The Death of James Boone & Henry Russell

Middlesboro Times News
Wednesday, February 21, 1951
Page 3


75 Years Ago

The Torture Death of Young Virginian

By James Taylor Adams
Daily News Feature Writer


BIG LAUREL, Va., -- But for a single tragic event many family names, long prominent in Southwestern Virginia history, would be found only in the fading records of Russell County.

In the fall of 1773 Daniel Boone, accompanied by many families from Western North Carolina, set out for the wilderness of Kentucky. The party crossed over the mountains, the Holston and Clinch Rivers, and reached the Warriors Path in Powells Valley. Here they were joined by another party, coming down from the upper Clinch Valley settlements; and Boone, deciding that the settlers would need more breadstuffs and farming equipment, sent his son James back to Castlewood to inform William Russell, who was preparing to join the party, along with several other families from the same settlement for the trip to Kentucky, to bring more supplies than had first been agreed upon by the two.

“Clappity-clap, calppity-clap.” Ringing hoofs on the limestone trail. Timid deer, in the deep thickets, poised for instant flight as they watched the galloping stead, with the sixteen-year-old James Boone, at ease on his back come up from the west and disappear into the east.

“Clappity-clap, clappity-clap.” On and away through Lovelady Gap. Sunset and evening shade. Thickening gloom. Gathering dusk. Then black dark.

“Sluggity-slug, sluggity-slug.” Ever onward through the deep night pushed young Boone, the hoofs of his mount slashing the muck of the broad Clinch River bottoms.

A few miles south of Castelswood, the boy reined to a stop at the two-story log mansion of William Russell, and delivered his father’s message.

Russell and several other families of the Castlewood settlement were preparing to join Boone’s party, somewhere along the Warrior Path or the Wilderness Trial. So, the next morning, young James Boone, loaded with supplies, and accompanied by Henry Russell, teenage son of William Russell, two hired hands and two of the Russell slaves, struck out down the Clinch on the return journey.

All went well with the little party as they covered the trail at a leisurely pace. The second night (October 10, 1773) they made camp on Wallens Creek, in the present Lee County, only about three miles east of where the main body of migrants, under the leadership of Daniel Boone, was camped.

Indian trouble was not anticipated. Only a few weeks before the Moafees had returned from the Kentucky wilderness country and reported that the Shawnees and Delawares were very friendly.

The mid-fall night as the little party sat around their campfire, they could hear the howl of the timber wolves, one of the most terrifying sounds of the wilderness. The six men may have huddled a little closer together. But that was all. For the howls of the wolves was nothing new, though always startling to them. No doubt, the other five were entertained that night, by Young Boone with stories of his already famous father’s experiences in the wilderness.

About midnight they spread their blankets and went to sleep, never dreaming that death and destruction was creeping upon them through the surrounding gloom.

The night wore on. Mayhap they dreamed of high adventure in that land beyond the Cumberlands for which the party had set out.

Dawn was breaking this nigh to day when, suddenly and without any warning, a band of Indians charged the camp, whooping and firing as they came. James Boone and Henry Russell were both shot through the hips. Neither of the boys could stand, walk or run for the safety of the forest. One of the slaves was shot dead; one of the workmen suffered a like fate. The other hired man escaped immediate death and ran into the woods, but he was never seen again. Several years later a skelton (sic) of a man was found in the mountains, not far from the scene and it was presumed to be his. It is believed that he had been wounded and finally died, unattended and alone, in the forest.

One of the slaves was lucky enough to escape the fire and crawled into a pile of driftwood and lay there peeping out, trembling at the scene that followed.

The Indians settled down to pertake (sic) of the party’s food; and while they were munching in delight, they proceeded to torture the teenage boys. Evidently the Indians were just passing through the country; and their attack on the supply party had not been planned. They seemed in a hurry to be on their way. So, not having time to burn their captives at the stake, and their wounds being such as not to allow them to travel, they proceeded to walk around the wounded boys, jabbing them with their knives.

Among the band was an Indian, called Big Jim, who had often visited the Boone home in North Carolina. Young James pleaded with him to show mercy, reminding him of the friendship his father had shown him. But all to no avail. The Indians continued to go round and round the boys, their hands darting out to stab their flesh with already bloody blades. Finally the concealed slave heard young Boone pleading with Big Jim to tomahawk him and put him out of his misery. Again Big Jim refused to call off the torture. Then finally, after many house of being stabbed and cut to pieces, the boys died.

