USA > Indiana > Pioneer history of Indiana : including stories, incidents, and customs of the early settlers > Part 14
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50
168
PIONEER HISTORY OF INDIANA.
to death. As soon as he was knocked down the young man who was several hundred feet away ran like a deer and jump- ed into the throng of red devils and tried to save his friend's life but was soon overpowered and dragged away. For this brave act the chief of the village adopted the young man to take the place of a son that he had lost. Mr. Severns on be- ing asked why he did not intercede for the prisoners said that if he had attempted to interfere it would have cost him his life.
If it were possible to draw the veil and disclose a view of the now misty past, many thrilling incidents would be seen that would melt the heart of the stoic and the wail of despair would be heard from those being tortured for no other reason than to gratify the hellish desire of the Indians to destroy. These things took place in this grand country of ours now inhabited by happy, prosperous people but once covered with Indians and Indian towns.
From 1785 to 1812 more than two thousand men, women and children were carried into captivity from Kentucky, and the Northwest Territory and not one in ten of them was ever heard of afterward. No doubt two-thirds of these help- less victims were burned at the stake by the Indians, they having no regard for age or sex, but as joyfully gloated over the death of the helpless infant or its mother as they did over the strong warrior whom they had captured.
The Indian women would employ all manner of cruel torture to make their helpless victims more miserable. When burning at the stake they would keep the fire so low as to burn them only by slow degrees causing them to suffer for many hours before death would come to their relief.
No doubt exists now that the Indians were incited to do many murders that they would not have done, by the British at Detroit and Vincennes. The blood-thirsty Colonel Hamil- ton, the British Commander at Vincennes when the post was captured by General Clark in 1779 had a standing reward for scalps but no reward for prisoners so the Indians killed their prisoners and took their scalps in. Also the same demon while in command at Detroit ordered the white British sub-
169
PIONEER HISTORY OF INDIANA.
jects and the Indians to spare neither men, women or child- ren but to kill all and bring their scalps to his post trader and they would be paid for at a price agreed upon, depend- ing on the age and sex.
There have been a few instances where individual Ind- ians have shown that the milk of human kindness was in them but as a rule General Sheridan was ringh when he said. that-"The only good Indian are dead Indians."
WOOLSEY PRIDE.
Tradition has it that the first white settler in what is now Pike county was Woolsey Pride. In 1800 he built a cabin near what was known as White Oak Springs. During the next two or three years the Tislow, Miley, and Conrad families arrived and settled in the same section, making quite a settlement. Game of all sorts was in abundance and Ind- ians were plenty but friendly. The great victory of General Wayne over them in 1794 had made a great change iu their actions toward the few white people who lived in the differ- ent sections of the Northwest Territory at that time. There were not many outbreaks until about 1804 when all the tribes in this section came under the influence of the celebrated Shawnee Chief, Tecmseh, and his brother, the one-eyed pro- phet who was a crafty, smart rascal but a great fraud.
In 1806 or 1807 Pride built a fort of heavy logs, large enough to hold his family and all his neighbors and built a. heavy stockade around it by splitting large logs in the mid- dle and hewing the edges until they were thick enough to stop a rifle ball, then setting them in a trench three feet deep, leaving eight feet above the ground. The gates were made in the most substantial manner, the intention being to keep them closed at night and all the time when there was threatened danger. One night the gate had been left un- fastened by some late arrival and during the night a very fine horse belonging to Mr. Pride got out and the next morn- ing could not be found. He determined to make an effort to find it, although he did not know whether it had been stolen bp some prowling Indian or had gone away of its own accord.
170
PIONEER HISTORY OF INDIANA.
He equipped himself with his halter and trusty rifle and started to hunt the horse but found it hard to get any trace of him. Late in the afternoon he heard a gun fire a long way off and determined to find who the hunter was. He went in the direction the sound came from and after a long walk he saw his horse standing in the edge of a glade. When he got near the horse he discovered that an Indian was standing by it doing something with a strap around the horse's neck. Getting his gun in readiness he slipped up on the Indian whose gun he saw lying by the carcass of a deer some yards away. He called the horse by name. This frightened the Indian and by his frantic gestures to show Pride he was friendly the horse became frightened and ran away, taking the Indian with him.
