Somewhere James’ party lost the trail, and night fall caught them somewhere on Wallen’s Creek, three miles east of Daniel’s camp. It was, of course, the party of James Boone that was trying to catch up with Daniel, and not that of Russell. They left Russell’s Fort with James Boone and his party, which traveled down the Clinch Valley branch of the Wilderness Trail until they regained the main Wilderness Trail just north of Natural Tunnel.ĭaniel and his party camped along the Wilderness Trail on the north side of Wallen’s Ridge somewhere in Powell Valley, and waited for the Russell party to catch up. Also among the emigrants from the Russell Party were the Hargis brothers – Samuel, Whiteside, William, James, John, Benjamin, and their families. To carry this news to Daniel, Russell’s seventeen year old son, Henry, and James Boone along with Isaac Crabtree, the Mendenhall brothers, and two slaves, Adam and Charles, were dispatched on Oct. 58 to Castlewood and found that Russell and his party of about forty pioneers were not ready to leave. We know that he camped that night on the northern side of Wallen’s Ridge, which itself is north of Wallen’s Creek. Once in Powell Valley the Boone Party joined the party of William Bryan, which contained about forty people. There is no record of whether he accessed Powell Valley by way of Kane Gap, or of Hunter’s Gap. Daniel continued on down the main Wilderness Trail to east of Kingsport, and then on up old US 23 to Duffield. On Septemthe Boones and five other families sat out, and upon reaching Wolf Hills at present Abingdon, Daniel dispatched his seventeen year old son, James, and the Mendenhall brothers, John and Richard, to leave the main party and to go to Upper Castlewood to pick up Capt. William Russell of Castlewood to do so also. Daniel Boone had decided to move his family from the Yadkin Valley of North Carolina to Kentucky, and had persuaded Capt. and the Blockhouse in Carter’s Valley in Scott County, near Kingsport, Tennessee. In 1773 the western extent of pioneer settlement was Castlewood in Russell Co. The last version continued down Wallen’s Creek and for a mile and a half past its mouth, where it joined the Hunter’s Trace. Back at Stickleyville, another variation continued on down Wallen’s Creek for 2 ½ miles to Fannon’s Spring, and crossed Wallen’s Ridge via Slagle’s Gap to the mouth of Station Creek. Here one version crossed Wallen’s Ridge to the head of Station Creek, and on to the west to the northern end of the White Shoals ford. Another route crossed Powell Mountain via Kane Gap between Duffield and the head of Wallen’s Creek, which it followed to Stickleyville. The Hunter’s Trace skirted the southern face of Powell Mountain from Pattonsville to Blackwater, where it crossed Powell Mountain at Hunter’s Gap, and passed on a mile and a half west of the mouth of Wallen’s Creek on Powell River, which it crossed at White Shoals. There are several variations of this trail in western Scott County and eastern Lee County. Daniel Boone’s name is indelibly stamped upon it, and it is also known by the names The Wilderness Road and the Great Kentucky Road. It connected the Northeastern and Midatlantic regions with Kentucky and the region between the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. The Great Warrior’s Path was the most significant of the numerous Indian trails in the eastern United States. The following is a review of the murders, and of the evidence on the location of the site. Local traditions still abound, especially near the various springs that head up Wallen’s Creek north of Duffield and east of Stickleyville, and down Wallen’s Creek all the way to its mouth.
In recent years a new road side marker was erected by the State in the center of Sticklyville. A rival claimant later developed in western Lee County, and roadside marker was dug up in the middle of the night and replanted near Kaylor.
The state historical road side marker commemorating this event was originally placed along side US 58 in Eller’s Gap on Powell Mountain between Pattonsville and Stickleyville. The site of the 1773 massacre of the son of Daniel Boone and of the son of William Russell – James Boone and Henry Russell – is the subject of a long and continuing controversy in Lee County. AN EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK ON THE WILDERNESS ROAD BY THE AUTHOR