Soon after the Indians departed the scene a member of the advance party, becoming involved in an argument with another man left the company and started alone back along the Warriors Path. Coming upon the scene of the massacre he stood there staring at the carnage until William Russell and his party rode up from the east. The bodies of both the one and the Russell boys were mutilated in the most horrible manner. They had been literally slashed to pieces and their toe and finger nails torn out by the roots.

William Russell sent one of his men on ahead to notify Daniel Boone while he and the others set about digging four graves.

Some accounts say the Indians attacked the Daniel Boone party the following night and were driven off; other say that they were not seen or heard of again.

On hearing of her son’s death, Daniel Boone’s wife sent her best linen sheet to wrap around James “to,” as she said, “keep the earth from his body.”

Discouraged and heartbroken Daniel Boone decided to turn back on the trail and postpone his adventure into Kentucky. So bother partied following his lead, returned to Castlewood, where Boone and his family spent the winter in the home of Capt. David Gass.

One day in May, 1774, the famous trailblazer, slopped away from his family and friends and struck out alone along the Warriors Path. At dusk two days later, he stood beside the wilderness grave of his son. It is said that he found James’ grave had been dug into by the wild beasts of the forest; and that to satisfy himself, that the body had not been molested, he opened the grave and looked upon the body, the first time he had seen it since the lad had been killed; then he carefully tenderly filled in the grave, mounted his horse and rode away silently into the night.

Edward "Neddy" Boone 1740 - 1780

Edward "Neddy" Boone was the brother of Daniel Boone. He was my g-g-g-g-g-g-g grandmother Mary Boone Webb's nephew as was Daniel.

Neddy was born on November 30, 1740 in Exeter Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania. He was about ten when his father, Squire Boone, left Pennsylvania and moved to North Carolina. There he met and married Martha Bryan, a sister of Rebecca Bryan who Daniel married. Their children were born in North Carolina.

In about 1779 Daniel led a large party to Kentucky. Neddy may have been a part of this group. He could have come to Kentucky earlier.

From the Jess M. Thompson - Pike County History, Chapter 101, he wrote:

• In the party traveled Edward Boone and his family, with 22 pack horses, besides those the family rode. Abraham Lincoln, grandfather of the President, also went out to Kentucky with this party.
• With Edward Boone and his wife on the journey were their six children, Charity, Jane, Mary, Sarah, George and Joseph Boone. Charity was already married, her husband, Francis Elledge, being with her on the journey. Mary Boone, Charity's sister, was then about 15.

From the Boone Family, A Genealogical History, page 70, it says:

• He (Neddy) and Daniel and several other men had gone to the Blue Licks Salt Licks to boil down salt. It took 680 galls of salt water to boil down a bushel of salt. It cost a $5 Continental bill to buy a bushel of salt. "

On their way back to Fort Boonesborough, they stopped to let the horses graze. The Story goes on in "The Pioneer and the Prarie Lawyer" by Willard Mounts:

• Daniel and Edward Boone went hunting on Himkstone. Found a good grassy spot and stopped to let their horses graze. Edward Boone picked up some nuts and commenced cracking them on a stone in his lap and watching the horses while Daniel Boone said he would take a walk and come back by the time the horses were through picking; he had scarcely gone when several guns cracked and he saw two or three Indians after him. He darted off into the cane and was followed by a dog. Finally to evade him he stepped behind a tree and shot the dog as it approached. Indians came up and rolled over the dead dog, looked at it regretfully and departed. Col. Boone saw the Indians but thought it wisest to remain quiet. Seven balls had been shot into Edward and he must have been killed instantly."

Edward died on October 6, 1780. Martha was a young widow and she never remarried.

Hello Mr. President

While we were at the How Do You Measure Up booth having our picture taken with Anna and Martin we saw President Lincoln enjoying some homemade ice cream.

We told the photographer we would have another picture taken if she could talk Abraham into joining us. He graciously agreed. While we were being set up he did say, "you know, Martin was a confederate." I told him that maybe he would feel a bit more comfortable knowing that he was also a relative. He knew that he was related to the Boones and Webbs, but he said he had never heard of the Bates connection.

He stayed totally in character. He is the same height as Lincoln at 6'4". He has been doing Lincoln for about ten years now. We got to talk to him for several minutes. So we met another famous relative while visiting the Bates.