It turned out that the Indian had shot a deer and while trailing it by the blood, found the horse grazing, made friends with him and caught him and putting a leather strap. around his neck, led him along until he found the dead deer; he soon dressed the deer and had it ready for loading on the horse but the small string around the horse's neck was not strong enough so the Indian had cut strips of the deer's hide and fastened them together tying one end around the horse's neck and the other around his arm to make sure that he did not get away so when the horse became frightened and ran away he took Mr. Indian with him. Pride followed the trail they made and soon found them. The Indian had lodged in a thick bunch of saplings and vines and the horse was mak- ing frantic efforts to pull him through, and had broken his arm, nearly pulling it out of its socket. Mr. Pride quieted the frightened animal, freed the Indian and did all that he could for him, offering to take him to his home but as he would not go he left him and never knew what became of him. The large family of Prides in Daviess, Pike and Gibson counties are relatives and most of them descendants of this man.
JEAN LATURE.
In the fall of 1851 or 1852, I went with my father, in a
171
PIONEER HISTORY OF INDIANA.
wagon to Evansville on the Evansville and Petersburg road. When we reached a point near where the road goes into the bottoms of Smith's fork of Pigeon Creek, something went wrong with the running gears of our wagon and we could not go much farther without having it repaired. We turned south on the road that used to go to the McDaniel mill on Smith's fork and kept on until we came to the place where the road left the bottom and up a little hill to a house. Here we found a man who could repair the wagon, but it would require three or four hours to do it. While waiting father made some inquiries about a point not far from where we were and I went with him to it, taking our dinners with us. We were, as I now remember, about one hundred yards from Smith's fork. While we ate our dinner father related to me this strange and pathetic story. In the winter of 1833-4 he loaded a flat boat with pork, venison, hams and poultry at Winslow and ran it out of Patoka river en route to New Or- leans. Soon after he got into the Ohio river, one of his principal oarsmen became very ill so much so that he had to leave him at Paducah, Kentucky in charge of a physician and hire another man. This one was an intelligent, middle-aged man, dressed in a full suit of buckskin with all the adorn- ments that the Indians wore and carrying the most finely finished rifle father had ever seen. The new man went to work and proved to be a good hand and was better acquainted with the river than any of the crew. Arriving id the neigh- borhood of Memphis it was learned from returning boatmen that there wrs a better chance to sell the load by coasting along the lower Mississippi than by going to New Orleans. At Vicksburg, Miss., the crew were paid off, except two who were retained. One of these was the man hired at Paducah, whose name was Jean LaTure. They landed at different points on the river and it took about one month to sell out the produce on the boat. During the time they were leisurely coasting down the river LaTure found out that father was from this section of Indiana and related to him this story.
He said that his father was with Lafayette for a while during the Revolutionary War and afterward settled in Vir-
172
PIONEER HISTORY OF INDIANA.
ginia where he married a beautiful French woman. He him- self was born in Virginia and was about ten years old when his father resolved to move to Kentucky. After staying there about three years he decided to come to Indiana Ter- ritory and to Vincennes where he learned he had relatives. "We had two horses, " said La Ture "and loaded one with our plunder, the other was for my mother and eight-year-old sister to ride. We started and traveled for several days, coming to green river. We followed it to the point where it runs into the Ohio and then could find no way to cross either river so went up the Ohio for seven or eight miles and found a family of friendly Indians who carried us over in a canoe, the horses swimming. This was in the fall of 1803. We then traveled in a northerly direction for more than a day when we came to a large creek (Big Pigeon). Following along this creek we crossed one of its forks (no doubt Big creek in Greer township, Warrick county) and continued for several miles farther and came to another fork (Smith's Fork). We did not cross this but went up the south bank until we found some high land and selected a place for a camp, intending to stay a few days and rest. After being in camp about two days, nine or ten Indian hunters came in pre -- tending to be very friendly. We gave them food which they ate but after finishing their meal they jumped up so suddenly that we had not time to think; giving a loud yell one caught me, another my little sister and a third attempted to hold my mother but she got hold of an ax and in the scuffle struck the blade into the Indian's thigh, severing the main artery from which he bled to death. Another Indian ran up back of my mother and killed her with a club. My father was killed at. the first by two Indians with clubs. About half of them took the dead Indians away and were gone for some time. The rest loaded our plunder on the horses and we went away to the north, leaving my father and mother where they fell, after taking their scalps. After wandering that day and a. part of the next we came to a big Indian town near a river which I think now is White river. My little sister was left there and I never saw her afterward. I was taken to an In-
173
PIONEER HISTORY OF INDIANA.
