by sheer nerve and wit alone—for a good fighter fights with his heart and head as fully as with his hands. Americans have always been great fighters, when called upon to fight in self-defense. They never quit until they are killed or triumphant; and although many may be killed, those they leave press forward again. In France the Americans "never gave up an inch." We Americans of to-day, looking back, may be proud not only of the part played by our blood in the World War, but likewise of the part it played in the days when, rifle in hand, we were hewing the peace trail in our own country. Clothes do not make the soldier. Whether in buckskin, wool, cotton gown or army uniform, those men and women —yes, and boys and girls—of frontier times in the forest and upon the plains and prairies were soldiers all, enlisted to face danger. It is largely the quick, dauntless spirit inherited from the American pioneers, hunters and Indian fighters of the old days that shone so brightly in the recent days when, in record time, we raised a gallant army of fighters, at home and abroad, against a desperate enemy. CONTENTS CHAPTER I THE CAPTURE OF OLD CHIEF ANNAWAN (1676) Bold Captain Church in the Lion's Den II THE ATTACK ON LOGAN'S STATION (1777) And the Noble Deed of Captain Logan III IN THE STOCKADE AT WHEELING (1777) And the Great Leap of Major McColloch IV BIG TURTLE BREAKS THE NET (1778) And Meets His Father at Boonesborough V SCOUT KENTON HAS A HARD TIME (1778-1779) How He Paid for his Horse-Stealing VI THE SCRAPE OF LEWIS AND JACOB WETZEL (1778) And the Nerve of Two Boy Scouts VII CAPTAIN SAMUEL BRADY SWEARS VENGEANCE (1780-1781) And Broad-Jumps Like a Wild Turkey VIII THE FLIGHT OF THREE SOLDIERS (1782) On the Trail with the Crawford Men IX THE BRAVE WOMEN OF BRYANT'S STATION (1782) And the Defeat of the Villain Girty X BETTY ZANE'S "POWDER EXPLOIT" (1782) How a Girl Saved the Day XI THE FIVE BOY CAPTIVES (1785) Adventures of "Little Fat Bear" and All XII ODDS AGAINST HIGGINS THE RANGER (1814) And his Rescue by Heroine Pursley XIII JOHN COLTER'S RACE FOR LIFE (1808) The Trapper and the Blackfeet XIV HUGH GLASS AND THE GRIZZLY BEAR (1823) "As Slick as a Peeled Onion" XV A FRACAS ON THE SANTA FE TRAIL (1829) And the Building of Bent's Fort XVI A SEARCH FOR A SILVER MINE (1831) And the "Bowie Indian Fight" XVII THROUGH THE ENEMY'S LINES (1846) The Three Kit Carson Couriers XVIII THE HOTTEST CHASE ON RECORD (1864) Two in an Army Wagon XIX RELIEF FOR BEECHER'S ISLAND (1868) And a Rattle-Snake in the Way XX THE DEFENSE OF THE BUFFALO-HUNTERS (1874) When the Comanche Medicine Failed XXI WHITE MEN AT BAY AGAIN (1874) The "Fight of the Privates" XXII BUFFALO BILL AND YELLOW HAND (1876) A Plains-Day Duel XXIII THE "SIBLEY SCOUT" (1876) A Famous Army Tale LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Custer's Last Stand . . . . . . . . . . . . . Frontispiece The Great Leap of Major McColloch At the Siege of Boonesborough Simon Kenton in Trouble Lewis Wetzel Leads on the Run Captain Brady of Pennsylvania The "Fight of the Privates" Buffalo Bill, Chief of Scouts BOYS' BOOK OF FRONTIER FIGHTERS CHAPTER I THE CAPTURE OF OLD CHIEF ANNAW (1676) AN BOLD CAPTAIN CHURCH IN THE LION's DEN Captain Benjamin Church, born in Plymouth Colony of old Massachusetts, was a rousing Indian fighter. He earned his title when in 1675 the Pokanoket League of nine Indian tribes, under King Phillip the Wampanoag, took up the hatchet against the whites. Then he was called from his farm in Rhode Island Colony, to lead a company into the field. So he bade his family good-by, and set forth. He was at this time aged thirty-six, and built like a bear—short in the legs, broad in the body, and very active. He knew all the Indian ways, and had ridden back and forth through the Pokanoket country, between his Aquidneck home on Rhode Island, and Plymouth and Boston on the Massachusetts coast. In his Indian fighting he never turned his face from a trail. The famous Kit Carson of the West was no bolder. King Phillip's War lasted a year and two months, from June of 1675, into August of 1676.[1] Captain Church soon became the Indians' most hardy foeman. He was constantly trailing the King Phillip warriors to their "kenneling places," routing them out and killing them, or taking prisoners, whom he spared for scouts. At the terrible battle of Sunke-Squaw, when in dead of winter the colonist soldiery stormed the Indian fort in southern Rhode Island, he was struck by three