George & Mary Maugridge Boone - Coming to America

George Boone was born in 1666 in Stoke Canon, Devonshire, England. He was christened on March 19, 1666. He was the son of George and Sarah Mary Uppy. His father was a blacksmith. His mother, Sarah, lived until she was eighty years old. It was said she "never had an aching bone or decayed tooth."

On August 16, 1689 when George was 23 he married Mary Milton Maugridge, age 20. She was the daughter of John and Mary Milton Maugridge. They had ten children, all of whom were born in Bradeninch, England. John had learned the blacksmith trade of his father before he became a successful weaver. He continued weaving for the rest of his life. Mary and John were members of the Church of England, but dropped out in 1702 to become Quakers. This made them different than most of their neighbors and made their life difficult. .

In 1713 John sent his three oldest children, George age 23, Sarah 22, and Squire 17, to the Quaker colony of Pennsylvania to investigate the conditions there. The children sent positive reports home and George made preparations to move the rest of the family. On August 17, 1717 he and Mary left England for America. They arrived on October 10.

They first settled in Abington, a small village north of Philadelphia. They later moved to Exeter Township where Mary died in 1741 and George in 1744.

Soon after their arrival their son, George born July 24, 1690, married Deborah Howell, the daughter of the Quaker minister, William Howell and his wife Mary.

Sarah, born February 29, 1692, never embraced the Quakers. She married Jacob Stoever. He was born in Germany and immigrated with his family as Luthern ministers. Jacob's brother, John Casper Stoever, was the first ordained German Luthern minister in America. John Casper was my seventh great grandfather coming down to us through Maggie Perdue, Jesse Wright's wife. Sarah died before her father. In his will, he left his estate to his eight children.

Mary who was born in 1696 also died in that year.

Squire Boone was born December 6, 1696. He married Sarah Jarman Morgan. Squire had seven boys and four girls. Not all of them embraced the Quaker religion. Squire was warned on different occassions because some of his children were marrying out of the faith. There were other quarrels and Squire sold his land to a Maugridge cousin and left for North Carolina. As far as we know they did not attend Quaker services there. Many of the family became Baptists.

Mary Boone, born October 4, 1699, was named in honor of the sister who died. She married John Webb. Athough Mary and John lived and died in Pennsylvania, their son James went to North Carolina, too. He served in the North Carolina 10th regiment in the Revolutionar War until May 1779. He moved to Lee County, Virgina before finally settling in Harlan County, Kentucky. He took a land grant in 1819 and settled on Oven Fork in Letcher County. He married Elizabeth Jane "Lettie" Nelson. They were members of the Oven Fork Baptist Church. Two of their children are my direct grandparents.

John Boone, born Januray 14, 1702 never married and had no children. He was a school teacher. He kept the family history and passed on the information to his nephew, James, son of James and Mary.

Joseph Boone born April 4, 1704 married Catherine Warren. He stayed in Pennsylvania when the family moved south.

Benjamin Boone born July 27, 1705 married Ann Farmer and also stayed in Pennsylvania.

James Boone born July 18, 1709 married Mary and stayed in Pennsylvania.

Samuel Boone born in 1711 married Elizabeth Cassell.

Now you know about Daniel Boone. He was Squire's son. But do you know who else is related to the Boone family and you? According to the Boone/Bohun Family of America, where much of this information came from, Boone kinship can be claimed by:

• General Robert E. Lee
• Dr. John S. Pemberton, inventer of Coca-Cola
• Dolly Parton
• Richard Boone (Have Gun Will Trave, wire Palladin)
• Sgt. Alvin York, World War II hero
• Loretta Lynn
• Lucille Balll
• Thomas Jefferson
• James Madison
• Andrew Jackson
• John Tyler
• Zachary Taylor
• Ulysses S. Grant
• Chester Arthur
• Grover Cleveland
• William McKinley
• Herbert Hoover
• Dwight D. Eisenhower
• Richard Nixon
• Jimmy Carter
• Pat Boone
• The Hatfield Family
• Dina Merrill
• Laura Ingalls Wilder
• Sir Walter Raleigh
• Charles Robb, Virginia Govenor
• King Henry VII
• King Henry VIII
• Desi Arnez, Jr.
• Debbie Boone
• William Christopher (Father Mulcahet if M*A*S*H)
• Richard Petty
• Audrey Hepburn

Pretty good company, huh?