dian town near Lake Michigan and lived with the Indians for several years. I went with a party on a hunting expedi- tion and was gone several days. during which trip I made my escape and met a party of General Harrison's soldiers after the battle of Tippecanoe and went with them to Vincennes. I went through the war of 1812 and since then I have hunted Indians and killed every one that I could."
He asked my father if he thought he could go with him to the place and was told that there was no doubt of it as he had hunted all over that section. So LaTure came home with my father, who sent word to Jonas Mayhall who had also hunted all over that country with him, asking him to meet him on a certain day at an agreed place and go with him and LaTure, which Mr. Mayhall did. When they got near to the point that was thought to be the place LaTure jumped from his horse and ran to the point and cried out- "Oh! my beautiful mother, how I wish I could have died with you!" He lay down on the ground and cried as nis heart would break. The scene was too much for the two men and they rode away and were gone for some time. Finally my father went to LaTure and asked him to get his horse and go home. He asked my father to lead the horse home, tell- ing him how much he thanked him for his kindness and said that he wanted to stay with his father and mother until sun- rise next morning. "Then I shall go" he said "and to the last day that I live I will kill every Indian that it is in my power to do, to avenge the lives of my dear parents."
During the summer of 1834, father went south and with his brother, William R. Cockrum, bought the steamboat Otsego and ran her for some time in the lower Mississippi trade. They secured a contract from the Government to car- ry a large quantity of military stores from New Orleans up the Arkansas river to the distributing points for the several outposts and forts in that section. During one the trips up the river Jean LaTure came to the boat and was gladly wel- comed by my father who had him stay on the boat as his guest until it had to return. In bidding good bye he said
174
PIONEER HISTORY OF INDIANA.
that he was successfully hunting Inians and intended to do so as long as life lasted.
Jonas Mayhall, mentioned above, was the father of the late George C. Mayhall and the grandfather of the Mayhall children who now reside in Oakland City.
JOEL HARDEN.
David Johnson was at Vincennes in the summer of 1824 for the purpose of entering land. While there he met Joel Harden and as they roomed together at the hotel, they soon got acquainted and being fond of the chase as most all men were at that early period, they told each other their many adventures. The following was told by Harden, which the author believes will prove interesting to his readers.
Late in the summer of 1792 a large band of Indians went into Kentucky from north of the Ohio river. When across the river they broke up into small bands so as to over-run a large territory in a short time. They were of the Kickapoo and Delaware nations. "My father, with my brother and myself (my mother was dead) had made a temporary camp not far, I think, from where Bowling Green, Kentucky is," said Harden. "We had commenced to build a cabin but on the night of the third day we had been there Indians rushed into our camp. My father attempted to kill one and was killed and my brother and I were captured. He was 19 and I 16 years of age. They scalped my father and took our rifles and what little plunder we had and started north. It was about three days before we got to the Ohio river which we crossed at a point I afterward learned was Yellow Bank-in the Kickapoo's language Weesoe Wusapinuk-where Rock- port now stands. There was an old Indian trace to the north that we traveled a part of two days and came to a large spring where the Indians were to meet. Already a number were there and in a day or so all of them had arrived. I think there were sixty-five or seventy warriors and they had captured a number ot women and children besides myself and brother and a negro slave. There was a disagreement be- tween the two tribes of Indians about the division of plunder
.
175
PIONEER HISORY OF INDIANA.
