In the autumn of 1777, Clark, with a boatload of ammunition, reached Maysville on the Ohio, having successfully run the gauntlet between banks in possession of the foe.

He had wrested the powder and lead from the Virginia Council by threats to the effect that if Virginia was so willing to lose Kentucky--for of course "a country not worth defending is not worth claiming"-- he and his fellows were quite ready to take Kentucky for themselves and to hold it with their swords against all comers, Virginia included.

By even such cogent reasoning had he convinced the Council--which had tried to hedge by expressing doubts that Virginia would receive the Kentucky settlers as "citizens of the State"-- that it would be cheaper to give him the powder.
Because so many settlers had fled and the others had come closer together for their common good, Harrodsburg and Boonesborough were now the only occupied posts in Kentucky.

Other settlements, once, thriving, were abandoned; and, under the terror, the Wild reclaimed them.

In April, 1777, Boonesborough underwent its first siege.