Bryan Station
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Bryan Station (also Bryan's Station, and often misspelled Bryant's Station) was an early fortified settlement in
Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city coterminous with and the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the city's population was 322,570, making it the List of ...
. It was located on present-day Bryan Station Road, about three miles (5 km) northeast of New Circle Road, on the southern bank of Elkhorn Creek near Briar Hill Road. The settlement was established in the spring of 1776 by brothers Morgan, James, William (married to Mary Boone, sister of
Daniel Boone Daniel Boone (, 1734September 26, 1820) was an American pioneer and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. He became famous for his exploration and settlement of Kentucky, which was then beyo ...
), and Joseph Bryan, and brother-in-law William Grant (married to Elizabeth Jane "Betsy" Boone, also a sister of Daniel Boone), all from
Yadkin River The Yadkin River is one of the longest rivers in the US state of North Carolina, flowing . It rises in the northwestern portion of the state near the Blue Ridge Parkway, Blue Ridge Parkway's Thunder Hill Overlook. Several parts of the river a ...
Valley,
Rowan County, North Carolina Rowan County ( ),Talk Like a Tarheel
, from the North Carolina Col ...
. After a disastrous winter and attacks by Native Americans, all the Bryan family survivors abandoned the station and returned to the Yadkin River Valley in August 1780. Falling under the command of Elijah Craig, the remaining occupants withstood several American Indian attacks.


History

Captain William Bryan (b. 1733) along with his brothers and a settler party from
Rowan County, North Carolina Rowan County ( ),Talk Like a Tarheel
, from the North Carolina Col ...
, entered this frontier land in the spring of 1776 and began pitching the station. The site was located on high ground near the southern bank of Elkhorn creek. On this initial expedition, the party built a few cabins, planted sixty acres of farmland, and cleared many acres of the surrounding forest, which boasted a variety of blue ash,
black walnut ''Juglans nigra'', the eastern American black walnut, is a species of deciduous tree in the walnut family, Juglandaceae, native to central and eastern North America, growing mostly in riparian zones. Black walnut is susceptible to thousand can ...
, honey locust, and
sycamore Sycamore is a name which has been applied to several types of trees, but with somewhat similar leaf forms. The name derives from the Ancient Greek () meaning . Species of otherwise unrelated trees known as sycamore: * ''Acer pseudoplatanus'', a ...
trees. A spring flowed and meandered nearby, which served as the water supply for the station and would be center-place for much of the literature and history involving this fort. The parallelogram was distinctively elongated, with its width considerably shorter than its length, a design choice tailored to its inhabitants' desire to have a handsome amount of space in between the roughly forty or so cabins that would eventually be constructed. The fort's establishment and command was originally led by Captain William Bryan until his death. William, who came from an influential
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
land-owning family, declined an offer from the Royalist
North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...
government to build and lead a Tory militia as a commissioned Lieutenant Colonel. Aside from William's brother, Samuel, who did accept a comparable offer and would lead a battle against Rebels at Moore's Creek, most of the Bryans' loyalist convictions were not as strong; rather, they found their primary intrigue being in the frontier expeditions of William and Joseph's brother-in-law,
Daniel Boone Daniel Boone (, 1734September 26, 1820) was an American pioneer and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. He became famous for his exploration and settlement of Kentucky, which was then beyo ...
. However, the Bryans were far from self-avowed Patriots. As propriety citizens, they stood to benefit from certain privileges conferred by the Royal government, such as military protection. In this way, the Bryans thought an outright revolt could present precarious, if not unnecessary, difficulties. As a result, their lack of proclaimed allegiance to the American cause led to their official designation as Tories by the courts of the rebel-controlled Rowan County in 1778, further pressuring a full move out of the North Carolina county to Kentucky. As the Revolutionary War escalated, the British increasingly incentivized and supported native tribes, particularly those north of the
Ohio river The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...
, in driving out the influx of settlers into this land westward of the Appalachians. Tensions delayed the Bryan party's progress on the station for some time after their first expedition; however, in the spring of 1779, William, along with several of his brothers and their sons, would return and build several more cabins, expanding the station. In the fall of that year, walking along the Cumberland Road cleared by his brother-in-law, William lead the largest wave of migration into Kentucky yet. A caravan of several hundred, it was described as being:
...with wagons strung out over half a mile along the narrow trace. They were unable to draw together at night for protection and unable to build fires for fear of attracting Indians. It was the largest single migration into Kentucky at that time.
In January 1780, land commissioners from Williamsburg came to process the land claims for Bryan, upon which William and his party learned that the claim was actually invalid, having been previously surveyed a year and a half earlier by absent Virginians. On May 23, while out hunting for meat, William was shot by natives, dying a week later. His sixteen-year-old son, William Bryan Jr., had been killed a week earlier in a similar ambush by
Shawnee The Shawnee ( ) are a Native American people of the Northeastern Woodlands. Their language, Shawnee, is an Algonquian language. Their precontact homeland was likely centered in southern Ohio. In the 17th century, they dispersed through Ohi ...
warriors. Disenchanted and without a leader, the Bryans soon moved back to North Carolina. However, in the fall of 1785, Mary Boone Bryan and her son, Daniel, returned to Marble Creek, Fayette County, Kentucky. William's sons, Daniel and Samuel, who had been previously branded as Tories by the courts of Rowan, served during the revolutionary war on behalf of the Patriots, receiving pensions for their service against pro-British native tribes in Kentucky. In January 1781, Martin Wetzel, who was a captive of the Shawnee tribe, came with a party of seven Shawnee braves to steal horses at Bryan's Station, according to reports on a note by Colonel Levin Powell. Wetzel had helped organize a raid in the hopes of escaping. When the opportunity arose, he ran to the station, but the men present at the fort thought him to be a native and therefore threatened to shoot him. Daniel Boone, who happened to be present during this time and knew Wetzel, would vouch for the captive, whom would ultimately escape to the station.