One of Delawares was determined to have the negro as he could sell him to the English officers in Canada at a good price. As the negro was being led away one of the Kickapoos. shot him dead. The Delaware shot my brother in retalia- tion. This brought on a battle between these two bands of Indians that was terrible for a short time. The Kickapoos. had the advantage from the start, rushing the Delawares. and capturing all their prisoners-I now think seven or eight women and children-and all their plunder, but before it was over and the Delawares gone, there were six Kickapoo war- riors dead and as many wounded. The Delawares carried their dead and wounded away with them but they lost a num- ber. The Indians remained at the springs for several days taking care of their wounded, then they started along the little trace, traveling northward and crossed two good sized rivers and on to the Indian town at the forks of White river. In a short time we continued to the north until we got to a. British Fort in Canada in the neighborhood of Detroit where I was sold to an officer for a servant and was held for several years. I made my escape by the aid of a Frenchman who. had taken a fancy to me and hated the British officer for some ill treatment. This Frenchman secured a canoe and we ran out of an inlet to Lake Erie and paddled along the coast until we got to the Maumee river, thence up that river to a. fort established by General Wayne several years before, and I. remained in this section for some time. While General Har- rison was at Ft. Meigs I went there and was at the battle of the Thames where Tecumseh was killed. After the close of the war of 1812, I enlisted for five years in the regular service. For the last five years I have been hunting and trapping along the Wabash and its tributaries and have no relatives in the world that I know of."
The next morning Mr. Johnson invited this lonely, weather-beaten soldier to go home with him, which invita- tion he accepted and remained with him for more than two years. In the fall of that same year Mr. Johnson made ar- rangements for his annual hunt. Together with Jessie Houchin. who lived at that time on the Hargrove farm east
176
PIONEER HISORY OF INDIANA.
of what is now Oakland City and his guest, Mr. Harden, he started for the old polk patch now Selvin, Warrick county, where they intended to make their camp and hunt, at the same time helping Harden to locate the place where the In- dian battle was fought. They stopped on the way for Con- rad LeMasters who lived about two miles east of Pleasant- ville, Pike county. Mr. LeMasters was ready as he had no- tice of their coming. The first day they killed several deer and a bear and it was after night when they got to their des- tination. They had good success in their hunting and had more game than they knew what to do with. Of the deer only the hind quarters and the hides were taken, the rest be- ing left where it was killed. The second day Mr. LeMasters was seriously hurt in a fight with a bear and had to go home. The hunting party, the after hearing Harden's story was sat- isfied that it was at Honey Springs that the Indian battle had taken place so the two of the party who were left, resolved as they went home to go into the neighborhood and let Har- den find the springs. which they did. While they were searching they asked Harden to take a pail and see if he could find some water and they would try and find a bee tree. After being gone for a short time they saw him coming back as fast as his horse would carry him. He was all excitement, telling them that he was sure he had found the place they were hunting. They went back with him and notwithstand- ing there had been some improvements made at and near the springs, Harden was very positive that it was the one, show- ing the hunters the place where his brother was killed, which was about 200 feet southeast of the spring. The Kickapoo Indians were killed about 300 feet south of the springs. The Delawares retreated to the southwest and their men were killed in that direction.
Staying all night at the springs, the hunters returned home the next morning. The two falls following the same hunting party was formed and they either went or returned by the springs where Harden would wander over the land near them for hours at a time.
In a statement made by John Fuquay, who was scout to
177
PIONEER HISORY OF INDIANA.
General Gibson, Secretary of State for Indiana Territory, in 1802, as to whether it would be safe to survey the land be- tween the Ohio and White rivers he said-"There is an old Indian trace running from the yellow banks to the headwa- ters of the Little Pigeon, where there has been a large Indian town, then in a northwesterly direction to a large spring, then along the spring branch to little Patoka and it crosses the large Patoka at a good ford and continues to the forks of White river.
