Both Kibby and Major Stites were fine types of the borderer, being tall, lithe and active and possessed of remarkable strength and endurance. Books doubtless could be written of their many strange and thrilling adventures and exploits, if indeed they had ever made them known. A few have come to hand and the writer is tempted to recount some of them, but space and the purpose of this article forbids. This much can be said, however, the company of both was sought for years by the red enemy, who would have liked nothing better than to have effected their capture. So eagerly did they covet the person of Kibby, that he was once chased for twenty-four hours, but succeeded in making his escape. For Major Stites, whom they blamed for the loss of their land, the Indians had an especially warm reception in store intending to burn him at the stake. But the wily old borderer eluded all their attempts at capture and lived to be initiated in the lodge, which was in 1799. What Boone and Kenton and Robertson and Sevier were respectively to Kentucky and Tennessee, so equally important and valuable, if less conspicuous, can be said to have been the services of these two sterling backwoods characters in the winning and settlement of southwestern Ohio.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Sep 2014 17:42:45 +0000