Siege of Bryan Station

The most important attack on the settlement occurred in August 1782 during the
American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
, when they were besieged by a force consisting of warriors from the Wyandot,
Lenape The Lenape (, , ; ), also called the Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. The Lenape's historica ...
and
Shawnee The Shawnee ( ) are a Native American people of the Northeastern Woodlands. Their language, Shawnee, is an Algonquian language. Their precontact homeland was likely centered in southern Ohio. In the 17th century, they dispersed through Ohi ...
tribes, along with a detachment of
Butler's Rangers Butler's Rangers (1777–1784) was a Loyalist provincial military unit of the American Revolutionary War, raised by American loyalist John Butler. Most members of the regiment were Loyalists from upstate New York and northeastern Pennsylvania. T ...
led by Captain William Caldwell and
Simon Girty Simon Girty (14 November 1741 – 18 February 1818) was an interpreter with the British Indian Department during the American Revolutionary War and Northwest Indian War. As a child he and his brothers James and George were captured and adopted b ...
. In Col. Daniel Boone's estimation, the force numbered 400–500 strong. Bryan Station was located a short distance from a spring that the camp used for drinking water. None of the Bryan men were living in the garrison at the time of the siege. Since the hostile forces secretly surrounding the fort did not realize that their presence was known by the defenders, the men allowed the women to exit the fort to retrieve water and other resources. The reason for this was to prevent any change in habit that could signal that the defenders were aware of the presence of the hidden force preparing to besiege them. Historian Ranck asserts that all the important contemporary writers convey this impression: The Indians had no compunction attacking women, as they had done at nearby Ruddell's and Martin's Stations where even children were slaughtered two years earlier, and so the bravery of the women of Bryan Station is all the greater. At the time of the siege, the militia did not realize just how many Indians were waiting for them outside of the fort or that these Indians had some support from the British. This attack was a surprise, and the militia in the fort were thus unprepared. The attackers lifted the siege after Indian scouts reported that a force of Kentucky militia was on the way. The militiamen pursued Caldwell's force but were defeated three days later at the Battle of Blue Licks, about 33 miles (53 km) northeast.


Aftermath

The Lexington chapter of the
Daughters of the American Revolution The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (often abbreviated as DAR or NSDAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a patriot of the American Revolutionary War. A non-p ...
erected
monument
in August 1896 to commemorate the importance of a nearby spring in helping preserve the fort from the attack by Indians and Canadians. The pioneer women, led by Mary "Polly" Hawkins Craig (wife of " The Travelling Church" patriarch Toliver Craig, Sr.), fetched water from the spring to not only prevent dangerously weakening dehydration in the unusually hot summer, but also to defend against the use of burning arrows by the attackers. If the defenders had succumbed to heat exhaustion or the fort had burned, the attackers could have reached the women and children sheltering there. Betsy Boone Grant was cited as a "Patriot - Defender of Bryan Station" by the Sons of the American Revolution " Sons of the American Revolution" https://sarpatriots.sar.org/patriot/display/169074 for caring for the wounded during the siege. A flaming arrow stuck in the cradle near the head of the infant who later became Col.
Richard Mentor Johnson Richard Mentor Johnson (October 17, 1780 – November 19, 1850) was an American lawyer, military officer and politician who served as the ninth vice president of the United States from 1837 to 1841 under President Martin Van Buren. He is ...
. Johnson would later be credited in all the earliest accounts of the
War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...
's
Battle of the Thames The Battle of the Thames , also known as the Battle of Moraviantown, was an American victory in the War of 1812 against Tecumseh's Confederacy and their United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, British allies. It took place on October 5, 1813, ...
with the slaying of
Tecumseh Tecumseh ( ; (March 9, 1768October 5, 1813) was a Shawnee chief and warrior who promoted resistance to the Territorial evolution of the United States, expansion of the United States onto Native Americans in the United States, Native American ...
, using a pistol loaded by his orderly Capt. Elijah Craig, who had also been present as an 18-year-old defender during the siege of Bryan Station. Located a couple of miles south of the fort's site, Bryan Station High School was named in its honor. The athletic teams compete under the name "Defenders."


See also

* List of battles fought in Kentucky


References

* James Truslow Adams, ''Dictionary of American History'', New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1940 *"Outline of the Battle of Blue Licks," ''Carlisle Mercury'', August 17, 1882, University of Kentucky Special Collections, 51W8


External links


Reuben T. Durrett, ''Bryant's Station and the Memorial Proceedings'' (Filson Club Publications 12; Louisville: Morton, 1897).George W. Ranck, ''The Story of Bryan's Station: As Told in the Historical Address Delivered at Bryan's Station, Fayette County, Kentucky, August 18th, 1896'' (corrected and approved ed.; Lexington, KY: Transylvania Printing, 1896).Photos of Bryan Station Monument
{{authority control Geography of Fayette County, Kentucky Former populated places in Kentucky American Revolutionary War sites Battles of the American Revolutionary War in Kentucky