Data of the recapture of three Kentucky women from the Indians in what is now Pike county, Indiana, was furnished the author in 1855 by William Leathers, son-in-law of John Severns. The story is as follows:
In 1795 John Severns was on White river hunting, when he met two Indian trappers one of whom he had known in- timately during his captivity among the Indians. They had been in the employ of the Hudson Bay Company, of Canada, for several years but had come south to do a little trapping on their own account and had a large number of traps with them, mostly for beaver. Severns told them of the many beaver and beaver dams along the Patoka river and its tri- butaries .*
After talking the matter over the Indians agreed that they would hunt bear for awhile and put in the late fall and winter trapping for beaver, all of which was carried out. From the start the three men had all they could do to keep their traps set and care for their peltry. The intention of the trappers was to stay a few days in the neighborhood, catch all they could and then go on farther. In this way they thought they could go over the best trapping territory during the winter. The weather had become pretty cool and the trappers had made their camp against a bluff bank of the river where a thick vein of coal was cropping out. They
*AUTHOR'S NOTE. I have heard hunters say that there was no place in the western country where there had been more beaver than on the Patoka river and that many had been caught as late as 1835. To this day the signs of their industry are to be seen in many places.
178
PIONEER HISORY OF INDIANA.
built their fires against the coal and had a good one. This camp as the river runs was from 35 to 40 miles from Mr. Severns' home. They had been there several days and had become pretty well acquainted with the surrounding country when one morning as they lay in their comfortable quarters a little before day they were startled by the firing of several guns not far away. They would have thought it was In- dians shooting at a bear or a gang of wolves prowling around their camp had it not been for the loud hallooing and the screaming of a child or a woman, that continued for some time. The trappers hastily put out the fire and got into a. position to defend themselves. In a short time daylight came and Severns and one of the Indians determined to reconnoitre near their camp. On going up the river some distance they heard talking and were satisfied that it was white people. The Indians slipped away and went back to camp while Severns went in the direction of the talking and soon saw several men and women sitting around a fire. One man, who was on the lookout, saw Severns and seeing that he was a. white man, called to him and when he got to the party he saw seven of the hardiest type of Kentucky backwoodsmen - and three women. One of the men was wounded by a ball through the top of the shoulder. The women's clothing was badly torn and their feet almost bare. They looked weary and careworn and the stop had been made to make some cov- ering for their feet so they could travel, but they were very short of suitable material. Severns told them that if they would wait until he could go to his camp, less than a mile away, he would provide them with all the material they needed. The proposition was gladly accepted and he soon returned with the saddle of a deer and a dressed buck skin. While he was at camp he advised the Indians to keep close as he did not know much about the people, only that they had recaptured three white women from the Indians and had kill- ed several of the latter and that he might go a little way with them to find out what he could. The moccasins were soon mended and the party started on the long return trip. Severns went with them for a few miles and learned that
PIONEER HISTORY OF INDIANA. 179
- they lived in central Kentucky and that nearly all of the men of their settlement had gone to a salt spring to make salt. While they were absent six Indians attacked two houses and captured the three women. A boy not far from one of the houses saw the Indians and ran to two men building a cabin and gave the alarm and then all the other families ran to the. fort not far away. A runner was sent after the men at the salt spring but it was nearly two days before they could get back and start after the Indians. After that they followed them on the run as they knew the Indians would make haste to get back over the Ohio river. When the Kentuckians had crossed the river they had no trouble in following the trail because most of the way they were on a trace that crossed at the ford where Severns found them. "Last night about eleven o'clock," one of the men told Severns "our out runner came back to the party just after we had retired for the night and told us that he had seen a little glimmer of fire about a half mile ahead. Two of our men went back with him and in about an hour one of them came back and said they had located the Indians and that they were all asleep except one who was guarding the prisoners and that as well as they could count them as they lay, there were six Indians and the three women, and that their camp was at the foot of a bluff. He left the other two on a hill about a hundred yards from the Indians. There was a small valley between them and they had a clear view of the camp. The rest of us went to the hill and after a whispered council decided to deploy out so as to reach the camp from the south and east sides and as soon as we could get near enough, to charge the Indians and kill them before they could defend themselves. The men who are husbands of two of the women were to look after them. In creeping up we found the little valley covered an inch or two deep with water from a gushing spring near the Indians' camp which greatly delayed our attack and it was nearly five o'clock when we rushed on them, killing four before they could use their guns. The one left on guard shot one of our men in the shoulder and he and another one got away, the guard with a broken arm."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.