Of the birth-place and family of Simon Girty we have not been able to procure any satisfactory information.  It is generally supposed, from the fact that nearly all of his early companions were Virginians, that he was a native of the Old Dominion; but one of the early pioneers, (yet living in Franklin County,) who knew Girty at Pittsburg before his defection, thinks that his native State was Pennsylvania.  This venerable gentleman is likewise of the opinion, that it was the disappointment of not getting an office to which he aspired that first filled Girty’s breast with hatred of the whites, and roused in him those dark thoughts and bitter feelings which subsequently, on the occurrence of the first good opportunity, induced him to desert his countrymen and league himself with the Indians.  That Girty was an applicant or candidate for some office, and was defeated in his efforts to obtain it by an individual who was generally considered less deserving of it than he, my informant has distinct recollections; and also remembers that his defeat was occasioned principally through the exertions, in behalf of his opponent, of Colonel William Crawford.  This affords a key to the cause of Girty’s fiend-like conduct toward the Colonel when, some ten years afterward, the latter was bound to the stake at one of the Wyandot towns, and in the extremity of his agony besought the renegade to put an end to his misery by shooting him through the heart:  it offers no apology, however, for Girty’s brutality on that occasion.

The career of the renegade, commenced by treason and pursued through blood to the knee, affords a good lesson, which might well receive some remark; but this narrative has already extended to an unexpected length, and must here close.  It is a dark record; but the histories of all new countries contain somewhat similar passages, and their preservation in this form may not be altogether without usefulness.[49]

[Footnote 46:  Gallagher:  “Hesperian,” vol. i., p. 343.]

[Footnote 47:  Gallagher.]

[Footnote 48:  Gallagher.]

[Footnote 49:  Gallagher.]

CHAPTER XVIII.

Season of repose—­Colonel Boone buys land—­Builds a log-house and goes to farming—­Kentucky organized on a new basis—­The three Counties united in one district, and Courts established—­Colonel Boone surprised by Indians—­Escapes by a bold stratagem—­Increase of emigration—­Transportation of goods commences—­Primitive manners and customs of the settlers—­Hunting—­The autumn hunt—­The hunting camp-Qualifications of a good hunter—­Animals hunted—­The process of building and furnishing a cabin—­The house-warming.

After the series of Indian hostilities recorded in the chapters immediately preceding this, Kentucky enjoyed a season of comparative repose.  The cessation of hostilities between the United States and Great Britain in 1783, and the probable speedy cession of the British posts on the Northwestern frontier, discouraged the Indians, stopped their customary incursions on the Kentuckians, and gave them leisure to acquire and cultivate new tracts of land.