actually taught the children here so he was quite familiar with the stories. the area was first opened up in 1768. with that covers families that came to the area were probably considered the same. they've they further founders. this was in effect the western theater of the american revolution. four henry was named after the governor of virginia. one of his titles was inspired. it was named of course after the governor was thrown out and patrick henry kamen is the revolutionary governor. he was renamed fort henry. it was located in places of some strategic region. basically he was considered the head of navigation during the low waters. it made sense to build a fort

here. beyond that they would have kind of a symbiotic relationship and not a lot of places where there was the population they were simply abandoned because there was no garrison and because it had people around it there were people to garrison in times of emergency and so forth henry protected him. that was the relationship. the whole idea of the age is built and of course the trilogy of legends. the first occurred september 1 1777. the frontiersman had actually been expecting an attack. they got word that a large-scale attack was coming and they called it the militia groups together their militia companies to garrison the fort and of course they were nobodies fool when it came to warfare.

they had spies and they definitely had the belief they watched the fort and they waited until the militia were there and of course that's when the indians decided to attack. if it came to take place on september 1 and the fact there was only one company left up the river the problem the indians had was in the nature of fighting. it simply wasn't what they did. they were outstanding hit and run raiders and in the woods with open fighting they were the masters. what people tend not to realize is the indians were the finest white infantry of their day and by contrast the militia were part-time citizen soldiers and

actually quite poor at it. what they have found out over the years most of the time they were backed by british regulars and it was back and forth and the really emotional zenith probably comes about as a summer between noon and 2:00 that day. people that have got into the fort had let people know that the folks in fort henry were in very dire straits. they sent express riders out for help. one of the express riders went to a tall delete personal family about 4 miles from here and the commander was the major and when sam gets the word of there isn't a lot that he can do in terms of rounding up a lot of people. again the communication to travel no faster than a man on horseback and the militia

companies have just been dispersed so he would have a hard time rounding them up so basically the only thing he could do to bring relief to the fort he himself, his brother john and another man by the name of pain he had the idea that what they were going to do is approach the fort and write down but of course plans like that never work out quite like you want them to. sam was a lot better than the other two. his horse got way out in front and of course the indians are right were right around him as he comes to the front of the fort and they are trying to pull him out of the saddle. they managed to brush him off and he takes up with them in hot pursuit. he gets to the top of the hill

and there is another group of indians coming up on the other side so basically he's caught between the two and there is no real easy out. so either a quick death or slow capture he put spurs to his force and both of them go down and land 300 feet below at the creek where the street is today happily named. when he got away from the indians he would lead them to the legend for the rather dramatic escape at the first siege of fort henry. it would grant in the larger sense he was a very tactical defeat and the indians had destroyed most of their food and livestock and transportation. they didn't put the casualties on them at a rate of 5-1. but the fact four henry held the

river open which was the artery for the transportation in the western theater of the american revolution that connected the kentucky settlements. the second legend was of course buddy. when this happened the second siege took place on september 11 1782. what's really significant about that is that it took place almost a year after cornwallis surrendered. what people don't realize is that the war in the east have stopped. peace negotiations were actively underway and at this point the british still occupied new york, charleston and savanna but there were no active campaigns on either side. again, they were negotiating peace terms. the war in the west never stopped. there is no federal government. the state government of virginia is bankrupt and people are paying much left on their own to defend themselves but they know

when they are coming in to get the word. a 15-16-year-old boy is in ohio and what he saw saw alarm him greatly there was a huge force of approximately 240 to 260 indians in the company of british rangers headed east directly towards crack. co. fort henry. he comes to the end of the water, fires his rifle and it gives a signal that's at probably about 3:00 when he gets back. the british into the indians realize that they have been made and they make no attempt to conceal their being there they just wait and surrounded the fort and abandons render at this point. inside basically they were

defending themselves but one of the things about fighting on the western front this wasn't like gettysburg. when you're there you're there with your wife and kids and family, mother, mother-in-law, favorite neighbor whatever. bunched together and that's who you fight with. and again, you don't know necessarily what fate awaits you. chances are that it's going to be bad. they find they are basically out of gunpowder and you wonder how something like this would happen. why wasn't there more kept in the fort and was very simple, fast. just a couple of months prior to that, ebenezer sent to the commander saying if you send me some powder i promise anything

you give will be burned at the enemy. nothing will be wasted or stolen and he kept it in his cabin. a small supply was kept with the idea that an emergency should occur is enough for a day or so to keep the indians that day because typically the raid only lasted a day or so but what kind of puts that out the window is the fact that was the fact that they have british rangers with them and they will be a much more determined enemy so now it's lasted about a day and a half but there's more in there is more in his block house which is approximately 60 yards away they look for a volunteer and a 16-year-old girl steps up and says i will do it and it's something to the effect of if i fall. she steps out and when she takes off the indians cedar and vl but

not a shot is fired. she relays to her brother the fact that there is a crisis at hand that they need gunpowder in the worst way so they take an apron, fill it with as much as they can get and they tied around her waist and she is sent back. when she runs back through fort henry, although british and indians are blind to what was going on. no one knew. everybody that had a rifle opened up. the bullets went around her like hail and cut her clothing but miraculously she made it back to the fort. it's like a 60 yards -- with gunpowder do you think about it she's carrying a me 25 pounds of gunpowder running uphill and

perhaps across a couple hundred rifles and muskets. her dramatic act saved the fort. .. >> we are visiting minicity is. go to c-span.org/local content. >> coming up