It's 1792 and George Washington is President of the new American nation. The Ohio River beckons and Americans flatboat down the river to reach the Wabash county. Here the lives of pioneers, Piankeshaw Indians, and American soldiers meet in unforgiving conflict. In the spring of 1792, a small party of pioneers embark from Wheeling Virginia on a flatboat headed down the Ohio river. The trip takes several days. They reach a large island known as Diamond Island. There, they are ambushed by a Piankeshaw war party. Some of the adults are killed and the remainder are taken prisoner and force marched some forty miles north to the Piankeshaw village. Some prisoners are kept at the village. The others are turned north once again, including five year old Mary Griscom. At a sandstone cliff Mary slows the warriors progress and she is killed. Her death scream alerts a band of four hunters recently discharged from the U. S. Army at Post Vincennes. They are able to rescue the remaining prisoners but one of there number is killed. The bury their companion and Mary Griscom at the base of the cliff. They retreat to the base camp in the Wabash River on Coffee Island. They continued to hunt and trap along the Wabash with the help of those they rescued, Eventually, they successfully rescue the other survivors still being held at the village. Finally, after hunting and trapping and further clashes with the Piankeshaw warriors, they all journey up the Wabash to the old French town of Vincennes. From there they go their separate ways on the frontier.
