Finding they had not passed he turned and went
south, and in a thick canebrake met his foes face to face. The whites
were spread out in line, while the Indians, twenty in number, came on in
single file, all on horseback. The cane was so dense that the two
parties were not ten steps apart when they saw one another. At the first
fire the Indians, taken utterly unaware, broke and fled, leaving eight
of their number dead; and the victors also took twenty-eight horses.
[Footnote: Draper MSS. Whitley's MSS. Narrative, apparently dictated
some time after the events described. It differs somewhat from the
printed account in Collins.]
Death of Black Wolf and Col. Christian
In the following spring another noted Indian fighter, less lucky than
Whitley, was killed while leading one of these scouting parties. Early
in 1786, the Indians began to commit and Col. numerous depredations in
Kentucky, and the alarm and anger of the inhabitants became great.
[Footnote: Draper MSS. Clark Papers, _passim_ for 1786. Wm. Finney to G.
R. Clark, March 24 and 26, 1786. Also Wm. Croghan to G. R. Clark, Nov.
3, and Nov. 16, 1785.] In April, a large party of savages under a chief
named Black Wolf, made a raid along Beargrass.
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